Chapter 73: This Is a “Backer” Badge
“Hello. We’re officers from the Qingze District Branch of Yue City Public Security. Where is Liu Zhi?”
Not long after Lin Jiangye, Li Wei, and the others stepped onto the island, a staff member from the production crew came over to shoo them away.
He probably thought they were just ordinary tourists. But the moment Li Wei showed his credentials—and then plainly said he was looking for Liu Zhi—the staffer’s face filled with shock and curiosity.
The police were here for Liu Zhi?! What the hell had he done?
He wanted to ask, but the young man standing beside the officers wore a meaningful smile. “You’ll find out soon enough.”
At the time, the crew was having the guests prepare dinner for the evening shoot—four pairs of men and women, each responsible for different parts.
When the director saw a group of people approaching, his brows knitted immediately. “We’re filming! Where did all these people come from?!”
A staffer hurried to the director and whispered a few words in his ear. The director’s expression turned ugly in an instant.
At the same time, the guests—busy just moments ago—put down what they were doing and looked over, curiosity written all over their faces.
Lin Jiangye’s gaze swept over the four celebrity couples. To be fair, they were all good-looking—showbiz really did produce pretty people.
Mm. Just a bit too thin.
When the director learned it was the police—and that they had named Liu Zhi specifically—his vision almost went black. It felt like the sky was collapsing.
And the worst part wasn’t even “the police.”
It was criminal investigators.
What the hell, Liu Zhi? Did you kill someone or set a fire? Why would criminal investigation come for you?!
No one heard the director’s internal screaming. If he’d actually asked out loud, he’d have learned that Li Wei being here was purely because Lin Jiangye had come.
Privacy violations and drug use, on their own, didn’t necessarily rise to the level of a major criminal case.
But the director didn’t know that. All he knew was that he was glaring at Liu Zhi with a face full of fury.
“Everyone… forget it. Liu Zhi—these officers are here for you!” The director had originally wanted to help him save face, but thinking of the show he’d worked so hard to build—and now having to scramble for a replacement—his anger boiled over.
Save face? For what? If you broke the law, what’s there to cover up?!
The moment Liu Zhi heard his name, a chill shot through him.
Every eye on set turned to him. It felt like his blood was running backward, the cold so sharp he couldn’t help shivering.
His smile stiffened. His mind raced through everything he’d done—and then, half-lowering his eyes, he glanced at the milk-tea sachet in his hand.
Was it because of this? But he’d only just done it—how could the police already know?
“You’re Liu Zhi?”
A voice cut through right in front of him. Liu Zhi jerked his head up—and met a pair of cool, indifferent eyes.
At some point, Lin Jiangye had walked up with Yuheng. Lin in front, Yuheng behind—one man and one wolf, perfectly blocking any route of escape.
He grabbed Liu Zhi’s wrist and gave a soft laugh as he looked at the sachet pinched between Liu Zhi’s fingers.
“This milk tea of yours—is it legit?”
No one expected it: they had arrived at the exact moment Liu Zhi was making milk tea for someone—and he was using the same kind of sachet they’d found in that villa.
Li Wei, Jiang Heping, and Shang Fuyan—three criminal investigation captains—each frowned deeply.
If this sachet was the same as the one from the villa, then Liu Zhi hadn’t just broken rules—he’d crossed straight into real crimes.
Drugging someone could mean anything from administering harmful substances to intentional injury, even attempted murder, depending on the result.
With that many possible charges—and with someone so high-profile—bringing in Li Wei suddenly made complete sense.
Everyone on set stared at the cup the powder was going into, replaying Lin Jiangye’s question in their minds.
Is the milk tea legit?
So what if it wasn’t? Laxatives? Some banned additive? If something happened, wouldn’t the drinker investigate?
Or…
Was this the kind of thing where once you drank it, you’d be trapped—a handle to grab?
The next second, a shriek exploded.
“That’s my cup!”
A pure-looking, pretty young actress rushed forward and slapped Liu Zhi hard across the face.
The sound was crisp—pure anger and terror.
Liu Zhi toppled to the ground, panic flooding his eyes. The actress’s fear spiked even higher.
So it really was that.
Thank god… thank god she hadn’t drunk it yet. Thank god the police came fast—otherwise…
Lin Jiangye picked up the cup. Under everyone’s gaze, he held it out for Yuheng and asked, “It smells the same to me. What do you think?”
Those “milk tea” powders, sniffed casually, really didn’t smell that different from normal sachets—if anything, they were even sweeter and richer.
But to Lin Jiangye, there was a faint stink underneath. Not obvious, but wrong.
If he could sense something off, Yuheng would sense it far more clearly.
The grey wolf’s tail gave a small sway. He nodded at Lin Jiangye.
“It’s the same.”
Oh wow.
A famous celebrity drugging other guests during filming—trying to drag others into the abyss with him?
Li Wei and the others surrounded Liu Zhi. Shang Fuyan used an evidence bag to seal the fallen sachet.
If tests confirmed narcotics, Liu Zhi was going to prison. No debate.
“N-no… it wasn’t me! That’s just normal milk tea! N-no—someone gave it to me! I thought it was regular milk tea!”
Liu Zhi snapped back to himself and started babbling.
But he was so flustered that his story contradicted itself every other sentence, like his left brain was fighting his right.
Seeing him like that, the entire crew began to understand what that powder probably was. A cold sweat crept down their backs.
They knew the entertainment industry was dirty—but they never imagined someone would brazenly slip drug-disguised “milk tea” into another person’s cup in broad daylight.
Once you’re contaminated by drugs…
That could be worse than death.
And if you really drank it—even if you went for testing later—how would you ever prove it was sabotage and not your own habit?
It was vicious.
No wonder Liu Zhi dared to do it in front of everyone.
He could give others “normal” milk tea afterward and wash his own hands clean.
“Wait…” Someone clutched his stomach, face drained so pale he looked ready to faint.
Another actress sprinted to the bathroom and started gagging herself hard.
Not long ago, they had all tasted Liu Zhi’s “special blend.” Out of politeness, they had to drink and even praise it.
One actress had hated the overly perfumed sweetness, so after two sips she dumped it when the camera wasn’t on her.
But one male celebrity—he had downed it in a single gulp, on camera, in front of everyone.
“D-doctor! Call 120!!!”
The scream echoed across the island, scaring the crew half to death.
Everyone started replaying whether Liu Zhi had touched their cup, or whether they’d accepted a drink directly from him.
And the more they thought, the more hissing inhalations there were—meaning yes.
Yes, and not just one or two.
Liu Zhi saw the hatred in their eyes and shook his head frantically.
“N-no… I didn’t put it in everyone’s! Just three people! Only three!”
That wasn’t reassurance.
That was a confession, delivered with his own mouth.
“Three people… which three?” Lin Jiangye pointed calmly at the three celebrities: the one who slapped him, the one gagging in the bathroom, and the one holding his stomach—two women and one man.
Liu Zhi panicked and nodded—then halfway through, he realized he shouldn’t have answered at all.
If he’d kept his mouth shut, even if the cameras caught him doing it, you still couldn’t prove he knew what the powder was.
He could have dumped the blame somewhere else.
Jiang Heping caught the shift in his eyes and sneered.
“Stop dreaming. Where do you think we came from? We came straight from your villa in Chi Yuan District.”
Chi Yuan District villa…
So that’s it.
Under Liu Zhi’s suspicious stare, Jiang Heping and Lin Jiangye both bared their teeth in the exact same nasty, predatory grin.
Shang Fuyan and Li Wei watched the two of them looking like a pair of wolf-grandmas about to eat someone, and both men twitched at the corners of their mouths and looked away, helpless.
“Want to guess what we found in your villa?” Jiang Heping stood in front of Liu Zhi, her arm—long and strong—clamping down on his shoulder like a steel vise.
Liu Zhi jolted at her strength.
He’d been “drinking milk tea” too much lately and looked worn out, sure—but for the sake of looking good on camera he’d worked out. And he was a man.
How could he be pinned so easily by a woman?
Jiang Heping studied him coldly. The more she looked, the more ridiculous he seemed.
Publicly drugging people—if that got out, the internet would explode.
Especially the fandoms of the celebrities he targeted.
Jiang Heping and the director quietly agreed: for now, don’t expose it publicly.
“We still don’t know whether he did this out of personal grudges, or because someone pushed him to do it. If it’s the latter…” Jiang Heping’s gaze swept the three pale, shaking stars. “If we don’t drag the mastermind out, you won’t be able to sleep, will you?”
The three celebrities nodded like pecking chicks, frantic and desperate.
Staring into Jiang Heping’s steady eyes, their terror actually began to settle.
The actress who had almost drunk the cup clung to Jiang Heping with tear-filled eyes, hugging her arm like she was trying to borrow courage from her.
Li Wei and Shang Fuyan saw that and both flinched again.
They’d seen scenes like this plenty of times.
Too bad Jiang Heping was straight as a ruler—she felt absolutely nothing.
Shang Fuyan turned to the young man watching from the side and asked softly, “What’s wrong?”
Lin Jiangye rubbed his nose and exchanged a look with Yuheng.
“Do you smell something weird?”
Yuheng nodded, whining under his breath.
“Stinky.”
Shang Fuyan’s heart sank. He leaned close to Lin Jiangye’s ear and whispered, “Don’t tell me… there are more drugs on this island?”
Lin Jiangye glanced toward the investigators searching Liu Zhi’s room and slowly shook his head.
“Not sure. But it doesn’t feel like that.”
Not drugs… then what kind of stink was it?
Shang Fuyan looked at Li Wei. Li Wei’s expression shifted from confusion to wide-eyed horror.
“Don’t tell me… again?”
They’d all worked with Lin Jiangye. They knew his senses were absurdly sharp—his nose might as well have been a dog’s.
If he said the smell was strange, it wasn’t something ordinary.
Li Wei scanned the island. This… felt like a perfect place to dump bodies.
The more Lin Jiangye sniffed, the more wrong it felt. He took Yuheng and followed where the smell was strongest—only for it to vanish halfway.
“Strange…”
“Let me, let me!” Yuheng nudged Lin Jiangye with his muzzle. The wolf’s wet nose brushed Lin Jiangye’s hand; the whines sounded downright spoiled.
Not “like” spoiled—for a wolf, it was absolutely spoiled.
Lin Jiangye crouched, unclipped the leash, and kissed the big wolf’s head.
“Alright, it’s yours.”
“Find where that smell is coming from, and you’ll earn yourself another big win. I’ll ask the officers to get you a reward—then you can buy whatever you like.”
Yuheng’s tail wagged happily. He’d seen Bixi and the others with their little “private funds,” and he’d been jealous.
He didn’t understand what a “bonus” was, but he knew human money bought the things he liked.
The moment he was free, Yuheng shot off like an arrow.
He circled the filming area once, then lifted his head as if reading the wind.
Some of the crew had recovered from the shock of Liu Zhi’s drugging attempt. Seeing a giant dog—nearly waist-high—sniffing around, curiosity bubbled up.
“What’s it doing? Checking if Liu Zhi has more drugs?”
“Doesn’t look like it… and… that isn’t a drug-sniffing dog, is it?”
A cameraman from the grasslands stared hard at Yuheng—and nearly dropped his camera.
“W-wolf…! That’s a wolf!”
People whipped their heads toward him. “What did you say?!”
Lin Jiangye looked over too, then put a finger to his lips at the growing commotion.
“Shh. Don’t make noise. Don’t stir him up—he’s looking for something.”
As soon as he finished speaking, Yuheng dashed toward a spot.
Lin Jiangye and Shang Fuyan immediately followed, leaving Li Wei behind to calm the restless crowd.
Li Wei: …
Ha. 🙂
When Lin Jiangye and Shang Fuyan reached the place, they saw Yuheng in a sea of flowers, furiously digging at something.
Lin Jiangye halted.
He suddenly remembered that villa kidnapping-and-torture case.
Those monsters had killed their friend and buried the body in the flowerbed—turning him into fertilizer.
Under this flower sea…
Was there “fertilizer” too?
Seeing Yuheng clawing like crazy, Lin Jiangye and Shang Fuyan obviously didn’t just stand and watch.
They grabbed tools from nearby. Other officers arrived and joined the digging.
Soon, the commotion drew the attention of the island staff.
“Hey! What are you doing?!” They didn’t know the police were on the island. Seeing people in plain clothes, they assumed it was the production crew.
“You can’t touch these flowers! Didn’t we already tell your crew?!”
The garden manager stormed over, furious—only to be stopped by a black ID flashed right in his face.
“Police.”
The manager froze. Then his eyes went wide. “Police? When did you get here?”
The officer blocking him said nothing, only told him not to interfere.
“Wait! This is a private garden! These flowers were planted by our boss for his wife! Even if you’re police, you can’t just destroy them!”
The manager broke out in sweat watching them tear up several square meters of flowers.
If the boss found out, he might not dare take it out on the police—but he would definitely blame him.
But his protests meant nothing, because Lin Jiangye and the others had found the source of the stink.
Two rotting corpses were buried deep beneath the flowers—quietly turned into nourishment for the bloom.
“You don’t even need a forensic doctor to tell—they were murdered.”
Why?
Because the bodies weren’t fully skeletonized yet, and you could still see signs of severe trauma before death. Even the parts that had become bone still bore deep marks.
“C—cough. Call the forensic team.” Lin Jiangye nearly blurted out “call the police” out of habit—then remembered he was standing with police.
He took a step back and left the scene to the officers.
Scene processing and evidence collection weren’t his specialty. Better not get in the way.
But it wasn’t like he had nothing else to do.
Judging from the degree of decay and skeletonization—and factoring in Yue City’s usual temperatures—the deaths likely occurred within the past year.
Maybe even within six months.
If it was within a year, he might be able to ask the local animals—seagulls, dolphins—
Though if the deaths happened in summer, the seagulls here might not have been around.
Looks like he’d need resident birds from the area.
Lin Jiangye clipped Yuheng’s leash back on. A huge wolf—duang, big as anything—was now acting like a cat, whining and rubbing against Lin Jiangye.
“Master, did I help this time?”
Lin Jiangye wiped the dirt off Yuheng’s paws, then hugged the wolf’s upper body close and rubbed his face into that coarser fur.
“Yuheng, you were amazing. So, so amazing—how did you even find it?”
They had both sensed something wrong, but in different ways.
Yuheng had literally smelled the corpse stink.
Lin Jiangye had sensed more of a “death” aura.
If Bixi were here, he would’ve felt it the same way.
Lin Jiangye could sense danger, but he couldn’t pinpoint the location by himself.
Yuheng, getting thoroughly petted, bared his teeth in a dog-like grin.
“Later, when the bonus comes—what do you want to buy?” Lin Jiangye asked, genuinely curious.
Yu Heng answered without the slightest hesitation: “A tag! The same kind of tag the German Shepherd and Border Collie have!”
Lin Jiangye froze for a second. He hadn’t expected that kind of answer.
The “tag” Yu Heng meant was a pet ID tag—engraved with the dog’s name, home address, and his contact number, along with Lin Jiangye’s name.
At first, the German Shepherd and Border Collie didn’t have those. But after the Border Collie had her puppies—and realized the other animals in the house could help babysit—the two of them started going on a “honeymoon trip”: traveling together, revisiting places they’d stayed before, and stopping by to check on old stray friends.
The tag wasn’t because Lin Jiangye was afraid they’d run off and never come back. It was so that if they ever sensed something wrong and went to the police, the officers would take it seriously right away.
After all, the name “Lin Jiangye” carried some weight in Yue City.
He just hadn’t expected the tag to catch Yu Heng’s eye.
Lin Jiangye hesitated. He didn’t say yes or no immediately—he first explained what the tag was for.
“So that’s what the tag does. Do you still want one?”
“Yes!”
Yu Heng still wanted it. To him, wearing a tag engraved with Lin Jiangye’s name meant he was Lin Jiangye’s wolf—that he had a home, and someone to back him up.
“Alright then. The tag itself isn’t really something you can ‘pick’—they’re all basically stainless steel. How about we pick a nice-looking collar instead?”
Tags were pretty much all the same: stainless steel, rust-resistant, and not easily yanked away by magnets. Collars were a different story.
The pet industry had been booming lately, and plenty of pet owners bought pretty collars for their animals.
Honestly, if you thought about it, the ravens’ lace ruffs counted as a kind of collar too.
The moment Lin Jiangye agreed, Yu Heng’s tail started whipping back and forth like a propeller—he was genuinely thrilled.
“So good, so good…” Lin Jiangye was completely melted. He hugged Yu Heng and showered him with kisses.
“The wolf wants to buy one for Kaiyang too!”
“Okay, okay—buy, buy, buy! We’ll buy them all!”
No wonder they were brothers; their bond really was strong. Next time, maybe he could bring both of them out, so Kaiyang wouldn’t keep dipping into Yu Heng’s little stash.
Yu Heng wasn’t done. “And if there’s anything left… the wolf also wants to buy collars for the other kids!”
“The other kids? Like who?”
Yu Heng wagged his tail, buried his head in Lin Jiangye’s arms, and whimpered in a ridiculously cute, bashful voice: “Like… the others from before…”
He was actually shy. That was unbearably adorable.
“But… I don’t know if they’d want them…”
What if they didn’t? Would that mean he’d done something wrong?
Lin Jiangye thought for a moment. “How about this: once I find witnesses and figure out what really happened, I’ll take you and Kaiyang to buy nice collars. After you two put yours on, we’ll go home and ask the others if they want one too.”
If they did, they could pick styles online and order them.
Yu Heng nodded rapidly, his pale golden eyes shining like real gold in the sunlight.
Lin Jiangye quickly went to find the seagulls from earlier. The seagulls were happy to see him again—but when it came to what he asked, they were clueless.
“We don’t know… we weren’t here back then.”
As expected: these seagulls were migratory, not resident birds. In spring and summer, they were probably farther north.
“Then can you help me find some dolphins? The little bird biscuits will still be provided.”
The seagulls perched on his shoulders and carefully leaned in to nuzzle his face.
“Even without biscuits, we’ll still help you.”
“We like you, human.”
“We like you too!”
“Like, like, like!!!”
Faced with their enthusiastic affection, Lin Jiangye patted them one by one. “I love you too.”
Yu Heng snapped his head up—only to be met with Lin Jiangye’s laughter, kisses, and a loud, solemn declaration:
“You’re my family. I love you the most, the most!”
Keeping things “fair” mattered—but here, the seagulls were allies, while Yu Heng was family. Those weren’t the same.
The seagulls were a little jealous, but they understood what “family” meant, so none of them argued.
Not far behind, the director watched the scene—Lin Jiangye surrounded by seagulls—and suddenly asked, “Hey… do you think we could invite him onto the show?”
The producer rolled his eyes, looking at the director like he’d lost his mind. “What are you thinking? He’s not a celebrity. He’s not even an influencer.”
The director refused to give up. “But he’s got traffic! If we package him a little, he’d become a breakout internet star in no time!”
He didn’t just like Lin Jiangye’s looks—he’d latched onto the way Lin Jiangye interacted with flocks of birds and all kinds of animals.
And it just so happened the core theme this season was “people and nature.” With Lin Jiangye there, they’d definitely pull a ton of attention from animal lovers.
The director had watched Lin Jiangye’s first livestream. It started with only one or two thousand viewers, but once people saw all the protected animals in his backyard, the numbers shot past ten thousand.
Then the “ball-stealing battle” happened, and the viewership peaked at over fifty thousand.
After that, there were trending topics too.
Still, the writer said no. “Don’t forget what we’re promoting: celebrities, not ordinary people. If you were doing a ‘civilian dating show,’ then sure—he’d be perfect.”
The director hesitated, then tried again. “Then can I invite him as a consultant?”
An “animal consultant,” something like that—he could introduce animal traits on the show and help the celebrities interact better with the animals.
It could work… but was it really necessary?
When the director went to ask Lin Jiangye, Shang Fuyan happened to be nearby.
“What? You want me to be a dating show consultant?” Lin Jiangye couldn’t believe it. Did the word “consultant” have some kind of karmic bond with him? Changhe Zoo had tried to hire him as a consultant too!
Shang Fuyan lowered his head and chuckled—only to get a sharp elbow to the stomach from Lin Jiangye.
“No, thanks. I don’t have time.” He genuinely didn’t. And he didn’t want to get tangled up with the entertainment industry.
“There’s an appearance fee!”
Lin Jiangye paused—then still refused. “Really no time. I have to supervise my animal park.”
My animal park. Those five words made the writer’s eyes change instantly.
Seeing Lin Jiangye’s firm attitude, the writer hurriedly dragged the director away.
After getting rid of them, Lin Jiangye looked at the seagulls still helping him search for dolphins and suddenly asked, “Wait—what were we investigating in the first place?”
At the start, they’d thought it was just a thief breaking into a villa.
But now the charges were getting more and more serious… and it had even dragged out a murder case.
What was this—one case pulling out another?
