Chapter 78: A Labrador’s Prayer
The crows of Yue City were still out searching for the remaining people. Tourists stared at the sky packed with black wings, confused and a little scared—yet the moment they turned their heads, they saw locals calmly sipping coffee and tea, as if this spectacle was the most ordinary thing in the world.
“Why are there so many crows in Yue City?” visitors asked, utterly baffled.
But it wasn’t just the locals who stayed unbothered. Even people from other places who had worked and lived here for more than a year weren’t anxious either. In fact, not only were they not afraid, when a crow landed nearby, some of them would even greet it warmly.
“Yo—so what’s the Advisor looking for this time? Such a huge formation.”
Some people would even lean in, point at their own faces, and grin. “Look at me, look at me—I’m a law-abiding citizen, totally legit.”
And that, with some probability, would trigger a crow’s “loving” slap—doesn’t hurt, but it’s funny—accompanied by an unmistakably impatient string of caws. Even if they couldn’t understand animal speech, they could pretty much guess the meaning.
“I’m working here. Don’t annoy me.”
Heh. So fun.
They’d caught a few of the Holy Spirit Cult members, but not all of them. According to the ones they had, two more were headed for Yue City’s second airport.
“They split into two groups—that’s why we couldn’t intercept everyone.” Lin Jiangye immediately piled back into the car with Shang Fuyan and the others, racing toward the second airport.
Behind them was another police car carrying a group of international officers who looked completely lost.
“What did you just say? Crows… finding people? Is this some kind of joke Chinese police like to tell?”
They couldn’t wrap their heads around it. To them, these Chinese officers looked like they’d collectively lost it.
Director Zhou didn’t bother explaining. This was normal here. No explanation would work anyway—people only believed it once they saw it with their own eyes.
Sure enough, a crow soon flew alongside Lin Jiangye’s car.
“Found them, found them! They’re on a small side road! A white car!”
After delivering the message, it shot ahead to guide them.
A single crow couldn’t outrun a car, of course—but who said there was only one?
The crows had already stationed themselves at key intersections. They took turns guiding Lin Jiangye toward the two suspects’ location. That kind of coordinated “animal navigation” left the international officers staring like they’d been struck dumb.
Since when did China master this kind of eerie sorcery?
As they drove, it became clear they were indeed headed toward the second airport. But a few kilometers out, the lead black car suddenly veered off and turned onto a narrow side road.
Director Zhou followed without hesitation. The international officers hesitated—but given the situation, they chose silence.
And very quickly, they realized staying quiet was the right call.
After winding through the side road, the convoy emerged onto a deserted stretch of highway.
Not far ahead, a van was driving toward the airport.
“Airport, just as expected. Everyone, attention—suspects are heading toward the airport. If we can’t intercept here, they’ll reach the international departure terminal in about twenty minutes.”
The moment she finished speaking, Director Zhou saw the black car in front slam the accelerator—
Biu—it shot forward like a bullet.
“D-Director Zhou!” Should we follow or not?!
Director Zhou’s mouth twitched. That kind of bold, reckless driving… yeah, that was Lin Jiangye behind the wheel.
That’s right—Lin Jiangye was driving. Bai Zhengwen was supposed to, but Lin Jiangye waved him off and sent him to the back seat.
And in the passenger seat, naturally, sat Shang Fuyan.
The instant Lin Jiangye confirmed the target, he stomped on the gas and charged straight at the van.
The people inside the van had already noticed the sudden black car. They tensed immediately, suspecting it was police.
But one of them rejected the idea at once.
“That can’t be the police!”
How would Chinese police dare drive a car this luxurious? That emblem alone was worth millions.
And yet—right after he insisted “impossible,” the black car came at them like it had gone insane.
When the distance closed and the other car still didn’t slow down, the van’s passengers panicked.
“Floor it! That lunatic is coming for us!”
Too late.
The black car smashed into the van’s rear, ramming it forward for dozens of meters—then flipped it over with brute force. The van rolled several times before crashing hard onto the road.
Inside, they felt like they’d been thrown into a washing machine—spun around again and again—until car and people slammed to a stop together.
Meanwhile, in Lin Jiangye’s car, everyone only felt a mild shake. If they hadn’t seen the collision with their own eyes, they might’ve thought they’d simply hit a small pothole.
A good car.
“My twenty-million car wasn’t bought for nothing!” The base price was only around ten million—he’d spent several million more reinforcing it. If it couldn’t handle a hit like that, his money would’ve gone down the drain.
Bai Zhengwen was speechless for a second—then heard Shang Fuyan calmly agree.
“Yeah. Expensive is expensive, but it’s expensive for a reason.”
Bai Zhengwen nearly laughed from frustration. Now he understood why Shang Fuyan got the passenger seat: this man would never stop Lin Jiangye from doing anything.
While they were still talking, the van’s passengers crawled out, raised a small handgun, and sprayed bullets at the black car.
But those rounds weren’t even comparable to the poachers’ rifles from before, let alone capable of leaving any mark on this vehicle.
When the shooter emptied the magazine, Lin Jiangye stomped the gas again and drove straight at him.
“Hey—hey—hey!” Bai Zhengwen jolted.
Fortunately, Lin Jiangye wasn’t a lawless maniac. At the last moment, he hit the brakes. The car’s momentum still nudged forward, knocking the man down—hard—without crushing him.
The man’s mind went blank from the impact. When he came to and realized he wasn’t bleeding, he tried to scramble away—only to look up and find several black gun barrels aimed at him.
“Take them all!” Police!
His breathing turned ragged. As officers pinned him down and snapped cuffs onto his wrists, he caught sight of the teammate who’d sworn it “wasn’t the police,” and instantly exploded into curses.
“Your f***ing ‘not the police’—then what the hell is this?!”
The other guy wasn’t backing down either, chin up, shouting that he’d report the police for taking bribes.
“Chinese cops make, what, pennies a month! How could they afford a car like that? They must be corrupt!”
The surrounding officers felt personally insulted.
The cop restraining him couldn’t help it—he applied a little more force. The man instantly screamed like his throat was being torn.
Lin Jiangye scratched his head awkwardly. Of all things to rant about… why bring that up? The owner of the car was standing right here!
Director Zhou rolled her eyes so hard they nearly stuck. She wanted to explain—but explaining to someone like this felt beneath her.
And just like that, every cultist in Yue City was arrested.
The international officers stared at Yue City’s criminal police efficiency in a daze.
They’d landed less than an hour ago—how were all the suspects already caught?
If Chinese police didn’t need their help… what were they even here for?
They exchanged glances and immediately told Director Zhou they needed to take custody of the foreign cultists. Those were criminals on international wanted lists.
Director Zhou refused flatly.
“This case—from start to finish—has been handled by Chinese police. And now you want to take them away? Are you trying to steal credit?”
Even if she, as Director, didn’t need the credit, the officers of Qingze and Wen’an did.
Just catching international fugitives alone was enough for commendations for everyone involved. Add it to the earlier cases, and a third-class merit award was practically guaranteed.
That meant money and promotion—an excellent New Year’s gift after a year of grinding work.
If these foreigners took the fugitives, Yue City’s police would become “helpers,” and their rewards would be slashed.
So unless Director Zhou had lost her mind, she wasn’t handing over the achievement.
The international officers knew she was right, but if they returned empty-handed, it would be humiliating for international law enforcement.
Looks like they’d have to negotiate.
Meanwhile, one of the biggest contributors, Lin Jiangye, was checking his car.
After confirming there wasn’t even a scratch, he finally nodded in satisfaction.
“Nice. Very nice.”
Bai Zhengwen pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. He had a bad feeling—after today, Lin Jiangye’s methods were only going to get wilder.
Before leaving, Lin Jiangye patted Shang Fuyan on the shoulder and quietly asked about Yan Keke and the others.
Shang Fuyan understood at once—Lin Jiangye was worried about their mental state.
“They’re… not doing great.” Not “not great”—more like really bad.
Even Lin Jiangye had nightmares. How could the others be fine?
The only one who seemed relatively okay was Shang Fuyan—because he’d only been on the island briefly, and hadn’t participated in the full search for bodies.
“Want to come to my place tomorrow and pet the kids for a while?”
The weather in Yue City had been nice lately. They could treat it like a picnic: sunlight, fluffy animals, some dessert—something to unwind a bit.
Shang Fuyan’s heart stirred. His brows softened immediately.
“That’s actually a great idea. But tomorrow definitely won’t work. The day after, or the day after that—either way, we need to wrap up the case before we can rest.”
After the case ended, Director Zhou would definitely give them a few days off.
Then, Shang Fuyan hesitated and cleared his throat.
“Um… would you mind if I stayed at your place for a few days?”
His ears were burning. He couldn’t quite meet Lin Jiangye’s eyes.
“Sure. Why not?” Lin Jiangye answered like it was the most natural thing in the world.
Shang Fuyan was happy… and oddly, a little disappointed too.
When Shang Fuyan returned to the station and relayed the invitation to the direct-action team, the whole group—who’d been wilted like dead grass—instantly inflated like they’d been pumped full of air.
“Really?! Advisor Lin really invited us over to relax?!” Yan Keke’s eyes practically shot out ten-thousand-watt beams, nearly blinding Shang Fuyan.
“Yes. I asked him myself. He agreed.”
As he spoke, everyone clearly saw the brief softness that flickered through Shang Fuyan’s eyes.
Yan Keke grinned and shrank back, exchanging knowing looks with Ai Rong—silent eyebrow-waggling as if plotting something.
“But before we go,” Shang Fuyan added, “we finish this case.”
He said that—but no one was worried anymore.
Bodies had been found. Murder weapons had been found. The killer was arrested, mentally collapsing and spilling everything. The accomplices were wanted fugitives. This entire group was finished.
The only remaining piece was tracing how Zhang Wei’an got involved with the Holy Spirit Cult.
By rights, Lin Jiangye shouldn’t have much to do with the follow-up.
But a day later, Shang Fuyan called him again—asking him to come to Zhang Wei’an’s villa.
“There’s a Labrador here. We’ve heard it was raised by Miss Yuan. The moment we walked in, it started barking at us. I need you to translate.”
Oh—a Labrador.
If it involved animals, Lin Jiangye almost never said no.
When he arrived, before he even entered the villa, he heard an anxious voice:
“Are you police? Are you here to take away the bad man who killed Mom?”
Lin Jiangye stopped in his tracks. Shang Fuyan—who’d come out to meet him—reacted instantly.
“What did you just hear?”
Lin Jiangye didn’t answer. Instead, he asked:
“After Miss Yuan survived the plane crash… has she been in a coma ever since?”
…Huh?!
Everyone around them heard that, linked it with the dog’s strange attitude, and a chain of conspiracy theories lit up in their heads.
But to be honest, it wasn’t that surprising.
After a full day of investigation, they’d already pieced together the relationship between Zhang Wei’an and the Holy Spirit Cult.
Back when Zhang Wei’an earned an exchange-student spot overseas, the cult had already set its sights on him.
Zhang Wei’an wasn’t a good person, but he could disguise himself as a gentle, refined gentleman. With a decent face and an impressive academic background, he had no shortage of women interested in him.
But he wasn’t interested in any of them.
He wanted to climb straight to the top.
The cult seized that weakness. Using “helping him hook an upper-class woman” as bait, they recruited him as a believer.
When they discovered he had dissociative identity disorder, they didn’t get angry—they were ecstatic.
A “sick” person was perfect. It was proof he was a chosen disciple of their god.
With the cult’s help, Zhang Wei’an successfully got close to Miss Yuan.
The police didn’t believe the cult was being charitable. Sure enough, once he became Miss Yuan’s boyfriend, he began donating money and goods to the cult.
“So the cult raised him as a cash cow?” Lin Jiangye guessed as he walked inside.
“No.” Shang Fuyan shook his head. “Their original plan was to use Zhang Wei’an to swallow Qinghu Group, then control him from the shadows and take the whole company.”
Why settle for a cash cow when you could eat the whole farm?
“But they didn’t get to carry it out. The cult’s main base was wiped out. In the chaos, they had no choice but to flee to China and lie low.”
Luckily, the plan never fully happened—otherwise the Yuan family really might’ve been wiped out.
Lin Jiangye then asked about the bodies—who had arranged them like that.
“The Holy Spirit Cult. They said it was to ‘summon an evil god’ or something… bunch of lunatics. Once we cracked them open, we found videos: Zhang Wei’an killing people, and them arranging the bodies and praying.”
As Shang Fuyan spoke about the evidence, disgust twisted across his face. Those videos had nearly scarred him.
Yeah—he definitely needed to go to Lin Jiangye’s and bury his face in something fluffy for a while.
Once inside the villa, Lin Jiangye saw a white Labrador circling the officers’ legs anxiously. Its thick tail whipped like a club, smacking several cops so hard their faces warped.
A Labrador assaulting police—literally.
Lin Jiangye cleared his throat to suppress laughter, then crouched in front of the Labrador and asked gently:
“You said your mom was killed by a bad man. What happened?”
The Labrador’s eyes flew wide in shock.
“Human! You can understand me?”
“Yes, I can. The police uncles thought you might have something important to report, so they invited me over to translate.”
Lin Jiangye stroked the Labrador’s fur. Maybe because its beloved “mom” was gone, the coat felt a bit stiff—there was also a strange smell to it.
Or maybe it was simply old. Older dogs’ coats weren’t as fluffy.
Hearing that the police uncles had specially brought him, the Labrador’s tail swung even harder—bang bang bang against people’s calves.
The cop getting thwacked so hard he was baring his teeth still didn’t step away. Instead, he bent down and patted the dog’s head, soothing it.
“You can tell him everything you know. He’ll help you—and he’ll help your mom.”
The Labrador’s big black eyes instantly grew wet. Its whole face crumpled with grievance, and it started whimpering so pitifully anyone would ache for it.
If only the tail would stop, it’d be perfect. (:???)
“Mom was pushed down by the bad man! He killed Mom!”
The Labrador sobbed and accused loudly.
According to it, after Miss Yuan survived the crash, she was actually brought home at one point—and even woke up briefly in the middle.
However, once Zhang Weian realized she was actually awake—and could even stand up on her own—he made his move.
All it took was a light shove to send a patient who hadn’t fully regained her senses tumbling down from the stair landing on the second floor.
Back then, there was no one else in the house, and there were no surveillance cameras nearby. Aside from the Labrador who witnessed it with his own eyes, no one knew Zhang Weian had laid hands on his wife.
That single push was enough to leave Miss Yuan unconscious to this day.
Still, Lin Jiangye couldn’t help feeling puzzled. “If Zhang Weian wanted to get rid of Miss Yuan, why leave her as a vegetable all this time?”
It wasn’t that Lin Jiangye wished her dead—he just couldn’t figure out why Zhang Weian had allowed her to survive until now.
“For that, you can thank the Yuan family’s butler,” someone replied. “He’s been guarding the young miss this whole time.”
Lin Jiangye looked up and saw that Li Wei was here too.
Li Wei didn’t look great—tired and listless—probably because he hadn’t expected those two bodies to drag so many ugly truths into the light.
“I’m fine… ha.” Li Wei forced a laugh. “Captain Jiang’s side is completely numb.”
They thought it was just a small break-in at first. Then it turned into a celebrity drug case—along with sleeping with fans and secretly filming private nude photos. After that, it escalated again when he was found drugging other people in the industry. Then two bodies were discovered at the reality show’s filming site. And by following the clues step by step, the case ultimately blew up into something massive: a corporate chairman who had been secretly funding a cult for years—and torturing and murdering more than a dozen people.
This time, Yue City had shaken the whole country. Thankfully, even though netizens were stunned and started half-joking about Yue City’s feng shui, they didn’t turn on the police.
Because from discovery to resolution, it had taken them only three days.
That speed was already astonishing, okay?
Besides, Director Zhou had pulled a neat little trick of shifting the heat—quietly letting reporters know that the “international police” had tried to swoop in and claim the credit.
Sure enough, once that news broke, the public’s anger immediately redirected toward those international officers, blasting them for being shameless.
Lin Jiangye found it both funny and exasperating. But his expression quickly sobered again, because Li Wei had quietly told him: after this, every police bureau in Yue City would probably get thoroughly scrutinized.
“Sixteen missing people… that number is terrifying. But aside from Shang Fuyao, not a single person really noticed or took it seriously. If I hadn’t been swamped lately, I’d probably get torn apart in a review too.”
Li Wei didn’t sound resentful toward Shang Fuyao—more like guilt and regret. If he’d noticed earlier too, could they have saved at least some of those sixteen?
Shang Fuyao patted his shoulder, offering silent comfort.
What the Labrador revealed wasn’t a surprise to the police, but to the Yuan family’s butler, it was like a bolt from the blue.
“Miss… I knew it! I knew her sudden collapse was suspicious!” The butler was in his forties, practically watched Miss Yuan grow up. Other staff said that when she was younger, she used to call him “Uncle.”
Li Wei let out a long sigh. “It’s a pity there’s no direct evidence. But it doesn’t matter—Zhang Weian is finished. When the trial comes, you can go watch in person. Then tell your young miss the good news.”
The butler wiped his tears and nodded, clutching the Labrador as if he were holding on for dear life. “I… I will. I’ll definitely go.”
It was just a shame—who knew when that young miss would ever wake up.
Lin Jiangye lowered his gaze to the Labrador, who was also whining and crying softly, and offered a suggestion. “How about I translate for the Labrador? Maybe if his beloved dog encourages her, she’ll wake up sooner.”
Whether someone in a vegetative state has awareness—medicine still can’t say for sure.
But trying wouldn’t hurt. What if it worked?
Life is all about betting on that “what if,” isn’t it?
“Y-yes—yes, yes, yes. Thank you!” The butler hadn’t expected such a stroke of luck.
The young miss had lived with the Labrador for over ten years. She must care about him deeply. If he cried beside her and said what he wanted to say, maybe—just maybe—he really could call her back.
Hearing that he could go see his mom and convey his feelings, the Labrador’s tail nearly turned into a little propeller.
If Mom could wake up, he’d be willing to trade his life for it!
Author’s Note:
Mini Skit:
Labrador praying…
The Dog God, hearing the dog’s summons: “So which mom do you want—the golden one, the silver one, or the bronze one?” [Let me see~]
Labrador: “I only want my original mom!” [pitiful]
Dog God: “Oh! What an honest dog! I’ll return your original mom to you—this is your reward for being honest!” [flowers]
Labrador: “Then do I have to give my life? If I do… can you give me five minutes to say goodbye to Mom?” [pitiful]
Dog God: “Of course not! I said it was a reward! Live well too, okay? Try to spend another ten years with Mom.” [pat head]
PS: The longest-lived dog so far reached 31 years. It’s just a skit, so I’m not worrying about the Labrador’s average lifespan—I’m taking it straight to the limit. [dog holding a rose]
