Chapter 387

Noon.

When quitting time came, Xu Xuewu had no appetite; he brewed himself a cup of tea, sat by the window, took a few breaths, lit a cigarette, and only then did his anxiety slowly ease.

In just these few days, the case handling center had gone from overflowing to completely empty, and Xu Xuewu had borne considerable pressure.

In these few days, the calls pleading for leniency and visits seeking to bail out suspects reached their peak. Fortunately, the rapid progress of each case—suspects transferred to detention—made Xu Xuewu feel a little lighter.

Tap tap tap tap.

The sound of hard leather shoes striking the floor made Xu Xuewu frown.

"Lao Jiang, can't you be like the young ones and wear sneakers? At least you'd be more comfortable running." Xu Xuewu didn't even need to look—he knew it was Instructor Jiang Yunli of the squad.

They had worked together for a long time, both rising slowly from the grassroots, and their cooperation was fairly seamless. But Jiang Yunli had one habit: he loved wearing leather shoes, especially stiff-toed, hard-heeled ones. When traveling together, his feet stank terribly, and no amount of scolding changed him.

Now, Jiang Yunli didn't even bother arguing with Xu Xuewu; he simply said, "Didn't you read today's Miaoh River Daily?"

"What? Still people reading newspapers?" Xu Xuewu laughed. "Last time I camped out at a newsstand for a whole day—it only sold drinks. Who the hell reads newspapers anymore? Only a fool."

Jiang Yunli's gaze sharpened slightly.

"Just say it then," Xu Xuewu relented. His instructor wasn't just smelly—he was also endlessly nagging. Xu Xuewu felt he'd heard enough nagging at home; he truly didn't want to hear men drone on anymore.

Jiang Yunli casually took a cigarette from Xu Xuewu, lit it, and said, "Today, many media outlets covered our arrests of these old and petty thieves. I mention the Miaoh River Daily because its headline was perfect: 'Use Thunderous Measures to Restore a Clear and Bright World.' Front-page lead story. It explicitly praised our Criminal Investigation Squad for outstanding work, effective investigations, safeguarding social production activities, and enhancing public safety and happiness. Official media's words carry weight—and they sound good."

Xu Xuewu couldn't help but laugh. The praise felt warm, somehow.

Xu Xuewu crushed the half-smoked Liqun and said, "Tell me more. Did you bring the paper?"

Jiang Yunli smiled, reached behind his back, into the pocket of his police pants, and pulled out a stack of newspapers, handing them to Xu Xuewu.

Xu Xuewu paused and asked, "Did you really have to stick it in your ass?"

Jiang Yunli wiped his hands. "I just picked up a courier. Walked back and forth—it's far. Look, the paper's damp. You gonna read it or not?"

Xu Xuewu still wanted to read it. He frowned, took the other end, and spread it open on the desk.

As Jiang Yunli had said, the Miaoh River Daily's front-page lead was indeed the article titled "Use Thunderous Measures to Restore a Clear and Bright World." The author devoted two full pages to detailing the Criminal Investigation Squad's resolution of multiple theft cases.

Even Xu Xuewu himself had only learned from the paper that, in these few days, Jiang Yuan had confirmed the resolution of 237 theft cases.

Of course, since most apprehended were seasoned thieves, and due to interrogation techniques, on-site searches, and mutual accusations, each suspect was linked to multiple cases. Still, seeing that number left Xu Xuewu stunned.

"Insane! Over two hundred cases solved? Did you verify the numbers?" Xu Xuewu asked Jiang Yunli.

"I provided the numbers," Jiang Yunli shot him a sidelong glance. "You don't think the Miaoh River Daily has investigative capabilities, do you?"

"You..." Xu Xuewu laughed in exasperation.

"One case is 0.1 point, one arrest is 0.1 point. Two hundred-plus theft cases add up to four or five points—half a homicide cold case. They did it in three days." Jiang Yunli shook his head, then asked Xu Xuewu, "You haven't been scrolling short videos these past two days, have you?"

Xu Xuewu sighed. "I don't have time to scroll short videos. What's going on with them?"

"They're all bragging about how safe the city feels now, how great the police are at catching thieves, how bold and decisive the authorities are."

"Ah..." Jiang Yunli droned on, then suddenly added, "The municipal bureau and provincial department both called to ask about this. You know—today's leaders all scroll short videos."

"I know. Last meeting, Director Wang was scrolling videos right there..." Xu Xuewu sighed. "We've labored for years unnoticed, and now one dog hunt makes us famous nationwide!"

Jiang Yunli said, "Alternatively, you could say that while we in the system might see catching thieves as low-level work, to ordinary people—and even journalists—these petty thefts are their daily pain points. Snatching up so many thieves at once has visibly improved the county's environment. That's genuinely rare."

Nowadays, every industry is cutthroat—even thievery is. Thieves everywhere are overabundant. Especially low-effort types—stealing e-bike batteries, for instance—get arrested today, replaced tomorrow, with zero impact on urban development or safety.

But Jiang Yuan, operating a single-person crackdown system? Not only do many dare not return, they can't even find enough people to replace those caught. The effect is completely different.

Xu Xuewu pulled out his phone, switched to the local channel, and scrolled quickly through several videos—sure enough, he found ones about catching thieves.

Xu Xuewu turned up the volume. A local-accented man was vividly describing changes in the snack street, inviting tourists from afar to visit...

Externally, Xu Xuewu still looked like the handsome, upright man he always was.

But Jiang Yunli, who knew him well, knew Xu Xuewu was wagging his tail inside his pants right now.

"We haven't had a chance to shine in Miaoh County for ages. I bet the county magistrate, the party secretary, and even the bureau chief will all come asking us questions soon," Jiang Yunli added.

Xu Xuewu blinked. "What... what do we say?"

"Say anything. I think Jiang Yuan will cooperate. But you know what he wants."

"Just for a dog?"

"Then will you help find it?" Jiang Yunli countered.

"Find it... how can we not find it... how do we even find it?" Xu Xuewu passed the question back to Jiang Yunli.

Jiang Yunli pursed his lips. "Song Alley is a mess. The thief bosses there are far more numerous than we've seen or heard."

Xu Xuewu's eyes lit up. This approach was clever and cost-free—far more efficient than assigning two more Wangwang teams to Jiang Yuan.

Evening.

A rumor spread through the detention center.

"I heard this crackdown happened because of a dog."

"I heard several thief bosses were arrested because of a dog."

"I have a distant relative who's a cop—he said they deployed a ton of people to find that dog. All our tips were already checked by police from outside."

The detention center's environment was already more chaotic than prison.

With this new rumor, discussion grew louder.

"A dog?"

"So now a dog's worth more than a person?"

"Boss, I've got dozens of dogs at home—I'll send them right over!"

"Keep dogs in the detention center? You want to become one yourself?"

"Then what do we do?"

"Woof!"

"Ask each other—say whoever finds the dog gets sentence reduction."

Song Alley.

Da Zhuang savored his long-missed dog food, face twisted in conflict.

He wanted to bury his head and eat, yet feared finishing too fast. Meanwhile, his two front paws kept excitedly hopping.

Li Li watched helplessly. She'd seen this scene many times—each time, she doubted her dog-training skills.

Honestly, she'd eaten Jiang Yuan's dog food more than once. The taste was good, but Da Zhuang's behavior still baffled her.

"Eat. Once you're full, we work," Li Li patted the dog's head. They were about to deploy—now was the time to keep the dog happy.

Dogs don't follow humans for heroic, grueling battles.

After eating.

After a brief rest, the search team assembled.

Li Li, with Da Zhuang, rode to the search site—deep in Song Alley, where cameras didn't exist, buildings were mostly forty years old, layout chaotic, riddled with illegal structures, and densely populated.

The Third Platoon had made virtually no progress here before.

As Li Li and Da Zhuang got out of the car, she saw photos of Gui Hua taped to utility poles, along with missing-dog notices—the reward now raised to 10,000 yuan.

Li Li had been a detective for ten years. Seeing this environment and reward, yet still no leads, she frowned.

But there was nothing more to say. She called Da Zhuang over, gave him a quick command, then pulled out the pre-prepared undergarment cloth of the Pug, Gui Hua, and let him sniff it.

Da Zhuang sniffed, then began circling repeatedly.

A dog's sense of smell is extremely sharp—in open wilderness, a good hunting dog can detect prey several kilometers away.

But in an urban environment, accurately locating a person or a dog is far harder.

Da Zhuang circled for a long while without locking on. Li Li wasn't worried; she led him forward a bit, let him sniff again, then repeated the process...

After an hour of this, just as everyone was growing drowsy, Da Zhuang suddenly let out a low growl and sprinted forward.

Li Li chased after him, running fast.

Soon, Da Zhuang led them to an abandoned warehouse.

Inside, the warehouse was empty, as if licked clean. Dust on the floor was sparse, but a few footprints marked comings and goings.

But Da Zhuang ignored the footprints—he ran to the corner and barked at a patch of shadow.

Li Li frowned and walked over, thinking: Could this thing have smelled dog urine?

As she thought this, a familiar sweet-salty odor hit her nose.

Closer inspection revealed the shadow was a dried pool of blood.