S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 5 Chapter 56

Misplaced of the Three Murderers 03 – Imagination

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Early in the morning, the police officers who came to work at the police station after finishing their holidays heard the sound of dogs barking from the floor where the SCI office was.

The police officers on all floors listened with their ears open, and from the sound of the barking, it shouldn't be a cute little dog like a Chihuahua or a Bichon Frise, but rather a big dog like a German Shepherd or bigger...

Thinking of Lisbon, the white male lion that frequents SCI all year round, everyone unconsciously shivered. After returning from a holiday, what was SCI going to do now?

Just as Bao Zheng stepped out of the elevator, he was also startled by the sound of a dog barking. He even deliberately backed up and looked at the floor displayed by the elevator, and found that it was right! It was SCI!

Bao Sir squinted his eyes and looked around, a little puzzled – Hallucinations? SCI has always been occupied by all kinds of felines, where did the barking come from?

Following the sound, Bao Zheng walked to the door of SCI's office and looked inside, feeling that he was hallucinating in some way.

In the SCI office, everyone was there. A large topographical map was spread out on the desk, the SCI crowd was gathered in a circle, and there were a few unrecognisable people who seemed to be technicians from the surveillance department downstairs.

Bao Sir was at the door, hesitating to go in, when he heard two barks from behind him.

He hurriedly turned around and saw the smiling Xu Lie.

Bao Sir spent about half a minute thinking about who this kid was, as he looked familiar, and then he remembered, he was the big star who had a dry corpse in his house in the previous case of the Wheel of Caleb.

The one who barked at Bao Zheng was not Xu Lie, but the big white dog he was leading – Dunbu.

Bao Zheng looked at the big dog with long mop-like fur. His eyes and nose couldn't be seen, only a small red mouth was visible.

Dunbu obviously recognised Bao Zheng, wagging his tail at him enthusiastically and shaking his fur again.

Bao Sir nodded – After the fur flew apart, it was like a shaggy mop! It was kind of cute!

From inside the room, Xiao Bai Chi ran out to help lead Dunbu inside and meet the other dogs.

Xu Lie said hello and left. The surveillance officers seemed to be done with their work as well, saying goodbye to the crowd and heading downstairs.

Bao Zheng took a cursory glance. There were at least ten dogs in the SCI office. A few of them were recognisable, such as the two German Shepherds referred to as RT, which should have been borrowed from Chen Yin.

In addition, there were all kinds of different breeds, Border Collie, Labrador, Cocker Spaniel, Doberman, Old English Sheepdog...

Bao Zheng was puzzled, "What is this for? Holding a dog show?"

Zhan Zhao sat on the desk, holding the stack of information stolen from the nature museum in his hand, and asked a question, "Bao Sir, no matter how ordinary a museum is, there will always be surveillance, right? How can someone steal insect specimens from several nature museums without leaving a single clue?"

Bao Zheng reached out and took the document in Zhan Zhao's hand, and looked at it, "If the security level of the nature museums is relatively low, it means that the cost of committing the crime is also relatively low."

Zhan Zhao rolled up the information in his hand and tapped his shoulder as he praised Bao Zheng, "Bao Sir really is very experienced."

"So you got this pack of dogs to prepare an ambush in the museum to catch the petty thieves?" Bao Zheng asked.

Zhan Zhao tsked twice, "A little more imagination would be nice!"

Bao Zheng was puzzled, "Imagination?"

While they were chatting, Bai Yutang came over, spread the map beside Bao Zheng, and started to draw circles, writing the names of the dogs in the circles one by one.

Zhan Zhao's attention was drawn to those names, pointing at one of them with the paper roll and asking, "Who's name is Niu Niu?"

Bai Yutang reached out and pointed to a Border Collie sitting not far away.

Zhan Zhao turned around to look.

That Border Collie was sitting obediently and looking around. When it saw Zhan Zhao looking at it, it tilted its head and wagged its tail, and its two straight black ears perked up.

Zhan Zhao was puzzled, "Why is it called Niu Niu?"

"Because cows are black and white, right..." Bai Yutang stared at that Border Collie for a while and waved at it.

The Border Collie wagged its tail and ran over, sitting beside Bai Yutang and tilting its face up to look at him.

Bai Yutang reached out and stroked its head, exclaiming, "The feeling is indeed different from a cat!"

Zhan Zhao was also looking at the dog.

Bao Zheng patted him, "How do you expand your imagination? Go on!"

Zhan Zhao returned to his senses and smiled, "The security level of a nature museum is low, but the number of exhibits can be great, especially insect specimens and the like."

Saying this, Zhan Zhao picked up a jar of throat lozenges on the table, opened it, and handed it to Bao Zheng.

Bao Zheng looked at the jar of candies and reached out to take one to eat.

Zhan Zhao smiled, "This is actually the thief's modus operandi."

Bao Zheng held the candy and thought about it, "It's indeed easy to steal."

"So expand your imagination!" Zhan Zhao also picked up a candy and threw it into his mouth, "After looking at all the photos of the scene of the theft, one can draw a conclusion."

Bao Zheng nodded, waiting for his conclusion.

Zhan Zhao smiled faintly, "That thief, he wasn't even at the scene!"

Bao Zheng froze and looked at Bai Yutang beside him.

Bai Yutang spread his hands, which meant – Whatever he says, I guess.

Bao Zheng looked at Zhan Zhao, "The thief wasn't at the scene, so who stole it? There's a mole?"

Zhan Zhao shook his head helplessly and looked at Bao Zheng sympathetically, "Bao Sir, you need to think outside the box! Give your imagination little wings that can cross borders!"

Bai Yutang shook his head speechlessly at the side, pointing at the Old English Sheepdog not far away and asking, "What's that one's name?"

Jiang Ping came over, "Mwah Mwah."

Bai Yutang gave Jiang Ping a disgusted look and moved to the side.

Jiang Ping had a serious expression on his face, "That Old English Sheepdog is called Mwah Mwah!"

The look of disgust on Bai Yutang's face intensified a few degrees.

Bao Zheng had a hunch that the person who would give his pet such a name... probably wasn't much of a reliable owner.

Zhan Zhao was curious, "Who does this dog belong to?"

Jiang Ping raised his hand, "I borrowed it from the economic crime division downstairs."

When Jiang Ping spoke, everyone in the office turned their heads.

Bai Chi went over to hold Mwah Mwah's face and looked at it.

Mwah Mwah opened its mouth, revealing half of its small red tongue to Bai Chi, huffing and puffing and licking him, and within seconds, it had covered Bai Chi's face in drool.

"The economic division needs police dogs?" Zhao Hu looked around and found it unbelievable, "Can it detect the smell of real money?"

Bai Yutang suddenly remembered something and asked, "Is this the legendary divine dog?"

"Divine dog?" The crowd became even more curious.

"Oh!" Gongsun also walked over to examine the dog, "This belongs to Fei Mu, the head of the economic division, right?"

Ma Han thought for a moment, "I think I've also heard of it, the economic division has a dog that is a sacred creature, it can sniff out the scent of real banknotes, and it can also appraise jewellery."

The crowd all turned back to look at that Old English Sheepdog again, how can it appraise jewellery when it can't even see?

"Really?" Ma Xin ran over, took off her necklace and shook it in front of Mwah Mwah's hair-covered eyes.

Mwah Mwah didn't react at all, tilting its head to look at Ma Xin.

Jiang Ping picked up his cell phone and sent a WeChat message.

Zhan Zhao glanced at his cell phone screen and saw that he had messaged Fei Mu, "Your Mwah Mwah..."

About twenty seconds later, a burst of panicked footsteps could be heard on the stairs, followed by a man in a suit rushing to the door, grasping the doorframe and asking, "What happened to my Mwah Mwah?!"

Grasping the door frame of the SCI office was a curly-haired middle-aged man in a three-piece suit without a trace of disarray, with cuffs and a tie button. His appearance looked svelte, particularly elite.

Zhao Hu asked Ma Han in a low voice, "Is he really a liberal arts student? It only took twenty seconds to climb four floors..."

The Old English Sheepdog called Mwah Mwah had already run out when he heard the voice. Fei Mu squatted down and wrapped his arms around it while looking at Jiang Ping slyly, "When you came to borrow it, you clearly promised not to let my Mwah Mwah run into any dangers!"

Bao Zheng looked at the head of the economic crime division speechlessly... The image of his police department's crowd of elites was really hard to describe.

Because SCI catches all the perverted murderers, their contact with the economic crime division was actually relatively low, but this Captain Fei was quite famous.

Fei Mu had a PhD, which was, of course, in economics. He was also an avid maths enthusiast. He and Jiang Ping played games together and lived in the same neighbourhood. It was said that he was a very good cook, and Jiang Ping often went to his home to eat with him.

Ma Xin came over, "Captain Fei~ Your family's Mwah Mwah can appraise jewellery?"

Fei Mu nodded.

Zhan Zhao seemed quite interested and asked, "Can you demonstrate?"

Fei Mu nodded and asked, "Do you have any jewellery? Diamonds and gems are both fine."

Ma Xin gave him the necklace from earlier.

Fei Mu took it and looked at it, it was diamond, so he asked, "Then is there anything similar to this, crystal or glass or something like that?"

Ma Xin took off her earrings and handed them over, "These are crystal."

Fei Mu put the necklace in his left hand, the earrings in his right hand, and puts both hands in front of Mwah Mwah's eyes

Mwah Mwah sniffed both sides before eventually stretching out its front paws and pressing on the hand that Fei Mu was holding the necklace in.

Everyone looked at each other.

Gongsun found it interesting so he picked up the necklace and returned it to Ma Xin, then split the two earrings between Fei Mu's hands for Mwah Mwah to identify.

As a result, Mwah Mwah sniffed both his right and left hands and didn't move, just sitting in place and looking at Gongsun.

Bai Chi cut a newspaper into a piece the same size as a banknote, folded the piece of paper and a banknote in half and held them separately in his hands, then moved his two fists over to Mwah Mwah.

Mwah Mwah came close to both fists and smelled them, then finally raised his paw and gently scratched Bai Chi's right hand.

Bai Chi opened his hand and inside was a folded-up banknote.

Bai Yutang asked, "So it only finds genuine things?"

Fei Mu nodded, "Aren't we the economic division, most of the thieves we catch are hiding real treasures."

"It can distinguish gems by smell?" Gongsun reached out and stroked Mwah Mwah's head, "What kind of scientific principle is this?"

Bao Zheng patted Zhan Zhao, who was intent on studying the dog, "Ai! Finish your sentence, how did that thief steal the insect specimen without doing it himself, what method did he use?"

Zhan Zhao looked at Bao Zheng and smiled slightly, "Something a little more high-tech than the security system."

Bao Zheng frowned, "What..."

Zhan Zhao laughed, "A drone!"

Jiang Ping felt it was reasonable, "A small drone with a telescopic grasping contraption is perfectly suited to the task. Moreover, it can enter through skylights, ventilation ducts, and other gaps, and it can also avoid cameras... For a low-security level nature museum, this is a reliable method for stealing small insect specimens!"

Bao Zheng nodded and asked Zhan Zhao, "Then what are you trying to do with all these dogs?"

"These kids won't be arranged in the nature museum, but outside the museum." Zhan Zhao seemed to be in a good mood, "It's impossible for you to fly a drone across half of S City to grab a specimen, it must be recovered close by. So that thief must be near the museum, like in an alley or a bush. As long as this drone flies out of the nature museum, the prey will definitely be within the pursuit range of the dogs."

Bao Zheng looked at Zhan Zhao's excitement and was somewhat speechless, "You guys are messing around again, don't cause any trouble and get complained about by the museum."

Zhan Zhao raised an eyebrow – How is that possible?

Bao Zheng explained a few words and went to work on something else.

Bai Yutang continued to arrange for the dogs to stand guard, and the others went about their own business.

However, the one in charge of the economic division, Fei Mu, didn't leave, but stood there thoughtfully, seemingly thinking about something.

Zhao Hu walked past him and reached out to pat his shoulder, "Ai? What's wrong?"

Fei Mu raised his head, frowned, and said, "I'm thinking of something..."

Saying this, Fei Mu walked over to the desk and asked Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang, "Are you investigating Zhou Ming's case of the theft from the nature museums?"

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang both nodded.

Zhou Ming's art crime division was under the economic crime division, in other words, Fei Mu was Zhou Ming's superior.

"Actually, that case, I was a bit mindful of it before, but I really didn't think about the drone theft part..." Fei Mu said, lifting his hand to Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang, "Wait for me ah! I'll go get something."

After saying that, Fei Mu ran away.

‿︵‿︵ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ・❉・ ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ‿︵‿︵

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Translator Notes

Please feel free to comment any mistakes I made so I can improve and do better as I go through the book.

Translated: February 18, 2024 by Angel

Edited: May 16, 2024 by Angel