Chapter 408: Chapter 334: I Thought You Were Exaggerating, but It Turns Out You Were Being Conservative (Part 2)
Then, by a stroke of luck, the cat ran into the target’s villa.
It’s a cat, a sentient individual. Its actions are beyond human control.
Then, this cat "accidentally" captured something that became evidence.
That was the gist of it, operating entirely on the fringes of the law.
Cats are very patient animals.
Sheriff lay under the sofa the whole time, barely moving a muscle.
When the battery ran low, Shen Xin softly gave the order for Sheriff to return.
The sound of the television provided cover, so it wasn’t a major issue.
The next moment, Sheriff silently slipped out from under the sofa. He didn’t make the slightest sound as he retraced his steps.
He darted into a corner, then turned his head for a look at the target.
Only then did Shen Xin get his first look at the target.
A man in his forties with glasses and short hair.
He was completely oblivious to Sheriff, leaning against the sofa and engrossed in his phone.
He retraced his path, the entire process incredibly fast.
Shen Xin didn’t even need to go get him. Sheriff followed the scent right to the outside of the MPV and started pawing at the back door.
Han Shicheng opened a crack, and the cat squeezed inside.
Instantly, Qin Chunyi and the others all fixed their gazes on him. It startled him, and he dodged away, leaping into Shen Xin’s arms.
Shen Xin quickly removed the collar to charge it.
While he was at it, he also pulled out a bag of freeze-dried treats to reward him.
But he wouldn’t eat them. He just pawed at Shen Xin’s clothes, meowing.
Qin Chunyi curiously asked what that meant.
Shen Xin heard the cat’s thoughts and said, half amused and half exasperated, "He probably didn’t get his fill of fish earlier."
Qin Chunyi paused, then gave Hu Mingchuan a push. "Go, go buy some. Get him some sashimi."
After Hu Mingchuan left, looking just as torn between amusement and exasperation, Qin Chunyi stared intently at Sheriff.
The longer he watched, the wider the smile in his eyes grew.
"Old Han, I thought you were exaggerating this afternoon. Turns out you were actually downplaying it."
Qin Chunyi muttered.
That afternoon, Han Shicheng had argued his case with them, telling them how Shen Xin had used a cat for reconnaissance and even cracked a major drug case.
At the time, he really thought Han Shicheng was full of it.
But seeing this now, he could only say his own imagination had been too limited.
Han Shicheng couldn’t help but laugh out loud.
He felt an inexplicable sense of vindication in that moment. "Qin Zhi," he added, "you might not know this, but as amazing as Shen Xin’s cat is, the police dog he trained is on another level."
"Oh? A police dog?"
Qin Chunyi’s interest was instantly piqued, and he asked what Han Shicheng meant.
Han Shicheng directly pulled out his phone.
The department had already held a commendation ceremony, and the related video had long since gone viral.
He found the video to show Qin Chunyi. "You know that police dog that’s super popular online right now? That’s the one Xiaoshen trained. One police dog saved a total of nineteen people."
Shen Xin hadn’t expected Han Shicheng to start hyping him up.
’It wasn’t nineteen people,’ Shen Xin thought. ’That mother and daughter were dug out by hand, so they should be subtracted.’
"My God, Shen Xin, you’re the one who trained that police dog?" Qin Chunyi exclaimed.
Tian Kui was so famous, how could he not know?
But the videos that surfaced online were edited and censored, and Shen Xin’s name was never mentioned. Who would have known he was the trainer?
Shen Xin could only smile and nod.
Qin Chunyi had already spotted Shen Xin in the video and was giving him a big thumbs-up. In his excitement, he even slipped into his local dialect, saying how amazing it was.
Even Gao Siyu couldn’t resist leaning in to sneak a few peeks.
The young tech guy also chimed in, lowering his voice. "Dude, are you a Druid?"
At this point, Qin Chunyi finally understood why Shen Xin’s cat was so capable.
If the police dog he trained was that incredible, then the cat was a given.
A few minutes later, with a full charge, Sheriff set off again.
Having made the trip once, his path was completely unobstructed.
This time, he hid in the shadow of a large planter in the living room, secretly watching the target.
He was only four or five meters away, yet the target remained completely oblivious.
Around eleven o’clock, the target got up and walked past the planter as if it wasn’t there, not even giving it a second glance.
Sheriff quickly followed.
He moved silently, a black shape in the dark. Even when tailing someone step-for-step, he was difficult to spot.
As everyone watched, the target did a simple wash-up, went up to the second floor, and returned to his bedroom.
The master bedroom was a large suite with a TV console, an open-plan walk-in closet, a recreation and leisure area, and a huge floor-to-ceiling balcony.
After entering, the target quickly turned off the lights and lay in bed scrolling through his phone.
Having followed him for so long, Sheriff was getting bolder.
Instead of ducking under the bed for safe cover, he brazenly leaped onto a dark gray armchair next to the TV console, diagonally across from the bed.
He curled up in the chair, quietly watching the target.
From this angle, it was like a camera had been placed directly facing the bed, making everyone in the van’s heart pound, afraid the target would spot him.
But the room lights were off, with only the glow of the phone illuminating the target’s face.
And Sheriff, all black and lying on a dark gray armchair, was basically invisible.
"That’s insane."
The tech guy gave Shen Xin a thumbs-up.
This was the kind of surveillance effect you could only achieve by secretly sneaking in and installing a pinhole camera.
After a while, the target put down his phone, apparently ready to sleep.
After he turned off his phone and lay down, he paused, then suddenly shot his head up.
The hearts of everyone watching the feed skipped a beat.
’Did he spot him?’
But Sheriff gave a vivid demonstration of what a "zero-frame startup" was, launching himself directly from a resting position and darting under the armchair.
He vanished from the target’s line of sight in an instant.
The target stared, looking left and right, before lying back down.
Clearly, he hadn’t seen anything.
A moment later, Sheriff leaped back onto the armchair and settled down again.
The faint sound of the target’s breathing came from across the room. It seemed he had fallen asleep.
Qin Chunyi shot Shen Xin two thumbs-up. "Nothing more to say. Fucking incredible."
He couldn’t find any other words to describe it.
Shen Xin waved it off modestly, then asked Qin Chunyi if he wanted to have the cat take a look around.
Qin Chunyi nodded.
Watching the target was one thing, but they still had to find the secret room.
Shen Xin softly gave the command for Sheriff to wander around.
The cat seemed sleepy and dawdled for a moment before setting off.
He hopped off the armchair and started strolling through the villa with a sway of his hips.
The darkness was his best camouflage. According to Qin Chunyi, the secret room was likely in the basement.
When Sheriff reached the stairs, Shen Xin gave a timely command, and the cat headed down the stairs to the basement level.
The basement was a recreational area, with a pool table, a treadmill, and so on.
It was empty. Sheriff wandered around everywhere while the team observed silently, but they didn’t spot any hidden entrance to a secret room.
Hu Mingchuan returned with the sashimi, waiting to feed Sheriff during the next recharge. "Could it be a hidden door?" he said.
Qin Chunyi crossed his arms and frowned. "Probably. In that case, we’ll just have to wait for him to go in and follow him."
Shen Xin thought so too. It was just like the Ningshan drug case last year, where they had laid low and waited for the suspect to open the door before getting into the production area.
They recharged the collar again midway through, and the cat continued its patrol, roaming up and down the house.
He even went to the target’s study to see if there were any documents or files on the desk.
Remotely controlled by Shen Xin, he was like a ghost, wandering the villa and going wherever he pleased.
For the first time, they all had a complete and thorough understanding of the layout of the target’s home.
That in itself was a huge discovery.
So everyone was full of energy. Qin Chunyi even started brainstorming with Gao Siyu, discussing whether they could get Sheriff into the target’s workplace.
It was almost one in the morning when Sheriff strolled back into the master bedroom, which also had a small study area.
Sheriff, ever the daredevil, brazenly leaped onto the TV console and started walking across it.
Just then, he suddenly whipped his head around.
The target in the bed had rolled over and sat up.
In an instant, Shen Xin and the others staring at the screen tensed up.
Through the camera’s lens, the man and the cat were in a direct, unobstructed line of sight.
The target was probably getting up to use the bathroom, and he got out of bed with his eyes half-closed.
Sheriff’s courage really had grown. He didn’t execute a zero-frame escape, but simply froze in place, turning his head to watch the target.
In the darkness, the target seemed not to see him at all, shuffling past the other side of Sheriff on his way to the bathroom.
It wasn’t until he had passed the TV console and turned into the hallway that the target suddenly stopped.
He shivered as if startled awake.
He quickly turned and poked his head back out for a look.
There was nothing on the TV console.
The target blinked. A flicker of doubt crossed his mind. ’Did my eyes just play a trick on me?’
He scanned the entire bedroom. Nothing.
Just as he was about to look away, the curtain on the balcony opposite him moved without any warning.
Just once.
But the target was startled.
If he remembered correctly, he had closed the window.
So how did the curtain move on its own?
Was it the wind?
Or... was the place... haunted?
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