Reborn Cat Sheriff

Chapter 202 Counterfeit Money
Bailing Village is much larger than expected, with nine subordinate village teams named from Group 2 to Group 10 of Bailing Village, scattered around the center of the village along the cross-shaped main road.

The bad news is that Lingo's workload has increased, but the good news is that the village collective has extended its tolerance distance on the main road, increasing the likelihood that villagers will witness the suspect.

Unfortunately, this good news only applied to the police officers who were visiting the villages; it didn't help Lingo. He still had to lead the police dog team to continue searching for suspicious scents until all ten villages had been searched.

This workload is a bit excessive. But what can you do when you're a police cat? Lin Ge expressionlessly inspected all the vehicles near the village committee, and then took Bei Bei and Xiao Xiao on a tour of all the surrounding residences. Entering each household, facing villagers who were either dissatisfied or nervous, Lin Ge remained silent and focused on carrying out his task, choosing to ignore all the other trivial matters.

Unfortunately, even with his kindness, good fortune did not come his way.

After a long and arduous day, he still couldn't find any trace of the victim. Even at the victim's relatives' house in the village, he found nothing suspicious, leaving him somewhat disappointed.

Before long, the four teams that had scattered in all directions also gathered together, but unfortunately, they also failed to achieve anything.

Well, that's good news. At least ten village teams have successfully eliminated one of them.

Lingo flicked his tail, finding joy even in his misery.

Seeing that it was getting late, Lin Ge had no choice but to reorganize the eighteen police dogs into nine teams, each tasked with searching one-on-one in the surrounding villages. He himself remained where he was, squinting and deep in thought about Group 1 of Bailing Village, where no clues had been found.

Sun Chang left with Bei Bei, and Lin Ge was left without any other police officers. But this was exactly what Lin Ge needed; he could freely use his abilities without being hindered.

"So... is it really possible that the victim was killed by villagers from other villages? Although almost everyone in Bailing Village witnessed the lively scene at the banquet, how could the murderer have located the victim if they were too far away?"

Lin Ge was very puzzled.

I remember when Nie Guoqiang was teaching his subordinates at Zhanghe Police Station, he said that, generally speaking, the vast majority of cases are committed by acquaintances.

Only acquaintances or those living nearby can effectively obtain information about the victim, find the most suitable opportunity to commit the crime, and prevent unexpected situations. Even thieves know to scout the area beforehand; how could a stranger accurately know the victim's movements and abduct them without any mishaps? The victim's stay in Bailing Village was not long, making it virtually impossible for outsiders to track his exact whereabouts.

"So, just like the assessment made at yesterday's meeting, it still leans towards the perpetrator being someone known to the victim?"

Lin Ge was somewhat worried because he had personally ruled out the possibility of an acquaintance committing the crime. There was absolutely no trace of the victim in the vicinity; this was a conclusion he reached after personally walking around Group 1 of Bailing Village twice.

Especially at the victim's relatives' home, Lin Ge searched almost every drawer and cabinet, but found no clues. Leaving aside the possibility that the 50,000 yuan might be hidden, the murder weapon and the unavoidable blood splatter from dismemberment should have left a lingering smell.

If the killer could dismember the victim without getting a single drop of bodily fluids on them, then Lin Ge would have no choice but to admit defeat. Such a monster was beyond the capabilities of a single cat like him.

Lost in thought, Lin Ge wandered aimlessly through the village.

Since he had just led the police dogs through all the houses, the villagers all recognized this cat with a powerful backer, and no one dared to approach and harass it; they just pointed and whispered from a distance.

Lin Ge pretended not to see it and walked back to the entrance of the village committee.

Jumping onto the decoration with the words 'Bailing Village' written on it, Lin Ge looked around.

The two-story building looked very simple. The second floor housed the village committee office and some storage, while the first floor, except for one room open to the public, was entirely rented out to villagers as shops. From left to right, there was a shop selling seeds and fertilizers, a shop selling and repairing agricultural machinery, a small Japanese goods store, and a motorcycle repair shop on the far right. Lin Ge checked all four shops and found nothing unusual; there was absolutely no trace of the victim's scent.

"Wow! This is an eye-opener. It's the first time I've ever seen a cat leading a pack of dogs to solve a case. I used to eat these kinds of little creatures all the time when I was in Guangdong province."

A sound came from the side; it was the young man repairing motorcycles, resting by the door with a cigarette in his mouth. There was a small table next to him where four shop owners had been playing cards, but they had quickly dispersed after the police appeared, feeling guilty.

Lin Ge looked up and glanced at the young man.

He looked quite ordinary, but his hands, covered in what appeared to be perpetually oily grease, were black and greasy. He took a puff of his cigarette, leaving two faint finger marks on his lips.

"A guy as unclean as you probably won't be able to get a wife, right? You son of a bitch, you actually ate a cat? I curse you, you bastard!"

Lin Ge harbored malicious resentment.

No sooner had the words left his mouth than a cheap, lightweight electric bicycle came riding up and down the road. The rider was a fairly pretty young woman with a slightly protruding belly, clearly pregnant.

The girl parked her car in front of the repair shop and glared at the young man before even getting out, saying, "Pei Qian, have you been secretly doing something bad again? Why are there two counterfeit bills in my wallet? What did you do with the real money?"

"Huh?" Lin Ge was taken aback, not yet realizing that this cat-eating bastard actually had a wife, when he heard a question that seemed to have some logical flaws. Intentionally exchanging counterfeit money for real money? Does this guy have a lot of counterfeit bills?
"Counterfeit money?"

The young man named Pei Qian was also stunned. He blinked and said, "Where did this counterfeit money come from? Didn't you go to town to deposit money? How come there's counterfeit money in our household income?"

"You didn't put it in there?"

Pei Qian's wife was also taken aback for a moment, carefully examining her husband's expression, which seemed genuine.

Could it be that you were cheated out of money with counterfeit currency while doing business?

Pei Qian's wife immediately showed a distressed expression. In the countryside, repairing a car usually only costs twenty or thirty yuan. Not only did she not earn a penny, but she also had to pay several tens of yuan in change.

She sat down angrily on the chair next to Pei Qian, then took out two brand-new red bills from her backpack and placed them on the small table, saying, "Look, these are the two counterfeit bills! Tell me, who is this despicable person who would even cheat their own fellow villagers?"

"Hmm? Sniff..."

Before Pei Qian could say anything, Lin Ge suddenly smelled something. His eyes widened in disbelief, and he sniffed again, and incredibly, he could smell blood and a faint scent of the victim on the two counterfeit bills.

In other words, these two counterfeit bills most likely belonged to the victim, and could even be two of the 50,000 yuan bills. Even if that's not entirely accurate, they must have at least been in contact with the victim or the murderer to leave such a clear scent.

What is this? A clue that fell from the sky?
Lin Ge's expression immediately became quite interesting.

Seeing that Pei Qian was still swearing to his wife in a low voice that he would no longer do such despicable things as deceiving the villagers, and that he had not been exchanging counterfeit money for money for several years, Lin Ge slowly moved over, getting closer to sniff it again.

"You stinky cat, what do you want?"

Pei Qian's wife didn't recognize Lin Ge. Seeing that even a cat dared to approach her, and in addition to being in a bad mood, she glared at Lin Ge angrily.

"Hey! Wife, wife, you can't mess with her!"

Pei Qian quickly stopped his wife, then belatedly realized he had said something illegal and his expression immediately became uncertain. He squinted at Lin Ge a few times, but fortunately, he eventually chickened out and quickly pulled his wife to reveal Lin Ge's identity.

"Brought by the police? A cat?"

Pei Qian's wife was somewhat skeptical, but ultimately dared not lash out at Lin Ge again. She protected her belly and stepped back slightly to hide next to Pei Qian.

Even though Lin Ge had come right up to the two men, and even jumped onto the small table to sniff the two counterfeit bills up close, the two men remained motionless, afraid of becoming suspicious.

Seeing that the cat had taken the counterfeit money for itself, Pei Qian's wife was only relieved that the money was fake and that her family had not suffered any loss. She hesitantly moved the money aside a little.

Lin Ge carefully sniffed the counterfeit bills several times, finally confirming that his sense of smell was not wrong. These two bills had indeed been in close contact with the victim, who might have been clutching them tightly even in death.

A scene even flashed through Lin Ge's mind: the victim being brutally beaten and even murdered by his abuser, yet still clutching the money tightly to his chest. He didn't know some of the bills were counterfeit, nor did he know if he would survive. He just curled up, desperately protecting the money, his body already covered in blood. The blood flowed onto his money-making tools, seeping in through the seams, staining several or more bright red banknotes even redder…

Some time later, the murderer came to the repair shop to get his car fixed and used two of the blood-free bills he had chosen, only to find that they were counterfeit.

Thank goodness it was counterfeit money!

Otherwise, once the money is successfully deposited into the bank, where will Lingo find it again?
"Aww! ~~~~"

Thinking of this, Lin Ge raised his head and roared loudly.

Thank you yuki荷 for the generous donation.

Thank you so much, Yu Ni, for another 1500 points!

Thank you to Dark Night Chant for the 500-point donation, and thank you to all my fellow fans for your support.

Also, I'd like to ask for monthly tickets and recommendation votes; I haven't had enough these past few days.


(End of this chapter)