Reborn Cat Sheriff

Chapter 414 All Police Officers Are One Family

The "Old Li" that Captain Ji mentioned is the criminal police captain surnamed Li who had unleashed a furious outburst in the SUV.

He was also stubborn; after losing track of Lingo, he got off the bus with a few people and insisted on finding the cat.

At first, they were completely confused and searching blindly, but eventually the four-dimensional surveillance system came in handy. A drone in the sky happened to capture a picture of Lin Ge in the State Grid residential area. After zooming in and comparing the images to confirm his identity, Captain Li rushed over.

Upon meeting Lu Dingping and the others, Captain Li felt both embarrassed and helpless. He muttered a few curses under his breath and gestured for Li Yiduo to open the door quickly and stop dawdling.

Li Yiduo smiled. Now that the two sides had become allies again, he stopped resisting.

The group entered the house and immediately noticed the appalling scene. The floor, which had previously been only slightly dusty, was now covered in a large amount of grease from who-knows-where, along with a mess of cat paw prints. Clumps of cat hair, both greasy and sticky, were scattered everywhere. The unhygienic cat had even rubbed itself against the corner of the wall for quite some time, leaving a large black stain.

"That cat... came through the chimney?"

Captain Ji's lips twitched slightly; he could see through Lin Ge's movements at a glance. Mainly because the fallen aluminum foil tube in the kitchen was too conspicuous—and of course, only animals could squeeze into such a place.

"Mimi... is actually most afraid of getting dirty!"

Li Yiduo sighed with heartache, feeling that his feline overlord had truly sacrificed too much for the affairs of Jixi County. He didn't know what Lin Ge's current condition was; the image that came to mind was of a dirty, black lump of coal.

However, after searching the house for a long time, with Captain Ji and Captain Li even turning the house upside down with wide eyes and a furious expression, they still couldn't find any trace of the cat.

"This cat is quite capable!"

Captain Ji sighed, then frowned and looked around. For some reason, he felt a sense of unease, but couldn't quite put his finger on what it was.

"Mimi?"

Seeing that these people had given up, Li Yiduo took the initiative to call out, "Come out! The matter is over. We can now openly and honestly send the money you worked so hard to protect back to Jixi County."

"..."

Lin Ge remained motionless in the darkness, mainly because he was too dirty to be seen, and also because he was a little embarrassed to go out and face the police officers he had teased.

Even if the three million matter is over, he still has a twenty million receipt with him! Who knows if there are other treasures in the secret room! Without Zheng Mingxing or enough of his own people around, he dares not expose this place.

"Mimi?"

Li Yiduo searched for a while longer, even checking the drawer where Lin Ge had previously hidden. The large amount of grime and cat hair inside the drawer made him frown, but it was empty and he couldn't find the cat.

"Why don't you go out first? Maybe Mimi is afraid of strangers, and she'll come out on her own in a little while."

Li Yiduo thought for a moment and came up with an excuse, but he knew in his heart that there must be another reason why Mimi didn't come out.

Captain Ji and Captain Li exchanged a glance, nodded, and turned to leave, leaving Li Yiduo alone in the room to wait patiently.

After a while, the drawer suddenly creaked open slowly and automatically.

Two pointed ears peeked out from the drawer, standing straight up. They trembled slightly, as if listening to what was happening in the room. A moment later, a dirty, large cat head rose from the drawer, and a disheveled Lin Ge appeared in Li Yiduo's sight.

"Magic? Or Doraemon?"

Li Yiduo was taken aback.

He checked that drawer himself, and there was no cat inside!

"No, it's a locked room!"

Before Lin Ge could tell him the answer, Li Yiduo had already figured it out himself.

He quickly went to the desk, pulled the drawer open completely, and then used his phone's flashlight to look inside the drawer.

"You're the one who asked me to come out, so whatever happens to me is none of my business. Besides the three million, there's all the embezzled funds that Shu Cheng has hidden here. You should take this opportunity to have a good talk with Zheng Mingxing, Fang Yun, and the people from Jixi County!"

Lin Ge jumped to the ground and lazily yawned.

To be honest, he was exhausted today. Whether it was dodging the cameras or urgently transferring cash, he had suffered a great loss. It was only because Li Yiduo was urging him on that the cat became impatient; otherwise, he really planned to take a nap in the secret room first.

Seeing Li Yiduo reach into the drawer and tap on the wall like a child, Lin Ge sighed. In front of Li Yiduo, he jumped into the drawer again and popped his head into the inner space.

Li Yiduo kept taking pictures with his phone, watching in disbelief as Mimi easily opened the door to the inner secret room, fiddled with it for a few seconds, and then crawled out again with a thin piece of paper in her mouth.

Lin Ge jumped back to the ground and threw the note in his mouth at Li Yiduo.

"This is……"

Li Yiduo's expression changed drastically.

"This is……"

Suddenly, a gasp came from behind. It was the three people hiding in the living room who were secretly peeking in from the bedroom door. They all exclaimed in surprise.

"Special Savings Certificate?"

"Is there a secret room inside?"

Captain Li and Captain Ji spoke at the same time, but their focus was different. Captain Li recognized the identity of the receipt, while Captain Ji suddenly realized what the disharmony he had been feeling earlier was all about.

"Shu Chengcai's embezzled funds?"

Lu Dingping's eyes lit up, and he rushed over quickly, snatching the paper that Li Yiduo had just picked up from his hand.

Li Yiduo didn't dare to struggle too much, after all, no one knew if the deposit slip was the kind that would be invalid if torn up.

"Ha, that's none of my business."

Seeing Li Yiduo's embarrassed expression, Lin Ge yawned again.

The secret room was now fully exposed. Aside from Lu Dingping, who was excitedly examining the deposit slips in the sunlight, the other police officers were eager to see what this supposedly embezzled criminal's hiding place looked like. The two captains called in the officers guarding the door, and together they moved the heavy desk. Then, the disguised wall, covered in grime and cat paw prints, came into view. Captain Ji, wearing white gloves, gently pushed, and the small door clicked open.

Captain Li yanked the door open... Suddenly, a torrent of cash slid out from inside, piling up at Captain Li's feet into a small mountain.

The bright red banknotes were tempting; even with the body cameras on, two police officers in the back were secretly swallowing their saliva.

"This is... the three million that the cat moved in from that room, right?"

Captain Ji noticed a few cat hairs stuck to the pile of cash, and even a few bills had holes poked in them. Furthermore, since Lin Ge had been hiding inside, some of the banknotes on top were stained with oil.

"This all comes from Jixi County!"

Lu Dingping carefully hid the receipts, then quickly went to the door of the secret room to block the view of these people.

"Don't worry, I don't want yours!"

Captain Li rolled his eyes and pulled his foot out of the pile of money.

We're all police officers, how could we possibly break our discipline and oath for a mere pittance? Besides, if we really went to fight, would you even have a chance to react? Those little punks you brought along, we'd take care of them all in three seconds!

"Shu Chengcai must have put a lot of thought into setting up this secret room, right? Heh... It seems that his embezzlement wasn't a spur-of-the-moment decision. Maybe he already had the plan to make a fortune from the moment he entered the Finance Bureau."

Captain Ji remained more interested in the secret room itself. Calculating the house's renovation timeline and connecting it to when Shu Cheng joined the Finance Bureau, he felt even more contempt for the already dead bastard. "Like a rat in a rice jar, it's really eaten its fill!"

Captain Li snorted coldly.

While not exactly indifferent to money, Captain Ji chuckled as he watched Lu Dingping hurriedly make a phone call, "Old Lu, no need to trouble others! To be honest, the Municipal Finance Bureau hasn't given up yet. Without our help, you might not even be able to get this money out of Xizhong City. Let's not beat around the bush! Three hot pot meals, ten tables each! From Dezhuang, not some roadside stall! If you agree, I'll bring people to transport all this stuff back for you!"

Lu Dingping held up one finger: "Just one meal! This money was used by Jixi County to build schools, not a single penny of it has anything to do with me! I have to pay for five tables myself, so don't go too far!"

"One meal is fine! But at least ten tables are required!"

Captain Li chuckled and agreed on behalf of Captain Ji. He then signaled his men to go next door and fetch the three broken boxes, and to have a few more people squat down and put the money into them.

Lu Dingping also sent his men to help, while he, Captain Li, and Captain Ji returned to the living room.

They weren't worried about their subordinates secretly hoarding cigarettes, and the three of them didn't mind the dirty sofa in the living room. They just sat down, puffed on cigarettes, and looked back at the bathroom where Li Yiduo was diligently cleaning the grease off the cat.

Fortunately, it was just kitchen grease, which could be mostly cleaned up with hot water and dish soap. Looking at the cat lazily lying motionless in the basin, the three of them couldn't help but look at it with newfound respect.

"This cat is really something! Hiding so much money right in front of me is something even a strong adult might not be able to do. Putting aside how it discovered this secret room, its entire series of actions is hardly like an animal's."

Captain Ji exclaimed in admiration.

"Damn it! You guys don't know! This kid's skill at dodging cameras was so good I thought I was seeing Jackie Chan! It was only thanks to the drone that he did a good job, otherwise I would have thought the Xizhong City Public Security Bureau's more than 100 million yuan worth of equipment had gone down the drain!"

Captain Li shook his head with a sigh.

"Over 100 million... My Jixi County almost caused a huge uproar over just 3 million. Heh... If Jixi County had 100 million, many of our county's plans could have been implemented..."

Lu Dingping gave a wry, envious smile.

"Tools are just aids; ultimately, people are the foundation. If relying on cameras makes everyone in the bureau lazy, I'd rather scrap all of these things. Besides, Lao Lu, you're a policeman; financial matters are none of your concern!"

Captain Li had learned his lesson today and finally understood that the four-dimensional Skynet system wasn't omnipotent. Seeing Lu Dingping still persisting, he couldn't help but remind him with a serious expression.

Lu Dingping was taken aback.

Looking up at the serious yet concerned eyes of Captain Li and Captain Ji, Lu Dingping finally came to his senses. He was the director of the county public security bureau, not the county magistrate or the director of the finance bureau! Finding the stolen money was his job, but thinking too much about it... was unnecessary. What did the county's various plans have to do with him, a policeman? The government and police systems should be separate; why should a policeman worry about money?
"Captain, there are more than a dozen gold bars inside! They're all different sizes, the largest weighing a hundred grams. This is more money than we thought!"

After tidying up the cash, Officer Wang leaned close to Captain Ji and whispered something in his ear.

"none of your business!"

Captain Ji glared back coldly, "This belongs to them! It's embezzled property belonging to the people of Jixi County! If any of you dare touch even a single penny of it today, you're all fired!"

"I was just saying!"

Officer Wang pouted, feeling wronged. "Even if you gave me so much money, I wouldn't dare take it!"

"Old Ji, can I borrow your car? My old car is too slow, your new vehicle is much more powerful! I need to take this money and these things back as soon as possible to report. After I'm done, I'll treat you to drinks and hot pot!"

Lu Dingping didn't stand on ceremony with Captain Li and Captain Ji; their relationship had now returned to that of colleagues and comrades-in-arms.

"Let me see if the Finance Bureau has taken any action!"

Captain Li nodded in agreement to help, trying his best to ensure that Lu Dingping's trip would proceed without any unexpected incidents, and preferably without the embarrassing situation of the car being stopped by the Finance Bureau.

To be honest, everyone knows this money is illicit! But it's very important to Jixi County! The Finance Bureau's thoughts are outside the police's considerations; what kind of logic is there in helping outsiders against one's own people?
On this point, everyone is still on the same side.

When Li Yiduo brought the soaking wet Lin Ge out, Lu Dingping had already started loading the money into the car. The police from Xizhong City stood by and watched, neither intervening nor stopping them, all with smiling faces.

It has to be said that this scene was quite touching.

Even though he had been busy and messy before, which left him in a sorry state, seeing this result, Lin Ge's resentment suddenly vanished.

So what if we get messed with? At least the outcome is good. Or to put it another way, if he hadn't demonstrated his strength and made Jixi County the first to get the money, it's uncertain whether Xizhong City would have been so accommodating!

Anyway, Lin Ge felt that Captain Ji with the squinty eyes must have some other ideas in mind.

And then... sure enough, he guessed right.

Just as Lu Dingping was thanking them repeatedly and about to leave with his group, Captain Ji stopped Li Yiduo and Lin Ge with a smile.

"Old Lu, we've helped you so much, haven't we? Actually, I have a little something to take care of here, and I need some help from the elite experts from Chu Province. Why don't you go ahead and leave this cat for me to use?"

Lu Dingping, who was about to get into the car, froze, then turned back awkwardly and said, "Old Ji, what you're doing is a bit pointless. Mimi isn't my subordinate, how can you just order her around like that? Even if I owe you a favor for what happened today, isn't your tactic of blackmailing her a little too much? How about this, I'll give you Instructor Zheng's phone number, you can talk to him yourself? Requesting support like this should at least get approval from the leadership!"

Lin Ge was instantly speechless.

"You bastard! You say you're refusing, but you've clearly sold me out!"

Glaring at Lu Dingping, Lin Ge wanted nothing more than to beat this shameless guy to a pulp! So despicable, so utterly despicable! He actually let those bastards from Xizhong City buy him off with a little favor. Where is his sense of honor as a police officer?
Lin Ge turned to look at Li Yiduo again and found that Li Yiduo's face showed only curiosity and no dissatisfaction. It seemed that to him, helping colleagues in other places was a matter of course!

"Fine! You're all so righteous and great, and I'm the only one who's willful and selfish, okay?"

Lin Ge turned around unhappily, went back to the room where the five boys used to stay, found a hair dryer in the bathroom, and lazily started drying his hair on the sofa.

"Look, even this cat is more enlightened than you!"

Captain Ji smiled and accepted the phone number that Lu Dingping forwarded to him.

He walked toward a secluded spot while making a phone call. The other police officers seemed to know what the case was about, and their expressions all became very serious.

Meanwhile, Li Yiduo approached Lin Ge, picked up a hairdryer, and carefully dried his hair. He then said softly, "I've heard about the case in Xizhong City these past few days. A young female freshman disappeared just a few days after the start of the semester. Seven days later, her body was found in the suburbs; she had already been murdered. What's even more serious is that a similar incident occurred in Xizhong City around the same time last year, also during the first few days of school after the Lunar New Year! In other words, this case could very well be a serial crime, and the killer's cruelty is unimaginable. Mimi, if you can, you must help! The victim is innocent; as police officers, we must stop the killer from committing further crimes!"

"A series of murders?"

Lin Ge looked up in surprise.

He couldn't care less about being angry now; Li Yiduo's words were simply too exaggerated.

In this day and age, are there really such vicious villains? Committing crimes at the same time two years in a row, what does he take the police for? What does he take human life for? Where did he get the guts? This kind of bastard deserves to be shot ten times over!

"But... if so many police officers in Xizhong City can't solve this case, what help can I possibly offer?"

Lin Ge lacked confidence; after all, he was just an ordinary cat! Even with a sense of smell and hearing that humans couldn't match, he had never seen a serial killer before.

"Just do your best!"

Li Yiduo stroked Lin Ge's head, smoothing out his spiky hair. "We all believe in you, just like the miracles you've created before. Xizhong City is desperate and grasping at straws. If they really had a solution, why would they have to beg for help? You don't really think there's no harm in them going against the Municipal Finance Bureau, do you? From beginning to end, it's all just to get a favor from County Chief Fang! To put it bluntly, you might be their only hope."

At this point, Li Yiduo paused and said, "If we can't solve the case soon, the murderer will likely escape, and Xizhong City will only be able to hope that the murderer will continue to provoke us next year. But that will come at the cost of another innocent life being endangered, which would be a disgrace to our police force! To put it even more bluntly, if that beast succeeds again next year... not only in Xizhong City, but also in all college students and even teenagers across the country, everyone will start to feel insecure."

"What a nuisance! Why don't they all die out?"

Enraged, Lin Ge stretched out his claws and scratched three deep gashes into the sofa.

(End of this chapter)