Reborn Cat Sheriff

Chapter 423 Pie in the sky

"Didn't we say we were looking for clues?"

Li Jian was a little confused about what had happened. How did the cat get up in the tree? Could the clues fly away? What if it fell down from such a height?
"That bird pooped on Mimi's head."

With just one sentence, Li Yiduo made the two policemen understand what had happened. A bird that dares to poop on a cat's head certainly needs to be taught a lesson.

"So what do we do? Just stand here and watch? Seriously... this cat is so inconsiderate!"

Another police officer who was called over was somewhat reluctant, because he was supposed to have his day off today. He'd finally solved this murder case, and instead of taking a break, he was here watching a cat and a bird play?

"Ignore him, this kid's gone crazy!"

Li Jian patted the policeman on the back of the head, which made Li Yiduo and Li Siyu's expressions much better.

Seeing that the two still seemed dissatisfied, Li Jian laughed and changed the subject, saying, "What a coincidence! The four of us all share the surname Li. My name is Li Jian, and your names are Li Yiduo and Li Siyu. And this guy... his name is Li Feipeng, you could say he's my apprentice! He just transferred from the military to the Xizhong City Public Security Bureau, so he's still used to the strict discipline of the military. Hehe, he's a bit lacking in social skills, so please bear with him."

"Have you ever distinguished yourself in the army?"

Li Yiduo was stunned for a moment, and immediately looked at the young policeman with new respect.

According to the national policy he knew, veterans who wanted to enter the police force had to pass the civil service exam just like ordinary people. However, Li Jian said he was directly transferred to the police station, which changed the situation! According to policy, to receive direct placement by the local government, one needed to serve as a non-commissioned officer for twelve years or be awarded a second-class merit, among other things—the conditions were extremely difficult. This young man looked to be about his age, which meant he didn't meet the twelve-year service requirement. So unless there were some other special circumstances, he could only have made a significant contribution in the military, which would have led to his being exceptionally recruited by the municipal police station.

When Li Yiduo explained this principle to Li Siyu, she immediately expressed her respect and was no longer angry about his rudeness.

Unexpectedly, after hearing Li Yiduo's words, Li Feipeng instantly turned red from head to toe.

He wanted to explain, but was also somewhat unwilling, so he grunted and turned to the pit that Li Yiduo had dug, picked up an entrenching tool and frantically hoeed the ground.

"He is the orphan of a martyr."

Li Jian's words made Li Yiduo suddenly realize the truth. Indeed, the children of martyrs also qualify for preferential treatment, but compared to other meritorious deeds, their own role in the process is much smaller. No wonder Li Feipeng felt embarrassed.

He probably didn't want to be looked at like that, after all, the preferential treatment was earned at the cost of his family's lives.

Li Yiduo and Li Siyu nodded, deciding not to comment further. After all, he was now a legitimate police officer, and he was capable in his work, so there was no need to dwell on how he got in.

Seeing that Li Feipeng was still digging, Li Yiduo quickly went over to stop him. After explaining the previous analysis, Li Feipeng understood and put down the entrenching tool with a slight smile.

"What do we do now? Did we just make a wasted trip?"

Li Jian was also somewhat disappointed.

Li Yiduo shook his head and said, "I still believe that there is absolutely no crime without a trace! Even if it wasn't discovered a year ago, even if the traces will disappear with time, I don't intend to give up the search. Even finding something unrelated to the case but belonging to Xu Xiaochong might be enough to pry him open up! To be honest, now we're just one last bit away. Xu Xiaochong's psychological defenses should have almost collapsed in the last two days, right?"

"But it is precisely at times like these that it becomes more difficult to finish things in one go. The reason why some cases have dragged on for several years before being sentenced is because the murderers have unimaginable perseverance in this regard and refuse to budge no matter what."

Li Jian sighed, not believing things would be as simple as Li Yiduo had described. Xu Xiaochong's stubbornness was beyond imagination; someone who wouldn't speak even with irrefutable evidence—how could one expect him to confess to other crimes that hadn't yet been investigated?

"Quack! Quack quack quack~~ Quack quack~"

Suddenly, a commotion and shrill screams came from above, interrupting everyone's conversation and causing them to look up.

Upon closer inspection, it became clear that Mimi had actually succeeded.

The wretched bird was pinned to the tree trunk by the cat, struggling and screaming desperately but unable to escape. It flapped its wings with all its might, but couldn't budge the cat's claws an inch. Seeing the cat slowly approaching, baring its teeth, the bird screamed even more pitifully.

Then, when Lingo's mouth was close to the bird's head, the bird stared with its eyes wide open and stopped chirping. Instead, it closed its eyes, tilted its neck, and pretended to be dead without moving.

"Who... learned this from?"

Lin Ge's lips twitched. For the first time, he found this cheeky bird quite amusing. It could even play dead! If it were any other cat, he might have let go and played with it, but how could Lin Ge fall for that?

Slowly opening its mouth to reveal a set of sharp teeth, Lin Ge slowly approached the scoundrel and then suddenly exhaled a breath.

"Gaga~"

The scoundrel immediately abandoned its pretense and began shaking its head and screaming pitifully!

"So, what should we do now? Kill him?"

Looking at this stinky magpie that was constantly struggling, with an equally strong will to survive and a desire to act foolishly, Lin Ge suddenly didn't know what to do with it.

Kill it? Eat it?

It all seems pretty boring, and I don't eat raw food anyway. Besides, these wild birds must carry a lot of parasites, right? Eating it would be like hurting the enemy while harming yourself.
As for killing him... it doesn't seem necessary to be that cruel.

So, getting bored of pressing it, and having no other way to deal with it, Lingo thought for a moment, then released his paws and took a step back, deciding to let it go for the time being.

Of course, if it dares to act recklessly again, I will definitely kill it without hesitation!
"Giggle!~"

The bird, realizing it was no longer bound, struggled to escape, quickly leaping onto another tree branch above its head. It then stared at Lin Ge, trembling with lingering fear.

"If you dare mess with me again, I'll kill you! Awooo~"

Lingo glared and roared, instantly scaring the creature so much that it ran away in terror. It frantically flapped its wings and took flight, quickly soaring high and far, eventually reaching a tree dozens of meters away, where it disappeared into a large nest at the top.

"it's over?"

Li Yiduo was somewhat unsatisfied, mainly because he hadn't seen how Mimi caught it, which left him with a slight sense of regret.

"Mimi, come down quickly!"

Li Siyu didn't care about any of that. She just felt that Mimi was standing too high up, and it would be best to come down quickly just in case.

"Ow~"

Lin Ge let out a low howl in response, then looked around to see where he needed to climb down. To be honest, he hadn't thought much of it when he came up, but looking down now, it was quite frightening for the cat. Dozens of meters high! A fall would be terrible.

However, being a cat, climbing trees wasn't difficult for him. Ling Ge quickly climbed down the branches one by one, gradually reaching a safe height.

The others below also breathed a sigh of relief.

"Ka!"

At this moment, the voice of the scoundrel rang out again.

Lin Ge's brow furrowed, his eyes sharpening as he glared at the creature and flew over from a distance, barking. "If it dares to come back for revenge, I'll pluck all its feathers!"

"Gah~"

Surprisingly, the rascal didn't cause any trouble this time. It flapped its wings and flew to Lin Ge, stared at him for a few seconds, then landed on the thick branch in front of him and stretched out one foot.

"Ok?"

Only then did Lin Ge notice that the rascal was holding something golden in its claws. It pushed the object in front of Lin Ge and then hopped back two steps. Lin Ge immediately recognized it as a golden necklace pendant with a broken piece of thin gold chain wrapped around it.

"A gold necklace? Where did it come from?"

Lin Ge tilted his head to look at the necklace on the tree trunk, then looked up at the wretched bird, and roughly understood that this was probably its apology or a gift to spare its life.

But... the police don't allow gifts! Especially such an expensive gold necklace. Even if the gift-giver was a bird, it would still be a violation of the police's record if they accepted it, right? If Nie Guoqiang finds out, he'll be in big trouble.

"Gah?" The scoundrel saw that Lin Ge was not moving and thought that Lin Ge did not understand, so it pushed the gold necklace forward with its claws again.

"Hey, whether you found this or you stole it, don't cause me any trouble, okay? I took it and now I have to help it find its owner, and it's covered in your stench..."

Lin Ge stepped forward to throw the necklace to the rascal, but suddenly stopped before he could finish speaking.

His pupils widened rapidly, unable to believe that he could actually smell Xu Xiaochong's scent on this necklace! Although the scent was very faint, it was the kind of thick, muddy smell that only comes from not showering for many days, a smell that ordinary people would never have. He couldn't be mistaken.

Lingo has absolute confidence in his sense of smell! He's never misjudged a subject in all this time!
Even though Xu Xiaochong's scent on the necklace was extremely faint, and even though it reeked mostly of the stench of this wretched bird, it was undeniably real! The necklace even carried another, very faint, feminine scent…

The victim from a few days ago was a university student, and there was no record of her having her gold necklace stolen. So, could this necklace... be...?

Lin Ge didn't dare to think too much about it, but at least there was Xu Xiaochong's scent on it! As for any other random stuff, as long as it was handed over to the Xizhong City Technology Center, they would definitely be able to find out everything clearly!
Without further hesitation, Lingo hooked the necklace into his claws. He didn't bother saying anything more to the bird; he simply hopped straight down, showing no inclination to slowly climb down in circles.

"ah!"

Li Siyu was startled by Lin Ge's audacious behavior.

The scoundrel was startled by Lin Ge's impulsive behavior and quickly flapped its wings to fly away. But seeing that Lin Ge didn't attack it but fled in panic, a question mark immediately appeared above the scoundrel's head.

"Mimi!"

Seeing that Lin Ge had landed safely, Li Siyu quickly ran over to hug him.

"Ow~"

Lin Ge shouted sharply, startling Li Siyu into stopping in her tracks. She then saw the cat run straight to Li Yiduo before stopping, and then raise its right paw to rest on the back of Li Yiduo's shoe. The golden object came into everyone's view.

"This is... a gold necklace?"

Everyone was stunned for a moment. Where did this come from?
"Was it a gift from the magpie?"

Li Jian glanced at Lin Ge, then looked up at the magpie craning its neck to look this way in the tree. Curious, he picked up the necklace to see if it was pure gold.

"Ow!"

Suddenly, Lin Ge swung his claw at Li Jian, who quickly withdrew his hand in fright.

"What...what's wrong? I don't want it, I just wanted to check if it's worth anything!"

Don't touch it!

Lin Ge stood in front of Li Jian with a serious expression.

"Well……"

The group exchanged glances, none of them immediately considering the possibility that it was the victim's belongings. Besides, they had no idea where it came from; the only thing that was amusing was the cat's nervous expression.

"Wait a moment!"

Girls are generally more perceptive than men. Li Siyu noticed Lin Ge's nervousness and suddenly remembered what she was supposed to do today. Mimi never refused to let close people touch her things, and she generously left her her salary, letting her buy her and the family cat treats, cat food, and toys as she pleased. Would Mimi even notice a mere thin gold chain with a hollowed-out pendant?

So... the reason Mimi doesn't let anyone touch her is probably not because she's stingy, but because this thing is very important!
Seeing Li Yiduo and the other two looking over, Li Siyu swallowed and said, "Mimi... this, could it be something from the victim? Did you smell something? Is it Xu Xiaochong's scent on it, or is it blood?"

As soon as the last few words were uttered, everyone's expression suddenly turned very serious.

Lin Ge remained silent, only looking up quietly at Li Siyu. The girl's intelligence surprised him somewhat, and since he couldn't say anything in front of two unfamiliar people, he simply took a step back, indicating that he knew the suspicion was something he could handle.

This attitude caused the men's thoughts to change again.

Without saying a word, Li Yiduo took out a pair of gloves from his pocket, then found an evidence bag. Only then did he put on the gloves and carefully place the gold necklace into the evidence bag.

"gone back!"

"Yes, let's hurry!"

The others didn't object, unsure whether to feel nervous or conflicted. If the necklace truly belonged to the victim, then things were getting interesting. A cat and a bird had found a crucial piece of evidence in the most unbelievable way.

This piece of evidence may have escaped Xu Xiaochong's subsequent cleanup and the police's nearly month-long search, which is why it was preserved.

It was stolen and kept by a bird, and today it was handed over to a police cat as money to save its life.

"Ka!"

Seeing Lingo follow a few humans, get into a police car not far away, and drive off, the rascal let out a confused and curious cry.

It blinked twice, seemingly lost in thought, then suddenly spread its wings and chased after the policeman in the direction he had gone.

In the pristine white testing center, Lin Ge and his group, along with Shi Zhenkang, Tang Xu, Xu Zhen, and others who had rushed to the scene, stood quietly outside the testing room. The discovery was completely unexpected, something no one had anticipated. After the necklace was brought to the city police station and a search of the victim's file from a year ago revealed a similar necklace in a photograph, it immediately drew the attention of everyone in the police force.

Unfortunately, it came too late, a whole year late.

Whether there's still any useful evidence left on the necklace at this point is anyone's guess. The only certainty is that Li Jian and Li Yiduo explicitly stated that Mimi values ​​this item highly, which means there's a high probability of a lead!

Before this, Mimi didn't recognize the necklace. Since it thought it was important, it must be because there was something on it that had nothing to do with the necklace itself.

Human scent?

Bloody smell?

Or something else?
At this point, everything is just speculation, but as police officers, they'd rather believe it than not. This cat, with its abilities and achievements, has shown everyone present that nothing it brings should be underestimated.

As they thought to themselves, the group couldn't help but turn to look at the cat licking its paws while sitting on the chair.

At this time, it looks no different from an ordinary pet cat, but who would have thought that it would always do amazing things that are hard to believe yet undeniable?
"What are you looking at!"

Lingo licked his paws without looking up, completely ignoring the whispers of the others.

Because some pine resin had somehow gotten stuck to his palms, Lin Ge was quite annoyed. Pine resin is sticky and disgusting, even worse than glue, and it hardens over time, making his palms feel very uncomfortable.

Fortunately, there weren't many, and a patient licking clean did the trick. Just then, Lin Ge heard footsteps coming from inside the room, and he pricked up his ears and looked up.

The door creaked open, and the jarring sound made Shi Zhenkang frown.

But seeing the director of the technical center walking towards him, he still smiled and said, "Old Wang, you need to put some lubricant on this door. As the department that spends the most money in the Xizhong City Public Security Bureau, the technical center can't possibly be without even a little bit of lubricant, can it?"

"Yes, I'll go get it right now. Can you help me with that?"

Director Wang chuckled and joked with Shi Zhenkang, then held up the report in his hand and said, "Two pieces of good news and one piece of bad news! The good news is that the victim's DNA from a year ago was indeed found on the necklace! It was wiped from inside the openwork pendant and is relatively well-preserved, so it can be used as valid evidence. At the same time, Xu Xiaochong's skin flakes were also found in the gap of one of the chain links, and his DNA was also found there. Although it's been a long time, we're still lucky."

Upon hearing this, everyone present beamed with joy. This evidence was enough to definitively prove Xu Xiaochong's crime against the victim from a year ago!
"Where's the bad news?"

Only Shi Zhenkang knew that whenever Wang brought bad news, it was always something so bad that it was hard to accept.

Seeing everyone looking over, Director Wang's expression gradually turned serious, and he slowly said, "The bad news is that a third person was found on the necklace! It was a fragmented and blurry fingerprint, on the smooth back of the pendant, on the top layer!"

I'll correct the typos later at the company's annual dinner.

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(End of this chapter)