Reborn Cat Sheriff

Chapter 426 Spy
"What the hell am I supposed to think about! They can't even buy cat food properly; I can smell cat attractant without even opening it. And they expect me to stay in Xizhong City and suffer like this?"

Lin Ge glared at Shi Zhenkang with disdain, then turned and walked away with an air of indifference.

"Hey! Mimi, we can still talk about it, what do you want..."

Despite Shi Zhenkang calling after him, Lin Ge did not turn around.

Lin Ge pushed the door open with his head and immediately saw Li Siyu snickering in the doorway. This woman dared to laugh at him? Lin Ge glared back at her.

"Director Shi has completely misjudged the situation! If he were to offer up the small canteen, he might be able to win Mimi's heart, right? I've heard that the chefs at the Xizhong Municipal Bureau's small canteen are quite skilled, especially in Cantonese cuisine."

Li Siyu caught up with Lin Ge with a smile, teasing him as they walked. She knew, of course, that Mimi rarely ate cat food, or that it only ate the expensive kind. Mimi ate mostly nutritious and hygienic human food, cooked in an iron pot, just like normal people.

Shi Zhenkang's attempt to lure it with cat food was a completely misguided move.

Oh, by the way, this thing doesn't eat vegetables, it only eats meat, and in some ways, it eats better than people. Ordinary methods of luring cats are completely ineffective against Mimi. Li Siyu is never worried that Mimi will be lured away by others; she just finds Mimi's angry expressions particularly amusing.

A man and a cat entered the office next door. Upon entering, they saw Li Yiduo fiddling with a computer. In front of him were two computer cases with tangled cables, sharing a single monitor with a primitive black-and-white interface; the operation was completely different from Windows. Li Yiduo rapidly typed, strings of characters appearing line by line on the screen. The only thing Lin Ge could understand was the word "c":; he had no idea what came after it.

As Li Yiduo performed his operation, the two young policemen standing behind him exclaimed in amazement. They seemed to understand what Li Yiduo was doing, but when it came to doing it themselves, they seemed a little unsure if they could do it without damaging the original data.

After listening to their conversation, Lin Ge suddenly realized that Li Yiduo had directly entered the inner framework of the Windows system and was searching the hard drive to find the deleted chat history.

It sounds simple, but unless you have a relevant expertise, the average person really can't do this without using extra tools. And using any other tools could potentially destroy valuable and important evidence.

About twenty minutes later, the chat history that had been completely deleted was successfully restored to the chat history folder in the Line app.

After shutting down and reopening the computer, Li Yiduo returned to the window interface by selecting the operating system. However, when he tried to open the LINE app, he was blocked by the password. As a foreign app, it was clearly impossible to obtain the password from customer service while posing as a police officer. Li Yiduo thought for a moment and, by searching through deleted file fragments, found several other apps that LeFan had previously used, as well as email and WeChat communication tools. He then instructed Shi Zhenkang to contact these app companies, posing as a member of the Xizhong City Public Security Bureau, to request the password for the LeFan app account.

"Why not just export the chat history and then use other software to analyze it?"

The young police officer at the information center questioned why Li Yiduo had made the procedure so complicated.

"Because any program might not be able to fully decipher it. Not to mention the possibility of missing some key information, just the fact that the chat logs are to be handed over as evidence to the National Security Bureau or the Procuratorate means that there can't be any garbled characters or mosaics on the logs. Moreover, finding the password is a bit troublesome for ordinary people, but it's no difficulty for us police officers. In the habits of ordinary people, they certainly don't set too many types of passwords, and there might be a password in these apps that is the same as the password for Line."

Li Yiduo gave a brief response, left the control panel to rest, and then waited for the application company's response.

About twenty minutes later, WeChat and Tencent Email were the first to respond. After confirming the identity of the Xizhong Municipal Bureau of Public Security as the sender, both parties did not hesitate to find the Lefan account information and send over the current password, past passwords, and secondary password of the account.

Li Yiduo leaned over to take a look and found that Le Fan's last password change was two years ago! This is someone who is not used to remembering or changing passwords too often, so his Line password is probably not special.

Sure enough, after trying the WeChat password twice, I successfully logged into Line.

Looking at the chat window and friends list, there weren't many contacts, and most of the communication was done in Traditional Chinese. Therefore, the most prominent and only chat in Japanese immediately caught everyone's attention.

"Go find someone who can speak Japanese!"

Shi Zhenkang quickly issued the order.

"No need, I already understand the basic situation. Hmm... Le Fan wasn't a spy at first, but he was probably easily bribed. This guy named Fujita asked him for photos taken by the Chengdu Military Region, and after he packed the photos up and sent them over, he gave him a generous reward. Hmm... After the first success, Le Fan got completely hooked. He tried to use his work to put a recording device in the provincial government's conference room, but he failed due to an accident. Hmm... On his way to the city government on his electric bike, he had a minor collision with the first victim, and then the victim accidentally stole the bag containing the device. Hmm... That's what he told them."

Li Yiduo stroked his chin, slowly browsing through the complex Japanese text in the chat logs. His words left everyone present speechless; they hadn't expected this matter to involve the Japanese side and espionage.

When did you learn Japanese?

Li Siyu blinked as she looked at Li Yiduo, realizing for the first time that this guy had so many things she didn't know about him.

Li Yiduo glanced back at Li Siyu and laughed awkwardly, "Well... I learned it in college, in a club. A few other classmates and I started a subtitling group out of boredom, specializing in translating some excellent horror movies that haven't been released in China."

"I'm afraid it's not just about horror movies, is it?"

All the men present were secretly complaining to themselves.

Li Siyu understood, rolled her eyes at Li Yiduo, but said nothing more. Boys, it's quite common for them to have some strange hobbies! Even monks understand emotions and desires; anyone without some weird ideas is a fool.

The only one with a grim expression at the scene was Shi Zhenkang. Although he had anticipated the aftermath of the case since Le Fan fled to Japan, his expression was still extremely unpleasant when it was confirmed that Le Fan had been bribed by Japanese spies.

"So, Le Fan... defected and went to Japan because of this?"

Shi Zhenkang gritted his teeth.

Li Yiduo looked up at the screen, shook his head, and said, "Probably...it's not just that. He went to Japan on a work visa, and the chat logs repeatedly hinted that he was needed to make even greater contributions. So, it's more likely...he went for training, right?"

"Damn it!"

Shi Zhenkang slammed his fist on the table, causing it to shake violently and the computer screen to go black instantly. Everyone stared at him in astonishment.

"Is the intelligence alright?"

Shi Zhenkang was startled. If he lost the information he had worked so hard to obtain, he would be doomed.

"It's okay, a restart will fix it."

Li Yiduo wasn't angry. He pressed and held the power button to shut down the computer, then pressed it again to restart it. Under Shi Zhenkang's tense gaze, Line was reopened, but the chat history remained unchanged.

"This matter... I can't trouble you any further. Li Yiduo, and Mimi, thank you for your hard work. Leave the rest to the Xizhong City Public Security Bureau! If Le Fan hired Xu Xiaochong to kill because he wanted revenge on the victim, then the whole story makes sense. When he asked the victim for the listening device, he touched or took the victim's necklace. And Xu Xiaochong, having tasted success once and not being arrested in time, became even more brazen, leading to the second incident this year. Heh... if we had solved that case earlier, perhaps none of this would have happened..."

Shi Zhenkang looked much older. He shook his head and sighed, feeling both helpless and annoyed.

But it's too late to dwell on it now. Fortunately, the murderer has finally been arrested, and Le Fan can still return to China from Japan someday. Requesting extradition from the Japanese authorities is unrealistic, but they need Le Fan's services and will eventually send him back. The Nishige City Police Department will contact various locations across the country, and Le Fan will be arrested the moment he lands. Then, the whole truth will become clear.

"Thanks to you and Mimi, otherwise we would never have imagined that such a serious situation was hidden behind a series of murders. Foreign forces have never given up their desire to harm China, and such scoundrels must not be allowed to escape justice!"

Shi Zhenkang looked at Li Yiduo and the cat lazily dozing over there with admiration, and for a moment he was very envious of the talented people at Zhanghe Police Station.

Unfortunately... all he has are garbage cans!
Shi Zhenkang glared fiercely at the two innocent-looking information police officers in the office, feeling extremely angry that outsiders had been stealing the limelight from the very beginning of the case.

As Shi Zhenkang had said, what happened next was beyond the control of Lin Ge and Li Yiduo. Matters between nations were not something a lowly police officer like Li Yiduo was qualified to handle. Li Yiduo sensibly took his leave, and Shi Zhenkang offered to send a police car to take them to Jixi County. Both sides were happy with the outcome.

"Once this case is completely closed, the reward and credit will be sent to Zhanghe Police Station. You can look forward to it." Shi Zhenkang shook hands with Li Yiduo and Li Siyu, then looked down at Lin Ge and said, "Mimi, are you really not considering staying at my Xizhong City Public Security Bureau? It's a real waste to put your skills in a small police station! Even if you stay, you should go to work at Zhanghe City Public Security Bureau and contribute to more people's lives."

"Pah! You're just trying to work me to death! I'm a cat, not a corporate slave for life! Nie Guoqiang treats people like cattle, and you're even more outrageous, not even sparing a cat?"

Lin Ge dodged Shi Zhenkang's large hand and turned to run without hesitation.

"Haha~"

Behind me came that bastard's arrogant laughter.

The case in Xizhong City thus came to a close, a dramatic affair unfolding in just a few days. Unfortunately, as usual, Lin Ge and Li Yiduo, as members of the grassroots team, couldn't follow it to the end. They wouldn't see the court's verdict against Xu Xiaochong, nor would they witness Le Fan's arrest. Having done what they could, they were leaving. Keeping their contributions hidden, without even receiving thanks from the victim's family, they quietly bid farewell to Xizhong City.

The car traveled along the provincial highway, becoming increasingly bumpy after leaving Xizhong City. Lin Ge was getting a little irritated by the jolting and thought of hiding behind Li Siyu, but then he saw the two people in the back seat holding hands. After thinking about it, he gave up and decided to pretend to be dead in the passenger seat instead.

However, it must be said that this business trip was indeed a rare memory and a chance for romance for the two people in the back seat.

They are usually so busy!
Although Li Siyu is just an auxiliary police officer who takes care of cats, she actually doesn't spend much time at the police station. As a newbie, she was assigned to work with Yan Ziming on the front desk of household registration, often sitting in a chair all day long. She even had to learn photography from Yan Ziming, learning how to take qualified ID photos.

Li Yiduo, needless to say, has been busier than ever since becoming a full-fledged employee. Before, he had no law enforcement authority and could only follow others on patrols; now, he leads new recruits and goes out on calls himself, constantly on edge, afraid of making a mistake. Even in simple cases, he often needs to review the situation more than once or twice afterward, frequently working until one or two in the morning.

In such circumstances, the chances of the two meeting are naturally very few. Even the time they have to walk home together is extremely rare.

This time, during their trip from Jixi County to Xizhong City, although they were equally busy, the two of them stayed together the whole time. Whether they will eventually get married is another matter, but at least their feelings for each other have become real.

To put it another way, it wasn't until this moment, seeing the two holding hands, that Ling Ge truly felt they were a couple, not just partners to live together in the future.

"so good!"

Lin Ge sighed, but before he knew it, the car crashed into a puddle and bounced, which made him fly off his seat, float on his limbs, and then fall back onto the chair with a 'thud'.

"Pfft!"

The two heartless people in the back seat actually started laughing together.

"Fuck you!"

Lingo's chin hit the seat, and he felt a little dizzy. He shakily got up, glared back at the back seat, and cursed the bastards for not designing a seatbelt for cats. It was too much of a hardship for cats when they encountered bad roads.

"There seems to be something wrong with the car."

After driving another hundred meters or so, the driver suddenly slammed on the brakes. He got out, walked around the car, opened the hood to check, and poked his head out, saying helplessly, "It's no use, the timing belt seems to be cracked. Sorry, gentlemen, this car is broken down and can't be driven. I'm sorry, I'll call another car for you! As for this old thing, leave it here and wait for the tow truck to come and take it back."

"This car looks pretty new, how could the timing belt break from just a bump?"

Li Siyu got out of the car and looked back at the small pothole in the distance, wondering why the police car was so fragile.

"Haha! It looks pretty new, but the engine isn't. This car was flooded and was abandoned at the 4S shop because the engine was totaled. Later, our police station saw that this car was just like several of the police cars in the station that had been scrapped, so they bought it and put parts from the scrapped cars on it. The car only looks fine on the outside, but the engine and transmission were all salvaged from other cars and pieced together. We were just making do with it, but who would have thought it would run into bad roads?"

The driver explained helplessly, then pointed even more helplessly to the wide, straight, and smooth cement road ahead, saying, "What the hell is this bad luck? The main road that Jixi County is building is just ahead! If this piece of junk could just hold on for a minute longer on this lousy road, we could get to a better one. Sigh! Unfortunately, not every county is as motivated and willing to spend money as Jixi County. This road in the neighboring county hasn't been repaired in seven or eight years, and every year quite a few cars break down from the bumpy ride. This year, my luck is just bad; it's my turn right at the start of the year."

"..."

Li Siyu and Li Yiduo exchanged a glance, unsure of what to say.

These are cobbled-together police cars. It turns out the Xizhong City Public Security Bureau has it tough. I thought it was outrageous enough that Chief Nie used Mimi as a tool to scam cars from other units, but I never imagined there was something even more outrageous here, pieced together from scrapped parts.

If you were to run a mission in a vehicle like this, and it broke down halfway through the mission, allowing the suspect to escape, that would be truly hilarious!
"How could that be? I would never drive a car like this on a formal mission. This car looks brand new; it's specifically for picking up and dropping off friends! Last time, when people from the provincial department came, I used this car to pick them up and take them back to the police station!"

The driver shamelessly patted the hood of the car to show off.

"..."

Lin Ge was speechless.

If they suddenly break down and leave the provincial leaders behind, aren't these guys afraid that the leaders will make things difficult for Shi Zhenkang?

But it was too late to say anything now. With Jixi County just ahead, Lin Ge decided not to wait for the municipal bureau to send a car all the way over. He dialed Zheng Mingxing's number right before the driver's astonished eyes and asked him to send a car to pick him up.

Li Siyu acted as a mouth double, helping Lin Ge and Zheng Mingxing explain the situation clearly. Zheng Mingxing immediately made a decision, telling them to wait a moment and that a car would be there soon.

"what about me?"

The shameless driver pointed to his own nose.

"Why don't you just wait for the tow truck here? You can't just come back to Jixi County with us and leave your precious car here, can you?"

Li Siyu rolled her eyes at him helplessly.

"Hehe... Spending the night in Jixi County is fine! As for the car, we can just have it towed back by a tow truck! Hehe, we're all acquaintances, it's no problem! As for other people, I've never actually seen anyone dare to grope inside a police car."

The shameless driver seized the opportunity and immediately decided to stay in Jixi County and not leave.

Lin Ge and the other two ignored him.

A short while later, an even more dilapidated Santana wobbled along. Upon seeing this car, the driver immediately changed his mind and decided to go back to the police station that night with the tow truck for repairs. Damn! A 97 Santana! This thing isn't even totaled yet?

"Has our county become that poor?"

Upon seeing that Zheng Mingxing was driving, Li Yiduo climbed into the back seat and began to complain without any restraint. Besides, Mimi has already helped the county secure tens of millions more, shouldn't they at least upgrade the official car?

"Why would we need a storefront car to pick you up?"

Zheng Mingxing gave a disdainful look without any politeness, then turned around and greeted Lin Ge with a smile.

(End of this chapter)