Reborn Cat Sheriff

Chapter 677 It's summer, don't go hiking in the wild.

Lin Ge originally thought that he would have a relatively leisurely summer, thanks to the pampering he received from everyone at the police station.

After all, he had worked hard for a long time, and everyone in the institute understood that they would not disturb him unnecessarily, so that he could rest well.

The unexpected happened so fast that very evening that Lin Ge had to set off with all the police officers who had been urgently recalled from the police station to carry out an emergency mission.

A very bad task.

During the day, a child who lived near the Zhanghe River went missing.

Before he went missing, he and several of his neighbors were swimming in the Zhanghe Reservoir, which was an unauthorized swimming activity.

Without any adult supervision and unwilling to spend money on transportation or a trip to the swimming pool, the kids, wearing only shorts and swim rings, ran to the nearby reservoir. They played happily from midday until, inexplicably, one of them went missing.

When the group of friends discovered that their friend Zhong Gerui had disappeared, they were all startled. They looked around but heard no one calling for help, and they searched frantically but found nothing unusual on the water. Being children, they were afraid of being punished at home for doing something wrong, and they were also afraid of being implicated. So the remaining three of them quickly discussed it among themselves and decided to pretend nothing had happened and slip away home.

When Zhong Gerui's parents realized that their child hadn't returned home late at night, they called out and asked around until they found the homes of his friends. Two of the kids still pretended not to understand and shook their heads.

When they found the last family, the parents were more attentive and immediately noticed something amiss with their son's expression. Without hesitation, the father slapped him twice, and the son finally confessed.

Zhong Gerui's parents, the parents of this family, were immediately paralyzed with fear.

The two families rushed to the scene that night to search, and also called the reservoir police and two other families. As a result, dozens of people in the vicinity were alerted, and a large group of people joined the water police in calling out and searching everywhere, but they found no clues.

Two hours have passed, and more than six hours have passed since Zhong Gerui went missing, yet he has still not been found.

Despite knowing that Zhong Gerui's chances of survival were extremely low, the Zhanghe Reservoir water police were unwilling to give up. Short-handed, they called the Zhanghe Police Station to call their personnel for help.

Upon hearing the news, Zhang Yong left Li Yiduo and Li Siyu on duty, while everyone else rushed over.

Are you sure it fell into the water?

Upon arriving at the scene, Zhang Yong pulled the water police captain aside and asked him questions with a grave expression.

“A person can’t just disappear into thin air. He’s either abducted or swept away by water. There’s basically no third possibility. He was only wearing shorts. Where could he have gone? I had the village committee send people to inquire in all the nearby villages, and they all said they hadn’t seen Zhong Gorui there.”

The water police captain, soaked to the bone and covered in mud on his hands and face, shook his head with a bitter expression.

"Where are the shoes?"

Zhang Yong noticed something amiss and quickly asked, "If the accident happened while swimming, he shouldn't have been barefoot, right? He couldn't have come from home barefoot, so where did his shoes go?"

The fact that the shoes were taken away suggests that Zhong Ge Rui disappeared on land; if the shoes are still there, it's more likely that they were washed into the water.

The water police captain naturally understood this, and upon hearing this, he shook his head, saying, "That kid named Liu Yizhe confessed that his two companions picked up the shoes and tossed them into the water like skipping stones. For such a young child to know how to cover his tracks, it's really..."

At this point, the water police captain sighed, speechless. He felt that today's children were so different from his own back then. When he was hiking and found his companions in trouble, he would risk his life to save them.

"In other words, it can be basically determined that he drowned."

Zhang Yong also sighed.

Water and fire are merciless; a twelve or thirteen-year-old boy who has been in the water for so long has virtually no chance of survival.

Standing beside him, Lin Ge remained expressionless, also lamenting the fragility of life.

There are too many things in this world that can endanger life. If you are not careful, a vibrant life will be ended, leaving only the desperate cries of family members.

He turned to look at the crowd. Zhong Gerui's mother first knelt on the ground and wailed, then rushed to the two children who had made the wrong choice, roaring and crying for them to compensate her son.

The parents of the two children quickly shielded their own children, remaining silent in the face of Zhong Gerui's mother's cries.

"It wasn't my child who made him go swimming! What's the use of contacting us now that he's gone?"

One of the children's mothers muttered something.

The noise was a bit loud, which immediately caused Zhong Gerui's mother to rush over like a madwoman, grabbing her and fighting desperately!
The scene immediately became quite chaotic, and Zhang Yong quickly ordered his men to separate the people.

After Zhao Zhigang and Hu Lijun painstakingly separated the two groups, Zhao Zhigang grimaced and rubbed his arms. He had been scratched several times by the foul-mouthed woman, all to protect Zhong Gerui's mother, because she was helping her husband search for their son outside.

"We've repeatedly warned against swimming in unauthorized areas, and reservoirs and scenic spots have set up designated swimming areas for them free of charge, complete with safety nets and lifeguards, all to prevent accidents like this! But they still don't listen! The swimming area is only twenty minutes away, accessible by direct bus, and children get in for free!"

The water police captain stomped his feet in frustration.

"This is not the time to talk about this. Since the child's body hasn't been found, there might still be a chance of survival! Keep searching! You search in the water, and we'll search along the shore!"

Zhang Yong waved his hand, looked at the pitch-black, moonless night, frowned, and gave the police station officers the order to act.

The group of police officers, along with villagers who offered to help, dispersed in a noisy commotion.

The overgrown reservoir banks were far from friendly to Lin Ge. Both the mud and the thorny weeds made his movements extremely difficult. But since a child's life was at stake, and there was still a possibility of survival, Lin Ge refused to give up. He could only trudge through the mud trampled by the searchers ahead, glancing around and inhaling the faint fishy smell of the river water, hoping for a miracle.

He suddenly remembered that he had saved Lin Jia here last year. That silly girl almost lost her life. It was only because Lin Ge took the initiative to expose his special abilities that she gave up her desire to die.

Otherwise, if someone insists on throwing something into the water, a cat alone cannot stop them.

Now Lin Jia has recovered and has her own friends and life, but unexpectedly, another child has fallen into this abyss.

Lin Ge also remembered Nie Guoqiang saying that seventeen or eighteen years ago, people drowned in the Zhanghe Reservoir almost every year.

Back then, there were few public swimming venues and areas, and people didn't have much money due to their low standard of living. In addition, the education, school, family, and village management were inadequate, and the children lacked supervision, so they would always sneak off to the reservoir.

Swimming, catching fish, fishing for shrimp, and even taking an enamel basin, covering it with plastic film, poking a hole in the middle, putting some leftover rice inside, letting it float into the water, and then putting the basin at the bottom.

Swimming for half an hour until you're tired, then taking the fish out to look at them, often yields a good harvest of small fish that have been lured in.

In a day, you can collect quite a few small fish fry. Then, you can break off some dry branches and thatch, light a fire, and roast the fish or dry-fry them by sticking them to the bottom of a ceramic basin. You can eat them with great relish.

Back then, living conditions were poor, and snacks were almost nonexistent. The kids who had a sweet tooth loved activities by the water; they could eat and play at the same time, playing all day and all summer long, which was truly blissful.

However, if you accidentally slip and fall into the water or get a cramp while swimming, your life can disappear so easily.

At that time, the water police department of Zhanghe Reservoir had not yet separated from Zhanghe Police Station. The older generation of police officers often searched for children in the reservoir in plastic boats, sometimes for an entire day. But even so, only a few bodies were found…

There are large fish in Zhanghe Reservoir, and the underwater conditions are very complex. Often, once a fish drowns, it cannot float to the surface.

"Hey!"

Thinking of some upsetting things, Lin Ge sighed.

"Zhong Ge Rui!"

"Xiao Rui!"

"Old Liu, have you seen anything?"

No! What about your end?

"Keep moving forward!"

“Zhong Ge Rui…”

Under the pitch-black night sky, the complex waterfront was filled with light pollution from flashlights and cell phones. Countless people were calling out and searching, but still, there was no trace of the child. Lin Ge didn't know what time it was, but judging from the timeline, at least ten hours had passed since the child's accident! If he hadn't appeared on the shore, then... it's impossible for a person to survive underwater without breathing.

“A life was lost! The Zhong family’s parents are already in their forties, and the chances of them having another child are extremely slim. Even if they did have a child, how could they afford to raise it as they get older? This child’s accident has ruined a family.”

Ringo had already prepared for the worst.

In his view, people nowadays marry and have children late; they get married after thirty, and it takes several more years to have children, so by the time they've finally raised them to adulthood, they're already in their forties. From an age perspective, there's simply no opportunity to prepare for a second child.

So raise your children properly, don't ruin them or cause problems, or it will be too late to regret it!
When it comes to things like outdoor excursions, you should make things very clear with your children, and absolutely not give them any excuses. How can you ruin your family's future just because of a moment of coolness, laziness, or money issues?

"Phew... Where is that child? If he's alive, give me a piece of your mind!"

The more he thought about it, the more depressed he felt. Lin Ge let out a deep breath. Looking around, he realized that he had become separated from the others at some point. Everyone else was searching downstream, leaving him wandering around a kilometer or two away from the scene of the incident.

Of course, Lingo had been working hard for over an hour. By now, he was covered in those damned spiky balls, and the wet mud on his feet had dried and seeped into his fingers.

Shaking off his fur to get rid of the silly spiky balls clinging to the loose hairs, Ringo decided to rest for two minutes.

'Whoosh~'

A sudden noise came from not far away, and Lin Ge's ears twitched.

He had been lazily sprawled on a low tree trunk, but he silently stood up, his pupils rapidly shrinking until they appeared as faint black lines in the darkness. In this state, his night vision was amplified many times over. Using the faint light from a distant lamp and the shimmering ripples on the river, he quietly looked in the direction from which the sound came.

Soon, a wild rabbit that seemed to be startled appeared in Lingo's line of sight.

This creature hopped and leaped through the grass, surprisingly fast. However, judging from its occasional glances back as it hopped, it seemed to have already moved quite far away from the thing that had startled it.

It's not surprising to find a wild rabbit in the middle of nowhere, after all, this creature has long since evolved into a nocturnal animal.

But... Lin Ge smelled moisture on it and saw that almost its entire body of fur was damp, as if it had been soaked by something wet.

This is a little strange.

It's important to know that in most cases, wild rabbits don't need to go to rivers to drink water. Unless in extreme environments, food and dew are sufficient to meet their water needs.

So either the rabbit accidentally fell into the puddle, or it came into contact with something that was very wet due to some special circumstances.

Which one will it be?

Lin Ge suddenly became interested.

He remained quietly perched on the branch, letting the fleeing rabbit pass beneath him.

then……

'Shuh! '

Lingo leaped down from the tree branch, gripped the hammer tightly in his two front paws, and slammed it down hard on the silly rabbit, who was startled by the sudden attack and didn't know what to do, as he was hit twice on the forehead.

The poor long-eared creature was caught off guard. Its head was attacked, and it rolled forward, seeing stars and spinning before crashing onto the muddy ground.

Of course, Lin Ge didn't use excessive force. After all, he had no grudge against the rabbit and had no intention of killing it for food. He simply wanted to catch it to see if it had any scent, so he only needed to subdue it slightly... subdue it...

Lin Ge stared in astonishment as he watched this silly rabbit stubbornly get back up after being punched twice, and then turn and run away without hesitation.

Although it seemed dizzy and head-shaking as it ran, this creature was truly a wild beast capable of tenacious survival in the wild, showing no intention of surrendering and considering nothing but running away.

If we don't take drastic measures, there's absolutely no way to stop it.

After thinking it over, Lingo gave up.

There's no enmity between them, why would he kill such an innocent rabbit? Besides, that close approach just now basically got him what he wanted, why would he have time to waste with a rabbit now?
Turning his head in the opposite direction from where the rabbit had left, Lingo followed the path it had taken into the dense forest.

After following the trail for about ten minutes, Lin Ge arrived at a forest.

Upon closer inspection, this place appears to be an economic forest belonging to a village, surrounded by a large area of ​​Chinese pine trees. These Chinese pines are not for ornamental purposes, but rather for economic purposes, such as extracting resin from cuts made in the trunk.

The entire forest was filled with the strange smell of pine resin, and clumps of solid resin had formed on the tree trunks and on the ground. When it oozed from the tree trunks, it was still viscous, but it would harden into a crust after being exposed to the air for a while.

This stuff isn't cheap, but the smell is truly awful. Plus, once pine resin gets on clothes, it's practically impossible to wash off completely; you have to patiently scrub every spot with alcohol, gasoline, or turpentine. Alternatively, you can mix hot water and baking soda, let it sit, and then slowly work with it—in short, it's incredibly troublesome. It makes clothes stiff and very easily damages them, so practically no one would bother walking this way, especially not on a dark night like this.

But at that very moment, Lingo smelled the scent of humans in the forest.

Carrying the dampness and fishy smell from the Zhanghe Reservoir, a faint scent, almost unnoticed by Lin Ge, wafted through the woods.

Lin Ge's eyes suddenly lit up.

He quickly turned on the body camera on his neck, meaning the camera, GPS, and walkie-talkie were all activated simultaneously, before speeding up and running deeper into the woods.

From here, one can vaguely see the red-tiled roofs of houses on the other side of the woods; perhaps someone came here specifically to find the village across the way. After all, Lingo hadn't seen any other villages along the way, so asking for help here wasn't a bad choice.

However... that person overestimated his physical strength, as well as his disheveled appearance and abnormal physical condition after escaping from danger.

"But it's good that you're alive!"

For some reason, Lin Ge seemed particularly happy at this moment.

In the end, things didn't turn out as disappointingly as he feared. The world lost a grieving family and gained a stupid kid who was sure to get a beating when he got home!

When Lin Ge arrived at a public cemetery belonging to the village in the woods, he stopped.

The silent rows of graves did not frighten Ringo. As a nocturnal creature, the nighttime scenery that humans feared was the least of his worries.

What Lin Ge saw was a building next to the cemetery, which was probably a storage room. It had no door, and the sheltered part was completely open. At this moment, it was filled with thick pine needles and pine branches, which the farmers would take home when needed.

At this moment, a small, thin figure buried himself entirely in the pine needles, seemingly oblivious to the sharpness of the needles and the pain of them pricking his body, only hoping that they could wrap around his body and bring him some warmth.

Lin Ge suddenly felt a feeling he didn't know how to express. This child... had also suffered a lot.

No one knows how he managed to survive the drowning and reach the shore, how he struggled to find a place with people, or how he finally collapsed helplessly beside the cemetery in his poor physical condition and exhausted state.

"It really is Zhong Ge Rui!"

Lin Ge arrived at the doorway and saw the child, who was trembling uncontrollably, his entire body buried in pine needles. He was unconscious with his eyes closed, and the exposed parts of his body, not completely covered by pine needles, were covered in wounds.

The child's breathing was very rapid, clearly indicating a high fever.

God knows how long it would have taken him to be discovered if he hadn't been tracked down by Lin Ge. This is a graveyard; ordinary people don't come here every day.

Given his condition, it remains to be seen whether he can hold on until sunrise tomorrow.

Fever can be fatal.

"But you're lucky to have met me! You should also thank that unlucky rabbit you chased out of the house. It was the rabbit that got here first, but now it's your turn."

Lin Ge smiled and slapped the collar to activate the walkie-talkie.

(End of this chapter)