Reborn Cat Sheriff

Chapter 684 Shit

The police officers, who were being manipulated by Zhai Xiaojun, were now particularly envious of the brothers who had been ordered to escort Huang Gang and his father away; they were just too lucky.

Even the colleague who was chasing the big yellow dog, trying to catch it in a cage, was luckier than us unlucky folks.

Compared to touching poop, the risk of being bitten by a dog is simply negligible.

"Ha ha……"

Lin Ge took two steps back, stealthily and quickly walked out without hesitation.

He doesn't want to play with shit!

Even their own poop is handled by other pet owners, so how could they possibly touch those disgusting things with their own hands?

"Mimi!"

Zhang Ke's voice rang out from behind.

Lin Ge shuddered and tried to run away, but Zhang Ke quickly grabbed his tail.

"Mimi, you're not planning to abandon me and run away, are you? We're in this together, if we're going to leave, we'll leave together!"

Zhang Ke's lips twitched, his expression strange.

Lin Ge understood; he wasn't the only one planning to desert! But that made sense; neither he nor Zhang Ke worked for Zhai Xiaojun, so there was no need for them to take his orders and do these utterly tedious tasks. But if they were conscripted, they were doomed!
The person and the cat exchanged a glance, then quickly and quietly slipped away without making a sound.

Zhai Xiaojun saw the two guys acting suspiciously, and a glint flashed in his eyes, but he didn't say anything.

"Mimi, where do you think that thing might be hiding?"

Zhang Ke pushed the motorcycle and led Lin Ge to the cemetery they had passed on the way there. Huang Gang's abandoned and hidden motorcycle was located there, and two police officers were investigating the situation.

Zhang Ke went over and asked, but there was nothing of value found. Lin Ge also inspected the motorcycle, but similarly found nothing hidden in any corners or alleys.

So... it's not really hidden in the latrine, is it?
Although that place is indeed... not easy to find, we still have to retrieve it ourselves eventually, right? To be able to do this much, Huang Gang is quite an amazing person in a way!
Of course, the police officers who dared to go down into the latrines were also very impressive.

The worst-case scenario is that there's nothing inside, and Zhai Xiaojun's men have just wasted their time. That would be incredibly frustrating. Not only would the item remain missing, but their hands would also be covered in disgusting contaminants—just thinking about it is cruel.

Lin Ge felt genuine sympathy for those unfortunate souls, but he had no intention of helping them.

"Mimi?"

At that moment, the collar suddenly made a sound.

"Nie Guoqiang?"

"Boss Nie?"

Lin Ge and Zhang Ke's eyes lit up together.

"You guys are still over there, right? I heard the thief has been found. Have you found anything unusual over there? Besides that memory chip, what was he wearing when he infiltrated the research institute, the thing that concealed his face?"

"Didn't they find those things?"

Zhang Ke was stunned for a moment.

He suddenly realized that Huang Gang wasn't wearing any face mask when he was arrested. So, besides the memory device, these things were also hidden?

So... what's hidden in the cesspool?
Are they all together?
Nie Guoqiang has arrived at the research institute and is currently helping Yang Ye.

Lin Ge learned from Nie Guoqiang that Wang Jiasong, whom Lin Ge called "fat pig," had been taken into police custody.

However, this guy still vehemently denied any involvement in the theft, and the police and even the National Security Bureau found nothing related to him, his home, or even his lover's home, nor any related communications.

If it weren't for trusting Lin Ge, and if Lin Ge hadn't indicated that this guy was highly suspicious, frankly speaking, based on the police's current investigation of Wang Jiasong, he wouldn't be suspected of committing the crime at all; he's just a corrupt official, nothing more.

Of course, after Huang Gang was arrested, his confession once again proved that Wang Jiasong was involved in the case. Although this guy kept saying that Huang Gang was framing him and that they had had conflicts before, it was impossible for the police to let him go.

His attempt to use minor punishment to cover up major transgressions was a clever tactic that backfired.

In addition, Li Yiduo, who had been busy in front of the computer since arriving at the research institute, also provided some information at this time.

The device the thief used to steal the data was an imported, ultra-small storage device. The fact that the thief copied the entire hard drive directly indicates that they had some basic computer skills, but not an exceptionally large amount.

In other words, the other party is not a professional spy.

But he must be very familiar with the research institute and the users of this computer!
This incident can almost certainly be identified as an inside job, but it's also almost certain that there's contact with outsiders. Right now, besides searching for the storage device, it would be best to find the communication tools used by both parties; a mobile phone, computer, or satellite phone.

At this time, the police investigating the surrounding area relayed a message: Huang Gang was a person with a severe internet addiction. Before coming to the research institute as a security guard, he had spent many years wandering the streets. He could stay in almost any job for no more than six months, and the reasons for resigning or being fired were basically because he would fall asleep at work and spend all night in internet cafes. After coming to the research institute, he quickly became a regular at the nearby internet cafe, and would come to play games as soon as he got off work, sometimes for the entire day.

Huang Gang had seventy or eighty online game accounts under his name, meaning he had played almost every game with a modicum of popularity, both domestic and international. According to the internet cafe manager, Huang Gang even used circumvention software to play foreign online games.

"Did he contact foreign forces in an internet cafe?"

This news stunned Yang Ye. It was the first time he had ever heard of such an unprofessional situation, yet it had somehow allowed him to succeed.

But how did foreign forces know about Huang Gang's relationship with the Zhangzhou Seaplane Research Center?
Did Huang Gang inform us on his own initiative?
"Huang Gang is very short of money."

Li Yiduo investigated Huang Gang's online game accounts and social media accounts, and upon hearing this, he smirked.

This guy was just a security guard, but the recharge records of his various accounts were all substantial. Seven or eight thousand yuan was common, and some games even saw recharges of thirty or fifty thousand yuan. In several games and mobile games that emphasized 'combat power' and had a strong competitive element, the recharge amounts ranged from one hundred thousand to two hundred thousand yuan. With his meager security guard salary, he could never earn that much money in his lifetime; clearly, he had accumulated considerable debt.

Upon contacting the telecommunications company, it was confirmed that Huang Gang's phone contained a large number of debt collection text messages.

Although some of them were deleted by him, and some were even blacklisted, these items, along with some phone numbers that were very familiar to the police, were enough to prove many things.

Huang Gang... borrowed a lot of money from online loans just to have fun playing games!
He borrowed all the money from the loan services of several major legitimate platforms.

That's not all; he also has numerous other loan transactions. Regardless of whether the lenders are illegal, even if they are, the principal and basic interest still need to be repaid! Preliminary estimates put his debt at around three million yuan—a sum he couldn't possibly repay even if he were sold off, let alone without interest! Therefore, targeting the company he was supposed to protect could be considered one of Huang Gang's motives for committing the crime.

"Just to play a game, you ended up like this?"

Yang Ye, and even Nie Guoqiang, couldn't understand this behavior. They had seen people gamble away their fortunes and ruin their families, but Huang Gang was just playing ordinary games, even legitimate ones, yet he managed to end up heavily in debt?
Can this game feed you, or can you exchange it for money?
Spending so much money just to have fun at the time, only to have it all go down the drain a few days later when the game updates; or even falling for another game altogether—what kind of mentality is that?
"This can no longer be called internet addiction; it should be called internet poisoning."

The two shook their heads.

But...did Huang Gang really do it? Was it his idea from the very beginning?

Nie Guoqiang felt there was definitely something wrong here!

Although Wang Jiasong denied that Huang Gang was the mastermind in the interrogation room, Huang Gang insisted that it was all Wang Jiasong's orders, but this may not be as simple as dogs fighting each other.

On the other side, the latrine was finally emptied.

However, after all the trouble the city police had gone through, they ended up smelling terrible themselves, but all they managed to pull out from the cesspool was the sunscreen mask that Huang Gang had used and the card reader inside. They didn't find any storage device or Huang Gang's missing cell phone.

A dozen or so desperate police officers collapsed to the ground, oblivious to the rotten excrement lying beside them.

At this moment, they felt incredibly ethereal, unwilling to think about anything, whether physical or mental; they would rather let their brains be paralyzed than let their thoughts wander at this moment.

As for the other bastards who covered their noses and refused to get close, or even gloated, they were all ignored.

"That's...so tragic!" Lin Ge stood far upwind, shaking his fur with sympathy, then glanced at Zhai Xiaojun and couldn't help but shiver.

This guy is really ruthless to his own people!

If the item is found, that's fine; but if it's not found... wouldn't everyone have suffered a loss for nothing?

"It's not a complete loss! At least we've eliminated one more place, and now we just need to look in other places. We're one step closer to finding our target."

Zhai Xiaojun spoke with conviction.

Unfortunately, this guy was covered in excrement, yet he had just been working alongside his subordinates without standing idly by, so no one could find fault with him.

He was ruthless to his subordinates and just as ruthless to himself, which made Lin Ge admire him.

"Wang!"

The big yellow dog, put in a cage and loaded onto the pickup truck, started barking again at the group of police officers around it. Perhaps it was blaming them for taking its things?
Dogs in the countryside sometimes eat feces.

"Eating shit...no way?"

Lin Ge's lips twitched suddenly, as he felt a slight toothache.

But it's not impossible!
Li Yiduo said that the chip Huang Gang used was extremely small, about the size of a small pill. Even with a protective casing, it was probably only about the size of a fingernail. Given its extreme thinness, there was indeed a possibility that a dog could swallow it.

So, was Huang Gang aware of this matter or unaware of it?
Accident?

Or was it planned all along?

Is the reason he stubbornly refuses to confess because he thinks the police can't possibly find that thing?

impossible?

If a dog swallows it, who knows where it will end up?

That was... an accident?
The more Lin Ge looked at the big yellow dog, the more suspicious he became. But to be honest, there was no evidence, just like there was no evidence that Zhai Xiaojun targeted the latrine; it was just a guess about the possibility.

Since there were no clues anyway, Lin Ge called Zhang Ke and Li Siyu over.

Seeing Mimi jump onto the pickup truck and stare at the big yellow dog in the cage through the bars, and then seeing the big yellow dog cower in the corner after looking at Mimi, Li Siyu didn't quite understand why Mimi had called her over.

"Mimi, do you want us to let it go?"

Li Siyu assumed Lin Ge was just feeling sorry for him. After all, besides his bunch of cat followers, he also had quite a few police dog underlings! This guy seemed to have an insatiable interest in recruiting underlings. Could it be that he had taken a liking to this unremarkable big dog?
"Even though it was somewhat useful for being loyal to its owner before, I lost all interest in it after discovering that it ate shit."

Lin Ge quickly shook his head.

The thought of his police dogs licking his head, and then having this dog covered in poop lick him... made Lin Ge shudder.

"That means... this guy is a suspect!"

Zhang Ke guessed what Lin Ge was thinking, and his eyes immediately filled with murderous intent as he looked at the dog.

However, there was no need to kill the dog rashly. Zhang Ke went directly to Zhai Xiaojun and told him his guess that the memory chip might be inside the dog's stomach.

"Old White!"

Without hesitation, Zhai Xiaojun summoned one of his men and said, "Take this dog to the technical center for an X-ray to see if it has anything hidden inside! If it does, deal with it and come back. If not, go to the municipal bureau and get some more people over!"

"You still believe the item is nearby?"

Zhang Ke understood what Zhai Xiaojun meant.

"Would you just leave something worth tens of millions or even hundreds of millions in some place you can't control? Wouldn't you be afraid it would be picked up by a scavenger or a passerby? That's something you see in movies, not in human nature!"

Zhai Xiaojun explained with a cold laugh, "Since it's basically confirmed that Huang Gang is the mastermind, or at least a key participant, he wouldn't keep such a valuable item out of his sight for so long. But if the item could disappear at any moment, and he himself would be arrested and imprisoned, would he do that? I reckon Huang Gang already knew he couldn't escape, but he was definitely prepared to enjoy a huge sum of money after his release! In other words, it's either Wang Jiasong or someone else... they must have already discussed with him where to hide the item! And this place must be trusted by Huang Gang for him to be willing to take such a huge risk!"

"Mimi judged that Huang Gang did not stop at any other places besides the gas station and the stone bridge where he changed vehicles. According to you, plus this destination, there are indeed only these three places that are suspicious."

After thinking about it, Zhang Ke agreed with Zhai Xiaojun's reasoning.

"Gas stations are crowded and under surveillance cameras. If those two people over at the stone bridge really took something, they wouldn't have stayed there! So the most likely place is still this one!"

Zhai Xiaojun pointed to the house and looked around, convinced that even if the dog's belly didn't contain any goods, the goods must be hidden somewhere in this house!

Why didn't those two leave, but instead stayed there fishing?

Thinking of his brother's difficult past, Zhang Ke also felt a little strange.

These two brothers are not novice criminals. Besides, the profits from this risky crime are negligible compared to their previous scams. So why would they do this?
"Who knows what's going on with these two brothers! I don't know why that old man didn't take them in in the first place. He only gave them a little lesson before letting them go. That's too easy on those two bastards!"

Lin Ge was also puzzled and annoyed.

But for some reason, Lin Ge felt that these two brothers weren't the type to commit such a spy crime. How so? They seemed to be the type who were good at keeping themselves hidden; they probably wouldn't have the guts to do something this serious.

After thinking it over, Lin Ge decided to leave those two people aside for now. While waiting for Officer Bai's reply, he continued to wander around searching.

He took Zhai Xiaojun's words to heart. Since even professional criminal investigators believed the item was hidden somewhere in the house, they would dig the place up to find it.

"Cuck!"

Suddenly, a crow cawed overhead, and the sound seemed off. At first, Lin Ge thought it was some kind of nasty bird or one of its minions flying by, but when he looked up at the dark, indistinct thing, he realized it really was a crow.

Lin Ge had gotten used to hearing those guys in the city mimicking crows, and for a moment he forgot that their calls were actually quite different from crows.

"Could it have been carried away by a crow?"

Thinking of this possibility, Lin Ge looked up and around, and soon spotted a rather large bird's nest on the top of a tree not far from the gate.

Since he had nothing else to do, Lin Ge jogged over and scurried up the tree.

"Cuck!"

The crows in the tree were startled by the cat that suddenly darted out and flapped their wings to fly away.

Ignoring everything else, Lin Ge quickly climbed to the nest amidst Li Siyu's anxious calls from below. Peeking inside, he saw four round bird eggs, but nothing else that seemed unusual.

"Cuck!"

The crow flying around, seeing that the cat was about to harm its chicks, quickly cawed and tried to threaten it. Despite its fear, it was also determined to rush in and fight.

Lin Ge ignored it.

After checking and finding nothing amiss, he pursed his lips and prepared to climb down the tree.

But just then, as he looked down, Lin Ge saw a flash of light on the roof. The light reflected off the object and shone directly into Lin Ge's eyes, making him turn his head away uncomfortably.

Upon closer inspection, it turned out that something in the gap between the roof tiles near the toilet was positioned perfectly to face the sunlight, shining directly onto the treetop.

"what is that?"

(End of this chapter)