Chapter 23

At 11 a.m., in the corridor of the twelfth floor of Nancheng Hospital, Song Wen looked at Lu Siyu. The perpetual white light in the hospital corridor seemed to cast a frost on his face. He had spoken calmly just now, as if sharing a coffee recipe rather than discussing something that could be as deadly as a sip of poison.

Song Wen complimented, “Thanks to your broad knowledge. Otherwise, we would have gone through many twists and turns to find the source of the poison.”

Lu Siyu humbly responded, “It’s just because I have an expensive dog at home and read a few more pieces of social news.”

As they spoke, Song Wen suddenly stopped talking. He withdrew his hand from the wall, stood upright, and fixed his gaze behind Lu Siyu. Lu Siyu turned around to see that Guo Hua’s mother had appeared behind them. They hadn’t approached her, but she came on her own.

With people coming and going in the hospital, this ordinary middle-aged woman was inconspicuous. Song Wen didn’t even know when she had arrived or how much she had overheard.

The woman spoke first, “Are you the police in charge of this case?”

“Well, the investigation is still ongoing,” Song Wen didn’t know how to face this woman. It didn’t seem appropriate to inform or console her at this moment. Her daughter was lying in the hospital room, her life hanging in the balance, and her daughter might be one of the suspects or the murderer in this case.

Lu Siyu reacted first and asked, “Auntie, do you have any relevant clues?”

The woman shook her head, bowed to them, and when Lu Siyu wanted to help her stand, she knelt down. She reached out with a cold hand and held onto him tightly, as if clutching a life-saving straw. “Police comrades, I beg you to save Xiao Xiao, save our family. I know that child, even if she’s beaten and suffered, she would only swallow it and never resort to murder.”

She probably heard some information from people at the school and deduced some things on her own. The two girls from the same dormitory were dead, and they had conflicts with Guo Hua before. Undoubtedly, Guo Hua would be considered a suspect.

Upon hearing this, Lu Siyu was momentarily stunned. The term “comrade police officer” felt distant and carried a sense of a bygone era, reminding him of a childhood song he once heard about finding a penny. Today, the penny was long gone, and the children no longer sang that song. Although he chose to become a detective, it was always driven by his own motives. He lacked a sense of belief and so-called justice. However, now he was suddenly grabbed by someone, and trust was handed to him, as if someone’s life and death were in the palm of his hand.

Seeing Lu Siyu’s astonishment, Song Wen thought he might not have experienced such a situation before. He quickly comforted Guo Hua’s mother and helped stabilize her emotions. Then, he pulled Lu Siyu downstairs.

As they descended, Lu Siyu still took the elevator, and Song Wen used the stairs. Even after getting into the car, Lu Siyu felt the palms of his hands were cold. Song Wen didn’t expect his reaction to be so intense. Sitting in the passenger seat, he fastened his seatbelt and said to Lu Siyu, “You’ll get used to it when you see more of it. At times like this, they have no other choice but to pray and then rely on the police.”

Lu Siyu’s eyes wandered, and he seemed to wake up. “Guo Hua’s current situation is not good. Even if she wakes up, there may be complications. If she doesn’t wake up, she may die like this, leaving behind high medical expenses. The evidence in this case is unfavorable to Guo Hua. If she poisoned them, this family may need to compensate other families, face accusations, and Guo Hua’s father has been sick for a long time. By then, the family will have no way out. What she said about saving their family is not an exaggeration.”

Song Wen knew about these things. This was the reason he didn’t want to deal with Guo Hua’s mother initially. However, he didn’t expect the old lady to come by herself. He didn’t want this matter to affect his emotions, so he turned to Lu Siyu and said, “If you feel uncomfortable, try your best to find out the truth.”

Then, Song Wen looked Lu Siyu up and down. This person was usually cold, and many reactions that ordinary people should have, whether fear or sympathy, seemed not to belong to him. He seemed emotionless, so that’s why Zhou Yining thought he was emotionally cold. If he didn’t eat on time every day, Song Wen almost suspected that he had become a fairy. Now he was talking about these things, sounding like there was a trace of humanity in his shell. Song Wen withdrew his gaze and said, “I didn’t expect you to have a bit of a sense of justice.”

Lu Siyu picked up his water cup, took a few sips of water, and quickly returned to his usual unaffected appearance, as if the outcome didn’t concern him. He said coldly, “Just stating a fact. Where are we going now? Back to the city bureau, or…”

“Let’s go to that pet shop first?” Song Wen suggested.

Lu Siyu started the car, set the navigation, and drove toward the Xinjia Public. “Most poisoned dogs are sent to dog meat restaurants, but for some expensive dogs, they need to find outlets. These dogs are often treated and then sent to pet shops to be sold. Some pet shop owners may be money-minded and cooperate with them. Of course, these are just my deductions. We can only try our luck.”

In theory, people who run pet shops should have love for animals. However, those who poison dogs are harming animals. No matter how you look at it, these two groups of people shouldn’t get along. But now, for the sake of profit, these two groups have unexpectedly joined forces.

Song Wen said, “Now that you mention it, I remember that the Sub-bureau’s Lao Chang mentioned they were pursuing a group of dog traffickers in the city. These people are quite bold. Let me make a call to check for updates.”

After a ten-minute phone call, Song Wen had all the information he needed. He hadn’t expected that there would be so much to it, and detectives like them hadn’t dealt with this aspect before. Lao Chang also instructed him on some details. Now, he relayed the information to Lu Siyu, “There is indeed a group of dog poisoners in the city. Generally, there are two methods of poisoning dogs: dog poison injections using sodium cyanide and dog poison medicine using isoniazid. In addition, there are some anesthetic injections. They have special channels for these things. There is also a specialized chain for selling stolen goods.”

Lu Siyu nodded; this was similar to what he knew.

“These dog traffickers have their own set of experiences. In rural areas, they ride motorcycles, two people going at night. After shooting a dog, they drag it into a sack. In the city, they target some neighborhoods, with some specifically stealing valuable dogs. Stealing dogs is much lighter in sentencing than home robbery, and they can make a good profit.”

Lu Siyu nodded again, especially in the past few years when Tibetan Mastiffs’ prices were artificially inflated. The cost of a purebred mastiff was almost several million.

“Generally, dog poisoners won’t only sell stolen goods in one pet shop; they’ll commit crimes across different regions. Dogs stolen in the east are sold in the west, those stolen in the south are sold in the north, or even sold to surrounding cities. For these dogs with unclear origins, shop owners usually only sell them to regular customers looking for a bargain, not to new customers.”

Lu Siyu nodded. “I know some of this.”

“Their last operation was because someone didn’t leash their dog during a walk and got mistakenly injured by those people. They almost died in the hospital. The relatives didn’t let it go, so they formed a special task force and followed them for two months. The team included over ten police officers and auxiliary police, monitoring 24 hours a day.”

“Did they catch anyone?” Lu Siyu asked.

Song Wen sighed. “They didn’t catch anyone. Later, the dog traffickers’ hideout wasn’t within the jurisdiction of their sub-bureau, so the matter was dropped.”

Everyone detested dog theft and killing, but taking practical action was incredibly difficult. It involved a considerable amount of manpower, resources, and effort. Not to mention, it yielded slow results. After catching someone, they would be released in a few days and resume their activities elsewhere. Police also had to consider efficiency, and deploying numerous officers against a few dog thieves wasn’t cost-effective.

Song Wen continued, “There was a leader among them called Dao Lao San. I once came face to face with him. He’s a man in his forties with a scar on his face and forehead. He used to work at some slaughterhouse, and he has a strong murderous aura.”

Although they had now confirmed that the pet shop was where Lin Wanwan worked, the source of the poison was still their speculation. If, after investigation, they couldn’t find the dog-trafficking culprits, or if they spooked them and lost the lead, the hard-earned clue would be lost.

As they discussed this, Lu Siyu hit the brakes, and Song Wen perked up. “Are we here?”

Lu Siyu pointed to a nearby bright orange sign with large letters that read, “Xin Xin Pet Shop.” The font of the shop’s name was identical to the apron in Lin Wanwan’s dormitory.

After unfastening his seatbelt, Song Wen became alert. “Let’s go in and take a look!”

However, Lu Siyu turned to him and said, “Captain Song, can we eat first?”

Song Wen glanced at him and then checked the watch; it had just passed twelve. He compromised, “Fine, your call.” Then, he added cautiously, “You don’t happen to have steamed buns, do you?”

Lu Siyu shook his head. “I brought a pizza.”

Song Wen asked, “Pizza… did you make it yourself?” There was a hint of amazement and disbelief in his tone.

Lu Siyu furrowed his brow and couldn’t help but explain, “Pizza, it’s easy to make. After the dough ferments, you just process the ingredients and put them in the oven…”

Song Wen interrupted, “Stop, stop, I don’t understand.”

Lu Siyu explained again, “You had steamed buns this morning, right? It’s like that, just without sealing the filling inside, and you sprinkle the ingredients on top.”

Song Wen could accept this kind of explanation. He suddenly realized, “Oh…”

In Lu Siyu’s view, once you mastered a few types of dishes, you could understand them all. The only differences were the ingredients and cooking times, with no fundamental distinctions. However, to Song Wen, mastering the cuisine of a country was like mastering a foreign language.

They parked the car not far from Xin Xin Pet Shop and then crossed the street to find a small restaurant. The proprietress of the small restaurant was very welcoming. After Song Wen ordered the dishes, she graciously reheated the pizza for Lu Siyu.