Chapter 699: BAU, Behavior Analysis Department

It was late at night. A breeze from the lake rustled through the treetops.

Shen Xin leaned back in his deck chair. Da Mei had once again monopolized Ding Yuwei, sprawled on its back in her lap and letting out low, rumbling snores.

Tian Kui lay at Shen Xin’s feet, also fast asleep.

York and his colleague had already left, and Yang Zeran was now video-calling.

On the tablet screen, he was sitting on a sofa, massaging Song Xiangli’s calves. “Shen Xin, let me sum this up,” he said. “Basically, you have to find a… hmm, let’s just say a shepherd, in an area the size of France.”

He paused, then asked, “Do you have any idea what that entails? To put it bluntly, it’s a needle in a haystack. Lao Shen, you’d better not agree to this lightly. If you fail, it’ll be a huge embarrassment.”

Shen Xin scoffed.

‘If we’re talking about embarrassment, the FBI already lost face the moment they came to us for help.’

‘And they haven’t cracked the case in seventeen years. How is that not an embarrassment?’

“Lao Yang, I asked for your input, not for you to be a naysayer. What are your thoughts on the case?” Shen Xin asked.

It wasn’t a question of whether to agree. After what Deng Zhiliang had said, Shen Xin was definitely going to accept the job.

‘It’s a good trade for a few Red Notices.’

Yang Zeran pursed his lips. “What’s there to think about? It’s probably a truck driver, right?”

“A long-haul trucker, driving alone. Picks targets at random along his route, then sics his dog on them to do the killing. Out in the middle of nowhere, not a living soul for miles around. Isn’t that how it always plays out in American TV dramas?”

“You’ve worked cases out on the grasslands. You should know how hard it is to solve a hit-and-run murder in that kind of environment.”

Shen Xin called out to the screen, “Prosecutor Song, can you get your man under control? Tell him to be serious for a second.”

‘He’s just spouting a bunch of useless nonsense.’

Song Xiangli, who was on the other end of the call absorbed in her own work on a tablet, heard him. She lifted a foot and kicked Yang Zeran. “Be serious,” she said.

Yang Zeran made a dismissive gesture at Shen Xin through the screen. “How am I not being serious? I’m telling the truth. A cold case like this comes down to luck. They haven’t solved it in seventeen years, which just goes to show their luck sucks.”

Seeing Shen Xin glare at him again, Yang Zeran finally reined himself in. He pondered for a moment before saying, “Okay, my personal take is this: there are two possibilities. First, the killer is a local.”

“It’s true that this so-called Great Basin is sparsely populated, but that doesn’t mean it’s empty. And anyway, my impression of the United States is that it’s full of those run-down, isolated little towns. Someone living alone in a place like that could easily become psychologically twisted.”

“If that’s the case, then they need to do a full canvass of the area and check the communications data from the cell towers. As long as they throw enough manpower at it, I refuse to believe they can’t flush him out.”

“The other possibility is an outsider, like a passing trucker who keeps the dog in his rig. They should do a wide-scale canvass of all the regular truck stops. Every contact leaves a trace, right? With a dog that distinctive, I find it hard to believe no one’s ever seen it.”

“Bottom line, we’re talking about more than a decade. The guy’s been active in this region for a long time. If they’d just put enough people on it, they’d definitely find something.”

Shen Xin remained silent.

Shen Xin had actually already considered Yang Zeran’s ideas.

But York had also said they were incapable of conducting a canvass of that magnitude.

“Lao Yang, don’t treat them like fools. They said they already checked with all the small towns and police departments in the area. No one in any of those jurisdictions owns a Groenendael Dog.”

‘The world-famous FBI… how could they be completely incompetent?’

‘They may not have the insane mobilization capabilities or the grassroots control of our police system back home, but they’ve thought of every possible angle and done what they could.’

‘But it all led to nothing.’

“Forget it. You get some rest. I’ll think about it some more on my own.” Shen Xin waved a hand and ended the call.

Ding Yuwei, stroking Da Mei, said softly, “Shen Xin, maybe you should think about it more simply. He asked you to find that dog, so just help him find it. Use your methods. I’m sure it won’t be that difficult for you.”

‘Find a dog.’

‘It might be hard for humans, but for someone like me who can train animals, it shouldn’t be that hard.’

‘Animals have their own channels, a method I’ve used to solve cases before.’

“You’re right.”

Shen Xin nodded. “They didn’t ask us to solve the case, just to help them find the dog. So, we’ll find the dog.”

‘It takes one to know one.’

‘Since we’re looking for an animal, we’ll let an animal do the searching.’

Shen Xin folded his arms and began to strategize. After all, the search area was the size of France.

After a long moment, Shen Xin turned his head. “Yuwei, you didn’t get to go to the United States last time. How about we go together this time? We can take another vacation before the wedding.”

‘We’ll just treat it as a vacation.’

This was the Wild West from the movies—crisscrossing mountain ranges, sprawling forests, and tons of natural tourist attractions.

For instance, the world-famous Yellowstone National Park was nearby.

As for how to conduct the search, Shen Xin was already starting to form an idea.

The next day, Shen Xin contacted Xu Jinguang to report his idea.

When Shen Xin mentioned using this as an opportunity to ask for more favorable terms, Xu Jinguang sounded exasperated. “You rascal, don’t you worry your head about that. Now, what were these requirements you mentioned?”

Shen Xin had said he was willing to go, but he had a few requirements.

Shen Xin said, “They’re not so much requirements as necessities. I’ll probably be taking a lot of animals with me, so they’ll need to handle my travel plans, entry permits, and all that.”

These weren’t luggage; they were animals.

There are specific procedures for bringing them into another country.

And with so many of them, it would probably require a special exception to be made.

And then there was the matter of what happened after they arrived.

‘They couldn’t find the killer in seventeen years. I don’t believe I’ll be able to find him in just a short amount of time, either.’