Chapter 713 - 9: Using Animals to Find Animals (Part 2)

Chapter 713: Chapter 9: Using Animals to Find Animals (Part 2)

"Who did this?"

Shen Xin’s temper flared at the sight of the chaotic scene.

He had specifically told them not to cause trouble. And what did they do? Cross ten kilometers to get into a fight.

Quite the tough guys, aren’t you.

Shen Xin irritably swatted Tian Kui.

Tian Kui flinched, silently cursing Da Mei.

She had seen Tian Kui’s cry for help, but she just grabbed Sheriff and ran.

York, who had come along, quickly intervened. "It’s alright, it’s alright. They’re just coyotes. The things are practically running rampant around here. We can just chalk it up to an accident, it’s no big deal."

As for the bobcat, though?

York squinted. ’What bobcat? I don’t see any bobcat.’

He immediately had a vet tend to the animals.

Surprisingly, they were all saved.

The pack’s leader had been on its last breath, but after its neck wound was stitched up and it received a shot of cardiac stimulant, its breathing surprisingly eased up considerably.

It just goes to show how tenacious animal life is.

"Stay away from Da Mei from now on. She’s going to get you killed one of these days," Shen Xin lectured, tugging on Tian Kui’s ear.

Tian Kui, with his straightforward nature, was no match for a schemer like Da Mei.

For someone like Da Mei, only Tiger Stripes could keep her in line.

Tian Kui looked up at Shen Xin. ’Are you calling me dumb?’

He let out a bark.

’Why won’t you let us work?’

The question caught Shen Xin off guard. "What’s wrong with letting you rest?" he asked in return.

Tian Kui shook his head stubbornly.

’It’s not.’

A natural-born worker, he just wanted a job to do.

Shen Xin ruffled his head. He could tell Tian Kui just wanted a chance to prove himself. "It’s alright," he said. "We have Teddy and the others for that. You guys just focus on resting."

Tian Kui’s temper flared. He jerked his head away from Shen Xin’s hand. ’Teddy’s too dumb. He’s not reliable.’

Shen Xin chuckled in spite of himself. "Alright, alright. You’re the reliable one."

But as things stood, Teddy’s team was still more efficient.

Angrily, Tian Kui nipped at Shen Xin’s pant leg.

’Take that back!’

Four coyotes and one bobcat.

None of them were going to die, but just releasing them back into the wild would mean all the effort to save them was for nothing.

So, after a brief discussion, they decided to take the animals back to town to recuperate before releasing them.

Of course, before they could leave, they had to retrieve Da Mei.

The little troublemaker hadn’t run far; she was hiding in the nearby woods.

He flipped on her tracker and saw her location clearly.

"Come on out. What are you still hiding for?" Shen Xin walked over and called out.

Sheriff was the first to leap out of the bushes, letting out a few meows.

’I had nothing to do with it!’

"Da Mei, if you don’t come out right now, I’m leaving you here!" Shen Xin threatened.

Only then did Da Mei jump out. She trotted over to Shen Xin’s feet, flopped onto her back to expose her belly, and let out a series of adorable mews.

’Hurry up and pet me. You won’t be angry anymore once you do.’

With such a shamelessly cute display, what could Shen Xin do? His hand came down as if to swat her, but in the end, he just gently scooped Da Mei up.

"Can’t you try to stay out of trouble for once?" Shen Xin lectured, lightly tugging her ear.

’It wasn’t my fault.’

Da Mei tried to argue her case while burrowing into Shen Xin’s embrace.

At Phase Three, her little schemes were completely transparent to him.

Judging from her memories, it really wasn’t her fault. The bobcat had attacked her first.

And with Da Mei’s ’eye for an eye’ personality, there was no way she wouldn’t retaliate.

Still, Shen Xin had to lecture her. "But the point is, you shouldn’t be running off like that! Look how far you went!"

Ten kilometers! Out in the middle of nowhere! Aren’t you afraid of running into a predator?

In this area, forget wolves—even a golden eagle could pose a threat to Da Mei.

But her? She just wanders wherever she pleases, and so far from home, too.

Da Mei’s eyes darted around as she came up with a plausible excuse.

’I wanted to help!’

’I know a lot of friends around here. I asked them to help me look for the target.’

’I’ve even almost learned a new language!’ Da Mei wanted to add.

"Alright, alright, you want to help. If you really want to help, the best way is to stay with me and not run off." Shen Xin paid her no mind.

With that, he returned with the others.

The day’s search yielded no results.

They did find a few potential targets, but all were confirmed to be either coyotes or the Nevada subspecies of red fox.

Their body shapes were similar, but a check with the smart helmet’s camera function confirmed they weren’t the one.

So, the plan for the next day was to relocate the search north to Idaho.

If they came up empty there, they’d head to Wyoming next.

At their current pace, he estimated it would take less than a week to sweep the entire designated search area.

Shen Xin was full of confidence, as was the FBI.

In the words of Philips, the ground Teddy’s team had covered in just a few days was equivalent to several years of the FBI’s own efforts.

There might not be any immediate discoveries, but they had been on this case for over a decade. They could afford to wait a little longer.

But when October 11th arrived, the search of the final area near Yellowstone National Park was completed, and the results were disappointing.

Nothing.

"It’s alright. We’ll rest up and then do another sweep. We might have just missed it. It’s a huge area, after all," York was quick to console Shen Xin.

For one, it was possible for the target to move from Area B to Area A right after they finished sweeping A and moved on to B, causing them to just miss each other.

Another possibility was that the killer was keeping the wolfdog confined in an enclosed space, like their house or a cellar.

Only letting it out to commit the murders.

However, Griffin and his team had analyzed this possibility and deemed it unlikely.

For one thing, their investigation had been quite extensive. They had sent out bulletins to every town in the vicinity of the crime scenes, asking residents to report anyone who owned a vicious wolfdog.

In modern society, it would be extremely difficult for the killer to live a life of total isolation.

For instance, if he owned a vehicle, wouldn’t he need to buy gas?