Animal Detective

Chapter 318 - 261: Special Task Force

Shen Xin had only just learned that the Nanjiang Police Department had an internal regulation.

Namely, if a heinous case involving the murder of two or more people occurred, a special task force had to be formed to solve it within a set deadline.

「New District Branch.」

Shen Xin parked his car in the lot but didn’t rush inside.

Chen Chao had sent a message saying he would be there any minute.

After a few minutes, Chen Chao’s group of nine arrived.

Including himself, that made exactly ten people.

This was the support team from the Tingyang Branch.

Once they’d all gathered, Zhao Tianxing squeezed Shen Xin’s shoulder and joked, "You’re like the grim reaper, kid. Cases just seem to follow you everywhere."

Even when you ran off to train police dogs and hang out with animals, you still somehow managed to stumble into two major cases.

The investigation for that rescue center case turned into a nationwide manhunt, and it’s still not over.

And now here you are with a special homicide investigation being overseen by the City Bureau.

Chen Chao shot him a glare and scolded, "Don’t talk nonsense, kid. That’s not the kind of joke you should be making."

In the police force, calling someone a grim reaper is considered a jinx.

As he spoke, Chen Chao pulled Shen Xin aside to give him some specific advice.

He knew Shen Xin had never been on a special task force before.

"Truth be told, it’s not that different from a normal investigation. Everyone has their own area to cover. Just cooperate with each other and make sure you do your part."

When he was done, he lowered his voice. "Did you know? It was our very own Zhang Zhi who requested you for the task force by name. You’re really going places, kid. Your reputation has definitely spread."

’Zhang Zhi?’

’He must mean Zhang Hancheng, the captain of the Nanjiang City Bureau’s Criminal Investigation Detachment.’

The leader of this special task force was to be Kong Lingzhi, the director of the New District Branch.

The deputy leader was the captain of the city’s Criminal Investigation Detachment, Zhang Hancheng.

That explained it. When Zhao Hongjie left the police dog training base that morning, he hadn’t specifically requested Shen Xin for the special task force.

In fact, Shen Xin hadn’t even known a task force was going to be established.

Yet, just a few hours later, Chen Chao had called and told him to come to the New District Branch for a meeting.

So it turned out Zhang Hancheng was the one who had asked for him.

The group walked briskly into the office building.

Just as they were about to head to the Criminal Investigation Division’s offices on the second floor, a group of people came down the stairs.

Leading them was a man in his thirties. He was tall and thin with hollow cheeks, a few pockmarks, and a leather jacket that gave him a cool air.

"Old Chen."

He greeted him, then added, "Don’t bother going up. They said the meeting’s in the main conference room downstairs."

Shen Xin didn’t recognize him, but Zhou Zhongyi and the others did. They immediately greeted him as "Captain Ren."

Shen Xin instantly put a name to the face.

’He must be Ren Haiguang, the deputy captain of the Xinbei District Branch’s Criminal Investigation Division.’

"Doing good."

Ren Haiguang waved back with a cheerful smile and immediately asked, "Hey, what about that guy... Xiaoshen from your team. Did he come?"

Chen Chao was instantly on his guard.

On the way over, Sun Zhao had warned him to keep Shen Xin away from this bunch of bastards as much as possible.

’It’s easy to guard against an outside thief, but much harder to stop one from inside your own house.’

For an outsider like Liu Jie, trying to poach Shen Xin would be next to impossible.

But a lateral transfer within the city’s police force? That was a different story entirely.

But now that they’d met face-to-face, he couldn’t very well lie about it.

Chen Chao beckoned Shen Xin over and introduced him to Ren Haiguang.

"Shen Xin. I’ve heard a lot about you. Not bad, not bad at all. Handsome and sharp," Ren Haiguang said, praising him with a broad smile.

After saying his piece, he saw the wary look on Chen Chao’s face. He grabbed Chen Chao’s arm and started pulling him toward the conference room. "Alright, alright, stop looking at me like I’m a thief," he said as they walked. "We go way back. You really think I’d try to poach one of your guys?"

Chen Chao thought, ’It’s precisely because we’re friends that you’d have the nerve to try and poach him.’

He shot Ren Haiguang a cool glance. "So you *are* thinking about it, then?"

Ren Haiguang immediately shook his head, his expression turning serious. "Old Chen, we’ve been friends for years. How can you think of me like that?"

"Give me a break."

Chen Chao didn’t buy Ren Haiguang’s crap for a second. "Don’t even think about poaching anyone from me," he said. "As for police dogs, that’s out of my hands. If you want one, go ask the City Bureau yourself."

After knowing the man for so many years, Chen Chao knew what Ren Haiguang was up to the moment he opened his mouth.

Ren Haiguang pointed at Chen Chao, his face a mask of mock-indignation. "Chen Chao, hoarding all the good stuff for yourself is a bad habit, you know."

Chen Chao ignored him and led the team into the main conference room.

Their two groups were the last to arrive.

The spacious main conference room was already packed with people.

Kong Lingzhi, a man with graying temples, was speaking with a serious-looking middle-aged man.

As expected, this middle-aged man with the crew cut and high cheekbones had to be the detachment captain, Zhang Hancheng.

He saw Chen Chao’s group enter and, with a subtle wave of his hand, motioned for them to be seated.

Shen Xin quickly followed Chen Chao to find a place to sit.

People with seniority like Chen Chao and Ren Haiguang sat at the long conference table, while junior officers like Shen Xin and Zhao Tianxing had to take the seats lining the back of the room.

Shen Xin took the opportunity to quietly ask Zhao Tianxing who was who, so he wouldn’t be caught unable to address someone by name later.

The old police department structure used to be a straight top-down hierarchy. The City Bureau and the district branches each handled their own jurisdictions separately.

The district branches had their own Criminal Investigation Divisions, and so did the City Bureau.

But now, the structure had been streamlined and reformed.

It was now called a Three-Tier Response system.

The first tier was for the Criminal Investigation Division of each district branch to handle the criminal cases within its own jurisdiction.

The second-tier response was for criminal cases that spanned multiple districts. The city detachment would dispatch personnel to coordinate the investigation between the districts involved.

Finally, there was the third tier, for major, heinous crimes like this one. It required cooperation between the city and district levels, with the City Criminal Investigation Detachment taking the lead to centrally coordinate the entire investigation.

As a result, the City Bureau’s Criminal Investigation Detachment no longer had its own separate caseload. Its personnel were broken up and distributed among the various district-level Criminal Investigation Divisions.

As far as Shen Xin knew, the City Bureau’s Criminal Investigation Detachment now only retained three directly subordinate divisions.

These were the Plainclothes Investigation Division, the Criminal Forensics Division, and the Organized Crime Division.