Chapter 649 - 539: Meng Lan Did Something Big

Chapter 649: Chapter 539: Meng Lan Did Something Big

Xu Jinguang crossed his arms and thought for a moment.

"This isn’t going to be an easy task."

If they only considered Liujiaping Town, Tielou Town, and the other few towns within the nature reserve’s boundaries, it would be too limited.

They had to expand the scope to the entirety of Wudu at the very least.

Wudu has a permanent resident population of 2.3 million.

According to Shen Xin’s idea, they needed to start from April 2009, when the giant panda was discovered.

When someone goes missing, there’s a reaction time. People don’t necessarily report it to the police right away; they might try to find the person themselves first.

Also, if the suspect was acting out of a personal grudge, the victim’s family might not even report it. It might have to be confirmed through changes in household registration or the issuance of a death certificate.

That means the timeline would have to be extended even further.

If they pushed the cutoff to the end of the third case, which was in 2014, that would be a full five-year period.

Over five years, with a population of 2.3 million, even without counting missing persons, just the number of deaths alone would be significant.

And this wasn’t something where you could just pull a list from the internal household registration system and get immediate results.

To a certain extent, they would have to verify each case to see if the person was truly missing and unaccounted for, or if it was a normal death.

They also had to watch out for accidental deaths that might have been reported by lower-level authorities as normal deaths.

So they had to verify everything as clearly as possible.

When you added it all up, it was an absolutely massive undertaking.

Not to mention, this only accounted for the local permanent residents; the non-resident population hadn’t even been factored in.

The total workload would be even greater.

But with his next words, Xu Jinguang nodded in agreement. "Alright. It’s a direction. We can look into it."

For a nine-year-old cold case like this, conventional investigation methods were unlikely to be effective.

To put it bluntly, they needed a bit of outside-the-box thinking, to consider counterintuitive possibilities.

Whether or not they’d get any results in the end, despite expending a huge amount of manpower and resources, wasn’t important.

With a case like this, it was all about trial and error. You walk down every possible path, and if one is wrong, you rule it out and move on to the next.

"If the Wudu side doesn’t cooperate, just tell me. I’ll coordinate," Xu Jinguang said.

An initiative with an unknown outcome, one that could very well end up being a wild goose chase, still had to be completed with guaranteed quality and quantity. It truly needed someone to push it forward under pressure.

If Shen Xin couldn’t handle it, he himself would have to step in and offer support.

After all, Shen Xin was the one he had brought in.

Shen Xin quickly thanked him and said it wasn’t necessary, as the people in Wudu were being very cooperative.

The police dogs and birds weren’t a gift for nothing.

Xu Jinguang clearly understood. He smiled, nodded, and asked about Walnut’s situation.

"There’s a chance."

That was all Shen Xin could say.

Xu Jinguang didn’t press for details. The case had dragged on for so long that he would have accepted it even if someone told him they could find the killer through divination.

They chatted a bit longer before Secretary Chen stepped forward to remind them that it was about time.

"Keep it up. Work hard. If this case gets solved, I’ll have to request commendations for you all," Xu Jinguang said in a serious tone.

If you counted the so-called "Top Ten Unsolved Cases" in the country that involved multiple lives and remained unsolved, this was the only one from after the turn of the century.

Every time the Ministry held a relevant meeting, this case would be brought up for discussion.

Xu Jinguang had only one thought now: before he retired, he had to solve this case and catch the suspect, no matter what.

After seeing Xu Jinguang to his car and watching it drive away, Ding Yuwei came over and asked what they had talked about.

"Nothing much."

Shen Xin shook his head.

There was progress with Walnut, but it still needed time.

Besides, Shen Xin really didn’t dare to pin all his hopes on Walnut.

Speculating that the motive was related to the panda was just that—speculation. What if there was no connection?

That’s why Shen Xin truly hoped Yang Zeran’s team would make some kind of discovery or breakthrough.

The first snow of winter fell in Anjing.

Meanwhile, in Wudu, it had already snowed last month.

As this cold front moved south, Wudu became even colder.

Mount Motianling was, after all, the dividing line between the northern and southern climates.

So, while it was snowing in Anjing, heavy snow had already sealed the mountains in Wudu, blanketing them in white.

Of course Wudu had central heating, but that was only indoors. It was just as cold outside.

On the same day Xu Jinguang visited the zoo, far away in Wudu, Yang Zeran was still visiting the towns under Yinping’s jurisdiction.

Cai Yaohai and Chang Zhigang had offered their full and unhesitating support, it was true.

But Yang Zeran and his partner couldn’t just sit back and give orders.

The first stop in their investigation of missing and deceased persons was Yinping County.

Yinping County had 20 towns in total. They prioritized investigating the ones in the south, near Tielou Town and Liujiaping Town.

Today, the pair braved the snow to arrive in Danbao Town.

While driving along a mountain road, the old Jetta from the town police station just couldn’t make it up a slope.

"Lao Yang, are you even pushing?" Zhao Tianxing yelled from behind the car, his cheeks puffed out and his face beet red.

Yang Zeran was pushing too, using every ounce of strength he had, but the car just kept roaring in place.

The deputy chief of the police station leaned out of the driver’s side window and signaled for them to stop.

Yang Zeran’s foot slipped, and he fell flat on the ground.

The snow was thick, so he was fine.

Yang Zeran fumbled to sit up, looking back at the road they’d come from, letting his warm breath cloud around him.

This wasn’t a main road, but a small path leading to a mountain village.

The snow hadn’t stopped for the past two days, and it had accumulated to nearly ten centimeters deep.

The road behind them was a vast expanse of white, marked only by the tire tracks of their police car.

The deputy chief got out of the car and handed over a thermos of hot water for Yang Zeran and the others to drink. Then he said, "It’s my fault, I forgot to bring the snow chains. Xiaoyang, if this isn’t working, let’s just forget it for now. The forecast says the snow will stop the day after tomorrow. We can put this on hold and come back then."

Yang Zeran shook his head. "Don’t worry about it, Tang Suo. We have a plan, let’s stick to it."

He then asked how much farther it was to their destination.

Tang Suo thought for a moment and said it was probably another three or four kilometers.

"Then let’s walk," Yang Zeran said, gritting his teeth as he got up, ready to head into the mountains on foot.

It wasn’t just this slope; there were more to come.

Tang Suo and his colleague exchanged a glance, grabbed their things, and immediately followed.

The group of four ventured into the mountains, braving the wind and snow to verify the missing person’s case.

After their investigation, they confirmed the target wasn’t actually missing. She had started a relationship with someone else while working as a migrant laborer, abandoned her husband and child, and run off with the new man.

At first, the family couldn’t contact her and assumed she was missing, so they reported it to the police. When they later learned the truth, they treated her as if she were dead, never bothered with her again, and were too ashamed to bring the matter up.

The target was a woman.

Yang Zeran’s approach was to investigate regardless of gender.

’Because we’re investigating a dead person,’ he thought, ’it’s possible a man and a woman went up the mountain to poach together.’

So women had to be investigated too.

The investigation yielded no results.

But for Yang Zeran, this was the most common outcome.

When this investigation began, the defined scope was all missing and deceased persons in the entire city of Wudu within one year after April 2009.

In a city of 2.3 million, there were over 20,000 deaths each year alone.

Since they didn’t know the specifics, the deceased could have been a child, a woman, or even an elderly person.

Therefore, they investigated everyone except for children and the infirm elderly.

The initial phase of the investigation started on December 5th. Hundreds of police officers from across the city were mobilized, and they worked straight through to December 19th.

For a full fourteen days, every single target was ruled out.

They didn’t stop there; instead, they continued to expand the scope.

They expanded it to a two-year period and also widened the geographical area north to Qinzhou City and even farther beyond.

The police dogs and birds that Shen Xin had sent really made a difference.

Wu Kaiwei from the provincial department coordinated with the local police, providing enormous support.

The second round of investigation was even larger in scope and was expected to last until the New Year at least.

At the beginning of the New Year, Shen Xin had an important matter to attend to.

On New Year’s Day, Shen Xin and Ding Yuwei were holding their engagement ceremony.

So, Shen Xin had no choice but to put his work on hold for a bit and return to Nanjiang a few days early.

He couldn’t delay it. His mother had already notified all their friends and relatives, the hotel was booked, and it wasn’t something that could be easily changed.

The enclosure area.

Before leaving, Shen Xin went to say goodbye to Walnut.

"Walnut, I’m going to be gone for a few days. Try not to miss me too much," Shen Xin said, squatting in front of the panda.

Walnut just kept chewing on his bamboo, showing no reaction.

"I’m serious, stop eating for a second." Shen Xin reached out and tugged on the bamboo. "How about a hug?"

Above Walnut’s head was a Stage 1, 5-bar favorability rating.

With a flick of his paw, he knocked Shen Xin’s hand away and turned his head.

His reaction seemed to say, ’Just hurry up and leave, you’re driving me crazy.’

Shen Xin didn’t care at all. These days, his method for getting along with Walnut was relentless pestering.

He’d just annoy him and be clingy. In any case, with the favorability rating as a buffer, the panda wouldn’t do anything to him.

So, if Walnut didn’t want a hug, Shen Xin was absolutely going to give him one.

Shen Xin dove right into Walnut’s arms and hugged him.

Walnut didn’t react, just shifted his arms slightly and continued munching on his bamboo.

He had an expression that said, ’Whatever, do what you want.’

"So warm," Shen Xin said, letting go. He added, "But you’re a little stinky. How about you let me give you a bath?"

Walnut glanced at Shen Xin, then pointedly turned his head away again.

As if to say, ’Aren’t you annoying?’

Shen Xin was determined to be annoying. He grabbed Walnut’s arm and started pulling him. "Come on, let’s get you washed up. You’ll be nice and clean."

He couldn’t budge him at all.

But Walnut’s patience had been worn thin. He speechlessly wriggled free, got up, and stomped toward the outer yard. He made a beeline for the pool and, full of resentment, plopped his butt down in the water.

’Fine, wash me. Wash me however you want.’

Shen Xin chuckled to himself. ’This trick really works.’

’Of course, it only works because of the favorability rating buffer.’

Without that favorability rating, if he dared to play around like this, Walnut probably would have swallowed him whole long ago.

’Speaking of which,’ Shen Xin wondered, ’can you really increase favorability by annoying someone?’

In any case, when Ma Tao and the others came over to deliver the "afternoon tea," they saw Shen Xin in the pool, scrubbing Walnut’s back.

"Incredible. He actually managed to do it," Sister He said in disbelief.

This was Walnut, after all.

Ma Tao was also filled with emotion. He felt like this stubborn rock, Walnut, had actually been warmed up by Shen Xin’s persistence.

Meanwhile, Shen Xin had started playing around.

He splashed a handful of water right in Walnut’s face.

The panda irritably shook his head, swatted Shen Xin away with a casual swing of his paw, and roared at him indignantly.

As if to say, ’Don’t push it.’

Shen Xin fell on his butt.

Well, what could he do? It was a bear, after all.

"Look at you, getting angry over a little joke," Shen Xin muttered as he continued scrubbing.

Walnut didn’t make another move, just glared at Shen Xin, looking utterly wronged.

’Joking with a bear? Are you serious?’

But really, after a good scrubbing, Shen Xin finally realized just how white Walnut’s fur was.

It was snow-white.

Ma Tao had mentioned before that the pandas from the North Slope of Mount Motianling were stunningly beautiful, with snow-white fur.

He wasn’t exaggerating.

The wind was bitingly cold, and there was ice in the morning, but for a giant panda, it was nothing.

After the bath, Walnut turned and walked away. He took two steps, then turned back and barked at Shen Xin, as if to say, ’That’s enough! Don’t come bother me again.’

"Alright, alright."

Shen Xin wasn’t fazed at all. ’If there’s a first time, can the second be far behind?’

After giving Walnut one last pat on the head, Shen Xin went to say goodbye to Meng Lan.

His favorability had really skyrocketed; it was now at Stage 3, 5 bars.

The moment they met, the panda immediately hugged Shen Xin’s leg.

[PLAY]

At the same time, Shen Xin saw what he was thinking.

He wanted to play with a ball, to play soccer.

It was their new game: Meng Lan played goalie while Shen Xin kicked the ball.

Whenever he blocked a shot, he was incredibly happy.

Netizens even joked that Meng Lan’s reflexes as a goalie were faster than the national soccer team’s.

"How about we play when I get back?"

Shen Xin ruffled the fur on his head and said his goodbyes.

He would be gone for a few days.

[NO]

Meng Lan hugged Shen Xin tightly, shaking his head nonstop.

Ma Tao, who had followed him over, couldn’t help but sigh, saying that Meng Lan truly couldn’t be without Shen Xin now.

"It’s fine. He’ll be okay once he finds a wife."

’Just like Yuexiao,’ he thought. ’He was clingy with me back then, too, but didn’t he forget all about me once he found a new love?’

After playing with Meng Lan for a little while longer, Shen Xin finally managed to pull himself away.

But Shen Xin never could have imagined that his departure would directly lead to Meng Lan doing something major.

He escaped!