To be cautious, Zhang Zian asked Sun Xiaomeng to send messages back to Customer Qian and Customer Li respectively, asking them where the dogs were lost. After a while, he received their replies.
After summarizing the information, the three of them concluded a pattern. The dog disappearances all happened in the Dongcheng District, near the Family Quarters of the University, the Family Quarters of the Hospital, and the Family Quarters of the state-owned enterprises. The Family Quarters of the Hospital were relatively old, and the surveillance facilities were not perfect. There were many blind spots, and the security guards were not very responsible, so it was easy for people to take advantage of the situation.
Customer Li claimed that although the surveillance did not capture the process of stealing the dogs, a suspicious vehicle was captured, and then sent the screenshot of the surveillance video to Zhang Zian.
The three dog disappearances happened either in the morning or in the evening. It should not be a coincidence, because the light in the morning and evening was the dimmest, and the clarity of the surveillance video could be imagined. The screenshot of the video sent by Mr. Li was very blurry. It could only be seen that it was an MPV with a side sliding door. The door was not completely closed when it was driving. Other than that, there was no sign that the car was related to the dog incident. It was pure fantasy to use this screenshot as evidence.
Customer Li complained in the message that he brought the surveillance video to the local police station to report the case, but the police did not accept it, and advised him to go home and look for it again.
Zhang Zian could understand that the police had too many things to do at the end of the year. Even if a person was missing, they could not file a case immediately. Generally speaking, it would take at least 24 hours, not to mention a dog, and there was no evidence.
The surveillance camera was located at a high place, so it did not capture the face of the MPV driver, but the license plate was captured, although it was blurry.
Zhang Zian thought about it and called Sheng Ke. Because it was New Year's Day, he did not want to disturb Sheng Ke's rest, so he called Sheng Ke's office landline. If no one answered, he would call again tomorrow or the day after.
Sheng Ke answered almost instantly. After Zhang Zian briefly explained the purpose of the call, Sheng Ke asked him to send the picture to the designated email address and wait for the call.
After a while, Sheng Ke called back and said that the technical department processed the picture and recognized the license plate. Unfortunately, after investigation, the license plate was fake, and the model did not match. In other words, it was a fake license plate, and they could not find out the owner of the MPV.
On the other side of the phone, Sheng Ke seemed to be very busy. From time to time, his subordinates would ask him to deal with some matters. Even so, he still said that he would inform the traffic police and ask them to pay attention to the relevant license plates and models. He also stated that it was not because of Zhang Zian, but because it was illegal to use fake license plates.
Zhang Zian answered the phone on speaker so that Ning Lan and Sun Xiaomeng could hear him.
Ning Lan was eager to find her dog, but when she heard that Sheng Ke had to work overtime on New Year's Day, she felt sorry for him. She gestured to him to let it go.
Zhang Zian briefly apologized and thanked her before hanging up the phone.
Ning Lan sighed. "Forget it. I'll look for it myself. Thank you, Manager Zhang. I'm already very grateful that you're willing to help us. Please don't disturb him for our business. After all, Captain Sheng should have a lot more important things to deal with … "
She was a very reasonable person. She did not pester Zhang Zian unreasonably just because he knew the captain of the Criminal Police Unit.
Things had come to a dead end. The other party had obviously come prepared and even used a set of license plates. Even if Zhang Zian and Sun Xiaomeng wanted to help, there was nothing they could do.
Ning Lan looked at the time, stood up and said, "Sister Xiaomeng, thank you. I'm leaving now. Today is New Year's Day. You should have a good rest. I've made an appointment with my classmates. They'll wait for me at the gate of Binhai University. We're going to find the dog together today. There's strength in numbers. "
"Sorry, I couldn't help much." Sun Xiaomeng stood up and walked her out.
Ning Lan thanked Zhang Zian again. "Thank you for your help, Manager Zhang. Although Tuan Tuan is irreplaceable, if I really can't find it, I'll definitely buy another dog from you."
As soon as she left, Zhang Zian remembered that a bunch of elfins were still waiting for breakfast at home, so he quickly stood up and said goodbye.
"You're welcome. I'll go too."
After leaving Sun Xiaomeng's clinic, Ning Lan went to meet her classmates. Zhang Zian went to Uncle Li's shop and returned to the pet shop with the foam incubator.
While the elfins were having breakfast, Zhang Zian turned on the computer at the cashier's desk, logged into the WeChat public account, edited a message, and sent it to the group: The Spring Festival is coming. Recently, there have been many cases of dog theft in the Dongcheng District. Everyone, please be careful when walking your dog. Be sure to tie a leash and keep your dog out of your sight.
After a while, more than one person left a message to confirm that neighbors had lost their dogs in the past few days, mainly near the urban village.
Others scolded the dog thieves for being immoral, saying that they would bump into ghosts when they walked at night.
A few minutes later, Snowy also reposted the message on her Weibo page, calling everyone to pay attention to the safety of dogs.
Although the shop was open for business today, there were not many customers. Maybe they were taking advantage of the rare three-day holiday to rest or visit relatives. Most of the nearby shops were closed.
Zhang Zian continued to read the Abyssinian cat breeding handbook left by Cathy, but he couldn't calm down.
He put down the handbook, put on his clothes again, took a baseball and baseball gloves, and prepared to go to the green space for his daily games. The weather was not good today. It was cloudy and cold, so he didn't ask the elfins to go out with him.
He locked the shutter door and left through the back door with Zhan Tian.
The back door of the pet shop was a secluded alley, leading to the green space on the right. Around the green space was an old-fashioned residential area waiting to be demolished. The houses in these old-fashioned residential areas were not airtight. It was very cold in winter, so there were not many residents living here. Most of them were old, young, sick, and disabled.
The green space was empty and desolate as usual. There was not a single person.
Zhang Zian played with Zhan Tian for a while. He could clearly feel that Zhan Tian's nerves were much more excited than when he first arrived, specifically in its response speed and execution efficiency. This was not to say that the special police force did not know how to train dogs. It was just that the special police had more important things to do, and it was impossible for them to delay their daily training and tasks for a dog. Zhan Tian was excellent, but there were many other candidates for police dogs, and every year, there was an endless stream of new police dogs.
Zhang Zian was very clear that Zhan Tian was unlikely to return to its peak state. As long as it could live a normal life, it would be fine.
"Zhan Tian, bring it back!"
He threw the baseball, and Zhan Tian caught it, feeding it beef jerky as a reward, and so on. He threw the baseball harder and harder, and the landing point was constantly changing, but Zhan Tian was always able to complete its task.
Whoosh —
He threw the baseball again, but this time he did not control his aim well. The baseball hit the wall, bounced, and jumped into the alley at the entrance of the green space.
Zhan Tian chased it excitedly, turned a corner, and disappeared into the alley.
Zhang Zian did not care. When Zhan Tian came back, he picked up his phone and looked at the time. It was getting late, and it was almost time to go back. Today, he did not have the daily boxing class, nor did he play hide-and-seek with Xinghai.
However, after a while, Zhan Tian did not come back.
He threw the baseball with a lot of strength, and it flew a long distance. Even so, Zhan Tian should have come back. Was the baseball stuck somewhere, and Zhan Tian could not reach it? This was also possible. Sometimes the baseball he threw got stuck in a tree branch, and he had to carry a ladder to climb up the tree to get it.
After waiting for a while, Zhan Tian still did not come back.
Zhang Zian seemed to have a bad feeling, so he raised his voice and shouted, "Zhan Tian, come back!"
Usually, as long as he shouted, Zhan Tian would come back to him and wait for orders, regardless of whether Zhan Tian got the baseball or not.
Before Zhang Zian finished speaking, Zhan Tian suddenly let out an enraged roar. Almost at the same time, there was the roar of a car engine coming from the alley.
F * ck!
Zhang Zian's scalp was numb. Ten thousand alpacas were running through his heart, trampling on his heart until it was riddled with holes.
I can't be so unlucky as to run into them, right?
He ran to the entrance of the green space, regretting as he ran. He wanted to slap himself. This old residential area that was about to be demolished had no surveillance cameras or security guards. Wasn't it the favorite place for dog-trappers to commit crimes? Why was he so careless? How could he have overlooked this fact? He actually had the nerve to remind others to pay attention to not letting dogs out of his sight. He had really failed miserably and was slapped in the face!
If Zhan Tian was lured away, how could he answer Fu Tao from the police dog nursing home when he asked about Zhan Tian?
Zhang Zian's physical strength was much better than before. He rushed out of the green space and into the alley.
A black shadow flashed in front of him. He almost bumped into something. He was shocked and quickly dodged to the side. It was Zhan Tian.
"Zhan Tian, are you okay?" Zhang Zian was surprised and happy. Was it a false alarm?
Something was wrong with Zhan Tian. It was anxiously barking at the other side of the alley, as if it had seen an enemy.
Zhang Zian looked over and saw an MPV disappearing at the end of the alley. From its appearance, it seemed to be the one in the screenshot of Mr. Li's video. He subconsciously wanted to take out his phone to take a picture of the license plate, but then he realized that the license plate was fake, so there was no point in taking a picture.
"It's okay, Zhan Tian. It's okay."
He hugged Zhan Tian and tried to calm it down.
Upon closer inspection, the hair on Zhan Tian's neck seemed to have been scraped by something in the opposite direction of its growth. The skin under the hair was slightly red.
Zhan Tian angrily barked a few more times in the direction of the MPV, then reluctantly stopped barking.
"Zhan Tian, let's go home first."
Zhang Zian tied the leash for Zhan Tian, still in shock. He had just taken two steps when he found that Zhan Tian seemed to be very interested in a soft ball on the ground. It was sniffing around it and didn't want to leave.
Zhang Zian was sure that this ball was not on the ground when he came here. It was probably left by the dog-trappers.
He picked it up and squeezed it. It looked like a rice ball or a donkey roll. It was soft and smelled a little fragrant. He didn't know what it was made of.
He had a rough outline of what had happened in his mind.
The group of people drove into the alley, slowed down, or stopped the car but did not turn off the engine. They were looking for a dog to target in the alley, and then they saw Zhan Tian running out of the green field with a baseball in its mouth. They thought that Zhan Tian was an ordinary German Shepherd, so they threw bait at it as if it was an ordinary dog. The bait probably had an irresistible attraction to dogs. Ordinary dogs would run to the bait to pick up the food, and these people would take the opportunity to trap the dog. Every trap was successful.
However, Zhan Tian was not an ordinary dog. Although it had retired from the army early, it was still a former ace police dog candidate. It would not pick up food thrown by strangers. It had always been very vigilant, so the bait didn't work. The group of people might have been blinded by greed. They were not willing to let go of this German Shepherd, which had a good pedigree and appearance. After all, it could be worth a lot of money, so they drove up and tried to trap Zhan Tian. However, Zhan Tian dodged them cleverly and barked loudly to attract Zhang Zian's attention.
The group of people had a guilty conscience. Seeing that the situation was not good, they immediately stepped on the gas and sped up to escape. Zhang Zian rushed over and only inhaled the exhaust of the car.
Zhang Zian felt that it was a pity. If Zhan Tian had not been injured by the flash bomb, it would have probably pounced on the dog trappers. Stopping the dog trappers was a good thing for the people.
"Let's go, Zhan Tian. Let's go home." He put the bait in his pocket and wanted to take Zhan Tian back to the pet shop through the back door. Zhan Tian stopped at the door and stared at the direction where the MPV disappeared. He pulled Zhan Tian several times, but Zhan Tian did not move.
Zhang Zian frowned, squatted down and asked, "Zhan Tian, do you remember their smell?"
Zhan Tian turned around and barked loudly, then continued to stare into the distance.
He understood what Zhan Tian meant. It wanted to chase them.
As a former ace police dog candidate, Zhan Tian must have received professional odor recognition training, and it must have graduated with excellent grades. Otherwise, it would not have been selected to join the highly demanding special police force.
To be honest, Zhang Zian was also very angry with this group of people. They actually dared to bully him. However, he was calm and would not lose his mind because of this. He mainly considered two points. One was whether Zhan Tian could follow the smell, and the other was whether he could bring those people to justice after catching them.
Especially the second point. Since the other party was a group, there should be no less than three people, or even more. He and Zhan Tian were just a man and a dog, so their strength was somewhat weak. Zhang Zian had some attainments in Wing Chun Kung Fu, but he had too little actual combat experience. If the other party had a lethal weapon like a fruit knife or a brick, he and Zhan Tian would be in danger. A gentleman does not stand under a collapsing wall. He did not suffer any actual losses, so it was not worth taking such a big risk on impulse.
It was also not appropriate to ask Sheng Ke for help. After all, it was uncertain whether Zhan Tian could track the other party. If Sheng Ke brought a large number of people here but failed to find them, it would be difficult to clean up the mess.
If Old Time Tea helped, it would be safe, but if Old Time Tea performed too well in broad daylight, it might cause trouble, so it was better not to help.
In any case, he had to make a decision as soon as possible. Otherwise, the smell left by the other party would soon dissipate.
Thinking of this, he asked Zhan Tian to wait at the door, and he poked his head into the room and said, "Famous, come out with me."
Famous was lying on the side of the recliner and taking a nap. Hearing Zhang Zian's serious tone, it immediately followed him out.
Facing Fina and Old Time Tea's puzzled eyes, he had no time to explain. He just said, "Wait for me to come back. Lunch may be late today."
"Huh?" Fina was about to complain, but Zhang Zian had already closed the back door.
He took out his phone and sent a message to Sun Xiaomeng, asking for Ning Lan's phone number.
"Hello, is this Ning Lan? I'm Zhang Zian, the manager of the Amazing Fate Pet Shop. "He dialed the number.
"Ah, hello." Ning Lan was obviously a little surprised. "Manager Zhang, what's up? Did you find my Tuan Tuan? "
Her tone was full of expectation.
"No, but I may have found some clues. Are you and your classmates still looking around Binhai University?" Zhang Zian asked.
"Yes, I do."
"How many people are there?"
"One, two, three... Including me, ten people in total," she said. They could vaguely hear the voices of others through the loudspeaker.
There were quite a lot of people. It seemed that Ning Lan was quite popular in the class. Zhang Zian estimated that most of the ten people were boys.
"Well, you guys come here as soon as possible and meet at the intersection of Zhonghua Road. I saw the car just now, "he said.
Ning Lan was surprised and happy. She quickly said, "Okay, we'll be there right now!"
After hanging up the phone, Zhang Zian patted Zhan Tian, who was eager to try. "Zhan Tian, it's up to you."
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
