At noon, in a private room of a restaurant, everyone was talking about what they had just seen.

“Did you see how big that Tibetan mastiff was? My God. It’s the first time I’ve seen such a big dog. It was as big as a pig. Even if you rode it, there wouldn’t be a problem.”

“Yeah, yeah! That dog bowl was like a sink! I’m guessing they eat ten kilograms per meal.”

“Normal people can’t afford to keep these as pets. Just buying the meat for them to eat would cost a fortune.”

Lin Dongxue asked curiously, “Was there really a legendary snow mastiff in the kennel?”

“Yes, yes!” said a technician. “I saw one as white as snow in the house!”

“That wasn’t a snow Mastiff!” Peng Sijue said. “It was a Tibetan mastiff with albinism. Albinos are afraid of light, so they’re kept inside the house.”

“Oh, now that the Captain mentioned it, I remember that his nose was a little pale as well,” the technician said.

Lin Dongxue was very surprised. The snow mastiff sold by Liu Hong was only an albino Tibetan mastiff. Albinism was considered a hereditary disease. These sick Tibetan mastiffs were brought in by Liu Hong for inbreeding. Their bodies were only going to get worse with each generation. She couldn’t help but feel sadness for the dogs.

Chen Shi asked, “I couldn’t see clearly in the videos, but did you find incinerators, dark rooms, basements, and the like inside?”

“No!” Everyone shook their heads unanimously. “It was a very normal dog farm.”

“How did he handle the corpses?” Chen Shi muttered to himself.

“I glanced at the staff roster on the wall. Six employees take turns to work the night shift. Every Sunday, the boss will come and do a shift, saying that they were understaffed. This place is in the wild countryside, and nobody can enter through the gate. Nobody would dare to either, as the dogs would bark if they went in.” Peng Sijue said.

“The victims must have been eaten by the dogs!” Everyone present agreed.

“The police aren’t stupid. After each disappearance, they would definitely come here to investigate. A nail and a blood stain would be enough to make Liu Hong lose his fortune, so I don't think they were eaten by the dogs. The kennels are just a front, blindfolding us from the truth.” Peng Sijue's views were similar to Chen Shi’s.

“Let's look around tonight!”

“But the area around it is so big! It’ll be like finding a needle in a haystack!”

Chen Shi smiled shamelessly. “Whether you can't find it or not, I’ll treat you to food tomorrow. No, I’ll even pay for your food for three days.”

“Oh please!”

After dinner, Peng Sijue left straight away. He seemed like he couldn’t care less, but Chen Shi said to Lin Dongxue, “He will find a way later on.”

“He seems unhappy to be treated as a laborer by you.”

“They’re part of a specialized profession. If I could, I'd search for it myself... Hey, can you get a police dog?”

“The police dogs are all over at the special forces department. We have to go through a formal procedure to borrow them.”

“Let me inform Captain Peng!”

Chen Shi searched for a police dog's expression from the Internet and sent it to Peng Sijue. He was too lazy to return a message.

Xu Xiaodong found that Liu Hong had three properties in the city. Except for the house monitored by Officer Liu, the other two were suburban villas where you couldn’t hit a dog even if you threw a stick[1].

In addition, he had a former business partner named Li Biao.

Li Biao had a 30% share in the kennel in the past, but later transferred the shares to Liu Hong. He was now a wealthy idler, relying on his savings to live his days out comfortably.

Xu Xiaodong said, “I checked with the Bureau of Industry and Commerce that Liu Hong's dog farm is now very popular. The shares transferred by Li Biao ten years ago have appreciated by 200%. He must feel dead inside.”

“You don't know the inside story. How do you know that he lost anything? Maybe Li Biao is the more obedient one out of Liu Hong's friends and has been pleasing him enough so that he can continue living to this day.” Chen Shi said.

“You mean Li Biao is likely to know about Liu Hong’s matters? Should we go find him?” Lin Dongxue asked.

“What's the use of finding him? He hasn't betrayed Liu Hong for over ten years, indicating that they have mutual interests or have mutually beneficial transactions. Xiaodong, you go look at Li Biao.”

“Go look at? You mean surveillance?”

“It doesn't have to be that troublesome. Just check in on him every day.”

Lin Dongxue said, “Why not just monitor Liu Hong?”

Chen Shi scratched his chin. “I was just thinking whether Liu Hong would have an accomplice. Would Li Biao be that accomplice?”

In the afternoon, Chen Shi and Lin Dongxue went to Officer Liu’s house to look over the information. When they looked at the missing persons cases, they felt miserable. It was like looking at the unsolved mysteries of the world, and it was as painful as someone tugging on their hearts or lungs. They really wanted to know what the truth to everything was.

Chen Shi put the photos of all the missing people on the ground and placed them in different categories. After some thinking, he’d change the positioning of the photos again and again.

Lin Dongxue noticed that his brows were knitted the whole time. This particular murder case seemed to even stump Chen Shi.

It was 5:00 in the blink of an eye and Lin Dongxue said, “Don't look at it anymore. Let’s go out to eat and relax!”

“It's the first time I've met such a depressing case!” Chen Shi threw a stack of photos on the ground like poker cards. “Just give me a body.”

“Crow's mouth! Don't talk nonsense!”

The two went out and took a walk in the community. They took a breath of fresh air and discussed what to eat, when they suddenly saw the young monk wandering around on the road. Lin Dongxue went over and said, “Little master, why have you come back?”

The young monk pressed his palms together. “After meeting the father-killing enemy yesterday, I couldn't calm down. I wanted to see him again.”

“What would you do even if you saw him? Kill him with your eyes?”

“If we really had cursing skills, I would curse him even if I had to go to the depths of Avici Naraka[2] hell... Unfortunately, it’s just a thought!” The monk sighed. “Why don't you arrest him?”

“Evidence, little master!”

Chen Shi said, “Don't come out and walk around blindly. What if Liu Hong recognizes you and develops killing intentions?”

“If he kills me, can you catch him?” The little monk asked earnestly.

“Don't say such unlucky words! Little master, leave it to the police. Don't do anything reckless!” Lin Dongxue said.

The little monk nodded like he had just thought of something.

“Stinking monk, are you still here begging for food?” A rough voice came from behind them and the three turned around. The person who spoke this was actually Liu Hong. He held a Tibetan mastiff on a leash and seemed to be out walking his dog.

Liu Hong's attention shifted from the young monk to Lin Dongxue. He looked at Lin Dongxue's figure like a pervert and finally rested his eyes on her face. “Beauty, don't be fooled. He is a scammer. He keeps coming to this neighborhood to ask for money.”

Lin Dongxue didn't want to have a conflict and smiled. “I asked for a charm from this little master. My mother believes in these things.”

“You live here, too?” Liu Hong became excited. “Which unit do you live in? I’ll come by when I have time. I have a little jade Buddha, which would be perfect for your mother.”

“I... don't live here.”

“Where do you live? Do you like dogs? Why don’t you add me on WeChat?” Liu Hong stared at Lin Dongxue and drool was almost pouring out of his eyes.

“Why don’t you try and continue to harass my girlfriend!” Chen Shi pointed at Liu Hong.

Lin Dongxue was touched. Although she knew Chen Shi only stepped out to block the arrows coming at her, she was still very happy when he said the words “my girlfriend.”

1. Just describing how big the villas are.

2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Av%C4%ABci