Chapter 137: Genius and Madman

“Captain Lei, I’d like to take a look at those statements first.” After the meeting, Song Changfeng approached Lei Liming. He never went into battle unprepared. If he was going to investigate, he needed to have a solid grasp of the case.

“No rush,” Lei Liming said with a cheerful smile, motioning for him to sit. “Changfeng, you’re really making our Criminal Investigation Detachment proud! The commendation from Zhouying County has already come through. At today’s meeting, Bureau Chief Shen praised you to the skies. He even wants to make you a model for the entire police force in Anyang City. If you keep this up, you might even be named the city’s Outstanding Individual of the Year¹.”

Lei Liming was growing fonder of this capable officer by the day. Even if Song Changfeng didn’t win that title, the stack of commendations and certificates he’d already earned far surpassed anyone else’s. That was real performance. Promotions and raises would all depend on this stuff. Give him a few more years, and this kid might just end up sitting in his chair. The younger generation was truly impressive.

“Woof woof woof!” Aofeng, sitting nearby, barked in protest. They solved cases together, so why was all the credit going to Song Changfeng? Just because he was a dog now, did that mean he had to suffer species discrimination?

“Right, Aofeng too. You did a great job. We’ll give you extra meals for the whole month!” Lei Liming said generously.

“Woof woof woof!!” Aofeng dropped his front legs to the ground, lifted his head high, and barked at him, his serious dog face full of disapproval. Extra meals? He didn’t need Lei Liming to say it—Song Changfeng would’ve given him those anyway. He wanted something more meaningful.

It’s true what they say: the squeaky wheel gets the grease². Normally calm and well-behaved, Aofeng suddenly making a fuss made Lei Liming feel a little guilty about ignoring his opinion.

“How about we give you some time off?”

Aofeng rolled his eyes. What nonsense. He was a dog—no phone, no hobbies. If he had to stay cooped up in the kennel all day, he’d go stir-crazy. He still wanted to help crack theft cases!

Lei Liming offered a few more suggestions, but Aofeng shot them all down.

“Then what do you want?” Lei Liming asked helplessly. If the other party were human and tried to haggle like this, he’d have laid down the law already. But Aofeng was a police dog, and an exceptionally capable one at that. He was counting on Aofeng to help solve more cases. From the look of it, this little mutt held a grudge.

Aofeng tilted his head, confusion written all over his dog face. Yeah, what did he actually want? Power, money, love—none of those applied to him. Power? What, become the king of dogs? Money? What use did a dog have for that? Love? Even more ridiculous. Since his rebirth, Aofeng had vowed to live a pure, detached life, free from worldly desires. When out on patrol, he’d avoid female dogs being walked by others, terrified that certain scents might tempt him and undo a thousand years of cultivation in a single moment.

There was nothing he could ask for… Aofeng let out a low whimper and flopped to the ground, his face filled with despair.

The gloomy mood spread. Lei Liming felt awkward and turned to Song Changfeng. “You spend the most time with Aofeng. What do you think he’s missing? Whatever it is, just say the word and I’ll file a request immediately.”

Song Changfeng had been silent until now. When asked, he thought for a moment and said two words: “Freedom.”

“What?” Lei Liming looked puzzled.

“Aofeng wants freedom.”

“You mean… we release him into the wild?” Lei Liming’s expression turned strange, picturing the scene of setting a rescued wild animal free.

Song Changfeng chuckled. “No, I mean letting Aofeng move freely outside of missions. He’s already been granted permission to go out without a leash. Based on his behavior these past few weeks, I can vouch for him—Aofeng would never harm anyone without cause. If possible, let’s stop locking the kennel door. Let him come and go as he pleases.”

After all, unless it was locked, the kennel couldn’t hold him anyway. But to force such a smart and perceptive police dog to stay confined—Song Changfeng couldn’t bear it. He still remembered how joyful Aofeng had looked the day he was officially allowed to patrol without a leash.

This was a suggestion Song Changfeng had thought through carefully. Upon hearing it, Aofeng got up from the ground, his eyes bright and alert, ears perked, tail wagging. His whole demeanor radiated happiness. It was clear he was very pleased with the idea.

Lei Liming hesitated, his expression turning serious. Letting a police dog roam freely sounded absurd. Professionally trained police dogs could be extremely dangerous. If Aofeng ever lost control and acted rashly after being provoked, it would be a threat to public safety and a huge liability for the police department. A police dog that injured someone would be dismissed, and in severe cases, might even be euthanized. Was it really okay to give him that kind of freedom?

Song Changfeng and Aofeng waited quietly for him to speak. After a long pause, Lei Liming finally said, “I can’t make the final decision on this, but I will discuss the feasibility of it with my superiors. If it doesn’t work out, don’t be too disappointed. Compared to other police dogs, Aofeng already has far more freedom.”

Man and dog nodded in unison. No matter how it turned out, they had done their part. The rest was up to fate.

Aofeng felt both happy and comforted. Even though he was now a dog, Song Changfeng still respected his personhood and wanted him to have freedom. Lei Liming hadn’t outright rejected Song Changfeng’s proposal either, which, to Aofeng, was already a good sign.

After this brief interlude, Song Changfeng successfully obtained the case records. As he spread them out on the table to read, Aofeng came over too, staring intently at the papers.

Song Changfeng chuckled. He didn’t think Aofeng was actually reading the contents, more like mimicking his behavior. So he thoughtfully shifted to the side to give Aofeng a better view.

Aofeng walked over without hesitation and leaned in to look. After reading, a puzzled look appeared on his face.

A serial theft case, a seasoned thief who could evade surveillance, committing crimes openly while police were patrolling… all these phrases together reminded one of those high-profile cases that once made headlines. And those cases all had one thing in common: the stolen items or amounts involved were of significant value.

But in the cases from Mingyang Community, the reported stolen items were rather odd. Some said they’d lost a gold ring, others a pearl bracelet, and some said a few bills had gone missing from a stack of cash on the table. At first glance, it didn’t seem like a big deal, but none of these items had been stored alone.

Take the gold ring, for instance. It was kept in a jewelry box with three layers. The first layer held the ring, the second held necklaces, and the third contained a large gold bangle. The latter two were clearly more valuable than the ring, yet the thief only took the ring from the top layer. The rest was untouched. As for the stack of cash, it was placed on a table. There were five thousand yuan in total, but after the thief’s visit, only three bills were missing.

Why was it so strange? What was this thief thinking?

While Aofeng pondered, Song Changfeng also noticed the oddity. He asked Captain Lei, “The stolen items listed here seem a bit off.”

Captain Lei gave him an approving look. To spot the issue so quickly—this was exactly what he expected from Song Changfeng.

“That’s right. What’s baffling everyone is exactly the kind of things this thief chooses to steal. Keep reading, and you’ll see he even took toy gems from a child and practice banknotes³ used by an accountant. No one can figure out the motive. Is he trying to mislead us? Or is there another reason?” Lei Liming, who had dealt with criminals for years, found this one the most inscrutable of all.

Song Changfeng flipped to the last few pages and indeed found more bizarre items.

“How did they even realize these things were missing?”

Practice notes were one thing, but toy gems? Would anyone really think someone had intentionally stolen those?

“Because the community has been hit by thefts so frequently lately, the residents are hyper-aware of their belongings. The first thing they do when they get home is check their valuables. That kid had a box of gems, two of each color. The moment he got home that day, he noticed one of the prettiest blue ones was missing. He cried and insisted they report it to the police.”

“Given the unusual nature of the case, the local police station accepted it and treated it like any other report. They even made an official record for him. I heard that when the kid left, he was still sniffling and made them promise to catch the thief soon.”

Lei Liming chuckled, then sighed. They had let the child down. Not only had they failed to catch the thief quickly, they didn’t even have a single lead.

Now Song Changfeng understood why Lei Liming had described this seemingly ordinary theft case as tricky during the meeting. This thief simply defied all logic.

Aofeng lay beside them, frowning. He seriously doubted the thief’s mental state. But if the person was mentally unstable, how had they managed to pull off such flawless crimes under so much surveillance?

Could this be what people meant when they said there’s a fine line between genius and madness?

Translator’s Notes