Chapter 42: Overthinking It

Aofeng strode ahead with his head held high, followed by Song Changfeng and the suspect. They descended the stairs and entered the living room. Just as they were about to step out the front door, Aofeng suddenly stopped.

In the surveillance room, Li Guodong froze as well, his hand hovering above the assessment form, ready to mark an X.

Song Changfeng let out a breath of relief. Since he wasn’t allowed to give any hints, this assessment depended entirely on Aofeng’s own performance. Although he didn’t possess an extraordinary sense of smell that could confirm another person’s movements at the crime scene, he could still tell that the investigation wasn’t over. They had caught the suspect, yes, but no murder weapon had been found on him, and the crucial piece of evidence from the overturned cabinet was still missing. Just catching the suspect clearly wasn’t enough. Fortunately, Aofeng had stopped. He must have sensed something was off.

Indeed, Aofeng had noticed something strange. Catching the suspect had him feeling triumphant, eager to bring the man out and show off his skills to Instructor Li.

But… would they be allowed back in once they left? Aofeng didn’t know what the evaluation criteria were. If leaving meant they couldn’t return, wouldn’t that be a disaster?

He turned around and walked back to Song Changfeng’s side, tugging at the suspect’s sleeve with his teeth. Song Changfeng understood and let go, allowing Aofeng to drag the suspect over to a bench in the corner, gesturing for him to stay there.

In a real case, there would usually be more officers on the scene, and someone would be assigned to watch the suspect. But this was a simulation, and there was no one else around, so Aofeng had no choice but to leave him seated there. Since no violation buzzer had sounded, it seemed this arrangement was acceptable.

With the suspect secured, Aofeng resumed his search. There had been no one in the three rooms downstairs, so if there was another suspect, they had to be upstairs.

Aofeng searched room by room, but aside from the person planted to mislead him earlier, there was no one else.

Could it be that the case wasn’t that complicated? That there was only one suspect, and catching him was enough? Otherwise, why would they let the other person leave the small two-story building?

If this were a real case, it would be normal for suspects to flee in all directions. But this was a simulated crime scene. If someone had been sent too far away, were they really expecting him to search the entire world?

Aofeng was confused. Should he take the suspect out and submit the case, or keep searching a bit longer?

He stood in place, thinking it over, and finally decided to keep looking. Besides the missing second person, there were still several unresolved elements in this case. If he didn’t find them, his score definitely wouldn’t be high.

So, he began checking each room again, nose practically pressed to the floor, not missing a single clue.

Once he finished the second floor, he returned to the first. The living room was wide open, the dining room just as clear. Nothing suspicious there. That left only the kitchen.

Aofeng returned to the kitchen. To the left of the entrance was the gas stove with a pot on top, next to a sink and countertop. Then there were the three dishes and one soup covered with lids, and a knife rack missing a fruit knife.

He sniffed around the lower cabinets but didn’t pick up any new scents. Still, he pawed at them, waiting for Song Changfeng to open them.

Inside were just some bowls and kitchenware, nothing else of note. Aofeng looked around and turned his gaze to the right side of the kitchen. Besides a row of cabinets, there was a refrigerator and several cardboard boxes.

He had already sniffed around the cabinets and fridge and found no unusual scents. But when he approached the stack of boxes, he made a new discovery – the boxes had been moved.

He reached that conclusion because of the thin lines of dust on the floor.

Dust itself wasn’t strange, but in an otherwise spotless room, the presence of dust here was suspicious. Aofeng guessed the dust had originally been under one of the boxes. Someone must have moved it and didn’t clean up afterward, leaving the dust exposed on what should have been a clean floor.

So, why had someone moved the boxes?

With that thought, Aofeng quickly sniffed around and finally caught a distinct scent on one of the boxes.

He scratched at it with his paw, signaling Song Changfeng to open it. Song Changfeng tore off the tape and opened the cardboard flaps. The moment it opened, a fruit knife stained with chicken blood was revealed inside.

The murder weapon! Finally found.

Aofeng thought to himself, Pretty well hidden. Maybe the most dangerous place really is the safest. Normally, if someone noticed a missing fruit knife in the kitchen, they wouldn’t expect it to still be in the kitchen. Overlooking even a small detail like that could give the suspect time to dispose of evidence.

Song Changfeng, wearing gloves, placed the fruit knife into a clear sealed bag to best preserve any fingerprints or other forensic evidence.

After finding the murder weapon, Aofeng quickly discovered another item in a different box – a document titled “Equity Transfer Agreement” in bold letters.

So the victim was wealthy after all. Aofeng felt a bit emotional. It seemed the motive behind the crime was profit. But who was this equity transfer meant for?

Maybe Aofeng’s gaze was too intense, because Song Changfeng opened the document with his gloved hands. At the bottom was the victim’s signature, and the recipient of the transfer was someone named Lin Feng.

Judging by the name, Lin Feng was likely a woman. The victim was named Yao Fanghai, and it didn’t seem like they were related by blood. In other words, the victim had transferred his equity to someone outside his family. What was his relationship with this Lin Feng?

Could it be that the suspect killed the victim because of this?

Aofeng couldn’t figure it out. After all, this wasn’t a real case. If it were, once the suspect was suspected to be a friend or relative of the victim, the next step would be to investigate their social connections and pull surveillance footage from the surrounding area to narrow down the suspects.

So now, where exactly was the other person?

Aofeng felt like he’d hit a dead end. It seemed this Criminal Investigation Dog assessment really wasn’t ordinary. Even with his exceptional sense of smell and agile mind, without help from others, he might not be able to crack the case so easily.

Feeling helpless, Aofeng even started wondering if there might be some kind of hidden room or secret passage in this two-story house. Otherwise, where could that person be hiding?

But after sniffing around and listening carefully, he found no hollow spots on the first floor that could be used as a tunnel. The rooms on the second floor were all reasonably sized, making the existence of a hidden chamber unlikely.

Could it be that he had made a mistake from the very beginning?

Maybe there really had been two guests, but one of them left halfway through. In that case, there would only be one actual suspect, and the other person wasn’t involved at all.

If so, then the key now was to confirm whether the woman with the nail polish had indeed left the house.

To leave, she would’ve had to pass through and open the front door. Aofeng ran back to the TV cabinet to reacquaint himself with the scent of the nail polish, then headed to the front door, sniffing carefully around the area.

The scent on the ground was a mess, with many people coming and going. Aofeng stood up and leaned close to the doorknob, pressing his nose against it. Sure enough, he caught a whiff of nail polish. That confirmed it – the woman had indeed left.

That meant he could now bring out the suspect and the other evidence to complete the task.

…

“Uh, didn’t it already find the murder weapon and the evidence? Why is it still pacing around?” The young man behind the monitor was confused again. He looked at the assessment sheet, which clearly stated that the task was simply to find the suspect, the hidden weapon, and the physical evidence. He had no idea what else the police dog was worried about.

Li Guodong had been watching Aofeng the entire time. Judging by Aofeng’s movements and behavior, he felt the dog had discovered something extra. It seemed like Aofeng had been searching for something all along.

“Pull up the video from when we were setting up the scene earlier. Play it at four times speed. I want to take a look,” Li Guodong said.

“Got it.”

The young man’s fingers danced across the keyboard, and soon a fast-forwarded video began playing, the footage jumping rapidly. After watching for a while, Li Guodong said, “So that’s what it was.”

The young man let out a confused “Huh?” growing even more puzzled. What did he mean by “so that’s what it was”? Did he figure out why Aofeng had been running around?

Li Guodong shook his head at his clueless apprentice. Fortunately, the kid was skilled in information technology. Otherwise, he probably wouldn’t last long in this line of work.

“Go find the young woman who helped set up the scene earlier. Then you’ll understand what’s going on,” Li Guodong said.

“Oh.” The young man nodded and got up to leave.

When he returned with the young woman who had helped set up the scene, Aofeng happened to be walking out the front door. As he passed them, Aofeng suddenly stopped and stared seriously at the young woman beside him.

Being stared down by such a large German Shepherd with an unfriendly look, the young woman couldn’t help but feel nervous. She stiffened, locking eyes with the dog, afraid it might pounce on her at any moment.

Aofeng was certain that this woman had been at the crime scene and had come into contact with key evidence. But her identity didn’t quite match what he had imagined.

She… seemed to be just a staff member.

Aofeng was mortified. His dog face flushed red, though thankfully his fur covered it up. Otherwise, everyone would’ve seen his embarrassment.

And to think he had just been analyzing everything so confidently – talking about multiple suspects, two guests… Turns out she was just a staffer who had handled the evidence a little longer than usual, leaving behind the scent of her clear nail polish.

Aofeng forced himself to stay calm, firmly refusing to admit that his overthinking had wasted so much time. He was just being thorough, ruling out every possibility. Yes, that was it!

Song Changfeng looked at Aofeng’s back and, for some reason, felt like the dog was radiating guilt.

Li Guodong chuckled. He had already figured out the truth. If he wasn’t mistaken, this little guy had picked up the scent of another person at the scene. All that running up and down, sniffing everywhere, had been an attempt to track that person down.

In that case, this Aofeng seemed even smarter than he’d thought.

…

Actually, the assessment was very straightforward: have the police dog use the scents left at the scene to find the culprit and some key evidence. Even with just one added distraction, it was already a tough challenge for most police dogs. Without their trainer nearby to guide them, many dogs would fail the assessment by attacking any unfamiliar person at the scene.

As for Aofeng, because he still retained the mind of a human from his past life, he had a tendency to overthink things, which made the process take longer. But that couldn’t be helped. After all, animals rely mostly on instinct, while humans depend more on learned experience.