It was only then that Shen Xin reacted, lunging forward and pinning the man's arm.
"Hiss... Ow, ow, ow!"
The man grimaced in pain.
Only then did Da Mei let go. She hopped to the side and meowed a couple of times at Shen Xin.
Her expression seemed to say, 'Are you going to do anything? I guess I have to do everything myself.'
It was probably because of the icon, but Da Mei's eyes and expression were now exceptionally human-like, and Shen Xin didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
'I never thought the day would come when I'd be looked down on by a cat.'
The man beneath him was still struggling.
Shen Xin had graduated from a proper police academy, after all. While he might not have been top of his class in grappling and combat, he was no slouch either.
Besides, he was on duty today and happened to be carrying restraints.
Shen Xin pulled out his handcuffs and slapped them on the man.
'The moment you ran, this got a lot more serious. I'm perfectly justified in using these cuffs.'
The moment the cold steel of the handcuffs snapped onto his wrists, the man, if not outright pissing himself, immediately panicked. He started shouting nervously that this had nothing to do with him.
"What has nothing to do with you?"
Shen Xin ignored his shouting, hauled him to his feet, and asked where the car keys were.
"In my pocket."
The man's face was deathly pale, his legs so weak he kept slumping toward the ground.
Shen Xin fished out a string of keys, dragged the man to the rear of the van, and recited the procedural boilerplate first: "I am now lawfully inspecting your van. Pay attention. I am recording this process with my phone."
It was a precaution.
He didn't know what was inside the van yet; recording a video would prevent any problems down the line.
The man was trembling too hard to speak clearly.
Shen Xin wasted no more words, took a key, and unlocked the van's rear doors.
Inside the spacious cargo area sat a large, square iron box that looked like a safe, with hinges and a handle.
The box was huge, taking up almost the entire cargo area.
Other than that, two portable ramps were wedged in beside the box.
With a meow, Da Mei leaped into the cargo area and began to paw at the iron box.
Faintly, the sound of kittens meowing could be heard from inside the iron box.
Shen Xin's brow furrowed slightly.
The man's strange reaction had led Shen Xin to believe there was some kind of contraband hidden in the van.
But now, all he saw was a large box.
It looked like a normal shipment.
Shen Xin couldn't help but worry that he had made a mistake and wrongly accused the man.
'The cuffs are already on him. If I can't find anything wrong here, I'm going to be in huge trouble.'
'I just got into trouble earlier. With this on top of that, I might as well start thinking about turning in my badge.'
But the man's reaction was just too strange.
Holding his phone steady, Shen Xin stepped forward, twisted the handle, and opened the box.
CREAK. Seeing the contents of the box, Shen Xin froze.
'Electric scooters?'
Inside the iron box, which was a full meter and a half tall, were two parked "Number 6" electric scooters.
"I didn't steal them! I'm just helping move the cargo," the man beside him blurted out, completely panicked as he tried to defend himself.
Shen Xin finally snapped out of his daze.
'I think... I've hit the jackpot!'
MEOW.
It was Da Mei. She darted into the iron box and emerged carrying a tiny kitten.
She brought it to the van's opening, then turned and went back for another.
She carried out a second one, with a third waddling along right behind her.
The first one she had brought out was an orange tabby. It must have been hungry, as it immediately tried to nuzzle under Da Mei's belly.
Da Mei swung her paw and gave it a solid smack across the face.
She was probably angry.
But after doling out the punishment, she immediately lay down and began to nurse the kittens.
Shen Xin looked from the electric scooters to the man collapsed on the ground, then hurriedly called Li Dongsheng.
"Master, you need to get over here. I found the stolen electric scooters."
...
At the same time, in the eastern section's Phase Two, Deputy Chief Yao Wensheng had arrived on the scene and was listening to Zhang Jian's report on the operation.
"Now this is just bizarre."
Yao Wensheng folded his arms, his brow deeply furrowed.
Even though they were short on manpower, they had at least one person watching every exit of the complex.
The complex had some gaps in its iron fences where a person could slip through, but there was no way to get an electric scooter through them.
In the North District of Phase One, for example, the surveillance cameras had even captured footage of a suspect.
But in the end, they hadn't managed to catch anyone, which was incredibly strange.
"It has nothing to do with Xiaoshen."
Zhang Jian mentioned Shen Xin's little incident, but Yao Wensheng clearly didn't give it much thought.
He just went to take a piss nearby; it wasn't like he went far.
"I think your analysis is correct," Yao Wensheng said. "Since the road surveillance around the perimeter didn't capture any suspects, there's only one explanation: the culprits didn't rush to leave after the thefts. They're hiding."
If no one was seen coming out, they had to be hiding inside.
The entire Spring Tide Home complex had over three hundred high-rises and tens of thousands of residents. Hiding someone in there would be child's play.
Zhang Jian nodded. "That's why I think we should keep an eye on the surveillance feeds. Even if they have a way to disable the scooters' tracking systems, they'll have to move the stolen goods eventually. They'll pop up on camera sooner or later. The only problem is this place is just too big. We don't have enough people to watch it all."
"That is a problem," Yao Wensheng agreed, nodding with his arms folded.
The station was busy, too; they couldn't devote all their officers to this single case.
Just then, Li Dongsheng's phone rang.
He pulled it out, saw it was Shen Xin, and hurriedly stepped aside to take the call.
But after hearing just the first sentence, Li Dongsheng was completely stunned.
'What does he mean, he found the stolen scooters? How could he have found them?'
'We've got more than a dozen officers spread out all over, and none of them found anything. How did a rookie like you pull it off?!'
...
By the time Li Dongsheng and the others arrived in a flurry, Shen Xin had already gotten the man to explain the situation.
The man, whose name was Tian Yongjun, was terrified. He spilled everything he knew in a rush, like beans from a bamboo tube, but stubbornly insisted he hadn't stolen the scooters—he was just helping transport them.
Shen Xin didn't believe him for a second.
Even if this guy wasn't the mastermind, he was without a doubt an accomplice.
"Shen Xin!"
Li Dongsheng's voice called out from behind him.
He turned his head to see Li Dongsheng hurrying over. The first thing his master did was pull him in to check if he was injured.
Only after confirming that Shen Xin was unharmed did he start to chew him out. "You damn kid, are you trying to get yourself killed? When you found something, why didn't you report to me first? And you already caught the suspect? How many lives do you have, being so damn reckless!"
Li Dongsheng grew angrier the more he spoke, his eyes bulging as if he wanted nothing more than to give Shen Xin a good kick.
Yao Wensheng, who was standing nearby, quickly grabbed him. "What's the situation, Shen Xin?"
He, too, was astonished to hear that Shen Xin had found the stolen electric scooters all by himself.
They had just been talking about how difficult it would be to search a complex this large.
Shen Xin glanced guiltily at Li Dongsheng and explained, "Master, it was an accident."
Despite his words, Shen Xin felt a warmth spreading through his chest.
Li Dongsheng was genuinely concerned about him.
Seeing that Li Dongsheng was still glaring at him, Shen Xin quickly recounted what had happened.
He told them exactly what happened.
Of course, he naturally omitted any mention of the icon on Da Mei's head.
"And that's what happened. It was a complete accident. I never expected the stolen scooters to be here."
'After all, I wasn't looking for the scooters to begin with.'
Yao Wensheng and the other officers exchanged a look, somewhat baffled.
"So, you're saying you only stumbled upon this van because you were helping this stray cat find her kittens?" Only then did Yao Wensheng notice Da Mei inside the cargo area, nonchalantly nursing her newborns.
"Well, this is..."
He didn't know whether to laugh or cry. The coincidence was just too much.