"Mmm~" Hah'Er saw Shen Yibin return and was about to pounce over to hug his leg again, but upon seeing so many people enter at once, it shrank back in fear.
"Grr!" After retreating two steps, Hah'Er noticed that Shen Yibin had been handcuffed. A panda is a ferocious beast, after all. It immediately sensed their hostility toward Shen Yibin, so it abandoned any thought of escaping to the upstairs bedroom and charged back toward him.
"There, there, don't be scared. We'll take you home soon!" The lead officer bent down with a smile, opening his arms as if to hug Hah'Er. Even they couldn't resist the panda's charm. The suspect was in custody, and their intelligence said he was the only one in the shop—no accomplices. For now, they could let their guard down a little.
'Looks like this mission's about to wrap up smoothly,' he thought. 'Just have to make sure the panda doesn't get scared. Otherwise, forget everyone online—my own daughter would never let me live it down.'
"Oof!" But Hah'Er charged forward unexpectedly, ramming its head into his chest and knocking the unprepared officer flat on his butt.
After knocking him down, Hah'Er didn't stop. It rushed to Shen Yibin's side, hugged his leg, and began to whimper, its misty eyes filled with worry.
"Captain!" The two officers holding Shen Yibin stared at Hah'Er, completely at a loss. Normally, if an animal involved in a case showed any aggression, they would take decisive measures to subdue it. But this was a panda! Who would dare lay a finger on it?
"I'm fine. It was just an accident." The captain's face flushed. 'I've taken down countless vicious criminals without a scratch,' he thought, 'but today I get knocked on my ass by a little panda.' At the same time, the scene before him was puzzling. 'Why is this panda so concerned about him? It doesn't act like a trafficking victim at all. It seems to like this guy more than its keepers. What kind of potion did he give it?'
"Captain, how about you handle it? We're both holding the suspect," one of the officers holding Shen Yibin said hesitantly. It was clear that prying Hah'Er off Shen Yibin's leg would require some force, and neither of them had the heart to do it.
'So you're just going to dump this on me because you don't want to do it?' The captain shot them a glare. Still, someone had to do it. He bent down again and shuffled cautiously toward Hah'Er with a grin. "Easy now. We're not bad guys. We're here to take you home."
"Grr! Grr!" Hah'Er moved behind Shen Yibin and instantly spotted the handcuffs binding his hands. It grew agitated and opened its mouth wide, trying to bite the metal cuffs in half.
"Hah'Er, no!" Shen Yibin finally snapped out of his shock and quickly raised his cuffed hands. If Hah'Er broke a tooth, he would never forgive himself.
"Mmm~ Mmm~" Hearing his voice, Hah'Er stopped. Since it couldn't solve its master's problem, it directed its anger at the officers. It crouched down, tilted its head up, and adopted an attack stance. Unfortunately, due to its pudgy physique, the pose wasn't the least bit intimidating; on the contrary, it was incredibly cute.
"Is your body cam on? Can you make me a copy of the footage when we get back?" The adorable sight completely won over the officers, who began discussing something that was clearly against regulations right in front of Shen Yibin.
"Hah'Er, be good. Sit over there and don't move." Shen Yibin was terrified something might happen to Hah'Er and quickly intervened again. Once Hah'Er settled down, he quickly lifted the courier envelope in his cuffed hands. "Officers, I have the legal documents and permits to raise this panda!"
'Are you fucking kidding me? Since when can a panda be kept as a private pet?' The officers all stared at Shen Yibin as if he were an idiot. The captain cleared his throat. "Ahem. Save the documents for the station. We won't frame an innocent man, but we won't let a criminal get away, either. For now, you'd better get this panda to come with us quietly."
"Pandas are extremely sensitive to their surroundings! What happens if it gets scared when you take it outside? Can you take responsibility for that?" Having been dragged into this disaster for no reason, Shen Yibin was fuming. Not even caring what was actually in the envelope he held, he retorted sharply.
"Refusing to cooperate with a police investigation is grounds for a harsher sentence!" Seeing as they had caught the suspect red-handed and he was still being this defiant, the captain's tone hardened.
"GRRR!" Seeing someone shout at its master, Hah'Er bristled again and roared back. Unfortunately, its roar still lacked any real menace, and it just looked as adorable as ever.
"Captain, why don't we just take a look? The way things are going, if we don't humor him, we'll never get this panda out of here," an officer chimed in, trying to smooth things over. Yunzhong City was relatively small and its zoo didn't house pandas, so they couldn't just call in an expert on panda behavior to help.
The captain didn't say anything, simply beckoning with his finger for them to bring him the courier envelope. Shen Yibin relaxed his hands, allowing the officer to take the envelope and hand it to his captain.
"You're giving us permission to open this, correct?" the captain asked first. He then had another officer aim their body cam at the envelope before he carefully tore it open along the perforated line.
'Damn, I'm in some serious trouble,' Shen Yibin thought. 'The cops they sent are this professional? Then again, a panda trafficking case is a huge deal. It makes sense that the Yunzhong Police Station would send its best people.'
'If these documents in the envelope are useless, my fate is going to be even more tragic, isn't it? I've heard the most despised inmates in prison are corrupt officials and rapists. So, what's the status of someone who traffics a national treasure? I'll probably be the one dropping the soap every day, won't I?'
'Oh God, I don't wanna drop the soap!' he pleaded internally. 'Future Pet Shop, my friend, these documents better be legit, or my life is over!' Shen Yibin's heart hammered in his chest, his mouth went dry, and his eyes were glued to the captain's hands.
After what felt like an eternity, the envelope was finally open. The captain reached a white-gloved hand inside and slowly pulled out the documents stuffed within.
"Are you fucking kidding me? This is your legal proof for raising a panda?" The captain couldn't stop himself from cursing after a quick glance at the papers. "I mean, if you're going to forge something, couldn't you at least make it look a little more convincing?"
'Holy shit. The Future Pet Shop has completely screwed me over!' Shen Yibin's heart plummeted into an abyss.