Chapter 284: Chapter 283: Chicken Soup Warms the Stomach

Xu Ying noticed that the zheluo fish and otters were on the verge of fighting over the headgear and quickly reassured them, “You’re all awesome. The more evidence we find, the better it is for our investigation.”

Only then did the animals calm down.

The otter pup arrogantly waved its little paw: [We also had an underwater camera and took pictures of the underwater scene, so we’re still the winners!]

Xu Ying couldn’t help but feel helpless at the otter’s competitive spirit.

The otter mom extended its paw, shaped like a fist: [Little Xu Station Chief, here you go~]

Xu Ying opened her gloved palm, and the otter mom’s little paw stretched out, dropping a silver key into Xu Ying’s palm.

“A key? I wonder what this key is for?”

Looking at the key in her palm, Xu Ying thought it didn’t look like a residential key, but more like a key to a warehouse or a small room.

“I don’t know if it was a tourist who dropped this key into the water or if it belonged to the female corpse underwater.”

Chen Su opened the evidence bag, and Xu Ying placed the key inside.

[This is what we found!]

The leading zheluo fish spat out a droplet-shaped jade pendant, recalling Xu Ying’s instructions: [We didn’t destroy the body. It was pushed out from the silt near the corpse with our mouths.]

At this moment, the otter pup secretly whispered to Xu Ying: [Little Xu Station Chief, let me tell you, those zheluo fish are fierce. We dig things out with our paws, but they herded other small fish over to search for them.]

Xu Ying was amazed that the zheluo fish were indeed the bosses of the water world, even commanding little minions.

The leading fish gave the otter family a sidelong glance, [Little Xu Station Chief, what was that pup whispering to you!]

Xu Ying quickly covered up, “Oh, nothing. They were just saying how you got other small fish to help, demonstrating great teamwork.”

She carefully placed the necklace into the evidence bag.

Chen Su inspected the break in the necklace: “This necklace looks like it’s been torn apart.”

The break in the necklace was not tidy.

Ji Xuehui transmitted the night footage captured by the underwater camera to the computer. The screen suddenly lit up with a glaring, stark white—a cold beam of light sliced through the pitch-black lake water, emanating from the underwater camera’s spotlight.

Xu Ying’s pupils contracted sharply.

In the center of the light beam, the female corpse was suspended in a twisted posture, her arms rigidly outstretched as if desperately trying to grab onto something before she died.

The spotlight’s beam from below cast an eerie, distorted pallor on her terrified face.

Her eyes were wide open, the whites teeming with bloodshot veins, the irises dilated into two pitch-black voids due to death; her mouth agape as if emitting a silent scream.

Due to the cold temperature at the lake’s bottom, her skin showed not a trace of decay, but rather appeared almost translucent in the bright light, as if turned into a wax figure by the lake water. Her long hair slowly undulated in the water like a living creature, wrapping around her neck and shoulders, while her fingers curled bizarrely as if trying to grasp something.

The otter photographer was very meticulous, circling around the body underwater to capture its condition and even zooming in to record the surface details of the corpse.

Ji Xuehui was surprised, “There are obvious strangulation marks and bruises on the surface of her neck!”

“She didn’t drown; she was strangled to death and then thrown into the lake. It can be preliminarily determined as homicide!”

Xu Ying had already averted her eyes, regretting her curiosity. The striking scene of the corpse on the screen was now etched into her mind.

She turned away, ruffling the otter pup’s cheek to ease her discomfort.

“Didn’t you say she looked like she was just asleep? No one sleeps with their eyes open this wide.”

The otter pup embarrassingly scratched its little paw: [We thought she was at the bottom of the lake and would sleep with her eyes open like the fish do.]

The sensitive zheluo fish glanced over again: [Little Xu Station Chief, are they talking bad about me again?]

Xu Ying hastily waved her hand.

Ji Xuehui closed the computer. “Little Xu Station Chief, you’ve worked hard today.”

“We’ll take the footage to the forensic team to examine, and we’ll also extract biological information from the two pieces of evidence. I believe we’ll soon be able to identify the female corpse in the lake.”

“It’s nothing.” Xu Ying shook her head with a smile. The system granted her the ability to understand Beast Language, changing her initial predicament of being thrown into the desert. She also wants to do her best to give back to this world.

However, as more and more rescued animals came, the rescue station grew larger, and the system stopped giving out missions as often, saying Xu Ying completed tasks far beyond its expectations. Moreover, with Little Xu as a well-connected figure in the desert, news about rescuing animals spread rapidly through Xu Ying’s animal information network.

Xu Ying’s points bar was only a few thousand points away from reaching 50,000 now.

Xu Ying patted Ji Xuehui on the shoulder: “I’m just lending a hand by providing information. It’s up to you guys to do the tracking and investigation!”

Seeing such a vibrant and motivated Xu Ying, Ji Xuehui couldn’t help but be influenced, her lips curling into a smile.

Relying on her height advantage, she reached out to pinch Xu Ying’s cheek, her tone light and slightly teasing: “It’s so nice to see you so energetic. It makes me feel like this case will definitely be solved smoothly!”

Chen Su’s gaze landed on Ji Xuehui’s hand pinching Xu Ying’s cheek. “Everyone worked hard today.” Earlier in the afternoon, there was a traffic jam and a series of car accidents in the Snow Mountain scenic area. Short-staffed, Chen Su and the Snow Mountain Police Station were called in, and now they still had to investigate the case at night.

Chen Su took the car keys from his pocket and said to Xu Ying, “I’ll drive you back to rest.”

“Thank you, Captain Chen!” Xu Ying smiled at Chen Su, her eyelashes sparkling under the temporary lighting like unmelting frosty buds.

Xu Ying got into the passenger seat of the police car, hissing as she bent down due to the cold’s aftereffects now radiating from her joints.

Ji Xuehui leaned against the car window, hesitating to speak before finally just handing over the scarf Xu Ying had forgotten to Chen Su: “Captain Chen, take good care of our lucky charm for solving cases.”

As the police car drove away, Xu Ying saw Ji Xuehui waving goodbye in the rearview mirror.

She couldn’t help but chuckle lightly, only to crash into the tense lines of Chen Su’s profile when she turned her head.

The man’s jawline looked as though it had been chiseled by the West Mountain Glacier, even the curve of his adam’s apple carried an air of restraint and abstinence.

“There’s chicken soup in the thermos, drink it while it’s hot.” His tone was calm, his gaze still fixed forward, but his right hand expertly retrieved a spoon sealed in a bag from the storage compartment and handed it to her.

Xu Ying was taken aback, lowering her gaze to the storage compartment between them—a medium-sized thermos stood there securely, its lid tightly closed, yet it emanated a subtle warmth.

She blinked, couldn’t help but ask, “Captain Chen, where did this chicken soup… come from?”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep