During the 11-2 case, Shen Xin had discreetly inquired about Lin Wei’s background.
He knew the man was an expert, one of the very best.
His marksmanship was naturally precise.
However, trying to hit a fast-running target from a high-speed helicopter was incredibly difficult.
But Lin Wei took the shot anyway.
The crack of the rifle was swallowed by the roar of the helicopter’s rotors.
On the hillside below, the Wolf King jerked to a halt. A patch of turf just over two meters in front of it exploded.
The Wolf King had already spotted the approaching helicopter.
It let out a long howl.
The Wolf King turned and fled. It stood no chance against humans.
The moment it ran, the remaining gray wolves scattered in all directions, quickly following it and vanishing into the forest in an instant.
Lin Wei tracked the pack through his scope but didn’t pull the trigger again. He lowered his rifle and glanced at Shen Xin.
The unspoken question was clear: should they give chase?
The main problem was the weapon—it was just a standard rifle, not a high-precision professional sniper rifle.
Shen Xin shook his head.
He had been furious moments ago, but now that they had fled, there was no need to hunt them to extinction.
’I just didn’t expect this Wolf King to travel several dozen kilometers and lie in wait for days just to get revenge on Tian Kui.’
’The vengefulness of wolves is no joke.’
’It was just like that she-wolf on the plains before, the one that relentlessly pursued Tianxiong for days, never giving up on her revenge.’
He signaled for the helicopter to land.
The moment it touched down, Tian Kui rushed over, barking urgently.
’Target.’
’Teddy is in pursuit.’
’Hurry.’
Shen Xin was just about to comfort him when he heard the thoughts and froze in shock.
It was already the 19th. They had been in the United States for a while now, and with no sign of the target, Shen Xin, though he didn’t show it, was actually getting anxious.
He was afraid of ruining his reputation.
That was why he had been constantly trying to find ways to improve their efficiency, which led him to the method of using animals to find other animals.
He never expected it to finally pay off.
"York, we’ve found the wolf-dog," Shen Xin quickly grabbed the walkie-talkie and called York at the base camp.
Those words jolted Lin Wei and their companion, Blake, to high alert.
"Shen, are you sure?" Blake exclaimed, immediately whipping his head around to scan the area for any sign of the wolf-dog.
York’s urgent voice crackled over the radio almost immediately, asking where they were and what the situation was, before saying he was on his way.
"Don’t worry, Teddy is already in pursuit."
Shen Xin replied, then quickly ushered everyone back onto the helicopter and pulled out a tablet to check Teddy’s location.
Teddy’s GPS marker was nearby.
The bird was wearing a smart helmet. Shen Xin remotely activated the camera and immediately saw through Teddy’s eyes.
He was skimming low over the treetops.
The helmet cam moved with his head, its gaze fixed on the forest below.
The forest wasn’t too dense, making it easy to see what was happening among the trees. Shen Xin soon spotted an all-black animal, resembling both a dog and a wolf, strolling below.
"That’s it," Blake said urgently, pointing at the screen beside him.
Shen Xin didn’t jump to conclusions.
He was wary of celebrating too early, only for it to end up being a false alarm.
But looking closely, it really did look like their target, mainly because of its size.
It was larger than an average dog, but nowhere near as big as a gray wolf.
This fit their repeated speculation that it was a dog-wolf hybrid.
In the video feed, it was strolling along leisurely, apparently unaware of Teddy overhead.
York’s voice came over the radio again. He must have been watching Teddy’s feed too, excitedly telling Shen Xin that they’d found it, that he was sure it was the wolf-dog.
Whether it was or not, no one could say for sure.
After all, even the idea that the killer owned such a wolf-dog was just speculation.
But there was a way to confirm it.
The entire search operation was immediately adjusted. It was no longer a search, but a mission to track and confirm.
They would rely primarily on their aerial assets.
With fifty winged creatures, they could form an inescapable net. There was no way they would lose this wolf-dog.
Soon, nearby Ravens arrived, tailing the wolf-dog from every angle, leaving no blind spots.
Shen Xin had already returned to base camp.
Tian Kui and the others were just getting off their "shift" when Shen Xin hurried into the farm’s storehouse.
York’s face was flushed with excitement. The moment he saw Shen Xin, he waved him over and pointed at the large screen, which displayed multiple screenshots of the wolf-dog from different angles.
"Shen, I think this is it. This has to be it."
He murmured to himself, his words filled with excitement.
Shen Xin looked at the large screen.
The screenshots were reasonably clear, allowing him to make out the wolf-dog’s physical characteristics.
His first impression was that it leaned more toward being a Groenendael Dog.
It was pure black with long fur, but not as thick and dense as a gray wolf’s. Its coat was perhaps relatively sparse, making the fur look matted.
Its facial structure and body shape were predominantly those of a Groenendael Dog, but it still had some gray wolf features.
A long muzzle with a prominent nose.
Of course, the most conspicuous feature was its drooping tail.
"Tail up for a dog, tail down for a wolf"—this was a fairly obvious point of distinction.
Then there was its build.
Visually, it was quite large.
Based on nearby reference points, it was bigger than Tian Kui, maybe even bigger than Black Panther.
Rottweilers are large dogs; a male can grow to weigh 60 kilograms.
Therefore, Shen Xin speculated that this wolf-dog probably also weighed around sixty kilograms.
Not as heavy as a gray wolf, but definitely heavier than most dogs.
"Shen, thank you! You’re a real genius! Using animals to find animals... haha, that makes me a genius too!" York turned and pulled Shen Xin into a hug, slapping him hard on the back.
Shen Xin wriggled free. Still wary of celebrating prematurely, he said, "Let’s confirm the dental impression first."
There was one way to know for sure: the dental impression.
Especially the case from last year, which would have the target wolf-dog’s most recent dental impression on record.