"That's a shame. Local dogs are quite smart and very loyal, with good obedience, but they haven't developed into a highly professional group."

"Local dog loyalty is good, but excessive loyalty isn't ideal in police dogs."

"Oh? Loyalty isn't good?"

Hearing Guo Dajun say this, Cao Gang was a bit surprised; it was the first time he'd heard that loyalty wasn't good.

"A trait of local dogs is their strong territorial awareness, which makes them great for guarding homes, but they are often only loyal to one owner. This is why they can't become excellent police dogs. The barracks are solid, but soldiers come and go. Police dogs often have to change handlers. If a local dog goes on a mission, it only listens to one person's command. If that person leaves for various reasons, then that police dog, which took a lot of effort to train, might have to retire early."

After hearing Guo Dajun's professional explanation, Cao Gang finally understood why local dogs couldn't be police dogs. Indeed, these shortcomings were unacceptable for police dogs.

"I see. Now that you mention it, I get it. Although local dogs can't become police dogs, in Li Xiang's hands, Coal Ball is a qualified police dog."

"Coal Ball's scent-tracing ability is indeed impressive, possibly better than all our squad's police dogs. That's exactly the kind of trace dog our squad urgently needs..."

Hearing Guo Dajun say that, Cao Gang immediately looked at him warily and said, "What are you planning? Didn't you say local dogs are only loyal to one person? That person is Li Xiang, don't think about taking him."

"Uh, Captain Cao, you're misunderstanding me. What I meant was, Coal Ball has great talent and performed well in this case. We could consider incorporating him while keeping Li Xiang as his trainer. This way, your squad would effectively have an additional police dog slot, and if you need a tracking dog in the future, it would be readily available. Of course, this is just a suggestion. If your squad is tight on positions, transferring Li Xiang to our fourth squad would also work—we have slots available."

"What did you say?"

Captain Cao's eyes widened. He couldn't believe there was such a shameless person in the world.

"Don't get excited, don't get excited. I'm just making a suggestion. If it's difficult for you, you can ask me for help. Our fourth squad is happy to lend a hand."

Guo Dajun chuckled. He truly liked Coal Ball and, by extension, also favored Li Xiang.

"Thank you, but we don't need your help."

Cao Gang rolled his eyes. Although Guo Dajun's request was a bit shameless, his suggestion did catch Cao Gang's interest.

The fact that even the police dog squad took notice of Coal Ball's abilities, along with this evening's performance, undeniably indicated that Coal Ball was truly outstanding. Incorporating Coal Ball into their squad would be nothing but beneficial.

In police work, the role of police dogs is immense. Like this time, they had to seek help from the fourth squad. If they had Coal Ball, it would be as if they had an entire police dog squad of their own.

It's a good deal.

Guo Dajun's words seemed to open a new world for Cao Gang.

But this wasn't the time to think about these things. The immediate priority was to go home and rest well, recharge, and start the full investigation tomorrow.

-----------------

The next day, as Li Xiang went to work at the municipal bureau, as soon as he walked into the lobby, he heard someone behind him calling:

"Li Xiang, where's Coal Ball? When are you bringing him in to show us?"

This was the time when everyone reported to work, and upon seeing Li Xiang, they all inquired when he would bring Coal Ball in for them to see.

Evidently, everyone was also informed about last night's incident.

Li Xiang discovering a severed finger while walking his dog was truly legendary.

"Next time, next time."

Li Xiang smiled and greeted everyone, sensing their curiosity about Coal Ball.

Now Coal Ball was more popular at work than him.

Upon reaching the office, most of Squad One was already there.

"Meeting in ten minutes, please notify everyone."

After last night's murder discovery, Squad One immediately activated the murder investigation procedure. All relevant clues were collected, and DNA information was extracted from the meat fragments overnight.

Everyone prepared briefly, and the ten minutes quickly passed. They brought their notebooks to the case analysis room, where Captain Cao had already conducted some analysis on the board.

"Everyone's here, so let's begin."

Cao Gang put down the pen, and seeing everyone had arrived in the conference room, he pointed to the board and said:

"Everyone should know the cause of the case by now. This case was again initially discovered by Li Xiang..."

The previous grave disposal case was first discovered by Li Xiang, and unexpectedly, so was this one. But then it hit him—the dog discovered it first. He quickly corrected himself, "Li Xiang's dog found it. The crime scene is located on a small road on the west side of Jiang'an Road. Everyone, please have a look."

After speaking, Cao Gang directed everyone's attention to the board where a map screenshot was pinned.

"This small road is relatively secluded, without video surveillance. Usually, it's just for walking or strolling—barely any cars pass through. Colleagues from the technical unit confirmed this. They didn't find any tire tracks at the scene, suggesting the perpetrator used a two-wheeled vehicle for body disposal."

He then pointed to a spot on the road, "The police dog squad found a branch here, where they discovered fibers matching the material of the used woven bag. Presumably, the perpetrator came here and accidentally tore a hole in the bag on a branch, causing some remains to fall out. Coal Ball discovered it. Since it was very late last night, technical unit is conducting extensive re-examination today. If there are clues, they'll report back soon."

"The criminal methods are quite gruesome, with some counter-reconnaissance awareness. The disposal site lacked a head or large thigh bones, meaning they've been separately disposed of, complicating our investigation. However, the net is closing. I've requested colleagues from trafficking to retrieve all surveillance footage within a kilometer radius. If the perpetrator appears on any camera, we can track his movements and find him."

In the meeting, Cao Gang updated everyone on the latest case developments and made new arrangements for the investigation. Those familiar with crime-solving procedures knew the immediate priorities were confirming the victim's identity. Despite the perpetrator disposing of the victim's head elsewhere, as long as the DNA is uploaded to the missing persons database, clues should surface soon.

Simultaneously, if the video team finds leads first, the perpetrator can be apprehended, naturally cracking the case open.

As the investigation progressed simultaneously, after the meeting, everyone followed Captain Cao's assignments.

Squad One also began scanning all missing persons in the city for matches with the case, while awaiting the lab's expedited DNA extraction for comparison.

All work proceeded in a tense manner. As soon as Zhou Man received the victim's DNA information, it was uploaded to the missing persons database for comparison but found no leads.

This either meant the family hadn't reported the disappearance or they chose not to report it. If it's the latter, solving the case becomes more challenging, placing all hope on the video team now.

Technical unit also transmitted a message: footprints extracted from the crime scene, based on forensic analysis, belonged to a male, with an estimated height of 170cm~175cm and weight of 130~145 pounds, providing the perpetrator's approximate build.

On the video team side, the workload was indeed massive—reviewing footage from 144 cameras with over 30,000 hours just wasn't feasible for their four members. Thus, they expanded by an additional four people to diligently examine the remaining surveillance videos.

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