Chapter 136: Chapter 136: Her Boyfriend Is From the Big Mountains

Renee Jennings opened the door of her red BMW when her phone suddenly rang.

It was a call from Henry Stark.

"Hello?" she answered.

"Renee, where are you?" Henry Stark asked.

Renee Jennings ducked into the driver’s seat. "I’m at the animal protection organization, just about to leave."

"I’ll send you a location on WeChat," Henry Stark said. "Come over. The illegal hunting suspect keeps goldfish at his house."

"Got it." Renee Jennings hung up and set her GPS for the location Henry Stark had sent.

The red BMW pulled into the residential complex’s outdoor parking lot.

As Renee Jennings walked toward the apartment building, she spotted Kyle Morgan.

"Kai," she called out, quickening her pace.

The two of them took the elevator to the fourth floor. Only Henry Stark and Zachary Conway were in the apartment.

Zachary Conway was sitting in front of the fish tank, holding a bag of fish food and occasionally sprinkling some in.

His eyes lit up when he saw Renee Jennings. "Renee, hurry over here! I’ve been trying to communicate with them for ages, and they haven’t even blown a single bubble at me."

"I told you not to waste your time." Kyle Morgan looked at him with disdain. "Communicating with animals isn’t that easy, you know."

Then he turned to Renee Jennings with a brilliant smile. "Renee, you’re up."

Renee Jennings walked to the fish tank, bent down, and peered through the glass at the small goldfish inside. "Hello there. I’m Renee Jennings."

"A human?" The little goldfish caught her pleasant scent and swam closer to speak. "You smell really nice."

"Oh, really?" Renee Jennings smiled. "What’s your name?"

"My name is Liuliu," the goldfish said. "I’ve never seen you before."

"This is my first time here." Renee Jennings took the fish food from Zachary Conway and fed them a little. "Can I ask you a question?"

"What is it?" Liuliu stared at her curiously with its bulging eyes.

Renee: "Do you know the owner of this house?"

"Of course," Liuliu said. "You mean Scarface?"

Renee Jennings looked at Henry Stark and the others. "Is the suspect nicknamed Scarface?"

Kyle Morgan nodded eagerly. "Yes, yes."

Renee Jennings turned her gaze back to the goldfish. "Yes, it’s Scarface. Do you ever listen to them talk?"

Liuliu: "We listen when we’re bored."

Renee: "Have you heard them talk about catching animals?"

Liuliu blinked its eyes, trying hard to remember. "We haven’t heard them talk about catching animals, only about catching ’high-value goods’."

"’High-value goods’?" Renee Jennings frowned slightly. "That must be it. Do they talk about it a lot?"

"A lot!" Liuliu said. "They talk about it every day!"

Renee Jennings asked a few more questions, but Liuliu didn’t know much more.

The group returned to the police station to discuss the case.

**

Renee Jennings went home and lay on the sofa, thinking about the case.

’How can I get in touch with the people who deal in wild game?’

"What are you thinking about?" Dalton Jenson asked as he opened the door, hearing Renee Jennings sigh. "Why is someone so young sighing like that?"

Hearing his voice, Renee Jennings sat up and looked at Dalton Jenson, who was changing his shoes in the entryway. "Why are you back so late today?"

"I went out for hot pot with my colleagues." Dalton Jenson sat down on the armchair, poured himself a glass of water, and started complaining after drinking it. "Those guys have some seriously strong tastes. They were actually eating dog meat."

Hearing this, Renee Jennings frowned. "Did you eat dog meat, too?"

The two drowsy dogs in the room heard this, shot to their feet, and stared at him with wide eyes.

"Of course not!" Dalton Jenson said hurriedly. "We have dogs at home, how could I possibly eat dog meat? All I had tonight was that plate of peanuts with my drink, and they were way too salty."

Only then did Renee Jennings let out a sigh of relief.

Bella and Pippi also lay back down on the floor.

Dalton Jenson’s tense back relaxed slightly.

He poured another half-glass of water. "TSK TSK. Their eating habits are just too bizarre. They’ll eat anything. It’s disgusting."

"Oh, really?" An idea sparked in Renee Jennings’ mind, and she pressed him, "Like what?"

"Let me think." Dalton Jenson frowned in concentration. "They mentioned some kind of bird, but I forgot the name as soon as I heard it. And... owls!"

Renee Jennings’ eyes lit up. "Owls? Do you know how to contact the people who sell this wild game?"

Dalton Jenson was taken aback by her question. "Whoa, don’t tell me you have such strong tastes too! You can’t eat that stuff! I heard they’re nationally protected animals, and they might carry viruses and bacteria. We have money, we can eat some Wagyu beef or something. Don’t mess with that stuff."

"I’m not going to eat it," Renee Jennings explained. "I promise I won’t eat it. I’m just asking."

Dalton Jenson asked, confused, "If you’re not going to eat it, why are you asking?"

Renee Jennings: "..."

"Just tell me." She transferred five hundred yuan to his WeChat. "I won’t tell Mom about this money. You can spend it however you like."

Dalton Jenson immediately accepted the money, chuckling. "Well, I’ll have to ask those colleagues of mine. I’ll let you know when I find out."

"Okay," Renee Jennings nodded and instructed, "If your colleagues ask if you want to eat some, just say yes."

"Got it." Dalton Jenson made an OK sign with his hand.

**

「The next day.」

When Renee Jennings woke up, she instinctively opened TikTok to check her direct messages.

She peered at the screen, half-asleep with her eyes barely open.

When she saw a reply from "MilkTeaThirtyPercentSugar," she was instantly wide awake and shot bolt upright.

[MilkTeaThirtyPercentSugar: Streamer, you actually replied to me! What a surprise!]

[MilkTeaThirtyPercentSugar: Streamer, I don’t know Lana’s boyfriend. We chat occasionally, but we rarely see each other. I’ve only heard a few things about her boyfriend.]

[MilkTeaThirtyPercentSugar: Lana met her boyfriend after she started working. He’s an amazing guy—earns a high salary and is very considerate toward her. But I heard Lana mention one downside: her boyfriend is from a remote mountainous area, which is too far from her home. Her parents probably wouldn’t approve of her marrying someone so far away.]

[MilkTeaThirtyPercentSugar: Streamer, that’s all I know. I might have to ask other friends for more information. Should I?]

Renee Jennings stared at the five words "from a remote mountainous area," her slender brows knitting together as a vague, ominous premonition grew in her heart.

She quickly typed a reply: [MilkTea, can you tell me Lana’s full name? I’ll ask a police friend of mine to look into it. I feel like there’s something fishy about Lana’s disappearance.]

MilkTeaThirtyPercentSugar knew of Renee Jennings’s reputation, so she readily provided the information she had.

[MilkTeaThirtyPercentSugar: Lana’s full name is Elaine Rivers, she’s twenty-five years old...]

[MilkTeaThirtyPercentSugar: Streamer, I’m counting on you to help Lana!]

Renee: [I’ll do my best.]

She copied Lana’s information, switched to WeChat, and sent the copied text to Henry Stark.

Renee: [Henry, a while ago, Lana’s pet, Bubbles, came to me and asked for help finding his owner, Lana. I posted a missing person notice on TikTok, and a netizen who knows Lana contacted me.]

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