Chapter 323: Chapter 322: Shamate Little Birds

Qi Xiao squinted upon hearing this, his sharp gaze piercing through the dusk.

Chen Su chuckled lightly, his well-defined fingers tightening on the steering wheel, the faint blue of blood vessels visible on his cold white hand: "I feel like we’re not far from the crime suspect."

The "Golden Sand Resort 2km" sign stood out in the night. Xu Ying tilted her head, a look of confusion in her eyes: "Could it be that the birdwatcher is staying in the resort?"

Chen Su’s lips curled slightly: "It’s very possible."

His voice was sure, "There aren’t many places in the desert to eat and sleep."

Xu Ying was familiar with the Golden Sand Resort, having previously rescued an Afghan Hound that suddenly went crazy here, causing quite a stir with a large crowd watching. It was eventually found that the babysitter surrounded by dogs had swapped the children.

Sand Rat Boss’s small eyes lit up upon hearing the word "resort": [This place is great! My family and close relatives are many!]

Xu Ying’s eyes flashed with determination: "Let’s go, let’s check out the resort."

The sun set and the resort began to liven up. Tourists strolled along the streets in groups, enjoying the evening chill.

Xu Ying squatted down, gesturing to the Sand Rat Boss: "Remember, the target is wearing a Jade Peaceful Coin and diamond earrings, a short-haired male about 175 cm tall, riding a red motorcycle."

She took out her phone and showed the model image of the drone Qi Xiao had found to the sand rat: "Also, have your little partners help look for drone wreckage, with a focus on trash bins and places like that."

The Sand Rat Boss stood upright, waving a little paw: [Sand Rat Agent Squad, move out!] In an instant, a group of sand rats scattered and disappeared into the crowd.

Qi Xiao analyzed, rubbing his chin: "This person’s characteristics are indeed obvious, but if we inquire everywhere, we might alert him." He unfolded the resort map, "There are four exits here, we can start with surveillance."

Chen Su nodded and added: "According to when we encountered Bai He, it was at 3:48 on the afternoon of the 9th, and the culprit escaped on the red motorcycle. If he came to the resort, the entrance surveillance would definitely capture it."

"Wait," Xu Ying suddenly thought of something, "Bai He’s wound is still fresh, the injury is less than two hours old. From the crime scene to the resort, riding a desert motorcycle takes at least 3.5 hours."

Chen Su immediately understood: "Then the surveillance time span can be narrowed to between 4:30 and 7:30 that afternoon."

"There are three of us and four exits..." Xu Ying was pondering how to assign tasks.

Chen Su pointed to the bottom of the map: "The south gate is the furthest and can be ruled out first." His finger moved between the remaining three exits, "For the rest three, each of us takes one?"

After the task distribution, the three went to the resort’s security control room.

In the dimly lit surveillance room, more than a dozen screens flickered with real-time footage of the different entrances.

Xu Ying sat in front of the screen of the east entrance, her fingers quickly scrolling the mouse wheel, the footage playing at double speed showing the comings and goings of vehicles.

Outside, the sky had completely darkened, and the air conditioning in the control room was whirring. After staring at the screen for half an hour, Xu Ying rubbed her sore eyes as the vehicles in the footage began to blur before her eyes. She had to pause the video and took a deep breath.

She turned to Chen Su, who was intently reviewing the surveillance: "Captain Chen, is it always this tough to review surveillance footage? Just these three hours of video make me dizzy."

At her words, Chen Su turned his head, a gentle smile appearing on his young, handsome face. The cold light of the surveillance screen reflecting on his well-defined profile made his features seem particularly deep.

He sheepishly scratched the back of his head: "Actually, it’s alright; we’re used to it. Besides..." he pointed to his eyes, "our police officers have the ’human scanner’ function built-in."

His tone was light-hearted and humorous, yet his actions adjusting the footage remained professional and efficient.

Xu Ying noticed that even when joking, his gaze never left the screen, his slender fingers occasionally tapping the keyboard, marking suspicious time points.

"But honestly," Chen Su leaned forward slightly, looking at Xu Ying seriously, "we were able to narrow down the time range so quickly thanks to your professional judgement. Without the time of Bai He’s injury you provided, we could still be searching blindly."

The sincerity of his praise shone brightly in his eyes.

About half an hour later.

"Found it!" Suddenly, Qi Xiao’s low exclamation came from in front of the north entrance monitor.

The three immediately gathered around, seeing a young man riding a red motorcycle entering the resort in the footage, wetland mud marks visible on the motorcycle wheels.

The time displayed: 9th, 5:23 PM.

Chen Su froze the surveillance footage, pointing to the red motorcycle on the screen: "Now the model and style of the motorcycle are clear." His fingers lightly tapped on the table, his eyes focused as he analyzed the footage details.

Xu Ying nodded: "I’ll go ask our little animal friends for further assistance."

She quickly left the security center, pulling a silver whistle specifically used to communicate with sand rats from her pocket.

As soon as the whistle blew, a round-headed sand rat peeked its head from a nearby bush, its bead-like black eyes curiously darting around.

"The crime suspect entered the resort from the north gate," Xu Ying crouched down, speaking in a lowered voice to the sand rat, "we can narrow down our investigation area, let’s start by asking your rat relatives at the north gate entrance."

As she spoke, she took a few nuts from her bag.

Little Desert Rat took the nuts, its small paws nimbly holding the food, its furry little head nodding quickly, then wriggling its round little backside as it dashed into the grass to inform its companions.

Just as Xu Ying was about to return to the control room, she was suddenly attracted by chattering bird calls. She followed the sound, faintly hearing:

[Should we really continue staying here?]

A bird asked in a confused tone.

[We must maintain a mysterious image, I think it’s better to leave.] Another bird replied, attempting to sound deep.

Xu Ying carefully approached the sound source and discovered four peculiarly shaped birds in a hidden spot behind a bush.

They had a crow-like body size, but their heads were pale yellow, wings edged with black and white feathers, their sandy yellow belly feathers striking in the sunset.

The most striking feature was their head’s tuft of high-raised black feathers, resembling a punked-out black rooster comb, swaying gently in the breeze.

[Brothers, the food in this resort is so abundant, it’s simply a treasure trove!] An Earth Crow flapped its wings excitedly.

[Yeah, yeah,] its companion agreed, [you can fill your stomach just by rummaging through the trash bins.]

[But I’m still a bit frightened of those humans,]

The third Earth Crow shrank its neck, [so many people pointing big black tubes at us all the time.]