Animal Whisperer: Take Back My Life and Love Chapter 442: A League of Their Own

The leader stopped dead.

He looked up in terror at the silent shadow holding the rifle on the distant bridge. In that split second of hesitation, several slimy, powerful tentacles slithered out of the water and coiled around him, pinning his arms and waist in an instant.

The octopuses wrapped him tight, but they made a point of extending his hands directly toward Nancy.

"My, my. Why did you run back here?" Nancy asked. "Were you just trying to help me hit my quota?"

The leader ground his teeth so hard they nearly shattered. He had evaded the law for years, only to be taken down by a girl and a pack of octopuses.

Nancy looked down at him, a faint curve touching her lips as she unclipped the gleaming handcuffs from her belt.

Click.

The crisp metallic snap of the cuffs closing signaled the final note of this pursuit. Nancy heard that sound and felt a surge of triumph. She had worked with the animals to personally cuff the prime suspect.

Suppressing her excitement, she cleared her throat and reported into the comms. "Command, target leader is in custody."

The channel was instantly flooded with congratulations.

Meanwhile, the secondary Coast Guard team, guided by the precise coordinates from the gull squadron, had already hit the Blackshark hideout. They dismantled the remaining cells, seizing both the suspects and the contraband.

Against the infamous Blackshark Syndicate, the Dracovian police had achieved a total, crushing victory. More importantly, there were zero fatalities and zero serious injuries. A confrontation that could have been a bloodbath had been transformed into a textbook operation through tactical expertise and human-animal cooperation.

…

The next morning, before the elite training meeting even began, the conference room was buzzing. News of the massive victory at sea had already leaked, though the specific details remained a mystery.

"I heard they wiped out Blackshark completely."

"More than that. They closed that cold case from three years ago in one night. It’s unreal."

As the officers marveled, their eyes drifted toward the leaderboard on the main screen. The rankings were still frozen from the previous day.

"Once the data updates, Simon’s team is going to be miles ahead," someone noted. "The gap will be insane."

Marcus sat in the crowd, staring at the screen. His team had performed well and held a solid second place. But that second place felt dim compared to the lightning strike of the previous night.

"It’s updating! The board is refreshing!" someone whispered.

The numbers began to roll. However, the scene that followed left everyone stunned. Marcus’s team jumped up one spot to first place.

But Simon’s team had vanished from the board entirely.

The room went silent. People looked at one another in confusion, then at the empty spot at the top of the rankings. A roar of speculation broke out.

"What happened? Where is Simon’s team?"

"Did they get removed? Did something go wrong?"

Marcus stared at his own team in the number one spot, his shock outweighing any joy.

Just then, the Chief Commander strode into the hall. He did not look at the leaderboard. He faced the assembly and announced in a booming voice, "Due to the decisive command and extraordinary merit displayed by Simon during last night's joint operation, the higher authorities have reached a decision."

He paused. You could hear a pin drop.

"Upon completion of this training, Simon and his core team members will be transferred directly to the Special Major Crimes Division at the High Command."

A second of dead silence followed, then the room exploded. Only now were the details of the mission revealed. Simon and Nancy’s units had not only dismantled Blackshark but had intercepted a shipment of Rhenium, a strategic rare metal.

"My God... Rhenium?"

"If that had left the country, the consequences are unthinkable."

"In one night... they did something that belongs in a history book."

"I heard it was like a movie. Orcas ramming ships, octopuses hog-tying people, birds on lookout..."

In the middle of the noise, Marcus sat motionless. He looked at the first-place ranking next to his name and felt a hollow weight in his chest. Yesterday, they were competing on the same board. Today, Simon’s team had been moved to an entirely different division.

Simon was going to the High Command. He was joining the very department Marcus would eventually have to report to. The competition was not over; it had simply become irrelevant. Simon had outpaced the entire training program.

While the debate raged on, Simon’s team and Nancy were granted two days of special leave. After the high-stakes intensity of the pursuit, their frayed nerves needed a moment of peace.