"How could it not be real?" Shen Yibin's words were defiant, but he had very little confidence. He craned his neck to look. At the top of the document, he saw the bold title: *Official Directive from the Sichuan Giant Panda Base Concerning an Experimental New Method for Raising Giant Pandas*. The organization's name was printed in large, red characters at the top, the main title was in a standard headline font, and the body was in a formal document font. Just from the formatting, it looked as authentic as it gets.
But the content below was just too absurd. The captain shoved the document in Shen Yibin's face. "Look at this garbage. Does this look like an official document to you?"
Shen Yibin read on past the title. The document stated that during his time as a volunteer at the Sichuan Giant Panda Base, he had rescued an injured panda cub. In the course of caring for it, the panda had developed an extreme dependency on him. The moment Shen Yibin left its side, the panda would refuse to eat. However, Shen Yibin had declined an offer to work at the base. To top it all off, a certain highly respected, senior professor at the base had launched a new research project to study the feasibility of giant pandas as pets. Therefore, Shen Yibin was now honored to be the world's first private individual with the qualification to raise a giant panda.
'Damn it, couldn't you be a little more convincing?' Shen Yibin was cursing the Future Pet Shop to hell and back. 'This official document is more ridiculous than a fantasy web novel! I only took a quick tour of the panda sanctuary. When was I ever a volunteer, let alone a panda rescuer? If any of that had actually happened, the sanctuary would have tons of video and paper records. The moment the police contact them, this whole thing will be exposed!'
"Forging official documents. That's another charge on the list. Let's see what else you can pull out." The captain felt like he was witnessing something new. In over twenty years on the force, this was the first time he'd encountered such a clumsy criminal. 'Anyone who can get a panda into their home has to be capable, right?' he thought. 'But this forgery is just so shoddy.'
Having said that, his initial caution vanished. He picked up the manila envelope, turned it upside down, and gave it a few shakes. A jumble of photos, an ID card, a USB drive, and other miscellaneous items tumbled onto the floor.
"Well now, an actual volunteer ID from the panda sanctuary? It looks pretty convincing." The captain picked up the ID card, which had Shen Yibin's photo on it, and dropped it into an evidence bag. "Right. Forging identification. That's charge number three."
'Holy crap, where did this ID come from?' A flicker of hope, which had been all but extinguished, rekindled within Shen Yibin. When he had visited Sichuan, he'd met some of the sanctuary's volunteers and seen their IDs. This one looked exactly the same. 'Could the Future Pet Shop really have the insane power to fabricate a complete chain of evidence?'
'But even if you're powerful enough to hack into the Giant Panda Base's systems and forge realistic documents, you can't possibly alter people's memories, right? Once they track down the people mentioned in these files, I'm toast.'
"Well, look at this. These photos were actually taken at the Sichuan Giant Panda Base? Was the panda stolen from there? But why didn't I ever hear about them filing a police report?" Picking up the scattered photos, the captain saw they were all images of Shen Yibin feeding and caring for pandas at the Sichuan Giant Panda Base. He grew even more puzzled.
'Is Photoshop technology really this advanced?' Shen Yibin wondered. 'These look completely seamless.' He was certain he had never done any of the things in these pictures. He'd never even set foot inside the restricted areas of the base.
"Zhang, go get my laptop from the car. I want to see what the hell is on this USB drive." After looking through the jumble of photos, the captain was no longer composed. He took the USB drive, plugged it into the laptop, and quickly opened it. Inside were neatly organized folders containing all sorts of documents, images, and video files. A quick glance showed that all of it was meant to prove the authenticity and reliability of that official document.
'Holy crap, this video looks completely real! Damn it, I'm starting to wonder if I have amnesia.' Watching himself interact so naturally and familiarly with the staff of the Giant Panda Base, Shen Yibin began to question his own sanity. The person in the video had his exact appearance, mannerisms, and tone of voice. If he weren't absolutely certain he had no memory of these events, he would have sworn it was a genuine recording.
What was most impressive was that the video even replicated the grainy quality of security camera footage. It even had occasional screen flickers and static. With the captain's experience, he could probably even guess the model of the security cameras used to film it.
"Captain, how should we proceed?" The two officers holding Shen Yibin were also getting rattled. 'Did we really arrest the wrong guy?' they wondered.
"See? I told you I had a full set of legal documents, but you wouldn't believe me," Shen Yibin said. "This is all evidence. I didn't forge that document—it was issued by a legitimate organization." 'The Future Pet Shop forged it, not me,' he added silently.
"The videos and photos don't look fake, and the document format is perfect, but the content is just... unbelievable," the captain mused. He still didn't believe what the document said, but his tone had softened. "Maybe he really did spend time at the Giant Panda Base. The photos and videos could be real, and he just used the opportunity to steal the panda?"
'But it's thousands of miles from Sichuan to Yunzhong City,' he thought. 'How could anyone transport a panda that far? Are all the authorities along the route blind? Even if you drove, you'd have to go through toll booths and stay in hotels, wouldn't you?'
"Why don't we contact their organization? There's a phone number on it, right?" one of the officers holding Shen Yibin suggested, pointing to the document that had been tossed aside.
"Professor Wu Gui?" The captain didn't dial the number on the document directly. For all he knew, the suspect had set up a fake contact. Instead, he first did an internet search. Sure enough, he found information on a Professor Wu Gui, who was listed as the nation's leading expert on giant panda breeding and conservation.
He then used the internal police database to look up the public contact number for the Giant Panda Base and called it. After identifying himself and being transferred a few times, he was finally connected to Professor Wu Gui. He glanced at his phone—damn it, the number was identical to the one on the document. All that extra work had been for nothing.
"Hello, am I speaking with Professor Wu Gui? ... My name is Shen Dalong, captain of the Criminal Investigation Division for the Yunzhong City Public Security Bureau. I apologize for disturbing you, but it's regarding a certain matter..." Captain Shen Dalong quickly explained the situation and then asked, "Did you, in fact, issue such an official document?"
"Yes, I issued that document," came the definitive reply over the phone.