Animal Detective

Chapter 339: Chapter 276: Big Bro, You’ve Hidden Yourself Too Deeply

Most importantly, we backed you as our leader, and you cast us aside like we were nothing. You found out something good and instead of sharing, you tried to hoard it all for yourself.

So, they turned their guns around. The numerous teams were preparing to focus all their firepower on taking down Ningshan.

Shen Xin gave Fang Weijie a wry look.

’No wonder they even roped in a public enemy like Fang Weijie. It must be because they know Peng An is incredibly strong.’

Shen Xin glanced over at Meng Fuqiang and his team.

’He was right, it was a low blow. Finding out the test questions ahead of time and not sharing.’

’Speaking of which, what were the test questions? Were they really so difficult that they made Li Yinjiang and the others bury the hatchet?’

On the stage, the reserved Wang Peidong began to speak.

Shen Xin listened intently. The gist of it was that new situations required new changes from the K-9 departments.

And these "new changes" meant prioritizing real-world combat effectiveness above all else.

They would test the dogs’ practical combat skills in a manner that was almost like a full-blown military exercise.

Shen Xin suddenly understood why Li Yinjiang and the others had ganged up on Meng Fuqiang.

Old Meng really had played dirty.

’These new test questions were practically a real combat scenario. Without targeted training, how could anyone possibly score well?’

Behind him, the handlers were all whispering to one another, wondering how exactly a "combat-focused" test would be administered.

In the past, it was always fixed events, competing on success rates and speed.

On the stage, Wan Chao tapped the microphone to quiet the crowd, then said with a smile, "Comrades, I know this might seem a little sudden to you."

"But criminals don’t give us time to prepare. This suddenness is the whole point. It’s a test of whether your regular training is up to par and if you’re ready to face a challenge at a moment’s notice."

The moment he said that, Li Yinjiang and the others turned in perfect unison to glare at Meng Fuqiang.

’It’s sudden for *us*, but you’ve been prepared for ages.’

Meng Fuqiang stared straight ahead, pretending he didn’t see them.

Wan Chao continued, "Before I announce the specific competition events, I’d like to show you all a video."

With that, he gestured for everyone to look at the large screen.

"This is from a recent case involving K-9s in a real-world tactical situation. I believe it’s highly significant and worth sharing with all of you."

"In a way, this is exactly the kind of K-9 combat application we envision for the future."

A video began to play on the large screen.

The scene was a mountainous region.

Wan Chao explained, "There wasn’t much surviving footage from the actual event, so we’ve created this demonstration video. Comrades, please watch."

"In one of our province’s cities, a heinous murder occurred. The investigation identified a suspect, but we then discovered he had fled into the mountains to evade capture."

He then began to describe the basic layout of the mountain range.

Shi Xianbo and the others watched intently. Wan Chao had said it was a real case, after all.

Li Yinjiang, however, whipped his head around to stare at Shen Xin.

As soon as Wan Chao mentioned the details—two kilometers from east to west, nearly eight kilometers from north to south, and a suspect hiding in the hinterland between Mount A and another mountain—it clicked for him.

Shen Xin understood, too.

’Isn’t this the Fan Lei case?’

Wan Chao said, "We deployed drones, and you all should know how difficult it is to search such a vast area with them."

"A search on foot would have been out of the question. Without deploying hundreds, if not thousands, of officers, finding the person would have been nearly impossible."

Many in the audience nodded in agreement.

Finding one person in such a vast mountain range truly was like looking for a needle in a haystack.

Wan Chao continued, "However, the local police employed a brand-new K-9 pursuit model. Please watch the demonstration video we prepared."

"They deployed 41 police dogs, each equipped with a GPS collar. With no handlers accompanying them, they received commands via radio and conducted a coordinated search."

A 3D animation played on the large screen, demonstrating the maneuver.

Forty-one police dogs, represented by red dots, deployed from the foot of Mount A. They fanned out rapidly, gradually forming a wide net that covered the entire mountain.

The audience below began to murmur amongst themselves.

Beside him, Yang Lichuan muttered, "Shen Xin, this is way too difficult, isn’t it? Without their handlers, how could the dogs possibly know what they’re supposed to do?"

"And giving commands over the radio... wouldn’t that require specialized communication devices? Otherwise, wouldn’t all the commands get jumbled together?"

The more he thought about it, the more impossible it seemed.

Shen Xin just kept humming noncommittally, fighting the urge to facepalm.

’How long has it been since this happened? They’ve already made it into a video?’

Wan Chao continued, "Did you all see that? Once the dogs confirmed the scent source, they demonstrated sufficient autonomy to collaboratively conduct a wide-area search."

"Look at how quickly they can move, covering a massive area in an extremely short period."

"I have some of the actual drone footage from the scene here. You can all take a look. I’ll tell you, when I first saw it, I was stunned."

As he spoke, the drone footage appeared on the screen.

The footage showed police dogs racing through the mountain forest.

Everyone, except for Shen Xin and the few others who knew what had happened, gasped in astonishment.

"It’s just like a wolf pack on a hunt," Shi Xianbo couldn’t help but exclaim.

Many others nodded in agreement.

They could immediately picture the scene in their minds.

And as professional K-9 trainers, they knew exactly how difficult it would be to achieve something like this.

It was, for all intents and purposes, like giving each dog a human brain to control it.

"Comrades, it gets even more amazing."

Wan Chao chuckled, then continued, "When one of the dogs found the target, the handler immediately gave an order. Then, using the lead dog’s bark as a beacon, he guided the other dogs to converge on its position and encircle the criminal."

On the large screen, the red dots began to converge on Tian Kui’s position like rivers flowing to the sea.

This scene left everyone utterly dumbfounded.

"That’s insane."

Shi Xianbo muttered to himself, shaking his head repeatedly.

You’d have a hard time commanding 41 people that effectively, let alone 41 dogs.

Wan Chao also played some of the raw footage from the scene.

For example, there was footage of Tianyi discovering Fan Lei, and another clip of Tian Kui howling to summon his packmates.

He raced through the forest, and one by one, other dogs appeared nearby, before sweeping toward Fan Lei like a flood.

Finally, they formed a complete encirclement.

The image of 41 police dogs surrounding the cornered Fan Lei was just as breathtaking.

After the video ended, the room was silent for a long time.

After a long moment, Wang Peidong led the applause.

Then, everyone else joined in.

While clapping, Yang Lichuan kept glancing over at Shen Xin. The voice on the radio... it sounded a little familiar.

’And the name Tian Kui... weren’t those two wildcard dogs from Nanjiang named Tian-something?’

Shen Xin stared straight ahead, refusing to look at him. ’Please, Wan Chao, don’t mention my name,’ he prayed inwardly. ’If he says my name, I’ll really become a public enemy.’

Speak of the devil. On stage, Wang Peidong waved his hands to quiet the applause and announced, "This K-9 operation was commanded by none other than Officer Shen Xin, a detective from our very own Nanjiang Tingyang Branch."

"It was an exploratory effort, a deep collaboration between a criminal investigation and K-9 units. I believe it is a hallmark case, one that is worthy of study and discussion."

The moment he finished speaking, those who didn’t know Shen Xin began looking around, while those who did all whipped their heads in unison to stare at him.

"Holy shit, dude! You kept that *really* quiet!"

Yang Lichuan’s eyes looked like they were about to pop out of his head.