Animal Detective

Chapter 346: Chapter 282: Hello, Checking Your ID

Wan Chao nodded to himself. The crowd began to whisper.

Shi Xianbo nudged Li Yinjiang with his elbow and asked in a low voice, "Tian Kui and Celestial Skill... did Shen Xin really only train them for a month?"

They were strays, and their training time was incredibly short.

Tian Kui was a relatively standard Wolf Green.

Kunming Dogs have Wolf Green bloodlines, so it was possible Nanjiang was just boasting.

But Celestial Skill was different.

She was just an ordinary white dog, clearly a stray.

But Celestial Skill’s focus was simply unbelievable.

In attention training for police dogs, the goal is to reach a state where the dog’s focus remains solely on its handler, no matter what happens around them.

This is because the handler issues the commands, and the police dog must watch for hand signals, listen for verbal cues, and be ready to respond at any moment.

But that was easier said than done. With such major distractions, it was difficult for a police dog’s attention not to wander.

Look at Mumu—even he was a hand-picked elite police dog, and he was still getting distracted.

But Celestial Skill truly only had eyes for him.

Shi Xianbo couldn’t even imagine how Shen Xin had trained Celestial Skill to be like this.

Li Yinjiang nodded. "Of course. You think I’d lie about that? I told you long ago, Shen Xin is different. He’s incredible."

Just as Shi Xianbo was about to say more, he saw Shen Xin leading Celestial Skill and deliberately walking toward someone.

"What’s he doing?"

Someone nearby asked, confused.

No one understood what Shen Xin was up to.

But Lv Yuan, acting as the judge, suddenly widened his eyes.

’Holy crap, don’t tell me he’s already found one.’

Lv Yuan let out a low gasp.

The target Shen Xin had zeroed in on was also stunned, panicking and unsure whether to run or what to do.

"Hello, sir. I’m a police officer. Please show me your ID."

Shen Xin’s words made the man’s scalp tingle. He kept looking at Lv Yuan, as if to ask, ’Is this even allowed?’

And in the man’s moment of panic, Shen Xin also discovered the third target.

In that instant, only three people in the crowd—including the hostage—had turned their heads to look at the judge.

Everyone else was looking at him.

Lv Yuan was just as dumbfounded, not knowing what to do.

The next moment, the target suddenly pulled a hidden dagger from the small of his back.

"Don’t move!"

he roared.

No one panicked or ran. Everyone was still frozen in shock.

Celestial Skill instantly entered combat mode. At Shen Xin’s command to "Go," she leaped forward and accurately bit down on the target’s forearm.

Since he had to hold a knife, he couldn’t wear conspicuous bite-proof gloves. He had a bite-proof sleeve under his jacket, so the goal was specifically to bite his arm.

Actually, his attire was quite a giveaway.

Especially the one with the explosives strapped to him—his walking posture was awkward.

Once Celestial Skill bit down, she didn’t let go.

She might be lightweight, but the ferocity of her initial burst almost made the target fall over.

"Stop!"

Shen Xin immediately gave the order, and Celestial Skill released her grip.

At the same time, Lv Yuan also yelled, "Stop."

The competition was over. There was no way to continue.

The "sudden incident" hadn’t even started, yet Shen Xin had already nipped the crime in the bud.

The key was the time.

They were supposed to have a 20-second response time, but Shen Xin had essentially dealt with the situation the moment it began.

The time was too short to even measure.

While everyone was still stunned, Wang Peidong suddenly stood up and started clapping.

Then Wan Chao, followed by Lin Weinian.

All the leaders began to applaud one by one.

"Everyone." Seeing all eyes on him, Wang Peidong announced loudly, "We’ve always said that crackdowns are just a means to an end. Reducing and preventing crime is the true objective."

"So in a scenario like this, I personally believe that responding immediately after a crime has occurred is far inferior to identifying the criminal beforehand and taking action."

"The perpetrator has explosives strapped to his body. Do you really think he’s going to give you twenty seconds to rush over and stop him?"

"We’re talking about real combat situations. In a real combat situation, the demands on you are much higher. You need to be like Xiaoshen here—identify the target early and deal with it preemptively."

"Shen Xin."

He looked at Shen Xin and asked in a serious tone, "Tell me, did you find the other two criminals?"

Li Yinjiang and the others all snapped their heads toward Shen Xin.

Shen Xin nodded and immediately pointed to a man. "This handsome fellow here must be the one who’s supposed to start slashing randomly."

The man, standing on the edge of the crowd, was called out by Shen Xin and nodded with an embarrassed look on his face.

"As for the one with the explosives, I’d like to let Celestial Skill find him."

As he spoke, he released the leash.

Celestial Skill understood and made a beeline for the target.

The explosives strapped to the man had a scent. Celestial Skill had likely detected it long ago. When they had patrolled earlier, Shen Xin had heard her inner voice telling him something was wrong.

Wang Peidong started clapping again, then said, "Do you see, everyone? This is precisely the goal we wanted to achieve by designing this kind of competition event."

Li Yinjiang was still in a daze, not having fully processed what had happened.

The stall owners, on the other hand, had all started to applaud.

A friendly woman smiled at Celestial Skill and said, "Officer, this police dog is just incredible."

As she spoke, she tore off a roasted duck leg and offered it over.

Celestial Skill didn’t move an inch, her eyes still fixed only on Shen Xin.

"Thank you, Ma’am."

Shen Xin took it and stuffed it into Celestial Skill’s mouth. ’If I tell you to eat, you eat.’

"Alright, let the competition continue," Wang Peidong said as he sat back down.

Only then did the crowd snap out of it. Their gazes, now fixed on Shen Xin, were a complex mix of emotions.

They were supposed to be the best handlers from their respective bases, training the best police dogs. But now, compared to Shen Xin, they felt worlds apart.

"Damn, this is so embarrassing," Shi Xianbo muttered, shaking his head.

Li Yinjiang thought, ’You think you’ve lost face? What about me?’

Besides, Shi Xianbo and the others only had to face Shen Xin during the competition. He, on the other hand, was with Shen Xin every day, watching him turn a batch of strays into qualified police dogs.

’If I really compared myself to him, I’d have wished for the ground to swallow me whole long ago.’

Seeing how utterly crushed everyone was, Shen Xin felt that being humble at this point would be rubbing it in, so he just pretended not to notice.

Only Li Jiahui, giddy with excitement, secretly tugged on Shen Xin’s sleeve and gave him a thumbs-up.

Even though Shen Xin was a wild card, he was still representing Nanjiang.

In this grand competition, Nanjiang had completely stolen the show.

On the other side, Wan Chao whispered to Wang Peidong, "President Wang, isn’t this considered cheating?"

After all, Shen Xin was a criminal investigator. His powers of observation were bound to be extraordinary.

"How is it cheating?"

Wang Peidong snorted lightly. "Handlers may be technical police, but they are still police officers."

Wan Chao froze, then immediately fell silent.

Because Shen Xin had set the bar so high, the rest of the competition became somewhat lackluster.

Some others tried to identify the targets in advance, but lacking Shen Xin’s observational skills, they ended up making the laughable mistake of identifying the wrong people.

In the end, it was no surprise that Celestial Skill’s performance remained the best.

Which meant Nanjiang.

The morale of all the competing teams was a little low.

They had originally thought Ningshan, who had gotten the test questions in advance, was the public enemy. Now they realized the test was so hard that even Ningshan wasn’t all that special.

Instead, it was Shen Xin, the crossover from another field, who had delivered a higher-dimensional beatdown, completely dominating the event.

Depressed or not, they still had to eat.

In fact, their depression seemed to have increased their appetites.

With so many food stalls, and the money already paid, it would be a waste not to indulge.

Shen Xin didn’t hold back, eating until he was stuffed.

There were more competitions in the afternoon, but they were more traditional events.

It was likely the panel of judges couldn’t think of any more events that simulated real combat.

In these traditional events, Tian Kui competed and his performance was, once again, the best of the day.

The competition ended early, just before three in the afternoon.

Without a doubt, Nanjiang would take first place.

Li Yinjiang was ecstatic and dragged everyone out to celebrate.

They had duck again—Suzhou Tea Duck.

After dinner, a few of them gathered to discuss the next day’s competition.

Li Yinjiang looked at Yuan Mingtao with a sympathetic gaze.

After today’s events, the overall direction was set: real-world combat scenarios. This meant all their previous training was effectively useless, and everything had to be reoriented toward practical application.

Yuan Mingtao looked miserable. He turned to Shen Xin and asked if he had any advice.

The next day’s event was likely drug detection, and Qiuqiu would be competing.

Shen Xin slowly sipped his tea, thought for a moment, and said, "Adapt to whatever comes your way. There’s no use overthinking it."

Yuan Mingtao thought, ’Easy for you to say. I can’t afford not to think about it.’

After dinner, the group returned to the hotel.

It was still early, only around seven or eight. Li Jiahui had dressed up in a short jacket, tight jeans, and a form-fitting long-sleeved shirt that showed off her perfect figure. She wanted to drag Shen Xin out to go shopping.

They would stroll around the Tianpu Station district, which wasn’t far.

Shen Xin suspected she was up to something.

Shen Xin knew of the place; it was apparently a good spot for dates.

’Then again, maybe not. It’s close by and also a famous spot for social media check-ins.’

"Sure."

He was free anyway, so Shen Xin agreed, grabbing his jacket to head out.

But just as they got downstairs and were about to call a car, Li Yinjiang sent a message in the group chat.

He told everyone not to wander off, and for those who had already left, to come back immediately.

He said there was a last-minute notice: there would be a competition tonight.

"Another competition tonight? What are they testing?" Li Jiahui’s eyebrows knitted together.

She’d finally gotten a chance to go for a stroll with Shen Xin and deepen their relationship, and now there was a competition.

’The workday is over!’

Shen Xin shrugged. "Who knows? Let’s head back."

Truthfully, if he had the choice, Shen Xin would have much rather stayed in the hotel and been a couch potato.

Back at the hotel, Li Yinjiang ran off to get more information.

He came back a while later, saying he couldn’t get anything out of the Ningshan team.

They claimed they only knew it would be "extremely realistic."

Of course, it was also possible Ningshan wasn’t telling the truth.

"We’ll just have to wait," Li Yinjiang sighed, though he remained calm.

Thankfully, they had Shen Xin, and his results counted for Nanjiang.

Otherwise, with the difficulty of this year’s competition, Nanjiang would have certainly ended up in last place.

Yuan Mingtao used the time to communicate with Qiuqiu. They waited like this until almost ten at night before a new announcement came.

The competitors were instructed to go downstairs. There were vehicles waiting to take them directly to the competition site.

"Let’s go. You’ve still got me, don’t you?"

Seeing how anxious Yuan Mingtao was, Shen Xin grabbed him and started walking.

Li Yinjiang followed, while the others remained at the hotel to wait.

Downstairs, a line of police Iveco vans was parked outside.

Exactly one for each team.

Shen Xin glanced at the Ningshan team, didn’t dwell on it, and led Celestial Skill onto their van.

When it came to drug detection, Celestial Skill’s abilities were better.

There was a colleague in the van, a man in his thirties dressed in plain clothes with a neat short haircut. He greeted everyone with a smile as they boarded.

He introduced himself as Xin Zifeng.

After some careful inquiries, they learned he was from the Public Security Division of the Tianpu Branch.

’Public Security?’

Shen Xin patiently refrained from asking more questions, but he noticed that the thirteen Iveco vans split up, heading in different directions.

Their van drove on, and after about twenty-odd minutes, it pulled over on the side of a street.

Xin Zifeng said they had to wait a bit.

Shen Xin pulled out his phone, looked at the map, and immediately figured it out.

’Isn’t this a raid organized by the Public Security Division? They’re bringing police dogs along to search for drugs in a real-world environment.’

A quick search on the map showed several KTVs, clubs, and the like nearby.

Parking here to wait obviously meant they were waiting for the operation to begin.

’A real-life operation.’

Shen Xin was inwardly amazed. ’Well, looks like I’ll actually be checking IDs tonight after all.’