Free Web NovelChapter 355: Chapter 291: The Difficulty Should Be Lowered
Shen Xin didn’t know if they would lose, but he knew they had fallen far behind.
"Tian Kui, it’s up to you now."
Shen Xin looked at Tian Kui in front of him.
In truth, letting Tian Kui off the leash to give him more freedom would allow him to track much faster.
But with so many people around, Shen Xin didn’t dare let go, even though Tian Kui was gradually developing the self-awareness of a police dog.
He should have understood by now that he was a police dog, different from the others.
He probably considered himself a cut above other canines.
That’s why when they were out for a stroll, he usually ignored the female dogs that tried to get close to him.
He didn’t even bother urinating to mark his territory much.
He once followed Shen Xin into the men’s restroom and tried to pee in a urinal like a human.
Through it all, he still harbored the wild ambition, rooted in his ancestral bloodline, of becoming the alpha wolf.
Shen Xin continued to mutter, "We’ve already taken first place four times in a row. If we lose today, wouldn’t that mean we’re worse than the other police dogs?"
Shen Xin didn’t give him any philosophical spiel about the hardships of a dog’s life. He just used the simplest words Tian Kui could understand, telling him bluntly that if they lost today, they would be inferior to the other police dogs.
It was enough to sting Tian Kui’s pride.
’It was three times.’
Tian Kui was dissatisfied. He had only competed in three events. Celestial Skill had won first place in the other one.
But Shen Xin could still clearly sense the emotional shift in his mental voice.
He lowered his body, his head pressed down as low as it could go, and scrabbled forward with quick, short steps, his nose to the ground. His nose went into overdrive like an overclocked chip, rapidly sifting through hundreds, even thousands, of scents to distinguish the target’s.
His speed picked up to the point that Shen Xin had to jog to keep up.
With people everywhere, they inevitably caused a few small disturbances.
Many passersby were drawn in by Tian Kui’s all-out tracking posture.
"What’s that dog doing?"
"It looks a little funny, like..."
"Like in a cartoon, where a dog sticks its nose to the ground, sniffing everywhere and burrowing around."
"Yeah, isn’t there a dog like that in *Tom and Jerry*?"
"Is there some kind of event here today? I’ve seen several dogs."
"I don’t know, but this dog is pretty cute. Tsk, tsk, tsk."
Someone even stopped and made a couple of clicking sounds.
Tian Kui abruptly raised his head and bared his teeth.
’Who’re you calling cute?’
But he had barely shown his teeth when a swat from Shen Xin landed on him.
"Get to work."
Tian Kui immediately lowered his head and started moving quickly again.
While Tian Kui tracked, Shen Xin observed their route.
It was obvious the target was wandering around aimlessly, even backtracking at times.
Shen Xin couldn’t help but start analyzing again.
Previously, his analysis was based on the premise of a real suspect. Now, it was based on the premise that someone was deliberately trying to make the test harder.
In such a large pedestrian street, the leaders definitely wouldn’t have given him a specific, marked route. They must have given an instruction like, "Wander around this area and try your best not to be found so easily."
So Shen Xin considered what he would do if he were given such a request.
First, you definitely couldn’t stay in one spot.
That was just asking to be caught by a police dog.
You had to take advantage of the crowds, move around everywhere, and interfere with the police dog’s tracking.
Wandering on the street was too conspicuous; a police dog might accidentally run into you while making a pass.
Besides, with the mindset of hiding, you instinctively wouldn’t go to open areas.
That left the shopping malls on either side.
Shen Xin’s gaze fell on the series of shopping malls lining both sides of the street.
They were all several stories tall. The ventilation inside was far worse than outside, and with people constantly coming and going, the intermingling scents would be a huge interference for a police dog.
But Shen Xin felt the target probably wouldn’t just hide in one of the malls the whole time.
There was no point in doing that.
Even if a police dog could track him, searching through mall after mall would take forever.
It was a competition, after all. You couldn’t do that.
So, as Shen Xin saw it, the main purpose of the malls was to block the scent trail.
It was like rinsing yourself in a dense pool of smells, washing away your own scent.
Thinking along those lines, he realized the target’s general movements could be predicted.
He wouldn’t move around on the conspicuous main street, but would instead duck into one mall after another, do a lap, and come back out.
So after coming out, where would he hang out?
Shen Xin’s eyes swept over both sides of the street.
Either the small shops, browsing through them one by one, or the small alleys on either side.
You’d get tired from walking all the time. You could find a place to rest at the mouth of one of those alleys.
At this thought, Shen Xin tugged on Tian Kui’s leash.
’We can’t keep tracking like this.’
Tracking this way was like following a massive, tangled ball of yarn from the very beginning; you had to trace the entire thing to find the end.
Since he knew the person he was looking for was at the center of it all, he should just cut the ball in half to find him.
They would just sweep the shops on both sides.
The entire pedestrian street was over a kilometer long. If they were fast, they could search it back and forth in twenty minutes.
Shen Xin explained his new plan to Tian Kui, telling him to do what he did when searching for Fan Lei: memorize the scent, then search for a strong concentration of it in the air.
The scent trail left by someone walking by is faint, but if the person is nearby, the scent they give off is hundreds or even thousands of times stronger.
This would maximize the efficiency of their pursuit.
Tian Kui barked once to show he understood and, with a WHOOSH, shot off again.
He was no longer searching with his head down but was now looking straight ahead, jogging along.
Naturally, his speed increased severalfold.
Meanwhile, in the Old Street Police Station’s intelligent command center, Lin Weinian pushed open the door and entered.
He had just spoken with the sub-bureau about the bank case and inquired about the details.
It was just an extreme act of personal revenge sparked by a romantic dispute.
Lin Weinian gave a few simple instructions, then returned to ask about the situation.
Wan Chao pointed at the screen and said, "They’re close."
Red dots were scattered across the map, but one was the closest to the target.
It was Li Yanfei and his dog, Yi Ge.
Lin Weinian said, "Oh." An hour or so seemed about right to him.
After all, it was a huge commercial district, and they had set a difficult challenge for the contestants.
Wang Peidong poked his head in and asked about the case.
"It’s nothing serious," Lin Weinian said casually, not paying it much mind.
Wang Peidong didn’t press, but paused in thought before saying, "Director Lin, I’m thinking, for the final competition tomorrow, should we consider going back to the original format?"
"This Shen Xin kid is a bit of a wild card. If we stick to our current plan, who knows what kind of ’surprise’ he’ll cook up for us next."
Wang Peidong liked small surprises, not scares like someone running into a bank with explosives.
Lin Weinian nodded quickly. "I was just about to say the same thing. It’s the last day of the competition. Let’s not have any more major incidents."
Today it was fake explosives. What if tomorrow he dug up real ones?
The idea was to simulate real combat, but they never thought it would get *this* real.
Wan Chao nodded in agreement. "I agree. I’ve been thinking that the plan for our final assessment is a bit too risky."
The final day’s event was mountain tracking—the grand finale.
The plan was to hold it on Dongling Mountain, west of the K-9 base.
Dongling Mountain was vast. Part of it had been developed into a national forest park, but most of it was still untamed wilderness.
The specific scenario was a prison break, with one convict having fled to Dongling Mountain.
The competitors, accompanied by police officers, were required to enter the mountain to search.
The search was planned to take place within a 10-square-kilometer area.
The inspiration, of course, came from Fan Lei’s case.
But the designated area was pure wilderness, with at most a few trails left by backpackers.
The terrain was complex and prone to accidents, not to mention the wild animals.
At this time of year, the snakes were already active.
There were also wild boars on the mountain.
So while the whole plan was true to a real-life situation, the risks were too high.
After today’s false alarm, Wan Chao felt he’d had enough. His heart couldn’t take any more.
If someone had an accident during the competition, or if some other serious incident occurred, it would be a massive headache.
It would be better to stick to some traditional events.
For example, the mountain tracking could just be following a predetermined route within a designated area, testing the K-9’s mountain mobility and tracking skills.
Seeing that the two didn’t have strong objections, Wang Peidong said, "Let’s discuss it later and draw up a new plan."
Just as he spoke, Lin Weinian suddenly pointed at the screen. "Shen Xin’s moving fast."
On the big screen, the target was on the street, in a small alley next to Dahua Commercial Trade.
The surveillance feed showed him gnawing on a pig’s trotter in front of a charcoal-grilled pig’s trotter stall.
Then, to the south of the pedestrian street, Li Yanfei and Yi Ge had just come out of Dahua Commercial Trade, still locked onto the target’s trail.
And from the opposite direction, a red dot was rapidly approaching.
It was Tian Kui.
At Tian Kui’s speed, he was about to collide with Yi Ge.
Wan Chao said in surprise, "How is Shen Xin searching? How is he so fast?"
Lin Weinian shook his head, indicating he didn’t know.
But Wang Peidong frowned slightly, considering a few possibilities.
Just then, the two red dots on the screen collided.
On the surveillance feed, the handlers also came face to face.
It was a narrow alley. To the right was a row of antique-style stalls. It was past ten o’clock, approaching lunchtime, and the alley was bustling with people.
Tian Kui screeched to a halt on all fours and whipped his head to the right.
He’d caught the scent.
And Shen Xin had already spotted Li Yanfei across the way, holding Yi Ge’s leash.
Their eyes met. Li Yanfei was taken aback for a second.
The next moment, Tian Kui and Yi Ge both barked—the signal that they had locked onto the target.
A trace of doubt flashed through Li Yanfei’s mind. He had been following the trail methodically, so the target could only be ahead of him.
’But Shen Xin came from the opposite direction?’
With no time to think, he gave a hand signal, and Yi Ge charged forward.
Tian Kui did the same.
In effect, the two of them were pursuing the target into the alley in sync.
At this point, it became a test of Shen Xin’s and Li Yanfei’s speed.
But with so many people, they couldn’t run fast.
The two of them arrived at the charcoal-grilled pig’s trotter stall at almost the exact same time.
Tian Kui and Yi Ge also rushed up to a man at the same time, barking urgently.
The target was standing there, gnawing on a pig’s trotter. He was stunned for a moment before realizing he’d been caught. After a brief pause, he asked, "So... who wins?"
Both police dogs had completed the mission at virtually the same time.
Li Yanfei quickly looked at Shen Xin.
He saw clearly that Shen Xin was on the right, so if this were a race to the finish line, Tian Kui should have been slightly faster.
"I think... I found him first," Li Yanfei argued, but as soon as the words were out, his face burned with embarrassment.
The victory was decided by a hair’s breadth.
The key thing was, this was a competition, and he was Peng An’s last hope. He had to fight for it, no matter what.
Shen Xin reacted instantly and said, "That’s right. He should be the winner."
The outcome truly had been decided by a hair’s breadth.
But when Shen Xin thought back on what just happened, Yi Ge had indeed shot forward first, only to be momentarily blocked by a passerby.
So if they were going to be picky about it, Yi Ge was the rightful winner.
He was a meritorious dog, after all. To have tracked the target so patiently for over an hour was truly impressive.
Li Yanfei, who was already feeling embarrassed, felt even more ashamed when he heard Shen Xin say this.
’I should just slap myself.’
’Stupid mouth, why’d you have to run your mouth like that? Look at how gracious he is.’
