Animal Detective

Chapter 298 - 248: Training a Police Dog in a Month Is Like a Joke

Early morning at the Nanjiang Police Dog Base.

The base handlers usually started work at 8 AM, but they would arrive half an hour early.

Every Monday, they had a routine meeting chaired by Tang Changhong to arrange the work and training plans for the week.

Tang Changhong said, "The main thing is the spring grand skills competition. Each team should first do an internal selection to see who’s in top form. Report your choices, and we’ll arrange an assessment and test later to pick the best of the best to participate."

Just as police officers had their annual skills competitions, police dogs also had to participate in a grand competition hosted by the provincial department.

The Nanjiang Police Dog Base had nearly thirty handlers, who were internally divided into six teams: public security, narcotics detection, explosives detection, bloodstain search, hard-surface tracking, and mountain tracking.

These represented the six main disciplines of police dog training.

When the time came, representatives would be chosen to attend the grand competition.

After the meeting, Tang Changhong got up to leave, but then he remembered something and turned to ask about Shen Xin’s situation.

He had been in Ningshan for meetings the past few days and hadn’t had time to check in on Shen Xin.

In any case, before he left, he had given strict orders to cooperate fully with Shen Xin.

He looked toward Li Jiahui.

Li Jiahui said, "It’s going quite smoothly."

In the last few days, they had visited the rescue stations in Pingyu and Yanling and finally managed to gather the 36 Celestial Spirits.

Now, Shen Xin was just like them, clocking in for work on time every day, responsible for training these candidate police dogs.

"That’s good." Tang Changhong nodded, his interest piqued. He said he wanted to go have a look.

He followed Li Jiahui toward the kennels.

On the way, Tang Changhong asked Li Jiahui if, after following Shen Xin through the whole process of selecting strays, she had figured out how exactly he picked them and what his criteria were.

He was still extremely interested in the prospect of selecting police dogs from the stray population.

Purpose-bred police dogs were too expensive, and the washout rate was high.

The shortage of police dogs and their low deployment rate were, in large part, due to the high cost of training.

Meanwhile, society was overrun with stray dogs.

If they could select a large number from this pool, it would not only reduce costs but also help alleviate the stray dog problem.

Li Jiahui shook her head. "Director, you can stop scheming. I told you before, the key is the person, not the dogs."

She had figured it out long ago. The amazing one was Shen Xin himself, not that the stray dogs were special.

Tang Changhong said, not without a hint of complaint, "Since you know it’s about the person, then you should think of a way to poach him."

You spend all day with him. You should be making some progress.

Li Jiahui’s face flushed slightly as she averted her gaze. "I... what kind of way could I think of?"

Tang Changhong shook his head slightly. It wasn’t his place to say too much about the affairs of young people.

As they spoke, the two arrived at the kennels.

Shen Xin’s batch of candidate police dogs had their own separate area. From a long way off, they could hear Shen Xin cursing someone out.

No, wait, he was cursing out a dog!

As they got closer, they saw Shen Xin grab a stainless steel bowl and land a swift smack right on Tian Kui’s head.

"Director!"

Li Jiahui darted forward, blocking Tang Changhong’s path.

At the police dog base, hitting a police dog could be considered the same as assaulting a colleague.

"I saw it."

Tang Changhong looked speechless. He pushed Li Jiahui aside and said, "He’s not one of our base’s personnel. How he trains his dogs is his business. Are you afraid I’m going to discipline him?"

’As if I even have the authority to discipline him.’

’Besides, they’re not even together yet, and she’s already taking his side?’

’And Tian Kui... he must have messed up again.’

Tang Changhong had a vivid memory of the last time it had snuck out with Tiger Stripes.

Tang Changhong walked over.

"You’re still glaring at me!"

Shen Xin gave Tian Kui another whack with the food bowl.

CLANG! It was quite loud.

Only then did Tian Kui seem to snap back to reality, withdrawing his defiant gaze.

"Director Tang." Shen Xin looked up, saw Tang Changhong, and immediately greeted him.

Tang Changhong looked at Tian Kui with a smile and asked what he’d done wrong this time.

Shen Xin waved the stainless steel bowl in his hand. "Don’t even ask. He chews through a food bowl every three days. He’s doing it on purpose."

As he spoke, he looked like he was about to hit him again.

Tang Changhong quickly stopped him, generously declaring that the base had plenty of food bowls and Tian Kui could chew through as many as he wanted.

Shen Xin then let all the dogs out to run around.

Tang Changhong followed, and his only impression of the so-called 36 Celestial Spirits was that they were a bizarre assortment of all shapes and sizes.

Moreover, a single glance revealed numerous problems.

Some were hyperactive, darting all over the place the moment they left the kennel, suggesting poor obedience.

Others were timid, remaining quietly in their kennels even after the doors were opened.

In any case, if the police dog base were doing the selecting, dogs like these would all be washed out.

And Shen Xin wasn’t conducting any formal training with them. He was just... playing with them?

Shen Xin let them run wild on the training field, while he himself tossed a ball or a frisbee around.

Tang Changhong curiously asked Shen Xin how long this batch of police dogs would need to be trained.

Shen Xin thought for a moment and said, "A month at most, I think."

’I’m stationed here now, playing with them every day. Their favorability is increasing quickly.’

’The fastest one is already at eight bars of favorability in the first stage.’

It was the pregnant white dog he had brought back from Shao Long Breeding Farm.

In her, Shen Xin had witnessed a miracle.

When he first brought her back, no favorability icon had appeared along the way.

It wasn’t until he arranged a separate kennel for her and provided food and water that she seemed to understand she had a new home. Not only did a favorability icon appear above her head, but it shot up by five bars all at once.

The sheer size of the increase startled even Shen Xin.

He had never seen it rise so fast.

It felt as if she saw Shen Xin as her savior.

When Li Mo tried to feed her, she wouldn’t eat. She would only eat if Shen Xin fed her.

Moreover, she never barked or ran around aimlessly. In Shen Xin’s presence, she would just stare at him without blinking.

It was as if Shen Xin was the only one in her world.

That’s why, after only a few days, her favorability had already reached eight bars.

He estimated it wouldn’t be long before she reached the second stage.

Once she reached the second stage, Shen Xin felt he could begin formal training.

The other dogs were more or less the same.

They had all likely been strays and had suffered, so they understood how difficult it was to have a home and someone to care for them. They cherished it, grew incredibly close to Shen Xin, and their favorability scores were all soaring.

He felt that in another half a month at most, they could all reach the second stage.

Once they entered the second stage, training would be fast.

Therefore, Shen Xin believed that in another month, these dogs should be shaping up nicely.

Then he would pick the best of the best, select ten of them for another period of intensive training, and they would become qualified police dogs.

"A month?"

Tang Changhong’s eyes widened, and he was left completely dumbfounded.

He knew these strays were adult dogs, but turning them into qualified police dogs in just one month sounded like a joke.

Tang Changhong immediately said, "Shen Xin, there’s no need to rush. Take your time."

Shen Xin shook his head.

’A month and a half would be plenty of time.’

The main reason was that Shen Xin didn’t want to be tied down here forever.

’I’m a detective. I need to be solving cases.’

Just as he was thinking this, Li Jiahui called out from a distance, "Shen Xin, I think Celestial Skill is about to give birth!"

Shen Xin froze for a second, then rushed over.

Celestial Skill was the white dog.

Shen Xin had brought her back only because he felt so sorry for her.

He had never intended to train her to be a police dog.

After all, she was pregnant and about to give birth. After that, she would have to nurse her puppies. There was no time for training.

That’s why he had given her a name from the very end of the list: Celestial Skill Star.

Inside the kennel, Celestial Skill was restlessly scratching at her wooden bed. The moment she saw Shen Xin, she immediately ran over, squatted on the ground, and stared at him intently.

She was also panting rapidly from time to time.

Li Jiahui was experienced. "It should be soon," she said. "She could go into labor at any moment."

So she was about to become a mother.

Shen Xin gently rubbed Celestial Skill’s head.

They had checked her after bringing her back. She was pregnant with five puppies, all of them healthy.

Celestial Skill had been rail-thin, with only her belly being large. Her condition had only improved after they brought her back and supplemented her nutrition.

The base had excellent medical facilities, and Li Jiahui took Celestial Skill over, but it turned out she wouldn’t go unless Shen Xin followed.

The moment she couldn’t see Shen Xin, she would start whining loudly.

She absolutely had to have Shen Xin with her.

Shen Xin didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. "This is getting a little ridiculous."

Li Jiahui, while keeping an eye on Celestial Skill’s condition, said, "You see the way she looks at you? Honestly, it’s pure devotion."

Even Li Jiahui was moved when she saw the look in Celestial Skill’s eyes.

Shen Xin rolled his eyes hard. "Don’t be ridiculous," he said, exasperated.

They said she was about to give birth, but by afternoon, she still hadn’t gone into labor.

Shen Xin asked if she might have a difficult birth.

Li Jiahui said it was unlikely. Since Celestial Skill was malnourished, complications during birth were rare. They just had to wait a bit longer.

As he was waiting, his phone vibrated.

It was a message from Liu Baoqing.

He was asking if Shen Xin was free, and if so, could he come to Baili Village to provide support.

Shen Xin quickly called him back to ask what was going on.

’Why do they need support?!’

Shen Xin had been keeping tabs on the cases of Chen Fang and Gu Shaolong.

On Gu Shaolong’s end, it was a constant cycle of arrests and investigations. Several days had passed, and they still hadn’t sorted everything out.

As for Chen Fang, even with the evidence thrown in her face, she refused to confess, instead crying injustice at every turn.

Her husband, Yang Yaotao, had already confessed, admitting to the relevant facts of the fraud.

But not her. Whenever they interrogated her, she acted as if she were the most wronged person on earth, refusing to sign anything no matter what.

But the evidence was ironclad, so whether she signed or not didn’t really matter.

He figured that in a few days, once the investigation in Yanling was wrapped up, the case could be closed.

Over the phone, Liu Baoqing sounded frustrated. "Don’t get me started. Yang Wenqing is back, and that kid is no pushover."

Yang Wenqing, who they hadn’t been able to contact for a long time, had finally returned to the country, worried about his parents.

He had gone to the sub-bureau to ask about the situation.

Today, he had also found time to visit the rescue station, only to get cornered there.

When Chen Fang’s case broke, the sub-bureau had also contacted the victims who had been defrauded into donating for animal rescues.

Just as Shen Xin had predicted, the reaction was huge.

They had been scammed, after all.

And among them, a certain group reacted particularly strongly.

Their thinking was that they had donated with the charitable intention of doing good; not only was their money gone, but they had ended up as accomplices to animal abuse. They were furious.

They had gone to the rescue station to cause a scene before but hadn’t been able to find Chen Fang.

Now, they had probably left someone to keep watch. The moment Yang Wenqing showed up, this group got the news, cornered him, and demanded an explanation.

Yang Wenqing was cornered a little after 10 AM.

The Fangquan Police Station even sent people to maintain order at the scene.

But they couldn’t be persuaded to leave.

The standoff continued into the afternoon.

At that point, Yang Wenqing did something.

He released all one hundred-plus cats and dogs from the rescue station.

Now, these cats and dogs were running all over Baili Village. The sub-bureau was alerted and sent people to maintain order and help catch the animals.

This wasn’t just a few animals; it was over a hundred of them running loose. It was chaos.

Liu Baoqing then remembered Shen Xin mentioning that Tian Kui had harassed Chen Fang’s rescue station multiple times, and that whenever he barked, the dogs there would be too scared to move.

So he wanted Shen Xin to bring Tian Kui over to help round up the dogs.

"Alright, I’m on my way."

Shen Xin stood up immediately.

But as he moved, Celestial Skill, who had been lying on the floor panting, suddenly rolled over and looked at Shen Xin with pleading eyes.

Shen Xin instantly felt a headache coming on.