Chapter 85: Passed the Assessment

In the afternoon, after running a few laps with Aofeng, Kaka finally realized that his usual poop-scooper wasn’t around.

But that didn’t bother him much. After all, his Lao Da was here. In just one morning, Kaka had already fallen in love with this place. There were tons of dogs, all of them spoke nicely, and the space was huge—he could run around freely to his heart’s content. For a husky, the reason they tend to destroy homes is simply because they have too much pent-up energy.

“Lao Da, what are we doing this afternoon?” Kaka asked, eyes gleaming with excitement as he stared at the strange-looking equipment in front of him.

“Training,” Aofeng said helplessly. “I’ll show you first. Watch carefully.”

With that, Aofeng took a running start, leapt over a few obstacle boards, then dashed up a balance beam in one fluid motion, reaching the other side in just a few breaths. His movements were smooth and clean, like a martial arts master in a canine action film. For a housebound dog like Kaka, who spent most of his time lounging around with his owner, this was practically a divine technique.

“Lao Da, let me try! Let me try!” Kaka couldn’t wait to show off his own agility after Aofeng’s demonstration.

Unfortunately, while his brain had learned it, his body couldn’t keep up. At the very first obstacle board, he misjudged the height, caught his hind legs, and face-planted straight into the dirt.

Spitting out a mouthful of grass, Kaka glared at the obstacle board with hatred, as if trying to figure out where he could bite it.

“Try again,” Aofeng said.

Kaka returned to Aofeng’s side and gave it another shot. This time, he cleared the first board, but the gap between the first and second was too short, and he lost his momentum. Another fail.

After several attempts, Kaka still couldn’t complete the obstacle course. Frustrated, he pounced on one side of the board and started gnawing on it, growling and cursing non-stop.

Song Changfeng hadn’t intervened. From the beginning, he’d noticed that Aofeng seemed to be training the husky. Unfortunately, the husky clearly didn’t share Aofeng’s talent and wasn’t going to master this anytime soon.

Just as he was considering whether to step in, the situation changed. After gnawing for a bit, the husky turned and started walking away. Aofeng barked at him a few times, but he didn’t come back. Then Aofeng suddenly charged over and tackled the husky to the ground, baring his teeth just inches from Kaka’s neck, his eyes fierce and unrelenting.

Song Changfeng was startled at first, but quickly calmed down. Aofeng always knew his limits—he’d never seriously hurt anyone who wasn’t a criminal. This husky, lazy as he was, clearly didn’t qualify as a criminal.

Song knew that. Aofeng knew that. But the husky didn’t. In that brief moment, Kaka was nearly scared out of his fur. He couldn’t understand why his usually friendly Lao Da had suddenly attacked him. Faced with overwhelming strength, he didn’t even dare to resist. When Aofeng finally got up, Kaka meekly followed behind, tail tucked between his legs.

Aofeng had him try the jump again. Still no success. But after observing closely, Aofeng had figured out the problem. The husky would jump once and then stop. Without momentum, he wasn’t going to make it—he wasn’t a kangaroo, after all. So Aofeng demonstrated again.

This time, Kaka watched very carefully, afraid that another failure might provoke another attack. But even with his full attention, he still didn’t make it. Just as he was sinking into despair, Aofeng walked over and had him jump together, giving commands along the way.

“Run! Good, jump! Don’t stop, jump! Jump!” Aofeng leapt over the boards while calling out instructions. Kaka’s mind was filled with the commands, and his body responded instinctively. When he finally stopped, he realized, to his amazement, that he had cleared all eight obstacle boards—the same ones that had seemed impossible just moments ago.

Overjoyed, he spun in circles on the spot, stretched his neck and howled, eager to let the whole world know what he’d accomplished.

Song Changfeng had recorded the entire scene on his phone and sent it to Li Zihao. After watching it, Li Zihao replied with two crying emojis. He just knew it—his Kaka was the best! Look at that, he’d already learned to jump the obstacles in just one afternoon.

Aofeng, however, wasn’t nearly as pleased. When he had Kaka try again, the husky failed once more. This time, Kaka was stunned. Mouth agape and eyes wide, he looked between the obstacle board and himself, completely baffled. Then he ran over and started venting his frustration on the board again.

Aofeng sighed, looking utterly defeated, and walked over to sit beside Song Changfeng. He tilted his chin toward the husky, signaling for Song to take over.

Song Changfeng rubbed Aofeng’s head with a chuckle, then got up and walked toward the husky. Compared to humans, Kaka was clearly more afraid of Aofeng. When Song gave a command, Kaka completely ignored it, instead eyeing the treats in his hand with great interest and even trying to climb onto him to beg for food. In the end, Aofeng couldn’t take it anymore and came over to give him two solid headbutts. Dazed, Kaka finally started behaving. But it didn’t last long—soon he was back to his antics. So for the rest of the afternoon, he cycled between training and getting scolded. By the end, Aofeng was seriously questioning whether Kaka had a dog’s brain or a fish’s—how could he only remember food and forget the beatings?

By evening, all three—one man and two dogs—were thoroughly exhausted. Kaka was physically tired, while Song Changfeng and Aofeng were mentally drained. After a whole afternoon, Kaka had finally learned to jump the obstacle boards—but only under one condition: someone had to shout the commands. Without them, he couldn’t do it.

At the cafeteria, Kaka’s energy came rushing back. He was all over Li Zihao, greeting him enthusiastically. But just as he was about to stand on his hind legs and pounce on him, a low, threatening growl came from Aofeng nearby. Kaka’s expression changed instantly, and the fear of domination swept over him again. He immediately sat down obediently. Li Zihao was puzzled but deeply moved, thinking that Kaka had finally matured after a day of training.

During the meal, Aofeng kept a close eye on him. Every time Kaka got a little too excited, Aofeng would growl a warning. Eventually, Kaka had to glance at Aofeng after every bite, looking like a bullied little wife.

Aofeng had no choice, but he had always wanted to be a police dog. If he didn’t endure some hardship, he’d never understand how tough the job really was. Of course, he hoped Kaka would give up and leave on his own, go back to enjoying the pampered life of a rich kid. That way, the base wouldn’t keep getting filled with these strange, unsuitable dogs. You couldn’t really blame Aofeng for thinking that way. Even the golden retriever who had trained with them since puppyhood had been dismissed from the police dog team. How could a husky possibly make the cut?

But to Aofeng’s surprise, even though Kaka looked miserable during every training session, he never once tried to run away. His intelligence still wasn’t impressive, and it took him ages to learn anything, but his progress was obvious. Anyone who had known him before would immediately see that this husky was no longer the same old husky.

Time flew by on the training field, sweat pouring with every drill. As Kaka improved day by day, Song Changfeng’s transfer date also drew near.

That day, Song Changfeng and Director Li took leave, bringing along a folder of documents and Aofeng, and headed into the city. Once there, he first dropped Aofeng off at the Shen Family home. Shen Doudou, who had been eagerly waiting, was overjoyed. He hugged Aofeng tightly and refused to let go, while Da Huang came over and nuzzled Aofeng in welcome. Aofeng felt a bit sentimental. Shen Doudou was probably the most loyal of all the human cubs. No matter when they met, he was always the same. Any other kid would’ve forgotten him by now.

Seeing Aofeng happily playing with them, Song Changfeng felt at ease and headed off to the Municipal Public Security Bureau. He arrived at eleven-thirty, just before the HR department went off duty. He handed in the folder, filled out a few more forms, and that was it. Once the documents were reviewed, they could start transferring his file. That would mark the official completion of his transfer.

Normally, the review process would take about three to seven days. But the HR staff couldn’t resist Lei Liming’s constant urging, so it only took two days before Director Li was notified that the file could be transferred. Once everything was finalized, Song Changfeng got a call telling him to report to the Municipal Bureau the next day for an assessment. If he passed, he could proceed with onboarding.

Although he’d been mentally prepared for days, when the call actually came, Song Changfeng still felt a rush of excitement. But after that brief thrill, a deep melancholy crept in. The Police Dog Training Base held too many memories of both sorrow and joy. He hadn’t expected the day of farewell to come so soon.

Director Li was just as reluctant. He held a special meeting to announce that Song Changfeng had successfully transferred and would soon be leaving the base. Everyone felt the same sense of loss, but they also knew in their hearts that Song Changfeng was different. The strength he had shown made him more than worthy of the new position he was about to take on.

That night, Director Li had the head chef prepare a lavish farewell banquet. Everyone raised their drinks in place of wine, offering their congratulations to Song Changfeng. Touched by the camaraderie, Song Changfeng didn’t turn down a single toast and ended up making countless trips to the restroom.

The next day, he went to the Municipal Public Security Bureau for his assessment. The physical test began with laps around the track, followed by push-ups and pull-ups. After most of his energy was drained, he was sent to spar. He took down three opponents in a row before the examiner declared him physically qualified. After a short lunch break, he was led into an office to take a written exam filled with criminal investigation knowledge. At the end, there was a case analysis requiring him to write an eight-hundred-word closing report based on the provided details.

His reputation as a decathlete¹ wasn’t for nothing. Besides exceptional physical ability, Song Changfeng had a sharp mind. In less than two hours, he completed the entire exam.

While waiting for the results, he was taken to the bureau’s shooting range for live-fire training. Holding a gun again stirred complex emotions in him. He gripped the weapon tightly, assumed a textbook shooting stance, aimed at the distant target, and pulled the trigger.

After ten rounds, the examiner had the target inspected. Six shots had hit the bullseye, and the worst was still within the seventh ring. For someone who hadn’t touched a gun in years, that was an impressive result.

Not long after, the scores were in. The examiner reviewed them and announced that Song Changfeng had passed all assessments and could proceed with onboarding.

Translator’s Notes