Chapter 15: Hexagonal Warrior¹

“Say, how come Dezi and the others aren’t back yet?” Li Xi and Zhou Zihang sat unceremoniously by the roadside, eyes fixed on the training base’s main gate, but there was still no sign of Dezi and his group.

“We’ve been back for a while now. Could something have gone wrong with Aofeng?” Zhou Zihang slapped his thigh, suddenly realizing the possibility.

Li Xi hesitated. “No way. Didn’t he do pretty well this morning?”

“That was just a basic command exercise. What can you really tell from that? They suddenly switched to a Courage Assessment this time. My Saihu², your Wudi³, even they got a little restless seeing so many people. Aofeng, that guy, usually just lies around like a lazy dog. When he sees a crowd, he either gets scared or goes nuts,” Zhou Zihang said with certainty.

Li Xi shook his head. “I don’t think so. Remember that morning news segment? Aofeng didn’t flinch at all in front of a crowd. And today he’s got Dezi with him. I doubt anything went wrong. Probably just ran into some other issue. I’ll give him a call and check.”

He pulled out his phone and had just dialed the number when the ringtone chimed from the gate.

Dezi walked in with Aofeng on a leash, giving them a puzzled look. “Why are you calling me?”

“Just checking in on you,” Zhou Zihang walked over, unable to resist gossiping. “What were you guys up to? Why did it take so long?”

“You guys don’t know…”

Dezi perked up instantly, eager to brag about Aofeng doing something heroic during the assessment, but before he could get going, a loud “Woof!” cut him off.

Aofeng, seeing Dezi about to launch into a long-winded story, knew if he didn’t interrupt now, lunch would be delayed again.

Maybe it was because dogs digest faster, or maybe today’s activities were more intense than usual, but Aofeng felt he couldn’t handle hunger as well as when he was human. Skip one meal and he was starving, skip two and he’d collapse.

“Can’t chat now, I need to feed Aofeng. We’re off!” Dezi said as he jogged off with Aofeng, leaving Zhou Zihang and Li Xi behind.

The two, left with their curiosity unsatisfied, were just about to follow when Director Li walked in. Spotting them, he tucked the phone he’d just pulled out back into his pocket.

“You two, come help unload some new equipment outside,” Director Li said, pointing to the large truck. The two sighed and trudged off reluctantly.

…

Because of the last-minute change to the assessment plan, each puppy’s evaluation took an extra half hour. What was originally supposed to be completed in one day dragged into the afternoon of the second day.

At exactly three o’clock, the final batch of puppies returned to the training base. Director Li called all the trainers and puppies to gather at the training field, waiting for the three evaluators to announce the final results.

“Attention! At ease! Left turn!”

The trainers stood in two straight lines, with the puppies sitting upright beside them, pressed close to their legs, heads held high, looking every bit the well-trained team.

The evaluator standing in the center spoke. “Hello, everyone. I’m Gao Hong, the chief evaluator for this round at the Anyang Police Dog Training Base. After two days of assessments, we’ve compiled the results for each of you and your puppies.”

“I know some of you had concerns about the sudden change in the assessment plan, but,” Gao Hong’s expression turned serious, “once you’re out in the field, unexpected situations are the norm. You won’t always have the luxury of prior training for every scenario. Our police dogs are the first line of defense. They must be able to adapt quickly to their environment to serve the public effectively. That’s why we changed the Courage Assessment’s setting and method—to better and more realistically evaluate each puppy’s personality traits. This will serve as a preliminary reference for their future assignments. Going forward, both puppy and adult dog assessments may adopt more flexible formats.”

The trainers and puppies stood motionless as they listened. Those who had initially grumbled now began to understand. Police dogs are trained to serve society, and if a dog with a flawed temperament slips through, it could lead to serious consequences.

“Alright, let’s get to the results. We’ll announce them in order. Trainer No. 1, Hu Lei, assessment dog Congcong, step forward…”

One name after another was called. Aofeng, listed as No. 13, couldn’t help feeling a little nervous. He was confident in his abilities, but he still had no idea how the final assessment had been conducted.

He had asked the other puppies, but all they could say was that they’d been taken to a crowded, noisy place. None of them could clearly explain what they’d done, and there hadn’t been any practical training involving simulated threats.

“Trainer No. 13, Dezi, assessment dog Aofeng, step forward!”

As soon as Dezi heard his name, he handed the leash of Shan Dian to someone nearby, then led Aofeng forward.

“Assessment dog Aofeng participated in four categories. First, Physical Fitness, total 25 points, score: 25. Second, Obedience, total 25 points, score: 25. Third, Retrieval Desire, total 25 points, score: 25. Fourth, Courage, total 25 points, score: 25!”

A string of perfect scores echoed in everyone’s ears. All the trainers looked at Aofeng in disbelief. The puppy who usually lazed around and never left a scrap of food had just scored full marks across the board, just like the top-performing dogs! Everyone thought he was a slacker, but now he’d dropped the act and revealed his true genius. You really can’t judge a dog by its looks.

But the surprises didn’t stop there. Gao Hong continued, “Additionally, during the assessment, this dog used his acute hearing and exceptional alertness to locate and rescue a pet dog lost in the mountains. He is awarded an extra 20 points, bringing his total score to 120! For an untrained puppy to perform at this level, I’m truly impressed.”

One hundred… twenty points?

He actually exceeded the maximum score!

This wasn’t just top of the class – this was god-tier! A top student can score full marks because the test only goes up to one hundred. But a genius like this breaks past the limits of the exam, adds a ridiculously hard bonus question of his own, and still gets everything right.

Aofeng quietly straightened his posture and sat up even straighter. Of course, he was happy, but he knew better than to get carried away. If this assessment were compared to a human academic test, it would barely be at the elementary-to-middle school transition level. He was a young pup with the mind of a grown man – if he let this tiny achievement go to his head, that would be truly embarrassing. He had to stay calm. Calm!

“Aofeng, you’re happy too, huh? You’re grinning so wide I can see your gums,” Dezi said excitedly as he led him to the other side. Normally, he took a lot of flak because of Aofeng, but today, they’d finally had their moment.

…

After the results were announced, the evaluators left behind a copy of the score report and flew off from Anyang City with the original. The trainers soon received information about their puppies’ future career paths.

When Dezi told Aofeng about Gao Hong’s suggested career direction, Aofeng was a little stunned.

Generally, police dogs could be assigned to a variety of roles: explosive detection, tracking, apprehension, drug detection, search and rescue, or criminal investigation – just like the various branches of human law enforcement.

Aofeng had his eye on becoming either an apprehension dog or a criminal investigation dog. Those were the ones on the front lines, facing criminals head-on. But Gao Hong had recommended him for tracking and search and rescue.

This…

It wasn’t that those two roles were bad, but Aofeng had been hoping for more. People always said the best way to conquer fear was to face it. He still carried psychological scars from being killed by those people. If he wanted to truly erase them, he had to go to the front lines and fight back. Who knows, maybe he could even catch the very thugs who took his life in his previous one!

No way. He absolutely couldn’t follow the path that had been laid out for him. Aofeng made up his mind – from now on, he had to perform even better. He was determined to become the ultimate all-rounder of the canine world!

Translator’s Notes