Chapter 46: Competition Format Overhaul

The Yicheng City Police Dog Training Base was the host for this year’s Southwest Regional Competition. As a long-established training facility with decades of history, it had trained a quarter of the first generation of police dogs in Huaguo¹.

Unlike the remote location of the Anyang Police Dog Training Base, the Yicheng base was situated in the northern part of the city. While not in the city center, it was still within the urban area, with a subway station, shops, and a shopping mall just outside the gates. The surroundings were lively, yet the base itself boasted excellent greenery and soundproofing, making it a peaceful haven amid the bustle.

Despite its long history, the base didn’t look old at all. From the exterior architecture to the interior décor and training equipment, everything felt modern and up-to-date.

As Aofeng was led on a tour, he felt like a country bumpkin stepping into a grand estate² for the first time. Everything seemed new and fascinating. By the end, he couldn’t help but wonder: they were both training bases, so why was there such a stark difference? Compared to Yicheng’s facility, the Anyang base looked downright pitiful, like a beggar in rags, radiating poverty from every corner.

But it wasn’t really Anyang’s fault. After all, its only source of funding was government appropriations. Anyang wasn’t a wealthy city to begin with, and its GDP consistently ranked in the bottom five of the province. Yicheng, on the other hand, was the provincial capital. In addition to government funding, it also received sponsorship from a well-known local enterprise—Shengda Shipping.

Yicheng was a coastal city, and the owner of Shengda Shipping, surnamed Sheng, had built his fortune starting with nothing but a small wooden boat. If his rags-to-riches story were written into a book, readers would probably say, “Even fiction wouldn’t dare go that far.”

His decision to sponsor the Yicheng training base stemmed from a life-changing event in his youth. Back then, while competing in business, he was attacked by hired thugs and left severely injured at the base of a cliff in a remote, deserted area. He cried for help with all his strength, but no one came. Just as he was about to give up hope, he heard barking from above. A moment later, someone peered over the edge.

After he was rescued, he learned that it was a trainer and police dog from the Yicheng base who had saved him. They had been conducting drills on a beach quite far from the cliff, but the dog either heard his cries or smelled the blood and insisted on heading in that direction. The trainer, curious, followed the dog and ended up saving him—and even called the police on his behalf.

Once his rival was imprisoned, the business opportunity fell into his lap. That deal became his first pot of gold, and from there he built his billion-yuan empire. Every year since, he had donated a large sum to the Yicheng base to improve the living conditions for both the trainers and the dogs.

When Yicheng was chosen to host the Southwest Regional Police Dog Competition, Mr. Sheng immediately allocated another round of funding and subtly expressed his desire to watch the event up close.

Such a simple request was readily granted by the base’s leadership. In fact, even if he hadn’t said anything, they had already planned to invite him.

On the day of the competition, the opening ceremony was held first.

Due to changes in the competition format, the number of participants had surged. The plaza, capable of holding over a thousand people, was packed to the brim. Of course, not everyone there was a contestant. Many units from Yicheng’s police system had sent officers to watch. For one, the event was happening right in their backyard, so it was convenient and too good to pass up. For another, they wanted to scout the unassigned police dogs from other regions. If any stood out, they could submit applications early and perhaps secure a valuable addition to their team.

As the speeches began, Aofeng sat at Song Changfeng’s feet, curiously looking around. Their base had a decent variety of dogs, but mainly focused on German Shepherds, Rottweilers, and Kunming Dogs. Breeds like Labradors and Wolfdogs were relatively rare. As for Saihu, the Golden Retriever, he was the only one of his kind. Rumor had it that Director Li had brought him in to see whether, after extensive training, Golden Retrievers could be added to the roster of police dogs, even if just for patrol duties.

But reality proved otherwise. Golden Retrievers lacked keen scent detection, had weak attack capabilities, and were overly friendly toward strangers. Not exactly ideal police dog material. A few months ago, Saihu had been transferred to the guide dog training center, effectively removing him from the police system.

Aside from the breeds Aofeng was familiar with, there were others he hadn’t seen before, like Malinois, Springer Spaniels, and Scottish Collies. This greatly piqued his curiosity, especially the Scottish Collies. Aofeng couldn’t help but wonder: with fur that long, wouldn’t it get in the way during missions?

Of course, that wasn’t his concern. His job was to compete well, earn a qualifying spot, and represent the Anyang base in the national finals in the capital.

After an hour and a half, the lengthy opening ceremony finally ended. Both the people and the dogs were visibly exhausted. The dogs, in particular, had been on high alert the entire time. With so many unfamiliar people and dogs around, each one was giving off strong warning signals, telling others to keep their distance or face the consequences.

Duo Duo and Xiao Qi, who were next to Aofeng, were no different. They were tense and constantly on edge, warning others to stay away. They looked like they were about to split apart from the stress.

Only Aofeng remained calm and composed, sitting among the other dogs like one of the trainers, standing out from the rest.

After the ceremony, they returned to their hotel. The four of them shared two double rooms. Since they had matters to discuss, all four trainers and three dogs gathered in Song Changfeng’s room.

“Today they announced the official competition rules, and it turns out there are two more events than before, making a total of eight. Originally, each dog was supposed to compete in two events, which worked out perfectly. Now that there are two extra, what do we do?” Pan Zi, Xiao Qi’s trainer, looked troubled. They hadn’t known about this change before coming. Fortunately, the two new events were ones they had trained for, so at least they weren’t worried about the dogs drawing a blank in the arena.

“How about… drawing lots?” Duo Duo’s trainer, Zhou Xiaoyong, suggested.

The instructor shook his head. “The three dogs are a team. Every event’s score counts toward the total. Random selection introduces too much uncertainty. If we end up assigning a dog to an event it’s not good at, it could seriously hurt our overall score.”

As soon as he said that, Pan Zi, who had been eager to speak, immediately swallowed his words. He had been thinking of letting Xiao Qi take on an extra event or two for the experience, but now he didn’t dare bring it up. In a competition, scoring was what truly mattered.

Forget all that talk about ‘friendship first, competition second.’ In a contest like this, who’s really here to make friends? That kind of phrase is just something winners say to sound noble and losers use to comfort themselves.

Song Changfeng had remained silent the whole time. He had actually been prepared for the addition of two extra events. Changes to the rules rarely came in just one or two small tweaks. The two added events had been hinted at for a while. Over the past two months, the competition’s official social media had been posting videos related to them. He hadn’t understood the purpose before, but now it all made sense.

“Changfeng, has Aofeng trained in these areas before?” the instructor asked when he noticed Song Changfeng hadn’t spoken.

“Yes.”

“How’s his performance?”

“Pretty good,” Song Changfeng replied. He was a meticulous person, rarely making sweeping statements. Coming from him, “pretty good” was on par with someone else saying “excellent.”

The instructor let out a breath of relief. Aofeng was their base’s star performer. If even he couldn’t be counted on, they’d likely lose a lot of points in those two new events.

“Alright then. You two go ahead and assign two events each to Xiao Qi and Duo Duo based on their strengths. The remaining four will go to Aofeng,” the instructor decided.

Pan Zi and Zhou Xiaoyong had no objections. Aofeng’s performance spoke for itself. With him competing, their chances of scoring high were clearly better.

The original competition events were: drug detection, explosives detection, evidence search, blood trail search, indoor apprehension, and outdoor tracking. The two added events were police dog patrol and anti-riot and emergency response.

Pan Zi assigned Xiao Qi to drug detection and outdoor tracking. Zhou Xiaoyong chose explosives detection and indoor apprehension for Duo Duo. That left evidence search, blood trail search, police dog patrol, and anti-riot and emergency response for Aofeng.

Translator’s Notes