Animal Detective

Chapter 520: Chapter 424: Air-Ground Joint Exercise

When he found some time, Shen Xin paid a visit to the police dog base.

The police dog support project was also one of his responsibilities.

Since he was too busy to get away, he had basically dumped it all on Li Jiahui.

So, when she saw Shen Xin, Li Jiahui gave him a look as mournful as a neglected young wife, greeting him with a "So you finally decided to show your face," which left Shen Xin at a bit of a loss.

"My bad. How about this? I’ll treat you to a meal, a big one," Shen Xin quickly apologized.

Only then did Li Jiahui relent, leading Shen Xin to see the police dogs.

Seeing how glossy and sleek every one of the dogs was proved just how responsible Li Jiahui had been.

’He definitely had to treat her now.’

However, Li Jiahui had originally hoped for a private meal for two, but it ended up turning into a group dinner.

When she saw Ding Yuwei show up, Li Jiahui silently shot Shen Xin a sideways glance before smiling brightly and going over to greet her.

She knew that Shen Xin had gradually grown distant from Zhang Qian because he was too busy.

But Ding Yuwei was different.

’Always following Shen Xin like a shadow—she’s a formidable rival.’

During the small talk at the dinner table, the topic of the Suihar trip came up.

Shen Xin even suggested that they should organize a trip for a few of them to take some annual leave and relax on the Wugai Grassland.

At this mention, Li Jiahui immediately became wary and asked Shen Xin in a low, pointed voice who the girl in the video call had been.

’Why was she with Shen Xin so late at night instead of being at home asleep?’

Ding Yuwei, who had been pecking at her food like a chick pecking at rice, lifted her head and looked at Shen Xin.

She had seen her too.

Shen Xin, completely oblivious, explained Doniya’s situation.

"She’s a really nice girl. Almost fell victim to a criminal," Shen Xin remarked with a sigh.

’I haven’t even had a chance to contact Doniya since coming back from the grassland.’

Zhao Tianxing let out a sly laugh. "So you were the hero saving the damsel in distress, huh? Didn’t the girl offer herself to you in gratitude?"

Across the table, Song Xiangli, hearing this story for the first time, nodded in agreement, saying it was a life-saving favor.

"What nonsense are you spouting? Can’t this food shut you up?" Shen Xin picked up a cheese lobster ball with his chopsticks and stuffed it into Zhao Tianxing’s mouth.

Shen Xin might be a bit dense, but he wasn’t an idiot. He could feel the unique way Doniya looked at him.

’But it’s pointless since we’re a world apart.’

Shen Xin immediately changed the subject, bringing up his idea for "police birds" and asking everyone for suggestions.

Their training was almost complete; they had already entered the second phase.

They were obedient, and a couple of them were even articulate.

Shen Xin was planning a special performance to make a grand debut—the kind that would completely stun Zhao Hongjie.

"Police birds?"

Li Jiahui’s attention was immediately captured, her beautiful eyes widening in surprise.

’She was familiar with police dogs, but police birds?’

For a moment, Li Jiahui couldn’t fathom what went on in Shen Xin’s head to come up with such a bizarre idea.

The food couldn’t shut Zhao Tianxing’s mouth. He hollered, "Shen Xin, just have Er Long get into an argument with Director Zhao. I guarantee that’ll shock him."

Shen Xin shot him an irritated glare. ’Why don’t you go argue with him?’

Shen Xin said he was being serious and asked them for real ideas.

He felt that a simple performance of flying on command wasn’t shocking enough.

But then Yang Zeran also came up with a terrible idea, the corners of his eyes crinkling with laughter. "Just do a flight formation! Like a drone show. First, have them fly in an ’S’ formation, then a ’B’ formation. It’ll be absolutely shocking."

"Get lost!"

Li Jiahui, after all, worked in a related field. She pulled Shen Xin aside and curiously asked him to what extent he had trained these police birds.

When she heard they could follow his verbal commands—not just a bird whistle, but actually understanding human speech to carry out orders—she was left speechless.

She was even more dumbfounded when she heard that Shen Xin was also teaching them to speak and that eventually, they could be trained to converse directly with people.

She composed herself and said, "Shen Xin, if you ask me, you should be a bit more practical. Director Zhao will definitely want to see a concrete application."

"So why don’t you call on Tian Kui, get Tian Ying and the others, and stage a joint air-ground exercise, just like the time you were searching for Fan Lei in the mountains?"

During the Ningshan police dog competition, Wan Chao had played a video of Tian Kui and the others hunting down Fan Lei, and Li Jiahui still remembered it vividly.

’That’s the pinnacle of what a police dog can achieve.’

Back then, they had coordinated with drones. Now that he had trained a flock of police birds, they could be combined to carry out the entire process, from search to pursuit.

’Now that’s a real suggestion.’

But Shen Xin thought for a moment and said, "Wouldn’t that be a bit cliché?"

’It doesn’t feel very innovative.’

Ding Yuwei said softly, "Oh, come on. They’re birds. The fact that you can make them listen to you and fly according to your commands is already incredible enough. If you come up with something even more innovative, you might just scare Director Zhao and the others."

If they flew a circle in the sky, landed, and raised a wing to salute Zhao Hongjie, he would definitely think these crows had become spirits.

Shen Xin thought about it and realized she was right.

"Then I’ll toast to you for that."

Shen Xin raised his glass.

He decided to go with Li Jiahui’s idea; he just needed to work out the details.

It was a pity, though, that it was only a joint air-ground exercise.

If only Yuexiao wasn’t so valuable, they could have held a full-scale, integrated sea, land, and air exercise at Li Lake.

The specific date was set for May 28th.

The location would once again be Shitang Mountain.

Initially, Shen Xin had considered changing the location, perhaps moving it to the city.

For example, near the exhibition center in the New District.

But after some thought, he abandoned the idea.

This wasn’t an official exercise, so it was impossible to clear out an area and disrupt the normal lives of ordinary people.

But if they didn’t establish a restricted zone, having police dogs running around amidst the traffic would be risky.

In any case, as long as the objective was achieved, the location didn’t matter much.

On the morning of the exercise, Shen Xin arrived at the police dog base early to prepare.

Zhao Hongjie and his group arrived shortly before ten in the morning.

Accompanying them was the Executive Deputy Chief, Xu Xinyao.

The first event on the agenda was the "military review."

On the large training field of the police dog base, Shen Xin gave a command, and the police dog team appeared.

Tian Kui was in the lead.

He wore a specialized police dog vest and a smart helmet.

With his head held slightly high, he walked at the very front, his steps firm and steady.

Behind him followed a total of ten dogs, including Tian Ying—the second batch planned for donation.

They were in uniform attire, maintaining their formation.

If one looked closely, they were marching in lockstep, their strides perfectly synchronized. Their approach carried a hint of imposing gravity.

Seeing this, Tang Changhong couldn’t help but applaud.

Putting everything else aside, the level of their formation alone was extraordinary.

Zhao Hongjie applauded with a smile. Just as he was about to ask where the police birds were, Shen Xin put a bird whistle to his lips and blew a sharp note toward the distant barracks.

The next moment, a large white bird shot into the sky.

Immediately after, seven other birds followed in formation, whistling through the air.

Under everyone’s gaze, they soared into the high altitude in an instant, becoming black specks in the sky.

"Director Zhao, our police birds can be commanded remotely."

As Shen Xin explained, he picked up a walkie-talkie and issued a command: "Return. Perform a flyby."

He had previously asked the Technical Investigation Detachment for help, and they had custom-made smart helmets for the birds, using the ones for the police dogs as a reference.

They were half-helmets, like those for motorcycles, made of lightweight material, hollowed out, and filled with micro-devices.

They integrated several main functions: a camera, GPS, zoom, and communications.

Special control software had also been written to facilitate remote command from Shen Xin’s end.

So, when Shen Xin gave the command, Teddy and the others in the air heard his instructions simultaneously.

The next moment, Teddy led the way, diving down.

Flying from east to west, still in a V-formation, they slowly swept past Zhao Hongjie and the others at a low altitude.

"Whoa!"

Xu Xinyao exclaimed in amazement, pointing at the sky. "Director Zhao, look! It’s just like a fighter jet flyby."

Zhao Hongjie nodded in deep agreement, looking at Shen Xin with utter disbelief.

He had heard Shen Xin say that these corvids were very intelligent and could be trained to obey commands, but he still found it inconceivable.

"Land."

Shen Xin commanded again.

In the distance, the formation circled back, and then, one by one, they landed gracefully in front of Tian Kui and the dogs.

Even as they landed, they managed to maintain a degree of formation instead of just being a chaotic flock.

Zhao Hongjie immediately took the lead and started applauding.

Just the fact that they obeyed commands was impressive enough for him.

When the applause died down, Shen Xin called out, "Plane."

Plane turned its head to look at Shen Xin.

"Come on, say a few words like I taught you," Shen Xin ordered.

Plane immediately hopped to the very front of the formation.

The next moment, he spoke in a human voice: "We are deeply honored by the presence and guidance of our esteemed leaders."

His enunciation was quite clear.

After he finished speaking, Zhao Hongjie, Xu Xinyao, and the others were all completely stunned, their expressions as bizarre as could be.

’This is a fucking bird!’

Before they had time to process it, Shen Xin gave another command. "Plane, do a roll call."

Plane hopped to the side and, at the top of his lungs, began the roll call. "Yifan."

Yifan, also a raven, answered "Here!" and then hopped forward two steps.

"Er Long," Plane continued.

Er Long’s "Here!" was even clearer. He also hopped forward two steps and stood steadily.

At this, Zhao Hongjie and the others were completely dumbfounded.

Shen Xin hadn’t reported the specific details of the procedure, wanting to maintain an element of surprise.

Zhao Hongjie had thought it would just be them flying around on command.

He had often seen Shen Xin training the birds like that at the city bureau.

But this... what he was seeing now...

They were even doing a roll call and answering to their names.

His eyes were wide, and a single thought dominated his mind: these birds had become spirits.

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