Superstars of Tomorrow

"So this is the bullet that vanished?" Fang Zhao asked Curly Hair.

"Woof!" Curly Hair barked as he sat while wagging his tail violently.

Fang Zhao pressed on. "So the sniper did actually hit you?"

"Woof!" The tail-wagging picked up in tempo, as if Curly Hair was indicating his pride in stopping a bullet.

Fang Zhao inspected Curly Hair’s body. "Where did you get hit?" He didn’t detect any traces of blood. The prior inspection did not yield any obvious wounds either. If Curly Hair had any wounds, Huo Yi and company would have noticed.

Curly Hair used one of his hind legs to scratch his back. He scratched some more, like he usually did when scratching an itch.

Fang Zhao parted the fur at the spot Curly Hair was scratching and found a light scar about the size of a fingernail.

Fang Zhao pointed at the scar. "Here?"

"Woof!"

Curly Hair’s military fatigues had been removed after he’d returned to base after his mission ended. He had not been wearing any bullet-proof clothing at the time of the attack.

Fang Zhao examined the heavily deformed bullet that he’d pulled out, then checked the light scar on Curly Hair’s back again.

This couldn’t be explained by a plain old mutation. Even the strongest service dogs in Muzhou during the Period of Destruction hadn’t been invincible. How many dogs had been shot dead?

Fang Zhao had a good idea how deadly the arms used by soldiers at Wai base were. If it had been any other dog, there would have been an exit wound, yet in this case, the bullet had barely scratched Curly Hair’s skin. Then...

"You ate it?"

"Woof!" Curly Hair started wagging his tail vigorously again, as if anticipating Fang Zhao’s praise.

"You even knew to hide the evidence. You’ve gotten smart." Fang Zhao fondled Curly Hair’s back. "Don’t you remember how I instructed you to react when you come across danger? And you decided to pursue the enemy? If you didn’t have the ability to stop bullets, you’d be dead, you know?"

Curly Hair stopped wagging his tail and started whining. His tiny eyes looked sad.

Fang Zhao sighed and examined the debris on Curly Hair’s coat. "We’re going to have a proper chat when this dies down."

Fang Zhao cleaned up the dog shit on the ground and flushed it away in the toilet. He picked up the mangled bullet, washed it, and put it in his pocket.

When he was washing the bullet, Fang Zhao noticed that, in addition to being deformed, it had signs of corrosion.

He sunk into deep thought.

If the bullet hadn’t been shat out, would it have eventually been completely digested?

Was Curly Hair actually an alien dog?

But when he thought back to the results of his investigation when he’d lived on a black street, Fang Zhao wanted to attribute the miracle to other factors he didn’t know about.

The moment when all the surveillance cameras on the black street had malfunctioned, the moment of his rebirth.

Everything had changed at that moment.

Before that, Curly Hair had been a sickly stray roaming the black street.

But after Fang Zhao’s rebirth, Curly Hair had grown stronger by the day. He never got sick and could eat anything. On the ranch in Muzhou, other dogs had gotten upset stomachs from eating hamsters, but not Curly Hair.

Who knew how many hamsters Curly Hair had downed at the Muzhou ranch? Had he eaten any other animals?

Fang Zhao’s body had clearly gotten stronger after his rebirth too, but he was nowhere near the level of digesting bullets.

Suddenly, Fang Zhao thought back to the results of Curly Hair’s physicals over time.

All along, Curly Hair’s checkups had never yielded any obvious abnormalities, including the physical conducted by the vet on the base. Apart from slightly higher-than-normal levels of metal in his blood, he didn’t have any other problems. He was perfectly healthy.

The reason the vets gave for Curly Hair’s high metal levels was the massive changes to the ecosystem during the 100-year Period of Destruction. Some species went extinct and new species emerged. Dogs underwent mutations. At first glance, the vet’s explanation seemed to make sense.

But Fang Zhao knew this wasn’t the case.

His own hearing had improved from his previous life. Curly Hair’s sense of smell had far surpassed the sniffing capabilities of other dogs. No, perhaps Curly Hair’s hearing, sense of smell, and other senses had been very strong to begin with and were improving over time.

When the world’s leading pet magazine, PET, had tested Curly Hair’s jaw strength, his numbers had already been quite scary, but Fang Zhao knew that Curly Hair hadn’t gone all out.

Fang Zhao lifted Curly Hair and glared at him. "Did you eat something that you shouldn’t have?"

Curly Hair gently swayed his drooping tail and averted Fang Zhao’s gaze.

Right then and there, Fang Zhao knew the little fella had been secretly eating something out of the ordinary.

Who would know that this tiny dog, no different from your average pet dog, actually harbored powers that shook the world?

Fang Zhao’s bracelet rang. It was Huo Yi.

"Fang Zhao, how’s Curly Hair?" Huo Yi asked with genuine concern.

"He’s calmed down," Fang Zhao responded.

"That’s great. Why don’t you come over. I can’t send you the footage from the outpost surveillance system, but you can look at it over here."

"No problem. I’ll come over now."

Fang Zhao sent Yan Biao and Zuo Yu a message instructing them to head for the Wai military base, and then he set off with Curly Hair.

Curly Hair stayed close to Fang Zhao and ignored everyone else.

Huo Yi flashed a rare smile when he saw Curly Hair. "He seems to be in better spirits."

"The little fella tends to shit when he gets nervous. He just shat in the guest room. I’ve cleaned it up already," Fang Zhao said. The floor in the guest room had signs of recent cleaning. Given Huo Yi’s personality, he was bound to investigate, so Fang Zhao figured he might as well be forthcoming now and clear the mystery.

The vet who had been observing Curly Hair laughed. "That’s normal. It’s a reflex. We humans are the same. When we get nervous, we tend to want to shit. When people panic, some pee, others barf."

Curly Hair let out a whimper, but Fang Zhao pressed his head down.

Huo Yi and company had a eureka expression on their faces when they heard the vet’s spiel.

"No wonder he looks like he’s in better spirits. He must feel relaxed after taking a shit. Good, good. Should you give him a checkup?" Huo Yi was quite concerned about this dog that had made major contributions to the base’s security.

The vet approached and Curly Hair growled. Even though he wasn’t as mean as he had been before, he was still resistant.

Fang Zhao explained, "He just calmed down. He’s still in shock, so he doesn’t want to deal with strangers for the time being."

"That’s understandable." Huo Yi expressed sympathy, but a look of disappointment flashed across his face. He knew that after what went down, Curly Hair might not be able to continue his service, not to mention the fact that he was so standoffish now.

After asking the vet to leave, Huo Yi instructed his deputy to play Fang Zhao the surveillance footage and audio. As a commander, he had many affairs to attend to. He couldn’t stay forever, and he was even busier than usual after the dog sniper incident. His deputy could stick around.

Fang Zhao studied the footage carefully and listened to the audio.

Huo Yi’s deputy observed Fang Zhao curiously, especially when Fang Zhao was listening to the audio. The audio track had not been cleaned up, and the volume had not been turned up. All he could hear was static. What could Fang Zhao hear?

By the time Fang Zhao finished listening to the audio, Yan Biao and Zuo Yu had arrived.

"Did you bring what I asked for?"

"Yes, the liquid soap that Curly Hair uses at home, his mattress, and dog food."

As Huo Yi’s deputy watched the two bodyguards remove the items from their bag, he wondered to himself, Are they bodyguards or babysitters?

Fang Zhao told Huo Yi’s deputy, "I’m going to take them to the guest room for a rest and give Curly Hair a bath."

When they arrived at the guest room, Fang Zhao bathed Curly Hair and briefed Zuo Yu and Yan Biao about the dog sniper. He didn’t say anything about the bullet.

As he gave Curly Hair a bath, Fang Zhao wondered if he should apply some medicinal cream to the scar on Curly Hair’s back, but when he parted the fur near the wound, he realized that the scar had nearly healed. One wouldn’t be able to tell it was there unless they looked carefully.

Looks like the wound doesn’t need to be treated.

After bathing and blow-drying Curly Hair, Fang Zhao checked the floor. He couldn’t find a single strand of dog hair.

Whether he was being bathed or combed, Curly Hair never shed any fur. This trait remained.

Fang Zhao pointed to the dog mattress and ordered, "Go to bed." He turned his head to face Zuo Yu and Yan Biao. "He’s in shock. Let him have a good rest. Don’t let anyone bother him."

"OK, Boss," the two bodyguards responded.

"I’m going out. You two stay here."

"OK, Boss."

They had a good idea what Fang Zhao was up to, but what could they do? They could only play dumb and obey orders.

After Fang Zhao left, Yan Biao threw a glance at Curly Hair, who was sound asleep and snoring, before telling Zuo Yu, "He doesn’t look like he’s in shock at all."

Zuo Yu glanced at Curly Hair as well and whispered, "This seems to have been a professional hit."

"Someone actually traveled all the way to Wai base to whack a dog?" Yan Biao was baffled as to why an assassin skilled enough to infiltrate the military base would bother with a dog.

Zuo Yu let out a cold laugh. "Our Curly Hair is no ordinary dog. He has been awarded military merits. Do you know how many people he’s kept from getting rich by guarding the cargo shipped to the spaceport? There’s a memorial hall at the police dog academy in Muzhou where the pictures of outstanding service dogs are displayed. The dogs there were at least awarded second-class merits. Half of the dogs have been murdered. It’s normal to be hated when you stop too many people from getting rich, when you hurt people’s interests."

The thought of Curly Hair being targeted made Zuo Yu furious. He got up and said, "I should head out with Boss."

"What for? To hold him back? Or are you saying you can keep up?" Yan Biao said. It’s not that he wanted to rain on Zuo Yu’s parade, but the same scenario happened over and over again. He wanted to seek revenge for Curly Hair, but he couldn’t keep up with his boss.

Zuo Yu wore a blank expression on his face.

Yan Biao thought of something and smiled. "Actually, if we can’t keep up with Fang Zhao and protect him, we can protect Curly Hair, this meritorious service dog. Now that he has made a few major contributions in terms of port security, he has won praise and become a target at the same time. He will face graver risks from now on. If we can’t protect Fang Zhao, then we should protect Curly Hair. We are still protecting a hero, no? We have to earn our salary."

Zuo Yu nodded. "You’ve got a point!"

Elsewhere.

After getting off the phone with Fang Zhao, Huo Yi’s deputy reported to his boss, "Fang Zhao said he wants to go out."

Huo Yi frowned. "How many people did he bring?"

"Just himself. He wants to borrow a flying transport and a base vehicle."

"Just himself? What is he up to?" Huo Yi was baffled. "Doesn’t he know that the situation outside is uncertain, that it’s dangerous?"

Standing next to Huo Yi, the lieutenant colonel in charge of Curly Hair whispered, "Fang Zhao was awarded a merit for killing a terrorist while serving on Baiji. One of my friends from the Baiji base says that Fang Zhao is a strong solo operative." The lieutenant colonel continued, "Commander, you should remember that Fang Zhao is nicknamed ’Diting.’ He came to Wai to detect power ore through his hearing while he was serving on Baiji. He must have asked for the audio surveillance from the dog pound to listen for clues. Folks like him have special ears. They’re like bats equipped with sonic radar. He must have found a clue, given he’s asking for permission to go out."

Huo Yi figured as much.

After pondering the matter briefly, Huo Yi instructed, "Put together a team and follow Fang Zhao. See if he can actually locate the sniper. No worries if he can’t. As long as he can find some useful clues. If something goes down, you can be his backup. Remember to protect Fang Zhao. Don’t let things get out of hand."

Fang Zhao was now a celebrity. If something happened to him on Huo Yi’s turf, it would spell trouble for the commander.

The lieutenant colonel saluted. "Yes, sir! I won’t let you down!"

After the lieutenant colonel left, Huo Yi was the picture of exhaustion. "We won’t be able to keep the dog. We’ll have to prepare in advance."

Even if the attack didn’t happen, Curly Hair couldn’t have stayed on forever. A single dog shouldn’t shoulder the burden of the entire base. If that was the case, he would be looked down on by other base commanders when they gathered for meetings.

There was no way of forcing Curly Hair to stay either. Fang Zhao would be hard to persuade, not to mention that other base commanders like Shanta of Baiji would rub it in.

Huo Yi got a headache from contemplating the repercussions.

Huo Yi’s deputy consoled him. "Even if contraband is sneaked in, stepping up inspections and checks will make a difference."

Huo Yi didn’t respond.

Hou Yi knew that he had upset many folks by cracking down and upgrading security measures recently. He lamented the fact that he had been too eager to put Wai on the development fast track. He had sold off too many plots of land and approved too many projects. The number of visitors had jumped, and they were a mixed bunch. It was harder to tighten controls now.

Also, the sniper who had attacked the dog pound had used a standard-issue rifle from the base, which had prompted Huo Yi to go through the missing firearms logs. If he hadn’t checked, he wouldn’t have realized that quite a few soldiers had lost their weapons. Huo Yi was so pissed he chewed out the relevant officials in charge and fired two people.

Huo Yi started brainstorming how to implement internal reforms. After a while, someone walked in.

The lieutenant colonel Huo Yi had dispatched had returned. He was beet red and avoided making eye contact. "I lost him."

Huo Yi stared him down.

A storm was brewing.

The lieutenant colonel and Huo Yi’s deputy were so nervous they held their breaths. Their foreheads started sweating profusely.

Huo Yi eked out the following words: "What do I need you for, then?"