Chapter 422: Foreshadowing Crisis
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Crossing the center of the venue, Famous was in the leading position with Red Dragon and Prince falling behind with more than four-bodies in length, and the gap seemed to be increasing. The crew was manipulating the lift, and the videographer zoomed in the camera and take close-up shots of the three dogs alternately.
Feng Xuan was sitting in a chair, and the assistant gave him the tablet where the images were transmitted to the screen in real time, allowing Feng Xuan to observe the status of the three dogs.
The actions and expressions of Red Dragon and Prince had shown that they were struggling, only being able to run a bit forward after they looked back at their owners, as if gaining some sort of strength from them. At least, they were still going forward. In this aspect alone, they were stronger than average dogs, proving themselves to be the elite police dogs selected by the police force.
Instead of focusing intently on the front, Famous seemed to be shaking its head slightly and looking around, as if seeking for or defending against something.
Seeing that their own dogs were falling further behind and may stop running at any time, Xiao Liu and Xiao Wang used their wit to come up with a solution.
“Red Dragon! Red Dragon! Come on!”
“Prince! Prince! Come on!”
Instead of cheering for their own dog solely, the two men cheered for the two dogs in unison, their voices were much louder combined, so loud that even all of the noise from the venue couldn’t completely overwhelm theirs.
Red Dragon and Prince suddenly became energetic, as if injected with a stimulant, they started to bark and rush forward with full force, and almost in the blink of an eye, they had shortened the distance between them and Famous!
Guan Biao narrowed his eyes to estimate the speed of the three running dogs. His meaty fingers on the remote detonator moved away from the “sound” and “smoke” buttons to a series of “blasting” buttons.
Battlefield.
Famous had forgotten that it was auditioning, but felt like it had returned to the smoke-filled battlefield, implementing an important search and rescue or message delivering mission alone during the intense fight against the enemy. It seemed very familiar with the ruthless battlefield.
Speed was not important on the battlefield; it was survival that mattered. Whoever made it to the end was the victor.
As Famous ran, it observed the mounds, puddles, rocks, and bomb craters in front of and around it. These complex terrains possibly contained hidden traps, and an enemy sniper may emerge at any time to end its life with a shot.
Famous heard paws rubbing on the surface of the ground and breathing, and even heard grass snapped and pebbles kicked off. It knew that two creatures of its same kind were behind it trying to catch up with it.
It looked back and barked, trying to remind them if they kept running at full speed, they would not be able to avoid danger if any, and they couldn’t accelerate to escape. However, they did not seem to understand it, nor did they care at all, shortening the distance to half a body, and appearing on the left side of it.
Two police dogs had run past two-thirds of the venue, shortening the distance from lagging behind three-bodies length at the beginning to now almost running alongside with Famous. The finish line was far in sight, but with this trend, it was only a matter of time before they surpassed Famous.
The two police officers were overwhelmed with excitement. Even Sheng Ke, who was squatting on the floor, stood up and could not help but join in their cry.
“A little faster! Red Dragon!”
“Try harder! Prince!”
The cheer from the three of them was filled with passion.
“Slow down!” said Famous, “Take it slow!”
Red Dragon and Prince ignored them, running faster and faster in their owners’ applause.
For the first time after setting out from the start point, Famous lagged behind. In the eyes of others, this seemed to be the indication that Famous had insufficient stamina.
As it continued moving forward a few steps, Famous’s eyelids suddenly jumped a bit, and the corners of its eyes seemed to catch some unusual movements.
Suddenly, a puddle on its right front side flashed for a fleeting moment, and the calm surface of the water floating with thin ice cracked, and the three dogs had no time to dodge and the turbid muddy water splashed all over them.
The cold muddy water stagnated their hot bodies. Immediately, a pile of rocks in front of the left side exploded without warning. Countless sharp pebbles were splattering in all directions like stray bullets!
Famous, who had always been wary of the surroundings, knew that they had fallen into a trap when it was splashed with muddy water, sensing something was going wrong, it rolled away and escaped these pebbles in the nick of time. Unluckily, Red Dragon and Prince had almost suffered from the full impact from the pebbles, being covered with bruises all over their bodies, they fell on the ground feebly…
…
There it is! Famous knew that its ability that it had learned from Galaxy appeared again. Foreshadowing crisis—that’s what Famous named such an ability.
To be exact, this capability had not been taught by Galaxy, but was what Famous had perceived from the numerous times of reincarnation.
In the black box a bottle full of hypertoxic cyanide was placed.
After the first few deaths, Famous thought it had remembered the location of the bottle, to avoid being accidentally killed again and again by knocking over the bottle. It soon found out, in horror, that the bottle seemed to appear randomly anywhere in the black box. The bottle appeared instantly when it was resurrected, and was immediately knocked over again. This realization slapped it hard in the face.
The speculation had also been confirmed by Galaxy. It’s important to keep in mind that it was extremely rare for Galaxy to knock over the bottle, unless it ran recklessly in the black box like a headless fly, dreaming of playing hide-and-seek with its new owner.
“Galaxy, tell me honestly, can you see things in the darkness?” After a resurrection, Famous asked Galaxy. It desperately wanted to find an answer proving that it was not true and that it was indeed as good as Galaxy, but it was only because a cat’s eyes can see things more clearly in the dark.
“Meow, Galaxy cannot see in the darkness where nothing can be seen,” Galaxy replied.
Famous also knew that no matter how sensitive a cat’s eyes were, in the darkness where there was no light, nothing could be seen. Seriously speaking, Famous had a better sense of smell which was not affected by darkness, so its advantages were greater. In this case, was it the proof that it was stupider than Galaxy? Stupider than this naïve Galaxy?! That’s so humiliating!
“Meow, Famous, would you like to play hide-and-seek with Galaxy?” Galaxy begged it.
Dejected, Famous was not in the mood to play hide-and-seek, but then it asked another question, “Galaxy, if you can’t see, then how can you escape the bottle of poison?”
Galaxy thought for a moment, “Meow. Galaxy can’t see it, but I can feel it. Play hide-and-seek with me, okay?”
Can’t see it, but feel it? What the hell was that! Did this guy have a sixth sense or what? Famous was caught contemplating, during which time it did not know for how many times it had knocked over the poison bottle.
It was not good at thinking. It had no clue at all if had headache from pondering. So, it decided not to think, but tried to learn from and imitate Galaxy, feeling the unknown in the darkness.
It died countless times ever since, and finally it had a little bit of “feeling”—that in the fleeting moment before it knocked over the poison bottle, it seemed as if it could foreshadow what was going to happen.
From birth to death, after being resurrected numerous times, and before it eventually left the black box, the length of its “crisis omening” also extended gradually, so that it could even stop its actions in a timely manner before knocking over the bottle, just like Galaxy did and avoid death. But only temporarily, because it quickly recognized another sad fact that even neither it nor Galaxy had touched the bottle. The poison bottle would topple over for some unknown reason.
Galaxy clearly had stronger ability in foreshadowing crisis than Famous did. Galaxy could even predict when the poison bottle would topple over. This was undeniable since the time Galaxy stayed in the black box was several times longer than Famous, and the number of deaths that Galaxy experienced was also several times more than Famous. However, Famous believed that it was no less than Galaxy, and that one day, it would certainly be able to master the ultimate version of the ability of foreshadowing crisis.
…
“A little faster! Red Dragon!”
“Try harder! Prince!”
The nose tips of Red Dragon and Prince had surpassed that of Famous, and the two police dogs were running faster and faster with their owners’ applause.
Famous knew there would be two consecutive pitfalls not far from the front, and it was too late for it to speak. Even if it did, they would not listen to it. Therefore, Famous turned its waist and suddenly changed its direction, lunging into Red Dragon! Almost at the same time, Guan Biao pressed the continuous detonation button.
Caught off guard, Red Dragon was pushed sideways down by Famous, knocking Prince down by the way.
Two well-trained police dogs stood up one-by-one, shaking off the dust from their bodies. They revealed their fangs with fury and roared at Famous, ready to rush towards it and bite at any time.
The two police officers were also furious. They suddenly turned around, grabbing Zhang Zian by his collar!
Sheng Ke hurriedly went over to stop them.
Feng Xuan could not help but frown, feeling very disappointed in his heart.
Just in the blink of an eye, the puddle and rock in front of the three dogs suddenly exploded, with the explosion power spreading to a very wide range, even a few drops of sewage was splashed into the face of the cameraman and the camera lens.
Almost everyone, including the two police officers and Sheng Ke, were shocked. Weren’t they told that as long as the dogs stayed within the passage marked with green paint, they would be safe?
Feng Xuan stood up from the chair and shouted at Guan Biao sternly, “What is going on?!”
What a pity! Guan Biao thought secretly. But he said embarrassedly, “I accidently put more explosives…”
Feng Xuan burst with anger. Carelessness was his only explanation for such a dangerous accident?!
“Accidently?! If you hurt a human, are you going to expect me to apologize to his family with the reason of being merely careless?” he solemnly accused Guan Biao, not only because of the accident, but also because of Guan Biao’s casual attitude.
“Director Feng, don’t be angry, they are not humans, they are only a few dogs, so I was negligent and did not calculate the number of explosives correctly.” Guan Biao smiled indifferently. “Next time I will be more careful.”
Feng Xuan frowned. Just when he was about to severely punish Guan Biao and dismiss him from the crew, Nie Yuan quietly pulled at him.
Nie Yuan whispered and reminded him, “Forget it, Director Feng. If you expel him, where are you going to find a pyrotechnician in the short time, considering that we are already behind our filming schedule? Let’s spare him this time, what do you think?”
