Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

  Zhang Zian stood up from the side of Famous and asked, “May I ask if the performance is over?”


  Feng Xuan came to himself and hurriedly said, “It’s over.”


  Hearing this sentence, Famous quickly stood up from the ground, opening its mouth and gasping. Holding a long breath to play dead just now, its body had been lacking oxygen.

  Feng Xuan, Nie Yuan, Sheng Ke, the assistant, as well as the security guards present, were all silently focusing on Famous and Zhang Zian. They did not know what words can be used to express their feelings at this moment. The performance of this dog was f**king fantastic! How can he train the dog so well?!

  Zhang Zian could not forget the scene he saw just now. He doubted whether or not it was an illusion. Why were the eyes of Famous so similar to that of the dead Guangxi rural dog?

  After a long time, Feng Xuan controlled his extremely complex moods, exhaled a long sigh and said, “Well, I think this step of the test can stop here … what’s your opinion, Director Nie?”


  Nominally, Feng Xuan and Nie Yuan were jointly presiding over the audition, so Feng Xuan should respect Nie Yuan in front of others.

  “I have nothing to say, Director Feng, you have the final say on this.” Nie Yuan wiped the cold sweat on his forehead. He felt creepy about the vivid performance by Famous.

  “Well, let’s move on to the back yard, where the last step in the audition will take place, but it’s extremely hard, your dog might even be injured in the test.” Feng Xuan stood up and tidied up his crumpled suit and said to Zhang Zian.

  Zhang Zian was anxious and he looked fearfully at Famous, while Famous just fearlessly responded, as if it was saying, “Don’t worry, it’s no problem.”


  “You know, we named this movie Dog Warrior, because it is a movie that features the guard dogs domesticated by frontier guards, and it is about these dogs’ brave performance in mine clearance, fighting against drug trafficking and transnational crimes. So in the movie, there are inevitably scenes like battling with the enemies, car chasing, encountering danger in the wilderness, crossing through minefields etc. And in these scenes, a lot of fireworks and explosion effects will be used…” Feng Xuan said, “So we must make sure that as the leading roles of the movie, the dogs must have the courage and composure instead of running away under the circumstance of flames and loud noises, do you understand?”


  Zhang Zian understood now why the crew preferred the police dogs. As it turned out, police dogs had taken part in real-life enforcement actions and that they were more determined and courageous than the ordinary German Shepherd. Even so, the crew still did not pick the dogs that made them happy, indicating that the test that followed will be enormously harsh.

  “I see.” He nodded.

  Feng Xuan said approvingly, “Among the dogs participating in the audition, usually only one in ten can make it to the final step. Your dog is the best one I have ever seen, I hope it can smoothly reach the finishing point.”


  The assistant handed over a piece of paper to Zhang Zian, “Please sign this disclaimer.”


  Zhang Zian slightly glanced at the paper. It was nothing more than saying that he had volunteered to participate in the test, and that he understood the test may be dangerous, and injury or even death may occur, and the crew did not bear any responsibility.

  In the face of the matter of life and death, he hesitated for a moment, reading out every word on the paper in a low voice. Others might think this was his reading habit, in fact, he was reading it to Famous.

  Without any hesitation, Famous loudly barked as its agreement.

  Zhang Zian bit his teeth, undersigned with his name and the date, and returned it to the assistant.

  “Well, let’s go.” Feng Xuan said with satisfaction.

  The assistant fetched two green military greatcoats that were in the same style of the coat on Sheng Ke to Feng Xuan and Nie Yuan. They put on the greatcoats, waved at Zhang Zian and left first.

  Sheng Ke began to worry for Zhang Zian. Walking with him behind the judges, he pulled Zhang Zian and whispered, “Are you sure? Don’t push it too hard. This dog is so intelligent, if it were my dog, I would be reluctant to let it risk its own life…”


  Zhang Zian shook his head. He did not want this, but Famous insisted on doing so, he can only respect its wish. In a sense, he can understand Famous. He cannot imagine what it was like if his life in the past had become a blank, forgetting who he was, who his parents were, where he came from and where to go. It must be very painful not knowing anything about itself, perhaps it was even doubting the meaning of living its life. So no matter what, Famous was determined to find out who it was.

  They walked out from the back door of the small building and came to the spacious backyard. Surrounded by a tall wall, the backyard seemed like a prison.

  Entering the backyard, they heard several dogs barking.

  Beside the wall was a row of iron cages, containing more than a dozen of German Shepherd, with their barking echoing in the courtyard.

  “Captain Sheng!” Someone shouted Sheng Ke’s name and waved to him.

  Sheng Ke trotted towards them, “Xiao Liu, Xiao Wang, are you still here?”


  Xiao Liu and Xiao Wang were also wearing the police uniforms and a military greatcoat on the outside. Probably they had been waiting here in the freezing weather for a long time, they were having running roses. They rubbed their hands and said, “Yeah, the pyrotechnician says it is not easy to set up a scene and let’s wait for the last dog to test together.”


  Sheng Ke felt sorry for his two subordinates and those police dogs closed in the iron cages suffering from cold. He quickly handed two cigarettes to them, let them smoke and warm up their bodies.

  Feng Xuan pointed at the cages closing more than a dozen of German Shepherd and said, “You have heard of the movie Wolf Totem, right?”


  “Yes, the one based on the novel, right? The original novel and the movie were quite popular for some time, and I have watched it.” Zhang Zian responded.

  Feng Xuan nodded, “In order to shoot the movie Wolf Totem, the crew set up a training base in Huairou, Beijing, and found hundreds of young wolves from across the country, and then hired trainers to train them. The training took up to a year and a half to allow the wolfs to adapt to the presence of cameras before shooting the movie. Among the hundreds of young wolves, 20 or so relatively understanding wolves were picked as the main actors, of which one or two gifted wolves became the protagonists.”


  “So, these German Shepherd are …” Zhang Zian felt he had understood something.

  “Yes, these German Shepherd are the selected main actors, as to who can become the protagonist, depending on their own comprehensive performance.” Feng Xuan sighed, “Our budgets are far tighter than the Wolf Totem crew, yet our shooting schedule is shorter than theirs, there is no way for us to train for a year and a half as they did, nor do we have money to build a training base, so people might suspect that our crew is eager for quick success and instant benefits…but dogs are easier accessible than wolves, in order to make the film a success, we can only hope to find gifted dogs.”


  Saying this, he glanced at Famous.

  Famous silently looked at over a dozen competitors in the cages.