The sense of smell is a racial specialty of wolves and dogs, and Atuo has a four-star search talent, so he is naturally the best among them.
Theoretically, after just passing by each other, Atuo should have remembered Meng Long's smell.
But whether training dogs or other wild animals, most of the time the trained creatures are not able to truly understand the words, but rather develop conditioned reflexes through repeated training with rewards and punishments, forming 'skills' triggered by commands.
Although Atuo just acted very smart and seemed to understand what people said, Xia Xu didn't really hold out hope for pure verbal communication, and still planned to get some tracking objects to trigger the 'instructions'.
But it was obvious that he really underestimated Atuo's IQ.
Any normal, intelligent dog can reach the level of a few-year-old child, let alone Atuo.
As three top talents, and talents that all require extremely strong skills, it is not possible without a smart mind.
"Woof."
Atuo called out calmly, and even glanced at Meng Long's departing back, then immediately looked up at Xia Xu, as if asking whether he should catch up with him now.
"Can you really understand?"
Xia Xu was confused and unsure whether Atuo was just following the barking instructions during training or if he really understood them. He tentatively said, "Bark again, pause, and then bark again."
Atuo: "Woof...Woof!"
"Oh shit."
Xia Xu was shocked: "Ah Tuo, you are not a spirit, right? After the founding of the country, this is not allowed..."
Oh, I forgot this is Planet Aquamarine, that’s okay.
…
"Come on, Atuo, it's time to show your strength. If you can catch up with that person just now, you will get a big reward. It will definitely be a big surprise."
After waiting for a while, Xia Xu patted Atuo's dog head and stood up.
Atuo lived up to everyone's expectations. He lowered his head and sniffed the ground. He took the lead and led Xia Xu out of the police dog training base.
Although both have the talent of tracking, Atuo's search is obviously different from Yang Bowen's. Yang Bowen is good at finding clues and tracking others, but Atuo obviously relies on his sense of smell.
And this is definitely not just about having a good sense of smell. After all, Xia Xu has seen the attributes of other dogs. Let alone a four-star search, even a one-star search talent has not been revealed.
This also explains why the average physical abilities commonly possessed by the same species cannot be considered talents. Dogs' sense of smell is generally very strong compared to humans, but many are mediocre compared to their own species.
Isn't talent referring to the difference between one's own kind? Naturally, it can only be compared horizontally. Otherwise, if we compare the IQ of humans and ants, each one would be a hundred-star superman.
This shows that Atuo's searching talent is definitely more than just a canine's strong sense of smell.
Unless its sense of smell is as strong as four stars among its peers, it should be more skillful, or have special strengths in other areas, such as being good at distinguishing smells, remembering smells, subtle analysis, and even thinking.
In order to avoid alerting others and causing direct conflict, Xia Xu deliberately waited for Meng Long to leave for a while before leaving. However, it didn't take long for him to catch up with Meng Long, who was walking slowly, and followed him from a distance.
However, after Meng Long walked out of the road where the police dog base was located and reached the corner, he took the German Shepherd he had bought and got into a white van. By the time Xia Xu arrived a step slower, only the rear of the van was left.
"Ato, can you do this?"
Xia Xu took out his cell phone and quickly took a few photos of the license plate on the rear of the car, then he looked down at Atuo.
He was actually mentally prepared for this. Everywhere in the city you have to take a car. If he couldn't catch up, he planned to let Lao Yang go find someone.
Normally, it is difficult for a police dog to catch up once it gets on a car. If the car is driven too fast, it is easy to lose the source of the scent. If the police dog also gets on the car, it will be difficult to smell the target.
"Woof."
After hearing this, Atuo turned around and shouted, then walked forward again. The towing rope dragged Xia Xu forward, but he didn't use too much force, just enough to hold the rope and pull it forward.
"Okay, let's follow and see."
Xia Xu looked around and took some effort to stop a taxi.
Fortunately, a taxi brought passengers here and didn't want to go back empty-handed. Seeing that there were many people here, it stayed. Otherwise, I don't know how long I would have to wait.
But by the time he intercepted the car, he could no longer smell the exhaust gas from the white van.
"Where are you going?"
The driver started the car while looking at the rearview mirror.
"Let's drive forward first."
As Xia Xu spoke, the car started moving.
When they reached the intersection at the end of the road, Xia Xu looked down at Atuo's dog head and asked, "Where are we going?"
"You ask me where to go?"
The driver probably thought Xia Xu was asking him a question and was confused.
Xia Xu quickly explained: "No, I'm asking the dog."
"????"
It would have been fine if he hadn't explained it. As soon as he did, the driver immediately turned into a black question mark face - his face was indeed dark: "You are blaming me, why are you asking a dog? How can a dog understand your words and give you directions?"
"Woof."
Atuo barked and slapped the open window sill on the right side of the back seat with his right front paw.
“… He probably meant turn right.”
Xia Xu laughed dryly and spoke uncertainly.
"Just a random snap and a coincidental call means you're pointing the way. Okay, I can drive you bankrupt today."
The driver wasn't really angry, and his tone was mostly joking, but there was also a bit of anger in his voice, and he quickly turned right.
Another crossroads...
"Woof!"
"Go straight."
"Woof!"
"Keep turning right."
"Woof!"
"Master, it seems to be going to the left this time."
Pass several intersections in a row.
"Is your dog a spirit? Or is it deliberately trained to play tricks on people?"
The driver, who didn't believe it at first, now had a look on his face as if he had seen a ghost.
It's normal for dogs to bark and move their claws, but it was a bit weird that they were silent throughout the whole process and only barked once when turning a corner.
Combined with the direction of the claws, it really feels like it is pointing the direction.
"Haha, I'm just kidding. Didn't you see it just now? This dog is a discarded police dog that I bought from the police dog base at a high price. It will bark when it hears a command."
Xia Xu didn't want to make any unnecessary explanations, so he just laughed it off.
"So that's how it is. This dog is pretty smart and obedient. It barks when told to and doesn't make a sound when told not to. It must be worth tens of thousands, right?"
The taxi driver, who was always talkative, took up the topic and finally felt that he was in his own rhythm. He said with a smile: "My son has been thinking about buying a dog recently, but unfortunately I heard that he has already decided on one from a friend. I hope he can be as obedient as yours."
"Oh? What kind did you buy?"
"It seems to be called Husky, a foreign dog. Actually, it's a good idea to get a pug in the countryside, but he insisted that I choose between Husky and something like that. I heard the latter one sounded a little unruly, so I chose Husky."
"… Then your hope is probably hopeless."
Xia Xu swallowed the words that were about to come out of his mouth and wisely chose to remain silent.