Superstars of Tomorrow Chapter 273

In the afternoon, the five-member team arranged by PET arrived.

After displaying their ID cards and the verification information, the five had looks of eager anticipation on their face as they prepared to enter.

However, they were stopped by Zuo Yu and Yan Biao as soon as they stepped through the doorway.

Zuo Yu wore a polite and formal smile as he looked at the five who had just entered. "Sorry, can everybody open up their suitcases for a brief check?"

Yan Biao also had a solemn expression. Finally, they had some use as bodyguards. When strangers came to their boss's place, checking inventory was a must. Most people with status or fame would require the same.

Zuo Yu and Yan Biao had expected the five to show some dissatisfaction, yet the person in front did not show even a hint of hesitation and handed over the suitcase in his hands. "The passcode is 666!" 

As soon as he handed over the suitcase, he did not even look at the two bodyguards and entered, throwing a radar-like gaze all around as if searching for something. "Little cutie, where are you, ahh~~."

Just like someone hoping to see their treasured darlings, his final syllable was dragged out.

Zuo Yu and Yan Biao both felt a chill across their back as goosebumps appeared on their arms. Especially at the floating "ahh~~" at the end. Yan Biao felt like hitting someone when he heard it.

If anyone in the outpost had dared to talk like that, he would have communicated with their faces using his fists. However, since this was not the military, he had to get used to it.

Twitching his mouth, Yan Biao cursed in his heart as he checked through the equipment that these people had brought and made sure they had not hidden any hidden cameras or any such items. However, he still placed 30% of his attention on the five people as they entered the house. Being cautious at every moment, maintaining their alertness, and guarding against people other than their boss were their duties as bodyguards.

Although the other four were slightly slower, they voluntarily put down and opened their suitcases. They had encountered these sorts of situations too often and had long ago gotten used to it.

The few of them curiously looked at Curly Hair, who had just run out from the study.

"This is that golden competition dog? Indeed, it isn't ordinary at all!"

One of them clicked her tongue in admiration. "Look at this fur! Look at those lively eyes, they are so pretty!"

Zuo Yu and Yan Biao, who were going through the contents of the suitcases, were bewildered. They had been with Fang Zhao for a long time and had seen Curly Hair for so long, even though he had the hallowed title of "Golden Competition Dog," it shouldn't be that exaggerated, right? These few were praising him straight in his face, but they also shouldn't do so blindly!

However, Curly Hair was not on friendly terms with these strangers and stood three steps away, baring his teeth and growling. This was a warning to the people who had come.

This was also not the first time these people had come into contact with dogs. They could tell the intentions of a dog from its actions, so they stood three steps away from Curly Hair and observed him from there.

Noticing that Fang Zhao had come out, the youth at the front put on a warm and amiable smile. "Good day, Mr. Fang. I'm Wa Kaning, the person in charge of the team here to help establish a record for the two pets at your home. You can also call me Wa Wa. This here is my partner, Muto. The rest are..."

Wa Kaning introduced his partner, who was also a vet, and the cameraman to Fang Zhao. After exchanging pleasantries, they wasted no time and immediately went straight to the main issue. To these people, nothing had more appeal than pets, even if the person standing before them was a Yanzhou teen idol who was a hotly discussed topic and had been hogging the recent limelight.

"May I ask if we can start the recording?" Wa Kaning asked.

Fang Zhao did not know that Wa Kaning's assessment of him was "teen idol." Hearing the question, he nodded. "Sure."

"Can we get closer to examine him?" Wa Kaning meant that they needed to come into contact with the pet's body and hoped that the owner, Fang Zhao, would cooperate.

Fang Zhao made eye contact with Curly Hair, who was crouching, and said, "All right, he won't bite anyone now."

Not biting anyone now didn't mean that Curly Hair wouldn't bite humans any other time.

Wa Kaning and the others were considered old hands and could understand what Fang Zhao meant. Furthermore, they could judge from experience whether a dog would bite or not.

However, when they saw Curly Hair standing there obediently to cooperate with the examination, Wa Kaning and the others could not be bothered to think about anything else. Eyes gleaming, they carried the equipment case over and put on thin gloves.

Muto had already turned on an electronic board and had started recording information.

"Name, Curly Hair?" Wa Kaning looked at Fang Zhao. "Certain?"

Seeing Fang Zhao nod his head, Muto filled in that section of the form.

In their hearts, Wa Kaning and the few others did not approve of such an ordinary name. However, the person who decided a pet's name was its owner. Even if the few of them had any objections, they could only keep those objections to themselves.

Wa Kaning studied Curly Hair attentively while reporting the information that needed to be recorded. "Build, small."

Curly Hair's height, which slightly exceeded 40 centimeters, would barely have been enough to be considered a medium-sized dog in the Old Era. However, in the New Era where the average height of dogs was over 80 centimeters, he could only be considered a small-sized dog. This was also the reason why people had not considered Curly Hair a sheep-herding dog when they had first seen him. In Muzhou, there were no fully grown sheep-herding dogs that were this small!

One of the reasons many Muzhou people felt ashamed was because, despite having so many sheep-herding dogs, they had all been crushed by this little thing.

Wa Kaning continued reporting the information. Some of the information was furnished by Fang Zhao. "Sex, male. Date of birth, unknown. Age, 3-5 years. Occupation, dog..."

After all, Curly Hair was a stray picked up from the black street, and there was a lot of information that was unknown. Although his age was unclear, test results taken in Muzhou back then could be used to give a rough estimate of his age, which did not exceed five. Human lifespans had increased in the New Era, as had the lifespans of dogs. A five-year-old dog was not considered middle-aged. Curly Hair was still considered young.

"Hobbies?" Wa Kaning asked Fang Zhao.

"Games," Fang Zhao replied.

Wa Kaning looked at the toy ball for dogs lying in the corner and understood. This was indeed a dog that loved to exercise. If this dog could not be herding sheep on the pastures, he could only play games with his owner every day. Perhaps frisbee, fetch, or other such small games?

Wa Kaning carefully extended his hand to touch the fur on Curly Hair's back while observing Curly Hair's mood and reaction. "Fur color..." 

"Fur color? Gray. Unevenly distributed gray," Yan Biao answered. He thought to himself, Fur color ain't simple, and I can't see any regular patterns. It has a sort of a messy feel, but the wording I just used should sound quite refined, eh?

However, the five people from PET glanced at Yan Biao as though they were looking at a country bumpkin before minding their own business and continuing with the recording.

"Gradual layers of gray. The base layers are ash gray to silver. Back, ears, tail are covered by a darker shade of gray fur..."

Wa Kaning continued reporting the information for recording and Muto keyed the information into the electronic board. From the nose to the tip of the tail right down to the claws, everything was recorded down in detail.

Curly Hair was very cooperative. He stood up when he was required to and laid down when told to do so.

During this process, Wa Kaning's own evaluation was this:  Considerably docile.

After a round of simple tests, Wa Kaning said, "Let's measure his bite strength."

Before setting out from headquarters, they had sent a chart to Fang Zhao. On it had been information and examination options that Fang Zhao could choose from according to what he approved and the equipment and instruments they could bring along. Now, the examination was in line with Fang Zhao's choices.

"The vet has checked his teeth already, but the bite-strength test will show the functionality and health of the mouth," Wa Kaning said as he brought took an instrument for testing bite strength out of his suitcase.

It looked like a little toy stick with a bone-shaped sensor at its head. The instrument also had a smell that made dogs excited.

Given the level of technology now, it was actually possible to get a rough estimate of a dog's bite strength just by examining the teeth. However, people from PET just lived to use these primitive methods—baiting the dog into biting so they could obtain data from the instrument's sensor.

When Wa Kaning was not looking, Fang Zhao made a "slow down" gesture, hinting that Curly Hair should show restraint.

Indeed, the sensor smell got Curly Hair all excited and he bit down on it immediately.

"Six hundred one kilograms!" Wa Kaning exclaimed in astonishment when he saw the figure.

There was shock on the others' faces as well.

A small pet dog with a bite strength of 601 kilograms?

Humans only had a bite strength of a few tens of kilograms. Larger pet dogs in the Old Era had had bite strengths roughly at or above 100 kilograms. However, during the Period of Destruction, because dog species had mutated and there had been changes to the environment, survival conditions had been much harsher and there had been dogs with bite strengths of 500 to 600, and sometimes even higher.

But 500 years had already passed since the end of the Period of Destruction. Even if the gene and lineage had continued, the environment had become peaceful and easy. Also, their sources of food had changed, and after 500 years, the average bite strength of dogs had already dropped to 200 to 300 kilograms. Other than dogs with certain occupational uses, it was very rare to see a dog that had a 600-kilogram bite strength.

And it was the first time such figures had been seen from a small domestic pet dog ever since PET had been established.

"Could it be that... there was an error in the test?" Muto asked.

Wa Kaning had a puzzled look on his face. "Wait a minute. Let me calibrate it first before testing once more." He remembered that he had calibrated the equipment before heading over, and the instruments did not have any problems. How could such a figure have appeared?

After calibrating, Wa Kaning chuckled as he faced Curly Hair. "Come, cutie, let's try it out once more."

Yan Biao, who was standing beside him, thought,  Didn't he call Curly Hair "little cutie" when he first entered? What happened to the "little"?

When the instrument was raised up to Curly Hair's mouth, Curly Hair bit down on it. At the moment he bit down, an ominous glint flashed through his eyes.

Krrack!

A cracking sound came from the instrument, but it did not break. However, the display had been rendered unable to record any figures. The instrument had been broken by that bite.

The apartment was filled with the sound of exhaling.

The five of them were very clear on the quality of equipment their own company provided. Even though they had only brought over a low-level bite-strength instrument, "low level" did not mean its quality was poor. How much bite strength could it have taken to break the instrument?

Unless the instrument had already been broken to begin with?

But was that possible?

Saying that their PET equipment was defective was just like saying that Fiery Bird's game consoles were of poor quality!

Muto's face was rigid. He did not know how to record this. With this sort of bite strength that could damage the instrument, regardless of whether Curly Hair's teeth or muscles could withstand it, this strength alone made them feel terrified!

Wa Kaning wiped off the cold sweat on his forehead. At the moment when Curly Hair had bit down on the instrument, he had felt a chill across his body and hadn't been able to help but gulp. He had suddenly felt that he was too close to the dog.

As for the vet who had helped checked Curly Hair's mouth and teeth a moment ago, he felt goose bumps appear all over his arm as he shivered. His back felt clammy and he wriggled his fingers. Just now, when he had been examining Curly Hair's mouth, his fingers had even touched Curly Hair's teeth.

Although the instrument had been broken on the second test, in that short moment beforehand, Wa Kaning had seen the figure exceed 1000. However, before the figure had stabilized, the instrument had broken. With this sort of bite strength, if he were to bite down viciously, even placed in a group of sheep-herding dogs from Muzhou, he would be able to crush seven or eight large dogs as if they were playthings.

When they thought about Curly Hair taking part in two iterations of sheep-herding competitions, they could not help but sweat a little for those sheep and dogs of Muzhou. There had not been any news of bloody affairs over there, but had this dog really never bitten anybody before? Forget about sheep and dogs, even biting a person to death would be an easy feat. A human bone would be crushed in one mouthful. Luckily, Curly Hair was small. If he was larger, that would be even more dangerous!

"Then... are we still going to test again? I still have a spare sensor instrument in my case, but it is an old model and isn't for dogs, so it might not be that accurate," one of the veterinarians said. Instruments not meant for dogs might not produce reliable figures and did not have the bite-inducing smell, so it was not known whether the dog would use so much force to bite it.

"He seems a little impatient," Wa Kaning said. He realized that Curly Hair seemed to really not like instruments, and the dog seemed to be a little moody. Could it be that Curly Hair did not like the smell? The people who had manufactured this equipment had even said that all dogs loved it. That was a lie!

Yan Biao and Zuo Yu exchanged glances and thought to themselves, Now he isn't even using "cutie." Has he been scared shitless?

Not just Wa Kaning and the people from PET—actually, Yan Biao and Zuo Yu had also gotten a scare today. They had also never known that Curly Hair could bite like that.

As for whether or not they should continue the test, the decision was in the hands of the owner, Fang Zhao. Wa Kaning and the others looked toward him.

The apartment fell silent.

Fang Zhao broke the silence. "Record the first test result. The figures from the second time were inconclusive."

"All right," Wa Kaning said.

Their objective was not clear-cut figures. As long as the first test's figures were real and the equipment had not been defective, that was more than enough. They wouldn't investigate further. They at PET had come across all sorts of strange, bizarre pets that could shock people. Thus, although Curly Hair did have shocking bite strength, thinking back to other occasions, it really wasn't a big deal.

If he wasn't special, how could he have caused waves in Muzhou and forced them to change the rules? How would he have gotten the nickname "Golden Competition Dog"?

Being extraordinary was expected.

Wa Kaning sighed deeply and made a gesture to Muto with his hands.

Muto gave a light sigh, shook his head and recorded ">600 kilograms" in the file and typed "Extremely fierce!" in the remarks column.

Chapter end