Superstars of Tomorrow - Chapter 219

Chapter 219: Auction Item

When the team returned to the outpost, Bie Liao immediately called a few men to send over that unidentified creature to the base and let the specialists there study how it had managed to avoid detection.

This time, Fang Zhao did not follow them and return to base, nor did he want to fight and claim meritorious deeds. Instead, he straightaway went to ask the outpost’s quartermaster, “Do you have an engraving machine?”

“Engraving machine? What sort?” The outpost’s quartermaster was considerably older and had gotten hurt during the attack, but it had not been too serious. He had returned to the outpost shortly after receiving some treatment at the base. Perhaps because he had experienced the attack, he was a lot more sincere toward Fang Zhao.

Fang Zhao fished out the broken tooth and told the quartermaster, “I wish to inscribe some words on it. There might be a lot of words, so it has to be a little smaller.”

As an experienced quartermaster who knew every machine’s capabilities by heart, he shook his head when he heard what Fang Zhao said. “The outpost doesn’t have something like that. You will need to borrow it from the base. I can help you check first. Normally, nobody uses this sort of machine. However, there are no guarantees. After all, the base has many large projects running concurrently, as planet Baiji is expanding, Perhaps someone has already borrowed it? Oh, there is still one machine. I’ll help you make a reservation.”

Fang Zhao thanked the old quartermaster and contacted Bie Liao to collect the engraving machine from the base. Fang Zhao had already made a reservation through the intranet, so Bie Liao could retrieve it straightaway.

Fang Zhao left the equipment room and returned back to his own room. He saw Kevin Lin lying stiff like a corpse. Kevin Lin had been like this for the past few days.

To improve his professional ability and be able to follow the outpost team in future, Kevin Lin was undergoing military training that was even more rigorous than what Fang Zhao had gone through in the Yanzhou military district. Kevin Lin’s training was more oriented toward combat capabilities.

The two in charge of training Kevin Lin were veteran soldiers who knew what methods were most appropriate for him. They did not hope that Kevin Lin’s combat capabilities would see a sudden change, but what they wanted Kevin Lin to grasp was how to flee in dangerous situations and how to improve his physical constitution.

According to Kevin Lin’s own formulated plan, he’d felt that he could become a superhuman, but now he just didn’t feel like doing anything. Just a tiny bit of high-intensity training was already enough to make him lie down.

Hearing the sound of Fang Zhao entering, Kevin Lin remained lying there and feebly asked, “How was it today?”

“Not too bad. I gained quite a bit,” Fang Zhao replied.

Kevin Lin only raised his head at this and asked curiously, “What sort of gains?” Having collaborated with Fang Zhao for so long, Kevin Lin somewhat understood Fang Zhao. What Fang Zhao meant was that, besides the normal happenings, something unexpected had happened today.

Fang Zhao recounted the incident with that creature and fished out the broken tooth. “This is its tooth.”

Kevin Lin’s lackluster attitude dissipated and his spirits raised. He brought the camera over to him and forwarded to the part Fang Zhao had spoken about.

“It’s not bad, but we still do not know the base’s verdict. If it can really improve our equipment, that would be a talking point, but if it the results are out, we have to edit away that conversation in the video. What do you intend to inscribe on it?” Kevin Lin asked curiously. He had learned of Fang Zhao’s purpose for picking up the broken tooth.

Fang Zhao simply said two words: “Song score.”

Just these two words were enough to make Kevin Lin pause his video editing. “Song score!?”

Although Fang Zhao had not produced many songs, every one of them had sold for a high price. Recently, Kevin Lin had been thinking about what sort of news to release to attract attention. Now Fang Zhao had just given him a topic on a silver platter.

“Has it already been composed?” Kevin Lin no longer bothered with editing the video as he glanced at the notebook Fang Zhao had taken out

“Not yet. I still need to make adjustments,” Fang Zhao replied.

Kevin Lin expressed his concern. “Will you be able to make it in time for the auction?”

“Yeah, I’ll be able to.”

Kevin laughed and walked over to the other side. “That’s good. Go on then, I shall not disturb you.” He also did not continue with the editing and went to browse online instead.

Along with construction on planet Baiji, the networking and communications were being improved daily. With the improved facilities, certain people had also received benefits—for example, military reporters and people like Kevin Lin. They were able to use planet Baiji’s communications to connect to Earth’s internet, but with a time constraint. Every day, usage was limited to an hour. Anyone that exceeded the time would have to pay for the expensive internet fees they exceeded.

Due to technological advancements, internet and communications had developed and internet fees were much cheaper. However, now, they were not on Earth but the distant and remote planet Baiji. The internet here had not been made available for public use and these people were receiving a special privilege and would need to pay extravagant fees for overuse.

Kevin Lin was willing to pay the high internet fees. After all, he would not be the one forking out the money. If what he browsed was within the scope, he could set an expense report. The only issue was the lag time as he browsed, and everything he wanted to upload had to be audited, but on the whole, it was even more convenient than before.

The first thing Kevin Lin did was to update a new status on his on social platforms. If one didn’t make ripples for three days, all that would remain on the river was folklore.[1] The entertainment circles had a short memory. Although Fang Zhao had been all the rage online a while back, after a few days, all sorts of news had squeezed him out. To maintain popularity, there was a need to constantly refresh one’s presence all over the internet.

Kevin Lin had enjoyed a brief period of celebrity treatment and had already gotten addicted to that feeling. Thus, he would not let such a good opportunity slip by.

The other four channels trying to stir up news had squeezed out his popularity. Two days ago, there had been news about S2’s Fritz having an allergic reaction and being disfigured. Yesterday, news had been stirred up about S4’s Tianhao and a female nurse. Today, S1’s Li Xiaoxiao had announced a collaboration with the Animal Protection Society to appeal for the protection of native species, which had created considerable activity. These d*mn four channels had conspired to take turns generating hot topics!

With his many years of experience in this field, Kevin Lin could tell that Fritz’s allergic reaction and disfiguration had been exaggerated. The allergic reaction was definitely true, but definitely not to that extent that it had been hyped up.

The sex scandal that S4 had stirred up was also fake. Woo Tianhao would be asking for trouble if he were to brazenly approach women on the base. Whether he’d really had the intention or not, at most, this matter was only to generate more discussions. After two days, they would pull the same method and clarify the situation. The operations team had chosen to stir this news after observing Woo Tianhao’s fans.

As for channel S1’s animal protection society calling for conservation of the ecology and the protection of native species, it didn’t amount too much. However, when Kevin Lin browsed the comments, somebody mentioned that “certain celebrities were too cruel and merciless when killing animals” and other such comments. The person leaving the comments was also an internet personality. Even though names were not mentioned, Kevin Lin knew that the person being spoken about was Fang Zhao.

In the videos Kevin Lin had sent back over the past few days, there had been a number of scenes where Fang Zhao had shot creatures, which might have upset some sensitive parties.

That was not to say that protecting indigenous species was wrong. Kevin Lin himself had also donated lots of money to these sorts of associations. He used to have a dream of buying an apartment in a scenic area in Muzhou to be close to nature. Many people that had grown up in a concrete jungle since they were young had this sort of desire.

There was an ecology-monitoring system on planet Baiji. Previously, when planet Baiji was not being developed, every year, people would be dispatched for an inspection. Outpost teams had also had strict restrictions when it came to hunting. People in the New Era regarded these sorts of conservation as important.

But during those dangerous situations in the videos, were they supposed to just stand there and wait to die? Even if Fang Zhao had not shot those beasts, the others would have done so.

Moreover, did they break the rules normally? Did they kill indiscriminately? Was there overhunting?

No!

But Kevin Lin could not clarify it straightaway. If he made any sounds, people would talk about a guilty conscience.

In the past, Kevin Lin would have surely made known his thoughts and started scolding, but now, Kevin Lin’s temperament was different. When one’s status was on the rise and they were becoming more popular, their lines of thought would change. He would not lower himself to the level of those fools by replying them. Instead, that effort would be better spent thinking about how to stir up more stuff in future.

Ever since planet Baiji had been moved into the top five in the development sequence, lots of topics had inevitably been generated. For example, the upcoming auction would surely continue to bring a lot of internet activity. This was also the reason the other celebrity teams were rushing to raise their popularity and presence—so that their popularity would not take much of a beating when the time for planet Baiji’s auction came.

After the terrorist attack, people who were concerned with political news watched the military affairs channel. The reports there were more comprehensive and professional. Kevin Lin knew that his own political reporting could not be compared to those more senior reporters on the military affairs channel. If channel S5 were to continue on with the angle of military affairs, it would appear incongruous and would not be favorable to either side. Previously, the high viewership had been due to the terrorist attack. Now that it was over, people were no longer as interested.

The column’s editorial department had given him all sorts of suggestions. After considering them, Kevin Lin decided the channel should revolve around Fang Zhao.

Since he already knew Fang Zhao’s intention, Kevin Lin posted this status on his social platform:

[La La La~ Just saw Fang Zhao preparing his auction item. I can’t say what it is yet, but I can only let everyone know this: prepare your money! You will not make a loss if you can get that item! XD XD XD]

Whetting everyone’s appetite was enough, but the three successive XD emoticons at the end made many people gnash their teeth in disgust.

After posting, Kevin Lin did not bother checking on the rapidly increasing messages that were left under his status. He disconnected and started editing today’s video. He still needed to send the video back to the column; this was his everyday job.

At the same time, Fang Zhao’s three bodyguards assigned by Hong Lou had a discussion when they returned to base. They plucked up their courage to leave a message for Hong Liao requesting a transfer back.

By chance, Hong Lou had just ended a meeting and seen the message. His two sharp eyebrows twitched grotesquely as he contacted the three right away and inquired after the reason.

The three of them had pained expressions on the video display as they recounted the situation of the previous few days. To get where they were now, the three had experienced their fair share of real combat. They had also had lofty ambitions when they had followed Hong Lou over to planet Baiji. Originally, when Hong Lou had assigned them to protect Fang Zhao, they had been a little unwilling but had only been able to grudgingly obey orders. However, they had never expected to receive such a blow from Fang Zhao.

The major among the three told Hong Lou about what had happened today. When he recalled how Fang Zhao’s reactions and marksmanship were a step quicker than theirs, he could not help but ask. “General, didn’t you say he was an artist?”

Hong Lou had no way of replying to this question.

He also had no idea either and would have to ask his wife. His wife had told him that Fang Zhao was a celebrity with a composing background in the company. Wasn’t that just an artist?

[1] Pretty much saying that if one did not make his presence felt ever so often, he would easily be forgotten.