Superstars of Tomorrow

After Fang Zhao had been kept under observation in isolation for two days, he and the others were shifted to the quarantine apartment.

“Someone will come every day to check up on each room. The check up might be a little different from what you are used to. You can work in here and book timings for your three meals. You can also leave a message in advance if you do not wish to be disturbed…”

Fang Zhao and the others had already heard some of the matters and procedures before, and now the quarantine apartment supervisor was briefly reviewing some of the points.

“Let me know if you need anything.” The quarantine apartment supervisor looked towards Fang Zhao.

“A paperback notebook and a pen,” Fang Zhao replied.

Military work was military work while art was art. Even if he were kept on Whale Island for an entire month, Fang Zhao would still have to complete his unfinished thesis. Otherwise, if he couldn’t complete the assignments Old Venerable Mo had given him, Fang Zhao’s graduation would be delayed.

“Just that?” The supervisor asked in astonishment.

“They will do for the time being.”

“Alright, someone will deliver them over within ten minutes.” The supervisor made a mental note of Fang Zhao’s request and went to the next room.

It didn’t even take five minutes for a staff member to deliver the things Fang Zhao had requested. It was a whole set of stationery that was specially made for office use on Whale Island. The Whale Island insignias were even printed on both the notebook and the pens. There were even rulers and other stationery inside the bag that formed a complete set.

The room wasn’t large. It was about the size of a single room in a hotel, except that there was also a small gym and a small guest room attached. When Curly Hair completed his assignments, Zhao Chao would bring Curly Hair here.

The room had simple electronic entertainment installations, but there was limited internet accessibility here. The computer in the room could only access the intranet. Upon a closer look, there was the full series of “Founding Era” inside the media files. The guards who hadn’t caught up with it could watch this during the quarantine.

During the conference period, communications to the outside needed to be audited. However, once the Whale Island conference concluded, those restrictions would be relaxed. However, calls would still be monitored, and the personnel being quarantined had all been informed.

The Whale Island Conference lasted a few extra days more than the original plan. After the conference concluded, Fang Zhao contacted Nanfeng to bring Curly Hair back to his dormitory at HuangArt. Each day, Nanfeng just needed to go over and take him for a walk. As for everything else, Fang Zhao had already spoken to Curly Hair alone. Curly Hair knew where the feeding machine was. There was still quite a lot of food stocked up in the dormitory.

Fang Zhao had also specially exhorted Curly Hair to not eat anything else in the dormitory. “No eating the ‘Rabbit’! Otherwise no playing of games.”

On the day Curly Hair left Whale Island Region, Thornhead cried again. Thornhead didn’t cry because of their camaraderie. Neither did he cry because he didn’t want to see Curly Hair go. After the conference concluded, the results and merits of the service dogs were set. Because Curly Hair’s performance during the conference period was exceptional and he had rendered quite an amount of meritorious service, his comprehensive score was very high. K had also performed slightly better than Thornhead as well. Therefore, Thornhead was relegated to the third spot and cried in anger. Streaks of tears were still visible when he went outside.

His trainer explained to others. “Cough, he is grumpy again.”

The other members also came to the quarantine apartment to visit Fang Zhao before they left Whale Island. As the days of the quarantine passed, the chances of Fang Zhao being infected were continuously lowering. Thus, the mood was much more relaxed when everyone came to visit Fang Zhao.

After matters at Whale Island were complete, personnel continued to leave the island, and the island’s sealed state was lifted. It also became easier for Fang Zhao to contact the outside world, but there were still certain restrictions.

First, he had to contact Mo Lang.

“There are still some matters here, and I’ll only be able to return after another half a month.” Fang Zhao couldn’t give the explicit details as some information was still confidential.

Mo Lang didn’t press him for answers. There were things an experienced old man like him would understand. The old master was very happy as long as Fang Zhao was safe. He was also reassured that Fang Zhao was spending a lot of his time on the thesis and his work.

“That’s fine. You can consider it a change of environment for seclusion. Nobody would dare to disturb you.”

There still had been many online topics concerning Fang Zhao recently. Huangzhou entertainment reporters had been trying to find traces of Fang Zhao. Some gutsy reporters even camped outside Mo Lang’s residence.

Fang Zhao couldn’t access the internet and didn’t know too much about what was going on outside. Nanfeng had said it wasn’t serious and told him not to worry, so Fang Zhao didn’t pay any attention to it.

On the internet, there were many people talking about Fang Zhao. The countdown events of various continents received a lot of publicity. Celebrities and stars of various continents had shown their faces but no one had seen Fang Zhao at all.

There were people who guessed, “Fang Zhao was absent from Yanzhou’s countdown gala. Could it be that he went to Whale Island Conference?”

“Fang Zhao rendered a great service with the discovery of the Alkaid. Perhaps he obtained clearance to participate.”

Previously, there had been rumors that a certain internet celebrity had gone to Whale Island to participate in the conference. This was followed closely by rumors of certain actors and singers performing at Whale Island Conference because they had rejected the invitations for their own continents’ countdown events.

At a glance, all things seemed to point that Fang Zhao had really gone to Whale Island!

However, since this touched on Whale Island Conference, people didn’t dare discuss it too much online. Many posts elicited no response, so the majority of people didn’t know anything about the Whale Island Conference.

Very quickly, as the countdown events of various continents continued, the embargo on dissemination of Whale Island Conference information was lifted. Internet celebrities and other public figures posted proof of their participation at the Whale Island Conference such as photographs with various insignias or backdrops.

The conference had ended! It was time to flaunt and brag!

Now that the confidentiality period had passed, they could all show off for a bit.

However, there was still no activity on Fang Zhao’s end.

He was absent from Fiery Bird’s customer gratitude ceremony, absent from Yanzhou’s countdown gala, and absent from Huangzhou’s countdown event. He didn’t even appear Huangzhou Academy of Art’s student gala. Where exactly was he?

“Could it be that somebody is keeping him locked up somewhere?” Someone guessed.

“That is even more unlikely. Let’s not talk about the reason why Fang Zhao would be locked up. And even if that was the case, how long could it be for? There isn’t even a trace of him right now. Are Huangzhou entertainment reporters just for show?”

“Why is it that nobody believes that Fang Zhao is in lockdown mode? He is still undergoing advanced studies after all. Great Master Mo Lang has also said that he is shutting Fang Zhao in to complete his thesis.”

“You even believe this? Anything can be possible except him being shut in seclusion! Who would lock him in so long that he wouldn’t even appear at countdown events or even Fiery Bird’s important customer gratitude ceremony? Who would even have the guts to do so?!”

As all sorts of information and rumors flew about, there were people who spread that Fang Zhao’s Fiery Bird endorsement had been terminated.

Evidence?

“He didn’t even participate in Fiery Bird’s customer gratitude ceremony. Isn’t this equivalent to not giving Fiery Bird any face? Would Fiery Bird be able to accept this?”

“According to reliable sources, Fiery Bird is changing two of their ambassadors in the new year. Surely Fang Zhao is among them!”

At first, it was a small minority who were saying this. However, more and more people believed this conjecture in no time. Quite a number of top rated celebrity management companies from various continents also went to work, hoping to snag Fang Zhao’s endorsement for themselves.

At the beginning, Fiery Bird didn’t bother with all these online conjectures. However, as they watched these rumors go out of hand, they also became worried. Who said that we were changing ambassadors? In any case, we didn’t say so!

Very quickly, Fiery Bird’s public relations department came out with a statement with the main idea being, “New products of the Diting series will be released in the New Year. We will still be collaborating with Fang Zhao.”

When this official statement was released, some people were flabbergasted.

When did Fiery Bird have such a good temperament?

Fang Zhao had been absent from their important annual customer gratitude ceremony. How could Fiery Bird bear with this?

A brand new round of hot discussions made its way onto the internet again.

There were some that took the opportunity to smear Fang Zhao’s name, but the majority of these were small media outlets. Larger media outlets had more or less obtained some information through various means. They wouldn’t dare shoot their mouths off as long as they knew that Fang Zhao had appeared on Whale Island. This was also the reason Nanfeng had told Fang Zhao not to worry. Within the industry, no matter how much was faked or exaggerated, it would just be a short lived hype. While some media outlets would dabble in it, when it involved politics or the military, they wouldn’t dare to make careless statements.

Fang Zhao, who was largely oblivious to the online activity, was currently in a video call with Great-grandmother and Great-grandfather Fang.

Fang Zhao originally had plans to celebrate the new year in Yanzhou with the two elders, but his quarantine on Whale Island had thrown a wrench into his plans. In order to not let the two elder Fangs’ imaginations run wild, Fang Zhao had to speak to them.

Great-grandfather Fang had also been keeping an eye on the news recently. At the start, he had also believed that Fang Zhao was undergoing seclusion to prepare for his impending graduation. But after seeing the analysis online, doubt had also started to creep into his mind. Now that Fang Zhao had called them, Great-grandfather Fang was extremely delighted.

“At least this counts as seeing you, Little Zhao!” The smile that bloomed on Great-grandfather Fang’s face turned stiff when he saw a certain insignia on Fang Zhao’s end.

Beside him, Great-grandmother Fang had been about to say something, but she changed her words. “Little Zhao, how are you recently?”

“Not too bad. I’m eating and sleeping well.” Fang Zhao even stood up to let the two elder Fangs have a good look to show that he wasn’t hurt in any way.

“Oh, then that’s good!” Great-grandfather’s voice was a little shaky. “When… when can you come back?”

“I still have to stay for twenty something days. I’m sorry that I won’t be able to return and spend the New Year with you two.”

“It’s alright, it’s alright. All that matters is you return back safely,” Great-grandfather Fang said hurriedly.

With that, the smile on Great-grandfather Fang’s face deepened again before he ridiculed the New Year activities that had been planned by the retirement facilities. Fang Zhao sat there listening and responded from time to time.

There was a time limit for Fang Zhao’s call. The top right of the screen indicated that time was almost up. Great-grandfather Fang finished with one line. “Little Zhao, you have to be well!”

“Mmhm, I am doing just fine. I even ran two hours on the treadmill just now,” Fang Zhao said.

The call ended.

The smile on Great-grandfather Fang’s face thoroughly disappeared, and tears flowed down his cheek continuously.

During the video call, there had been a small Whale Island insignia at Fang Zhao’s side. When he saw that and recalled the discussions about Fang Zhao’s absence from all the various countdown events, Great-grandfather Fang could join the dots. After all, the two elders had served in the military for many years and knew quite a lot. There also knew the dangers that went on during every such conference to maintain the peace and stability on the surface.

What had Fang Zhao been transferred over there to do? What had he encountered?

Now it seemed like he was in quarantine!

Great-grandfather’s heart ached when he thought about the possible scenarios Fang Zhao could have encountered and felt lifeless no matter what he thought of.

This went on all the way until Memorial Day. The entire retirement facility was filled with cheer and joy as families came to visit their elders. Every year, this time was the most festive and joyous period.

When descendants came over to visit the two elders, Great-grandfather put on a smile, but he was actually down in the dumps.

Every time this year, little children would compare how much red packet money they received. Older kids would compare their school results, while adults would talk about their career and business.

Hearing someone mention Fang Zhao, Great-grandfather’s eyes welled up with warm tears and he started to cry. “My Little Zhao ah…”

Great-grandmother Fang coughed. “It’s the festive period! Why are you crying!”

Great-grandfather forcefully suppressed his crying.