Superstars of Tomorrow

Curly Hair wouldn’t randomly talk to people, with the focus on “people”.

However, the host and the audience at the competition grounds heard it as “not to talk to strangers”.

The host smiled warmly and said, “That ‘s right. We shouldn’t randomly talk to strangers most of the time. But of course, we are here at Fiery Bird’s All-Star match competition grounds. This is an officially verified contest, so talking a little is still fine. So, student [Little Curly Curls], how good are you with virtual rubik’s cubes?”

Curly Hair thought about his recent record against others on the learning platform and replied, “Not too bad.”

He also didn’t know what his own standard was. He had played with virtual rubik’s cubes on Fang Zhao’s gaming helmet before. Back then, he didn’t have access to the Internet. He was just competing against himself, so his results hadn’t been uploaded online. There simply wasn’t anybody who knew his real skill. Curly Hair didn’t have a clear understanding of his own ability, but he remembered Fang Zhao praising him before. It should probably be considered “not bad”.

The host didn’t know what Curly Hair was thinking. She could only assume that Curly Hair’s reply indicated a lack of confidence. Thus, she didn’t think much about it. No matter how good someone was, they would still be lacking against a world champion.

“So, student Little Curly Curls, are you ready for a challenge?”

“Wait a minute!”

Curly Hair ran to lock the door and set an alarm to prevent Fang Zhao from suddenly returning and exposing him.

The on-site audience heard some noise, and after a moment, [Little Curly Curls] responded, “Ready.”

The host looked towards the technician who gestured an ‘ok’, meaning there weren’t any issues. The host said, “Then, let’s begin.”

…

At another venue in the All-star match competition grounds, Zaro didn’t follow Woo Tianhao to watch gaming gods in practice matches. Instead, he found a spot to strike a pose.

Zaro had a “even though I’m not in the All-star lineup, but I still can easily snatch the headlines” sort of self-confidence.

His agent beside him had a wooden face. He didn’t think that Zaro could snatch too much attention away from the All-star match. However, as an exprienced agent, he was all too familiar with Zaro’s nasty temperament. On account of his high salary, there were some truths he couldn’t say. At this time, what he needed to do was shower Zaro with praise and swallow his other comments.

Zaro took a few satisfactory photos with great difficulty. Just as he was prepared to upload them, he saw fireworks and heard background music from a certain competition ground.

“It’s the rubik’s cube venue. Probably a challenger was successful or a new record was set,” Zaro’s agent said.

The minigame venues were different from the All-star match competition grounds. There were many students who didn’t have to attend school on weekdays and had come from afar to watch the All-star match. Although those minigame venues seemed busy, they weren’t much of a big deal. Most of the people there were lower-level students or parents bringing their young kids along. The older students would all be at the venues of bigger games like “Battle of the Century”. Thus, the moment there was anything fresh, the minigame venues couldn’t wait to try to catch people’s attentions.

In the meantime, Zaro had also received some push notifications from Fiery Bird’s All-star Match about this.

“A primary school student shattered the rubik’s cube record? Not just broke, but shattered? Since when could primary school students snatch headlines?” Zaro was displeased.

Inside the rubik’s cube competition venue.

On stage, the now-previous record holder turned from disbelief to self-doubt. His face was entirely pale.

He had lost the first match but was only slower by a bit. Thus, he suggested a three match series.

After that, he lost all three matches.

How had he encountered such a character? Why was this opponent always just a bit faster than him?

The sixteen-year-old former record holder fell into silence. If he couldn’t maintain his record, he only had two choices: think of a way to increase his speed or change profession. He had already earned enough in these two years and could indeed do other things. But! He just wasn’t willing to accept his loss! He had only been slower by a bit!

Perhaps he had done too many commercial activities and lacked practice?

To actually lose to a primary school kid!!

The host glanced at the technique and inquired with his eyes: Was there cheating? That person was so fast he seems more like a professional troll!

The technician shook his head. He had no way of determining it.

They had only used the most common learning console’s rubik’s cube. Rubik’s cubes ranged from low grade to high grade, and the competition today was using the learning console’s high grade rubik’s cube. The host had never imagined that such a situation would occur. However, to them, news was a good thing!

After the three matches, the host wished to understand more about Curly Hair.

“Can I eat something?” Curly Hair didn’t seem at all delighted about breaking the record. He hadn’t even gone all out.

“Of course you can.” The host chuckled. “Are you hungry? Right, it’s about time for lunch.”

Then, the on-site audience heard crunching sounds as if a biscuit was being chewed.

“Oh… are you having a snack? Snacks can’t be treated as a meal. Where is your parent?” the host asked.

“He has gone to school!” Curly Hair replied.

Afterwards, the host continued fishing for information. [Little Curly Curls]’s parent had gone to school and hadn’t returned in the afternoon. [Little Curly Curls] was left alone at home and could only have snacks.

“[Little Curly Curls]’s parent is still a student? Masters or doctorate? Which school? This parent should be disciplined!”

Members of the audience who thought they knew the truth gave [Little Curly Curls]’s parent an “irresponsible” tag.

There were indeed many parents who attended school while raising kids, but they also wouldn’t leave their young child alone at home for an entire day! There wasn’t even a robotic supervisor!!

Could it be that his family’s conditions were really difficult?

As the host continued fishing for information, the audience started to visualize an impoverished family. The parent was busy with studies, and the young child was all alone. The child stayed on his learning console and ate biscuits to pass time on the weekends.

How pitiful!!

The host also expressed her sympathy, but she was more conscious about whether it was possible to sensationalize it just a bit more. Thus, she asked Curly Hair to try a few other nonstandard larger rubik’s cubes that were more difficult to solve.

The audience then watched [Little Curly Curls] try out seven different varieties of rubik’s cubes at the host’s suggestion accompanied by the sound of munching. Each time, a new record was set.

The host thought to herself elatedly, I found a genius from random selection!

However, as the host prepared more rubik’s cubes, Curly Hair stopped.

“Hey! Hungry already? Let’s take a break and talk a little to relax,” the host said. Perhaps the student would relax their guard and have looser lips.

“Not playing anymore,” Curly Hair replied.

He wanted to go eat his dog food quietly, but the host kept blabbering on and trying to fish for info. She asked Curly Hair for his name and tried asking about his “father’s” name.

Could his “father’s’ name be said?!

If he said it, Fang Zhao would surely cut his Internet access and toss him to Muzhou to shepherd sheep!

He only wished to be a gamer dog and didn’t want to return to being a shepherd dog in Muzhou!

Curly Hair wanted to quit, but the host didn’t wish to let him off.

“We can continue after a short rest. Oh, right, there is a reward for successfully completing the challenge and setting a new record.” The host took the opportunity to mention this. After all, wouldn’t mentioning a reward work best in getting someone to stay?

Curly Hair got excited when he heard there was a reward.

“What is the reward?” Curly Hair asked.

“You will receive a really special one-of-a-kind All-star match edition learning console…”

“Don’t want it!” Curly Hair disconnected.

For things like learning consoles, one was enough. Reading comprehension exercises would still be difficult no matter how many learning consoles one had! No matter how special it was, it was still a learning console! To actually want to give another learning console for more assignments. You all are demons!

The host stared at the screen displaying “the other party has already terminated the call” and continued finishing her words with a rigid expression. “And a monetary prize of two million dollars.”

Curly Hair, who had already exited Fiery Bird’s All-star match channel, didn’t know there was still a monetary prize. Deep down, he was elated. Luckily, I escaped quickly!

He also noticed that this account was receiving too many messages from strangers.

He thought back to what he had said today and looked through the messages from these strangers. There were friend requests, commercial partnerships, skill solicitation, address requests, etc. But, none of these were important!

There was no problem. Nobody could tell that he was a dog. He also hadn’t exposed Fang Zhao. However, Curly Hair was… apprehensive. He kept feeling there was something wrong.

Have I caused trouble for Fang Zhao?

Human patterns were too profound. What Fang Zhao had said was correct. There was still a lot to be learned in pretending to be a human.

Curly Hair guiltily deleted all those messages and even removed the Fiery Bird All-star match icon.

However, there were still strangers sending him messages continuously. Curly Hair deleted them all without a second glance. He couldn’t send private messages because he didn’t have the friending functionality set up.

Finally, his inbox was completely clear. Curly Hair then deleted the call records. Would Fang Zhao know when he returned?

Fang Zhao was busy facing the barrage by the dissertation committee members and didn’t know about this.

Fang Zhao came out of the conference room after the six-hour-long extended dissertation defense ended. He spoke a little to Mo Lang before being escorted to the car by Zuo Yu and Yan Biao. The dissertation defense venue was a distance away from the dormitories. Besides teachers and students, there were also a number of entertainment reporters that had come to camp. Nanfeng immediately drove over to pick them up and prevent paparazzi trouble.

Nanfeng glanced at Zuo Yu and received a thumbs up indicating that Fang Zhao’s dissertation defense had gone smoothly. He said, “Boss, during your dissertation defense, Fiery Bird’s representative called again. They want you to participate in the match.”

“Mmhm, I already received their message.” Fang Zhao had received a new message the moment he had stepped out from the dissertation defense hall. It was from a Fiery Bird representative congratulating him for smoothly completing the dissertation defense and inviting him to participate in the All-star match as a special guest.

Nanfeng didn’t continue further. Instead, he talked about some news he had just seen to liven up the atmosphere.

“Boss, speaking of Fiery Bird’s All-star match, did you know that a primary school student went to wreck the All-star match today?! He even broke a few records in succession! Hahaha, interesting. This kid’s ID is called [Little Curly Curls]. That name is similar to our Curly Hair. It sounds even more intimate. I even gave him a like!”

Nanfeng jabbered on about how [Little Curly Curls]’s parents were irresponsible and had actually left the kid alone on the weekend with only biscuits to eat. How could biscuits be treated as proper food for a growing child?!

Fang Zhao: “….”

Fang Zhao had been about to decline Fiery Bird’s second invitation but paused instead.