Superstars of Tomorrow

Compared to the awkward atmosphere outside, the vibe inside the room was much more relaxed.

“‘It was an exceptional piece; the mood was fitting. Keep it up’,” Fang Zhao said.

Yuhua was stunned for a moment which gave way to a light smile. “You recognized it. No wonder you are said to have divine ears. Your memory isn’t bad either.”

This sentence Fang Zhao mentioned had been the only thing Yu Hua had said through the call when Fang Zhao had been serving on Planet Baiji. Back then, Yu Hua hadn’t revealed her identity and had won Fang Zhao’s piece at the auction as an anonymous bidder.

“I never imagined that the anonymous bidder would be the Inter-planetary Fund’s top figure of authority.” Fang Zhao had never imagined that he had already made contact with the top figure behind the Inter-planetary Fund that early. However, had the Inter-planetary Fund been watching him since that long ago?

Yu Hua seemed to have guessed Fang Zhao’s thoughts and said, “Don’t worry, we don’t have any ill intentions. I personally stepped in to cover up this matter. You were able to recover from that kind of bullet wound so easily. Probably, if you went to the hospital later, they wouldn’t have even found any injury. That isn’t something that having a sturdy body can explain. Are you completely fine now?”

“Yes. Thank you,” Fang Zhao replied. He waited for the other party to continue.

Yu Hua smiled and went on. “You exposed your own secret to save Yuan Zheng. Do you regret that?”

“I don’t. He is a rare talent,” Fang Zhao answered naturally.

Yu Hua’s smile widened. “Indeed, he is a rare talent. If it were anyone else but you there, I’m afraid we would have lost two lives.”

There was a cold glint in Yu Hua’s eyes. This wasn’t targeted at Fang Zhao but those who had planned the assassination.

The smile returned to Yu Hua’s face as she glanced at Fang Zhao. “You have helped us a great deal this time. I came over today to express my thanks. Actually, I should have met you long ago, but I have been too busy. With this incident, I took the opportunity to come and discuss some other issues as well.”

Yu Hua sighed as if recalling something else. Her gaze went from placid to incisive. “Do you know about half-machine organisms?”

Fang Zhao’s heart skipped a bit. “I don’t.”

Yu Hua said softly, “My grandfather, whom you all know as the Inter-planetary Fund’s ‘Great Master Hengxin’ had a record of a type of creature in his diary:

“There is a type of “miracle substance” in the universe. Nobody knows how it forms, nor can anyone guess where it appears. It can’t be captured or duplicated. However, when it drifts to any planet with life, it seizes the genetic information of a living organism, using it as a framework to form a brand new organism. This new organism can replicate the form and existence of its template. If the template is a cat, it takes the form of a cat; if the template is a dog, it takes the form of a dog. At the same time, it also becomes a sort of mechanical lifeform. Therefore, it is termed a half-machine organism. It has no natural predators and can even survive in the extreme conditions of outer space. It is really the true apex predator of the universe. Of course, calling it a predator doesn’t come close because it can eat anything.”

What Yu Hua said to Fang Zhao was indeed quite shocking. He had originally thought that Curly Hair was just a special alien lifeform. But now, he was a “miracle”.

Fang Zhao thought of something and asked, “What happens to the original ‘template’?”

Yu Hua shook her head. “This, I don’t know. However, I can guess that such an organism favored by the universe carries an extraordinary energy field when it first forms. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have become like this. You might still be you, but you might not be the original you.”

After discovering the existence of Curly Hair, the Inter-planetary Fund had also investigated Fang Zhao as well as that black street. However, the investigations yielded that only Fang Zhao exhibited clear changes. Back then, the apartments closest to Fang Zhao weren’t affected much.

Fang Zhao understood what Yu Hua implied. She was trying to explain why Fang Zhao’s body was much stronger than an average human and why he could recover from that sort of highly penetrative bullet in such a short time.

However, Fang Zhao was thinking about the day that he had transmigrated.

If that “miracle substance” had taken Curly Hair as a template to form a new life, could that mongrel have actually died that night? Had he been substituted by a new lifeform with the same body? Was that why Curly Hair had no previous memories?

When this new life was formed, a special energy field had appeared. Perhaps the special energy emitted had caused Fang Zhao to awaken in this body.

If Curly Hair wasn’t that original mongrel…

Then, was Fang Zhao’s body the original “Fang Zhao”?

Or was this body also a replica?

There was no way to know all of this. However, his revival was a fact. He had walked the earth 500 years ago and had come back to life.

The wound on his abdomen had completely disappeared. There were no signs of a gunshot wound.

“The universe is a place where miracles are born,” Fang Zhao said.

Yu Hua eyed Fang Zhao and suddenly chuckled. She shifted her focused gaze away. “For an uncontrollable factor like Curly Hair, it ought to be disposed upon discovery. At the time, Curly Hair was still in his infancy. Just because it had no natural enemies didn’t mean it was immortal. Ultimately, we decided to observe first. Someone was actually able to restrict this monster, turning threat into assistance. Fang Zhao, it was you that made me withdraw the order to dispose of Curly Hair.”

Yu Hua’s gaze fell back onto Fang Zhao like a kindly elder looking at a young junior who could be entrusted with a heavy responsibility.

1

Fang Zhao: ???

Yu Hua turned serious. “Fang Zhao, from your music, I can tell that you really love our little blue planet. However, Curly Hair isn’t the same. He is a special existence that has no sense of belonging towards other people or these planets. Now that he has matured, in human terms, he is like the child of the universe. Nobody knows how much power he possesses, nor if he has any weaknesses. I don’t wish to see a day I have to go against him. Neither do I wish to see the day he becomes an enemy of humankind. If such a day were to really come, then that would really be an all-encompassing ‘Period of Destruction’, perhaps even more disastrous than the hundred-year Period of Destruction humankind experienced in the past.”

Fang Zhao’s pupils shrunk. As someone who had personally experienced the Period of Destruction, those words impacted him greatly.

According to Fang Zhao’s understanding of Curly Hair, what Yu Hua said really wasn’t alarmist talk. Fang Zhao had long been aware. This was the reason he had always been guiding Curly Hair.

“Fang Zhao, your body was modified by the energy of a miraculous substance of the universe. You still have a very long life. Curly Hair can bring destruction, but he can also bring protection. Our Inter-planetary Fund is merely the pioneer. The task of protection shall be left to you. That protection is not for our Inter-planetary Fund but for all the people on our planet.”

The Inter-planetary Fund was satisfied with Curly Hair’s current development trend. Therefore, the Inter-planetary Fund had lent some help to Fang Zhao multiple times. They couldn’t find Curly Hair’s weakness nor did they have confidence in controlling this universe’s apex predator if he went berserk. Furthermore, the Inter-planetary Fund had their own tasks. Right now, their efforts were focused on warp engine research as well as stopping the disturbances of certain terrorists organizations. They didn’t have the resources to handle the unstable element, Curly Hair, concurrently. Fortunately, it seemed like they didn’t have to waste too many resources to deal with Curly Hair since they could leave the job to Fang Zhao. If Curly Hair was guided in the correct direction, he would also be a trump card for humankind.

Fang Zhao being able to control this unstable element within a satisfiable range was a good thing. The Inter-planetary Fund wasn’t willing to disrupt this equilibrium.

Thus, Yu Hua had made time to meet with Fang Zhao here to discuss their future cooperation.

They already guessed that Curly Hair needed energy to grow. Yu Hua expressed that the Inter-planetary Fund could provide help and even some power ores.

After two hours of discussion, Yu Hua gave Fang Zhao an extra contact number. “I’ll be very busy during this period. This is my assistant’s contact number. You can contact him directly if you have any thoughts regarding what we discussed today. He knows about Curly Hair too.”

Having said all this, Yu Hua prepared to leave. She paused when she was almost at the door. “Let me reveal some information to you since you saved an important engineer. In another decade or century, you won’t regret taking that bullet for Yuan Zheng.”

Fang Zhao glanced over with a puzzled look on his face.

The corners of Yu Hua’s mouth curled upwards. “A new era is arriving. You will get to see it shortly. As a celebrity in the entertainment circle, you too will get busy soon. Be prepared.”

Yu Hua left hastily after she said this.

Fang Zhao remained seated there, trying to analyze the meaning of what Yu Hua had just said.

As the top authoritative figure of the Inter-planetary Fund who worked closely with the government and military, these wouldn’t just be some casual words.

A new era?

You won’t regret taking the bullet for Yuan Zheng?

This was a lot of information.

Yuan Zheng was one of the core engineers on the warp engine project. Then, did “a new era” mean that the new generation of warp engines would bbe successful?

A sparkle appeared in Fang Zhao’s eyes at the thought of this.

Others in his position wouldn’t have these considerations. However, as a leader who had experienced the Period of Destruction, Fang Zhao was all too clear on the significance of this.

Fang Zhao had always paid close attention to news regarding the warp engine. If the new generation warp engine project was successful, it would greatly reduce the time and cost of traveling between planets on the development sequence! While it wouldn’t necessarily achieve actual warp jumps across entire star systems, it was still good news!

The Outer Space Immigration Plan could proceed!

Outer space immigration had been a topic that people had always taken note of. But currently, even Planet Baiji, Planet Wai and other hotly discussed planets in recent years had yet to be completely open to the public. Only a small portion of people would go to those places, and the cost of such immigration wasn’t cheap. Most people only took vacations to those planets. Immigration? That was totally out of the question.

Land, housing, environment and resources were all important things to consider. Even in Yanzhou’s metropolitan core, Qi’an City, there were still many black street residents who found it hard to get any sunlight from the bottom floors of those towering buildings.

A new era…

That would be an even more spacious era!

“I’ll wait and see!”

Fang Zhao was in really good spirits because of this tidbit of information… until he saw Curly Hair and Nanfeng.

When Fang Zhao found the two of them, Curly “Child-of-the-Universe/Apex-Predator” Hair was squeezed on a bench together with Nanfeng playing games.

One was giggling with the handheld machine.

The other was laughing with his tongue stuck out.

1

The two looked like blissful fools.

Fang Zhao: “…”

How worrisome.

Much still remained to be done.