Superstars of Tomorrow

After sending off the staffer from "Star of Tomorrow," Fang Zhao listened to Zuo Yu and Yan Biao recount their good fortune.

Zuo Yu couldn’t wait to relate it all to Fang Zhao. "Boss, you have no idea. I actually thought my luck was good enough, but a 10,000-dollar red packet! I have taken part in this sort of draw since I was young, but this is the first time I have ever won this sort of large red packet! But Yan Biao’s luck is even better! He actually won a big prize! Fiery Bird’s personal terminal bracelet, even though it’s just the normal version and not the luxurious one, is still worth at least five figures?"

"Actually, that’s wrong. It wasn’t our luck that was good; it was Curly Hair who was the lucky one. We let Curly Hair spin the wheel on our last tries. He is really worthy of being a golden competition dog worth over 100 million!" Yan Biao’s face was glowing. For this sort of draw, forget about big prizes, he had rarely even hit any small prizes, and this sort of special prize had been even more impossible. He had never expected to actually win it! Right now, he could not help but be all smiles.

This simply a change in fortune!

However, the last draw had been with the help of Curly Hair’s paw. Even if Yan Biao felt that he had experienced a change in fortune, in front of his boss, he still had to give merit to Curly Hair.

Whether it was really because of Curly Hair, having won the large prize, Yan Biao was in a good mood. This time, he had saved quite a bit of money and time, so he had bought some high-quality dog food online. In the past, he definitely would not have bought such high-quality food just for a dog.

"Did the interview go smoothly?" Zuo Yu asked.

"It was all right."

Fang Zhao felt it had gone rather smoothly. At the start, he might not have adapted and might have made it a little awkward. Having just returned from military service, he still had some lingering habits from his time with the forces. His first reaction had been to give the most crucial information in the shortest time possible. During the years of the Period of Destruction, because of the fighting that could have occurred at any time, whenever he had spoken or given instructions, most of the time he had spoken briefly and concisely.

However, when he had realized this problem, Fang Zhao had also quickly adjusted and had not continued to let the host feel stumped. This way, there wouldn’t be an awkward pause.

"Were you guys playing the Fiery Bird Lucky Spin game?" Fang Zhao asked.

"Yeah, every time Fiery Bird releases a new product, they have this sort of giveaway, but new and old members have a different number of chances. Boss, you have already registered as a Fiery Bird member, so you will only have three chances. How about you try it?" Zuo Yu was also anticipating this and wished to know what Fang Zhao’s luck would be like.

Yan Biao had also stopped what he was doing. He was also curious and full of anticipation, so he energetically urged Fang Zhao on. "Boss, you can let Curly Hair help you do the spin. His paws are really ’golden’! It’s very effective! Lucky without a doubt!"

Fang Zhao had opened the lucky spin page, and after confirming this was the page, he was in no rush to spin it. He instead talked to Zuo Yu and Yan Biao about the upcoming arrangements and sent them back to rest.

Zuo Yu and Yan Biao met each other’s gaze and smiled as a tacit understanding came to their minds. They felt that Fang Zhao surely cared about his image and wasn’t willing to do the lucky spin in front of his two bodyguards. He would lose face if his luck wasn’t good and he got a lousy prize. Curly Hair’s golden paws were not verified, and there were only two chances. Who knew if he was originally lucky or whether it had been coincidence? Or was he really that effective?

After Zuo Yu and Yan Biao left and there was nobody else around, Fang Zhao checked around the house and made sure the program staffer had not left any monitoring or recording devices behind before he called Curly Hair over and pointed to the gaming room. "Let’s go in and talk."

When Curly Hair saw the gaming room, he became more energetic, as he thought Fang Zhao was bringing him to play games again. After Curly Hair had returned, he had not been inside the gaming room yet.

The 10th-generation console had been brought to the office before Fang Zhao had left for military service. Placing it aside was a waste, so he had lent it to the gaming team. Most of the time, it had been the current gaming team captain, Jinro, who had used it.

After military service, Fang Zhao had also inspected it once. The console had been maintained well and was in good shape. There were no problems, so he had not brought it back. When he got busy, he would not have much time to use it.

Thus, at present, there were only a few simple pieces of gaming equipment, along with a gaming helmet, in the gaming room. However, for Curly Hair, it was more than enough.

Curly Hair excitedly rushed into the gaming room and was about to bury his head in the gaming helmet when he spotted Fang Zhao’s grave face, and his ears drooped instantly. Curly Hair did not know where he had gone wrong, but every time this sort of expression appeared on Fang Zhao’s face, it meant that Curly Hair had definitely done something wrong.

Curly Hair no longer cared about the gaming console and his wagging tail drooped down. He looked up at Fang Zhao nervously.

Fang Zhao looked at Curly Hair but did not say anything. Instead, he downloaded a spin wheel minigame. This was the sort that everyone in a household would play. Prizes and points could be set by the user.

In the options, Fang Zhao set up 10 columns. He decided to use this as an experiment, so he did not need to make it complicated. The prize columns only displayed a number from 1 to 10. After he had set this up, he disconnected the apartment’s internet and waved for Curly Hair. "Come over."

Curly Hair looked at the similar-looking spin wheel displayed on the screen, and his eyes had a blank look, but he still came over obediently.

"Did you help Zuo Yu and Yan Biao spin the wheel today?"

"Woof." It wasn’t a loud bark, as though he was just replying.

"You spun it twice?" Fang Zhao asked again.

"Woof."

Fang Zhao stared straight at Curly Hair. "Did you influence the spin wheel results?"

Curly Hair no longer made any noise. He probably knew which matter had made Fang Zhao, but he could not understand why Fang Zhao was angry. Wasn’t it just a lucky spin? Weren’t Zuo Yu and Yan Biao very happy?

Faced with Fang Zhao’s stare, Curly Hair let out a low whimper. This meant that it was just as Fang Zhao had said.

Fang Zhao let out a low sigh. "So that was the case." He just knew that both Zuo Yu and Yan Biao striking a prize could not have been so coincidental. It wasn’t impossible, but the probability of them both having a burst such of great luck was really low.

Anybody not in the know would surely think that these two were overflowing with luck and had experienced a change in fortunes, or if they saw it from a fun way, it was as Yan Biao had said about having "dog-sh*t luck," "golden paws," or whatever just for a laugh. But the moment Fang Zhao had heard that Curly hair was involved, he had realized something. He just hadn’t shown it on his face.

Now, there was nobody else in the house. Fang Zhao had already disconnected the internet, and he pointed to the spin wheel displayed on the screen and told Curly Hair, "Spin a 9."

Curly Hair had a look of suspicion, but he still listened to Fang Zhao’s instructions. He lifted his paw and hit the "spin" button.

The spin wheel started spinning rapidly but then slowed down, and the pointer needle came to a stop in the middle of the "9" column.

Fang Zhao did not say much but continued, "Now spin an 8."

Curly Hair complied.

Just like the previous time, when the wheel came to a stop, the pointer needle was right in the middle of the "8" column.

Following that, Fang Zhao continued letting Curly hair continue to spin the wheel. Whatever number Fang Zhao called out, Curly Hair was able to accurate land on that column.

Ten times, 20 times...

After 30 times, Fang Zhao finally let Curly Hair stop.

After 30 rounds of tests, there was no doubt about whether Curly Hair could influence the spin’s results.

Fang Zhao walked in front of Curly Hair and said to him seriously, "In the future, be more prudent when it comes to this sort of thing."

Fang Zhao wasn’t trying to scare Curly Hair, but this sort of thing required some sort of caution, and it was better not to have a next time. Fang Zhao also didn’t want to let Curly Hair win him a large prize, just to be safe.

There were always shenanigans of some sort involved in these sorts of online giveaway activities. Large prizes were not that easy to hit.

Once or twice could be reasoned as chance or perhaps a problem with the system, but if it occurred too many times, it would attract unwanted attention. And Fang Zhao knew that he and Curly Hair were different from others.

Curly Hair’s IQ was still increasing, but he was still just like a human child, unable to properly and prudently determine what things he should go about. Without proper guidance when he made a mistake, the consequences were still unknown.

Fang Zhao did not know what sort of level Curly Hair’s IQ would increase to, but he felt he needed to watch Curly Hair a little more.

After making Curly Hair aware of his mistakes, Fang Zhao then explained to Curly Hair why he shouldn’t do such things. He knew that Curly Hair could understand him now.

The moment people found out that a dog was behind the lucky spin’s prize anomaly, it would surely blow up, and Curly Hair would surely be taken away to be experimented on.

After five minutes of lecturing, Fang Zhao saw that Curly Hair was getting listless, so he pointed to the gaming helmet to the side. "Go play some games, but no going online."

"Woof!"

Fang Zhao looked on as the listless Curly Hair immediately livened up, expertly buried his head into the gaming helmet, changed the displayed image on the screen, and started playing his whack-a-mole game.

The entire screen was filled with the special effects of fireworks from adding points. Looking at the points on the side rapidly rising, it was very hard to imagine that it was actually a dog playing. Even if a highly skilled gamer were the one playing this game, he might not be able to achieve this level. If one was to just look at the screen and the rapid speed the points were increasing at, their first thought would be that the computer was playing by itself. Probably only a computer was able to achieve this sort of standard.

Fang Zhao recalled back to when he had received the surveillance footage from the black street. In the video, there had been a point where almost every internet connection and all the surveillance footage had been disrupted at exactly the same time!

Something that nobody knew about had to have happened at that instant.

Curly Hair was a native dog, that was certain. When he had just been reborn, Fang Zhao had brought Curly Hair to the drug store, and the boss of the drug store, Ai Wan, had run some blood tests and genetic analysis on Curly Hair and had even speculated what sort of breed Curly Hair’s ancestors were.

This dog was odd.

That had been Fang Zhao’s guess. Fang Zhao had even pondered whether his rebirth had something to do with Curly Hair. Otherwise, why had it only been him who had gotten a chance at a second life?

"What exactly are you?"

Fang Zhao watched Curly Hair immersed in the game over to the side, and a doubt appeared in his heart. However, he had no way of getting answers now. Whatever the facts were, one thing was for certain—this couldn’t be made known to anybody else!

He had an unspeakable secret, and other people could not find out about Curly Hair’s secret even more so.

Both of them had secrets that they absolutely could not let others know about.

Making notes on this matter, Fang Zhao started making preparations for his concert. The concert venue and advanced ticket sales were being handled by Silver Wing’s side. All Fang Zhao needed to do now was complete the pieces that would be played at the concert and to instruct the symphony orchestra on how to perform each piece perfectly.

However, unbeknownst to Fang Zhao, he had once again become a trending topic on the internet.