Superstars of Tomorrow

The warning sign had been put up. As for whether people believed it or not, Fang Zhao wasn’t too bothered.

Back in Muzhou, the veterinarians there had only examined the health and condition of the sheep-herding dogs, not bite strength, so all along, nobody had known about it. This time, PET had measured it, and this was within Fang Zhao’s plans.

Fang Zhao had seen the option of measuring bite strength and, after consideration, had selected it. In the future, when he brought Curly Hair out, Curly Hair’s strong bite would be revealed one day, so instead of hiding, he would use PET to put it out in the open.

In normal daily life, most of the time, Curly Hair did not exhibit a biting strength too different from a normal dog’s, a far cry from the readings PET had taken. During the examination, Fang Zhao had specifically spoken to Curly Hair about it and gestured with hands just before the test. Unfortunately, the smell on PET’s instrument had been too stimulating, and when Curly Hair got excited, he couldn’t control his bite well.

But 600 kilograms was already a restrained result.

This result was good enough.

After sending Wa Kaning and the others out, Fang Zhao let Yan Biao and Zuo Yu return to rest. Fang Zhao called Curly Hair over to his study for lessons. Curly Hair still had a lot to improve on—such as not being able to restrain himself well enough today.

Elsewhere, Wa Kaning and the others who had just gotten out of hospital flew straight back to PET headquarters.

Midjourney, Wa Kaning received a call from his superior.

"Did it go smoothly?" the person on the other end asked.

"I... guess you could say so," Wa Kaning replied.

"Don’t ’I guess’ me. Sounds like you people encountered some difficulty? Was Fang Zhao not cooperative? He didn’t let you examine too much? Tell me you at least managed to get the most basic tests? The records for the archive can’t be too simple."

"Fang Zhao was very helpful with our work, but those two pets of his..."

"Hmmm?"

"Extremely fierce."

There was a short period of silence from the other end.

How fierce could they get?

In the pet community, many times, "extremely fierce" and "extremely adorable" meant the same thing.

When recalling what those two pets Fang Zhao owned looked like, after the momentary silence, the other party laughed and said, "Understood."

Wa Kaning was stirred up. "No, Boss, you don’t understand!" His arm that had just had medicine reapplied started hurting again. It hurt so much that his face twisted in pain. "Boss, what I said, I meant it literally! They really are super ferocious! Especially scary! If you don’t believe me, you can see for yourself in the files I’m going to send over. If you read them, you will understand."

To not infringe on the privacy of the owner’s home, they were not permitted to have any hidden cameras and they had to show the owner all their recording equipment. Every video and photo they took had been shown to Fang Zhao for vetting. Thus, they did not have a lot of photographic evidence. However, the record for the archives was there. Wa Kaning immediately sent the files over to his superior. He also took and sent a photograph of his pig-foot-like arm.

A short while later, the other party finally replied with just a "You have worked hard!"

"This time, I put my life on the line for the archive records. I was just discharged from the hospital after receiving a huge scare. Only a salary raise can console me!" Wa Kaning said seriously.

The other party pretended to be dead.

PET headquarters. Having received the files Wa Kaning sent over, the team of experts started to work on the valuation of the two pets newly added to the archives.

When they saw the copies of the two records, all the experts simultaneously raised an eyebrow.

"Seems like these two are both really extraordinary!"

"The charts are going to change," a specialist from the team said as he looked through Curly Hair’s record and came up with a preliminary valuation using his own wealth of experience.

"This sea slug’s value will not be low either. After all, it carries some extraterrestrial genes. Considering this, it will be superior, but it is still disadvantaged."

Pets with extraterrestrial genes were not valued lowly, as they were rare and people were curious about these sorts of things.

But the valuation also wouldn’t be excessively high. This was a silent rule within the industry. There were policies restricting this so as to prevent commercial organizations from promoting extraterrestrial genes, which would cause a lot of trouble. Thus, even if their speculated commercial value was very high, they would try their best to lower it.

"What a strong bite Curly Hair has..."

Someone joked, "Could it be that it had plenty of rich experiences in the black street, causing it to revert back to the manner of its ancestors?"

What he meant was that this dog had reverted to the form of its ancestors from the Period of Destruction. Many dogs during that period had had bite strengths of 400 to 500 kilograms, and there had also been some with bite strengths exceeding 600 kilograms.

However, they did not spend time speculating this. All they needed to do was make use of the data and information and analyze different aspects before giving it a final valuation.

"We have to properly analyze this Fang Zhao too," someone else said.

What had that got to do with pets?

Only with a "person" would there be "pets."

In the end, they still had to look at the owner.

The people of PET loved this saying from the Old Era: " When a man achieves the Dao, his poultry and dogs rise to Heaven." 1

A owners background, status, value, and operations would all influence the valuation of a pet.

As of now, Fang Zhao’s status had been on the uprise, especially after the concert. Not only had his reputation increased, his concert pieces copyrights had all been sold for high prices. These caused everyone to see Fang Zhao in a new light.

Besides this, their estimations would also depend on the pet’s own commercial ability. Being named a "golden competition dog," Curly Hair’s nickname spoke for itself.

Thus, Curly Hair’s valuation would surely be even higher than the previous year.

"All right, everyone take three days to finalize the valuations for these two. We will post them up next week."

One week later.

The new issue of PET e-magazine was published.

There were many people subscribed to PET across the world. Some pet stores would also subscribe to it and display the publications on screens within their shops for customers to see. Those that were more scheming would place these screens outside the door to make even more people halt.

"Eh? Isn’t that youngster on the cover someone who was talked about a lot on the internet a while back?"

On receiving the new issue of PET e-magazine, many people realized that the person on the cover seemed a little familiar. When they took a look at the name, they came to an understanding.

"That Fang Zhao from Yanzhou?"

"Right, I remember now. That little fella that sold quite a number of rights from his concert. That dog is his."

"Isn’t the dog on the cover the one that won the Most Valuable Dog award for the sheep-herding competition in Muzhou two years straight?"

"Isn’t that rabbit the sea slug rumored to carry extraterrestrial genes?"

On the cover of the new issue, Fang Zhao sat leisurely on his sofa in his home clothes. A Diting series earpiece was hanging loosely around his neck. Curly Hair was lying down to the side and a special water tank was placed on the table in front of him. Inside the tank was a pure-white sea slug that looked like a rabbit.

The sunlight shining in through the windows and his home clothes gave off a warm hue, making Fang Zhao seem much softer.

In that pose, Curly Hair had curbed any form of fierceness and was sitting obediently looking at the camera lens. Those eyes of his looked pure and innocent. His combed curly fur seemed to have a metallic glow under the sunlight, displaying an air of nobility.

The "rabbit" inside the water tank looked like a spongy peach suspended in the water. Anyone looking at it would feel like giving it a pinch.

The entire photograph seemed peaceful and vibrant.

In the words of Yan Biao, the cameraman and other production staff had worked overtime to package it. Even disheveled fur could project an air of nobility.

People who subscribed to PET focused on the two pets newly added to the archives.

Everyone looking at the cover felt that "These are two really cute pets!"

And when they turned the page and saw the files of these two pets, everyone’s reaction was "Impossible!"

The records provided were just brief and simple ones that only furnished the most basic information. Other information such as bite strength and toxicity were not published.

But the "Extremely Fierce" in the remarks was especially conspicuous.

"Extremely Fierce?"

Looking at the photograph of Curly Hair attached to it before returning to look at the cover page, everyone understood.

"Hahahaha!"

"In the pet community, many times it has the same meaning as ’extremely cute’!"

"How fierce can this dog even be? If he were really fierce, he wouldn’t have herded sheep. Did the people at PET make a mistake? In any case, I don’t believe this!"

"Surely the people at PET did it intentionally."

"That rabbit sea slug’s remarks are ’extremely fierce’ and ’highly dangerous.’ What does that mean?"

But in no time, everyone’s attention shifted.

"Curly Hair is estimated to be worth 210 million?!"

"The sea slug Spiky Hare is valued at 80 million?!"

"This valuation is really high, right?"

"The estimated valuation by PET’s team of experts shouldn’t result in an overestimation."

"Forget about that hybrid sea slug with extraterrestrial genes—after all, it is the only one of its kind here on Earth—but how did Curly Hair’s valuation swell again? Wasn’t his value only 100-plus million back then?"

"I thought that Curly Hair’s value would drop when he left Muzhou. I didn’t expect it to rise again!"

"We humans can’t even compare with that dog!"

"Could the reason be because of Fang Zhao?"

"Whatever the case, the team of experts from PET surely have their own reasoning."

"The chart has changed!"

When the chart was mentioned, subscribers of PET immediately turned straight to the last page. On it was the new value rankings of pets from all over the world. It was different from before. Curly Hair’s value of 210 million had vaulted him to fifth place!

This issue also talked about the story of Curly Hair, from the start when Curly Hair had been picked up in the black streets to when he had joined Dongshan Farm to participate in the sheep-herding competition. These had all been taken from an account by Fang Zhao and worked on by the editing team to embellish it and make the story more interesting so that readers would be more captivated.

"To think it really came from the black streets! I thought that everyone was joking about it!"

"This Fang Zhao is just too lucky. He picked up 200 million just like that!"

As this involved Fang Zhao, Yanzhou’s media outlets were stirred up and reported it vigorously. In any case, Curly Hair was a Yanzhou dog and had charged straight into the top 10 of PET’s value chart. There was only one animal in the top 10 from Yanzhou—of course it had to be reported!

Thus, in news notifications that were sent out, Fang Zhao appeared in the headlines again. Although the focus was on Fang Zhao’s two pets, as the owner, Fang Zhao was noticed by everyone.

People who lived in the black street where Fang Zhao had once stayed always had the same feelings when they saw news about Curly Hair: regret!

In the New Era, even if a dog did not look good or if its fur color was unappealing, as long as it was a large or miniature, there would be people willing to take it in. But Curly Hair’s height of 40 centimeters was larger than miniature and far off from being large. He could not even be compared to a medium-sized dog, so nobody had been willing to take him in. In the state he had been in back then, even after washing and tidying him up, there would still have been no takers.

Back then, when many people had seen Fang Zhao pick up the dog, behind his back, they had even said, "He can’t even fend for himself and he wants to keep a dog?"

What had happened in the end?

After Fang Zhao had left the black street, these people had seen that stray dog’s value rise to 100 million in a year. It was as if a rocket had been strapped to the dog’s back. Last year, he had achieved a value of over 100 million, and this year, it had risen to 210 million! Curly Hair had vaulted straight into the top five of the global pet value chart!

For most people, 210 million was just a fabled figure!

Furthermore, according to the expert analysis in the latest issue of PET, if Fang Zhao’s status rose in the future, perhaps Curly Hair’s value would follow as well and rise further.

Comparing this, the sea slug Spiky Hare’s value of 80 million was less prolific, but it was also being discussed by quite a number of people.

Currently, Spiky Hare’s breeder Denzel was cultivating krill on planet Wai’s polar ocean. When he saw the news, his vision faded and he clutched his chest, pain written all over his face.

The assistant beside him saw this and immediately asked, "What’s wrong?!"

"I wanna jump into the ocean!" Denzel was filled with immeasurable regret, and he pulled his hair in frustration. Why had he sold that precious bunny back then!

Denzel’s expression had changed. A few assistants nervously watched this boss of theirs, afraid that he would not think things through and would really jump into the ocean.

"Do you guys think I should start a new project and continue breeding sea slugs?" Denzel asked.

"You are earning quite a lot from cultivating krill."

"Yes, Boss, our krill cultivation is doing rather well."

"Teacher, are you talking about breeding that sort of sea slug that you sold to Fang Zhao? Let’s not talk about the difficulty about breeding it first, and let’s put aside the some of the unsolved technical problems. Even if we are able to breed them on a large scale, the policies for pets with extraterrestrial genes are always changing. Right now, the rules are gradually being relaxed, but what if? What if, in the future, the regulations tighten? Wouldn’t we lose out big time?"

Denzel could understand where his assistant was coming from. Back then, he had given up on breeding sea slugs with extraterrestrial genes, as the technical difficulty had just been too hard, the rate of success had been extremely low, and lots of money had been spent without results. Also, policies had been in place back then preventing people who were not researchers from owning pets with extraterrestrial genes, so it had been really difficult to sell them.

Furthermore, as his assistants had said, planet Wai’s conditions for krill breeding were very good. His company was also making huge profits, and it just wasn’t worthwhile for them to take the risk and dabble in other stuff. Whether other people would research this, he shouldn’t get involved.

Although, deep down, he felt something wasn’t right when he saw this news, Denzel quickly accepted the facts. In any case, Fang Zhao had also helped him pull some strings and obtain a suitable body of water for cultivating krill in planet Wai’s oceans.

"Forget it, it’s been sold off already. Just take it that the little fella got lucky!"

The subscriptions for PET’s latest issue increased, and the entire editorial department was happy, all except for Wa Kaning.

Despite one week of rest, the swelling in Wa Kaning’s arm had not yet completely subsided, and he still felt pain just from moving it slightly. Today, he went to the office, enlarged the current issue’s cover page and printed a copy before pasting it on the wall in his own office. After that, he picked up a pen and wrote a large word beneath Curly Hair. "Scary." Then, he went over to the ’rabbit’ and also wrote "Scary" below it.

Wa Kaning wanted to constantly remind himself and his colleagues that these two pets really belonged to the extremely dangerous category! Extreme caution was needed if anyone should encounter these two! Appearances could be deceiving!

After finishing, Wa Kaning had intended to keep the pen when his gaze paused on the image of Fang Zhao.

The warm hues brought about a soft and gentle vibe to the photograph. This Fang Zhao person also looked like a gentle artistic youth with a harmless character.

However, in this photo, there was actually great danger all around!

The dog with the devastating bite, Curly Hair, and the extremely toxic sea slug that would assault without a moment’s notice, was Fang Zhao really as harmless as he looked?

Thinking back to what he had seen when he had recently searched for information pertaining to Fang Zhao, Wa Kaning hesitated. To be able to garner meritorious deeds on planet Baiji, shoot terrorists dead, and get promoted to a reserve duty major, how harmless could he be?

Considering it further, Wa Kaning picked up his pen and wrote two large words under Fang Zhao’s image: "Extremely Scary"!