The fan meet had already concluded by the time Yuan Zheng reached the venue. The artists had already returned to their rooms. With no other choice, Yuan Zheng could only go find Fang Zhao personally. It was a rare opportunity to meet his idol, and Yuan Zheng couldn’t allow it to slip by.
The schedule for these invited artists was rather packed on their first day of arriving on Planet Yin. The older ones already looked exhausted and didn’t seem to be in a good mood.
After returning from the fan meet, Fang Zhao went to pick Curly Hair.
“Boss, is Curly Hair not yet adapted to the environmental conditions here? Why does he keep panting and drooling?” Nanfeng was very worried.
“He will get used to it in a couple of days,” Fang Zhao said.
“I guess that makes sense. The environmental conditions on Planet Yin takes some time getting used to. Me, Zuo Yu and Yan Biao also felt a little dizzy when we arrived here.”
Nanfeng passed the delivered dog food and pet products to Fang Zhao. “The people at the reception area said to go get replenishments when these are used up.”
Nanfeng didn’t drag on too for too long given the artists’ weary looks. “Boss, you can return and go rest. Contact us right away if you need anything and we’ll handle it. We are always on standby!”
“Alright, you guys go get some rest too.”
Fang Zhao brought Curly Hair back to his quarters and poured out a bowl of dog food for him.
Curly Hair looked aggrieved, eating the dog food piece by piece in a pitiful manner.
The amount in the bowl was all he would have. The next serving wouldn’t come for at least another four or five hours.
There was no choice. He couldn’t do as he pleased after arriving on Planet Yin. He couldn’t eat anything else besides dog food, and there wasn’t very much of it.
“Learn to control yourself,” Fang Zhao said. “You can watch TV if you behave. Planet Yin has synchronous live broadcasts with home.”
Curly Hair gulped down the dog food in the bowl, then nudged it in front of Fang Zhao. What he meant was, Look, I didn’t swallow the bowl. Is that good enough?
“Alright, go watch TV then.”
Curly Hair dashed into the room and turned on the TV immediately. He tuned in to a news channel and assumed a serious expression.
After a while, Fang Zhao went into the study.
Curly Hair stealthily sneaked a glance. When he saw Fang Zhao busy with work, Curly Hair changed to a competitive esports channel and was quickly engrossed in the live match.
Inside the study, Fang Zhao sighed silently.
He knew what little tricks Curly Hair was up to. He just pretended not to notice. Having something to occupy Curly Hair’s attention was good too. At least he wouldn’t be drooling all the time.
Fang Zhao sorted out some of the musical scores on the table and continued making alterations to his plan.
For this performance, Fang Zhao wanted to rearrange “Legend” to bestow a new vitality to it.
Mo Lang had already seen Fang Zhao’s rearrangement manuscript and approved of it. When it came to understanding the piece as well as the composer’s intent, Mo Lang only trusted Fang Zhao.
Fang Zhao had a lot of work on his hands. Following this, he needed to meet the orchestra to organize rehearsals. During this process, he had to fix any of the orchestra’s flaws and provide suggestions on improvements.
As he was working out his plan, the doorbell rang.
Fang Zhao hadn’t put up a “do not disturb” sign on his door, nor did he know who could be looking for him at this time. The other artists had already returned to rest.
He opened the door. Standing there was a young man accompanied by two soldiers.
Fang Zhao glanced at them and was astonished to notice the golden badge that the young man wore.
Even though Fang Zhao hadn’t spent too long on Planet Yin, he already understood that these chest badges corresponded to rank. The two soldiers were probably ensuring this young man’s safety. A gold badged-ranked person would have people responsible for his safety whenever he stepped out.
However, being able to achieve a gold badge rank at such a young age meant that this young man was definitely an important talent. Protection for him was warranted.
That young man visibly attempted to restrain his excitement when he saw Fang Zhao.
“Zhao Zhao Zhao Zhao Zhao Bro! I’m Yuan Zheng! A fanboy of yours!”
His words were forceful and resounding, especially those last three words.
The two soldiers behind him. “…”
What happened to being a rational fan?
Was he nervous?
However, Yuan Zheng wasn’t aware of this. He even forgot what he had said. Right now, his mind was a mess from the excitement of meeting his idol.
“Am I disturbing you?” Yuan Zheng scratched his head sheepishly.
“Nope, come in.” Fang Zhao smiled.
“Oh! Thanks Zhao Bro!”
The two soldiers followed Yuan Zheng inside.
Yuan Zheng quickly came to his senses and explained, “Zhao Bro, these two are protecting me. It is in accordance with the regulations. Us gold badge engineers need to be protected by at least two soldiers whenever we are out.”
“That ought to be.” Fang Zhao poured the two soldiers a glass of water each as well before returning his attention back to Yuan Zheng.
Before his idol, Yuan Zheng gave his all to display his excellence. He had pinned on all his awards and had made sure to polish his little golden badge symbolizing that he was a ranked Planet Yin engineer. He absolutely couldn’t disgrace himself in front of his idol.
“I was born on Planet Yin. Currently I’m a gold badge engineer in the Warp Engine Technology Research Group. My parents were also warp engine engineers. So, I am a second generation engineer in my family. Zhao Bro, you can call people like us ‘Second Gen Warps’! I have been involved in many important projects…”
“Cough!”
Yuan Zheng had merely started to talk when one of the soldiers seated at the side coughed lightly to remind him that there were some things that couldn’t be said.
Yuan Zheng paused and thought about the “important projects” he needed to omit. “In any case, I am very impressive! When it comes to geniuses, I am our research facility’s first… err, second… besides Little Bear who came over recently, I am our research facility’s youngest gold badge engineer!”
Yuan Zheng sulked a little when he said this.
He had indeed been the research facility’s number one genius in the past, but he had been dethroned ever since that little kid named Bear had come over.
“I even prepared a huge present when I heard you were coming! I personally made models of a space fleet! But, after passing through the security inspection… only… a part is left… I wasn’t even able to rush over to the fan meet in the afternoon.”
Yuan Zheng’s voice petered out towards the end. With a slightly sheepish smile, he handed over a part that was about the size of a thumbnail.
Only such a tiny part was left from the space fleet models after going through inspections. Yuan Zheng was helpless as well. This was already the security personnel’s bottom line. Even a genius gold badge engineer like Yuan Zheng couldn’t be granted any exceptions.
Yuan Zheng also didn’t have anything else that could be used as a present. With the limited time, this was all he could muster up.
“Zhao Bro, you have to stay on Planet Yin for a while. I shall make another present that can successfully pass the inspection when I go back!”
“This is already very good.” Fang Zhao examined the unremarkable part. “Is this a component of a model warp engine?”
“Right!” Yuan Zheng wanted to say more, but the soldier at the side coughed, forcing him to swallow his words.
Yuan Zheng felt very wronged.
Too hard!
As a gold badge engineer, chasing an idol was just too hard!
Nothing could be revealed, and even his present couldn’t be given away. He felt humiliated in front of his idol!
Yuan Zheng racked his brains, thinking of how to explain. He glanced up and noticed Fang Zhao looking at him. He had a rather kind smile.
Yuan Zheng upon meeting Fang Zhao’s gaze: ???
Before Yuan Zheng could figure out the meaning of that gaze, he saw Fang Zhao hand over a palm-sized box. In it was a Poseidonsaur fossil model.
“F-f-for me?” Yuan Zheng stammered.
Fang Zhao nodded.
Yuan Zheng put out both his hands as if he was receiving an award.
“Zhao Bro, can you… sign beneath the stand of the model?”
“Sure.”
Fang Zhao found a suitable pen and signed his name beneath the stand of the Poseidonsaur fossil model.
Yuan Zheng was worried he would disturb Fang Zhao’s rest so he didn’t stay too long and quickly bade farewell.
He clutched the box containing the Poseidonsaur fossil model to his chest tightly all the way outside.
As they walked away, Yuan Zheng’s eyes were already glistening with tears.
“How touching! I gave a badly mutilated component, yet Zhao Bro gave me a gift in return!”
However, the two soldiers by his side weren’t able to relate to his sentiments. “According to regulations, gifts from elsewhere have to be subjected to a security check. Please cooperate.”
Even though the luggages of all invited artists had already gone through rigorous checks, whatever gift that Yuan Zheng received still had to be inspected again. This was also for his own personal safety.
Yuan Zheng handed over that box unwillingly. “Be careful, don’t break the bone. And be extra careful of the stand. Don’t rub away the autograph.”
While Yuan Zheng was returning to the research facility, Fang Zhao had stopped working and was instead looking at the little gift he had received.
Although Yuan Zheng had revealed very little, Fang Zhao was still able to make some guesses.
And when combining it with all the various doubts he previously had, Fang Zhao felt quite confident in his guess.
He remembered when he had first discovered the Alkaid, Barbara had said, “The Primal exploratory team ‘Dream Team’ bore the apex wisdom and intelligence of that time!”
“Apex wisdom and intelligence…” Fang Zhao stared at the little component and muttered softly.
The Alkaid from “Dream Team” had existed four hundred years ago.
Yuan Zheng had also mentioned “Little Bear”. There was a possibility that this “Little Bear” was the ordinary-looking kid who had a mechanical core.
Being able to perfectly blend in among humans meant it wasn’t any ordinary artificial intelligence.
During the Period of Destruction, Fang Zhao had also interacted with many great scientists from that time. He knew that each time mankind had a flash of knowledge, the world’s development processes would experience a great leap.
But what was the possibility of artificial intelligence, energy technology, warp technology, spacecraft and others simultaneously experiencing such flashes of knowledge in just one hundred years since the New Era was established?
During this period, the badly damaged world needed to recover, cities needed rebuilding and order in the twelve continents had to be established.
“Was it a great revolution of intelligence, or was it…”
Fang Zhao eyed the little component in his hand as if he could see a faraway image through this little component.
There was another possibility.
“Outsiders.”
Visitors from beyond the stars.
