Superstars of Tomorrow

Curly Hair was delighted from his full stomach and narrow escape from criticism. He yawned and crawled into his kennel to sleep.

Fang Zhao had originally planned on exploring the surrounding area today. Now that he’d graduated, Fang Zhao was looking forward to some relaxation. Earlier, Fang Zhao had asked the realtor for information on renting a speedboat. The plan was to do some leisurely fishing for fresh seafood for the “rabbit”.

However, Curly Hair’s new findings caused Fang Zhao to give up his original plans.

Fang Zhao returned to his study and scrutinized the sketch he had just made in the notebook. He brought up multiple diagrams on his monitor and circled an area on a map of Yanzhou.

The “T” represented Tomorrow’s Empire, the organization that liked to spring attacks and wanted to bring back the Period of Destruction. The first time Fang Zhao had encountered them was during his time serving the military on Planet Baiji.

He had encountered them over at Whale Island as well.

Fang Zhao studied the three routes on the map and analyzed their objective.

As someone who had survived close to a hundred years in the Period of Destruction, Fang Zhaon was still rather sensitive to many things. Some influences were deeply ingrained into his soul and would never go away even in a new body in spite of years of peaceful life in the New Era.

That smell of smoke had immediately caught Fang Zhao’s attention.

During the Period of Destruction, this smell meant fighting and bloodshed.

Beep——Beep——

While he was thinking, Fang Zhao’s personal terminal received a notification. Fang Zhao’s attention shifted away from the map. He checked the notification.

It was the micro monitoring apparatus he had tied to Curly Hair’s leg. Fang Zhao would be notified if there were any abnormal occurrences.

Real-time detailed graphs were displayed on the projected screen.

The metal content in Curly Hair’s blood that was slightly high an hour ago was currently rising rapidly.

No! Rather, it was a sudden fluctuation!

The content of a few types of metals spiked abruptly before dropping rapidly. There were even some metals that couldn’t exist in a normal dog.

These metallic elements were probably a result of what Curly Hair had eaten today.

Humans also absorbed some necessary elements from food, but the situation here was clearly different. In a span of less than ten seconds, certain metallic elements in Curly Hair’s body fell from abnormal levels to zero, then climbed up to astounding heights!

Of all animals Fang Zhao knew about, there wasn’t any animal that could produce these sorts of changes!

If these levels appeared in a human body, the human wouldn’t be able to survive. The same applied to regular dogs.

But, evidently, Curly Hair’s vitals didn’t weaken the slightest. Fang Zhao could still hear his rhythmic snoring.

However, the results simply weren’t normal!

Is the monitoring apparatus faulty?

Fang Zhao strode over to Curly Hair’s kennel. He observed the snoring Curly Hair, then reached out a finger before Curly Hair’s nose to check his breathing.

Curly Hair always snored when he was sleeping soundly despite not being short-snouted or fat. Fang Zhao had once brought him to a vet for a check-up, yet nothing conclusive was found.

Right now, Curly Hair’s breaths were very forceful. It wasn’t hurried, but the temperature of the exhaled air was abnormally high. It was way higher than the monitoring apparatus’s measurement of Curly Hair’s body temperature.

Was it normal for a warm-blooded creature’s exhaled breaths to be twice as hot as its body’s temperature?

Fang Zhao patted Curly Hair’s head.

“Curly Hair?”

Curly Hair continued snoring.

Fang Zhao patted again. “The gaming consoles have been stolen.”

“Aoo wooo…”

Curly Hair struggled to growl. He licked his lips and flipped onto his side while still asleep. His four legs even paddled as if he was running.

A few moments later, the snoring resumed.

Fang Zhao’s expression became even more serious.

Even the words “gaming consoles have been stolen” can’t wake him up?

It seemed the situation was already way more serious than he had imagined.

However, Fang Zhao had never heard of nor encountered such a situation before. He didn’t know what to do.

Should he forcefully awaken Curly Hair or wait and see?

He wasn’t sure whether forcefully waking Curly Hair would be harmful, and he didn’t dare act rashly.

Just as Fang Zhao was pondering about what to do, the sensor’s beeps became more urgent. The numbers displayed on his personal terminal were alarming.

Heart rate, pulse, and blood pressure were all fluctuating wildly.

Those were only the metrics the monitoring apparatus measured too. Who knew what else was happening unknown to the device?

The projected display with all the graphs was flashing. The image became warped and distorted as though it was being pulled by some sort of power.

All light sources in the house became unstable and were flickering as if there was some sort of interference.

Any electrical appliances that were currently in use were producing warning beeps.

A seemingly shrill buzzing sound caused an extremely unpleasant feeling. Fortunately, Fang Zhao could still bear it. Anybody else might have already become delirious if caught in the same situation.

There seemed to be a slight chill in the air around.

Fang Zhao’s intuition cultivated from the chaos of the Period of Destruction could clearly sense an unknown danger from Curly Hair’s body. He retreated hurriedly.

The digits displayed by the monitor broke, and the sharp warning beeps ceased. The connection between the monitoring apparatus and personal terminal was cut.

All the lights within the room blew out simultaneously.

There was hissing as sparks of electricity flowed out of the sockets.

Something luminescent reflection flashed on the metal.

A huge… something like a… paw?

It slammed down so quickly it seemed like an illusion.

Bam!

Dust and fragments on the ground were thrown into the air.

The abrupt stream of air blew the curtains open.

The entire three story house swayed.

The reflective luminescence vanished.

Just like that, it came and went in the blink of an eye. Just like an illusion.

Fang Zhao fell silent as he looked at the huge paw imprint and the many cracks on the floorboard.

There had actually been a chair in the area the huge paw imprint covered.

Nanfeng had bought it for quite a high price and gifted it to Fang Zhao as a housewarming gift for the new place.

Nanfeng had actually wanted a chair made from real wood, which was generally considered a luxury in the New Era. However, the retailer had recommended more sturdier furniture for places with dogs that were resistant to being gnawed on.

Thus, Nanfeng had chosen an alloy chair. It had been sturdy enough.

But now, this high grade ally chair praised by the retailer to be “sturdy enough” was now flattened and embedded into the floor.

Curly Hair, who had been sleeping by the side, jolted awake as if he had just woken up from a nightmare.

His innocent dog eyes scanned the surrounding mess. The floor below could even be seen through the cracks on the floor, and there was still that sinister paw print.

Curly Hair jumped out from his kennel in shock and growled. “Enemy attack! Awoo!”

He spotted Fang Zhao and quickly ran over to stand by Fang Zhao’s side. He continued to growl at that huge paw imprint that had appeared without his knowledge.

His ears were pressed backwards and his teeth were bared. This dog had evidently entered an aggressive stance, like a brave warrior guarding his territory against invaders.

This was an extremely fierce demeanor.

“Awoo!!”

Fang Zhao: “….”