Superstars of Tomorrow

Not just Fang Zhao, even the two old Fangs, with their wealth of experience, were puzzled at this reply.

Background check failed?

He had never broken the law, been a danger to society, or even received demerits while schooling. Why had he failed the background check?

Great-Grandfather Fang was seething with anger. He sought out an old comrade to ask around. His old comrade sent someone to check it out before replying to Great-Grandfather Fang.

The other party said, "I don’t know whether or not it is true, but I heard that they don’t accept celebrities."

"Don’t accept celebrities? There is a new policy now?" Great-Grandfather Fang just could not understand this. Voluntarily applying for the most difficult place would actually be met with a merciless rejection on the grounds of a background check? What did being a celebrity have to do with being suitable for military service on a spaceship? Besides, he had paid attention to the relevant decrees and had not seen any clear-cut rules that stated celebrities were unable to serve onboard.

The audit personnel would indeed get to see information not displayed in the files—for example, for certain reasons, they might feel that a particular applicant was not suitable for work on a spaceship. Right now, celebrities were what they did not want.

Great-Grandfather Fang used a few means to ask around. A lot of information on space ships was highly classified and could not be released to the public, and the people were bound by confidentiality agreements that had not expired. However, Great-Grandfather Fang asked many old comrades and still managed to get a little information.

Compiling the information, the general idea was this: celebrities and the like only showed off on spaceships. They couldn’t do anything thing properly and had lots of trifling matters. Just a bunch of trouble! We don’t want them! Whoever wants them can have them!

Ending the call, Great-Grandfather Fang fell silent. He had been retired for too long and had already forgotten that celebrities were discriminated against in many places.

Fang Zhao’s records were indeed clean, but he was still considered a celebrity, and the two spaceships were unwilling to accept his application.

Great-Grandfather Fang sat in silence for awhile then suggested to Fang Zhao, "How about applying one more time?"

Fang Zhao felt a sense of regret that he was unable to get on the Arcturus or Formalhaut, but since their internal department had such unwritten rules, he would also not try and force his way in. Thus, Fang Zhao decided to select somewhere else. "No need, I will just apply for the third most difficult military service program."

The two old Fangs gathered around the screen. "You have decided to pick the third-ranked one? What is it?"

"Mining," Fang Zhao replied.

"Mining? That’s no good. It’s too remote, and the environment and climate are both horrendous. If you pick mining, why not let the military automatically assign you? Odds are you will be assigned to a planet for mining or to construction for a planet’s base. That is more likely." Great-Grandfather Fang felt that this was not suitable. According to him, since Fang Zhao could not enter the two military service programs he had hoped for, all other programs were not very different. In any case, if it was not mining, it would be expanding and constructing bases for the future of humanity. Whether it was near or far from Earth was no different, so rather than heading to a far and remote place to mine, settling for the automatic assignment would be better.

But Fang Zhao’s thinking was different. He had chosen that program not because it was ranked third for difficulty but because, among all the planets that had started development, this was the furthest one from Earth.

Fang Zhao wanted to see for himself how far humanity had progressed in these 500 years. Not counting space travel, only places where they had genuinely taken root, began construction, and stepped foot on.

Without hesitation, Fang Zhao submitted an application for this military service program. Unlike the previous two, this application received a reply very quickly, and the reply this time was not "rejected," but "approved."

However, "approved" did not mean that Fang Zhao had gotten in. He still needed to submit the results of a physical examination. Fang Zhao would need to head to an appointed hospital for a medical.

This medical was not the commonly seen kind. Rather, it was an examination to check whether the applicant’s constitution could withstand long-haul space travel. The appointed hospital was in Qi’an City’s military district.

Over at the hospital, those in charge of the medicals were gathered together and gossiping about the latest entertainment news.

Normally, the place was quite empty, so those on duty were not old doctors. Experienced old doctors were always very busy. Those that remained here were some interns from medical college or a few youngsters that had just started the job. In any case, most people that came here for a medical were applicants for military service programs or were about to serve. All they needed to do here was operate the machines and run tests on the applications.

As these few people were talking animatedly, they received a notification.

"Someone actually voluntarily applied. The preliminary application has gone through, and the person should be coming for a medical during these next two days. Oh, it is planet Baiji. He probably did not think things through!"

"I reckon it’s another idiot who applied in the spur of the moment."

The youngster closest to the door stared ahead blankly and lifted his arm to tap at his colleagues who were still talking. "...The idiot you guys were talking about has arrived."

Fang Zhao walked in wearing a cap that was pushed low. When he got here, there were no other idle people around, so he took off his cap.

Fang Zhao looked at the door number while asking, "Is this the medical center for military service personnel?"

"Yes... yes, yes! This is the place!"

"Are you Fang... Fang... Fang Zhao?"

"You are the one who applied for planet Baiji?"

Fang Zhao nodded his head. "That’s me."

"...This way, please."

The few youngsters led Fang Zhao in and began operating the machines and examining Fang Zhao. At the same time, their hearts were screaming violently: Why is it Fang Zhao?! Baiji Planet! So far away and the conditions are bad, why go all the way there to suffer? Has your brain gone stupid from playing all those games?

Five minutes later, he received an evaluation of "excellent" for his physical examination. Once the medical results were released, they were uploaded to the military service application web page. In no time, Fang Zhao’s application status changed from "application received" to "application approved." Fang Zhao was to report for duty on March 1st in Yanzhou’s military district. When the time came, he would undergo a month of military training, and in April, he would be sent to planet Baiji.

Wayne’s jaw dropped when he found out that Fang Zhao had applied for Baiji.

"Why didn’t you think things through? Why did you choose this?" Wayne just could not comprehend why Fang Zhao had prepared for so long and yet picked this option!

Helpless, Wayne contacted Duan Qianji, hoping that she could persuade Fang Zhao. Even though Fang Zhao had already submitted his application, before he officially started his military service, this could still be manipulated.

However, Wayne did not hear the answer he wanted from Duan Qianji. Duan Qianji told Wayne to stay calm and not be impatient. A new policy might be officially launched this year, and Fang Zhao’s choice might not necessarily be a bad one.

The next day, Silver Wing announced Fang Zhao’s choice—Military Service at planet Baiji.

This choice surprised many. Lot’s of people thought that Fang Zhao had gone mad and guessed that he probably had an ulterior motive. However, the approval letter had already been screenshotted. It could not have been faked.

Compared to Fang Zhao’s fans, those from other e-sports clubs and entertainment companies collectively relaxed their weary hearts. Once Fang Zhao was gone, at least within the next year, there would not be any hot topics regarding him. Silver Wing’s influence in the gaming circles would definitely drop as well.

Translator’s Thoughts

BeetleBarker BeetleBarker

No spaceships for you Fang Zhao, off to the mines you go!