Superstars of Tomorrow

Panda Novel

Fang Zhao gazed at the ocean and placed the leash on the cabinet by the door.

This was the first time he was letting Curly Hair go out on his own, and Fang Zhao was a little worried. However, he couldn’t keep looking after Curly Hair forever. He was only willing to let Curly Hair go out independently this time his long period of discipline. He would assess Curly Hair’s performance this time to decide on future measures.

Curly Hair was no small matter, and Fang Zhao had never relaxed Curly Hair’s restrictions. If he didn’t give any guidance, Curly Hair could become a killing weapon by the hands of certain errant people.

There was nothing wrong with a weapon on its own. The fault would lie with the user of the weapon.

Fortunately, Curly Hair was a complete life form that had its own consciousness, cognition and emotions.

Furthermore, Fang Zhao had always felt that his rebirth had something to do with Curly Hair. He simply hadn’t discovered the connection yet.

Being strict to Curly Hair was both for guidance and protection.

“Never go astray.”

The night wind grew stronger. Waves battered the shore before retreating out of sight in the darkness.

Everything was full of the unknown.

At this time, Curly Hair, who was oblivious to Fang Zhao’s worries, was really an out-of-control wild dog swimming about and riding the waves.

Oxygen? Breathing?

There was no need for that. Curly Hair had entirely forgotten there were such things the moment he had jumped into the sea.

He disregarded air supply, water pressure, and light. Curly Hair happily chased schools of fish. Corals couldn’t be eaten, so he went to lick the rock beside the coral.

Can’t be eaten.

He saw a turtle and went over to tease it.

Curly Hair even sang.

“Lalalalalala, watching that sea turtle swim in the water~”

As the dog of a musician, he could sing if he could talk. Nobody could hear him anyways so he wasn’t worried about being discovered.

If he sensed any people nearby, he would dive in or hide himself.

Although Curly Hair was hungry, he didn’t let loose and start eating the moment he entered the ocean. Instead, he decided to play for a bit first. He had plenty of time to play now. Fang Zhao wasn’t here, and there was no one minding him.

After chasing the sea turtle and the school of fish for a bit, Curly Hair discovered a big fish. It belonged on the New Era protected marine species list and was something that Curly Hair was forbidden from eating. However, that didn’t dampen Curly Hair’s interest towards it.

Protected species can’t be eaten, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be toyed with~

Curly Hair gave up on the school of fish and the sea turtle and chased after this large fish. He followed closely behind the fish and used his paw to touch it from time to time.

I’m just touching, not eating.

That fish swam faster. Curly Hair also wanted to pick up speed. He paddled with his dog legs and caught up. He simply didn’t wonder how his doggie-paddle was outracing a sailfish that easily.

After playing for quite some time, Curly Hair felt even hungrier. He stopped and decided to first look for stuff to eat.

Curly Hair wouldn’t eat anything in the ocean that was on the protected species list, not even a single fin. Even if Fang Zhao couldn’t see, Curly Hair also didn’t dare. After all, this was his first time coming out, and he didn’t have the guts to do so. The moment he thought about eating, the first thoughts that came to his mind were the books and tests inside the learning console that Fang Zhao had given him. He remembered the long periods facing the wall during self-reflection.

As for stuff that weren’t on the protected species list, Curly Hair would not restrain himself!

Bon appetit!

While Curly Hair was excited, he was also a little perplexed at the same time.

Where to start?

As this was his first hunt on his excursion, Curly Hair felt that his first prey should be something special. Perhaps this was what that Nanfeng meant by “ceremonial”?

Thus, Curly Hair went about searching meticulously for his first prey.

With great difficulty, Curly Hair finally discovered one.

Its appearance looked similar to photographs of a protected species he had seen in the list. But, it only looked alike. Curly Hair could tell that this fish wasn’t the same. He observed it more closely and was able to list a few differences as evidence. Thus, he could answer confidently if Fang Zhao were to ask him when he returned.

Having eliminated the possibility that it was on the protected species list, Curly Hair was now confident in his course of action. Although this prey wasn’t too large and only about a meter long, it attracted Curly Hair greatly.

With sights set on the target, Curly Hair dog-paddled after it.

——

1 a.m.

A certain counter-terrorism department in Yanzhou was still at work.

“Night security teams have yet to discover any suspicious persons. Sonar hasn’t discovered any suspicious targets.”

“Continue this vigilance towards the target region. Pay attention to patrol and coastal detection readings. Screen out any sound or energy anomalies. Don’t even let a single bird or fish go undetected!”

They had received information that the notorious terrorist organization “Tomorrow’s Empire”, or “T”, would launch an attack on Yanzhou at 2 a.m. The counter-terrorism department only had an approximate region but no specific location or coordinates.

Furthermore, the “T” organization had stolen the latest bionics technology. Who knew what sort of modifications those bunch of lunatics could implement?

At the same time, in a secret basement.

Only the flickering lights of display screens could be seen in this dusky basement.

A bunch of people were either seated or standing. Their eyes were all glued to one of the screens.

“Successfully bypassed a patrol vessel!” Someone cried out excitedly, and his bloodshot eyes gazed towards the map at the side that had a blood-colored “T” stamped on a certain area.

They had formulated a new plan. This was the first operation and their first trial run. They were going to use a newly manufactured bionic torpedo to strike a harbor that was a hundred kilometers from Yanzhou’s Qi’an City.

Although only one bionic torpedo had been released, the high energy ordnance it carried was sufficient to destroy dozens of cargo ships at the harbor and cause serious damage.

Bypassing those patrol vessels was well within their expectations. Going up against the coastal defenses afterwards would be the crucial point.

“Smoothly approaching, almost there!”

The person holding onto the control device stared at the dot on the display screen without blinking. As the torpedo was entering Yanzhou’s coastal defense range, he became even more cautious and was also eager to see whether their newly modified product could deceive Yanzhou’s defense system.

As long as this attack was successful, follow-up operations would immediately commence!

All the people in the basement were staring at the screen attentively.

Everyone watched with bated breath. As the torpedo was just about to enter the range of Yanzhou’s coastal defenses, the moving dot on the screen suddenly disappeared.

Everyone in the basement: “???”

They even doubted their own eyes for a moment.

The one wielding the control device had a frozen look on his face.

Where the heck is my torpedo?

He looked again. It had indeed disappeared. It had vanished cleanly and without warning.

This sudden change flustered all those in the basement.

They had come up with a few possible scenarios, but what they were witnessing right now wasn’t one of those!

It was as if it had ended even before a single splash could be made. This psychological blow was too great, and they couldn’t come to terms with it right away.

“What’s going on?”

“We have lost the bionic torpedo’s signal! Unable to detect any energy reaction! Cause unknown!”

“Impossible! Is it a display malfunction?”

“No, the monitor is fine. Control device is fine too. But there is no response from the torpedo!”

They had paid a hefty price and had invested considerable manpower, resources and time to concoct this plan. Yet, this was the outcome?!

Had it actually just disappeared without a trace like this??

“Have Yanzhou’s coastal defenses become this strong…? No… I don’t believe it!”

The lips of the man wielding the control device were trembling. His scrunched up expression was distorted, and there was a crazed look of unwillingness in his bloodshot eyes.

He had no way of accepting this sort of failure!

Another man seated in the corner said gloomily, “Inform the others to immediately halt their operations! Determine how their coastal defense system stopped it first!”

They had spent a rather long time formulating this plan, and the first attack targeting Yanzhou had failed.

On the other side, Yanzhou’s counter-terrorism department was also puzzled.

They had waited and waited. Even after 2 a.m had passed, they didn’t dare to relax or get complacent. They continued to wait all the way until 7 in the morning.

There wasn’t a single sign of activity.

Those lunatics from “T” organization wouldn’t lightly terminate their operations even if their information was leaked. Instead, they would go about it in an even more crazed and provocative fashion. However, it was already daybreak, and the counter-terrorism department had yet to receive any news of an attack.

It was peaceful on both dry land and in the sea. It was reasonable to see that there were no detection blind spots. So, why wasn’t there any activity?

Strange.

Could it be that the information was wrong?

…

Night gradually receded and the sky turned bright.

Rays of the sun shone on the surface of the ocean, dispelling the chill of night.

Swishhh——

A dog’s head broke the water’s surface, and spray was expelled from his nose. As if suddenly remembering that he could breathe, he moved his head and inhaled the crisp and fresh morning air.

Curly Hair slowly swam towards shore, his paddling legs splashing about.

He shook himself off after standing on dry land.

“Belchh~~~”