Superstars of Tomorrow

Fang Zhao’s revised “Legend” was youthful and filled with dynamism.

As it resonated throughout the performance hall, what stunned everyone wasn’t the deep, booming drum beats, but the power hidden within the music!

Each sound and each note seemed to be laced with a myriad of sentiments!

Listening carefully, there was stoicism in the music. There was also restlessness and surprise. Even though the youngsters on stage weren’t professionals, they still put together a piece that could bring warm tears of excitement and lament to the audience.

“My heart feels as if it is beating along with the earth!”

“This sounds very different from the original version of ‘Legend’ I heard while following the serial. However, it is still as impressive as ever!”

“Both versions are great, but I personally prefer Fang Zhao’s version. It’s not like I don’t respect Great Master Mo Lang, but I feel that Fang Zhao’s version is more suitable for us people of Planet Yin!” an audience member exclaimed.

“Right! Only people of Planet Yin can understand that!”

“Fang Zhao’s version of ‘Legend’ doesn’t have the same thick history, but it has inspiration and liveliness.”

In contrast with these audience members’ analysis, the performers’ parents were much more excited.

They weren’t necessarily able to discern the deep meaning of “Legend”, but they could still tell if a performance was good or bad. Furthermore, people around them were praising it!

If everyone said it was good, then surely it was very good!

They didn’t disgrace Planet Yin!

Parents picked up their communication devices and sent messages to those who were unable to attend.

They bragged!

They flaunted!

They told their friends and colleagues about their child’s brilliant performance!

And, some had relatives on Earth. They had to be informed too! Although photographs and videos couldn’t be sent, verbal descriptions would suffice.

After the orchestra’s performance concluded, the students bowed before retreating backstage.

When they arrived backstage, many of them still had shaky legs. Some immediately slumped to the ground.

They suddenly realized how exhausted they were after breaking out of the immersion of their performance.

A student nearly collapsed but was luckily caught by a person at his side. After getting comfortable, the students gathered in a circle to watch the video of their performance.

“I actually played this well!” A student watched herself play the violin.

“We actually exceeded our capabilities!” A flutist grinned from ear to ear. He was extremely satisfied with his display.

“This was a team effort. We couldn’t have done this without everyone’s best effort! Perfect!” another exclaimed.

“I have to ask the organizer whether the soundtrack can be extracted. I will keep it as a single to play on loop!”

“I want the video. I will apply for a cut of that segment. I will be able to boast about it for many years to come!”

Younger students were so thrilled they couldn’t even speak coherently. Those that received red packets from their parents nearly shrieked.

A younger student was busy collecting all the electronic red packets sent by various elders and muttered, “How great would it be if these performances were more frequent?” Although rehearsals were tough, the rewards were rather abundant.

“Oh right, where is Brother Zhao? I want to ask when he’ll come over again.”

“Is it once a year? Or once every few years?”

“He was called up by the artiste group.”

After their performance concluded, Fang Zhao had been called over by members of the artiste group. The invited artistes were gathered together. Those who had finished their items were now much more relaxed. Seeing Fang Zhao come over, an older artiste smiled and patted his shoulder.

“Not bad, not bad! Old Mo will surely be very pleased with your performance!”

“No wonder Mo Lang gave nobody else but you permission to revise it.”

They had originally thought that Mo Lang would still contribute in private. But, upon hearing the revised version of “Legend”, they could tell that even if Mo Lang had helped, it wasn’t by much. There weren’t many traces of Mo Lang in this version. “Legend” could be heard in this version, but the style was entirely different. These people were all professionals and could tell how much effort Mo Lang put in.

This was also why they understood and praised Fang Zhao’s ability.

When it came to rearranging famed pieces by predecessors, many young people would find themselves in a tangle. There would always be a hesitation to change the piece. Fang Zhao, however, was a successful example.

Fang Zhao accompanied these older artistes for a chat. The ones here had already finished their performances. They even talked about gathering everyone for a proper catch-up when they returned to Earth. There were too many restrictions here on Planet Yin, so they didn’t dare say too much.

While chatting, the doors to the rest lounge suddenly opened. A figure rushed in and made a beeline for a pouch on the sofa.

“Oh? Meyer, lost something?” an elder artiste asked.

The person who had rushed in, Lady Meyer, was a dance master amongst the artiste group.

Meyer’s performance was slated to start in less than fifteen minutes.

“I can’t find my bracelet! I clearly checked that it was placed together with my costume in the morning! I just discovered that the bracelet was missing when I was about to change into my costume! It’s not in this pouch either!”

Meyer’s bracelet had been custom-made for the dance she was to perform. It would enhance the performance. However, she never expected the bracelet to go missing at such a crucial juncture.

“Still haven’t found it? Could it have been left in the dance studio?” another older artiste suggested.

“I will go search again…”

Meyer nearly ripped her bag out of worry as she rummaged through it. The bracelet still couldn’t be found. Thus, she could only go look around the dance studio. She had indeed been there in the morning.

“Where’s your assistant?” someone asked.

“I don’t want to talk about it. There’s a problem with a button on my costume, and my assistant is altering it now. The dance studio isn’t far. I will go search…”

“Let me.” Fang Zhao got up. “I’ll go search the dance studio.”

The others also chimed in approval. “Yes, let Young Fang search the dance studio. Young people like him run very fast. Meyer, you go change into your costume and think about finding another bracelet as a replacement. At least that can be a backup plan.”

“Alright alright alright! Thank you, Young Fang!”

Meyer told Fang Zhao the location of the dance studio and handed him the access card. Fang Zhao didn’t dawdle and ran to the studio.

The concert venue wasn’t the same as where they normally rehearsed. It took quite some time for Fang Zhao to get through the layers of security at the concert hall and reach the dance studio. However, he didn’t find any bracelet when he got to the dance studio Meyer spoke of.

Fang Zhao immediately made a call to Meyer to inform her. Meyer sounded anxious and dismayed on the other end of the call. Since the bracelet couldn’t be found, Meyer could only find a replacement for the time being. However, this meant there was a flaw in the performance already. It wouldn’t be able to reach the quality Meyer strove to achieve. It was akin to a violinist using an unknown bow. No doubt they wouldn’t be as comfortable performing with it.

As a dancer master with a wealth of experience, Meyer couldn’t have casually misplaced such an important item. Careless oversight was something that rarely happened to her. Meyer even wondered whether someone had taken it.

Students pranking teachers wasn’t unheard of, but this was Planet Yin. Students joked here and there during rehearsals, but which student would dare play such a prank at an important juncture? Planet Yin punishments were severe.

After ending the call, Fang Zhao was about to leave the dance studio. However, as he took a final sweep before leaving, Fang Zhao noticed two open windows. He strode over with the intention of closing them.

Footsteps could be heard coming from the elevator’s direction.

“Zhao Bro!”

Yuan Zheng was running over with a package in his arms.

Upon finding out that Fang Zhao had left the concert venue, Yuan Zheng felt that this was a good time to deliver his gift to Fang Zhao!

Fang Zhao had run very quickly to the dance studio, and Yuan Zheng had worried about being able to catch him. Fortunately, he had made it in time.

Yuan Zheng hadn’t brought any bodyguards with him. He simply hadn’t informed any security personnel when he left the concert venue. He had many things he wanted to say to Fang Zhao and didn’t want to be interrupted midway.

“How did you know I was here?” Fang Zhao’s expression darkened. “Where are the soldiers responsible for ensuring your safety?!”

Faced with Fang Zhao’s stern gaze, Yuan Zheng swallowed his prepared speech. He opened his mouth to say something but was suddenly pulled to the side by Fang Zhao.

BANG!

A bullet struck the wall behind Yuan Zheng.

In the shortest time, Fang Zhao had already pulled Yuan Zheng away to dodge and find cover.

Yuan Zheng was stunned by this abrupt turn of events. He glanced at the bullet hole in the wall. His brains might have already been splattered all over the wall if Fang Zhao hadn’t pulled him aside.

“Zhao Bro…”

Yuan Zheng’s voice trembled, and his face turned pale at Fang Zhao’s bloodstained clothes.

There were two snipers, and two shots had been fired. The first had been avoided and had struck the wall. The other shot had been blocked by Fang Zhao.

Fang Zhao put a finger to his lips indicating for Yuan Zheng to stay silent and not move.

No alarms had sounded. Clearly, someone had tampered with the system beforehand. However, Planet Yin would definitely have contingency plans. No doubt people were rushing over already.

The dance studio windows were one-way windows. There was no way of seeing the interior situation from the outside, even with the use of advanced x-ray imaging techniques.

From the looks of things, it seemed like someone wanted Yuan Zheng’s life and that it had been planned for quite some time already.

Fang Zhao’s mind went to work as he quickly analyzed the situation and gauged his injury.

Yuan Zheng was currently overcome with regret. He shouldn’t have come running over here all by himself. He was frequently reminded to pay attention to his own safety and bring along guards whenever he went out. However, he too had let down his guard as nothing had ever happened all this time. He pressed on the emergency signal on his communications device but there was no response. It had been jammed.

Yuan Zheng was also very worried about Fang Zhao’s injury. The wound was in Fang Zhao’s abdomen. He couldn’t tell how severe the internal damage was. Medical treatment was needed as soon as possible!

As he worried, Yuan Zheng watched Fang Zhao furrow his brow before digging his bare hand into the wound and extracting the bullet.

Yuan Zheng: “…” Brother! Don’t be so reckless!!

Yuan Zheng had minored in specialized firearms. All young boys liked guns, and Yuan Zheng was no exception. Back when he was in secondary school, he had experimented what being shot was like out of curiosity.

He had worn a full-bodied bulletproof suit. However, he had still collapsed to the ground when an ordinary bullet had struck his torso. There had been a throbbing pain, and a few of his ribs had broken. The pain had caused him to lie on the ground for quite some time.

However, the physical pain was secondary. The event had left him psychologically scarred. It took a lot of time and help from a psychiatrist to overcome that trauma. That was why Yuan Zheng had switched to researching engines. He was still interested in guns and occasionally studied firearms in his spare time, but he no longer went to play games with firearms. He also skipped out on paintball sessions with people his age. The psychological scar from his secondary school days kept reminding him of the pain.

Now, Yuan Zheng nearly leapt up in fright from seeing Fang Zhao remove a bullet from his own body with his bare hands.

Pain was one thing, but the wound absolutely couldn’t be exacerbated!

After that, Yuan Zheng saw the bullet that Fang Zhao had dug out from his wound.

The sharp bullet tip had already changed form and seemed to have opened up in the shape of a flower.

Yuan Zheng’s mind went blank when he saw this bullet. Then, he quickly started to think.

If he wasn’t mistaken, he had looked into this type of bullet not too long ago. It was a special bullet that had very powerful penetration capabilities. It could even easily pierce through three or five people standing in a row.

If even light armor couldn’t withstand it, how could people?

Just glancing at the hole in the wall was enough to see the bullet’s penetrative strength.

All of the core engineers who were under protection would normally wear at least three layers of nanometer bulletproof attire. Yuan Zheng had also worn it today when he came for the performance. As long as he wasn’t shot in the head, 70% of live ammunition wouldn’t pierce through it and cause life-threatening harm.

Furthermore, with Planet Yin’s strict security, killing a heavily protected core engineer was very difficult. Being able to make a move at this time meant the perpetrators clearly had a well-thought out plan. Surely their plans had accounted for the bulletproof attire. They definitely weren’t using ordinary bullets.

But!

Right before his eyes!

Fang Zhao alone had blocked a bullet on his own!

Alone!

Yuan Zheng was panicking. Fang Zhao’s injury…

Injury?

The blood stains on Fang Zhao’s clothing seemed to have stopped spreading?

He was no longer bleeding?

Yuan Zheng glanced at Fang Zhao again. His breathing was light yet steady. If not for the bloodstains on his clothes, he really didn’t look like someone who had just been shot. On the contrary, the pale and weakened Yuan Zheng seemed more like a gunshot casualty.

Yuan Zheng suspected he was hallucinating.

He had studied the destructive effects gunshots had on the human body and had also studied the structure, shape, quality and speed of bullets before. In his mind, he was very worried about Fang Zhao’s injury. However, the scene before him caused him to doubt his experimental data, theories and knowledge.

Yuan Zheng… Yuan Zheng no longer felt he was smart.