The news about Mo Lang personally guarding Fang Zhao as he wrote his thesis had been circulated by Mo Lang himself. This was to warn others to back off.
Fang Zhao also wasn"t someone unable to tell good from bad. He could understand Mo Lang"s earnest thoughts, and he was also willing to focus his efforts on music composition. Thus, he was extremely cooperative.
Mo Lang had just finished going through the thesis draft that Fang Zhao had given him. Looking at the time, Mo Lang reckoned that there probably wouldn"t be anyone coming over today, so he decided to head upstairs to rest. Just as he got up, the doorbell rang. Mo Lang"s face fell immediately.
"Old Master Mo, it"s Prof. Carter and the others," an a.s.sistant said.
Mo Lang"s face loosened up when he heard who it was. "Let them in," Mo Lang said. He could guess why Carter and the others had come.
Prof. Carter brought along two apprentices and three of Mo Lang"s other disciples.
"Originally, I didn"t have any intention of troubling you, but I ran into your disciples, who are also stuck on a few problems. We can"t quite get around them, so we decided to try our luck at this time," Prof. Carter explained.
Prof. Carter took a look around and asked, "Is Fang Zhao still in the study? How is progress with his thesis?" Officially, Fang Zhao was his student, after all. He ought to show some concern.
"He"s alright. His efficiency is also higher without anyone to disturb him," Mo Lang said. "The end of the year is when people are most restless. I have to stand guard. If it isn"t convenient for him to decline or if he can"t bear to reject requests, I will do it on his behalf!"
One of those who had come together with Carter hurriedly added, "With Venerable Mo standing guard, other people can forget about trying disturb him. They also wouldn"t have the guts..."
He hadn"t finished his sentence when Fang Zhao came over from the study.
"Teacher Mo, I wish to apply for leave."
While in the study amending his thesis, Fang Zhao had received a draft notice asking him to bring Curly Hair to a designated location within three days for a test. Although people part of the military reserve were given a lot of freedom and weren"t bothered too much by military regulation, once they were given the order from the top, there could be no refusing unless there were special circ.u.mstances.
From what Fang Zhao knew about current trends, the next important military activity would be the upcoming Whale Island Conference. Various military districts, bases, and cooperative representatives would gather on Whale Island for a conference centered on military science, strategic arrangements, and various other matters. This conference was held every five years and held a high importance. It was reasonable to say that Fang Zhao wasn"t qualified to partic.i.p.ate in it. The shows and performances during the conference period would be for people of Prof. Carter"s level to jointly arrange.
Prof. Carter had also been busy with performance activities concerning the Whale Island Conference. However, the draft notice Fang Zhao received was clearly different from the ones Prof. Carter and the others had received.
Shortly after receiving the draft notice, Fang Zhao then received a call from Wai Base Commanding Officer Huo Yi. Huo Yi had just arrived in Huangzhou the previous day and would be partic.i.p.ating in the Whale Island Conference.
"Have you received your draft notice?" Huo Yi seemed to be in good spirits.
"Just received it," Fang Zhao replied.
"I recommended you to the Whale Island Conference inspection team. This is a very high level conference and I can only recommend people; I don"t have the rights to the final decision. Whether you can stay depends on your test results. However, I have faith in you! Fang Zhao, for these sort of things, the allowance during the mission period won"t be much, but your record will be filled up with merits. It is a good thing for both you and Curly Hair! You have to prepare for it earnestly!"
Which was more important: a thesis or the Whale Island Conference?
This was simply a no-brainer for Huo Yi! In the face of the Whale Island Conference, what were performances? What was a thesis? All of those should be pushed back!
Fang Zhao was also rather curious towards the Whale Island Conference. At his level, he simply wouldn"t have any way of being there. Huo Yu had fought for a spot for him, so Fang Zhao wanted to express his thanks and try for the spot. Even if he would only be part of the inspection team, the experience would already be pretty worthwhile.
After making his decision, Fang Zhao went to look for Mo Lang to apply for leave.
Upon hearing Fang Zhao"s request, Mo Lang didn"t say anything and only stared at Fang Zhao with a frown.
Because there were other people present, Fang Zhao didn"t say anything and went over to show Mo Lang the draft notice.
Immediately, Mo Lang"s face became rigid. Even an artist with a high status like himself had no choice but to give way.
"The second amended version of the draft has already been completed and sent to your inbox. I will take one day of leave first and go take some tests tomorrow," Fang Zhao said in hushed voice.
"Alright," Mo Lang said resignedly.
What else could he have said?
Prof. Carter and the others were still there. Fang Zhao called out his greetings before taking his leave first. Carter and the others who remained behind took a look at Mo Lang"s gloomy expression and shrunk back. Indeed, today wasn"t a good time. They shouldn"t have come over.
When Fang Zhao returned to his dormitory, he called Curly Hair over, "Come, let me tell you how to go about the test tomorrow."
——
The next morning.
Fang Zhao brought Curly Hair to the designated location indicated in the draft notice.
The test was divided into a preliminary and secondary test with the focal target for evaluation being Curly Hair.
First, the tests evaluated Curly Hair"s physical condition, his temperament, and his ability to follow instructions. All of these were part of the preliminary evaluation and were the most basic requests. After the preliminary tests, there would be a search-and-detect test.
Fang Zhao also had his own examinations. These included a physical checkup and mental evaluation. All of these were rather simple and were completed in less than half an hour. Curly Hair"s tests took over two hours.
After all the tests were completed, Fang Zhao"s results were all "outstanding". Curly Hair"s test results were also considered to be among the best and his evaluation results placed him at overall ranked third.
Fang Zhao had undergone military service on Planet Baiji and had received many military commendations, so there was no issue. Curly Hair also had service experience during his time on Planet Wai. Generally, inspection dogs needed one year of service experience before they were allowed to take these examinations. Although Curly Hair didn"t have sufficient experience and was still technically a pet dog, considering Wai Base"s recommendations and his merits, the inspection team was willing to give Curly Hair the opportunity to try out.
Simply put, with ability, experience, and a recommendation, as long as there were no prominent issues, Curly Hair could still be given an opportunity when they were lacking dogs. However, n.o.body had imagined that this dog"s evaluations would turn out that good.
The people at the test center were discussing the results of the evaluation.
"Fang Zhao is really capable. That dog of his can"t compared to the two elites of the police dog academy, but it isn"t a professional inspection dog after all. But overall, he is considered to be among the top. That value of two hundred million really isn"t for nothing."
"It is still a little pet dog—its discipline isn"t that good yet."
"Why don"t you say that this pet dog is already very capable and isn"t inferior to those elites groomed by the police dog academy?!"
"These results are sufficient to join the inspection team."
If Curly Hair had been ranked over ten or further, they might have still hesitated since this was a pet dog and the dog"s owner was a reserve duty soldier. But instructions from the top were to increase the level of security checks this time. They didn"t lack good inspection dogs, but there weren"t a lot of dogs with such good results in these evaluations. More than half of these were serving in s.p.a.ceports or other planets.
Special circ.u.mstances called for special measures. After discussion, they ultimately decided to approve Curly Hair. Thus, this was how the only "pet dog" in Whale Island Conference"s inspection team came to be.
Fang Zhao had just returned to his dormitory when he received the official notice.
"We pa.s.sed the test," Fang Zhao said.
Curly Hair wagged his tail vigorously, begging for praise. He had gone and done all the tests according to how Fang Zhao had instructed.
Fang Zhao gave Curly Hair extra servings of food and allowed him to game throughout the night. After all, once they entered the conference on a.s.signment, it would be at least two weeks without the gaming console.
After informing Nanfeng and the other two of the new arrangements, Fang Zhao contacted Mo Lang to inform him of the outcome.
Mo Lang mused silently for some time before sighing, "I have already reminded you all that I needed to. The commander should have already informed you about the need for confidentiality during the conference period. Make sure you stay safe."
"To everyone else, I am just undergoing closed-door studying. I have already gotten my a.s.sistant to make arrangements," Fang Zhao replied.
"When will you be going over?"
"My instructions say to report in tomorrow."
Mo Lang sighed again. He felt gloomy. There were too many things he wanted to say but couldn"t spit out. He had considered various complications, but he had never expected a draft notice would have messed up all his plans! No matter how unwilling he was, he still had to let Fang Zhao go. Fortunately, this a.s.signment wouldn"t be too long. Fang Zhao would only be away for about two weeks.
At the end of the year, the internet was abuzz with reports about the annual galas of various companies, appreciation banquets, and other such events. Fans chasing stars felt like the excitement every day was like a festival. News of Chu Bo"s successful applications to hold concerts had also been released. There was a chance he would performing on various continents next year. Furthermore, just today, news that Chu Bo would be appearing at Jinzhou"s new year countdown was revealed. In the past, this would have been simply impossible. Who was willing to listen to Chu Bo criticize someone at a new year"s countdown ceremony? How negative of an influence would that be?! Jinzhou"s Cultural Department wanted to maintain their dignity too. But now that Chu Bo had actually learned how to censor himself, they allowed him partake in the countdown festivities.
But whenever Chu Bo was mentioned, people would bring up Fang Zhao as well because of their joint performance at Star Cup"s victory ceremony.
"Speaking of that, there hasn"t been any news about Fang Zhao after that Star Cup victory ceremony performance."
"I wonder whether Fang Zhao will appear for Yanzhou"s new year countdown."
"It is rumored that Fang Zhao is being locked up by a certain big shot to write his thesis."
"But they wouldn"t go so far as to not allow him to come out to enjoy the new year, right? He also partic.i.p.ated in the Star Cup victory ceremony."
"Does anyone have insider info? Please share."
"w.a.n.g Tie! Stop pretending to be dead!!"
w.a.n.g Tie was always dragged out for a las.h.i.+ng by netizens to express their anger every time. He also wished to let off steam and prove them wrong, but this King of Paparazzi"s intuition told him to give up, especially this time! Forget it, he would release juicy information about a famous film actress to divert people"s attention away tomorrow.
Many messages concerning Fang Zhao were posted to Yanzhou"s Silver Wing Media"s social accounts——
"Hey, where is your Fang Zhao? Bring him out from time to time!"
"In any case, Fang Zhao is a Yanzhou person. He should come for our Yanzhou"s new year countdown. He better not get s.n.a.t.c.hed away by Huangzhou!"
"Right right right! Huangzhou just loves stealing stars from other continents!"
Even Silver Wing Media"s own celebrities were also discussing in private on whether the company would call on Fang Zhao this year. There were only limited spots for Yanzhou"s new year countdown, and the few large-scale entertainment companies would be involved. There would also be some self established artistes and celebrities. Compet.i.tion was already tough as it was. If Fang Zhao was around, their chances would diminish even more.
Silver Wing"s top bra.s.s were also worried. They also wanted to find Fang Zhao, but the problem was that they could only contact Fang Zhao"s a.s.sistant. Fang Zhao himself seemed like he couldn"t be found
At the moment, Fang Zhao, who so many people were thinking about, had already brought Curly Hair along into the Whale Island region.
Whale Island was an artificial island off the coast of Huangzhou. The center of the island was a ma.s.sive building that looked like a whale. And that was the conference venue.
Currently, there was still a week to the Whale Island Conference, but preparations at the Whale Island region had already started half a year ago.
Fang Zhao brought Curly Hair to the reporting location. He handed over his gun, personal terminal, clothes, and communications devices. Guns and equipment would be issued out in batch to everyone. During the period of this mission, there was to be no contact with the outside. If anyone had urgent matters to handle, they would need to make a special application. There would also be specialists to handle urgent incoming calls. In other words, they just needed to concentrate on carrying out the a.s.signment properly and not bother about anything else.