Superstars of Tomorrow

Fiery Bird’s three words, "Everything is normal," informed everyone that there were no external cheating software or botting 1 . All those points had been obtained legitimately by one person.

But at District 79, the core concerns were different. Over at District 79, the players felt like crying. It was not as if all the mutated organisms had been completely cleared. However, as long as there were places with the sound of gunfire, on the streets and other open areas, it seemed as if a sieve had passed through. Anything big or obvious had been cleared, and even lone infected persons were rare.

On the streets, the number of bigger mutated beasts was pathetic, as though cleaners had came and tidied the street. A few snipers lying in wait for prey had waited half an hour, but not a single one had come.

Players who had financial resources but lacked skills knew that there was a limit to their own capabilities. When the game started, they had entered and familiarized themselves with the game and honed their skills. When the time was right, they headed offline to search for equipment sold by those merchant studios and teams. They did not have the strength to fight off these beasts to obtain their credits and experience points to exchange for their own equipment, so they had to resort to these methods.

In 12 hours—half a day—many things had happened.

People selling equipment—teams exchanging credits for equipment or players that picked up the occasional firearm after killing monsters—could quote a price and sell it off to other players. Just fixing a place to make the trade or the buyer could provide coordinates to make the trade.

Special reconnaissance teams had also created their own guidebooks with strategies within that half a day.

When all those players had bought better equipment and read the walkthroughs, they came online and equipped themselves fully but realized that their surroundings were much emptier.

Not a single monster could be seen. Am I supposed to shoot hairs?! Who knows when the next batch of monsters will appear?

Small monsters? Small monsters are not worth the effort!

Having gone through all that preparation just for this yet being unable to make use of the equipment and tactics, this sullen feeling was rather unbearable!

Yanzhou’s Qi’an City, chief editor of Prairie Fire’s office.

Qian Cheng looked at his subordinate’s reports and pondered for a long time. "Is it District 79?"

The staffer who had come to hand in his investigative report replied, "I’m not sure. There is still no confirmation, and the other districts also do not have a definite situation."

Qian Cheng sat in his office chair. Although he did not have any obvious changes in his expression, the drumming of his fingers on the desk became stronger.

A Prairie Fire staffer angrily said, "They beat around the bush when I ask for their team name, so secretive! Taking advantage of the hype!’

They were pissed. After the possible districts were narrowed down, staff had been assigned to investigate. They had even found a few clubs there and asked, but of the clubs or teams there, some would reply "No," while others would give ambiguous replies but not give a clear position. And immediately after, they would sensationalize the news to attract more attention to themselves. They could not stand these sorts of methods, but they still could not remove the possibility of their identities.

Prior to this, Qian Cheng had thought that, as long as they spotted a team with a player in a killing frenzy while the others assisted and lured monsters in, that would surely be the target they were looking for. But very quickly, SilverWing50PolarLight’s other team members’ points had started to rise, so now this method could not be used.

After 12 hours had passed, the first position on the "Battle of the Century" global leaderboards remained unchanged. The top ten also did not see many changes. However, the points gap continued to widen.

As for Fang Zhao, who was being passionately discussed by everyone, he did not bother with the reactions of others. He had blocked the region-wide announcers and was not checking his team chat.

He continuously shot, reloaded, shot, exchanged credits for ammo, shot...

He let go of everything else, just wanting to vent out all his pent-up feelings properly in the game.

When he felt more or less done, only then did Fang Zhao stop. Checking the team chat and seeing nothing important, he left a message that he was safe and sound before logging off.

Fang Zhao dripped with sweat as he separated from the console. His clothes were already soaked, and even without twisting the cloth, sweat was already dripping from it.

His mind and body appeared to be quite exhausted. Unlike other people who considered a rest after each hour of gaming or after a few hours, Fang Zhao had continuously killed for 12 hours straight and had not stopped in-between to rest at all!

This was a thorough venting session!

He was obviously tired, yet a peculiar glint radiated in his eyes.

Pleased!

Relaxed!

That sort of feeling was like heavy rain after a prolonged dust storm—completely refreshing!

Fang Zhao took deep breaths; this was the most relaxed moment he had felt since being reborn! There was no need for BGM in his head to regulate himself, and he did not need to painstakingly suppress it. Those heavily restrained emotions had dissipated somewhat. He was genuinely relaxed, inside and out!

Of course, other than being exhausted, there was hunger.

If not for this body’s constitution being strengthened, if it were anyone else, the person would have fainted from exhaustion or hunger already.

In Yanzhou’s timezone, it was already 6 p.m. in the evening.

Fang Zhao realized he had received over a hundred calls on his communications device, giving him a scare, as he thought something big had happened, but after checking the messages, he found out the reason. However, he had not paid attention to the leaderboards. Frankly speaking, he did not see it as a big deal and had never wanted to place on the rankings.

All he had wanted to do was vent out his emotions and tendencies that he had kept suppressed for so long. He had never expected it would result in the present situation. Ranked first worldwide?

As he was browsing through, a notification for an incoming call beeped. It was not Duan Qianji but the gaming department manager, Wayne.

Wayne had waited from morning all the way till Fang Zhao had went offline.

Because Fang Zhao had not gone offline all this while, Silver Wing’s side was not sure of the situation, had no communication with Fang Zhao, and thus did not dare to release any information. From an outsider’s point of view, it apparently seemed like Silver Wing was probably having discussions on how best to deal with the major event, so much so that even some veterans in the entertainment circles could only shake their heads helplessly. "Don’t understand and can’t guess what Silver Wing is up to."

"Fang Zhao, you finally disconnected!"Wayne’s voice was rather excited. When he was excited, his voice became very high pitched.

Fang Zhao shifted the communications further away before replying, "Mhmm, what’s up?"

"You do know that you are ranked first on the global leaderboards, right?!"

"I just found out."

Wayne’s hearing ability was good. He could hear from Fang Zhao’s tone that Fang Zhao was relaxed and probably feeling happy. He thought that Fang Zhao was feeling this way because he had achieved the top ranking on the global leaderboards.

"Then... what are you plans after this?" Wayne probed carefully.

"Nothing much." Fang Zhao’s intention for logging in had been to vent his suppressed emotions. Now that he had achieved his objective, anything else did not mater. How he intended to play in the future depended on his mood.

Wayne clenched his fist tightly, steadied his face, and asked, "Are you interested in working together?"

Wayne explained his intentions. He wanted to use the company’s resources, rope Fang Zhao in, and create a superstar in the gaming world. As long as Fang Zhao agreed, the gaming department would rise up. He could already see the glorious future ahead!

"Not interested," was Fang Zhao’s reply.

"... Don’t reject it right away. Collaboration would benefit everyone. How about this, you are tired after playing for such a long time. Why don’t you take a rest first and think about my suggestion."

After ending the call, Wayne immediately contacted Duan Qianji and told her he had been unable to convince Fang Zhao and needed Duan Qianji, the big boss of Silver Wing, to persuade him. If other companies found out that AliveAfter500Years was Fang Zhao, they would surely spend lots of money to poach him!

Just today, a number of companies had expressed interest in buying over the player and were willing to pay the compensation fee! Not just Yanzhou companies, there were interested parties from other continents too!

But what other people did not know was that the contract Silver Wing had signed with Fang Zhao did not involve gaming. If Fang Zhao were to sign with another company as an e-sports athlete, it would not be a violation of the contract.

Thus, a minute after Fang Zhao had spoken to Wayne, he received a call from Duan Qianji.

Frankly speaking, the treatment that Duan Qianji gave Fang Zhao was very good. Regarding the boss of the company, Fang Zhao was willing to give a little face.

As expected, Duan Qianji once again persuaded him to work together with the gaming department. If he had any conditions, he could raise them. She invited Fang Zhao over to the company tomorrow to have a discussion with everyone. Not just Wayne, Duan Qianji also did not want to let such a big opportunity slip by.

After the call, Fang Zhao did no immediately log back in. Instead, he went to check out the "Battle of the Century" forums on Fiery Bird’s website. Sure enough, many people were talking about today’s placings.

Next, Fang Zhao checked out the Yanzhou region forums. The announcements by all the e-sports clubs were already out, and the ones that were trending the most were related to the Big Five.

Fang Zhao entered the District 79 discussions to see if there was anything big next. Back when he had been playing, Fang Zhao had blocked off all communications, so he did not know a lot of stuff that was happening.

Indeed, all the discussions were about District 79 South, West, and East being completely cleared.

Those people seemed to be talking about him. Browsing a few more post, he was sure they were talking about him.

At this moment, a stickied post appeared.

"To that unknown expert that cleared the district’s south, west, and east! Please show us some mercy! Please let District 79 North off! We are only students!"

If it was the real Period of Destruction, someone would have to clear an area. But since this was a game, after reflecting on his own actions, Fang Zhao felt it was not appropriate, like he was bullying kids. After he had cleared an area, others could not play.

Having made up his mind, Fang Zhao logged in with the ID he had created when he’d registered with the game and left a one word reply on that students post—

[AliveAfter500Years] "Sure."

In the next moment, the replies on the post exploded exponentially.

"..."

"This ID..."

"What the f*ck?!"

"What did I just see?!’

"The top ranked worldwide is in our district?!"

"So he is the crazy KSing demon that cleared District 79 South, East, and West?!

The original poster was a university student. He and a few fellow students had just bought some equipment from others, stocked up on lots of ammunition, and decided to have a proper round of gaming. After seeing the situations at District 79 South, East, and West, he’d then posted on the forums, but little had he expected his post would make that expert reveal himself.

He has appeared, District 79!

The media was quick to catch on like a cat that had caught the scent of a fish, and they headed for District 79. Those that had not been randomly allocated to District 79 bought accounts to enter. Teams that specifically sold District 79 accounts had not expected that their business on the first day would be so good!

However, these people heading to District 79 with the motive of interviewing the player did not achieve their goals that night. Instead, at District 78 East, which bordered on District 79 West, the sound of condensed gunfire rang out.

The players in District 78: "..." A profanity had appeared in their minds.

Translator’s Thoughts

BeetleBarker BeetleBarker

When you are so good you thrash the entire world just for fun and your CEO has to come begging.