Superstars of Tomorrow

Fang Zhao understood what Ruan Shang had said. Indeed, it made sense.

Fang Zhao was disadvantaged because he wasn’t an actor and had never formally acted before. With regard to films, he had not produced any works, nor could he talk about experience. He simply had nothing!

But he still had to take a shot. Even if he was rejected, he had tried his best.

Why was Fang Zhao going to such lengths?

Despite it clearly having nothing to do with his own profession, why did Fang Zhao not understand his own limits and why was he trying to vie for a role in such a series?

The same role performed by different individuals would give people different impressions.

For people of the New Era, when it came to history, among all the similarly ranked leaders of that period, "Fang Zhao" was the one with the least presence. This was partly due to Fang Zhao not having been able to survive to the end. There were videos and photographic resources left behind, but a lot of those were not available to the public. Unlike Fang Zhao, the other generals that had survived to the Founding Era had been able to leave behind more resources that were readily available.

Exactly what sort of person was this historical figure Fang Zhao?

When this question was posed to people from every continent, even Yanzhou natives found it difficult to answer. There were only some insubstantial historical excerpts and a pittance of photographs.

As for unofficial historical excerpts, those could only be viewed as gossip and could not be taken seriously.

Once, Fang Zhao had been curious and had bought a book about unofficial history sold to the masses; it had been so exasperating it had been funny.

At that time, Zuo Yu had noticed his boss’s expression wasn’t looking too good and had explained, "Don’t take these too seriously. All of these are just groundless claims."

In the past, there had been compilations by authors that had been too excessive and had infuriated descendants of the great generals, who had proceeded to smother them right away. The book that Fang Zhao had read belonged to a category that had a lower degree of fabrication and had not been targeted by the descendants of great generals from the various continents.

"Founding Era" was considered a historical adaptation and would portray the truth as much as possible, but the series would surely have some embellishments and alterations, so it would not be exactly the same as history.

Even so, Fang Zhao still wished to let people 500 years after see a "Fang Zhao" that was as close as possible to the true history.

In the first ever officially approved large-scale film project on the Period of Destruction, he hoped that everyone would get to see the Fang Zhao–edition Fang Zhao!

Fang Zhao had some confidence in his acting abilities. Truthfully speaking, during the Period of Destruction, under those chaotic and complex circumstances, there had also been fighting between people, and as leaders of their caliber, they had all been drama queens.

There had been times when pretending to be weak had been required, and there had been times when one had had to show the four human emotions: happiness, anger, sorrow, and joy. To achieve certain objectives, pretenses had been needed. Sometimes, concealment had been necessary. And the more their statuses had risen, the more impossible it had become to reveal their true thoughts at any given moment. A single moment of carelessness could have resulted in the loss of their own lives as well as those of their comrades.

But acting in front of a camera, and acting well, needed to be learned. After all, he wasn’t a professional.

Fang Zhao had started reading some resources on aspects of acting beforehand. He was learning the theory first. He had also enrolled in virtual training classes online and taken virtual courses. This was all just preparation work.

Fang Zhao did not think that he could compete with those famous film stars after just a short while. All he knew was that he understood the role better. As he understood his own advantages, naturally, he also could see his own shortcomings.

Ruan Shuang’s words had mainly been to tell Fang Zhao the difficulties and get him to back out. One less competitor would result in a brighter glimmer of hope. Fang Zhao could see where Ruan Shuang was coming from, but he did not say a word. He was just too flabbergasted seeing someone who looked exactly the same as he used to look. There were many people in the world that looked alike, but this was the first time Fang Zhao had encountered such a situation.

At this moment, a group of youngsters came out from a nearby restaurant and walked passed Fang Zhao and Ruan Shuang. They reeked of alcohol and were happily chatting about heading to the entertainment center to have fun. A very common scene.

Fang Zhao gaze swept over them and lingered on one of the youths. He looked away naturally and said to Ruan Shuang, "Sorry, I have something to attend to."

Ruan Shuang stopped talking upon hearing what Fang Zhao said, and he smiled. "All right, go ahead."

As he watched Fang Zhao’s back slowing moving away, Ruan Shuang assumed that his words had been effective. This youngster finally could not bear it and was running off to hide.

Ruan Shuang shook his head and sighed. "He is indeed still too young and inexperienced." What he had said certainly made sense, but his main motive had been to get Fang Zhao to give up on this idea. Being so easily persuaded and changing his mind so quickly, he was indeed still a youngster.

Fang Zhao did not know that Ruan Shuang was thinking. Instead, he was following that boisterous group of youngsters, mainly watching one person from the group. He had smelled the stench of blood on the person’s body. Furthermore, although this youngster seemed to be happily conversing with those people around him, he might not have belonged to the same group. This person seemed a little fishy.

Fang Zhao’s accumulated experience from his past life might not be enough to completely see through a person, but if his eyes and intuition realized something fishy, then something was definitely wrong!

Fang Zhao followed behind the group, but he kept his distance and wasn’t discovered. Further ahead was a street-like area on the cruise ship. It was much noisier, and the entire street was flanked with shops on both sides selling everything under the sun. There were also places of entertainment, and it was extremely lively here. It was just like a bustling street in a city.

Fang Zhao watched as that youngster separated from the group. The group headed to a casino, whereas this youngster walked over to a chain restaurant on the other side.

Mulling it over for a bit, Fang Zhao dialed the ship’s police hotline.

That’s right, to ensure the safety of the guests on board, this cruise ship was armed with a police squad. Each of Teasandsea’s large-scale cruise ships was equipped with one.

The call was answered in no time.

"Hi, Teasandsea Cruise Ship No. 9’s police office duty room."

"There is a person here that should be investigated," Fang Zhao said.

Inside the cruise’s duty room, a young police officer looked at a display on the screen as he replied to the call. On it was the information and position of the person reporting.

The screen was split in two. On the left was Fang Zhao’s personal information, and on the right side was an image captured by the surveillance system. Fang Zhao appeared in it.

As he read through Fang Zhao’s personal information, particularly striking was the column that read "Reserve duty major." When the receiver saw this, he lifted an eyebrow. His original casual expression changed as he became serious and sat a little straighter.

Another police officer noticed this situation and quietly came over and studied the screen.

They frequently received calls from kids who had nothing better to do and were used to encountering such pranks. That was why, when he had heard Fang Zhao’s calm and unhurried tone and saw nothing suspicious on the surveillance system, the police officer had mistaken it for a prank call. However, when he saw "Reserve duty major," he no longer treated it as a joke.

Fang Zhao’s current status and online fame did not necessarily mean that the cruise’s police squad needed to give him special treatment. The police here encountered too many famous celebrities. They might know of Fang Zhao and know that he had been a hot topic for a bit, but they would not know any detailed information.

But when they saw "Reserve duty major," they got serious. This had a much greater impact, and they were more inclined to believe the judgments of a reserve duty officer. They were willing to believe Fang Zhao’s words, just in case.

"We have already determined your location. Please point out the position of the target person as well as any distinctive features," the police officer said.

As he had been speaking, Fang Zhao had walked into that chain restaurant. The place was clamorous and warm, and it had the fragrance of freshly prepared food. There were many people in the restaurant, and it was quite noisy.

Fang Zhao scanned his surroundings, then continued, "Twenty meters ahead of me. A youth, slender, about 173 meters, short brown hair and a dark gray jacket. He just got a glass of wine from the bar counter."

There wasn’t a need for a detailed description. Fang Zhao knew that with the current level of the surveillance systems, those in the police duty room could easily detect and lock onto the target person.

Sure enough, Fang Zhao had not yet finished speaking when the system locked onto the target and even let Fang Zhao verify that it was the right person.

On the screen in the police duty room, following the lock on the target, the person’s personal information and identity were displayed.

At first glance, there was nothing suspicious about the person’s identity, but "nothing suspicious" didn’t mean anything. Falsifying documents was still possible.

"Watch him. Bring out previous surveillance footage of this person." Those in the police duty room started to move.

As for Fang Zhao, after ending the call, he went to find something to eat. He would leave the rest to the police squad.

Fang Zhao had made a casual police report not for merit or fame. He would leave the capturing of criminals to the police. Although he was a reserve duty major and had lawful gun ownership rights, he did not have the authority to interfere here.

However, two minutes later, Fang Zhao looked around the restaurant but did not see the suspicious person at all. That person had probably left the restaurant, but Fang Zhao would leave that to the cruise ship’s police squad.

Fang Zhao sat near the windows, enjoying his dinner while contemplating what to do next.

The area beside the windows was slightly cooler and quieter. It was more suitable to do some pondering.

At the same time, the people in the police duty room were investigating.

The sharp gaze of the police squad’s captain scanned through the investigation results of the few pieces of surveillance footage that had been brought up.

"Although he doesn’t seem to be that suspicious, half an hour ago, where did he disappear to for five minutes? Continue investigating! From my experience, there might be something wrong with this person." As he spoke, the police captain also became curious. "Who made the report just now? Does he have a dog’s nose? What sharp perception! He might not even lose to a cemetery guard."