Superstars of Tomorrow

Zuo Yu and Yan Biao took shifts on the security system. They had seen all of Curly Hair’s actions.

 Curly Hair knew that the warehouse had cameras and understood this was another one of Fang Zhao’s tests.

Fang Zhao had put in quite a bit of effort to stop Curly Hair’s bad habit of eating recklessly. This time, he wanted to see whether Curly Hair had changed this habit.

 Curly Hair was delighted. He didn’t even need to transform to be able to swallow these creepy crawlies. Maybe he could save a few to play with for later away from the surveillance cameras. But, twenty of these bugs could be exchanged for gaming time. At the very least, he couldn’t afford to swallow them. Each time he caught a new one, Curly Hair made sure to recount his entire collection to make sure the rest of them were all there.

Yan Biao was on duty tonight. He whistled in amazement. As expected of an inspection dog!

 Actually, he had also noticed the many insects in the warehouse despite the insecticide treatment. However, while watching Curly Hair seize and place these insects into the box Fang Zhao had prepared for him, Yan Biao noticed electrical sparks from one that Curly Hair stamped on. He knew that something wasn’t right and immediately contacted Fang Zhao.

 Fang Zhao had said before that only Yan Biao and Zuo Yu were allowed in the warehouse monitoring room. If they wanted to leave, they were to contact Fang Zhao immediately so that either he or Nanfeng could assume the position. If anything strange happened in the warehouse, Fang Zhao had to be informed immediately. No information was to be divulged to anyone else.

 Yan Biao and Zuo Yu hadn’t found anything strange with these orders. They had simply assumed Fang Zhao attached great importance to these fossils.

 To their surprise, when they reported the anomaly, Fang Zhao simply instructed them to continue monitoring the surveillance. They could ignore the things Curly Hair was catching.

Yan Biao consulted a few ex-comrades who had been discharged from service for some information.

 There were large quantities of bionic imitation devices for sale on the black market. However, because of the exorbitant price, very few people purchased them. It just so happened that after news of Fang Zhao’s fossil discovery broke, the black market saw a large increase in these bionic device purchases.

Unexpectedly, their security system wasn’t as efficient as Curly Hair.

 Not a single bionic device had successfully gotten near a dinosaur fossil!

 Yan Biao watched Curly Hair throwing some debris into the box and sighed. Need to upgrade the security system tomorrow.

 If Curly Hair could do everything, wouldn’t his job be taken?

1In the next two days, things of different shapes and sizes continued attempting to infiltrate the warehouse. Some looked like insects, while others looked like plants. They all looked extremely realistic. However, not a single fossil bone was stolen from the warehouse. Not a single photo was captured either.

There were also attempts to bribe the staff workers. However, the teams that Fang Zhao had picked were all seasoned veterans. The team managers were strict. If anyone accepted the bribes, Fang Zhao didn’t even need to step in; they would be kicked out by their own team first. The contract that the teams had signed with Fang Zhao already stated that the entire team was responsible for the actions of the individuals. Besides being expelled from the project, they would need to pay a hefty penalty on top of that.

 Thus, team managers were even more vigilant against problematic teammates than Fang Zhao.

In the afternoon, an excavation crew member wasn’t feeling well. The professor of his team let him head to the rest lounge in the warehouse to rest.

 This staff member carried his case and had just entered the warehouse when he was stopped by Curly Hair.

 “Woof woof woof!” Curly Hair barked.

 Warehouse guards on duty immediately came over.

 Other staff members going in and out of the warehouse also looked over.

 That staff member with the case who was stopped by Curly Hair turned pale from fright. He didn’t have a guilty conscience, but he was really frightened.

 The warehouse guards brought him to the side and opened up the case that Curly Hair had been staring at all this time.

 Curly Hair scanned the various tools in the case and put his paw on a hammer.

 There was an abrupt change on that man’s face. “This isn’t my hammer! I personally engraved my name on my hammer! There isn’t any on this one!”

 He hurriedly contacted the professor leading his team. “Teacher! My case has been tampered with!”

 In order to protect his favorite pupil and ensure that his team could stay in the excavation project, the professor quickly cooperated with the investigations. Each team also had their own way of handling these issues.

In no time, that team member was proven innocent, and three suspicious people were detained with the information provided.

 This incident reminded the other excavation teams to take precautions. No one besides the owner could touch their tool case! Clothing was also inspected everyday, and everyone maintained utmost vigilance towards anybody who attempted to get close to them.

 Previously, they had looked forward to those mainstream media interviews, but now, these reporters had to come up with new methods every day to get an interview. Everyone was now on guard after the incident today.

The excavation quickly reached its final phase. The skeleton before them was nearly fully out of the earth. Being kicked off the project at such a time would definitely leave one with lifelong regrets!

 They absolutely couldn’t be tossed out at such a crucial juncture!

 In no time, others on the island discovered that the once-lively atmosphere had become much more solemn. Furthermore, no matter how busy there were, one team member was always standing guard and watching their surroundings.

 With the joint efforts of the twenty teams, the skeleton fossil buried beneath the island was finally unearthed completely.

 The skeleton was well preserved and largely intact. There were few areas that needed restoration. Then, they began arranging the fossil bones.

 After this was complete, they could all sit back and admire the fifty-meter-long skeleton. It was as if they had transcended space and time to see a master of the oceans from seventy million years ago.

 A young staff member became incoherent.

 Tears were streaming down the cheeks of several old professors as they gesticulated wildly at the fossil display.

 “I never imagined… that I would actually see the ocean’s apex predator from over seventy million years ago with my own two eyes!”

 After an hour of discussion over the freshly unearthed fossil, everyone arrived at the same problem.

 “It has to have a name,” a leading professor said.

 The skeleton didn’t match with any existing species. Without a doubt, this was an unknown species, so they had to give it a name.

 But, the problem was that this fossil hadn’t been solely unearthed by any single team. It had been a group effort. Furthermore, the entire fossil belonged to the island owner.

 “According to the naming rules…”

 “Do we have naming rights?”

 “Fang Zhao? Oh, Fang Zhao, Owner Fang! This should be named…”

 “You all can just decide on it,” Fang Zhao said.

 The leading professors had still been wondering how to persuade Fang Zhao to change his mind if Fang Zhao had chosen a name that was too casual. They had never imagined that Fang Zhao would actually just hand the naming rights over to them.

 In many places during the Old Era, the country’s government owned any ancient fossils with scientific value. New Era administrative laws for such historical relics were different, but Fang Zhao really wasn’t too interested in them. If not because of Curly Hair, Fang Zhao would actually have just given the fossil display to a museum.

 Fang Zhao glanced at Curly Hair. Curly Hair yawned while standing guard by the box filled with bionic bugs. It didn’t look like anything else interested this dog besides gaming and eating.

 A leading professor trembled from excitement when he heard Fang Zhao say that he would be granting the naming rights to them. The assistant beside him swiftly handed the old professor two pills.

 The twenty excavation teams had a round of intense discussion over the matter of naming the fossil.

 In the end, they named this prehistoric oceanic apex predator Poseidonsaur. [1. Made up name. The literal translation of the name in the raws is sea emperor dragon.]

 2This was the largest skeletal fossil discovered to date. It was obvious that it ate meat from the shape of those teeth. It was definitely the ocean’s apex predator at that time, so the word “Emperor” was rather fitting.

 Next up was classification. The twenty teams once again entered another round of intense discussion.

 To be precise, the newly unearthed Poiseidonsaur should fall under marine reptiles rather than dinosaurs. However, any creature from that period with special characteristics would be called a dinosaur by mainstream society.

 However, many New Era paleontologists suggested to re-establish a new classification. There were too many large gaps in the New Era’s paleontology. Limited resources left behind from the Old Era were merely used as reference. These researchers didn’t trust them completely. They only believed in their own research.

 After the classification was complete, a paleontology professor grasped Fang Zhao’s hand. “I see that you have an affinity with dinosaurs. Would you have any interests in pursuing paleontology research?”

 Fang Zhao: “… No.”

 Clearly, they weren’t actually interested in him. Their true motive was the skeletal fossil of the Poseidonsaur.

 In the following days, news pertaining to the Poseidonsaur dominated social media and news outlets. All the news from archeology to entertainment circles was about the Poseidonsaur. It reached everyone from young children to biology students.

Soon, the masses began to believe that such huge creatures had actually existed on our planet before. This isn’t inferior to the discovery of aliens! People boasted online and told all sorts of stories as if they had personally witnessed the creature.

 “Those ‘kings of the ocean’ discovered in the past seem merely like little brothers now.”

 “Unrivaled! Truly unrivaled!”

 “The ocean’s apex predator! I’m already anticipating a Poseidonsaur movie!”

 “I wonder if the Poseidonsaur fossil will be publicly displayed?”

 “This fossil is too expensive. I reckon it won’t be open to the public.”

 “Even a model would do. When will a Poseidonsaur model be released?”

 “This… would probably depend on Fang Zhao’s decision.”

 “I announce that only Fang Zhao can stand on the head of a Poseidonsaur!”

 “… Eh?”

 “Putting it this way is actually right. Fang Zhao indeed lived on top of the Poseidonsaur’s grave.”

 In no time, a new topic emerged.

 #Fang Zhao, the man who stood atop the head of a Poseidonsaur!

 Nanfeng guffawed when he saw this.

 Even without anything else, they had already made a huge amount from rentals because of this Poseidonsaur matter.

 “Boss, you have really hit the jackpot this time! You can probably return to the ten billion club once you sell the skeleton!”

 “I don’t intend to sell,” Fang Zhao said.

 After being astonished for a moment, Nanfeng adopted a look of enlightenment on his face. “Indeed! Such a precious treasure that is unique in this world has to be kept for at least two years!”

 “I intend to open a collection. Besides the Poseidonsaur, some other items may possibly be added to it,” Fang Zhao continued.

 “A collection?” Nanfeng was once again flabbergasted. Regaining his composure, he thought to himself, As expected of the Boss to think so far ahead. He wants to keep the fossil and open his own exhibition hall. Then, he can use all sorts of related merchandise to earn money! 

The Poseidonsaur was the largest creature from this planet to be unearthed to date. There could be even larger creatures on foreign planets, but paleontologists had yet to fully finish studying their home planet. Who would even have the energy to research foreign planets?

 Furthermore, the sentiments that humans held towards Earth were irreplaceable. Mankind had developed here. Everyone shared this common history.

People were partial to nostalgia.

Earth’s policies and administration with regards to extraterrestrial creatures were rather stringent. In terms of value, creatures from Earth were still at the top. They couldn’t be replaced.

Nanfeng felt rather pleased with himself when he assumed he had successfully guessed Fang Zhao’s intentions. My boss still has some investment instincts. 

Nanfeng watched as the research teams used software to simulate various possible appearances of the Poseidonsaur. “That’s the ocean’s apex predator alright. It’s so ferocious regardless of appearance. A pity it’s extinct,” Nanfeng lamented.

 “I wonder how the universe’s apex predator looks like.” Nanfeng started to fantasize. “It’s definitely very bold and powerful-looking too.”

 Fang Zhao glanced at Curly Hair on the side and said, “Not necessarily. Some creatures might look adorable but actually have great destructive power.”

“Hahaha, you really are too humorous, Boss!”

 “…You will understand one day.”

 Nanfeng nodded his head in approval but was snickering inwardly.

 Alright, Boss, whatever you say. I will fully support it even if you say that Curly Hair is the universe’s apex predator!