As the opening match of the exchange match, it had ended in less than 10 minutes. For many people who liked to watch videos while eating, it was indeed too short. In the past, they could finish a match in three minutes. Now, they had to eat for at least half an hour, just enough time to finish watching the match. Watching competition videos while eating was something many gamers liked to do. But today's opening match had actually ended so quickly!
After it ended, the discussions online were also very intense. Some were analyzing the techniques of this exchange match, while others were guessing how many of the 10 contestants had been substituted. Although there had been quite a few challengers who had uploaded videos when the challengers had been announced yesterday, as long as they had not logged into the game for a live broadcast, it was possible that there had been a last-minute substitution.
However, regardless of whether there had been a substitution or not, the purpose of this exchange match had already been achieved. No one doubted Fang Zhao's identity as AliveAfter500Years. Even if there were still doubters, it was only a small minority. Most gamers had already accepted this fact.
On a certain floor of the hotel, Leizhou's Wireless Network team.
A young man who had just come out of his gaming capsule had a look of astonishment and bewilderment on his face. He had been the last of the 10 challengers to log off.
However, after seeing the person sitting in front of him, the young man hurriedly restrained his expression and said guiltily, "Apologies, Senior Young Master. I wasn't able to kill him."
Seated in a chair, Zaro Renault had a pensive look on his face. "I feel that you should have used a 10th-generation console. Fang Zhao used a 10th-generation console. The 10th-generation sounds better than the 9th-generation console, but it's a pity that my 10th-generation console was left in Leizhou."
"... Senior Young Master, this has nothing to do with the console. Besides, I'm better at adapting to the 9th-generation than the 10th-generation."
"Just a little bit more!" Zaro angrily slapped the armrest of his chair.
That person had a helpless look on his face. Just as he was about to say, "Senior Young Master, that really wasn't 'just a little bit more'", he heard Zaro say, "Just a little bit more, and you could have fired a shot. It doesn't matter whether you hit or not. I bought an account and got you such an awe-inspiring sniper rifle, but you actually didn't fire a single shot! It would be very embarrassing for me! "
"... Apologies, Senior Young Master." The young man hung his head. This was all he could say. It really wasn't that he didn't want to fire. It was that he hadn't even seen a strand of hair! He suspected that Fang Zhao had already sensed his position from the start and had intentionally avoided him.
Zaro's expression changed several times before he suddenly said, "How much would it cost to poach Fang Zhao from Silver Wing?"
The agent rejected him mercilessly, "Just give up!"
Unlike Silver Wing, which was prepared to go all out, as Zaro's agent, he was well aware of Zaro's character. Wireless Media was prepared to leave after one round. He also believed that Zaro's passion for e-sports would not last long. Since they were just playing around, why did they have to spend so much money to poach him?
It was one thing to poach others. To others, it might be a high price, but to them, it might not be the case. But if they really wanted to poach Fang Zhao, they would have to pay a really high price! If he poached them, he would have to operate for a longer period of time. He did not know when he would be able to recoup his capital. He would not do such a thing.
— —
On the other floor of the hotel, where the 2S Club team was located.
They had just finished watching a short exchange match. It should have been full of discussion and discussion, but now it was very quiet.
They were both Yanzhou e-sports teams, but up until now, they had not faced anyone from SilverLight. The two teams did not have a good relationship, so there would not be any exchange matches or practice matches. Thus, 2S's upper echelons wanted to use this opportunity to test out the strength of the famous AliveAfter500Years. Originally, they had wanted to snatch a spot, but unfortunately, they had not been able to buy one.
Based on the game's progress and the maps that had been released, they might have to wait a long time before they could meet anyone from SilverLight. Previously, they had been regretful that they had missed the opportunity to exchange blows with AliveAfter500Years, but now, they were rejoicing!
Even if they managed to snatch a spot to enter this exchange match, they would probably end up like the other 10 challengers. Once news got out, they would also lose face. Didn't they see that the internet was currently discussing the identities of the 10 challengers?
"With such a person around, Yanzhou will be lively in the future," a Yanzhou gaming critic said.
This put a lot of pressure on Yanzhou's Big Five e-sports clubs. As long as Fang Zhao was around, perhaps the balance could really be broken.
At the same time, the team from Zebra e-sports club, which was ranked 10th in Yanzhou, was in a terrible mood. Not mentioning the incident at the nightclub earlier, when they had first arrived at the hotel, they had wanted to borrow Zaro Renault's hand to test the SilverLight team. They had not expected Zaro to turn around and sell them out.
The faces of the few people involved were ashen. They knew that Silver Wing held a grudge and would not let this matter slide so easily. They had not made any moves now because their focus was still on Fiery Bird's annual conference. Once the conference ended, Silver Wing's revenge would come.
Making a move on other people was fine, but to make a move on an important member of a team, then Silver Wing would really go all out. No wonder Silver Wing's revenge had been so ruthless during the nightclub incident.
Silver Wing had always been like this. If you played with public opinion, they would play with it. If you stirred up trouble, they would do the same. Previously, two of Zebra e-sports club's higher-ups had hired people to make a move on Fang Zhao. After that, of the two Zebra e-sports club higher-ups who were involved, one was hospitalized and the other resigned.
The Zebra e-sports club higher-up who was still lying in the hospital was filled with regret. If he had known earlier that Fang Zhao was AliveAfter500Years, he would not have made a move on Fang Zhao even if he had ten guts!
On the 62nd floor, over at the SilverLight team's side, Wayne was very happy. He was excitedly saying something to someone, probably discussing their future plans.
As for Fang Zhao, he actually had nothing to be excited about. He was a person whose mental age was over 100 years old. He was different from others, and beating those people was nothing to brag about.
Because of the opening exchange match, among the e-sports players from every continent, there were some who wanted to give up, but there were also some who wanted to compete with Fang Zhao. Unfortunately, after the opening exchange match, they could not find Fang Zhao.
Fang Zhao was invited to Fiery Bird's headquarters by Tang Can. The engineers were preparing to conduct another round of measurements. They needed sufficient data to prove the success of the 10th-generation console.
After bringing Fang Zhao over, Tang Can left. He had too many things to do, so he could not keep watch.
Fang Zhao cooperated with the engineers to conduct a portion of the experiments. After that, he rested at one side and watched the engineers analyze the data.
A hale and hearty old engineer with grizzled hair came over and sat down beside Fang Zhao. He was the chief engineer here, Cao Kan. Most of the people here had received guidance from Cao Kan, so everyone was used to calling him Director Cao.
Cao Kan expressed a strong interest in Fang Zhao. "In my estimation, among the 100 people using the 10th-generation console, there would not be anyone who could reach an adaptability value of 98 within two years. Who would have thought that in just three months, you would actually reach 99."
Cao Kan smiled amiably at Fang Zhao. "Little friend, are you interested in working at Fiery Bird's headquarters?"
Fang Zhao looked at Cao Kan without saying a word. Little friend? His age from his previous life and this life was actually about the same age as the person in front of him.
Seeing that Fang Zhao did not respond, Cao Kan sighed. "Forget it, you still have your own path to walk. I heard that your profession is actually composition? Composing? Heh, interesting. This can be a new topic of research. Is the brain of you composers more active than the average person? "
"Maybe," Fang Zhao replied.
As Cao Kan chatted with Fang Zhao, his hands did not stop moving. His fingers flew up as he searched for Fang Zhao's personal information online.
"Eh?" Cao Kan suddenly looked at Fang Zhao suspiciously. "You haven't completed your military service?"
"No."
"Then you are in for some trouble." Cao Kan showed Fang Zhao a few trending entertainment news articles. "You are being watched."
Fang Zhao scanned through them. Those entertainment reporters had finally found out that he had not completed his military service.
Actually, at the start, those entertainment reporters had wanted to find out why Fang Zhao's marksmanship was so good and why he was so agile. Since he did not come from a special department, it was very likely that it had something to do with his military service. Indeed, some people would come into contact with all sorts of firearms during their military service to improve their body's reflexes.
Unexpectedly, upon this investigation, they found out that Fang Zhao had not completed his military service at all!
This was not difficult to find out. All they had to do was go to Qi'an Academy of Music and ask around. From his first year until graduation, Fang Zhao's examination records were available every year. His results were also no secret.
Since there were examination records every year and he had not missed a single year in between, that meant that he had not completed his military service during his university years!
Entertainment reporters who discovered this information were excited. What they loved to see the most was news of celebrities "skipping military service."
Fang Zhao had been a hot topic on the internet for the past two days. Although his age had not reached the deadline for his military service, it was still a topic that attracted a lot of attention.
Furthermore, someone who had not completed his military service but was already so skilled in the game meant that he was either a veteran gamer or definitely had some experience that others did not.
In the gaming circles, no one had heard of such a godly person. Naturally, it was the latter. And Fang Zhao's experience was different from others. Everyone coincidentally thought of the black streets.
Thus, when they refreshed the entertainment news again, a similar headline appeared.
"Shock! World's number one actually came from a black street! "
"Uncovering the secrets of the black streets!"
"Uncovering Fang Zhao's Black Street Life!"
...
For many people who did not understand the black streets, their impression was that they lived in the slums, dirty, messy, and filled with fights and killings all day. All sorts of shady things happened all the time. It was just like the gangs in movies set in the Old Era.
Thus, netizens were enlightened.
"So he came from a black street. No wonder he is so good!"
"Previously, I saw that Fang Zhao had black street experience. I originally thought it was just a short-term rental, but it seems like Fang Zhao has lived there for quite some time."
"Rumor has it that Fang Zhao participated in a gang war in the black streets. Is that true?"
"I heard that everyone in the black streets has a gun and fights every day. As expected, Fang Zhao has used real guns and fought real battles."
"Why did I hear that Fang Zhao is the illegitimate son of some black street gang boss?"
There were also some netizens who retorted that the black streets were not like what they imagined. How could there be so many gangs?
But very quickly, these comments were suppressed. Because last year, there had been a popular online drama that had played out exactly this way.
In the minds of the masses of gamers, Fang Zhao had already been labeled as a "gang member."
Artists were already bursting with inspiration and could not control their hands. With a few swishing strokes, they drew the image of Fang Zhao from the black streets in their minds. Tattoos, black leather jacket, sunglasses, machete, cigarette dangling from his mouth, a row of people standing behind him. Subduing dragons and tigers, arrogant, cool, crazy, and domineering.
"Although Fang Zhao looks like an artistic person now, who knows what he was like in the black streets? Aren't there rumors that Fang Zhao used to be very cold? Maybe he was like this in the past. "
"Right, there are those scars in the game. Maybe he used to have them on his face, scars from a gang war, but they were later removed by medical means."
The more gamers thought about it, the more they felt this was the case.
Very quickly, this new image began to circulate among gamers.
Looking at his new image, Fang Zhao: "..."
Yanzhou, Yanbei retirement facility.
Smack! The watering can that was used to water the plants was smashed to the ground.
"Utter nonsense!" Great-grandfather Fang was so angry that his beard trembled. "Black streets are not the same as gangs. These people are really spouting nonsense. This, this, this... What kind of image is this? "
Great-grandmother Fang sighed. "These youngsters have watched too many bad dramas. What are they thinking about all day? "
"What gang illegitimate child. That's simply slander. Spreading rumors and causing trouble. No, I have to talk to that Zhao kid. He has to clarify this matter. If we let this bunch of people carry on, who knows what the consequences will be. "
Although Great-grandfather and Great-grandmother Fang did not know what Fang Zhao's life was like in the black streets, they believed that their great-grandson would not be like the rumors online and be involved in some gang war.
Fang Zhao, who was browsing the news, received a call from Great-grandfather Fang from Yanbei.
"... All right, I will clarify tomorrow. Mm, the company is already making preparations. We will definitely clarify everything tomorrow. No need. There is really no need for you to make an appearance."
Great-grandfather Fang really wanted to personally explain on Fang Zhao's behalf. Although his local influence was nothing on a global scale, if he could help Fang Zhao clear up the rumors, he was willing to make an appearance.
They chatted for half an hour. It was rare for Great-grandfather Fang to have so much to say.
After ending the call, Fang Zhao received a call from Wayne. Silver Wing would control the rumors online, but they would not completely stop them. After all, where there was discussion, there was popularity.
"Everything is ready. During tomorrow's auction, you can use this opportunity to explain and announce your temporary withdrawal from the team to prepare for military service." Wayne was afraid that Fang Zhao would be affected by the slanderous and abusive comments online. "Those comments might not be made by gamers. It should be the influence of some rival companies. They can't wait to squeeze you out. Now, all you need to do is wait for the best opportunity. Stay calm and don't rush it. "
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