Chapter 224
Chapter 224: Hundred-Billion-Dollar Auction
Translator: Min_Lee Editor: Tennesh
After Fang Zhao's animal tooth sold for the astronomical price of 300 million, Kevin Lin sent out this status update: Ha! Ha! Ha!
When he had posted the picture of the tooth a few days ago, some folks had commented that cr*p like that would never fetch a high price . Now Kevin Lin felt totally vindicated, even though he had only posted three words .
Facts were the best revenge .
Browsing the headlines again, Kevin Lin noticed that news of Fang Zhao's engraved animal tooth fetching a jaw-dropping price was all over the place . Regardless of what people's motivations were in posting the news item, Fang Zhao was the beneficiary of a new round of hype .
"This fella Fang Zhao is scary . "
That was what many members of the entertainment industry thought .
When Fang Zhao had made a name for himself as a composer in Yanzhou, many folks hadn't taken it seriously . For one, Fang Zhao had been too young . He had still enjoyed limited status and influence . Secondly, composers worked behind the scenes . They were hard to promote and thus didn't pose a big threat .
Lo and behold, Fang Zhao had soon taken over gaming headlines, even earning the "god" moniker from gamers when the few clips showcasing his gaming prowess had emerged .
Not to mention that Fang Zhao had been backed by a huge corporation in Silver Wing Media, e-sports was itself a big industry . Folks had suspected the rise of a new gaming superstar, so many people had started feeling wary of Fang Zhao, be they entertainment conglomerates or gaming clubs . Everyone had brought their A game .
Yet while his enemies had geared up for battle, Fang Zhao had thrown a curveball by announcing he would be performing his military service, blowing so many minds in the process .
Many folks had secretly mocked Fang Zhao for being an idiot . Performing military service at the peak of your popularity? What, you're worried you're too famous?
But many entertainment companies in Yanzhou had breathed a sigh of release when they had heard the news . Great, military service it is, then . Get out of sight . We won't have to deal with him for a year .
Just as everyone had been kicking back, lo and behold, Project Starlight had launched, and in an amazing stroke of luck, Fang Zhao had been included, the reason being that the military wanted to encourage celebrities to serve in tough locations . Fang Zhao's actions were being lauded .
The folks who had just started to relax had been dumbfounded .
If you could broadcast live from your service location, fewer celebrities would become draft dodgers . What a great chance to boost your popularity, and now it had been stolen by Fang Zhao .
If only they had known that Project Starlight had been in the pipeline, every entertainment company would have forced their celebrities to perform their military service—the tougher the service location the better .
But of course, hindsight is 20/20 .
So be it, let Fang Zhao have his live broadcasts . After all, Fang Zhao had the fewest advantages out of the five celebrities picked for the first stage of Project Starlight . He was also boring and had no idea how to entertain audiences . There was no way he was going to be a hit . Entertainment industry executives felt they could rest easy again .
But it had only been a brief respite . The day Fang Zhao had started his military service on Baiji, he had made a major discovery .
The discovery of a grade A power ore had had global repercussions . Fang Zhao's "Diting" reputation had thus been born . Word had it that Fiery Bird had already signed an endorsement deal with him a year in advance to tout their new headset design for next year . So many folks were dying of envy .
The Baiji ore had been the lead story for local and internet TV stations and had inundated personal news feeds . As the discoverer of the power ore, Fang Zhao had naturally seen his profile rise as well .
Under those circumstances, even a smear campaign wouldn't have gotten anywhere . Fang Zhao's enemies could only wait for the hype to die down .
Finally, the hype had receded and the focus had shifted to development plans for Baiji and not Fang Zhao the individual . Lo and behold, a terrorist attack had shifted global attention back to channel S5 .
At some point, some folks had hoped that Fang Zhao had been killed in the terrorist attack . Fang Zhao's competitors within the entertainment industry couldn't stand the sight of this "freak" who defied convention and yet managed to grab headlines anyway . Lo and behold, the freak had survived, earned a service merit, and been promoted . Local governments had even started promoting him as a model soldier .
The twist and turns of Fang Zhao's fortunes were so unbelievable that some folks wanted to write a screenplay out of it .
And now his auction item valued at 30 to 50 million had been sold for 300 million .
Fang Zhao's fellow celebrities who viewed him as a formidable opponent were refusing to watch the news . They ignored the headlines popping up on their phones . Those headlines were bound to be about Fang Zhao again .
Main hospital of the Yanzhou military district .
After being shipped back to Earth, Yan Biao had been fitted for prosthetics here and put through rehab .
His prosthetics had been attached . He went for training walks at this time of day every day, but he had skipped his session today to watch the auction online .
"Who would have thought that something donated by a two-bit celebrity would fetch such a high price," a nurse delivering medicine to Yan Biao marveled as she checked out the auction footage .
The nurses at the hospital were used to seeing senior military officials . Generals were a dime a dozen, so for them, Fang Zhao only qualified as a minor celebrity .
Yan Biao tried hard to suppress his smile . He was dying to tell people this was his future boss .
As an employee, his fortunes were naturally tied to those of his boss . Seeing Fang Zhao's item fetch such a handsome price gave Yan Biao extra motivation to tackle rehab .
In Leizhou, Zaro was moping around . He felt he had lost face—big time . As a scion of Leizhou's most powerful family and an internet sensation, he had never seen any competition when it came to auction bidding .
Suffering such a major setback when always used to getting his way—Zaro hadn't felt this stifled in a long time .
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