The Solar System Federation's IG list had been confirmed, and Ares College returned to Earth with glory. At this point, regardless if it was Wang Zheng, who had obtained the position of Leader, Zhang Shan, Meng Tian, Zhang Runan, all of them were glorified.
At the celebration, officials from the city of Beijing were in attendance. It bore great significance, as it was the first time within decades that someone from Earth had won the position of leader.
The social networking forums, message boards of the Earth military enthusiasts, and the mecha fandom had all exploded. The Solar System Federation was rising, and so was Earth. A series of terms, which included "Ares College", "Wang Zheng", "IG", and others, filled up the ranks of the top 10 searched terms on the Skylink web.
"Who is Wang Zheng?"
On the internet, the individuals who did not know what happened were a little shocked when they saw the ranking for the top searches. Wang Zheng? What is that?
"Don't you know? The leader of the Solar System Federation IG, the one who beat the Sun God Achilles, the Queen of Mars Lie Xin, and Lear from the Chronos family. He's so f**king awesome, there's no need to explain further."
"It can't be, right? He's that great? How come I've never heard of him before?"
"Heh heh, this guy is extraordinary, he came out of nowhere." Although the one who replied had referred Wang Zheng as "this guy" or "that guy", he was feeling extremely proud of Wang Zheng.
In the midst of all sorts of discussions, people's interest in Wang Zheng continued to rise, with many of them searching for his name… Inadvertently, "Wang Zheng" became the top searched phrase.
"One cannot be like Young Deer. Instead, work hard to become Wang Zheng."
Nobody knew who had posted this status first, but it was rapidly shared across the Earth's network. Old Deer had become the model example for being shameless. Wang Zheng, on the other hand, had become the idol for many after his hard work paid off.
Who said commoners could not rise up? No man was born a noble? Lear belonged to the Chronos family, Earth's second-to-none wealthy family. Lie Xin came from the Lie family from Mars, the invisible royal family. Achilles belonged to the first family of the Moon.
They were all from all kinds of nobility and superiority.
And Wang Zheng? He was nothing more than a commoner!
At times, the word "commoner" had an even greater influence on the masses.
But…. Old Deer was dragged into this despite being innocent. He updated his status overnight: What did I do wrong again?
And who was this Wang Zheng? And what has it got to do with me? I am innocent, I need some consolation! Any girls out there, can we chat privately?
From his words, it seemed as though he was expressing his anger and depressed feelings, yet he was also looking for girls. It seemed as though his main agenda was to look for girls.
But there weren't many girls leaving consoling comments on his status update. Most of them were neat responses.
""One cannot be like Young Deer. One has to maintain the team formation."
Old Deer was speechless and posted another status update: I'm quite comforted, for it has been a long time since people have called me "Young Deer". It sounds so cordial. Besides, @Wang Zheng, shall we be friends or shall we be enemies?
The fans were speechless. Old Deer was so thick-skinned to tag Wang Zheng! He was talking over the air, and he had not thought about whether Wang Zheng had a "Status" messaging account or not.
Well, Wang Zheng really had a 'Status' social networking account, and he registered with the name Wang Zheng. That was because when registering, he did not notice he could use a nickname and hence decided to go with his actual name. Since then, he had not used "Status", and Old Deer was the first person to have tagged him.
When the notification for Status came via Skylink, Wang Zheng was elated. The grudges between him and Old Deer were getting even deeper.
Although he had already made a name for himself, Wang Zheng's life… wasn't much different from what it used to be.
In this situation, Ares College had taken a strong protective stance for Wang Zheng. Did someone want to interview Wang Zheng? I'm sorry, please schedule it after the IG match. No, we cannot disturb him and affect his mental state. The respective departments have also given orders. This was a good thing because the students from the military school were part of the reserve forces, and they were considered servicemen. There was a distinct difference between celebrities, and in this regard, the media had also maintained a certain degree of rationality.
Becoming famous at a young age and then falling to rock bottom was something Gu Te had seen too many times. He did not want Wang Zheng to drown in fame and honor and lose himself, he could only succeed if he remained calm. Luckily for Wang Zheng, he was a little mature for his age and did not really care about such fame and attention.
Yan Xiaosu was the happiest. He opened a bottle of beer and drank it all in one go. Feeling immense pride for Wang Zheng, he said, "Boss, didn't you say it earlier? Break out of the Federation, destroy the Galaxy's System, overturn the universe, and eventually get yourself a beauty!"
The two of them found themselves a quiet place, lying on the slope of a hill, with a few beers by their side. Wang Zheng had finally made it after all these years. Yan Xiaosu had also found joy in becoming a nouveau riche, a big one in fact, and he was working towards greater wealth. On the other hand, Wang Zheng did not have the same interests; he wanted to become a mech warrior. Honestly speaking, Yan Xiaosu did not think there was any fun in putting one's life at risk in battle, but he continued to be funny for Wang Zheng.
"Definitely. Oh, yes, why didn't I see An Mei?"
Wang Zheng smiled. He was happy too. He grabbed a beer and drank it all. Ever since his return, the past few days had been troubling and torturing. Everything had finally settled down, and this was a more simple and direct way of enjoying.
But half a day had passed and Yan Xiaosu did not say anything.
"Hmm?"
"Ahem, Boss, it's like this. He he, regarding An Mei and I, we broke up."
Yan Xiaosu grabbed his chin, opened another bottle of beer, and took a sip.
"What? How did it happen?" Wang Zheng was really shocked, as he had always thought An Mei and Yan Xiaosu could get along well.
"I guess it was a peaceful breakup. Don't worry, at least we did not become enemies. How do I put this? I have returned back to the beautiful forest, and the ladies are welcoming me with open arms."
As Yan Xiaosu said this, he took a large sip of beer, but from his eyes, you could tell something was off.
"There really isn't anything else?" Wang Zheng was concerned.
"Maybe I realized that it was a pity to give up an entire forest just for one big tree. We're still so young, it isn't worth it to tie ourselves down so soon. I am a rising nouveau riche!"
Wang Zheng looked on as though he was waiting to see what else Yan Xiaosu had to say.
"Hey, in any case, I'm the heir to a rich family, so there has to be a time for me to have fun and enjoy. If not, it will be a waste to have been born into such favorable circumstances."
Wang Zheng was left speechless. Although Yan Xiaosu was usually careless in his speech and demeanor, his lips were tightly sealed.
"Boss, don't ask any further, I'm doing fine now. If you are still worried, I can bring my new girlfriend over. If one isn't enough, I'll bring two."
Once again, Yan Xiaosu started to talk rubbish.
"Sure, I will be waiting to see your new girlfriend then, two of them. I'm serious, if you can't find them, you'd better not come." Wang Zheng laughed.
".... Ahem, okay…. I'll try my best."
Yan Xiaosu touched his nose, it was obvious that he did not even have a new girlfriend, needless to say two of them.
The two of them drank continuously into the wee hours of the morning. Wang Zheng needed to relax completely and to take a good rest, while Yan Xiaosu was drinking to drown his sorrows. He wasn't a good drinker, but he drank more than Wang Zheng.
Wang Zheng flipped around on the bed with his saliva dripping down. It was obvious that he was having a great dream. Chen Xiu and the rest could not be found. Those who were participating in the IG had gotten holidays, like Zhang Shan, who had directly returned home. Wang Zheng had nowhere to go, hence he stayed in the college.
The doorbell rang. Wang Zheng woke up immediately with a groggy mind and a heavy head. Seemed like alcohol was something that should not be consumed in huge amounts.
Wang Zheng opened the door. It wasn't Yan Xiaosu but Ye Zisu. Just that… she had specially put on light makeup before coming over.
"Zisu, come in! Why are you here?"
Wang Zheng blinked his eyes twice. He was used to seeing Ye Zisu barefaced, but there was a weird, temptating feeling when seeing her with makeup. Deep in his heart he thought, "She has such a charming side to her." He then realized that he was a little disheveled, with only trousers on, and began putting on his clothes in a hurry.
On the contrary, Ye Zisu calmly looked at Wang Zheng. "You've got a great body!"
"Ahem, are you making fun of your brother? Do you want to get slapped on the butt?" Wang Zheng tried to maintain his prestige of being the big brother.
"You're going to beat me?" Ye Zixu said as she playfully blinked her eyes.
"Fine. These last two days were really tiring for me. I can finally take a break!"
It had only been two days since Wang Zheng and the rest had returned, and they had to attend all sorts of banquets that could not be turned down. It began with the officials from Beijing city, followed by the Asia region, then the Earth, then the Asia region, then the Earth's spokespersons. The influence of the IG was the entire Milky Way. Having someone from Earth as the leader of this season's Solar System Federation IG was of great significance to Earth. Forget about Meng Tian and the others, Wang Zheng was the one on the list that people had specifically wanted to meet. He went out in the morning and only returned to the hotel late at night. There was no time for him to interact with his band of brothers. All he knew was that Chen Xiu and Yao Ailun had also joined Xiao Fei's space time displacement research team and had made some significant progress and that it could even be used on mecha.
As for concrete details, Wang Zheng hadn't had the time to ask. Dealing with the officials from various levels was tiring, but luckily, his efforts did not go to waste. He had managed to fight for benefits for Ares College during the banquets. It was essential to repay as much as one could for the slightest bit of favor that one had received. Although Wang Zheng did not like such occasions where he had to mingle with these big shots, time passed by very quickly even when he did not say much. Nonetheless, Wang Zheng still kept a smile on his face and did not get impatient. Deep down inside his heart, Wang Zheng would rather face Zerg than to be in this situation. It was a torture.
There were many benefits, such as the allocation of special funds to Ares College under the directives and authorization of one of the spokespersons at the banquet. With that, the college could fill up the mech warehouse, which was great news for students who were in the Mech Department. At last, they had something that was tangible and concrete.
Ye Zisu smiled widely and asked about details of the banquet. Did that spokesperson really wear a wig?
"How would I take notice of that? I was busy discussing about the mecha sponsorship!" Wang Zheng was surprised by Ye Zisu's question, and deep down inside he felt that women had a weird focus of thinking.
"Oh, yes, how's An Mei doing? How did Xiaosu and her break up?" Wang Zheng did not question further, but he was nonetheless concerned.
"You already found out about it?" Ye Zisu shook her head and said, "Don't you worry, they broke up peacefully. Honestly, this whole matter…. How do I put it? I don't know whether to laugh or cry, it's all thanks to An Mei's wonderful mother."
"What exactly happened?" All those words from Yan Xiaosu about not being able to give up an entire forest because of a single tree was pure nonsense because Wang Zheng knew Xiaosu very well.
Ye Zisu sighed. "Regarding this matter, An Mei and Xiaosu had nothing to do with it. I asked An Mei. the situation over at her side is a little…. Actually, not long ago, both of them had intended to get engaged."
Wang Zheng was stunned. Engagement?
"You were still training on the Moon at that time. It was brought up by An Mei's family, and Xiaosu's family agreed as well. Then, when the parents of both sides met for the first time, An Mei's mother said something unpleasant behind their backs and coincidentally Xiaosu heard it…"
Ye Zisu shook her head. She had heard from An Mei about her eccentric mother. At their first meeting, she brought up two requests to Xiaosu's father. The first request was 60,000 Federation Dollars in cash as the betrothal gift.
The second was to allocate 12% of the Little Lucky Star shares under An Mei's name.