CHAPTER 44: CHAPTER 44: PERFORMANCE ART INTERNET CELEBRITY

Zhao Zhenhuai’s head exploded with a bang. "What did you say?!"

"Are you trying to kill me?!"

The previously optimistic Zhao Zhenhuai collapsed. It turned out that in this world, there were many despicable souls who loved to kick a man when he was down!

"The research institute is more than ten kilometers away from the Yingtai Flower Market, and you want me to frog-jump there and high-step march back?!"

"Why? What’s the point of doing this? You’re just doing this to mess with me, right?"

Zhao Zhenhuai’s hands flew rapidly, sending a stream of messages back. He didn’t have the grandeur of Bai Xianya, though, who would spend a fortune on exploding fonts.

Chen Gu looked at these messages, his eyebrows raised. "I do want to mess with you. What are you going to do about it?"

Then, Chen Gu replied with a clear and concise message, "This is an order!"

Zhao Zhenhuai sat in front of the screen for a long while. Finally, he rose in fury and smashed his desk with a punch.

He promptly made a holographic video call to Bai Xianya. "I resign! I quit!"

Bai Xianya spoke with a cold expression, "Zhao Zhenhuai, I remind you, you are a soldier, not a regular employee!"

Zhao Zhenhuai showed her the message from ’Idol Actor.’ "That old bastard is an asshole! Look at what he’s doing! I can’t do this. I’m not serving anymore!"

Bai Xianya’s eyelids twitched, cursing inwardly at the troublesome old man. I knew it wouldn’t be that easy...

"Hold on, I’ll communicate with the director."

Bai Xianya ended the call with Zhao Zhenhuai and immediately went to find ’Idol Actor.’

This time, the other party replied quickly:

’I have ample reason to do this.’

’Yes, this time I am deliberately making things difficult for him.’

’I can’t reveal myself. To control the entire research institute via Zhao Zhenhuai, I must ascertain that he will fully accept any of my directives and confirm his unconditional obedience to me.’

’This is a probe, and a test.’

’Do you understand?’

Bai Xianya was silent. The troublesome old man might be excessive, but he seemed to have some rationale.

She silently dialed Zhao Zhenhuai’s number. "You’re a soldier, follow orders!"

"Surely you understand what it means for a soldier to defy military orders!"

"A military court is waiting for you."

Zhao Zhenhuai was stupefied, on the verge of tears.

「...」

Chen Gu, using his hacker methods, sent messages to several famous streamers: "In Gu Xiangyang City, near the Yingtai Flower Market, there will be a unique performance art event!"

These streamers, ever fearful of not having novel content to attract viewers, swarmed towards the Yingtai Flower Market immediately.

Chen Gu even divided the route from Research Institute 745 to the Yingtai Flower Market into sections and sent them to these streamers, making sure they would appear along the entire route so Zhao Zhenhuai couldn’t slack off.

Then, he exited his gaming pod. Lying comfortably on a chair, he turned on the live broadcast, opened a bag of sunflower seeds, prepared a chilled beer, and settled in to joyfully watch the spectacle.

「...」

Zhao Zhenhuai changed out of his military uniform and into his training gear. He then hurried out of the research institute and began to frog-jump.

More than ten kilometers, Zhao Zhenhuai thought, his heart trembling.

Even though the physical fitness of humans in this era had greatly improved, it was still a challenge akin to scaling Mount Everest during the era of our home planet.

He had barely hopped a few steps when someone holding a recording device, much like a floating mechanical eye, WHOOSHED in front of him. The device nearly touched his face.

The streamer spoke in an exaggerated tone, "Look everyone! There’s actually some idiot using the ancient exercise method of frog-jumping for performance art!"

"What’s he trying to express?"

"Nostalgic sentiments?"

"Or a protest against modern high-tech?"

Zhao Zhenhuai cursed inwardly, You’re the performance art! Your whole family is performance art! Express a point, my ass! I don’t have any point right now, just a bellyful of curses!

The streamer was a real daredevil. "Let’s go interview this performance artist to see why he’s doing this."

He approached and asked, "Hey, hey! May I ask..."

"Scram!"

Zhao Zhenhuai sped up his hopping. Dressed in his army-green fatigues, he looked just like a... giant toad.

The streamer chased after him. "Wow, he’s hopping quite fast! I’m having a bit of trouble catching up, even while running..."

The streamer was very popular, with tens of millions of viewers in his live stream. Soon, someone recognized him, commenting, "This guy looks familiar. Isn’t he that guy from the gaming video that was popular a while ago, the one beaten up by ’Idol Actor’?"

With that clue, someone else recognized him. "Yes, yes, exactly! The ’Tactical Sandbag’! In the game, he’s called ’Wing of the Generals.’ In real life, I heard he’s a colonel. What’s his name... let me think..."

Immediately someone replied, "Zhao Zhenhuai!"

"Wow, Zhao Zhenhuai!"

Zhao Zhenhuai faithfully executed his orders. He had no choice. He didn’t know where all these streamers were coming from. Along the way, more kept joining, dozens of mechanical eyes ZOOMING and BUZZING around him like a swarm of flies.

And he, Zhao Zhenhuai, was obviously the piece of... shit that the flies were swarming.

Chen Gu watched and laughed heartily. But after finishing a bottle of beer, he found it boring. Zhao Zhenhuai kept frog-jumping, burning a tremendous amount of energy and sweating profusely. The sight of a middle-aged man in a sweat-soaked shirt, each movement graphically outlining certain parts of his physique... It was an eyesore.

Chen Gu turned off the live stream and went about his own business.

What he didn’t know was that, because of this bizarre "performance art," the live streams of dozens of streamers had their popularity soar!

Across Star Sea, billions watched this live broadcast.

And so, overnight, Zhao Zhenhuai became notorious, a well-known... internet celebrity!

The mastermind Chen Gu thought with satisfaction, When I’m bored in the future, I can always train Zhao Zhenhuai a bit more!

「...」

At six o’clock in the afternoon, the researchers saw their deputy director holding a pot of orchids to his chest. He moved into the research institute with high-kneed, robot-like steps. He then placed the orchids in the empty director’s office.

A group of researchers exclaimed, "That’s some innovative ass-kissing."

"Our deputy director truly deserves his position! Zhao Zhenhuai has really lived up to his name!"

"Impressive, impressive!"

"We simple folks can only honestly dedicate ourselves to research."

An unintended consequence was that the researchers, afraid of being tormented in various ways by the director, actually began to focus on their research!