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"Yeah, otherwise it's pretty boring to just sit around doing nothing."

"Uh..." The woman felt like she was about to faint from anger, so she could only resort to a harder approach, "Then you'd better think it through, Mr. Tang—"

"I've disliked him for a long time. The day before yesterday, he ripped me off for fifty dollars. When he couldn't beat me in a StarCraft game on campus, he actually cheated! Norma caught him red-handed, and everyone was watching. It was so embarrassing! I wish he were dead!" Lu Mingfei said viciously.

Mai Shude was completely stunned. She suddenly realized that she had nothing to say. This guy was impervious to both soft and hard approaches, and completely unyielding...

She felt short of breath, but she couldn't fail to fulfill her boss's mission to "recruit Lu Mingfei." After much deliberation, she finally revealed her trump card—the one her boss had instructed her to keep secret from Lu Mingfei unless absolutely necessary.

“Alright, I’ll tell you the truth…” She hung her head dejectedly, fully admitting that she had lost to Lu Mingfei in the contest, “That abyss… the Tuscalola Abyss, is called… Takamagahara in some Japanese legends, which is said to be the abode of the gods. I think you know that it’s related to the White King…”

She really didn't want Lu Mingfei to know these things. Although she would always think of random things when facing his face, she always kept things very clear. She hoped that in the end, they would be the ones to benefit... and the boss behind them.

But now, in order to carry out orders, she has to put such thoughts aside for the time being.

Then, she was suddenly swallowed by a shadow. Lu Mingfei had stood up at some point, looking down at her from above, blocking the sun, his expression unreadable.

"Next time you have important news like this, tell me sooner rather than later, girl." He suddenly reached out and, as if driven by his subconscious, gently rubbed her head, like he was stroking a little girl's head.

He waved to Zero in the distance, his mouth slightly opening and closing, his voice slowly drifting out, "I've joined. You can discuss the plans with Zero."

At this moment, Mai Shude was suddenly taken aback. She seemed to have a little trouble recognizing who was standing in front of her... It didn't seem like Lu Mingfei, whom she had been monitoring for many years, but rather like the boss she looked up to.

She shrank back obediently, as if in submission.

"When will it start?" Lu Mingfei asked calmly.

"It will probably take a long time to prepare. At least we need to wait for the embryonic signals of the egg to be properly captured before the information transmitted to Kassel will be credible..." Mai Shude maintained a submissive posture and spoke obediently.

She couldn't tell the difference at all anymore.

……

"Girl, I've always been curious. You know, the boss and Lu Mingfei look so alike, what's their relationship?" Su Enxi poked Ling's chest and asked curiously.

Ling remained silent, only gazing at Lu Mingfei, who had stood up in the distance.

It's not just about looking alike; it's a form of existence far beyond human comprehension... She silently answered in her heart, but ultimately, she couldn't understand it precisely.

"But if I had to choose, I actually think Lu Mingfei is better. I feel like we'd get along quite well," Su Enxi remarked casually.

Zero suddenly turned, his gaze sharp as an eagle's.

Chapter 191 She knew this was called insatiable greed.

A few days later, on a breezy, moonlit night, Xia Mi had something to do—she was behind on a lot of homework, but the end of the semester was fast approaching, so she could only miserably catch up on it in her dorm room. At this moment, Lu Mingfei finally got rid of the clingy, childlike King of Earth and Mountain and had a rare opportunity to whisper alone with Ling.

Of course, the timing was perfect, so it turned into a late-night snack session once again. Actually, before Xia Mi's feelings for Ling became more intimate, he and Ling had eaten late-night snacks alone a few times, but that was limited to the beginning of the school year. After the great monarch with the girlish heart truly became like a girl, these opportunities slowly disappeared.

Thank you, Advanced Mathematics.

Zero actually has a large appetite, and he doesn't talk much while eating, so Lu Mingfei waited quietly, sitting opposite Zero like feeding a small animal, without saying a word. He didn't eat much himself because he was never hungry.

The girl slowly stirred the spoon and put the fried rice into her mouth. It was hard to understand why an American college would have such authentic fried rice. It was probably because they wanted to fully simulate the Chinese teaching environment, so they brought in the atmosphere of the night market that could carry the vibrancy of daily life.

However, Zero was clearly always thinking about the boy sitting across from her. She swallowed another bite of fried rice and suddenly felt something was wrong. So she looked up at Lu Mingfei and found that he was staring at her. After a moment of thought, she put the spoon and fried rice to his mouth.

“I’m not hungry,” Lu Mingfei shook his head.

So Zero continued to eat, keeping her head down. She was a girl who wasn't good at picking up on the subtext of things; she just took whatever she heard as fact. She ate silently until the last grain of rice on her plate disappeared, at which point she finally looked up.

"Something you want to say?" Lu Mingfei asked. "You ate very quickly today."

"Hmm." Zero nodded. "What did Mai say to you that day?"

She had always wanted to ask, but she finally couldn't hold back until today.

"She actually told me not to tell you." Lu Mingfei smiled sheepishly, but his sheepishness was clearly directed at Shude Mai. He hadn't promised to keep quiet back then, and he felt even less guilty now.

He could still distinguish between those who were close and those who were distant.

He said, "It's about the location where the Lenin sank. She said the Lenin sank at a place that seems to be Takamagahara in Japanese mythology, and that there might be something like the remains of the White King there. She wants me to work with her from the inside, and when the time is right, we'll trick the academy into sending a submarine to explore it, and then she can sneak in as well."

Zero blinked silently, looking somewhat unhappy.

Although this girl is called "three-no" by her friends, Lu Mingfei actually has a way of discerning her emotions—she doesn't show happiness very often, but if she suddenly stops talking during a conversation, then she must be a little unhappy.

Just like it is now.

“That wasn’t her idea,” Zero said after a long pause. “It was the boss’s.”

“I haven’t asked you.” Lu Mingfei sighed, looking at Zero’s eyes that kept flashing under the light. “I don’t think it’s necessary to ask about this kind of thing, but you seem to really want to tell me.”

Zero nod.

"Alright, alright, I know, and I definitely need to ask you." Lu Mingfei understood that Zero didn't want to "voluntarily" reveal this information, so he took the initiative to ask, "So, who exactly is this mysterious boss?"

Ling received the instruction and then pointed at Lu Mingfei without any hesitation.

"So it was me. That makes sense." Lu Mingfei smiled knowingly. "However, to be precise, it can't really be considered me, right?"

She nodded. She wanted to say something about the question, but she couldn't bring herself to say it.

“Okay, I think I understand.” Lu Mingfei waved his hand. He understood what was going on. This form was indeed a bit difficult to understand. Ling had seen it with her own eyes and might have a vague understanding of what it was, but she didn’t know how to describe it in words.

This is indeed difficult to describe.

Back in Lu Mingfei's class, there were always a few guys who liked to proselytize, constantly pulling people aside and spouting nonsense like "thank God." Lu Mingfei was always indignant, thinking, "Damn it, you guys are all so happy and fulfilled, you definitely need to thank someone, but what about someone like me who's been let down by the world? Shouldn't God thank me? If it weren't for someone as miserable as me setting an example, who would be so eager to convert to religion just to be happier?"

But those guys were really annoying; they always liked to hand out pamphlets and cards with classic phrases written on them. Before long, Lu Mingfei also learned a lot of terms.

For example, the most famous "Trinity".

In reality, most people lack the ability to understand this term. The vast majority of people inevitably interpret "Trinity" as three individuals occupying the same crown, inevitably separating "Father," "Son," and "Holy Spirit." This is unavoidable; people can hardly imagine something they have never seen before. At most, they can only understand this form as "three souls sharing the same body," similar to a split personality. According to doctrine, this is simply blasphemy.

But that's not the case.

Some people compare this form to the transformation of "water-ice-steam", but that is not complete enough. Others explain it by saying that "in a cube, 1X1X1 still equals 1", but this is somewhat of a philosophical self-righteous cleverness.

However, trying to understand the church's ideology is meaningless, at least in Lu Mingfei's view, but he still finds the concept interesting, or rather, thought-provoking.

In his view, that concept isn't complicated; ultimately, it's just a lonely individual wearing different masks... Of course, it can also be the other way around—

There are also cases where others steal one of the masks, successfully don the armor, imitate the deity, and walk the world in the appearance of the deity. In fact, such cases are not uncommon and often occur.

"I think you shouldn't go." After thinking for a long time, Ling finally interrupted Lu Mingfei's thoughts and gave her her advice, looking a little nervous.

“I think so too.” Lu Mingfei nodded in agreement. “But what can we do if we don’t go? I heard that the White Emperor’s bloodline is buried there. I always think about it. And you know, sometimes I have no choice in the matter. Things just push me along. Would your boss give up?”

Lu Mingfei had never told anyone about "Lu Mingze," but he believed no one would understand, so he simply used this method to refer to him.

Zero lowered his head, having nothing to say in rebuttal.

She knew the boss's methods. Compared to the kind boy in front of her who would stay in the activity room during the day reading until he dozed off and drooled on the book, then suddenly wake up and frantically wipe the pages, only to tear the paper in the process, the boss was indeed much more ruthless, and the things he planned contained a terrifying element.

Zero doesn't actually have any grand ambitions. Years ago, when her boss approached her, he promised her that she would "meet him again." Now, that wish has been fulfilled ahead of schedule. It's not just that he is incomplete; the boy in her heart has returned completely.

She should have been content, but now she's become greedy again.

She had a new wish: that these peaceful days could continue forever. On good days, they would snuggle together in the activity room to read books and take care of the little flowers in the corner. On bad days, they would lean on the windowsill to watch the rain. Last winter, when it snowed, the two of them built an ugly snowman with a duck egg drawn on it. He said that it was "Zero Egg." Zero looked at the snowman, which was short and looked like a penguin, and worried that she really looked that ugly in his eyes.

These days are wonderful, and she doesn't want them to be disrupted.

Thinking this greedily, she suddenly fell silent again.

Chapter 192 Let's Go South and Take a Look

"Are you unhappy again?" Lu Mingfei walked around from the other side and sat down next to Zero.

Zero shakes of the head.

“You’ve always been like this. When you’re unhappy, you don’t say anything, and everything is written on your face.” Lu Mingfei sighed. “That’s not good. You’re still like a child. You’ll never grow up.”

"I didn't," Zero stubbornly denied. "I didn't give you the cold shoulder."

"It's not your face, it's your mood." Lu Mingfei handed over a tissue. "Although everyone says girls are hard to understand, you're actually quite easy to understand. What you're thinking is written all over your face. Others might not be able to tell, but do you think I can't?"

Ling remained silent for a moment, then nodded in acknowledgment, "I am a little unhappy because it is dangerous."

“There’s nothing we can do about it. We’re people who walk in danger,” Lu Mingfei sighed. “Everyone in this academy is like that. At such a young age, they might be dragged into the battlefield and not even leave with a complete corpse. Last week, the executive department went to Monaco on a mission and a third-year student was killed in action… Damn it, Angers, why do they always make students do such dangerous things…”

Zero didn't care about the lives or deaths of others in the slightest. She silently wiped her mouth clean and folded the paper.

She understood his will, and she never intended to disagree. She liked the boy, but she felt he was more like a lord, an older brother, and a father. At this moment, she felt she didn't need to say anything; she could just follow him.

But she was still unhappy; she didn't want any danger to befall him.

As if sensing that she was still sulking, Lu Mingfei suddenly pulled the girl to her feet and led her into the night on campus. The two walked slowly, with the wind blowing quietly.

He said, “You can’t blame anyone else for this. If Mai hadn’t told me what was down there, I definitely wouldn’t have been willing to take the risk. What does it have to do with me? But she said that there might be the remains of the White King down there. This is rumored all over Japan. Although the Snake Clan has been hiding this information, there are still some people who know the inside story, and it should be accurate… So this has to do with me. I had no choice but to go.”

“Is the White King important?” Zero asked, clinging tightly to his arm and taking very small steps.

"It's very important, isn't it?" Lu Mingfei couldn't help but find the girl's childish question amusing. "Well, I'm curious, what do you think is important?"

Zero didn't speak, but she wasn't unhappy; she was just thinking about the problem very seriously.

"Then, to ask the other question, what do you think I would consider important?" Lu Mingfei asked again.

This question made Zero even more silent. She even felt a little flustered about it. She seemed to have never thought about this before, not because she didn't care, but because she had never had such an "overstepping" thought... She felt that it wasn't something she should be thinking about...

She didn't need to think about such questions; she just needed to listen. Whatever the boy, walking beside her in the night, thought was important, that was important to her too…

“In junior high, I always thought it was important to stand out in front of my classmates, but I never really succeeded. Everyone just laughed at me. Later, I thought Chen Wenwen was important, but she didn’t care about me at all. Thinking about it, sometimes I suddenly realize that nothing seems to be really important to me.” Lu Mingfei laughed in the night.

Zero wanted to say something, but before she could, Lu Mingfei interrupted her.

"That's how it is for a loser like Lu Mingfei. Nothing else matters, as long as he can see it. If Chen Wenwen had been willing to be with me back then, maybe I would have gotten into Peking University by now." Lu Mingfei chuckled. "Of course, it's more likely I would be repeating a year, since I'm pretty stupid."

Ling shook her head; she didn't think so.

“But for me, and for more than just Lu Mingfei, it’s not like that at all.” Lu Mingfei suddenly stopped. He wanted to grab Ling’s hand, but the girl was too short, so he raised his hand and placed it on her shoulder.

He said, "There are so many important things in the world. Dragons are important, hybrids are important, so the remains left by the White King are certainly important. Who knows what kind of world someone else will become if they get their hands on something like this? Ultimately, I think this world is very important."

Zero remained silent; she still didn't think so.

“Zero, do you remember when I told you why we wanted to go to China?” Lu Mingfei’s tone became mature and quiet, like an old man reminiscing about the past, but the smile on his face was still young. “I told you that there are warm places in this world, and there are places where flowers bloom in all four seasons. This world is actually very beautiful. If no one disturbs us, a peaceful life can continue forever. We can keep planting flowers and reading.”

Zero broke her silence and nodded gently. This was a good thing, exactly what she had been enjoying these past few days. If the world was like this, then the world was indeed wonderful.

"So I have to protect these good days. If the world is engulfed in war, and ambitious people use the Dragon King's bones to cause trouble, turning the world into a mess, making it no longer warm, and there is no soil suitable for flowers to bloom, what kind of life can we live even if we hide in some small place?"

Zero could no longer remain silent; she admitted that the argument had convinced her. If it had been a year ago, before she was living such a leisurely life, she might have been caught in a small dilemma. But now, knowing just how wonderful life could be, she couldn't imagine life without it.

“It’s a very simple principle. How can you not even understand this simple question? Haven’t you thought about it properly all these years?” Lu Mingfei’s expression changed, and he became less mature. He shouted like a young boy, “You haven’t studied or thought about anything all these years, have you? Learning without thinking is futile, and thinking without learning is dangerous, Miss Ling.”

Ling pursed her lips, thinking that it was better not to say aloud the fact that she had only ever read romance novels all these years...

“Speaking of which, how about I take you to the South this summer? You probably haven’t been before, right? Even if you have, just pretend you haven’t, okay? The Three Gorges area isn’t that far south, so it doesn’t count…” Lu Mingfei casually put down the heavy topic they were discussing and turned to a lighter one. “But I think you need to prepare in advance, at least book a room in a hotel, since I don’t have a place for you to sleep.”

Zero's eyes suddenly lit up; she hadn't expected to bring up this topic at the end.

“I haven’t been there yet,” she said almost impatiently.

"That's good. At least I only postponed the appointment a little bit, so it doesn't count as breaking a promise." Lu Mingfei gave a thumbs up and pointed to himself. "I would never break a promise."

The girl nodded in the night, her platinum blonde hair fluttering lightly. Ever since they began their escape, she had never doubted this.