Lu Mingfei, why are you slaying dragons if you're not involved!

Chapter 206 Dark clouds threaten to destroy the city

The mountains stood frozen under the leaden sky, their ridges covered with a thin layer of snow, their jagged outlines like the jagged fangs of a giant, biting into the valley below the cliff.

The deep winter wind, like a cold razor, swept down the steep mountainside, swirling up dead fern fragments and pine needles with a sharp whistling sound. Large swathes of withered yellow reeds and rushes swayed in the cold wind. Occasionally, a few bare Masson pines and firs stood, their dark branches piercing the sky.

"Just by looking at it, you get the feeling that there's a big shipment here."

Lu Mingfei carefully examined his surroundings, then nodded thoughtfully.

"Left dragon, right tiger, this is a blessed land! No wonder Xiang Yu chose such a place to build his mausoleum..."

"You've studied Feng Shui? The Form School (Luan Tou School), right?"

Zhang Shanfeng walked over, staring at him curiously, then looked to both sides. "I belong to the Qi School, but I only have a slight understanding of the Form School, which focuses on natural geography... I can see the dragon and tiger fighting, but what is the meaning of 'blessed land'?"

"Teacher Zhang, I don't know if you've ever heard the term 'born with knowledge'... Okay, I just made that up."

Lu Mingfei originally wanted to ramble on and say something, but he immediately lost his nerve when faced with Zhang Shanfeng's curiosity.

The main problem is that Teacher Zhang is indeed a genuine Taoist priest from Wudang Mountain! In terms of expertise, he is definitely no match for him. If this continues, it will be like an amateur scientist trying to show off his professional knowledge in front of an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences... It looks like he's just making a fool of himself.

"You brat!" Zhang Shanfeng shook his head speechlessly. "Judging from your confident look, I thought you had actually figured out something I hadn't noticed..."

If it were anyone else, Zhang Shanfeng would not have believed a word of it, let alone doubt his own professional knowledge. But since it was Lu Mingfei who said it, it was a different story.

For Zhang Shanfeng, who had seen much of the world, a young man like Lu Mingfei who could impress him once was already considered a genius, twice was considered a dragon among men, and beyond that... his future prospects were destined to be immeasurable.

Despite having known each other for less than ten days, the number of times Lu Mingfei did things that shocked him... While saying it was countless might be an exaggeration, it was true that he couldn't count them on one hand.

Unparalleled genius!

His existence is meant to tell others that it is probably true that when Nuwa created humans, the first parts were carefully hand-molded, and some parts were made by simply flicking mud onto vines.

Such geniuses cannot be judged by conventional standards. For example, some people should have just graduated from elementary school by normal age, but in fact they have already completed undergraduate courses with excellent grades.

So even though Zhang Shanfeng initially felt that what Lu Mingfei said didn't quite make sense, he still curiously came over to ask, and even doubted himself to some extent.

“I do see something, Teacher Zhang. Look, the mountains are high and the rivers are long on both sides, with cliffs and precipices, and a low valley in the middle... Doesn’t it look like a door?”

Lu Mingfei never expected that his casual remark would actually attract the attention of professionals who would expose his fraud. In order to save face, he had no choice but to make random gestures.

“It looks more like a door panel to me,” Zhang Shanfeng said expressionlessly. “It would be really fun to swing it around.”

“Corporal punishment of students is no longer common…” Lu Mingfei muttered quietly with his head down.

“While it’s important to maintain a relaxed mindset when carrying out a mission, aren’t you taking it a little too easy?” Zhang Shanfeng asked helplessly.

"No, no, no..."

Lu Mingfei shook his head slightly, looked around as if to confirm something, and then lowered his voice, "Teacher Zhang, this is called the Thirty-Six Stratagems: Feigning Weakness!"

"There's this one among the Thirty-Six Stratagems?" Zhang Shanfeng was taken aback. "I used to teach at Peking University, don't try to fool me!"

"Yes, yes, it's just not called that. It's called Feigning Madness, the Twenty-Seventh Stratagem. It involves feigning stupidity to lull the opponent into a false sense of security, waiting for the opportune moment to act. The core principle is to patiently wait for the right moment to strike!"

Lu Mingfei spoke eloquently, and the spiritual comfort he sought during those boring days in the literary society did have some effect... After all, when people are bored, they can even read composition tutoring books as storybooks, and the Thirty-Six Stratagems could even be considered a divine product.

"Oh, so your 'feigned madness' means..." Zhang Shanfeng lowered his voice in a similarly skeptical tone.

"Of course it's a disguise, to lull the Gattuso family into a false sense of security."

Lu Mingfei explained in a serious tone.

"Although they are nominally here to conduct an inspection, they definitely have ill intentions. And you, teacher, have also said that there may not be a second dragon attendant in that mausoleum. If there is no dragon attendant, it is just an ordinary tomb. They have a lot of power and might try to do something sneaky inside... I am pretending to be crazy now in order to lull them into a false sense of security and make them careless!"

"Hmm...that seems to make some sense..." Zhang Shanfeng tried to think along Lu Mingfei's lines of thought and found that it did seem to be true.

Although Lu Mingfei's strength is undeniable, being strong doesn't mean he's steady and considerate... Throughout history, how many heroes have fallen victim to sleeping pills at roadside inns and been forced to drink the landlady's foot bath water?
Lu Mingfei's disguise in this regard was undoubtedly successful, because yesterday he had stomped on the face of the Gattuso family investigation team in front of them. He didn't seem like the kind of person who was deep-seated and liked to play tricks.

The logic of a high school student going on his first mission and appearing relaxed because he hasn't encountered any danger yet, thinking the trip is just a casual outing, is perfectly reasonable and makes no sense!
"Yes, that's exactly what I plan to do!"

Seeing that he had successfully fooled them, Lu Mingfei secretly breathed a sigh of relief and quickly changed the subject, "So, teacher, where exactly are the Gattuso family members? We didn't see any of them on the plane."

"Oh, they originally wanted to come with us, but our international cooperation division's charter flight was booked a long time ago and it's fully booked. We should promote thrift and avoid waste."

Who knew they'd join us? They only got permission yesterday morning and arrived last night. It all happened so suddenly, how could I possibly remember arranging transportation for them here? Zhang Shanfeng shrugged.

“I also bear some responsibility for this. I’m in charge of coordinating this work, but some unexpected things happened…” Ye Sheng said softly from the side.

"Senior Sister Jiu Deya's health was indeed worrying yesterday; I heard Ye Sheng mention it."

Chu Zihang calmly delivered his testimony, and judging from his facial expression alone, probably no one would doubt that this expressionless, icy Lionheart Society president was lying.

The direct cause of the incident, the indirect causes, and the witnesses all arrived in that instant, without any prior communication!
Lu Mingfei looked left and right, and immediately suspected that what Kassel College was teaching was not dragon-slaying skills at all, but "collusion to cause trouble" operations. Otherwise, how could he explain the fact that these people were performing such coordinated operations?

You guys are so mean, I love it! "Well, there's really nothing we can do about it. They're from the Gattuso family. Such a wealthy family would definitely provide the best for their subordinates on official business, right? Unlike us system workers who have to write reports and get reimbursed, we subconsciously assumed they must have arranged their own private business jet service this time... so naturally we didn't prepare one for them, right?"

As Lu Mingfei spoke, he couldn't help but laugh out loud. It was a reason he'd made up on a whim, but it filled in the crucial "unintentional" part. Even though almost everyone knew they were doing it on purpose… that feeling of the enemy gritting their teeth but being powerless to do anything about it was exactly what he wanted—it was exhilarating!
The laughter seemed contagious, and Ye Sheng and Zhang Shanfeng joined in. Chu Zihang, as always, remained expressionless, acting as the image ambassador.

"What are they talking about? Why are they laughing like that..."

Shudeya, Susie, and Nono huddled together. Susie noticed the situation and struggled with the choice between the words "lewd" and "obscene," feeling that both were somewhat fitting yet neither was quite right.

"Don't guess about men's affairs."

Nono pulled out another piece of chewing gum from somewhere and started chewing it while complaining.

"Don't worry about their actual age. All you need to know is that their mindset fluctuates between one and ninety-nine years old and is dynamic... This fluctuation is constantly changing. The only question is when they will become synchronized at some point."

Look how happy they are. You don't need to think about what they're thinking; just know that their mental ages are aligned and their brainwaves are a successful match… Yes, that includes your student council president too. Who knew he actually enjoys gossip beneath his cold, icy exterior?

"It's... alright... well..."

Susie suddenly felt a little guilty, her gaze darting around, and she even stammered. Nono's words reminded her of what happened on the plane, and a wave of shyness and annoyance washed over her.

The shyness stemmed from the fact that she and Chu Zihang had finally made what could be called a "breakthrough"—they had finally found common ground to talk about for so long, even on topics other than work. The frustration came from the fact that such a great opportunity had been gained by gossiping about her best friend, seemingly without any other substantial gains…

"Ha, a girl who would sell her best friend for a man!"

Nono sneered twice and said, "This matter can't be resolved with just one meal!"

"Please come back, I definitely will!"

Susie breathed a sigh of relief, smiling and somewhat ingratiatingly wrapping her arms around Nono's chest. Nono, looking every bit like a female pervert, moved her hands up and down, before finally stopping her teasing.

"You still need to take the task ahead seriously."

Sake-no-Ya-ki offered a kind and caring reminder.

"There are many people carrying out this mission at the same time, so some chaos is inevitable. Although we have the initial exploration experience provided by Teacher Zhang Shanfeng, things have changed over so many days. In addition, there are the 'hunters' who may be factors that could lead to unexpected events..."

……

"Speaking of which, where are the hunters? When are they planning to make their move?"

Lu Mingfei remembered something he had been thinking about for a long time, and he looked at Ye Sheng.

"How's Lao Tang? Have we been in contact since last night? Could he have been discovered and killed, and someone is impersonating him to spread false information and mislead us?"

"If Old Tang knew he had such a caring friend like you, he would be very 'happy'..."

Ye Sheng scratched his head.

"Don't worry about the impersonation. The equipment we gave him was specially modified so that we can know immediately if there is any unexpected situation. Unless he is in person, it is impossible for him to contact us... Moreover, we have a backup plan. With his help, we have infiltrated the group of 'hunters'. Multiple insurances ensure that nothing will go wrong."

As for when they planned to act, according to the intelligence relayed by Lao Tang and the other inside agents around 6 a.m., the exact time was exactly 12 p.m.…

Ye Sheng glanced down at his watch as he spoke, "In half an hour."

Lu Mingfei was visibly taken aback. "Noon?"

"Yes."

"Wait... are you sure Old Tang didn't send you the wrong message? No matter what, this kind of thing should be done at midnight or sometime between 11:45 and 11:45, right? Who would do something like this in broad daylight, especially at midday? Is he trying to get executed in the afternoon? Reincarnation is a skill, it's not about being as early as possible!"

Lu Mingfei rattled off a string of coherent, unique, and profound ramblings, leaving Ye Sheng stunned and speechless.

But he wasn't just saying that casually... Given the magnitude of the domestic issue, the Foreign Cooperation Division didn't hesitate to cooperate with the military in defense deployment; otherwise, such a large area would have been impossible to seal off.

The involvement of the military, especially China's involvement, means that there is absolutely no "shortage of manpower," and the "lack of firepower" has not existed for many years since the "fear of insufficient firepower" that emerged during the fighting!

Ever since he got off the plane and transferred to a private car, Lu Mingfei had been wondering if he had entered a national-level military stronghold instead of a mountain. Although in terms of importance, the mausoleum of the King of Mountains was indeed no less important than the Great Earth, the premise was that it had only been a few days.

That's incredibly fast!
Without some extremely special means, those hunters would have absolutely no chance of breaking through such a large-scale defense. According to Zhang Shanfeng, that firepower... even the Dragon King himself would be in serious trouble.

Of course, if we consider certain extremely special forms of Word Power, the situation might become much simpler. After all, many types of Word Power are somewhat unscientific... but Zhang Shanfeng is right here with it.

As someone who controls the wind-type incantation [Yin Liu], Zhang Shanfeng's use of incantations is clearly different from what is taught in "textbooks".

This open area is an excellent opportunity for him to make his mark. If a hunter could force his way through the defenses or sneak in under these conditions...

They would have acted long ago, why wait until now?
If they could come to the same conclusion, the hunters could naturally come to the same conclusion as them. They couldn't possibly be here to die, so... what were they waiting for?
Lu Mingfei subconsciously looked up.

As noon approached, not a ray of sunlight was visible. The already leaden clouds seemed to be adding ink, growing even darker and pressing down heavily, almost within reach.

Black clouds are threatening to destroy the city.

(End of this chapter)