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

Chapter 246

As noon approached, the sky grew overcast and heavy, with layers of thick clouds blocking out the sunlight that should have been shining through. The air was so damp it was almost viscous, seeping into every crevice in the near-freezing temperature.

Lu Mingfei stepped into the car, closed the door, and completely shut out the unbearable, bone-chilling damp cold. The warm air from the air conditioner gently caressed his face.

In other words, Lu Mingfei has excellent eyesight and doesn't need to wear glasses; otherwise, he would only be able to see two wisps of fog right now.

"Senior Sister Susie?"

When Lu Mingfei saw Su Qian in the passenger seat and then glanced at Chu Zihang in the driver's seat, he suddenly felt uneasy.

"you……"

"Hi! Um... we just happened to run into each other!" Susie explained quietly.

Great, now I don't need to worry anymore.

What's the difference between this and "protesting too much"?
There's something fishy going on between them!
Lu Mingfei's eyes sharpened instantly. He hadn't forgotten what Nuonuo had told him yesterday: Senior Brother Chu would definitely take action, but he hadn't expected him to choose this time.

Looking in the rearview mirror, Lu Mingfei saw Chu Zihang's face clearly. As always, he was expressionless, but why did his face look a little pale? It could even be described as pale!
If Lu Mingfei had to describe it, it would be like the day Chu Zihang suddenly "caught a cold".

Is this another "cold"? How can a mixed-race person's physical condition be so weak! Not to mention Chu Zihang, who is an A-level... What exactly went wrong? It can't be that he practiced the wrong technique and went into qi deviation, right?

Lu Mingfei pondered, thinking it probably wouldn't be that bad. Besides, Chu Zihang's condition was clearly better this time than last time; apart from being pale, his driving and speaking were not significantly different from normal.

"I asked Susie to help me find more detailed information."

Seemingly noticing Lu Mingfei's scrutinizing gaze, and knowing that this guy had a peculiar way of thinking and was likely to say all sorts of shocking things if he didn't care, Chu Zihang had no choice but to interrupt.

"Regarding the Japanese branch."

“I remember Professor Zhang Shanfeng telling me that the materials I have were directly transferred from Norma by Senior Brother Ye Sheng…”

Lu Mingfei subconsciously continued along this topic, after all, the most urgent matter was still the "Hongmen Banquet" at lunch. He already knew that there was such a big scoop, and as for how to eat it, he would of course wait until he had free time later to contact "Strategist Nuonuo" to ask for details and savor the process.

"I didn't expect Senior Sister Susie to have other sources of information?"

According to the information Lu Mingfei had previously seen, the Japanese branch was not an agency of Karl Selby College, but a cooperative institution established by the college in cooperation with a mixed-race family in Japan called the Snake-Headed Eight Family.

The Sheki Hachike are the oldest families in the Japanese underworld, consisting of eight surnames, divided into the "Three Major Surnames" and the "Five Minor Surnames," all of whom are of mixed race.

For over a thousand years, they have been the dominant force in the Japanese underworld. Any underworld leader who conquers a territory must personally visit the Hebi-Hachi family to "burn incense," signifying their willingness to obey the underworld laws set by the Hebi-Hachi family, in order to legitimately develop their gang.

Simply put, the Snake Clan is equivalent to a dynasty in the Japanese underworld.

That is why Lu Mingfei didn't see much information about the Snake Clan in the materials Ye Sheng sent him.

Firstly, the distance between the Japanese branch and the main campus of Kassel College is considerable; as the saying goes, "the emperor is far away, and the central campus is simply too far to reach." Secondly... the power of the Snake Clan is quite strong; according to the information, "even European mixed-race families hold them in awe, and the college cannot force them, so it can only adopt a united approach."

When Lu Mingfei read this, he couldn't help but think it was a bit absurd. Japan's arrogance towards Europe was somewhat understandable, but was the United States a pushover? To the United States, Japan was more like a dog; giving them a bone left over from their meal and kicking them a couple of times was considered standard to above-average treatment.

It feels like something that could only happen in some fantasy timeline!

But that seems to be the reality. After much thought, Lu Mingfei concluded that the only possible reason was the Snake Clan; their strength might indeed be formidable… but there must be other, unknown reasons behind it.

He couldn't confirm this guess at the moment, but at least one thing was certain—for this unknown reason, the Japanese branch had not been under the jurisdiction of the headquarters for decades, and most of the information was not shared. At most, there was only the exchange of information, such as the headquarters sending specialists on business trips or the Japanese branch sending family members to the headquarters for further training.

Therefore, Norma doesn't have much relevant information. Of course, it's also possible that Ye Sheng's level is insufficient to find it...

But Susie has it here?
"I collected some of it myself."

Faced with Lu Mingfei's questioning gaze, Susie explained, "However, a larger portion was purchased from Fingel."

Norma probably collects mostly written reports when compiling statistics, right? She likely excludes many of the entertainment posts on the Night Watchers forum as junk data because they might be unreliable, and these posts often contain complaints from staff who have previously traveled to the Japanese branch…

Lu Mingfei suddenly realized.

Fingel, the "King of Paparazzi," usually works on entertainment news. If you want to know any insider information but are too lazy to find it yourself, you can't go wrong by buying it from him; it will only cost you a little money.

But things are different now. There may be a lot of exaggeration in those complaint posts, but with so many people complaining, there will always be some effect. And Finger can be responsible for finding and extracting the key points from them!

"Is there anything that can help?" Lu Mingfei asked rather pragmatically.

He did this for a reason—he didn't know why Senior Sister Susie was in Senior Brother Chu's passenger seat, but it was clear that he had things to do and the two of them would hardly have any other interactions.

Having been the subject of countless rumors and gossip, Lu Mingfei had long wanted to experience what it was like to witness his senior's gossip firsthand. Wouldn't it be even better if he could get his hands on it right in front of him, fresh and exciting? Just thinking about it was thrilling!

“Yes…” Susie was about to speak when Lu Mingfei waved his hand to interrupt her: “Senior sister, just send me a copy. I’ll look at it myself. That way it’ll be faster.”

"Oh, okay!" Susie paused for a moment, then readily agreed. Following Lu Mingfei's instructions, she quickly sent the file over.

Lu Mingfei opened it to take a look, while secretly pricking up his ears... This kind of advanced technique of multitasking is already a skill that he has mastered quite well, so he is not worried about missing anything.

In fact, apart from a few people who are born with special abilities, most people cannot truly multitask. The human brain has difficulty focusing on two things that require cognitive resources at the same time. For most people, multitasking is more about the brain switching between multiple tasks very quickly.

It's like a single-core CPU that processes multiple programs by switching between them quickly. It looks like they are running simultaneously, but in reality, it focuses on only one thing at a time.

Another type of multitasking involves turning one of the two tasks into an "automated task," which is simply cultivating muscle memory so that it becomes an event that can be completed automatically without mobilizing cognitive resources or focusing, while the other task is then completed with focused attention.

The most direct example is "breathing." For most people, breathing is automatic... but when they realize it, it switches to manual mode for a while.

However, this method has limitations because, given the "hardware limitations," some tasks cannot be automated—such as solving math problems.

One thing Lu Mingfei himself didn't realize was that his multitasking was different from others; he wasn't "automating one thing" and "actively engaging in another." He was completely doing two things simultaneously that required "focused investment of cognitive resources."

Compared to the single-core CPUs of most people, it is a multi-core processor!

He only mastered this multi-core technology after he "needed" it.

"Exercise" has produced incredible results, but can learning really reshape the brain?
Or is it that something he has forgotten, something he doesn't even remember he once possessed, is being gradually activated under the threat of the "electric shock warning"?
Unbeknownst to them, the transformation had already begun.

……

The car fell silent for a moment, with only the faint hum of the engine running, while the contents of the document line by line came into Lu Mingfei's view.

It has to be said that Fingel is quite capable when it comes to entertainment news. As the "King of Paparazzi," if his professional skills were to be rated, they would likely have reached an S level.

Lu Mingfei himself had also browsed the Night Watchers forum. As the campus forum of Kassel College, a "world-class mixed-race university," it had a large number of active users, covering the vast majority of students from multiple years. The number of posts on the forum every day was quite large, and over the years it had become terrifying.

In such a short time, Fingel was able to find a large number of forum posts that met his requirements from a massive amount of posts. And that wasn't all; he also sifted through and summarized the content of these posts, and completed all the sorting and categorization work!

Now, this is called professionalism!
Lu Mingfei even suspected that Fingel might have obtained inside information from some secret channels in advance and made preparations beforehand... But after thinking about it carefully, he rejected this possibility.

It goes without saying that the news of the Japanese branch's arrival was kept secret, since they were still tasked with targeting the Gattuso family. Why not use someone else to do the dirty work? So Fingel probably really did prepare on-site after receiving Susie's request.

But its information retrieval and summarization capabilities... are comparable to those of a supercomputer, right?
Lu Mingfei scratched his head. He remembered a Word of Power—Heavenly Evolution. It was said that after activating the Word of Power, the user would gain supercomputing-level computing power. Those with strong bloodlines could even calculate the future through enough data, which could be considered "scientific fortune telling".

Could Fingel's Word of Power be a form of divine evolution?

The image of Fingel's imposing physique flashed through his mind, and his lips twitched slightly... If it were true, why would he train to be so big? It couldn't be that he used the power of words to become a logistics and administrative staff member, and was worried that if enemies came looking for him, he would be powerless to fight back, so he trained himself to be like this... so he could run away quickly, right?!
Yeah, that's the kind of thing that guy would do.

The information appears extensive, but Fingel provided a thoughtful summary; the majority of the rest is simply corroborated from the post's content.

[Foreword: King of Paparazzi, Fingel, is at your service! Please ignore any parts that are not satisfactory; if you are satisfied, please consider tipping and welcome to visit again!]
text:

First, for most of the staff members from the Kassel College headquarters who were on business trips to the Japanese branch, it was a hellish place. They were subjected to all kinds of abuse and had no human dignity whatsoever. Many staff members developed obsessive-compulsive disorder after their business trips to Japan, bowing to everyone they met and immediately shouting "I was wrong" in fear when criticized.

However, this is actually the Japanese "spirit of bowing in apology." Their bowing apology does not mean that they really think they are wrong, but rather that they feel that since they have apologized, the matter is over and they will do it again next time.

Second, the Japanese branch upholds a culture of strength, where only the strongest among the strong are respected. Their strength generally seems to surpass that of ordinary hybrids, therefore, so far the main branch has only one strong individual—Hilbert Jean Angers.

However! Please note that their respect for the strong is only because they cannot defeat them. They will seize and execute any opportunity to take advantage of someone's misfortune without hesitation. Do not be deceived by appearances!

Here's a point completely unrelated to the preceding and following text; any misunderstanding is purely my own conjecture and has nothing to do with the author—the more you show weakness in front of a dog, the more it will take advantage of you and even try to bite you. When you pick up a stick and hit it, it will wag its tail and beg for mercy, but the dog only fears the stick, not you. Therefore, once you drop the stick, it will revert to its old ways.

Third, the Japanese branch is essentially a yakuza family with a long history, and the yakuza embodies the Japanese samurai spirit.

The samurai spirit mainly originated in China. During the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, the Chinese people admired loyalty, righteousness, filial piety, the spirit of a patriot, and the idea that a scholar would die for one who understands him. After being largely absorbed by Japan, this spirit of Bushido was formed. However, as mentioned above, this unique Bushido spirit has undergone an essential transformation.

They would sacrifice themselves for so-called "righteousness," but the definition of "righteousness" depends solely on themselves, and for this, they would not hesitate to sacrifice the interests of everyone else, whether related or unrelated...

Lu Mingfei thought about it and figured it was probably the kind of situation where "for the greater good, I must die, and for the greater good, I must live on."

He didn't have any particular feelings about it... Many things seem normal when they come down to the word "Japan," which fits the general impression.

"that……"

Just then, he, who had been multitasking, finally heard a soft question from the passenger seat, from Susie.

"President, who was that girl today?"

(End of this chapter)