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

Chapter 274 There is always a choice.
Lu Mingfei felt that this statement made no sense at all, but for some reason, Nuonuo didn't seem to be lying in his [Emotion Perception].

"Senior sister, there's a saying that goes, 'Even if you die, you should die knowing why.' Even if I'm being blamed, I should at least know the reason, right?" he asked curiously.

The gossip radar is vibrating incessantly; clearly, a big scoop is about to emerge. The only question is how much of this scoop relates to me.

So Nono then recounted the whole story, from beginning to end.

"If it weren't for what you said that day, I probably wouldn't have made this decision, right?"

Nono looked out the porthole at the riverbank that had sunk far below the horizon, and said calmly, then turned to stare at him, "I'm done."

"Oh."

"That's all the reaction you're going to get?" Nono raised an eyebrow.

"What other reaction can there be? Senior sister, you already said it was an unspeakable reason..."

Lu Mingfei scratched his head, leaned back, and stared at the ceiling with his gaze naturally shifting upwards, somewhat unfocused.

"I remember once, after the final exam results came out, my homeroom teacher found me and earnestly advised me that there are choices in everything. What kind of person I want to become in the future depends entirely on what I choose to do. Do I want to get into a good school, find a good job, and live a life of ease, or do I want to not even be able to get into an ordinary university..."

"And then you worked hard and became who you are today?"

"No, the effects of that injection only lasted until I got home. My aunt told me to keep my textbooks and study materials safe and not lose them, since I could lend them to other relatives if my grades didn't improve." Lu Mingfei smiled calmly.

"Then I learned that... although there are choices in everything, many choices are conditional. People who don't have the ability to meet those conditions have no room for choice."

"..."

Nono was silent for a moment, then said, "Thank you for your comfort."

"It's nothing, we're allies!"

Lu Mingfei straightened up again and muttered, "And frankly speaking... the one who needs comforting the most is that Caesar brother I've never met, right? So, senior sister, did you tell him about this?"

"not yet."

Nono shook her head. "Due to the confidentiality regulations, we can only wait until after this mission is over."

"Oh!" Lu Mingfei suddenly realized.

Nono's mention of it reminded him that such a thing was indeed true. As an operations specialist, he was required to sign various documents, including but not limited to the transfer of remains... Confidentiality regulations were naturally among them, with many restrictions, so it was understandable that he couldn't contact people abroad.

Lu Mingfei had no prior knowledge of this thing's existence because almost all the friends he dealt with were involved and knew about it, so there was virtually no secrecy involved.

"Can I ask you for a favor?" Nono suddenly asked.

"Huh?" Lu Mingfei was taken aback. "Senior sister, what do you want to say?"

"Remember that 'hidden reason'? That's why I agreed to that deal."

"I remember, I remember." Lu Mingfei thought to himself that it would be a miracle if he could forget. Not only did he remember, he was also quite curious about the reason. However, Nuonuo clearly did not want to say, so he wisely did not ask.

I'm already completely satisfied with just hearing such a big piece of gossip!
"Name your terms."

There was a three-second silence before Lu Mingfei finally reacted, "Wait, wait a minute! How did we get to the condition-finding step? Isn't there something wrong with this kind of math problem where the steps are explaining the conditions one second and giving the answer the next?"

"Because you're a good person, junior brother, and a capable one at that."

Nono doesn’t shy away from explaining why she chose to do this: “Everyone wants to do business with good people without worrying about being taken advantage of and getting nothing in return.”

"Is it possible that you, Senior Sister, were misled by my innocent and kind appearance? Actually, I am quite an evil person!" Lu Mingfei tried his best to put on a fierce and ferocious look.

To be fair, Lu Mingfei certainly didn't want to get involved in this matter. Although he didn't know the specifics yet, he knew without a doubt that it would be very troublesome!
His relationship with Nuonuo was mainly that of senior and junior brothers, and at most, a strategist alliance... not very deep. He could help with small favors casually, but this was clearly a big deal. "Hmm, so what conditions are you going to offer?"

Nono wasn't intimidated at all by Lu Mingfei's bluffing performance; instead, she asked curiously.

Lu Mingfei: "..."

Nono is right about one thing: he is indeed a good person. This makes it impossible for him to know what conditions to ask for, and even if he were to ask, they wouldn't be too unreasonable... Asking for a reasonable condition in exchange for doing someone a big favor seems like a bad deal.

"Should good people be bullied?" Lu Mingfei said indignantly. "What kind of logic is that!"

"Don't be like that, let me think of something for you..."

Nono was clearly eager to make the deal happen, and she even started to offer her own suggestions, listing the key points one by one with her fingers, "First, money?"

Before Lu Mingfei could answer, she shook her head. "You don't lack money. You can easily get as much money as you want, right?"

"And then... power? I can't give you that, and you don't need me to. And then... sex?"

She looked up at Lu Mingfei, then shook her head.

Lu Mingfei: "???"

"Senior sister, I sensed deep malice in your head-shaking!"

"That's not quite it, but... you certainly don't lack beautiful girlfriends."

Nono spread her hands innocently, "Besides, you don't like a girl because she's pretty, right? Let me think... It must have been because how good that girl was to you before? Because back then, nobody cared about you, so every bit of care seemed precious. But even the most precious things lose their value when there's too much of them. Now, you have everything you need."

"Senior sister, is your 'profiling' really mind reading?" Lu Mingfei's eye twitched slightly.

"That's not entirely true. Some of it was compiled by me from your previous materials... compiled by Fingel."

"Paparazzi should really be killed..."

"So I can't help you with anything in terms of sex."

"Please do not help!"

"So, after setting all that aside, in what other ways can I help you agree to this deal?"

Nono stared into Lu Mingfei's eyes, and at that moment her eyes seemed to change, the darkness becoming even deeper and purer, enough to devour everything.

"What you insist on is what you want. Actually, I overcomplicated things before. Everything in this world boils down to power and strength. What you need is power."

She said earnestly, "It seems I can help you with this. So... how about a deal?"

A transaction...?

For some reason, Lu Mingfei felt that the word sounded very familiar, as if he had heard it many times a long, long time ago.

He remained silent for a while, opening his mouth as if to speak but then stopping himself.

"Tuk Tuk Tuk!"

The sudden knocking on the door interrupted the ensuing transaction.

The hatch was pushed open, and Chu Zihang stood there, with Old Tang behind him, peeking around and looking furtively, clearly thinking about something bad.

"We've arrived at Kuimen," the senior brother said succinctly.

(End of this chapter)