Lu Mingfei doesn't want to be a superhero

Lu Mingfei took the paper, and there was a small dinosaur standing upright, looking a bit silly, drawn with delicate and exquisite strokes.

Although the drawing was in black and white, Lu Mingfei was quite certain that the little dinosaur in the drawing was yellow—because it looked exactly like Agumon from Digimon!

After a moment of surprise, Lu Mingfei looked at the head of the Uesugi family and tentatively asked, "Is this... a return gift?"

The head of the Uesugi family nodded vigorously, the black veil covering her face fluttering, and Lu Mingfei could vaguely see her white chin and cherry blossom-like lips, with a faint sandalwood scent lingering around his nose.

Although he couldn't see her full face, Lu Mingfei was certain that the head of the Uesugi family was definitely a beauty, and probably even more beautiful than the head of the Sakurai family next to her.

In front of the head of the Uesugi family, he solemnly put the painting into his pocket: "Thank you, I will keep it safe."

Although his face was serious, Lu Mingfei thought he was just coaxing a child. After all, this girl exuded an air of not being very bright. If it weren't for her tall, elegant figure, Lu Mingfei would have doubted whether she was still in junior high school.

Genji frowned slightly and got up to take Erii away. They shouldn't have let Erii meet outsiders, but since Lu Mingfei had come with Angers' backing, after much deliberation, Tachibana Masamune decided to let Erii make an appearance. It would be most solemn if all eight family heads were gathered together, and the effect would be much worse if one was missing.

He and Tachibana Masamune had specifically instructed Erii that she should just sit there, greet Lu Mingfei with her notebook, and then sit quietly until the welcome party ended.

But now this unexpected thing has happened. Erii's attention was drawn to the figurines that Lu Mingfei brought, and she ended up talking to him.

This was completely unexpected for Genjiro, so he immediately got up to take Erii away. However, after seeing Lu Mingfei carefully putting away the drawing of Agumon, Erii turned and ran away without warning.

Lu Mingfei and the other family heads were left looking at each other, watching the red and white figure disappear behind the torii gate.

"Excuse me, I must leave now." Yuan Zhisheng apologized to Lu Mingfei, then chased after him.

137. Chapter 136: The Lonely Girl?

On the terrace called "Awakening Temple", tatami mats were laid out, and on the long table was a deep-sea bluefin tuna weighing 200 kilograms. The honya-grilled knife, as bright as a mirror, cut open the belly of the fish, and the belly meat looked as tempting as pink marble.

Surrounding this main course are teriyaki pufferfish, grilled capelin, botan shrimp sashimi, and blue lobster sashimi flown in from France, with a bottle of rich and fragrant sake chilled in it.

Lu Mingfei and the other seven family heads sat around a long table. Today, the head chef of the family was personally preparing the meal. The head chef had served the Imperial Family in the past and was a top figure in the Japanese culinary world. Even by Lu Mingfei's standards, this could be considered a high-level reception.

After drinking tea and exchanging a few words, it was time for dinner. Surprisingly, the shrine had a room specifically for entertaining guests, but according to the patriarch Tachibana Masamune, the room hadn't been used for almost ten years because they hadn't encountered any distinguished guests.

After the head of the Uesugi family ran away, Genjiro chased after him. A moment later, Genjiro returned alone and apologized to Lu Mingfei, saying that the head of the Uesugi family was unwell and had gone back to rest.

To be honest, Lu Mingfei felt a little regretful, since he was very curious about how the girl ate while wearing a veil, but now he couldn't see it.

Among the group, Genjiro and the head of the Sakurai family, who were closest in age to Lu Mingfei, were arranged to sit on either side of him. Everyone enjoyed top-quality sashimi and sake together, and the atmosphere was more relaxed than before.

Suddenly, the sound of wooden clogs came from afar.

Lu Mingfei turned his head and saw the red and white shrine maiden running lightly towards him, her red hair dancing in the sunlight as if it were glowing.

Genji's expression changed slightly. He didn't expect Erii to come over again, but it was inconvenient to stop her in the current situation. He could only watch as she ran over, stopped in front of Lu Mingfei, kicked off her wooden clogs, knelt on the tatami, and handed a black cube to Lu Mingfei.

"Eri, how dare you be so rude!" Tachibana Masamune scolded in a low voice.

Erii blinked, then stared blankly, probably meaning "What did you say? I can't hear you."

Lu Mingfei took the cube handed to him by the head of the Uesugi family. It seemed to be a small handheld game console with an electronic screen, only the size of an MP4 player, and several times thicker, making it heavy in his hand.

"What is this?" Lu Mingfei asked curiously.

The head of the Uesugi family lowered his head to write, then held up the small notebook: "It's a Digimon, something belonging to the Chosen Children."

Lu Mingfei was stunned for a moment—to be honest, he really didn't recognize this thing. He knew that Digimon was originally an electronic pet produced by Bandai, which could raise Digimon and battle them on handheld consoles sold to children. Later, in order to promote the game, an anime called "Digimon" was created.

But he had never played with such high-end toys when he was a child. His uncles and aunts never bought him any, so how could he possibly have played with them? He did occasionally see his rich friends showing off their so-called "Digimon machines" when he was a child, but they didn't look quite the same as the handheld console in front of him.

One of his childhood dreams was to get a Digimon and then his own Digimon. He never imagined that this dream would come true one day, and that it would be realized by such a not-so-bright girl.

But Lu Mingfei soon realized he was overthinking things.

Because the head of the Uesugi family wrote in the notebook: "Fight with me. This is a loan to you. Remember to return it to me later."

"So it wasn't a gift for me after all." Lu Mingfei thought to himself, "What's with this possessive attitude? Are you really a child?!"

Across the long table, Tachibana Masamune's gaze and tone turned stern: "Eri! Don't do anything that will bother the guests!"

The head of the Uesugi family's deep rose-colored eyes dimmed slightly. Although he couldn't see the lower half of her face, Lu Mingfei had a strange feeling that she should have been secretly pouting just now.

After hesitating for a moment, Lu Mingfei said to Tachibana Masamune, "It's okay. Actually, I'm also very curious about this toy. I've always wanted to play with it when I was a child, but I never had the chance. It's nice to be able to experience it now."

Tachibana Masamune hesitated for a moment before finally saying, "Then I'll trouble you, Mr. Lu, to play with Erii for a while. Thank you for your help."

Erii stared at Lu Mingfei, holding up her notebook: "Have you never fought against anyone? Don't you have any friends?"

Lu Mingfei originally wanted to say that he didn't have a Digimon machine, but after thinking about it carefully, it seemed that he really didn't have any friends when he was a child, and the head of the Uesugi family was not wrong.

Damn it! It feels like I've been stabbed in the heart!

But then he noticed a blind spot: "Eh? You don't have any friends either?"

The head of the Uesugi family nodded, wrote something down, and then held up the notebook: "I've never played with anyone else, but I have two Digimon machines that can battle each other."

Playing a battle against herself? Lu Mingfei was stunned for a moment, suddenly realizing that the girl in front of him seemed really lonely, otherwise she wouldn't have grabbed a stranger like him to play a battle game.

That makes sense. She's the most prestigious member of the Snake Clan; who would be worthy of being her playmate? No wonder she seems so quiet and lonely…

For a moment, Lu Mingfei even felt that he saw a reflection of himself as a child in her.

When he was in junior high school, his aunt and uncle bought him and Lu Mingze a badminton racket each. But he couldn't find anyone to play with, so he found a desolate and remote badminton court. There wasn't even a net on the court, just a mottled rope as a substitute. He played badminton by himself. After hitting a ball, he would run to the other side to pick it up and hit it back, pretending that he was playing badminton with a friend.

He never went back after two days because it was too tiring to pretend he had friends while playing badminton.

Shaking off the inexplicable surge of thoughts, Lu Mingfei looked at the head of the Uesugi family. Perhaps because of a shared sense of sympathy, he felt a sense of familiarity with the other man.

“I’m happy to play together, but I don’t know the rules. Can you teach me?” Lu Mingfei asked.

The head of the Uesugi family nodded vigorously.

……

As night fell, Lu Mingfei returned to the hotel.

He never imagined that playing Digimon with the seemingly naive head of the Uesugi family would last from day to night.

Fortunately, he won more often. Thinking of the angry look in the eyes of the Uesugi family head when he left, Lu Mingfei couldn't help but laugh.

Pushing open the door to the suite's living room, Lu Mingfei saw Chu Zihang already sitting on the sofa, flipping through something.

"Senior brother," Lu Mingfei walked over, "How's the investigation going? Any progress?"

Chu Zihang shook his head: "Didn't find any useful information today. How about you, how's it going with the Snake Clan?"

“Although they’re involved in the underworld, they seem pretty normal,” Lu Mingfei said, sitting on the sofa. “And they’re very kind, probably because of the principal. The principal seems to be highly respected in the Snake Clan.”

“I think a more accurate way to put it is to show awe,” Chu Zihang said calmly. “According to the information I found, the principal came to Japan alone decades ago and used his great power to conquer the Snake Clan and force them to submit to the academy. Therefore, the academy has always held the principal in great awe.”

"So that's how it is... Wait a minute!" Lu Mingfei's eyes widened. "Senior brother, you mean that the principal actually didn't have any friendly or warm relationship with the Snake Clan, and the reason why the Snake Clan submitted to the academy was entirely because they were beaten into submission by the principal?!"

Chu Zihang nodded, then asked somewhat strangely, "You didn't know? Didn't the principal tell you?"

“No…” Lu Mingfei covered his face, “He was saying that he has many students all over Japan…”

“Many of the elites in the Japanese branch have studied at the academy, so this statement is not wrong,” Chu Zihang said.

“This is a big problem, a very big problem,” Lu Mingfei said with a mournful face. “When I met with the heads of the eight families today, I even asked them to tell me about the principal’s glorious deeds in Japan back then!”

Chu Zihang: ...

138. Chapter 137 The wondrous uses of astral projection do not refer to peeping at people washing.

Night falls in the presidential suite of a luxury hotel near Genji Heavy Industries.

Lu Mingfei sat on the sofa, grabbing his hair: "Damn it! Isn't the principal setting me up? He beat up the entire Snake Clan, and now he wants me to come here in his name. Isn't he afraid that the Snake Clan will take their anger out on me?"

“No,” Chu Zihang said calmly from the side, “The Snake Clan would not dare to openly disobey the principal.”

"What if they try to sabotage us behind our backs?" Lu Mingfei was still worried. "For example, they might secretly add sleeping pills and laxatives to our food and water."

Chu Zihang remained silent for a few seconds.

How did you come up with such a wicked idea?

After hesitating for a moment, Chu Zihang said, "I don't think the Snake Clan would be so... unconventional."

That's what he said, but Chu Zihang subconsciously imagined himself falling asleep from the sleeping pills, and then the laxative taking effect...

“Then maybe they’ll secretly install a camera in the hotel bathroom and take nude photos of us to blackmail us,” Lu Mingfei suggested, raising a completely new possibility.

Chu Zihang: ...

“The Snake Clan is still an vassal of the academy, so there’s no need to worry too much,” Chu Zihang reassured him. “Moreover, the academy’s main campus and the Japanese branch have a cooperative relationship, and every year some people come to the Japanese branch on business trips.”

"They all got back safely?" Lu Mingfei asked, relieved.

"At least my body is safe." Chu Zihang nodded.

"At least your body is safe..." Lu Mingfei's eyes widened. "What do you mean?"

“I called Susie today and asked her to investigate. All the specialists who came to Japan on business trips had varying degrees of psychological trauma after returning to the academy. The outward manifestation of this psychological trauma is that they have developed habits similar to those of the Japanese, such as not liking to talk, rarely expressing their opinions, and immediately bowing deeply at a 90-degree angle and shouting ‘I’m very sorry’ in Japanese when someone points out their shortcomings or mistakes,” Chu Zihang paused and added, “For those with severe trauma, if someone speaks loudly to them, they are also made to immediately bow deeply and apologize loudly.”

"This clearly left a serious psychological scar!" Lu Mingfei exclaimed, his eyes wide. "How can you call this nothing?"

“Generally speaking, the higher one’s bloodline, the milder this phenomenon will be after returning from a business trip,” Chu Zihang said. “According to Susie’s analysis, it’s because the Japanese branch only admires the strong. The stronger one’s personal abilities, the more respected one is, and the less capable one is, the more oppressed one will feel.”

"Isn't this just bullying the weak and fearing the strong, and admiring the powerful?" Lu Mingfei complained.

“That’s why the principal was able to subdue the Snake Clan,” Chu Zihang said. “With your bloodline, you should receive more attention, so don’t worry too much.”

Lu Mingfei nodded.

……

Genji Heavy Industries, Genji Chisei's office.

"Young Master, this is the information that Princess Kaguya found." Sakura handed the tablet to Genji with both hands.

"Lu Mingfei, Chu Zihang, and a bounty hunter named Ronald Tang teamed up to kill a fourth-generation creature from the Solomon Temple?" Genji asked, somewhat surprised.

“These documents are highly classified within the academy. Even with Kaguya, it took us several days to find them, and we couldn’t access the more detailed information. We couldn’t investigate the reasons for their battle or the details of what happened, otherwise Norma might have found out,” Sakura said. “Actually, the breakthrough in finding these documents was that Chu Zihang recently took action in the name of the Lionheart Society, taking half of the fourth-generation dragon corpses. Without that breakthrough, even Kaguya wouldn’t have been able to find these documents.”

"Isn't Princess Kaguya's performance comparable to Norma's?" Genji asked.

“It’s still not quite as good. Norma’s computing power should be slightly higher than Kaguya’s,” Sakura said. “That’s what the people at the Ganryu Research Institute said—the equipment department of Kassel College, although it is not very serious and has terrible taste in anime culture, is indeed very strong in terms of technology.”

“Three people working together to kill a fourth-generation dragon, and one with a gigantic body at that,” Genji frowned slightly. “Such combat power should be no less than that of the heads of the five lower clans besides the Inuyama family head. Moreover, Lu Mingfei and Chu Zihang appeared in Japan together… This should not be a coincidence; they definitely have ulterior motives.”