Lu Mingfei doesn't want to be a superhero

He casually picked up the binoculars on the deck—they were originally intended for tourists to enjoy the sea view.

The moon was bright tonight, and with the help of the moonlight and a telescope, Lu Mingfei finally saw that it was a lonely island in the sea, with an open-air building that looked like a palace or church.

“That’s the temple of Our Lady of Angonia, our local faith,” the old captain explained as he finished his prayers and came over with a bottle of rum. “She is the patron saint of fishermen and seafarers. There is also a temple to her in the town of Vianaburg. That was the original temple. Before that temple was built, we would always go there to pray for her protection.”

The old captain didn't understand Chinese, but everyone could still communicate in basic English.

“Building a temple on an island must cost a lot of money, right?” Lu Mingfei exclaimed.

That temple isn't very close to the coastline, so it must have cost a lot of money, and it's estimated that it will be difficult to recoup the costs.

“I heard it was funded by the Sacred Heart Cathedral on Mount St. Lucia,” the old captain said. “They are very wealthy and have invested in many businesses in Fort Vienna. It is said that the clergy in the Temple of Our Lady of Angonia are now also their people.”

"They're really rich," Lu Mingfei couldn't help but exclaim.

"Yes, there are several times more people who believe in them than in Our Lady of Anonia... cough cough cough cough..." The old captain suddenly covered his mouth and coughed violently halfway through his sentence, his back bent from coughing.

Lu Mingfei was startled, thinking to himself, "Could this be blasphemy against the gods and divine retribution?"

Are the local gods really that petty?

He rushed over to help the old captain, and after a long while the old captain stopped coughing, his palms covered in blood.

Under the cold moonlight, the blood wasn't particularly noticeable on the dark, rough hands, like a stain on the floor of an old house.

"Is your... gum bleeding very severe?" Lu Mingfei tried to lighten the mood.

Chapter 82 Who says that sleeping in each other's arms in bed means you're together?

on the yacht.

In response to Lu Mingfei's comment about bleeding gums, the old captain chuckled and said, "Yes, I've been lacking in Vitamin C lately."

Lu Mingfei thought to himself, "You're definitely lacking more than just Vitamin C."

"Could you help me to the ship's side so I can face the Temple of Our Lady of Angonia?" the old captain asked.

Lu Mingfei helped him over and sat with him on the gunwale.

The old captain stared at the small black dot in the distance. He was old, his eyesight was failing, and he could no longer see the small black dot clearly.

"This ship is called the Pirate Princess," the old captain suddenly spoke up, asking Lu Mingfei, "Young man, do you think Our Lady of Anonia would protect pirates?"

“I think it’s unlikely,” Lu Mingfei said frankly. “But you’re not a real pirate either; you just admire your pirate ancestors.”

“I didn’t used to admire pirates, nor did I care about my ancestors, until I was diagnosed with lung cancer,” the old captain said. “I wanted to find a reason to keep living, and I finally found it in my ancestors.”

"Shouldn't a normal person's support be their family?" Lu Mingfei retorted. "Your support is a bit wild."

“More than 20 years ago, my son died in a shipwreck. He was an excellent sailor. I heard that in his last moments before he died, he pushed a passenger from the sea onto a floating platform,” the old captain said.

"And... what about your wife?" Lu Mingfei asked tentatively.

“I’m divorced. My son is the child my wife had with another man after she cheated on me. The court awarded custody to my wife during the divorce, but he came back to me after he came of age,” the old captain said. “He said his biological father was a very wealthy man with five sons and three daughters. I said, ‘Isn’t that great? If his biological father is rich, he can’t live too badly.’ He said, ‘But that old bastard can’t even remember his birthday.’”

At this point, the old captain chuckled softly.

Lu Mingfei wasn't sure if he should laugh along, but he felt an inappropriate urge to complain—what the hell is going on? They talk about shipwrecks during the day and shipwrecks at night. I'm on vacation and taking a boat trip, why am I constantly talking about shipwrecks?

Why don't you just give me a rare sea pelt too!

"When I was first diagnosed with lung cancer, I didn't know what reason I should have to keep living, until I found a notebook belonging to my ancestor. That notebook had been preserved for who knows how many years, and the paper was already very brittle. I carefully read through that notebook, which recorded his life as a pirate..."

"He wrote a last sentence, saying that the reason he was fearless when he was a pirate was because he believed that pirates would die one day," the old captain said, opening a bottle of rum. "Since we will die sooner or later, there is no need to fear death."

"What kind of logic is this?" Lu Mingfei didn't understand; he felt the statement was even a bit illogical.

"You'll know when you're about to die!" the old captain laughed.

"Pah! I tried to comfort you out of kindness, and you cursed me instead!" Lu Mingfei said with a look of utter displeasure.

The old captain opened a bottle of rum, took a big gulp, and then coughed violently.

Lu Mingfei quickly tried to snatch the bottle from him: "If you keep drinking, I don't know when I'll die, but you'll probably die soon!"

"It's alright, I'm already prepared." The old captain didn't seem to mind that Lu Mingfei had snatched his wine bottle.

"You are my last customers. I've saved up a lot of money. After this trip, I'll fill the ship with food and water, go out to sea and sing pirate songs, and give rum to passing ships. I'll plant explosives in the bottom of the ship, and when I get too sick to sail, I'll blow the ship up and sink it with me."

Under the moonlight, the old captain had a peaceful expression, his dark skin deeply wrinkled, like an old melon farmer from northern Shaanxi who had weathered many storms, or like a Buddha statue with a hazy glow, calm and detached.

"Isn't this a bit environmentally unfriendly?" Lu Mingfei asked.

The old captain remained silent.

"Wait a minute! Where did you get the explosives from?!" Lu Mingfei discovered an even bigger blind spot.

“I served in the Portuguese Navy, and I have a few friends who are now quite successful,” the old captain said.

"The Portuguese navy has become so corrupt!" Lu Mingfei was heartbroken for Su Xiaoqiang and her Portuguese family.

“By the way, since you’ve kept me company for so long,” the old captain said, “I’ll tell you a secret.”

"What secret?" Lu Mingfei asked curiously.

“I brought you to this area on purpose because there are hardly any big fish here,” the old captain’s original composure was gone, replaced by the face of a cunning merchant, “so that you will have no choice but to buy my fish.”

Lu Mingfei was stunned for a moment, then pounced and grabbed the old captain by the neck: "Damn it, give me my money back!"

……

A refund is out of the question, but the old captain said the drinks would be free.

So, in front of the old captain, Lu Mingfei poured bottle after bottle of free rum.

At first, the old captain remained relatively calm, but as more and more empty bottles accumulated on the ground, his eyebrows twitched with worry.

Lu Mingfei downed another bottle of wine, feeling dizzy. He realized he couldn't drink anymore, or he would just be hurting himself instead of getting his money's worth.

After saying goodbye to the old captain whose eyebrows were twitching, Lu Mingfei swayed into the cabin and headed towards his bedroom.

"This... is this my and Senior Brother Chu's bedroom?" Lu Mingfei stopped in front of a door, his steps unsteady and his head swaying.

He patted his pocket: "I have the key!"

He took out his key and inserted it into the lock. He could push it in, but he couldn't turn it: "Not this one?"

He walked to another door, inserted the key, and turned the knob to open it.

Lu Mingfei suddenly realized: "So this is the one!"

……

The next day, early morning.

Sunlight streamed through the window, and Susie, who was lying on the floor, covered her head and got up.

"Hey... how did I end up on the floor?" Susie, still dressed, got up from the floor, clutching her forehead. She felt incredibly embarrassed that the Lionheart Society's elite member was so drunk he was unconscious.

From an angle she couldn't see, there was a clear shoe print on her waist, indicating how she got down.

From her perspective...

On the bed, a man and a woman, dressed in disheveled clothes, were tightly embracing each other, their foreheads touching, their noses brushing together, their hot breaths mingling, almost kissing.

Susie was stunned. For a moment, she even wondered if she was still drunk.

"Xiaoqiang? Junior Mingfei?" Susie tried calling out.

Lu Mingfei and Su Xiaoqiang's eyelids trembled almost simultaneously before they opened their eyes.

Eyes facing each other.

Su Xiaoqiang blinked.

Lu Mingfei blinked as well.

The next second, amidst deafening screams, the two people were ejected and separated, like two magnets with the same poles repelling each other.

It's worth mentioning that Lu Mingfei was the one who screamed the loudest, probably because he was physically fitter.

"You you you you..." Su Xiaoqiang covered her chest with one hand, and pointed at Lu Mingfei with the other hand, her fingers trembling.

“You you you you…” Lu Mingfei also pointed at Su Xiaoqiang with a trembling hand.

Susie glanced at the two people positioned at opposite ends of the bed and abandoned her plan to point at them; otherwise, if she raised both hands, she would probably look like a zombie.

"You two are... together?" Susie asked, but her words were full of resentment.

"You two are together, so why am I sleeping on the floor?" Susie was completely baffled.

"no!"

"no!"

Lu Mingfei and Su Xiaoqiang denied it almost in unison.

“But you two were sleeping in each other’s arms just now,” Susie pointed out the most fatal problem.

Lu Mingfei was wondering if it would be a reasonable explanation if he said he was also drunk, but Su Xiaoqiang, her face flushed, spoke first.

"Who...who said that sleeping in each other's arms in bed means you're together?!"

Susie: ? ? ?

……

At the port of Vianaburg, pirate ships and yachts were docked, and Lu Mingfei and his group walked out of the port.

"I'm never going out with you guys again!" Su Xiaoqiang gritted her teeth and glared at Lu Mingfei.

"Really?" Lu Mingfei's eyes lit up, and his voice rose involuntarily. He thought to himself, "That's great! This will make things much easier for us later on."

From now on, they can regularly check in with Solomon's Temple to see who's ahead of them, so they won't have to worry about Su Xiaoqiang pestering them to go with them.

Su Xiaoqiang misunderstood Lu Mingfei's reaction. Seeing his strong reaction, she hesitated for a moment and said, "I can consider going out with you again, but I will definitely not drink with you again!"

Lu Mingfei was disappointed.

Su Xiaoqiang wasn't happy, so after saying the first two sentences, she ignored Lu Mingfei.

Susie... She later discovered the shoe prints on her body and wasn't very interested in talking to Lu Mingfei now.

Fortunately, she has a gentle and intellectual older sister style. If it were one of her red-haired best friends with the surname Chen in this situation, she would probably have already poured at least a magazine of Friga tranquilizer darts at Lu Mingfei.