In another world, Lu Mingfei is learning card making.

"There's no escaping it." Lu Mingfei shook his head. "Besides, I need to correct a 'misconception' of yours first—"

"If they had no reason to target us a week ago, now they do."

Lu Mingfei held up the box and waved it twice in front of the red-robed monk.

"This was sent by that devil... I've read quite a few books these past few weeks, you must have read them too, right? 'Every gift in destiny comes with a price tag...'"

"If I hadn't snatched it from the devil back then, we might still be developing at a leisurely pace—but things are different now. I got a 'key item' ahead of time, which has strengthened my strength, so the enemies I face will definitely be stronger..."

"Then why didn't you just refuse his offer?" The red-robed acolyte lashed out with a sharp, whistling sound, "Pretend to believe him, or simply refuse this priceless gift..."

"No, your idea was wrong from the start." Lu Mingfei gave her a strange look. "At that time, the initiative was no longer in my hands."

"If I refuse his offer, he can use various methods to sow discord among the local supernatural forces, making them see me as an enemy, until I am forced to accept his deal in a perilous situation."

"If I agree to his proposal, he will definitely try to sow discord, but instead of targeting me, he will target you—because in his view, you have already been traded to him by me, so no matter what happens to you, 'I' have no right to interfere."

"Isn't this the best possible outcome?"

The red-robed monk lowered his head and carefully examined Lu Mingfei. She had spent more than twenty days and nights with this boy, but only now did she feel as if she were getting to know him.

Or to be more precise, I came to know the lion hidden in his eyes.

Lu Mingfei turned his head to look at the red-robed attendant, waiting for her to offer any further opinions.

"Your will." The red-robed acolyte lowered his head even further, like a lioness submitting to a male lion.

"In that case, get ready." Lu Mingfei jumped off the chair and began pacing around the table. "I need some research equipment—at least we need to know what's happening to me when I activate this bloodline."

"Arrange all sorts of sensors, electrocardiograms, X-rays... We need to get a report as soon as the blood vessels are activated."

The red-robed acolyte nodded in agreement, unplugged the thick plug connecting the Thinker array, and got up to leave.

……

Of course, while he was talking about activating his bloodline, Lu Mingfei couldn't possibly stay at home and not go anywhere while the red-robed acolytes were preparing these massive machines.

He still goes to and from school and attends extracurricular classes as usual, but the driver is no longer the red-robed monk, but his uncle.

—It was obvious that something was wrong with the uncle who looked much younger. Lu Mingfei even maliciously guessed that his soul had been taken by the demon in the evening suit, and that the person standing here now was just a puppet.

If it were someone else, they would definitely push him far away, but Lu Mingfei saw it very clearly. His uncle was already out in the open, but he was actually safe. If he had found a driver at this critical moment, that would have been the real danger.

"Uncle, I'm going to my piano lesson today." Lu Mingfei nimbly climbed into the small-displacement BMW. Having gotten used to riding in a long Rolls-Royce, Lu Mingfei couldn't help but feel a bit stuffy in this small car.

My uncle skillfully started the car, accelerated, and shifted gears, the small-displacement BMW smoothly blending into the traffic on the street. A Maybach suddenly accelerated, narrowly missing the BMW, drawing curses from the drivers on both sides.

Lu Mingfei, sitting in the back row, saw it clearly. His uncle's lips twitched, as if he wanted to yell at him, but he didn't because he was a child sitting in the back row.

"It's okay, Uncle, go ahead and swear if you want." Lu Mingfei didn't think it was a big deal—it's just swearing, everyone swears a little.

Even his classmate Rong En would sometimes curse out loud, and he even had his own logic: "If your mouth is dirty, your heart is clean."

Lu Mingfei thought it made sense at first glance, but then he thought about it and wondered if it meant that he, who didn't swear, had a dirty heart.

So Rong En immediately added, "You're different. Your heart is pure; you wouldn't think of cursing. Those who want to curse have truly dirty hearts."

Then he got kicked by the really dirty-hearted Miss Lace.

But his uncle couldn't hear the little drama unfolding in Lu Mingfei's head; he only saw a faint smile on Lu Mingfei's face, which he almost subconsciously categorized as 'mockery' or 'provocation'—

However, he simply gripped the steering wheel tightly twice, took a deep breath, and even reduced the turning radius slightly.

The BMW navigated through the traffic until it reached its destination and entered the parking lot. Lu Mingfei jumped out of the BMW, stretched, and strode upstairs.

On the road, Lu Mingfei encountered someone he never expected:

"Hmm, you are... Liu Miaomiao?" Lu Mingfei raised his hand to stroke his chin, looking at this talented woman.

Although they had just started school, some people always stood out from the crowd—Liu Miaomiao was one of them. When introducing herself, she said directly that she had been learning piano since she was a child and was currently taking grade exams.

Then, at the ceremony marking the end of military training, he played a beautiful song on an old electronic keyboard, instantly winning over most of the boys in the class.

...Okay, Lu Ming had to admit that it might be because she was able to "break" the boundaries of military training uniforms and change into a white gauze dress. After all, while most girls were crying out in pain from the sun, one girl could still maintain her composure and even perform a piano piece in the middle of the crowd.

There's a saying, "Distance makes the heart grow fonder," so Lu Mingfei felt that the claim that all the boys in the entire grade were infatuated with her was definitely exaggerated.

But even the most emotionally inept person wouldn't undermine this at this moment. Lu Mingfei didn't consider himself completely devoid of emotional intelligence—except for that "Auntie" incident, which was an accident—so he simply maintained his composure and continued the topic he had just started:

"Are you learning piano here too?" Lu Mingfei tapped his fingers. "On the ninth floor? At Uncle Xu's?"

"Uncle Xu?" Liu Miaomiao barely managed to control her expression. "Professor Xu Xiangkai, the full-time professor at the art school?"

"Are there any other teachers with the same surname, Xu?" Lu Mingfei asked, puzzled.

He wasn't pretending; he genuinely didn't know there was a teacher here surnamed Xu. After all, his teacher was found by a red-robed monk, and he still didn't know how that monk had managed to gather so many different kinds of musical instrument teachers.