I'm a villain in the superhero world.

The door was heavy—more heavy than I expected.

These two doors, inlaid with dark gold patterns, do not appear to be made of ordinary materials.

However, with Ji Mingyang, who was at the third energy level, exerting a little force with his right hand, they were easily pushed away.

Unlike the magnificent landscapes displayed outside the Glory Garden.

What first caught their eye was not the magnificent and dazzling light that Ji Mingyang and Yin Qing had anticipated.

Rather, it is a soft, tamed gold.

It was neither dazzling nor dim, but evenly spread across the entire space within his sight.

Perhaps it's because the person in the main seat is resting their chin on their hand, looking down at a book—

The lighting is warm, just right.

The dome was so high that the light turned into a soft, dusty mist before it even reached the darkness.

The dim light throughout the entire hall came from it.

In the vast space that can be seen, there is only a long table made of an unknown material.

It is about eight meters long, and the table is decorated in a very simple way.

Apart from a few pre-arranged cold dishes, presumably intended as appetizers, Ji Mingyang didn't see anything else for the time being.

There were no rows of bowing waiters.

There are no more precious cultural relics on display.

There are no symbols of wealth that one might imagine coming at you.

All the luxury of the manor is in the distance; here there is only silent, almost humble restraint.

But neither Ji Mingyang nor Yin Qing had time to care about or consider these things.

Because at this moment, the only thing that could keep their surprised and doubtful gazes fixed on was that figure who never looked up.

He was sitting there motionless, and his face looked exactly the same as when we last met.

But this time, Lü Buyi has a special quality that is enough to quiet everyone down.

This feeling, this yin-yang, I've only ever seen in Zen masters and that war god of the Republic.

Undoubtedly, he is not an ordinary fifth-level being, and whether the Zen Master can defeat him is now unknown.

Without any hesitation, Yin Qing took Ji Mingyang's hand and walked ahead of him.

pat-

Before Ji Mingyang could react to Yin Qing's actions, Lü Buyi closed the book in his hand.

Correspondingly, he finally raised his head and looked at the two people who were holding hands.

"This is really interesting; your relationship is progressing much faster than I expected..."

Lu Buyi's voice was much lower and slower than in the previous communications, and it also carried a hint of weariness from sitting for a long time.

A slight smile played on his lips, as if he were seeing a scene he had only ever longed for on screen.

"Is this how you flirt?" Lu Buyi asked softly.

The scene, which should have been extremely oppressive, was ruined by his bland, even slightly mocking, words.

The awkwardness that Ji Mingyang had accumulated along the way, caused by the excessively large scale of the event, was also exposed.

He twitched the corner of his mouth, but instead of going inside immediately, he stood there and carefully examined the figure at the table.

"Before I pushed the door open, I thought you would be sitting on a platform or throne that you had to look up to see clearly, you know what I mean? I felt that would fit the atmosphere just now."

Lü Buyi did not deny it; instead, he nodded seriously after listening.

"Actually, I did consider this option, but I later felt it was too tiring, so I changed it to what it is now."

"Besides, that would be too pretentious and wouldn't be very likable."

As he spoke, he looked at Ji Mingyang's right hand, which was being held by Yin Qing.

After a long silence, he chuckled softly:

"Aren't you going to loosen your grip? Or are you really flirting?"

Ji Mingyang tried to break free but failed. He looked at Yin Qing, wondering why she was suddenly gripping him so tightly.

Then he heard Yin Qing speak.

"I have to protect him," she said.

Lü Buyi laughed heartily: "You might not even be able to defeat him with one hand, yet you're protecting him?"

"This is the mission that my brother and the Zen master entrusted to me."

"Your brother and the Zen master entrusted you with such an important mission?"

Lu Buyi laughed even more heartily this time, as if he had witnessed some famous scene.

However, he soon stopped and returned to his usual calm.

"Nice to meet you, young lady. Don't be so nervous, and don't treat me like some kind of monster..."

"It's not like I'm going to eat your boy the moment you turn your head."

But Yin Qing still didn't let up, and Ji Mingyang was helpless about it.

So Lü Buyi didn't mind anymore, since he hadn't intended for the two of them to sit on opposite sides anyway.

"Our relationship is really good, unlike the girl I dated, who is still throwing tantrums at me."

As Lü Buyi sighed, he pointed to the first and second seats on his right.

"Please sit down."

It was still that unhurried tone.

"The dinner will be a while longer. Kong Qing said the fish wasn't fresh enough, so they changed the flight path and brought in a new one from Western Europe."

"They should be arriving soon; the plane took off from Bergen thirty minutes ago."

Ji Mingyang: "..."

He suddenly realized that his threshold for being shocked along the way had been set too low.

However, he didn't say much. He just pulled Yin Qing over as usual and sat down at the spot indicated by Lü Buyi.

"Are you hungry?" Lu Bu asked.

"A little." Ji Mingyang hadn't eaten dinner, so he was indeed a little hungry at this point.

Upon hearing this, Lü Buyi casually handed over a plate of cold dishes from the side and gave a brief introduction.

"The best lobsters from Wangting—if eaten raw, the normal shelf life from when they leave the water to when they are on the table is twelve hours."

"It took me five hours and seventeen minutes today."

Ji Mingyang stared at the almost translucent shrimp meat on the plate, remaining silent for a long time.

"...I can't taste the difference," he honestly admitted.

"But it should taste delicious."

Lü Buyi smiled.

It wasn't a polite, faint smile, but a genuine smile, a real upturn of the corners of his lips, as if he was truly amused.

"You know what? Many years ago, someone else sitting in your position said the same thing."

This is not a lie; there is indeed a scene similar to this in "The Secret Agents of the Commander-in-Chief," which is why Lü Buyi finds all of this interesting.

"Was I also your guest many years ago?" Ji Mingyang tried a bite, and, well, it was actually quite delicious.

Lü Buyi shook his head, a hint of nostalgia for a certain old man in his eyes:

"No, it's not me. From the time I inherited everything in the Glorious Courtyard until now, you are the only one who can sit in this position next to me."

"The person I'm talking about was sitting in your seat when my father and I weren't even born yet; he was a guest of my grandfather."

My grandfather's guest—that must have been someone from at least a hundred years ago…

"So who is he? Is he famous?" Ji Mingyang asked, then swapped his empty plate with Lü Buyi's.

Yin Qing watched this scene unfold, but did nothing.

Lü Buyi didn't care and didn't stop him.

He simply nodded, and after a moment's thought, answered Ji Mingyang's question in a casual manner.

"He's quite famous, at least you must have heard of him when you were in school."

"The man who sat in your seat and said the same thing was Bismarck."

"After speaking with my grandfather here with William I, he went back and led several battles—"

"Germany was unified."