Lu Mingfei: What? They're all real!

but--

“Tokyo… seems a bit expensive…” Lu Mingfei frowned and gently tugged at the girl’s shoulder. “Could you lend me some money?”

"what?"

Xia Mi blinked blankly for a long time before realizing that he not only didn't have the slightest suspicion, but his brief frown was simply because he was thinking about the cost of the trip...

Are you really that easily trusting, you bastard!

The ups and downs of her emotions fueled a deep-seated resentment within her, and she vowed that if she ever got the chance, she would devour this despicable fellow whole!

"Can you lend me some money? My aunt definitely won't be willing to give back my parents' money, and I can't contact them, it'll take a long time." Lu Mingfei grabbed the girl's shoulders and shook her repeatedly. "Please, can you lend me some money for the trip? I promise I'll pay you back."

"I... I don't have any money!" Xia Mi finally spoke the most sincere words she had ever said. She grabbed Lu Mingfei's shoulder and complained bitterly with deep resentment, "I'm as poor as a ghost. I can't even afford to add chicken legs to my meals. I'm even thinking of borrowing some money from someone!"

Lu Mingfei's bitter face then became even more bitter.

He wanted to say something more, but the commotion at the door interrupted his conversation with the girl. The meeting room door was pulled hard by someone and then forcefully pulled open.

"What do you mean that only Lu Mingfei is considered a genius in your eyes? What does he have to do with being a genius?" The speaker was Zhao Menghua, who looked like he was going crazy.

Boss Zhao strode into the conference room, followed by everyone outside. He seemed indignant because he couldn't accept that Lu Mingfei was being hailed as a "genius who far surpasses everyone else."

"This is favoritism, this is cheating! I saw it! You're announcing the results now because you wanted to cheat while the examiner was out of the room, right?!" Zhao Menghua's face was flushed, and he looked extremely angry.

He accused through gritted teeth, "You think we don't know?! That examiner or whatever, that girl following the foreigner, she has a crush on Lu Mingfei, right? She even came to our school to confess her feelings that day, everyone knows it!"

Zhao Menghua pointed indignantly into the depths of the room, where Lu Mingfei stood, along with the girl who had been shaking him and complaining. The boy and girl blinked simultaneously, their blinks mirroring each other's.

These words silenced the people inside the room, while the actions of the boy and girl inside left those outside astonished and speechless.

Ye Sheng & Jiu Deya: "Huh?"

The students of Shilan High School: "Huh?"

Zhao Menghua had an expression that said, "I knew it," full of resentment, anger, and a hint of undisguised jealousy.

Xia Mi's face was full of shock. She nodded and spoke, expressing her doubts:

"what?"

Chapter 23 Oh no, they're in cahoots!

The expressions on everyone's faces were incredibly interesting, but the most interesting was Zhao Menghua's. Looking at the boy and girl with their arms around each other not far from him, he now really wondered if Lu Mingfei had been possessed by some reclusive master.

Zhao Menghua always felt that he was not far from being Chu Zihang, the idol known to everyone in the school. Although he knew that he had indeed been imitating Chu Zihang, he believed that he would eventually surpass Chu Zihang.

But in just a few days, not only has he surpassed Chu Zihang, but now even Lu Mingfei is almost, or rather, already, riding on his head.

Zhao Menghua was reluctant to admit it. He was agitated, especially after discovering the change in attitude of the girls who would have otherwise been closer to him. Then, after hearing someone say, "Lu Mingfei is a genius far surpassing all of you, so he's the only one qualified," he finally lost his temper—

"See! What did I say?" Zhao Menghua broke the stunned silence, pointing angrily at Lu Mingfei, "This is blatant corruption! You've engaged in favoritism and cheating, you've violated regulations! When that examiner returns, I will definitely report him!"

Ye Sheng stammered, unable to speak. He wasn't stumped by the question; he simply didn't know how to tell this poor child… all the derogatory remarks, including "all of you combined are not worth a single hair of Lu Mingfei," were personally instructed by Mr. Guderian, the most impartial, unbiased, and unbiased person who didn't belittle others or protect Lu Mingfei…

Ye Sheng's silence only fueled Zhao Menghua's anger. He turned his attention to Lu Mingfei and the girl beside him, glaring at the couple. Zhao Menghua gritted his teeth in hatred, but he remained rational. He quickly pulled out his phone from his suit pocket, took a picture, and captured the moment.

The resolution isn't high, but it's enough to leave him with the "evidence" he wanted.

Zhao Menghua had finally regained some ground. He slowly exhaled, intending to say something, but unexpectedly, he was attacked from the side.

"Zhao Menghua, what nonsense are you spouting!"

To everyone's surprise, Chen Wenwen seemed even more anxious than Lu Mingfei, the person involved. She even went so far as to push Zhao Menghua, as if she wanted to snatch the phone and destroy the evidence.

"Mingfei and the others, they must have some misunderstanding. Don't slander them for no reason." Chen Wenwen scolded, while winking at Lu Mingfei repeatedly, signaling him to say a few words to explain.

Her image suddenly resembles that of a woman who, upon discovering her husband's infidelity, would first defend him.

But what she showed more was anxiety; she seemed even less able to accept this fact than Zhao Menghua. Yet her focus wasn't entirely on Lu Mingfei; her eyes kept glancing furtively at the girl beside him, carrying a hint of inexplicable irritation, like some kind of regret.

Then Zhao Menghua's expression also went out of control. He never expected Chen Wenwen to challenge him. He always thought he understood girls well enough—Chen Wenwen's change was probably just because she found that her backup boyfriend, who always cared for her, suddenly had a beautiful girl by his side, which made her resentful...

But now, looking at the situation, he realizes that he still doesn't seem to understand girls well enough.

"Why are you in such a hurry?" Zhao Menghua tore off his gentle facade and retorted to Chen Wenwen, "I'm talking about Lu Mingfei's matter. What does it have to do with you? Who are you to Lu Mingfei?"

Chen Wenwen had never been so fiercely treated by Zhao Menghua, and she couldn't help but get angry, breaking away from her usual quiet literary self for the first time.

She retorted, "I just can't stand how you always target Mingfei! They already said that Mingfei passed the interview because of his excellent performance. If he didn't pass, he didn't pass. It's not shameful. Being shameless is what's truly shameful!"

"what!"

Zhao Menghua had lost all his former charm; he looked like a defeated dog who had lost a fight at the school gate, gritting his teeth and staring at Chen Wenwen with a fierce gaze.

In the end, Zhao Menghua gave in. His waist slumped down little by little, and his head drooped slowly. He began to resemble Lu Mingfei from before.

He couldn't bring himself to say anything harsh; he just stared silently at the ground, as if waiting for someone. He neither left nor retaliated. The already silent room became even quieter, and everyone felt awkward because of him.

Even Lu Mingfei felt a little embarrassed by this; people always empathize with their own shadows.

Now he realized that he really had looked like a dog before. He thought that people who said that about him before were attacking him, but he didn't expect that the description wasn't even derogatory... it was a genuine description of looking like a drowning dog...

"There's nothing shady going on..." he explained softly, "I was just borrowing money from... uh... Junior Sister Xia, but we're both broke. We couldn't even scrape together a hundred yuan. We were just lamenting how cruel fate is..."

Even though it was 100% true, he just felt that his statement wasn't credible.

After all, even now, the girl in front of him, who was quite surprised, still had her hand on his shoulder and hadn't pulled it away...

But some people are willing to believe these kinds of things.

"I told you so!" Chen Wenwen nodded vigorously, repeating Lu Mingfei's words several times as if she was afraid that some girl would really pester Lu Mingfei.

Leaning against the back and standing outside the door, Su Xiaoqiang sneered repeatedly, her gaze towards Chen Wenwen full of mockery. But she was also inexplicably irritated and was about to say something to ridicule Chen Wenwen, whose personality had drastically changed, and Lu Mingfei, whose excuses were so flimsy.

Just then, someone rushed past her from behind, showing no manners whatsoever, and bumped her aside.

"It's not true! It's not true!"

Guderian called out to Lu Mingfei, like an intelligence operative delivering military orders, and rushed into the room. But before that, Zhao Menghua, who had been keeping his head down, finally reacted. He blocked Guderian's path, stood in front of the tall foreign man, and presented the evidence in his hand.

"Examiner, I have a complaint! They say Lu Mingfei is about to sign the contract, but I believe that's not true!" Zhao Menghua's voice trembled with anger. "I'm reporting your students for favoritism and protecting Lu Mingfei, especially that girl. She and Lu Mingfei have an improper relationship—I mean, an improper relationship between a man and a woman. She orchestrated all of this!"

Zhao Menghua was not a shameless person, at least he considered himself not to be. The reason he stood here to suffer humiliation was simply to avenge himself at this moment. He firmly believed that all of this was just Lu Mingfei's cheating and that the examiner would clear his name.

But his ideas and reality were completely at odds—

Guderian paused for a moment, then a joyful smile spread across his face. He exclaimed with immense delight, "My goodness, this is wonderful! I knew bringing Xia Mi along today was the right choice. I just didn't expect you two, senior and junior, to get along so well in such a short time. Does this mean we don't need to wait for Chen Motong to come over?"

Now it was Zhao Menghua's turn to be stunned.

"Mingfei, shall we sign the contract now, or in five minutes?" Guderian's joy was palpable, and he had already begun a premature champagne-like celebration.

He said, "We can choose a written contract or a voiceprint contract, either is fine... That's great, Mingfei, that's great! I knew that a genius like you would make the right choice!"

Looking at everything that was happening before his eyes, Zhao Menghua felt a sense of unreality, as if he were dreaming. He couldn't accept it all. He was even willing to play the clown, just to turn the tide at the last moment. But now he had not only lost his hope, but also ruined his future reputation—from now on, everyone would think of him as a petty person who was jealous of talent.

Lu Mingfei, on the other hand, transformed into the most dazzling star among them.

He felt the world spinning, and he thought he might faint just like last time.

Before he truly collapsed, Zhao Menghua's fading consciousness only caught the image of the foreigner who kept praising Lu Mingfei as a genius. He could only let out a final, angry, and aggrieved wail—

They're all in cahoots!

Chapter 24 He borrowed money to go find his wife

Unrelated individuals were mercilessly evicted, including Xia Mi, a preparatory student with so-called "privileges," and even Lu Mingfei himself.

This was a top-secret order from the Kassel College. Although it sounded like a top-secret message from German headquarters, Guderian himself explained it this way—

"The secrecy of this message is comparable to that of an official document issued from the place next to the Forbidden City."

Lu Mingfei shrugged, put on a fawning smile, and then went to beg from Su Xiaoqiang, the rich but foolish woman in his eyes, hoping to get ten or twenty thousand yuan for travel expenses to Tokyo.

Ye Sheng closed the door, and the three people from the foreign country immediately gathered together. Guderian began to announce his highest command—

"All operations, including the Kuimen Project, are suspended. Other matters will be decided after Lu Mingfei officially arrives at the main campus. We must spare no effort—even allow the use of force if necessary—to ensure Lu Mingfei's smooth enrollment... That's roughly it."

Guderian's face was full of satisfaction, and he kept praising the principal's wisdom.

"Force?" Ye Sheng was surprised by this.

“Yes, the authorization has been personally approved by the principal, and I have the document here.” Guderian showed the electronic document he had received. “Including the task I was assigned to contact the Russian students, which has also been postponed. Now, only Lu Mingfei is the focus.”

Ye Sheng and Jiu Deya finally understood why Guderian had been running so excitedly earlier.

"But... isn't this a bit too extreme?" asked Shudeya.

“Not at all excessive.” Guderian composed himself somewhat, and now he truly looked like a dignified educator.

He spoke earnestly and slowly, "You two still don't understand what Lu Mingfei means to us. His bloodline was personally assessed as 'S' grade by the principal. This was originally the highest-level secret of the academy, but now that the mission has been assigned to the two of you, there's no need to keep it a secret anymore."

"S-rank?" Compared to Ye Sheng, Shude Aki was more surprised, but she still hesitated. "I understand the weight of S-rank, but... is it really worth making such a fuss?"

“That’s right, S-rank is indeed rare, but the Academy, including the Camarilla, has also had combat power with S-rank bloodlines. However, looking at the whole history, no one is more special than Lu Mingfei. Children, you are still too young to understand the significance of him being able to recognize the true name of the first species with just his spiritual vision.”

"We know about this too..." Ye Sheng is a gentle person, but he also has the competitive nature of a young person.

“Even a middle school student can understand Isaac Newton’s theories, but that doesn’t prevent him from becoming one of the greatest scientists in human history. Understanding and discovering are not the same thing.” Guderian argued like a researcher. “Before conducting a bloodline assessment on Mingfei, we thoroughly investigated his eighteen years of life and were certain that he had no knowledge from the dark side of the world. This knowledge could only come from his spiritual vision.”

Ye Sheng fell silent.

“We have taught a lot of knowledge in class, but we still know too little about dragons, far too little. Kids like you in the Executive Department don’t understand this, yet you are the martyrs who have to risk your lives to face the enemy. You know better than anyone how many comrades have sacrificed in the Executive Department.” Guderian’s tone was low until his voice could no longer be heard.

He paused, then shifted his posture, composed himself, and continued, “If we could know even a little more, the sacrifices would be greatly reduced. From this perspective, whatever little bit Lu Mingfei can extract from his bloodline is an invaluable treasure for everyone in the academy, including you… You were originally going to participate in the Kuimen Project, didn’t you ever worry about that?”

Ye Sheng and Jiu Deya looked at each other, neither of them speaking. In Kassel, fear of death was a shameful feeling, but no one dared to say that they didn't have it.

Who would be unafraid of death for no reason?

"But on the bright side, we don't need to make things too difficult for her. Didn't I just hear them say that our preparatory student has completed the academy's task well? In your words... I think I can write a report to the principal and recommend her for commendation!"

Guderian stood up from his chair, clapped his hands, and prepared to go see his dear student again.

"When did this happen?" Ye Sheng asked in a low voice to Jiu Deya, who was standing next to him.

“I don’t know either…” Shudeya shook her head.

Actually, she had a slight clue; it sounded like something from school, but she didn't want to explain it to Ye Sheng. That guy was too dense; explaining love and romance to him would be too much of a headache…

The two discussed in hushed tones, completely unaware that the anxious Guderian had once again slipped out of the meeting room, intending to keep an eye on his much-anticipated "good student"—

"I'm begging you, I promise I'll pay you back! I'll do it even if it means selling myself."

Mr. "Good Student" is now begging Su Xiaoqiang to lend him some money, with tears streaming down his face, but he seems to have suffered a Waterloo and the result is not ideal.

"Why should I lend you money?" Su Xiaoqiang asked coldly.

She seemed to have returned to the days when she and Lu Mingfei didn't get along. She looked unusually bad today, as if something was bothering her. Her eyes kept darting around the room, glancing at someone almost imperceptibly.

"Because you're a good person, beautiful, kind-hearted, and rich, even a small favor can save my life." Lu Mingfei shamelessly uttered flattering words without feeling ashamed at all.

He wasn't actually without ways to make money—for example, he could "extort" money from his aunt that was rightfully his—but he was too impatient right now. If the girl who was coming later didn't meet his expectations, he would immediately head straight to the airport and land at Narita Airport before dark. He didn't have that much time to argue with his aunt.

"Mingfei, how much do you need to borrow..." Chen Wenwen, who had come over from the side, counted her purse. "I... I don't have much here, but you can use it if you need it..."

Lu Mingfei accepted all offers without hesitation. He held up three fingers and stated his expected amount: "Hehe, about 30,000 would be fine."

Thirty thousand?

Chen Wenwen regretted coming to join the fun; she didn't have that much money... But she also felt it would be shameful to leave now, and she was caught in a dilemma.

Su Xiaoqiang sneered repeatedly. She already disliked Chen Wenwen, and seeing this guy's arrogant attitude only made her more disgusted. Of course, she wasn't uncomfortable because she saw Chen Wenwen fawning over Lu Mingfei!

She sarcastically remarked, "Lu Mingfei said he borrowed money to go to Tokyo to find his wife. You're so enthusiastic, but be careful that Lu Mingfei doesn't come back, and you end up losing both your money and your wife."

“Mingfei…” Chen Wenwen blinked repeatedly, her face flushed, choked and speechless, and somewhat embarrassed that her secret had been exposed. Her face was full of pleading for Lu Mingfei to say something to help her out of the predicament.

Lu Mingfei was puckering his lips and was interrupted once again by a sudden change. A red-haired girl rushed in through the door, attracting everyone's attention.

The girl, her long, fiery red hair billowing in the wind, rushed in through the door. She glanced around at everyone present in a flustered manner, but couldn't see anyone she knew. She took another step forward and hurried to the interview room door, talking to someone. Only her back was visible, with her red hair swaying gently outside the door.

She only lingered for less than ten seconds, but it seemed that everyone was left with a mark on her—she was just too special, whether it was her hair color or her fleetingly striking style of doing things. Perhaps some people would like her, perhaps some people would hate her, but it was hard not to remember her.

Everyone was filled with curiosity about the identity of the girl who had barged in, except for Su Xiaoqiang, who was filled with shock. She had been troubled by the "red hair" feature for several days, thinking about it while walking, sleeping, and eating. Sometimes she thought that Lu Mingfei must have gone crazy, and sometimes she thought that he might not be lying.

But now, she seemed to have no grounds to doubt anymore; she had seen the girl with her own eyes, the girl described as having flowing red hair.

Su Xiaoqiang glanced at Lu Mingfei discreetly, but was even more startled. The boy who had just been joking around with them with a shameless smile was now suddenly as quiet as if he had been carbonized. He stared silently at the spot where the girl's figure had last been, breathing in and out in a daze.

He stopped talking and even changed his expression. His entire demeanor changed instantly, just like when he hit his head that day, he seemed to have become a completely different person.

After meeting the red-haired girl, Lu Mingfei changed again.