Lu Mingfei: What? They're all real!

Chapter 73: His Profession is a Tomb Raider

Lu Mingfei sat by the roadside in a daze, now even more convinced of his idea—that a certain proud girl was indeed filled with love.

He thought that probably no one had ever seen the little fairy so shy. She kept covering her mouth with a handkerchief while eating, like a young lady from an ancient noble family who never left her home. But she couldn't suppress her feelings and kept glancing over here, then quickly looking away... Even the most enthusiastic and generous girl is shy when facing her inner feelings.

If he continues to deny it now, he's just burying his head in the sand.

Fortunately, she had to leave because "her mother's best friend here said she would take her to settle down first," otherwise Lu Mingfei would have had to find a handkerchief to cover his face sooner or later, he was already a little afraid to look at the girl's face.

He didn't know how to deal with it.

Lu Mingfei admitted that he wasn't exactly a simple guy, and his heart was definitely not "clean." Even now, he was actually secretly pleased... He was truly willing to admit that he was a superficial guy.

The sudden return of his memories changed his life and his mindset. Although Lu Mingfei mostly thought it was a good thing, in the quiet of the night, he would sometimes miss that clueless kid who only had to worry about what to eat tomorrow.

Of course, he wasn't being cheap or thinking that suffering was good. He just felt that compared to the supreme ruler, even a pathetic kid drooling and sleeping soundly in a corner had his freedom... He was more afraid that one day he would completely forget that he was once "Lu Mingfei".

Therefore, he was unwilling to completely sever ties with the past. He hoped that he could always be Lu Mingfei. He hoped that he could be more of a human being, not the Dragon Emperor whom everyone in the academy wanted to kill, and even less of an emperor whose own kind would turn against him. Being an emperor sounds really lonely, just like the emperors of all dynasties, who in the end all called themselves lonely.

Lu Mingfei is very afraid of being alone, and he always has been.

He cherishes the past and the people from the past, but he cherishes most the person who loves him with a sincere heart.

But he hadn't figured out how to face the naive girl. She smiled so happily, her eyes were alluring, and when she sat facing him, her eyes were moist, almost overflowing with sweet honey...

Lu Mingfei thought Lu Mingze was right. Maybe their feelings had actually started a long, long time ago, but they had been ignoring it all this time. No girl would push and shove someone she didn't like and bicker for three years straight!

"He was utterly wicked and deserved to die." That's how he described himself, and it wasn't just because of this one girl.

Another girl also came into focus before his eyes... Renata from the past, now "Zero," Lu Mingfei really didn't know how to face her. He also liked this petite girl.

Now that she's disappeared, he's genuinely worried about her. Of course, he's even more worried about the two women who dragged her away. Who knows what kind of rage they'll face? Zero seems to be on the verge of exploding—

"Mingming? Mingming!"

The loud-voiced man shouted Lu Mingfei's online nickname at the top of his lungs.

Lu Mingfei jumped up from the spot as if in shock. Parked on the side of the road was a battle-damaged pickup truck, so badly damaged that it looked like it had been hit by a missile in Syria. A Chinese man's face popped out of the swaying window in front of the truck; it was Old Tang.

"It's clearly you, isn't it? See, I told you I could recognize you at a glance! See, I really recognized you right away!" Old Tang's voice was as loud as thunder, attracting everyone around to look in their direction.

Lu Mingfei, being a shy young man, couldn't bear the stares and quickly squeezed onto the bus by going around to the other side.

"Brother!" Old Tang cried, tears streaming down his face. "I'm so glad to finally see you! You have no idea how much I've missed you. We're like brothers, even though we're not from the same father!"

Lu Mingfei vaguely felt that the generational naming conventions Old Tang mentioned were completely incorrect. He should go to the supermarket entrance and ask for ten or eight yuan to find out what his father's father was called. However, he was even more convinced that the relationship between the Creator and the Creator God was definitely not that of biological children—more importantly, it was still uncertain who Old Tang actually was.

"Mingming, speak up! Why aren't you talking? Are you mute?" Old Tang slapped Lu Mingfei on the back, almost seriously injuring him.

"I haven't even realized it yet," Lu Mingfei said. "I've never met any of my online friends in person before, and I never imagined that my first offline meeting would be an intercontinental one."

"Hey, don't say that. We're not just casual online friends. We're the top two in the channel, comrades-in-arms defending the throne." Old Tang's face lit up with joy, unable to hide his happiness, like a child who had never had friends finally finding a playmate.

"But where did you get this car? I remember you said you'd take me on a Greyhound ride, and I'd like to see Greyhound for myself." Lu Mingfei began to examine the battle-damaged pickup truck.

Greyhound is a type of long-distance bus in the United States, characterized by its cheapness and aimless, erratic travel. Lu Mingfei actually longed for that kind of journey; he loved freedom.

"Don't even mention it. The last boss didn't pay me, so he just took the roof of his car. I told him I didn't want it, but he was so poor that this was all he had left. I couldn't just work for nothing, could I? So I had to accept it." Old Tang sighed deeply.

"You work in civil engineering?" Lu Mingfei suddenly realized. He had often heard his uncle say that sometimes construction contractors couldn't get paid and could only get a pile of scrap metal.

"I'm a bounty hunter!" Old Tang loudly defended his profession, his voice filled with fervor. "Do you know what a bounty hunter is? Indiana Jones, Laura, Nathan Drake, those are all veterans, you know?"

"None of the people you're talking about are bounty hunters; they're all tomb raiders."

Lu Mingfei certainly knew what Tomb Raider and Uncharted were all about; he had been staring at Lara's triangular breasts for quite some time.

Old Tang chuckled without saying a word, but he tacitly agreed with this statement.

"So your real profession isn't actually a tomb raider, is it?" Lu Mingfei felt that his situation had suddenly become dangerous.

"Don't speak too advanced Chinese, brother, I can't understand it." Old Tang shook his head vigorously. "Anyway, I just take jobs on the website, do them well, and get paid. It's that simple. I don't have much education, so this is the only kind of work I can do. There's no other way; I'm forced to do this because of life."

“Grave raiding is pretty good.” Lu Mingfei patted Lao Tang’s shoulder heavily. “It’s just tough on you. There aren’t any good tombs here in America, so you can’t make any waves. When you get to our side, we’ll attack Qin Shi Huang’s Mausoleum. I’ll keep watch for you, and we’ll split the spoils fifty-fifty when we come out.”

"The Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor is boring." Old Tang shook his head, his face full of genuine contempt. "At most, there are just a few stone figures inside, or at worst, gold. Mingming, do you know what I find in the places I've been to?"

"what?"

Lu Mingfei thought to himself, "Old Tang, you're putting on an act. What do you mean by 'at worst it's just gold'? It sounds like you've got diamonds in your bucket."

Old Tang suddenly looked around cautiously and warily. He lowered his voice, like an underground party member passing on intelligence, and moved to Lu Mingfei's side while covering his mouth.

“I have seen dragons,” he said quietly. “Real dragons.”

After he finished speaking, he puffed out his chest, his face full of pride.

"Wow," Lu Mingfei said dismissively.

Chapter 74 Hunter Market

"You clearly believe me." Old Tang looked a little anxious.

"I believe you," Lu Mingfei said calmly.

“Do you really believe me? Let me tell you, the orders I get on the website are really weird. Some of the Mayan or Native American-style cemeteries don’t even contain people. They have claws and scales.” Old Tang gesticulated wildly, like Jerry pinching someone’s head to scare them.

"Mhm." Lu Mingfei nodded calmly.

"real!"

“I didn’t say I didn’t believe it.”

"Then why are you so calm?" Old Tang felt that his good brother must be mocking him, like the kind of despicable guy who laughs at someone who still likes Dungeons & Dragons in high school as a bookworm.

Lu Mingfei paused briefly, then patted Lao Tang's shoulder heavily again, "Because this is fate, Lao Tang. We're in the same profession; I also study dragons."

In fact, Kassel has strict school rules that prohibit students from revealing any knowledge or information about dragons, and the methods used to deal with them can be described as cruel. But Lu Mingfei doesn't care about that; he's a rebellious kid! And Lao Tang is different too. Lao Tang is a friend, and in his heart, friends are more important than school rules.

"A fellow tomb raider? You're clearly a tomb raider too?"

Old Tang stared in disbelief, then suddenly burst into tears. He cried out "Hallelujah, Amitabha!" and marveled at the incredible luck he had in his life.

"No, I don't raid tombs. I'm a theorist. I only study, I don't do anything." Lu Mingfei shook his head. "But don't tell anyone else this. Keep it a secret. If others find out, they might hunt you down."

"Don't worry, I've been hunted down plenty of times too," Old Tang said, surprising everyone.

"Then why did you come looking for me? The FBI will be at the door soon!" Lu Mingfei almost jumped out of the window.

“No, the people chasing us are all in the same line of work.” Old Tang cautiously locked the car to prevent his good brother from jumping out and escaping. He said, “We’re all desperate criminals, some don’t even have official identities. We’re smuggled in from the Mexicans. Even if we die on the roadside, nobody cares. Where do you think this is? This is America! It’s perfectly normal for a few people to die!”

"You're getting all smug now..." Lu Mingfei silently thought to himself, "Dude, you're a desperate man, but I'm not. I just finished dinner with a girl and was sitting by the roadside reveling in the beauty of life..."

"Fine, you've already told me your secret, so I have to tell you one too." Old Tang said, suddenly pulling out his laptop from his car. "Let me show you our website. Once you see it, you'll understand. Our line of work is dangerous and despicable, but the only good thing is that it's very lucrative. Once I've made ten million US dollars, I'll retire from this business."

“Old Tang,” Lu Mingfei said seriously, “you should try to say less of these kinds of things in the future. You can’t make such a bold statement; you’ll die very quickly.”

"No, I'm naturally immune to paranormal events. Last time we went to the Mayan tombs and pyramids as a group, everyone else got bitten to pieces by evil spirits, but I was fine. I have God and Buddha protecting me." Old Tang grinned, "I'm lucky, I'm not afraid of these things."

As he spoke, Old Tang pushed the computer in his hand over.

"Hunter Market"—this is the title written in large letters on the website. The website doesn't look very legitimate, like the "dark web" that Lu Mingfei always mentions when chatting with people on forums... The page is completely black, with black backgrounds and white text in the discussion area, giving it a feeling of being in the underworld.

The discussion forum was quite lively, with some people posting bounties, some accepting missions, some trading intelligence, and others... reselling alchemical equipment.

Lu Mingfei, who had lived in poverty for eighteen years, suddenly felt a sense of upward social mobility today. This place was full of roughnecks, discussing things that were hardly respectable; in comparison, Kassel was indeed full of elites. Guderian said that dragons of the third generation or higher were ancient dragons, while those of the sixth generation and above could hardly be considered "dragons." But judging from the discussions on this forum about chickens with scales on their claws, they might actually be tenth generation...

Lu Mingfei found it hard to say whether the "tenth generation" of species existed, but he felt that the so-called "new species" currently at the top of the bounty list probably didn't have as high a bloodline as the guy he met in the cafeteria the day before yesterday whose bloodline was as high as 2%. Perhaps calling it a giant lizard would be more appropriate.

"Although very few people have actually seen such a thing, and everyone thinks it's nonsense, I've never thought so. I think dragons might really exist in the world," Old Tang commented. "But this thing probably isn't; it's probably just a chicken. Don't rush, let me finish my comment and scold this poster."

As Old Tang spoke, he started typing and cursing.

This forum was a complete post-apocalyptic scene, a standard wasteland style. Some people spoke with a Radiation vibe, using vulgar language and their IDs were even more offensive. The resource websites Lu Mingfei had frequented were more civilized, but there was still something that caught his eye.

The website administrator's name is "Nido," which is prominently displayed on all the pages. Lu Mingfei has become a quick-witted person. Looking at these characters, he suddenly felt that he should read them backwards.

“Odin…”

He narrowed his eyes slightly, which was undoubtedly some kind of trick to play on the name "Odin".

"Old Tang," Lu Mingfei asked, "have you taken on the mission?"

"It's more than just taking over; I'm a Hall of Famer, okay? A renowned hunter, ranked second in New York, even Peter Parker is below me."

Old Tang pointed to the screen, where there was an inconspicuous little list. Under his name was "Peter Parker from Queens"... Goodness, Spider-Man is here too. Lu Mingfei sneered, but he was still more interested in Mr. Odin.

He really wanted to meet this gentleman.

"Any missions... let me see..." Old Tang said, leaning closer and resting his head on Lu Mingfei's shoulder, making the thin Lu Mingfei grimace. Old Tang looked at the screen for a while, and finally found a post that looked somewhat acceptable. He pointed it out to Lu Mingfei, "Like this one, it's not far from here. The gist is... the location is in Illinois, the reward is seven hundred thousand dollars, and the objective is to find a bone."

It's obvious what kind of bones these are. Although the poster used coded language, those in the know can easily understand what they're actually talking about.

But more importantly, it's worth seven hundred thousand dollars... Lu Mingfei admitted that he was a little envious. He wished he could break off a bone from his own body and sell it, or even dismember Xia Mi. She was almost selling herself to him for food and drink. Even if he really dismembered one or two of her bones, it would just be exercising his legitimate rights.

And Old Tang's bones might also be...

"Old Tang." Thinking of this, Lu Mingfei suddenly sat up straight, cleared his throat, and looked at the strange-looking Old Tang, softly calling out the name again, "Norton?"

Old Tang still didn't react. He blinked strangely and waved his hand in front of Lu Mingfei. "Brother, are you stupid? Why do you keep talking about this? What is this? Is it a code name you came up with for me? It doesn't sound good..."

Lu Mingfei was still unwilling to give up. He lowered his voice and quietly read it again in Longwen. This time, Old Tang clearly reacted. He seemed to have time frozen, completely still, as if something was about to burst from his eyes—

But he eventually returned to normal, and didn't even notice that Lu Mingfei had said something about dragons. He excitedly shook Lu Mingfei's neck and shouted that there was a good opportunity nearby, so why don't we go and pull off a heist?

Lu Mingfei didn't think he had misjudged the person. He believed that the person in front of him was the Norton he knew. But strangely, Old Tang seemed to remember nothing about him. Lu Mingfei himself didn't have that deep-seated hatred that he couldn't erase. He could feel hatred for the name Norton, but he couldn't connect it with the person in front of him.

He felt like he was facing only his best friend, someone he'd played games with for years...

Lu Mingfei didn't understand why.

"Brother! Brother! Let's split it 70/30! You get 70% and I get 30%!" Old Tang only cared about the business at hand.

"Let's go for 50/50..." Lu Mingfei agreed softly. He was determined to pull off a thrilling heist, for money, but also for something else.

He turned his gaze back to the computer screen, the name of the bounty hunter catching his attention—【Xiyang】…Sunset.

Lu Mingfei recalled the marks left by the setting sun, and then he thought of Lu Mingze...

Chapter 75 Such Long Legs

"Mingming! Mingming!" Old Tang shouted Lu Mingfei's cute online name, his hands constantly fiddling with the steering wheel like a drum corps marching on the highway, loudly proclaiming, "After this, we'll be brothers for life! The kind who'd risk their lives for each other!"

Lu Mingfei huddled in the passenger seat, not moving an inch. He wasn't trying to look cool; he just didn't want to be hit by a stray bullet. Just as he was speaking, a "thud" rang out, and the rearview mirror on his right was hit by another bullet, shattering the glass into nine pieces.

Damn it, Americans, someone actually fired a shot in the street!

He couldn't help but roar like that.

Lu Mingfei initially only planned to hang out with Lao Tang, like a picnic in the tomb, hoping to encounter some of his "compatriots" and perhaps Lao Tang would remember something...

But the "ruins" were incredibly disappointing. The tombs buried in the wilderness had completely disappeared and had now been filled in and turned into a garbage dump. Large chunks of compressed metal scraps were carelessly discarded, and an old scavenger at the entrance was waving a wine bottle around. Lu Mingfei felt like he had started a garbage-collecting mission in some open-world game.

However, exploring the junkyard with friends wasn't too boring; at least Lu Mingfei had never done anything so stupid with any of his classmates or friends before.

The two waited outside until dark, then quietly bypassed the old scavenger carrying a wine bottle. They crouched down and sneaked into the garbage heap. Old Tang used his homemade latitude and longitude device to search, pointing to the high mountain of garbage and saying, "This is it!" Finally, they fearlessly crawled into a pile of garbage, dug a path with their hands, and struggled to swim in the sea of ​​trash.

Fortunately, there was no wet waste here; most of it was scrap. Lu Mingfei was extremely relieved.

Old Tang struggled with the garbage for nearly five hours and found a total of eighteen bones, the largest of which was probably human. Lu Mingfei felt that his worldview had been refreshed. He really wanted to ask why there would be human bones in the garbage dump!

But there were indeed dragon bones among these things. Although they were rotten and decayed, they were indeed dragon bones. Old Tang carefully examined them, patted Lu Mingfei's back heavily, and shouted that he had opened another deal, starting to calculate how to split the profits in advance.

Actually, things should have ended perfectly here, but Lu Mingfei couldn't ignore the feelings he had always cared about. He felt that there was something hidden inside that bone, so he impulsively broke it—not because he broke his good brother's trophy and caused his $700,000 income to be lost...

Moreover, something was hidden inside the bone: a dark red crystal with a blood-like luster flowing within it—

The Philosopher's Stone.

Whether it was the Philosopher's Stone, which Professor Mans mentioned more than a dozen times in just fifty minutes during the Alchemy Chemistry Level 1 class, or the "spiritual element" that Lu Mingfei already had an impression of, both took on a concrete form at this moment.

The Philosopher's Stone, the essence of the fifth element, the dream of all alchemists, a priceless treasure, is now firmly in Lu Mingfei's hands.

Old Tang wasn't interested in the crystal; he just grinned, looking regretful, and tried to restore the bone that was only connected by tendons. The two of them pondered what they had in their hands and returned the way they came.

There are people waiting outside.

Waiting outside was a group of menacing people. A row of black cars were lined up in a long strip. The leader was covered with a black cloth and looked like a ninja, and a female ninja at that. Her legs were so long that they could be used as katana. Lu Mingfei thought to himself, "Doesn't this girl look familiar?"

Without a word, the female ninja drew her gun and fired. It seems that ninjas of the new era have abandoned outdated things like shuriken. The bullet whistled past Old Tang's hair. He made a strange noise, grabbed Lu Mingfei and ran. In a few steps, he reached the car, threw Lu Mingfei into it, and then jumped in and closed the door himself. The escape officially began.

"Mingming, I told you our line of work is pretty shady! There's even a murder-for-treasure element!" Old Tang ignored the bullets and spoke loudly, but his face clearly showed excitement. He clutched the half-broken dragon bone tightly and celebrated loudly, "Seven hundred thousand US dollars! It's in my hands!"