stonecrandall Chapter 58 The Subway
Chapter 58 The Subway
As the first rays of sunlight pierced the night sky, dawn arrived.
In the distance, beyond the mountains, the sun slowly peeked out from behind the clouds.
It was as if Lu Mingfei's internal biological clock had been set to time, and he woke up precisely at this moment.
In order to explore various possibilities, he had long been accustomed to absorbing the first wisp of purple energy from the east every morning. Unfortunately, he had not yet cultivated any Purple Demon Eyes, but he was quite adept at igniting his pair of Golden Eyes.
During this journey, he certainly did not forget to observe the situation in the room.
After seeing that Zero was still lying safely in bed, Lu Mingfei abandoned all distracting thoughts and immersed himself in his cultivation.
The morning practice ended quickly. He and Zero were both on a 10:40 flight from Chicago to Beijing, so they weren't in a rush.
After Lu Mingfei finished absorbing the Eastern Purple Qi, Ling, who was lying on the bed, also opened her eyes.
She got out of bed without a word, quickly washed up in the bathroom, and then tied her hair into a single ponytail with a hair tie between her teeth.
The morning sunlight streamed through the window, bathing Ling in its golden rays, making her skin appear as white as snow, like a porcelain doll.
For some reason, Lu Mingfei felt a sudden flutter in his heart when he saw this scene, which made him turn around subconsciously.
"I'll go out and bring you breakfast," he said.
He nodded at midnight.
The door opened and then closed.
Lu Mingfei didn't know why he had lost his composure, something extremely rare in his past career.
Perhaps it's the emotional instability caused by my recent progress in my cultivation?
As he made his guesses, he walked toward the hotel restaurant, only to find that the mixed-race tour group that had been on the same plane as him had all arrived when he reached the lobby.
Strangely, several of the girls suddenly developed bruises, and some areas even became red and swollen.
"Hey? Our S-class has come up too?" At this moment, Winston stepped out from the crowd, as if to give Lu Mingfei a big hug.
It's clear that although his ancestral home is in the East, he grew up here and is already used to the warm greetings typical of foreigners.
Lu Mingfei subtly avoided the question, and amidst Winston's somewhat awkward smile, asked indifferently, "What's going on with them?"
"Huh? You mean them?" Winston touched his nose, assuming that this S-class was new here and hadn't yet let loose, and didn't care too much.
"They accidentally fell while skateboarding last night."
Did you fall while skateboarding? And it's so late at night?
Lu Mingfei frowned slightly, but seeing that Winston didn't seem to intend to discuss the matter further, he let it go.
At this moment, Zero, who had already tidied up, came out of the room and found him.
The girls in the tour group who were injured hid from Zero like mice before a cat.
After all, what happened last night was a huge shadow over the lives of these well-behaved children who grew up under the protection of their families.
Heaven knows where this girl of mixed race came from; her strength is comparable to that of the legendary elites of the Camarilla's Executive Division. They felt that they were only able to return conscious because she had gone easy on them out of consideration for their S-rank status.
"Want to go eat?" Lu Mingfei asked Zero.
Now that things have come to this, there's no point in pretending anymore. Perhaps being an S-class playboy would be more convincing to others.
Ling nodded, and the two walked into the restaurant with an air of nonchalance under the watchful eyes of everyone.
······
"Can the principal wake up?"
"The doctor said it's possible. Should we find a princess?"
"What princess?"
"Isn't that how it is in fairy tales? The sleeping princess is awakened by the prince. How about our principal finds a princess and kisses him? Maybe that will work."
Ding ding!
After saying this, Fingel held his head and looked aggrieved, while the vice principal withdrew his hand without any politeness.
"Fingal, just because of what you said, if Angers heard that right now, you could forget about graduating from the academy for the rest of your life."
"I only dared to say this because the principal was unconscious," Fingel chuckled sheepishly.
The two were there because the doctor told them that although the principal was in a coma, he could still respond faintly to external sounds. In addition, his injuries had been mostly healed by the circulation of dragon blood, so the possibility of him waking up was not nonexistent, but rather very slim.
So they came here to try to awaken Angers.
"By the way, how is Lu Mingfei doing? Has he arrived in the capital city in the east yet?"
"Not yet." Fingel shook his head.
"Didn't you say you booked him for yesterday's flight? Why didn't he arrive? Did something happen?" The vice principal turned around, puzzled.
"Yes, something happened." Fingel nodded. "The flight they were on was hijacked, but luckily almost the entire plane was made up of mixed races, so it didn't turn into a major accident."
"They're all mixed-race, and they're all going to the capital in the East?" The vice principal clicked his tongue a few times. "These guys really don't act until they see a clear benefit; they all want a piece of the pie."
"Well, not really." Fingel scratched his head. "I think they're all young guys. It's more like they're on a paid vacation than going to slay dragons."
Speaking of publicly funded travel, Fingel's eyes darted around; he had been wanting to go to the beaches of America to see bikini-clad beauties for a long time.
You should know that his biggest dream is to be assigned to the executive branch in the Americas as a specialist after graduation. It is far away from the center of dragon activity. The work in the executive branch is very leisurely. The biggest cases may be some smuggling of alchemical equipment.
"Principal Lu, look how much I've done for you these past few days, and I'm so grateful for your help with my graduation..."
The vice principal patted him on the shoulder and said earnestly.
"Graduation? What graduation? With such an outstanding talent as you, how could the college let you waste your time on a useless overseas assignment? Here, I have a few graduate school spots here, which I will personally select."
With me watching over you, a master's degree is practically guaranteed, right? You could even consider a doctorate.
I heard that in your hometown, those who graduate with a doctorate have to take a tour around the entire city. You don't want to be just called Mr. Fingel in the future, do you? Dr. Fingel is such a nice name.
Fingel was completely dumbfounded; he hadn't expected the vice principal to change his mind at the last minute.
He tried to argue, but the vice-principal kicked him out, telling him not to disturb Angers.
At this point, only the vice principal remained in the ward, and the room suddenly became empty and quiet.
Aside from the buzzing of the medical equipment, the only sounds were the breathing of the vice-principal and Angers, which seemed to be the only sound Angers could make to the world at that moment.
"Fuck you!" After he was all alone, the vice principal couldn't help but mutter under his breath, "You bastard, you collapsed at this time, leaving me to deal with everything all by myself."
"If you don't get up, I'm really going to go find you a princess."
But Angers did not respond to his words and remained lying with his eyes closed.
"Sigh..." The vice principal's sigh echoed in the ward.
······
The Boeing 747 passed through the clouds and finally landed slowly at the airport in the Eastern capital.
Having lived two lives, this was naturally not Lu Mingfei's first time in the capital.
However, apart from some famous historical sites and protected cultural relics, the capital city in the previous life was not much different.
But this life is different; the legendary dragon truly exists.
The mixed-race people who came from all over the world were surprised to find that they seemed to have entered the world of dragons as soon as they landed.
This city, which once served as the capital of an ancient dynasty, can be said to be naturally equated with dragons.
Dragons are found on reliefs, murals, patterns, and even on porcelain vases.
Dragons are everywhere, yet nowhere are they? This extreme contrast has caused many hybrids to gradually lose their way.
They were already skeptical of the information posted on the forum, and now they completely forgot about their purpose for the trip and started sightseeing instead.
Of course, some people went sightseeing, while others went to great lengths to search for traces of dragons.
However, due to the complexity of the information, they searched for a long time but were unable to find any useful information.
Desperate, they all turned their attention to Lu Mingfei. After all, according to rumors from various sources, this S-class student held a very special position at Kassel College.
Their arrival here must have been presumably due to prior knowledge of the situation and confidential information unknown to them.
So as long as you follow him, there is a high probability that you will find the legendary Dragon King.
But Lu Mingfei's behavior greatly disappointed them.
Since getting off the plane, he had been strolling around the city with the blonde girl beside him, just like a couple who were traveling there.
It can be said that I visited all kinds of famous historical sites and even well-known places.
Moreover, he was very generous, taking all sorts of strange and unusual old items back to the hotel.
There are legendary white-glazed dragon-patterned bowls passed down from previous dynasties, dragon-patterned roof tiles from ancient times, and even national treasures like the Kui dragon-patterned tripod that have been lost to the people.
After the mixed-race people inquired about these items, they all revealed their true nature: they were all counterfeit goods, supposedly made specifically to deceive foreigners like them.
So what are S-class people buying these things for? The hybrids were completely baffled and eventually decided to buy one themselves.
As a result, a rumor spread throughout Panjiayuan, the largest antique market in Beijing.
It is said that a group of foreigners are searching everywhere for cultural relics with dragon patterns and decorations.
They were extremely generous, never haggling over prices, making them easy targets – truly gullible and rich.
Upon hearing this news, many dealers specializing in counterfeit cultural relics rushed to stock up on the goods.
But with time running out and the task heavy, they couldn't afford to be as selective as before, and they accepted anything that looked convincing to foreigners.
But when they arrived, they found that the group of foreigners had all left, leaving behind only the mismatched fake antiques they had smashed in their hands, bewildered in the wind, looking utterly devastated.
But this is all for later.
"What are we going to do with all this stuff?" In the hotel room, Zero sat on the bed, swinging her little feet, and asked, unusually.
Lu Mingfei, who was arranging the things he had bought one by one, heard this and replied without looking up, "You're muddying the waters."
Ling nodded, said nothing more, and just blinked. She looked at Lu Mingfei, lost in thought.
······
Beijing Airport.
A black-haired, yellow-skinned man wearing sunglasses and overalls showed his passport to airport staff.
After confirming that everything was correct, the staff stamped Ronald Tang's name.
Old Tang smiled and nodded to the staff.
After many years, he stepped back into his homeland once again, and the feeling was quite magical.
In a way, he felt as if this land was welcoming him, and even his mood improved considerably.
"Where should I go first?" Old Tang muttered to himself. He pulled out a map he had bought in advance from his bag, and finally decided to go have a bowl of authentic douzhi (fermented mung bean juice).
He had previously heard from his familiar hunter teammates that if you come to the capital, you must eat a bowl of this authentic douzhi (fermented mung bean juice), otherwise you will have wasted your trip to the capital.
So, on the recommendation of enthusiastic Beijing locals, Lao Tang entered a truly century-old brand. It is said that the shop opened its stall at the foot of the imperial city in Beijing at the beginning of the last century, and has been passed down for almost four or five generations.
He sat in his seat, waiting for his soy milk to arrive, while glancing at the guests at other tables.
Seeing that everyone else was eating while strolling around with their bowls in hand, Old Tang smiled disdainfully.
It's time for this real man, who has traveled all over the country, been to rainforests, deserts, and even raided tombs, to tell these locals how to properly drink douzhi (fermented mung bean juice).
"Your douzhi!" Before long, the waiter brought a bowl of green liquid to the table.
Old Tang picked up the bowl with a bold and unrestrained air, then gulped it down...
His original intention was to drink all the soy milk in one go, but...
The next moment, he sprayed out all the soy milk, because the strange taste was even more disgusting than the moldy compressed biscuits he had eaten in the rainforest.
"OMG Fuck!"
Old Tang couldn't remember where he was. He only remembered that after making a fool of himself, he quickly paid the bill and fled the store as if he were escaping.
After being cleansed by douzhi (fermented mung bean juice), he felt all the fatigue he had accumulated from taking the red-eye flight come rushing back at him.
He desperately needs a bed to rest his body, which weighs over 100 pounds.
Fortunately, being of Chinese descent, his Mandarin was at least passable, and he knew quite a few Chinese characters. So when he realized that the subway entrance was not far from him, he walked in without hesitation.
So, by simply changing to three different lines and taking about twenty stops, I can arrive at the hotel that my employer booked for me?
This is really...
Old Tang took a deep breath after looking at the hotel location sent by his employer.
Having come this far, he had no better choice but to grit his teeth and move forward.
Strangely, the further he walked, the more eerily quiet the subway became. Passersby who had been walking past him suddenly disappeared into the subway station.
Fortunately, the turnstiles and ticket machines were still running, and Lao Tang, who was new to the area, simply assumed that there were very few people taking the subway on weekdays and did not suspect anything.
He arrived at the deserted platform, where the doors of a subway train that had just pulled into the station were already open.
Old Tang, afraid of missing out, quickly stepped forward.
Just as he was about to board the carriage.
Suddenly, he stopped.
Something is wrong!
Something's not right!