Chapter 41: An Unintentional Willow Shade Thrives

The wheels rumbled, grinding against the rough-textured granite floor tiles.

A tall, slender figure dragging a small cart stopped at the entrance of the principal's office.

"Knock, knock!"

The office door was lightly tapped. The principal, who was browsing through some documents, looked up.

"Come in."

With these words, the door opened, and a man dressed in a pure black suit walked in.

"Principal." A low, hoarse voice came from behind the black mask the man wore, sounding exceptionally oppressive.

"Sit." The principal looked at his trusted right-hand man, von Schneider, Director of the Executive Committee of Cassel College, who pulled his small cart carrying oxygen cylinders over to sit opposite the desk.

Instead of rushing straight to business, the principal expressed concern over another matter:

"I heard Chu Zihang's mission ran into some trouble?"

Professor Schneider nodded slightly, the tube connecting his mask to the oxygen cylinder swaying gently, making his neck, covered in dark red scars, look even more gruesome:

"That dangerous half-blood is rather cunning. First, he used drug lords and gangsters to pin him down, and then he hijacked a pair of father and son as hostages."

"Sounds a bit troublesome."

"Yes, so he chose a quicker method."

"I recall he isn't fond of using guns."

"That didn't stop him from blowing the target's brains out with a single shot."

The principal smiled: "Indeed the demeanor befitting a leader of the Pride. I have high hopes for him."

Hearing this, Professor Schneider's iron-gray eyes flickered with a trace of surprise.

The principal was an original member of the Lionheart Society, and even he had expressed approval of Chu Zihang. Thus, there was virtually no suspense left regarding his student becoming the youngest President of the Lionheart Society in history.

Only, if that turned out to be the case, the Lionheart Society and the Student Union would probably become even more like fire and water.

The people on the Disciplinary Committee would likely have plenty of headaches in the future.

"In a couple of days, I plan to take a trip to China to meet our S-rank freshman." The principal opened a mission report just submitted by the Executive Committee, making a silent evaluation in his heart.

Professor Schneider showed not a shred of surprise: "Because of Professor Guderian's email?"

Guderian had been an assistant professor at Cassel College for over a decade. His daily life might be a bit eccentric, but he rarely dropped the ball when it came to serious matters.

Although the content of the email bore a slight hint of over-interpretation, they truly could not find a second reason to explain why Lu Mingfei had suddenly rushed off to Sichuan.

If Lu Mingfei had genuinely experienced spiritual vision in his dream and caught a glimpse of clues related to the King of Bronze and Fire, his importance would far exceed anyone's imagination.

This was practically equivalent to comprehending the prophet's ability within a dream without having awakened yet.

No wonder the principal attached such great importance to him, defying all opinions to insist on rating him as S-rank.

"That poem is far too specific; regardless of whether it's true or false, we must investigate thoroughly." The principal looked at Professor Schneider:

"The Kui Gate Project remains unchanged. Dispatch an additional executive team to Wu Gorge; you will choose the members."

The Executive Committee had originally planned to continuously dispatch executive teams to locate the dragon's grave in the future, so they could easily draw a reserve team from the pool now.

"Understood." Schneider nodded.

Leaving the principal's office, Schneider sent an email to Chu Zihang.

The content was simple: Lu Mingfei's contact information and personal details, telling him to add him as a friend when he had time.

Schneider had no intention of having Chu Zihang, who had just finished a half-city chase, follow him to China, nor did he mean to use him as a lobbyist to recruit Lu Mingfei.

Since the principal had already decided to personally go to China to meet Lu Mingfei, the latter's enrollment was merely a matter of time; there was no need for them to do anything extra.

Returning to the Executive Committee, Schneider looked over the candidate list for the executive team and ultimately selected two Chinese faces.

"Norma, notify Assistant Agent Gao Mi and intern Wan Boqian that there is a new mission..."

Exploring a dragon's grave was a highly perilous endeavor, one where carelessness could result in the entire team being wiped out.

Therefore, even if there was the slightest unexpected factor, it had to be investigated and eliminated as much as possible, and these two happened to have a talent in this area.

Just in time, Guderian was also in Sichuan, and that fellow Finger would also head to China after finishing his recruitment mission in Russia.

Although none of these individuals were full agents, forming an investigative team was more than enough.

The Kui Gate Operation Team was just a few dozen kilometers away; should any unexpected events occur, they could provide timely support.

...

Having been reborn only recently, Lu Mingfei did not know that tomb raiding in this world was an extremely high-risk business.

The small-scale operations were one thing, but tombs with even the slightest bit of scale could conceal immense horrors.

At best, one went without returning; at worst, it could provoke a catastrophic disaster.

Consequently, this world had "mountain ghosts blowing out lamps," but no *Candle in the Tomb*.

It had tomb raiders' tears and tomb raiders' last words, but no *Chronicles of the Ghost Blowers*.

Because of this, he had no idea that a casual joke of his, along with a few lines of poetry intercepted from the *Guanshan Directing Mystery Fu*, would stir up a massive storm in unseen places.

He slept all the way until the plane landed, without having any weird dreams, feeling full of vitality and spirit.

As for Guderian beside him, he was no less energetic in sleep—drooling three thousand feet and snoring like thunder that shook the cabin door.

The two disembarked together. Lu Mingfei knew Guderian intended to stick to him like a plaster, but anyway, the old man looked more pleasing to the eye than that red-haired crazy girl, and his words were pleasant enough, so letting him tag along was fine.

A circle of taxis was parked outside the airport. Guderian wanted to show off a bit to let Lu Mingfei see his mature and reliable side.

Instead, the next second he saw Lu Mingfei find an honest-looking veteran driver, chatter away in a flurry, and finally wrap up the deal crisply with the exchanges: "You 'er huo'?" and "I 'er huo'!"

Guderian was astonished. Didn't "er huo" mean a foolish idiot? Why could that driver proudly admit to being a fool with such swagger?

As a result, after getting into the car, he almost got kicked out for shouting "You are an 'er huo'" at the driver, and it was only with Lu Mingfei's help that the misunderstanding was resolved.

This small interlude did not affect the journey. The driver and Guderian chatted all the way about Sino-foreign differences, while Lu Mingfei was feeling a bit sentimental, stirred by the scenery and recalling the past.

He remembered that in his past life, his first time coming to Mountain City was also a duo trip, except the one accompanying him back then was his newly wedded wife, rather than the aged Guderian.

At that time, Lu Mingfei had just gotten married, planning a honeymoon trip with his wife. For some reason, his brain short-circuited and he decided on a self-driving tour, taking the Sichuan-Tibet highway to explore the vast, beautiful, and picturesque grand grasslands.

Originally, the first stop should have been Rong City, where he secured his first world championship and began his invincible chapter, but then he thought about first taking his wife to appreciate the scenery described by the poet immortal as "the apes on both banks can't stop crying, as the light boat has already flown past ten thousand mountains," and thus he resolutely plunged headfirst into Mountain City.

As a result, barely half a day after arriving, he was taught a harsh lesson by this 8D magical city, forcing the plan to visit the grand grasslands to be abruptly terminated.

How should he put it? Back then, he held the GPS navigator and studied the roads for an entire night.

Not that he finished studying, but that dawn had broken.

If it hadn't been for a helpful live-streaming driving instructor passing by, he and his wife might have spent the entire day playing a game of mazes and ghost-walls, and over time, might even have transformed from outsiders into locals.