Chapter 53: Why Not Just Say You Discovered Oil?

When Guderian learned that Lu Mingfei had broken through the numerous barriers of Kassel Academy and stubbornly reached the operational site of the Coffin Mountain task force, his glasses nearly fell off in shock.

They were truly risking their lives now, engaging in deadly combat with those monsters—either you die or I do.

At this moment, if Lu Mingfei got involved, it would be no different from a newly walking lion cub named Simba wandering alone into a hungry pack of hyenas.

His uncle was timid and nothing like Scar, and his father wasn’t named Mufasa; it was impossible that they would risk their lives to save him from danger.

So upon hearing the news, Guderian immediately led his men over.

Since he was clueless about commanding combat, he simply handed over operational command to the Chinese branch personnel to avoid a mess caused by an amateur directing professionals.

Moreover, Lu Mingfei’s last known location was behind the sniper position where Gao Mi was stationed, so he could also rescue this young sharpshooter who had taken down over twenty corpse guards.

However, Guderian never expected the situation to unfold this way.

Lu Mingfei’s face was cold as he held his gun with one hand, leaning against a tree, while Gao Mi, pale as death and seemingly seriously wounded, blocked in front with one hand. The two stood on either side like prisoners sentenced to execution.

At this scene, had the Remington 700 malfunctioned and misfired, Kassel Academy’s Hall of Heroes would have a new memorial portrait.

Guderian’s heart nearly jumped out of his chest as he took in the tense standoff; he hurriedly shouted at Lu Mingfei not to shoot—they were on the same side.

Lu Mingfei had initially raised his gun out of instinct, but upon seeing Guderian arrive with seven or eight fully armed, burly men, he immediately aimed his weapon at them.

This reaction caught Guderian off guard and set the alarm bells ringing in the minds of the accompanying operatives.

Almost reflexively, they raised their guns, laser sights emitting red beams pointed at the skinny youth’s vital points.

Startled by this sudden turn, Guderian nearly lost his temper.

He quickly turned and pressed down the triggers of his men, ordering them to take up positions at the side, then spread his empty hands to show Lu Mingfei he was unarmed and bore no ill will:

“Mingfei, calm down! Calm down! It’s me, Guderian. We’re on the same side.”

Upon hearing him reveal his identity, Lu Mingfei slightly lowered his gun, maintaining a tentative angle that could instantly be raised to fire at the slightest provocation.

“Who told you we’re on the same side?” Lu Mingfei stared straight ahead at the white-haired old man but slowly edged toward the young man beneath the tree who couldn’t move.

Although he didn’t know how Gao Mi had ended up mixed with the Kassel Academy people, the enemy’s strength was overwhelming, and all he had was a bird sniper rifle with no bullets.

If things took a turn for the worse, Gao Mi would just have to endure it.

His eyes and ears scanned all around, nerves taut:

“You, a foreigner, bringing so many armed men to open fire recklessly on Chinese soil—are you trying to orchestrate a terrorist attack to provoke conflict between our two countries?!”

Guderian was a World War II German Army Field Marshal and the founder of the Blitzkrieg strategy. Lu Mingfei had good reason to suspect this old man was trying to stir up an international incident.

“No, no, we mean no harm!” Guderian hurried to explain upon realizing the misunderstanding.

“We are on a mission here. There are—”

“You’re already exposed. And you say you’re not terrorists!” Lu Mingfei raised his gun once more.

This time, he held the rifle with both hands, the flashlight on the left side shining directly onto Guderian’s resigned old face.

Earlier, since there were many enemies, he had wisely refrained from redirecting the beam to blind them, which might have caused the armed thugs to empty their magazines; instead, he had merely adjusted his gun to express his stance.

Now that Guderian was signaling goodwill without forcing him to leave or restricting his freedom, Lu Mingfei sensed an opportunity.

As Zhang Mazi would say—good people always get guns pointed at them?

Fortunately, Guderian didn’t seem like a good man in his eyes—more like a warm-hearted fellow who couldn’t get what he wanted, ranking behind Zhao Menghua.

Otherwise, his conscience might have hurt just a little.

“No, we’re not terrorists. We’re on a secret mission to…” Guderian stumbled, unable to find the right words, so Lu Mingfei kindly offered a hint:

“Foreign spies.”

“Yes, that’s right, we are foreign…” Suddenly catching his mistake, Guderian hastily corrected Lu Mingfei.

“No, you’ve seen ‘Van Helsing,’ right? We’re like monster hunters, experts who hunt down these creatures.”

Hearing this, Lu Mingfei understood why Kassel Academy had seemed unusual and why Ye Sheng and Judah had a hint of military training.

But… looking at the armed men around them, he frowned and asked:

“You hunt demons with these things? Where are the holy water and crucifixes?”

“Uh, keeping up with the times, keeping up with the times!” Guderian laughed awkwardly and quickly changed the subject:

“Mingfei, that’s the situation for now. It’s very dangerous here. Come with us to a safe place first; I’ll explain everything to you later.”

As if in response to his words, a group of blue-faced, fanged monsters suddenly charged out from the forest. The armed guards nearby didn’t hesitate and opened fire.

Gunshots erupted, parts flying everywhere.

Seeing this, Lu Mingfei stopped resisting Guderian and turned to try to lift Gao Mi.

He had thought Gao Mi would mention the empty gun, but when he turned, he found the young man had already fainted, seemingly badly hurt from the earlier impact.

Before he could move forward, Guderian was faster.

The burly old man hoisted the unconscious Gao Mi onto his back and led Lu Mingfei under the protection of the operatives toward their base camp.

“What exactly are these monsters—zombies or vampires?”

Carrying his bird sniper rifle, Lu Mingfei followed, eyes sharp as he scanned the retreating monsters, alert yet gathering intelligence.

He knew Guderian was somewhat scatterbrained and single-minded; now that they were escaping, unexpected gains might emerge.

“They’re about the same,” Guderian, unchanged by age, reported honestly:

“They’re called corpse guards. Similar to Chinese zombies—both mythical monsters.

But unlike the zombies in films that arise from feng shui or natural decay, corpse guards are created through forbidden techniques that transform corpses into these forms.”

“Alchemy?” At the mention of forbidden techniques, Lu Mingfei’s mind echoed with that chilling ‘Big Brother’s’ voice.

“Bullseye! You’re a genius,” Guderian habitually praised.

“So you recruited me to the school just to make me fight these monsters to the death?” Lu Mingfei felt Kassel’s madmen overestimated his integrity and abilities.

Never mind whether he wanted to be a Blue Exorcist; you’re using physical weapons to exorcise demons—why not just cooperate with the military?

Everyone knows oil fosters mold.

If you find a target, just announce the discovery of a new oil field in the papers, and the US military will rush in with fighter jets to provide security.

Such an easy problem—why drag me into it with so much trouble?

Did you really think this was a Japanese light novel and that high schoolers had to save the world?

We have college entrance exams to worry about!