At night, Jiu De Mai lay in the woods, watching the distant camp through a pair of binoculars.
A group of students had built a fire in front of their camp and were having a barbecue, laughing and chatting happily.
"The boss really does think highly of Lu Mingfei. She's so worried something might happen to him that she sent us to protect him. I feel like we're becoming his babysitters!"
Jiu De Mai complained.
Ever since Lu Mingfei had inexplicably grown stronger, she had kept a considerable distance from him and stayed under Underworld Reflection the whole time to avoid being discovered.
"Can't be helped. Little White Rabbit No. 1 is an important part of the boss's future plans." Su Enxi was at her computer, sharing Jiu De Mai's view remotely.
"What I didn't expect was that this operation would bring us into contact with people from Kassel. What's Chu Zihang doing now?" Jiu De Mai asked.
"He's heading this way. Sanwu is keeping an eye on him over there. I expect he'll run into these innocent, adorable students soon." After checking on Chu Zihang, Su Enxi answered.
Meanwhile, Chu Zihang was reporting the intelligence he'd gathered to the command center at Kassel College, updating them on his situation every ten minutes.
He had no idea that a girl was following him from a distance. She was about five foot three, with pale blond hair and a mask over her face. She kept a steady distance from Chu Zihang.
She silently listened to Su Enxi and Jiu De Mai talking.
Only when Su Enxi asked her something did she give a single, expressionless reply.
"Heh, looks like there'll be quite a show tonight," Jiu De Mai said.
"Lu Mingfei, I grilled this lamb for you. Try some. Lu Mingfei, I grilled these chicken wings for you. Have one, Lu Mingfei."
Su Xiaoqiang kept running back and forth between Lu Mingfei and the barbecue.
Every time she brought him food, she looked at him expectantly.
Finally, Lu Mingfei couldn't take it anymore.
"Stop!"
Lu Mingfei raised a hand to stop Su Xiaoqiang from feeding him.
Lu Mingfei said earnestly, "Little Goddess, I know you're a good cook, but I really am full!"
When he saw Su Xiaoqiang gazing at him with her bright, dewy eyes, Lu Mingfei couldn't help feeling troubled. Every time she grilled something, she brought it over to him and looked at him with that same hopeful expression. It was really hard to turn her down.
But if he ate too much, he'd get sick of it, so he had to stop her.
"If you don't want to eat it, then don't! It's not like I'm forcing you! And I didn't make it especially for you. I just grilled too much, that's all." Su Xiaoqiang put on a defiant, haughty front.
"I only said I was full. I didn't say I didn't want any," Lu Mingfei said helplessly.
"Mind your own business." Su Xiaoqiang turned her head away.
Late at night, everyone returned to their tents to settle in for the rest of the night.
In the boys' tent, everyone was talking about which girls at school were pretty and cute, then diligently ranking them.
Lu Mingfei wasn't interested, so he went outside.
"Lu Mingfei, why are you out here too?" Su Xiaoqiang asked in surprise.
"It felt a little stuffy in there, so I came out for some fresh air," Lu Mingfei replied.
"Oh, okay."
"Do you know? The girls in our class were just discussing the handsome guys at school and ranking them. Do you know where you placed?" Su Xiaoqiang asked slyly.
"First."
Lu Mingfei answered without the slightest hesitation.
"How did you know?" Su Xiaoqiang asked, wide-eyed.
"I know my own worth. With a face like mine, I'd be top of the pack anywhere, let alone at little old Shilan High School." Lu Mingfei sounded smug.
Su Xiaoqiang looked at Lu Mingfei's face. In the firelight, it looked so warm that she wanted to touch it.
He really wasn't wrong.
"Ah!" A girl screamed in the distance.
"That was Liu Miaomiao's voice."
Lu Mingfei and Su Xiaoqiang looked at each other and spoke at the same time.
Maybe it was some kind of wild animal, Lu Mingfei thought.
After all, this wasn't a scenic area, and no one had developed the mountain.
But why had Liu Miaomiao gone so far away? Whatever kind of wild animal it was, an ordinary girl would be in danger if she ran into it.
"I'll go check it out," Lu Mingfei told Su Xiaoqiang.
He activated Flash Step, vanishing from the spot in an instant.
The people in the tents had heard the scream too and rushed outside, asking one another what had happened.
Liu Miaomiao was on the verge of a breakdown. She'd only wanted to go to the bathroom.
But she was too embarrassed to go near the camp, so she'd run off to a patch of woods that looked fairly dense.
She had only just crouched down when she spotted a pair of golden eyes staring at her. It was too dark to make out clearly, but it looked like some kind of wild animal.
After screaming, she hurriedly pulled up her pants and ran like a headless chicken.
She hadn't gotten far when the beast seemed to react and chased after her.
Liu Miaomiao wasn't a fast runner, and she'd run onto a steep dirt slope. There was nowhere to go unless she rolled down it.
With her back to the slope, Liu Miaomiao stared at the beast coming after her.
Only then, under the moonlight, could she see that it wasn't a wild animal at all. It was a scaly monster standing upright, almost like a person wearing lizard skin.
It charged at Liu Miaomiao.
Just as all hope seemed lost, Lu Mingfei appeared out of nowhere in front of her.
He straightened, drew his sword, and unsheathed it.
A sharp whoosh cut through the air. His diagonal slash swept from the monster's waist to its shoulder, cleaving the Dead Servant in two.
Lu Mingfei sheathed his sword and stared pensively at the body split in half before him.
Liu Miaomiao stared at Lu Mingfei in shock. At that moment, he looked like a swordsman of extraordinary skill; one stroke was all it took to draw blood and silence his foe.
Lu Mingfei realized that this monster looked a lot like the one he'd encountered when he saved Su Xiaoqiang.
The first one had still looked somewhat human, but this one was unrecognizable. Its eyes were golden, too.
He hadn't examined the other one closely at the time, but now he realized those golden pupils seemed just like the change in his own eyes after he'd gained his new power.
Both their eyes could turn gold, though his looked purer.
Besides boosting his physical abilities, he hadn't noticed any other effects from his new power. It hadn't caused him any negative effects either.
But his previous encounter had taught him that this monster might have been human once, too.
How had these people turned into this?
"What are these things?!"
"Ah!"
"Waaah!"
"I don't want to die!"
A cacophony of curses and screams suddenly came from the camp.
"Lu Mingfei!" He could also hear Su Xiaoqiang's anxious voice.
Then came a chorus of snarls, identical to the sound made by the monster he'd just killed.
"Damn it!" Lu Mingfei's gaze turned cold.
He hadn't expected there to be more than one of these monsters. There was a whole horde!
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