Senior Chu and the Beijing Subway Station

Big Bear avatar: "Senior, your avatar is pretty antique. Makes people want to top up their QQ Coins."

Default Penguin avatar: "Didn't know what to change it to. I've used it ever since I registered."

Big Bear avatar: "Senior, I heard you're studying at some aristocratic university abroad now. What was it called, Cassell University? Is it well-known?"

Default Penguin avatar: "Not particularly. I'm a sophomore now."

Big Bear avatar: "Senior, I'm in my final year of high school and want to apply to overseas universities. Are there any you'd recommend? Is Cassell University hard to get into?"

Default Penguin avatar: "This school's admissions are rather unusual. Do you have a specific place in mind? Cities with plenty of prestigious universities, like Austin, Ann Arbor, or Boston."

Big Bear avatar: "Mm... I'm still considering it. I'm a little worried I'm not good enough."

Big Bear avatar: "Senior, are the requirements for that part-time job really not high?"

Default Penguin avatar: "It mainly requires performance. If you're confident, I can email that coach now."

Big Bear avatar: "That's so formal and so awesome. I'm still a little confident in that area. Senior, give me three minutes. I need to think of some words of thanks."

Default Penguin avatar: "All right. I have a course project to finish."

Chu Zihang was calm and rarely started new topics, but he answered every question and replied quickly. No matter what Lu Mingfei talked about, he could give a relevant response without being perfunctory.

Senior was really giving him face. Lu Mingfei figured it probably wasn't his face he was giving.

Liu Miaomiao... How could that woman be so God-given in her abilities?!

Who would've thought that Lu himself could misjudge someone one day? Could that unknown, cunning junior girl actually have been Liu Miaomiao herself? Had she been "feigning sleep to lure the enemy" before?

Lu Mingfei vaguely sensed that something was off. Between the lines, Chu Zihang really did seem to have some impression of him. That sympathy and concern had nothing whatsoever to do with Liu Miaomiao.

Senior actually knew him, a fellow student. Where had that concern come from?

His impression of Chu Zihang in Genji Heavy Industries had been incredibly good. He was a truly loyal person, and in the early days, Chu Zihang had been the one who fought hardest to save him.

It wasn't that the others hesitated or held back when saving Lu Mingfei. It was just that when Chu Zihang saved someone, he treated his own life as nothing while treating Lu Mingfei's life as everything. Maybe he had lost something before.

It was just that some of the things he said were occasionally strange. For example, when Lu Mingfei had been close to dying, Chu Zihang had said something like, "Stay alive. Let's go smash the axle of that wedding car together." Brother Caesar, who had been beside them, hadn't immediately chimed in after hearing that. After a while, he had leaned over and solemnly said, "Stay alive. I'm looking forward to that day too."

To Lu Mingfei, Caesar and Chu Zihang seemed to clash in temperament and never get along. He played the role of lubricant between them, rather like the master of the house with two capable concubines. Yet they were all genuine friends, the kind who could entrust their backs to one another.

He had no idea which unlucky bastard they three brothers were going to smash the axle of, and it was even the axle of a wedding car. Could it be that a girl Chu Zihang liked was getting married? ...When the time came, he should invite Gen Chisei too. That guy always seemed to be excluded by their little group of three at Genji Heavy Industries.

He had previously thought that his friendship with Chu Zihang had begun at Cassell University. Now it seemed that Chu Zihang might have noticed him as early as middle school.

Lu Mingfei blinked. It wasn't as though he was overwhelmed by the attention of a friend, but he felt as happy as if he had met a kindred companion while watching a sunset alone. So you already knew me. So you had already saved a bit of kindness for me.

Swept up in emotion, he typed quickly and offered his own kindness to Chu Zihang.

"Senior, whoever's wedding car axle you want to smash in the future, smash it. I fully support you."

"I'm a little sleepy. Senior, see you in our dreams."

Inside the hotel, Chu Zihang quietly stared at the blue message that had appeared on his phone.

He sat cross-legged on a crystal velvet carpet, took Sacred Blade Murasame from its black case, and wiped it down. Once he was done, he sheathed the blade, like a warrior who used his sword as a mirror to inspect his eyes before killing.

Of course he remembered someone like Lu Mingfei.

He had repeatedly recalled that rainy night in embarrassment. Everyone from that night had been painted into his memory in heavy ink, especially that person's helplessness, which had later become a little like his own.

Being able to help someone similar to himself was quite a good thing.

Unlike what Lu Mingfei thought, he had neither just finished a lunch break nor was he in America. He had just gotten off a plane and arrived at a coastal hotel.

Outside the balcony window of the luxury hotel, wooden eaves cut diagonally across the twilight, and several retro yellow lamps stood in the water. Blue sky was spilling ink across the sea through gaps in the clouds. At the point where the infinity pool met the distant ocean, tourists soaked like translucent fish.

This was Trinidad and Tobago, located in the southern Caribbean Sea of Central America, close to the waters off Venezuela.

The country consisted of Trinidad Island, Tobago Island, and twenty-one smaller islands. Its capital was Port of Spain. Covering 5,128 square kilometers, its total area was only equivalent to that of an ordinary prefecture-level city in China. It was relatively well-known for its oil processing industry.

He had not come to conduct research. Following an internship assignment from the Executive Department, he had come to hunt down dangerous, out-of-control hybrids. If necessary, there were no restrictions on any violent methods.

His recent life schedule had been packed. Sometimes he was still at school in the morning, fulfilling the duties expected of the Lionheart Club president, and by the afternoon his plane had already left North America.

After reading every message Lu Mingfei had sent, a rare trace of confusion appeared on Chu Zihang's face.

He understood the logic. Lu Mingfei probably wanted to show that he repaid kindness.

But... why smash a wedding car's axle?

Shaking his head, Chu Zihang finished writing the email and sent it to the youth center coach. He then made a few changes to the greeting he had prepared for his mother and sent that as well.

At this point, all distracting thoughts should be set aside.

There had been too many distractions lately. Maybe it was an ominous sign. He had even inexplicably fallen asleep during a club debate.

"Norma, report the current locations of Agent Ryder and the logistics team."

Taking off his contact lenses, Chu Zihang put on sunglasses to conceal his burning Golden Eyes. He fitted a miniature wireless earpiece, prepared specially made steel-core rounds, picked up his weapon case, and pushed open the door.

Judging from the filthy atrocities of the target he was hunting, tonight would probably be... a night of fire and blood.

``` [Challenger, take note. Normal Mode has been activated. In this mode, dungeon monsters receive no basic stat bonuses.]

[The new dungeon "Beijing Subway Station" has arrived. The dungeon mission is to survive for a sufficient period of time.]

"Breathing... twenty-two of them. Deadpools? Doesn't sound like it."

After entering the new dungeon, Lu Mingfei opened his pale golden eyes, clasped his hands and loosened up his muscles, then rubbed his neck.

To be safe, he had given himself two vials of Evolution Potion beforehand. The negative effects of a small amount of Evolution Potion did not even count as stimulants to him. At most, they were Red Bull-level side effects.

As he eased the stiffness in his shoulder and neck muscles, he surveyed his surroundings, wondering which nook or cranny the Deadpools would crawl out of to bring him some warmth.

It was a mediocrely decorated internet café. Judging from the noise, its social atmosphere could only be described as smoky and chaotic. The walls of the private room were plastered with basketball tournament posters and glamour shots of eighteenth-tier female celebrities.

The computer desk was piled with bottles of Nutritional Express and instant noodles.

There were quite a few Chinese decorations, so this should be China. But this wasn't a subway station either, was it?

Someone was approaching this private room, walking and stopping, perhaps asking for directions or confirming something.

"Coming for me? Am I supposed to use violent means to interrogate an NPC? I'm not very good at that."

Mm, his first thought had been to resort to violence. Without realizing it, he had become a thoroughgoing violent criminal too. Birds of a feather really did flock together.

Listening to every footstep of the approaching person, Lu Mingfei loaded a magazine, pulled back the silver-gray slide, chambered a round, and made a basic assessment.

Seemed to be an ordinary person. Rather thin and weak.

The person who pushed open the door was a chestnut-haired girl wearing a white cloth dress. Her flowing black hair was pinned with a familiar butterfly clip, and she moved slowly at the doorway as though engaged in some sort of mental struggle.

"Lu Mingfei."

"Chen... Chen Wenwen?"

After freezing for a moment, Lu Mingfei quietly put away the Desert Eagle he had hidden behind his back and closed his eyes, dimming their burning golden glow.

Running a dungeon and meeting an old acquaintance too? Could it be that the Deadpools in this dungeon could take form according to what was in his heart, like ghosts and monsters from Strange Tales?

If it was going to take form according to what was in his heart, it should have turned into that terrifying red-haired shrine maiden from Genji Heavy Industries. What was the point of becoming Chen Wenwen? Ghost brother, you were too outdated to keep up with the version updates of my romantic life... Lu Mingfei thought with his eyes closed.

Damn it, why do these Golden Eyes work sometimes and fail other times? Why won't they turn off when they're supposed to?

His God remained on high alert. It was a habit formed through hundreds of bloody lessons. No matter how relaxed or useless he acted normally, once he entered a dungeon, he would treat it like a battlefield.

Heavy rain was falling outside. More than half of Chen Wenwen's white dress was soaked, and water dripped steadily from her lowered, drenched hair. At a time like this, no one would have many romantic thoughts about her. She instead gave off the chilling feeling of a female ghost.

"I had no choice but to come find you..." Chen Wenwen said through sobs. "I've looked for so many people these past few days, but none of them believed me. Later, I had no choice but to leave you a message on QQ... I called for you on QQ all afternoon, but you never logged in. Luckily, I installed a QQ program that could see IP addresses, so I found this internet café."

He couldn't say what was wrong, but Lu Mingfei quietly took out the Desert Eagle he had just hidden behind his back. With one hand behind him, he used his fingers to eject the magazine and replace it with tranquilizer rounds.

Miss, didn't we end things back in our sophomore year...? Pah, pah, pah. There was never even a beginning.

A plot NPC?

A honey trap?

There wouldn't suddenly be five hundred Deadpools wielding knives and axes rushing in from outside the private room, would there?

"Zhao Menghua has gone missing..." Chen Wenwen raised her head to look at Lu Mingfei. Her beautiful eyes were bloodshot, and even her long eyelashes could not hide it. She cried like a pear blossom drenched in rain.