Setting Out

Monday.

8:00 a.m.

Fingel knocked open the door and tossed in two bundles of clothes. Thankfully, they were protected by waterproof canvas, sparing them from being smeared with grease by this bear-like man.

"Gentlemen, your Executive Department uniforms have arrived!"

Fingel was somehow still holding a braised pork knuckle in his free hand. Freshly washed up, Li Lin looked at the man who had barged in through the door and wondered whether Germans truly had a special fondness for pork knuckles.

Caesar had already pulled out an exquisite letter opener and neatly sliced open the two canvas bags.

Li Lin leaned over and looked at the jet-black fitted leather suit, knee pads, tactical vest, and Half-Rotted World Tree shoulder insignia inside. "Executive Department clothes can really look this cool?"

"Hehehe, of course. The first time your senior here wore this outfit on an Executive Department mission, I strutted around in front of a full-length mirror for half an hour."

Fingel spoke while swaying his head, crunching noisily through the pork knuckle in his hand.

Caesar tossed Li Lin's set of clothes to him, then eagerly began changing himself. This filthy rich Italian loved anything that made him look badass.

By the time Li Lin had fastened the belt adapted for handguns of all models and mounted grenades, Fingel had finished the pork knuckle as well. He wiped his hands on his clothes. "Let me make this clear first: you might have to kill people on this mission."

Hearing this old hand from the News Department make another shocking remark, Li Lin and Caesar both turned to look at him.

Fingel spread his hands. "This intelligence was sponsored by the Gattuso family."

"What exactly is going on?"

Caesar asked bluntly.

"Boss, have you seen Resident Evil? The current situation is somewhat similar. A drug that shouldn't exist in this world was secretly taken by some Japanese guy of unknown origins when he defected from a criminal organization. Maybe he wanted to use it as his calling card to join the Secret Party, but both he and the goods were intercepted by a local gang in the United States."

As he said this, Fingel covered his face in grief, because the intelligence stated that the Japanese man was a Mixed-Blood... What kind of joke was this? A dignified Mixed-Blood had been robbed by a bunch of ordinary people? The Dragon Blood in his body must be weeping!

All right, back to the point. Fingel knew perfectly well what Japanese criminal organizations were like. That Mixed-Blood had probably paid an unimaginably terrible price just to escape the country, so running into a group of armed thugs afterward and being captured on the spot was indeed understandable.

After hearing Fingel out, Caesar frowned deeply.

"By your account, this should be handled by the FBI, or the Executive Department could just send a couple of agents to wipe out the entire gang. There was no reason to notify the Board of Trustees."

Caesar understood that outstanding performance on this mission could allow students to enter the Executive Department exceptionally. At the very least, it had to be an A-Rank mission...

Understanding Caesar's thoughts, Fingel looked at Li Lin standing beside him and hesitated for quite a while.

"The key lies in the drug. We still don't know its name, but it can forcibly alter the recipient's bloodline, turning an ordinary person into a Mixed-Blood with dragon genes. However, not everyone can withstand the burning of Dragon Blood. So after the Executive Department secretly took control of the gang's underground clinic, they confirmed that dozens of lives had already been lost."

"Fortunately, it was a fairly large local gang, so no media outlet dared report it."

"Of course, I know what you care about most is the mission rank... Yes, it is indeed an A-Rank mission. But it was rated A-Rank only because of the special nature of the investigation and the complexity of the environment. Overall, you'll only be dealing with a group of armed thugs, not dragonized Dead Servants."

"Once you arrive on site, Professor Schneider, who will be commanding the operation, will brief you in detail."

After explaining everything he was allowed to say, Fingel patted his butt and prepared to leave, leaving Li Lin and Caesar standing there staring blankly at each other.

Caesar glanced at Li Lin beside him, thinking that things definitely were not that simple.

Sure enough, after the two finished breakfast at Amber Hall, they received a muster order from the Executive Department.

The War Practice Class assigned participating students into teams based on their abilities and bloodlines, with the Executive Department's decision-makers making the arrangements with Norma's assistance according to the mission.

As soon as Li Lin arrived at the train station, he saw Xia Mi chatting with a second-year senior student he had never met.

He was about to go greet her when Caesar quietly stopped him.

"Boss, what's with that expression? Did you upset your stomach and forget to bring tissues?"

"What does that have to do with me? I was wondering whether Dragon Blood had gotten into your brain. Your girlfriend has been waiting for you so long, and you're going over empty-handed?"

"Girlfriend?"

Li Lin looked somewhat shocked.

Seeing that, Caesar looked at Li Lin with even greater shock.

"You mean yesterday, you took your childhood sweetheart of ten years on a date off campus, went shopping, spent money, had a candlelit dinner, and even rode a Ferris wheel together, but your relationship didn't change at all?!"

"Did it have to change? I heard that even after dating for a month through a blind date, there might not be any result."

"Damn it, with a face like yours, and having attended ordinary schools before, don't tell me you've never dated anyone." Caesar swore, an exceptionally rare occurrence.

"I told you, boss. I have absolutely no experience."

"I thought it was a cultural difference. After all, Chinese people are generally more modest and reserved when they speak..." Caesar felt a headache coming on. "In that case, you should be giving her gifts now and then. The fact that she hasn't directly defined the relationship means you're still under observation."

"Under observation...?"

"It means she has basically chosen you, but your performance hasn't yet made her decide to date you. I think your abilities and qualifications are more than enough. Maybe it's simply because you haven't used fiery, sincere romance to melt the final barrier between you."

So, under the stunned gaze of the Executive Department agents, Caesar dragged Li Lin back. In the open-air parking lot, he found his Bugatti Veyron, opened the front trunk, and took out a perfume gift box made of pure sheepskin before handing it to Li Lin.

"A congratulatory gift sent to me by Clive Christian's European manager last year, when he broke the Guinness World Records record for the 'most expensive perfume.' I heard the crystal bottle is inlaid with gold and diamonds, but I've never opened it."

"Boss, isn't this too valuable?"

"Brother, if you know it's valuable, can you at least step up? I invested so much money and publicly endorsed you two getting married, yet after all this, you haven't even kissed the girl. Where am I supposed to put my dignity?"

Caesar was a little desperate. Li Lin had forced his spoken Chinese to reach an entirely new level.

He had thought that once he left the Gattuso family, he would be able to control everything. He never expected the first challenge life threw at him to be a genius roommate who did not know how to make young girls happy.