The Morania docked at Jiangcheng Port. Principal Angers had taken the Gulfstream Jet Sleipnir this time, so everyone had to take taxis to Tianhe Airport, then fly to Japan for a connection before flying straight to Chicago.
Lu Mingfei took a taxi and sat in the front passenger seat, with Zero and Nono in the back. Watching the Yangtze River Bridge recede outside the window, he felt a little dazed. A dozen or so hours ago, he had been fighting Norton to the death beneath this river. Now he was sitting in a taxi, racing city buses through the streets in a real-life version of Speed.
"Motherfucker, do you even know how to drive?!" the driver swore, hammering his horn at a car with out-of-town plates ahead.
"Sir, there's no need to rush. Safety first," Lu Mingfei urged.
The driver glanced in the rearview mirror, his gaze lingering on Zero's hair. "Tourists from out of town?"
"Yes, yes. We saw Yellow Crane Tower and had hot dry noodles." Watching a local riding along the street while eating hot dry noodles, Lu Mingfei casually offered his impressions of the city.
"What's there to see at Yellow Crane Tower? They tore it down ages ago. What's there now was rebuilt," the driver said with exasperation. "You out-of-towners aren't used to hot dry noodles, are you?"
"They're all right, all right," Lu Mingfei said.
"Just don't buy them at the train station," the driver said. "Oh, well, you're going to the airport anyway. I can tell you've got money. Studying abroad, right? America? Britain?"
"America."
"Not bad, young man." The driver glanced at the girl in the rearview mirror again and lowered his voice. "The redhead's your girlfriend?"
Through the rearview mirror, Lu Mingfei could see Nono and Zero staring at him.
"Uh..."