Chapter 514 The end of the mission
The accompanying medical staff gave Lu Mingfei a full body check-up and all indicators were normal, but since he had just woken up, he still needed more rest.

So after saying goodbye to Lu Mingfei, everyone left the ward one by one. Aki, who was the last to leave the infirmary, turned off the lights and closed the door.

It was already very late at night, and the crew on duty on the “Moniah” had completed the night shift handover.

“You guys should go to bed early too. You still have to write a mission report tomorrow.”

After taking care of Aki and Selma, Guderian returned to his room yawning, and the cabin door closed heavily.

“Aki, do you have anything else to do?” Selma turned and asked Aki.

Aki shook her head: “No more.”

“Then let’s go back to the room. I’m really exhausted today…”

Selma put her hands behind her back, relaxing her body, and Aki walked side by side with her up the stairs leading to the forecastle deck.

The boys’ rooms and girls’ rooms were not arranged on the same floor. The boys’ rooms were arranged on the second floor living deck, which had the most rooms, while Aki, Selma, and Zhou Li were arranged on the highest floor forecastle deck.

“Come to think of it.” Aki asked softly, as if she had remembered something, “Has Norma replied to the letter about Zero’s identity?”

“Well, Norma is back.”

Selma also responded in a low voice: “Norma has passed Zero’s information to Professor Mans. She is indeed a student in the Moscow preparatory class, and she is indeed studying the topic “On the correlation between Sichuan-West culture and the historical activities of the Dragon Tribe in the Chinese region” with Professor Yelena. The photo, the executive department file number, and the student number all match.”

“Have you done the background check?”

“Zero’s information is highly confidential. Professor Mans does not have the authority to transfer Zero’s files, but it should be reliable.”

“why?”

“Professor Mans found out that Zero was admitted directly through the college’s board of directors. He probably came from a big family on the board of directors, just like Charlotte from the Gottingen family and the little prince from the Gattuso family. The only thing the professor found strange was that there shouldn’t be any mixed-blood families from Russia among the board of directors’ families.”

Aki nodded: “Maybe he is a relative, just like Su Xiaoqiang. Since he has the endorsement of the school board, there should be no problem with Ling’s identity.”

After learning that Norma and Professor Mans had verified Zero’s information, Aki finally relaxed her vigilance towards Zero and gradually came to believe that Zero’s sudden appearance here was probably just a one in ten thousand coincidence.

Even if it was not a coincidence, and even if Zero’s appearance was intentional, with the endorsement of the school board, Zero at least would not be their enemy.

Well, not for now.

“Well, maybe. But—”

Selma responded to what Aki had just said, and suddenly turned her head, looking at Aki with a teasing and sharp look.

Aki was at a loss as Selma’s eyes narrowed like a cat’s. She thought there was something on her face. Then she saw Selma lower her voice and said:

“——Then again. When Lu Mingfei was unconscious, you and Ling were the two people who were most worried. You wanted to hang around Lu Mingfei’s bed. How come Lu Mingfei got up now, but neither you nor Ling went to say hello to him?”

Selma grinned with malicious intent.

Aki was stunned by these words that hit her heart suddenly. After a few seconds, the girl finally reacted. Her first reaction was to wave her hands in front of her chest to explain: “Then, then four…”

Hiss, it hurts! I bit my tongue…

Aki took a deep breath and felt like crying but had no tears.

But Selma was still insisting: “What is that?”

“Because of……”

“Don’t worry, I’m not busy. You can take your time to think of an excuse, Aki.”

“That’s not an excuse.”

“Isn’t it? Hey, Aki, why are your ears so red?”

“My, are my ears red?”

“Hehe, I was just kidding! But you haven’t answered my question yet. By the way, how about I go to your room tonight to sleep? We haven’t talked like this for a long time. The night is still long, we can have a good chat about Junior Brother Lu.”

“Why are you talking about him?”

“I made a slip of the tongue. What I meant was that we could have a good chat. Oxymashamasu (Excuse me)!”

“Well……”

……

It was already very late at night. The “Moniach” was sailing steadily on the surface of the Yangtze River. The lights in most cabins had been turned off. Even Selma, who had been gossiping with Aki before, had fallen asleep peacefully. Only the lights in the captain’s room were still on, and the crew on duty were drowsy and guarding their posts.

The moonlight was like water. The door of a room on the bow floor was suddenly pushed open, and Ling, wearing pajamas that were a little too big for her, walked out of the room. Ling had no change of clothes, and the pajamas she was wearing were given to her by Aki.

Ling closed the door of the room silently, and walked alone through the cabin corridor where the lights had been turned off in the moonlight shining through the porthole, and quietly went down the stairs to the crew room on the first floor, and walked through the darkness and onto the moonlit deck. The clear moonlight illuminated her icy face inch by inch.

“Aren’t you asleep yet so late?” someone on the deck greeted her.

“Aren’t you awake either?” Ling replied calmly, his voice as clear and cold as moonlight.

Zhou Li shook the phone in his right hand, then put his hands in his coat pockets, crossed his legs and leaned on the railing of the deck:
“Insomnia, an old problem. I tossed and turned in bed and couldn’t fall asleep. It happened to be a nice moonlit night, so I came out to look at the moon and call to ask how my family was doing. This incident caused quite a stir, and many people saw the flames that came out of that thing. It’s not easy to deal with the aftermath.”

“It shouldn’t be difficult for you, right?”

“My family has connections in the Maritime Bureau. We found an excuse that the explosion was caused by an electrical short circuit on the research vessel Moniach. Tomorrow morning we will expose some gossip about a popular young actress and wipe the front pages of all major websites. After the discussion of this matter dies down, we will remove all the photos from the Internet.”

Zhou Li shrugged, “After this incident, it will be difficult to transport a ship to the Yangtze River in the name of scientific research next time. If there are still people on the inland canal in the future, I’m afraid we can only transform the Moniah into a tugboat to send it up again.”

Zero nodded and commented, “Very professional.”

Zhou Li smiled: “I can’t help it. I’m used to wiping other people’s butts.”

Ling walked lightly to Zhou Li’s side, held the railing with both hands, and looked at the bright moonlight rippling on the river.

The moonlight seemed to be only a few meters away from the bow, and you might even worry that the moon would be smashed by the “Moniah” in the next moment. But every time the bow cut through the river water, the moonlight would retreat a little bit, always keeping a close distance from the bow.

Suddenly, a river breeze blew in their faces. The night breeze still had a bit of the chill of early spring, and it made people feel chilly. Zhou Li and Ling’s hair flew in the opposite direction of the river breeze. “Is it you?” Ling suddenly said.

Zhou Li was stunned for a moment, then blinked in confusion: “What?”

Ling spoke calmly, her eyes still fixed on the moon on the river in front of her: “To be precise, it should be you.”

The voice was lost in the inky night for only a few seconds. A few seconds later, a graceful smile appeared on Zhou Li’s face. She ran her fingers through her wind-blown hair and tucked her flowing long hair behind one ear. Her movements were as charming as those of Hong Kong actresses in the golden age of the last century, and so beautiful that it was breathtaking.

“I’d like to hear the details.” Zhou Li tilted his head and looked at Ling.

Zero spoke, his voice was cold and distant:

“First, there is the issue of maze reorganization. Every time someone passes through the entrance of the Silver Tomb, the passage inside the tomb will be disrupted again. Since Lu Mingfei and I entered the tomb, the passage has been disrupted and reorganized twice. Not long after the first reorganization, we met you and Aki and the others who came to look for Lu Mingfei. But after that, the tomb was reorganized again. This means that after you, someone else entered the tomb.”

“So?” Zhou Li raised the corners of his mouth seductively: “This can only mean that after us, someone else entered the tomb. This matter may not be related to us.”

“Yes, they are not necessarily related. But not many people know the location of the underwater tomb. Apart from your Zhou family, there is only Kassel College. But even the information about Kassel College was shared with them by your Zhou family.”

Zero continued in a cold voice:

“Sharing intelligence with Kassel College is just a test of the college, to see if the college’s strength is worthy of your Zhou family’s cooperation. Professor Mans thought that your test of the college was just the dragon text deciphered by Lu Mingfei. In fact, your Zhou family should have deciphered that dragon text long ago.

Even you have long known about the existence of the silver tomb in the ‘Eye of Kuimen’. The photos taken by cave divers are probably just your excuses. The photos themselves were taken by you. You have been guiding the people of Kassel Academy to discover the tomb step by step. “

Professor Mans thought your test was just about the dragon text… In fact, the entire “Eye of Kuimen” exploration mission was just a test of the academy. You wanted to know how Kassel Academy would perform when facing dragons, so you deliberately placed explosives to blow up the Silver Tomb, bringing the Bronze City into existence ahead of time and luring Samson out.

Although the crew members on the Moniach were all provided by you, the sudden disappearance of a large number of crew members will definitely arouse suspicion. I guess the people you sent to blow up the tomb are probably hiding in the rescue ships summoned by Kassel College.

Professor Manns might notice the reduction in the crew of the Moniach, but he would not notice the sudden decrease in the number of people on the rescue ship.

Zhou Li smiled: “You have a rich imagination. Suppose we really have deciphered those dragon characters a long time ago, and suppose we really have known about the existence of the silver tomb chamber a long time ago, and sent people to follow us into the tomb chamber and quietly placed explosives. But… where is the evidence?”

Zero was silent for a moment, then slowly took something out of his pocket.

At first, Zhou Li couldn’t see what Ling took out. It was not until the clear moonlight passed through Ling’s fingertips that a barely perceptible daze suddenly flashed in Zhou Li’s eyes.

“The micro-eavesdropping device probably has a positioning function. Remember when I was in the tomb, I asked Lu Mingfei to carry me up the stairs?”

Ling met Zhou Li’s gaze and said calmly:
“I took this from Lu Mingfei’s diving suit. I guess you should install this thing on every diving suit.

When you were in the tomb, you kept fiddling with your hair. If I’m guessing correctly, it must be because your monitor is on your right ear, so you always pay attention to covering your ear with your hair?
You wanted to use the eavesdropping device to track all of Lu Mingfei and his men’s actions, but you didn’t expect that this would become the key evidence that would expose you. As long as Norma traces the signal back through the eavesdropping device, I think we should be able to trace it back to the signal terminal very quickly.”

There was a long silence, and no one knew how long the two of them stared at each other. It was not until another gust of river wind blew towards them, “whooshing” through the gap between them that Zhou Li finally let out a long sigh.

“You’re amazing, little sister.”

Zhou Li clapped her hands in admiration, with a helpless smile on her face: “I thought that among the team sent by Kassel Academy this time, only Lu Mingfei was worthy of our attention. I didn’t expect that you are not bad either… When did you start to doubt me?”

“After meeting Yin Lizhen.”

“After meeting Yin Lizhen?”

There was a bug on Lu Mingfei’s diving suit, so Zhou Li naturally learned from the monitoring headphones that Lu Mingfei and his friends had encountered Yin Lizhen. Although she was also shocked that Yin Lizhen still existed as a living spirit…but she remembered that Yin Lizhen had not said anything to expose the Zhou family’s secrets.

Ling said: “Yin Lizhen said that Guan Zhong is a descendant of the Ji family, and the ancestor of the Yin family is Guan Zhong, remember?”

Zhou Li paused for a moment, then suddenly understood: “So you knew…”

“Yes I know.”

Ling nodded: “I know that your Zhou family also originated from the Ji family. Legend has it that the Zhou family has two origins. One originated from the great-great-grandson of Emperor Huang Ji Xuanyuan, Hou Ji Ji Qi; the other also originated from King Wen of Zhou Ji Chang. King Wu of Zhou’s younger brother was called Ji Dan, also known as Duke Zhou. The general outline of Chinese alchemy deduced by Ji Chang was even called “Zhou Yi”, which was directly named after Zhou.

No matter which branch your Zhou family originated from, you all inherited the Ji surname, and are the only thousand-year-old family among the mixed-blood families in China. After all, how could the great Lord Wa be raised by a mixed-blood family? As a branch family, the Yin family may not have as rich an alchemy heritage as your Zhou family.

So I know you should have known about the existence of the Silver Tomb from the beginning, but you pretended to know nothing and followed behind Aki and the others. From that moment on, I guessed that the whole thing was probably just a trap set by your Zhou family… or just a trial deliberately set for Kassel Academy.”

Zhou Li crossed his arms and said, “You’re right. This is just a test we set for Kassel Academy. After all, Kassel Academy has only been established for a hundred years… Maybe they are very famous in the world of mixed-bloods, and there have been several remarkable figures. But compared to us, their foundation is too shallow, so we have to test their bottom line and find out whether they are worth cooperating with.”

Ling nodded: “But there is still one thing I don’t understand.”

Zhou Li blinked in surprise: “Is there anything else you don’t understand?”

Ling said: “Lu Mingfei is not a member of Professor Mance’s team. His participation in this mission was full of coincidence. If Lu Mingfei hadn’t been there, how would you have handled the situation after releasing Samson… or how could you have been so sure that Lu Mingfei would be able to defeat Samson?”

Zhou Li shook his head: “This is a test for Kassel Academy, so it doesn’t matter to us who Kassel Academy will send to carry out the mission. As for what we should do if Kassel Academy can’t solve Samson…”

Zhou Li paused, looked at Ling and smiled mysteriously: “Don’t worry, ‘she’ is always watching.”

Ling was a little surprised by Zhou Li’s answer. She knew that since the Zhou family planned such a trial, they would naturally have a way to end it if the situation got out of control. But she didn’t expect that the Zhou family would actually bring her out.

However, what surprised Ling even more was Zhou Li’s next words.

“Besides, don’t we have you? When we were escaping from the collapsed tomb, you used the ‘snake’ as a medium to help Ye Sheng’s ‘snake’ connect to the communication channel of the Moniach, right? At that time, Ye Sheng was seriously exhausted, and the area he could control was very small, and it couldn’t cover the Moniach at all.”

Zhou Li’s eyes scanned Ling’s face with interest. “You should not just be a student of Kassel College, right? What force is behind you? Solomon’s Temple? Or a school director’s family?”

There was a brief silence.

Ling suddenly loosened his hands that were holding the railing, jumped off the edge of the boat, and returned to the cabin without looking back.

This action was very sudden. Without even a greeting, the conversation ended so abruptly that Zhou Li couldn’t help but be stunned for a moment.

Zhou Li watched the petite figure sink into the shadows inch by inch, and shrugged helplessly: “If you don’t want to say it, forget it, you are so stingy. At least say good night to each other?”

It was late at night and the Moniah was sailing calmly on the Yangtze River.

Zhou Li stretched lazily in the moonlight, looking at the starry night sky, thinking that tonight might be a good time to appreciate the moon.

……

(End of this chapter)