Chapter 515: Going to Neon?

March 2007, 3, Saturday, the weather was sunny and windy in the morning.

A few days have passed since the collapse of the Silver Mausoleum. Today is the last day of the “Moniah” sailing on the Yangtze River. The river is calm, and the green mountains and green waters on both sides are reflected in the water.

Aki Shude was sitting at the snack table in the rest area of ​​the “Moniah”, typing intently on the keyboard of her laptop, her pretty eyebrows slightly furrowed, worrying about how to write the mission report for this mission.

Maybe she wasn’t paying that much attention.

Aki Shude’s eyes swept across the screen of his laptop computer and glanced at the image on the TV screen not far away.

The rest area was on the first deck of the “Moniah”. In addition to Aki writing the mission report here, Lu Mingfei and Ling also spent time here.

Lu Mingfei was using a Nintendo Wii game console connected to the LCD TV in the lounge area to play Pokémon Pearl/Diamond. Ling was sitting next to him with her knees hugged, watching him play. She was very well behaved and didn’t say a word, just like a kindergarten sister watching her middle school brother who was several years older than her playing games.

If Aki didn’t know that the two were just friends, she would probably have doubted what the relationship between them was.

Aki watched silently as Ling picked up a piece of apple with a toothpick and handed it to Lu Mingfei’s mouth.

No, there must be some connection between these two people! In broad daylight, they were so blatantly communicating with each other. Did Junior Brother Lu forget that he had a girlfriend waiting for him back home? Did he really treat this mission as a vacation? …

Lu Mingfei naturally took the apple from Ling’s hand, then suddenly paused and turned to look in the direction of Aki.

For some reason, he suddenly felt that the sound of Senior Sister Aki typing on the laptop keyboard behind him suddenly became louder, crackling.

“Did the study pressure on college students in the past also feel so great?” Lu Mingfei muttered to himself.

However, thinking that Aki was currently writing a mission report, Lu Mingfei understood it.

When he was a student at Kassel College, he hated writing mission reports, as well as the “Kassel College Holiday Daily Report Form” that he had to write during the winter and summer vacations. Fortunately, Chu Zihang was his partner in most missions, and Chu Zihang often took care of these small things.

At this moment, a small window suddenly popped up on the TV screen.

“Player Maruzi requests to connect and exchange with you.”

“ball?”

Lu Mingfei chewed on the ID, unable to tell whether the other party was a boy or a girl.

Link Exchange is a method of evolution in Pokémon. If some Pokémon want to evolve, they must use Link Exchange to exchange Pokémon with other players before they can complete the evolution.

For example, if Onix wants to evolve into Steelix, it must go through a connection exchange.

The essence of setting up this evolution method is to allow players to play games with other friends.

But this exchange condition may be a bit harsh for some people… because sometimes friends are the highest configuration required for the game.

Fortunately, Nintendo’s Wii game console provides support for the WFC platform for online gaming, so many people can also exchange Pokémon online through the WFC platform.

Lu Mingfei remembered that he happened to have a Onix in his warehouse that he had not upgraded, so he gladly checked the box to accept the other party’s exchange request and put the Onix into the switch to exchange it with the other party.

The light of the switch flashed on the screen, and after a few seconds, the opponent’s Poké Ball was exchanged with Lu Mingfei’s Poké Ball.

When Lu Mingfei opened the warehouse, he was somewhat surprised to find that what the other party had sent was also a Onix, and it was a shiny Onix.

Normal flash change…

Lu Mingfei said: “It’s a huge profit!”

……

Ye Sheng and Selma were not on the boat.

While Lu Mingfei and Ling were playing Pokémon, they were being held captive by Professor Guderian and being used as laborers.

Not far from where the Moniach was hovering, Professor Guderian was wearing down-to-earth shorts and flip-flops, sitting under a parasol with a few fishermen on the river bank. Ye Sheng, carrying a huge fishing bag, was pinching bait for Guderian.

Fishing is actually prohibited in the Yangtze River, but fishing is not. Probably because there are too many fishermen, the bait put in when making nests is conducive to restoring the ecological diversity of fish species in the Yangtze River waters.

But according to Professor Guderian, he was just researching the topic of “Chinese Folklore” with Ye Sheng and Selma. Although Ye Sheng didn’t know what the relationship between “Chinese Folklore” and fishing was.

He looked up at Professor Guderian in front of him, with a helpless expression on his face.

The fisherman in front is enthusiastically explaining fishing-related knowledge to Professor Guderian.

The middle-aged men all looked like successful people with established careers. They looked quite professional in their fishing gear and knew a lot about “baiting”, “line sets” and “bait”. Professor Guderian gave them the thumbs up after hearing what they heard.

Although the discussion was heated, the buckets of several people were still empty.

“Since we are here, we should make the best of it.” Selma, who was holding a fishing rod, comforted Ye Sheng: “Professor Guderian seems to be quite interested, so it’s not a good idea to upset him. And fishing does seem to be quite interesting.”

Ye Sheng took a look at Selma’s fish basket, which was full to the point of bursting, with fish of different species thrashing around in it. He thought that the professor might as well just ask Selma how to get the fish to take the hook…

At this moment, Ye Sheng suddenly saw Selma’s body tense and the fishing line was pulled away with a “swish”.

Selma stood up suddenly, tightened the fishing line, and shouted happily: “It’s hooked again! It must be a big one! Ye Sheng, help me get the net bag quickly–“

……

For Professor Mans and his colleagues, these days are indeed a rare period of relaxation.

The reason why they stayed on the Yangtze River for such a long time was not because the mission was completed and they were on vacation, but because Kassel Academy wanted to salvage the one-third of Samson’s dragon body that was cut off by Lu Mingfei.

Even if it is not for research purposes, such a long section of dragon bones left in the Yangtze River is always a hidden danger.

If it were discovered by ordinary people, it would probably cause an uproar.

Mans Rundstedt stood at the front of the deck, the cigar flickering between his fingers. He looked at the work boats lined up on the Yangtze River, the sailors wearing diving suits and carrying oxygen tanks going into the water and landing again and again, and the first mate’s command was torn apart by the river wind.

It was just strange that the salvage work had been going on for several days, and even the fragments of the silver tomb had been fished out, but there was still no trace of such a long dragon body. That ten-meter-long spine should be very conspicuous.

If conditions allowed, Mans would even want to send out a submarine to carry out salvage operations.

Even Mance couldn’t help but curse in a low voice: “It’s really a ghost!”

Mans frowned. Today was the last day that the Moniah could sail on the Yangtze River. If they didn’t find it today, they would have no choice but to evacuate.

In fact, according to the original procedures, the “Moniah” could operate on the Yangtze River for a month, and they should have had enough time to carry out the salvage work. However, a few days ago, the photos of the raging fire on the Yangtze River went viral on the Internet, which made the whole incident too big a public opinion. Almost every leading website had the relevant photos on the screen.

Although the Zhou family finally evaded the investigation of the Yangtze River Maritime Safety Administration by claiming that it was an “electrical explosion on a research vessel,” they also used the love scandal of a popular female star to brush off all the photos.

However, the public opinion aroused by this incident still forced the Yangtze River Maritime Safety Administration to make certain responses.

After much discussion, the Yangtze River Maritime Safety Administration temporarily withdrew the permission for the “Moniah” to sail, requiring them to complete all scientific research work within this week and withdraw from the Yangtze River waters in a timely manner.

Just when Mans was worried about this matter, footsteps suddenly sounded beside him. He turned around and saw Zhou Li in a white coat walking towards him.

“Doctor Zhou.” Mans took the initiative to greet the other party.

Zhou Li also smiled politely and asked, “Hasn’t Samson’s dragon body been found yet?”

Mance smiled bitterly and shook his head: “Not yet. I guess it’s possible that when the river water split by the ‘sea wall’ closed, it washed Samson’s dragon body to a farther place.”

“It’s not impossible.” Zhou Li nodded: “It’s okay, Professor Mans, you don’t have to worry too much. Our Zhou family will take over the subsequent salvage work and continue to help Kassel College salvage Samson’s body.”

Mans said, “Well, if we still can’t find it today, then I’ll just have to ask you to take care of it.”

Zhou Li smiled: “No need to be so polite, we have always had a cooperative relationship with the college.”

However, the turnaround that Mans expected did not occur, and today’s salvage operation still yielded nothing.

In the captain’s room, Mans had written a report on the salvage situation and sent it to Norma, applying for the transfer procedures to formally hand over the salvage work to the Zhou family.

This was a last resort. Although Mance felt very sorry for not being able to salvage Samson’s dragon bones himself, after all, every professor in Kassel College who was engaged in dragon research dreamed of being able to touch the remains of a real dragon.

But this is also due to force majeure. They are performing missions in a foreign country and can only accept the arrangements of the local Maritime Administration.

Just after sending the application report for the transfer procedures to Norma’s mailbox, Mance lay down on the captain’s chair and suddenly felt an unprecedented sense of relief, as if there had been an invisible burden on his shoulders, and now this burden had finally been lifted off his shoulders.

Mance put his hands behind his head, looked at his dome, and suddenly felt that this was not bad.

That’s enough for now.

Although they failed to salvage Samson’s keel, their original purpose of coming to China had been successfully accomplished;

A silver tomb built during the Eastern Han Dynasty of China was successfully discovered under the “Eye of Kuimen”, which is a major discovery for archaeology.
The photos of the inscriptions inside the mausoleum taken by the portable camera carried by Aki were dark, but Norma would probably be able to restore some of the dragon characters from those photos;

And Lu Mingfei’s shocking performance in this mission. If it weren’t for Lu Mingfei, they would probably have been wiped out, right?
However, every student returned safely and every crew member was safe and sound, and that was enough.

The greatest reward is nothing happening.

Mans exhaled lightly. This professor, who was known as the strictest lecturer in Kassel College, did not notice that a smile unconsciously appeared on the corner of his mouth.

However, others saw the uncle smile on Mans’ face. Aki went up from the lounge to the deck, stopped in front of the captain’s room, reached out and knocked gently, and looked inside the captain’s room: “Professor, it’s time to prepare for dinner… Hey, professor, why are you smiling so happily? Didn’t you say that you didn’t find Samson’s bones?”

Professor Mans was stunned when he heard this, and reached out to touch his face. His mouth was actually crooked: “Am I smiling happily?”

Aki nodded seriously and made a wonderful analogy: “Yeah! I’m very happy. I smiled as if I had my grandson in my arms.”

“You probably read it wrong.” Mance replied with a straight face. He stood up from the captain’s chair and said, “By the way, didn’t we say we were going to have dinner? Let’s go to the restaurant now.”

As Mans spoke, he walked past Aki and left the captain’s room and went to the cabin on the next level.

Aki stuck out her tongue as she looked at Mans’ back, thinking that the professor could be quite arrogant sometimes.

Thanks to Selma’s good harvest, the main course tonight is all fish, which is quite in line with the atmosphere.

The largest table in the restaurant was already full of people, and after Aki and Professor Mans came back, everyone also had dinner. The last meal before parting was not as sad as Lu Mingfei had imagined, and was perhaps a little more lively than usual.

Selma even wanted to ask Lu Mingfei to drink with her, but was rejected by Aki on the grounds that Junior Brother Lu was not yet an adult.

“Tsk! You’re so stingy…”

Selma looked at Aki angrily, and suddenly seemed to remember something, and blinked at Aki with a wicked smile on her face.

Before Yaji could figure out what the deep meaning of Selma’s winking at her was, she saw Selma turn her head to look at Lu Mingfei again, and then changed the subject and said, “By the way, Junior Brother Lu, what are your plans next?”

Lu Mingfei looked up: “What are your plans next?”

“Hmm.”

Selma said, “Didn’t the college ask for a month’s leave for you as an exchange student? It’s only been a week now. Professor Mans originally said that if the mission was completed early, he would take us to play on the Yangtze River for a few days, but now something unexpected has happened. Aki and I are planning to play outside for a while before returning to the college. Do you want to join us?”

Aki was stunned, and suddenly understood what Selma meant by smiling at her just now, and hurriedly wanted to speak out to stop Selma.

But before Yaji could speak, she heard Lu Mingfei say first: “Well, thank you for the invitation, but it’s not necessary. I plan to go home directly and have already bought the plane ticket.”

“…”

I don’t know why, although Lu Mingfei’s answer was in line with Aki’s wishes, Aki felt… a little lost.

But Lu Mingfei didn’t look at Yaji. He just thought quietly in his heart that after all, he was already a family man, and there were several girlfriends waiting for him to go back home. He had to take care of his family…

In order to give them a surprise, Lu Mingfei did not tell Liu Miaomiao and the others that he would be back soon when he called them last night.

Selma looked a little regretful. “Is that so? That can’t be helped. I was thinking of asking Junior Brother Lu if you want to go to Neon with us.”

Lu Mingfei was still thinking about how Miaomiao, Wenwen and the others would react to his sudden return. But when he heard Selma say that they were going to Neon, the expression on his face froze instantly.

Lu Mingfei looked up in surprise: “Senior sister…you said you were planning to go to Neon?”

Selma nodded: “Yeah. Aki is from Japan. She just planned to go back home to visit. I have never been to Japan, so I thought I could ask Aki to be my tour guide. I have always wanted to go to Disneyland. By the way, Junior Brother Lu, have you been to Tokyo Disneyland?”

“…Yes, I have been there.”

“With anyone else?” Selma asked.

Lu Mingfei nodded slowly, smiling calmly and solemnly: “Yes, I went there with a girl.”

……

(End of this chapter)