Page 144

Page 144

He yawned, holding the phone in one hand and rubbing his eyes with the other, while replying to Eri.

"Okay, I'll pick you up tomorrow. Where do you want to go, Eri?"

"I want to eat Sukiyaki, and I also want to have five-meat fried rice and yakitori in the evening. Let's go to Disneyland and Sensoji Temple." Eri typed very slowly, and her writing style was the same as before.

Lu Mingfei opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something. He remembered that the last time he accompanied Eri, he went to Disneyland and also went to Sensoji Temple.

“I still have so many places I want to go.”

"Sky Tree."

"Meiji Shrine."

"Also, I also want to go to Umezuji Town with Lu-kun. We can eat grilled pomfret together."

Eri's typing speed seemed to have suddenly increased a lot. She was probably really happy, but the little monster had never been out of the house, and didn't know where to have fun, nor did she know how to be tactful. She just talked about all the places she had been to with Lu Mingfei in the past.

Perhaps those are the places that left the deepest impression on her. Eri actually does not long for this world. She just longs for someone, Sakura in her life.

Lu Mingfei was speechless for a moment, he just felt his heart pounding. He touched the screen of his phone, rubbed it again and again, as if trying to wipe off the non-existent layer of dust on it.

There is a lush green spider plant on the windowsill, which seems to be growing wildly at this moment. The scaly clouds are suddenly blown away by the wind, and the leisurely crescent moon casts a gentle light.

Time seemed to flow backwards through his fingers, flowing backwards hundreds and thousands of times, and he embraced the cat-like girl who crawled towards him again in the evening of Umezuji-cho. The gaze before the embrace was an eternity that he still mourns today.

He sent a text message to Eri: "Okay, I'll go with you tomorrow." When the text message was sent, the wind blew in from the open window, and the crescent-white curtains were lifted up, like the hem of a girl's skirt rising and falling.

Lu Mingfei put down the towel in his hand. He looked at the crescent moon that had finally appeared, and wondered if you were also looking at the same scenery I was seeing.

In the distance, the quiet lake was rippling with ripples. Lu Mingfei's eyes suddenly flickered, because the moment he turned around, a figure sat on his bed.

She was a very beautiful girl, or maybe it’s not quite right to call her a girl because she was past that age.

"Long time no see, Sister Mai." Lu Mingfei subconsciously clenched his cell phone while placing his right hand on his waist.

Although I know that the other party probably has no ill intentions, it is still a bit too scary to see him appear like this.

Jude Mai was tying her long black hair into a ponytail with both hands, revealing her fair and slender neck. In this way, she actually looked a bit like Sakura, but even prettier and colder than Sakura.

The corners of her eyes are long and slender, with a light eyeshadow, shaped like a scarlet blade, but not abrupt or too bright, just right, and one glance at them will make people feel excited.

Many years ago, Lu Mingfei worked with Jiude Mai, and also with a girl named Su Enxi. That was his first dive into the Three Gorges Bronze City, and it was also during that time that Lu Mingfei obtained the Seven Deadly Sins and Constantine's cocoon.

However, he was unable to meet Su Enxi at that time and only spoke to her through a satellite phone.

"Little white rabbit has grown up so big, so handsome, come and sit next to your sister." Jiude Mai leaned sideways, pressing one thigh against the other, her calves were slender and graceful, and the curves made Lu Mingfei's heart flutter.

He laughed dryly, "Haha, Sister Mai, you are not as handsome as your pianist boyfriend."

The girl deliberately grew her sideburns long, about two feet long and as black as lacquer, like the ancient Japanese women in Ukiyo-e. The combination of these two long sideburns and her high ponytail and sporty girl outfit exuded a contrasting beauty.

Jiude Mai rolled her eyes, stood up, stretched out her hands and pinched Lu Mingfei's cheeks.

"I was originally traveling in Norway, but my boss gave me a mission. He said that I encountered a difficult situation and would probably need a ninja who is good at hiding, so I took a private plane to Tokyo," she said.

Lu Mingfei was pinched so hard that his head was shaking, but his eyes were clear.

The word spirit of Shude Mai is Meisho, and there is probably no one in the world more suitable than her to monitor Tachibana Masamune.

Chapter 167 Rock Flow Research Institute

"Lu Mingfei, are you here to pick me up? Where are you?"

"I am ready!"

“I want to eat sukiyaki and ride a roller coaster.”…

Eri may seem a little stupid to outsiders, but that's only because she has not received any education from the outside world and doesn't know the rules that govern how this world and society work. In other words, she is inexperienced and ignorant.

Even an ordinary hybrid can crush ordinary people in terms of physical strength and intelligence, not to mention that Eri is a super hybrid with royal blood from the last Shadow Emperor of the Snake Eight Clan, Uesugi Kotoshi. She learns very quickly and has a strong ability to accept new things.

Although Eri has never spent much time on learning, she is still proficient in Chinese, Japanese, Korean and English. It is not difficult for Eri to learn how to use a mobile phone.

"Eri, wait a moment. I'm with Gen Chisei. We'll come pick you up after we visit the Ganliu Research Institute." While Lu Mingfei was typing the message, he looked up at Gen Chisei and Sakura who were standing at the front of the line. They were facing the mirror-like metal elevator door, and in the mirror he could see that Gen Chisei's expression was not looking good.

No one spoke. Caesar and Chu Zihang stood behind Yuan Zhisheng and Ying on the left and right respectively, each holding a cup of coffee in their hands.

"After returning to Genji Heavy Industries last night, Mr. Masamune immediately summoned all the family heads to hold a family meeting in the Awakening Temple. The family was unaware of the behavior of the Kanto branch, and the head of the Fuma family expressed anger at Mr. Masamune's lax discipline and questioned him. In the end, we voted to pass the handling plan for the Kanto branch. The priority of the entire organization in the family and the level of authority in Kaguya will be lowered. The 12 team leaders headed by Akechi Asuya will have their donations and salaries reduced. Akechi Asuya, as the mastermind, acted on his own, and he will have a little finger cut off to apologize. We will send this thumb to the hotel where all the distinguished guests are staying later." Minamoto Chisei's voice was flat, and he announced the punishment plan of the Snake Eight Families for the Kanto branch in the elevator.

Chu Zihang frowned and said, "You Japanese are really swift, cruel and dictatorial in your dealings with your subordinates."

"This is not the behavior of a dictator, but the responsibility we must bear to our family and to this society." Yuan Zhisheng said calmly, while looking into Chu Zihang's eyes in the reflection of the mirror.

"The status of the Snake Eight Clan in Japan corresponds to the status of Kassel College in Europe and America, but we are not an educational institution like a school, and the Kanto Branch is not a security organization like the Kassel College Security Department, but a real violent organization. Each of them is a genius who is proficient in fighting and good at fighting with others, and they are also unruly lunatics. If such people are not restrained by strict laws and rules, it is equivalent to releasing a caged tiger among the crowd."

Chu Zihang stopped talking. Before coming to Japan, he already knew what kind of organization the Snake Eight Families were. The underworld was accustomed to using bloody and brutal means to suppress those who submitted to them and did not follow the rules. Simply cutting off a little finger did not affect the knife grip.

"Although Mr. Masamune has done favors for the people in the Kanto branch, he likes to use power to speak his mind. It is useless to show favor to such a person. Power comes from violence, and you have to let him know who is the most violent and who holds the greatest power," said Minamoto Chisei.

There is no doubt that such words are not something that Yuan Zhisheng would say. Rather, it sounds like a real tyrant sitting on the throne proclaiming his omnipresent majesty to his empire.

The VIP elevator soon reached the 30th floor of Genji Heavy Industries. Sakura stood sideways on the left side of the elevator door and pressed the delay button.

As the strategic department of the Snake Eight Families, this floor is often crowded during working hours. Old men in kimonos sit on the tatami, drinking tea and playing chess. The fragrance system and circulating air system bring outside air into the building, forming a slight airflow that turns into wind that rolls the pink and white petals of the cherry trees down.

The elders did not stand up to salute when they saw Minamoto Chisei coming, but only nodded slightly. They were the real pillars of the Snake Eight Families, and they also represented the voices of all the gang members at the bottom of the Japanese underworld. They had a high status in the family. Except for the head of the family, Tachibana Masamune, these people did not need to stand up and bow when they saw any other head of the family.

Yuan Zhisheng also nodded in return.

"I used to say that your strategic department is like the Qunqing Palace of our Gattuso family. Sorry, I was wrong. The Qunqing Palace is not so casual at all. The old guys in the family only wear standard white robes with cold faces and control the fate of the family from a high position. And you here..." Caesar hesitated, as if he was thinking of a suitable word.

“It’s more like a nursing home.”

"It's almost the same as calling it a nursing home. The old veterans in the Strategic Department don't need to do much. They just sit here and are the mainstay of the Japanese underworld. The shadow society of this country will not be in chaos." Sakura explained to Caesar in a low voice.

Lu Mingfei was thoughtful.

His eyes swept across every corner of this floor. The old men looked relaxed and non-aggressive, but he clearly saw some old men as withered as dead trees gathered together with their hands on their waists, obviously hiding some deadly weapons.

The Strategic Department is not completely without combat power. Most of the people who can run large gangs in a country like Japan are mixed-bloods. Although they are not as strong as the Eight Snakes, they are also powerful and dangerous. Even when they are old, they still have the strength to fight lions and tigers.

"I saw the distribution map of the departments and institutions of this building in the elevator. The Rock Flow Research Institute should be on the lowest floor, right? Why do we have to go to the 30th floor?" Lu Mingfei asked.

"That's true, but there are many dangerous research projects in the Ganliu Institute. In order to prevent the projects from being leaked, we didn't design a large entrance in this building. If you go down through the elevator just now, you can only reach the employees' entrance and exit passage. That entrance is very narrow and not suitable for receiving guests. And there is a hidden passage in the Keishinji Temple that leads to every floor of the building. After all, it is usually the place where families hold meetings, so it is not surprising to have such a design. As early as the Warring States Period, daimyos would dig secret escape passages in their castle towers to guard against ninja assassinations." Sakura explained.

Since it was not an official visit but just passing by, there were no girls holding copper plates to serve the guests to wash their hands and rinse their mouths. Yuan Zhisheng and Ying lowered their footsteps and quickened their pace. Chu Zihang and his group of three also followed closely.

Gen Chisei fumbled around for a while under the mural of Amaterasu on the granite wall, and perhaps he found some mechanism. After pressing it, the wall split in the middle, and there was no visible gap at all before it split.

Amaterasu and Tsukuyomi looked down from both sides, and it seemed as if a black passage leading directly to hell appeared in front of them.

Men dressed in black appeared from the darkness on both sides. Lights so bright that they were even dazzling extended inward from the entrance, just like a world extending infinitely out from two parallel mirrors facing each other.

"Little Lord!"

The men bowed, each of them was as majestic as a brown bear, with solemn and cold expressions on their faces and their hands on their waists. Obviously, they were the most loyal warriors of the Eight Clans of Sheqi. When necessary, the bigwigs would quickly leave through this passage, and they would use their lives to stop the enemy from chasing them.

Gen Chisei turned a blind eye, and Sakura explained in a low voice, "According to the rules, Yasha and Crow should be here to welcome you today, but because all the top leaders of the Kanto branch were admitted to the hospital, they were temporarily transferred to the branch to supervise the members there."

Chu Zihang's team exchanged glances and nodded.

No wonder, those two guys are almost like Yuan Zhisheng's followers, the kind of die-hard brothers who want to be with him even when taking a shit, but they haven't been seen since last night.

The walls of this passage are all made of mirror-smooth metal, with dense infrared lasers crisscrossing. Men in black are standing on both sides. Except for those who are allowed to enter, any attempt to sneak in here will be discovered, and then the intruder will be greeted by a barrage of metal bullets.

Lu Mingfei thought that even if Jiude Mai wanted to sneak in through this route, it would be troublesome.

"Usually only Mr. Masamune and I use this passage, but its existence is no secret. It is marked on the design drawings of Maruyama Construction, and sometimes prosecutors from the Shinjuku Ward Fire Department in Tokyo come to check the fire-fighting situation here," said Minamoto Chisei.

"You guys are quite involved in the underworld." Lu Mingfei said.

"The Japanese underworld is different from the American underworld. We are a legal organization, and of course we have to follow the laws of Tokyo in everything we do." Gen Chisheng said seriously.

At the end, there was a Buddhist shrine embedded in the wall, in which an unknown goddess was enshrined. Next to the shrine was a small display screen. Yuan Zhisheng entered the password on the screen, and the shrine moved upwards. Then a rather luxurious elevator wrapped in red cherry wood slowly rose up and replaced the shrine's position.

“I thought you, the eight Sheqi families, would respect the gods very much.” Lu Mingfei said. Perhaps because he would be picking up Eri soon, he was in a good mood and talked a lot more at this time.

"Oh, the one enshrined inside is not some god or monster, nor is it Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva. We carved this statue based on the face of the young head of the Sakurai family. It is only used to confuse those who inspect it." said Yuan Zhisheng.

Lu Mingfei thought of Ms. Sakurai Nanami who had been monitoring them at the Peninsula Hotel in Tokyo all this time. Now he recalled that her facial features were indeed somewhat similar to the statue.

Yuan Zhisheng stepped back and stood on the side of the elevator. Ying stood behind him: "Please."

Chu Zihang did not hesitate. As the leader of the specialist team dispatched by the college headquarters, he should lead the team members to accept the respect of the Japanese branch.

"We haven't had a chance to meet the head of the Sakurai family these days. I guess she must be a very beautiful lady." Lu Mingfei mentioned it as if intentionally or unintentionally.

"Ms. Sakurai was busy with official business and the matter was very confidential, so I was unable to meet you in time. If I have the chance in the future, I will definitely visit you," said Yuan Zhisheng.

Lu Mingfei's eyes flickered. Was it really the intention of the Sheqi family that Sakurai Nanami appeared at the Peninsula Tokyo? But what was the mission she accepted? And what kind of mission required a big shot like the head of the family to come forward?

The elevator was sinking slowly. The feeling of weightlessness and noise were not strong. Lu Mingfei and the others could even hear the sound of flowing water after descending to a certain area.

It wasn't like the water flowing from the building's drainage pipes or the water supply system close to the elevator shaft, but more like... waves, one wave after another!

The elevator stopped smoothly, and it actually took more than twice the time to land. Ying led a few people to the door to change into white protective clothing, which was a combination of dust-proof and anti-toxic clothing. Perhaps there was an area below where some high-precision instruments were concentrated, so protective measures had to be taken.

"Welcome to the Ganliu Research Institute. I'm the director, Shio Miyamoto, and also the head of the Miyamoto family." A man wearing the same white protective suit was standing at the exit with a few other people waiting behind him. Under the transparent mask was a face that was not too old, and was even quite handsome, but too gentle. He also wore thin gold-rimmed glasses, and there were faint wrinkles extending from the corners of his eyes.

Not only his appearance, but also his body shape did not look like those dangerous gangsters who had been hanging around for years. There was even a hint of stupidity in his eyes. I had heard from Yuan Zhisheng that the head of the family, Shio Miyamoto, rarely participated in the family's management affairs. He was more like a practical man who often hung out in the Ganliu Research Institute and had indeed made a lot of achievements.

I heard that when he graduated from Kassel Academy many years ago, the academy wanted to keep him to work in the equipment department, but the head of the Miyamoto family refused the academy's recruitment.

Chu Zihang and Caesar looked at each other, both hesitated for a moment, and then Caesar nudged Chu Zihang's shoulder.

"Hello, I'm Chu Zihang, the leader of this study group at Kassel College. From now on, you and I will be in charge of the functional inspection of the underwater robot." Chu Zihang was not good at communicating with others, and his words were quite stiff. However, the head of the Miyamoto family was not a person who often dealt with outsiders, so he didn't care.

Lu Mingfei yawned and looked around.

This is still the underground of Genji Heavy Industries, in a tunnel with a diameter of more than twelve meters. The lower half of the tunnel is completely flooded. The surging water washes the metal walls of the tunnel. The xenon lamps on the top of the tunnel go away one after another, sinking into complete darkness. The huge construction machinery slides along the tunnel wall, automatically checking the water level and flow rate.

Lu Mingfei had been here before, twice. The first time was to visit the Rock Flow Research Institute and the submersible Trieste. The second time was the first step in the counterattack plan planned by Caesar and Chu Zihang after the three of them escaped from the trench and hid in the cowboy restaurant Takamagahara.

"I've read your information. This tunnel should be directly connected to Tokyo's drainage system, the Iron Dome, right?" Caesar was actually somewhat shocked by the grandeur of this place, but he didn't show it. After all, both Chu Zihang and Lu Mingfei beside him looked calm. If he, a member of the Gattuso family, pretended to be "damn, this is so awesome", he would only look inferior.

In fact, he really didn't need to be shocked. The Gattuso family also funded the construction of the Channel Tunnel between England and France, and such a project was more magnificent than this one. Besides, Chu Zihang and Lu Mingfei were not very calm either. It was just that Chu Zihang was not good at expressing emotions, and usually responded to all emotional fluctuations with a paralyzed face, while Lu Mingfei was well prepared. Although he was still a little shocked, he could still face it calmly.

"Yes, this is a small shipyard, and small submarines can also pass through." Miyamoto Shio led the front, with Minamoto and Sakura lagging behind.

In the Ganliu Research Institute, he is the one whose words really count. Everything here has to pass the approval of Miyamoto Shio. And this person is probably a bit similar to the crazy people in the Equipment Department. He does not value any high-ranking person.

Perhaps with the exception of Tachibana Masamune, this man who could not even be considered a pure-blooded Japanese, led the Yaki Eight Clan back to the top over the course of several decades and reshaped the order of the Japanese underworld, enjoying a high reputation throughout the family.

"The rain has stopped in the past few days, so the water here is very calm. Otherwise, we usually wouldn't walk along this path because we would be easily washed away by the waves." Miyamoto Shio said, "When the cherry blossoms fall, a layer of petals will float on the water. We call it the Sakura Flow Sea. At that time, sitting beside it and drinking tea is also very Zen."

Lu Mingfei looked down and saw that they were moving forward along the steel ladder, but they were not actually walking along the water's edge.