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Lu Mingfei held Ling beside him with one hand during the violent shaking. He looked up and saw that every old fellow had a calm expression, but beneath the calmness there was a terrifying ferocity.
Their golden eyes lit up unconsciously, and green scales opened and closed under the skin on the back of their necks. After the skin was torn, warm blood flowed down their necks.
Glass after glass of iced vodka exploded into golden waves on the dark green carpet. The rotors of more than a dozen helicopters stirred up snow tornadoes. The dining car was suspended in the air steadily like a crystal ball held in the palm of a giant.
Lu Mingfei pressed Zero, Susie held down Christina, and they simultaneously reached out and grabbed the carved copper railing fixed to the bottom of the carriage to divide the space.
Tons of snow outside the window were blown up by the air currents, and then turned into heavy snow and fell down again more than ten meters above the ground. Except for the vodka, foie gras and deer hearts on the table, no one in this carriage panicked because of the sudden rise.
Everything that Lu Mingfei experienced when he and Xia Mi boarded the roller coaster called Atrium Serpent at Six Flags Chicago flashed before his eyes like a video.
The cheers of my junior sister that were blown away by the wind emerged from the depths of my memory.
The sudden weightlessness and sudden overweight really felt like riding a roller coaster.
More than a dozen monsters who were undergoing rejuvenation exchanged glances with each other. They must have been waiting for this day for a long time, right?
Perhaps Bunin already knew how dangerous Lu Mingfei was. Only with such powerful external support did he dare to frantically summon his allies for a final counterattack.
Gold-inlaid porcelain plates whirled overhead, and caviar and ice chips mixed into black snow.
Bunin used his withered but bulging palm to slap open a new bottle of vodka, and the amber liquid was poured into a new high-heeled glass. The old man's face was reflected in the glass, reflecting the dead gray in his eyes and the death knell that had already sounded in the wrinkles.
"Christina..." he murmured.
As if she sensed something, Christina, who was curled up hugging Susie, suddenly looked at her father.
She felt irritated and panicked for no reason.
It was as if some great tragedy was waiting for her ahead.
.
.
.
A few minutes later, the carriage suspended in the air stopped shaking, and the waiters came in one after another, replaced the tablecloth with new one, and placed steaming hot food in front of each guest.
The dinner continues.
Bunin stood up and sat down next to Lu Mingfei. Sonya nodded and left.
"Mr. Lu, you should have guessed what we are going to do, right?" Bunin asked with a smile. He looked at Ling again, "This is what His Highness promised. Help me get what I want, and I will send you to where you want to go."
"You want to attack a city with just a dozen guns and a dozen artificial low-level hybrids injected with evolutionary drugs?" Lu Mingfei shook his head.
"Mr. Bunin, you are a lunatic."
At this point, everything can be said openly. The secret of the dragon clan is actually not a secret to many people in this world. It’s just that the general public does not know that in the dark corners, there is another intelligent race thriving under their noses.
For someone like Bunin, he may not know who those guys hiding in the shadows who hold the power of the world are, but he knows that there is indeed such a group of people standing behind this dining table called the world, greedily gnawing at everything.
"I have been preparing for many years. If Christina could be free from the hereditary disease in her family, perhaps I would never do such a crazy thing..." Bunin sighed.
Christina bit her lower lip and lowered her head, not knowing what she was thinking.
"My friends have reached the end of their rope. If the auction could continue like this and be held every year as usual, maybe they could continue to exploit themselves, but the boss is actually preparing to terminate the transaction. For some people, this has become unacceptable." Bunin said, "No one likes violence when the problem can be solved peacefully, but sometimes violence is the only way to get what you want."
Lu Mingfei didn’t know whether he was talking about what was about to happen in City 023 or if he had some other intention. He nodded thoughtfully.
"But it doesn't matter. No matter what you want to do, I will help you because Christina is my friend." He patted Bunin's shoulder.
About an hour later they saw the railroad tracks again. This area was located in a river valley, so the raging snowstorm around them could not affect the lines.
The Mi-26 put the eight carriages back on the rails one by one, and then a new heavy locomotive came from a distance. A moment later, the reassembled train rumbled into motion, and the whistle sounded throughout the surrounding wasteland.
"The boss you are talking about holds an auction in City 023 at a fixed time every year. If you and your patent appear here at this time, will he arrange a motorcycle to pick you up?" Lu Mingfei looked at the circular city surrounded by rivers under the slope in the distance. Even in the climate of dozens of degrees below zero, the river was still not frozen. The water was gurgling and white steam was floating on the water.
"He always thinks that he is the one who holds absolute power and violence. Even if he knew that this special train came from afar fully armed with swords and spears, he would just open the door to welcome us, and then use heavy machine guns and flamethrowers to grind everyone to ashes in the depths of that city." Bunin frowned and whispered.
The banquet was over and everyone returned to their respective carriages to make final preparations.
Only Lu Mingfei and his group remained in Bunin's carriage.
“If you knew that, why did you come?” Lu Mingfei was chewing a piece of beef jerky, which was a specialty he bought when he passed through Ulaanbaatar before. The food at the banquet just now was really not to his taste at all. After eating it, his stomach was still empty.
Bunin's body swayed slightly as the train moved forward: "Because there are unknown factors in our train that he has never known."
Lu Mingfei was silent for a moment, "Is it me?" he asked.
"We all know that the Kassel Academy is a group of very powerful people. Some of the executors they sent out can even reach or even exceed the physical fitness of the final product of the super soldier project that was close to success back then." Bunin said, "But even such people are helpless against you and have no choice but to issue a bounty worth more than $100 million worldwide... They even hoped that I could help them convince the Ministry of Defense to completely open the Russian firewall to the academy's smart secretary. This is really unbelievable. An academy actually wants to invade the database that the most powerful country in the world is proud of."
"When we left Moscow, we were attacked by some mutant creatures and well-trained soldiers." Bunin smiled and took a sip of vodka. "I used my connections in the army to send them away, but even with the local military strength shown by the Americans in the Gulf War, they probably couldn't get that kind of biological weapon. This shows how dangerous you are in their eyes... If a character like you joins our game, the outcome is still unknown, right?"
"You are seeking the devil's help." Lu Mingfei said.
"You call yourself a devil?" Bunin smiled.
“No, that’s not a figure of speech.”
silence.
After a moment, Ling said: "It seems that we have crossed the vast Central Siberian Plateau and are heading north along a route that has been buried in decades of wind and snow... According to the time, we should still be a long way from the northernmost Verkhoyansk." She held a paper map in her hand.
A platform appeared in front of us. It should not appear on civilian maps because this place has no name only a number "023".
The train slowly slowed down, and a certain solemn and cold atmosphere filled the enclosed space.
"Just do it right away?" Lu Mingfei asked.
"Let's talk about the terms first," Bunin said, nodding his chin towards the platform. "Looking at the traces, either some heavy troop carriers ran here, or a large number of tanks were parked here. A strong attack is our second option."
Lu Mingfei looked over and saw traces of tracks on the platform that was covered with a roof and sheltered from the wind and rain.
Chapter 578: The Forgotten Dragon Blood Dancer
There were no staff on duty on the platform. When the high-temperature water vapor came into contact with the air at dozens of degrees below zero and instantly condensed into ice crystals, the only thing on the entire platform that could confirm that it was still in operation was the dim signal lights flashing in the depths of the thick fog.
Bunin and his friends were indeed frequent visitors here. Just when Lu Mingfei was about to get off the train in his Moscow-era attire, the waiter was already waiting outside the compartment door with new winter clothes and hiking boots.
The boots rolled over the thin layer of ice on the platform. More than a dozen guys who were wrapped tightly like brown bears stepped on it, and the ice immediately cracked and shattered. The crackling sound echoed on the dome-like platform, and fine ripples echoed. Those ripples were the concrete manifestation of sound waves in the condensed steam. Only Her Royal Highness the Princess with mirror pupils could see through it all.
Lu Mingfei's nose twitched. In addition to the biting cold, there was also a subtle smell of rust in the air, which was like the smell of decaying pig iron and blood.
He looked up at the peeling gilded sunflower reliefs on the platform pillars. The once-splendid flower disks had grown bronze rust after decades of ice, like medals soaked in saline water.
"This place was built before I was born. I don't remember if I told Your Highness and Mr. Lu that City 023 is actually my hometown." Bunin stroked the reliefs with a bewildered look on his face. "Many years ago, when I was a child, my parents brought me here. The platform was the first part of City 023 to be built, followed by storage warehouses and simple circular houses. It was an era of raging fire and boiling oil. Many people froze to death in Siberia, and many people grew into towering trees in Siberia."
The Russian signboard of "City 023" was hung at an angle at the exit of the platform in front, with red paint mottled like coagulated blood. Lu Mingfei took off the bearskin tactical gloves that were deliberately padded for warmth. When his fingertips touched the raised five-pointed star on the cast iron railing, the minus -degree metal stuck to his skin like needles.
The slight stinging pain reminded Lu Mingfei of some bad memories, but he didn't know whether those memories belonged to him or Lu Mingze, because what flashed before his eyes was a dark cage with a narrow window in the corner and iron bars inserted in the window. In his memory, he could also feel pain when he touched those bars with his fingers.
"Did you grow up here?" he asked.
Bunin smiled and said nothing.
At this time, the entire platform dome was filled with the hissing sound of steam pipes bursting.
Lu Mingfei's golden eyes lit up behind his mask, and then the military searchlight in his hand swept across the dome covered with icy spikes.
Densely packed copper wires were frozen in those hanging icicles, and every few meters there was a bronze chandelier suspended in a thin layer of ice. Now those electronic devices had actually started to work, the filaments were ignited and glowed, and the huge amount of heat caused the hammer and sickle emblem on the lampshade to slowly drip icy water.
"It's Xie Miao." Ling held Lu Mingfei's wrist. She looked towards a corner. Susie was also looking at that corner. Like Lu Mingfei, the vice president of the Lionheart Club also lit up his golden eyes.
Everything in City 023 is unknown, and they may be faced with a fierce battle, so they have to be vigilant.
In the corner, a man named Xie Miao was pulling down a frozen switch, and the crackling electricity was being carried to every lamp through the copper wires.
"There are no more tracks ahead, and the train cannot enter the city. The managers will not leave such a loophole. We can only walk from now on." Bunin said. After leaving the platform, he actually led everyone through a forest. In today's climate, the entire northern Siberia is covered in snow, but this forest seems to be in some relatively warm subarctic region, and the snow on the ground is not as thick as imagined.
The switch that Semyon pulled seemed to control more than just the lights on the platform. Two rows of cast-iron street lamps lit up in the forest, as if they were guarding a path for guests who wanted to visit the city.
The strong wind outside could not break through the dense birch and fir trees around, and Lu Mingfei didn't feel that cold standing on this small road sandwiched between street lights. He held Ling's wrist tightly, and every step he took on the icy road surface made a tooth-grinding crisp sound.
Siberia is a land that is far more vibrant than most people imagine. Even in this climate, it shouldn't be so quiet, so quiet that only the sound of the wind can be heard.
Moreover, the temperature here is higher than other places, probably due to a super-giant nuclear reactor under the city, so there should be more birds and animals living in this forest.
But until now, Lu Mingfei has not even heard a bird singing.
There was only one explanation: either the place they were walking through was the lair of a powerful predator, or there was a group of dangerous beasts that regularly cleared out other unnecessary visitors in this forest.
If the boss Bunin mentioned was indeed the one who developed the dragon serum in City 023, then some genetic fragments must have been lost during this work, and the unfrozen river surrounding the city would eventually flow towards this forest.
This might be an area where biological community mutations are frequent, so it wouldn't be excessive to send dragon-blood dogs or even the army to conduct regular sweeps.
The question now is whether predators are spying on this audience, which is greedy for time, in the shadows unlit by the street lights.
After walking for less than twenty minutes, a distance of about two kilometers, the aisle lined with street lights finally extended to a trench made of densely packed barbed wire.
There was an old wooden sign hanging on the barbed wire, with crooked Russian words written on it in red paint, which meant that no passage was allowed ahead.
"Besides you, who else would come to this place? Is it necessary to hang up this sign?" Lu Mingfei asked.
Okinez, who was holding a long-barreled hunting rifle blatantly, turned his head and looked at Lu Mingfei. He smiled and said, "In 03, an expedition team from Norway came here. They were all young people who thought that Siberia was hiding the secrets of the empire and wanted to gain wealth and fame through these secrets." Okinez shrugged. "Unfortunately, it was during the auction, and the security of City 023 was at its strictest during the period of the year... As soon as they crossed the barbed wire, they encountered a minefield laid in advance by the city administrators. The serial explosion of anti-personnel mines completely wiped out the expedition team from this world."
Christina glared at him.
"Please don't look at me like that, dear Christina. We don't want this to happen, so we later added a no-entry sign on the barbed wire." Okinez said in a relaxed tone.
By this time Bunin had already taken out the key and unlocked the wire mesh.
After walking about a hundred meters along the cobblestone path, they saw in front of them an asphalt road comparable to the main roads in Moscow. It was straight and wide, leading directly to the circular city in the distance.
After hearing from Okinez that an expedition team was wiped out by the mines here in 03, Lu Mingfei took every step carefully after crossing the barbed wire, trying his best to follow Bunin's footsteps.
When you reach the edge of this small town, a strong sense of the times immediately hits you.
They took the main road into the city. On the mottled red brick walls of the brick-concrete houses facing the forest, they could see a huge sickle and hammer relief that was peeling off, revealing the grayish-white base underneath.
Ling stretched out his hand and held Lu Mingfei's arm, and his slender black boots left tiny footprints on the snow.
"Look over there." Bunin suddenly became quite high-spirited when he arrived here, as if he was not a spokesperson at all but the real master of this place.
He waved his hands and pointed in the direction of the end of the street. Everyone looked in the direction he pointed.
A building that seems to be from the Tsarist era stands tall. The red five-pointed star on the spire has rusted, and the glass windows under the arched doorway are filled with goods.
Lu Mingfei took two steps and put his face close to it. The lights were on in the window, and the goods included vodka with Gagarin's portrait printed on it, Red Star chocolate, and a Kremlin clock with the second hand still ticking.
Ling stood beside Lu Mingfei and looked down at the goods, his platinum pupils flashing a faint cold light.
"This used to be an officers' club in 1985." Bunin traced the outlines of the merchandise through the glass with his fingers, his voice as soft as if he was reciting a poem, "There was a dance every night, the most beautiful girls in Belarus wore braids and danced waltz with the officers. That was when I met Kristina's mother. She was the most popular star in Moscow, and everyone wanted to hold her hand and spin on the dance floor, but in the end she chose me."
"Hey, Mr. Bunin, can you tell me a newer story? We've heard about your romantic date with your wife so many times!" The man named Alexei shouted with a smile, and everyone else laughed, as if the elders in the family were laughing at a boy who was showing off his girlfriend.