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In just three years, Lu Mingfei faced enemies that others would be unable to overcome in their entire lives. He climbed mountains and waded across rivers, but the hostility from adolescent boys caused by jealousy and excess hormones in this small safe haven did not even cause him any trouble.
"I know you, Lu Mingfei. Your deeds will be praised in the safe haven for a long time." Khorkina said, and the girl's eyes seemed to be shining when she said this.
Lu Mingfei shrugged: "It seems that the shelter established by the committee is not completely disconnected from the outside world."
"Because if we turn ourselves into an isolated island in the world, the knowledge, scholarship and experience that we are proud of will soon be surpassed, crushed or even completely overturned by the pioneers from the outside world who come one after another."
"Aren't you afraid of knowing my situation?"
Khorkina held her chin with her hand, her dark-red lips slightly pouted. She actually thought seriously about how to answer Lu Mingfei. After a moment, she said, "Because up to now, Safe Haven has not even had time to determine its political system and election system. We are still in the stage of exploring the path ahead, so the mainstream trend of Safe Haven is to view everything in the world dialectically."
In this way, Lu Mingfei could indeed realize that along the way from the laboratory to the small building where their home was, it seemed that everyone had a different expression when they saw him, some were in awe, some were curious, some were fearful, some were indifferent, and some even showed extreme fanaticism.
"The school board has announced that you are a spy sent by the Dragon Clan to lurk in the power center of Kassel College. The executive department has also issued a wanted order for you to branches around the world. However, our intelligence system is open and transparent. Everyone knows that the school board has different opinions on your betrayal. Even almost all the elders, including Beowulf, Cadmus and St. George, abstained from voting on this issue." Khorkina washed her hands in the water, and the transparent water splashed under her tasseled sleeves. When she approached Lu Mingfei, the inexplicably familiar fragrance on her body enveloped the man like a cloud.
"There is evidence that Mr. Gattuso has completely deprived other members of the school board of their decision-making power on core matters through his achievements in a certain matter. I believe that the arrest warrant for you, Lu Mingfei, was the decision of Pompey Gattuso alone."
Lu Mingfei was shocked. Khorkina actually figured out this fact based on the information collected by the safe haven...
Pompey was indeed the mastermind behind this incident. He had enormous power. In addition to controlling the academy, he also controlled another organization called the Sacred Palace Medical Society.
The Holy Palace Medical Society is the real enemy that Lu Mingfei is guarding against. The members of the Society are all dragon elders who have devoured countless of their own kind over the past thousands of years and are princes who are superior to most of the second-generation species.
The only time he faced the full force of the Holy Palace Medical Society was in Nibelungen on the Hefei elevated road. If it weren't for Lord Wa and her Dragon-Breaking Platform, Lu Mingfei might have died there long ago.
"Your achievements in the dragon-slaying business are... fascinating." Khorkina's voice was very soft and low.
Lu Mingfei was stunned and looked at his mother in confusion.
Qiao Weini winked at him, and Lu Mingfei felt his teeth ache and turned his head away, pretending not to see it.
"I heard what you and Lu Lincheng said. Son, you came here to find Black Swan Harbor. I'll take you to see the ruins when the snow outside stops." Qiao Weini steamed the sea bass, covered it with a lid, and patted the water stains on her hands on her apron. "What are you going to do next?"
Lu Mingfei shook his head: "Mom, why don't you give me some advice?"
"My child has grown up and has his own ideas. As a mother, I can only support you in everything you do."
Lu Mingfei frowned slightly as if in deep thought. Qiao Weini thought he was thinking about whether or not to stay in the safe haven. But actually he was thinking about the strange atmosphere that permeated this shelter from head to toe.
It is obvious that the entire Nibelungen is directly covered on the original site of the Black Swan Port, but both Qiao Weini and Lu Lincheng are hiding the truth. Even now they are still threatening to wait until later to take Lu Mingfei to the ruins of the port to check it out.
In addition, there is this Khorkina who claims her surname is Pugacheva. Is she the same person as the Khorkina who was burned down and died in the fire in the Black Swan Harbor described by Zero?
The fluctuations of the elements also seemed extremely abnormal, as if some huge spirit was enveloping them.
"I still have friends left in Moscow, so after getting the truth about what happened back then, I plan to return the same way." Lu Mingfei weighed his words and spoke carefully.
From a conspiracy theory perspective, if the safe haven is actually a trap created by a dragon king, then he must have some intention.
Leave, or stay.
Just look at the reactions of Qiao Weini and Khorkina.
Khorkina wiped the water stains on her hands on her apron and said nonchalantly, "If you go back the same way, you may be attacked by the academy... The head of the Pompeii family has announced that you killed two elders of the Gattuso family and Mr. Beowulf, and decided to increase the execution team to enter Siberia to search for you. The school board and the elders' council have not said anything about this matter, so it should not cause bad luck to the Gattuso family over this matter."
"What about taking the water route?" Lu Mingfei asked.
"The sea has frozen, and unfortunately there is no icebreaker with sufficient power docked at the harbor," Khorkina said with a smile.
Lu Mingfei fell silent.
"Logically speaking, your father is the Secretary General of the Safe Haven and the Chairman of the Committee. He has enough power to dispatch a task force with amazing combat capabilities to send you back to Moscow." Qiao Weini sneered, seeming to be quite disdainful of her man.
"Commissioner Kelu is a frighteningly rational guy. Sometimes you feel that his humanity has been completely erased. He is basically a god in human skin... The existence of this port is extremely confidential. Even in the academy, only Ange knows about it. He will not take the risk of being exposed and send an action team to escort you away."
Lu Mingfei wanted to say that from a more rational point of view, he didn’t need a task force at all.
Pompey wanted to kill him in Siberia, unless he used the Sword of Retribution to bombard an entire area, or summoned the elders of the Holy Palace Medical Society who played the role of the main god or even the king of gods in various myths of the world to encircle and suppress him.
Otherwise, with Lu Mingfei's current combat capability, even if all the people participating in the hunt were Captain America, they wouldn't be able to do anything to him.
But he thought again, it seemed that the subtext of what Qiao Weini and Khorkina expressed was that they wanted him to stay in the safe haven.
What did the person who designed the trap want to do by leaving him behind?
"Actually, I also want to stay here, but..." He pretended to be hesitant and stopped talking.
"We have been following your movements and know that your friends who stayed in Moscow actually have a special relationship with you. They are Su Xiaoqiang and Uesugi Eri, right?" Qiao Weini pondered for a moment, "We can try to get them to the safe haven with the next batch of supplies."
"That's great!" Lu Mingfei showed a delighted expression, as if he was really excited about escaping from this endless escape.
"But we don't have the final say on this matter, not even your father's." Qiao Weini frowned, "Even if you are the nominal prince, you can't enter this safe haven. The rules require you to prove your identity and threat. The committee members will review you and check your body."
"Will there be any danger?"
"No, just some hypnosis and suggestion." Qiao Weini said.
Chapter 606 Hello, Uncle and Auntie, I am Ling, Ming Fei's fiancée
Qiao Weini's cooking skills seemed to have not changed in many years. Lu Mingfei recognized the taste of his childhood as soon as he took the first bite.
Surprisingly, even after living in a place like Siberia for more than ten years, this family still retains the habit of enjoying Chinese food during meals. Most of the dishes on the table are heavy oil and color hard dishes such as Mapo tofu, braised lamb, angelica guinea chicken and stir-fried prawns.
It seemed that Khorkina often visited her mentor. Even Lu Mingfei couldn't find where Qiao Weini hid the dishes. She quickly found all the tableware from the hidden cabinet.
The companions who entered the safe haven with Lu Mingfei have all received invitations. Susie and Chu Zihang have already arrived. Both of them are a little restrained in front of Lu Lincheng. Obviously, after Lu Mingfei told them about the love-hate entanglement between Chu Tianjiao, Qiao Weini and Lu Lincheng when they were young, the president and vice president of the Lionheart Club both felt that they had entered a blind spot of experience.
Old Bunin changed into his tweed coat and after a short rest he looked radiant with health.
He found the gene drug that could cure Christina's ALS in the safe of City 023, and injected the drug into his daughter's carotid artery. As a clone whose life was as empty as hell, Bunin put all his love for Ms. Bella into her daughter Christina.
That kind of love is even a little deformed, but it is undeniable that it is so selfless and great, even though she knows that she will surely die if she embarks on the escape with Lu Mingfei, she is still willing to do so.
Now that he had saved Christina's life with his own hands, Bunin felt that he had fulfilled the meaning of his life.
But he still gritted his teeth and kept the last dose of genetic medicine with him, as if he was following a demon into hell. He would not feel at ease until he had wiped out everything that could threaten Christina.
Chrissie was watching TV, which was showing Daniel Petrie's Servant of the People, which must have been a repository for the CCTV connection.
"We rarely cook for ourselves. There is a canteen in the shelter, and a professional team of chefs provides daily food for all the staff in the shelter." Lu Lincheng was rummaging through boxes and cabinets to find his hidden liquor and cups. "The supplies here are not dependent on external supplies. Food is very precious, and waste should be absolutely eliminated. Therefore, even the committee members who guide the fate of this port usually only eat in the canteen with others."
"What do we usually eat in the cafeteria?" Lu Mingfei asked.
Lu Lincheng showed a sad expression on his face. "It depends on the situation. Usually the synthetic meat is grown from protein. The chef will usually make the meat taste like steak or chicken according to his mood." He said.
In the outside world, synthesizing protein using water and air is still only a theoretical issue, but here this technology has been applied to people's livelihood.
Lu Mingfei had never eaten synthetic meat, but he thought it wouldn't be worse than Su Xiaoyan's cooking skills...
"The texture of steak and chicken is like sawdust, and the taste is like sawdust dipped in soy sauce or some other weird condiment," Khorkina said. "By comparison, I prefer to try the dark cuisine of the British... But everyone has ideals and aspirations, and the most basic needs and desires of human beings, such as appetite, are not insurmountable psychological barriers."
Lu Mingfei stared at the guinea fowl in the stainless steel basin in a daze.
Qiao Weini noticed that her son was wondering where this thing came from. She touched his head and said with a smile, "Of course, the Shelter also has a special breeding farm. Occasionally, the cafeteria will also slightly improve the taste of diners... Guinea fowl are easy to raise, reproduce quickly, and don't consume much food. We raise thousands of poultry, each of which has a number."
"Are we making an exception?"
"Your father is the secretary general of the Safe Haven after all, so he should have this power." Qiao Weini spoke of Lu Lincheng in a cold tone, not even looking at the man. "The committee will not remove him from the position of secretary general just because you ate one more chicken, nor will they cut off my experimental project because of this kind of thing."
Khorkina took out a piece of chocolate wrapped in shiny tin foil from the empty bag she carried with her. She quietly put it into Lu Mingfei's hand and winked at him: "Before the war came, the safe haven actually received some non-essential daily necessities from the outside world every year, such as women's stockings, children's chocolate and men's cigarettes. Such things can neither promote the progress of civilization nor help the committee stabilize social order, let alone important war reserves. There will never be a special factory in the port to produce related materials... But humans are different from animals. After material needs are met, spiritual needs become extremely important. Eating synthetic meat forever will make people crazy, so we can always get the little things we want from the material requisition office."
"Thank you." Lu Mingfei put the chocolate into his pocket and replied politely, "But the port in the north should be frozen for a long time. How do you rely on to get supplies? Dog sledding should be difficult, right? Or is there actually a hidden track nearby?"
"In the summer, the ice melts and cargo ships can follow the icebreakers in," Khorkina explained. "Once they even brought a church that could be assembled... Unfortunately, Catholicism and Orthodoxy are not mainstream in the safe haven. There are all kinds of people who believe in Amun, Vishnu, Taoist immortals, and even Zoroastrianism. In short, out of concern for inequality rather than scarcity, the committee eventually blew up the church."
At this time, except for Zero, almost everyone was already there. They were sitting in groups of three or four on the sofa or in a corner of the room, talking in low voices.
When Qiao Weini learned that Chu Zihang was Chu Tianjiao's son, she showed a strange look.
She said: "Your eyes are very similar to Xiaoyan's, but you are using the pride and coldness you learned from Chu Tianjiao as a disguise to hide your loneliness and childishness."
"Aunt Qiao knows my mother?" Chu Zihang was a little surprised.
Qiao Weini nodded: "I had the honor of meeting her a few times in Hefei. She was a very popular stage star at that time."
"Aunt Su took good care of me during the time you were away." Lu Mingfei suddenly said.
Lu Lincheng and Qiao Weini's expressions froze slightly.
Leaving Lu Mingfei at his uncle and aunt's house while they go to settle in a safe haven alone is a knot that this family cannot untie no matter what.
Fortunately, everyone had good luck today. Whenever the atmosphere became awkward, there would always be someone to disrupt the situation.
The knock on the door sounded again, and Lu Mingfei stood up and said, "I'll go open the door."
Ling was standing at the door. She had indeed changed her clothes and seemed to have made herself up carefully. She wore a camel cashmere coat that reached her feet and high-topped deerskin boots. The cold white light soaked her hair. Her long platinum braids fell on her shoulders, and the ends of the braids spread out into a light golden galaxy that stuck to her waist. The pupils on her cold little face were extremely deep and quiet.
When she saw Lu Mingfei at the door, a flaw appeared in her cold expression. Her delicate nose wrinkled and she reached out to hold Lu Mingfei's arm.
Lu Mingfei hesitated for a moment but did not stop.
Ling took a deep breath behind the corner of the door, and finally held Lu Mingfei's waist from behind and pushed him inside.
"Hello, uncle and auntie, I'm Ling, Mingfei's...fiancée." The girl's expression suddenly changed, revealing a smile that was so cute that it could melt people's hearts, and her voice rose slightly, which did not sound in line with the princess's character of keeping strangers away.
Chu Zihang and Su Qian were both stunned for a moment, then looked at each other, and saw shock and disbelief in each other's eyes.
Krisja's eyes widened, but the surprise and disappointment were only fleeting.
Qiao Weini and Lu Lincheng stood up almost at the same time. The middle-aged woman snatched Ling from Lu Mingfei's hands with the enthusiasm of a mother welcoming her daughter-in-law and forced her to sit next to her. Lu Lincheng seemed a little at a loss.
"Hey, junior brother, look at that girl named Khorkina, look at her eyes." Eva said in Lu Mingfei's ear.
Lu Mingfei's pupils flickered as he looked into Khorkina's eyes silently.
Those were a pair of beautiful light blue eyes, as calm and clear as the surface of Lake Baikal when there is no wind.
This girl, who was much taller than Zero, was staring at the profile of Her Royal Highness the Princess, her hands clasped on the table, her knuckles slightly white from the force.
At this moment, Lu Mingfei finally confirmed that the so-called safe haven was definitely related to the Black Swan Harbor, and Khorkina was the ghost that escaped from the Black Swan Harbor.
After everyone was seated, Lu Lincheng, the host, stood up, raised his glass, and smiled. He said, "Everyone here is Mingfei's friend, and you can also treat me and Winnie as your family. Don't be reserved or polite, just enjoy your meal and drink!"
Lu Mingfei was used to British table manners when he was studying at Kassel College, and he was used to Japanese table manners when he was at Sheqi Eight Clan. At this moment, when he suddenly heard his father say such an opening remark, he was actually a little stunned for a moment.
"Aunt Qiao, do you still remember accepting my father's commission to go to a Japanese shrine to help him enshrine an ancient alchemical sword?" Chu Zihang, a ruthless and taciturn person, actually opened up at the dinner table. Lu Mingfei's eyes condensed slightly, realizing that his senior brother also had that strange feeling, always feeling that this safe haven was a conspiracy.
Saying this was obviously an attempt to find flaws in Qiao Weini.
They were already on the run, so it wasn't a bad thing to be more vigilant.
"I remember, it's been almost twenty years. He said that the knife was called Murasame, and it was stained with the blood of too many people. It had to be enshrined in a shrine to wash away the bloody smell." Qiao Weini said, "We had just left the academy at that time. He originally planned to go to Japan to do this himself, but Angers arranged a new mission for Tianjiao. The mission was so top secret that even Lu Lincheng and I were allowed to investigate it in depth."
In this way, the timeline matches, and the puzzle of events that happened to their generation begins to be gradually completed.
As far as Lu Mingfei knew, Angers had been training Chu Tianjiao as his successor, and the purpose of his being sent to Hefei was to protect the black box that survived the Summer Mourning incident.