Chapter Forty-Two: Provocation

Fingel orbited around Lu Mingfei, chattering non-stop:

"Hey buddy, Caesar really splurged this time! Look at his guys—all wearing Armani or Zegna suits, rocking Montblanc or Constantine watches, and parked out front is a whole fleet of either Aston Martins or Jaguars..."

Fingel gave a tug to his own outfit, which was clearly a size too small to contain him properly.

"Compared to our two cheap formal suits... I think Caesar is planning to intimidate you with his sheer wealth."

"Like how gorillas collect piles of various-shaped rocks just to show off their lowliness?"

Lu Mingfei felt that the suit Su Su had picked out for him was quite nice. It was comfortable, didn't restrict his movement, and was cheap to boot.

He genuinely had no interest in so-called luxury goods. No matter how venerable the brand, polished the casing, bizarre the pattern, or superior the raw material, fundamentally they were just tools used by earth-dwelling monkeys to show off.

"Uh, your comment is a bit sharp. By the way, which species of gorilla has that habit? How come I don't remember that?"

Lu Mingfei waved a hand dismissively.

"I made it up just now."

Reporters stationed at the entrance of the Amberant clicked their cameras away. The focus of the magnesium flashes and gazes was a pickup truck reversing toward the main doors of the Amberant, carrying something heavy draped under a thick canvas tarp.

The Student Union officers yanked the tarp away, and a waterfall-like cascade of bright red spilled from the pickup's truck bed. Under the hazy dusk sky, the brilliant color looked breathtaking.

They were tens of thousands of freshly picked roses, still glistening with morning dew, pouring like a river into the sea right before the doors of the Amberant.

Fingel sighed with emotion.

"Caesar even prepared this many roses. Do you think he might have some sort of other..."

"If they're really for me, he'd be better off just converting them into cash."

"Convert what into cash?" someone said from behind them.

Lu Mingfei and Fingel turned around together. A young woman stood behind them, wearing a deep purple skirt suit, a moon-white silk undershirt, purple stockings, and a full set of custom-made gold-inlaid amethyst jewelry. Her dark red hair was neatly combed, and she stepped in ten-centimeter Mary Jane high heels, a set of keys spinning on her slender fingertips.

Nono, as pretty and cute as a princess, stood behind them.

"Eh? The hostess is coming out to greet guests personally?" Fingel blinked in surprise.

Nono tossed the car keys in her hand toward Lu Mingfei.

"Caesar asked me to give you the keys to the Bugatti Veyron you won. It's parked right here at the Amberant, and you can drive it away whenever you like."

Lu Mingfei caught the keys and stared blankly, having completely forgotten about that episode.

"Bugatti Veyron? What Bugatti Veyron?"

Fingel cried out in heartbreak.

"Boss! The stake from Caesar's 'Freedom Day'! That sports car is worth one million euros! How could you forget?!"

H-How much?! Can this be cashed out?!"

Lu Mingfei carefully tucked the car keys into his pocket first, then reached out with an excited expression to hug Nono.

As a profiler, even without activating her profiling ability, Nono's skill at reading micro-expressions and human hearts far surpassed ordinary people.

In the end, she didn't choose to dodge, offering Lu Mingfei a brief, shallow hug.

As Lu Mingfei leaned his head close to Nono's ear, an irrefutable sentence was breathed softly into her ear like an imperceptible gust of wind.

"Once the party starts, profile Ye Sheng and Nao Aki, then tell me the interpretation results."

Ye Sheng? Aki?

Both of them were her close friends. Why would Lu Mingfei show such intense concern for the two of them, who had barely returned from the jaws of death?

Nono's expression remained unchanged, but an ominous premonition rose in her heart. She glanced again at Lu Mingfei, who had already withdrawn his arms. He still wore an excited smile, like a lucky person who had just picked up a huge sum of money on the street.

Fingel spread his bear-like arms with an excited look.

"Nono, me! I want one too!"

Wearing high heels, Nono displayed astonishing coordination and speed. Side-stepping deftly, she delivered a high-heeled kick straight to Fingel's backside.

"Want your head! Let's go!"

Teetering in her high heels and swaying her slender waist, Nono took the lead, and the three of them headed straight for the Amberant.

They had already entered the grounds of the Amberant and were not far from the castle's main entrance. After just a few steps, they saw Caesar, dressed in a white formal suit, standing at the door of the Amberant.

His hair gleamed like gold, the lace cravat at his collar was inlaid with rhinestones, and a faint smile played at the corners of his mouth. Behind him stood the six department heads of the Student Union, neatly arranged like an army of a hundred thousand armored elite.

"You're very punctual." Caesar glanced at the Patek Philippe on his wrist, offering a faint smile.

"I had ballet class this afternoon." Nono walked up to him.

Just as Caesar exchanged a traditional cheek-kiss greeting with Nono like a medieval aristocrat, a Student Union member inside the Amberant dressed in a high-end suit spotted Lu Mingfei walking in the rear. He raised both hands high in a posture mimicking a torrential downpour.

This pose was now a classic posture at Cassel College, known to almost everyone from janitors to professors. The moment he raised his hands, it immediately provoked light laughter throughout the hall.

Though Lu Mingfei didn't know this guy's name, he certainly recognized him.

In the final circle of "Freedom Day," he had been one of the five elite Student Union members who camped out until the very end, only to be sniped out of action by Lu Mingfei using "Time Zero" right as victory was within his grasp. Later, when deciphering the Dragon script in the central control room, this same fellow was also the first one to sneer at Lu Mingfei.

Actually, Lu Mingfei quite understood him.

An "A"-grade mixed-blood, whether in human or dragon society, was a favored child of the heavens. To be repeatedly outshined by someone like him who ran around driving everyone crazy, coupled with youthful vigor, meant his pride naturally wouldn't take it lying down.

Of course, the primary reason was that he had always been focusing his energy on dealing with the extraterrestrial divine lords and had simply been too gentle with these humans.

Lu Mingfei smiled, then used his index finger and thumb to form an equilateral triangle, gently placing it against his forehead.

Smite your enemy.

Not the slightest ripple stirred in the air. A fluctuation imperceptible to human sensory organs flashed by, and the Student Union member with his hands raised high let out a muffled grunt, suddenly flying backward and slamming heavily against the wall behind him in an "X" shape.

Dazed and seeing stars, he had just slid down from the wall when a hand gently rested on his shoulder.

It belonged to Caesar, who had crossed the doorway moments ago, and Lu Mingfei, standing dozens of meters away across the grand hall.

Everyone noticed the suddenly materialized Lu Mingfei, and gasps echoed successively through the hall.

Lu Mingfei lowered his head slightly, speaking in a gentle tone:

"If you ever try that again, I'll just smash your head open."