novelhk Page 68
Page 68
"Oh, I understand, I understand." Uesugi Yue gave him a reassuring look and said, "I would never say such a thing, but aren't you worried about capsizing if you're trying to have your cake and eat it too? If you want to enjoy the blessings of two women at the same time, you have to pay a price. I don't know if you can handle it."
"Uh... this, that..." Seeing Master Yue's wild imagination, Lu Mingfei quickly explained, "Actually, we're just ordinary friends."
"You'd be more likely to say something like that to your last girl, why are you saying it to me?" Uesugi Yue stuck the change into Lu Mingfei's hand.
Lu Mingfei: ...
At this distance, Erii should be able to hear me, right? Thankfully, there's nothing going on between us, otherwise this talkative ramen chef would probably have to pay the price for his loose tongue…
"Master Yue, you'd better not mention this," Lu Mingfei said, putting the money back in his pocket and turning around. "I wish you a prosperous business."
"My business is sure to be booming. I've been selling for so many years, and it has a great reputation. But you, kid, you definitely need to be careful."
Watching Lu Mingfei get into the car and drive away, Uesugi Yue couldn't help but sigh. Youth is truly wonderful.
Chapter 105 That's Her Good Fortune (Daily 8, Please Don't Raise Her Yet)
When Erii saw Lu Mingfei get into the car, she wrote down, "Did you come with Xia Mi last time?"
Actually, upon further reflection, she realized that Lu Mingfei and Xia Mi seemed to be the most like a couple. When she first tried to run away from home, Lu Mingfei and Xia Mi were right across the street, just like a couple.
“Yeah.” Lu Mingfei didn’t seem to care much about her question, after all, he wasn’t after her looks.
"Where did you and Natsumi go?" Erii asked as she continued writing.
"We didn't go anywhere, just visited Senso-ji Temple, had a bowl of ramen here, and walked around Tokyo to enjoy the night view."
Lu Mingfei counted them up and realized that he had been busy working since coming to Tokyo, but it hadn't been in vain. He had successfully lured Erii out, and the trial was just around the corner.
“Oh,” Erii wrote, “Then let’s go to Senso-ji Temple.”
Lu Mingfei sensed something was wrong and glanced at Erii's face. Her expression was as calm as usual.
It doesn't seem like they're trying to compete with Xia Mi...
Even when it was freezing rain, tourists still went inside Senso-ji Temple with umbrellas.
Lu Mingfei took out two umbrellas, but Erii wrote, "Shouldn't one umbrella be enough?"
Is this girl too immersed in the role, or is she just being cautious and really afraid of being caught and taken back?
Lu Mingfei put away his umbrella and walked with her.
He wasn't particularly interested in traveling to begin with, and visiting familiar tourist spots on a rainy day only made him feel even less enthusiastic.
Erii was fine; even on a rainy day, she was still quite interested in visiting this place she had only halfway through last time, despite having an umbrella.
However, the weather ultimately affected the tourists' interest. Last time Lu Mingfei came, there were quite a few people in front of the self-service fortune-telling machine, but this time there were not many people.
Erii wrote a message to Lu Mingfei: "Did you bring any coins?"
The self-service fortune-telling machine at Senso-ji Temple requires coins. Although Erii is a noble young lady, she ran away from home empty-handed, only carrying a notebook and pen. She had no money on her, and all the money she had spent these past few days was Lu Mingfei's.
Lu Mingfei took out a coin from his pocket and gave it to her.
Erii saw that he only took out one coin for her and didn't intend to give her a coin, so she wrote down a question: "Aren't you going to draw a fortune stick?"
Lu Mingfei didn't bother arguing with the woman about whether self-help fortune-telling was useful or not, although he certainly thought it was useless.
Seeking a coin-operated self-service check-in to break free from cyber fate?
Wouldn't a cracked version of the Taoist temple in China be even better? I remember visiting a Taoist temple during the Spring Festival that year, and I took out a fortune stick and asked the Taoist priest what he thought of it. The old Taoist priest smiled and said, "It's the Spring Festival, and all the fortune sticks inside are the best."
Compared to Erii's devout expression, Lu Mingfei seemed much more casual, glancing at the slip before putting it back.
Erii happily wrote to Lu Mingfei, "Erii's fortune is the best possible one!"
"Hmm, you don't seem like the kind of person who has bad luck."
"..."
Senso-ji Temple isn't very big, and the two of them finished walking around it. However, outside, Erii was captivated by the goods sold by the small vendors around Senso-ji Temple.
They're mostly bracelets, amulets, and the like.
Erii stopped in front of a bracelet stall and began to choose.
One of the styles looked familiar to Lu Mingfei, so he looked down at his wrist and realized it was the same style Xia Mi had bought for him last time…
No, do you source your goods from the same wholesaler?
Quietly putting the bracelet away, Lu Mingfei picked up another bracelet of the same style from the stall and said, "Mine is nice, boss, how much is this bracelet?"
Then put it on yourself.
It wasn't that Lu Mingfei suddenly had an epiphany, but rather that the system analysis detected the hidden dangers...
"...If you want to win Erii's favor, it might be better to buy a bracelet with her, but the host already has one..."
...It is suggested that you strike first. Before Erii chooses a bracelet for the host, you should choose the same style bracelet for yourself first. This way, you can satisfy both Erii and Natsumi at the same time...
Lu Mingfei got a satisfactory bracelet. Erii glanced at it, said nothing, and picked out a bracelet she liked to wear as well.
After paying, the two left Senso-ji Temple.
……
Tachibana Masamune looked at the latest progress of the investigation.
"It's been 36 hours, and there's still no news of the Uesugi family head." The person reporting to Tachibana Masamune said, "Should we take other measures to search for the Uesugi family head together?"
"for example?"
"Issue a bounty and get the gangsters below to help find the head of the Uesugi family. We can also ask Princess Kaguya to help cover this up and keep it from Kassel College."
"Yes, issue 10 billion yen. We must find the head of the Uesugi family as soon as possible."
"Yes!"
After the subordinate left, Genji said, "There are no leads on Kaguya's side either."
Hearing this, Tachibana Masamune rubbed his temples in annoyance: "Eri is such a grown person, she certainly won't truly disappear."
36 hours is enough to travel from the north to the south of Japan. Expand the search team again and search for Erii's whereabouts throughout Japan. Put everything else aside for now and find Erii first.
Nothing else is more important than her right now.
"Ah."
Genji nodded, but after thinking for a moment, he said, "What if there's still no trace of Erii after 48 hours or 72 hours?"
"Then let's launch a full-scale search for Princess Kaguya throughout Japan!" Tachibana Masamune said without hesitation. "Compared to Erii, Princess Kaguya isn't that important."
After 48 hours, 72 hours, we have no more time. If time continues to pass, it will be time for Erii to cleanse her blood and stabilize her bloodline.
"If Erii's bloodline were to fall into turmoil, it would be a catastrophe, no less devastating than the eruption of Mount Fuji!"
Princess Kaguya is an intelligent system independently developed by the Snake Clan. If fully activated, it can extend its reach to every corner of Japan that the Internet can reach.
This weapon was created by the Snake Clan to try and counter the Norma AI system at Kassel College. Otherwise, any major moves by Japan would likely be detected by the Norma system at Kassel College...
But at this critical juncture, Tachibana Masamune unhesitatingly pulled out this secret weapon against Kassel College.
Erii is also part of the fight against Kassel College, and her priority is higher than that of the Kaguya system!
“Mm.” Yuan Zhisheng nodded.
A bounty was quickly spread quietly through the Japanese underworld: this red-haired girl was worth 10 billion yen!
If you can find this girl and bring her back to the Snake-Headed Hachike family, you can immediately receive 10 billion yen in cash!
This was guaranteed by the Japanese underworld emperors—the Hebi Hachike!
……
Despite being circulated under the cover of the Kaguya-hime system, one of the wanted posters managed to slip through its defenses and reach a computer in a room in Brooklyn, New York.
"Holy crap? 10 billion yen? Really?" The somewhat unlucky-looking young Asian man was shocked when he saw the bounty.
This girl is indeed pretty, but with 10 billion yen, I could pick ten girls like her...
The young man first checked the exchange rate of the Japanese yen to the US dollar, and then found that the current exchange rate of the yen was 110 yen to 1 US dollar.
This girl named Erii Uesugi is a woman worth 900 million US dollars! With 900 million US dollars, you could play with 10 beautiful girls!
"But Japan... is quite far away."
Although the young man was tempted by the reward amount, his empty wallet prevented him from doing so.
If the person he's looking for is in the United States, he'll drive there overnight; if they're in California or Washington, he'll fly there without hesitation.
However, traveling across the ocean to Japan was too costly for him; buying a plane ticket to Japan essentially put him out of business.
Japan has a population of over 1 million and a large land area. Although the person disappeared in Tokyo, the girl has hands and feet, so why didn't she run away to somewhere else? He can't possibly wander there begging for food while searching for her, can he?
It's true that he lives in the United States, the beacon of humanity, but his address in Brooklyn suggests that he's not a wealthy person.
Brooklyn is a notorious poor neighborhood in New York State... It's a place of nightly revelry, gunfights, gang warfare, and drug trafficking. Any family with a bit of means will move away from this awful place.
But young people don't have these advantages. Born an orphan, he supports himself through part-time jobs. It's already quite an achievement that he was able to finish high school and grow up smoothly.
What more could he possibly want?
My phone vibrated, a notification sound indicating an incoming text message.
"...Mr. Ronald Don, your xx subsidy has been credited to your account, please note..."
"...bank receipt..."
Mr. Tang was somewhat surprised. When had he applied for the subsidy? And the amount was quite substantial…
However, once the money arrived, his previously embarrassed eyebrows immediately relaxed, and he smiled broadly.
With this money, he could feel much more at ease. Even if he didn't get any bounty missions in the coming year, this money would be enough to cover his expenses...
But speaking of bounty missions...
Because Ronald Tang's appearance was considered more mature than his peers, people around him called him Old Tang. Over time, he got used to this nickname and referred to himself as Old Tang to outsiders.
Old Tang has a dream: to become the king of bounty hunters!
But now a big order is right in front of him... With this newly received subsidy, perhaps he can try his luck...
Japan offers visa-free entry to the United States, and since Lao Tang wanted to become a bounty hunter and figured he would inevitably have to travel all over the world, he happened to have obtained a tourist visa.
He can now set off for Japan without any delay.