When Lu Mingfei emerged from the Lionheart Society club building, he looked utterly bewildered. Who knew that Senior Chu Zihang actually had a gossipy side to him? It was simply too unbelievable; Chu Zihang's cool and aloof image shattered in his mind in an instant.
The male dormitory building in District One was already closed at this time. At midnight, anyone who hadn't returned to the dorm by this hour was either having a romantic encounter or partying until dawn. Who would believe the excuse that you just came from the library?
But there were exceptions.
If Chu Zihang said he went to do academic research, no one would doubt him.
As for Lu Mingfei, with a gentle swipe of his S-rank student ID, the dorm door opened. He had special privileges.
In Dorm 303, Lu Mingfei collapsed onto his bed, stretching languidly. Chu Zihang's notes were tucked under his pillow.
To be honest, he had a feeling that Fingel knew what Blood Rage was, and even how to use Blood Rage. He didn't need to hide Chu Zihang's notes from him at all.
"How's the studying going?" Just as Lu Mingfei was wondering whether to press Fingel for answers, Fingel poked his head out from the top bunk. "Are you hungry? How about we order some late-night supper?"
"Are you staying up late just for my late-night supper?" Lu Mingfei pulled out his phone to order. He remembered he still owed Fingel ten days of late-night supper.
"Oh, no, I just stayed awake to keep you company, you actually think that of your senior." Fingel started playing the victim again to gain sympathy.
"More drama? Right, Zero even came to ask me about teaming up. Just uploading two photos makes for a hot topic." Lu Mingfei sighed.
"Junior, you finally realize you're the college's hot commodity." Fingel casually deleted a post calling Lu Mingfei a scumbag. "When you're popular, there's more trouble. Posts saying you're not devoted to Chen Wenwen and that you're just casually charming people and being a scumbag in college have already appeared."
"Wow." Lu Mingfei was speechless. "They can really find an angle to slander me from anywhere."
"Relax, I've already taken care of these unreasonable posts with a one-stop service," Fingel said with a thoughtful smile. "So, junior, can we eat a whole roasted duck tonight? I want the one with sauce, spring pancakes, and bean curd skin."
"OK."
"By the way, junior, is the history of the Lionheart Society interesting? Is there anything particularly juicy?" Fingel started having mischievous thoughts.
"It's average, mostly boring experiments. If you want something exciting, it has to be Bloodline Refinement." Lu Mingfei abruptly threw out two terms.
Fingel quickly pulled his head back. "Junior, you've really screwed me over!"
"Senior, the excitement I want isn't that kind of excitement! I want gossip, gossip! You're S-rank and protected by the principal, but I'm F-rank, worse than a mule. If I hear this, I'll be dragged out for brainwashing in minutes!" Fingel was on the verge of tears, his face bitter as he dejectedly deleted ten more posts.
"It's no big deal, the principal can do it too."
Hmm, the principal can do it too.
"Junior, you might as well smother me with a pillow." Fingel was looking for an angle to jump out the window.
"Senior, you know about the Critical Bloodline, right?" Lu Mingfei suddenly asked.
"I know," Fingel answered offhandedly.
"The Bloodline Refinement technique is for that," Lu Mingfei smiled.
"Junior, I'm a bit sleepy, I'm going to sleep first. When the roasted duck arrives, just put it in the fridge."
There was a "thud" from above, and he could feel Fingel's head hitting the bed frame.
Lu Mingfei slowly got up and leaned over Fingel's bed, looking at his senior's bare back and toned muscles. He whispered, "Senior, do you really not know about the Blood Rage technique?"
"I..." Fingel thought to himself, 'The principal really trusts you with such dangerous stuff.' "Anything related to bloodline and refinement is very dangerous, let alone when those two things form a four-character phrase."
He sat up from the bed again. "You're just telling me the Lionheart Society's secret files like this, is that really okay? Noma is still watching us, and who knows, if this gets out, I'll be dragged off for brainwashing, and you'll just have to write a self-criticism. I'm just F-rank, I can't take this blame."
"The principal said this depends on the current Lionheart Society president's wishes. Senior, don't worry, as long as I'm here, Senior Chu Zihang will never make things difficult for you." Lu Mingfei pulled the notebook from under his pillow. "Besides, Senior told me before he left that if I didn't understand anything, I could ask you, Senior."
"Junior, you're doing this on purpose," Fingel sighed.
Lu Mingfei said nothing, leaving the notebook on Fingel's bed.
"The Lionheart Society would rather keep this kind of thing hidden so no one knows about it. Outsiders get furious just by looking at it, but you just casually give me the notes, forcing them on me even if I cover my ears, insisting on dragging me into this," Fingel said.
"Senior, you're not an outsider," Lu Mingfei said.
"..." Fingel was silent for a moment. "As your direct senior, I must warn you, the Bloodline Refinement technique isn't some dandelion you can find anywhere. Even within the Family, it's something only direct descendants can obtain. This technique can only be truly mastered by genuine geniuses. If an ordinary hybrid makes a mistake, the consequences will be very severe."
"Senior, you used to be A-rank," Lu Mingfei said.
Fingel was completely stunned.
The dorm was quiet for a while. Fingel, lying on his bed, suddenly chuckled for no reason. "Junior, sometimes I also thought the file I got was fake."
Lu Mingfei's hand, which was scrolling on his phone, paused. Then he opened the dorm door, retrieved the roasted duck, and brought it back. After arranging the plates and getting out the drinks, he finally looked up at Fingel. "You've always treated me as S-rank, so I've always treated you as A-rank."
"So you still remember that I dropped from A-rank, and the initial ranking was based on bloodline... So when you said ten days of late-night supper, you were planning to hire an A-rank hitman?" Fingel leaped off the bed:
"Junior, you're too cunning! If I had known, I would have played hard to get back then. What a loss!"
"I thought you'd be a little touched," Lu Mingfei said helplessly.
"There's actually a little bit of feeling," Fingel pinched his thumb and forefinger together, leaving a small gap. "But only that much."
"That sounds like you really have no conscience, senior." Lu Mingfei rolled his eyes, tearing off a piece of greasy duck leg.
"Don't think you can move me to tears with just a few words. You're not the protagonist of some shounen manga, making people flee with just two lines of witty banter." Fingel tore off another duck leg. "But the last time I was this moved was when a junior sister confessed to me at the dorm entrance."
"It seems that junior sister really misjudged you if she only felt that little bit of emotion when she dated you."
Fingel pouted, wrapped shredded cucumber, sauce, cilantro, and a large piece of duck meat into a spring pancake, devoured it in two bites, and then licked his fingers.
He leaned back, looking at the twinkling stars outside the window and the unchanging moonlight. He suddenly recalled a poem he had read not long ago.
Who first saw the moon by the riverbank? In what year did the river moon first shine on people?
But he quickly shook his head again, reaching out to snatch meat from Lu Mingfei.
"Junior, Kong Rong gave up the pears, Kong Rong gave up the pears!"