r18novel 006 The Gates of Kassel
006 The Gates of Kassel
The revolving door of the Regent Hotel slid open silently, and a white-gloved doorman bowed in greeting. The cool air in the lobby, carrying the bitter smell of freshly ground coffee, swept in, cutting off the sticky heat of early summer outside and creating two separate worlds.
Lu Mingfei, wearing a pair of old sneakers, shuffled across the marble floor.
Following the signs, we arrived at the executive lounge on the ninth floor.
Outside the executive floor meeting room, there were 17 chairs, 16 of which were already seated. With him, there were exactly 17 interviewees, one chair for each person, no more and no less.
Lu Mingfei glanced around and saw that they were all familiar faces. He knew he should recognize them, and some vague names even floated into his mind, but those names and the faces in front of him were like separated by a layer of mist; he just couldn't match them up.
He looked at them, and the laughter and movements seemed to be happening far away, as if they were distorted by something.
"Lu Mingfei?" A boy frowned.
He was wearing a bespoke suit, his hair neatly combed, and spoke in a condescending tone, "What are you doing here?"
Lu Mingfei looked at him.
He racked his brains for a while, only finding the man's face familiar. He couldn't tell if the man had any military training. His muscles were loose, his posture casual, and his hands were clean. If this were an underground shelter, the moment the alarm sounded, this kind of person would be among the first to shove and push at the gate.
"Oh, here for an interview." Lu Mingfei nodded perfunctorily; he really couldn't remember the other person's name.
The boy looked rather grim.
Lu Mingfei sat down in the last chair, on which was a form and a pencil. There were things like names and ages to fill in.
Zhao Menghua and his group were left looking at each other in bewilderment, feeling that this loser seemed like a completely different person today.
The waiter brought over a croissant and a cup of hot milk, which Lu Mingfei devoured in a few bites. He was about to snap his fingers and call for another one when the waiter brought him another.
A hand grabbed his sleeve.
"Lu Mingfei, be quiet, the examiner is here, he's inside." The girl next to him lowered her voice, wearing a white dress and with long hair.
Lu Mingfei turned to look at her.
This is probably Chen Wenwen.
Old Tang had mentioned the name that popped up in his QQ messages. He knew he had liked her before, but he couldn't remember why.
That face was just a few centimeters away; his eyelashes, the tip of his nose, his pursed lips—everything was crystal clear. But the filter of his memory was gone; he searched for a long time, but couldn't find a single moment that had ever moved him.
What do I like about her? Which sentence of hers do I like? Which time she turned around do I like it?
"...Thank you for reminding me." Lu Mingfei withdrew his hand.
"Has Liu Miaomiao arrived?" The door to the inner conference room was pushed open, and a tall, thin young man walked out.
He wore a dark green suit with a thin silver trim, the cut more like a military uniform than a school uniform. Lu Mingfei subconsciously glanced at him again. The man's steps were very light, his footing very stable, and he landed almost silently. His hands hung naturally at his sides, with dark calluses on the base of his thumbs and the knuckles of his index fingers.
Those who do the work.
Lu Mingfei made a judgment in his mind: this was the only person he had seen today who had any fighting ability.
A pretty young woman jumped to her feet, her voice trembling slightly, "Here!"
"I am examiner Ye Sheng, please follow me." The young man smiled, his gaze sweeping almost imperceptibly across the room before meeting Lu Mingfei's eyes.
Liu Miaomiao walked in with Ye Sheng with elegant steps, and the door closed immediately. The remaining 15 people turned to look at each other, none of them able to hide the tension on their faces.
Next, Liu Miaomiao, Su Xiaoqiang, Zhao Menghua, and Chen Wenwen went in one by one, and floated out one by one with dazed expressions.
The girl named Su Xiaoqiang came out gritting her teeth.
Lu Mingfei couldn't help but chuckle; this fiery temper reminded him of someone. But if that person had been rejected, the conference room door would probably have been kicked open by now.
"Lu Mingfei." Ye Sheng pushed the door open again.
"Here you are." Lu Mingfei clapped the bread crumbs off his hands, stood up, and went inside.
A long solid wood table was placed in the center, and besides Ye Sheng, two other people were sitting behind the table.
A gentle Japanese girl, and a red-haired girl chewing bubble gum.
Lu Mingfei's gaze lingered on that head of red hair for a moment.
His eyes were stung, and a metallic smell surged from deep within his nostrils, which he then suppressed.
"My name is Shude Aki, and these are Ye Sheng and Chen Motong, who are also the examiners." The Japanese girl stood up and bowed slightly. "Good morning, Mr. Lu Mingfei."
"おはようございます." Lu Ming bent down non-conditioned reflex and returned a polite salute.
In that world, he had to greet the base's logistics lady, the driver, and Misato Katsuragi every day, and his Japanese even had a bit of a Kanto accent.
Akitoki Shuto suddenly looked up, her delicate face filled with surprise: "Mr. Ji's Japanese is very standard."
"I learned it from watching anime," Lu Mingfei lied without batting an eye.
"Is that so?" Shudeya smiled, not delving into it further.
Ye Sheng sat down next to Jiu Deya, opened his notebook, looked at Lu Mingfei, and said, "Then let's begin."
"Go ahead," he said, wanting to see what these people were really up to.
"My first question," Shudeya asked softly, "do you believe in aliens?"
Lu Mingfei leaned back in his leather chair, while the group continued to speak in riddles.
But he soon remembered the enormous monsters that slumbered underground, and wondered what the people here called them.
"I believe it," Lu Mingfei nodded casually. "There might be traces of them on this earth. Some ancient monsters might be buried underground or sleeping at the bottom of the sea. They've been waiting for a chance to wake up and restart this world."
He was referring to the Apostles Adam and Lilith.
Ye Sheng's pen stopped.
"Second question," Ye Sheng took a deep breath, his expression turning serious, "Do you believe in superpowers?"
Lu Mingfei scratched his head.
"I believe it. If your mental strength is strong enough, you can distort reality," Lu Mingfei said confidently. "For example, by creating an absolute defensive force field. In the face of something like that, conventional human firearms are no different from scrap metal."
This is an objective fact; the AT field is just that unreasonable.
Ye Sheng and Aki exchanged a glance, both seeing the shock in each other's eyes.
"Smack."
The red-haired girl popped her bubble gum.
"Stop with the riddles." The red-haired girl crossed her legs, leaned forward slightly, and locked her amber eyes on Lu Mingfei.
"Lu Mingfei, right? You were quite interesting on the phone yesterday."
Ye Sheng and Ya Ji were stunned for a moment, then shook their heads helplessly. They knew that Nuonuo's "interview" had begun.
Lu Mingfei looked at her but didn't say anything.
The red-haired girl picked up a pen from the table, twirled it between her fingers, and asked, "What were you confirming on the phone yesterday?"
"Confirm the specifications of an organization," Lu Mingfei replied calmly. This girl was quite perceptive, even more so than that Professor Guderian.
"Oh?" A playful smile appeared on Nono's lips. "What specifications?"
"Containment, or the standards for warfare," Lu Mingfei counted on his fingers, "isolation nets, information locks, physical defenses, and underground armored layers are standard."
Ye Sheng and Jiu Deya, who were standing nearby, gasped in shock.
"Since you know everything," Nono stared at him, "since you know this place is extremely dangerous, why did you come here today?"
That's the key point. It's human nature to fear death. Since you know there's a battlefield ahead, why would you willingly walk into it?
Danger?
He looked at Nono's red hair and said seriously:
"Because I want to confirm something."
"What is it?"
"Danger level".
Nono's smile froze instantly.
"I want to see for myself just how bad the trouble you're facing really is."
"If it really comes down to life or death, you'll just send armored vehicles to smash down my front door, tie me to a helicopter, put a bomb around my neck to prevent escape, and then dump me into the battlefield. You won't care whether I agree or not."
"Since you are still proceeding with the enrollment process step by step, it means that the defenses have not collapsed and the crisis is still within a controllable range."
Lu Mingfei stood up and pushed the chair back to its original position.
"Thank you for the milk and bread."
After saying that, Lu Mingfei turned around, pushed open the door, and walked out.
In the corridor, Lu Mingfei leaned against the wall of the elevator lobby, waiting for the elevator.
He raised his hand and touched his neck.
There was nothing there.
The elevator doors opened with a ding.
He's going to Hakone.
Go check the bottom of that lake to see if there's anything there.