thefictionvixens 007 The Terrifying S-Class
007 The Terrifying S-Class
Late at night, Regent Hotel, ninth-floor executive suite.
Nono huddled in the corner of the sofa, draped in a cashmere blanket. Her head was down, her fingers picking at a tissue, tearing it into strips. The carpet's intricate pattern blurred before her eyes; the room was so quiet that only the faint hum of the air conditioner could be heard.
Shudeya stood to the side, gently rubbing Nono's back.
"Bang!"
The suite door slammed against the wall and then bounced back quickly.
An old man carrying a briefcase burst in, his disheveled white hair and brows covered in sweat: "How did the interview go? I bought a red-eye flight ticket and came straight here as soon as it landed."
"Professor Guderian, we interviewed 17 people, among whom..." Ye Sheng immediately stood up to greet him.
"Skip the nonsense!" Guderian's eyes gleamed behind his thick glasses. "I only care about Lu Mingfei, our only S-rank. Hasn't his performance been as dazzling as the sun?"
Ye Sheng and Aki exchanged a complicated look.
"Professor... his performance cannot be described as dazzling," Ye Sheng said carefully, "to be precise, it was terrifying."
"Terrifying? That's amazing!" Guderian rubbed his hands together excitedly, then sat down on the sofa. "Tell me, what did he answer?"
"I asked him if he believed in aliens, and he said yes," Aki said softly. "But he added that some ancient monsters are buried underground or sleeping at the bottom of the sea. They've been waiting for a chance to wake up and restart this world."
"My God! This is a rare bloodline resonance!" Guderian slapped his thigh, spitting excitedly. "He's never taken a single day of 'Dragon Genealogy,' yet he subconsciously and accurately sensed the slumbering state of the Dragon Kings and the myths of world destruction. This is absolute S-class intuition! And the second question?"
"The second question is whether you believe in superpowers." Ye Sheng took a deep breath. "He said that if your mental strength is strong enough, you can distort reality. In the face of this power, conventional human firearms are no different from scrap metal."
Guderian sprang up from the sofa.
"A dust-free land!"
Ye Sheng: "..."
Guderian clenched his fist excitedly and spun around in place. "He was clearly describing a 'dustless land.' Look, it really is S-rank! The Word of Power in his bloodline has awakened directly!"
Aki interjected softly, "Professor, Norma reported that his Word of Power hasn't awakened."
"Um?"
Guderian paused in his circling steps.
"That's S-rank intuition too." The old man immediately laughed again. "He sensed the form of a high-level Word of Power. How many years has Kassel waited for a child like this! And the third question? Is he eager to join us and fulfill his great destiny?"
Ye Sheng's lips twitched slightly.
"Professor, this...this 'S-class' matter is rather complicated."
"How is it complicated?"
"We couldn't get a third question out of him," Ye Sheng sighed. "He gave Kassel a piece of his mind."
"Disdain?" Guderian froze, his hand, raised in mid-air, stiffening. "Disdain for what?"
"He believed that if the world were truly facing the end of the world, crisis management agencies wouldn't have the leisure to hold interviews in a five-star hotel," Aki said, recalling Lu Mingfei's expressionless face at the time. "He said that real intelligence agencies would simply break down civilians' doors, put anti-escape collars around the necks of their agents, stuff them into helicopters, and throw them directly into the battlefield."
"He concluded that since we were still proceeding with the admissions process as planned, it meant the defenses hadn't collapsed and the crisis level was low," Aki said. "So he just left without saying whether he wanted to join or not."
"...A headshot collar?" Guderian muttered repeatedly. "Forced conscription by helicopter? That sounds like a suicide squad from World War II... Our Kassel College is known for its strong emphasis on human rights and academic atmosphere! What kind of violent organization is he thinking of?"
His brain, which had been frozen in place, struggled to reboot, attempting to concoct a plausible explanation from his "bloodline theory" to salvage the situation.
"...But he's an S-rank," the old man muttered, as if reasoning with himself, "Why would an S-rank refuse Kassel?"
"Not a violent institution."
Nono, who had been huddled deep inside the sofa, suddenly spoke up.
"That's the norm." Nono looked up.
"Normal?" Guderian frowned.
"I used profiling on him." Nono closed her eyes, her eyelashes trembling slightly.
"...I feel despair."
"And the smell." Nono paused for a moment. "It's sweet, like expired syrup, and it's everywhere."
Several people looked at her at the same time.
She clutched the torn tissue in her hand and remained silent for a long time.
Guderian was speechless for a moment.
While it's true that the higher one's bloodline, the stronger one's premonition of "Ragnarok" is, Lu Mingfei's situation, where even despair has become a tangible reality, is completely beyond the norm.
"Norma," Guderian said, forcing a smile, "Check on this ancestor's recent activities!"
"Professor Guderian, the target has been frequently searching for geographical information about the Kanto region of Japan over the past forty-eight hours," Norma's gentle voice echoed in the room. "But he hasn't been looking at any travel guides. His core search terms are: Kanagawa Prefecture, Hakone, underground caverns, air raid shelter load-bearing capacity, and the geological fault zone around Lake Ashi."
Ye Sheng's expression changed: "Japan? That's the territory of the Snake Clan."
"Why is he investigating the geological structure of Hakone and the air-raid shelters? Is he going to explore the remains of dragons in an active volcano unarmed?" Guderian was dumbfounded. Is this what S-class is? He simply couldn't follow Lu Mingfei's train of thought!
“But Professor,” Norma’s screen displayed several lines of red bill records, “the target’s financial situation is not good. He is currently searching for low-cost airline flights and how to get an unsecured quick loan. He seems extremely eager to go to the Kanto region of Japan.”
Guderian's legs went weak, and he collapsed onto the sofa.
Going to cause trouble in the territory of a yakuza gang? This is no ordinary S-rank; this is a madman who doesn't play by the rules!
"I...I can't handle this!"
The old man jumped up as if his pants were on fire, frantically pulled a crumpled envelope from his inner pocket, and slammed it onto the coffee table like a bomb.
"This is his parents' recommendation letter! It's for the final lobbying! Nono, you're smart, keep an eye on him these next few days! We absolutely cannot let him borrow money from loan sharks to fly to Tokyo!"
Guderian picked up the briefcase from the ground and walked unsteadily toward the door.
"Professor, where are you going?" Ye Sheng asked.
"Russia! There's a promising new student in Siberia; I'm going to recruit her! The rest of the job is in your hands!"
The suite returned to quiet.
Nuonuo stood up, supporting herself on the armrest, and picked up the envelope from the coffee table.
"I'll go with him," she said.