“Bears?” Lu Mingfei was taken aback.
“Yeah, there are a lot of bears in this mountain,” a clear male voice said beside him.
Lu Mingfei jumped in fright, turning to see Lu Mingze sitting in the passenger seat, hands resting on his knees like an obedient middle schooler.
“Ah! When did you jump up? Could you stop showing up out of nowhere without making a sound? It seems haunted, you know?” Lu Mingfei was so scared that he broke into a cold sweat. However, he had seen this boy three times, so he was not very scared. Every time he saw this boy, he was a little scared, but it was just a little scary. The boy did not seem to have any hostility. On the contrary, he helped Lu Mingfei once and taught him the cheating technique of “back sheep wall”.
“Eyes on the road, focus on driving, there’s a curve ahead,” the boy said calmly.
“Anyway, since seeing you is always a dream, what’s the point in focusing on driving? Even if I crash into a tree, I’ll just wake up, right? Why are you haunting me?” Lu Mingfei was so angry his nose almost twisted out of shape. Any other time would have been fine, but driving a luxury car with the girl he liked along a mountain road—why couldn’t this guy take a hint and vanish?
“It’s not a complete dream. There really is a curve ahead, and if you don’t turn the wheel, we’re both going to die,” Lu Mingze said.
The yellow traffic sign flashed before Lu Mingfei’s eyes, and he broke into a cold sweat, quickly turning the wheel. Thankfully, the Bugatti had a great suspension, and they smoothly navigated the 90-degree turn. A second or two later, they would have flown off the cliff, but Lu Mingze didn’t even blink.
“Dammit, almost died! Could you stop scaring me like that? I didn’t even see the road clearly because of you!” Lu Mingfei complained.
“I was just reminding you about the curve. If it weren’t for me, with your rookie driving skills, you probably would’ve died with the girl you like,” Lu Mingze still had a poker face.
“The girl I like? We’re just classmates,” Lu Mingfei said, feeling a little guilty. “And what do you mean ‘woman’? You sound like an old man!”
“You might be able to fool others, but you can’t fool me,” Lu Mingze shrugged. “Need a little help?”
“You not suddenly appearing like a ghost would be a big help.”
“Remember what Nono told you about winning over a girl? Music, flowers, and some nice words,” Lu Mingze completely ignored Lu Mingfei’s grumbling.
Lu Mingfei froze, “How do you know that?”
“That’s all for the clothes. Even though it’s a rented dress, you’re wearing formal clothes after all. As for the music, you can use the system of this car. Do you need me to help you think of the words for the confession?”
“Get lost!”
“Since I can’t help with that, let me give you flowers instead. A new trick has been unlocked—‘show me the flowers.’ Just say it out loud, like a magic spell. Try it—it’s fun. But you can only use it once, an hour from now, and only tonight,” Lu Mingze said. “I won’t wish you luck because things won’t end well between you two.”
“Then why are you trying to play nice?”
“Sympathy, nothing more,” Lu Mingze smiled coldly.
Lu Mingfei felt like his words were just unbearably annoying. Without thinking, he reached out and smacked Lu Mingze on the head, but there was no protest.
Lu Mingfei realized something was off, and when he looked again, his hand was resting on Nono’s headrest. Her soft, warm face was less than a centimeter away from his hand, and she was still asleep, her breath touching his fist.
“Damn it! According to the script, this is the part where you touch the heroine’s face, and then she wakes up, and your eyes meet, and sparks fly!”
“But the question is, am I playing the leading role? If I am not the leading role but a passerby, it seems that I will be killed when the next scene starts…”
“Damn you, Lu Mingze… What a…” Lu Mingfei fought an intense inner struggle.
Finally, he slowly pulled his hand back. “What an annoying little brat.”
“What little brat?” Nono woke up, catching Lu Mingfei mumbling.
“Nothing, you misheard. I said ‘little turtle.’ Just now, a little turtle crawled past me. I hate things that crawl up quietly like that—you never even notice,” Lu Mingfei said, staring straight ahead, gripping the wheel tightly.
He looked down at the time. It was 20:15 at night.
No. 13 was quite pleased with himself. He felt like a bat flying through the night, gracefully leaping from rooftop to rooftop.
His brothers in Brooklyn used to call him “Leopard,” but he thought that lacked the style of a bat—a creature with the allure of a vampire.
The defenses of this campus were far more extensive than he had imagined, but that couldn’t stop No. 13. He wasn’t advancing on the ground; he had a grappling gun—a weapon he had bought at a high price from a friend in military R&D. It could shoot a spike with a rope dozens of meters into the rock. No. 13 used those ropes to traverse above the students’ heads, full of swagger.
He always had confidence in himself.
The only problem was that he couldn’t find the rendezvous point. He stood high above everyone else’s line of sight, lost amidst the campus buildings.
“Odin Hall, damn it.” He muttered in his heart, “Can’t these guys prepare a map?”
“Only now do I realize the importance of scouting,” he muttered.
The mountain road ended at a stone pillar blocking the way. Lu Mingfei stopped the car in front of it.
“Turn on the high beams,” Nono said.
Bright beams of light pierced the distant sky like a sword, illuminating the entire mountaintop. The terrain at the summit was flat, with no trees, just covered in grass. A spring flowed out from beneath a rock, forming a small lake at the top, and the overflow created a snow-white waterfall cascading down the mountain, the faint sound of water echoing from below.
“There are no stars,” Nono stretched, leaning against the seat, looking at the sky.
Lu Mingfei thought, what a useless comment. The sky was pitch black after the rain. He had figured that out as soon as they left the campus gate. There was really nothing to see on this mountaintop.
But why had he still eagerly agreed to be her driver?
“It’s so big,” Nono added.
“What do you mean ‘so big’? Are there bears?” Lu Mingfei peeked around.