Number 13 hesitated for a moment, “Just… a random passerby.”
He realized the girl was just a holographic projection, but her vivid expression made him want to speak to her as if she were real.
“Look this way, don’t just stare at the beauties.” Someone said in the dark.
It was a man’s deep voice. No. 13 was startled and turned his head suddenly. He then realized that there was actually a chair in the corner. There was a blurry figure on the chair. That man… was sitting with his legs crossed and drinking a bottle of beer!
“I suggest you not to shoot. Do you know that if the barrel is blocked, it will explode when you shoot?” the man said lazily.
“How is that possible?” No. 13 looked at the barrel of his gun. As expected, the mouth of the hard tungsten steel barrel was deflated, like a straw that had been bitten hard.
“Okay, I surrender!” No. 13 immediately put down his gun and raised his hands. This was the reason why he had been able to stand firm in the bounty hunter circle for many years. He never forced himself.
“The ice cellar is over there.” The man pointed to the door in front.
“Oh, oh, thanks.” Number 13 wasn’t sure what expression to use.
“The black card is mine, can you return it?”
“Of course, of course. I thought someone had forgotten it.” No. 13 was very cooperative.
“Well, bye.”
“Goodbye.” After saying this, No. 13 jumped towards the entrance of the ice cellar like a rabbit.
It was not until his back disappeared into the passage that EVA sighed, “Is this okay? The things hidden in the ice cellar cannot be made public.”
“It doesn’t matter,” the man said, “You don’t need to worry about the things in the ice cellar. The principal has returned. He didn’t show up when the whole school was on alert, which shows that he is very confident. With him around, it would be useless even if these people broke into the ice cellar. If you are really that worried, why didn’t you just use high voltage electricity to electrocute him to death?”
“Because he’s stupid.” EVA thought about it and smiled silently.
“Would you like to join me for a drink?”
“Okay.” The next moment, EVA’s clothes changed into a dark red leather hunting suit, a pair of high-heeled boots, and her hair tied up on top of her head. She sat opposite the man and drank a bottle of Samual Adams beer leisurely. The light illuminated the man’s face and pupils, and EVA’s shadow was reflected in his eyes.
“It’s nice to drink with you.” After a long silence, the man raised his glass and clinked it with the illusory bottle in EVA’s hand. “You have someone to accompany you, and you don’t consume any beer… It’s a pity… There’s no sound when we clink glasses.” He sighed.
Lu Mingfei stood in the mountain breeze, waiting for the spell that Lu Mingze taught him to work. With the experience from last time, he absolutely believed that Lu Mingze could do something incredible. He was too curious to know who would deliver the flowers to the top of the mountain in the dead of night. Would a UPS delivery truck suddenly drive up the mountain and a courier jump down and say, “Hey sir, are these roses you ordered?” Or was it a helicopter flying over the sky and the bouquets were dropped from the sky? What else was possible? Lu Mingfei looked up and down, left and right, hoping to see something strange happen.
But there were no headlights on the mountain road, no aircraft in the sky—all possibilities seemed blocked.
Suddenly, a flash of light streaked across the sky, almost like a shooting star, but rising from the ground up, exploding into a brilliant flower high above. Hundreds of streaks of light cascaded down, illuminating both of their faces.
“Fireworks!” Nono suddenly stopped, jumping up and pointing at the sky.
Fireworks shot up from the base of the mountain, like reverse meteors, scattering like flower seeds in the sky. They bloomed extravagantly in the darkness—purple dandelions like tiny suns, falling green hanging vines, roses interwoven in red and gold, white dahlias… Lu Mingfei had never seen anyone set off fireworks so lavishly, turning the night sky into a basket of flowers within moments.
The flowers that Lu Mingze promised were delivered, once again proving that he would not disappoint Lu Mingfei.
Lu Mingfei turned his head, seeing Nono’s profile bathed in the soft light of the fireworks, with faint traces of tears on her face.
Lu Mingfei didn’t understand why she was crying. Just a moment ago, Nono was waving her arms wildly like a child who had never seen fireworks, and in the next moment, tears were streaming down.
“So beautiful,” Nono whispered.
After a moment of silence, the last large firework rose into the sky. High above, it burst, and violet, lake green, water blue, moon white, pale yellow—all kinds of colors appeared against a huge golden background, forming words: “NoNo, Happy Birthday!”
“It’s… for me?” Nono whispered.
“Yes… yes!” Lu Mingfei’s expression was a bit odd. “The firework says NoNo, so it means Nono, right…? Unless it says ‘No no, happy birthday.’ Who would have such a weird name?”
Nono gave Lu Mingfei a hard slap on the forehead. “Who has a weird name? Yours is weirder!”
Lu Mingfei rubbed his forehead, grinning.
“It’s wonderful… no matter who sent it.” Nono looked up at the slowly darkening sky and spoke softly.
Suddenly, she smiled, reached over, and messed up Lu Mingfei’s hair, then turned and left. Lu Mingfei stood there, dumbfounded, watching her step lightly like a fawn. After a long pause, he rushed after her.
Lu Mingfei followed Nono, hopping along, his heart filled with joy. He turned towards the surrounding darkness, stretched out his hands, and gave two big thumbs up.
He wanted to say thank you, thank you, you’re amazing! Lu Mingze, wherever you are, you really are one amazing brat.
A faint, almost imperceptible laugh came from somewhere, tinged with indifference and disdain. Lu Mingfei looked around, but there was no one.
“By the way, don’t take the gift-giving thing to heart. Where can you buy gifts in the dead of night?” As they approached the car, Nono suddenly turned her head.
“Yeah, yeah, I told you I can’t help much.” Lu Mingfei scratched his head. He couldn’t say that the fireworks were a gift he summoned using a magic spell.
“Actually, the handkerchief boat is a really good idea. It doesn’t matter if it’s stained with mustard.”
Lu Mingfei was stunned. “Then… next year.”
“Junior brother, you are so untalented that you might have dropped out of school by the time of my birthday next year…”
“I heard that people with crow’s mouth will always be struck by lightning.”
“Okay, I don’t need any birthday presents. In fact, I don’t like celebrating my birthday… Let’s put it this way. If one day I feel really bad and feel like there’s no one in the world I can rely on, then you can come over and hug me. That’s going to be a favor to me.” Nono paused and added, “between good friends.”
Lu Mingfei originally wanted to ask in a playful manner what a hug between good friends felt like, and whether he could try hugging her to see… But Nono didn’t smile. She had no expression at all. She just turned her head and looked at him indifferently.
“Yeah.” Lu Mingfei said, which was considered as his agreement, and the two of them continued to move forward, one step deep and one step shallow.
“You sure she said Nono? The name is weird!” In the valley, a truck from “Green Forest” Fireworks Company was parked, and the staff were cleaning up the site.
“Who knows? She said it, she paid for it, so we made it. Who cares? I guess she’s Chinese, you know, some Chinese people have a lot of money!” one of his colleagues said.
The two employees of “Green Forest” Fireworks Company were very satisfied with the reward for this temporary assignment, even though one hour was a bit rushed.