Dragon Clan: I am Lu Mingfei, the Intelligence Strategist, the God of Concepts!

Chapter 5: Is Old Tang an Exorcist Master?
"I#&*#……%"

In New York City, 12 time zones away, Ronald Don grumbled and left the chat window.

The panda avatar that was angrily criticized by Lu Mingfei on the internet just a minute ago is actually a Chinese American living in Brooklyn.

Receiving unemployment benefits, living in a rented room of just over ten square meters, his biggest hobby is StarCraft...

That's right.

Ronald Tang, also known as "Old Tang," has been a close friend of Lu Mingfei for three years. Using his English name on Chinese forums and his Chinese name on English platforms is just his basic practice.

But Lu Mingfei didn't know that the suspected successor of Panda Burning Incense was Lao Tang; of course, Lao Tang didn't know that the 'mark under the setting sun' on the forum was Lu Mingfei.

I simply thought she was a girl and wanted to flirt with her.

Unlike the homeless people all over Brooklyn, Old Tang, being at the bottom of the racial hierarchy, managed to get a rental room, even with the noise of the elevated light rail passing by hundreds of times a day.

It's certainly not something that meager social welfare payments can achieve.

Old Tang wasn't lying; he really does have skills.

"Sigh, the bounty from the last mission is all gone again. Let me see if there are any easy, high-paying jobs lately." Old Tang said while eating yogurt and logging into the 'Hunter Website'.

With its pitch-black background, dark green lines, and deep red font, the Hunter website practically screams "underworld." Compared to the blue and white Tianya Community, it's like comparing Texas Chainsaw Massacre to Makka Pakka.

"Jungle expedition in northern Myanmar, no team hunters accepted...Lost a cat in Central Park, Manhattan, New York...Ganges water quality testing, for a research report..."

Old Tang tapped into the quest request section, scrolling through the scroll wheel, muttering under his breath, "Damn it! How come the Hunter website has turned into Makka Pakka too!"

Old Tang had absolutely no interest in the recently updated tasks.

As a 'top hunter' whose points rank in the top 100 on the website, he only wants to do some truly 'supernatural' tasks, such as exploring desert labyrinths or salvaging ancient ships in the deep sea.

Of course, a purely haunted place is also acceptable.

Old Tang has a natural resistance to the supernatural. For example, people are affected when they enter ancient tombs, but he is not. Some curses that are rumored to be very effective in the industry have no effect on him.

So what outsiders see as a 'high-risk, high-reward' task is, for him, pure money-making.

The most satisfying time was when he landed a $500 million job inside a pyramid in Egypt. The client wanted the gem that was buried with Ramses VI. The previous hunters who went in never came out.

The only guy with a relatively strong birth chart ran out coughing up blood, yelling, "Run! There are ghosts inside!" before his body covered in black spots and he died.

Everyone outside was terrified.

When it was Old Tang's turn, he brought out the gemstone as easily as crossing a street in the early morning. The boss was amazed and offered him five million US dollars with both hands, plus an extra 20% tea fee.

Unfortunately, money that comes easily is also lost quickly, and recently Old Tang can only afford the cheapest Aldi yogurt.

"Looking for a cat? What kind of lousy cat costs five hundred US dollars? Ha! Even if I, Tang, starve to death, I would never... Who the hell is messing with me?"

Old Tang glanced at the QQ icon flashing in the lower right corner of the computer screen and clicked on it casually.

"Mingming? It's only this early and you're already asking me to play StarCraft? You've got a taste of winning, haven't you? You really think last night was all I showed?"

Old Tang muttered to himself, put down his yogurt spoon, and skillfully typed in "Looking for a beating?"

Mingming: Brother, save me!
……

"Damn it, bro! So you were the idiot who posted that!" Old Tang's face turned green. "Why are you playing a cross-dressing account?!"

"There were so many people outside just now, I'm begging you! Bro, I've really been targeted by the devil, you don't want to see your good brother being possessed by the devil, do you?" Lu Mingfei sent a crying emoji.

In the forum's private chat interface, Lu Mingfei's first reaction was that 'Ronald' was trying to take the opportunity to send a Trojan link to hack his computer, so he immediately started cursing.

When I went back to report that QQ account, I suddenly realized that the profile picture looked familiar, and upon searching, I discovered that it was actually in my friend list.

It was none other than his half-brother, Lao Tang!

No wonder that panda head looks so punchable... Oh well, whatever, help!!!
"Wait, wait! Don't rush, tell me what's going on first."

Old Tang rubbed his swollen eyes and typed.

"……OK!"

Without hesitation, Lu Mingfei immediately recounted his dream from the previous night, in addition to the issues with his own control panel.

Having suffered mistreatment at his uncle and aunt's house for years, he relied entirely on this group of online friends for his emotional support. The old Tang who suddenly became strong and robust was one of the people he trusted most!

"Met a little devil? Interesting."

Old Tang stroked his chin. What a coincidence, it's within our business scope.

"So you really did mutate yesterday." "What are you talking about! What are you talking about? I've always been very strong, okay... Hey, don't get off topic again, Lao Tang, is that website you mentioned full of experts real or fake? Send it to me." Lu Mingfei typed like lightning.

“It’s true, but the people inside are asking for a high price. How much can you offer?” Old Tang typed.

A boy whose wealth index had just dropped to 3.1 paused for a moment, then sent an awkward emoji: "Is 50 enough?"

"Ten thousand?"

"50."

Old Tang: "Enough for KFC."

"I'm really short on cash, you know my financial situation." Lu Mingfei sent another crying emoji. "If you support installment payments, it would be best if you could at least offer 12 interest-free installments on top of the 50!"

You're paying in installments for 50, but what about your lunch loan...? Old Tang took a deep breath and typed:
"I'm not trying to scare you, brother, but in your situation, you might be able to find someone to help you with 50 or more words, and the unit of payment has to be US dollars."

Upon seeing the message from Lao Tang, Lu Mingfei froze in front of the screen.

50?
US dollars?

It would take him five years to save up the living expenses his parents send him. If they kept sending him that money, he might actually be able to save enough...

But in reality, there are no "what ifs."

Old Tang sighed when he didn't receive a reply for a long time.

"Here's what we'll do. I happen to be going back to China soon. Send me your address when you arrive, and I'll take care of this for you without charging you any money."

"Is it really so, Godfather!"

Immediately, another message popped up on the screen: "But Godfather, are you sure you can do it? Are you also an exorcism expert?"

"It's not that I don't believe you..."

"Damn it! Can't you see who's who?! You're not in this line of work, otherwise you'd know what it means to be an ant trying to see the sky!"

Old Tang posted a meme of a panda dressed as an exorcist, and then shared screenshots of some of the mission receipts.

This immediately shocked Lu Mingfei.

"Holy crap!! Bro!"

"You're serious!"

"Then I'm counting on you!"

The StarCraft player's hand speed is incredible; compliments rained down on the screen like snowflakes.

Old Tang seemed to see the boy's face, which had cleared up from its cloudy state, thousands of miles away, and couldn't help but twitch his lips into a smile.

To be honest, he often felt lonely during his years in Brooklyn. Although they had never met, he had long regarded Lu Mingfei, with whom he chatted and played games every day, as his younger brother.

And he always felt... that he should have a younger brother.

"It's been a long time since I've been back to China."

Old Tang muttered to himself.

He typed on the keyboard to comfort Lu Mingfei and also told him some relevant precautions.

But from the bottom of my heart...

He didn't think that Lu Mingfei, a high school student, could encounter anything particularly troublesome.

No matter how powerful someone is, can they compare to the pharaohs who lived in the pyramids for thousands of years?
Last time, that old man saw him like he was seeing his own father. He coughed once and was so frightened that he poked his eyes out and knelt down to present them to him.

Although Old Tang never understood why these strange creatures were afraid of him, it didn't diminish his undeniable awesomeness. Sometimes he even felt that he might be the reincarnation of some ancient human emperor, and he even searched through the Classic of Mountains and Seas for this reason...

Anyway!

When he personally takes action, those mere underage brats... will be a piece of cake!
"Just subdued a few demons, heh, and now a few more monsters..."

Old Tang hummed a few lines of a classic melody from "Journey to the West," then tossed the empty yogurt container in a graceful arc into the trash can.

Then he reopened the hunter website and clicked on a mission worth five hundred US dollars—enough for him to buy a plane ticket home.

"Hey boss, what does your cat look like?"

(End of this chapter)