Dragon Raja: Lu Mingfei Returns from Japan

Lu Mingfei forced an elegant smile. After all, once he was abroad, he no longer represented his own personal image. He had to get rid of that slovenly face; he couldn't let his ancestors down.

"Is this a taxi stand?" the girl asked. "I don't understand Portuguese very well."

"I think so. I asked the airport staff, and they said this is where you wait for taxis," Lu Mingfei said. "Didn't you ask anyone when you came out?"

The girl remained silent.

Looking at the girl's expression, Lu Mingfei immediately understood. It turned out this pretty foreign woman was socially awkward, which was why she hadn't dared ask the staff where to get a taxi when she came out. No wonder she had been so hesitant and stammering in front of him earlier.

European girls are often described as hot and outgoing, but it seems that's not entirely true.

After receiving Lu Mingfei's reply, the girl didn't say thank you, but dragged her suitcase to a spot about five meters in front of Lu Mingfei and stood there leaning on her cane.

At this moment, Lu Mingfei was still wondering why the girl had gone so far.

After sitting for a while, a xenon headlight finally shone from afar, and a taxi appeared from around the corner.

Just as Lu Mingfei was about to wave, he saw the girl walk to the side of the road first and wave the cane in her hand.

Lu Mingfei's heart skipped a beat, and he suddenly realized what was going on.

Damn, so this girl was trying to steal the car!

It was obviously me who came first!

The taxi stopped on the side of the road. The girl dragged her suitcase to the back of the car and was about to open the trunk when Lu Mingfei stopped her.

“Young lady, that’s a bit unethical of you,” Lu Mingfei said.

The girl looked up, startled. "What's wrong?"

"I was waiting for the car here first, how did you steal it?"

The girl blinked. "But wasn't the car parked right in front of me?"

“That’s…” Lu Mingfei was speechless for a moment, then immediately realized, “That’s because you ran ahead of me, how could the car not stop here?”

The girl lowered her head and thought for a while. "I can give you money. I have an urgent matter. How much do you need? Will a Swiss bank check work?" As she spoke, she actually took out a checkbook from her pocket.

Lu Mingfei hadn't expected to encounter a rich little girl who liked to shower people with money, and he almost fell for her. However, remembering that he needed to get to the Little Fairy's place as soon as possible, reason prevailed over desire.

"I also have an urgent matter to attend to..."

Looking into the girl's innocent emerald eyes, Lu Mingfei unconsciously averted his gaze, waved his hand, and said, "Never mind... let's carpool, okay?"

The girl tilted her head: "Carpooling??"

It seemed that this Chinese term was a bit too sophisticated for the girl. Lu Mingfei explained, "It means that two people with different destinations are riding in the same car, and each pays half of the fare."

"Oh." The girl nodded. "Although I've never carpooled before... but it's fine."

The two put their luggage in the trunk, the girl sat in the back seat, and Lu Mingfei very gentlemanly sat in the front passenger seat.

"By the way, you haven't asked me where you're going yet? Is it convenient for you to take me to the bus station or train station in the city?" Lu Mingfei turned around and asked the girl.

"Let me see... This is where I'm going."

The girl leaned her cane against the side, pulled a folded map from her bag, and then, in the dim light of the car interior, read out a Portuguese word in a crooked voice.

“Santarém”.

……

Chapter 201 Professor Lundschnett and His Team

Santarém?

Lu Mingfei was taken aback upon hearing this.

Portugal's highest administrative division is the district, which corresponds to a province in China. The Santarém the girl mentioned is Santarém, the capital of the Santarém district, one of Portugal's eighteen administrative districts, located next to Lisbon, the capital of Portugal.

The girl's destination was also very close to Gulegon, where Lu Mingfei was going, as both were located in the Santarém district of Portugal.

However, the Porto district where they are currently located is far from the Santarém district, separated by three major districts.

Of course, Portugal itself is not very large, but taking a taxi from Porto to Santarém is equivalent to taking a taxi across half a province in China.

Upon hearing the girl say she wanted to go to Santarém, the taxi driver launched into a rapid-fire Portuguese, leaving the girl bewildered and confused, clearly not understanding what he was saying.

The girl asked the driver in English, "Can you speak English?" The driver waved his hand and said, "No, no," and then communicated with the girl in Portuguese.

Although Lu Mingfei couldn't understand Portuguese either, he could roughly guess what the driver meant by looking at his gestures.

“He must be saying he can’t go to Santa Ron,” Lu Mingfei said to the girl.

"Can't go?" The girl was taken aback. "Why?"

“I guess it’s because it’s too far,” Lu Mingfei explained. “We’re at Porto International Airport now, and it’s hundreds of miles from here to Santarém. Taxis in the city are generally not allowed to go that far.”

“I have an urgent matter to attend to in Santa Réun. Could you please ask the driver if it would be possible to go for an extra fare…” the girl said, pulling out her Swiss bank checkbook.

The girl's spoiled behavior—refusing to consider any other option if money can solve everything—is somewhat reminiscent of Caesar's style. Judging from her clothing, appearance, and demeanor, she likely comes from more than just a well-off family.

In places like Europe, capital accumulation was completed early, and wealthy people and old aristocrats are everywhere. Lu Mingfei didn't know why a girl like this wasn't accompanied by bodyguards or servants. But judging from her appearance, she didn't seem to have any experience going out alone.

“Not everything can be solved with money…” Lu Mingfei sighed deeply. “You’re going to Santa Ren, aren’t you?”

The girl nodded blankly.

"Do you want to come with me on the train?" Lu Mingfei asked. "I'm going to Gulegão in the Santarém district, it's on my way. If possible, I can have the driver take us to the Porto train station, and then you can come along."

After asking the question, Lu Mingfei suddenly realized that he had been abrupt. He had been to Europe on missions with Caesar and Chu Zihang before and knew that Europe was much worse off than China in terms of security.

If a grown man suddenly invites a young, unfamiliar woman out, she might think he has ulterior motives.

Upon hearing Lu Mingfei's proposal, the girl unusually revealed a suspicious and wary look in her eyes.

Lu Mingfei thought he would be rejected by the girl, but after a moment, she looked away and made her assessment in a calm tone:

"You have a greasy, old-fashioned British vibe about you, I don't like it..."

Lu Mingfei was stunned by this sudden remark. He thought to himself, "Didn't you say you couldn't understand advanced Chinese vocabulary? How come you even know the word 'greasy'? And where am I greasy? This is clearly gentlemanly conduct, okay? Don't you even know what a gentleman is?"

Just as he was grumbling indignantly, he heard the girl continue, "However, the deal is done. You take me to Santa Ren, and I can pay you a salary."

"You're too kind..."

Lu Mingfei immediately smiled and stopped grumbling. Although he didn't want to accept charity, the WCG was about to start, and he didn't mind getting some more gold coins from the European capitalist lady as his lottery winnings.

Lu Mingfei took out the "Everyday Portuguese Mini-Dictionary" that Lu Mingze had given him, found the word corresponding to the train station, and squeezed out a few stumbling syllables from the phonetic symbols.

The driver was clearly a frequent customer of these kinds of tourists, and he actually understood what Lu Mingfei meant. He smiled enthusiastically, gave an OK sign, and stepped on the gas pedal.

……

Meanwhile, at Lisbon International Airport.

A middle-aged man, carrying a suitcase, stood at the entrance of the exit passage, looking out at the heavy rain through the airport window.

Protected by the anticyclone over the Azores, Portugal enjoys sunshine for most of the year. However, there are exceptions: every November, the tail of the Atlantic disturbance passes through Portugal, bringing abundant rainfall to this small Western European country.

Hurried footsteps came from behind. The middle-aged man turned around and saw a young man with East Asian features carrying a backpack and pulling a suitcase walking over in a hurry, bowing his head and apologizing as he walked.

"I'm sorry, Professor, we're late," the young man said apologetically.

The middle-aged man nodded, looked behind the young man, and asked casually, "Where are Aki and Selma?"

"Aki's suitcase is missing, and Selma is helping her look for it..."

The young man was a little nervous. He knew that the middle-aged man in front of him was one of the strictest professors at Kassel College, from the famous Dragonschneider family, a family of dragon slayers.

His course on Magic Mechanics had the highest attendance rate in the entire academy, even higher than the attendance rate for the principal's course, "Introduction to Dragon Family Genealogy."

Besides his exceptionally high teaching skills, Professor Rundschneider was also known as the "Devil Teacher" at Kassel College. No student dared to skip his classes.

On their first mission with Professor Lundschnetter, they were late for the rendezvous point at the airport, and the young man had no idea how the man would react.

However, this devilish teacher doesn't seem to be as strict as the legends say.

Upon hearing that Aki and Selma hadn't arrived yet, Mance Lundschnett simply nodded calmly and asked, "Is your laptop in your bag?"

The young man nodded: "Yes."

"Alright, let's not waste any more time. Ye Sheng, take out your laptop and log into 'Hunter Market' while we're at it to see if there's any new information about the bounty post we made."

"Yes." Ye Sheng nodded, squatted down to put down his backpack, skillfully plugged in the wireless network card for his laptop, turned it on, and logged into the "Hunter Market" website.

Their bounty post, pinned to the top of the website, seeks to track the flow of excessive antimony imports from Portugal.

There are mixed-race people in all walks of life. Due to historical issues, the proportion of mixed-race people in Europe is particularly high. Logically speaking, finding the general whereabouts of these "antimony" should not be a difficult bounty. Many bounty hunters in Portugal and even some neighboring European countries have accepted this bounty.

However, just three days ago, all the bounty hunters who were tasked with this next mission lost contact with them. This made them feel uneasy.

Professor Lundschneider immediately reported the matter to the college and proposed that the college send people to investigate the matter.

The principal issued the task to them through the executive department. The specialists involved in the task included Professor Lundschnetter, Ye Sheng, his classmate Jiu Deya, and Selma, a freshman a year younger than them.

The bounty was posted through his Hunter Market account. Professor Rundstedt said that his account was too famous on the Hunter website, and posting the bounty through his account would easily lead people to associate the bounty with Kassel College, which is why he used his account to post the bounty.

Ye Sheng glanced through the message notifications, then turned to Mans and said, "There are still many people replying to the bounty post, but there are no new messages in the private message box."

"What happened to those people who accepted the bounty missions?"

"We still haven't received a reply."

“I understand.” Mans nodded, instinctively reaching for his cigar pocket, but then remembered that his cigars had been confiscated at security because they were moldy. Besides, this was an airport, and smoking cigars wasn’t allowed.

Just then, the sound of footsteps suddenly echoed in the empty airport. A girl with East Asian features and a girl with typical Latina features ran up to Mans, panting, while pulling suitcases.

"I'm sorry, Professor, we're late. There was a problem with our luggage, which caused the delay." Aki Shuto placed her hands on her lap and bowed apologetically.

Seeing Aki bow, Selma quickly followed suit, saying, "Excuse me, Professor!"

“It’s okay, this is normal when you first start an internship. There are always some unexpected things that happen. Just be more careful in the future.” Mans said, waving to Ye Sheng: “Put your notebook away. The people who are picking us up have been waiting in the parking lot for a long time.”

Ye Sheng put away his laptop. Mans led them out of the passage.

Outside the airport, a torrential downpour continued. They opened their pre-prepared umbrellas and followed the signs down to the parking lot located on the east side of the terminal. The parking lot wasn't crowded in the early morning, but the torrential rain obscured their vision, making it difficult to discern directions.

"Have you been to Portugal before?" Mans asked, walking ahead with an umbrella.

Ye Sheng and the others exchanged glances. Aki shook her head and replied, "No, this is the first time for the three of us."

"Portugal is a nice place, with beautiful scenery, a good climate, and lots of beautiful women."

Mans looked at the rain and seemed to be lost in memories for a moment. "Just remember, don't come to this godforsaken place in November."