The moment Lu Mingfei answered the phone, Chu Zihang subtly moved two steps away.
Fingel’s voice came from the phone: “Junior brother, do you prefer taller girls or shorter girls?”
Chu Zihang’s expression became strange; it sounded like a mother introducing a man to her best friend. He had long heard of Fingel’s reputation, but he hadn't expected Fingel to also dabble in matchmaking.
Lu Mingfei was stunned for a moment, not knowing what Fingel was talking about. Annoyed at being interrupted from his studies, he immediately cursed impatiently.
“Spit it out, or fart it out.”
“Ahem, actually, it’s about your underwater partner. Zero came to me today saying she wanted to ask about your preference for an underwater partner, and Nono also sent me a message urging me to hurry you up to choose a partner. She said tomorrow is the deadline.”
“Only them two left?”
“Only them two left.”
Lu Mingfei felt a headache. When the principal reminded him to choose a partner that morning, he thought the matter had just begun, but he didn't expect it was already the deadline.
After a moment of contemplation, he decided to reply to Zero.
Senior Sister Chen Motong was, after all, Caesar’s girlfriend. No matter how much Caesar trusted him, he shouldn't do something that could lead to misunderstandings.
A brother’s wife is not to be bullied. Lu Mingfei had been hearing this phrase since junior high. Back then, he was still a goofy teenager, wishing he could find an elder brother or second brother like Liu Bei and Guan Yu to look out for him, so he learned many phrases about brotherhood, preparing to say them when he had a chance to become sworn brothers.
The result was that he didn’t find an elder brother or second brother, nor did he have the chance to utter those righteous words, but they became a rather good memory for him.
“I understand. I’ll send them a message now.” Lu Mingfei hung up Fingel’s call and started replying to the messages. “Senior brother, you might have to wait a bit.”
“No rush,” Chu Zihang said.
Lu Mingfei nodded and replied to Zero’s message.
“Currently discussing academics with Senior Brother at the Lionheart Society. I’m not injured, thank you for coming to my dorm today to look for me. Let’s team up. Senior Sister Chen can probably have a lot of fun on her own without a partner.”
The other side quickly replied, but it was just a solitary “Okay.”
Lu Mingfei couldn’t quite gauge Zero’s mood at the moment. He wrote a few words intending to make small talk but then suddenly realized they weren't that close, and his senior brother was also waiting for him, so he put down his phone and went back to Chu Zihang.
Chu Zihang forced a curve to his lips and nodded at him, “Actually, you could have just called.”
“No, I’d rather not. I’m clumsy with words, and it would be worse if I messed it up,” Lu Mingfei waved his hand.
“Alright, let’s continue.” Chu Zihang turned to the page where the concept of hypnosis was first introduced. “We just talked about how the predecessors summarized the Bloodline Refinement technique to control hormone production.”
“Yes, I remember,” Lu Mingfei re-entered the state. “So, Senior Brother, you mean hypnosis isn't the main point; the key to the technique is the hormone production caused by hypnosis?”
“Yes, the hybrid who degenerated into a Death Servant produced this hormone under extreme emotions. Fear, anger, jealousy, and other emotions can all produce this hormone in extreme situations, but the corresponding emotion varies for each person,” Chu Zihang explained.
“If we truly want to master this technique, we need to try those extreme emotions individually. The moment we feel our bloodline critical limit change, we record it, and then achieve Blood Rage self-catalysis through self-hypnosis.”
“That is, to use these emotional hormones with control, while ensuring that human genes can still suppress dragon genes, and not be controlled by the dragon’s bloodthirsty genes. All of this requires immense willpower. Even a slight mistake can lead to degeneration into a Death Servant. Therefore, when using this technique, one must be extremely cautious and confirm one’s ability to control emotions well.”
“So, it requires very strong mental power?” Lu Mingfei said hesitantly.
“Yes, it requires sufficient mental power to control the gene’s rampage, but the mind is a very intuitive thing, and I can’t explain it clearly,” Chu Zihang thought for a moment and then added,
“If you can observe a Death Servant up close, you’ll probably understand this knowledge quickly. You’ll have a chance soon. The Kui Men Plan underwater exploration...”
Lu Mingfei’s eyes lit up. This was indeed an opportunity. “I can try to go underwater earlier to take a look after returning to the country.”
“Mm, good.” Chu Zihang took out a notebook from under the parchment. “I wrote some notes about this technique. You can take them back and read them, so that no one comes to your dorm later and can’t find you. If there’s anything you don’t understand, you can call me, or... ask Fingel. The previous president said that his previous president believed Fingel would definitely be the ace of the Execution Department in the future.”
“Senior brother, you...” Lu Mingfei looked at the notebook, hesitant to speak.
Chu Zihang didn’t speak, silently taking off his black contact lenses. “A few days ago, I went to have afternoon tea with the principal. The principal knew about this and reassured me that he could do it too, so I confessed that I had mastered the Blood Rage technique after the freshman war practice class.”
“Don’t worry, the side effects are not significant,” he said softly, his Golden Eyes glowing.
“Thank you, Senior Brother,” Lu Mingfei said, taking the notebook. “Before I leave, I have an irrelevant question I’d like to ask you.”
“What?”
“Senior Brother, when you first saw me, why did you say ‘long time no see’?”
Lu Mingfei scratched his cheek. He was an invisible nobody in junior high and high school, while Chu Zihang was awesome from junior high to high school. Logically, he shouldn’t have known a good-for-nothing like himself.
Chu Zihang was silent for a long time, so long that Lu Mingfei thought he had said something wrong and was about to apologize and run away, when he finally spoke.
“Do you still remember that Dandelion Typhoon?”
Lu Mingfei was startled. As soon as his senior brother spoke, he heard a hint of sadness, and the entire archive room was inexplicably enveloped in low pressure. Standing beside his senior brother, he could even vaguely feel the regret hidden deep in his senior brother’s heart.
“I remember, I remember, of course, I remember.” He could only speak with more enthusiasm to dilute the sadness in the air. “That day, I even wanted to hitch a ride with Liu Miaomiao, but she didn’t agree.”
“I remember too,” Chu Zihang exhaled. “Later, I wanted to pull you into the car, but you didn’t give me a chance to speak and just ran off alone, holding your school uniform over your head.”
“Ah, that happened too.” Lu Mingfei scratched his head. He hadn’t even noticed Chu Zihang was still at school at the time. In his mind, a princely figure like Chu Zihang would surely have been picked up long ago.
“It’s a good thing you didn’t get in my car. I got into a car accident on the overpass and almost harmed you too,” Chu Zihang said. “Later, the school was spreading rumors that someone had liked Chen Wenwen for two years and hadn’t confessed, and that’s how I learned your name.”
Lu Mingfei’s face flushed with embarrassment. Sure enough, even Chu Zihang knew about it.
“It’s in the past, all in the past. I won’t like her anymore.”
“Do you have anyone you like now?” Chu Zihang asked.
“Not yet. Something like that will have to wait until after the Kui Men Plan, right? What we do is a head-chopping job, Senior Brother. One wrong move and we could ruin someone’s life,” Lu Mingfei joked.
“I thought...”
“Stop, stop. Senior Brother, why are you like Fingel in this regard?”
“Am I?”
“Yes, very much so!”
“...”