NABC Chapter 26 Commission
Chapter 26 Commission
An unexpected guest arrived at my aunt's house.
The rising sun bathed the living room in gold. A pen slipped from her aunt's fingers and clattered on the coffee table. She watched as the documents were taken away by the man in the suit across from her, her whole being etched on her face, her head hanging low as if her spine had been shattered.
After the man in the suit carefully checked the signature, the way he put away the document made Auntie feel like he was a skilled executioner packing away instruments of torture. The "click" sound of the leather briefcase closing was like nailing a coffin lid to the door of the house.
The aunt's lowered gaze fell on the red nail polish on her nails, and she suddenly remembered that she had been talking to her mahjong friends about getting a new manicure just a few days ago.
Now, the once vibrant red has curled up at the edges, like tattered butterfly wings. She seems to already see the future—
She has to go to work and can no longer play mahjong casually. There's no more spare money at home to buy designer clothes, and she also has to worry about whether her little BMW will get bumped or scratched, leading to extra expenses.
She didn't want it to be like this.
But she had no choice. If she didn't sign, the other party would start pursuing all of Lu Mingfei's child support payments over the years, suing him, going to court, and taking back all the assets in the house that had been purchased with the child support payments.
But things depreciate. The price of a BMW from a few years ago is vastly different from the same model now. If we really try to keep up, this small family might end up having to sell their car and house.
According to the other party, they could have done it directly, but Lu Mingfei thought that they still had some parental affection for each other, so they didn't make it to that point.
Normally, my aunt definitely wouldn't have signed it, at least not so readily. She would have made a scene in front of everyone. Under normal circumstances, she would have yelled and cursed, thrown the pen in the other person's face, and rolled on the ground, accusing them of bullying orphans, widows, and ordinary families.
But the row of burly men behind the lawyer almost completely blocked that possibility; she had no doubt that those bulging biceps could lift her up like a chicken.
"Lu Mingfei..."
The name was squeezed out through clenched teeth, trembling without her even realizing it. That loser who always cowered in the corner, now he was the one who could decide the fate of this family?
The aunt turned to look at the full-length mirror in the living room, which her husband used to admire the high-quality replicas of designer brands he had bought, but now it reflected her image.
With disheveled hair, looking like a dog with a broken spine, the aunt suddenly felt that the figure looked very familiar—
My memory flashes back to an afternoon three years ago.
In a phone call from Shilan Junior High School, the teacher angrily said that Lu Mingfei had gotten into a fight with a classmate.
When she arrived at the school, the thin boy was being held down in the corner of the administration office, his school uniform collar was torn askew, and there was blood at the corner of his mouth.
"You've caused me trouble again!"
She remembered how she dragged Lu Mingfei to the office by his ear. The boy stumbled after her, his neck marked with crescent-shaped red welts from her fingernails. In front of the teachers and classmates, she pressed the boy's head down and apologized.
At this moment, the hunched back in the mirror overlapped with the figure of someone who was forced to admit their mistake years ago.
"This is really..."
........................
"surprise!"
Lu Mingfei had already returned to this world. Originally, he wanted to ask Jiang Mingzi for something before coming back, but before he could even speak, he had just demonstrated his newly awakened innate divine power... and was immediately punished and sent back.
He was currently crouching in a corner at the exit of the airport arrival hall, his fingers flying across his tablet. On the screen, Zerglings and Hydralisks surged out of the enemy base like a tidal wave, shattering the main base.
"GG!"
This is an abbreviation for "Good Game". Lu Mingfei thought the opponent played well and had a decent strategy, but unfortunately, his thinking was not broad enough. He didn't expect him to launch a sneak attack.
"You played well, but your vigilance was too low," Lu Mingfei comforted his opponent in the chat. "Just be more vigilant next time."
However, it was clear that Lu Mingfei had completely shattered the opponent's mentality, and they left the channel without saying a word.
"His mental fortitude needs improvement..."
Lu Mingfei muttered to himself and stretched. The airport announcements were broadcasting flight information, and he glanced up at the big screen—Old Tang's Greyhound bus was probably arriving soon.
As the clear water flowed over his palm, Lu Mingfei looked up and saw the boy's figure reflected in the mirror. In a daze, he saw a figure stacked behind the boy, wearing a plain white Sanzhen Daoist robe with red cloud patterns embroidered on the cuffs—it was himself wearing the Sanzhen Daoist robe.
He blinked, and the image vanished like smoke, leaving only himself: a Burberry black trench coat with subtle patterns under the bathroom's overhead light, and a gold lapel pin on the cuff of his Italian-made LUKA DILONG shirt.
As he reached up to adjust his lapel pin, the dial of his watch reflected the light. Just moments before, he had been squatting in a corner of the mall, wearing his pilling school uniform and enjoying the air conditioning; now, the mechanical gears of his Patek Philippe watch were quietly turning on his wrist.
"He really does look like Senior Brother Chu."
Lu Mingfei muttered to himself as he looked in the mirror. This outfit was practically a carbon copy of Chu Zihang's. After all, the Burberry brand was practically a trademark on Chu Zihang—Lu Mingfei remembered that Chu Zihang would loosely tie a Burberry scarf over a Diesel sweater, and almost everyone in the school would say he looked like a British man.
"Luckily I wasn't wearing that Burberry scarf, or I would have looked exactly like it." Lu Mingfei pouted, his fingers casually twirling the belt of his trench coat.
"Tsk tsk tsk, that's such a pity," came another crisp 'crunch' sound through the earpiece, the woman muttering as she chewed, "The Burberry scarf paired with this trench coat, plus your face, is a perfect match!"
Lu Mingfei gripped the headset, listening to the continuous chewing sounds on the other end, and countless black lines appeared on his forehead: "So why did I have to change into this outfit?"
"Crunch, crunch... That's because your brother's status as a client isn't simple... crunch," the chip girl's voice mingled with the sound of potato chips cracking. "Besides, I'm not short of money. Just tell me what you want, and I'll give it to you!"
The woman on the other end of the earpiece was one of Lu Mingze's subordinates, a woman known as "Potato Chip Girl".
He didn't know why he had such a nickname until he put on the headset connected to the other person today and found out its origin.
That god can eat potato chips for a full three hours?!
This girl hasn't stopped talking since we started communicating three hours ago!
Lu Mingfei glanced down at the designer clothes he was wearing and suddenly felt an urge to throw his headset into the sink. He rubbed his temples. "That's not the point, is it? What kind of commission did Lao Tang actually take?"
It's nice to have someone spend money on you, but Lu Mingfei has changed. He's no longer the kind of person who could be happy for an entire afternoon over a few dollars.
Sometimes money is a problem, but other times, money is not a problem at all.
Because he doesn't care anymore.
"Crunch, crunch..." The potato chip girl continued munching happily, but her voice lowered. "Someone posted a commission on a hunter's website to deal with an unusual animal, specifically a dragon, offering 10."
Lu Mingfei's eyes flickered slightly.
"RMB?"
"Are you kidding me? It's US dollars!"
Chip Girl rolled her eyes. That was a commission from a hunter website, an international and open bounty website. How could it possibly be settled in RMB?
This price is enough to drive any nobody crazy, including low-level newbies like Lao Tang who usually just "find cats and dogs".
"Originally, this kind of commission should have been handled by someone of a higher rank, but the problem is... anyone of a higher rank would know the inside story of 'special animals' and choose to avoid it... but only a clueless newbie would take it."