When I drove up to the pawnshop, a very familiar, beat-up Hongqi was already there. Before I could even see the license plate, Fei Sankou had already stuck his head out of the driver's seat and grinned at me a few times.
I got into the passenger seat without thinking and asked, "What's up?"
Fei Sankou said with a smile, "That's good news."
I sighed and said, "Every time you come to me, you say it's good news, but you never actually give me any money to spend."
Fei Sankou said, "You don't seem to have a good impression of our National Security Bureau?"
I quickly waved my hand: "Don't make baseless accusations." We know from movies that only low-level spies use guns to kill people; real spies just pull out a mechanical pencil and press it... without anyone noticing. I was especially afraid that Fei Sankou would pull something out of his pocket and press it at me.
As a result—Fei Sankou reached into his pocket, pulled out a fountain pen, and gestured in front of me: "What's this?"
This is no challenge for me! I've watched countless spy movies!
I stated without hesitation: "ISO Spy Pen 3rd Generation, fires 1.45CM micro bullets, with a bullet capacity of one."
Fei Sankou scratched his head and said, "ISO? What type of weapon is that?"
How would I know? I keep hearing them talk about ISO (International Organization for Standardization) and stuff, so I just used it on him. We can't afford to lose face, so let's just impress him first!
Fei Sankou couldn't figure it out, so he simply stopped thinking about it, handed the pen to me and said, "Here, take it."
I carefully caught it with both hands, and asked with a trembling heart, "Who are we going to kill this time?"
"...You should check it first."
I carefully unscrewed the pen, and from the nib to the ink cartridge to the cap, it looked just like any other fountain pen. I exclaimed sincerely, "It's really well made, just like a regular pen."
Fei San said, "This is just an ordinary pen. I bought it on my way here for 10 yuan."
I held the pen above my head, examining it from side to side: "No way, why would you give me a pen?"
Fei San said, "I just want you to understand that we are just ordinary people. Don't think of our National Security Bureau as something mysterious and terrifying."
I nodded repeatedly in shame, awkwardly picking up a small stone lion that was used as decoration on the front of the car and playing with it, while continuing to listen to Lao Fei's lecture.
Old Fei said, "Let's get down to business. This is really good!"
"What?"
“There’s a Sanda Open in Singapore. Our idea is that we don’t need to select anymore; we can just pick from your school.”
My eyes lit up. I'd heard Li He mention this to me before; it was definitely a great opportunity. Singapore, what a wonderful place! It would be like a tourist destination! More importantly, by sending all the heroes away, wouldn't "Fighting Against Heaven" lose its target? Plus, with Fang La now at our school, the battle would never happen again.
I asked, "How many people can go?"
Lao Fei said, "There are 11 levels in total, with 2 players in each level. As for the team doctors, support staff, and other personnel, we'll send as many as we need."
I said, "Okay, 100 spots should be enough for our school."
"Tsk tsk, what a big talker. What are all those people going to do?"
I said, "Besides the competition team members, don't we need to visit and learn from others? What makes us qualified to go global? Experience is very important!"
Fei Sankou waved his hand repeatedly: "Let's talk about it after you've finalized the list, anyway, we still need to review it."
My eyes blinked rapidly, my mind racing to form a list. To be honest, if things weren't so turbulent right now, I'd love to take Baozi to Singapore for a trip. Of course, I had a purpose in asking for 100 spots. We already have quite a few teachers at our school. Aside from the "good guys," Cheng Fengshou, Tong Yuan, Duan Tianlang, and their group at Yucai all have their own agendas. Tong Yuan is already head over heels in love, and the rest either want to expand their own factions or are only following me because they're broke and can't make ends meet. Now I'm going to use this opportunity to show them that Yucai isn't some small fry; it's an organization that frequently travels abroad. Do you think they won't stick around here?
Fei Sankou suddenly said, "Oh, by the way, I have something to ask you."
My heart sank. I realized that what he said at the beginning was basically business, or you could say good things, but what followed as an "incidental" matter was his main purpose.
I mechanically played with the stone lion and asked, "What's wrong again?"
Old Fei said, "A couple of days ago, our central hospital reported that there was a person in a vegetative state named Ran something in the hospital..."
I casually replied, "Ran Dongye."
Old Fei said, "Yes, yes, it's Ran Dongye. She was almost brain dead, but suddenly disappeared from the hospital. Later, she was found perfectly fine at your school. Did you know about this?"
I instinctively said, "No..." but then quickly changed my words to, "I know."
"Do you know or not?"
"I know a little, so what?"
"Oh, we thought this matter was quite valuable for research, so we persuaded all the reporters who came to interview us to turn back in order to prevent a large-scale leak."
I scratched my head and said, "No wonder there were no media interviews."
Fei Sankou suddenly asked, "This has nothing to do with you, right?"
I forced a smile and said, "How could this have anything to do with me? I'm not a doctor."
"Oh, I was just saying that if you really had that ability, you wouldn't be staying here. It's just a pity that my third aunt is paralyzed on one side. I thought there was hope."
I thought to myself that I did have a solution, but I was afraid that after your third aunt took the medicine, she would find herself transformed into Empress Dowager Cixi and would surely cause your third aunt's husband a lot of trouble.
Just then, I heard Fei Sankou mutter to himself, "That's strange. Why were there so many people from your school there that day?"
Cold sweat instantly soaked my shirt. I admit I underestimated the power of the nation; Old Fei was clearly giving me a warning. I tossed the stone lion back and forth between my hands, speechless.
Old Fei looked at the lion in my hand and said, "You'd better not play with it like that; it's actually a plastic bomb."
I hurriedly and respectfully put the little lion back in its place—and you call yourselves ordinary people? Who of you keeps a plastic bomb in their car for no reason?
Chapter Ninety-Seven: A War Between Two