Chapter 149: Strangeness in the Ocean (Part 1/2)
Translator: Strivon
Compared to Xie Junping, who completely did not expend effort into role-playing with sincerity, Hu Huaying at least put on a performance. He wore western cowboy clothes and a cowboy hat that sat tilted on his head. Under careful examination, the hat was made out of paper. It was both funny and casual.
Hu Huaying saw how everyone focused their gazes atop his head, and he shook his head rather proudly. "Quite decent, right?"
Luo Nan's hate had yet to fade away. He sneered. "It's way better than some moneyboy."
There were only so many people who were dressed up. One look and anyone could tell who was the moneyboy.
Xie Junping gaped with his mouth, but no words came out. He could only spread his hands in helplessness. Hu Huaying held back from laughing as he slightly tipped the brim of his hat and bowed in thanks.
The ascertained Mr. Moneyboy spoke unhappily, "Let's not talk about trivial matters. Have you confirmed it Hu Huaying?"
Hu Huaying responded, "The Blood Peony will attend for sure."
"What occupation is she dressing up as?"
"Who knows? Just look at her height and we can find her. A tall, beautiful girl of one hundred eighty-five centimeters. She stands out like a crane in a flock of chicken."
As the two officers of the student council discussed the details, Xue Lei turned to ask someone more trustworthy. "Nanster?"
Luo Nan shook his head slightly. He faced the crystal pillar in the center and became a bit spellbound.
When it came to finding people, Luo Nan was an expert among experts. He had scanned three floors above and below with a slight release of his mental senses. However, he didn't find anybody who fit Hu Huaying's description.
Instead, he felt a clear sense of stagnation when his soul strength cut through the crystal pillar. He tried seven different frequencies before he was able to find a precise way to send his psychic waves into the sealed up ocean water.
He found nothing strange besides the fact he had to change frequencies.
Luo Nan first cursed at himself for being stupid. It was impossible for the Blood Peony to hide in the ocean water, in any event. Why did he do something so meaningless?
But his thoughts continued to churn, and he suddenly realized something. This crystal wall could isolate a good portion of psychic wave transmission. The material... no, traces of mutual interference between mental and material planes existed upon it. It was like the crystal wall had been 'blessed'!
Blessed?
Luo Nan looked up. He was unable to see all the way to the top edge of the crystal pillar. Then he looked down. He was unable to see the bottom. A blessing was performed on this much volume?
His chain of logic was shattered just like this.
Xie Junping grumbled to himself to the side. "She's probably not even here yet. Let's wait some more. We can't be too obvious about it. We have to make it seem natural. She's a hard person to deal with."
Hu Huaying said, "It truly is strange. Tang Yi is graduating next year, but it seems like he isn't pursuing further studies. Something about meeting the position of president…. No one can tell what he's thinking."
"A great number of people is certainly needed to be able to guess what he's thinking."
Xie Junping tidied up his sequined suit and sighed. "If we can't find her, then we can't find her. It may not be reasonable to deal with her directly. We should accomplish our objective in a roundabout manner. Let's first get to know the host and use him as a middleman."
Xue Lei was still confused. "Who's the host? Isn’t this a joint activity among five schools?"
"Someone always provides the venue. The Yao Family is a major shareholder of Ocean Sky Cloud City. Their fourth young master, Yao Feng, attends Cloud City School of Business. The reservation for the three stories was done by his hand.”
After explaining this much, Xie Junping grinned and said, "The Yao Family were in the shipping industry back then. They did maritime transportation. They've done some dark business, but Yao Feng has a decent character. What's even more impressive is the fact that his family seems to be old friends with Tang Yi's family."
"They both have stakes in the same equity," corrected Hu Huaying.
"Humph. There're even rumors of his grandfather having a mistress…. In any case, there’s some friendship between them."
Xie Junping's voice quieted to a whisper. He was about to say something a bit taboo, and his gaze even shifted to a corner. "In my opinion, the key to today's mission lies upon Leister's body."
Xue Lei blinked, and he extended a finger to his own nose. "Me?"
"Yes, you!" Xie Junping reached out with a hand to clamp on Xue Lei's thick shoulder. He briefed Xue Lei directly, "Yao Feng is a fanatical fight enthusiast. Of course, he has high standards but has little ability. The results will certainly be great if you chat with him in this field."
Hu Huaying added, "And several people say that Tang Yi is an expert fighter."
Xie Junping finished it up, "So today we will begin with martial arts. Leister, it's all up to you."
"Is it fine like this? Don’t we need to plan some more...?"
Xue Lei far exceeded Luo Nan in being cheerful, but there was not much difference between these two brothers when it came to handling people. Xue Lei thought of the burden he now had and felt a trace of apprehension.
Xie Junping never expected this tall and strong brother to want to turn tail and run. He felt annoyed for not having his expectations met. "The heck are you getting nervous for. This is a social party! Things are very simple when it comes to students! This party is just an excuse to loosen up and have fun. The venue, alcohol, beautiful girls, handsome dudes, and a few unspeakable things…. Are you scared that Tang Yi will fall for you? Who cares! Did you train to be a kid or a man?"
"You're the one who's the kid!" Xue Lei raised his voice, but then his voice died down. "Do you play around this crazily all the time?"
"Every party has its own benefits. The more you take part in this sort of activities, the more you know where you are on the social ladder. You know who you can work with in the future, you know who you can use, you know who you can betray, and you know who you need to stay far, far away from…."
Xie Junping played around, speaking in a whisper. He saw Xue Lei's expression and spat out some saliva in laugher. "You really believed me, man! We're just students. Students! I'm just playing around. If we don't get along, then we'll get down to it. If we do get along well, then we'll get down even harder. Just make some friends and everything is good. In any case, we're just speculating right now. You might not even need to see Tang Yi. We're just giving her face. Okay, let's go go go!"
Xie Junping dragged Xue Lei and their group went around the viewing platform. They made a few turns and arrived at an open-style bar in the corner. There was a circular sofa here, but there were no lights. There was only the deep blue illumination spilling out from the world's first water tank pillar.
Seven people sat on the sofa. Four males and three females.
"Found the host," whispered Xie Junping. He then walked forward with large strides until he reached the outside of the circular sofa. He smacked his palm on the back of the sofa, scaring the person closest to him. The person turned their head to look and responded with a playful curse. Thus began a conversation.
Since the lighting was dim and Luo Nan was refraining from cultivating in the eyes orifice, Luo Nan naturally used his mental senses to better distinguish the scene. Soon he sensed that the three males out of the seven people, not including Yao Feng who was chatting with Xie Junping, were quite conspicuous.
Two of them were younger out of the three; they were in their twenties. Then there was one who was a bit older, around his thirties. Their ages were beyond the scope of this party.
Xie Junping began introducing his friends, "Yep, we're best buds and we came here together for some fun. Xue Lei is a young martial artist. He's first-rate. You know the event at Frost River Reality, right? Leister was one of the last few people to be evacuated from Fudong Main Street.
"Luo Nan was also one of the last few people to be evacuated. He is an extremely outstanding psychological expert. He also saved my life…."
Luo Nan's mood became complex as he heard this. It was rare for Xie Junping to use such wordings to brag about him and Xue Lei, but what the heck did he mean by him being a psychological expert?
Yao Feng also pondered things in his mind. Xie Junping used to always have a sexy companion by his side. What was with the sudden change in character? Xie Junping still possessed the same enthusiastic attitude, though. He took the initiative to stick wristbands together and exchange contact information.
Then Yao Feng turned around to prepare introducing the people on his side.
Suddenly, someone spoke up, "Frost River Reality? Why, that's interesting. My sister's been stingy about that mess. No one's told me anything clear about it. Why don't you guys tell me what happened?"
The person who spoke was one of the three males that Luo Nan had paid attention to. He sat the farthest inside, and he wore a military uniform. It was true that a soldier was an occupation, but it was hard to avoid suspicion for illegal doings for an ordinary person who was wearing it.
The person was sprawled lazily. His arms hung down from the back of the sofa, and he took up a great deal of space. He had a sloppy appearance.
Xie Junping was displeased when he heard his tone of voice. It was his moment to display his attitude to everyone else. When did it become this guy's turn to be in the spotlight? Xie Junping felt the arrogance in the man's words, and his heart burned with fury, but then Hu Huaying gave him a light jab in the ribs as a reminder.
Yao Feng did something as well. He used the dim lighting of the bar to give him a subtle, but fierce glare.
Xie Junping didn't drink alcohol nor take drugs. His brain was still very sober. Some thoughts flashed in his mind, and he swallowed the words back down his throat.
Yao Feng seized this moment of silence. "Come come come. Let's first get to know each other. I'll introduce you guys..."
"He Donglou."
The military man raised his hand as if he were answering a roll call. He sounded quite cheerful. "Complete outsiders have come to butt in."
Xie Junping's mind spun in a circle. He really didn't expect the military man to act like someone from a xianxia novel. However, this person didn't appear to be very deep. The approximate nature of the man's temperament could be easily guessed.
Silk-pants. Big silk-pants!
Probably because like repels like, Xie Junping found this guy unpleasing to the eye no matter how he looked at him.
Hu Huaying gathered over and reminded him, "Space He!"
It was just two syllables, but the meaning behind them was terrifying. Xie Junping shouted inwardly, Oh crap, to himself. This was the first time he admitted defeat. He was also scared of Luo Nan’s and Xie Junping's reactions, so he quickly used his skills as an actor. He laughed as he said,
"Outsiders? There are no outsiders here. We know each other from here on out. My last name is Xie. I'm Xie Junping, a bored person of leisure."
His hand streaked over Luo Nan and Xue Lei, and stopped while pointing at Hu Huaying. "I've already introduced these two, but I still have one more best bud. Hu Huaying the Third. He's the owner of a great deal of farmland. I feel that the amount of land his family owns will one day extend into the Wilderness."
Xie Junping wanted to blur the focus away from Frost River Reality. Yao Feng was very cooperative in this. He beamed. "The Third's family raises cows. My family raises fish. Our family has always had friendly relations with each other."
Hu Huaying raised his paper hat in greeting.
In the innermost area of the circular sofa, He Donglou laughed merrily, "It really is quite the coincidence. We can be paired up. We also have a martial artist here, and a chauffeur…. Huh? Do doctors and pilots fit together?"
The jump in this brother's train of thought was too sudden. The group of people were a bit speechless. Yao Feng composed himself first. He rushed to steer the conversation back on track. "Let me introduce Feng Jiajun, or Instructor Feng. He is a high-level instructor in the Thunder Falcon Martial Arts Gym. He should be in the same social circle as Xue Lei. We have so many close people. They might even join forces after a bit of interaction."
Feng Jiajun was just over twenty. He was older than Xue Lei by around five years, but he was still young. When compared to Xue Lei, he was slightly thinner and a bit more handsome. He came from the sort that was very popular with girls.
"Xue Lei? You must be new in the circle. Well, now we know each other."
There was a bit of haughtiness contained in Feng Jiajun's words, but he still followed the customs within his social circle. He stood up and was about to cup his hands in a bow, but then his gaze somewhat changed directions to land upon Xue Lei's chest. The symbol of Xue Lei's daoguan was located there: the design of a three-legged cauldron.