Dragon Clan: Lu Mingfei Doesn’t Want to Become a Night City Legend

Chapter 96 Lu Mingfei Never Plants a Flag

The grand internal strife comedy between Lu Mingfei and David attracted the attention of all mercenaries and even middlemen in Night City. The underground world couldn't help laughing, and the atmosphere was filled with joy.

[One week later]

call------

The car passed through densely populated blocks. When I looked up while holding the steering wheel, I could see the elongated white light and shadow of the street lamps, like a stroke that wiped out the neon lights of the city at night, denying the hustle and bustle and splendor, and plunging into a residence as quiet as a crematorium.

When David Martinez returned to his residence, he opened the door and saw his girlfriend Lucy leaning against the wall.

She was holding a chocolate bar in her mouth instead of tobacco. Her gorgeous face with red eyeshadow looked a little irritated and speechless. She leaned against the wall with her arms crossed, looking up to point forward.

David turned his head to look.

Snap.
I only saw Lu Mingfei cleaning the spaghetti with a plate in his hand.

"Hey, if I understand correctly, we should be in the Cold War period now."

David stepped forward.

"Let's put it this way. Boss, you don't pay me, so where am I going to find food? I can't always bother Lao Wei."

"Then you can bother me often?"

"Who said that? I'm troubling the big sister. Who are you?"

Lu Mingfei put down the spaghetti with confidence and nodded to Lucy.

"Grateful!"

"Don't come over. Even if you do, I won't cook dinner for you next time." Lucy crossed her arms, looking helpless. "At best, I'll just order takeout."

"clear."

Lu Mingfei stood up and walked out. When he passed David, he suddenly jumped up, twisted his hands and tilted his butt backwards, like a drunk dancing on the dance floor in the middle of a nightclub. David interpreted this as a "provocation".

After closing the door, David finally let out a long sigh.

“It’s terrible.”

"That being said, you are really angry with him." Lucy chewed half of the chocolate bar, returned to the sofa and sat down, staring at the night view in a daze.

"You are the one. Don't cook for him casually. It will make him think you are supporting him."

"I do support him, and your conflict with Lu has nothing to do with me."

Unable to argue, David simply sat on the sofa.

"Qiwei also said something similar to me today."

With his eyes downcast, the man recalled what happened this morning and touched his face.

The feeling became more real. Although David didn't want to admit it, the fact that Lu Mingfei had forced S'An Westin to shut down for a week did help him recover.

"She said that my reputation is being overtaken by Lu Mingfei."

This is an extremely dangerous signal.

As I said before, as a leader, having subordinates who are too capable is itself a happy burden.

Although things will get done much better, in the eyes of outsiders, this is a sign of disqualification as a leader. As time goes by, people will focus more on Lu Mingfei.

It would be fine if David was a commander, but he is a fighter.

Already, been caught up?
David's mind began to flash back those scenes in fragments.

Qi Wei's ridicule of herself this morning, and earlier, a dark-skinned cyber-strong man once said to herself with a smile -

"Aren't you a very fast runner, David?"

Mann, this time, I seem to be caught up.

Seeing David's lonely eyes, Lucy felt a little bit reluctant, so she tried to help him speak.

"Even though she says that, Qiwei herself is actually quite optimistic about Lu Mingfei."

"He's a good kid, a good person who shouldn't exist in Night City. From what I know about Qi Wei, she's simply trying to help Lu Mingfei test your true feelings, which is why she's using sarcastic words to provoke you. I've never seen her praise anyone."

"Yeah, testing my attitude." David sneered as his body trembled. "Everyone thinks I'll be replaced—Lucy, you think so too, right?"

!

Lucy's face turned grim.

"David!!"

"This is good, isn't it? After all, even if it's not me who dreams of going to the moon—"

Snapped.

Anger immediately appeared on Lucy's expression of pity. She could not accept David's insult to her. Her whole pretty face was distorted at this moment, and the corners of her eyes trembled distressingly.

Instead of slapping him like the heroine in a TV drama, Lucy just stood up, and without saying a word, opened the door without looking back.

"Lu Mingfei! Press the elevator button!"

"Why?!?"

David looked at Lucy who was leaving with a calm look in his eyes. He lay back and only after a long time did he let out a long sigh.
-
"Idiot! Asshole! Shit!! David Martinez!!"

David felt better, but Lu Mingfei in the elevator was in trouble.

He didn't know why the young couple started arguing and slammed the door and left just seconds after he left the house. What was even more unfortunate was that he didn't even run away and was blocked by Lucy in the elevator, listening to him scolding his own boss.

"David Martinez isn't a bad word, is he?"

"Whose side are you on? Who gave you dinner?"

"I firmly support the policy of Big Sister Lucy as the sole leader!" Lu Mingfei saluted immediately.

Lucy no longer had the heart to complain about Lu Mingfei's antics. She just felt like a fire was about to burn her from the inside out, reducing her to ashes.

"That idiot! Does he really think he's a good actor?"

Lucy hammered the inner wall of the elevator with one hand, and her angry voice echoed in the enclosed space.

"To put it bluntly, he's just trying to push me away! What's with the idea of ​​not being able to stop? He's so stubbornly clinging to that thing of his, does he really think he's special?"

Naturally, Lucy didn't feel that David meant what he said.

She could see what David meant.

This is Night City.

A hell full of crises.

David wants to help Lucy realize her wish, but to do this, she needs to spend a lot of money to go to the moon - that is not a small amount of money. If she wants to travel there, there may be a chance, but if she wants to settle down, it will be an astronomical figure for a mercenary.

So David keeps taking on difficult tasks in order to realize his dream as soon as possible.

But soon, he encountered a bottleneck.

The load capacity of the prosthesis has reached its limit, and what's worse is that when he is in this position, he has lost the option of 'taking off the prosthesis'.

He offended too many people and provoked too many forces.

This is the price of rapid promotion. To become a legend you must also bear the cross of death.

The power of the prosthesis has become an unremovable poison, corroding the spirit while melting the rationality. If David loses even a little bit, he will be consumed by the fear of "not being able to protect the people around him."

And there were signs of his limits.

Lu Mingfei had noticed David's abnormality as early as the conflict with the Whirlpool Gang, and the subsequent missions only deepened the "wound" time and time again.

David was almost at the end of his race.

Even if Lu Mingfei hadn't forced him to take a week off, David might not have used such a gentle method to drive Lucy away.

If Lu Mingfei hadn't been acting funny all the time, and if David hadn't been a partner who also valued him, constantly obstructing him in various ways without causing him to get stressed, the current situation would have been even worse.

Thinking of this, Lucy held her forehead and sighed.

"Can't he just accept your kindness?"

Opposite Lucy, Lu Mingfei also fell silent.

He likes to talk nonsense and make the atmosphere light-hearted because he hates heavy things the most.

Lu Mingfei likes comedies even in stage plays. He naturally hates endings that cannot have a happy ending.

But what could he do about David's situation?

Even if he didn't, he would do it.

He is no longer, and cannot be, the poor kid who went with the flow and let the people around him cover for him.

This was decided long ago.

"But I think you, Big Sister, are also responsible for the boss's affairs."

"ha!?!"

The sudden questioning made Lucy click her tongue. She stared at Lu Mingfei with an unfriendly look, but her suddenly tightened body language revealed her actual thoughts.

That's right.

"It's because the big sister doesn't want to work with the boss and is always a riddle-maker that makes the boss so anxious." Lu Mingfei muttered about his crimes, and Lucy's face became worse and worse.

Indeed.

Ever since Lu Mingfei met Lucy, this woman had done almost all of her actions behind David's back.

He was 100% sure that Lucy was doing this for David's own good, but without any information exchange between the two sides, this kind of 'prisoner's dilemma' itself was against human nature.

"We've discussed this before, haven't we? Big Sister, you admitted that your target was Arasaka. And since this has been going on for so long that you're unwilling to tell the boss, can I assume this is actually something related to the boss?"

"you--"

"Don't bother to make excuses. I actually asked Qiwei secretly a week ago."

Lu Mingfei said casually.

As early as a week ago, when he and David had their first quarrel, he stopped Qi Wei and asked her to walk back to Night City with him. It seemed like he was just trying to show off, but in fact, he just wanted to ask her, the veteran of the team, for information.

Lucy the Riddler, David was reluctant to say, only Qiwei was an option.

And soon, he reaped the rewards.

"I understand, Big Sister Lucy, that the last time you teamed up with the Boss before I came was the mission you mentioned, the 'Mann' mission. During that mission, you kidnapped someone related to the Arasaka Corporation, right?"

"."

"The Counter-Military Technology Countermeasures Department is a fairly high-ranking position, so you need to constantly find ways to clean up any traces and prevent Arasaka from coming after you. That's what I originally thought, but as a seasoned mercenary, cleaning up any traces isn't a difficult task at all."

Lu Mingfei continued to reason.

At this moment, his [Intelligence] is shining brightly, radiating light at a level that he may never reach again in this lifetime.

"So the only possibility is some kind of [record that can't be easily deleted, and that's related to David and Arasaka]. I don't quite understand what happened after that," Lu Mingfei's tone gradually lowered. "I'm trying to think about the boss's interactions with Arasaka before this mission—the only record is Arasaka Academy."

"I hacked into the Arasaka Academy database, but found nothing noteworthy about the boss besides a few disciplinary violations."

Apart from that 'Tanaka', Lu Mingfei still remembered that when he first came to Night City, he got into trouble because David had provoked this psychopath before.

Coincidentally, Tanaka is the director of Arasaka Corporation's "Military Technology Countermeasures Department" whom David kidnapped in the previous mission.

All the threads seemed to begin to tangle tightly together, forming a regular network.

"Hacking into the academy's internal surveillance cameras revealed a video of the boss rushing into the academy and beating up Tanaka—but that was all."

Beating up a company employee is a minor matter, but now that Father Tanaka has been killed by David, no one will come to retaliate - it can't be that Father Tanaka is very popular within Arasaka Company, so everyone is rushing to take revenge on David?
Impossible, this is Night City, and that is Arasaka Corporation! A cold-blooded slaughterhouse!

Is that the Sian Westin that David exposed in the video?
Indeed, it is military grade, and David, who can use the prosthetic body like that, is indeed "special" - but isn't he just a powerful mercenary?
Could it be that Arasaka is attracted by this [specialness]?
Do you hope to do something with this [special]?

The clue ends here.

Lu Mingfei didn't understand what Lucy was hiding, so he came to ask in person.

Facing Lu Mingfei's questioning, Lucy's expression was extremely conflicted.

She was both surprised and horrified. She was surprised that her disciple's level was so good that he could hack into Arasaka Academy, and she was horrified that he was actually getting closer to the truth step by step.

However, what Lucy concealed was not even known to the people inside Arasaka, let alone Lu Mingfei, an outsider?

Thinking of this, she remained strong and calm. "This matter is very complicated. Those who understand will understand. Those who don't understand should not ask. You—"

"No."

Lu Mingfei answered immediately.

The soft and sticky Lu Mingfei is dead!

"If you still won't tell me, Big Sister, I'll go find the members of Arasaka's 'Counter-Military Technology' team and hack into them. Even if you've been able to conceal a lot of things, the project records will be preserved. If you've deleted all the information related to the Boss, then I'll just have to reverse engineer the 'deleted' information."

"you!!!"

Lucy got anxious and grabbed Lu Mingfei by the collar.

Everyone in Night City likes this, and Lu Mingfei is not afraid anyway. But he saw that Lucy's clothes were quite loose, and grabbing her collar might reveal her private parts, so he simply pinched a strand of Lucy's hair with a big hand and responded with a vicious expression.

"Why are you so anxious? I told you all this when I joined the team! I'm super troublesome! I have to repay you for being nice to me! And there's a high probability that I'll cause you trouble! You knew all this and still brought me into the team! Even if we take a step back, you're not wrong! Come on! Kushinada Lucina! Tell me what happened! Or I'll complain to the boss!"

".!! Don't call me by that name! And Lu Mingfei, you're the fucking middle-class guy!"

If you have a conflict with David, sue Lucy. If you have a conflict with Lucy, sue David!
Looking at the boy's unfazed look and listening to his completely unreasonable nonsense, Lucy felt both angry and amused. However, when she looked into the boy's eyes, she could not see any fear or thoughts in his eyes.

A sincere heart without any hesitation.

Finally, she let go of her hand and leaned against the elevator car as if her bones had been pulled out.

".You really don't look like someone from Night City."

"Thank you."

Lu Mingfei compared to the scissor hand.

(End of this chapter)