Lu Mingfei, who had read Dragon Clan before slaying the dragon

"By the way, Mingming, didn't you say you would take me for a ride in your Bugatti Veyron? Where's the sports car?" Old Tang fumbled for the car keys on Lu Mingfei's body in a familiar manner.

"I forgot to tell you." Lu Mingfei slapped his head. "I got the sports car, but I haven't had time to get a US driver's license yet, so... next time, next time for sure!"

"Hahaha, you're bragging!" Old Tang put his arm around Lu Mingfei's shoulders and considerately took out the keys to an old Chevrolet. "Let's go. I never expected you to actually get a Bugatti Veyron. Do you know how many zeros that car has in its price? It'll cost at least six figures to rent it for a week on the rental market!"

Lu Mingfei looked at Old Tang's car keys with peeling paint and smiled without making any excuses.

He felt quite warm.

Old Tang is such a heartless person. If you have a luxury car, he will ride in it. If you don’t have a luxury car, he won’t feel sorry. Instead, he will make jokes to protect your self-esteem.

So he stuffed the shiny new car keys deeper into his pocket.

Chapter 89 A Small Spiritual Redemption

Lu Mingfei and Lao Tang walked out of the airport side by side. The bright sunshine shone through the clouds, bringing with it a hint of afternoon weariness. The wind blowing in New York was different from the wind in Lu Mingfei's hometown. It seemed to be wrapped in the hustle and bustle unique to big cities.

"Old Tang, you ran away with me halfway through your security job. Can you still get your salary?" Lu Mingfei asked.

"Don't worry. My original part-time security job was just to escort people from the plane landing point to the airport gate. This time, there are more people than usual, and everyone is wearing masks. If I ran away, no one would notice."

Old Tang sounded like a seasoned expert the moment he opened his mouth.

"Is today a special day?" Lu Mingfei asked. "I was just about to ask, do Thai celebrities need to hire a dozen or twenty security guards to make such a grand gesture when they leave an American airport?"

"You remind me now." Old Tang slapped the back of his head. "Actually, I was planning on telling you not to come to New York for a while, but we finally got to meet in person, and I didn't want to spoil the fun, so I forgot to tell you."

"Tell me what?" Lu Mingfei was stunned by Old Tang's mysterious tone.

"The nearest one is New York City..." Old Tang leaned close to Lu Mingfei's ear, his voice getting lower and lower.

“It’s a bit weird!”

"Strange?" Lu Mingfei frowned, looking up at the bright sunshine and the bustling city. "Old Tang, have you been watching too many horror movies lately? Or maybe it's just too lonely living alone?"

Old Tang looked around cautiously and pulled Lu Mingfei along, "Let's get in the car first and talk about it after we get on the elevated highway."

Old Tang led Lu Ming to a black Chevrolet parked on the side of the road. The car was very old and didn't even have a screen on the center console. The chassis and the lower sides of the doors were covered with a lot of mud, and it was obvious that the car had not been washed for a long time. The two fan-shaped areas on the front windshield that the wipers could reach were relatively clean, while the rest of the area was covered in gray.

But the interior of the car was okay. It was not as dirty and messy as Lu Mingfei had imagined. Apart from the seats being a little peeling and the interior being a bit old, it was still quite tidy.

There is a row of Q-version One Piece figurines placed under the windshield, and a pair of busty girl models are installed on the center console, with misty humidifying liquid spraying out from between the two pairs of bulges.

"Old Tang, do you love One Piece too?" Lu Mingfei pinched Robin's head and asked with interest.

"Of course, that's a man's romance, isn't it?" Old Tang smiled, started the car and pulled the handbrake.

"Tasteful!" Lu Mingfei gave a thumbs up, then glanced at the humidifier with a busty girl model on the central console and secretly retracted his thumb.

"I don't like that stuffy feeling, and I get really carsick if I'm not in the driver's seat," said Old Tang. "So I always keep the car window open, but the constant wind blowing on my face makes it dry, so I bought a humidifier. Don't be fooled by its small size; it's a genuine Bandai co-branded product, and it's quite expensive!"

"You eat instant noodles for three meals a day, and you're quite willing to do that!" Lu Mingfei rolled his eyes.

“Isn’t money meant to be spent?”

"I don't have any relatives anyway, so I live a carefree and happy life alone."

"But in our line of work, you never know when someone might suddenly disappear. If someone dies and you haven't spent all your money, wouldn't that be sad?"

Even when talking about such a sad topic, Old Tang maintained his usual cheerful tone.

Lu Mingfei looked at Old Tang, whose face was filled with joy and smiles were everywhere. Lu Mingfei knew that Old Tang was really optimistic, as if the blood of joy was flowing in his veins.

But when he heard what Old Tang said, he suddenly remembered a sentence:

When you carry too much, you will become a mountain and you will no longer be yourself.

If one day he collapsed on the thorny path beneath his feet, would Old Tang reunite with his brother and both become Dragon Kings? Would his senior brother and Xia Mi engage in a life-or-death battle? Would Eri bleed to death, helpless, deep in the Red Well?

Will anyone commemorate themselves? How will people commemorate themselves? Will they build a church or cut a rose?

Lu Mingfei suddenly felt a little sad.

The engine started, the black Chevrolet body shook twice and then rushed out, following the turbulent traffic towards the highway.

Old Tang turned on the car stereo, and a melodious male voice and piano melody floated in the small space of the car. It was a classic old English song.

"Hey Jude" by The Beatles.

The disc rotates slowly in the CD player, as if pressing down the flashback time to slowly flow, and the story unfolds like a dialogue.

"Hey Jude, don't make it bad"

“Take a sad song and make it better”

“Remember, to let her into your heart”

“Then you can start to make it better”

……

The gentle and lyrical male voice echoed in the carriage. Old Tang's head swayed to the beat of the melody. He kept humming along, as if to show off his singing talent. His voice once drowned out the original singer, but it was a little out of tune.

As if he realized that his words made Lu Mingfei feel a little uncomfortable, he jokingly replaced "Jude" in the lyrics with "Mingming".

Lu Mingfei looked at Old Tang, who was looking at him with his eyebrows raised, the peaks of his eyebrows jumping up and down, but the ends of his drooping eyebrows remained motionless, like two seaweeds rooted in the seabed and swaying with the waves. Lu Mingfei couldn't help but burst out laughing.

"Old Tang, someone told me that I would overturn the world. Do you think this burden is heavy?" Lu Mingfei suddenly asked loudly.

"Heavy! Really fucking heavy!" Old Tang also responded loudly, "But when you decide to overturn the world, tell your brother about it. I'll accompany you to overturn this broken world and we'll all be done together, hahahaha!"

“And anytime you feel the pain”

"Hey Mingming refrain" (Hey Mingming! Be patient)

“Don't carry the world upon your shoulders”

“Nanananana…”

Lu Mingfei was smiling, and Old Tang was smiling too. The Chevrolet was running very fast with this healing song in the air, as if leaving all the troubles and worries in the world behind.

……

After the black Chevrolet took Lu Mingfei and Lao Tang away, at the gate of Kennedy International Airport, flames rose like giant pythons and bloomed like red flowers, and black smoke billowed and covered the sky.

A disaster of colossal proportions has just occurred here.

Fire trucks came from afar with sirens blaring, and countless news media rushed to tell each other and rushed over.

The source was an unexplained explosion in the vehicle that Thai actress Ken Paisa was riding in, which affected dozens of vehicles and countless pedestrians around the airport.

It was estimated that the remains of Kempaisha, his assistant and the 17 security guards accompanying him were charred and almost completely burned.

Chapter 90 The Skinner

The black Chevrolet made a huge arc on the curve of the highway, the tires gripping the ground made a harsh friction sound, and the car body sped like a knife.

"Old Tang, you're a really good driver!" Lu Mingfei, who was sitting in the passenger seat, felt a little dizzy from the shaking.

"I've practiced!" Hearing his brother's praise, Old Tang's lips curled up with a boastful arc, and he gently tapped the steering wheel. "Sometimes when I can't get any hunting work, I'll try to join the rally or something. If I'm lucky, I can even win a place and get some prize money."

"By the way, Old Tang, what did you mean when you said that New York City is very weird recently?" Lu Mingfei suddenly remembered this sentence.

"This matter... first came out from our circle, which is the hunter website I mentioned to you." Old Tang's voice suddenly became low.

"It's a bit weird to say. At the beginning, an anonymous employer posted a task on the website, saying that a dangerous guy named 'Skin-peeler' appeared in New York City." Lao Tang said.

"'Skin-peeler'? What the hell? Skin police? Stripper?" Lu Mingfei's English is not bad, but he never thought that these two words would be combined together one day.

"It's the 'Flayer,' or the 'Skin Stripper'!"

Old Tang said with a gloomy expression, "The person who put up the reward initially offered $100,000 for 'Skin-peeler,' just to buy his true identity. No one had heard of this person before, but after the post went live, someone claiming to be 'Skin-peeler' actually popped up."

"One hundred thousand US dollars is just to buy an identity. It's not a small amount. There should be many people willing to investigate. Old Tang, have you ever thought about getting this reward?" Lu Mingfei asked.

"You have to spend it as well as earn it!" Old Tang shook his head. "With this amount and this mission, naturally there are many bounty hunters willing to take it. After all, it's just an identity investigation, which sounds much easier than those life-threatening tasks... But then, something strange happened."

"Hmm?" Lu Mingfei frowned.

"The hunters who accepted this mission... are all dead!" Old Tang gripped the steering wheel tightly and said shockingly.

"died?"

"Yes, everyone who got involved in this mission died, one after another, and their deaths were quite tragic. When each body was discovered, the skin had been scraped off and the bodies were bloody and mangled!" Old Tang said in a heavy tone.

"It's impossible that they were skinned alive. A living person wouldn't be able to endure such torture. The perpetrators must have killed first and then skinned them," Lu Mingfei analyzed. "Then what was the cause of death for the victims? Were they all the same?"

"That's exactly what's weird!" Old Tang slammed the steering wheel. "Aside from having their skin peeled off, there aren't any fatal wounds on the victim's body. Don't you think this is bizarre?"

Lu Mingfei frowned. He vaguely felt that this matter... might be related to mixed-bloods!

"If it's just a mission to investigate identities, one hundred thousand US dollars is indeed a huge profit, but if it means risking their lives, why are there so many people willing to die?" Lu Mingfei asked.

"Because the employer wants to raise the price, he's set up a bounty pool for his missions. Every time a detective fails, the reward in the bounty pool goes up by $100,000!" Old Tang turned up the volume of the car stereo a few decibels. "This mission seems like a deadly curse, but because of the added bonus and the dignity of being a hunter, many people still try to take it, hoping for a lucky break, but in the end, they all lose their lives!"

"So how much money has the bonus pool accumulated now?" Lu Mingfei asked, stroking his chin.

"One million." Old Tang's voice became louder. "A full one million US dollars!"

"So nine hunters have died? The murderer is a serial killer." Lu Mingfei's eyes were dark.

"Serial killers usually choose very specific targets, such as women, children, or special groups. What do these serial killers have in common? People who want to investigate my identity? That doesn't make sense... And that anonymous employer sounds strange too..."

The most important thing is, this matter shouldn’t involve Old Tang, right?

Lu Mingfei tried to put himself in the murderer's shoes and think about the murderer's reasoning and methods, but there were too many doubts in the whole thing, and the useful information he had from Old Tang was not enough.

In fact, he has practiced his "profiling" skills privately over the years, but it seems that he is still not as good as a natural profiler.

Lu Mingfei tilted his head and squinted his eyes to look out the window at the huge steel forest in the distance. The wind blew from the border of the city and blew his black hair behind his head. The rustling sound echoed in his ears. The north wind seemed to be silently telling Lu Mingfei the unknown secrets of this prosperous and materialistic city.

There was sadness in my mind, and it seemed that even the air was mixed with a faint smell of blood.

"Don't even think about it." Old Tang's humorous voice interrupted Lu Mingfei's thoughts. "Just don't be so impulsive as to accept that mission. We're neither Sherlock Holmes nor the Dark Knight. We're just two ordinary civilians. Even a curse from some supernatural being wouldn't fall on us!"

"Let's go, I'll treat you to dinner!"

Looking at Old Tang's face which was gloomy for less than three minutes and then immediately turned cloudy and sunny, Lu Mingfei also smiled.

"makes sense."

……

The sky in New York is not as blue and clear as that in Chicago, but the clouds are much lower. The white clouds cover the top of the head like several curtains as big as the sky, and New York City is a dense forest made of steel.

All kinds of luxury cars sped past on the road, and the city's big screens were broadcasting today's financial index of the New York Stock Exchange. Even in the cold autumn, there were still female office ladies wearing tight skirts and black stockings crossing the zebra crossing with notebooks in their hands. The boundaries between the city's hustle and bustle and quiet were blurred.

The black Chevrolet crossed the wide street and stopped at a long intersection.

"Chinatown?" Lu Mingfei looked up at the huge blue plaque on the red and yellow archway and rolled his eyes. "You brought me here to eat because you're worried that my Chinese stomach won't be able to adapt to the local New York cuisine?"

"Let's be frank. I know the owner here, so I can get a discount!" Old Tang hooked his arm around Lu Mingfei's neck and forcibly pulled him inside. "But to be honest, the Chinese food in that restaurant is really good!"

Coming all the way to New York only to eat at a Chinese restaurant? This made Lu Mingfei feel the same depressing feeling as if he had spent money on a trip only to sleep in a hotel all day!

Under the bright sunshine, the young men walked side by side through the crowded streets.

No one knew that a curse-like disaster... was quietly approaching.

Chapter 91: The Need to Save Eri

"Mingming, I'm just asking you, is this Chinese food authentic?"

In a small Chinese restaurant deep in the alleys of Chinatown, Old Tang asked Lu Mingfei incoherently while shoveling fragrant white rice into his mouth, looking like a starving ghost who had not eaten for several days.

"Authentic... I've never seen more authentic Chinese food than this." Lu Mingfei looked at the table full of dishes in front of him, his hand holding the chopsticks suspended in mid-air, as if he didn't know where to start for a moment.

Lu Mingfei spoke from his heart.

On the old wooden dining table, which has a sense of age, there are various plates. Whether it is the stir-fried pork with chili in a green bowl or the shredded pork with fish flavor in a white porcelain plate, they are all stir-fried with onions, ginger, garlic and chili peppers. In addition, each dish is infused with two Chinese souls - doubanjiang and Lao Gan Ma.

Hmm... no foreigner's stomach could handle all of this at once, right? Not to mention foreigners, even Lu Mingfei, a southern Chinese, was somewhat unable to accept it.

"Old Tang..." Lu Mingfei remained silent. There was a question he had wanted to ask since he took the first bite of the dish. "Don't you think this dish is a little... salty and spicy?"

Lu Mingfei asked very tactfully. After all, it was Old Tang who brought him here with great enthusiasm, and he didn't want to discourage him. Moreover, looking at Old Tang eating voraciously, a trace of self-doubt flashed through his mind. Could it be that his taste was too bland?

But Old Tang's next answer instantly dispelled Lu Mingfei's doubts and confirmed his belief that the problem was not with him.

"Really? I've always thought your food was too bland." Old Tang scooped up a mouthful of rice covered in vegetable juice. "It's like instant noodles. Whether they're American or Chinese, they're all too bland, like eating plain noodles. That's why I usually choose the strongest flavored instant noodles. I always give each bowl at least three seasoning packets."

Listening to Old Tang's nonchalant tone, Lu Mingfei opened his mouth but couldn't utter a word. He thought that such a strong taste was quite unusual and rare!