dmims 008 The hand grenade in the pencil case
008 The hand grenade in the pencil case
Mingfei stood on the bustling street and curled the corners of his mouth into a smile.
Inside the black sedan, Nono stared at that face from afar, and for no reason felt a tightness in her chest.
That was not the kind of laugh an eighteen-year-old boy should have; it lacked any brightness or carefree spirit, and showed no sign of longing for anything.
She'd seen too many people; each one was like a deck of cards laid out on a table—turn them over and you'd find the bottom, nothing to hide.
But this loser who was walking into the supermarket, she stared at for a long time, but couldn't flip a single card.
Nono connected to the supermarket's internal surveillance system. In the footage, Lu Mingfei was standing in the dry food section, picking up several bags of high-calorie compressed biscuits, and then throwing two large bottles of purified water, several rolls of medical bandages, and a box of anti-inflammatory medicine into his car.
During this process, Lu Mingfei would habitually glance at the ceiling every few minutes.
"What is he looking at?" Ye Sheng's puzzled voice came through the earpiece.
"Load-bearing columns and fire sprinkler heads." Nono took a sip of iced coffee. "He's assessing which area of the supermarket would collapse first in the event of a high-intensity physical impact, and where the safety triangle is."
In the surveillance footage, Lu Mingfei finished paying the bill, stuffed the supplies into his backpack, kept the weight low, and still walked with a casual gait.
He casually fastened the chest strap of his backpack.
He has done this action many times.
The corridors of the underground shelter were narrow, and once the apostle intrusion alarm sounded, everyone had fifteen minutes to reach the designated refuge point. Although he wasn't fast, he never fell behind.
Because Misato Katsuragi had taught him in the first week that the center of gravity of the backpack should be lowered and the straps should be fastened tightly so that it wouldn't wobble when running.
When Miri was teaching him, she fastened the harness for him while explaining, and patted him on the shoulder, saying, "See, it's that simple."
Lu Mingfei looked down at the fastened straps.
It's that simple.
But Miss Misato, why are so many people still left underground forever when the alarm sounds?
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He is not in this world.
Seeing Lu Mingfei come out, Nuonuo threw away her headphones, pushed open the car door, and stepped out with her long legs.
"Professor Guderian told me to keep an eye on you, in case a high-risk individual like you suddenly becomes antisocial." Nono followed him familiarly, swaggering around.
"Oh, thank you for your hard work." Lu Mingfei nodded. "Please give my regards to the professor."
He couldn't even be bothered to give a perfunctory reply, leaving Nuonuo feeling like she was punching cotton, which annoyed her greatly.
A glass-walled office building stood beside the intersection, casting a huge shadow on the floor tiles. Nono walked into the shadow.
Lu Mingfei suddenly stopped, instinctively taking two quick steps to the outside, preferring to be completely exposed to the 38-degree sun rather than step into that huge shade.
Nono was startled. She looked up and saw that the sky was blue and there was nothing there.
The two entered a community library one after the other.
The air conditioning dispelled the heat, and Lu Mingfei occupied a computer, then went to the bookshelf and grabbed a few physical documents. Nuonuo picked up a fashion magazine, sat opposite him, propped her chin on her hand, and stared at him without any attempt to hide her gaze.
The screen was filled with contour maps of Hakone, Japan.
Nono sat opposite him for ten minutes, but couldn't spell anything out.
Typically, she only needs to observe a target for five minutes. By watching how he walks, how he holds a cup, and where his gaze lingers, she can sketch out in her mind the person's family background, personality flaws, and even the basic life trajectory of the past ten years.
But today, this ability that he was so proud of completely failed him.
The information about this person is completely torn apart.
On the surface, he's the kind of loser you'd see anywhere. His T-shirt collar is all frayed from washing, his back is slightly hunched, and when buying a jianbing (Chinese crepe), he haggles with the vendor to add an extra crispy biscuit. If his aunt yells at him, he'll probably shrink back immediately.
But as her profiling delved deeper, it was like hitting a brick wall; even her nose hurt.
The feeling was strange, like she had just opened a worn-out pencil case with Mickey Mouse printed on it, only to find that there were no erasers or pencils inside, but instead a broken hand grenade with the pin pulled out.
"Why are you checking this?" Nono simply closed the book, pulled out the chair in front of him, sat down, and pointed at the screen. "Didn't graduate high school and are you in such a hurry to go on a trip to Japan?"
"Let's go on a pilgrimage to Hakone." Lu Mingfei said casually, as if he were dismissing a child, while scrolling through his mouse.
"So soon? Doesn't your literature club have a gathering tomorrow?" Nuonuo leaned back in her chair, a half-smile on her face, and moved closer. "Chen Wenwen, right? You've liked her for three years. Aren't you afraid that the moment you leave, she'll become someone else's girlfriend?"
"Chen Wenwen..." Lu Mingfei chuckled softly, "She's quite nice. The kind of girl who wears a white dress and quietly reads by the window, she really could easily make my heart flutter back then."
"You back then?" Nono seized on the word.
"People change."
Lu Mingfei closed one webpage and opened another. Suddenly, as if remembering something, he turned his head to look at Nuonuo.
"Your hair," Lu Mingfei said, "is very beautiful."
A gentle breeze rustled the camphor tree leaves.
Nono hadn't heard such clumsy flattery in a long time, but when Lu Mingfei said it, there was no hint of flirting in his eyes, and there was even a trace of sadness.
"...Thank you?" she asked uncertainly.
"Hmm." Lu Mingfei had already turned back to look at the screen.
Nono felt something was off.
Was this guy praising her, or was he thinking about something else?
A socially awkward loser who has had a crush on the class beauty for three years but hasn't dared to confess would never talk about hair color with a girl he's only met twice in this tone.
"Sit closer," Lu Mingfei said again.
"What?"
"Move the chair closer, are you comfortable with your neck tilted to one side?" Lu Mingfei pushed the mouse towards her. "This is a geological cross-section of the southern shore of Lake Ashi. If you're bored, you can help me compare it with the buildings on Google Maps."
"...You're treating me like your assistant?" Nono raised an eyebrow.
Lu Mingfei then realized what he had done, and his fingers paused on the keyboard.
"Sorry," he said, "I'm used to it."
What have you gotten used to? Have you gotten used to having a red-haired girl around? Have you gotten used to being informal with her?
The two sat in the library for a while longer. Lu Mingfei finished looking up what he wanted to find, turned off the computer, and put the books back on the shelf.
As I walked out of the library, the setting sun cast a warm orange glow on the streets.
Lu Mingfei walked ahead, Nuonuo's shadow trailing on the ground, the outline of her hair outlined in a fuzzy red halo by the setting sun.
He stopped and turned around.
Nono almost bumped into him: "Come on, what are you daydreaming about?"
"Sorry," Lu Mingfei continued walking, "What are you having for dinner?"
"what?"
"I was talking about dinner," Lu Mingfei said, looking at her matter-of-factly. "You've been following me since this afternoon, monitoring, tracking, and sitting with me in the library—you've worked for at least five hours. You need to eat, right?"
What I eat is none of your business!
"Aren't you going to have dinner with us?"
"You..." Nono laughed in exasperation, "Little brat, you've got a knack for flirting, huh?"
"Okay." Nuonuo slapped Lu Mingfei on the shoulder, making him stumble.
"Let's go eat at a street food stall!"