manynovel 016 Absolute Silence
016 Absolute Silence
Kassel College, Lionheart Office.
Chu Zihang was browsing the Night Watchers forum when a pinned post with a red banner had a shocking title: [Gossip] Shocking! Red-haired witch elopes to Japan with an S-class freshman! They're seen together intimately at a Hakone hot spring hotel!
The poster's ID was "Twilight Shines," and the first comment had eight characters: "Publicly funded travel, the world is going to the dogs."
Chu Zihang scrolled down; "Twilight Glow" had posted a screenshot of the academy's financial statement on the second floor. Nuonuo's business trip application was blatantly written: S-level student psychological assessment and environmental adaptation assistance, location: Hakone, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan, with a string of zeros following the budget. The third floor started veer into a misery contest; someone said the S-level student had been kidnapped by the red-haired witch, someone else retrieved airport surveillance footage, saying, "Look how naturally they got off the plane in the middle of the night."
He drew two more lines downwards.
"An S-class character should naturally receive S-class treatment."
"Did Caesar cleverly use his honey trap?"
Chu Zihang zoomed in on the airport photos in the forum post, focusing on Lu Mingfei's blurry face.
"I sent it."
Susie sat down next to him with her coffee, glancing at the screen: "You follow gossip too?"
"This is not your ID."
"I'm on the smaller side." Susie bit her straw. "Look at this—the two of them are staying at a high-end hot spring inn by Lake Ashi. Tsk tsk, I don't know whether to sympathize with the S-class or Caesar."
Chu Zihang did not reply. He scrolled back to the top of the post and reopened the picture.
"Chu Zihang?"
Susie waved her hand in front of his eyes and found that his gaze was already unfocused. She shook her head, picked up her coffee, and turned to leave.
Lu Mingfei.
He sat on the back of the chair, staring blankly at the name.
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Tokyo, Genji Heavy Industries headquarters building.
As Genji stepped out of the elevator, he had originally planned to visit Erii. Just as he reached the middle of the corridor, his secretary, dressed in a black suit, quickly approached him.
"Young Master, the patriarch requests that you proceed to the top-floor conference room immediately."
"Now?"
"The representatives of the Snake Clan have all arrived."
Genjiro didn't ask any more questions; something that could make Tachibana Masamune summon all eight families at the same time couldn't be small.
The meeting room door opened, revealing a long table filled with people. Tachibana Masamune sat to the right of the head of the table, with an empty chair to his left.
Yuan Zhisheng walked over and sat down.
"What is it?"
Masamune Tachibana said, "The S-class from headquarters arrived in Japan three days ago."
Genjiro said, "I know about this."
All eyes turned to them.
"Headquarters gave us advance notice," Genjiro said, leaning back in his chair. "We hope you can provide some assistance. I've arranged a car and booked a hotel."
Fuma Kotaro stared at him expressionlessly.
"You even sent people."
"One driver," Yuan Zhisheng said, "who is only responsible for pick-up and drop-off and daily communication."
"What did he do in Hakone?"
"Playing with Caesar Gattuso's girlfriend." Genji smiled. "Perhaps this is the behavior of an S-class."
Fuma Kotaro said, "Young Master's observations are very down-to-earth."
Genjiro put away his ambiguous smile: "Mr. Fuma, please continue."
Fuma Kotaro opened the document in front of him, pulled out a page, and pushed it to the center of the table.
"The Sakurai family's informant at the hotel has submitted a report." He pointed to the paper. "After arriving in Hakone, the target showed a clear purpose. He precisely avoided all tourist routes, choosing a direction that passed through the area with the thickest strata."
Miyamoto Shigeo frowned slightly.
"More specifically, he has a professional judgment on geological structures. He knows where the natural rock layers are, where the artificial backfill is, and how much overhead pressure a section of the air-raid shelter can withstand. The route he takes is like searching for some kind of underground structure."
"Underground burial sites?" the head of the Ryoma family interjected. "There are quite a few Kofun period burial sites in the Hakone area."
"That's the strangest part," Kotaro Fuma chimed in. "We're certain there's nothing there. But the most crucial thing is this surveillance footage."
The screen at the front of the conference room lit up.
The image shows Lake Ashi at night, taken from a distance, looking down from the mountainside. The angle is slightly off, likely taken with a telephoto lens zoomed in. The lake water ripples with silvery waves under the moonlight, and the trees along the shore look like a blurry ink stain.
In the video, Lu Mingfei takes a step forward and his foot touches the water.
Yuan Zhisheng leaned forward slightly.
A massive golden screen of light unfolded beneath Lu Mingfei's feet, its hexagonal structure layered and extending outwards like a piece of suddenly solidified amber, obscuring half the lake's surface. Lu Mingfei stood firmly on that golden expanse, as if standing on solid ground.
The image zoomed in, revealing the details of the water's changes. Suddenly, chaotic ripples appeared on the water at the edge of the golden screen, with wave crests and troughs colliding and the lake water churning up fine white foam.
But the water directly below the screen seemed to be pressed down from above by something. All ripples disappeared the moment they approached that area, and the water surface became absolutely flat, without even a ripple, like a polished black mirror.
Immediately afterwards, Lu Mingfei in the scene seemed to be enduring some kind of immense pain. He slowly bent over, kneeling on the lake surface, with golden light supporting him on the water.
The red-haired girl rushed into the water from the lake shore. She stepped onto the golden expanse, squatted down, and put her hands on Lu Mingfei's shoulders.
Tachibana Masamune pressed the remote control, and the screen rewound to the last frame. Lu Mingfei was being supported by Nuonuo, his head hanging low. The golden light screen on the lake was fading, peeling off piece by piece from the edges, turning into fragments of light that sank to the bottom of the water.
"What kind of incantation is this?" Genji asked.
Miyamoto Shigeo took off his glasses and wiped them: "I don't know."
"You're the head of the Miyamoto family, what about the analysis from the Ganryu Research Institute?"
"Of all the known sequences of Words of Power, none produce a hexagonal light screen. But the painful manifestation of an S-rank is very similar to entering a state of spiritual vision after a spiritual resonance."
Yuan Zhisheng looked at Lu Mingfei on the screen.
"If he really did enter the realm of spiritual vision," Genji said, "it means there really is something there."
Tachibana Masamune placed the remote control on the table, making a soft sound.
All eyes were once again focused on him.
"I called you here to let you know about this situation." He looked at Genjiro. "When the S-ranks from headquarters arrived in Japan, we provided them with the necessary assistance according to regulations, that's all."
"We cannot determine at this time whether the S-class's actions are due to personal will or the Academy's instructions," said Tachibana Masamune. "But since he is only observing for now, we will not give any response until he leaves."
Meeting adjourned.
The sound of chairs being moved rang out as the representatives from the eight families began to leave. Fuma Kotaro paused as he passed Genjiro, seemingly wanting to say something, but ultimately just nodded and went out the door.
There were only two people left in the meeting room.
Genji stood up and walked towards the door, then turned back and asked, "How is Erii doing today?"
"Same as yesterday."
Masamune Tachibana said his gaze fell on the last frame of the video recording.