Chapter 214 The mysterious girl

The emotionless female voice echoed in the small ventilation duct. The darkness completely concealed the other person, making it difficult for Aki to see her face clearly.

Aki was stunned for a moment, and quickly searched her mind to make sure that she had no impression of this voice.

"Who are you?" Aki asked coldly, pointing the muzzle of the Beretta pistol in his arms towards the direction of the sound through his clothes.

Although the other party said that she was here to help her, as a seasoned executive, Aki was alert and would not trust others so easily. However, she did not shoot immediately. After all, the other party had not shown hostility to her so far, so Aki just pointed the gun at the other party to prevent any accidents at any time.

The only thing that made Aki a little uneasy was that the ventilation duct was too dark. She had retreated in a hurry just now and had no time to find a flashlight from her bag. In this almost invisible state, her Word Spirit, Senluo, was completely useless.

"It doesn't matter who I am. You just need to know that you can only get out if you follow me. The road you came from has been blocked, and there are dozens of guns in the curator's office pointing at the exit." said the man in the dark.

Although Aki had a premonition about this and knew that the other party had most likely blocked the exit, she still did not intend to trust the other party easily. After all, the time and location of the other party's appearance were too strange, making it difficult for her not to be on guard.

"Give me a reason to believe you." said Aki.

For a moment, Aki thought the person in front of her had left, because there was no sound in front of her, even the sound of breathing disappeared. Only a long silence suddenly spread in the air, and the person who suddenly appeared merged into the darkness like a drop of ink.

But after a moment, the other party spoke again.

"I'll turn my back to you, and if anything goes wrong, you can shoot me at any time."

After the other party finished speaking, the sound of metal colliding and clothes rustling could be heard in the air. Although it was dark and Aki couldn't see anything, what was incredible was that she actually felt that the person in front of her seemed to have turned over and was facing her with his back.

"I will go my own way from now on. It's up to you whether you follow me or not."

A voice sounded in front, followed by a slight crawling sound. The human breath seemed to disappear in an instant. Aki hesitated for only a moment and immediately followed the direction of the sound.

Although she still hadn't completely put her mind at ease, as the other party said, if the other party had blocked every exit, it would be almost impossible for her to return along the same route. It was only a matter of time before she was caught in the pipe.

Her words do not have strong combat properties like Teacher Mance's "Dustless Land". They are only advantageous in one-on-one situations. In someone else's home court, it is indeed a bit cautious to break out without harming the lives of ordinary people.

Therefore, after a brief thought, Aki decided to trust this person who suddenly appeared in the pipe. Besides, now she seemed to have no better choice than to trust her. If what was waiting for her ahead was really a trap, she could also hold her hostage.

However, the direction in which this mysterious man was crawling was too different from the route Norma had given her in her memory. There were several times when Aki wanted to express doubts about the other party's route, but she held back in the end.

Since I have chosen to follow, I can only trust the other party unconditionally.

The pipes were winding and twisting. Aki hadn't noticed it before when she followed the route given by Norma, but now she realized that the design of the ventilation duct was much more complicated than she had imagined. It seemed that the actual area of ​​this cultural relic counterfeiting factory should be quite large.

But it's normal, after all, the art gallery above alone covers an area of ​​more than 10,000 square meters. Venues of more than 10,000 square meters are common in large countries like China or the United States, but they are quite rare in a small country like Portugal.

In the darkness, she had lost track of time and didn't know how long she had been climbing before she finally saw that someone had opened a hole in the wall of the ventilation duct in front of her, and a little light shone in from the hole.

With the help of this little light source, she was able to clearly see the appearance of this mysterious guide - it's not quite accurate to say appearance, because the other person was covered in a black combat uniform, including the head and face, but it was still possible to tell that it was a girl, because her figure could be described as well-proportioned, and her slender waist was slightly bent downward, like a kitten that was stretching.

The other party's dress was obviously intended to conceal her identity, which did not surprise Aki. She was not naive enough to think that the other party would reveal her appearance so easily. She was just curious about who was behind this mysterious girl and why she happened to appear here when she was in trouble.

The first person to be ruled out is of course the academy, because if the academy sent reserve troops to support her, Norma or Professor Mance would definitely inform her in advance, and there would be no need for the people in the academy to hide their identities from her.

Who would that be?
The Valentine family? Or the Order of Solomon's Temple, the largest mixed-race group in Europe?
The other person turned his head, and the pair of extremely deep and calm blue eyes revealed from the holes in the mask glanced at Aki lightly, as if he could see through what Aki was thinking at the moment.

Aki was actually a little confused by this look, but the mysterious girl didn't say anything. She just turned around and crawled out of the hole in the ventilation duct.

Yaji hurriedly followed him and walked to the cave entrance. He took a look and found that the ventilation duct was almost close to a wall. And someone had dug a path out of the wall. If the people below didn't look carefully, it would be difficult to find that a path had been dug here.

The narrow passage was just wide enough for one person to climb. After entering the cave, Aki couldn't help but ask, "Where does this tunnel lead to?"

"Oh." The other party paused, "This road leads to a nearby sewer."

“Did it already exist?”

"Of course not. I dug it."

Aki was suddenly choked by this answer and didn't know how to respond next.

She actually dug this tunnel? Who would have the time to dig a tunnel in the wall? Or has she and the forces behind her been eyeing this place for a long time? But no matter what, this person's execution ability is too shocking, isn't it? Most people would only think of sneaking in from the art gallery above, who would think of digging a third way out?

It’s no wonder that Norma didn’t tell her that there was another route here. After all, even Norma couldn’t have known that there was a secret passage dug by someone else.

Aki didn't say anything for the rest of the journey, just crawled obediently behind the girl. This distance was not very long, about one kilometer after crawling, Aki saw the light source in front of him getting closer and closer.

The mysterious girl jumped down from the exit first. When Aki climbed to the entrance of the cave, he observed carefully. After confirming that there were no ambushes around, he jumped down behind the girl.

After all, Portugal is an old capitalist country, and the construction of its sewers is generally in good order. The stench of various filth is of course unavoidable, but there are still paths next to the sewage river for municipal cleaning workers to walk on.

"Go straight ahead and you'll see a manhole cover. Climb up the ladder and you'll be able to leave. The manhole cover leads to a park where few people go. You won't be spotted when you climb out, so don't worry. There's a public restroom in the park, so you can wash yourself there," the mysterious girl said. "Aren't you coming with me?" Aki asked.

"I still have things to take care of." The girl said, her voice flat.

"I have one more question."

"explain."

"Why did you help me? And why did you appear at such a coincidence?"

There was another long silence. I didn't know if the other party was thinking about the answer to this question, or if he didn't want to answer it at all. After a while, the mysterious girl said, "I thought about it, I probably can't answer you this question."

Aki noticed that the other party said that she could not answer, which meant that the power behind the other party did not want her to know too many things.

Seeing the girl's answer, Aki did not ask any more questions. Although he had many questions, after all, he had just received help from her, and asking for too much would be too greedy.

"In that case, I'll leave first." Aki nodded, smiled, and said, "Anyway, thank you for your help. If it weren't for you, I probably wouldn't be able to escape."

The mysterious girl shook her head: "No need to thank me, I was just carrying out my mission."

Aki suddenly felt that the mysterious girl in front of her was not good at talking. Every time she started a new topic, she was ruthlessly cut off by her cold answer. Since the conversation had come to this point, Aki did not continue to rack her brains to find a new topic. After simply thanking her, she parted ways with her.

Aki took out her cell phone. It was one o'clock in the afternoon, and four hours had passed without her noticing. She tried to contact Norma and her mentor, Professor Mance, but there seemed to be no signal in the sewer.

After walking about a kilometer forward, Aki saw the manhole cover that the mysterious girl had mentioned. As she climbed up the ladder, she was still worried that there might be a bunch of ambushes waiting for her up there.

However, after climbing out, Aki realized that she had been too sceptical. It was indeed a park with few people. The other party was really there to help her escape.

"But who is the other party?"

Aki was becoming more and more confused.

……

At the same time, in the Valentine family's manor, Lu Mingfei and his friends had finished their lunch and just walked out of the gate.

Although the afternoon arrangement was for Su Xiaoqiang to take Lu Mingfei to visit various tourist attractions in Gulegang, after all, this place was considered a central city of Portugal in ancient times, and it has not suffered any war destruction in modern times, and there are still quite a lot of historical buildings preserved. However, for a single man and a single woman, it was more like a date than a visit with friends from afar.

Su Xiaoqiang wore a Portuguese-style dress today, the hem of which hung slightly above her ankles, revealing a pair of white shoes on her feet. She put her hands behind her back, and took small steps in her white shoes on the country path, looking down at her toes. This little move, a bit like Liu Miaomiao, was just to cover up her somewhat disordered heartbeat.

Lu Mingfei walked on the outside of Su Xiaoqiang, looking at the little goddess who kept lowering her head beside him. Of course, he was no longer at a loss for topics to talk about. After all, he had come back from the world of Japanese youth, and even if he had never eaten pork, he had seen pigs run. It was just that it was rare to see the little goddess being shy, so he suddenly had a naughty desire to take a closer look at her cute face with a blush on it.

But it seemed that it was not a good idea for the two of them to remain silent. Lu Mingfei was just trying to find a topic to break the deadlock when he heard a "da da da" sound behind him. He turned around and saw a group of horses galloping over.

Lu Mingfei subconsciously reached out and protected the little goddess behind him. After the horse team left and the dust settled, Lu Mingfei coughed a few times and fanned the dust in front of him.

"Speaking of which, is there a lot of horses here?" Lu Mingfei suddenly asked, "When I was at your house this morning, I saw people racing horses outside."

Su Xiaoqiang showed half of her pretty, slightly red face from behind Lu Mingfei's shoulder.

"It's not so bad. There is indeed a large horse market for purebred Lusitano horses here." Su Xiaoqiang pursed his lips and said, "But normally there wouldn't be so many people riding horses. It's mainly because St. Martin's Day is coming soon, and there is a custom of horse racing in Gulegang during St. Martin's Day, so there are so many people riding horses on the road during this period of time."

"St. Martin's Day?" Lu Mingfei had a thoughtful expression on his face, as if he had heard this word somewhere before.

Oh yes, I heard Charlotte mention it on the train to Golegion.

"It's a festival in Western Europe." Su Xiaoqiang explained, "Saint Martin is one of the most famous representatives of monasticism in Western Europe. Legend has it that he once met a dying beggar in a snowstorm while traveling. He tore his coat in half without hesitation to save the beggar who was about to die of hunger and cold. That night, he dreamed of Christ wearing the half of the coat he gave to the beggar."

"I see." Lu Mingfei nodded.

Since this is a local custom, Lu Mingfei naturally cannot criticize these people for violating public order and morality by racing horses on the road. However, this little episode successfully helped the two break the silence. Once they had something to talk about, the atmosphere between the two gradually became lively.

In fact, in Lu Mingfei's previous life, although it was Chen Wenwen who followed him around all day, Su Xiaoqiang was the girl he could talk to the most. When the two met, they would talk to each other in a shocking way, and they would not stop until one of them won or lost.

Looking back now, Lu Mingfei suddenly wondered if the little goddess at that time had something in common with him. If he had been a little bolder and changed his target, maybe he could have taken down the little goddess as well?
However, this thought was just a joking thought that flashed through Lu Mingfei's mind.

After all, that was a long time ago. Now he has been reborn back to high school, and the little girl who used to argue with him when they met is also by his side.

There is no need to reminisce about the past, because there are enough opportunities now to cherish the people in front of you.

……

(End of this chapter)