“Wan-jie! I want to go too! Take me next time, please, pretty please~”
Lu Zheng was driving. In the back seat, Zhao Xiaodao was hugging Lin Wan’s arm and acting cute.
“Do you even have the time?”
“Yes, yes, yes! Of course I do!” Zhao Xiaodao nodded furiously. “Just let me know in advance when you’re going, I’ll clear my schedule!”
She’s actually serious?
Lin Wan was a bit surprised too. “You really want to come? You’re a public figure. If people find out you went to a no-man’s-land, the impact might not be good.”
Zhao Xiaodao faltered. She genuinely hadn’t thought of that.
Lin Wan was right. She was a big star, a public figure who needed to set an example. If she went wilderness camping and fans copied her, someone could get hurt. The fallout would be huge.
“Then… we just have to be careful?” Zhao Xiaodao said timidly.
She really wanted to pet a Siberian tiger!
Lin Wan thought for a moment, then glanced at Lu Zheng.
Lu Zheng shrugged. “Why look at me? Take her if you want.”
They couldn’t fly or turn invisible, but it would just waste a bit of time and avoid creating new X-Files, nothing more.
“Oh, right!” Lin Wan clapped her hands. Actually, even without Lu Zheng, she could travel and protect Zhao Xiaodao by herself.
“Alright then!” Lin Wan laughed. “Stay in touch. We’ll go play together when there’s a chance.”
Zhao Xiaodao nodded repeatedly, full of anticipation.
“By the way,” Lu Zheng asked, “which hotel are you staying at?”
Zhao Xiaodao looked up. “Huh? Heading back already? My flight isn’t until tomorrow morning.”
“How would I know your plans!” Lu Zheng said, exasperated. “So where are we going now?”
Zhao Xiaodao blinked, then turned to Lin Wan. “Shall we go for a spa?”
Lu Zheng snorted. “Look at your Sister Wan’s skin. Does she look like she needs a spa?”
Zhao Xiaodao enviously touched Lin Wan’s skin: fair as jade, smooth as cream. It could make a whole crowd of female celebrities green with envy.
“With Sister Wan’s looks, it’s a waste she’s not a star,” Zhao Xiaodao said.
Tall, heroic, fair-skinned with long legs. If she showed even a tiny bit of skill, roles would fall into her lap.
At that thought, Zhao Xiaodao’s eyes lit up. “How about we make a show together! You and me, travelling in the wild, looking for rare animals, interacting with them, just like Bear Grylls?”
Zhao Xiaodao had been in the industry for ten years. Though not fully part of capital, she had invested wisely during the golden decade of economic growth. She was financially free and a partner in her own company, very independent.
She could absolutely put together her own programme. With her influence, it would sell instantly.
“No way. I don’t want to be a celebrity,” Lin Wan laughed. “And I can protect you, but I can’t protect an entire film crew.”
“Fine…” Zhao Xiaodao had to give up. Then her eyes spun as she thought of what to do this afternoon.
Just then, Lu Zheng’s phone rang.
“Hm?”
Lu Zheng glanced at the screen and let out a soft “huh”.
“What is it?” Lin Wan asked.
“Call from Zhao Wenyu,” Lu Zheng said.
Zhao Wenyu: second-generation rich, full-armour combat enthusiast, owner of a cold-weapons factory, and Lu Zheng’s supplier.
Although Lu Zheng rarely ordered cold weapons lately, they still kept in touch. Lu Zheng occasionally chatted in the full-armour combat group, but they seldom spoke on the phone.
He answered casually. Before he could say anything, a noisy clamour came through, followed by Zhao Wenyu’s anxious voice. “Brother Lu! Old Zhang got injured! The other side is calling you out by name! We need help, it’s an emergency!”
“What happened? Slow down.”
Lu Zheng turned the wheel and pulled over to the side of the road.
Zhao Xiaodao and Lin Wan saw he was on the phone and quieted down to listen.
In the silent car, the voice on the phone was clear enough for them to hear too.
“Those Dayuan people are back! This time they brought a real master. Old Zhang got hurt even through his armour! They’re being extremely arrogant and demanding a one-on-one with you to wash away the shame from two years ago!”
The full-armour tournament had been two years earlier.
Lu Zheng sighed helplessly. “Didn’t you say you wanted full-armour combat to go mainstream? It’s been over a year. How are we still doing underground fights?”
“Brother Lu, we’re a peace-loving country! Even the Nordic pirates haven’t gone official yet! How could it be easy here?” Zhao Wenyu replied, equally helpless.
“So it’s still that Sixth Heaven Club?” Lu Zheng asked.
“Yes, still them,” Zhao Wenyu said. “But this time it’s not a proper tournament. It’s more like a private gym challenge. The worst part? They brought a whole camera crew! They say they’re filming a full-armour combat documentary and travelling the world!”
“That arrogant?”
“Exactly that arrogant!”
“Do you lot have a camera crew?”
“When we saw they had one, of course we got one too!”
Zhao Wenyu sounded tough, but his confidence was clearly shaky. After all, they were at a disadvantage, and Zhang Tiexia was injured.
Lu Zheng smiled, thought for a second, then turned to Zhao Xiaodao. “Want to watch an underground full-armour fight?”
“Yes, yes, yes! I really want to see!” Zhao Xiaodao’s eyes sparkled with excitement.
Lin Wan tugged Zhao Xiaodao’s sleeve and whispered, “They only think we’re ordinary traditional martial arts practitioners. Don’t let anything slip.”
Zhao Xiaodao nodded rapidly. She realised she knew far more about them than Lu Zheng’s old friends did, and felt secretly proud.
“Where are you?” Lu Zheng asked.
“Wuyue Club!” Zhao Wenyu answered.
“Alright. Half an hour. My armour’s still there, right?”
“It’s here, it’s here! In the display room. Nobody has ever touched it.”
“Good!”
Lu Zheng hung up, floored the accelerator, and headed straight for Wuyue Club.
On the way, Lin Wan gave Zhao Xiaodao a quick rundown of how Lu Zheng had completely dominated the last full-armour tournament.
Zhao Xiaodao couldn’t help laughing. “Isn’t Brother Lu just bullying them?”
From what she had seen at the film city, people flying through the air, sword qi everywhere, against ordinary fighters in Lu Zheng’s eyes, wasn’t it one punch per child?
“Then why doesn’t Brother Lu go fight in UFC?”
Zhao Xiaodao asked the classic soul-searching question, but the moment the words left her mouth she smacked her forehead. Of course, he doesn’t want to be famous.
“That’s why Lu Zheng’s armour is fully enclosed. Even at the arena match last time, nobody saw his face,” Lin Wan explained.
Soon the car reached the cold-weapons factory and Wuyue Club in the suburbs.
Waiting at the gate was Du Lin. When he saw Lu Zheng arrive, he quickly waved him into a parking space.
“Boss Du.”
“Lu Zheng, you’re here! That was fast. We’ve been waiting for you.” Du Lin nodded at Lu Zheng, greeted Lin Wan, then noticed the person getting out with them…
“Zhao Xiaodao!?”
