In ancient times, this was still Ao Qi’s first visit to the heartland of Great Jing. Everything struck her as novel, so while Lu Zheng was unavailable for sparring, the girls took her and Yan Hongxia out to wander the city streets and watch some opera.
Lu Zheng, naturally, returned to the modern world.
“Hey? Still not back? It’s been so many days already. Are you living over there now?”
Lu Zheng knew Lin Wan was on a business trip. When she returned he had sent her a message to check in, only to learn she still hadn’t come home from Maple Leaf Country.
“What’s going on? Trips never used to take this long.”
“Because the people on the red list love running here most. Plus they contribute spending and tax revenue, so Maple Leaf Country has basically no incentive to act. We have to do it ourselves.” Lin Wan sounded helpless.
Lu Zheng tutted, then laughed and asked, “Any pushback?”
“They wouldn’t dare. They just withhold first-hand intelligence.” Lin Wan said, “Good thing we don’t need their help.”
“When will you be back?”
“No idea, depends. The moment I land, he vanishes again.” Lin Wan sighed helplessly. “Maple Leaf Country’s Interpol really has no initiative!”
“Use qi observation!” Lu Zheng reminded her. Finding someone shouldn’t be hard for her, right?
“Of course I’m using it. I’ve already checked five suspect cities. I just landed in the sixth.” Lin Wan said, “I suspect he’s not staying in big cities. If I have to search every small town one by one, that’ll be a nightmare.”
Lin Wan’s cultivation wasn’t high, so her qi observation range was limited. One city took her a whole day, which was why she had been gone so long.
“I’ll finish the big cities first. If he’s still nowhere…”
“I’ll come help you!”
“Hehe, best husband ever. Next time you can be on top~”
Lu Zheng, “…”
…
After hanging up, Lu Zheng rang his mum for a chat. They talked about how drinking the wine he sent had made them look almost ten years younger. The couple were delighted, had taken annual leave, and were travelling at the moment.
Then came a flood of scenic photos. His parents were in them too. At first glance they looked like a trendy couple not yet forty!
He ended the call, shook his head with a smile, and finally had time to check the group chats and Moments.
Yep, very lively.
In the full-plate combat group, thousands if not tens of thousands of unread messages had piled up. Lu Zheng scrolled casually and immediately found several links to video sites.
He clicked in. Sure enough, they were all recordings of the last full-plate combat event.
Some were shot on phones, others by the professional cameramen they had hired. After editing and adding music, the effect was excellent. The videos had enjoyed a brief burst of popularity on platforms a few days ago.
Of course, besides praise, the comment sections and barrage were also full of scepticism.
Like “Why hide their faces?”
“Why not go fight in UFC?”
“This is clearly staged.”
Although the people in the group were arguing online, these rich kids were no match for keyboard warriors. They were fuming, only able to curse freely inside the chat.
So…
After a few days of minor fame, the doubters gained the upper hand. Only actual participants and a few professionals expressed genuine shock, while the rich kids suffered a total defeat.
Just then, fresh reinforcements arrived.
Zhao Xiaodao!
When the videos first blew up and attracted waves of doubt, Zhao Xiaodao was also furious and wanted to help.
For safety, she first asked in the group, but Lin Wan shot the idea down.
Yet some netizen genius managed to recognise Zhao Xiaodao even though she was bundled up tightly in the crowd.
Meanwhile, one of the idle rich kids posted a dinner screenshot from that night on Moments, which included a photo of him with Zhao Xiaodao.
Case closed: Zhao Xiaodao had been there!
Masses of people immediately @-ed Zhao Xiaodao, demanding she expose the scam. Of course there were also sarcastic trolls claiming she had been paid to whitewash everything.
But Zhao Xiaodao, who had fought haters since her debut and practically emerged from the black-comment trenches, was she afraid of trolls?
She went straight in, guns blazing!
She openly released her own unedited footage, complete from start to finish, including her own fangirl cheering. She didn’t care how silly she sounded at the time.
She had originally planned to mute the parts where she shouted “Brother Lu”, but when she saw “Brother Lu is awesome” echoing in every other video, she let it slide.
Her caption read:
[I actually wanted to speak up days ago, but I checked with the person involved and they didn’t want fame, so even though the online comments made me furious, I respected their wishes.
Now that people have dug me up too, of course I can speak.
♪(^∇^*)
First, I’m thrilled and shocked, because I’ve been dying to talk. The expert on the field is a big brother and friend I respect enormously. You can trash me all you like, but not him!
So here I am, refuting the hottest doubts one by one.
First, not showing faces. Simple: he doesn’t want fame. He’s not short of money, earns his living by skill, doesn’t want to be a celebrity or influencer, doesn’t want to be mobbed every time he steps outside.
Second, why only full-plate combat and not official bouts? Same reason. Official fights require showing your face, leading to being mobbed and disrupting normal life. Full-plate is just casual entertainment with low attention, so he’s willing to play and let us witness real traditional Chinese weapon combat. We never expected these matches to blow up online.
Anyone calling it staged or scripted can leave now. What era are we in? I, Zhao Xiaodao, have been in this world over ten years. I’m online, I’m not an idiot. My IQ works. I can tell real from fake.
One more piece of evidence: the Japanese opponent that day.
The Japanese guy is called Uesugi Mei. He’s not a nobody in Japan. Anyone interested can search him, or look up videos on foreign sites and come back to educate us. See whether he’s a fake master, what his attitude toward China is, and whether he could be bought.
(At this point I’m really looking forward to the Jap-bootlickers’ reactions. I want to see what excuses they’ll invent.)
Lastly, to those calling him a master and begging him to win glory for the country: I don’t know if you’re real fans or advanced-level trolls. What I will say is stop with the moral kidnapping.
You can’t demand saintly standards from others while living by mortal ones yourselves. Him crushing foreign opponents in full-plate combat is already winning glory for the country. What more do you want?
If Chinese martial arts are to make a name worldwide, we need a whole group standing at the peak, not one lone person carrying everyone while the rest slack off.
If you truly want to win glory for the country, start training your body right now, study sport, answer the nation’s call, and help turn us into a sporting superpower.
Finally, one last thing!
Brother Lu is invincible!!!]
And then… the internet exploded.
