Chapter 62: Work Handover
At 4 p.m., in the quiet expanse of Tongzhou City’s Beibu Airport, Lu Xin stood alone, lazily puffing on a cigarette, his eyes fixed on a passenger plane descending onto the runway.
As a crowd of passengers disembarked via the jetway, the person Lu Xin had been waiting for finally appeared, sauntering down the steps with a few burly, well-built attendants in tow.
“Brother Lu!” the man called out, spotting Lu Xin near the jetway.
“Little Xuan?” Lu Xin, engrossed in his phone, looked up at Xiao Xuan’s voice, pocketing the device.
“Are these your subordinates?” Lu Xin asked, eyeing the group of young, robust men in tailored black suits behind Xiao Xuan.
He couldn’t shake the feeling that they exuded a ferocious, almost beast-like aura, yet their mana fluctuations suggested only Tier-Six strength.
These guys aren’t ordinary.
“Yeah, they’re members of the security team I brought from White Tower,” Xiao Xuan said, shaking Lu Xin’s hand.
Behind him, his guards aligned neatly, forming a living wall.
“Just a few, though,” Xiao Xuan added.
“The rest will arrive in a few days. These ones are here for my protection.”
“Looks like Uncle Merlin’s got high hopes for you,” Lu Xin remarked, offering Xiao Xuan a cigarette.
“Just lucky to have my mentor’s favor,” Xiao Xuan replied, accepting the Great Mage cigarette and lighting it with a silver, intricately patterned lighter.
“That lighter’s craftsmanship… looks like something from those shady folks in Milligan,” Lu Xin observed, intrigued.
“And is that mithril?”
Milligan, a nation barely two centuries old, was outwardly a federal state.
But the upper echelons of the Central Republic knew its true rulers were a cabal of vampires.
Though these vampires held significant power in Milligan, they retained Central Republic citizenship.
As the Blood Clan, a minority ethnic group in the Republic, they faced no strict birth restrictions.
Two hundred years ago, domestic blood supplies couldn’t sustain them, so the former head of the Dracula family led most of the clan to establish Milligan as their “back garden.”
Notably, the Blood Clan was born with blood magic abilities.
While they didn’t need blood daily, it was essential for survival.
Unlike movie vampires that turned to ash in sunlight or were gravely wounded by silver, the Blood Clan was merely sensitive to sunlight—akin to sensitive skin—and had a natural aversion to silver.
Thus, under their influence, Milligan banned personal possession of silver items outside industrial or electronic use.
A mithril lighter, crafted in their style, was highly unusual.
“This?” Xiao Xuan tossed the mithril lighter lightly.
“A few years back, I was in Milligan handling some White Tower Life Sciences Academy projects.
A vampire earl hosting me gave it as a gift.”
“What kind of experiments are you doing over there?” Lu Xin teased.
“Not messing with their civilians, I hope?”
“Of course not,” Xiao Xuan said, exhaling smoke and shaking his head.
“It was a joint project invited by the Blood Clan.”
“We were researching hybrid livestock for richer, tastier blood production,” he said with a chuckle.
“And by ‘livestock,’ I don’t mean humans. You know White Tower doesn’t allow anything that violates human rights.”
“Plus, the higher-ups keep a tight watch,” Xiao Xuan added, glancing at Lu Xin’s bearded face.
“True, they’re strict,” Lu Xin agreed.
“Alright, enough chit-chat about work,” Lu Xin said.
“I’ve been yammering about vampires so long I almost forgot I’m here to pick you up.”
“Even if the Committee has a seat for those vampires, it’s not our concern.”
“Let’s go. We’ll take the bureau’s car to the Magic Affairs Bureau,” Lu Xin said, pointing to a few bureau vehicles parked by the runway.
“Your luggage can stay in the car for now. I’ll show you around the bureau, then take you home.”
“Thanks, Brother Lu,” Xiao Xuan said with a smile.
“What can I say? I’m the former director, and now your boss,” Lu Xin replied.
“Oh, I get it!” Xiao Xuan clapped his hands, feigning realization, then bowed deeply.
“Thank you, Minister.”
“Cut it with the kid stuff,” Lu Xin said, exasperated.
“Let’s wrap this up quick. I’ve got to get home to cook dinner for my kid.”
“Didn’t peg you for a family chef, Brother Lu,” Xiao Xuan teased.
Lu Xin paused, not immediately catching the term “family chef,” then laughed it off.
“Don’t all guys from Inner Plains Province cook? Haha.”
“Let’s move, or we’ll be a nuisance to the airport.”
“Alright, Brother Lu,” Xiao Xuan agreed.
…
The bureau’s car pulled up to the Magic Affairs Bureau building.
Lu Xin led Xiao Xuan inside to familiarize the “new guy” with the facility’s functions, while Xiao Xuan’s security team, at his signal, stayed in the first-floor lobby.
Lu Xin first brought Xiao Xuan to the underground training field, wanting to introduce him to the province’s magical girl team, as Xiao Xuan, the new minister, would inevitably work with Lu Yue’s team in the future.
Outside the training field, through the large observation window, they could see the magical girls diligently drawing magical arrays on the floor with mana.
Inside, Jin Yan, with her red hair and golden eyes, slumped to the ground after completing a crooked array, exhausted.
Magical girls can cast spells by visualizing arrays in their minds, so why’s Abyss making us learn the principles and draw them by hand?
She understood the reasoning but knew it was to avoid extra training from Abyss.
Looking up, Jin Yan spotted the bearded director talking to someone who felt oddly familiar.
Squinting, she recognized him.
“Dad!” Jin Yan shouted, bounding out of the training field like an excited puppy, her eyes sparkling with joy as she looked at Xiao Xuan.