nashuaworldcup Chapter 82, Incense Chapter: Entering the Ship
Chapter 82, Incense Chapter: Entering the Ship
8:50 a.m. the next day
This morning, after having breakfast at Ming, Shi Dao immediately went out. Looking at the almost completely destroyed campus, with only one building remaining and no gate, he felt a mix of emotions.
These are all real events, yet they feel utterly unreal, almost surreal, but...
Shido slowly stepped forward and picked up a piece of blackboard from the ruins, inscribed with the words "Toka". This incredibly real thing told him that what happened yesterday... was not a dream.
"Shido!"
A voice came, but Shido was too preoccupied with his thoughts to notice the familiar voice.
“There’s no mistake, that’s right. I spoke with Tohka yesterday.” Itsuka Shido rested his chin on his hand, staring at Tohka’s name on the blackboard fragments, lost in thought.
"Hey! Shido, don't ignore me!"
"Forehead?!"
Hearing the sound, Shido turned around abruptly and saw the girl named Tohka, wearing armor, standing atop the ruins, looking at him with a slightly anxious expression.
"Tohka!"
"So you finally noticed me? Idiot! Idiot! Shido," Tohka said after taking a deep breath.
"Wait, why are you here? And the spacequake alarm didn't sound..."
"You ask me why? Didn't you invite me here? It's all about a date, isn't it? Alright, Shido, let's go on our date!" Tohka stood with her hands on her hips, her anticipation evident, excitedly repeating the call.
"Date! Date! Date! Date..."
Meanwhile, on the Ratatosk ship~
“Mingxian… Gangfeng Special Subordinate Officer, I apologize, but for certain reasons, it is only now that I, the Commander, am personally showing you around the [Ratatosk].
In the ship corridor
Kotori led Ming through the corridor, while Ming followed behind, dragging a burlap sack.
When they reached the door of the command room, Kotori turned her head with a puzzled expression and stared intently at the sack that Ming was dragging.
"Speaking of which, Ming... Gangfeng subordinate, what are you dragging along? Are they office documents?"
As she spoke, Kotori stepped forward to lend a hand, but then she saw Ming slightly raise his hand, extending a long, slender, and fair index finger. He made a "shh" gesture with his lips and gave her a meaningful look.
"Hmm! What are you doing..."
Before Kotori could finish speaking, Ming's smile was as warm and gentle as the spring sunshine.
"I'm sorry, Commander Kotori, this is a secret. I can only reveal the answer once we're in the command room."
Despite her curiosity, Kotori had no choice but to give up and led Ming into the command room.
"Good morning, Commander! And good morning, Special Subordinate Officer Gangfeng!"
Everyone sat in their office chairs and called out in unison. When they saw Kotori enter, they all bowed and their eyes then fell on the sack behind Akira.
Ming also scanned everyone in front of him from left to right in the opposite direction.
Standing at the front, a blond gentleman in a white suit, smiling and welcoming everyone—Kannazuki Kyohei.
Secondly, there was a middle-aged man with a worried expression; according to the information, he was probably Kawagoe Kyoji.
Hinako Shiizaki sat on her desk with a gloomy expression, holding a cursed doll.
An average-looking woman with short brown hair—Minawa Koto
Next up are two men: one with a receding hairline and the other a slightly overweight man holding a figurine – Masaomi Kanemoto and Munechika Nakatsugawa.
After scanning everyone, Ming's gaze finally settled on the analyst sitting on his right. Murasame Reine looked sleepy, and his brows furrowed for a moment before relaxing.
"Nice to meet you, esteemed seniors. My name is Gangfeng Ming, and I am currently a direct descendant of the Gangfeng family. Please take care of me!"
Ming bowed respectfully, saying that although his position was only below the commander and above the deputy commander, he was a special subordinate officer who did not usually have to do anything special.
But he was exceptionally polite; if you didn't know his age, he would have thought he was a well-mannered junior.
Kotori walked to the conductor's platform, sat down, and looked at Mingdao:
"Now we can reveal the answer."
Ming smiled gently, placed the sack on the ground, and slowly untied it. Everyone craned their necks to look.
Then, Ming took out a box of the latest-released gemstones and placed it in Qinli's hand.
"This is?"
"A formal greeting, after all, I'm new to [Ratatosk] and I need to get along well with all the seniors."
"Oh, thank you very much."
As she accepted the box of jewels, Qinli smiled brightly and gave a thumbs-up gesture.
Then Ming approached Shen Wuyue and, in a very familiar manner, put his arm around him like a brother, and then secretly slipped something into his pocket.
"Uh...actually, as a subordinate to Mr. Guan, I, as the deputy commander, don't lack money or anything..."
"These are everyday photos of your Commander Itsuka Kotori, along with some photos of people sleeping that I commissioned my apprentice, who is very good at taking pictures, to capture a rather 'feeling' moment. I hope you like them, senior."
With his arm around Shinonome's shoulder, he whispered something in Shinonome's ear. Suddenly, Shinonome seemed to have a complete change in personality and started grinning foolishly at Ming. To outsiders, this behavior would be called going along with the crowd.
Ming then walked over to Kawagoe Kyoji and handed him a thick notebook.
"This is?"
"Don't mention it, I've heard everything from the commander... This is the phone number of a wealthy woman I know who is much older than you. You can try this if you get divorced again."
Kawagoe Kyoji's eyes widened, his face flushed red, and he stammered, unable to speak. Ming, however, acted as if nothing had happened and walked towards Shiizaki Hinako.
He took a delicate little box out of the sack and handed it to her.
"These are headphones designed to help you relax. They contain a lot of sophisticated voice acting, similar to a soothing voice actor. Hopefully, they will help you feel better, Miss."
"Oh? Thank you..."
Then he walked to the end of the winnowing basket, took out a bottle of expensive perfume from the burlap sack, and gave it to her.
“This fragrance is perfect for a capable woman like you, and there’s nothing wrong with loving others!” Hearing someone agree with her past views, Minowa Kozue accepted the gift with delight, tears streaming down her face.
"Waaaaah... My subordinate officer really understands me!"
Further down the path were the Mediterranean-looking Masaomi Hon and the slightly overweight Munechika Nakatsugawa. Ming gave each of them a signed limited edition album of Miku.
"Wait, this is...this is...Miku-sama's limited edition album! Even if we spent hundreds of thousands, we couldn't buy it. Only the first ten people to arrive at her concert could get it!"
The two shouted in unison, while Ming remained smiling at them.
"Not only that, this is a specially customized version! I went through countless difficulties to get it from that idol (using the Flame Beast's identity as an example)."
"Hey! What's a special limited edition? I've never heard of it."
"Oh, that means after you finish singing, the idol Miku Izayoi will personally read your name as a thank you for listening."
After hearing this, the two were so excited they almost fainted, and they were so shocked they wished they could kneel down before Mingjiu and pay homage to the Living Buddha right now.
Finally, Ming walked up to Murasame Reine, and when Reine met his gaze with her usually somewhat tired eyes, he could only feel her unusually warm gaze.
"Wait a minute, Ms. Analyst, you must be very tired, working late into the night every day. You have dark circles under your eyes. I heard that you like cream puffs. These are from the best dessert shop in Tiangong City. Why don't you give them a try?"
Her face seemed considerate, but what she was really thinking was, "Does Mio Takamiya like this? If I didn't know that poisoning wouldn't work, I would have used the maximum dose. How about this?"
When the culprit who murdered his lover was sitting right in front of him, even Ming, who usually prided himself on his elegance, found it difficult to control his emotions.
Murasame Reine accepted the cream puff and nodded slightly in thanks.
"Yes, thank you. I really like this. I'll invite you back next time I have the chance." Lingyin said calmly. If it were a normal person, they might be fooled by her frail appearance, which made her seem like she could collapse at the slightest touch.
Seeing Lingyin place the cream puffs on the table, Ming was about to go and talk to Qinli, but suddenly Lingyin called him back, and non-existent cold sweat trickled down Ming's forehead.
"And actually, I had dark circles under my eyes before I joined Ratatosk, so don't worry about it. The work here is actually very easy, and I like it here very much."
Ming was slightly taken aback, then smiled and said, "That's good. Seeing you working so hard makes me worry."
Afterwards, Ming walked towards the crowd with a smile, exchanged a few polite words with Kotori in a gentle and humble tone, bid farewell to everyone, and left the ship.