Chapter 78 Return to Verdun
"The school is really generous this time. They even sent the principal's favorite plane, 'Sleipnir'." Nono looked at the black Gulfstream G550 on the airport apron in surprise and couldn't help but sigh.
"The fuel cost of this plane's flight is probably more than 100,000 yuan."
In the reflection of the sun, the streamlined appearance of the aircraft gleams with a slight luster, like a quietly dormant eagle, waiting for the moment to spread its wings and fly high. This is not an ordinary luxury plane, but an aircraft endowed with powerful performance.
However, Lu Mingfei had no interest in all this. He glanced at the plane indifferently and walked straight towards it, ignoring Nuo Nuo's exclamation.
When they stepped onto the gangway and entered the cabin, a young flight attendant was already standing at the door, greeting them with a smile. She had proper manners and an upright posture, and looked particularly beautiful under the soft lights of the cabin.
"You are Mr. Lu Mingfei, right?" the flight attendant asked respectfully, her tone gentle but polite, "I am the service staff for your flight. Due to the rather rushed schedule, please forgive me if the service is not good enough."
Lu Mingfei just nodded slightly, but his eyes didn't stay on her for long. His mind had already drifted away and he was not interested in anything around him.
"Well, the service doesn't matter, as long as the plane takes off as soon as possible." His voice was low and a little hoarse, as if he hadn't had a good rest for a long time.
After saying that, Lu Mingfei continued to walk deeper into the cabin. Nuo Nuo followed behind him, looking around the cabin.
"Wow, the principal really knows how to enjoy life. This seat is made of real leather." Nono sat down on a leather seat, stroking the soft leather with his fingers, feeling the luxurious touch, as if he could already imagine how the principal usually spends his days leisurely on this plane.
"Ms. Chen Motong, please fasten your seat belt." The flight attendant reminded softly with kind concern.
Nuo Nuo was stunned for a moment, then he remembered something, sat up straight abruptly, and began to fasten his seat belt in a hurry, "Damn, how could I forget this? Finkel posted on the campus forum before that the principal's private plane was modified by the equipment department. It is comparable to a fighter jet, and the pilot is a lunatic."
Nuonuo was muttering to herself while fastening her seat belt, her face showing a hint of nervousness and excitement, as if she was about to experience a thrilling adventure. However, Lu Mingfei still did not respond to her words, his attention was attracted by a picture on the wall.
It was a black and white photo. In the photo, a handsome young man stood with his arms folded, leaning against an old propeller plane. The corners of his mouth were slightly raised and his chin was slightly raised. His eyes revealed strong confidence and contempt, as if everything around him was under his control.
Lu Mingfei stared at the photo blankly. That face seemed both familiar and unfamiliar to him.
At this moment, a blond-haired, blue-eyed foreigner walked out from the cockpit. With a solemn expression and steady steps, he walked to the photo, bowed his head and saluted respectfully. His movements were extremely pious, and his eyes flashed with indescribable reverence.
"That's the pilot of this plane," the flight attendant explained with a smile, "He's one of the best pilots in the world, so Mr. Lu Mingfei can rest assured that we will definitely get you to your destination safely as quickly as possible."
Nono also chimed in, "I remember that the pilot of Sleipnir was a former ace test pilot of the US Air Force. He flew the first F-22, but later he was fired from the Air Force because of his aggressive driving, which caused the $12 billion prototype to crash. He was then recruited by our school to be the principal's personal pilot."
There was a hint of teasing in her tone, and it was obvious that she was quite familiar with the driver's background.
"By the way, the person in the photo is William Hans whom you mentioned before, a legend among fighter pilots. His record has not been broken for almost a hundred years, and it is estimated that no one will be able to break it in the future. He is basically the idol worshipped by every fighter pilot." Nono continued, pointing to the photos on the wall.
"It is said that when Sleibnir's pilot was recruited to our school, he only made one request, which was to hang a picture of William Hans on the plane. He would worship before every flight. He also wanted to put a special incense burner on the plane because he was exposed to Chinese culture, but the principal refused in fear that he would blow up the plane."
Nuo Nuo's voice echoed in the cabin, but Lu Mingfei's mind was still drawn to the photo. William Hans, this name was so familiar to him. He never thought that one day he would become a mythical being, worshipped and worshipped by people.
Thinking of this, he felt a little surprised and indescribable emotion in his heart. He had never thought that one day he would be commemorated in this way.
At this time, the flight attendant walked up to Lu Mingfei and reminded him softly: "Mr. Lu Mingfei, please fasten your seat belts." As she spoke, she handed over two pairs of earplugs, one to Lu Mingfei and one to Nuonuo.
The plane quickly began to take off, the fuselage vibrated slightly, and the sound of taxiing on the runway gradually became rapid and powerful. Then, the plane suddenly accelerated, rushed into the sky, and climbed rapidly with a strong sense of being pushed back.
Almost instantly, a sharp whistling sounded in the cabin. It was the sound of the wings tearing through the air, like a sharp knife cutting through the sky, piercing the eardrums and causing pain.
"Damn it!" Nuo Nuo covered her ears, her face pale. She quickly put earplugs into her ears. "No wonder the principal doesn't usually take this plane to travel. I thought I could experience the principal's luxurious life this time, but this shrill sound is simply fatal."
But unlike Nuo Nuo's panic, Lu Mingfei's expression was very calm. In fact, when he heard this shrill sound, a strange feeling of nostalgia surged in his heart. That sound was exactly the same as the sound of shells breaking through the sky on the battlefield. It was a sound he had heard countless times between life and death.
On the contrary, in this familiar noise, his tense body gradually relaxed, fatigue surged into his heart like a tide, and accompanied by the sharp whistle, he actually slowly became sleepy and gradually fell asleep.
Time flew by, and after an unknown amount of time, Nuonuo suddenly shook Lu Mingfei hard, trying to wake him up.
"Hey, hey, hey! Are you a pig? It's so noisy on the plane, and you can still sleep so soundly? Get up quickly, the plane has arrived." Nuo Nuo's voice was filled with helplessness and anxiety. She looked at the sleeping Lu Mingfei and felt a little dissatisfied.
However, when she shook Lu Mingfei's shoulders, Lu Mingfei suddenly grabbed her wrist and opened his eyes, with murderous intent bursting out of his eyes.
At that moment, Nuonuo felt as if she was being stared at by a ferocious beast. Her breathing suddenly stopped. Lu Mingfei raised his other hand and swung it towards her with deadly force. Nuonuo's pupils shrank sharply and she instinctively wanted to dodge, but her body was firmly tied to the seat by the seat belt and she could not move at all.
Just as his fist was about to hit her in the face, Lu Mingfei suddenly stopped, and his fist stopped just a few centimeters away from her face.
At that moment, time seemed to freeze, and the air was filled with suffocating tension. Nuonuo could clearly feel the wind from the fist sweeping across her cheek, bringing a cold stinging pain.
Lu Mingfei's eyes gradually cleared from the frenzy of killing, and he realized that the person in front of him was not an enemy, but Nuonuo.
During the time when he just fell asleep, he dreamed that he was back on the battlefield, and then a person shook his body violently, making him think that it was an enemy approaching him, so he planned to kill that person.
He took a deep breath, slowly put down his fist, loosened his grip on Nuonuo's wrist, and the murderous intent in his eyes disappeared, replaced by calmness and indifference.
"Don't touch me when I'm sleeping in the future." Lu Mingfei said coldly, with an unquestionable tone in his voice. He slowly unbuckled his seat belt, turned around and walked off the plane. His back revealed a deep sense of loneliness and fatigue, as if the sleep just now did not replenish his energy at all.
Nuonuo slumped in the seat, gasping for breath, her heart beating violently in her chest, cold sweat streaming down her forehead like rain. She really thought she was going to die just now. She had never felt death so vividly. The feeling of almost suffocating her still lingered in her mind and could not be shaken off.
She clenched her wrists tightly, and the pain in her wrists reminded her that what had just happened was not an illusion. She took a few deep breaths with difficulty, trying to calm the fear and shock in her heart.
After a long while, she managed to calm herself down, unbuckled her seat belt, and slowly stood up by holding on to the seat. Even so, her legs still felt weak, and every step felt like she was stepping on cotton.
The ace pilot is worthy of being an ace pilot. The flight journey that was supposed to take thirteen hours was completed in just six hours. It was indeed the fastest speed.
After the plane stopped, the cabin door opened and the outside air rushed into the cabin. Lu Mingfei had already walked off the plane and stood on the tarmac, looking up at the sky in the distance, and began to think about something.
Lu Mingfei chose France as his first stop. He wanted to see the place where he had fought and to confirm whether he had really left traces in that era. The plane landed in Paris, France, but his destination was not this so-called romantic city, but Verdun, which was once ravaged by war. There is a six-hour time difference between France and China. Although Lu Mingfei and his team left China in the afternoon and experienced a long flight, it was still afternoon when they arrived in France. Time seemed to be compressed here, making everything less real.
When Lu Mingfei walked out of the airport, the first thing he saw was a smiling French man standing at the airport reception area, holding a sign with the names "Lu Mingfei" and "Chen Motong" written on it. The man had a professional smile on his face and a look of expectation in his eyes.
Nuo Nuo finally caught up, his face regaining some calmness, but there was still a hint of fear in his eyes.
When the French man saw the two of them, he immediately came over and said enthusiastically in a slightly stiff Mandarin: "You must be Mr. Lu Mingfei and Ms. Chen Motong, right? My name is Friedson, and I'm the guide that Kassel Academy found for you on this trip. Is there any place you want to go in particular? If not, I can take you around Paris."
There was enthusiasm and confidence in his tone, as if he had already planned the best travel route for them and was looking forward to taking them to experience the charm of Paris.
However, Lu Mingfei had no interest in visiting Paris. His eyes were calm, and he seemed to be calculating something. Then he replied coldly in French with a slight accent: "We are going to Verdun."
Friedson was stunned for a moment, obviously not expecting their destination to be this place. He quickly adjusted his expression and replied in fluent French: "Oh, Mr. Lu Mingfei, you speak French very well. I can even hear a hint of my hometown accent." When he said this, there was a bit of surprise and admiration in his tone.
Nuonuo was a little surprised when she heard Lu Mingfei's fluent French. She didn't expect Lu Mingfei to speak such authentic French, which was completely different from the impression he left on her.
But soon, she reacted and realized that Lu Mingfei's destination was Verdun. She remembered that before leaving, Lu Mingfei only mentioned that he was going to France and Prussia, but never specified his purpose and plan.
"Going to Verdun? Shouldn't we find a place to rest first?" Nuo Nuo asked with some concern. She was still full of doubts about Lu Mingfei's motives.
Although she vaguely felt that Verdun was of great significance to Lu Mingfei, she did not understand why he was so eager to go there. Moreover, she had not fallen asleep at all on the plane just now and was almost beaten to death by Lu Mingfei. Now she really wanted to take a nap to replenish her energy.
Lu Mingfei turned his head and looked at her with indifference in his eyes, "You can go to a hotel nearby and wait for me to finish my work before we go to Prussia together." His voice was calm and low, as if he had arranged everything in an orderly manner and there was no room for doubt.
He didn't say anything more, but just walked straight to a black car parked outside the airport under the guidance of Friedson.
Nuonuo stood there, feeling a sense of powerlessness. She originally thought that this trip would be an ordinary journey, but judging from Lu Mingfei's performance, things were obviously not simple. Nuonuo bit her lip and remembered the call the principal made to her before she left.
Because Lu Mingfei's change in one night was so amazing, Guderian thought it might be due to the awakening of his bloodline, and then told the principal about this and Lu Mingfei's desire to go to France and Prussia.
The principal specially arranged Lu Mingfei's itinerary and used his own private plane. Before they set off, he called her and specifically told her to investigate Lu Mingfei's huge changes and whether his bloodline awakening was related to this.
"Damn it!" Nuonuo cursed in a low voice, feeling very annoyed, but she finally chose to follow. She knew that no matter what, she couldn't give up this mission easily.
Verdun is 261 kilometers away from Paris. Friedson drove all the way onto the highway at a very fast speed, but the silence inside the car was depressing. The scenery outside the window was rapidly receding, and the sunlight poured in through the window, casting mottled light and shadows inside the car, which swayed slightly with the bumps of the car.
Nuonuo sat in the back seat, her eyelids gradually becoming heavy, and her body seemed to be trapped in an endless fatigue. Although she tried her best to keep herself awake, the sleepiness that almost swallowed her made her feel extremely weak. She leaned against the car window, her vision gradually blurred, and her thoughts became intermittent.
Three hours later, the car finally drove off the highway and turned into a narrow road. Nuo Nuo suddenly woke up, yawned, and rubbed his sore eyes.
This path looks inconspicuous, with weeds growing on both sides and the road surface is a bit dilapidated, but every few steps there is a milestone standing on the side of the road, decorated with helmets with wreaths, as if telling the history of this road.
"This path was formerly known as the 'Holy Road,'" Friedson said as he turned back to introduce it to Lu Mingfei and Nuonuo, his voice somewhat solemn.
"During the Battle of Verdun, this road continuously transported supplies and combat personnel to the front line. At that time, the total mileage of cars traveling on this short 50-mile road each week could circle the earth 25 times."
There was an indescribable pride in his words. This road was not only a wartime transportation line, but also a symbol of the French people's tenacious resistance.
"The Holy Road?" Lu Mingfei muttered to himself, looking out the window with deep eyes. During the Battle of Verdun, he actually knew that there was such a road in France. Many soldiers on the front line also knew that the French had such a supply line. But what Lu Mingfei couldn't understand was why the Prussian high-level officials didn't bomb this place. If they had bombed this place, victory would be within reach.
"Do you know why Prussia didn't bomb this place?" Lu Mingfei couldn't help but say in the end.
"Back then, Falkenhayn formulated a plan called the Killing Fields, in an effort to drain the blood of us French, so he deliberately used this road to allow us to send people in continuously. Facts have proved that he did it. We surrendered in 42 days during World War II. And you should have seen a lot of black people on the road. Due to the war, our fertility rate dropped drastically, and we had to introduce immigrants." Friedson was silent for a while before he spoke, with some self-mockery in his tone.
“So that’s how it is…” No wonder Lu Mingfei saw so many black people on the way here, and wondered why the Gallic rooster turned into a Gallic black chicken.
Lu Mingfei nodded thoughtfully and looked out the window again. This narrow road seemed quiet now, but in his mind, he seemed to be able to see the scene when countless vehicles once filled this road.
A scene from a century ago seemed to emerge in front of Lu Mingfei's eyes. On this road, vehicles loaded with soldiers and supplies were passing by one after another. The wheels rolled through the mud, causing splashes of mud and water. The figures of the soldiers gradually became blurred in the smoke.
Nuonuo looked at Lu Mingfei's expression, and an inexplicable emotion surged in her heart. She decided to use her profiling ability to explore his inner thoughts. The moment she started profiling, a strong sensation surged into her mind, and in an instant, Nuonuo's consciousness was pulled into a strange world.
She suddenly felt like she was sitting in the passenger seat of an old truck. The air around her was filled with the smell of engine oil and dirt. The driver next to her had red eyes and a look of anger and fatigue on his face. He pounded the steering wheel hard and cursed the blocked road ahead.
Through the window with the windshield wipers swinging, she saw that the road ahead was blocked by a stalled truck. The ground was all muddy and rain mixed with mud kept pouring into the roadside gutter.
Several French soldiers, covered in mud, were desperately pushing the stalled truck, trying to get the road clear again. The soldiers' faces were filled with fatigue and anxiety, but their movements were not slow at all.
Nono's heart was beating violently in her chest. She felt as if she were really on this holy road a century ago, experiencing the war-torn years firsthand. She could feel the soldiers' despair and determination, hear their breathing and heavy breathing, and see the pain and indomitable spirit flashing in their eyes.
"Ms. Chen Motong, Miss Chen Motong!" Suddenly, a voice pulled her back to reality from her immersed state. Nuonuo opened her eyes suddenly and found herself still sitting in the car. Friedson in front was looking at her worriedly through the rearview mirror.
"Are you okay?" Friedson frowned, his tone full of concern.
"I'm fine..." Nuonuo took a deep breath and tried to calm herself down. There was still a tremor in her voice and her heartbeat was still a little irregular. The feeling of being there just now was too real, making it difficult for her to distinguish between illusion and reality.
Although her profiling ability allowed her to see many things that happened in the past, she had never experienced such an intense and realistic experience before. Nuonuo vaguely felt that Lu Mingfei might really have some special power.
"We're here," Friedson said softly, and the car slowly drove into a small town. This was Verdun.
Lu Mingfei slowly raised his head and looked into the distance through the car window. Although he had never been to this city, at some point in the past, he had looked at this city from afar on a hill not far away.
"It's getting late today. I'll take you to where you're staying and we can continue the tour tomorrow."
(End of this chapter)
