312: Chapter 305 A Grand Event in China: The Lottery

NH Coast.

The Director picked a relatively flat clearing on the shore and worked through the night to build a high wooden platform.

At the same time, he announced the news on the Special Investigation Bureau's official website—the two spots for a three-day trip to Jinshui Town would be open for registration on the site. The selection process would be live-streamed at the NH Coast, and those interested could come to watch in person.

When the cave base was being built, a temporary highway leading to the outside world was specially constructed to facilitate the transport of supplies.

Therefore, spectators intending to visit the site didn't need to worry about having no road through the mountains, nor did they need to worry about safety. Soldiers patrolled along the way, and drones were deployed across the entire stretch for twenty-four-hour continuous monitoring.

No matter which section of the highway one was on, rescue personnel could arrive within five minutes at the fastest.

As soon as the news broke, it immediately caused a stir.

Not long after the cave base construction began, someone flying over discovered the Kunpeng floating above the NH coastline and even filmed a video to upload to the internet.

After watching the video, everyone speculated that the entrance to the Mountain Gate was likely there; otherwise, there was no reason for the Kunpeng to stay there without leaving.

However, due to a lack of concrete evidence and the official silence on the matter, it couldn't be confirmed.

This time, the Special Investigation Bureau suddenly announced that the lucky draw would be held at the NH coastline, encouraging those with free time to go to the site.

Citizens who first saw the news felt they probably wouldn't be able to go.

It wasn't a lack of time, but rather that the NH Coast wasn't a tourist attraction; it was an undeveloped no-man's-land. Yet, the Special Investigation Bureau had a highway crossing the mountain range.

People wouldn't believe that this highway was built specifically for a lucky draw.

Combined with the Kunpeng floating high in the sky, the entrance to the Mountain Gate was likely right there. Moreover, the authorities had probably built many secret fortifications over there, and the highway was used to transport supplies.

Facing netizens who left comments on the official website saying they would definitely find the entrance to seek a master once they reached the site, the Director's heart remained unruffled; he even felt like laughing a little.

'Witty as I am, would I not anticipate your flashy maneuvers?'

A few days ago, he had entered "The World" to meet Immortal Xu, hoping that during the event, the Mountain Gate could help restrain the live audience.

Immortal Xu nodded in agreement and handed the matter over to the Kunpeng to handle.

It was precisely because of this that the big shots busy in the cave base agreed to let the Director make a fuss not far away.

With everything prepared, the Director used his Mobile Phone in his bedroom to scroll through numerous short videos posted by netizens titled "Heading to NH," his mouth almost twitching with a smug grin.

"The word is already out. If I go back on it now, what about my reputation?" Thinking that the Old Chief should no longer ask him for a spot, he happily picked up his water glass and brought it to his lips.

"Director!"

Yue Ruo pushed the door open and barged in, giving him such a start that he shuddered, spilling water all over his pants.

"How long have you been with me? Still so reckless. You must learn to be calm!"

After being scolded, Yue Ruo took a deep breath, and her panicked expression quickly returned to composure.

The Director nodded in satisfaction and slowly stood up, saying, "What is it? Speak."

"The Old Chief has arrived on a private jet. He'll be here in about ten minutes."

*Thud—*

Hearing that the Old Chief's private jet was about to land, the Director, who had just stood up, felt his legs go weak and sat right back down on the floor.

"What did you say?!"

Repeating her previous report, Yue Ruo said with great composure, "You must learn to be calm."

"Get lost!"

He hurriedly scrambled up, grabbed his Mobile Phone, and rushed toward the door.

"Where are you going?"

"To hide."

"There's nowhere to hide."

The Director stopped at the door, turned back, and asked, "What do you mean?"

*Clatter—* The Mobile Phone slipped from his fingers. He said blankly, "This is a joke, right?"

"It's real. The control tower has already received the message, and even the runway has been cleared."

Clinging to a final shred of hope, the Director's eyes held expectation: "Are they here to see Immortal Xu?"

Yue Ruo smiled slightly, giving him a 'you know the reason' look.

"It's over... This time it's really ov..."

"Over what?" A very familiar, energetic voice chimed in from outside the door.

The Director was like a rabbit chased by a dog, instantly darting behind Yue Ruo, only poking his head out from the right to look at the Old Chief appearing in the hallway: "Isn't this..."

"Cut the crap. I'm here for one thing: give me a spot."

"But Old Chief, the Special Investigation Bureau has already given out the only two spots as benefits to..."

"The draw should proceed as planned, but I must have one too. You figure it out."

The old man in the Mao suit spoke as he walked into the room, sitting down firmly on the armchair in front of the desk. He rested his hands on his knees, his gaze fixed intensely on the Director.

"How can I possibly have a way..." The Director shuffled his feet around Yue Ruo, keeping her between himself and the Old Chief at all times.

"You caused this mess, and you don't have a way?"

"What do you mean 'caused a mess'?" The Director grew unhappy and stepped out from behind Yue Ruo. "You know what the public opinion is like. If I don't respond, should I just let them stir up trouble?"

"Oh?" The old man bounced up. "Is your skin itching for a beating again?"

Intimidated by his fierce aura, the Director, who had just puffed up, immediately wilted again, shrinking back behind Yue Ruo with a grievance: "It's hard for me too..."

"Hard my foot! I don't care, anyway you have to give me..."

Midway through his sentence, another voice came from outside: "I was wondering why you ran so fast after getting off the plane. So this was your plan."

Turning around and seeing the faces of the three people walking into the room one after another, the Director snapped to attention: "Greetings—"

"Just be casual in private." The Number One at the front waved him off, interrupting him. "Let me ask you something."

"Yes, sir!"

"Are there really no spots left?"

"Uh..." The Director looked troubled. "The two that are being drawn definitely can't be touched. One belongs to Ye Ming; he's the one chosen by Immortal Xu, so I think it's best not to target that one either. "

"The last two are for Yue Ruo and Lin Miao."

After speaking, the Director closed his mouth. 'I've explained the situation clearly; you decide for yourselves.'

Yue Ruo peeked at Number One and the two Middle-aged Men in military uniforms beside him, muttering in her heart, 'They wouldn't really steal a young girl's things, would they?'

Seemingly noticing her sneaky gaze, Number One smiled kindly: "Go and enjoy your trip with peace of mind. "

"In addition..."

He looked toward the Director: "When is the next trip to Jinshui Town? It shouldn't be a problem to save one for me, right?"

"I was here first!" The Old Chief strode over, very dissatisfied. "Can't we follow 'first come, first served'?"

"Hey~" Number One patted his shoulder. "What's our relationship? Who comes first or second doesn't really diff—"

"We have no relationship." The old man gave him no face at all.

*Pfft—* Yue Ruo couldn't help but laugh out loud. She quickly covered her mouth and turned to face the wall, chanting in her mind, 'I didn't see anything, I didn't see anything...'

Embarrassed to be made a joke of in front of a junior, Number One's face stiffened, and he then put on a stern expression: "What's wrong with you? "

"Do you remember when I dragged you out of that pile of corpses back then? "

"And it wasn't just once!"

"You dragged me twice, but I saved you three times. If we're really counting, you still owe me!"

"Hey, I'm telling you..."

The Director was too scared to speak by the argument between the two leaders, but seeing it intensify, he could only brace himself to mediate: "There's no rush for this. Immortal Xu didn't say when the next time would be. After all, that's his territory; we can't make decisions on our own."

"There will always be a next time, right? "

"I don't care about anyone else, but I can't have less than my share." The irritable old man began to act like a rogue.

"Alright, alright, how old are you both? The children are here." The Middle-aged Man in uniform stopped the two of them.

Probably thinking he had a point, the two quieted down.

The Middle-aged Man in uniform then walked over to the Director with a smile and warmly put an arm around his shoulder: "Does this count as helping you out?"

"I'm so grate..."

"Since I helped you so much, how about saving a spot for me next time?"

The two who had just quieted down heard this and were instantly displeased.

Good grief, we thought you were being a peacemaker, but you were trying to snatch a chance for yourself?

"Old Tang, you've gone too far!"

"How have I gone too far?"

"You..."

The three of them argued in a huddle. The Director wiped away cold sweat, grabbed Yue Ruo, and slipped out of the room, running down the corridor until the noise was completely left behind before leaning against the wall to catch his breath.

Yue Ruo scratched her head: "What do we do, Director?"

"Don't worry about it. They're very busy; they'll leave by tonight at the latest."

"Then next time..."

"Hmph, what kind of skill is it to just bully me? Next time I'll have Immortal Xu tell them!" The Director tilted his chin up quite proudly.

"Then now..."

"It's mealtime. Let's go to the cafeteria."

"Oh."

The two ignored the situation and trotted off to the cafeteria to eat.

As for the four who had rushed over, it was indeed as the Director had said.

Seeing that the spots for this three-day trip to Jinshui Town really couldn't be spared and that they couldn't be thick-skinned enough to snatch them from the kids, the four of them didn't even eat a single bite before getting back on the plane to Kyoto.

Once they left, the Director felt relieved and only needed to focus on the lucky draw event.

Actually, there wasn't much left to do; the venue was already set up, and they could start once the audience arrived.

However, unexpectedly, the first to arrive at the scene were not the audience members, but vendors from nearby cities.

Their sense for business was very keen. Upon learning that the Mountain Gate entrance was at the NH Coast and that the authorities were holding a lucky draw for a trip to Jinshui Town, they immediately loaded their tools onto their vehicles and set off in a hurry.

On the morning of the third day, the Director received a report from his subordinates that the first batch of spectators was about to arrive. He thought everyone would be wandering around enjoying the scenery, but when he went to look, sunshades were lined up one after another, and a bustling commercial street had appeared before his eyes.

There were people selling barbecue, clothes, and even socks on simple shelves.

Each advertising slogan was quite creative, like "Lobster with wine, a spot is mine," or "Hand-knitted lucky hat, increases winning rate to 99.9%."

The Director was quite amazed—'you really understand probability'—and then ordered people to dismantle the stall on the grounds of false advertising and deceiving consumers.

The stall owner was very indignant as he was dragged away by two people holding his arms, shouting, "Probability is a rigorous science, don't slander what you don't understand!"

To avoid disputes between vendors competing for business, the Director stopped staying at the base and spent every day wandering the clearing, promoting the slogan "Harmony brings wealth, operate with integrity" to everyone.

He was actually overthinking this.

That the Mountain Gate entrance was at the NH Coast had basically become an open secret.

At the foot of the Immortals, the vendors were all very well-behaved, fearing that the giant fish above their heads might fall and crush them to death.

Two more days passed, and the spectators finally began to arrive one after another.

After parking their cars in the parking lot planned by the Director, the first thing they did after getting out was run to take photos with the Kunpeng.

They had seen many videos of the giant fish swimming in the sky, but this was the first time seeing it with their own eyes, and possibly the last.

However, the giant fish floating high in the sky added significant obstacles to everyone's filming process.

A girlfriend wanted to take a picture of herself with the head, but because of the angle and the fact that the Kunpeng's surface was too vast, the lens couldn't capture it completely. As a result, her boyfriend lay on the sand for a long time, only to end up with a photo of her posing in front of a deep blue "backdrop."

As time passed, more and more people arrived, and the coast gradually became noisy.

Two closely related families looked up, squinting at the vast fish belly suspended in the sky.

"It's so damn big!"

"I really want to take a tape measure and see exactly how long its body is!"

"Holy crap, if you want to die, don't take me with you. Haven't you seen the video of it leveling a mountain peak with one tail swipe?"

"Uh, maybe it likes it?"

"Would you like someone measuring you with a ruler?"

"True..."

"Stop talking about it, let's change the subject."

The male heads of the two families lowered their heads, and while stretching their necks, they walked side by side toward the nearby "commercial street" to buy lunch for their families.

"If you win, where in Jinshui Town would you like to wander around?"

"Hmm... I'll look around everywhere and experience the local customs of a real ancient era."

"For example?"

"Jinxiang Tower is pretty good."

"Hmm? Is that how you experience local customs?"

"Hahaha... You don't want to go?"

"Hehehe—"

"What are you two whispering about, laughing so sneakily?" The wives of the two families, following not far behind, caught up and asked suspiciously.

"We were wondering where the Mountain Gate entrance is."

"Did you figure it out?"

"No." Both men shook their heads simultaneously.

"Always doing useless things." The two women complained and went off to shop hand-in-hand.

On the hillside at the edge of the clearing, the Director held binoculars and took in this scene.

"Not bad, basically no trouble, and they're all obediently not running toward this side of the mountain."

Zhao Qi, a step behind, said, "With the Kunpeng Immortal here, who would dare to act wild?"

"Speaking of the Kunpeng Immortal..." The Director looked up at the sky. "I remember it likes having people admire its divine form the most. With so many people coming here, could it be..."

*Woo—* As if responding to his speculation, the suspended, motionless Kunpeng slightly opened its mouth, and a low, distant fish-call fell upon The World.

The vendors and tourists in the clearing instinctively looked toward the source of the sound.

In the sky, the giant fish's fins and tail swayed gently. The people on the ground were somewhat bewildered, not understanding what it was about to do.

But the Director and Zhao Qi, standing on the hilltop, knew very well that the Kunpeng Immortal was about to show off.

Sure enough, the giant fish erupted with dazzling light, as if it had become a second sun.

Stung by the light and unable to keep their eyes open, everyone instinctively raised their hands to cover their eyes.

What happened? Is the Immortal angry? Did someone do something stupid to offend the Immortal?

With the Kunpeng's sudden movement, they couldn't think of any other reason and could only speculate thus.

At the same time, they worried that the Kunpeng might fall directly to the ground and crush them into pancakes.

Soon they realized they were overthinking it.

Gradually, the light was no longer piercing or scorching. Everyone hesitantly lowered their hands, and then, cries of amazement pierced the silence.

"A bird? It turned into a bird!"

"Idiot, that's a Peng!"

"Uh, then what was the fish before?"

"A Kun!"