150: Chapter 150 It seems everyone is quite interested in us.

The airship cabin was very quiet, with the low-frequency hum of the engines rising from beneath the floor.

Lu Cheng leaned back in his seat, crossing his legs as he scrolled through his terminal, his peripheral vision catching Shen Guhong opposite him.

He was sitting by the window, a black blindfold covering his eyes, his face turned toward the porthole.

There was nothing outside but clouds, yet he remained facing that vast expanse of white, his mouth set in a tight line, a faint stubble visible on his chin.

He had been like this ever since they boarded the airship.

"Director Shen." Lu Cheng flipped his terminal down onto his lap.

Shen Guhong turned his head slightly, his blindfold facing him.

"What are you thinking about? You've been brooding since we got on." Lu Cheng leaned forward. "You look troubled."

Shen Guhong was silent for two seconds, then let out a very soft laugh in his throat.

"Nothing important, just some trivial things from the past."

Lu Cheng didn't press him on what exactly he was thinking about; if Shen Guhong wanted to say it, he would have already, so there was no need to pry.

"Speaking of which, why did Director Shen suddenly want to come to the Imperial Capital?"

He remembered very clearly that Shen Guhong hadn't left the Navigator Academy in a long time.

Shen Guhong turned his face away from the porthole.

"On one hand..." He extended a finger, pointing in Lu Cheng's direction, "because of you."

Lu Cheng was taken aback.

"Me?"

"The Education Bureau invited you to be a guest commentator, and I was a bit worried." Shen Guhong pulled his finger back and rested it on his knee. "Besides, I was free anyway, so I tagged along to see."

"On the other hand..." His fingers tapped lightly on his knee, "I still have some unresolved debts in the Imperial Capital, so I'm taking this opportunity to settle them."

"Debts?"

Lu Cheng was about to speak, but the words died on his lips... Debts... Seeing Director Shen like this... Could it be a romantic debt...

"Alright then." Lu Cheng didn't press further and leaned back against his seat...

The journey from the border to the Imperial Capital was nearly four hours.

The two talked for a while longer.

Shen Guhong spoke about some things in the Imperial Capital, mentioning several places he had visited before. His tone carried a hint of nostalgia, like someone revisiting old grounds, but every sentence stopped short, never going too deep.

As they chatted, Lu Cheng felt his throat go a bit dry. He glanced at the water cup beside him; it was empty. Before he could even open his mouth.

A glass of water was handed to him. The fingers holding the glass were slender and fair, the fingertips slightly flushed pink from tension.

Lu Cheng followed those fingers upward and saw Su Wan's face.

The young girl stood beside his seat, her body leaning slightly forward, her long hair sliding down over her shoulder, obscuring half her face.

Her expression remained that cold, aloof look, her lips pursed, and her gaze wasn't on Lu Cheng, but drifted slightly to land on the seat armrest.

"I saw you were thirsty, here's some water."

"Ah..." Lu Cheng took the cup, his fingertips touching the water droplets on the glass, feeling cool. "Oh, thanks."

He took a sip, finding the water temperature just right. Neither hot nor cold, it was the most comfortable temperature to drink.

Su Wan had already sat back in her seat, and Shen Guhong shook his head.

He couldn't see anything, but his black blindfold was turned toward Su Wan, the corners of his mouth slowly curling up. "It's all debts, isn't it."

His tone was very light, as if he were speaking to Lu Cheng, or perhaps talking to himself...

Lu Cheng almost choked on his water. He set the cup down and glanced at Shen Guhong, wanting to say something, but realized Shen Guhong had already turned his face back to the porthole.

The cabin fell silent once again.

A moment later, the clouds outside began to thin, occasionally allowing glimpses of the mountain ridge lines below through the gaps, the vegetation on the mountains gradually transitioning into the brownish-gray outline of a city. The airship began to descend.

Lu Cheng finished the last sip of water, set the cup down, and looked out the porthole. Then he froze.

The Imperial Capital outside the window pushed in from the edge of his vision like a forest of metal.

Lu Cheng had seen quite a few cities—the Shanghai and Beijing of his past life, Rong City and the borderlands in this world... But the city before him was far more prosperous than any city he had ever known.

At a glance, there were three skyscrapers that reached into the clouds. And when he said reached into the clouds, it wasn't a metaphor...

The top of the central building pierced into the cloud layer, while the two beside it were slightly shorter, but not by much. At least from the airship's current altitude, one could still see the lights on the rooftops flickering above the clouds.

The airship's flight altitude was not low, at least over two thousand meters. Yet the tops of those three buildings continued to extend upward outside the airship's window, becoming thinner as they rose, the glass windows on the topmost floors glittering with gold in the sunlight, like three iron nails driven into the sky.

"These are the Sanyuan Towers of the Imperial Capital." Su Wan's voice came from beside him. "Underneath each tower is a super array that stabilizes the Great Xia barrier."

"You sure know a lot!" Lu Cheng said. Su Wan's voice paused for a moment.

Of course, she wouldn't say it was because her past self had personally participated in repairing the array under the Sanyuan Towers. At that time, she was already a top-tier Ice Source Power user in the Federation, urgently transferred to the Imperial Capital to reinforce the core of the Sanyuan Towers' barrier alongside twelve other War Emperor Realm experts.

For three full days and nights, her Ice Source Power was almost drained by the barrier. After the repairs were complete, she had leaned against the wall at the base of the tower and slept for four hours.

She changed her tone, "I looked up quite a bit of information before coming." This was public information, not anything secret.

Lu Cheng didn't think much of it, just glanced at the three buildings poking into the clouds outside the window again and tutted softly.

The airship's descent speed increased, and the Imperial Capital's streetscape gradually magnified from chessboard-sized squares into real streets and traffic.

The airship landing pad was on the east side of the Imperial Capital. After landing, the cabin door slowly opened. A dry wind blew in, carrying the distinct scent of dust and the heat of the city's operation typical of the Imperial Capital in May.

Lu Cheng was the first to step out of the cabin, with Su Wan following behind him, and Shen Guhong coming out last, his black blindfold particularly conspicuous in the crowd.

The reception party was already waiting at the edge of the landing pad. A man wearing a dark gray suit, silver-rimmed glasses, and neatly combed hair.

Seeing Lu Cheng and Su Wan walk out of the cabin, the man's eyes brightened—a genuine excitement beyond professionalism. "Over here!"

He walked quickly to the three of them, his gaze lingering for a moment on the black blindfold on Shen Guhong's face, before returning to normal. "You must be Teacher Shen, and these are Student Lu Cheng and Student Su Wan, right!"

Manager Yu Xiuqi extended his hand, shook hands with Shen Guhong, and then shook hands with Lu Cheng and Su Wan respectively. "Let me introduce myself, my name is Manager Yu Xiuqi, one of the on-site event managers for this National High School Competition. If you have any issues, feel free to talk to me."

As he spoke, he quickly reviewed the team leader information in his mind. Shen Guhong, senior instructor at Navigator Academy, War King Realm.

A high-level martial artist of this realm, let alone leading students to a competition, could even have a seat at the Federal Military Commission. Navigator Academy had actually sent a War King Realm expert to be the team leader—this grandeur was a dimension higher than any school he knew.

Looking at the two students... Lu Cheng, Meridian Opening Realm... Su Wan, Source Gathering Realm, although one major realm lower than Lu Cheng, the coldness in her eyes made one's back shiver. The key was that these two weren't even official students, just top picks selected from the candidates.

Manager Yu Xiuqi silently sighed in his heart. These candidates from Navigator Academy were already stronger than the vast majority of freshman students at martial arts schools!

"Hm." Shen Guhong nodded slightly, acknowledging Manager Yu Xiuqi. This manager was only at the peak of the Meridian Opening Realm; in terms of strength, he might not even be able to beat Su Wan. However, for a high school competition, a regular on-site manager was sufficient.

Manager Yu Xiuqi led them toward the parking lot while talking. A black business car was already waiting on the side of the road, its body polished so clean not a speck of dust could be seen.

"Let me take you to the hotel first! We have arranged for all participating students and accompanying teachers to stay at the Imperial Capital Star Court Hotel. The competition starts tomorrow, so you can also get a little familiar with the students."

The car drove out of the landing pad and turned onto the main road of the Imperial Capital. Along the way, high-rise buildings swept past the car window one after another. The traffic on the street was dense and orderly, and the pedestrians on the sidewalk were dressed elegantly.

They arrived at the Imperial Capital Star Court Hotel very quickly. The circular driveway in front of the hotel entrance was paved with dark gray stone tiles, and two rows of palm trees were neatly trimmed.

The hotel attendants had been waiting at the entrance for quite some time, a row of people standing straight. When the head waiter saw the black business car pull in, he immediately walked up a few steps to greet them.

The car door opened, and an attendant stepped forward to pull open the rear door. After everyone got out, the other attendants bowed and said, "Welcome to the Star Court Hotel!"

Several students smoking at the hotel entrance turned their heads to look. One of them, a green-haired teenager, was leaning against a marble pillar of the hotel entrance, holding an unlit cigarette in his hand. Seeing this spectacle, his brows furrowed. "Who are they?"

A bespectacled boy next to him adjusted his frames, his gaze sweeping back and forth between the black business car and the row of bowing attendants twice.

The green-haired teenager took the cigarette out of his mouth and gritted his teeth. "Even when I arrived, the hotel owner didn't put on this kind of show. The background of the Star Court Hotel is not small."

He turned around and shoved the cigarette into the bespectacled boy's hand. "Lin Yu, go find out what their background is."

The bespectacled boy, Lin Yu, nodded, put the cigarette in his pocket, and turned to walk toward the hotel lobby.

Similar conversations were taking place in other parts of the hotel. In the open-air coffee area on the second floor, a short-haired girl held a coffee cup, eyes narrowing as she watched the scene of the attendants opening the car door downstairs.

At the window of the third-floor corridor, a tall, thin boy who had been yawning while leaning against the window frame stopped mid-yawn, his gaze landing on the blindfolded man who had stepped out of the car.

They were all curious about these three people who "had quite a background."

Lu Cheng felt the surrounding gazes and couldn't help but smile. "Looks like everyone is quite interested in us..."