Against the Fate Chapter 22

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Chapter 22: The Lincoln Manor

At seven o’clock, North Luna and Ding Ze returned home. When they opened the door, they were stunned. In the living room, the table was filled with food: freshwater fish, seafood, vegetables, meat, etc… more than a dozen dishes and their fragrance filled the air. From the kitchen, Cui Ming brought a pot of a bean sprout. He greeted the two, “Good evening Boss. Good evening Ding Ze.”

   North Luna saw the food and asked: “You make all this?”

   Cui Ming nodded, “Yes.”

   She sat down and hung her bag on the side of her chair, she said, “You should spend your time practicing the six Principles.”

   “Yes,” Cui Ming also sat down.

   Ding Ze tried a mouthful of fish soup, he could not help but praise, “Delicious! Cui Ming, when did you learn to cook?”

   Cui Ming enjoyed his dishes, he replied, “When I was in charity school, I would often be punished to help in the kitchen.”

   “Do not waste time on the meaningless things,” North Luna ate casually, then she picked up the cloth bag and went upstairs, “You are a good cook. Make preparations, today we go to Lincoln Manor. Ding Ze, brief him on the situation.”

   Ding Ze nodded. Seeing that North Luna had disappeared, he whispered, “Although Boss didn’t say so, she is very happy. You must keep up this momentum, understood?”

   Of course I understood. North Luna think of food only as a necessity for survive. You enjoy food, but you are lazy and want others to cook for you. Cui Ming asked, “If I recall, you investigated Lincoln Manor a month ago.”

   “Yes.”

   Lincoln Manor’s investigation had been going on for a month, and during this month, Sergeant Evelyn was also involved, but there had been no discovery so far. Three of them had thoroughly inspected every corner of the manor, but they were unable to find any sign of human's existence. But every few days, the fourth room on the third floor of Lincoln Manor would light up at night.

   North Luna Office had received a commission from Special Department 101 to investigate, but hadn't made any progress. Ding Ze and North Luna felt quite helpless. Tomorrow was the last day, and if there was no progress in the investigation, they would have to return the commission fee.

   Ding Ze said, “We are sure that a cultivator had sneaked into the Dawn City, and he has most likely made Lincoln Villa his residence, but neither can we find his presence, nor do we know his purpose. You are currently very weak, with almost no actual combat experience, so do not stray too far from us tonight. “

   “Understood,” Cui Ming nodded. As a rookie, modesty was a must-have virtue.

   “Another point is also very important.”

   “Yep?”

   “The next time you make so many dishes, please inform us first,” Ding Ze sighed, “We had already eaten much at the fast food restaurant in front of the office.”

   “Yep.”

   North Luna returned downstairs, she wore a set of black clothes, put her cloth bag on the back. She seemed like she wanted to say something, but she remained silent as she sat on the side, Ding Ze winked at Cui Ming, “I'll go and change clothes.”

   Cui Ming quickly ate his meal, put the leftovers in the refrigerator, and changed his clothes… jeans, boots, black T-s.h.i.+rt, plus a black cloak jacket.

   Ding Ze wore a white jacket with the s.h.i.+rt inside and vest outside, a folded handkerchief and a rose rested in his left chest pocket. His blonde hair was supple and combed down, he really was a handsome guy. The attire showed that Ding Ze was very experienced with clothing, he looked at Cui Ming said, “Your hair is done poorly.”

   “I am never picky about free things,” Cui Ming replied, he tried to keep up with the pace of North Luna.

   …

   Lincoln Manor was twenty kilometers away in a spa.r.s.ely populated area, but it was a very famous manor. Lincoln was the third mayor after the monarchy in Dawn City was overthrown, he was still regarded as the best mayor ever in this city. Under his leaders.h.i.+p, the Dawn City sea line stretched across all the continents, Dawn City had become the largest exporter of agricultural and manufactured goods.

   Lincoln family was also one of the largest families in Dawn City, a thousand years ago they were a hereditary n.o.ble family in the Dawn City empire. Even today, they still held great influence in business and society. So there were many employees in Lincoln Manor, in addition to thirty security guards, there were maids, housekeepers,  drivers, gardeners, chefs and so on, in total there were more than sixty people servicing Lincoln Manor.

   Since the discovery of paranormal activities, the police had become involved but the investigation bore no fruit. The police chief Evelyn transferred this case to North Luna Office, but they also did not find any valuable information. After a few days, the manor’s health was clearly affected, under these circ.u.mstances Lincoln Manor had been all evacuated.

   The Lincoln Manor building still retained the traces from more than a thousand years ago, it was originally built as a fortress on a mountain. After the monarchy was overthrown, the fortress were rebuilt into a beautiful manor. Two kilometers away from the manor, a curtain waterfall poured down into a river that flowed around the manor. The river was originally used into a moat, nowadays a bridge had been constructed to pa.s.s it.

   The car crossed the bridge, it stopped at the big iron gate that stood ten meters high. There were small doors for access on both sides of the gate, the ten-meter-high walls. had been designed to resist a siege, and arrow slits still dotted the the walls heights. The wall and the iron gate were the only ancient buildings left behind. The interior and exterior of the manor was dark. North Luna got off the car, Cui Ming rushed to enter the Focus state, his eyes were not affected by the lack of light, and he could clearly see the nearby gra.s.s trees.

   “Go,” North Luna pushed off and jumped directly to the top of the walls.

   Ding Ze's left hand glowed, and he disappeared. After a second, he reappeared on the top of the walls, and then disappeared again without a flash.

   So quick… Cui Ming gathered his aura at his feet, and then stood on his tiptoes. His body channeled upwards, and he flew diagonally into the wall. Seeing his route, Cui Ming was shocked, but before he could react, his body impacted onto the wall and he fell down and hit the ground. The sound of his landing was noisy, in the silence of the manor it could be heard from five hundred meters way.

   His aura was a bit chaotic, Cui Ming quickly entered the Meditate state to calm it down. When he stood up and looked, North Luna stood on the wall, one foot on the edge, she saw Cui Ming and asked, “What are you doing?”

   “I……”

   “Quick,” North Luna turned back and went to the manor.

   “……” I don’t believe I can’t jump.

On his second jump Cui Ming did not hit the wall, but this time his angle was too high, he rose vertically… When his inertia  dissipated, and left him suspended in the air for a hundredth of a second, Cui Ming looked down. Then he hit the ground again.

   On his third try, Cui Ming first warmed up, then he took a few steps backwards, and jumped…

Once again, his body hit the wall, but before the inertial force ended, Cui Ming put all his effort into reaching out with both hands, and finally caught the edge of the wall. Using Focus on the hands, his body sprang up five or six meters. He had succeeded in jumping over the wall, but had failed to consider what would happen afterwards, again he was fifteen meters up and fell to the ground, this time inside Lincoln Manor.

   His whole body felt an unbearable pain. Cui Minh had just started to practice Refine, his body could not withstand the disturbance of his aura. Cui Ming could only lie on the ground, breathing deeply, so that his aura could slowly adjust. Finally his control over his aura was restored.

   Cui Ming couldn’t be blamed, he had never ever used his aura this way. To master his aura, he still had a long way to go.