Chapter 95 Taicheng - 9 Tang Bufan was unharmed, so...

Tang Bufan had nothing to do, so he read a book in the room. When it was almost 11 o'clock, Lu Yi and Wan Bing returned together.

The young orc quickly took a shower and changed his clothes. When he walked into Tang Bufan's room wearing a shirt and trousers, Tang Bufan's eyes lit up.

This was the first time he had seen Lu Yi dressed so formally. He was tall and strong, a perfect clothes hanger, but Lu Yi himself didn't seem to like the outfit. He reached out and slightly tugged at the collar of his shirt, revealing a bit of his muscular chest.

"Why aren't you dressed properly?" Tang Bufan put down his book and went over to help Lu Yi button up the clothes.

"It's too tight," Lu Yi said, and honestly let Tang Bufan tie it for him.

"Didn't you wear a suit when you were in the Western Federation?" Tang Bufan asked curiously.

“I wear it, but I’ve been wandering around with my teacher for a year, and I’ve gotten used to being carefree,” Lu Yi said, sighing softly. “...Suddenly, I remembered the old days.”

He became sullen.

Tang Bufan turned around and picked out a tie from his wardrobe. Seeing his appearance, he wrapped the tie around the man's neck, pulled his head over, and stood on tiptoe to place a kiss on the orc's thin lips.

Lu Yi opened his eyes slightly, then his cheeks flushed pink and he felt comfortable all over. The suit he was wearing no longer made him uncomfortable.

"Be good, bear with it for a bit, change back into casual clothes after you finish eating." Tang Bufan gently cupped the orc's face with his hand and began to tie his tie gently.

Lu Yi was coaxed into being very obedient, and felt a sweet warmth in her heart.

"Put on your coat," Tang Bufan instructed him, then looked down at himself, pondering, "I'll change into a suit too."

Looking at Tang Bufan, whose Tang suit fit him perfectly, Lu Yi felt it wasn't necessary: ​​"Teacher, this is fine for you. Isn't this your traditional clothing from the East?"

“It’s traditional clothing… but it doesn’t feel as formal as a suit,” Tang Bufan said.

Lu Yi really liked Tang Bufan's outfit, which he thought exuded the gentle and graceful charm of an Easterner. So he turned around and coaxed Tang Bufan, "The servants in this house all wear Tang suits, which means Guo Wen likes this style."

After hearing what he said, Tang Bufan hesitated for a moment and then did not change it.

The two left the room together. The older twin led the way, while the younger twin stayed behind to guard the courtyard. Wan Bing was not of high enough status to go with them.

The two followed He Xing through the elegant garden. Lu Yi still held Tang Bufan's hand, but Tang Bufan had become much more thick-skinned and let him hold it.

"How's the city wall?" Tang Bufan asked Lu Yi curiously. He hadn't gone today and was thinking of climbing it another day.

“It’s spectacular. It’s not solid; it’s filled with rooms, but the windows are made of half-meter-wide square bricks. They’re very heavy. Normally, the bricks are used to block the windows, but in case of an emergency, the bricks are removed to expose the cannon muzzles,” Lu Yi said. “There are also hooks and nets on the top of the walls to deal with birds in the beast tide.”

With the protection of the city walls, wild animals on the ground cannot enter the city, but birds can.

Tang Bufan understood and became even more interested.

Qingzhu Xiaoxuan was not far from the main courtyard where the Guo family lived. He Xing led the two of them for seven or eight minutes. After the three of them passed a green lake, they saw the wall of the main courtyard.

A middle-aged sub-orc dressed in Tang suit stood at the entrance of the main courtyard. When he saw He Xing leading the two of them, he immediately made a respectful gesture of invitation.

The two stepped into the courtyard, crossed a covered bridge, and arrived at the restaurant. Tang Bufan glanced inside and saw a large square table covered with velvet. Pei Zhishu was sitting with his back to them, and two children were sitting next to him, one about ten years old and the other about six or seven years old. They must be his two children.

Wow, she's a mother of two. Tang Bufan thought to himself. Pei Zhishu was in his early thirties, tall and handsome, with a calm yet slightly stern demeanor. Tang Bufan thought he was a very manly person.

As a result, such an elite man is a "wife" and a "mother" in the orc world.

Tang Bufan felt a bit absurd, yet also a bit schadenfreude. Although he had voluntarily confirmed his relationship with Lu Yi, his 27 years of straight life had left him with a sense of unease deep down. But now that he had seen Pei Zhishu, he suddenly felt that he was alright.

Lu Yi led Tang Bufan into the restaurant, where the entire restaurant came into view. At the table, besides Pei Zhishu and his two children, there was only a middle-aged beastman sitting at the head of the table. Pei Zhishu's husband, Guo Shen, was not there.

Without a doubt, the middle-aged man in his fifties was Guo Wen, the current head of the Eastern Federation. He was wearing a smart Zhongshan suit, his short hair was neatly combed back, his temples were already gray, his features were regular, and his temperament was dignified and calm.

Tang Bufan noticed that the higher-level orcs all looked quite good; even in middle age, they were all handsome old men. Angus was, Lermontov was, and so was Guo Wen.

It's probably because of good genes. Tang Bufan also noticed that Pei Zhishu's two children were very good-looking; after all, their mother was a handsome man.

Lu Yi led Tang Bufan over to Pei Zhishu and Guo Wen to shake hands politely. Tang Bufan smiled and shook hands with them, but for some reason, Guo Wen kept staring at him. Although his gaze wasn't offensive, it made Tang Bufan feel strange.

The two clasped hands briefly before quickly letting go. Tang Bufan felt the thick calluses on Guo Wen's palm, which were much rougher than Pei Zhishu's.

The two took their seats. There was an empty seat opposite Lu Yi, while Pei Zhishu sat opposite Tang Bufan.

"Is Mr. Guo Shen on a mission outside?" Lu Yi asked, as the Eastern Federation's official website did not disclose Guo Shen's whereabouts.

"He's eliminating the 'poisoners' at the Penglai base," Guo Wen said in a low voice, his tone carrying the marks of time.

Lu Yi and Tang Bufan exchanged a glance upon hearing this. Anderson and Lermontov were also on Penglai Island at the moment.

So the three orc federations have actually met there.

Anderson was a free spirit and hadn't sent any messages back. Lu Yi didn't expect him to report to him like a proper adjutant, but seeing that Anthony's signal was still active and he hadn't reported any danger to Evelyn, he roughly guessed that the Rebooters weren't on that island.

Penglai Island is too close to Taicheng; it is not a good base for resistance.

But it is a good human base.

The servants began serving the food, and the six of them picked up their chopsticks and began to eat.

Lu Yi, not being comfortable with chopsticks and not really focused on eating, only took a few bites before asking Guo Wen with concern, "I heard that the underground city in the East District was severely damaged in the earthquake five years ago. The people there are planning to build a new surface base. Is it Penglai?"

"...Your information is very accurate." Guo Wen did not hide anything: "The result of our discussions with the humans is that we plan to renovate that island."

As the last ground base where humanity fell, Penglai Island has a much lower level of pollution than other places, and it still retains a lot of reusable metal resources.

"To be honest, I'm very interested in the new human base project, which is why I came here specifically to visit. But on the way here, my fiancée and I encountered some strange things." Lu Yi got straight to the point: "We encountered mutated poisonous people mixed with plant genes."

“If Mr. Louis suspects that it is the Eastern humans who are behind this, then you are wrong. The organization behind it does not belong to the Eastern humans.” Guo Wen and Lu Yi looked at each other, their gazes deep.

He was indeed a man who had served as head of state for decades; his aura was thick and strong, and the air around him seemed to have taken on a black substance. Tang Bufan couldn't help but worry about Lu Yi beside him. However, the young orc met the middle-aged man's gaze directly, maintaining his composure and gentleness.

"Are you saying that the emergence and proliferation of mutated poison people has nothing to do with the East?" Lu Yi asked politely. "But as far as I know, the organizations behind them all point to the East, and it even involves an island."

“Penglai.” Pei Zhishu spoke up at this moment, looking at Lu Yi: “We initially suspected that the organization was on this island, so my husband went to the island to investigate, but later found that Penglai Island was not the holy island that the poisoners claimed to be.”

Holy Island? Upon hearing this, Lu Yi and Tang Bufan immediately understood that Guo Wen and Pei Zhishu indeed possessed information they were unaware of.

Pei Zhishu then turned his gaze to Tang Bufan's face and said meaningfully, "In fact, I suspect that Madam Tang may have come from that Holy Island."

Tang Bufan, who was drinking soup, felt a sudden jolt in his heart. He was nervous for a moment, then slowly put down the long-handled spoon in his hand.

Lowering his long-lashed eyes, Tang Bufan said in a low voice, "I have forgotten what happened before."

In short, he should play the victim for now. Tang Bufan was at a loss; he had already passed the lie detector test, but Pei Zhishu still wanted to probe him further.

“So you don’t know your exact origins,” Pei Zhishu said, his tone not exactly aggressive, but rather profound: “I come from the underground city of the East District. Although I haven’t been back for over a decade, my family is still down there. The Yu family has become useless. The report they submitted last night was still altered. My family told me that nobody in your neighborhood or school knows you, and ‘Tang Bufan’ doesn’t exist.”

Pei Zhishu's eyes were sharp: "This is very interesting. You have someone protecting you, but you still insist that you have no organization."

Tang Bufan's heart raced. Someone in the underground city was helping him? And he clearly didn't know anyone there. This could only mean that... the underground city government had indeed been infiltrated by the Rebooters organization.

After thinking for a moment, Tang Bufan calmed himself down.

"...I didn't lie." Tang Bufan raised his eyes and retorted gently, "How about Mr. Pei gives me another lie detector test? If the result is still the same as yesterday... perhaps you should go and fix your AI?"

Pei Zhishu narrowed his eyes, while Lu Yi, who had been looking worried, couldn't help but lower his head and suppress his laughter.

"If you have any doubts, please provide evidence. The burden of proof lies with the person making the claim," Tang Bufan said to Pei Zhishu in a deep voice, then raised his slender hand to his forehead, pretending to have a headache.

"Teacher! Are you alright!" Lu Yi quickly reached out to help Tang Bufan up, and while doing so, he looked at Pei Zhishu with some anger: "Mr. Pei, I've said it before, no matter who my fiancée is, I like her. If you don't respect her, you should at least respect me."

"..." Pei Zhishu narrowed his eyes again, looked at Tang Bufan whose face had turned somewhat pale, and lowered his head: "I'm sorry."

At this moment, Guo Wen slowly spoke up: "We have no ill intentions towards Madam Tang. We can discuss the matter of the resistance faction later. It's lunchtime now."

After he finished speaking, he warned Pei Zhishu, "Zhishu, you are not allowed to discuss this matter anymore."

“...Yes, Father.” Pei Zhishu lowered his head again.

Tang Bufan raised his eyes slightly and saw that the two children were looking at him with chopsticks in their hands. He suddenly felt a little guilty for embarrassing their mother in front of the two children.

"I'm fine, Lu Yi." Tang Bufan then gently pushed away Lu Yi, who was supporting him.