Dragon Raja: I practiced Naruto ninjutsu next to Lu Mingfei.

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Gu Ran knew that this information was top secret during the Soviet era, and if it were leaked, the Soviet Air Force would come and kill all life in the Black Swan Harbor area. Therefore, almost no one knew that the Lenin had left, and even if they had heard some rumors, they would not know the inside story.

Moreover, the Japanese branch is desperately trying to cover up the fact that the location of the Lenin's sinking is related to Takamagahara, a place in their mythology.

Therefore, very little information was given to Caesar.

When Genji was explaining the mission, Caesar only responded with "hmm" the whole time, so Genji realized that they had been burned by the hot tea.

He said to the three of them, "Mr. Masamune's tea ceremony is only half-baked. He doesn't understand tea ceremony at all. You don't need to take it seriously."

Only then did Gu Ran finish the last sip of hot tea, clicking his tongue a few times: "No wonder this stuff doesn't taste good at all, or is it just inherently bad?"

"I knew it! What's a Russian doing trying to teach us Easterners about tea ceremony?" Lu Mingfei chimed in with a grumble. "Ice, please!"

At that moment, Sakura Yabuki came in with an ice bucket. Lu Mingfei immediately took an ice cube and put it in his mouth to cool down. Caesar and Chu Zihang also took one and put it in their mouths, but they were also burned.

Only Gu Ran casually grabbed a plate of strawberries meant for guests and started eating them.

He fed each of Lu Mingfei and the other two a strawberry: "Here, have some strawberries, they'll help your wounds heal."

The strawberries prepared by the Sheqi family were indeed excellent—large, sweet, and with a hint of tartness; the perfect balance of sweet and tart.

Genji continued to explain the mission: the Lenin shipwreck site was directly above the Japanese trench, the deepest part of which is called the Tuscaloa Deep, with a depth of 8513 meters.

He also told Caesar and the others that there was a dragon embryo at the bottom of the trench, and that this dragon embryo most likely came from the sinking of the Lenin.

For dragons, that trench is the best incubation ground, with the seawater, which is more than 8000 meters deep, serving as a natural protective layer.

Therefore, Caesar and his two companions' mission was to go underwater, find the embryo, and then deliver a small bomb to it.

Caesar, Lu Mingfei, and Chu Zihang already knew they would be going into the water, because although the mission did not specify in detail, it emphasized that Gu Ran should provide support on the surface of the sea, so only the other three could go into the water.

But they didn't expect to go to the bottom of the abyss; they thought it was just snorkeling or exploring the diving area!

To explore the seabed more than 8,000 meters below the surface, a deep-sea submersible is necessary, because the water pressure would crush a person.

So, Genji led them to the Ganryu Research Institute in the same building, where they found Miyamoto Shio, the head of the Miyamoto family and also the director of the Ganryu Research Institute.

At this point, they took an elevator underground, where the Ganryu Research Institute was hidden in Tokyo's sewer drainage system.

Then, Miyamoto Shio, a refined man not yet thirty, led them to see the deep-sea submersible for this operation—the Trieste.

In 1960, this submersible carried people to the bottom of the Mariana Trench, the deepest trench in the world, reaching a depth of 10911 meters.

"Isn't this my family's property?" Caesar said, somewhat familiar with it. He remembered that his father, Pompeii, had used this deep-sea vessel to seduce a female scientist. As a good son, Caesar locked his father and the beautiful female scientist inside the vessel for forty-eight hours.

Having been locked up for so long, his philandering father must have succeeded. I wonder if he has any illegitimate children or brothers outside.

Although this thing was used by Pompeii as a tool for picking up girls, it has been tested because it has been submerged more than 10,000 meters deep in the ocean. Moreover, it has been modified by the equipment department of Kassel College, so its performance is not a problem. This time, it should be more than enough to go more than 8,000 meters deep.

"When will we dive?" Caesar asked.

“Tomorrow night,” Genjiro replied.

He has applied for an injunction in the name of ocean exploration, prohibiting unauthorized personnel from entering their mission area tomorrow night. However, this injunction is only for twelve hours, as they cannot block it for too long, otherwise the fishermen will complain.

"So eager?" Caesar said. "I've also made reservations at specialty restaurants, visited a few attractions, and have a shopping list that's a few pages long."

"I'm going to Akihabara!" Lu Mingfei shouted, showing no trace of his previous fear.

Gu Ran chimed in, "Then I want to see the retired racehorses! Especially Zhou and Caoshangfei, are they still in Tokyo? I really want to see the grandmaster of Japan! Oh, and Donghai Diwang, it should still be alive, I want to see them too!"

Yuan Zhisheng was having a bit of a headache. He had just been talking to them about a mission that might involve life and death, but in the blink of an eye, the group of people were surrounding him again, wanting to play together. It was as if they would keep pestering him if he didn't join in.

Left with no other choice, Genjiro could only entertain them and fulfill his duty as a host.

……

In twelve hours, Genjiro actually arranged for them to have a tour of Tokyo.

He took Chu Zihang to a teaware shop and bought a Kansai iron teapot and some baked sweets that Susie had asked him to buy. Caesar bought even more things and hired a truck to follow behind him to help transport the goods.

As for Lu Mingfei, Genjiro also took him to Akihabara, where they bought a limited edition figure of Asahina Mikuru. Gu Ran also took the opportunity to buy models of Unit-01, Unit-00, and Unit-02, as well as limited edition figures of Misaka Mikoto and Rin Tohsaka.

During the process of buying the figurines, Gu Ran noticed that Chu Zihang stared at the Haruhi Suzumiya figurine for a long time, wondering if he was thinking of someone.

After he left, Gu Ran thought for a moment and then bought the Haruhi Suzumiya figure as a birthday present for him this year.

As evening approached, Genji led Gu Ran and the others to the Oi Racecourse.

Then Gu Ran saw several racehorses, including the retired Special Zhou, Grass Flying, East Sea Emperor, and Tannhäuser (Poetic Drama), which is everyone's favorite, commonly known as Mambo!

(Tanhäuser is a transliteration, and verse drama is a free translation; both refer to Mambo.)

These horses originally lived on ranches in Hokkaido, because only Hokkaido in the small country of Japan had such large natural grasslands for them to live and run.

But to everyone's surprise, Gu Ran's casual remark led the Snake-Headed Eight Families to actually transport these horses from Hokkaido to Tokyo.

Oi Racecourse isn't as famous as Tokyo Racecourse, which is over 30 kilometers away. It's a local racecourse that mainly hosts dirt track races, but today it was completely booked out by the Hebi-Hachi family.

"The Snake Clan truly has absolute power!" Gu Ran exclaimed in admiration.

Yuan Zhisheng was already used to their way of speaking, saying the opposite of what they meant, and he simply took it as a compliment from Gu Ran.

The horses were in good condition and not tired. However, these horses were all old. The East Sea Emperor was over twenty years old. Although he was still energetic, you could see the signs of his old age. Mambo was the same.

Only Xiao Te and Xiao Cao are in relatively good condition; they can still be taken around for breeding.

"Come on, little Te, you like carrots, right? Here you go." Gu Ran fed Zong Da Jiang a carrot and patted its horse face.

For the sake of the carrot, Zhou didn't get angry; he just breathed on Zhou's hand.

"Does Emperor Treasure like to eat hamburger? Let me feed you!" Gu Ran took out a small piece of honey from the bucket and fed it to the elderly Emperor of the East Sea.

The Emperor of the East Sea stuck out his tongue and licked the honey, looking quite pleased with himself.

“Mambo likes to eat spiders… no, just kidding, apples, how about I feed you an apple?” Poetry Drama didn’t seem to like apples, it seemed to prefer carrots, so Gu Ran switched it to carrots.

"Little Grass, how about eating pumpkin? Don't worry, I haven't forgotten you. And don't try to take it from Little Te, he's no match for you today."

Gu Ran was feeding the horses with great enthusiasm, while Caesar and Chu Zihang were a little puzzled, not knowing that he had this hobby.

Yuan Zhisheng was also puzzled, because when he was collecting information before, there was no mention that Gu Ran liked horse racing, and he had never even bought a horse racing ticket.

Why does he only like these retired veterans?

Lu Mingfei, who was standing nearby, also found it amusing and fed the horse apples and carrots.

"Are these horses rideable?" Lu Mingfei asked.

Gu Ran said, "They've all retired and are quite old; they probably can't ride anymore."

Finally, Gu Ran took photos with each of the horses, thus concluding his horse-viewing trip for the day.

Chapter 381 The Lonely Giant Tortoise

After watching the horse race, Genji led Caesar and the other three back to the Genji Heavy Industries Building in Shinjuku.

Shinjuku Ward is the stronghold of the Hebi Hachike family. The neon lights begin to flash, the entertainment industry opens, and host clubs, bars, and 24-hour pachinko parlors fill the air with noise. (Pachinko is a gambling game involving playing with small steel balls; it was featured in an episode of Crayon Shin-chan. The steel balls act as tokens, which can be exchanged for prizes and cash.)

Nighttime is when Shinjuku gets really lively.

On the terrace of Genji Heavy Industries' "Awakening Temple", the heads of the Snake-Headed Eight Families had all left, except for Genji Chisei, the head of the Genji family, who was still keeping company.

Genjiro arranged for his family's top chef, a chef who had once showcased his skills at a state banquet in Japan, to take charge of the cooking.

A bluefin tuna weighing over 200 kilograms was placed on the dining table, waiting for the gold-level chef to cut it.

Soon, plates of bluefin tuna sashimi were placed on the tables of the distinguished guests.

The Japanese cuisine master seemed to be looking forward to the diners' reactions to the food, but unfortunately, the four people sitting there were just munching on tea without being able to tell the difference. One of them even raised his hand and said something to the young master of the Yuan family. The young master frowned slightly, but in the end, he still gave the Japanese cuisine master an order.

"Set up a charcoal hot pot for this distinguished guest; he doesn't like raw food," Genji said to the gold-level chef in Japanese.

The gold-level chef seemed to feel extremely humiliated. You see, when he makes a sushi or Japanese dish, everyone praises him for it. But this guy actually asked him for hot pot, wanting to eat it by dipping the ingredients in the broth.

Gu Ran is the one who doesn't like eating raw food. He just said to Yuan Zhisheng, "Can I have a mini hot pot, like the individual hot pots at Haidilao? Oh, you don't know Haidilao? It's a mini hot pot where each person has their own pot."

Gu Ran continued to complain: "Although it's true that mixed-race people aren't afraid of parasites and bacterial infections when eating sashimi, I think that humans have invented cookware and so many cooking techniques over thousands of years precisely to avoid eating raw food. Therefore, eating food directly raw is a regression in dietary civilization..."

"Really? But I think it's pretty good." Lu Mingfei squeezed the wasabi into the soy sauce dish, then mixed the wasabi and soy sauce together to dip the sashimi in.

The gold-level chef not far away was shocked again. Mixing wasabi into soy sauce was like putting tomato sauce in spaghetti. Italian chefs would be ready to fight the diners with a Damascus knife in a heartbeat. However, the Japanese chef knew that these were his own guests and he could not be negligent, so he endured it.

In other words, if the chef were to replace the family business owner with an ordinary, ordinary entrepreneur, he would have already flipped the table.

Chu Zihang ate two pieces of tuna and then stopped. Looking at Lu Mingfei, who was still eating heartily, he said rationally, "According to the data, bluefin tuna is at the top of the food chain, so it has a high concentration of mercury in its body. Eating too much can easily lead to mercury poisoning."

"Holy crap, senior brother, why didn't you say so sooner?!" Lu Mingfei exclaimed in shock.

Caesar chimed in, "You should just do what Gu Ran did and get a hot pot to cook it. Mercury is volatile when heated. Although dragons are also afraid of mercury, eating a little bit won't kill you... at most, it might make you stupid."

"Oh!" So, Lu Mingfei ordered another mini hot pot.

The veins on the gold-level chef's hand, gripping the knife, were bulging.

Genjiro covered his forehead. This group of idiots in front of him didn't understand the essence of Japanese cuisine at all. So, seeing that they had almost finished eating, he sent the head chef away to avoid him actually stabbing someone with a knife.

Gu Ran wasn't afraid of mercury poisoning, since mixed-race people metabolize very quickly. Nearly ten pounds of the belly part of that tuna ended up in his pot to cook.

After finishing his meal, he said with great interest, "I've heard that restaurants in Hokkaido serve grilled horse meat, and I've always wanted to try it."

Lu Mingfei exclaimed in surprise, "Damn, bro, didn't you just feed the horses this afternoon? I thought you were Hermes!"

“I love pigs too, but that doesn’t stop me from loving to eat pork and caring for you,” Gu Ran said.

"That really hit home, bro." By this time, Lu Mingfei had finished eating, quietly let out a burp, took a sip of sake, and then took out the figurine he had bought today, starting to play with it with great affection.

"Are these striptease dolls really not considered obscene items in your country?" Caesar asked from the side.

Lu Mingfei said speechlessly, "This is called a figurine! It only has the function of changing clothes, not for you to take off your clothes and do lewd things!"

Caesar said, "Today, when I passed by a shop, I saw a human-shaped inflatable swimming ring that could also be used to change clothes..."

"That's an inflatable doll... a kind of adult sex toy," Gu Ran explained with a smile.

After hearing this, Caesar understood: "Oh, no wonder. I was wondering why the Japanese would produce human-shaped swimming rings."

Genjiro didn't really want to join their conversation. He was the only one there to keep them company today, so he could only stand aside and wipe his beloved spider-cutting knife.

Chu Zihang asked Yuan Zhisheng if he could take a look at his Spider Cutter, and Yuan Zhisheng agreed.

Gu Ran also came over at this time. The Spider Cutter was indeed a good knife. To create an atmosphere, candles were used to light the table. At this moment, Chu Zihang blew out the candles. Without the light source, the Spider Cutter became even brighter.

"Good knife!"

"Good knife!"