873 A Secret Base (1/2)
Translated by XephiZ
Edited by Aelryinth
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Blue sky, green grass, and the perfect dawn completely erased the mist of fear lingering in the group since last night. On top of that, a Hunter had also joined the group. No one was worried about the story Guo Wenyi told the night before. They hefted their backpacks and departed for Zhenming Town.
Two-thirds of Zhenming Town was occupied by ranches. They mainly bred cows, horses, and goats. The swaying grass revealed the cattle grazing on the field as the breeze swept past, even though the place was close to the mouth of the Yangtze River.
{TL Note: The first half of the last sentence is from a ballad of the Tiele people to the north of China during the Northern and Southern dynasties.}
Mo Fan, Mu Ningxue, and Lingling blended in perfectly with the group of young adults. Zhao Pinlin's invitation simply gave them the perfect excuse to follow the group around.
The main street of the town was on the other side. Zhao Pinlin brought the group to a manor inside a ranch. It was actually a private club. Many rich people from Shanghai would occasionally spend their weekends here. Apart from the natural environment, the club also had a golf course, a winery, a restaurant, a bar, guest rooms, archery, horse-riding facility… it was luxurious, without a doubt!
Zhao Pinlin was well-prepared for the trip. He was determined to bring everyone to the club,, even after hearing Guo Wenyi's story last night.
A tourist bus came to pick them up as they arrived at the entrance. The journey from the entrance to the main building surprisingly took twenty minutes. The ranch's style was leaning more toward Western Europe. It was said that the main investor was a foreigner. There was even a statue of him in front of the fountain.
Mo Fan had rarely visited a place like this. His eyes were brimming with excitement.
Mu Ningxue had the same glacier face. She had grown up in similar environments. For some reason, she actually felt annoyed and disgusted by the environment, as the Mu Clan was also promoting internationalization among their people. Their main headquarters had a similar style, and their villa in Bo City was also in the same style.
”Wow, who would think there's a place like this here? Zhao Pinlin, is this owned by your family?” Wang Xuxu asked excitedly.
The rather good-looking Wang Xuxu was unperturbed at the start. However, when she saw the facilities in the luxurious club, she could no longer hold her excitement in. She felt like a little princess from a fairytale living at the club. She could imagine the garden maze, the servants in suits, the soft red carpet, the white bed covered in veils, and the balcony under the moonlight...
”There are three ranches here. My father owns some of their shares,” said Zhao Pinlin.
He was talking softly, as he was not feeling too confident. The real owner of the manor was a big shot. Zhao Pinlin only had the right to visit the club.
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”These three ranches and the private club are the places I am most suspicious of,” Lingling whispered to Mo Fan and Mu Ningxue.
Lingling was actually wondering how they could possibly sneak into here. After all, the private club was not open to tourists. Only those listed as its members were allowed to enter. Mo Fan, Lingling, and Mu Ningxue had no chance of becoming a member. Therefore, it would be troublesome for them to investigate the place. To their surprise, Zhao Pinlin actually solved their biggest problem!
”Mmm, we'll stick to the disguise. Let's be more careful here,” agreed Mo Fan.
”This place is around six kilometers from Zhenming Town. If anything happened, as long as they can clean up the mess quick enough, they won't leak any information to the outside,” Lingling pointed out.
The three ranches were connected together, occupying a huge amount of land. The place was basically secluded from the outer world. If it was actually a branch of the Black Vatican, they had no chance of escaping if they blew their cover!