Dragon Clan: Lu Mingfei Returns from Japan

Chapter 577 Intelligence
The town of Kadori is still nominally within the Tokyo metropolitan area, but the town's landscape is far from the developed Tokyo. This small town is hidden in the mountains of Katori City, Chiba Prefecture, and the nearest tram station has long been deserted. The rotten railroad ties are covered with moss. The cherry blossoms fall in the wind, which is easily reminiscent of the scene in Makoto Shinkai's movie "5 Centimeters per Second".

Yuan Zhinu, who had been out of contact for a few days, decided to meet Lu Mingfei here. No one knew why. Was it to avoid being seen?
Kadori Shrine is located a little deeper. The road ahead is no longer accessible because it is all ruins. As usual, only Lu Mingfei and Aki got out of the car. Xia Mi, Eri, and Mai stayed in the car waiting for them.

Crossing the collapsed road, there are dilapidated wooden buildings along the way, and only an empty school looks relatively new. The prosperity of the big city seems to be completely isolated here. If it weren't for the earthquake a few years ago, this place would probably be a peaceful place like Goto in "Genki Kid".

There is a small hill ahead of the school. After passing through a torii gate that was burnt for some unknown reason on the mountain road, Lu Mingfei and Aki finally arrived at a shrine. The plaque next to it read Kadori Shrine.

"Is this the place that Genjiro was talking about?" Aki asked, looking up.

"Probably." Lu Mingfei nodded.

Entering Kadori Shrine. This is a very classical shrine, but it seems to have been carefully renovated, so it doesn't feel dilapidated at all. The only thing that hasn't been repaired is the burnt torii gate. There are also large patches of vermilion on the stone wall. I don't know if it was painted or something else.

I don't know why, but the stone wall looks creepy, like...

"Does it look like blood has seeped into the cracks in the stone?" A voice suddenly came from the side.

Lu Mingfei and Aki turned their heads at the same time. Yuan Zhinv walked towards the shrine and said, "You are right. That is indeed blood."

Lu Mingfei paused: "Your blood?"

“Yes.” Yuan Zhinu walked to a position one meter away from Lu Mingfei and stopped. She turned around and looked at the stone wall with him. She said with a smile: “It was my brother who cut me with a knife and the blood spurted out.”

Lu Mingfei had also heard Yuan Zhisheng tell the story between him and Yuan Zhinu before. He and Yuan Zhinu lived in a shrine in the mountains since childhood. The two grew up together, studied together, and lived a peaceful life together.

But one day this peaceful life was broken. Minamoto Chitose's bloodline suddenly went out of control and she turned into a ghost, killing people wantonly in the town. As her brother, he could only kill the ghost with his own hands.

Of course, Lu Mingfei knew that Herzog was behind this from the beginning to the end. He personally staged this scene, letting Yuan Zhisheng and Yuan Zhinu kill each other, pushing Yuan Zhinu to become the head of the Yuan family, and Yuan Zhinu became the Dragon King of the fierce ghosts. He made both of them work for him.

Aki's eyes trembled when he heard this: "With such a large amount of bleeding...how did you survive?"

"So, Genjiro died a long time ago. The only one who is still alive in this world is Ruri Kazama, the Dragon King of the Demons."

Yuan Zhinv smiled and said, "There is nothing to talk about this kind of thing. Please follow me."

Walking through the dry landscape with fine stones, Lu Mingfei and Aki followed behind Minamoto no Chitose, passed through the shrine's approach and entered the main hall.

The main hall is not very big. The floor is simply covered with tatami mats and there is a tea tray with a teapot and teacups. Probably because it has been dilapidated for a long time, there are no shrines or Buddha statues next to it. There are only a few curtains with the logo of Kadori Shrine hanging on both sides.

"Sorry, there's not even a cushion."

Yuan Zhinu sat on the ground, smiled, picked up the teapot and poured tea for Lu Mingfei and Aki: "But there is still tea, this is the most basic etiquette."

"It's okay." Aki also knelt on the ground, imitating Genji's movements. They were all used to sitting like this.

Lu Mingfei, on the other hand, always felt a little awkward when kneeling without a cushion, and finally he just sat on the ground in a Chinese cross-legged posture.

"I heard that people from Kassel Academy will arrive in Tokyo tonight?" asked Yuan Zhinv after everyone sat down.

Lu Mingfei and Yaji looked at each other subconsciously, and Lu Mingfei said, "You are quite well-informed."

"Kassel College has already sent a letter to the executive bureau of the Japanese branch. This matter is no longer a secret within the Snake Eight Families. The top management has no intention of concealing this matter," said Yuan Zhinv.

Lu Mingfei and Yaji had naturally received the news that the negotiation team from Kassel College would come to Tokyo tonight. Everyone was speculating about who would be coming from the college this time. Would the head of the executive department, von Schneider, come in person? Would there be any close party families like the Gattuso family or the Laurent family participating in the negotiations?

But one thing is obvious. That is the existence of Uesugi Eri, the head of the Uesugi family. After tonight, perhaps it will no longer be a secret.

"Do you have confidants within the Sheqi Eight Families?" Lu Mingfei asked.

"I can't really be considered a confidant. At most, I can only be considered a source of information." Yuan Zhinv laughed, "I don't have any confidants."

Lu Mingfei saw a hint of sadness in Yuan Zhinu's smile, and he suddenly understood why Yuan Zhinu never trusted anyone. He had been played around by ghosts, and was almost killed by his most trusted brother who grew up with him. After crawling out of the corpses and blood, he probably had lost his trust in human nature.

"That's enough small talk for now, let's get down to business."

Genji said, looking at Aki: "The submersible mission should be going smoothly, right? You should have taken photos of the God's Burial Place, right?"

"Is that place called the Burial Place of Gods?" Aki asked, remembering the Atlantis-like scene she saw through the porthole of the submersible.

"That's what the king called that place," said Yuan Zhinv calmly. "He has always been interested in the burial place of the gods. Legend has it that it was the place where the White King was buried."

Aki knew that her bloodline came from the White King's lineage, but she didn't expect that the White King's burial place was so close to Japan. No wonder Japan's mixed-bloods often have unstable high bloodlines.

Perhaps these bloodlines were not passed down normally, but the land of Japan has been completely polluted by the bones of the White King, which is why so many high-level hybrids with unstable bloodlines were born.

After showing shock, Aki fell into deep thought, but Lu Mingfei's expression did not change much.

"You don't seem very surprised?" Yuan Zhinv looked at Lu Mingfei's face and asked.

Lu Mingfei raised his eyebrows: "I'm just more surprised that you actually gave us such important information directly."

"This information might have been worth a lot in the past, but it's worthless now."

Yuan Zhinv smiled and said, "After Kassel Academy takes over the Tokyo branch's executive bureau, you will be able to investigate these things yourself. But I have some other information here, Lu Sang, you may be interested."

"What information?" Lu Mingfei asked. "I wonder if Lu Sang has seen this pattern before."

Yuan Zhinu stretched out her slender little finger, dipped it into her teacup, and then drew something on the dusty tatami. She seemed to have a talent for painting, and she drew a vivid snake with just her little finger. The action reminded Lu Mingfei of the old men in Huaxia City Park who loved to write on the road with a big brush dipped in water.

Soon, a pattern took shape under Yuan Zhinv's fingers.

Lu Mingfei squinted his eyes and saw that the pattern was a snake wrapped around a cross with an apple in its mouth.

Lu Mingfei was stunned for a moment. He didn't know why, but he felt like he had seen this pattern somewhere before. He tilted his head and thought about it for a long time, but he still couldn't remember where he had seen it.

"What is this?" Lu Mingfei asked Yuan Zhinu.

“I don’t know the details.”

Genji Chinu said calmly, "In fact, on the day when you, Lusan, invaded the Genji Heavy Industries headquarters building, Xiaomu and I were not idle either. We also went to other places."

Lu Mingfei said: "Other places?"

"Yes." Yuan Zhinv nodded: "Lu Sang, do you know how the eight Sheqi families deal with children with unstable bloodlines?"

Lu Mingfei shook his head when he heard this. He knew that within the Sheqi Eight Families, in order to ensure the nobility and strength of their bloodline, they would often choose internal marriages within the Eight Families. This custom has existed since ancient times. In order to ensure that their offspring could show high bloodline, the pharaohs of ancient Egypt would also give birth to offspring with their sisters or even mothers.

In some backward countries or tribes, this feudal dregs custom still exists. Even today, the Japanese imperial family still retains this custom. But the price is often that inbreeding often produces offspring with poor intelligence.

The family of the Eight Sheqi Families is actually quite large. There is no concern about giving birth to mentally retarded offspring through intermarriage among the eight families, but it is more likely to give birth to offspring with unstable bloodlines.

There is a certain correlation between the instability of bloodline and the level of bloodline, but this correlation is not absolute.

For example, Yuan Zhisheng, his bloodline has reached S-level, but his bloodline performance is also quite stable, and there is almost no risk of going berserk.

However, the heads of the eight Sheqi families, who have lower bloodlines than him, are more likely to fall into a state of bloodline rampage.

Yuan Zhinv said, "Nominally, the Sheqi Eight Families will send children with unstable bloodlines to a boarding school in the mountains of Kobe. They will be monitored by special personnel and their performance will be regularly observed. If their bloodlines are not out of control until they are thirty years old, they can leave the boarding school."

"What's the reality?" Lu Mingfei asked.

Yuan Zhinv smiled and said, "Lu Sang, your intuition is very sharp... In fact, only children whose bloodline is not good enough will be sent to a boarding school in the mountains of Kobe. And those children with excellent bloodline performance will be sent to an underground hospital to participate in more cruel experiments."

"experiment?"

"Those children will be injected with various serums to observe the effects of those serums. Some serums will be fine after injection, but some serums will cause the bloodline of those children to get out of control and become Deadpool."

Aki paused for a moment, as if he suddenly realized something, and said palely: "You mean... the eight families of Sheqi have been secretly conducting experiments related to human alchemy?"

"I don't know." Genjiro shook her head: "I think the heads of the eight Snake families may not know about this matter. But Tachibana Masamune must know."

Human Alchemy...

Lu Mingfei lowered his head, and he remembered what happened in Portugal. At that time, Father Bernardo had also conducted experiments related to human alchemy. Coincidentally, Bernardo, like Herzog, also wanted to replace the dragon blood into his body and let himself embark on the so-called "road to godhood".

Is this a coincidence?
Thinking of this, Lu Mingfei raised his head and said, "Since the heads of the eight Sheqi families may not know about this matter, how did you know about it?"

"To be honest, Lu Sang, you said..."

Genji said softly, "Kogure actually escaped from there. I also sneaked in there a few days ago, wanting to investigate what kind of experiments Tachibana Masamune was conducting behind the scenes."

Lu Mingfei suddenly realized something and frowned: "You mean... you used us to attract Tachibana Masamune's attention, and when Tachibana Masamune's attention was on Genji Heavy Industries, you took the opportunity to sneak into the underground hospital."

"Because I didn't know at the time whether you guys were trustworthy, Lu Sang."

Genji smiled bitterly: "Now I know that you are all trustworthy friends. And we have also been punished. Not long after I sneaked in, I was discovered by the people in the hospital. It took a lot of effort to escape. Kogure was injured to help me escape. This is also the reason why I have been hiding in this shrine for the past few days and have not returned to Tokyo. There are really not many trustworthy people in the organization."

"Ms. Sakurai is here too?"

"She's resting in the next room."

Lu Mingfei had no intention of pursuing the fact that Minamoto Chikyou had used him. After all, Minamoto Chikyou had indeed helped him sneak into the headquarters of Genji Heavy Industries and had accidentally led him to meet Eri. In a sense, Lu Mingfei even had to thank him. He was more interested in the underground hospital.

"Where is that underground hospital? What did you find in there?"

"The hospital is in Shinjuku," said Minamoto Chidome. "To be honest, I didn't find much valuable information. I just know that it seems that it's not just Tachibana Masamune who is involved in this matter. There may be another organization involved."

After saying this, Yuan Zhinv paused and pointed her finger at the pattern on the floor: "And the logo of that organization seems to be this."

Lu Mingfei cast his eyes on the floor again. The traces of tea paint had almost dried up. The snake wrapped around the cross was already blurred. Only a twisted snake's body and the image of the cross under the snake could be vaguely seen.

A twisted snake body...a cross.

Lu Mingfei was stunned for a moment, and suddenly remembered where he had seen it before... Bernardo had left him a similar pattern before he died!
……

(I stayed up late to finish this chapter, and also added 1,400 words of details to Chapter 253, which are related to this chapter and the subsequent foreshadowing. You can go back and review that chapter first.)
(End of this chapter)