Dragon Clan: Force me to be reborn and slay dragons

Chapter 305 Greenland Past, Fingel's Tragedy

Fingel von Frings, a 2001 graduate of Kassel College, is the head of the press department and an administrator of the Night Watchers forum...

He has many identities, but to this day, everyone's impression of him can be summed up in just two words—good-for-nothing.

If Lu Mingfei is the biggest joke of Shilan High School, then Finger is the biggest joke of Kassel College.

When he entered Kassel College, he was a powerful A-level student who outshone all the other freshmen. Everyone believed that he would become a banner of the new generation of the Secret Party, but in the end, even graduating became a luxury for him.

He went from being a chosen one to a stepson of heaven, the kind of person who was unloved by his parents and even whipped by his uncle from time to time. All the students who had once admired, respected, or regarded Fingel as a formidable rival felt sorry for him, but also mocked him for his self-degradation.

This feeling is like the unattainable white moonlight of youth falling into the dust of the world, having to greet those who were once too lazy to even glance at you with a smile, and while lamenting the impermanence of life, you still can't help but mock or despise them.

Of course, they will still patronize Finger's business.

After all, he was the biggest information broker at Kassel College. Whether it was useful or not, he had everything you wanted, and if you didn't have it, he would find a way to cheat and swindle it.

That's why he was able to rack up tens of thousands of dollars in credit card debt without worrying about being chased by debt collectors.

When the last student who had witnessed his glorious past graduated and left, Fingel completely let go of himself, becoming dissolute and abandoning his former pride.

He fooled many people. His teacher, Guderian, often lamented that he might never become a tenured professor. Executive Director Schneider occasionally regretted the loss of the most experienced student affairs officer in the executive department. The chairman of the disciplinary committee, Manstein, was busy arresting the news officer who violated rules, spread rumors, and attacked the campus network from time to time. Even the principal had to sigh when he saw him that the bottom line of Kassel College had been broken once again.

He thought his disguise could fool everyone, just as Caesar would subconsciously overlook that the news department was actually his propaganda weapon. Chu Zihang would never think of him as someone "worthy of a fight".

But now sitting in front of him is Lu Mingfei, an expert who has been hiding his true nature since childhood, a master of feigning weakness to deceive others.

This boy, who had once disguised himself as a loser just like him, but stopped hiding himself after learning the truth about the world, ruthlessly punctured his exquisitely crafted loser shell and tried to ignite the flames of revenge hidden in his heart with his resounding words.

Fingel bit the straw, the cold cola lingering in his mouth, the dense bubbles constantly rising and bursting, stimulating his tongue to a slight numbness.

He wanted to laugh it off as he always did when faced with questions from others, but looking into Lu Mingfei's eyes, which were both cold and seemed to be burning with fierce fire, he just couldn't bring himself to admit that he was a loser.

After all, he never considered surrendering or admitting defeat.

He had been searching for the dragon and the "prince" who had lured them to the Greenland Sea, vowing to mourn his fallen comrades with their blood and bones.

But they were too well hidden. Even though he openly had the support of the Secret Service and Kassel College, possessed a top-of-the-line supercomputer at the time, and secretly had various resources provided by the leader of the North American mixed-race community, he still couldn't find those two bastards.

So, is this boy who killed a god right in front of him his hope for revenge?
Fingel didn't know, but Hilbert Jean Angers, the world's strongest dragon slayer, had been searching for the enemies and traitors who caused the annihilation of the first Lionheart Society for over a hundred years without success. The Secret Society was riddled with factions, with the lower-ranking members sacrificing their lives to slay dragons, while the higher-ups only thought about their own ambitions and how to seize more power.

After seeing through all of this, he found Henkel, the leader of the North American mixed race, who was the lifelong enemy of the leader of the Secret Society. He had shot him in the back when he was young, which is why the latter still doesn't like people talking behind his back.

Henkel was a capable and decisive man, but the North American mixed-race group was even worse than the Gattuso family. At least the Gattuso family, which was only interested in profit, had oddballs like Caesar, while the high-ranking members of the North American mixed-race group were all useless.

Because Kassel College is located in North America, they have taken care of all the incidents related to the resurgence of dragons, the chaos caused by Deadpools, and the indiscriminate killing by dangerous hybrids. The North American hybrids, who have been reaping the benefits without lifting a finger, are just like their country, completely irresponsible. They only think about waiting for the Secret Party and Kassel College to kill all the dragons, and then they will ascend to the throne as the new dragon race to rule the world.

Fingel disdained associating with such fools, nor did he need to associate with them.

Before he came to Kassel College, he wanted to make his impoverished family great again, but after the Greenland Sea incident, all he had left in his heart was revenge.

In a sense, he and Angers are actually the same kind of people.

They are all avengers who will stop at nothing.

The only difference is that he is of low status, so he can be more thorough, even if it means abandoning the dignity and pride he cherishes as his life.

Fingel looked at Lu Mingfei, his face showing neither the shame and anger of having his scars exposed, nor the embarrassment of having his pretense exposed. He simply continued to bite on his straw, maintaining that detached, indifferent attitude, or rather, carefree demeanor.

"How did you tell?"

“Use your eyes to see.” Seeing that Fingel was not beating around the bush, Lu Mingfei also slightly restrained his aura. “You are a student of the 2001 class of Kassel College. Considering the bloodline-based approach in this Japanese diving plan, it is not hard to imagine that you must be a witness to the Greenland Sea incident.”

Kassel College's educational reform was due to the Greenland Sea Operation, but even with the reform, freshmen like Chu Zihang would still be thrown into the battlefield, and with Fingel's excellence, there was no way he could escape.

"You dare to be so arbitrary about something based on mere rumors?" Fingel laughed. "Junior brother, you have a real talent for being a paparazzi."

Why don't you come to Kassel College? I'll pass the position of Minister of Information to you after I graduate.

Even now, he still hasn't forgotten to complete the task assigned by the principal.

He really made me cry to death.

However, facing Lu Mingfei's oppressive gaze, Fingel ultimately failed to liven up the atmosphere. He nodded with a self-deprecating grin, biting his straw, his voice inexplicably hoarse.
"Okay, okay, I did participate in the Greenland Sea operation back then, but I was just a nobody and could only echo others."

“But the echo insect made that dragon bleed.” Lu Mingfei was very certain that Fingel’s bloodline was incredibly powerful.

The young master Caesar, whom the Gattuso family is so proud of, is like Lu Bu in the top lane when facing him. He may be able to play around with monsters with his range, but once he gets caught, he's instantly killed.

As for Chu Zihang, he may be a mechanical monster who dances on the edge of a knife. Given enough room to grow, he can outplay everyone. However, if he tries to fight against numerical monsters without his passive ability (activating Bloodlust), it's still a bit too much of a stretch.

"That's a long story." Fingel spat out the straw, opened the cap, and drank the cola as if he were drinking alcohol.

“Eri takes at least half an hour to take a bath, so your story shouldn’t be too short to be told in twenty minutes.”

"Junior brother, haven't you violated someone's privacy? Is this something I can hear?"

"If you utter another word, I'll tie you up, strip you naked, take pictures, and then post them on the Night Watchers forum using your account." Lu Mingfei glared at him fiercely, "And I'll pin them and make them a featured post!"

"Damn, we're brothers, how could you be so cruel?" Fingel's melancholy vanished as he substituted iced cola for alcohol. Seeing Lu Mingfei already pulling the packaging straps out of his backpack, he immediately sat up straight as if he were giving an academic presentation.

"It was autumn of 2001. A guy with the ID 'Prince' posted online that his tugboat had dredged up strange bronze fragments in the depths of the Greenland Sea," Fingel began slowly, his thoughts instantly drawn back to that icy, desolate place from back then.

"Those bronze fragments have complex ancient scripts. After repeated confirmation, the academy determined that these fragments are completely consistent with the 'Ice Sea Bronze Pillar Table' secretly collected by the academy, and both record the history of the dragon race."

At the time, Minister Schneider, who was just an assistant professor, anonymously contacted the other party and purchased these fragments from the "Prince" under the guise of an ancient script research institute.

Many people were interested in these fragments at the time, but unexpectedly, despite offers of exorbitant prices, the prince insisted on donating them to us free of charge, even including the fishing coordinates.

He gulped down a large mouthful of cola, the ice cube breaking through his hard teeth like an iceberg crashing against an icebreaker by the waves.
"The academy immediately organized an elite team to go to that sea area and scanned the seabed with sonar, but found no columnar object. Instead, it captured a strange heartbeat signal."

Lu Mingfei's eyes widened slightly upon hearing this; the plot seemed all too familiar.

"The same heartbeat signal as Takamagahara, right?" Fingel clearly knew what he was referring to, and though his lips twitched, he couldn't laugh out loud.

"After months of patient observation, the heartbeat on the seabed remained motionless, and finally some people began to suspect that it was a dragon embryo undergoing a long incubation process."

The Secret Society has only ever obtained one third-generation embryo in its history, while the heartbeat on this seabed clearly belongs to a much more powerful being.

"And then you went down?" Lu Mingfei was a little puzzled. Given the style of Kassel College, shouldn't they have taken action the moment they suspected it was a dragon? Why did they sit still and observe for several months?
"No, the executive department first used underwater robots to survey the area, but they were burned out by the protective field of the embryo as soon as they got close to the seabed."

Bioelectric currents surround the embryo, and any object that tries to approach it will be attacked. Anyone who enters its territory will experience fatal hallucinations, and only the hybrids with the strongest willpower can maintain their self-awareness within the hallucinations.

The academy wanted to observe further, but the board of directors issued a mandatory order: they must dive to confirm the target; they couldn't just wait for the embryo to hatch.

"So you and your partner were drafted into the action team?"

"Yes, the executive branch was forced to develop a meticulous plan. We purchased the most advanced German diving bell, wrapped the entire body in metal mesh, administered oral sedatives, and equipped underwater rifles with Philosopher's Stone bullets..."

We made many preparations, but something unexpected still happened.

The expression on Fingel's face finally vanished. He clutched the Coke glass, now only filled with ice, his iron-gray eyes filled with a chilling intent. At this moment, he finally resembled the Silver Wolf Fingel in Lu Mingfei's memory.

"The weather was great on the day of the dive, and the sea was calm. We went down in three diving bells."

Everything went smoothly at first, but when we reached a depth of 170 meters, we were attacked.

That feeling was awful, like a thousand needles were pricking your head. I was in so much pain that I could see my baby face.

But my teammates didn't; what they saw was a 'door'.

Fingel's voice became low and hoarse, the crushed paper cup in his hand like a knife being gripped tightly:

"They began to discuss the door intensely, completely ignoring Professor Schneider's orders, and moved toward the door."

I realized something was wrong. It was pitch black outside the observation port of the diving bell. There was no door at all. Only the dull, thunderous pounding of my heart echoed through the seawater inside the diving bell.

What they saw was not a door at all, but the embryo!

Although it hasn't fully hatched yet, it has already begun its hunt, and its prey is us, these intruders.

Lu Mingfei listened with a frown. He knew, of course, what would happen to a group of A-grade hybrids when they encountered a Dragon King-level embryo—they would have no chance to resist.

Even if the other party is just emerging from its cocoon, a weak larva.

"Before we went down, Professor Schneider told us not to leave the diving bell no matter what happened."

But after experiencing hallucinations, the team leader shouted, "Open the door! Open the door!" and then flung open the door of the diving bell, breaking free from its electrostatic barrier and walking out.

I tried to wake him, but for some reason I lost my ability to speak and could not make a sound except for heavy breathing.

The moment they stepped out of the diving bell, the team leader seemed to regain his senses, though he remained immersed in the hallucination. His instincts, however, told him that danger lurked ahead, and he terrified us, urging us not to enter but to leave.

Fingel sighed: "But it was too late. He broke free of the diving bell's electrostatic barrier and suffered a terrible mental attack."

He fired wildly with his gun, but he couldn't hit the enemy at all and was just wasting bullets.

His partner was also caught in the crossfire, rushing out and wielding a diving knife to cut the safety cable connecting the diving bell and the icebreaker.

At this point, he suddenly looked up, gazing at Lu Mingfei with eyes that seemed perpetually shrouded in gloom:

"Junior brother, you should know that the Execution Department's rules prohibit romantic relationships between people who work together underwater."

“Of course.” Lu Mingfei nodded. Ye Sheng and Jiu Deya, the ace duo, were forced to go solo because of this.

"One of the six people who went down with me was my girlfriend, Eva, who was a year older than me."

When Fingel mentioned the name, a hint of tenderness appeared in his iron-gray eyes, clearly indicating that this girl was extremely important to him.

Just like Erii was to Lu Mingfei, she was his anchor point in this world.

"Actually, only one diving bell was disconnected at the time. The remaining four of us were still able to call for rescue and escape in an emergency. But the team leader's partner rushed over with a diving knife and tried to cut their diving bell safety rope."

Eva is a good girl; everyone at Kassel College likes her. Even when she was in grave danger, she told me to leave and not worry about her.

But how could I bear to leave such a wonderful girl? So I kicked open the emergency exit and rushed out.

However, my swimming skills are mediocre, and I was practically a non-swimmer when I entered Kassel College, so I couldn't stop it before the safety rope was cut.

Then, my partner cut the safety rope of the last diving bell, and I was surrounded by three out-of-control teammates. The dragon was controlling their illusions and turned me into their enemy.

I yelled at them to wake up, but all they heard were the roars of monsters, which fueled their even more frenzied attack.

Fingel tossed aside the crumpled Coke cup in his hand, pulled a beer bottle from under the table, flicked it with his thumb, and took a big gulp to calm himself before continuing:
"And like I said, Eva is a good girl, how could she just stand by and watch me get into a dead end?"

The safety rope had snapped, and without external force, it would be difficult for us to successfully rise to the surface despite the interference from the embryo. So she led the others out as well.

The bitter wine stung his throat and his heart ached. Fingel could only imagine how painful it was to personally reopen his wounds and expose the bleeding scars. As he had said before, he had grown accustomed to this pain, and only alcohol could provide pain relief.

"Fortunately, thanks to Eva's and my efforts, our teammates finally regained consciousness."

But by this time the safety rope had been retrieved, and the temperature of the surrounding water had dropped below zero. If we moved even slightly, the seawater around us would freeze quickly.

Worse still, the embryo suddenly hatched and launched an attack.

He gently shook the bottle, watching the liquid inside churn and surge through the dark green glass, much like their predicament.

"We were like being thrown into a washing machine, completely out of control, while the dragon came and went as it pleased, manipulating us at will."

When the raging currents subsided, the diving bell and my companions were nowhere to be found; only Eva remained in my arms.

But she fainted in the turbulence, while I remained conscious.

The specially made underwater rifle is long gone, and without Philosopher's Stone bullets, the only weapon I can rely on is a diving knife.

The dark, sunless deep sea, the desperate situation of being isolated and helpless, and the dragons lurking in the shadows to toy with their prey—just thinking about it makes one feel suffocated and overwhelmed by despair.

But Fingel could not be defeated by the immense pressure of the mountains and rivers, because he still had to bring his girl back to the ship.

"I was on guard against the dragon's attack, but it didn't seem to be in a hurry to kill its dying prey, only occasionally darting past and letting out a low chuckle."

Just when I was about to lose my temper, Professor Schneider suddenly appeared.

He's a complete madman. He repeatedly warned us not to leave the diving chamber, yet he dared to dive alone into the deep sea wearing a metal diving suit and secured with a safety rope.

Fingel vividly recalled the scene of the professor's sudden appearance, a bitter look appearing on his face:
"Unfortunately, he wasn't good at fighting, so the dragon played hide-and-seek with him."

Just as I was about to remind him, Eva woke up, so we decided to take advantage of the dragon's attention being drawn to the professor and try to kill it.

Eva's Word of Power works best in the sea, and thanks to it, we made our way to Professor Schneider's vicinity without making a sound.

Just as we were about to succeed, Professor Schneider somehow discovered the dragon behind him, and in a panic, he grabbed his gun, turned around, and fired.

At this point, a bitter expression of helplessness and resignation appeared on Fingel's face:

"At that moment, I was on the same level as the dragon and Professor Schneider. The instant I sensed something was wrong, I unleashed all my strength and slashed at its body. Just then, it tilted its head back to avoid the bullet, so the slash landed squarely on the back of its neck."

The knife shattered its scales and cut through its flesh, scalding blood splattering onto my hands. But I was also hit by a bullet. To avoid making a sound when I got close, I took off the outer metal mesh and was only wearing a diving suit.

The water resistance greatly reduced the bullet's power, but I was still injured and unable to immediately follow up with another attack.

He chuckled wryly and rubbed his muscular chest: "Then I got whipped away by a tail, and the last thing I saw was that silly girl Eva blocking the dragon's path."

Lu Mingfei listened to everything silently; it was indeed a sad story.

"Eva was indeed a good girl, but what happened next?"

"Later, everyone except Professor Schneider and me died." Fingel took another gulp of wine, his voice terribly hoarse:
"Eva is dead, Professor Schneider is a half-dead old man, the others haven't been found, only I'm still alive and kicking."

(End of this chapter)