Dragon Clan: Force me to be reborn and slay dragons

Chapter 321 You lied to me, and I lied to you. Now we're even.
Coming to Nibelungen late at night was certainly not to broaden Old Tang's horizons, but simply to move corpses and let Old Tang see if he could glean any useful information from the modified corpse of the Laurent family head.

After all, whether he wants to admit it or not, Old Tang's head does indeed contain the most complete and profound alchemical knowledge from ancient times to the present. It's just that he hasn't yet found a way to safely open this treasure trove without alerting the dragon guarding it.

Fortunately, with Lu Mingfei around, Old Tang didn't have to worry about being swallowed by the dragon when he tried to open the treasure vault.

Tiger Head Ben raced wildly across the overpass and soon arrived at the heart of the battle, where corpses were piled up like mountains.

Looking at the eight-legged winged horse, reduced to a dark golden skeleton, and the alchemical golem lying in the deep pit with its armor shattered, Old Tang couldn't help but raise an eyebrow:
"Mingming, you guys were pretty ruthless yesterday."

"The other side is even more ruthless; Fingel is almost beaten to a pulp."

Upon hearing this, Old Tang glanced at Fingel twice and realized what he meant: "No wonder he looked so thin last night. I thought he was burning calories, but it turns out he got beaten up and became young again."

"He's slandering me! He's slandering me!" Fingel wished he could shove the DV camera evidence into Old Tang's eye sockets so that he could play his heroic and imposing figure in battle on a loop 24/7.

Old Tang, suppressing a laugh, leaned closer to the screen and just in time to see Fingel being blown away by the shockwave: "That move, the 'Wild Goose Descending on the Sand' with its butt facing backward... it's the essence of the move."

"Don't keep focusing on these trivial details." Fingel angrily turned off the video. "Get to work. Staying in this place for too long makes me feel uneasy; it's bad luck."

The body of the patriarch of the Laurent family lay in the cracks of asphalt, the alchemical device on his chest exposed to the moonlight.

Dr. Indiana Downs crouched down, reaching into his open chest to examine the alchemical artifacts inside. His gaze swept over the alchemical matrices inscribed on them, and the dark, murky blood in their veins, like waste engine oil, before he fell into a long, thoughtful silence.

After waiting a moment, Lu Mingfei saw that he still looked like he was holding in his poop, so he asked, "What's wrong? Did you figure something out?"

Old Tang frowned and slowly shook his head: "No."

"Then why do you look so constipated?"

"Although I can't see the technical sophistication here, I can tell it's a clumsy imitation." Old Tang's fingers rummaged inside the chest cavity of the Laurent family head, the metal parts clanging together with a crisp sound. His brows furrowed slightly, his tone filled with undisguised disdain.

Lu Mingfei leaned closer: "What do you mean?"

“Look at this energy conversion circuit.” Old Tang pointed to a set of blackened gears inside his chest cavity and said naturally, “The interface that should have been made of mithril was replaced with recycled metal, and the conduction efficiency is less than 60%.”

His fingers moved to the other side, tapping the replaced heart's outer shell; the alchemical matrix gleamed an eerie dark red under the light.

"And this one is completely imitating the refining technique of the Dragon Clan Corpse Guardian. But this body is too fragile, with limited room for modification and pitifully low durability. It will probably be scrapped after one or two uses."

Fingel was still dragging the video progress bar when he heard him say that. He couldn't help but look up at him, his iron-gray eyes filled with shock: "No... Old Tang, you really know?"

Old Tang was stunned when he heard this, his face full of surprise, thinking, "Damn, I don't know anything, but how come I can talk so eloquently?"

"That's not important. Maybe Old Tang is an alchemical genius, one in a million." Lu Mingfei waved his hand, a knowing glint in his eyes: "You said before that the life support device for this puppet was a poor imitation, meaning it wasn't made by Odin?"

Upon hearing the name, a hint of disdain and disgust flashed in Old Tang's eyes, along with an almost imperceptible sense of apprehension: "Although that guy is very annoying, this method is too crude; it couldn't possibly be his work."

He had roughly figured out that there might be a long-standing grudge between "himself" and Odin.

Just hearing this name makes my hands and teeth itch.

It seemed that the other party had hurt what he cherished most, and a nameless rage surged from the bottom of his heart.

"That means he has a well-established force under his command that can target the heads of large mixed-race families in Europe, and his researchers have also mastered the technology to transform people into corpse guardians." Lu Mingfei nodded thoughtfully. He had no doubt about Old Tang's judgment, especially regarding the confrontation with Odin.

This is almost certainly a subconscious form of hostility.
Fingel glanced sideways; this was practically equating the Gattuso family with Odin's number one lackey.

But if Gattuso really has an inextricable connection with Odin, then perhaps he could cultivate an even more outstanding successor.

It's not that I look down on Caesar; he was indeed a very charismatic Italian leader.

The only problem is that their strength is a bit...emmm, making it difficult for them to participate in high-level battles.

Putting everything else aside, at the very least, the Word Spirit shouldn't be a purely support-oriented Kamaitachi.

Speaking of which, he had previously learned that the old guys in the Secret Society were planning to develop a bloodline enhancement program to help hybrids break through their bloodline limits without going out of control. The program was no less dangerous than the evolution drug that the Japanese Oni Gang used for killing people at home or while traveling.

It is said that the Gattuso family spearheaded this plan, and the first lucky one will be chosen from among the students of Kassel College. If nothing unexpected happens, the "chosen child" is very likely to be a blond young master.

“Old Fingel, the organization has given you a mission: find a pretext to lure Caesar to China. We’ll use the prince to our advantage and then use him to control Gattuso.” Lu Mingfei patted Fingel on the shoulder, interrupting his wild thoughts, and said earnestly.

The word "Prince" immediately triggered Fingel's reaction. Regardless of who the prince was, it seemed that he had some ambiguous relationship with Odin and the Gattuso family.

He disliked married women, but he also knew the principle of "better to kill the innocent than let the guilty go free."

The Gattuso family was an accomplice when the Crown Prince orchestrated the sacrifice of Kassel College's most elite specialists to the resurrection of the Dragon King.

If these two are truly on the same side, then it's time to settle both old and new grudges.

“If everything goes smoothly, he will come to China on his own without me having to find a way.” Since Fingel had already chosen Lu Mingfei, he didn’t hide anything and told him everything about the Nibelungen Project.

"If the Gattuso family wants Caesar to be the one to reap the rewards, then they will not let Caesar miss out on this opportunity to excavate the dragon's tomb of the Bronze and Fire King."

"Moreover, Caesar is a very proud person. He was almost a supporting character in this Japanese God-Slaying Project. Even though he survived the Deep Dive Project and made great contributions, he doesn't have any real kill records like you and Chu Zihang. Given his personality, he definitely won't accept it."

The implication is that Caesar is determined to excavate the tomb of the King of Bronze and Fire.

As he said this, he kept glancing at Old Tang, who was still observing the head of the Laurent family, out of the corner of his eye.

As clever as he was, he had already noticed that something was wrong with Lao Tang, but the guess was too bold, and Lao Tang's words and actions were completely those of a normal human being, so he didn't dare to make a definitive statement.

Lu Mingfei knew that Fingel should have noticed something, but since the other party hadn't said anything explicitly, he didn't explain either. He just patted Old Tang on the shoulder and told him not to get agitated.

Old Tang had his back to everyone. The earlier comment about digging up the dragon tomb of the King of Bronze and Fire had indeed angered him, and even his eyes had turned a gradient of gold.

But Lu Mingfei stopped him in time.

"In that case, let's not delay. Let's set off for the mountain city on a chosen day to explore the bronze city hidden beneath the Yangtze River and, incidentally, make some noise to attract the attention of Kassel College."

Given the Kassel College's tendency to exploit anyone they find useful, Caesar, being the most formidable student, would have had to go through with it even without that damned Nibelungen Project.

After the group finished discussing the matter, Fingel took out a body bag that he had prepared beforehand, carefully placed the body of the head of the Laurent family into the trunk, and then drove back towards the exit.

Ryoma Kaoru had a lot of questions on his mind, but it wasn't convenient to ask them. He planned to discuss them with Lao Tang in his room that evening.

As for Erii, Lu Mingfei was initially worried that she would be scared because there was a corpse in the trunk of the car just one seat away, but she was playing her game console as if nothing had happened.

In Japan, there are many arcade game experts, and she has quite a few opponents she can't beat.

However, in China, gaming is considered akin to electronic opium, and few of the opponents she's matched with are capable of defeating her; it's a bit like the loneliness of a true master.

In the afternoon, Lu Mingfei took her to an arcade that was having an event. A man who was called a kid beat her terribly, and in the end, Lu Mingfei helped her get revenge.

The girl wasn't the type to call for help when she couldn't win. Instead, she returned to the hotel and devoted herself to honing her skills with her game console, preparing to master her skills and avenge her previous defeat.

Lu Mingfei was not optimistic, after all, that was Child God, whose godhood in the arcade field was as stable as his godhood in the online game field, which was so stable that it made people despair.

Thinking this, Tiger Head Ben swept across the boundary between illusion and reality, and they left Nibelungen and returned to the real world.

Just as Lu Mingfei was thinking of contacting Chu Zihang, Old Tang, who was sitting in the front row, suddenly raised his head, his gaze falling on a desolate field outside the overpass, his eyes slightly deep.

"What's wrong?" Lu Mingfei stopped taking out his phone and looked in the direction Old Tang was looking.

"I sensed 'Shao Nanqin's' aura. How did she get here?" Old Tang asked in confusion. As the pinnacle of the bloodline source, he could easily sense his subordinates approaching him.

But didn't he tell her to stay in the city center and not wander around? Where has she gone?

Lu Mingfei paused slightly upon hearing this, of course he knew why the Shao sisters had run away.

Because he recognized that the dragon Old Tang had was Cheng Shuangfan's hunting target. Unsurprisingly, his plan went awry, causing the capture operation to be brought forward.

If it were just him and his hunting team, Lu Mingfei could easily send them packing and letting the dragon return to the mountains.

But now that Chu Zihang and Xia Mi are among them, he wants to hide and watch the show for a while.

……

The taxi sped through the night, eventually stopping under a desolate overpass. The shadows, like the gaping maw of a giant beast, swallowed the entire vehicle into darkness.

Cheng Shuangfan stubbed out his cigar, the embers drawing a fleeting arc in the night. He walked forward slowly, the sound of his leather shoes crunching through the puddles particularly jarring in the silence.

The car door creaked open, revealing two identical pale faces inside.

Shao Nanyin looked at him in disbelief, her eyes filled with frozen despair. Shao Nanqin simply lowered his head, his face streaked with tears, and remained silent, as if he had suffered a major blow.

"Kassel College Executive Department, S-level Specialist Cheng Shuangfan." Cheng Shuangfan's gaze fell on Shao Nanyin's face, her voice like a drawn sword, severing any remaining hope:
“I’m here, you have no chance of escaping. You can trust me about this.”

Shao Nanyin looked up, the moonlight outlining the man's sharp features.

That face that once smiled gently on dates now only has a metallic coldness.

This is his true identity: the top hunter in the ancient and mysterious organization, the Secret Party.

"Click!"

The sound of the shackles closing echoed in the silence. Shao Nanyin looked down at the heavy black shackles on her wrists, finding it difficult even to lift her arm.

Cheng Shuangfan sat in the passenger seat, and with a gesture, a container truck slowly drove out of the shadows.

The cargo door slid open silently, revealing the chilling space inside. The taxi driver maneuvered the vehicle into it, like prey being dragged into the belly of a giant beast.

At this moment, Shao Nanyin knew perfectly well that she had never escaped the trap set by Cheng Shuangfan.

The shipping container had been converted into a makeshift interrogation room. The stark white light shone on Shao Nanyin's face. She did not confess to her crimes. She did not believe she had committed any crimes; she simply told her story.

"The dragon race is a race abandoned by fate."

Human science is still far inferior to even one ten-thousandth of the dragons' alchemy, and the difference in individual vitality is immense. However, humans possess something we can never achieve: reproduction and learning. These two driving forces of civilization are precisely the dragons' fatal weaknesses.

She tells the story of the Dragon King's unwillingness to be subservient to humans, his endless cycle of reincarnation in his quest to regain power, the moth-to-a-flame resistance of his kind, and how she herself became an outcast among her race, a dragon fleeing its destiny.

She had witnessed too many of her people turn to ashes in the flames, and gradually began to doubt this eternal war.

"I will no longer respond to new summons." Her voice seemed weary from a thousand years. "I choose to parasitize human society, living like a shadow."

She looked at Shao Nanqin, who had begun to weep silently again, her tone carrying a mixture of pity and mockery:
"I finally found a silly host, so I can live freely without being controlled and do whatever I want... Unfortunately, before I could have my fill, you guys came knocking on my door."

Cheng Shuangfan turned her head and looked at Shao Nanqin, who was still immersed in grief:
"Now you understand, right? You've been living in her fantasy for twenty-three years, and it's time to wake up."

Shao Nanqin suddenly looked up, her swollen eyes fixed on the expressionless Shao Nanyin, her voice trembling like torn cloth: "How have you viewed me in the past twenty-three years, as a pet or as a stockpile of food?"

She clenched her fists, her nails digging deep into her palms, yet still clung to a sliver of hope, asking almost pleadingly:
"Or... even for just a moment, did you truly ever see me as your older sister?"

Shao Nanyin stared at her, her eyes devoid of any emotion, offering the same answer that everyone knew:
"No, I've never considered you my older sister."

Shao Nanqin's body trembled violently, as if she had been pierced by those words.

She slowly squatted down, hugged her knees tightly, and suddenly burst into a heart-wrenching wail, as if the most important thing in her life had been forcibly taken away and crushed into dust in front of her.

Cheng Shuangfan watched her trembling back, remained silent for a moment, and finally reached out and patted her shoulder: "You are sad because you have a heart, and those with a heart will always lose to those without."

After she had cried enough, the interrogation finally ended. Everyone packed up their gear to leave, with Shao Nanqin walking dejectedly at the front.

However, the moment she stepped out of the container—

"boom!!!"

With a loud bang, the heavy container door slammed shut!

The moment Shao Nanqin stepped out of the container, she suddenly turned around, her movements incredibly swift, trapping everyone inside. Then, she sprinted and leaped into the wild field beside the road, her speed resembling that of Usain Bolt being relentlessly pursued by a slave owner wielding a whip and a hunting rifle.

The sudden change caught everyone off guard. Cheng Shuangfan looked at the tightly closed door and immediately realized what was happening, turning to look at Shao Nanyin, who was wearing shackles.

But then she suddenly let out a long breath, her eyes filled with a mixture of amusement and sadness as she looked at him: "You lied to me, and I lied to you. Now we're even."

Cheng Shuangfan knew perfectly well that this Shao Nanyin was actually Shao Nanqin in disguise, and that the real Shao Nanqin was their target!

Sure enough, the more beautiful a woman is, the more likely she is to deceive you; even he, an experienced hunter, didn't realize it!

Cheng Shuangfan's face instantly turned ashen, and he practically spat out the words through clenched teeth, "Do you know what you've done? You let a pure-blooded dragon escape! You idiot!"

Upon hearing this, Shao Nanqin merely raised her hand, but gave up due to the heavy shackles, and simply slumped into the chair, pursing her lips:

"It's okay, anyway I don't expect you to like me."

Cheng Shuangfan laughed angrily, pulled out her phone from her pocket, and said coldly, "You think she can definitely escape?"

Shao Nanqin was taken aback. She glanced around the container and suddenly realized something, her expression changing drastically.

Since the taxi driver is Cheng Shuangfan's man, the young couple who gave them the opportunity to flag down the taxi earlier are most likely also his men.

Adding to that the expressionless-faced guy who got out of the Maybach that rear-ended them, that means there are at least three more people lying in ambush outside!

"You cunning bastard!" she gritted her teeth in anger, but her vocabulary for cursing was so limited that it sounded more like she was being coquettish.

Cheng Shuangfan ignored her and simply waited quietly.

The Word of Power: Sword Control is a highly secretive Word of Power, and he will not use it lightly unless it is a matter of life and death.

He knew that his eldest nephew would soon bring the escaped dragon back.

……

Meanwhile, in the fields beneath the overpass, a slender figure was running wildly under the moonlight, her bright golden eyes revealing a hint of relief at escaping death and a ruthless determination to avenge this wrong.

"Wait, Nanqin, I will definitely come back to save you!"

Shao Nanyin vowed in her heart that she would never call Shao Nanqin an idiot again.

From now on, she will be the older sister and protect Nanqin for the rest of her life!

However, in the instant that thought flashed through his mind—

"Uh-huh!!!"

A sharp blade of light suddenly tore through the night!
Shao Nanyin almost instinctively lunged down, falling face-first into the dirt in a pathetic manner.

The next second, the thick tree behind her snapped with a crash, the cut as smooth as a mirror.

Shao Nanyin scrambled to her feet, only to see a cold-faced boy emerge from the shadows carrying a knife.

Under the moonlight, Chu Zihang stood with his sword drawn, the blade gleaming coldly, reflecting a pair of golden eyes comparable to those of a dragon.

(End of this chapter)