Dragon Raja: Lu Mingfei's War Journey

Chapter 113 The Changed Reality (6600)

In downtown Chicago, on the top floor of the Sears Tower, Henkel slowly awoke from the large office chair carved from a single piece of North American black walnut wood.

Unlike Lu Mingfei or Caesar, who awoke as if from a nightmare, his awakening was more like a sleeping lion waking up and naturally opening its eyes.

He stood up and went straight to the huge floor-to-ceiling window that occupied the entire wall and was made of high-strength special glass.

Outside the window, Chicago's magnificent and dazzling night view unfolds.

Lake Michigan resembles a giant black velvet sheet, while on the opposite shore, the city lights converge into a golden river and ribbon of light, outlining a magnificent skyline composed of skyscrapers.

The building was invested and built by his family. When it was completed in 1974, it became the tallest building in the world at the time and held this record for 25 years until it was surpassed in 1998.

This building is 442.3 meters tall, and its total height with the antenna reaches 527.3 meters. It has 108 floors above ground and 3 floors below ground, totaling 111 floors.

The Sky Deck on the 103rd floor is a popular destination for visitors, featuring the famous suspended glass rooftop. The transparent glass box extends outwards by about 1.5 meters, allowing visitors to experience the thrill of being suspended in the air and overlook the entire city of Chicago and Lake Michigan.

But the best view is always from the top floor, the 108th floor, which is also where Henkel's office is located, where he has been handling affairs for 35 years.

Countless decisions that have shaped the world order of mixed-race individuals, and the flow of enormous wealth, have been finalized at this desk.

Whenever he felt tired or needed to think about important decisions, he would always stand in front of this huge window, just like now, overlooking the city that he had witnessed transform from an industrial town into a modern metropolis, a city that his family had grown up alongside.

Unlike Lu Mingfei and Caesar, he was not overwhelmed by the bloody and brutal atmosphere of World War I.

He is a super hybrid who has lived for nearly a century and a half, and is the uncrowned king of the North American hybrid family alliance.

Moreover, he was a true living fossil who had experienced two world wars and the Cold War. Although World War I was brutal, it was nothing to him.

He didn't have the opportunity to personally participate in trench warfare when he was young, but during World War II, his forces had already infiltrated all sides, and he himself had directly gone to the battlefield, and he had also faced pure-blooded dragons more than once.

Mountains of corpses and seas of blood? He'd seen plenty of that.

At this moment, he was feeling his body gradually regaining its youth.

[The mission reward is twenty years of lifespan.]

[Note: Aging is the fairest yet cruelest curse on all life. You have briefly escaped some of its constraints, so cherish this stolen time, hunter.]

The pale gold characters slowly dissipated before Han Gao's deep blue eyes. He felt the surging power within him, a power not brought about by the instantaneous burst of words or bloodline, but a complete renewal at the level of the very origin of life.

His once-dried blood vessels regained their vitality, his aging joints became flexible, and his once sharp but now dulled senses were once again elevated to their peak. Combined with the twenty years of lifespan he gained from killing that half-breed on the battlefield, this body was roughly back to when he was ninety years old.

For an ordinary person, ninety years old is the twilight of life, but for a mixed-race person like Han Gao with a very high proportion of dragon blood, ninety years old is precisely the late stage of his prime when his experience, wisdom and physical strength are combined relatively perfectly.

Although he was already starting to age at this time, the reputation of Henkel as the Quick-Hand still resounded throughout the North American mixed-race world. The Texas Dawn revolver at his waist could still empty its cylinder in an instant and accurately hit the vitals of every target.

"It's just...unbelievable..." Han Gao stared blankly at the reflection of his figure in the French windows.

He could clearly see that the wrinkles on his cheeks had decreased significantly, his skin had become firmer, and his overall energy seemed to have been lifted up by an invisible hand, making his back straighter and his eyes sharper and more spirited.

Sometimes, although he would mock his arch-rival Hilbert Jean Angers, who was already 130 years old, still dressed like a peacock and flirted with beautiful girls who could be his great-granddaughters, he also envied Angers' youthful state.

You should know that he was once the most famous cowboy in Chicago and the West. He hunted down degenerate hybrids and Deadpools in the shadows of Chicago and fought against pure-blooded dragons in the western wilderness.

He drank the strongest liquor and slept with the most beautiful women. Writers wrote stories about his vampire hunts based on his deeds, and sometimes he could even see his own shadow in the movie Van Helsing.

Although he is old and still wields considerable influence in the world of mixed-race individuals, and those arrogant mixed-race people still respect him, how many more years can this respect last?

His medical reports got worse every year. His dragon bloodline prevented him from suddenly dying from illness, but his organs continued to fail day by day.

He will one day leave his current position and be bedridden, and those who leave the center of power will become a thorn in the side of the new rulers. He can already foresee his future.

So he feared growing old—feared losing the power in his hands—and now he saw something that could completely change the status quo.

Just then, there was a knock on his office door.

"Come in," Han Gao said.

"Sir, there is important news that requires your immediate attention." A middle-aged man in a well-tailored black suit with a stern face entered the room, holding a tablet computer that far exceeded the current market standards.

He was one of Henkel's most trusted assistants, Frank, who had been with him for over forty years and knew the old cowboy's temperament and work habits well.

But when Frank's gaze fell upon Henkel standing by the window, a hint of emotion and surprise flickered across his usually calm expression. Henkel looked somewhat different now.

It wasn't a change in hairstyle or clothing, but something deeper, more essential. His back seemed more upright, and the lines of his profile showed fewer signs of aging. His deep, calm blue eyes, illuminated by the city's neon lights, seemed to rekindle the burning desire of the pioneering era.

Frank's gaze unconsciously swept over Henkel's waist, where a pair of antique-style, gold-plated revolvers with a subtle, flowing dark gold luster hung prominently.

That is the famous Texas Dawn.

These legendary weapons had not been worn by Henkel for many years; they were more like symbols, meant to be carefully maintained and displayed in a family museum or vault. Now that they have returned to their master's waist, this in itself is an extremely strong signal.

Is Henkel, the man who once dominated the mixed-race world of North America and struck fear into the hearts of countless mixed-race people, really coming back?

Frank quickly suppressed his inner turmoil and handed over the tablet computer with both hands.

Henkel turned around, took the tablet, and swiped his finger across the screen. A large amount of highly refined and analyzed intelligence appeared like a flowing stream. He read at an extremely fast speed, his eyes precisely capturing every key piece of information.

"Cesare Gattuso, the heir of the Gattuso family, departed from Kassel College at 5:47 PM local time in a private helicopter bound for O'Hare International Airport. His family-registered Gulfstream G550 took off at 18:30 PM, heading towards the coastal city international airport in Xia Guo. It's said to be for private social events, but we haven't found anything in the coastal city that would require the Gattuso family heir to attend in person," Frank said from the side.

O'Hare International Airport was also built with investment from their family, allowing them to control the movement of all aircraft and the status of all passengers.

Henkel looked at the image of Caesar boarding the plane on his tablet. Seeing that blurry face, he recalled the face he had seen through binoculars on a Fokker fighter during World War I. Sure enough, the other man had returned.

"Also, the Iron Cross recently released a photo from World War I, and they're hoping to find the descendants of their leader's company commander from that era. The reward they're offering is enormous," Frank continued.

"The Iron Cross Alliance? What kind of organization is that? Why have I never heard of it before?" Henkel tried to recall the organization carefully, but after thinking for a few seconds, he realized that he really had never heard of it.

He had heard of the Rosicrucians of France, the Secret Order of the Round Table in England—and even some more secretive groups, but he had no recollection of the Iron Cross.

Given his intelligence network and his century-and-a-half-long focus on the history of the hybrid world, such a seemingly large yet completely unfamiliar organization should not exist.

"Mr. Henkel, don't you remember? That's one of the main mixed-race powers in Prussia, a newly emerging power that was only established during World War II. Moreover, the founder of that power wasn't mixed-race before; he became mixed-race after participating in human experiments during World War II," Frank said with some surprise.

"Tell me in detail." Han Gao's expression became extremely solemn.

He knew that Prussia had launched a super soldier program during World War II, aiming to create a large army of hybrids to reverse the declining war situation. However, due to the uncontrollable nature of the dragon bloodline and the lack of time, only some samples were produced, and those samples died soon after due to the unstable bloodline.

Later, these experimental data were divided up among various forces. He and Angers each got a portion. They heard that the Camarilla had not stopped their research and had made some progress. They had devised a project called Nibelungen, which could break through the bloodline threshold of hybrids and create super hybrids that could rival the Dragon King. However, due to the lack of some key elements, the experiment had not yet begun.

Of course, Henkel's family also conducted corresponding experiments, but their research direction was quite different from that of the Camarilla.

"The leader of the Iron Cross League is Helmut Otto, who received the Blue Max Medal during the Emperor's Battle in World War I and remained in the army after the war, rising to the rank of Major General. After the outbreak of World War II, he was valued by the then Führer and became his right-hand man in the army." Frank said, taking the tablet from Han Gao's hand and pulling up a photo.

The photo was taken in an open-air setting resembling a rally venue, with fluttering flags and a blurry crowd in the background. At the foreground is a podium where a man with a distinctive mustache, a fanatical gaze, and impassioned gestures is giving a speech.

To his side and behind him stood a middle-aged officer with a straight posture, wearing a Prussian military uniform. Several medals were pinned to his chest, the most conspicuous of which was the Order of the Blue Max.

This person is Helmut Otto.

However, if Lu Mingfei saw this photo, he would be very surprised, not only because that Otto was the Otto he knew, but also because he was the one who stole the horse from the man with the small mustache and charged at the tank during the Somme incident.

"However, as the war fell into a stalemate, Helmut Otto, as a high-ranking official, personally participated in and led the later stages of the super soldier program codenamed Valhalla, and he also used himself as a test subject."

Hearing Frank's account, Henkel's expression grew even more serious. To throw himself into an experiment with such a low success rate and enormous risk? What kind of madness and ruthlessness would that require? Was it for power? For the hope of prolonging the war? Or for some other, deeper purpose?

"In 1945, at the end of the Battle of Berlin, just before our men entered the core area, Helmut Otto, along with a few elite soldiers who had undergone the same enhancement process, actually completed the enhancement and even exhibited a semi-dragon-like phenomenon, and even awakened some very powerful Words of Power."

"Logically, with such power, they should have become the last resistance force, inflicting heavy casualties on the troops that entered Berlin. But the actual situation was quite the opposite. Not only did they not organize resistance, but they also surrendered voluntarily," Frank said with some surprise.

"Helmut Otto personally ordered the remaining troops to cease their futile resistance and handed over all experimental data, samples, and the list of researchers from the Valhalla Project in their entirety. He even used his influence and newly acquired abilities to assist the Allied forces in persuading Prussian troops in other regions to surrender, thus accelerating the end of the war."

"Surrender? Hand over all the data? And even assist in persuading him to surrender?" Han Gao frowned. This was completely inconsistent with the behavior and logic of a fanatical militarist or a newly emerging hybrid powerhouse.

"It was precisely because their pledge of allegiance was so thorough, coupled with the fact that they themselves demonstrated considerable strength, that they escaped the post-war reckoning. Subsequently, Helmut Otto used his prestige to bring together the traditional Prussian mixed-race families who had survived the war and were willing to follow him, as well as some of the products of the Valhalla Project, and formed an organization called the Iron Cross League."

""

"However, other mixed-race organizations in Europe, especially the Secret Party, have never relaxed their vigilance and supervision over them. After all, the potential danger of a group composed of former Prussian high-ranking officials, artificially created mixed-race individuals, and descendants of traditional Junker military aristocrats is self-evident. For more than 60 years, they have been in a state of semi-surveillance and semi-isolation, and have acted relatively discreetly, without openly crossing the red lines drawn by the Secret Party."

"However, about ten years ago, things began to change. Helmut Otto's body developed serious problems. The dragon blood that was forcibly injected was not a natural and stable bloodline. As time went on, the erosion and backlash intensified, and news of his impending death gradually spread," Frank continued.

"Within the Iron Cross Alliance, the contradictions that were originally suppressed by Otto's personal prestige and strength began to surface. The higher-ups were fighting openly and covertly for control of the alliance. Some old mixed-race families felt hopeless about the future and began to try to break away from the alliance. They even contacted our North American Mixed-Race Family Alliance in private to seek new backers or cooperation opportunities."

Henkel listened quietly to these things that he should have known perfectly well, but which he knew absolutely nothing about.

"But just now, the Iron Cross released a photo claiming that the dying Helmut Otto's only regret in his final moments was not being able to see his former WWI commander, Lieutenant William Hans, one last time. He hopes to mobilize all available resources to find any possible descendants of this heroic commander, even distant relatives, and has offered a huge reward for their services." Frank pulled up another photo.

That photo was a group photo of Lu Mingfei and others at Fort Dumont. Frank pointed to Lu Mingfei in the middle and said, "This was his company commander at the time. And what's very interesting is that there is someone in this photo who looks somewhat like the heir of the Gattuso family."

As he spoke, he pointed to another person in the photo.

"This is not a similarity at all—" Han Gao muttered to himself.

He recognized the person Helmut Otto was looking for—the half-breed he had struck with Judgment. He knew very well that his Judgment hadn't killed the man, and now that man had returned, the World War I soldier who looked like Caesar was the real Caesar.

He finally understood: the timeline he had traveled through was the real timeline, and a timeline that could be changed. This meant Caesar's sudden trip to Xia Kingdom must have been to find that half-blood.

"Gather men and head to Binhai City to find this person and bring him here," Han Gao said, pointing at Lu Mingfei.

Frank looked up abruptly, his face filled with disbelief. "Sir, you mean—the person in this photograph is still alive? This—how is this possible? The photograph was taken in 1916, almost a century ago!"

"What's impossible? I've lived to this day, haven't I?" Han Gao scoffed.

Frank was speechless for a moment. Indeed, what stood before him was an old relic who had lived for nearly a century and a half, and this old relic was still full of vigor and vitality, wielding immense power in the world of hybrids.

"Bring him back to me at all costs. Remember, I want him alive. Also, keep a close watch on all movements of the Iron Cross." Henkel continued to command.

He dared not touch the Gattuso family heir, but he did not have such concerns about the other half-blood; he now wanted to obtain as much information as possible.

"Furthermore, in my name, I issue an emergency summons. I will convene a full meeting of the North American Mixed-Race Family Alliance in Chicago within forty-eight hours. All family leaders must attend in person and may not be absent for any reason. Tell them that this concerns the life and death of everyone and requires an immediate top-level decision."

"Yes, sir! I'll take care of it right away!" Frank knew the situation was more serious than he had imagined, and quickly turned to make arrangements.

Han Gao looked out the window again at the city gradually brightening up. He had originally thought that time travel was not a power of the dragons, but he realized that he might be wrong. He might know nothing about the power of the dragons.

The name of a mixed-race organization that he had long ignored suddenly popped into his mind.

It was a small organization that split off from the Secret Society, called the Twilight Dogma. They were regarded by the mainstream hybrid world as a group of eccentric charlatans and madmen obsessed with doomsday prophecies, and were often ridiculed and ignored.

However, he had studied the doctrines of the Twilight Cult in detail. Everyone in this organization believed in the inevitable resurrection of Nidhogg, the Black King, followed by a world-shaking Ragnarok of apocalyptic magnitude.

In this ultimate war, not only may human civilization be destroyed, but even the proud pure-blooded dragons, and even the legendary four monarchs, may truly perish completely.

But their prophecy also said that if any person or dragon survives this devastating twilight war, he will transcend all and become the ruler of the new world.

Henkel began studying relativity long ago and earned a PhD from MIT, attempting to understand dragons and hybrid species within a scientific framework.

Over the years, through long-term observation and data analysis of historical events, the cycle of dragon activity, and major changes in the hybrid world, he has vaguely come to a conclusion that even he finds unsettling.

The history of this world seems to follow a predetermined trajectory or script.

Some major historical events, the rise and fall of civilizations, especially the key moments related to the awakening of the dragon race, seem to be anchored by an invisible force, and no matter how they develop, they will eventually lead to a certain inevitable outcome.

Humans can tweak the details and change the twists and turns of the process, but they seem unable to truly shake the arrival of the climax of the plot.

The awakening of the Black King and Ragnarok are undoubtedly the most unalterable climax in this grand drama.

A more startling conjecture arose in Han Gao's mind: if the being that could allow people to travel through time, set rules for plunder, and distribute rewards, its purpose was not a boring game or a simple act of kindness?

What if this being—is also afraid of the coming Ragnarok?

What if this being realized that, following the predetermined script, even it might perish in Ragnarok?

So, could it try to do something? For example—within the scope of the script, tamper with those minor details that can be altered?

It selects specific pieces, places them at key or non-key points in history, observes the results, and rewards or strengthens certain pieces.

Is all of this to add some variables and lay the groundwork for a future, unavoidable apocalyptic war, to foreshadow events that might influence the final outcome? Is it hoped that these enhanced details will play an unexpected role in the great destruction to come, thereby changing their own fate?

This conjecture sent a chill down Han Gao's spine. What immense power would be needed to make such a subtle alteration to the solid timeline of the world's script? At the very least, it was something that no ordinary pure-blooded dragon, or even an ordinary dragon king, could accomplish!

In the long history of the dragon race that he knew, there was indeed a supreme being who surpassed the four monarchs and whose power was enough to challenge the Black King. That being was the White King.

The White King, the only one in the history of the dragon race to successfully launch a large-scale rebellion that almost shook the Black King's rule, was ultimately defeated by the Black King in orthodox historical records. He was suppressed in the depths of the icy sea for six eras before being personally exhumed and exterminated by the Black King, thus perishing completely and never to be resurrected.

However, the memories of the Japanese half-human that Han Gao absorbed during World War I prove that the White King was not completely dead.

His divine remains were preserved in some incredible way, slumbering in the East Sea, silently awaiting resurrection. And the bloodline of the entire mixed-race family in the East is actually all descendants of the White King. This is a shocking secret that has been completely covered up in the mainstream history of the mixed-race world.

Han Gao didn't know if the White King was the one who transported them, but he understood that the great battle was really coming, and the final result would be many times more tragic than he had imagined.

Since the storm was inevitable, and since the old script was about to come to an end, what he needed to do was not to hide, nor to pray.

Instead, they actively enter the fray, utilizing all available information, resources, and variables to wager the biggest stakes for themselves and their families in this unprecedented doomsday gamble, striving for a seat that belongs to the new world's ruler!