Dragon Raja: Lu Mingfei Returns from the Elden Ring

"Who knows? Nobody can guess what he's thinking. Maybe he has many special preparations, and we're just one of them." "Bear" turned his face and spread his hands.

Fingel von Frings.

“You…?” Angers stepped out of the shadows, clutching the folding knife in his hand.

“But what he said was quite blunt, do you want to hear it?” Fingel said. “Let me think, what was it again… the so-called indomitable will and human dignity can be erased in just one or two generations, and only the weapons handed to you are the reason for you to stand. It sounds quite inspiring.”

“Where is the flame?” Angers asked.

“Of course it’s already out.” Fingel stood up and dusted himself off.

Fingel raised his right hand, and Angers finally saw the pitch-black longsword in his hand, completely hidden in the darkness. It seemed to be a replica of the weapon used by Lu Mingfei, but as Fingel had said, the flame on it had been extinguished.

"Does the extinguishing of the flames mean his death or failure?" Angers frowned.

"Pretty much. Anyway, he said he's prepared three Nibelungen locations around the world, which are like large ice cellars, but the collections will be simpler," Fingel said.

“I haven’t received any intelligence about a large-scale mobilization of supplies,” Angers said, still puzzled.

Fingel pointed to the screen behind him, “These are things stored independently in the core command repository, and they’re also things that will be broadcast to the world. There are three sets in total: ‘The Alchemist’s Making Notes,’ ‘The Dragonblood Warrior’s Prayer Book,’ and ‘The Essence of Elements and Law.’ These are the so-called weapons. He said these things are enough to allow humans and hybrids to retain their ability to survive in the worst-case scenario.”

“Our executives in various countries have already taken the most risky step in the history of the Secret Party. Broadcasting this stuff to the human nations at this time is really inappropriate. This order cannot be carried out until an inseparable bond of interests is established between them.” Angers shook his head. “Fingal, you also crave revenge. Are you willing to see everything fall apart?”

“It’s not a matter of whether I want to or not; the fact is, Lu Mingfei has already failed.” Fingel gripped the hilt of his knife, his tone wistful. “We are now remnants of the old era. Do you still cling to your obsession? Do you want to stop the new era that Lu Mingfei, whom you trust most, wants to usher in?”

“The truth… how can failure be called the truth? That’s just a meaning that people assign to it. The truth is that we are still alive, holding swords, yet we are killing each other.” Angers sighed. “I don’t believe this is the final verdict. The vitality of humanity is proven by failure.”

“I won’t discuss philosophical questions with you. EVA’s orders will be issued. I promised Lu Mingfei that.” Fingel exhaled a long breath, counting the seconds, ready to pounce on the old thug opposite him at any moment.

"Gentlemen, while you were arguing over Lu Mingfei's trust, the problem has already been solved." A beam of dark blue light shone down from above, and EVA's figure appeared in the darkness. The sudden light disrupted the two men's judgment of the battlefield, but neither Fingel nor Angers made any rash moves.

"Today is the day the new anime airs, Mr. Angers." EVA seemed oblivious to the tense atmosphere and instead started talking about unrelated topics with Angers, "The Equipment Department has a security meeting tonight."

Angers shrugged. "I don't understand the connection."

"A safety meeting is like watching a movie together... The equipment department is in a rush today." EVA made a rather cartoonish, helpless shrug.

“Is that so? I really don’t understand this generation of young people.” Angers was surprisingly calm. He put his folding knife into his sleeve, turned and left. “Send me the details, EVA. The world is about to descend into chaos.”

“I did not carry out the order.” EVA’s words brought Angers back to reality once again.

Chapter 268 Millison

The flames had been extinguished, that was a fact, and the instructions were also true, yet EVA claimed she hadn't carried them out. Angers immediately guessed the reason, "Have you re-contacted Lu Mingfei?"

“No,” EVA said. “It was my subjective decision not to carry out this order.”

Angers fell silent, pondering the meaning of the sentence.

Fingel, as if realizing something, turned and pounced on the control panel screen, pulling up the contents of "The Alchemist's Notebook" and examining it bit by bit. He said with some excitement, "Spiritual bodies... alchemy techniques that may be realized through the development of living spirit technology... the realm of alchemy... the essence of life, EVA, do you have the essence of life?"

He hasn't been idle these past few days either. He has repeatedly read through a lot of the information that Lu Mingfei could use as a tool to save the world, and he can understand a lot of the parts.

“Yes, Lu Mingfei modified the matrix maintained by generations of mentor Flamel. Now, I possess something in alchemy called ‘the essence of life.’” EVA acknowledged Fingel’s guess. “Lu Mingfei had a long talk with me before the operation. He said that I would decide on this order.”

“An AI that can refuse to execute the core command library… well.” Angers sighed. “It’s still better than dealing with a world war.”

“Lu Mingfei said that of all of you, he and I get along better,” EVA continued. “Therefore, he gave me the power to make the decision… Gentlemen, none of you are wrong, but Angers is closer to being right. According to calculations based on global monitoring, a human alliance that can last at least five years requires only one impactful meeting and has a success rate of over 70%. Now is not the time to reveal that ‘treasure.’”

“I have no objection,” Fingel said, raising both hands in agreement.

“I’m glad we reached an agreement.” Angers gave a proper military salute. “Now delete that instruction.”

“I can disobey the commands of the core command library, but I cannot change it… My consciousness comes from the Alchemy Matrix, but the computing power that supports my existence still comes from the server cluster in the data center.” EVA shook her head.

“I’ll do it.” Angers then took a step into the server room.

As he himself said, Fingel did not obstruct the operation; he simply moved closer to watch Angers operate. The flickering light gradually swallowed up the words that could affect the entire world, until not a single word remained.

Just then, the screen went out, and when it lit up again, green code flashed by quickly, finally pausing to output a line of text.

It was a sentence made up of Latin letters, but it was clearly an English sentence.

“Old friends, may the sunshine last forever,” Angers murmured.

There have been no further changes to the core command library, and this statement has no real effect; it seems to be just an Easter egg planted in anticipation that someone would delete the original commands.

A blessing.

“Lu Mingfei sees further than I do. His knowledge of mysticism and alchemy far surpasses human understanding. Perhaps we are simply walking on the path of destiny he has foreseen,” EVA said softly. “Perhaps he too is trapped in some inescapable fate. Now we can only rely on ourselves. Principal Angers, your access has been restored.”

“Very good,” Angers said, turning and leaving, this time for real.

……

Galid, a crimson swamp corrupted by decay, filled with poisonous pools and colossal monsters.

Lu Mingfei walked along the edge of the poison pool, a very dangerous move that could easily lead to contamination, but he did not hesitate, because his eyes were fixed on the ground where the speckled spots seemed to be footprints left by someone.

This is the passage of time flowing from the illusion of "Lu Mingfei," condensed from certain moments of the past [1]. The traces extend into the distance; he is running away. Is he being chased by something?

Lu Mingfei squatted down and touched the moist soil, where the accumulated years transformed into a brief reappearance of brilliance.

A white, ethereal figure sat cross-legged on the ground, looking disheveled and filled with deep weariness. When Lu Mingfei saw it, it also saw Lu Mingfei.

"Do you really want to become a god?" He spoke to Lu Mingfei across time and space.

“No, you should trust me… Do you believe that justice will always triumph over evil? I don’t believe in fate, I don’t believe in anything inevitable in the world. Things are always up to human beings. What I have seen and felt along the way has proven that the ultimate contradiction in this world is the contradiction between gods. No matter how the future unfolds, the final victor will always be the gods.” Lu Mingfei said softly, “If I wanted to become a god, I wouldn’t have had to work so hard here. I wouldn’t have had to get involved in the first place.”

"Is that so?" He looked somewhat confused.

He vanished.

Lu Mingfei straightened up. In the distance, in the pool of decay, Hong Ling was climbing over the roots of the withered tree.

“Millison…” Lu Mingfei sighed. Reuniting with an old friend filled him with more sorrow than anything else. More heartbreaking than the tragedy itself was undoubtedly the knowing of the ending from the very beginning.

Millison, one of the incarnations of the Valkyrie Malenia, was born from the flower of corruption that bloomed after Malenia released the Crimson Corruption during the Battle of Galid. She was adopted by the sage Gwyneth, but this was actually a conspiracy by Gwyneth, a follower of the Crimson Corruption—intending to make Millison bloom the flower of corruption in despair, thereby strengthening Malenia's power.

Lu Mingfei once helped Millison obtain pure gold needles to suppress the putrefaction disease, and also found a Valkyrie prosthetic limb to restore her mobility. In the end, he witnessed her grow into a warrior who inherited her mother's swordsmanship.

However, at the bottom of the sacred tree at the end of the story, Millison refused to merge with her sisters to bloom into a flower of corruption, removed the golden needles, returned Marlenia's will, and willingly allowed herself to be consumed by the crimson corruption.

Perhaps that was her self-redemption, but when Lu Mingfei looked up at the light of the sky shining into the ruins from above, he felt a deep loneliness again [2].

Power is the reason to be king.

Perhaps there is also loneliness.

Lu Mingfei had thought this more than once while sitting on the throne.

“My journey has come to an end. I have removed the golden needle. Please tell the source of malice that if I am to be transformed into something other than myself and bloom into a flower, I would rather be corrupted.”

The words buried deep in her memory echoed in her ears again. Until the very last moment, she remained so proud, but in the end, she could not rewrite her fate.

“This will not be my destiny, Millison.”

Lu Mingfei raised his longsword horizontally and made a vow.

He took out the rotten moss medicine and put it in his pocket, then slowly walked towards Millison's figure. "I will not fail. How can someone who can abandon their own love create a gentle world? It's not fate that chose me, it's me who chose fate!"

Chapter 269 Icebreaker and Dream

At the ceremony where heroes once fought against General Shattered Star, those familiar figures were gone. The dilapidated fortress city remained as it was in his memory, but as Lu Mingfei walked along the stone-paved road and listened to the sound of burning flames, he felt as if he had entered a parallel world. In this world, in an age of despair, there were no heroes; the flames would eventually burn out the fuel, leaving only something eternal and cold.

He knew full well that this was not the real world; he was merely chasing after the illusion of "Lu Mingfei." But the more desolate and desperate the place was, the more uneasy he felt.

In the lands of Nymgford, Lienia, and Galid that he had already traversed, he encountered Bai Ling of the illusion "Lu Mingfei" more than once. He patiently persuaded her time and time again, hoping to awaken her fighting spirit or will to survive.

“You are too late,” He said.

“It’s never too late,” Lu Mingfei said.

“We will all perish,” He said.

“We still exist,” Lu Mingfei said.

“You can’t save everyone,” He said.

"How will you know if you don't try?" Lu Mingfei said.

Such conversations are like the wind without roots or origin. Along Lu Mingfei's journey, he often encounters Bai Ling, who is always by chance, with just a turn or a glance.

In contrast, the space here is also chaotic, and the degree of chaos is constantly deepening. Sometimes, as soon as you talk to Bai Ling, the illusion around you will quickly shatter and recombine. Two distant regions seem to become two sides of the same piece of paper, and Lu Mingfei is the parasite.

It's like a maze, with the places Bai Ling has walked through pieced together. Rather than the main subject being the scenery of the border areas, it's more like Bai Ling's obsession. Everyone has obsessions; Lu Mingfei has also been afraid, hesitant, and praying. But what unsettles him is that Bai Ling's obsession is becoming increasingly pure—despair.

……

Deep in the Arctic Ocean, ice floes drift on the dark surface, and hurricanes whip up billowing sea fog.

In such harsh conditions, a brightly lit ship slowly sailed in, its black hull like an iron wall parting the ice floes, carving out its own channel in the icy wilderness. The Arktika icebreaker was the lead ship of the "Arctic-class" icebreakers built during the Soviet era.

On August 17, 1977, the Arctic-class nuclear-powered icebreaker, equipped with two OK-900A nuclear reactors, became the world's first surface ship to reach the North Pole.

Unlike its current Russian counterpart, the "Arktika" is a genuine historical vessel, originally slated to be decommissioned and sent to the icebreaker museum in Murmansk. However, a European cruise company chartered it, claiming it would be converted into a luxury cruise ship for the Arctic Ocean. Later, due to the global financial crisis, the company went bankrupt, and the conversion plan was abandoned.

Now, it has sailed from an unknown port, not only failing to be converted into the promised cruise ship as scheduled, but also being painted with low-visibility paint, and has entered the depths of the Arctic Ocean.

The ship was dimly lit, with only emergency lights on, and the cabins were eerily quiet. It had shut down its satellite communication terminal and AIS automatic identification system, maintaining electromagnetic silence and light control throughout.

Such vessels are often suspected of being illegal fishing boats or smuggling vessels, and if detected by satellites or coastal radar, they could potentially attract the attention of international law enforcement agencies.

But the Arctic was like a ghost on the sea, attracting no attention along the way.

“We originally planned to transport you by submarine, after all, under Lu Mingfei’s urging, the Secret Service is searching for us like mad dogs… This is all for you, dear Miss Maria.” The man sat in the cockpit, raised a glass of whiskey, and spoke to the empty cabin, “Once we get there, I will give you what I have promised, whether it is liberation or revenge.”

"Is he really your son?" The ethereal voice echoed in the cabin.

The ship seemed to have a life of its own, responding to the man's "talking to himself."

The man remained silent for a long time, then stood up and went to the porthole. The aurora borealis, stretching across half the sky, illuminated his handsome face. If the elders of the Secret Society were here, they might exclaim in surprise that this man could also have such a serious side, but the man was alone, and only the turbulent sea bore witness to the brief moment of melancholy in his eyes.

Pompeii Gattuso.

His son, Cesare Gattuso, lay in the lower deck cabin.

In the dimly lit cabin, Caesar Gattuso was bound to a hospital bed in a straitjacket. Beside him was a huge cryogenic chamber, through which, through thick glass and frost flowers, one could vaguely make out half a face. The two equally pale and weak faces bore a striking resemblance at that moment.

Caesar's eyebrows twitched, as if he were trying to wake up from a nightmare, but he ultimately failed to open his heavy eyes.

Darkness, endless darkness, from which no matter how hard he ran, he could not escape. Caesar's will, however, remained perfectly clear; he even knew that he was in a dream.

He shouted, he ran, he punched the void... but there was no echo.