Dragon Raja: Lu Mingfei Returns from the Elden Ring

Chapter 76 The Civilization of Dragons

The curtains on the balcony were fully open, revealing a gloomy, windy day outside. The distant hills were faintly visible, their lush trees resembling a deep green ink wash.

In the living room on the first floor, a meeting of four people has turned into a meeting of five.

Lu Mingfei changed into the flamboyant cosplay outfit that Su Enxi had prepared. He was someone who didn't care much about fashion sense, a point Melina had grumbled about many times. However, for Lu Mingfei, the priority for clothing was still defense over comfort over fun over aesthetics.

After taking a shower, Lao Tang put on a shirt and jeans and sat down with Lu Mingfei.

Jiu De Mai was wearing a black leather jacket and pants, a burgundy short jacket, and red strappy sandals with three-inch high heels. This outfit initially shocked Lao Tang, who thought Jiu De Mai was a delinquent. Su Enxi and Ling, who were wearing pajamas, were her followers.

“Now, we can talk about dragons,” Su Enxi continued the conversation she hadn’t finished last night.

Lu Mingfei had a general understanding of the position of hybrids in this world, and now the topic turned to the most important race, the dragons.

They are ancient gods, the former masters of humankind, once possessing a brilliant and glorious civilization. They are fanatical believers in power and authority, firmly believing that destruction is the best fate for the disobedient. They are also the observers closest to "reality" in the dimension of the world. Lu Mingze seems to understand them well; will he be able to hear anything of value now?

"The information about dragons at Kassel College is already quite extensive," Su Enxi said. "The Secret Party captured a dragon that was hatching. They used that little guy for biological research and came to many interesting conclusions, such as the fact that refined sulfur and mercury are highly toxic to dragons. The small anti-dragon weapons produced by the research institute called the Equipment Department are basically based on this biological finding."

"Now let's continue with that question: the biggest difference between humans and dragons." Su Enxi changed the subject. "As mentioned before, the answer is genes. Dragon DNA has four helices, making it far more complex than other creatures on Earth. They occupy a very high position on the evolutionary tree, thus possessing many powers that can be described as miraculous, such as extremely strong bones and scales, as well as the ability to manipulate elements. Their knowledge and power are contained within their genes, and they can plunder this treasure of talent by devouring each other's bones and blood."

She paused here, seemingly giving Lu Mingfei time to think.

Old Tang, standing to the side, treated it as just a story. So far, the strangest thing he had ever seen was that "alchemy matrix," which was man-made.

The secrets Su Enxi told him did not arouse his interest.

Lu Mingfei followed Su Enxi's line of thought.

Dragons and humans are both intelligent beings, but they are so different from humans that they seem like aliens, or even somewhat like the Zerg created by the Xel'Naga in StarCraft. They can plunder knowledge and power from genes by devouring others, and their path of civilization development is destined to be different from that of humans.

"The more they devour, the stronger they become, even surpassing bloodline levels... Therefore, the dragon civilization is actually an inverted pyramid structure, with a few powerful individuals controlling the most information and wealth. When this structure develops to its extreme, a few apex-like figures will inevitably emerge, representing the entire civilization." Lu Mingfei drew this conclusion based on the alien insects.

“Those are the Black King, the White King, and the four pairs of twins on the four thrones,” Su Enxi nodded. “Currently, the excavation of dragon civilization ruins by hybrids is pitifully rare. It’s very difficult to find any remains of dragon settlements, especially those from before the Black King Nidhogg was killed. Not a single one has been unearthed. This is because the dragon civilization was actually the civilization of the Dragon Kings, and all the Dragon Kings’ cities were built in Nibelungen, the safest incubation ground. They enslaved humans to build magnificent cities. Among them, the King of Bronze and Fire lived in the northern ice plains and forged towering bronze palaces, as high as mountains. There is also the famous Sky-Supporting Bronze Pillar, on which the Black King nailed the White King. That huge pillar records the Black King’s long history of war. The Black King also ordered the construction of a sacred path spanning the ocean. According to calculations, the sacred path was 400 meters wide, a project larger than any highway today. All these ruins are in Nibelungen.”

"The Dragon King or the Dragon King's egg is also here." Lu Mingfei glanced at Lao Tang, making Lao Tang, who was lost in thought, feel a strange sense of guilt.

“That’s right, the dragon race has never declined. The day Nidhogg was revived, the dragon civilization also revived,” Su Enxi said. “But the prophecy left by the dragons says that day will be Ragnarok…”

Lu Mingfei looked somewhat enlightened and continued softly, "Because Nidhogg is the 'race' civilization itself; it will kill all traitors and then usher in a new civilization."

Su Enxi thought he was surprised by this brand-new civilization system, but little did she know that he was thinking much further ahead.

The image of Nidhogg in his mind became clearer and clearer, but he seemed more like a furnace than a god or a bearer of the law.

"So, do you have any specific information about the Dragon King?" he asked.

"Yes and no," Su Enxi said frankly. "What we know so far are the Bronze and Fire Kings, Constantine and Norton, who respectively reside in the Bronze City submerged beneath the Three Gorges and work as a bounty hunter in America under the alias Ronald Don..."

Before she could finish speaking, Old Tang suddenly stood up, looked around at everyone's expressions, and then awkwardly sat back down.

He was surprised because he heard his own name, ignoring all the mystical references to "King" and "Brother." What truly made him almost jump was the word "brother."

"So, you mean I have an older brother or a younger brother?" Old Tang asked, seeing that the conversation seemed to be going nowhere.

“It’s my younger brother. He’s at Kassel College right now,” Lu Mingfei said.

"Then..." Old Tang asked hesitantly, "What about our parents?"

Lu Mingfei only briefly told him about the existence of dragons and hybrids, without mentioning the Black and White Kings or the Four Monarchs, so Old Tang didn't connect it to the person they were just talking about—Nidhogg.

"Your father is Nidhogg, the supreme Black King of the dragon race. As for your mother, the academic community has not yet reached a conclusion, but the most widely circulated theory is that the Black King reproduced himself and gave birth to you and your siblings," Lu Mingfei answered from a professional academic perspective.

"It feels like you're insulting me..." Old Tang muttered. "Isn't there also a White King? Black and white together, maybe he's my mother?"

“The White King was also created by the Black King,” Su Enxi said.

“That’s a bit unethical…” Old Tang nodded blankly.

Chapter 77 Nibelungen

"Your father is the epitome of destruction and end in all prophecies, and you are the first king on the four thrones. Don't you have any thoughts on that?" Jiu Demai stared into Old Tang's eyes, trying to see something in them.

"What's the use of sounding so impressive?" Old Tang said with remarkable composure. "I'm over twenty years old, and he's never shown up in front of me. And my younger brother, I wonder how he's been doing all these years..."

“Wang Wei is your younger brother. His real name is Constantine,” Lu Mingfei said. “Actually, he slept for almost two thousand years and only woke up recently.”

"Holy crap... Holy crap!" Old Tang had lost count of how many exclamations he'd uttered today, only feeling that each piece of news was more explosive than the last. "Why didn't you say so sooner?"

Upon hearing this news, he disregarded the fact that the people in front of him were half-human, half-dragon monsters and stared wide-eyed at Lu Mingfei.

“We’re not sure either. The real reason we brought you into that alchemical matrix was to test whether you were the Dragon King Norton,” Lu Mingfei said. “In Constantine’s memory, Norton is his brother.”

Old Tang was somewhat discouraged upon hearing this.

In other words, Old Tang had been an orphan for over twenty years, and today he discovered he had family. However, neither his biological father nor his younger brother recognized him as a human. In their eyes, his family was that majestic ancient monster sitting on a throne...

Thinking of this, he shuddered slightly, suddenly realizing that he was like a vessel that had been resurrected, a being even more lonely than an orphan—not because he couldn't find his parents or that his parents were dead, but because his parents had no human identity at all.

"Don't be sad. Even as a dragon, you have no family." Mai Shude comforted her at the right time. "The Black King's death was caused by you brothers and sisters working together. He threatened to kill all of you unfilial sons when he was resurrected. And you brothers and sisters are not a united front. You even forged seven alchemical weapons to kill other dragon kings, including your closest twin brother Constantine."

"Huh?" Old Tang was dumbfounded. "My Norton... is Longer really that heartless?"

“It’s not fair to call it heartless,” Mai shrugged. “Because every Dragon King probably thinks the same way.”

Old Tang nodded blankly.

Indeed, he was overthinking it. After all, dragons and humans are not the same species. Perhaps their kinship manifests as mutual devouring.

Then forget about this kind of family bond; it's better to be an orphan.

“I’m fine now.” He sighed wearily. “You guys can continue talking about saving the world.”

“We were just talking about the Dragon King’s intelligence.” Su Enxi continued to report the intelligence to Lu Mingfei. “Besides the King of Bronze and Fire, we also know the location of Nibelungen, which is located in your and Chu Zihang’s hometown. It was opened once five years ago, and two people were put in. Chu Zihang came out.”

"Is one of the Dragon Kings inside?" Lu Mingfei asked.

“I don’t know.” Su Enxi shook her head frankly. “Our understanding of the Dragon King comes from the boss. He only tells us specific information when necessary. Apart from that, there are only some plans, such as having us monitor this Nibelungen.”

Lu Mingfei had a question he'd wanted to ask for a long time: "Why are you all so honest with me? This kind of information shouldn't be leaked so casually, right?"

“There’s nothing we can do. When the boss showed up last time, he said, ‘Lu Mingfei will be your acting boss while I’m gone,’” Su Enxi said helplessly. “He can be very willful at times, but he always keeps his word. He said you’re the boss, so we’ll treat you like the boss. If the boss needs to hear reports from the accounting maid, can the accounting maid keep secrets?”

"If he's so powerful, why doesn't he just say 'Black King is dead,' then that would be the end of it?" Old Tang seemed to have recovered from the shadow of being a true orphan and actually chimed in with his own comment.

"Black King is your father," Su Enxi said. "You were just heartbroken about not having a father's love, and now you want to curse him to death?"

"What fatherly love?" Old Tang had figured it out by now, and said with a long face, "He said he would kill all the children in his family if he was resurrected! My Long Ge is so ruthless, he might be the mastermind. If he comes after me for revenge, where will I go to seek justice?"

"Don't worry, the Black King's revenge is for the whole world. He'll slaughter everyone and the dragons together. He won't have time to come to your house to check the water meter," Mai Shude said calmly.

"Isn't that even worse?" Old Tang covered his face.

"Is there any unusual activity in Nibelungen right now?" Lu Mingfei quickly steered the conversation back on track.

“No, we have people monitoring it and the belongings of the person who disappeared in Nibelungen. That person was Chu Zihang’s father,” Su Enxi replied. “We also can’t infiltrate Nibelungen. To infiltrate it, you either need to have been inside and have a mark on your body, or you need to be chosen by the owner of Nibelungen.”

These words dispelled Lu Mingfei's plan to fly to his hometown that very day. He pondered for a moment, "Does Chu Zihang bear the mark of the Nibelungs? He is a key, isn't he?"

“That’s how it is in theory,” Su Enxi said. “But having a brand doesn’t mean you can just walk in. Otherwise, Chu Zihang would have gone in long ago to avenge his father.”

This sentence dispelled Lu Mingfei's idea of ​​tying Chu Zihang to the car and driving into Nibelungen.

"This is difficult."

......

Rome, Italy.

Frost Gattuso sat in the sunlight behind his desk. As the de facto head of the Gattuso family, he spent almost every day here, managing the family's hundreds of thousands of employees worldwide without ever leaving his office.

There's a speaker on this "power desktop" now, and the dialogue has already been played twice.

As the conversation drew to a close, the breathing suddenly became unusually heavy. The hypnotized subject seemed to grit their teeth and squeeze out the words from the depths of their fear, "Human... I will grant you life!"

However, one can imagine how indifferent and condescending the king who actually said those words must have been. To him, your death was your fault because you did not obey.

"How is the investigation into Ronald Don progressing?" Frost pressed the stop button on the recording.

“We bought that old apartment building. The investigation into Ronald Tang’s residence is complete. There was nothing related to dragons or alchemy.” Percy bowed slightly, his pale golden hair falling down to cover half of his face.

"What's the situation over at the Three Gorges?"

"Norma has once again raised the exploration priority of Bronze City. The Executive Department has temporarily taken control of the water surface, but after multiple dives, no dragons have been found, and the elemental turbulence has almost dissipated," Percy said. "The worst-case scenario proposed by the Executive Department is that the Dragon King has completed hatching and left, and S-class student Lu Mingfei has been killed in action."

“Or transform into a Deadpool,” Frost said coldly. “That was a promise from the Dragon King, that life is being given divine blood and becoming a servant of God.”

Chapter 78 Allies

At this point in the conversation, Lu Mingfei had nothing more to ask.

"Boss, what's your next instruction?" Su Enxi asked.

"Continue to monitor that Nibelungen, and report to me immediately if anything happens." Lu Mingfei issued his first order as the acting boss. "As for your organization's operations, you know more about them than I do, so I'll leave them to you."

“What about Kassel College?” Su Enxi said. “They’ve sent a lot of executive officers to the Panhandle Plateau and the Three Gorges to look for you. You’ll have to stay here for the time being and can’t be exposed to the outside world in the short term.”

"Wait a minute, isn't Brother Lu from Kassel College? Why can't he be exposed yet?" Old Tang was getting anxious. "Could it be that this college isn't a good place at all? Then you'll have to get my brother out of here."

“Your brother is safe there; someone will protect him,” Lu Mingfei reassured him.

"You've been involved in two incidents involving the suspected awakening of the Dragon King within two months, yet you've emerged unscathed. The first time could be explained as luck, but the second time means you definitely have a secret. Given the Secret Society's style, they'll determine that you're a Dead Servant, a dragon, or a key figure bearing the mark of the Land of the Dead. They won't let you roam freely." Su Enxi seemed to know the Kassel College Board of Directors very well. "They'll imprison you and study you, and if you're deemed uncontrollable and impossible to capture, they'll issue an arrest warrant for you."

“I have an ally who promised to block the pressure from the board of directors,” Lu Mingfei said.

“Angers? He’s no good.” Su Enxi shook her head. “The board of directors already has grievances against him, and they will target Angers as well in this incident.”

"Assassinate members of the board of directors and support Angers to manage Kassel College for us?" Mai Shude said.

Su Enxi sighed, “Can’t we stop being so violent? The members of the board of directors are just agents of those families. Killing them will only anger them. We can’t really control Kassel College. Doing so will only lead to a full-scale war.”

"We cannot go to war." Lu Mingfei agreed with Su Enxi's point of view.

“I thought you would support me.” Mai raised an eyebrow, quite surprised by Lu Mingfei’s reaction.

“Because starting a war would give a third party an opportunity. Besides Bronze and Fire, there’s another Dragon King who has awakened. He’s on that Greyhound truck, and he’s followed us all the way to Amarillo,” Lu Mingfei said. “Norton has noticed that guy.”

Everyone looked at Old Tang.

"I don't know anything," Old Tang said, his eyes wide. "Besides us, there was only one other passenger on the bus, right? It must be that person."

"Can we investigate?" Lu Mingfei turned to ask Su Enxi.