Dragon Raja: Lu Mingfei Returns from the Elden Ring

They came from all corners of the country to join this dangerous and lowly industry, the real reason being "bloodline calling"—most of them had some dragon blood.

Kassel College had been aware of this hybrid organization for twenty years, but had never been able to fully understand it. The college also didn't want to incorporate these scattered individuals, as their bloodlines were usually not pure. However, they maintained a watchful eye, and members of the executive branch scattered throughout the country registered every hunter they found; the hunter files already contained records of thousands.

Lu Mingfei was interested in this strange website because Lao Tang had been earning money by taking on jobs in this "Hunter Market" before he awakened as the Dragon King; he was a professional hunter.

A deeper investigation reveals that this website uses very special technology; it doesn't even have a fixed server and can be said to be constantly moving across the internet around the world... like a ghost.

Moreover, among the materials Su Enxi sent him, there was another incident related to this website—the Greenland incident.

That was an event that even Norma's database didn't record in detail. A hunter with the ID "Prince" posted a message online saying that his tugboat had retrieved strange bronze fragments from the depths of the Greenland Sea. He published photos, which showed that the fragments had complex ancient writing on them, perfectly matching the 'Ice Sea Bronze Column Table' secretly kept by Kassel College.

Kassel College contacted them and obtained the fragments and salvage coordinates. The Executive Department dispatched a luxurious team of six "A"-level bloodlines. They did not find any dragon remains underwater, but they detected a heartbeat signal on the seabed, which was an ancient dragon embryo.

Despite knowing the risks of the ancient dragon embryo, the school board still forced the execution team to dive, resulting in an accident.

Later, Kassel College suspected that the bronze fragments and coordinates provided by "Prince" were bait; perhaps he released those photos to lure the Secret Service to the Greenland ice sea to find the embryo. But after the Greenland incident, "Prince" completely disappeared from the internet. No one had ever seen him; all that was known was that he was an excellent hunter.

The whole incident reeks of conspiracy. Apart from the greedy school board, the appearance of both the "Prince" and the Hunter website seems too deliberate.

This person has only one ID, so Lu Mingfei can only speculate.

If everything was a pre-ordained scheme, the mastermind would first need to know about the ancient dragon embryo located at the bottom of the sea, secondly, be extremely familiar with Kassel College or the Secret Society, and thirdly, possess an untraceable identity on the Hunter's website. He is a guy who knows a great deal about dragons, hybrids, and humans, and is happy to see humans and dragons both suffer heavy losses.

Based on the information provided by Su Enxi and the man on Greyhound that Norton mentioned, who was suspected to be the Dragon King, Lu Mingfei gradually came to a terrifying conclusion.

A dragon king had long since awakened, but instead of rushing to destroy the world or revive the dragon race, he quietly lurked within present-day human society, waiting for his opportunity. He wanted to eliminate as many enemies as possible, whether they were hybrids or other dragon kings, before the real war began.

Lu Mingfei changed the color of the sticky notes on the Hunter website.

The color white, which represents humanity, has been changed to red, which represents a suspected Dragon King-level being.

Currently, there is only speculation and no substantial evidence. Lu Mingfei can only ask Su Enxi to pay more attention to this website and try to track down the "Crown Prince".

He glanced at the various pieces of information that were interconnected like a spider web on the whiteboard, then drew the curtain to keep out the dust.

For the past few months, he and Lao Tang had been staying in this house, with food and drinks regularly delivered by Su Enxi's team. Outside of exercise, meditation, and rest, he spent his time "armchair strategizing" based on the intelligence Su Enxi sent him. He even missed Lu Mingze somewhat; although that guy always spoke deliberately vaguely, the occasional glimpses of confidential information he revealed were extremely valuable.

A knock on the door interrupted Lu Mingfei's thoughts.

"Brother Lu, the principal of Kassel College has contacted you. You'd better come and take a look." Old Tang poked his head in.

Lu Mingfei was somewhat surprised. Angers and he had always communicated using Norma-encrypted calls, but this time it seemed different?

He went to the computer, and Angers sent a video call directly through Norma; the account was not encrypted.

He opened the call page, and the scene on Angers' end was immediately displayed in the pop-up window.

The setting was a place very familiar to Lu Mingfei: Angers' elegant office. It was early morning outside the window, and the soft morning light shone on the silver-haired old man, making him look like a still statue.

He was wearing a well-tailored suit, his posture upright and elegant, and he was drinking black tea early in the morning.

“Mingfei, Norma has already bought your ticket,” Angers said.

As Lu Mingfei watched him pick up the bone china teacup, steam rose from it, and he could almost picture the faint aroma of tea filling the office, because Lu Mingfei had drunk it countless times.

Angers had told him before that he might need to go to the board of directors, and it seems that's the time now.

This call was not encrypted, meaning that with the Board of Directors' authority, the entire call would be recorded and displayed on the desks of each distinguished family representative.

"In what capacity should I return?" Lu Mingfei asked.

“Of course he’s a hero,” Angers said with certainty, “and a hero who fought against the Dragon King.”

Lu Mingfei nodded. "I'll be setting off soon."

He understood Angers' purpose.

“The executive department won’t be picking you up this time. Since winter break is over, you can come back on the train back to school,” Angers added. “We look forward to your return.”

The call has ended.

Knowing his own situation, Lu Mingfei theoretically believed that once his survival and location were confirmed, the executive department and rescue team would arrive by helicopter to escort and receive him.

Does Angers mean that even the executive department can't be fully trusted this time?

Lu Mingfei got up, went to the master bedroom to retrieve the hound's long teeth, put them into a specially made long black box, and then began packing his luggage.

"Brother Lu, are you going back to the academy?" Old Tang also came in to help.

"That's right, I might not be back for a while. I'm sorry to trouble you to live here alone during this time."

Chapter 85 Xia Mi

At the same time, Lu Mingfei's status in the Norma database changed from "missing" to "reading". Just a few seconds later, all the data of the "reading" students was automatically deleted. Meanwhile, a high-ranking executive appeared in a highly classified mission of the Execution Department.

The Gattuso family, who had been investigating the Panhandle Plateau incident, were the first to receive the news, and Frost immediately obtained all the new intelligence. This included everything from Lu Mingfei's IP address when he logged back into his student account, to the changes in Norma's database, and even the new S-class mission.

Frost opened the almost blank mission manual and nearly laughed in exasperation.

“Angers wants to destroy the evidence?” He slammed the S-level mission document, which was practically worthless, onto his desk. “Notify the nearest execution division to keep Lu Mingfei under control before he returns to school. Whatever secrets he has that warrant such a large-scale operation by Angers, they must be thoroughly investigated before the next board meeting.”

“We’ve already tried, but Schneider violated the operational protocol and refused to send in the task force,” Percy replied.

“Fine.” Frost’s gaze turned cold. “One Lu Mingfei has really lured out a lot of troublemakers. Do they really want to cover up this kind of news? Then send Norma’s data to the family members in the Executive Department and have them intercept Lu Mingfei.”

Percy paused, then said with a subtle expression, “Angers didn’t cover it up. He posted the news of Lu Mingfei’s triumphant return on the academy’s discussion forum. Several of the top trending posts showed signs of manipulation. The head of the news department named Finger used to be Lu Mingfei’s roommate.”

“Then send another investigation team to the academy to arrest him.” Frost calmed down and realized that Angers’ purpose was not simple.

“Angers has portrayed Lu Mingfei as a dragon-slaying hero and even released details of the first Three Gorges Dam dive mission. Now Lu Mingfei’s reputation among the students is unprecedented. Perhaps Angers is trying to use this to blackmail us,” Passy analyzed.

“Threat?” Frost remained unfazed. “Kassel College isn’t just a school; its core is actually those underground people. As long as they agree that Lu Mingfei needs to be controlled and investigated, the students’ opinions don’t matter.”

Percy's expression shifted slightly. He took out his phone from his pocket, glanced at it briefly, and then looked at Frost.

"Judging from your expression, what happened?" Frost asked.

Percy nodded and stated the contents of the message: "Angers has requested to convene a meeting of the Board of Trustees and has specified that Lu Mingfei will be brought along."

"Use the power of the family to hold the meeting on our territory."

"Yes." Percy turned and left.

......

Lu Mingfei carried only a backpack and stepped into the hall of Chicago Union Station again. He looked up and saw that the magnificent dome had not changed at all.

No one can imagine what this young Asian traveler, who looked up at the sky, experienced during his two visits here.

He swiped his S-level student card and re-entered the VIP waiting area.

Nothing had changed from before, but as soon as he entered, a girl waved to him.

"Senior brother! Senior brother!" The sleeves of the white down jacket looked like fluffy cotton candy.

Lu Mingfei was a little puzzled. He didn't think he looked old. He was a freshman, and theoretically, no one should call him "senior brother" until the next semester.

But the girl called out so confidently that even if she had seen the student ID, she should have conservatively addressed her as "classmate".

He walked over and suddenly noticed a familiar figure next to the girl.

Chu Zihang, president of the Lionheart Society.

"Hello, senior, I'm Xia Mi, a preparatory student," the girl with a high ponytail greeted first.

She was wearing a thick down jacket over a beige sweatshirt with a cute bear print on the chest, paired with skinny jeans and white snow boots.

So he's a preparatory student. No wonder he can call students from Kassel College "senior brother".

"Hello, I'm Lu Mingfei. Why do preparatory students enroll right after the winter break?" Lu Mingfei asked curiously as he sat on Chu Zihang's side.

"I found an alchemy professor and came to the academy lab during my high school winter break to do some simple projects, which is also a way to get used to the environment in advance," Xia Mi said without reservation.

Lu Mingfei nodded.

Some professors at Kassel College who are short of students will indeed contact students with outstanding academic backgrounds in the preparatory class in advance.

"And what about you?" Lu Mingfei looked at Chu Zihang again.

"Norma booked the ticket for me to go back to school," Chu Zihang said succinctly.

"Hey, Senior Brother Lu, are you the student council president?" Xia Mi peeked out.

"Why do you ask that?" Lu Mingfei was a little confused about Xia Mi's train of thought.

"Senior Brother Chu is the president of the Lionheart Society, a super A-level rank, but I feel like he respects you a lot. I heard that only the student council can surpass the Lionheart Society in the school, so I can only guess that you are the student council president." Xia Mi said with a face full of curiosity.

Lu Mingfei turned to look at Chu Zihang, conveying his doubt with his eyes: "Why is it that even your bloodline and identity as the president of the Lionheart Society have been thoroughly investigated?"

This suspicion wasn't unfounded. Xia Mi didn't know the student council president was Italian, nor did she know Lu Mingfei, an S-rank student. Similarly, she wouldn't know Chu Zihang's lineage or identity; she could only have learned this from their conversation before Lu Mingfei arrived. However, given Chu Zihang's style, how could he possibly discuss such sensitive topics with a complete stranger who hadn't even enrolled yet?

His social style, to put it nicely, is polite and distant, but in reality, he's a shut-in.

Chu Zihang looked away.

Clearly, before Lu Mingfei arrived, Xia Mi was the one who led the conversation between the two.

"The student council president is named Cesare Gattuso, and he's Italian," Lu Mingfei explained to Xia Mi.

"Senior Brother Lu, are you a senior student?" Xia Mi asked, her eyes still sparkling. "I heard that juniors and seniors mainly focus on internships. You must be really good, right?"

“I’m a freshman.” Lu Mingfei shook his head.

“Lu Mingfei is still a visiting professor, teaching elective courses,” Chu Zihang explained. “Both Caesar and I took his courses.”

"Professor?" Xia Mi's eyes widened. "Are you that S-class lucky star?"

She suddenly jumped up and was about to slap Lu Mingfei, but in a flash, she found that her wrist had been grabbed by Lu Mingfei.

In that instant, Chu Zihang saw it clearly.

Lu Mingfei's speed was visibly blurry; in reality, he simply flipped his hand and grabbed Xia Mi.

"What are you doing?" Lu Mingfei asked.

"Wow, senior brother, you are really amazing." Xia Mi blinked innocently. "I just wanted to touch the lucky star. My selection exam is in a few months, so I wanted to try my luck."

"Lucky Star?"

Chu Zihang knew some things: "There are stories in the discussion area about your two alleged encounters with the Dragon King. Some people think that your ability is due to super luck, so you are a lucky star."

"I see." Lu Mingfei released Xia Mi. "Now you've finally met your match."

"Senior brother, you'll never find a girlfriend if you keep going like this." Xia Mi stuck out her tongue fiercely and rubbed her wrist.