Dragon Raja: Lu Mingfei Returns from the Elden Ring

Chapter 86 Welcome Party

As the train whistle blew as it arrived at the station, Lu Mingfei, Xia Mi, and Chu Zihang packed their luggage and stepped out of the carriage. However, the noise that greeted them made them all pause in surprise.

The students of Kassel College crowded the entire platform, all holding flowers and colorful flags. When they saw Lu Mingfei, they shouted out their rehearsed lines in unison.

"Lu Mingfei, the dragon-slaying hero! Welcome home!"

Lu Mingfei's gaze swept across the crowd. Members of the Lionheart Society and the Student Council had all arrived. Caesar's group of girls in white lace dresses stood neatly in the back row, and Caesar himself was standing right next to them.

The girls had practiced choral singing, and they shouted with great enthusiasm, waving their colorful ribbons in unison.

Beside Lu Mingfei, Chu Zihang and Xia Mi retreated simultaneously, then quietly blended into the crowd. Lancelot, the Lionheart Society's vice president, who was skilled in shooting, stood in the crowd and solemnly handed two colorful flags to Chu Zihang. His serious demeanor made it seem as if they were exchanging secret intelligence or some kind of precious dragon-slaying weapon.

Besides Lu Mingfei, there was another focal point of this grand welcoming ceremony.

An elderly man in a black suit stood at the front of the crowd. He was handsome and tall, with his silver-gray hair neatly combed back. The welcoming crowd surrounded the platform from both sides, like an eagle spreading its wings, and he was the eye of that eagle.

“Welcome back, Lu Mingfei.” Angers stepped forward and hugged Lu Mingfei.

Among the crowd were several members of the news department holding cameras. They wore black headphones and baseball caps and wandered around the crowd. Some were taking pictures of the welcoming group, some were taking pictures of Angers and Lu Mingfei, and there were even reporters who were "randomly" interviewing passers-by with microphones. The students being interviewed praised Lu Mingfei and Angers in standard broadcasting voices.

All the students interviewed agreed that a dragon-slaying hero worthy of being recorded in history had appeared.

The Minister of Information, Fingel, was not on site. He was sitting in the monitoring room, with several drones transmitting images on the screen in front of him, and he was issuing orders like a director.

The welcoming ceremony was not yet over, but several related reports had already been written, and all that was left was to insert the photos into the blank spaces in the layout.

A new dragon-slaying hero? Who is this legendary figure who faced the Dragon King twice...?

The youngest visiting professor in the history of Kassel College once defeated both Caesar and Chu Zihang on a single day of freedom!

A Rational Analysis: Was Lu Mingfei's High School Years a Forced Period of Hibernation?

“If the board of directors can’t get rid of my junior, the next principal will still be a dragon slayer they can’t control.” Fingel looked at the cheering students on the screen with a meaningful smile.

Although the welcome party was staged, the respect and admiration in those people's eyes were not entirely fake.

The next step after the platform welcomes the floats is the parade.

Angers decorated his black Maserati with flowers and drove it himself, taking Lu Mingfei through the main gate into the campus. Hundreds of boys and girls held up bouquets of flowers and surrounded the float. The float moved slowly, amidst a cacophony of voices, balloons and ribbons fluttering in the air, and the faint sound of champagne being popped.

The event was much larger than Lu Mingfei had imagined, and even included a celebration banquet. All that was missing was a group photo and a speech.

......

Late at night, on the top floor of the principal's office.

Lu Mingfei sat opposite Angers. The celebration banquet had just ended, and Lu Mingfei still had a wreath around his neck. He took it off and placed it on an empty chair next to him.

“A special board meeting will be held in Portofino in four days.” Angers took out the prepared document bag, placed it on the table, and gently pushed it.

Lu Mingfei picked up the file bag that had slid to his side and opened it to take a look.

“It contains information on several families of school board members,” Angers said. “Some of them will do everything they can to label you as a dangerous hybrid.”

"But there are also some people who are our allies, right?" Lu Mingfei had been frequently checking various intelligence materials lately, browsing through them almost at a glance.

Gattuso, Laurent, Göttingen... these powerful mixed-race families possess astonishing wealth, control political and economic resources in human society, and are the true owners of Kassel College.

The information recorded in the document was similar to the intelligence provided by Su Enxi.

“This vote is a trial for you, and it could also be a stepping stone,” Angers said calmly. “So they will play all their cards, and you may be subjected to blood tests and hypnotic interrogations.”

"Are those who fight the Dragon King the ones who should be suspected?" Lu Mingfei put down the documents and asked.

“They questioned the details of the mission and your lineage, which was also a way of putting me down,” Angers said.

What do I need to do?

“All the preparations have been made; we just need to show up.” Angers leaned forward and divided the documents in front of Lu Mingfei into three stacks. “I called you here today to help you distinguish between friend and foe.”

Aside from the two neutral families, Lu Mingfei noticed that Angers' so-called ally was actually only the Laurent family. According to the information, the Laurent family was one of the largest syndicates in Europe, engaged in mining and finance, and its investment in the board of directors was second only to the Gattuso family.

He then looked at the last stack of opposing sides, which contained the Göttingen and Gattuso families.

“The Gattuso family, the wealthiest mixed-race family among all the members of the board of directors, has long wanted to control the main campus of Kassel College and has been dissatisfied with me for a long time.” Angers smiled. “The last investigation team was also sent by them, but they returned empty-handed.”

Lu Mingfei knew something about them. The Gattuso family started out in the underworld and later became a famous noble family in Italy. They were also one of the richest mixed-race families in the world, having produced seven or eight dukes. Their family tradition was to admire ancient Roman civilization.

What he remembered most vividly was that Su Enxi said the Gattuso family's research institute was even more technologically advanced than the equipment department of Kassel College. From this, it seemed the Gattuso were a behemoth in the world of hybrids, a super family.

"I understand." Lu Mingfei nodded.

The evening meeting ended.

Lu Mingfei didn't ask a question, and Angers didn't say it either, but even Fingel could see it. That was, Angers was not only dealing with the accusations brought by the Gattuso family, but also pushing Lu Mingfei into the upper echelons of power among mixed-race people. All the hype and preparations were paving the way for Lu Mingfei.

Anyone with eyes can see that Lu Mingfei is the candidate chosen by Angers for the next principal.

For Lu Mingfei, the power of a mixed-blood family lies not in combat prowess, but in alchemy, intelligence, and technology. Before the so-called "Ragnarok" arrives, Lu Mingfei doesn't mind investing his energy in the school board to deal with troublesome figures like the "Crown Prince" lurking in the shadows.

Chapter 87 Odin

Chu Zihang knocked on the door of dormitory 303 in Zone 1, and Lu Mingfei opened the door for him.

The winter break at Kassel College had just ended, and today was the last day of the return-to-school period, so Chu Zihang had no classes. His schedule was usually packed every day, but he canceled his entire morning's plans because Lu Mingfei had invited him to a meeting.

He didn't understand what there was to discuss between him and Lu Mingfei, but he still kept his appointment on time.

Lu Mingfei's roommate was not there, so this seemed to be a private conversation.

“Until we finish our conversation, this dormitory will be outside Norma’s surveillance range, and she will be temporarily offline from all electronic devices.” Lu Mingfei sat down at the table, making room for Chu Zihang.

Chu Zihang was startled, realizing that what Lu Mingfei was about to say involved not only a secret conversation, but also something top secret.

Could it be related to the incident where the school board sent an investigation team? He sat down opposite Lu Mingfei without changing his expression. There was a pot of black tea on the table, which seemed to be the type of black tea that the principal often drank.

"Senior, are you aware that the Board of Directors investigated you?" Lu Mingfei went straight to the point.

As Chu Zihang had predicted, it was related to the school board. The fact that Norma needed to be avoided indicated that the people involved had very high privileges in Norma's database and could access Norma's monitoring data.

"Is it about my mission execution record?" Chu Zihang had always been a good student with an active mind. He was used to thinking about the teacher's intentions when listening to lectures, and he knew that there was a problem with his mission execution process.

“It is one of them, but it’s not what I’m going to talk about today.” Lu Mingfei shook his head. “It’s about the typhoon five years ago.”

In an instant, Lu Mingfei clearly sensed that Chu Zihang had become nervous, indicating that the incident had left a very deep impression on him.

"Are the board members really concerned about this?" Chu Zihang asked.

“The board of directors just thinks there are suspicious points in this matter, and that it may be related to your bloodline and violent style of behavior,” Lu Mingfei said. “They don’t know much.”

Chu Zihang remained silent. Lu Mingfei meant that he knew more than the board of directors, and only those who had gone far enough were qualified to evaluate the progress of those who came later.

“Senior brother, I will tell you what I know,” Lu Mingfei said frankly. “My goal is to find the Dragon King, and I hope to obtain your information.”

"Okay." Chu Zihang nodded seriously.

He quickly calmed down and made a rapid assessment in his mind, ultimately deciding to trust Lu Mingfei. He was aware of the undercurrents within the school and, through some clues, deduced that Lu Mingfei, Principal Angers, and Executive Director Schneider were in the same camp.

Professor Schneider was not only his mentor, but also helped him cover up many problems in his assignment reports. He trusted the principal's side more than the board of trustees.

"Do you know Nibelungen?" Lu Mingfei asked.

"The alchemical space created by dragons through alchemy is, in mythology, a land of the dead. Legend has it that on the day the land of the dead opens, the dead will attack the living," Chu Zihang answered meticulously, like a good student.

“That’s right, but there’s one thing you don’t understand.” Lu Mingfei pointed out the inaccuracy: “The range of dragons that created Nibelungen is limited to those of the first generation and above.”

This was information he obtained from Su Enxi: the civilization of the dragon race was rooted in individuals, and those who could establish a kingdom were all seated on the throne.

"In other words, you have entered Nibelungen and encountered the Dragon King."

Chu Zihang did suspect that the mythical figure Odin he saw that rainy night might be a first-generation dragon king, but he never mentioned it to anyone because that kind of power seemed to be beyond the scope of dragons that the academy had come into contact with, and could even be described as a god.

"Dragon King... have you met Panhandle in the Three Gorges?" Chu Zihang asked softly.

"Yes, I have," Lu Mingfei replied affirmatively.

Chu Zihang was somewhat shocked. The official information released by the academy only defined these two events as suspected awakening of the Dragon King. Now, he received a positive answer from Lu Mingfei, the only witness.

He'd seen it before!

"Did the Dragon King you saw have a mythical appearance?" Chu Zihang asked.

“No, they were more like humanoid creatures covered in dragon scales.” Lu Mingfei recalled the appearances of Constantine and Norton, then asked, “What exactly did you see in Nibelungen? Some being from mythology?”

“Yes.” Chu Zihang said solemnly, “I saw Odin, the king of the gods in Norse mythology.”

"Tell me more." Lu Mingfei had initially thought that Chu Zihang had encountered some kind of humanoid dragon king, just like him, but now he heard something even more interesting.

The Dragon Kings are too mysterious. Norton was able to reverse time and cross space as soon as he awoke, but he has the same form as Constantine, which is a humanoid form of a dragon. This Odin sounds like another form of the Dragon King.

Chu Zihang then began his story by recounting the typhoon and the man who picked him up from school, all the way to his escape alone in his Maybach from the overpass. He remembered every detail, and recalling these events before going to sleep each night was his daily routine. He would think back on every detail until he was sure he hadn't forgotten anything.

Masafumi Tomiyama, an instructor of "Introduction to Brain Science," says that human memory is unreliable, like a broken hard drive that can easily be demagnetized. Past events are like drawings on sand; as time passes, the sand is blown away by the wind, memories blur, and eventually, they become a vast, indistinct blur. Tomiyama explains that this is actually a self-protective mechanism. Imagine if you could remember every detail of the past, never forgetting it; then the saddest, most painful, and sorrowful images of your life would constantly torment you, and you would never be able to escape the negative states of the past.

But Chu Zihang didn't want to forget, because in this world, he was the only one who still remembered that man. If he forgot too, it would be as if that man had never existed at all.

That man once said that if he died one day, there would only be one thing in this world that could prove his existence: Chu Zihang, who had half his blood.

After listening, Lu Mingfei felt that Odin was completely different from the two dragon kings he had encountered so far. Odin had a mount, servants, and even the legendary Gungnir, which was forged from the branches of the World Tree, as a weapon.

If humans created the image of Odin from his body, then his existence predates human civilization. When did he awaken? Why is he guarding the overpass in that small town?

"Did your father mention what was in the box that Odin wanted?" Lu Mingfei asked.

“No,” Chu Zihang said. “He doesn’t want me to be involved in the world of dragons.”

Chapter 88

“Water is the most commonly used medium in alchemy,” Lu Mingfei analyzed. “You and your father did not accidentally enter Nibelungen that night. Odin took advantage of the rainstorm to let you in. Have you tried to find your father’s file? The executive department of Kassel College does this very well. If something has ever existed, it must be recorded.”

“I’ve investigated, but I couldn’t find it in the Executive Department or the list of graduates.” Chu Zihang shook his head. “I haven’t told anyone about this. It’s more bizarre than any dragon-related incident the academy has ever encountered.”

“What Odin wants must be kept extremely secret among hybrids. Your father possesses the Word of Zero, which clearly makes him an S-rank super hybrid. Therefore, we can infer that he wasn’t forgotten by the academy, but rather that the mission he was carrying out was extremely confidential, perhaps not even existing in Norma’s database, but only in paper documents in the hands of certain individuals.” Lu Mingfei has learned a lot about Kassel College these past few days.

Kassel College appears to have evolved from the Secret Society, but in reality, it is only a part of the Secret Society. The Executive Department, the Equipment Department, and the professors and students of the main campus are merely one of the Secret Society's weapons, not the whole picture. Perhaps Chu Tianjiao actually takes direct orders from the Board of Trustees or a particular family.

Chu Zihang had also made this guess, but he had no ability to verify it.

But when he heard Lu Mingfei refer to Chu Tianjiao as a super hybrid, a thought flashed through his mind.

If Lu Mingfei, who is also an S-class super hybrid, was able to escape unscathed from the Dragon King, could that man also exist somewhere in the world, waiting for him to save him?

"Son, you must believe in your father. If you live, we will have a chance to meet again."