Dragon Raja: Lu Mingfei Returns from the Elden Ring

"Are you worried about me?" Caesar put his arm around her shoulder.

"Wow, you're so greasy." Nono dodged his arm and leaned towards the window. "I heard there's a Dragon King here, why are you coming here?"

“The family has given their approval for our wedding,” Caesar said calmly.

"I haven't even accepted your proposal yet! You're a whole level below your fiancé!" Nono shrugged. "But how did your old fogies even agree to it..."

“I refused. This is a matter between the two of us. Whether it succeeds or fails, it has nothing to do with them.” Caesar came to her side and they looked out the window together. “They said they would agree to the wedding if I were to be under the control of my family from now on, and they would even use alchemy to enhance my bloodline.”

Nono's eyes widened, then she covered her ears with both hands. "This...this...is this something I can hear? If I don't agree to the proposal, your family won't send someone to kill me, will they?"

Caesar was somewhat speechless. He reached out and took his unruly girlfriend's hand, and said seriously, "That's why I wanted to come here. I wanted to prove something, verify something, and witness something... Would you come with me?"

"Is this a marriage proposal?" Nono complained, but then she saw Caesar's serious expression and could only sigh, "How can I not come with you? Chu Zihang and Su Xi are here. If you die in there too, I really won't have many friends left."

Caesar was not discouraged by his "friend's" assessment. "He won't die. As long as he's here, even the end of the world will be solved."

"Is Lu Mingfei a succubus? How come you're all so bewitched?" Nono knew without thinking who he was talking about. "The principal, the vice principal, Guderian, Chu Zihang, and now you... By the way, I have connections here. There's a Ferrari in the airport parking lot that I can use. I don't think your family would be very willing to arrange a car for you. It's been half an hour already."

“It’s quite clumsy,” Caesar chuckled. “So what are we waiting for?”

Chapter 166 won the lottery.

Lu Mingfei and Chu Zihang sat in the driver's and passenger's seats of the Maybach. The entire car had been modified by two equipment department technicians stationed at the branch, enhancing its defensive capabilities. For example, the windows were replaced with 5-centimeter-thick bulletproof glass. At the same time, the engine had been upgraded, and according to the two technicians, who patted their chests with pride, it was no worse than the principal's Maserati, which had been modified by the equipment department at headquarters.

The car's computer screen lit up, and Norma's face appeared on it. "Executive Lu Mingfei, we have received a report from the branch. The city-wide counter-assassination operation has basically ended. Twelve hybrids have been arrested, of whom 11 died and one is seriously injured and unconscious. All the alchemical items seized have been properly stored in accordance with the hazardous materials disposal agreement."

"Received," Lu Mingfei said. "Vehicle self-check."

"Engine self-check initiating...normal, vehicle self-check initiating...normal, electrical system self-check initiating...normal, active safety system self-check initiating...normal." Norma did not announce this through the car's speakers; all the data was displayed on the screen. "Norma's program subsystem self-check complete. Lu Mingfei, Executive Officer, have a safe journey."

Chu Zihang sat in the passenger seat, wearing the executive department's trench coat, checking his equipment.

Lu Mingfei drew a sword, the Divine Sword Murasame, and handed it to him, saying, "It's different from your father's. It has the Word of Power, Eye of the Wind King, built into it."

Chu Zihang took the treasured sword and immediately felt the inexhaustible elemental power on its surface. "Thank you."

“You can use those knives if necessary, but you should be more comfortable with this one.” Lu Mingfei pointed to the Seven Deadly Sins knife case in the back seat of the car.

"Has Odin already opened the entrance to the Nibelungen?" Chu Zihang inserted the Murasame umbrella into the slot on the car door.

“For some time now, Odin has been making some kind of preparation in Nibelungen, I guess it’s a trap. Now he’s ready, so he opened the door,” Lu Mingfei said. “We’re on Highway 10, which is the center of the elemental storm. The elevated road you and your dad accidentally entered is Highway 0, but Highway 0 doesn’t exist. According to the principles of Nibelungen, Highway 0 should be the result of a real highway being distorted. Originally it was Highway 10, but a mysterious force erased the ‘1’ at the beginning.”

The Maybach started up, its engine roaring. The equipment department was indeed a professional in this kind of violent modification. The powerful push at the start pressed Chu Zihang hard against the seat. His expression was tense, as hard as a rock.

……

The torrential rain reduced visibility to almost nothing. The Ferrari drove onto the elevated highway leading into the city, which had become the only passage between the city and the outside world. The storm was turning the entire city into an isolated island on land. This was the protective measure taken when the Dragon King hatched, using the catastrophic climate caused by elemental turbulence to block His enemies.

The Ferrari was so fast it looked like it was about to take off. The road was empty, with only one or two cars appearing in sight every few minutes, their headlights tearing through the rain and night, rapidly approaching and then rapidly receding.

“Odin?” Nono frowned. “Is he the Dragon King who likes to cosplay? Mythological figures may be projections of the Dragon King in human history, but this level of recreation is truly amazing.”

Caesar sat in the passenger seat, looking at a satellite cloud image on a tablet. The rendered image showed a dense spiral of clouds radiating outwards from the city, with the central, dense cloud area marked in black.

“All the information I have now comes from Chu Zihang,” Caesar said. “He was only 15 years old when he met the Dragon King, and he didn’t even know that the Dragon Clan existed. What he saw, what he remembered, and what he told us may be distorted.”

"Never mind, we'll know once we see it." Nono floored the accelerator, and in this situation, she had no time to care about traffic regulations. The performance of this luxury car was fully utilized, and the scenery on both sides rushed past.

The rain-soaked sky was dark, with occasional flashes of lightning illuminating the scale-like clouds, making it seem as if a giant dragon lay across the sky.

“We haven’t seen a car for over ten minutes.” Caesar put down his tablet, his expression grim. “The cell phone signal has been cut off.”

"Maybe the nearby base station is damaged?" Nono said casually, looking ahead.

“No, we’ve been here before. There’s a river nearby, but the riverbed has been washed away, and the sound of the flowing water is like a waterfall.” Caesar put down his tablet and sat up straight. “This is our second time here.”

“But there’s only one road in front of us. We didn’t encounter any forks in the road like Chu Zihang did. Why are we going in circles?” Nuonuo frowned.

“The Dragon King’s creations cannot be understood with human thinking… Don’t stop, speed up.” Caesar’s expression changed. “Something is chasing us from behind.”

“We’re already going full speed ahead; the car’s performance speaks for itself.” Nono rarely saw Caesar so tense. She glanced at the rearview mirror and was instantly drenched in a cold sweat.

A bright beam of light shone from behind, followed by the powerful roar of an engine. It was a car no less impressive than a Ferrari, and the other driver was going even faster than her. She swerved to avoid it, and the car behind her grazed past the Ferrari, sending leaves flying in the gust of wind. In the blink of an eye, only the red taillights remained visible.

In the instant their cars passed each other, both men clearly saw the markings on the rear of the other's car: a Maybach 62S… A stormy night, an elevated highway, a limited-edition luxury car—all the elements fit together perfectly, as if history were repeating itself. There was no doubt about it; the Nibelungen was approaching. Years later, that ghostly Maybach was still speeding along this road.

“We’ve won the lottery,” Caesar said casually.

He suddenly grabbed the handle on the roof of the car, and almost simultaneously Nuonuo slammed on the brakes. The Ferrari drifted and then came to an abrupt stop, the tires leaving four trails of blue smoke on the ground.

"It seems our little dragons haven't arrived yet," Nono murmured. "What should we do? Hold out and wait for reinforcements, or..."

"We've already reached the mountain gate, aren't we going up to burn some incense?" Caesar said. "This road is already a closed loop, there's no way we can escape now."

"You talk so calmly, but that's the Dragon King, brother." Nono sighed. "The most dangerous mission I've ever carried out was dealing with a group of dangerous drug-dealing hybrids, and that was just assisting with profiling. Unlike you worldly dragon-slaying heroes."

“That’s not what it means to see the world. Chu Zihang and I have both died once,” Caesar said. “Death will eventually come to everyone equally. Perhaps no one is at the center of the world, and there is no absolute justice that can change the world. Just like my mother said… the world is cruel. What’s the use of one person’s kindness?”

Caesar spoke without expression, but Nono's expression shifted, and she vaguely sensed that Caesar was somewhat different from usual.

“Now that we’ve found the Nibelungen first, let’s see who this king of the gods in mythology really is.” Caesar pulled out his Desert Eagle and strapped the brand-new hunting knife, Dicket, given to him by Lu Mingfei, to his back.

“You look eager to try,” Nono said as she cocked her gun.

"Someone is always like this."

"I know who it is without you having to tell me."

Chapter 167 Proposal

The Maybach drove onto the elevated highway and encountered roadblocks set up by branch personnel. Several cars were stuck in the heavy rain, seemingly trying to leave the city.

Norma temporarily acted as a traffic signal transmitter, and the checkpoint staff received advance notice of Lu Mingfei's impending arrival, thus opening the roadblocks.

At that moment, a black BMW suddenly accelerated in the traffic, turned on its headlights, honked its horn, and sped onto the elevated road.

The Maybach followed closely behind. Lu Mingfei shifted gears and accelerated, and the steel behemoth roared as it quickly closed the distance to the BMW.

At the same time, Norma lit a green light on the car's screen, indicating that her main unit, located in the United States, was connected to the car's onboard computer via satellite and base station signals.

The BMW driver was clearly short-tempered. He changed lanes and blocked the Maybach, and started accelerating as well. However, the limit for a civilian car is only to slow down the closing speed between the two cars.

"Threat detected. Active defense system requesting activation." Norma's voice came from the speaker, and at the same time, the edge of a button next to Lu Mingfei lit up.

Lu Mingfei was also curious about what modifications the equipment department had made. After pressing the button, a red light came on.

Chu Zihang couldn't sense any changes in the car body, but Lu Mingfei could feel it through vibrations and sounds. The side panels of the car body had opened up, and long, thin objects were protruding from them.

Two flashes suddenly appeared on the BMW's tires, and then the car lost power and began to skid. The Maybach avoided the BMW and continued on its way.

In the rearview mirror, the BMW's wheels were emitting intense flames, indicating that it was completely disabled.

The flames, rain, and horn sounds gradually faded into the distance, and the outside world was once again shrouded in rain. Norma's green traffic lights illuminated the faces of Lu Mingfei and Chu Zihang.

About ten minutes later, Norma's green light began to flash, then went out a few seconds later and was replaced by a red light. The sound of rain suddenly became clearer, as if the vehicle's soundproofing system was failing, and the rain gradually seeped in.

……

Nono and Caesar drove on the elevated highway for a long time but still couldn't catch up with the dilapidated Maybach. The two were quite curious to see if the person driving that car was a human or a ghost.

Rain fell from the sky and on the ground, yet strangely, it made people feel very quiet, as if the rain had isolated the whole world, leaving only Ferrari and the ghost car running in this endless rainy night.

"Is that a road sign?" Caesar maintained the Kamaitachi's domain and noticed a discordant melody in the concerto of rain and wind. It sounded like something like claws was pounding on the iron gate, giving him an uneasy feeling.

The Ferrari slowed down, and Nono looked up. The road sign in the distance gradually became clear in the lights. The wind blew away the branches that were covering the road sign, which read "Highway 0".

In reality, there are no roads marked with "0".

“This is the entrance…” Caesar said. The knocking sounds he heard were actually tree branches swaying in the wind and hitting the metal road sign.

Looking out from this real entrance, the rain in front and behind seemed no different, but the two people in the car knew that taking a step forward would shatter the fragile peace. God and God's army were inside. The last time they saw fresh flesh and blood was six years ago, and they wondered how hungry they must be now.

The Ferrari slowed down to a crawl, and compared to its previous high speed, it was now moving at a snail's pace.

The car finally stopped in front of the road sign. Caesar and Nono got out in the rain, and Caesar filled the sports car with spare fuel after speeding all the way.

Nono fumbled to open the hidden storage compartments in several car doors and found two double-barreled shotguns and a Glock 17 pistol. Unfortunately, there was no ammunition, only four loaded shotgun shells and 17 9mm pistol rounds.

The most lethal weapon might be the large-caliber rifle ammunition loaded in the barrel between the two shotguns.

Nono possesses the ability to profile. From the moment she got into the car, she began to familiarize herself with the vehicle and its owner. As a rich second-generation, that guy hid a few guns purely to scare people, and after stuffing them into the storage compartment, he never maintained them again.

"Give me those guns. You can use my Desert Eagle. The last two shots on each gun are Philosopher's Stone bullets." Caesar pulled out his sidearm; the special bullets inside were ones he had obtained from his family's research institute.

Nono quickly checked the three guns in her hands and strapped them to her body. "You should use them yourself. With the Kamaitachi, you're the best sniper..."

After she finished speaking, she didn't get the reaction she expected from Caesar, so she looked up at her boyfriend.

“Actually, it’s not like that anymore.” Caesar shrugged. “First, I can use the Vampire Scythe after I unleash my full power. Second, this sword can release the Word Spirit Flame.”

"Okay, okay, okay." Nono's eyes widened as she obediently took the Desert Eagle. "If you keep hanging out with Lu Mingfei, I wouldn't be surprised if you secretly turned into a little dragon one day!"

Nono's words were just a sarcastic remark, but they reminded Caesar of the Nibelungen Plan promised by his family—a gentle form of evolution. He had come here today to witness once again whether changing the world through one person's will was a coincidence or true "destiny."

The two got back into the car, the Ferrari's engine roared, it was replenished, and its power was strong.

This time, the Maybach reappeared in the rearview mirror, but unlike before, the constant roar of its engine carried a strong sense of aggression.

"Nono, will you marry me?"

Nono paused, glancing out of the corner of her eye at Caesar, who was typing on his phone. "I tried it when I got off the bus, and there was no signal here either."

“I’m not sending a message, I’m writing a will. My biggest regret in this life is that I haven’t proposed to you yet. I wrote in the message that I hope my wife’s name can be written on my tombstone.”

"Don't be so pessimistic. What happened to your grand pronouncements just now?"

“It’s not pessimism. I believe Lu Mingfei also has such a letter, but it’s probably just hidden in his heart,” Caesar said. “He’s the kind of person who doesn’t care about what happens after he’s gone.”

Nono stared ahead and floored the accelerator. The Ferrari cut through the rain like a sharp knife, but the dilapidated Maybach on the side slowly caught up.

If a car has a lifespan, this Maybach is clearly in its twilight years, yet its engine roars, propelling the battered body into the darkness.

The Ferrari was already nearing its speed limit. On the elevated highway in the pouring rain, the raindrops were like thousands of arrows hitting the windshield, making visibility extremely blurry. But Nono's driving skills were excellent, or perhaps she was just a little crazy, a witch, and this kind of speed was her domain.

On the Nibelungen highway, I was driving alongside a ghost car!

“Okay,” she said suddenly in a soft voice, “but don’t write my name as Nono Gattuso. I don’t like your family.”

"Of course, the tombstone will only have Nono and Cesare Gulweg."

Caesar made two backups, then removed the memory card and hid the phone and the card separately in the car's crash beam.