Dragon Raja: Lu Mingfei finds a Freylian

"Ah! Our S-class has arrived!" A researcher with a face covered in soot rushed over and shook Lu Mingfei's hand. "I'm Karl, the deputy minister of the Equipment Department!"

Lu Mingfei chuckled dryly: "Hello, Vice Minister Karl, what exactly do you want to test?"

Carl smiled mysteriously and pulled something out of his pocket that looked like a cell phone.

"The Word Power Amplifier 7.0!" he proudly announced. "Just by carrying it with you, it can enhance the user's Word Power effects by 20%!"

Lu Mingfei and Frilian both took a step back; this thing didn't look very safe.

"Don't be afraid!" Karl patted his chest. "Version 6.0 only caused three testers to temporarily lose their memories. Version 7.0 is absolutely safe!"

Frillie calmly asked, "Has the cause of the amnesia been determined?"

"Perhaps a mild concussion from the shockwave?" Karl scratched his head. "But that's not important! The important thing is that we've added the Philosopher's Stone this time!"

Lu Mingfei's eyes widened: "WHAT, where did you get the Philosopher's Stone?"

Carl and the researchers around him fell silent, their eyes darting around.

Frillie sighed: "Does the vice principal know you've been using materials without permission?"

Ten minutes later, Lu Mingfei stood nervously in the center of the test field, holding the "phone" in his hand.

"The steps are simple!" Karl shouted through a megaphone from behind the bulletproof glass. "Step one: grab your phone! Step two: activate your Word of Power! Step three: survive!"

Lu Mingfei: "What the hell is this about surviving the third step?!"

Frilian stood beside him, ready with defensive magic: "Let's begin."

Lu Mingfei took a deep breath and raised his phone—

hum!

The giant machine trembled violently, and countless red runes lit up its surface.

Lu Mingfei felt a surge of heat coursing through his fingers into his body; the Word of Power: Time Zero had been activated uncontrollably!

The world suddenly came to a standstill.

But this time it's different; the domain of Time Zero has actually spread to the entire test field!

The dust suspended in the air, the splashing water droplets, and even Karl's gaping mouth all froze in place.

"Frilian?" Lu Mingfei was surprised to find that only she and he could still move.

“The amplification effect is indeed amazing,” Frilian observed her surroundings, “but the Word of Power is not very stable.”

Before the words were even finished, the machine emitted a piercing alarm!

Overload! Warning! Overload! Warning!

"Run!" Lu Mingfei grabbed Frillie.

Just as the two reached the safe zone, the machine behind them exploded into a fireball. The shockwave cracked the blast-proof glass, and dust began to fall from the ceiling of the testing ground.

After the smoke cleared, the researchers from the equipment department rushed out cheering:

"Success! Duration: 4.8 seconds!"

"The blast radius is 50% smaller than last time!"

"Write this down! We'll add more Philosopher's Stones next time!"

Lu Mingfei got up, looking disheveled: "You call this 'success'?!"

Carl excitedly shook his hand: "Perfect! Your data will help us develop version 8.0!"

"If 7.0 is already like this, how can there be an 8.0?!"

Frillie picked up a still-smoking part from the ruins and examined it: "The amplification principle is correct."

An hour later, at the school hospital.

"It's a minor burn; a couple of days of rest will do the trick." After applying the ointment to Lu Mingfei, the doctor looked at them helplessly. "You're the seventh wounded soldier sent in by the equipment department this week."

Frillie was unharmed, sitting on the edge of the bed peeling an apple with a tactical knife she had taken from the equipment department.

“At least you got the credits,” she said, handing the apple to Lu Mingfei.

Lu Mingfei, munching on an apple, suddenly thought of something: "The price is a bit too high. Hey, do you think Old Tang said he landed a big order? Could it be a job from the Equipment Department?"

Frillie's hand trembled, and the dagger became embedded in the bedside table.

The two looked at each other and simultaneously took out their phones.

"Old Tang!" Lu Mingfei shouted into the phone, "You're not taking on some kind of job like 'testing dangerous weapons,' are you?!"

Old Tang on the other end of the phone laughed heartily: "What are you thinking! I'm a respectable person!"

A strange clattering sound came from the background. "Oh dear, never mind, the client's pressuring me!"

The call abruptly ended.

Lu Mingfei and Frilian remained silent for a long time.

"Should we call the police?" Frillie asked seriously.

Lu Mingfei buried his face in the pillow and let out a long sigh.

PS:

Equipment Department Notes:

The development funding for "Word of Power Amplifier Version 8.0" has been approved!

Testers are being recruited! (A-level and above preferred)

Benefit: Free cremation service!

Chapter 26 Antique Shopping in Chinatown

Steam rose from the steamer basket, carrying the aroma of fried dough sticks and soy milk.

Standing at the street corner, watching the crowds coming and going, Lu Mingfei had a fleeting feeling of being back in China.

"So, those lunatics in the Equipment Department want 'traditional Chinese artifacts'?" Lu Mingfei scratched his head. "Weren't they always researching how to turn alchemical bombs into toasters? Have they changed their minds?"

Frillie calmly replied, "It's said that he watched Chinese period dramas."

"Nirvana in Fire or The Legend of Zhen Huan?"

"The Legend of Sword and Fairy 3".

Lu Mingfei's lips twitched: "They wouldn't be thinking of making a 'demon sword,' would they? The wall that was blown up by that 'word power amplifier' last time hasn't been repaired yet."

Frillie didn't reply, but looked up at a faded signboard with the three large characters "Jubaoxuan" written in gold paint.

“The vice principal said that forty years ago, the antique shops here were very comprehensive,” Frillian said, pointing to the sign for Jubaoxuan. “Let’s go take a look at this one first.”

The night before, in the vice principal's office.

"Finding antiques?" Vice Principal Flamel took a swig of whiskey and laughed drunkenly. "Those lunatics in the Equipment Department have come up with another crazy idea?"

Frillie nodded: "They said they wanted to enhance the 'cultural foundation' of the Equipment Department."

"Bullshit!" The vice principal slammed his fist on the table and laughed. "They must be obsessed with some TV series they've been watching lately! Last time they even asked me if they could make the Philosopher's Stone into a jade pendant to hang on their sword, saying that would be more 'fantasy'!"

Lu Mingfei muttered to himself, "I knew it."

The vice principal wiped away the tears of laughter and pulled a yellowed map from his drawer: "Let's go to Chinatown. I saw some nice antique shops there forty years ago."

He paused, narrowed his eyes, and said, "Are you sure you weren't fooled by the equipment department? They probably just made this decision on a whim. By the time you actually buy the stuff, they'll probably have forgotten all about it."

Frillie: "I'll still get the credits."

Lu Mingfei: "That makes sense."

Pushing open the carved wooden door of "Jubaoxuan", a sandalwood fragrance wafts out.

The shop was dimly lit, with various porcelain and bronze wares displayed on the shelves. An old man wearing round-framed glasses was drinking tea from a purple clay teapot. When he saw them come in, he smiled and put down the teapot: "Young man, what are you looking for?"

"Uh, do you have any old items that have a 'vintage' feel?" Lu Mingfei asked, forcing himself to speak.

The shopkeeper's eyes lit up, and he turned around to pull out a mahogany box from under the counter: "A copper coin sword from the Qing Dynasty! It's made of genuine Five Emperors' coins, to ward off evil spirits and protect the home!"

Lu Mingfei took it and weighed it in his hand; the copper coin clattered.

He whispered to Frilian, "It looks like it was just cast last week."

Frilian gently stroked the sword and shook her head: "Antiquing patina, soaked in acetic acid."

The shopkeeper coughed awkwardly and then took out a brocade box: "How about this? A shard of Ming Dynasty blue and white porcelain!"

Lu Mingfei glanced at the label on the bottom of the box—"Made in Jingdezhen in 2000".

Seeing that the two remained unmoved, the boss sighed, took off his glasses and wiped them: "Young people these days are not so easy to fool."

He pointed to the inner room, "If you really want some old stuff, there are a few pieces inside, but the price is..."

In the glass cabinet inside, a Han Dynasty bronze mirror covered in verdigris lay quietly.

The shopkeeper carefully took it out: "This was brought by my grandfather's generation. He received it from a Chinese laborer when he was digging railroads in San Francisco."

He stroked the dragon pattern on the back of the mirror, "Back then, we weren't as glamorous as we are now. We were all risking our lives to make a living."

Looking at the mottled marks on the mirror, Lu Mingfei didn't buy it. The zero following the price made Lu Mingfei's hand tremble.

The second shop, "Hanlinmo," specializes in the Four Treasures of the Study (writing brush, ink stick, ink

The proprietress, with her permed hair, used a feather duster to sweep the dust off the inkstone.

"Ancient style?" she said warmly, leading them into the inner room. "This set of wolf-hair brushes, modeled after those from the Song Dynasty, has a handle made of rosewood!"

Frillie picked up a pen and asked, "May I try writing?"

The proprietress paused for a moment, then quickly spread out some Xuan paper: "Of course!"

Frillie dipped her brush in ink and wielded it, producing a line of elegant, flowing characters that leaped onto the paper.

"The entire equipment department is full of lunatics."

Lu Mingfei: "..."

The proprietress stared at the powerful strokes of the writing, her eyes reddening: "The handwriting is so beautiful. My father loved to write too."

She stroked the paper. "He always said that in a foreign land, pen and ink are the things that can best remind people of their hometown."