Dragon Raja: Lu Mingfei finds a Freylian

The young man was welcoming to all and incredibly patient. With girls, he nodded slightly, maintaining just the right distance and demeanor. With older men, he would put his hands on his hips and strike a bold pose, eliciting hearty laughter from the older men, as if they were two like-minded wanderers.

"Hello! Hello! Excuse me!" A man in a suit, wearing gold-rimmed glasses, and exuding a capable air squeezed through the crowd and handed over a business card with both hands.

"I'm a talent scout from Zhaocang Talent Agency! Our agency specializes in discovering promising cosplayers and actors, and we have in-depth collaborations with major anime conventions and film and television production companies! With your appearance and that unique classical charm, you're absolutely destined for stardom! Please consider it and take some time to come to our agency for a detailed discussion!"

The young man took the business card, glanced at it, and lightly traced the characters "Zhaocang" with his fingertips. Then he looked up and gave the eager talent scout an apologetic smile.

"Thank you for your kindness, but I am not a cosplayer and have no intention of entering the entertainment industry." He gently handed back the business card. "Tonight, I just took advantage of the cherry blossom season to go for a walk and relax."

His gaze swept past the excited crowd and landed on the brightly lit skyscraper deep in Kabukicho, towering like a black behemoth. His voice was so soft it was almost inaudible: "And by the way, take a look at my high and mighty brother."

Just then, a black Maybach glided silently to the side of the road like a ghost and stopped precisely next to the young man. The driver, dressed in a crisp black uniform and wearing white gloves, quickly got out of the car, bowed, and opened the rear door with respectful and well-trained movements.

"My car has arrived." The young man withdrew his gaze and bowed again to the crowd that was still excitedly discussing. "It is truly a pleasure to meet you all tonight. Farewell, and take care."

Having said that, he turned around, the hem of his kimono fluttering slightly, and bent down to get into the car. The driver bowed to everyone again, then returned to the driver's seat. The Maybach started silently, merging into the hazy night traffic and disappearing in the blink of an eye.

A group of onlookers, still wanting more, were left on the street.

"He's actually a real young master. I thought he was just a college student doing cosplay," the girl in the short skirt murmured, gazing in the direction the car had disappeared.

"Wearing fine clothes at night, how ancient!" The office worker shook his head with a sigh and stubbed out his cigarette.

Cherry blossoms continued to fall, covering the spot where the young man had just stood, as if the scene just moments before was merely a fleeting, beautiful dream amidst the bustling night.

Chapter 584 Genji and the King (Part 1)

Inside the Maybach, the air conditioning delivers warm air at a comfortable temperature, isolating the outside noise.

The young man, Genjiro, or rather, the Dragon King of the Demon Clan, leaned back in the soft leather seat of the back seat. The gentle and polite mask on his face had long since been removed, leaving only a deep, cold indifference.

He wasn't the only one in the car.

In the shadows on the other side of the back seat, a figure was already seated. The person was also wearing a kimono, but in a low-key mouse-gray color. They were leaning back in the seat in a relaxed posture, holding a slender cigarette between their fingers. The smoke curled up and outlined an eerie shape under the car's interior lights.

What's most striking is his face.

It wasn't his real face, but a Noh mask. He was dressed as a nobleman, his face as pale as paper, but his lips were painted bright red, thick black eyeliner around his eyes, and a strange smile spread across his lips, revealing blackened teeth.

King. The true supreme leader of the Demon Clan, and one of the people Genji least wanted to see at this moment.

“No matter where you go, there are always girls who are head over heels for you.” The king spoke, his voice coming through the mask, with a metallic, hoarse quality, but his tone was mocking. “This charm is quite different from that of your brother, Yuan Zhisheng.”

Yuan Zhinv did not look at him; her gaze was fixed on the dazzling lights rushing past the car window.

"The Snake Clan is searching for us all over Japan, and everyone is on edge. At a time like this, you still dare to come to Tokyo in person to meet with me?" His voice was cold and emotionless, but those who knew him well could sense the suppressed impatience in his tone.

“It’s precisely because things are so tense that we need to meet.” Wang Jiang took a drag of his cigarette and slowly exhaled. “Tonight, your brother, our esteemed Amaterasu, personally burned down Gokurakukan. The Osaka police only made a token appearance and didn’t even bother to put out the fire.”

"In the eyes of everyone, whether they are gangsters or self-righteous politicians, the Demon Clan has been utterly defeated. Losers have no right to live. This time, the Snake Clan is going to wipe us off this land completely."

"The territory we had painstakingly eroded, seized, and infiltrated over more than a decade was swiftly reclaimed by the Snake Clan in just a few days. Those opportunists who had allied with us turned against us in the blink of an eye." Genji finally turned to look at the King's eerie masked face.

"But you, General, seem quite calm. Did you anticipate this day, or... do you simply not care?"

"Care? Of course I care." Wang flicked his cigarette ash, his movements composed.

"But so what? The Snake Clan is the undisputed emperor of the underworld in this land, while we are nothing more than traitors trying to usurp the throne. Those gangs that attach themselves to us are nothing but sycophantic hyenas, bad assets that we conveniently exploited during our expansion. Now that these assets have depreciated, or even become liabilities, it's no big deal to divest them."

He paused, a hint of smugness in his voice: "The important thing is that they have played their part in our growth. Gokurakukan, in particular, has earned us hundreds of billions of yen in cash flow. Just consider them food we've eaten, Chijo. As long as you and I, the most crucial ones, are safe and sound, there's always a chance to start over."

“Food?” Yuan Zhinü repeated the word. “How many people died in this war? Those corpses that fell under gun barrels, sank to the bottom of the sea, and were impaled in cement piles, were they all your food? Your Majesty, your diet is truly disgusting.”

"Disgusting? But this is the truth of the world, young girl," the king laughed nonchalantly, his smile on his mask appearing even more eerie in the smoke. "We are all, in essence, ghouls. It's just that some eat elegantly, some eat pathetically; some eat others, some are eaten."

"The Snake Clan is no exception. They wear the cloak of morality and tradition, claiming that they do not get involved with drugs or coerce women. But when those gangsters who make money from drugs and prostitution offer them bundles of banknotes neatly stacked and respectfully presented to them, have they ever refused?"

Wang lowered his voice, “Their shadows cling to the prostitutes soliciting customers on the streets, to the drug addicts huddled in alleyways injecting drugs, and to the small business owners who work from dawn till dusk yet still have to pay exorbitant protection fees. Silently, they suck the lifeblood from them.”

"These are the rules, young girl. The strong devour the weak, and the lowly sacrifice themselves to the powerful. If you are not willing to be eaten... then you must become stronger and eat others first."

A brief silence fell over the carriage, broken only by the deep rumble of the engine and the soft hum of the air conditioning.

"Do you only feel comfortable when you speak so bluntly and disgustingly?" Yuan Zhi broke the silence, her tone filled with undisguised disgust.

“Hehe, if you don’t like what I’m saying, let’s talk about something else.” Wang smoothly changed the subject. “Hilbert Jean Angers, the principal of Kassel College, that old madman, has already gone to Japan. The college and the Snake Clan are now at loggerheads, and a conflict is imminent.”

"Angers' top priority right now is finding Caesar's group, right?" Genji's eyes flickered slightly. "After all, those three have inside information about Takamagahara. Do you have any new leads on them?"

"We're still searching with all our might," Wang Jiang said, his tone unusually grave. "But it's these three boys who are making me uneasy."

"Uneasy?" Yuan Zhinu raised an eyebrow, as if she had heard a joke. "They are nothing but ants who have stumbled into this war, crawling desperately amidst the continuous gunfire."

“Ants?” Wang Jiang shook his head. “What kind of ants could survive and return to this world from the burial ground of gods that buried countless lives, more than 8,000 meters below the surface of the ocean, with their submersible severely damaged?”

"Based on the limited data we have and the simulations we've conducted, their chances of survival wouldn't be higher than one percent. Yet now, they're all alive and well. If you attribute this to good luck, then it's unsettlingly good luck."

Wang paused for a moment, then continued, "Lu Mingfei, Frilian, Caesar, and Chu Zihang once worked together to defeat three Dragon Kings. Although they were not in their complete forms, it was enough to shock the world. Along the way, they were unstoppable, pulling this crumbling world back from the brink of destruction time and time again."

"The chosen one?" Genji asked.

"Yes. It's as if the god of fate himself is standing behind them, protecting them. In this world, we may not need to fear anyone, but if fate itself is protecting them, that's a different story."

Yuan Zhinü remained silent for a moment.

Then, he coldly uttered a few words: "We are the ones who have long decided to defy the gods. If there truly is a so-called god of fate, we will cut off his head as well!"

The king's eyes flickered beneath his mask, but he didn't respond to the question.

Genjiro spoke up, "Inform Kogure to come to Tokyo to see me."

After he finished speaking, the air inside the carriage seemed to freeze.

Wang paused for a moment, the fingers holding the cigarette between his fingers.

Silence spread, with only the cigarette burning quietly, its ash piling up long.

“If,” Wang said, his voice even hoarser and slower than before, “if you just want to find a good masseuse to relax, I can recommend others to you.”

Genji slowly turned her head, her gaze piercing the king like an ice spike.

"What do you mean?" His voice was soft, yet it carried a dangerous undercurrent.

The king sighed, the movement barely perceptible through the mask.

"The fire department didn't find Ryoma's body in the fire at Paradise Mansion. It's said that she was rescued by Frilian," he stated calmly, as if it were something unrelated to him. "When Paradise Mansion fell, she fought with your brother, Genjiro. But for someone of her bloodline to fight against Amaterasu is like a mortal conquering the heavens."

A deathly silence fell over the carriage.

For a full half minute, Yuan Zhinü remained silent and still. He simply watched the rain-drenched street scene rushing past the car window, his face expressionless, devoid of joy or sorrow, like a perfect doll.

“That stupid woman,” Genji said, her voice as soft as a sigh, more like a murmur to herself, “Why did she have to fight my brother?”

"Her identity has been completely exposed. If she doesn't resist first, how can she wait for Frilian to make a move?" the king said calmly.

"The super AI Kaguya-hime of the Snake Clan monitors all major airports, ports, highways, and railways in Japan. Now that they have confirmed that Sakurai Kogure is Ryoma, they will definitely spare no effort to hunt her down and extract all information from her about you, about me, and about the core of the Demon Clan. It is reasonable for anyone to make the assumption that the King and the Dragon King are behind Ryoma."

Wang Jiang paused, then said in a relaxed tone, "But now, the whereabouts of Longma are unknown. The clues have come to an end. The relentless attacks of the Snake Clan have come to a halt. Now it's our turn to make a move."

“I have no interest in your game,” Yuan Zhinv interrupted him, her voice suddenly turning cold, her gaze not leaving the window. “I just want to know where she went.”

The king was silent for a few seconds. Then, in an almost sighing tone, he said, "She has always liked you, young girl. Didn't you know?"

Yuan Zhinü's body stiffened. "What do you mean?"

"Women are sometimes such foolish creatures," Wang said softly, as if recounting an ancient fable. "When they harbor hopeless love, only a very few will wisely choose to give up and turn away. Most will choose to burn themselves out in their most dazzling moment for you to see. At least in that instant, she will be the brightest in your eyes."

He raised his head, and the eyes painted on his mask pierced through the smoke, staring directly at Genji: "You should be the one who understands this best, Genji."

"You originally planned for her to die? You just didn't expect Frilian to come to her rescue." Genji's voice began to tremble slightly. "So, you deliberately left her there to guard the house? To make her the most conspicuous, and most easily sacrificed, pawn?"

Chapter 585 Genji and the King (Part 2)

Wang nodded slightly, not denying it: "Using emotions to infer a woman's choice is often very accurate."

The moment the words fell.

"Clang!"

An eerie crimson light, like a spider lily blooming out of nowhere, tore through the dim light inside the carriage.

Wang suddenly straightened his body, pressing himself tightly against the back of the seat, not daring to move an inch.

Because a crimson longsword was already held across his neck, its cold blade pressed tightly against the skin beneath the mask; any further and it would slit his throat.

Everything happened in the blink of an eye. Before Yuan Zhinü could even fully look at the king, her left hand, gripping the scabbard, trembled slightly, and the blade, as if possessed by life, slid more than a foot forward, stopping precisely at the fatal point. He himself turned his head, gazing at the misty night rain outside the window.

"You originally intended for her to die there, so you left her there. With her dead, the trail went cold, and no one could trace your and my true identities," Yuan Zhinü's voice was terrifyingly calm.

"That's why you were so high-profile when you cultivated and promoted her. You let the outside world know that the Ghost Clan had such a beautiful dragon horse, but no one knew who the king general and the dragon king behind the dragon horse were, or even whether they really existed. When the time came, you just had to abandon that pawn."

Genji slowly turned her head, and in her eyes, which always carried a hint of laziness and aloofness, a terrifying storm was now surging, piercing straight into the empty eye sockets of the King's mask.

"You really are a ghoul. You've scheduled everyone around you to be eaten, one by one. In the end, the only one left to survive is yourself, growing fatter and fatter."

The blade closed in another fraction.

Wang Jiang could clearly feel the cold touch of metal cutting into his skin, and a thin line of blood slowly seeped out along the blade. He dared not swallow, dared not breathe, and dared not make any unnecessary movements.

He knew this young man all too well. He could patiently take photos and chat with passersby on the street, or he could suddenly behead anyone in a fit of rage, depending entirely on his mood.

Kogure Sakurai probably never knew that the reason she was slightly valued by this Dragon King was not because of her superb massage skills or anything else.

It was only because one night many years ago, when Genji finally stumbled through and learned the complete version of Bando Tamasaburo's rendition of "Yang Guifei," that he suddenly wanted a beautiful woman to sit quietly beside him and listen to him sing.

At that moment, the only woman he found reasonably pleasing to the eye was Sakurai Kogure. So he went straight downstairs, took the hand of the terrified yet delighted woman, and led her upstairs. After that night, everyone assumed that something unspeakable had happened between Sakurai Kogure and the Dragon King.

Therefore, in the King's value system, sacrificing Sakurai Kogure is really not a big deal. She's just a listener randomly chosen in the quiet of the night.

But at this moment, the king truly felt the surging, willful rage beneath Genji's calm exterior. He had chosen her casually, never truly caring for her, but now that she was dead, his anger was ignited.

This anger was irrational, yet deadly enough.

The pressure from the blade was mounting, and Wang Jiang knew that if he couldn't come up with a perfect excuse in the next few dozen seconds, the demonic sword called "Futsu-no-Mitama" would undoubtedly sever his head.

“I won’t be the one left behind, young girl,” the king said, his voice distorted by the pressure of the blade, but he was smiling, the smile on his mask unwavering. “Only you can ascend the throne of the world. This is determined by bloodline, your innate destiny.”

He paused slightly, carefully choosing his words: "Rather than saying I treated her as food, it's more accurate to say that you devoured her, didn't you?"

Genji's pupils suddenly contracted.

"Those medicines you left for her," Wang continued, his words slow but sharp, "You didn't accidentally leave something like a Molotov cocktail for the girl you liked, thinking it was a skincare or makeup product, did you?"

He let out a low, guttural chuckle, a chilling composure even with a blade at his neck: "She's beautiful. I suppose she tastes delicious too, doesn't she?"