Dragon Raja: Lu Mingfei finds a Freylian

Her face was slightly flushed from her earlier movements, and a few stray hairs clung to her forehead.

That's starting to look appealing.

"Ahem," Lu Mingfei looked away, "Let's find a hotel first, it's getting dark."

Chu Zihang took out his phone and started searching for nearby accommodations: "There are three hotels on the east side of the station, within a ten-minute walk."

"As expected of Senior Brother Chu, his action is top-notch!" Xia Mi gave a thumbs up.

Chapter 56 Aunt and the B&B

Lu Mingfei dragged his suitcase, following behind Chu Zihang, Xia Mi, and Frilian, through a cobblestone alley.

The buildings on both sides of the alley are full of 19th-century style, and their brick-red exteriors are particularly dazzling under the setting sun.

“This is it,” Chu Zihang stopped and pointed to a three-story old-fashioned building in front of him.

The wooden sign reads "Cowboy House" in cursive English, with a revolver drawn next to it.

Lu Mingfei looked up and examined the building. There were several obvious repair marks on the brick wall, but it was well preserved.

"Wow, this place has such a great vibe!" Xia Mi hugged Frilian. "Right?"

"Ah."

Lu Mingfei reached out and pressed the doorbell. Hurried footsteps sounded from inside, then the door opened, and the landlady came out.

"Oh my, you must be the two couples who booked the room on the phone earlier!" The landlady smiled as she looked at the four people standing in front of the door.

The woman was in her sixties, white, wearing a printed dress with a cowboy badge pinned to her chest.

Lu Mingfei almost choked: "Auntie, you've misunderstood, we're not."

"Don't be shy, young man," the landlady said warmly, patting Lu Mingfei on the shoulder and winking at Frillie. "I've been running a guesthouse for thirty years, what haven't I seen? A shy boy and an ice queen, what a romantic combination!"

She looked at Chu Zihang and Xia Mi, "And you two, handsome guy with cute girl, a perfect match!"

Xia Mi took Chu Zihang's arm and said sweetly, "Auntie has such good taste!"

Chu Zihang inexplicably felt that the same thing had happened many times before. When was that?

The landlady took a key out of the counter drawer: "Here, the suite at the very back on the second floor, enough for the four of you."

The key was placed in Lu Mingfei's hand; it was heavy and engraved with a Western cowboy image of a gun. The key was worn smooth, indicating it had been around for many years.

“This house is very old,” the landlady said proudly. “It was built by my great-great-grandfather, who was a cowboy in the West. For over a hundred years, our family has carefully maintained this house.”

She led the four of them up the creaking wooden stairs, the walls on either side of which were covered with old photos and antique firearms.

One yellowed photograph is particularly eye-catching: a young man wearing a wide-brimmed hat stands in front of a train station, holding a strangely shaped revolver, with a sharp look in his eyes.

“That’s the legendary ‘Saint Judge’ Henkel,” the landlady said enthusiastically as she noticed Lu Mingfei looking at the old photos. “Henkel was the most skilled marksman at the end of the 19th century. It is said that he was a crack shot and could even hit another bullet with a bullet.”

"It sounds like an exaggerated legend," Lu Mingfei said casually.

“No, that’s not true!” the landlady said earnestly. “My great-great-grandfather saw him with his own eyes. Back then, Chicago was dominated by cowboys and gangsters, and Han Gao alone intimidated the entire city.”

She lowered her voice, "Some people say he's not an ordinary person at all; he can see things that ordinary people can't, and he can even predict the trajectory of bullets."

Chu Zihang felt that the person the landlady described seemed to be of mixed race. "What happened to this Mr. Han Gao later?"

"Who knows?" the landlady shrugged. "Someone like him either died in a gunfight or went into hiding. Someone said they saw him recently, he just looked a little older."

She stopped the conversation, "Oh dear, why is an old woman like me rambling on about these old stories? Come on, this is your room."

She pushed open an oak door at the end of the corridor, revealing a spacious suite.

The living room features vintage parquet flooring, a leather sofa, and a solid wood coffee table. There are two bedrooms on either side, and a shared bathroom at the far end.

The room was filled with the smell of wood and leather, and cowboy hats and riding whips hung on the walls.

"Wow, this is Western style!" Xia Mi was the first to rush in, jumping onto the sofa to test its bounce. "It's so bouncy!"

"The bathroom has 24-hour hot water, and the WiFi password is written on a note on the coffee table," the landlady instructed. "Breakfast is from 7:00 to 9:00 in the restaurant on the first floor. Please press the service bell on the wall if you need anything."

After seeing off the enthusiastic landlady, the four of them began to divide up the rooms.

"Frilian and I share a room!" Xia Mi hugged Frilian's arm. "I want to hear Frilian tell me a story!"

Chu Zihang nodded: "Then Lu Mingfei and I will stay in the other room."

Lu Mingfei secretly breathed a sigh of relief. He was more afraid of being assigned to share a room with Xia Mi than with Chu Zihang, his expressionless senior brother.

She was too boisterous; in comparison, Chu Zihang's quiet demeanor made him feel more at ease.

After settling their luggage, the four of them gathered in the living room.

Outside the window, night had completely fallen in Chicago, and the lights of the distant skyscrapers shone like stars.

Frillie stood by the window, gazing at the city.

"Sister Frilian, what are you thinking about?" Xia Mi asked, leaning closer.

“I’m wondering,” Frilian answered softly, “what the world will be like a thousand years from now.”

"Perhaps humans have already colonized Mars!" Xia Mi exclaimed excitedly. "Or maybe they've invented a time machine!"

"Or be destroyed by human folly," Chu Zihang said, taking out a book to read.

"Would you like something to eat?" Xia Mi poured some snacks onto the coffee table. "I brought them from home."

Frillie picked up a cookie, took a small bite, and said, "It tastes good. Is it handmade?"

"Mmm, handmade, this is my favorite flavor!" Xia Mi said happily, then looked at the book in Chu Zihang's hand, "What is Senior Brother Chu reading?"

Chu Zihang closed the book, revealing the cover: The Jade Record.

“The Emerald Book?” Frilian asked. “Hermes’s Emerald Book?”

Chu Zihang looked at her with slight surprise: "You know?"

Frillie nodded: "Thus says: Truth and honesty, and never lying, will bring truth."

“The lower is the upper, and the upper is the lower; in this way, the Taiyi miracle is accomplished,” Chu Zihang continued naturally.

Lu Mingfei blinked, feeling like a dwarf who had stumbled into a witch's party.

He quietly shrank into the sofa, hoping no one would notice him.

"What are you talking about?" Xia Mi asked curiously, although Lu Mingfei suspected that she actually knew more than he did.

“When discussing the Emerald Book, a book considered the cornerstone of Western alchemy,” Chu Zihang explained, “it is traditionally attributed to Hermes.”

Frillie added: "'One is the whole, and the whole is one'—this is the key to understanding The Emerald Book."

“That’s right, there are different interpretations of this sentence,” Chu Zihang said.

Lu Mingfei felt increasingly confused as he listened. He tried to recall what had been taught in the academy's alchemy class, but apart from the basic principle of "equivalent exchange," he couldn't remember anything else.

"Lu Mingfei," Chu Zihang called out to him, "what do you think?"

"Huh? Me," Lu Mingfei stammered, "I think, uh, alchemy is amazing?"

Chapter 57 Night Talk

The rain gently tapped against the windows of the guesthouse, making a dripping sound.

Lu Mingfei sat cross-legged on the wool carpet in the living room, with a pink candle on the coffee table in front of him, the candle wax dripping slowly.

“This candle is really unique,” ​​Lu Mingfei chuckled dryly.

The landlady, Aunt Chen, mysteriously handed them the candle, winking at them and saying, "It's for young couples to add some romance."

After saying that, he hummed a little tune and went upstairs, leaving the four of them looking at each other in bewilderment.

"It has a great atmosphere," Xia Mi said, reaching out to fiddle with the candlelight.

The sound of rain outside the window gradually increased, making the room even quieter.

"Hey," Xia Mi said, pulling her phone out of her pocket. "I'm organizing photos today. This is me during my high school military training."

She swiped the screen to reveal a photo. In the photo, Xia Mi had her hair tied in a high ponytail and looked serious, a stark contrast to her current lively demeanor.

"My God, is the instructor pointing a gun at you?" Lu Mingfei couldn't help but complain.

Chu Zihang: "You are very different from who you are now."

"Of course! We were all pretty awkward and unfashionable back in school!" Xia Mi scrolled to the next picture, which was a photo of her cosplaying as an anime character, wearing a blue wig and colored contact lenses. "Look, cosplay!"

"What role?" Chu Zihang asked.

"Izumi Konata from Lucky Star!" Natsumi explained, "I even won the Best Cosplay Award at last year's anime convention!"

She continued scrolling through the screen, “This one is the mage from ‘Tales of the Teleporting Heroes,’ this one is the vampire hunter, and this one is…”

Lu Mingfei looked at the photos in surprise: "You've cosplayed so many characters?"

“Of course!” Xia Mi proudly raised her chin. “Every time I cosplay a character, it’s a new experience. Senior Brother Chu definitely can’t understand this kind of fun.”

Chu Zihang said softly, "I also liked to play Superman when I was a child."

Three pairs of eyes turned to look at him simultaneously.

Lu Mingfei's mouth dropped open: "Senior brother, you? Superman?"

In the candlelight, Chu Zihang's expression softened: "When I was six years old, my father bought me a red cloak. I wore it and ran around the house all day, jumping off the sofa, thinking I could fly."

Xia Mi's eyes lit up: "And then?"

"I broke my arm," Chu Zihang said calmly.

Lu Mingfei couldn't imagine his expressionless senior brother jumping around in a Superman cape.

“What kind of person was your father?” Frilian asked.

The candlelight flickered slightly, and Chu Zihang was silent for a moment: "He's a very complicated person. On my seventh birthday, he canceled all his work and took me to the beach to fish all day."

"Did you catch anything?" Xia Mi asked.

"No."

"Hey, Senior Brother Lu, do you have any interesting stories from the past?" Xia Mi nudged Lu Mingfei.

Lu Mingfei thought for a moment, "I used to spend all day in the classroom in a daze, and my only activity was going to the literature club."