Dragons begin with courage

Guderian hadn't finished speaking.

Woo-woo-woo-woo!

The ear-piercing alarm, loud enough to tear eardrums apart, like the final roar of a dying beast, shattered the tranquil facade of Kassel College without warning! One moment the campus was bathed in sunlight, the aroma of books, and the rich scent of coffee; the next, it was completely taken over by this piercing metallic shriek. The sunlight remained bright, but suddenly lost all its warmth, its icy chill splashing onto every face that had abruptly changed color.

Lu Mingfei abruptly stopped, his heart pounding wildly as if gripped tightly by an icy hand.

He witnessed a scene that could only be described as magical: a blonde girl lazily flipping through a book on the lawn, her eyes switching from nonchalant to hawk-like sharpness in a mere 0.1 seconds, as she pulled a silver miniature submachine gun from the book's folds; the boys chatting under the shade of the trees scattered in perfect unison, their hands already on their waists or the backs of their necks, their movements as fluid as if they had rehearsed them a thousand times; and even more people poured out of the ancient stone buildings, like a disturbed anthill—the black and crimson streams instantly became distinctly separate!

"This alarm..." Lu Mingfei's voice was drowned out by the sudden, deafening gunfire.

"Bang! Bang! Bang! Rat-a-tat-tat-tat—!!"

The air crackled with the spray of automatic rifles, the crisp bursts of pistols, and even the roar of shotguns! The smell of gunpowder mingled with the earthy stench of the turned grass, filling the air instantly. Bullets traced scorching trajectories through the air, tracer rounds dancing wildly in the sunlight like fireflies of death. People were constantly being hit, their bodies exploding in bursts of blinding blood (he later learned that these were special effects from Friga bullets), falling stiffly to the ground, staining the cobblestone path with eerie mottles.

This wasn't a school campus! It was clearly the front line of the fiercest street fighting in World War II! Lu Mingfei's mind went blank, his legs went weak, and he could only cling tightly to the cold stone wall behind him. The whistling of bullets grazing the wall and the flying debris made his scalp tingle.

"What does the student council president want?! Doesn't he want to graduate?!" Professor Guderian covered his ears and roared at Masashi Tomiyama, who was also huddled behind a bunker, his face a mixture of shock, anger, and a hint of "here we go again" helplessness.

"Did he ever care about credits? That spoiled brat who drives a Bugatti Veyron, Cesare Gattuso!" Masashi Tomiyama shouted angrily, while nimbly performing a tactical roll, his original position immediately riddled with bullets and flying debris.

Student Council? Lionheart Society? A real fight?! Lu Mingfei caught the key words, and his heart skipped a beat—Lionheart Society! Chu Zihang!

My senior brother only learned swordsmanship at the Children's Palace! How could he possibly handle this hail of bullets?!

"Professor, where is Lionheart? Chu Zihang, he..." Lu Mingfei's urgent question was abruptly cut off.

puff!

A dull thud, unlike the whistling sound of stray bullets hitting their targets.

Professor Guderian suddenly swayed, and a glaring "blood flower" instantly bloomed on his wrinkled suit. His eyes widened, his expression frozen in astonishment and a hint of comical bewilderment, before he fell straight backward, the ancient book in his hands scattering all over the ground.

Immediately afterwards, Mr. Masashi Tomiyama was also "hit" in the chest by a bullet that came from an unknown source. He groaned and collapsed.

The world seemed to have been muted, only to be instantly filled with an even more frenzied noise. Lu Mingfei slid to the ground with his back against the rough wall, his pupils constricted, watching the two "guides" "die" before his eyes. Although his reason vaguely sensed something was wrong (how could someone be shot and splattered with blood without any screams or convulsions?), the scene before him was too realistic, and the surge of adrenaline brought only the most primal fear.

Where's my senior brother? Could Chu Zihang also be...?

Gunfire gradually thinned out, becoming sporadic, like the last vestiges of a storm. The thick smoke was slowly dispersed by the wind, revealing corpses and spent shell casings lying haphazardly on the ground.

A calm, cold voice, transmitted through the loudspeakers yet still crystal clear, echoed through the suddenly quiet campus:

"Caesar, how many of your men are still alive? Do you intend to continue?"

That voice… Lu Mingfei shuddered. It was Chu Zihang! His senior brother was still alive! And it sounded like… he was the one who had the upper hand?

Immediately afterward, another arrogant voice, tinged with aristocratic languor, rang out from the same loudspeaker: "Chu Zihang, well done. I'm down to just myself and one girl. What, trying to end this game with a girl?"

See you in the parking lot.

"very good."

The conversation was brief, yet it conveyed a chilling tacit understanding between evenly matched opponents, as well as the tension before the final showdown.

Lu Mingfei's heart pounded so hard it felt like it would shatter his ribs, exceeding 180 beats per minute. The fear remained, but another, more intense emotion surged up—he couldn't let Chu Zihang face that terrifying-sounding "Caesar" alone! Even if he couldn't do anything, even if he was just a freshman who had never even touched a gun!

Now that he has chosen the path of courage and come to Kassel College, he can no longer be that loser!

Courage sometimes stems not from self-confidence, but from the impulse to take a desperate gamble and the glimmer of light in one's heart that cannot be tarnished.

He took a deep breath, the pungent smell of gunpowder irritating his nostrils. His gaze swept to his side, and a black pistol, dropped from the hand of a student who had been "killed," came into view. Without thinking, his fingers acted before his brain could process it—he grabbed the cold, heavy metal object!

He didn't know exactly where the parking lot was, but his memory of coming from there pointed in one direction. Like a startled yet resolute rabbit, he scrambled and crawled towards that direction, using the remaining cover and the "corpses" as cover.

……

An open-air parking lot. The sun poured down without any obstruction, making every luxury car scorching hot and turning the central open space into an arena.

Lu Mingfei hid behind a Hummer, panting heavily, his fingers gripping the cold gun handle tightly, his knuckles white.

coming.

On either side of the parking lot, two figures appeared simultaneously, as if they had planned it all along, stepping onto this stage formed by sunlight and silence.

On the left, a man in a deep red combat uniform carries a menacing Alaskan harpoon knife with a blade that gleams coldly, its golden patterns spreading like veins. He casually removes his mask, revealing shimmering golden hair and a face sculpted like a Greek god. His icy blue eyes sweep across the room with an innate scrutiny and arrogance. This is Caesar Gattuso.

On the right, a figure in black combat attire held a long, straight Japanese sword. The blade wasn't blindingly bright, but rather gleamed with a pale, autumnal light, as if all killing intent was contained within its sheath, only to erupt the moment it was drawn. He too removed his mask, revealing the familiar, cold, and silent profile of Lu Mingfei. Chu Zihang.

The two walked towards each other, several dozen meters apart, their pace unhurried. The sound of their boots striking the ground was amplified infinitely in the empty parking lot, each step like a drumbeat, compressing the air until it almost solidified.