Dragons begin with courage

Lu Mingfei stood there dumbfounded, his throat felt like it was blocked, his mouth agape. He naturally recognized Chu Tianjiao; after all, the memory of that rainy night was too vivid. Back then, Lu Mingfei had heard that Chu Tianjiao had suffered very serious injuries and had been in the ICU (Intensive Care Unit). Lu Mingfei wasn't even sure if Chu Tianjiao had died in the end.

Only now did Lu Mingfei realize that Chu Tianjiao was not dead, and judging from the current situation, Chu Tianjiao was definitely a mixed-blood.

Chu Tianjiao stood in front of Lu Mingfei. His work pants were stained with machine oil, he held a wrench in his hand, and a half-smoked cigar dangled from his lips—a living, breathing person, with that familiar, cynical yet sharp smile.

"Hey, your eyeballs are about to pop out." Chu Tianjiao threw the wrench into the toolbox with a clanging sound. "Don't worry, it's not a ghost. Ghosts don't have this much white hair."

He took a few steps closer and stopped in front of Lu Mingfei. Only then did Lu Mingfei see the details clearly: his temples were indeed white, deep wrinkles had appeared at the corners of his eyes, and a hideous scar had appeared on his left brow bone, extending all the way to his hairline.

"I heard you turned down the 'Project Bronze' invitation right in front of Caesar Gattuso?" Chu Tianjiao looked Lu Mingfei up and down, his gaze complex as if he were looking at a lost and found old object, or as if he were assessing an unsharpened knife. "Not bad, you've got a temper."

"Since you rejected Kassel College's 'Bronze' offer, there are some things you should already know. It's a long story, let's take it slow."

Smoke swirled and rose under the cold white light. Lu Mingfei felt as if he had fallen into a meticulously designed side quest in a game—hidden storylines had been automatically unlocked because he had chosen "Reject Project Bronze." And the man before him was the NPC holding the key.

Chu Zihang had retreated to the edge of the training field at some point, leaning against the wall covered with dark sound-absorbing material, his arms crossed. He didn't speak, just watched quietly, as if all of this was expected.

"Sit down." Chu Tianjiao hooked two folding chairs over with his toes, sat down first with an air of superiority, and patted the empty seat next to him. "Since you've chosen a different path, there are some things you should know. The story is a bit long, and... not very pleasant."

Lu Mingfei sat down mechanically, his hands clasped tightly on his knees.

Chu Tianjiao didn't speak immediately. He puffed on his cigar, his gaze lingering on Lu Mingfei's face for a long time, so long that Lu Mingfei was almost unable to sit still, before slowly exhaling a smoke ring: "Where should I begin... Right, Bronze City. Lu Mingfei, how much did the academy tell you about that place?"

Lu Mingfei shook his head, his voice hoarse: "All I know is that it's the lair of Dragon King Norton, and it's an 'S-level restricted area' on the Execution Department's mission list. A month ago, Ye Sheng and Senior Jiu Deya almost died there, and the principal activated the emergency plan..."

Chu Tianjiao nodded, and then began to talk about the Bronze City, its origins, how the King of Bronze and Fire, during the Han Dynasty, used the alias Li Xiong to assist Gongsun Shu in building Baidi City, and how he casually saved Ye Sheng and Jiu Deya Ji, stealing the bronze jar and black box from Ye Sheng.

"You..." Lu Mingfei's throat tightened, "You took them?"

As Lu Mingfei listened, his expression grew increasingly surprised. If they had saved Ye Sheng and Jiu Deya, they should be considered one of their own, right? But they also stole their things? So they were enemies of Kassel!

Chu Tianjiao cut off a cigar, lit it, and said with a smile, "Want one?"

"No, no, I don't smoke," Lu Mingfei quickly refused.

"Men need to know how to smoke," Chu Tianjiao chuckled, and continued, "I used to be an S-level specialist in the executive department of Kassel College."

"S-rank?!?!" Lu Mingfei's voice was shrill. The S-rank in the Execution Department wasn't the bloodline S-rank; it was a real combat power level. There was only one rating standard: strength! That was a level that even Chu Zihang and Caesar hadn't reached! It was the highest level in the Execution Department of Kassel College! According to Fingel's gossip, there were no more than twenty S-rank specialists in the entire history of the Execution Department, and the only known one was... the principal himself.

"Don't make that 'I've seen a ghost' face." Chu Tianjiao waved his hand. "S-level specialists are nothing special. In front of a true Dragon King, they're like stray dogs on the street. Your father, Lu Lincheng, and your mother, Qiao Weini, were both at that level back in the day. In the 1980s and 90s, they were the sharpest swords in the academy."

Lu Mingfei's heart clenched. This was the first time he had heard such specific information about his parents—not that they "worked abroad" or "did important things," but that they were real people with names, identities, and significant influence.

"And what about them now..." Lu Mingfei's voice trembled.

"I don't know." Chu Tianjiao's answer was cruelly straightforward. "About six or seven years ago, they took on a top-secret mission, and then... they disappeared. Completely disappeared. All public records were erased, as if these two people never existed."

He paused, looking at Lu Mingfei's face, which had turned pale instantly, and softened his tone slightly: "But from another perspective, if they really died, the academy would actually give them a grand funeral and erect a monument commemorating their achievements. This level of information blockade... usually means they're still alive, doing things that even Kassel can't openly admit. Perhaps they're carrying out some top-secret mission, or perhaps for other reasons, like me, betraying Kassel."

Hiss! Lu Mingfei swallowed hard. He had more or less guessed that Chu Tianjiao must have some kind of conflict with Kassel, otherwise he wouldn't have saved Ye Sheng and the others but also stolen those two Dragon King treasures.

"Calling it betrayal might be a bit inappropriate. I simply stopped following Kassel's arrangements and left Kassel. I don't have any complaints about Kassel College. Isn't Zihang in Kassel now?" Chu Tianjiao pointed to his head and said, "I just didn't brainwash them or erase my memories, so theoretically, leaving also means I betrayed the rules of Kassel College."

Lu Mingfei asked curiously, "Then why did you leave Kassel, Uncle Chu?"

Upon hearing this, Chu Tianjiao's expression turned serious, and he asked in return, "Lu Mingfei, do you know what Kassel College is?"

"Huh? An academy for learning how to slay dragons?" Lu Mingfei answered subconsciously.

As expected, Chu Tianjiao shook his head and said, "Kassel College is not a simple teaching institution, but a military base, a military base against the dragon race. Kassel's predecessor was called the Camarilla, which was composed of eleven mixed-blood families in Europe. They followed the Abrahamic Bloodline Pact with the aim of eliminating pure-blooded dragons. Its history can be traced back to the Black King's bloodline. It originated from the struggle of European mixed-bloods against the dragon race, and early dragon-slaying deeds are recorded in the epic poem Beowulf."