Lu Mingfei, who had read Dragon Clan before slaying the dragon

"Boss Su said that after meeting Mr. Lu, just wait here and you will definitely come back." One of them looked at the time, "About six hours have passed."

"She really guessed it." Lu Mingfei could imagine how Su Enxi would be smug after predicting his actions, so he didn't dwell on this topic too much. Lu Mingfei looked at the group of hunters and asked, "Did your boss Su tell us anything else, such as some strange phenomena, such as... 'God'?"

The guys wearing masks exchanged glances with each other, and finally the guy wearing the Valkyrie mask stood up and nodded to Lu Mingfei and Chu Zihang: "Please follow me."

Everyone stood up and suddenly moved away from the table. Lu Mingfei thought that these weird guys were going to perform some kind of ceremony, but that was not the case. Four masked guys stood at the four sides of the conference table and knocked hard on the edge of the table. The huge solid wood table suddenly split in the middle, and a dark tunnel appeared under their feet.

"I knew there was a secret room." Lu Mingfei nodded without any surprise. "That's in line with Su Enxi's style."

"What you want is in there. All the information we found is there." Valkyrie Mask said to Lu Mingfei, "The air inside is not well ventilated, and it is impossible to accommodate so many people at the same time. Our mission is to collect intelligence and then guide you. The current mission has been completed. I look forward to seeing you next time, Mr. Lu Mingfei, Mr. Chu Zihang."

Lu Mingfei glanced at this guy. Under the Valkyrie mask, the pair of golden eyes were glowing faintly. The same was true for the others. It was a very strange feeling. When you were talking to someone, everyone else was looking at you. Their gazes could not even be considered as sizing you up, because they didn't look at you with curiosity at all. It was as if they were just looking for something to stare at, otherwise they didn't know where to put their eyes.

"Okay, then you guys go and do your thing first." Lu Mingfei nodded, and he passed by the masked guys. Chu Zihang and Eiry followed behind him, and the others left the room silently.

This was a submarine tunnel, also without any lights, quiet and dark. Even someone with excellent night vision like Lu Mingfei could not see the road clearly, and could only move down step by step, holding onto the wall.

"As hunters, these guys are very qualified... but I always feel a little weird." Lu Mingfei's voice floated in the empty tunnel, "They are too well-trained. They hide their emotions so well. From their tone, I can't even imagine the expressions on their faces."

"This building has split levels." Chu Zihang suddenly said in a low voice.

"Split floors? Isn't that normal?" Lu Mingfei didn't care much. "Normal buildings also have fire floors and so on. Besides, aren't we leading to a secret room? Su Enxi hid a secret in this building, so there's nothing strange about leaving an extra secret floor."

"It's not the first floor, it's the third floor." Chu Zihang said, "The elevator during the day only shows the 14th floor, but you can take the stairs. This building is actually floors high, and there is no fire floor. There must be at least two or three deliberately hidden spaces in this building."

"Could it be that there is only one secret space, and it's just because it's at a higher altitude?" Lu Mingfei analyzed.

"No, because the staircases are not evenly distributed. The staircases from the third to fourth floor and the eleventh to twelfth floor have significantly longer spans. If there is only one hidden space with a long span, the structure of this building is unreasonable." Chu Zihang shook his head. "Can you contact the proprietress?"

"I don't know, she's often busy." Lu Mingfei said, "Let's try again after we get out."

The distance down was not long, probably about the height of the next one and a half floors, and Lu Mingfei and the others came to a space like a secret room.

Chu Zihang was right. This space was not too high and there was no need for the entire building to be staggered by three floors. However, it was still pitch black here. Lu Mingfei groped for a long time but could not find the light switch.

“Damn it, isn’t there a light here?” Lu Mingfei had no choice but to turn on the flashlight on his phone.

Chu Zihang also took out his mobile phone to help with lighting. He took a special look and saw that the screen showed no signal.

Chapter 951: Existence Erased by God

It is normal for a mobile phone to have no signal in such an almost enclosed space, but for some reason, Chu Zihang always felt a little uneasy.

"Kerosene lamp?" Lu Mingfei in front suddenly said, "What's going on? Such a primitive way of lighting?"

Lu Mingfei picked up a few kerosene lamps from somewhere. They were not modern oil lamps, but more like ancient handicrafts, and there were also a few old-fashioned matches.

Chu Zihang checked the battery level of his cell phone, which was only 27%. He would not be able to keep the flash on for long, and the range of the flashlight was very limited. If there was no electric light, a kerosene lamp would be the best choice.

Lu Mingfei struck a match and lit the oil lamp, which gave off a stale burnt smell. He didn't know if it was a coincidence, but all three lamps were lit. Lu Mingfei, Chu Zihang and Hui Liyi each held a lamp, and they looked like explorers who had entered a deep castle in a movie. They walked forward a few steps, and then stopped at the same time.

The not-so-abundant firelight was divided up in this space, and Lu Mingfei and the others finally saw clearly what kind of room they were in.

Paper, all paper. Everything within sight, except the walls, ceiling and the cramped space where one can step, is filled with paper. The left and right sides of this room look like something between a reading room and a collection room, but it is far crazier than either of them.

Yes, it's crazy, because there are not even tables and chairs for resting, and there are no bookshelves or storage racks. Hardcover books with badly worn covers are stacked around the walls on both sides. Some of them are quite old and even look like they were passed down from the Middle Ages. These books are piled from the floor all the way to the ceiling. Old newspapers and magazines are piled up in bundles and piles in the open space in front. Some of them have turned yellow. The air is filled with the musty smell of an enclosed space that has not been cleaned for years.

There were even a few parchment scrolls in the corner, which looked like what wizards and witches in medieval Europe used to record black magic. Lu Mingfei didn't know why such things were placed here. The guys wearing strange masks hired by Su Enxi told him that this was where they put the information they collected, but why would they need so much useful information? It seemed that they simply treated this place as a grocery store or storage room, and piled everything they found in it.

"Pay attention to the kerosene lamp in your hand. There is dry paper everywhere here, which is very flammable." Chu Zihang reminded.

Once a fire occurs in such a confined space, flames are not the biggest threat. The most painful way to die is to be choked by thick smoke and suffocated to death.

"What the hell is wrong with Su Enxi? Is she doing waste recycling or a Renaissance?" Lu Mingfei couldn't help but complain, "What kind of people did they hire? With so many things, it's like looking for a needle in a haystack to find useful information. We can't finish looking through it in one night."

"There will always be something useful. Just take a look patiently." Chu Zihang said as he walked towards the newspapers that looked quite old.

Newspapers from every month, every quarter, and every year are placed in different categories. There are city newspapers, tabloids, and entertainment newspapers. At first glance, they seem to be piled together randomly, but in fact they are all bound in order, just like huge thread-bound books.

This is a huge project that requires patience and a lot of time and energy. Chu Zihang doesn't understand the purpose of finding so many old newspapers and binding them in a regular pattern. Could the clues to his father's disappearance be hidden in them?

Chu Zihang picked up a stack of entertainment newspapers, spread out the yellowed paper, and the front-page headlines that came into his eyes made his face change slightly.

"The land reclamation angered the 'gods', and 27 members of the engineering team disappeared overnight!"

Eri walked towards the hardcover books on both sides of the walls that looked like they were from the Middle Ages. It was obvious that she was very interested in these books that looked very historical and like magic records from fairy tales.

Eri picked up a book with a golden cover. The cowhide cover was still intact, with only normal wear and tear.

"The Song of the Nibelungs"...The name of the book in Eri's hand seems very interesting.

Lu Mingfei picked up a bundle of parchment scrolls from the corner. When he touched the thing, he couldn't help but frown.

He had seen similar things in the principal's office. The items in Angers' office were certainly not fakes. They were all artworks that he had bought at auctions and from private collectors at great prices. They were at least several hundred years old... and these things felt almost exactly the same as those that Lu Mingfei had seen in Angers' office.

These are all genuine too…how is that possible?

The most incredible thing was that Lu Mingfei could feel the surface of the parchment scroll, which was covered with mold and dust.

Weren't these things found by those guys not long ago? This room is not damp, how could they become moldy and dusty so quickly?

"The Ritual of Kremina: Loyalty, Sacrifice, and Heimdall."

"Cremina's Ritual? Heimdall?" Lu Mingfei muttered to himself, "Isn't the name Heimdall from Norse mythology..."

"Lu Mingfei." Chu Zihang's call interrupted Lu Mingfei's thoughts.

Lu Mingfei turned his head and saw Chu Zihang’s shadow waving at him through the dim light of the kerosene lamp.

"Brother?" Lu Mingfei stepped over the scattered newspapers and books on the ground and walked over. "Did you find anything?"

"In your memory, have you ever seen the news or heard adults talk about the fact that... a lot of people disappeared in this city?" Chu Zihang suddenly asked a creepy question.

“A lot of people disappeared?” Lu Mingfei shuddered slowly, and shook his head, “No, apart from your father and Brother Ye Sheng, I haven’t heard of such a thing.”

Lu Mingfei didn't understand what Chu Zihang meant for a moment. This was an ordinary coastal city, not a maze or a primeval forest. There was no abyss and no man-eating beasts. Why would someone disappear... or so many people?

"Every year, people go missing in this city." Chu Zihang's next words were just as shocking. "From a long, long time ago, at least hundreds of people have vanished on rainy nights in this city, but in the end, they were gradually forgotten."

“Brother, where did you read this strange story?” Lu Mingfei was a little confused.

"It's not a ghost story, it's something that really happened in this city, but people didn't remember it later." Chu Zihang whispered, "I remember when I was a child, my father told me that someone would disappear one day. This kind of thing would happen every once in a while. Do you remember when we were in elementary school, we were not allowed to stay after school because disappearances happened frequently in the city. But later, I don't know why we all forgot about it. Everyone seemed to have lost their memory. It wasn't until now that they vaguely remembered it when they saw me."

As he spoke, Chu Zihang spread out a few newspapers to Lu Mingfei. The dim light of the kerosene lamp illuminated the yellowed papers. In the darkness, several huge headlines appeared in front of Lu Mingfei.

"Three people disappeared during the foundation work overnight? Workers of the Black Prince Group went on strike."

"Ghost Wall? Luxury cars disappearing frequently happen in the development zone."

"Accidents are cruel. A couple fell into a lake late at night? The police tried their best to salvage the bodies for a week, but the whereabouts of the bodies are still unknown."

In addition to the newspaper that Chu Zihang first held in his hand, which reported the disappearance of 27 members of the engineering team, some of the incidents happened several years ago, and some even spanned several decades.

“Brother, now that you mention that, I seem to remember something…” Lu Mingfei vaguely remembered that when he was a child, he did occasionally see news about people going missing in this city.

Even his uncle and aunt often told him and Lu Mingze to go home early after school and not to stay at the lake or in unfamiliar places. Last month, the child of someone from his uncle's unit went to play at the lake, and he hasn't been found yet. No one knows whether he was swept away by the water or abducted by human traffickers.

This city is very strange. Not only does it have an abnormal climate, but there are always cases of people going missing, mostly in rainy weather. When Lu Mingfei was old enough to remember things, the adults around him said that when the city was built, it accidentally disturbed Tai Sui, and someone in high places was very angry, so every year there would be some natural and man-made disasters. This was a punishment, and also a way to collect sacrifices!

The memory is already very vague, but these things really happened. If Chu Zihang hadn't reminded him, Lu Mingfei wouldn't be able to remember them at all. He doesn't know if he is the only one who forgot or if no one else has any impression of it... It feels very strange and weird, as if someone has tampered with his memory.

“Yes, there are such things, but why can’t I remember them?” Lu Mingfei patted his head. “If you hadn’t mentioned it, and if I hadn’t seen these news, I would have lost this memory.”

"You're not the only one who feels this way. Before I saw these old news stories, I couldn't remember anything at all." Chu Zihang said to Lu Mingfei, "My memory is even more confused than yours. I even watched them several times and instilled strong memories in myself before I gradually had a vague impression. At first I thought it was the 'Mandela Effect'. I wasn't sure if these news stories were fabricated, so I asked you for confirmation in a positive tone. Seeing your reaction, I can be sure that it's not my illusion or my imagination. These are all real history that happened in this city, but I just forgot them."

Lu Mingfei's body stiffened. He was not the only one who forgot these things. Chu Zihang as well, and not even just the two of them, but everyone... Everyone in this city had forgotten the hundreds of disappearances that had occurred in this city. This feeling was too weird, even more terrifying than the disappearance of hundreds of people.

It was as if there was an invisible force that had unknowingly distorted everyone's memory.

Someone who can influence an entire city... Isn't a guy with such power a "God"?

"Is there any word spirit that can do this?" Lu Mingfei asked in a low voice, "What word spirit can affect everyone's memory?"

“I don’t know, but anyone who can do this must be at least at the Dragon King level, such as… the White King.” Chu Zihang looked at Eri, then at Lu Mingfei and shook his head, “But the White King is dead.”

"But let's not talk about the fact that we have all forgotten about it. If so many people really disappeared, where did they go?" Lu Mingfei frowned, "So many years have passed, and no one has been found? This is too unreasonable. Just like your father, if you hadn't been looking for him, maybe everyone in the world would have forgotten him..."

"Lu Mingfei!" Chu Zihang suddenly interrupted Lu Mingfei with a low growl.

"Sorry, brother, I didn't mean to poke your scar..." Lu Mingfei said apologetically.

"No, your words remind me of a possibility." Chu Zihang looked into Lu Mingfei's eyes and said word by word, "What if we didn't forget, but the existence of those people... was erased?"

"Existence... was erased?" Lu Mingfei repeated these words in astonishment, as if he was reciting a spell. After he finished speaking, he shuddered violently.

Obviously, erasing one's existence is more terrifying than having one's memories erased, but this statement is not entirely unreasonable. At least there are people Lu Mingfei knows who have this ability... Lu Mingfei looked at the mottled firelight on the wall, and in a trance he seemed to hear the devil's low mockery.

Chu Zihang thought of something else. He remembered the ghosts he saw seven years ago when he encountered an accident on the elevated road on a rainy night... Where did those things come from? There were so many of them, like unconscious zombies. What were they like before they became those things? Could they be ordinary humans?

Every year, people inexplicably disappear in this city and are gradually forgotten. If they become something other than human, does it mean that their original existence has been replaced?

So Dad, if I can really find you, will I still recognize you...or in other words, are you still the same you?

The image of the unshaven man flashed through Chu Zihang's mind. He was always laughing and talking a lot. Chu Zihang clearly spent half an hour every day recalling his experiences with him, but for some reason, the man's appearance had become a little blurry in his mind.

Chu Zihang felt a sense of fear for no reason. He looked at those yellowed, old newspapers that were piled up in this closed room. If they hadn’t been particularly careful to look through them today, no one in this world would have remembered these things… Chu Zihang was afraid that his memories would be like what was recorded in these old newspapers. They clearly had happened, but were gradually forgotten and finally buried in the dust of history.

If a person is forgotten by everyone in the world, his existence is truly erased. How powerless and desperate would he feel then?

"Brother, are you afraid that you will forget?" Lu Mingfei noticed that Chu Zihang was not in a good mood, and he comforted him, "Don't you have a memo? Don't be afraid, if you really forget, I will help you remember it. I will definitely not forget it, and I will remind you when the time comes."

"Thank you." Chu Zihang took a few deep breaths.

Chapter 952 Odin Appears

"This story...is not good." Eri muttered something beside her.

"Eri, what are you looking at?" Lu Mingfei leaned over and asked, and Chu Zihang's gaze also turned over there.

Eiry showed the hardcover book she was reading to Lu Mingfei and Chu Zihang. Under the dim light of the kerosene lamp, the words on the worn covers had long been worn out and were difficult to read. Lu Mingfei and Chu Zihang simply put down the old newspapers in their hands and walked over there.

"Nibel... Song of the Nibelungs?" Lu Mingfei read out the name of the hardcover book, always feeling that the combination of these words was strange.

"The Song of the Nibelungs is a medieval poem. The author is unknown. It was probably written around 1200 AD and the language used is Middle High German." Chu Zihang's voice floated from behind. "The whole poem consists of 39 songs, 2,379 stanzas, each stanza has four lines, and a total of 9,516 lines. This poem is characterized by being a heroic epic written in the style of a court knight epic. The content is the story of the great migration of the Germanic people from the fourth to the sixth century AD. It praises the ancient heroic legends of Europe, but in fact it reflects the history of the feudal dynasty from its rise to its fall."

"No, Brother, you are using Baidu Encyclopedia?" Lu Mingfei turned his head and looked at Chu Zihang, who was listing the origins of a book, with a surprised look. "So amazing? Then let me test you. When Einstein proposed the theory of relativity, how many hairs were left on his head?"

"It's not that amazing. I just happened to have read this book." Chu Zihang showed the memo on his phone. "Last year, my final paper for Professor Guderian's class cited the book 'The Song of the Nibelungs'."

"You scared me to death. I thought you had evolved into an AI." Lu Mingfei patted his chest. "But Nibelung... I just said that the name is weird. What does it have to do with Nibelung?"

"I don't know, but both words come from Norse mythology, which is older than the Middle Ages." Chu Zihang said, "Norse mythology has always been a key research topic in school. I remember a radical professor in school once said that Norse mythology is not a mythology record, but real history. It records what really happened thousands of years ago."

"I know that Professor Guderian also said something similar, but if this book is about Norse mythology..." Lu Mingfei didn't say much. He just walked to Eri's side and flipped through the other hardcover books piled against the wall.

"'Edda'...'Beowulf, The Song of Roland, The Song of Cid, The Tale of Igor's Campaign'...'Saga'..." Lu Mingfei read the names of those books, and his brows unconsciously frowned, "Are they all books related to Norse mythology?"

Chu Zihang also came to Lu Mingfei and Huili, his fingers brushing over the book covers that were exquisitely packaged but looked quite old. He didn't know where the people the proprietress had gathered these books from, nor did he know what the connection was between these books and what they were investigating.

That rainy night seven years ago, those ghostly shadows, the godly figure on the throne... Chu Zihang felt that there were many fragments scattered in his brain, the blurry ones were from seven years ago, the clearer ones were from now on. There seemed to be some subtle relationship between these fragments, but every time Chu Zihang wanted to connect them together, he felt it was difficult to find a "bridge" to connect them.

"Norse mythology... I remember it now." Lu Mingfei suddenly said, "Heimdall is also a character in Norse mythology. The biggest thing these hardcover books and parchment scrolls have in common is... they all describe things from Norse mythology!"

"Yes, I thought of that, too." Chu Zihang nodded and analyzed, "Like 'The Song of the Nibelungs', it seems to be telling the legend of ancient heroes and the decline of the feudal dynasty. If the feudal dynasty in the poem refers to the dragon clan, and the so-called heroes refer to the people who rebelled against the dragon clan at that time, this statement coincides with the theory of some professors in the academy. This speculation is very reasonable."

"But if Norse mythology is the clue those people left for us, then what does this clue want to convey to us?" Chu Zihang asked in a low voice, "Ancient parchment scrolls, old hardcover books and a pile of old newspapers, I can't figure out what the connection is between these things."

At this time, Lu Mingfei suddenly raised his head and looked at Chu Zihang, and asked in a faint voice: "If it is a god... then the lifespan of that thing may be several thousand years... right?"

Chu Zihang was shocked, and the scattered fragments in his mind seemed to be able to be pieced together. Lu Mingfei's words were like a "bridge" that connected all the scattered clues.

Yes, why couldn't it be a real god? He had lived from the Norse mythology era to the present, with a life span of thousands of years that ordinary people could hardly imagine, and the ability to disrupt the elements of a city... This was a fantasy in the human world, an illusory myth, but it was not necessarily so rare in the world of dragons. All dragon king-level beings had such abilities. They were almost immortal and possessed the world-destroying level of Word Spirits that ranked extremely high on the Word Spirit Sequence List.

This also fits in with the professors' inference that Norse mythology is actually a piece of history... a documentary, dragon-like history. Those gods and ghosts are real. They are species superior to humans. However, with the passage of time, their real names have gradually been replaced by some hidden names in mythology.

To ordinary people or hybrids, the existence of Dragon King level is no different from God. Just like the "God" in Japanese mythology refers to the White King, and the "holy bones" refer to the remains of the White King. The three sons of God, Amaterasu, Tsuki and Susanoo, are the three "hybrid emperors" who inherited the purest bloodline of the White King... So it is the same with this city. The terrible climate here and the frequent strange phenomena in the past few decades, were they created by a god who survived from Norse mythology to the present?

Chu Zihang thought of the majestic figure on the throne. It was not an exaggeration to call that thing a "god". The corresponding figure could be found in Norse mythology... It was the symbol of death, standing at the commanding heights of all gods and possessing the most powerful force.

Odin.

If that thing is really Odin, then what exactly is his word? Can it call the wind and rain, change the climate of a city? Or distort people's memories? Or even erase the existence of certain people?

Each of these abilities sounds extremely powerful. If faced with such an enemy, is there really a chance of defeating it?

An image of a man swinging a knife at a god flashed through Chu Zihang's mind, and his fists clenched unconsciously.

"No... I still feel something is wrong..." Lu Mingfei lowered his head and kept muttering, "Those strange things that happened in this city... Senior Brother's father... The missing Senior Brother Ye Sheng... The hunters hired to investigate these... The parchment rolls and old newspapers... Norse mythology... A certain god..."

Lu Mingfei's eyes were blank, and his entire consciousness seemed to be drained away. He kept repeating the same words in a low voice. Chu Zihang glanced at him and did not disturb him. Chu Zihang knew that Lu Mingfei had entered the state of "profiling", which was a skill taught to him by Nuonuo. He used some known clues to piece together the whole picture of the matter and the hidden truth.

Lu Mingfei's head began to hurt. He pressed his index finger hard on his temple. There were many known clues, but they were too messy. He tried to restore the truth buried deep in this city, but his consciousness was in chaos, like a bottomless whirlpool that was about to suck his mind in.

Lu Mingfei always felt that something was wrong, but he couldn't put it into words. If Nuo Nuo was here, he should have thought of that. But he always felt that some key part was missing, and the whole machine seemed to be stuck and unable to move.