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

"That's happily decided. Junior brother, as a representative of our Kassel Academy's seniors, you will go to Xia Mi's home for a home visit. Please perform well! You must leave a good impression on Xia Mi's parents and brother!" Finkel patted Chu Zihang's shoulder with encouragement.

"What do you mean? Am I going alone?" Chu Zihang was stunned.

"Yes, yes." Finkel nodded. "I've been held back for too many years. People will have a bad impression of Kassel Academy. Besides, I'm not a three-good student, and I don't receive a scholarship."

"Then...what about Lu Mingfei?" Chu Zihang asked, "He was also selected last year."

"Isn't he still practicing dual cultivation with his hunter friend? You know dual cultivation can't be interrupted." Finkel said firmly, "You can also try to contact him, if you can convince him."

"Does this mean that Senior Brother Fei really has this fetish?" Xia Mi discussed it with Finger, her face full of curiosity. "Actually, I've had this feeling before. There are so many beautiful girls in the academy, and he's so popular, but he doesn't seem to have any feelings for any of them... But every time he comes back to the academy, he pesters Senior Brother Chu..."

"Hey, you just realized it. I've been living in the same dormitory with my junior brother, and I'm so scared every night! I can only fall asleep after wrapping myself tightly in the quilt..." Finkel also muttered softly.

No one paid Chu Zihang any attention. As the person involved, he was left alone, as if his own schedule didn't need to be determined by his opinions. Xia Mi and Finkel agreed to finalize everything. Chu Zihang, a model student, would represent Kassel Academy as a senior and accompany Xia Mi home for a family visit. Then, upholding the academy's traditional virtue of being helpful, he would play with Xia Mi's brother...

But when did the academy develop the traditional virtue of helpfulness? Didn't he help the old lady cross the street back in elementary school? Hadn't those killers in the Executive Department always followed the principle of "better to kill a thousand by mistake than to let one go"? Chu Zihang suddenly realized he'd been tricked. He took a deep breath, feeling deeply aggrieved. He thought that in the future, he would rather face one Dragon King than two like Finger or two like Xia Mi at the same time!

Meanwhile, Finkel and Xia Mi were slandering Lu Mingfei's reputation unscrupulously, with ambiguous laughter coming from them from time to time, just like two twin brothers and sisters with similar evil tastes.

……

Midnight, Feiyu Internet Cafe.

This city seemed to have no nights. The signs of major shopping malls were illuminated throughout the night, and the streets were always filled with a constant stream of cars and pedestrians. The colorful lights reflected in people's eyes were the city's neon lights. It was already late, and at the entrance of this internet cafe in the downtown area, Lu Mingfei stood alone under the huge neon sign, holding the black N96 mask issued to him by the school.

In the beginning, he was pulled here by Old Tang, and the wording was exactly the same as last time in the Hunter Internet Cafe. Ever since Lu Mingfei left the interstellar stage, Old Tang has been lonely for too long.

It is like the invincible Ximen Chuxue standing on the top of Zijing City, looking into the distance, recalling that he had never met an opponent in his life, and sighing, "There is a kind of loneliness that cannot be described, because it comes from the depths of the soul." At this time, he happened to see Ye Gucheng passing by, and it was inevitable that the sword intent would surge. If the two did not chop each other a few times to decide the winner, wouldn't it be a great regret for the entire martial arts world?

Actually, playing a few StarCraft games wouldn't be a big deal, because Lu Mingfei rarely has such free time. He's been busy with various tasks every day for some time and his skin is tense. It's a good opportunity to relax.

When he and Old Tang were fighting fiercely, they happened to be seen by a big brother who was passing by on his way to the toilet. At that time, Lu Mingfei was commanding his army of dragoons to charge forward, followed closely by berserkers holding ion light swords, the golden beetles crawling slowly forward, and the templars covered in blue lightning floating in the air to guard the rear.

On Old Tang's side, rows of supply stations were set up. The tanks bypassed the bunkers filled with machine gunners and confronted Lu Mingfei's army in a tense confrontation. The Valkyrie fighters circled the base with a covetous eye. The defense line here was also an iron wall.

The two, headsets on, battled in a pitch-black darkness, oblivious to the man standing behind them, nearly falling to his knees in excitement, as if witnessing a clash between God and Satan. When he saw Lu Mingfei using Dark Archon to mind-control Old Tang's peasants, a population exceeding four hundred, the veteran StarCraft fan finally grasped Lu Mingfei's true intentions and howled like crazy.

"Oh my god! I didn't know there was such a fighting style! Artanis wasn't kidding me! Mom... I saw a true God!"

That shout brought the entire internet cafe's StarCraft enthusiasts together. They gathered behind Lu Mingfei and Old Tang's tables, watching the two masters clash in a tizzy of shock and admiration. It was like the freshmen at Kassel Academy witnessing a show fight between Caesar and Chu Zihang, their mouths hanging open and their eyes wide, muttering, "Can a knife be used like this? Can a body be twisted like this? Can a look be used as a weapon? Is this still human... Is this still human..." Then they turned around and clamored to join the Lionheart Club or the Student Union.

When the battle between Lu Mingfei and Lao Tang came to an end, with Lu Mingfei winning by a narrow margin, the two men were almost frightened to death when they took off their headsets and turned around. At first glance, the small space behind them was filled with a huge crowd of people, with tables, chairs and benches scattered all over the place. They thought that while they were fighting passionately, a large-scale melee had broken out in the Internet cafe.

The StarCraft fan took the lead in asking them if it was a hidden player from a professional team who came here to practice during the holiday. Lu Mingfei and Old Tang both shook their heads, but no one believed it.

People rushed to buy them late-night snacks and drinks, begging them to play a few exhibition matches and training matches. Potato chips, sunflower seeds, and Nutri-Express bars filled half the table. Numerous girls in short skirts and stockings addressed Old Tang affectionately, calling him "brother" in their sweet voices. How could this guy resist? He patted his chest and readily agreed. He dragged Lu Mingfei along and began round after round of fighting, explaining as they fought, when to station troops and upgrade bases. Holding the mouse, he felt like a monarch sitting in his tent, personally leading an army, commanding the vast landscape and wielding a mighty host.

Until Lu Mingfei received a call. When he saw the number, his pupils shrank. He casually threw the mouse to a girl in a black dress beside him and hurried out. The girl in the black dress hurriedly took over the thriving Zerg hive that Lu Mingfei had developed and was dumbfounded. Girls hated playing Zerg the most.

Old Tang, still immersed in the game, was completely unaware of what was happening. He shouted with great amusement, "Mingming, you're no good. Why are you getting worse and worse?"

"Hello, is this Chen Wenwen?"

Lu Mingfei shouted into the phone, but the Internet cafe was too noisy. He could only hear bursts of sharp electric current on the other side. But when he ran out of the Internet cafe, the communication was cut off.

He had received a call from the same number some time ago, during the impeachment hearing for the principal. He had also avoided the crowd and answered the phone, but the female voice on the line was fleeting. Lu Mingfei couldn't hear what the other party said, only that it sounded familiar, with a sobbing tone.

Lu Mingfei immediately searched through the girls he knew in his mind, from Rei to Nuonuo from Kassel Academy to Mai Jiude and Su Enxi from outside the school, but none of them were them. He then found his high school address book, comparing it with the numbers, and when he saw Chen Wenwen's number, he was stunned.

He hesitated for a while, and finally called the person who knew Chen Wenwen best. However, what he heard was a cold female voice saying, "The user you are calling is out of service area." Lu Mingfei subconsciously felt that something was wrong.

Later he asked other classmates, but no one kept in touch with Chen Wenwen after graduation... until he called Liu Miaomiao.

"Chen Wenwen? I don't know. You should ask Zhao Menghua. He should know... Oh, I forgot. It seems that Zhao Menghua has been unavailable this week. I don't know what he's busy with..."

After hanging up the phone with Liu Miaomiao in a resentful tone, Lu Mingfei stood on the rooftop in the evening breeze for a long time. Zhao Menghua also disappeared, along with Chen Wenwen.

He probably guessed what kind of place Chen Wenwen and Zhao Menghua were trapped in, but even he couldn't find the entrance to the mysterious country of death... But today he received another call like this, shorter than the last time, with only the empty sound of electricity, like a call from a ghost.

Lu Mingfei tightly gripped his phone, the hard N96 creaking under his grip. Even though he had no good feelings towards Chen Wenwen and Zhao Menghua, they were still two living people, and they had been classmates for three years... He was not going to sit and wait for death.

After leaving a note for Old Tang at the internet cafe's front desk, Lu Mingfei looked up at the neon signs dancing overhead, a rainbow of colors. Then he averted his gaze and plunged headfirst into the thick night of the bustling city.

Chapter 155: The Furious Caesar

Some people walk silently wrapped in the night, while others come in the morning sun.

The brilliant sunlight bathed the cobblestone pavement of Liulichang Street in a gilded hue. A rickshaw rolled across the bluestone, its driver sweating and shouting at the top of his lungs. Rickshaws were actually quite rare these days; practically every household in Beijing owned a car. These drivers simply courted tourists by selling nostalgia, but nostalgia was expensive, and generally only inexperienced foreigners were willing to pay for it.

The driver worked particularly hard today because the blond foreigner in the back seat was quite generous!

"Hey, you were born twenty years earlier. Back then, the shops on this street were filled with treasures!"

The driver pointed to a glittering, two-story, blue-brick attic. "This is 'Rong Bao Zhai,' it didn't even have a name before. The young owner back then didn't know what was good, so he packed everything up and sold it off. Take your pick for 200 yuan a piece! Someone found a boxwood bonsai here, and then they went to the store and saw, 'Wow! Five numbers starting with the character 'eight'! Another person found a Guanyin jade here, and they chipped a little corner, but guess what? It turned out to be icy jadeite, six numbers! That's a fortune!"

The driver introduced it vividly, with saliva flying everywhere.

Along the whole way, he pointed to each blue brick building with a black plaque with gold characters, and recounted their origins and interesting stories like a treasure. His pace slowed down inadvertently, actually to walk slower and spend more time with the guests. Generous guests often end up with larger tips.

"Six figures? That could have bought a courtyard house more than 20 years ago, right?" The passenger in the back seat smiled and didn't urge him.

In reality, six figures wasn't even pocket money for him, and the occasional visit to a high-end establishment would cost him far more than that. However, adhering to the principle of "when in Rome, do as the Romans do," he was willing to learn more about the local customs and chat with the rickshaw driver.

"Oh! You're an expert!" the driver exclaimed. "Judging from your accent, you're from Henan?"

"Do I look like someone from Henan?" The customer shook his head slightly, flicking his naturally blond hair. "Maybe my Chinese teacher in kindergarten was from Henan. Before I went to college, I always thought I spoke authentic Mandarin."

The rickshaw wound into a narrow alleyway, a dark, dark side of the road. Towering blue brick walls blocked the sunlight, and emerald green moss and creepers clung to the eaves. The driver gently lowered the handle, tilting the rickshaw. He casually wiped the sweat from his forehead with the handkerchief draped over his shoulder. Perhaps from excessive use, the once-white handkerchief was stained with indelible yellow stains.

"Guest, we've arrived."

The young passenger calmly disembarked from the car. He wore a rose-red Chinese-style gown with inch-wide white sleeves rolled up, black wide-leg casual pants, and a pair of Beijing-style slippers. He fanned his hands, looking like a comedian. But he had brilliant golden hair and eyes as blue as the sea.

"Thank you for your hard work." The customer casually took out a stack of red banknotes from his sleeve. The thickness was probably enough to rent a luxury car to travel around the city.

"You have already paid the fare before getting on the bus. Just give a little tip as a token of your appreciation. This is too much. I can't accept it!" The driver looked at the thick stack of banknotes and waved his hands quickly.

"It's my habit." The customer stuffed the money into the driver's arms. "You've been joking with me all the way. It's quite interesting. It's like listening to a crosstalk show."

"Thank you, thank you!" the driver was overwhelmed and bowed hurriedly. Perhaps he had never encountered such a generous customer before, so he hesitated and whispered a warning: "By the way, the deeper the shops here are, the fewer good products there are. They love to exploit tourists from other places, exaggerating their prices and jacking up the prices. You'd better be careful!"

The guest waved without looking back, opened a white paper folding fan with the words "He who has not been to the Great Wall is not a true man" written on it, and walked lightly into the deep alley where not even sunlight could penetrate.

The customer stopped at the door of a shop called "Fenglongtang". This was already the deepest part of the alley. Almost no antique shop would choose to open in such a remote alley. After all, antiques are not wine. Darkness and silence will only make them covered in dust.

The guest raised his head and looked deeply at the "Fenglongtang" signboard above his head. It was different from other plaques on Liulichang Street. The vermilion base was a little peeling, the white letterheads were a little blurry, and time had left mottled marks on it... The young guest stared at it for a long time, so long that a strange color could not help but surge in his blue eyes.

He took a deep breath, the cold morning air filling his lungs. He forced himself to suppress the strange light in his eyes and lifted the blue cotton curtain. The copper bell on the door rang crisply, but no one came to greet him and the counter was empty.

The sunlight filtering through the old paper-covered windows became hazy and blurred. When the guests took a few steps, the dust raised by their feet flew in the hazy sunlight like dancing elves.

This shop looked deserted. Boxes of all sizes, seemingly made of aged wood, were stacked in the corners. The old objects on the display shelves were covered in dust. Tang Dynasty tri-colored pottery, glazed rabbits, Qing Dynasty brushes and inkstones... Each item seemed to have a hidden history, shrouded in a mysterious sense of age and story. The door seemed like a gateway in time; stepping through it transported one back a century. Here, time itself was sealed in the dust.

The guest strolled leisurely, the air thick with the scent of sandalwood. His gaze wandered over the antique porcelain, calligraphy and paintings, and brushes and inkstones, finally stopping at the bright red wedding dress in the corner.

The wedding dress was made of finest Hu silk, its kesi borders delicate and ornate, with phoenix-patterned gold foil stitched throughout and inlaid with pearl buttons and thin sheets of glazed glass. It was ostentatiously hung open on the wall, atop a sheet of ink-thin paper, as thin as a cicada's wing, depicting a woman of voluptuous beauty... Before the guest could take a closer look, a voice spoke behind him.

"The wedding dress worn by the Manchus during the Qing Dynasty was the orthodox cheongsam style. Back then, the cheongsam had a wide hem and was worn with a top and pants underneath. Now, those slit-sleeved cheongsams worn on the streets are all called 'old ancestors.'"

The guest frowned slightly. His word spirit was Kamaitachi, but he hadn't noticed someone coming up behind him. He put away his relaxed expression.

"Phoenix? Mr. Lin Fenglong?" the guest said calmly.

"Governor of Gaul?" The boss smiled. "Mr. Caesar Gattuso, you look unexpectedly young."

Caesar turned, his icy blue eyes scanning the room. Before him was a strikingly handsome old European man. His hair was gray, his eyes were iron-gray, his cheekbones were slightly sunken, and a stubble of dark blue stretched from his temples to his chin. His bright eyes still retained a hint of his youthful handsomeness.

The boss was wearing a linen shirt, holding a pair of heavy iron eggs in one hand and soy milk and fried dough sticks in the other hand, which were emitting wisps of steam. His Chinese was particularly authentic... This old European man looked completely Chinese.

"Has anyone said that? You exude a calmness that doesn't match your age." The boss said with a smile.

"I know a lot of people who are too calm, like two Chinese people from my school. They're younger than me, but when they're calm, they're like two old men without a ripple in their veins," Caesar said calmly. "But no one has ever called me calm, because I've never been one to hold my temper, except today."

"Oh? Is there anything different today?" The boss was slightly stunned.

"Let's complete the deal before we start chatting." Caesar handed over a heavy paper bag and said in a deep voice, "Two hundred thousand dollars for you. Give me any clues about the Dragon King."

"I take back my compliments about your composure. You're indeed impatient. I was hoping to have a cup of tea and chat slowly." The boss shook his head slightly and smiled again. "But I just like straightforward people like you. I don't accept bargaining in my shop. Anyone who tries to haggle with me will be kicked out."

The boss took the paper bag, weighed it, smiled and nodded.

"Do you know that place over there at the Nationalities Palace? There is a Guangcai Hutong just a few steps away from here. During the Ming Dynasty, it was used to manufacture firearms and explosives..." the boss said slowly.

"I know that place was once called Wanggongchang, and a devastating event occurred there. The Wanggongchang explosion, along with the Mohenjo-daro Hill disaster in India and the Tunguska explosion in Russia, are considered three of the most mysterious explosions in history. These explosions share similar characteristics: sky-shattering flames accompanied by a massive mushroom cloud. Everything happened so suddenly that all living things within a radius of more than ten kilometers were burned or scorched to death. The explosion also carried a certain toxicity, similar to the effects of radiation. Many experts claim it was definitely a nuclear explosion, but nuclear bombs hadn't been developed at the time, and there were no weapons of mass destruction on such a large scale."

Caesar spoke quickly, his tone somewhat impatient.

"People don't understand because these are all the effects of the Dragon King's Word Spirits, coming from extremely high-risk Word Spirits with extremely high sequence numbers... I'm not here to listen to your nonsense. Someone has already told me this before."

"What..." The boss was stunned. Then, as if realizing something, he took a deep look at the rosewood screen in the corner. "I see, the Gattuso family is indeed worthy of its reputation."

Caesar remained expressionless and remained silent.

"Then I won't show off all that nonsense." The shopkeeper chuckled to himself, turned, and walked to the blue brick wall. He inserted his fingers into the cracks and pulled out a brick. Then, he reached into the hollowed-out hole in the wall and pulled out a knotted blue cloth bag. He slowly opened the bag, revealing a rough-edged booklet, a handwritten manuscript that looked quite old, its pages brittle and yellow. The cover was etched with the ink-stained characters "Tianbian Dichao."

He handed the book to Caesar, who took it and flipped through it casually.

"This ancient book from the Ming Dynasty, written by an anonymous folk author, details the Wanggongchang explosion in rich and bizarre detail," the boss said softly. "In his notes, there exists a strange bird called 'Ghost Cart,' or 'Partridge,' or 'Nine-headed Bird.' It once had ten heads, but according to mythology, one was shot off by the Duke of Zhou, leaving nine. The neck of the underdeveloped one is always dripping with blood. The largest 'Ghost Cart Bird' could grow to over ten feet long, which would be the size of a small fighter jet today. The 'Tianbian Dichao' records that a strange phenomenon began to emerge a month before the Wanggongchang explosion. More and more 'Ghost Cart Birds' gathered at the observatory, emitting ghostly howls day and night, as if foretelling the end of the world."

"Is there really such a thing in the world?" Caesar asked.

"Who knows? Maybe they existed before, but are gone now..." The boss shrugged, but then his tone suddenly changed, lowering his voice and speaking sinisterly, "Or maybe they're hiding somewhere in the world right now, watching you from the shadows, like... a group of bloodthirsty bats!"

"That sounds creepy," Caesar commented deadpan.

"Yes, that's what sets this 'Tianbian Dichao' apart from other rare books. It contains additional content on geomancy, or what the Chinese often call feng shui. Anything related to geomancy is always eerie." The boss pointed to the yellowed volume. "Some say it's metaphysics, others insist it's science, and alchemists believe it falls under the realm of theology. There's a wide range of opinions. The original author of this book was a feng shui master, or a special kind of alchemist. His job was to search for dragon veins, but he witnessed this extraordinary event at the break in the vein and recorded it in full. While the text doesn't mention dragons, if you read it together, you can almost see the image of a dragon!"

"You can compare the current map of the capital with the Ming Dynasty map. You can even go explore the area yourself; it's quite interesting. Old maps are easily found at any antique vendor, but they're all newly made. They'll sell them to you at the price of an antique, so you'll have to bargain hard," the boss reminded. "I've told you everything I can. You shouldn't be out of luck with the two hundred thousand intel. Can I ask you a question, Mr. Gattuso?"

"Well, I have a question for you too," Caesar said. "You go first."

"Have I offended you in any way? As a seller, I should be quite competent, giving free gifts when you buy something. But why do I feel that you have an inexplicable wariness and hostility towards me from the moment I walked in?" The boss smiled kindly.

"Do you want to know why?" Caesar sneered, pointing his thumb over his shoulder at the red wedding dress on the wall behind him. "Tell me, how much are you selling this dress for?"

"Twenty-eight thousand..." the boss answered subconsciously, but his heart sank.

"Here's fifty thousand." Caesar put the second paper bag on the table.

Then he turned his head to glance at the bright red wedding dress and the familiar, smiling bride's profile on it. A ruthless, dark cloud flashed in his eyes. Suddenly, Caesar struck with lightning speed and ripped the dress from the wall. The silk scraped against the nail board, and the expensive fabric was split in two.

Caesar looked up at the wall, and the gloom in his eyes instantly turned into extreme anger!

The wedding dress was savagely torn by Caesar, revealing the white wall that was originally covered, where the silhouette of a girl was outlined. The freehand lines, although just two careless strokes, were able to well imitate the girl's upright posture.

In Caesar's eyes, it couldn't be more familiar, because it was simply copied from Chen Motong!

"Mr. Gattuso..." The boss frowned, wanting to explain something.

"Shut up! Our deal is over! Stop calling me that last name. I don't like it at all!" Caesar growled, like a beast on the verge of rage. "Anyone who likes that last name has been hiding in that corner over there the whole time, like a little wall-peeper!"

Caesar suddenly looked towards the rosewood screen in the corner and shouted angrily, "Percy, get out!"

Chapter 156 Enter, Nibelungen!

A young man in a black suit stepped out from behind the rosewood screen. He stood there while Caesar spoke to the boss, blending into the darkness.

"Master..." Percy lowered his head.

But his real age is much older than Caesar, but at this moment he looks like a child who has been caught doing something bad.

In fact, he was already shocked. Lin Fenglong should be able to neutralize Caesar's "Sickle-Weasel" field, just like when Lin Fenglong suddenly appeared behind Caesar with soy milk and fried dough sticks. The shock that flashed across Caesar's eyes was fleeting, but it was definitely not fake!

"Percy, I need an explanation!" Caesar's icy blue eyes swept over him coldly, his face almost indifferent. "But don't tell me you were sent by the family to protect my safety or some other nonsense."

"Master, the family really does have your best interests at heart..." Percy still lowered his head.

"Bastard!" Caesar roared and smashed his clenched fist hard on the blue brick wall.

The wall suddenly shook, and countless dust particles were shaken out from the cracks and dispersed into the air like a diffuse mist. The antiques on the display shelves swayed and swayed, then stabilized again. Not a single piece fell out of the display.

"Hey, Mr. Caesar, even if you're angry with your family, you shouldn't take it out on my collection, right?" The boss frowned slightly. "I know your Gattuso family is wealthy and can afford to pay for any damage, but these old guys have been with me for a long time and have a bond with me. Plus, I have the only collection of theirs in the world."

Caesar ignored it.

His eyes were fixed on Percy. "Don't think I don't know that my family has been spying on me. From the time I was born until I entered Kassel Academy, there have been spies from the Gattuso family all over the world. With their abilities, they could easily accomplish these things. I've always turned a blind eye... but this time you've gone too far!"

"Who allowed you to use her as a bargaining chip?" Caesar tore off the ink paper with the girl's profile painted on the wall and held it in his hand. His golden pupils showed through his messy golden hair, like a disheveled but furious lion.

The domain of "Sickle-Itachi" opened, and invisible wind monsters flew in the air, capturing all the sounds in the domain and then feeding them back to Caesar's mind. Caesar frowned... because the wind monsters could not bring him any information, the domain of "Sickle-Itachi" became invalid!

Caesar's gaze pierced the boss sitting at the tea table. He was very sure that it was this man who was responsible. From the moment he stepped into this "Fenglongtang", his territory was neutralized by this man in some way!

"This is your family affair. You can handle it on your own. Don't start a fight in this tiny place. There are so many bottles and jars that you can't even use them all." The boss shrugged and looked at Caesar. "Mr. Caesar, the guy who told you about the Wanggongchang explosion and the dragon clan, and the guy who informed you about Percy's presence, must be the same person, right? I thought the secrets the Gattuso family shared with you were related, but it seems not... The person behind you is no ordinary person!"