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

"Uh... Actually, this is just a rhetorical exaggeration. I think your Chinese language teachers in China taught you that... I don't have a problem with not being a hero!" Finger said with a miserable look. "You're not really going to ask me for money, are you?"

"Go buy your Coke!" Lu Mingfei cursed and kicked Fingle on the butt. The latter smiled apologetically and rolled to the front of the vending machine.

Looking at Fingle's hunched back like a bear from afar, Lu Mingfei's eyes were confused. He knew better than anyone that under that embarrassed and wretched body, there was actually a real man as upright as a lion.

Chapter 19 S-Class

A crisp bell and a whistling whistle sounded, and accompanied by a dazzling white light, the CC1000 express train slid onto the platform.

The huge train slowly stopped, its silvery-white patterns woven into vines wrapped around it, delicate and gorgeous, dazzling like scales; the polished body of the train shone with a jet-black luster under the headlights, like a giant black python that had tiredly returned to its nest and was sleeping soundly.

A man in a dark green uniform slowly walked out of the carriage. He held a small golden bell in his left hand and a card reader in his right hand. He waited quietly at the ticket gate with a smile on his face, looking at Lu Mingfei and the other two from afar.

"Mr. Chu Zihang, the CC1000 express train that Norma reserved for you has arrived at the platform." The conductor announced to Chu Zihang very professionally. Chu Zihang nodded and took Lu Mingfei and Finkel to the ticket gate.

Chu Zihang's ticket was swiped through the card reader, the green light came on, and a vibrating buzzing sound was heard.

"If it weren't for Chu Zihang's help, God knows how long I would have to wait. I might have starved to death or frozen to death in this cold waiting room! Anyway, I have never seen this crappy train run on time since I entered the fourth grade!" Finkel wailed unwillingly.

"Come on, Finkel, not everyone can step on dog shit and be qualified to get the glory of President Lionheart." The conductor took Finkel's ticket and swiped it through the card reader. The green light came on, but it flashed with a "beep".

"See, see! This heartless academy even has a card reader that's so snobbish!" Finger complained to Lu Mingfei, "I'm telling you in secret, this academy also has an aristocratic system, similar to the Indian caste system. S-level is equivalent to Brahmins, A-level is equivalent to Kshatriyas, and they are all well-deserved royal relatives or aristocrats. The BCDs below are just Vaishyas or Shudras! The lower the class, the less human rights there are!"

"The word 'human rights' is not something you, an 'F'-class mule, should discuss. Animals should have the awareness of animals!" said the conductor with a sneer.

"Alas, once upon a time I was as noble as a Kshatriya, 'A' class, but I never expected that I would be reduced to the point where I can't even be a serf..." Finkel muttered.

"The academy is indeed not very humane in this regard." Lu Mingfei patted Finkel's shoulder heavily.

Finkel thought Lu Mingfei was speaking for him, so he hugged Lu Mingfei's shoulders tightly and almost cried with emotion.

But when the conductor took Lu Mingfei's black ticket and swiped it through the card reader, the green light flashed at an unusually fast frequency, and the machine suddenly sang a cheerful music with a rhythm that no one had ever heard before.

"'S'... 'S' class?!" The conductor's beautiful eyes flashed green, afraid that he had made a mistake. "Mr. Lu Mingfei, right? You are a distinguished S-class! Apart from the principal, you are the highest-ranking person I have ever met in my career as a conductor!"

"What? 'S' level?! Are you sure you're not mistaken?!" Finkel shouted in fear.

Even Chu Zihang, who had already passed the ticket gate and was waiting at the carriage entrance, was attracted by the huge commotion caused by Lu Mingfei and Finger. When he heard the word "S-level", his usually stern face changed unconsciously, and his eyes became as sharp as a long sword.

Chu Zihang had spent two years with Lu Mingfei, studying, talking and sparring with him. He knew better than anyone that Lu Mingfei was no ordinary person. Even after entering the monster-filled Kassel Academy, Chu Zihang felt that Lu Mingfei's strength and resilience were truly invaluable no matter where he was.

But even though Chu Zihang's expectations of Lu Mingfei were already high enough, he only placed Lu Mingfei on the same level as him and Caesar. This was already the highest honor in Kassel Academy, but...

"S" level... Didn't he expect that Lu Mingfei, his junior, would be such an extraordinary person?

Chu Zihang's fierce look flashed away, and was replaced by full fighting spirit and pride, as if he had found a destined opponent who was more challenging and more powerful than Caesar.

Chu Zihang's pride comes from the fact that he is like an older brother to Lu Mingfei. It is like seeing his younger brother grow up to be an adult who is more talented and respected than him.

He knew Lu Mingfei's loneliness very well because he also embraced the same loneliness.

For ordinary people, loneliness means sadness, solitude, and being ignored; but for people like them who have lions in their bones, going alone means being strong. The tempering will only make their bones harder and their fangs sharper, and eventually they will grow into strong people who can break through all obstacles in the world.

"Brother Finkel, when I said that the 'college is not very humane', I meant that the college is too kind. At least a mule is hardworking and can pull the mill and carry goods, but the college is doing nothing but wasting food by keeping a lazy guy like you!" Lu Mingfei patted Finkel's shoulder heavily as he walked past him, imitating Professor Guderian's tone, full of disappointment.

Is this the encouragement from an "S"-level adult?

Finkel stood there in a daze, looking at the back of Lu Mingfei, who he had naively regarded as a fellow traveler on the road of useless dogs, and he felt that he was out of his reach.

The master is actually by my side, and the clown is me!

……

The carriages slid open, and Professor Guderian's burly figure appeared in everyone's sight with a smile.

In contrast to the exquisite exterior, the interior decoration of the carriage can only be described as "gorgeous". Victorian-style wallpaper covers the walls and is dotted with exquisite patterns. Silver wind chimes hanging on the windowsill sway in the wind and ring crisply. The green leather sofa is embroidered with pure hand-made gold thread, and its soft touch like jelly makes people reluctant to sit down.

Professor Guderian took out a custom-made school uniform from somewhere and gave it to Lu Mingfei to change into. The lining was clean white, the dark green suit had silver stitching on the edges, a deep rose red scarf, and an eye-catching World Tree school emblem unique to Kassel Academy embroidered on the chest.

"Perfect, so perfect! Lu Mingfei, your temperament in school uniform is no less than those aristocratic young masters in the academy!" Professor Guderian looked at Lu Mingfei, who stood tall in uniform, and did not hesitate to praise him.

Lu Mingfei turned up his silver-edged cuffs, where his name was embroidered in dark green thread: "Ricardo·M·Lu".

Lu Mingfei frowned deeply. Why is it still Ricardo M. Lu? This shouldn't be the case!

It was a dream story, in which the beloved girl confessed her love to him in public. He was not the protagonist but played a bleak role in the background. That day, he became the most miserable loser in the world, and was picked up like a puppy by the kind-hearted Nono.

But fate has changed. Ricardo M. Lu, this should not be his name!

Chapter 20 Blood Contract

The train roared and sped, soon leaving Chicago's prosperous downtown area far out of sight.

"Is there any problem with the school uniform, Lu Mingfei?" Professor Guderian asked with concern.

Ever since Lu Mingfei turned up the cuffs of his school uniform, he has been frowning and looking serious, as if he saw something that shouldn't be there.

"Professor, 'Ricardo·M·Lu', may I ask who gave me this English name?" Lu Mingfei asked.

"Oh, although the college promotes the concept of Chinese campus, no matter which country you come from, an English name is still necessary. I remember that your name, Lu Mingfei, was designed for you by the principal himself." Professor Guderian said.

"Principal..." Lu Mingfei still frowned. The name was exactly the same as the one in the dream, not a single character was different. If he said it was a coincidence, it would be too unconvincing.

"Don't you like the name 'Ricardo·M·Lu'? It doesn't matter. The principal is a democratic and open-minded person. Changing your name is not something that is not allowed in the college." Professor Guderian scratched his gray hair. He thought Lu Mingfei was not very satisfied with the English name given to him by the principal.

After all, although he is old and has gray hair, he is actually not pedantic and old-fashioned. He understands and appreciates the ideas of young people. Professor Guderian even praised Lu Mingfei in his heart.

He wants to hold everything that belongs to him firmly in his own hands and not allow outsiders to interfere at all. He will never compromise even on such a small matter as his English name. Isn't this what young people should be like!

Foreign professors rarely use the word "rebellious" even to describe undisciplined children. In comparison, they prefer to use "energetic" and "ideas" to describe young people entering adolescence.

However, Professor Guderian was wrong. Lu Mingfei had no objection to the principal's naming of him, nor was he dissatisfied with the name itself. It was just that this matter seemed too unbelievable to him, but Lu Mingfei could not ask honestly.

"It's not that I don't like it... Never mind, let's not dwell on the name. Professor should have something more important to announce to me, right?" Lu Mingfei shook his head, as if trying to get rid of unnecessary distracting thoughts from his mind.

What I will face next should be more shocking content. As for naming myself, I will naturally have plenty of opportunities to ask the principal in person after I arrive at the college.

"Anything you'd like to drink? Black tea, coffee, or red wine?" Professor Guderian asked, looking at Lu Mingfei and Chu Zihang. "Actually, Lu Mingfei, I'd recommend some low-alcohol red wine, because what I'm going to announce later might challenge your perspective a bit."

"It's okay, black tea will be fine. Thank you for your help, Professor." Lu Mingfei said politely after declining Professor Guderian's suggestion.

"Coffee, less sugar, thank you." Chu Zihang said concisely.

"What about me, professor? Why don't you ask me if I want to drink a glass of 82 red wine!" Finkel raised his hands high.

"Are you worthy of drinking 82 red wine? Go and make tea and coffee for your fellow students. Do you expect me to sit here like a big boss and then pour the red wine and serve it to your uncle Finn? Or do you not want to graduate this year? Huh?" Professor Guderian glanced at Finger.

"I'll go right away. Please wait a moment, gentlemen!" Finkel didn't feel insulted at all when he was ordered around. Instead, he put on a flattering expression and hurried to prepare drinks, showing a strong sense of being a mule.

"This guy is also a student temporarily assigned to me by the academy. He is your legitimate senior brother, Lu Mingfei. But there is no need to be polite to him. Just ask for anything you want and treat him like a servant. If he dares to bully you, tell me and I will personally deal with him!" Professor Guderian said with great momentum. He was a model of protecting his subordinates. In his eyes, Lu Mingfei and Finkel's status was like one floating in the clouds and the other as lowly as dust.

It is just like the ancient housekeeper who found a companion for the young master of noble status, and said to the young master: Beat him when you need to, scold him when you need to, he is just a servant.

Lu Mingfei smiled helplessly and shook his head. Finger, who was making tea in the restaurant, complained loudly after hearing this: "Professor, aren't you being too hypocritical? What you said is really biased!"

"Credits." Professor Guderian replied lightly.

"Okay! Master Lu, here's your extra strong black tea, and Master Chu, here's your low-sugar coffee!" Finkel put on that flattering smile again and brought the prepared black tea and coffee to the long rubber table in front of Lu Mingfei and the others.

"I'm sorry to tell you now, but our college's regulations are quite special, so there are some things I have to tell you before you enroll... Also, please sign this confidentiality agreement first." Professor Guderian pushed a strange document written in a mixture of Latin and English in front of Lu Mingfei.

With a quick glance, Lu Mingfei found that he could recognize most of the sentences and uncommon words. The most representative ones were "lineage" which means "bloodline" and "indenture" which means contract.

Abraham Indenture, a document that roughly says:

Each of you possesses both human and dragon aspects, your bloodlines simultaneously brimming with contradictions of white and black, good and evil, power and love, killing and peace. We are neither pure good nor pure evil; we possess the ability to kill, but not the desire. Remember, we always stand on the side of humanity. Only those whose inner good overcomes the dragon's evil are permitted to join our ranks. Anyone who fails to refrain from the evil within, allowing their soul to be consumed by the lust for power, becomes our enemy. At this moment, our pact ends, and our holy swords will be pointed at those who have fallen into the abyss!

Without much thought, Lu Mingfei signed his name smoothly, as if he was casually signing a JD Express package rather than a solemn and sacred contract.

"No...won't you consider it?" Professor Guderian was also shocked by Lu Mingfei's momentum of raising his hand to sign.

"If I change my mind now, can the train turn around for me immediately?" Lu Mingfei asked.

Professor Guderian was stunned by the question and shook his head subconsciously.

"So, this is my fate."

When Lu Mingfei whispered these words, the lights on the train suddenly went out one by one, darkness enveloped the carriage, and the entire train shook and swayed as if it had hit a mountain.

"Brother, you are finally here."

Someone whispered in the darkness.

Chapter 21 Ragnarok

The sound of an old bell came from far away, echoing in Lu Mingfei's ears, as if someone was telling him about the past thousands of years ago.

His head felt dizzy, and Lu Mingfei's consciousness faded in the sound of the bell. The originally bright day outside the car window seemed to have turned into a dark and eternal night. The moonlight shone through the glass window like a thriving and white firefly.

The moonlight, like a spotlight circle, gradually focused. On the sofa on the bench, a boy was sitting there alone. The moonlight slanted into his brilliant golden eyes, like a silver glow on the vast golden tide. There was nothing in those golden and silver eyes - only the desolate figure of Lu Mingfei was reflected.

The boy looked like a boy of thirteen or fourteen years old. He was wearing a pure black evening gown with a rose-colored handkerchief pinned to the white lining of his collar. There was a faint smile on his childish face, but that smile concealed the loneliness that had been silent for thousands of years.

"Brother, you are finally here. You know I have been waiting for you, right?" The boy looked at Lu Mingfei deeply across the corridor and said softly.

"Ah."

"Yes, I understand when I see the look in your eyes. No one in this world knows you better than me." The boy stood up and slowly walked towards Lu Mingfei, then gently pushed Chu Zihang, who was under the immobilization spell beside him. Chu Zihang's figure disappeared with a "bang" like a soap bubble that exploded, vanishing into thin air.

"He thinks he knows you well enough, but in reality, he's still a million miles away... He's the same... He's the same too."

Then it was Fingel, and finally Professor Guderian. The three huge soap bubbles disappeared without a trace. Only Lu Mingfei and the boy were left in the carriage, staring at each other in silence in the cold moonlight.

"Brother, my name is..." The boy looked at Lu Mingfei's face and spoke softly.

"Lu Mingze, my silly Ou Doudou, you know everything about me, and I also know a little about what kind of person you are, so let's skip the clichéd part of introducing ourselves. I don't plan to dream this dream you have woven for me for too long." Lu Mingfei waved his hand, interrupting the boy's dreamlike words.

For a moment, Lu Mingze looked at Lu Mingfei with surprise in his eyes. He wrinkled his delicate face and sighed deeply, "You've changed. You're so strange to me now."

"Am I destined to be that useless loser?" Lu Mingfei asked.

"Of course not, my brother is definitely the most awesome person in the world!" Lu Mingze put on a smile again and clapped his hands softly.

In front of Lu Mingfei stood a giant oil painting wrapped in white canvas. Lu Mingze's applause was like a spell that gently lifted a corner of the painting, and then the entire canvas was suddenly shaken open, revealing the hideous and shocking picture.

The sky was a cyan hue mingled with the color of flames. A single, massive tree stood tall, its dead branches stretching out in all directions, weaving a dense web that supported the cracked sky. The wasteland was strewn with dead bones. From the depths of the pile, a black beast rose, its wings festooned with skulls. Spreading its massive, membrane-like wings, it thrust upwards, emitting a burst of black flames. (Original text from Dragon Tribe I: Dawn of Fire.)

"This is..." Lu Mingze stood behind the painting, wanting to introduce it to Lu Mingfei.

"Black Dragon King, Nighold, this painting depicts a black dragon tearing at the roots of the world tree, Yggdrasil. When the day comes when the giant tree is bitten off, it will be Ragnarok, and the world will be destroyed." Lu Mingfei interrupted Lu Mingze again and personally composed lyrics for the world-destroying scene.

"Brother, you stole my line!" Lu Mingze raised his little fist in protest.

"That's not your line. That should be Professor Guderian's line, the one you made disappear."

"That old guy is just good at talking, but he doesn't know shit. For example, can he actually do something like this?"

Lu Mingze snapped his fingers as if to show off, and the moonlight poured onto the oil painting like water.

The moonlight shone on the oil painting, and the giant beast came alive from the painting. It roared with majesty, and the whole world trembled. Its emperor-like eyes seemed to hide the most dazzling gold in the world, noble and cold. The giant beast seemed to transcend fantasy and reality and look at Lu Mingfei from afar, and its pressure was like a raging wind.

Lu Mingfei just stared at the giant beast quietly, standing still like a mountain under the huge pressure, like a person going against the storm.

"So, has the Twilight of the Gods really come?" Lu Mingfei asked softly, not sure whether he was asking the giant beast in the painting or Lu Mingze behind the huge oil painting.

But no one responded to him. This time, even Lu Mingze disappeared. Lu Mingfei seemed to be swept into the world of the painting by the huge storm of pressure.

He looked at the black beast that had spread its wings that covered the sky and flew towards the sky, leaving behind only the broken giant tree in the sea of ​​fire. The roots had been gnawed to pieces and were on the verge of collapse, but the giant tree was still barely supporting its body and standing.

Countless mournful cries rose from the dry bones scattered across the wasteland, as if they were singing a dirge together to mourn the broken world. In a world where rivers of blood flowed, Lu Mingfei witnessed faith withering and dying along with the giant tree.

"Of course there is no Ragnarok. Brother, you are not a Scandinavian, so you shouldn't believe in Norse mythology!" The devil's voice sounded in his ears.

Lu Mingfei returned to the carriage from the devastated world. The oil painting of Ragnarok was covered with white cloth again. Lu Mingze stood behind Lu Mingfei with his hands on his shoulders. The apocalyptic scene just now seemed to have never happened at all, as if everything was just Lu Mingfei's imagination.

"Thousands of years ago, the Dragon King Nidhogg was slain on a mountain forever covered in ice and snow. That was his throne and also his tomb. Bathed in the red rain, the people raised their arms and cheered, as if reborn. It seemed as if the world had transformed from that day on. People called it—'The New Era'."

"What a pity that this stupid world survived." The devil's faint sigh lingered in the carriage for a long time, so sad and so mournful.

It's as if thousands of years of time have been dyed into a river of sadness...

"The world survived, so why feel sorry?" Lu Mingfei frowned slightly and asked in confusion.

"Because..." Lu Mingze smiled and pointed into the distance.

Lu Mingfei turned his head and looked outside the porthole. The edge of the city and the suburbs disappeared.

The sky was iron blue, the firelight illuminated the sky, and the clouds were also painted a crimson color. The barren mountains were connected to the mountains, and the south of the wasteland was all scorched earth. It was wild and primitive, desolate and magnificent!

A huge church stood at the other end of the wasteland, with a tall cross hanging in front of the church. The huge crowd was like a black tide submerging the cross. They raised their heads and held burning torches, and everyone's face was filled with anger, fear and pleasure.

"People killed the ancient and tyrannical alien emperor. This time, they will slaughter the demons!"