Chapter 86: Welcome party
As the train whistled its arrival, Lu Mingfei, Xia Mi, and Chu Zihang gathered their luggage and stepped out of the carriage. The uproar that greeted them, however, left all three stunned.
Cassell College students packed the entire platform, each holding flowers and colorful flags. At the sight of Lu Mingfei, they shouted the lines they had rehearsed in unison.
"Dragon-slaying hero Lu Mingfei! Welcome home!"
Lu Mingfei swept his gaze over the crowd. Members of both the Lionheart Society and the Student Union were there. Caesar's troupe of girls in white lace dresses stood in neat rows at the back, and Caesar himself was actually standing beside them.
The girls had practiced singing together. They shouted with gusto, waving the ribbons in their hands in perfect unison.
Beside Lu Mingfei, Chu Zihang and Xia Mi stepped back at the same time, then quietly blended into the crowd. Lancelot, the Lionheart Society's vice president and an expert marksman, stood among the students. He solemnly handed Chu Zihang two colorful flags, looking so grave that anyone would have thought they were exchanging classified intelligence or some precious dragon-slaying weapon.
Besides Lu Mingfei, the grand welcoming ceremony had another focal point.
An elderly man in a black suit stood at the very front of the crowd, handsome and straight-backed, his silver-gray hair neatly slicked back. The welcoming party spread out from either side of him to envelop the platform, like an eagle spreading its wings. He was that eagle's eyes.
"Welcome back, Lu Mingfei." Angers stepped forward and embraced him.
Several members of the News Department were also in the crowd with cameras, wearing black headphones and baseball caps. They moved among the students, some filming the welcoming party, others filming Angers and Lu Mingfei. There were even reporters with microphones conducting "random" interviews with passersby, whose interviewees praised Lu Mingfei and Angers in polished broadcast voices.
Every student interviewed agreed on one thing: a dragon-slaying hero worthy of the history books had emerged.
Fingel, the head of the News Department, was not there. He sat in the surveillance room, watching footage transmitted by several drones on the screens before him and issuing orders like a film director.
The welcoming ceremony had not even ended, but several articles about it had already been written. All they needed were photographs inserted into the blank spaces in the layouts.
"A new dragon-slaying hero? Who is the legendary figure who faced Dragon Kings twice..."
"Cassell College's youngest-ever visiting professor once defeated both Caesar and Chu Zihang on Free Day!"
"A rational analysis: was Lu Mingfei lying low under orders during his secondary school years?"
"If the Board of Trustees can't get rid of my junior, the next headmaster will still be a Dragon Slayer they can't control." Fingel watched the cheering students on the screens with a meaningful smile.
The welcoming party might have been staged, but the respect and admiration in those students' eyes were not entirely fake.
The next stage of the station welcome was a parade.
Angers had decorated his black Maserati with flowers. Driving it himself, he took Lu Mingfei through the main gates and into the campus. Hundreds of boys and girls surrounded the flower-covered car, holding their bouquets high. It moved slowly through the roaring crowd, balloons and ribbons fluttering through the air, with the faint sound of champagne corks popping.
The event was even grander than Lu Mingfei had imagined. There was even a victory banquet. All it lacked was a group photo and a speech.
Late at night, on the top floor of the Headmaster's Office.
Lu Mingfei sat opposite Angers. The victory banquet had just ended, and a garland still hung around his neck. He took it off and placed it on an empty chair beside him.
"In four days, a special meeting of the Board of Trustees will be held in Portofino." Angers took out a prepared document envelope, placed it on the table, and gave it a gentle push.
Lu Mingfei picked up the envelope as it slid toward him and opened it.
"It contains information on several families represented on the board," Angers said. "Some of them will do everything they can to classify you as a dangerous hybrid."
"But some of them are on our side, right?" Lu Mingfei had been reading intelligence reports frequently lately, and he skimmed through the pages at a glance.
Gattuso, Laurent, Göttingen... These powerful hybrid families possessed astonishing wealth, controlled political and economic resources in human society, and were the true owners of Cassell College.
The information recorded in the documents was much the same as the intelligence Su Enxi had supplied.
"This vote is your trial, but it could also be your stepping stone," Angers said evenly. "That means they'll play every card they have. You may be subjected to blood tests and questioning under hypnosis."
"The person who fought the Dragon Kings is the one under suspicion?" Lu Mingfei put down the documents and asked.
"They're questioning the details of the missions and your bloodline. It's also an attempt to undermine me," Angers said.
"What do I need to do?"
"All the necessary preparations have already been made. We only need to show up." Angers leaned forward and divided the documents in front of Lu Mingfei into three piles. "I called you here today to help you distinguish friends from enemies."
Aside from two neutral families, Lu Mingfei noticed that the allies Angers mentioned consisted of only the Laurent family. According to the documents, the Laurent family was one of Europe's largest syndicates, involved in mining and finance. Its financial contribution to the Board of Trustees was second only to the Gattuso Family's.
He looked at the final pile, the enemies. It contained the Göttingen family and the Gattuso Family.
"The Gattuso Family, the wealthiest hybrid family represented on the board, has always wanted control over Cassell College's main campus. They've been dissatisfied with me for a long time." Angers smiled. "They sent the last investigation team, too, though it went home empty-handed."
Lu Mingfei knew a little about them. The Gattuso Family had started in organized crime before becoming a renowned noble family in Italy. It was also the richest hybrid family in the world, had produced seven or eight dukes, and revered ancient Roman civilization.
What he remembered most clearly was Su Enxi saying that the technology at the Gattuso Family's research institute was even more advanced than that of Cassell College's Equipment Department. From that perspective, the Gattuso Family was a colossus in the hybrid world-a superfamily.
"Understood." Lu Mingfei nodded.
Their late-night discussion ended.
There was actually one question Lu Mingfei had not asked, and Angers had not brought it up either. But even Fingel had seen it: Angers was not merely responding to the Gattuso Family's accusations this time. He was also pushing Lu Mingfei into the upper ranks of hybrid power. All the publicity and preparations were paving the way for him.
Anyone with eyes could tell that Lu Mingfei was Angers's chosen candidate to become the next headmaster.
To Lu Mingfei, the strength of the hybrid families lay not in their fighting ability, but in their alchemy, intelligence, and technology. Before the so-called "ragnarök" arrived, he did not mind investing some effort in the Board of Trustees if it would help him deal with troublesome figures lurking in the shadows, such as the Crown Prince.
Chapter 87: Odin
Chu Zihang knocked on the door of Dormitory 303, Building 1. Lu Mingfei opened it.
Cassell College's winter break had just ended, and today was the last day for students to return. Chu Zihang had no classes. His daily schedule was always packed, but he had canceled his entire morning simply because Lu Mingfei had invited him over to discuss something.
He did not understand what there was for the two of them to discuss, but he arrived on time nonetheless.
Lu Mingfei's roommate was absent. This seemed to be a private meeting.
"Until our conversation is over, this dorm room will be outside Norma's surveillance coverage. She'll temporarily go offline on every electronic device." Lu Mingfei sat down at the table, leaving a seat for Chu Zihang.
Chu Zihang's heart jolted. He realized that whatever Lu Mingfei was about to discuss was not merely confidential, but top secret.
Could it be related to the investigation team the Board of Trustees sent earlier? His expression remained unchanged as he sat opposite Lu Mingfei. Black tea had already been poured on the table. It seemed to be the variety the headmaster often drank.
"Senior, did you know the Board of Trustees investigated you?" Lu Mingfei got straight to the point.
Just as Chu Zihang had expected, it involved the Board of Trustees. The need to avoid Norma indicated one thing: someone involved had sufficiently high access privileges in her database to retrieve her surveillance records.
"Was it about my mission records?" Chu Zihang had always been a good student, quick-minded and accustomed to considering his teachers' intentions during lectures. He knew there were problems with the way he carried out his missions.
"That was part of it, but it's not what I want to discuss today." Lu Mingfei shook his head. "It's about the typhoon five years ago."
In an instant, Lu Mingfei clearly sensed Chu Zihang tense up. That incident had evidently left an extremely deep impression on him.
"The trustees are very concerned about it?" Chu Zihang asked.
"The board merely thinks there are suspicious points, and that they might be connected to your bloodline and violent approach to missions," Lu Mingfei said. "They don't know much."
Chu Zihang remained silent. Lu Mingfei meant that he knew more than the Board of Trustees did. Only someone who had traveled far enough was qualified to judge the progress of those behind him.
"Senior, I'll tell you what I know," Lu Mingfei said frankly. "My goal is to find the Dragon Kings, and I hope you can share your information."
"All right." Chu Zihang nodded, his expression serious.
He quickly calmed down and assessed the situation in his mind, finally deciding to trust Lu Mingfei. He had noticed the undercurrents running through the college, and various clues had led him to conclude that Lu Mingfei, Headmaster Angers, and Executive Department director Schneider belonged to the same faction.
Professor Schneider was not only his mentor, but had also helped him conceal numerous problems in his mission reports. Compared with the Board of Trustees, he trusted the headmaster's side more.
"Do you know what a Nibelungen is?" Lu Mingfei asked.
"An alchemical space created by dragons through alchemy. In mythology, its meaning is the Land of the Dead. Legend says that on the day the Land of the Dead opens, the dead will attack the living." Chu Zihang answered meticulously, like a diligent student.
"Correct, but there's one thing you don't know." Lu Mingfei pointed out the inaccuracy. "Only First-Generation Dragons or higher can create a Nibelungen."
He had learned this from Su Enxi. Dragon civilization rested on individuals, and every being capable of founding a realm sat high upon a throne.
"In other words, you entered a Nibelungen, and what you encountered was a Dragon King."
Chu Zihang had indeed suspected that Odin, the mythological figure he had seen on that rainy night, might have been a First-Generation Dragon King. But he had never mentioned it to anyone, because that immense power seemed to exceed anything the college had encountered among dragons. It could even be called divine.
"Dragon Kings... did you see them at the Three Gorges and in Panhandel?" Chu Zihang asked softly.
"I did," Lu Mingfei answered firmly.
Chu Zihang was somewhat shocked. The college's official announcements had classified those two incidents only as suspected Dragon King awakenings. Now he had received confirmation from Lu Mingfei, the only person who had experienced them firsthand.
He had seen them too!
"Did the Dragon Kings you saw have forms like something out of mythology?" Chu Zihang asked.
"No. They were more like humanoid creatures covered in dragon scales." Lu Mingfei recalled Constantine and Norton's appearances, then asked in return, "What exactly did you see in that Nibelungen? Some being from mythology?"
"Yes." Chu Zihang's expression was grave. "I saw the King of the Gods from Norse mythology, Odin."
"Tell me in detail." Lu Mingfei had originally thought Chu Zihang had encountered a humanoid Dragon King just as he had. Now he was hearing something more interesting.
The Dragon Kings were far too mysterious. Norton had been able to reverse time and cross space immediately after awakening, yet his form was the same as Constantine's: a dragon-transformed humanoid. This Odin sounded like another form a Dragon King could take.
So Chu Zihang began with the typhoon and the man coming to pick him up from school, and continued all the way to his escape from the elevated highway, driving the Maybach alone. He remembered every detail. Recalling those events before bed each night was his homework. He would go over every detail until he was certain he had forgotten nothing.
Toyama Masashi, the instructor for Introduction to Neuroscience, had said that human memory was unreliable, like a battered hard drive that could easily be demagnetized. The past was like a picture drawn in sand. As time passed, the wind blew the sand away, memories blurred, and eventually everything became an indistinguishable expanse. Toyama Masashi had said this was actually a self-protective function. Imagine remembering every detail of the past, never forgetting anything. The saddest, most painful, most sorrowful scenes in your life would torment you constantly, and you would never escape the bad state you had been in.
But Chu Zihang did not want to forget, because he was the only person in the world who still remembered that man. If he forgot too, it would be as though the man had never existed.
That man had once said that if he died one day, only one thing in this world would prove his existence: Chu Zihang, who carried half his blood.
After listening, Lu Mingfei felt that Odin was completely different from the two Dragon Kings he had encountered so far. Odin had a mount and servants, and even wielded Gungnir, which legend said had been forged from a branch of the world tree.
If humans had modeled Odin's image on him, then his existence predated human civilization. When had he awakened? Why was he guarding the elevated highway in that small city?
"Did your father ever mention what was inside the case Odin wanted?" Lu Mingfei asked.
"No," Chu Zihang said. "He didn't want me involved in the world of dragons."
Chapter 88
"Water is the most commonly used medium in alchemy," Lu Mingfei analyzed. "You and your father didn't stumble into the Nibelungen that night. 'Odin' used the torrential rain to deliberately let you in. Have you tried looking for your father's records? Cassell College's Executive Department is very good about that. If someone existed, there must be a record."
"I investigated, but I couldn't find him in either the Executive Department's records or the list of graduates." Chu Zihang shook his head. "I've never told anyone about this. It's stranger than any dragon-related incident the college has encountered."
"Whatever Odin wanted must be classified at an extremely high level among hybrids. Your father possessed a Word Spirit like Time Zero, so he was clearly an S-Rank super-hybrid. That suggests the college didn't forget him. Rather, his mission was so highly classified that it wasn't even in Norma's database, existing only in paper documents held by certain people." Lu Mingfei had learned a great deal about Cassell College over the past few days.
Cassell College appeared to have evolved from the Secret Party, but in reality, it was only one part of it. The Executive Department, the Equipment Department, and the professors and students of the main campus were merely one of the Secret Party's weapons, by no means its entirety. Perhaps Chu Tianjiao had actually answered directly to the Board of Trustees, or to a particular family.
Chu Zihang had considered the same possibility, but he had no way to verify it.
Yet when he heard Lu Mingfei call Chu Tianjiao a super-hybrid, a thought flashed through his mind.
If Lu Mingfei, another S-Rank super-hybrid, could encounter Dragon Kings and come away unscathed, could that man still be somewhere in the world, waiting for me to save him?
"Son, you have to trust your old man. Only if you stay alive will we have a chance to see each other again."