Dragon Clan: I am Lu Mingfei, the Intelligence Strategist, the God of Concepts!

Chapter 186 Nono: Huh, is that a clapper? Is it my turn to perform that?
For Nono, the role of 'Uesugi Erii' was very easy to play.

You can get away with it by just giving a perfunctory answer.

Whether it was staff members in black or medical personnel in white coats, they didn't dare to lift their heads whenever they faced her.

The only person who might discover something was amiss was Genjiro, who happened to be an insider.

After a few days, Nono even began to doubt that she could openly do whatever she wanted inside the Genji Heavy Industries building without being discovered.

She was treated very well.

Aside from the fact that this floor's living quarters were almost indistinguishable from the intensive care unit, which made her feel somewhat depressed, everything else was fine.

What do you want to eat? What do you want to drink? What do you want to do?

She only needed to write down any request in her notebook, and the Snake Clan would fulfill it for her; she received truly princess-level treatment.

Of course, that's just talk.

The cabin and corridors are filled with surveillance cameras, and they treat 'her' like a thief. Nono needs to maintain Erii's persona and can't make any requests that are out of character.

Erii's room is very simple.

In the center of the room was a kotatsu table. On the plain white wall hung the three noble children: Amaterasu, Tsukuyomi, and Susanoo, as well as a huge LCD screen. Putting aside the explosion-proof steel plates embedded in the wooden walls, the room's decoration had a grand style, and could even be described as cozy, but it was a bit too austere.

Especially when Nono isn't interested in playing games.

—She was able to perfectly replicate Erii's movements, expressions, and habits.

But gaming skills are the only insurmountable barrier, even the invincible profiling is powerless against it. In order to maintain the persona, I've only played games symbolically for a while these past few days... It feels like being in prison.

Perhaps out of a sense of repentance, and considering Erii's (Nono's) mental health issues, Genjiro, for the first time ever, agreed to give her time to go outside every day, allowing her to wander freely on the 55th and 56th floors of the Genji Heavy Industries building.

"The Snake Clan... has quite a few secrets."

The ξ floor is located between the 55th and 56th floors. Considering Erii's special circumstances, it was impossible to place any very precise or valuable documents or facilities on the two floors. If it weren't for the need for privacy, these two floors might not have been placed at all and would have been transformed into an empty venue.

But Nono still noticed some clues.

Or rather, Nono noticed some clues at Kazama Ruri's house that day.

Although Genjiro appears polite on the surface, in reality, besides Erii and Herzog, he is hiding a huge secret from his allies. It may not be Genjiro's own secret, but the secret of the entire Snake Clan.

Just because it wasn't mentioned doesn't mean it doesn't exist.

As the most mysterious 'Japanese branch' in the entire Kassel sequence, Nono has always been known only by her voice, never by her face. It's like a game of Werewolf; it seems we're currently on the same side.

But are they actually in cahoots?
Maybe not.

Nono knew very well that there might be some kind of bond between her and Erii, and that bond might be hidden in the secrets of the Snake Clan.

A few minutes ago, an alarm went off inside the building.

Nono clearly noticed that many of the security personnel secretly watching her had been moved downstairs.

"The opportunity has come."

With a blank expression, Nono grabbed the katana hanging on the wall cabinet—a sacred sword used by a shrine maiden, unsharpened but still quite intimidating—and walked out of the door to the ξ-floor in front of the camera.

It means I need to go out for some fresh air.

Not daring to provoke Erii, and also for their own safety, the remaining security personnel did not dare to stop her. They quickly contacted Genjiro, as the situation downstairs was becoming tense. After successfully contacting Genjiro, the latter, considering that Nono had been behaving well during this period, did not pay excessive attention to this ally.

Genjiro foresaw the existence of Deadpool. Some of them flowed along the Iron Dome to various corners of Tokyo, while others actually climbed up from underground through elevator shafts and began to systematically attack the upper floors, as if it were being manipulated by someone.

But if Genjiro saw Nono's current route, things might not be so easy.

Before officially setting off, in Sakurai Kogure's room, Erii drew a chibi version of the Genji Heavy Industries route map for her 'older sister' who looked exactly like her, and wrote that if she was unhappy staying there, she could sneak out.

This includes a place 'full of murals' that Erii accidentally wandered into when she tried to run away from home, which is also Nono's first stop.

"62nd floor... Why would Erii go up there when she ran away from home?"

Nono couldn't help but laugh. Her eyes swept over the floor number, and then she quickly processed the information, password, and door opening in one smooth motion.

One by one, the dim, ever-burning lamps came into view, and she was surprised to find herself in a space that resembled a Buddhist temple. There was a torii gate at the entrance, and the vermilion paint on it was peeling off, revealing the dark red original wood color.

This thing is obviously an ancient artifact with a long history. It was originally built in an open-air environment exposed to wind and rain. The interior designer disassembled it, moved it into Genji Heavy Industries, and then reassembled it in the original way.

Under the dim lights, a screen wall stands. Such screen walls are usually built in front of the gate to block the view of passers-by and are considered a feng shui wall. However, such a tall screen wall is unique. It is about four meters high, reaching the top of the building, with a gilded top and a width of more than ten meters.

The screen wall was covered with ancient paintings in ochre and indigo, with monsters with human bodies and snake tails lined up in long rows. Eight giant snakes with long necks and eight heads used their sharp tails to cut through the dark and boundless earth.

"Yama no Orochi?"

Nono understood the imagery within.

In addition, there are naked humans, winding and twisting snakes... all sorts of bizarre and meaningless images.

Nono subconsciously held her breath. The artist's skill was extremely high, and the immersive feeling was overwhelming.

It even evokes the feeling of the famous painting "The Death of the Black King" from the Kassel College.

But without a doubt, she came to the right place.

……

"What the hell! Where is everyone?!"

Tachibana Masamune was somewhat exasperated.
They had happily entered the ξ floor, only to find it completely deserted.

There wasn't a single person in the Japanese-style room, the corridor, or the medical room. He almost thought he had gone the wrong way!
Tachibana Masamune quickly checked the surveillance footage.

"Still the same password..."

In the surveillance footage, Erii, dressed in a shrine maiden outfit and wearing a scarlet hakama sash, sat obediently on the snow-white bed, holding a little yellow chick in her arms, staring blankly at the ceiling.

Her appearance, demeanor, and movements were exactly the same as Erii in my memory.

Occasionally, I'll pick up the controller and play a game for a while.

"Come in, come in!"

Tachibana Masamune didn't understand any game techniques; he just became increasingly anxious and frantically pressed the keys on the keyboard.

Normally, Tachibana Masamune might have been in the mood to admire the girl's stunning beauty, but at this moment he had to race against time.

Downstairs, Genji stood as steady as if he had lost something.

Ignoring the fierce battles and casualties in other areas, he led the executive bureau officers to firmly guard all the passages in the 52nd floor Kaguya's computer room, and even prepared several Vulcan cannons in advance. They used specially made armor-piercing ammunition, which was powerful enough to blow a rhinoceros to pieces!
"Damn it, something's definitely wrong with this kid. I have to find Erii right away and take her away!"

Using a backdoor program he had left at Genji Heavy Industries, Tachibana Masamune successfully hacked into the building's central surveillance system from the internal network.

They quickly discovered Erii's whereabouts.

"Huh? What's she doing at Shinto?"

...Genji Heavy Industries, 62 floors.

"Wow! So the Snake-Headed Eight Families are descendants of the White King!"

Nono looked shocked.

The content on these screen walls is not difficult to understand. There are even Chinese seal script characters used as annotations above the images. As a member of the Chen family, she could easily understand these characters from more than two thousand years ago.

"They even sealed away the White King once! No wonder these people didn't seem like good guys!"

Nono felt she had discovered a huge secret and hurriedly walked into the ancient temple. She soon found the second screen wall and continued to read through the ancient paintings and annotations.

"She was a white king, a white emperor, and a white demon. She was killed by a black demon, but before she died, she gave her bones and blood to mankind, using their greed to plant a seed."

“Izanami, that’s the name of the White Queen in Japanese mythology. She entrusted her bones and blood to a human, whose name was Izanagi. He was not her spouse, but food she prepared for herself.”

"Izanagi knew he could not fight against him, so he fathered three descendants, which became the inner three families of the Eight Houses of Snake-Headed Demons: the Minamoto, Tachibana, and Uesugi clans, corresponding to Amaterasu, Tsukuyomi, and Susanoo in mythology..."

Nuonuo carried the Divine Sword in one hand and the ever-burning lamp she had taken from the doorway in the other. The lamplight flickered and illuminated the mural in front of her, which she was looking at intently.

Myths from all over the world and from all cultures are rewritten based on history. Those seemingly absurd myths actually have their prototypes in the history of dragons.

The only exception is Japanese mythology, which doesn't align with the known history of dragons. For example, the gods in Japanese mythology have no mortal enemies and continue to multiply like a large family. The professors at Kassel College couldn't interpret the conflicts and wars that are central to the history of dragons.

But the screen walls in front of us, which record the 'revised version' of Japanese mythology, completely overturned our previous understanding.

If she takes this information back, she might be able to get a tenured professorship before Professor Guderian... although Nono probably won't be going back to Kassel College now that she's run away.

She suddenly stopped, slowly turned around, and pointed the long knife in her hand sharply towards the door.

A figure silently emerged from the side of the first screen wall.

The man was dressed in a black haori, and the lamplight faintly illuminated his face, revealing a pale white noble mask. His teeth were blackened by molten iron...

"King! No... Tachibana Masamune! Why are you blocking the door from here?!"

Nono's heart skipped a beat.

I realized it in a second.

According to Lu Mingfei, this guy in front of them is the most important person in the Stand operation and a target that must be guarded against.

This old guy is terrifying. He appeared with an eerie presence, exuding an evil aura that almost blended into his surroundings.

"How about we just kill him?" Nono suggested, eager to try.

She was confident in her skills; although she didn't have the power of words, she was still an A-level hybrid.

But the other person did seem very afraid of her.

As he approached, he immediately took out a pair of small black wooden sticks.

They began by rhythmically tapping and rubbing the objects together to make a 'rustling' sound, which sounded like music from some South American indigenous tribe.

"...Fine, I'll spare your life."

Nono ultimately decided to give Bangzi Sheng some face.

And let's give a shout-out to the rings of dark blue scales on 'Tachibana Masamune's' arm.

This must be the high-level shadow warrior that Lu Mingfei was talking about, with the same technological origin as her biological father!
"what--"

Nono mentally simulated a scream.
On the surface, he immediately pretended to fall to the ground, his whole body began to tremble, and the divine sword in his hand fell to the ground with a 'clang' sound.

"Phew—thank goodness, as long as Erii is normal."

see,

Tachibana Masamune visibly breathed a sigh of relief.

Although I don't understand why 'Eri' suddenly went to Shinto...

But at least the way she seemed to be controlled by the sound of the clapper didn't seem fake.

Compared to Genjiro, Erii is the truly crucial link in the 'Godhood Plan'. As long as Erii is firmly grasped, there will be enough room for adjustment in any subsequent plans.

"Come here, come to me, and let's leave this place..."

Tachibana Masamune uttered hypnotic murmurs.

Finally, he saw Erii get up from the ground and follow behind him, her expression blank, somewhere between alive and dead.

"Yes, she's still my good child."

Tachibana Masamune stared at the face for a moment, then finally smiled with satisfaction.

With no more doubts in his mind, his previously cautious mindset instantly calmed down, and he even swelled with unprecedented confidence.

"Eri, from now on, I'm counting on you."

……

Shibuya Ward is adjacent to Shinjuku Ward.

Lu Mingfei and his group are rushing to Genji Heavy Industries.

"Nono's location has started to move! She suddenly left Genji Heavy Industries?"

The signal gradually recovered.

Lu Mingfei received a warning from the potato chip girl, and he almost fainted.

"Holy crap, Herzog succeeded again? Does he have some special attack attribute against Genji Heavy Industries?"

Although he intended for Nono to impersonate Erii as bait to keep Herzog from escaping, he had no intention of actually letting Nono be kidnapped!

If it's discovered that her identity is fake, her life could be in danger.

"You're not going to tell me that Kaguya-hime's server room is gone too, are you?" Lu Mingfei suddenly felt a toothache.

"No, Kaguya is in a critical period of database recovery. It is expected that a portion of it will be recovered by early this morning. I gave Genjiro a strict order."

The potato chip girl's voice, though filled with pride, also carried a hint of pangs of pain, as if she were uncertain about her future.

If the server's computing power cannot be mobilized, she will probably have to rely on her human brain to process this batch of data.

"Wait, Bunny! Herzog seems to be moving towards Chiyoda Ward, but that area is completely flooded now!" Chip Girl suddenly exclaimed in surprise.

"So?" Lu Mingfei's heart skipped a beat.

"That car is going to circle around the edge of Shinjuku. Your position gives you a chance to intercept them!"

(End of this chapter)