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

Chapter 251 Why Did His Majesty Rebel?

The school board of the Secret Service typically operates in two modes. One mode is convened by one or more board members after an extremely serious incident, in which case, according to tradition, the board member who convened the meeting should speak first.

The school board member needs to explain the urgent situation and the current emergency solutions to others before discussing the follow-up developments and resolution.

Only two things in the past decade can be described as 'extremely serious': the Greenland crisis and legitimate expansion. Going back further, we have to trace the collapse of the US-Soviet bipolar system and the nuclear crisis that spread throughout the world...

Routine meetings are different.

Not only is there more freedom, but the atmosphere is also more relaxed. Sometimes, even if there's nothing serious, there will be a refreshing lime liqueur or martini on the table, and people will be secretly plotting their grand plans for the secret society while smiling knowingly.

“I’m glad you got straight to the point without making any lame jokes, Angers. And thank you, Mr. Beowulf, for respecting our traditions.”

All the eyes of the school board members and elders were focused on the elderly man in his sharp suit.

Frost Gattuso sat solemnly and dignifiedly, holding a copper bell in his hand, his eyes lowered, a stark contrast to Angers' demeanor. Beowulf, sitting opposite him, had already put down the bell, indicating that he would obey Angers' arrangement.

"The first thing I want to talk about concerns Mr. Beowulf. I'm sure you're all wondering why Mr. Beowulf, Mr. Cadmus, Mr. St. George, and Mr. Sigurd are here."

Frost bent down and placed a thick stack of documents on the table, passing them to each attendee—a printed copy for each person.
"The Board of Trustees has always valued contributions, a tradition that has been preserved since the time of the Secret Service. This is the contribution of the elders, and I think their contributions deserve a seat."

"Oh, what a wonderful format. I still prefer your secretary's layout style." The middle-aged man scrolled through the document vertically with his finger, a habit he maintained based on the overall volume of the document.

Frost said calmly, "Percy has other plans, and this level of information is not suitable for him to know."

The middle-aged man shrugged, indicating that it was just a joke, and began to read seriously. The meeting fell into a brief silence, with only the rustling of papers turning on the long table. The appearance of the four elders was indeed unexpected. Due to the timeliness and urgency, most people only knew that the elders had brought a 'gift' that could make up for some of their past contributions.

The four elders were also reviewing the document; although they had provided it, they needed to confirm that the contents were correct.

"Project Bronze, a dragon that is at least a sub-generation species level, most likely a slumbering dragon of the four monarchs, is quite interesting... So the elders have been doing something so big in secret."

It was the middle-aged man who spoke first, offering his assessment: "So, are we going to discuss the specific steps next? I think Mr. Beowulf's plan is already quite comprehensive. Their action teams have been active on the front lines. We laymen shouldn't offer unsolicited advice; we should just provide resources and coordinate the necessary arrangements."

Elizabeth rang the bell: "The action team and the executive department are jointly involved in the Dragon King annihilation operation, with Beowulf as the commander-in-chief and St. George as the deputy commander... Since it's a joint project, why isn't there a place for the executive department?"

"It seems you are not familiar with Mr. Beowulf's past. He vehemently opposed the founding of the academy, and Principal Angers originally intended to invite him to take over the executive department, but he refused."

The elderly monk, a member of the board of directors, explained, “In Mr. Beowulf’s view, the so-called dragon slayers trained by an academy can only be cowards who are afraid of death. True dragon slayers can only be baptized on the battlefield.”

"But the dragon-slaying mission will eventually bring us back together, won't it?"

Elizabeth seemed to chuckle, her beautiful face beneath the black veil revealing lips as red as blood.

Everyone present knew the ruthlessness of the action team and was familiar with Beowulf's resume. Given his lifespan, if Beowulf had taken over the executive department back then, there would have been no second person for that position, just like the principal. The executive department's style today might have been drastically different... but the board members didn't necessarily see it as a positive thing.

This is precisely the difference between the old-school and modern dragon-slaying philosophies. Most board members are more inclined to adopt the "dragon-slaying with money" strategy proposed by Pompeii Gattuso, the true head of the Gattuso family, at a board meeting ten years ago.

The two exchanged words, their hostility almost blatant, but not directed at each other.

"Jingle Bell--"

A crisp bell rang.

Having failed to gain the 'first move', Beowulf finally rang his bell, and the discussion quieted down.

The seating arrangement at this board meeting was quite ingenious. Angers sat at one end of the long table, with four elders, including Beowulf, on his left and five board members, including Frost, on his right, while Lu Mingfei's seat was directly opposite Angers.

At this moment, Elizabeth stared at Beowulf, her icy eyes showing no fear whatsoever.

"My stance remains unchanged: a true battlefield is always filled with blood, not trickery." Beowulf's voice was indifferent and hoarse, like two serrated swords rubbing their blades together.
“However, we have new arrangements regarding Project Bronze. St. George, the team, and I intend to withdraw from the project.”

"That's right, intelligence is intelligence, and projects are projects. We've brought the intelligence, but we won't participate in the projects."

St. George, sitting on the same side, nodded in agreement.

Ok?
The board members present were visibly surprised, including Frost, and all eyes were on the elders. St. George and Beowulf spoke, but the other two clearly acquiesced to the decision.

Angers chuckled, fiddling with his cigar and matchbox, without saying a word.
Lu Mingfei continued flipping through the documents, as if it were none of his business.

Several seconds later, someone rang a bell.

“If this is a joke, then it’s not funny, Mr. Beowulf, Mr. St. George. The Board of Trustees is a place for discussing matters on a case-by-case basis. Are you implying that Project Bronze will be entirely entrusted to the Executive Department?” Elizabeth said.

“Slaying dragons is a matter for all mankind. Anyone with the ability can do it.” Beowulf gave a strange smile. “Of course, you misunderstand. I don’t trust the people in the Executive Department either. They’ll only mess things up.”

"So what do you mean?" the monk school administrator asked, puzzled.

Meanwhile, Charlotte, participating in the board meeting independently for the first time, sized up the legendary 'Dragonblooder'. Her grandfather had told her the story of the modern-day Beowulf, a contemporary of her great-grandfather, powerful and notoriously difficult to talk to. But she suddenly noticed that the dragon slayer seemed a bit strange today, as if he had suffered a serious injury... Had he fought a dragon? Could this be affecting the Bronze Project?
"What do I mean?" Beowulf smirked, his eyes, hidden beneath his face covered in fine white scales, inadvertently sweeping over Charlotte.

He had been observing the silent, delicate young woman from the Gottingen family ever since he entered. Seeing her walk in hand-in-hand with Lu Mingfei had made him a little…jealous. He should have brought Vera along; the Beowulf girls were sunny, healthy, and capable—far better than this soft, weak little thing.
"Of course, it should be handed over to someone more capable."

Beowulf's gaze finally settled on one side of the long table, and he said calmly, "Slaying dragons isn't about who shouts the loudest or who has the most money."

Elizabeth, Charlotte, the middle-aged school board member, and the monk school board member all turned their gazes to Lu Mingfei, who was still leisurely flipping through the documents.

What do you mean?
Beowulf looks down on the highly decorated Executive Department, but he has a special respect for this one person (Lu Mingfei).
He'll handle it? Bypassing the execution department and the action team?
Even Elizabeth's eyes showed surprise, but she quickly regained her composure.

Clearly, most of those present were familiar with Lu Mingfei and knew of his close connection to the execution site of Project Bronze. Indeed, at this stage, the key to executing Project Bronze was definitely not within the Secret Party...

There was a silence of about one second.

"Speaking of which, Principal Angers hasn't introduced us to our new friends yet."

Elizabeth rang the bell and spoke.

Angers finally lit the cigar, took a drag, and exhaled a puff of smoke: "Well, I'll just say two things. First, he's an excellent S-class hybrid, a good partner in protecting human justice; second, he can join us in accomplishing the great cause of the Secret Party and burying the era of the dragons."

At this moment, Lu Mingfei had also finished reading the materials he had actually seen long ago, and smiled as he looked up and said,
"Yes."

“Uh…” The middle-aged man scratched his head and rang the bell: “Could you say a few more points? I don’t even know his name.”

Angers glanced at him, not surprised at all. There were power-hungry people on the board of directors, and of course there were also those who seemed to be Buddhists. But it wasn't the old man with the Buddhist prayer beads, but this middle-aged man, wearing a bright yellow shirt, who looked to be in his thirties or forties. His helmet was on the table. He had been preparing for the Tour de France for the first half of the year, and his mountain bike was parked downstairs.

Sometimes it's even hard to tell if this guy is genuinely praising someone or just being sarcastic, like the comment he made about Beowulf just now.

“Lu Mingfei.” The boy smiled in response.

The middle-aged man awkwardly avoided those dark eyes that seemed to see right through him.

“His great-great-grandfather was my comrade-in-arms, Lu Shanyan, a member of the first generation of the Lionheart Society. Lu Shanyan is now the school board member who has been absent from every meeting. I will not reveal his specific identity, but Norma and I have verified the relevant information multiple times, and Frost recognizes his identity,” Angers said.

Many people, including Charlotte, nodded slightly, as this was the first time they had learned about Lu Mingfei's background.

"We'll talk about Project Bronze later. Let's move on to the second topic for now."

Frost rang the bell and spoke.

He took out the second stack of documents, which was much thinner than the previous set, only one or two sheets of paper thick. It was so thin that it looked like a resume, with a few blurry and abstract photos printed inside, as if they had been produced by a low-quality computer.

"I have arranged for Norma to thoroughly remove Lu Mingfei's information from the internet, including the part on the Night Watchers discussion forum. As a member of the board of directors, he should keep his distance from ordinary students."

Frost spoke indifferently, "However, within the Board of Trustees, I can specifically point out that Trustee Lu Mingfei, like Principal Angers, is a rare S-class hybrid. Half a year ago, the Orthodox faction promoted him as their 'flagship,' and most small and medium-sized hybrid factions have remembered his name." "So he's from the Orthodox faction after all," the middle-aged man mused.

“Chairman Lu’s performance deserves the title of ‘flag’. Now please look at the document in your hands.”

Frost took a remote control from under the table and pressed it. A large LCD screen slowly descended from the top of the wall. Although this castle was once a place of asceticism for monks, it has been continuously improved since the Gattuso family took over in the 1960s. No one rejects the convenience of technology.

The screen lit up, and the first thing it showed were several enlarged and clear photos. They seemed to be from the same location, just taken from different angles. Finally, I could tell what was in the photos.

It was a vast, dark blue sea, cut in half.

"On April 9, at 7:14 PM Tokyo time, a sudden natural disaster occurred in the waters off Japan, including gale-force winds of level 10, torrential rain, and a catastrophic tsunami. Everything erupted within minutes and ended in an instant. This is a scene captured by fishermen who were unable to evacuate at the time."

"Interesting... Is this actually a real shot? I couldn't Photoshop a photo of this quality." The middle-aged man was also a photography enthusiast. "What caused this? It looks like at least a second-generation species-level Word of Power eruption."

"It's uncertain. These photos weren't included by the Japanese government's intelligence agency after the network was restored, and were subsequently deleted from the internet by a powerful force. This was the only valuable information the secret service obtained on April 9th. However, according to our investigation, the Japanese branch's super AI 'Kaguya-hime' was attacked twice during that period, causing us to lose a lot of important data. Mr. Lu Mingfei, do you have any leads on this?"

“Not at all,” Lu Mingfei said.

Frost stared intently at Lu Mingfei for a long while before finally looking away and pulling up another set of pictures.

"However, according to our monitoring equipment, a small-scale elemental turbulence was observed in Shibuya Ward, Tokyo at that time. The model structure diagram matches the elemental turbulence detected by Norma in the Chen Family Manor area in March by 64%. Coincidentally, Mr. Lu, you were in Tokyo during that period... There is no record of your entry or exit; you entered the country illegally."

Frost pulled up another set of pictures, including street photos, wanted records from a hunter website, and footage from the city's surveillance system. Without any facial comparison or iris matching, Lu Mingfei walked openly down the street, accompanied by two pretty girls.

“Although the Gattuso family doesn’t have many businesses in Japan, they do have a few invested companies,” Frost said casually.

Everyone had strange expressions, but Beowulf looked much happier. It seemed that Lu Mingfei wasn't as conservative as he claimed.

Charlotte couldn't help but glance at Lu Mingfei. She recognized the two girls in the photo. If she remembered correctly, one was named Zero and the other was named Uesugi Erii... Well, these two were the relatively shy type.

Elizabeth rang the bell: "Head of Board of Trustees Frost, I hope you can present your views directly, instead of speaking to another board member in this manner. The board of trustees is not a one-man show by the Gattuso family. In addition, you need to delete these private photos and apologize to Board of Trustees Lu Mingfei."

Frost rang the bell: "I am very sorry, Ms. Elizabeth. At that time, Mr. Lu was not yet a member of the school board. Of course, I will delete the original files of these photos and provide Mr. Lu Mingfei with a corresponding written apology and compensation. I was just curious about what happened in the waters off Japan in April."

"After all, in large models, elemental turbulence can usually be considered to be caused by the same entity as long as the similarity exceeds 20%, and this level of elemental turbulence is considered to be something that only the first generation of species can do."

"It is worth mentioning that, according to the previously orthodox claims of Lu Xiaodong's battle record, he once defeated the Ocean and Water King, one of the Four Monarchs, at the Chen Family Manor. For this, the Gattuso family made huge concessions in the subsequent accountability process of the Chen family. We have always taken it for granted that the elemental turbulence detected at the Chen Family Manor came from the Ocean and Water King."

"However, a few months later, a highly similar elemental turbulence appeared in Shibuya, Tokyo, which made me wonder if another king of the ocean and water had revived? Or was there something else going on with these two elemental turbulences? In the end, I found a third elemental turbulence that occurred earlier this year, originating from the seaside. Coincidentally, Director Lu was also at the scene. This time, the similarity was slightly lower, at 17.6%..."

"I never expected the school board of the Peruvian party to have such a show of force."

Lu Mingfei stroked the bell on his fingertip and said slowly, "I understand what you mean. So you're actually saying that there's no such thing as a King of the Ocean and Water, and that I created it all by myself? And that the one who truly harbors the dragons is the legitimate one?"

Frost remained calm. "Your description is a bit too extreme. I've never denied the existence of the King of the Ocean and Water. After all, the orthodox lineage publicly displayed that dragon corpse devoid of spiritual power. However, you were present during all three outbreaks of elemental turbulence at the first-generation level, and each time you escaped unscathed. I think what's more concerning is the dangerous level of your bloodline, which seems to seriously contradict the 'Abraham Bloodline Pact'..."

"Or I can be more direct: it's possible that you are a high-ranking pure-blooded dragon."

Before Lu Mingfei could express his opinion, Duchess Laurent had already rang the bell vehemently: "Objection! Your accusation is very inappropriate, Frost, the school trustee."

Charlotte, who had remained silent until now, quickly rang the copper bell: "Chairman Lu Mingfei has been to the Gottingen territory. We have an alchemical matrix to detect it. He could never be a dragon. And if he were a dragon, and killed the King of the Ocean and Water, would he also be the Dragon King? Your statement is as if you want to erase the achievements of all the dragon slayers of the past hanging in the Hall of Heroes, turn them into the dangerous hybrids you want, and then arbitrarily smear the history books of time according to your own wishes!"

Beowulf, standing to the side, observed this scene in astonishment... Good heavens, there were only two young women in the entire room.

He didn't think Lu Mingfei was the Dragon King, otherwise he would have been beaten to death last night.

Not to mention that Lu Mingfei is sitting here quietly right now.

They've already infiltrated, isn't the temptation to wipe out all the Secret Party elders big enough? What is Frost doing? Has he lost his mind?

I was just planning to join a tour group to create another opportunity for my granddaughter.
But Frost, who was more familiar with the rhythm of the meeting, rang the bell first: "Ladies, please do not be blindly certain, nor should you deny it outright. Dragons and humans are completely different species, but they are often good at transforming into humans and infiltrating human society, just like Attila the Scourge of God. Rome had a powerful alchemical matrix, but it did not discover any clues about Attila, the King of the Earth and Mountains."

"But what was the purpose of the infiltration? Attila wanted to accumulate power, but if your accusations are true, Director Lu already has enough power." The middle-aged man scratched his head, expressing his doubt.

"Don't try to judge dragons using human thinking."

Frost's eyes revealed a depth as deep as a dry well.

The monk school board member, who had initially intended to ring the bell and intervene, lowered his hand. In truth, Frost was right; dragons were inherently a combination of extreme violence and cunning, capable of devouring and seizing the power of their opponents. They could not be judged by human logic.

Just like if humanity were in dire straits, on the verge of doom, people would be more likely to help each other to get through the crisis;
But the dragons would probably choose to devour their own kind to gain greater power and resolve the apocalypse.

This is the difference between individual thinking and collective thinking.

It just felt a bit strange. Frost was still speaking those official lines today, but his demeanor made it seem like he was giving his final instructions... What the heck?

"Of course, everything must be based on evidence. The above is just my conjecture. I just feel that dragons, no matter what form they take that lurk in human society, are our enemies," Frost said calmly.

“I’ve discovered that this S-class mixed-race student, Mr. Lu, has actually been on the Secret Party’s radar all along. Principal Angers probably knows more about him. May I say a few words?”

All the eyes of the school board members and elders were focused on Angers.

They were also quite curious about Lu Mingfei's specific situation. He faced Frost's rather serious accusations, and there were opportunities for him to defend himself.

But he remained quietly seated in his chair, his handsome face serene and calm, and his gaze toward Frost held no ill intent, but rather a hint of pity.

Elizabeth noticed this detail, which deepened her doubts.

So does everyone else.

But since Frost was willing to be the one to speak up, they were naturally willing to listen to more of his opinions.

At that moment, the host, who had only said one sentence at the beginning and then slacked off throughout, took a deep drag on his cigar.

Inhaling strong nicotine and smoke into the lungs.

After experiencing that intense stimulation, he slowly exhaled the smoke, his face, wrinkled like a mountain rock, becoming dim and hazy in the white mist and candlelight.

“I don’t think there’s a problem, just like most Gattusos,” Angers said softly.

"Wait, looks like you're going to argue again, right? I don't like arguing, can I leave now?" The middle-aged man rang the bell and raised his hand to ask, "I haven't finished my usual 200-kilometer mountain road ride for today yet."

He had already picked up the bicycle helmet in his hand, and clearly, what he said next was no joke.

"No noise." Frost actually chuckled, his withered, stern face giving off a chilling feeling.

“Angers is right.”

The middle-aged man froze, his expression as if he had seen a ghost.

Frost stood up from his seat and bowed slightly to Lu Mingfei at the end of the long table: "I respect every dragon slayer fighting on the front lines. I have no intention of offending anyone, I am just reminding everyone."

Lu Mingfei gave a slight smirk, remaining noncommittal.

Then, Frost looked around and said, "Let's move on to the third topic, which is also my last topic."

"Regarding the issue of the Gattuso family's high-ranking members being replaced by pure-blooded dragons."

(End of this chapter)