A man among dragons, building a mysterious ancient church.

Chapter 351: Did he ask for a bowl of ramen?
On a chilly early autumn night in Tokyo, a red-painted food cart is parked on a back street of the prestigious University of Tokyo.

Steam rose gently from the noodle pot, casting a warm glow under the dim light. The rich, warm aroma of pork bone broth was especially enticing in the cool air.

Several students from Dongda University squeezed together at a narrow wooden table in front of the car to eat noodles: "Master Yue's ramen is still the most delicious."

"Yes, it was worth sneaking out to eat."

"If I don't come out soon, I'm going to get depressed. Why is the old church making such a fuss? It's completely unscientific."

The chef, known as Master Yue, was quite old. The black towel tied around his forehead made his full head of white hair look even grayer. "Heh, hurry back after you finish eating."

"I only heard from your school's students last night that recently the school leaders have not allowed boarding students to leave the school, and day students must also be home before 5 p.m. They also strongly advised day students not to go out after they get home."

"The management is very strict."

A student wiping his mouth with a napkin chimed in, "That's right. Because of some hype from the old church, the school leaders are all nervous, saying things like the night isn't safe and we shouldn't go out."

"The so-called dangerous video made me laugh. It was just a shop on fire in Shinjuku. Then, for some reason, they started saying it was superpowers. Some people even said they saw a dragon and had to pray to the old church for protection. It's such a hype."

"Master Yue, how's your business? A lot of students from our school haven't been coming out lately."

"I estimate things will gradually recover. The authorities have come out to refute the rumors, saying that the church is deliberately hyping it up. We need to be scientific. Where in the world are there any superpowers or dragons? You agree, Master Yue?"

"Yes, yes, yes." The ramen chef nodded repeatedly, agreeing wholeheartedly: "Superpowers have never existed in the world, and there are no dragons."

"Squeak." While the customer and the boss were talking, a black luxury car stopped at the entrance of the alley, and an elderly man who looked even older than Master Yue got out of the driver's seat.

The old man, dressed in a sharp black suit and wearing a rose-red bow tie, walked up to the counter and said in fluent, authentic Japanese, "A bowl of tonkotsu ramen, please."

The group of top students looked at each other in bewilderment. This mysterious old man, dressed in high-society attire, had deliberately driven to the alley at night to find a ramen cart for a late-night snack.

Master Yue completely ignored the old man, and waved to the students with a smile: "Come again next time."

"Definitely, definitely." As the students left, they were still marveling at how right they were to come here: "I told you Master Yue's ramen was delicious. Look, some people even drive all the way here just to eat it."

"It's a pity that taking a picture so abruptly was impolite, otherwise I would have definitely taken a picture with my phone and then invited the lovely Bai Lan-san to come and eat with me."

"Phew~ I'm so satisfied. In this cool weather, all I need is a bowl of hot ramen and a big sigh of relief."

"What do you mean by 'it's dangerous to go out of the school gate late at night'? Look at that old gentleman, so respectable, he must know more than we do. If you ask me, the school is just too cowardly, scared by this hype."

As the students walked out of the alley chatting and laughing, Master Yue's smiling face turned cold: "Sorry, we're closed."

The old man sat down with a strange look in his eyes: "I didn't pay, so it doesn't count as business, right?"

"..." Is this even human language? Master Yue helplessly raised his hand, twirled the black towel on his forehead, and resignedly began cooking noodles: "Angers, it's been sixty years since we last met, hasn't it?"

"After all these years, how come you're still as thuggish as you were sixty years ago?"

He didn't even pay for the noodles, just for a bowl of ramen? Uesugi Yue was so angry he laughed, but thinking about it, he felt a little smug, taking it as a compliment to Angers' ramen-making skills.

"Heh, thank you for the compliment." Angers ignored Uesugi Kotetsu's curses and rubbed his right eye socket, seemingly unintentionally.

This action pleased Uesugi Kotsushi greatly, and he mocked, "Tch, getting old, huh? Your eyes are starting to hurt, aren't they?"

Despite saying that, he still reached out and moved the bottle of chili sauce in front of Angers, which was for guests to help themselves, away. A few minutes later, he placed a bowl of pork bone noodles in front of Angers.

For street food stalls, the speed of serving food is the guarantee of table turnover rate.

"Finish your food and get out of here. I don't want to hear you talk."

Uesugi Kotsugu knew perfectly well that Angers must have come over that night because he had some incredibly troublesome matter that required his help.

For a mafia kingpin who had already decided to retire, Angers' actions were undoubtedly disrupting his peaceful daily life.

"Heh." Angers chuckled and started slurping his noodles. After a couple of bites to fill his stomach, he said leisurely, "After I finish this bowl of noodles, you'll be begging me not to leave."

"Pfft!" Uesugi Yue couldn't resist teasing and burst out laughing: "Impressive, it's been sixty years since we last met, and your joke-telling skills have improved a lot."

Angers lowered his head and took a few more sips: "I'm not joking. The dragon seed of the Old Church has caused quite a stir, but my excellent students have learned a warning from the Old Church."

"Disaster, soon, a disaster from the deep sea will surge into Tokyo from Tokyo Bay, causing huge casualties."

"I just landed today and immediately contacted representatives of all the forces that have gathered in Tokyo. We're in a meeting this morning and we're still in a meeting this afternoon."

"After a long negotiation, and with my reputation as collateral, I finally managed to convince all parties involved."

"Uesugi Koshi, do you know what's hidden beneath the deep sea outside Tokyo Bay?"

Trouble is brewing, Uesugi Kotetsu had a premonition, and thought he couldn't let Angers continue: "Thank you for reminding me. Since you're talking about a disaster, I'll go buy plane tickets now."

"I'm flying to France for refuge, and while I'm at it, I'll be drinking in a French tavern and cheering you on from afar."

"Please." Angers gestured for him to proceed, seemingly unconcerned whether Uesugi Kotsugu stayed or flew to France. His brazen attitude left Uesugi Kotsugu completely bewildered. This old fellow had come all this way, talking about a deep-sea disaster, wasn't he just trying to get him to come out of retirement and help again?

Uesugi thought to himself, "I've already decided to retire, so I might as well ignore this mess. If it's really as serious as Angers says, why haven't Kassel and the Snake Clan stepped in to evacuate all the people of Tokyo?"
In any case, Uesugi Koshi made up his mind not to get involved in such troublesome matters, and bought a plane ticket overnight to avoid Angers coming to bother him again.

Angers, sipping soup and noodles, revealed information that Uesugi Kotsu was completely unaware of: "The current head of the Snake Clan is of royal blood."

"Huh? I thought you were going to say something, but that's all? It's normal for the Snake-Headed Eight Families to have royal blood..." Uesugi Echizen said without thinking, making a sarcastic remark. It's normal for the Snake-Headed Eight Families to have royal blood, huh?

But halfway through the ridicule, his mind slowly came to its senses.

He stood there with his mouth wide open, staring blankly into the distance, as if he were having some kind of hysterical episode. A second later, Uesugi hurriedly put his hands on the table and brought his old face close to Angers', almost forehead to forehead.

"What did you say? The Serpent Clan has royal blood?!"

"Impossible, absolutely impossible! It's fake, it must be fake, how could the Serpent Clan still have imperial blood?!"

"This kind of thing, this bloodline that should never have existed in the world! It's already, it's already ended with me!"

Angers and Uesugi Echizen knew perfectly well that, under normal circumstances, the Snake Clan should not possess imperial blood, because normally, the last imperial blood in the world is right here, and that is Uesugi Echizen.

This former supreme leader of the underworld, the retired emperor of the Snake Clan.

Uesugi Koshi had no children, and after retiring, he had no desire to continue his bloodline. He simply believed that imperial blood would only bring disaster and not happiness, and thus voluntarily chose to have no descendants.

In other words, the imperial bloodline can no longer be passed down, and no new emperor can be born.

But then Angers chimed in, "The Eight Families of the Serpent Clan, have an emperor? What emperor?"

How could Uesugi Koshi accept this? He had no children; how could there be a second emperor in the world?

"Look at you." Angers' eyes gradually turned mocking, and all of Uesugi Kotetsu's previous ridicule was returned to him at this moment: "You usually only pay attention to ramen, and have forgotten to pay attention to the Snake-Headed Eight Family, haven't you?"

"If you cared even a little bit, you would know about this."

Uesugi Kotsushi's eyes gradually revealed a look of terror: "You're lying to me, aren't you?"

That's what they said, but Uesugi Kotsushi already believed it. Given Angers's old rogue ways, even if he wanted to deceive him, he wouldn't have made up such an easily exposed lie.

Uesugi Kotsugu merely retired, not been erased from existence. There are still elders in the Snake Clan who remember Uesugi Kotsugu.

Such matters can be easily resolved by asking either the head of the Fuuma family or the head of the Inuyama family, elders of the same generation as Uesugi Koshi.

Did that old Angers fly all the way from Chicago to Tokyo just to try and fool him with a lie that could be exposed in a minute?
"Who...whose is it?" Uesugi Kotsushi remained with his hands on the table and head tilted forward. "Hana? Mina? Chinako? None of them? Could it be Takana?"

"Cough cough!" The question made Angers, who was slurping noodles, choke. He looked at Uesugi Yue in disbelief: "Didn't you decide a long time ago to sever the royal bloodline and have no heirs?"

"Damn it, how many people have you been seeing all these years, you old geezer?"

Uesugi Koshi was not ashamed at all: "You don't know anything! This is a normal physiological need, and brothels are legal here! Besides, I took precautions. To avoid inferior products, I wore two layers."

unbelievable!

"Slurp." The parasitic Time Worm was quick and had already finished the last sip of soup. Too lazy to argue with this heaven-defying imperial blood, it said, "I'm full. Goodbye."

"Wait a minute!" Uesugi Kotsuki strode out of the cart and stopped Angers: "You better explain yourself clearly! Royal blood, the royal blood of the Snake Clan, what exactly is going on?"

"Move aside, I have to go." Angers, perhaps for the umpteenth time tonight, raised his hand to touch his right eye: "Or, you can try to recall what I said while I was eating noodles."

"What you said while eating noodles? You old scoundrel!" Uesugi Yue suddenly remembered what Angers had just said: that after finishing the noodles, Uesugi Yue would beg Angers not to leave. The old scoundrel had really been right!

A fierce glint appeared in Uesugi Kotetsu's eyes: "You better explain yourself!"

Beg him? Praying to this old rogue is no better than a real fight!
Angers smiled broadly, his finger still under his right eye socket, and even pushed the air upwards: "Then will you beg me?"

"You bastard! You really want to fight, don't you?" Uesugi Kotsushi was almost furious. What kind of time is this to be playing around like this, you old scoundrel?

Uesugi Kotsushi, his nose constantly snorting, looked like a bull seeing red underwear.

Having teased him enough, Angers, not wanting to fight Uesugi Koshi now, gradually became serious: "If you want to know, you'll have to listen to me on how to proceed next."

“Okay.” Master Yue abandoned the ramen shop cart that had been with him for sixty years and resolutely followed Angers.

Little did they know, deep within Angers' consciousness, the real Angers was trapped: 'No, why do you even know of Uesugi Kotsugi's existence?'

'How much do you even know? Damn it!'

The mysterious figure who seized control of his body never communicated with him. If Angers couldn't see and hear everything outside, he might have gone mad.

What exactly does the old church want to do?
(End of this chapter)