Lu Mingfei doesn't want to be a superhero

"The elevator will automatically be surrounded by glass walls, otherwise we'd both be soaked to the bone." The cigar butt in the dark Lyon's hot cigar flickered on and off.

"Soaked to the bone?" What does that mean? Lu Mingfei didn't quite understand.

The floor and table shook again, the speed gradually decreased, and finally the sinking stopped. Suddenly, the surroundings lit up, and Lu Mingfei looked up to see a huge drooping shark.

It wasn't just that giant hammerhead shark; to its left, you could see lazy sea turtles, and to its right, bluefin tuna over two meters long, swimming at high speed around its enormous school of mackerel, with shimmering light and shadow everywhere you looked.

"This is our fish tank," Ange explained. "We are now in the underwater tunnel beneath it."

"Fish...fish tank?" Lu Mingfei was full of questions. "Weren't we going to the ice cellar? How did we end up in a fish tank? And why is there a fish tank here?"

Suddenly, the "elevator" began to move, not up and down, but slid horizontally, breaking through the encirclement of the mackerel school. The hammerhead sharks and sea turtles were indifferent to the movement of this glass house, probably because they were used to it.

“The fish tank is home to various marine animals. This is the academy’s gene bank. Research on dragons requires a large number of gene samples for comparison,” Angers explained. “Of course, the fish tank is only part of this underground space. The ice cellar we are going to is still some distance away. This underground space is enormous, almost equal to the academy’s above-ground area.”

"Damn! That's incredibly extravagant." Lu Mingfei was genuinely shocked this time. In his memory, even Tony had never undertaken such a lavish project.

Of course, he planned to go back and suggest it to Tony—it would definitely be fun to have a party in a vast, man-made underground space.

"Is it luxurious? But this is one of the very few facilities that all the board members unanimously agreed on. For an organization like the college, this kind of facility is essential. We have too many things that need to be placed underground."

“You’ve never seen those department heads, have you? For an ordinary college, it’s unbelievable that department heads don’t show up on campus, but at Kassel College, their real work is research, and their laboratories are all underground. There’s Norma’s mainframe here, heavy experimental equipment, and even a subway line leading outside!” Angers said proudly. “This underground space integrates electronics, mechanics, and alchemy, and no human can intrude here.”

"Then... dragons can?" Lu Mingfei seized on the blind spot.

Angers paused, slightly embarrassed. "Dragons haven't invaded before, but we've found rats here... I don't know how they got in."

"Completely unreliable!" Lu Mingfei complained.

“Perhaps dragons could invade this underground space, but they could never invade the ice cellar,” Angers said. “The ice cellar contains an alchemical field personally created by the vice principal, powered by 1,200 tons of mercury solution. Theoretically, even a next-generation species would have a hard time moving around in it.”

"What if it's the first generation?" Lu Mingfei asked curiously.

Angers' face fell. "Then it will be very difficult to stop them."

Chapter 129: Subduing the Red Dragon, Returning Home

The elevator passed through a jungle, a pyramid, an artificial river, and a large flock of birds before finally stopping in front of a sheer, rocky cliff.

The elevator doors opened, and Angers walked over. The rock walls rippled like water, and when the ripples subsided, a hidden door was revealed.

“One of the entrances to the ice cellar,” Angers turned to Lu Mingfei and explained, “is that the ice cellar was built inside a huge cavern, right in the mountains.”

Lu Mingfei followed Angers inside, passing through fingerprint authentication, iris authentication, and voiceprint authentication. The passage, which had been carved out of rock, was now made of metal. Finally, in front of a metal door, Angers took out a black card and swiped it in the groove next to it.

“This is an S-level access card. You’ll get one after you officially enroll,” Angers said. “In terms of access, you can enter the Ice Cellar on your own, but procedurally, everyone except the school board members needs to apply to me and report before entering the Ice Cellar, and you’re no exception. Of course, as long as you come to me, I will definitely approve it for you. Even if you don’t have anything important to do and just want to come down and see the academy’s huge aquarium and botanical garden, that’s fine too… Of course, don’t write that as your reason for applying; remember to make up something more formal.”

So, does that mean I'll have easy access to Norma's mainframes in the future? Lu Mingfei thought to himself.

After swiping the card, the door opened, and Lu Mingfei followed Angers inside, only to find himself in complete darkness.

Angers raised his hand, and a bright beam of light pierced the darkness like a sword.

"There are no built-in lights in the ice cellar, so if you ever come in, remember to bring a flashlight."

Angers' voice was layered and reflected countless times, mingling with the faint metallic tremor of footsteps.

Lu Mingfei turned his head and looked around. They were now in a spacious cave, and the ground beneath their feet was bronze. No wonder there was a metallic hum with every step.

“Stop,” Angers stopped Lu Mingfei. “The alchemical realm is just ahead. Only those with a ‘token’ personally issued by the vice principal can enter. Otherwise, they will be attacked by the alchemical matrix. Hybrids below A-rank will die instantly upon entering, and even S-ranks will suffer greatly.”

Lu Mingfei could vaguely sense an invisible, curved barrier in front of him. Not wanting to risk his life, he took two steps back and watched as the principal went in with a flashlight.

Not long after, the principal came out carrying a familiar glass container, inside which was the red dragon cub he had seen before.

“Come, let’s make the contract here,” Angers said, placing the glass jar on the bronze floor. “I’ll stay here. If anything goes wrong, just raise your fist to signal me, and I’ll kill the dragon immediately.”

“Okay.” Lu Mingfei nodded.

Anger slashed open the sealed glass jar with a blood-red knife. He didn't know what material it was, but it cut through the glass like a diamond.

Lu Mingfei held the Seal of Conquest in one hand and reached into the formaldehyde with the other, touching the forehead of the sleeping dragon.

Formalin is corrosive to the human body and stung my fingers slightly, but given Lu Mingfei's current bloodline, it shouldn't cause any substantial damage in a short time.

He closed his eyes, concentrated his mind, and his domain unfolded, similar to when he released a Word of Power. Within the Seal of Conquest was a complex alchemical matrix, which was activated within the domain. The way it controlled dragons was essentially by distorting a part of the dragon's spirit, causing it to form the same matrix circuit. The alchemical matrix would resonate with the spiritual matrix within the dragon's body, thereby controlling the dragon.

Twisting the mind brings intense pain, so logically, this process should involve the dragon's mental resistance. However, Lu Mingfei discovered that, perhaps due to the manipulation by the academy, although the dragon's mind fluctuated violently during the process, it never actually "resisted".

This was good news for Lu Mingfei. When he opened his eyes again, he looked up at Angers and asked, "Headmaster, how much time has passed?"

“About five minutes,” Angers asked. “What’s wrong? Have you encountered any difficulties?”

"No," Lu Mingfei shook his head, somewhat uncertainly, "It seems... it's already taken care of?"

Angers: ? ? ?

……

Principal room.

Angers held a folding knife in his hand, staring at the red dragon cub in the glass jar on the desk, then looked at Lu Mingfei: "Are you sure you've got it done? It only took five minutes. I don't even have that much time to eat lunch."

Lu Mingfei guessed, "Perhaps it was imprisoned for too long, making it unable to resist?"

“Normally, an ancient dragon’s spirit wouldn’t be this fragile, but this one was dealt with by the vice principal and its spirit was destroyed with the Philosopher’s Stone,” Angers frowned in thought. “For a third-generation species, such trauma might indeed be enough to render it powerless to resist.”

"Then it won't just be useless like this, will it?" Lu Mingfei was a little uneasy. He didn't subdue this red dragon cub to keep it as a pet, but to make it a majestic, powerful dragon that could also be used as a mount.

“I estimate it can’t beat a normal third-generation species, but it’s definitely stronger than a fourth-generation species,” Angers said. “There’s a huge gap between ancient dragons and those below the level of ancient dragons. If a third-generation ancient dragon is in good condition, the power of its Word of Power when it is fully unleashed is comparable to a missile.”

"But this little thing doesn't seem to be waking up anytime soon." Lu Mingfei looked down at the red dragon cub in the formaldehyde.

“It has undergone multiple treatments to prevent it from waking up at will,” Angers said. “Normally, it should only wake up once in 2077, but now that you have it under control, I can have the vice principal remove the restrictions on it. I estimate that it will wake up after a while.”

"How long will it take? I need to go home." Lu Mingfei scratched his head.

"About a month to a year," Angers guessed.

"Isn't this time span a bit too long?" Lu Mingfei asked, his eyes wide.

“Our understanding of Gu Long is limited, so it’s hard to pinpoint the exact time,” Angers said. “However, you can stay at the school and wait. I can grant you special permission to live at the school during the holidays. There will be faculty and staff staying on campus during the holidays to maintain basic operations.”

Lu Mingfei hesitated for a moment, then shook his head: "Never mind, I promised an elder that I would go to Japan with him to discuss business."

“Japan?” Angers was taken aback, then nodded. “In that case, there’s nothing we can do… By the way, Mingfei, since we’re talking about business, do you want me to help you contact the academy’s branch in Japan? They’re quite influential there. If we’re talking about business, they might be able to help. Besides, I’m somewhat well-known among mixed-race people in Japan, so they should be happy to help.”

"Probably not," Lu Mingfei shook his head.

“Don’t be shy. Those people have a lot of influence in Japan and control many industries,” Angers said. “I have a student who controls the largest sex and entertainment industry in Japan. If he were to entertain you, the line of beautiful women could probably surround the Tokyo Tower.”

"Principal, I'm going to discuss serious business, industrial cooperation, not to pick up girls," Lu Mingfei said, scratching his head.

"There's no problem with the industrial sector either. Do you know Genji Heavy Industries?" Angers raised an eyebrow and said, "It's a super conglomerate that monopolizes more than half of Japan's heavy industry. Their new president even came to our academy for further studies a few years ago."

"Genji Heavy Industries?" Lu Mingfei was taken aback.

……

Before leaving, Lu Mingfei left the red dragon cub at the school for the time being. The reason was simple: even if he could get the academy's help to bypass customs, he couldn't keep it at home!

Putting everything else aside, he also has a little celestial maiden at home.

So after a brief hesitation, he sealed the red dragon cub back in and put it back in the ice cellar, to be taken out again in October when the cub officially started school.

Moreover, after consulting with the vice principal, the principal told him that the red dragon cub should awaken by the time he enrolled.

As for the matter of joining the Equipment Department that I mentioned before, it can only be processed after he officially enrolls. However, after hanging around in the Equipment Department for half a month, the group of otaku in the Equipment Department have already treated him as one of their own.

They were reluctant to see him leave, but when they heard he was going to Japan, they were all filled with envy and jealousy. Many even begged Lu Mingfei to go to Akihabara to bring them back figurines.

In addition, according to Susie's gossip, the student council president, Caesar, had been trying to invite him to meet, but because Lu Mingfei spent all his time either in his dormitory or holed up in the equipment department base, he had to give up.

Lu Mingfei didn't feel any regret, after all, he was the leader of the opposing force, and there didn't seem to be any need to meet him.

……

At O'Hare International Airport, Lu Mingfei waved goodbye to Deputy Director Karl, who had come to see him off. Karl was the representative sent by the members of the Equipment Department to see Lu Mingfei off. Because these shut-ins almost never went out, it was a big deal when someone went on a long trip, so they would choose a representative to see that person off.

Generally speaking, when it comes to choosing a representative, everyone tends to pass the buck, since none of these shut-ins want to go out. In fact, someone once suggested developing a farewell robot to represent everyone, but it was rejected by Director Akadula and Deputy Director Karl because "using a robot would lack sincerity."

But this time, Deputy Director Carl volunteered to be the representative, for a simple reason—he wanted to take this opportunity to persuade Lu Mingfei to join the Lolita faction.

Lu Mingfei is currently the only person in the Equipment Department who hasn't joined any faction, because he claims to be a philanthropist—meaning he likes anyone who is good-looking, whether they are lolis or mature women.

Deputy Director Karl and Director Akadula are both trying to recruit him, hoping he will join their faction to strengthen our side.

So on the way to see Lu Mingfei off, Deputy Director Karl told him about the advantages of having a little girl, which made Lu Mingfei somewhat swayed.

Fortunately, the journey from the academy to the airport wasn't too long, so before Lu Mingfei completely wavered, he had already arrived at the airport, waved goodbye to Deputy Director Karl, leaving Deputy Director Karl standing there regretting—they were so close, their Lolita Cult could have grown even stronger! So close!

……

Peacock Mansion Villa District.

Lu Mingfei was walking home, scratching his head as he went.

He promised Su Xiaoqiang he would come back before his birthday, but... he came back right on his birthday.

But... it shouldn't be a big problem, right?

Thinking this, Lu Mingfei had already walked to the side of his house and looked towards it. With his eyesight, he could clearly see the dining table in the living room through the glass.

There were many covered plates on the table, and in the center of the pile of plates was a large, unopened cake.

Su Xiaoqiang was sitting at the dining table, her hands supporting her chin, staring intently at the cake, with the corners of her mouth slightly turned down.

Suddenly, as if sensing something, she turned her head towards the window and met Lu Mingfei's gaze.

Su Xiaoqiang's clear, bright eyes lit up, and the corners of her mouth turned up slightly.

But she immediately turned her head away, leaving only the back of Lu Mingfei's head visible.

Lu Mingfei, standing outside the window, was completely bewildered.

Chapter 131 Birthday Gift

Night falls, at the Peacock Mansion, in Lu Mingfei's home.

Lu Mingfei sat at the dining table, upright with his legs together, hands folded on his knees, and back ramrod straight, exuding an air of "well-behavedness".