Dragon Raja: Lu Mingfei Returns from Sekiro

Because sometimes, if you miss your chance, the enemy will immediately regain their momentum, which means you've wasted your time.

"No, no, this is a society governed by law now." Lu Mingfei shook his head repeatedly, banishing the dark thoughts from his mind.

He didn't know how long he had been there, but it probably wasn't very long, maybe a year or two.

Compared to his eighteen years of life, that was only one-tenth, yet it was far more profound than the remaining nine-tenths.

He had almost forgotten what the air of peace smelled like; there was only the stench of blood and the gunpowder of flintlock muskets.

War, immortality, famine...

People living in peacetime can hardly imagine what a hellish scene that must have been.

He took a deep breath; the air smelled sweet like pineapples from the vendor downstairs, oily like leftover food from the kitchen, and also reeked of smelly socks.

Lu Mingze had a pair of white socks stuffed into his shoes, rolled up like balls. These were sweaty socks for someone who was 160 centimeters tall and weighed 160 kilograms. Just thinking about it made one hold their nose.

But Lu Mingfei actually missed the stench.

He didn't know if he was being shameless or what, but he actually found that chubby little boy's face somewhat cute.

Compared to those undead and giant monsters, Lu Mingze, with his delicate skin and tender flesh, would be more than worthy of being placed on the roof of Ashina Castle as a mascot.

"Find some time to delete that QQ account."

After being tempered by life and death, those little thoughts become like the squabbles of kindergarten children.

He didn't like his cousin in the past because the chubby boy always bossed him around, saying things like, "You live in my house, so you should do this and that."

The two attended the same high school, but his cousin not only had better grades than him, but also dressed more elegantly. Whenever there were girls eating together, he would insist on paying the bill, and his aunt and uncle would dress very smartly to attend Lu Mingze's parent-teacher conferences. Therefore, he had the nickname "Prince Ze".

If it weren't for the fact that his waist is wider than his shoulders, my cousin would have found a girlfriend long ago.

My cousin's online name is "Lonely Gluttonous Snake," and he copied many sad sentences into his QQ space.

For example, "If you love, love deeply; if you don't love, leave." and "When the fish cries, the water knows; when I cry, who knows?"

Coupled with his own close-up photos taken with his phone, and occasionally photos of him pretending to have cut his wrists with red ink, even in the "Funeral Love Family," he is undoubtedly the Prince of Ze.

Lu Mingfei has a pseudonym, "The Marks of Sunset," with a profile picture of a short-haired, pretty little girl who is 16 years old. Her personal motto is "Let your smiles and sorrows become the marks of my life."

While Lu Mingze was surfing the internet at home, he went to an internet cafe to chat up "Lonely Snake".

My little cousin was completely infatuated with me and kept asking to meet me every day. But Lu Mingfei always arranged to meet my cousin when he was going to his piano lesson. Watching his aunt carry the chubby boy away made him very happy.

However, in Lu Mingfei's current view, he was really too naive back then, actually being happy all day over such a small thing.

Ten minutes of fun is enough, no more.

I tiptoed out the door, trying not to disturb my cousin's nap.

He answered his aunt's question and slowly walked out the door.

"Strange, this kid gives off a weird vibe," Aunt and her husband were completely baffled.

She couldn't quite put her finger on it, but she felt like he had become a different person.

In the past, Lu Mingfei would have readily agreed and run out the door without even glancing at her. But just now, Lu Mingfei actually smiled at her, and goosebumps immediately rose on her arms, and she felt a chill run down her spine.

"Let's try not to yell at him too much." She was really afraid that Lu Mingfei was having mental problems.

The corridor was quiet. The afternoon sun shone warmly into him through the window at the end of the corridor. Pure white sheets were drying in the corridor. Outside the window, the wind rustled the green leaves. He leaned against the door, listening to his aunt's mutterings. Separated by the door, it felt like he was in another world.

"I really want Jiulang and Mi Niang to see this too." He let the sunlight shine on his body through the gaps between his fingers.

Without him, what will Jiulang and Mi Niang do? Who will protect them?

What will become of the power of the Dragon's Blood?

All he could think about were these things: the college entrance exam, getting into a top-tier university, and even the girl in the white dress—she was kept far away by a high wall.

He was still him, eighteen-year-old Lu Mingfei, but something was different about him.

Chapter Three: Letters from America

"Mingfei, everyone says you're going to study abroad," the old man at the newsstand said casually.

"No, it's just an application." Lu Mingfei smiled at everyone.

His smile was a little stiff, because he hadn't smiled in a long time.

In Ashina Castle, he only smiled at a few people, but he didn't talk much because he couldn't speak Japanese and only knew a few simple phrases.

"Studying abroad is great. You become a 'sea turtle' (a term for someone who returns from studying abroad) when you come back, and you earn a lot of money."

"Yes, if I could, I would like to go to the other side of the sea."

"The other side of the sea? I've heard that Turtle Valley in America is really amazing. The turtles that come back from there all make a lot of money."

"Hahaha." Lu Mingfei didn't reply.

He didn't want to go to America, but to Japan.

The people of Ashina all speak Japanese. Perhaps in this island nation, one can find something related to Ashina Castle.

He still has unfinished business; at the very least, let him learn about what's happening over there.

Only then, whether he goes to university or starts working, can he continue with peace of mind.

Mi Niang is blind and her body has become cold. I wonder if someone else will bring her persimmons again?

For now, he'll keep that adventure to himself and be a law-abiding citizen, exploring the truth he seeks within the bounds of the law.

After all, there are no immortals in this world, no Sakura Dragons, no Guardian Apes, and no Red Oni.

Nine years of compulsory education taught him that this is a world that values ​​science and resists superstition.

As for the red dots of the ninja assassination that Lu Mingfei could see, as well as the parry and detection techniques he knew by heart, he should just keep them as secret martial arts manuals.

Compared to real-life fighting, he prefers sitting in front of the computer screen playing StarCraft or King of Fighters, and Romance of the Three Kingdoms is also quite good.

He stayed at his aunt's house because his parents were overseas; they were archaeologists doing research that would shock the world.

It is said that if it is unearthed, it will shock the world like Sven Hedin's discovery of the ancient city of Loulan. They have been abroad for this research.

Lu Mingfei hadn't seen his parents for over six years, and with the two years he spent in Ashina Castle, it had been eight years—a really, really long time.

They would write back every six months, but each time her mother wrote, she would regretfully tell her that her plan to return to China to visit him had to be postponed again because "things have taken a new turn."

In addition, there would be a considerable amount of US dollars, and the BMW belonging to his aunt's family, as well as Lu Mingze's tutoring classes, all depended on that living allowance.

He was very proud of his parents when he was in junior high school. He read a lot of books on archaeology and often showed them off to his brothers. He and his classmates would talk about it with great interest as they walked on the path outside the school gate.

A row of brothers swayed and staggered along, taking up half the street. They talked loudly and swayed from side to side, but soon a car would come to pick them up.

One of the slackers immediately straightened up, climbed into the car, and left.

One by one, the people left, leaving only Lu Mingfei kicking pebbles and wandering around.

His brothers envied his freedom. Looking out through the car window, they saw Lu Mingfei's figure moving freely into the distance.

“Lu Mingfei’s family treats him the best; they never interfere with him.”

He can go shopping at the mall whenever he wants, buy ice cream whenever he wants, and also play billiards and watch movies.

Actually, he never goes shopping when he's alone. He just sits in an internet cafe until he gets tired of it, then goes home.

They went into the building but didn't go inside. Instead, they crawled through the iron railing leading to the roof, sat next to the buzzing air conditioner unit, and watched the sun set in the west.

Thinking back to that time, I felt lonely and pathetic, yet I still had to save face in front of my classmates.

Lu Mingfei shook his head.

Everyone has their own obsessions, and he had long ago come to understand this truth amidst war and fire.

For his parents, archaeological excavation was their obsession, even more important than their children.

He wouldn't blame his parents. If a door were placed in front of him, telling him that if he walked through it, he could return to Ashina, but at the cost of not being able to see his parents for ten years, he thought that after some hesitation, he would also walk in with Kusabimaru.

He no longer needs anyone else's love, because he can love himself.

In a war-torn world, he had seen far more miserable people than himself.

A merchant who sells goods even after losing both legs, an old woman unable to awaken from hallucinations after her son's death, a nobleman who transforms into a monster in his pursuit of immortality...

His little difficulties are like a funny joke; if there were a competition to see who could have the most miserable experience, he would be eliminated in the preliminary rounds.

Having enough to eat, clothes, education, games to play, and even a girl you secretly admire and dream about every night—what an amazing life!

"Is there any mail for me?" Lu Mingfei peeked out from the doorway of the gatehouse, speaking in a drawn-out English accent, "Mingfei Lu."

"Yes, it's from the United States." The gatekeeper tossed out a letter.

The envelope contained only a thin sheet of paper, clearly a rejection letter.

Acceptance letters usually come with a thick stack of forms and introductory materials. But a letter thanking you for your application and expressing regret that you were not accepted only needs a single printed sheet.

Upon tearing open the envelope, I was surprised to find that the letter was written in Chinese.

The idea of ​​studying abroad came from my aunt, who had a sudden inspiration and insisted on it. She forced Lu Mingfei to fill out the application forms and generously paid several tens of dollars in application fees for each school.

Of all Lu Mingfei's subjects, only English was decent. He also had a stroke of luck when he took the TOEFL with the English whiz in his class, and scored well. With his grades, it would be difficult for him to get into a top-tier university. If he could get an acceptance letter from an American university, it would be a way of making up for the money his parents sent him.

To be honest, he had been chopping in Ashina for two years, and his hands were numb from it all. He had long forgotten all those messy English characters and dizzying numbers.

You can't possibly review Newton's three laws of motion and calculate acceleration and parabola during a duel to determine the most suitable position to strike in force analysis, can you?

This is simply not theoretically possible.

Drawing and sheathing the knife had become an instinct for Lu Mingfei. He suspected that if he were to take a test now, he would probably spend half a day pondering even the first multiple choice in math, and finally recite his unique secret between twirling his pen and counting: "If there are three short and one long, choose the longest; if there are two long and two short, choose C."

The moment he touched the paper, he finally realized the problem.

It's May now, less than a month until the college entrance exam. How can he possibly pick up all the forgotten knowledge in such a short time and answer the questions calmly in the exam room?

Let alone studying in Japan, even getting into a university is a problem.

Lu Mingfei, facing a major crisis in his college admission!

Chapter Four: Dudududu~

Even after years of fighting and killing in Ashina Castle, memories flood back like a tide when you sit in your old seat in your old middle and high school classroom.

Lu Mingfei remembered that he had received replies from more than a dozen universities, and it seemed that only one or two remained unanswered.