Dragon Raja: Lu Mingfei Returns from Sekiro

Every time Lu Mingfei entered the illusion, he heard the sound of bells.

Lu Mingze laughed wildly: "So that's how it is!"

Chapter Sixty: The Burning Swan

A figure entered the boiler room and threw a smoking cigar into a tank filled with fuel oil. The raging flames rushed into the cold storage in just one second.

The raging fire baked the hard ice, and within the ice, a thumb-sized embryo was vaguely visible.

The man had vanished without a trace before the fire spread completely.

On the top floor of this building, a searchlight shone down, and a huge black shadow floated in the air. Its rotors churned up the snowflakes, and the wind howled. It was the heavy helicopter from the Lenin—the Halo.

The rope ladder was lowered and tilted by the wind. The dark figure leaped and grabbed the rope ladder with one hand, took a deep drag on his cigar, and exhaled a puff of smoke.

His pupils shimmered with a magnificent gold, reflecting the blazing firelight.

“My dear Herzog, the power of the monarchy is not so easy to control. If you want to inherit the power of the gods, you must bear the sins of the gods. It’s just a pity that you will not live to see the day the new emperor is born.”

"We have waited a thousand years, and finally the emperor we were destined to be has arrived. The emperor will sit on the throne. Feel honored. Your bones will become the steps for the new emperor's ascension to the throne."

He gestured to the helicopter pilot, and the propeller roared as it soared higher and farther away, seemingly trying to break through the barrier of the sky and escape from the world's greatest prison.

A cigar fell from the sky and was instantly consumed by flames.

The building wailed in flames, the melting snow resembling the blood flowing from a swan's body in the red glow of the fire. The fire spread rapidly, engulfing not only this building, but also the sentry post, the lighthouse, the warehouse...

The leaping flames climbed rapidly, like mischievous little fire devils, painting every spot with flame-patterned graffiti.

The miniature bombs hidden between the floor slabs began to explode, causing the floor slabs to fall piece by piece, shattering into pieces on the ground. Hot white steam shot out from the rows of ventilation ducts, and the red-hot steel pipes gradually bent. Various sounds merged into the dying song of this black swan.

The naked men and women, entwined in the flames, were engulfed by the fire. They screamed in agony, and finally, their vision cleared.

They remembered, letting out ghostly wails and screams, as a group of returning spirits danced in the flames.

On that burning Christmas night, the flames were everyone's dance partner.

This time, they still couldn't escape their destined fate and returned to hell once again.

...

The lieutenant led the way without saying a word.

He forgot which year he arrived at Black Swan Harbor. He signed a confidentiality agreement, and from then on, his name was no longer in any of the files. They had no contact with the outside world, no telephone lines, and no radio. The only way to learn about the outside world was by reading newspapers.

Every year, the Lenin ship brings a whole year's worth of newspapers and supplies, so their information lags behind the outside world by a whole year.

A year ago, he believed that their communism was invincible and that everything would pass. A year later, however, he heard that the country would cease to exist.

The lieutenant didn't know what research the doctor was doing at Black Swan Harbor. He wasn't a researcher; he only knew that it was highly classified research. Within the military, only a handful of people knew of Black Swan Harbor's existence, and that it received a huge amount of national funding every year.

Perhaps his country has already disintegrated, and politicians have found a port on the map that has no name or annotations, but has many records of funding.

Why would politicians be interested in research?

He thought of Major Bondarev. So much money and effort had been spent hiding Black Swan Port. Even if it was to be destroyed, at least they should find out what was being researched there.

The major was the vanguard who came to spy. He and the doctor reached an agreement to take all the research data with them, and everything else just needed to be destroyed.

One clause in the confidentiality agreement states that your life will forever belong to your country; to give your life for your motherland, you are a great communist.

But does his homeland still exist?

He had few friends, his parents had died long ago, and he only had his grandmother, who was in a nursing home due to Alzheimer's. Only soldiers and nurses like him could pass the screening and enter Black Swan Port to serve their indefinite military service.

After signing the agreement, he received a large sum of money, which he gave to a girl, entrusting her with the care of his grandmother, and promising that all the money would belong to the girl after his grandmother's death.

She was an ordinary girl with freckles on her face and brown hair that was always tied in braids. He and the girl were neighbors when he was a child, and when he was so hungry that he couldn't stand it, the girl would steal bread from her house for him to eat.

Perhaps the girl is already married and has children. He wants to go back to Moscow to see the children who are almost grown up calling him uncle. If his grandmother were still alive, he would also like to give a hug to the old woman who always whipped him at night.

He never experienced the warmth of a family in his life, had one-night stands with nurses, but never had a lover with whom he would spend his whole life, nor any relatives who cared about him. Only that girl, when he thought of the two of them sitting on the earthen steps throwing stones at the haystacks where the cattle were fed, still brought a smile to his face like a child.

He didn't want to die here, without even a grave, buried forever in the untouched Arctic permafrost, never to receive a single flower on his death anniversary. Such a life would be a complete failure.

He has contributed enough to his country. He went to the battlefield, charged at the forefront, fired his gun in the trenches, and watched his comrades fall one by one, their bodies covered in blood that he didn't know if it was his own or his comrades'. He was carried on a stretcher by nurses to a wounded and sick camp full of soldiers with severed limbs.

He didn't want to go through that again, which is why he signed the agreement and came to Port Black Swan. Now, politicians aren't even willing to give a martyr a peaceful old age.

3781 kilometers. If you keep going in this direction, you'll reach Moscow.

Of course, the actual journey wouldn't be that long. When you see the train tracks, you've reached your destination. But he didn't know where the tracks were, so he could only keep moving forward in the direction he was looking out at in the night.

Lu Mingfei followed closely behind the lieutenant, but the firelight came from behind him.

The two stood still in the dark night, turning back to look at the vibrant painting.

It was a magnificent scene, like a grand curtain call, where the lieutenant had spent many years. He was glad he had run away early, or he would have become a dancer on the stage.

But he also felt sorrow, for so many people had been buried and become victims.

Life, which politicians see as a meaningless string of numbers, is to him a boast after passionate kisses and strong drinks.

Verkhoyansk, an air force base, where orbiting satellites captured images of the Black Swan Harbor engulfed in flames.

The pilots of the Su-27 medium fighter jets received orders, and the engines of the fighter jets roared deafeningly as a squadron of fighter jets took off to carry out the order.

Chapter Sixty-One Accompaniment

Renata stood in the firelight, gently stroking Agata's head.

She was waiting for something to emerge from the raging flames, to have wings that could cover the sky, to fly in the clear night sky, and to obscure the stars.

The flames started burning earlier than she expected; she had to find the person before the bomb detonated.

She took out a white tin box containing a withered flower branch.

“Good boy, help me find him.” She placed the tin box on Agata’s nose, and the sled started moving again, heading away from the firelight.

The blizzard diluted the scents, and the traces on the snow were covered by new snowflakes within seconds. She didn't know if she had enough time, but she didn't care; she was willing to sacrifice anything for him.

...

The lieutenant's hands were frozen stiff, and the minute hand on his watch had completed another full circle; they had been advancing for two hours.

Walking against the wind was really strenuous; he was panting heavily, his body chilled by the biting wind.

He was the only one like this. The masked man showed no signs of fatigue. He didn't even use a pole, but instead used a shortened skateboard for support, moving forward in a half-running, half-gliding manner, which consumed much more energy than gliding.

"Can...can we have a rest?" (I can't walk anymore)

Lu Mingfei thought for a moment and said, "Okay, just a minute."

From here, you can also see the dazzling flames in the distance.

They had gone far enough, but Lu Mingfei still felt uneasy. He always felt that they needed to go even further, much further.

Just then, a rustling sound came from inside.

Lu Mingfei immediately became alert.

He stood up, pulled a rifle out of his backpack and handed it to the lieutenant, then pulled the safety on the remaining gun. All the guns were with him, because at first he didn't quite trust the lieutenant, but now the lieutenant had nowhere to go back to.

They walked together for two hours in the lonely snow; they were no longer strangers.

The lieutenant's nerves tightened as he looked at Lu Mingfei, who was holding a gun. He was a deserter, and according to regulations, he should be executed.

The barking of dogs could be heard. The lieutenant recognized the gray sled and the dogs; he had driven that vehicle before.

Someone was coming to put him on military trial! He immediately pointed his gun at the sled.

However, Lu Mingfei lowered his gun because he saw who was pulling the reins.

It was a little girl, and she looked so thin that a gust of wind seemed to be able to blow her over.

There was only a little girl on the sled, which carried a heavy anti-aircraft machine gun, but no shooter.

Without a doubt, the girl came for them.

Lu Mingfei lowered his gun and took back the lieutenant's gun as well.

"Don't fire, stay here, I will deal."

That was the best mode of transportation in the snow, and he didn't want any hidden shots to frighten the dogs.

Lu Mingfei wouldn't let his guard down just because the other party was a little girl. The fact that she could make an appearance in this way meant that the child was no ordinary person. Even he hadn't managed to get a sled, but the child was waving the reins in her hand with a nonchalant expression.

He pulled out the wedge-shaped pill and stared intently at the girl's figure.

The sled stopped, and the girl in white jumped off and slowly walked towards Lu Mingfei.

"Get in the car quickly, we don't have time," Renata said.

Lu Mingfei didn't react for a moment because she was speaking Chinese.

"Who are you? Do you recognize me?" Lu Mingfei asked with a frown. He took off his silk scarf, revealing his face, and spoke in Chinese.

The lieutenant's pupils contracted sharply upon seeing the face.

“There are forty-eight vacuum bombs buried in Black Swan Harbor. Once they are detonated, everyone will be affected unless they escape to a distance of more than 10 kilometers,” Renata said calmly.

She approached Lu Mingfei, who calmly sheathed his knife. The little girl's figure swayed precariously in the wind. She had no strength at all, and her stance was pitifully weak. Even just standing there, Lu Mingfei could see the red ninja mark on her neck. She... was very weak, just a frail child.

How did such a frail child manage to drive a sled? And how did he push that heavy weapon up there?

He had many questions, but... if the bomb was real, then they really didn't have time.

It was difficult to move forward against the wind in the blizzard. If he were alone, he should have reached the safe zone by now, but he slowed down to take care of the lieutenant, which meant they still had at least 3 kilometers to go.

He didn't know why, but he had a strange sense of trust in the little girl, as if... they had known each other for a long time.

"Let's get in the car quickly, we can explain everything in the car," Lu Mingfei said.

"Wait a minute, help me hold him down, he has a tracking device on his neck." Renata took out a small knife.

"Mm." Lu Mingfei nodded and, without any hesitation, firmly pressed the lieutenant onto the snow.

The lieutenant was terrified. The knife was cut into his neck, and he thought he was going to die.

Number 38 and that guy were in cahoots; he knew what happened that day.

After a brief period of intense pain, Number 38 simply placed a tiny, flashing machine stained with blood in his hand and said, "This is a transmitter. Crush it, and you will be free."

...