Dragon Raja: Lu Mingfei finds a Freylian

The tunnel fell into a deathly silence, with only the heavy breathing of the group and the crackling of the flames.

"Just now, it seemed to have spoken?" Lu Mingfei stammered.

"A final burst of energy? A remnant of consciousness?" Fingel put away his flamethrower, walked solemnly to the corpse, and carefully moved the tattered pieces of uniform with his foot, revealing the nameplate.

He carefully wiped away the dirt and tried to decipher the words on it.

"Kassel College, A-level student, Pacino. Word of Power: Kamaitachi. Disappeared in the autumn of 2000. He really was a member of the academy, and he turned out like this."

Chu Zihang silently sheathed his sword, walked to the corpse, and squatted down. He looked at the cloudy eyes that had finally lost their luster and remained silent for a moment.

Then, he stood up, his golden eyes scanning the tunnel wall that Deadpool had just tried to point to.

That wall looked no different from the rest of the wall, covered in stains.

Chu Zihang stepped forward and carefully tapped the scabbard of Murasame's sword.

Thump, thump, click!

A hollow echo emanated from one area.

With a strong pry, a loose brick was pried off, revealing a hidden space that had been artificially excavated.

Inside was something tightly wrapped in a waterproof tarpaulin.

Chu Zihang took it out and, under everyone's watchful eyes, unfolded the oilcloth layer by layer.

Inside was a notebook with hardened and brittle leather, the cover of which bore the half-dead World Tree emblem of Kassel College.

He carefully opened the notebook.

The paper is yellowed, and the writing is done with a fountain pen. Some parts are blurred due to dampness, but most of it is still legible.

The opening section contains daily training records and task notes, belonging to a student named Pacino.

Turning to the back, starting around the beginning of 2000, the recorded content gradually changed.

[3 month 15 day]

...Selected for the 'Nibelungen Project' preliminary list. An incredible honor. The principal said it was to prepare for a potentially huge future crisis, aiming to create hybrids capable of pushing the limits...

[5 month 2 day]

...The first phase of enhancement begins. The serum has been injected. It feels strange; my strength is increasing, my senses are becoming exceptionally sharp, especially my hearing, but occasionally I hear strange whispers in my mind...

[7 month 10 day]

...The Word of Power 'Kamaitachi' has undergone an unexpected evolution, able to capture even more subtle sounds and even begin to affect matter. The researchers are excited and have recorded all the data. But I'm a little scared; last night I almost shattered the dormitory window with my sound waves...

[8 month 22 day]

...Phase Two. Serum concentration increases. Pain; the body is tearing and rebuilding, requiring even stronger willpower to control. The whispers are clearer, as if urging something on...

[9 month 30 day]

...It got out of control. During a test, I nearly killed my sparring partners. I saw the fear in their eyes. Things, like worms, grew on my back, craving blood. I was isolated.

[10 month 11 day]

...I overheard the secret. The core of the 'Nibelungen Project' isn't simple enhancement at all! It's about purification, forcibly evolving towards a dragon-like form! The goal is to create a hybrid monarch completely obedient to the Academy! Those serums are based on ancient dragon embryonic stem cells and core substances from Nibelungen! This is taboo! This is wrong!

[10 month 20 day]

...They discovered I know the truth. To deal with me, I must escape and document everything. There are unusual reactions underground in Beijing. Perhaps it's related to the source of the serum. I must either warn them or find a way out...

My notes end here.

After that, there were only some meaningless, messy scratches, as the recorder struggled in extreme pain and madness.

Chu Zihang closed his notebook, his face expressionless, his knuckles turning slightly white from the force.

Nibelungen Project, Principal of Angers and Vice Principal Flamel.

Fingel leaned over to take a look, then cursed with a grim expression, "Damn! A half-blood king? What the hell was the academy up to back then?!"

Lu Mingfei also saw part of the content, "This is even more terrifying than becoming Deadpool."

Frillie looked silently at the notebook and sighed softly: "The pursuit of power leads to the loss of oneself, and ultimately, being consumed by power. Such tragedies are playing out in every world."

The Taoist priest and his junior sister also stepped forward, glanced at the contents of the notes, and both shook their heads and sighed: "Defying human ethics and violating heavenly rules will ultimately lead to retribution."

Chu Zihang wrapped the notebook again in the oilcloth and put it in his pocket. He looked at the corpse of Deadpool, formerly known as Pacino, on the ground with a complicated expression.

“So, the place Zhao Menghua mistakenly entered, and the place Pacino ultimately fled to to search for, may both be the same place,” Chu Zihang slowly said, “a Nibelungen source related to the ‘Nibelungen Project,’ and the Nibelungen related to that forbidden serum.”

He raised his head, his golden eyes gazing into the deeper darkness of the tunnel, where the aura of danger seemed to grow even stronger.

"We may be approaching a terrible secret that has been buried for more than 20 years."

The group fell silent again, and an atmosphere even heavier and more unsettling than before filled the air.

The darkness ahead was filled with bloodshed and human madness.

Chu Zihang gripped the village rain tightly.

"keep going."

Chapter 170 Office

The tunnel had no end, only the monotonous sound of the rails rubbing together beneath my feet and the perpetual dripping of water in the distance.

The adrenaline from the fierce battle with the vampire scythe-wielding deadpool gradually subsided, replaced by fatigue and tension.

Everyone was injured to some extent. Chu Zihang was exhausted after forcibly unleashing his Monarch Flame, Fingel was worn out using the large flamethrower, Lu Mingfei was on edge, and even Frilian was suffering from significant mana depletion from continuously using precise magic for interference and defense. Although Master Zhu and Junior Sister Lingdang did not directly participate in the battle, they also expended considerable mental energy maintaining the auxiliary formation.

"I can't go on, I can't go on, my legs are going to break and I'm going to have a mental breakdown," Fingel was the first to shout, leaning against the damp, cold wall and panting. "Just how big is this place? We need to find a place to catch our breath and check our equipment, otherwise if we run into something like that again, we might as well start eating right away."

Chu Zihang scanned the area ahead with his golden eyes, pondering for a moment. In his perception, the aura of danger in the surrounding area was relatively weak.

"Okay. We need to find a relatively easy-to-defend and difficult-to-attack location to rest."

After traveling for about ten more minutes, a structure bulging outwards appeared on one side of the tunnel.

A heavy, dark green iron door was half-open, with the words "Equipment Management Office" faintly written in white paint on it.

"This will do," Chu Zihang said, stepping forward and carefully pushing open the iron gate with the Murasame sword, which made a creaking sound that made your teeth ache. It was pitch black inside, with no unusual smells or sounds.

Fingel shone a powerful flashlight inside, illuminating a room that was about twenty square meters in size.

The scene in the room gave everyone a sudden sense of temporal and spatial displacement.

This is an office that looks like it was in the late 1990s.

The green wainscoting is mottled, the walls are painted with white lime but have turned yellow and are peeling, the old wooden desk has a dusty glass plate on the tabletop, under which are some yellowed forms and a blurry group photo.

Several wooden chairs were scattered haphazardly, some of their legs already rotten. In the corner stood several metal filing cabinets, their doors half-open, revealing them crammed full of paper documents.

On a table against the wall sits a heavy, convex-screen "big-back" television set, bearing the long-disappeared brand logo of "Peony" or "BJ".

Next to the television was a red plastic thermos with a cork at the top. An enamel mug lay on the floor, its surface bearing the words "Advanced Worker" in red ink, now heavily rusted.

Everything was covered by a thick layer of dust, frozen in time.

"Wow, an antique exhibition hall?" Lu Mingfei looked around curiously, wanting to touch the TV, but was stopped by Chu Zihang with a look.

"Be careful, there might be traps or contamination," Chu Zihang warned, but he himself relaxed a little.

The place felt too human, out of place with the overall atmosphere of Nibelungen, like a forgotten island.

“Safe.” Frilian sensed the magical fluctuations and elemental flows around her and shook her head gently. “It’s clean here, there’s no trace of curses or traps.”

Master Zhu and Lingdang also carefully examined the area, and the compass in Lingdang's hand became much more stable here.

"Although this room has been filthy for a long time, the yin and yang energies are relatively balanced and the evil energy is thin, so it can be used for resting temporarily."

After confirming that everyone was safe, they finally breathed a sigh of relief, and a wave of exhaustion washed over them.

Fingel plopped down unceremoniously on a wooden chair that looked fairly sturdy. The chair groaned in pain, but it held up.

"Oh my, I can finally rest. I feel like my legs don't even belong to me anymore," he said, grimacing as he pulled out compressed biscuits and water from his backpack for everyone.

Chu Zihang left the door slightly ajar and used a wooden stick he had taken from a chair to wedge it in place, leaving a gap so he could observe what was happening outside.

Then I went to the window, where there was a small vent facing the tunnel wall, which had long been sealed shut by rust and grime.

After listening intently for a moment and confirming that there was no unusual noise, he accepted the water and food that Fingel offered and leaned against the wall to eat and recover his strength.

Lu Mingfei found a relatively clean corner and squatted down, munching on a dry biscuit while curiously looking around the room.

"Tell me, where did everyone in this office go? Did they go home after get off work? Or...?" He didn't dare to finish his sentence, but everyone understood what he meant.

In this eerie Nibelungen, going home normally after get off work is clearly a luxury.

"Judging by the amount of dust, no one has been here for at least a decade," Fingel said, taking a sip of water and speaking indistinctly. "I guess it's probably doomed. But it's good, at least it's left us a place to rest."

Frillie didn't sit down, but walked quietly to the desk, her emerald green eyes sweeping over the photos under the glass.

The photo shows seven or eight subway staff members, both men and women, wearing blue uniforms, smiling brightly at the camera. The background is this office.

Their smiles were full of the simplicity and vitality unique to that era.

“They used to work and live here,” Frillie said softly, her fingertips brushing across the blurry smiling faces. “Maybe they were still discussing grocery shopping after get off work or their children’s homework. Fate is truly unpredictable.”

As an elf who has lived through a long period of time, she is particularly moved by this scene where time stands still and things have changed.

Junior Sister Lingdang whispered to Master Zhu, "Senior Brother, although the dust here is thick, there is no lingering resentment. It seems that the deceased did not suffer great pain or have strong obsessions here. It is fortunate amidst misfortune."

Master Zhu nodded: "Dust to dust, ashes to ashes. Perhaps they simply disappeared normally at the moment the 'change' occurred."

After a short rest and a meal, their strength recovered somewhat, and everyone began to explore the office.

Lu Mingfei became interested in the television set and tried pressing the power button, but there was no response.

"Oh no, this is bad! Do you think something like Sadako might crawl out of here?" He startled himself and quickly moved away from the TV.

Fingel was more interested in the metal filing cabinets.

"Maybe there's some internal map or duty log or something?" he muttered, putting on gloves and carefully pulling open the creaking cabinet door to start rummaging through it.

It mostly contained yellowed rules and regulations documents, equipment maintenance records, employee attendance sheets, and the like, full of a sense of age, but not of any particular value.

Chu Zihang checked the drawers of his desk. Inside were some ink bottles that had long since dried up, rusty fountain pens, kraft paper envelopes, and even a few faded Chairman Mao badges and a few ounces of old national grain coupons.

Everything is frozen in a moment in the past.

Frillie was drawn to a huge, slightly curled map of the Beijing subway system on the wall. It was an older version, and many of the later-built lines weren't marked.