Dragon Raja: Lu Mingfei finds a Freylian

“No,” Genjiro shook his head gently. “People who can so firmly believe in justice are happy people. People who can say with confidence that ‘bad things will never become right’ have never been forced to do bad things. They have never been cornered and had to choose between two bad things that are not so bad. They have never woken up in the middle of the night to find that the blood on their hands can’t be washed off no matter how hard they try. The fact that you can still believe in pure justice means that the world isn’t too bad for you. I really envy you.”

Caesar remained silent for a long time.

He thought of his past experiences, his family, and the shady dealings hidden beneath the glamorous facade. He remembered his mother's death and his father's perpetually cynical demeanor. Could he truly say such a thing with such conviction? Was it because the world hadn't been unkind to him? Or was it because he was too proud, too proud to acknowledge the many unbearable shadows of life in the world?

He raised an eyebrow but didn't continue the conversation.

“That sounds so pitiful,” Caesar said, his tone returning to its usual cynical tone. “But I don’t have time to wallow in your misery.”

He listened intently. He heard rustling footsteps above him, and someone shouting something. The sounds grew closer and clearer.

"I heard footsteps. Are your people coming?"

“It should be.” Genji also heard it; it was the sound of the Executive Bureau’s tactical boots stepping on the concrete. “Crow and Yaksha are quite good at finding people. They’ll search this floor soon and then find this rope.”

"Then goodbye," Caesar said, standing up from the beam and stretching his legs, which had gone numb from squatting. "Have a safe journey. Although you probably won't be very comfortable walking like that."

“We’ll be enemies again next time we meet,” Genjiro said. “Couldn’t you say something warm and tender before we part? Like, ‘We’ll always be friends’ or something?”

“Oh, do you want to hear that?” Caesar asked earnestly.

"No. I prefer to hear the truth."

"Hmm," Caesar thought for a moment, "I'm giving you a warning, don't get involved in this. If you can leave, leave Japan. This is not something you can get involved in, I'm serious. You're strong, but you haven't seen real monsters. Those things are not something an emperor can deal with."

“You might as well say ‘sayonara’,” Genjiro smiled.

"さよなら.", Caesar said.

さよなら means goodbye in Japanese, but sometimes it can also mean farewell forever.

"さよなら." Minamoto responded softly.

Caesar turned around, preparing to climb down the maintenance ladder leading to the next floor. But he suddenly stopped, turned back, and looked at the person hanging upside down in the darkness.

"People who could have been friends ended up like this," he said. "The world isn't cruel, it's bullshit."

After saying that, he disappeared into the darkness. Chu Zihang glanced at Yuan Zhisheng one last time, stuffed the remaining ointment into his pocket, and then climbed down as well.

The footsteps faded into the distance.

Yuan Zhisheng hung alone in the darkness, a nearly burned cigarette dangling from his mouth. He looked at the faint light filtering in from above and listened to the shouts that were getting closer and closer.

"Patriarch!" "Patriarch, where are you?!"

He suddenly remembered a little boy standing on the stage many years ago. Wearing a white sailor uniform with a red paper star on his chest, he sang the Ultraman song with all his might. Below the stage were the principal, teachers, and students. They were all smiling and clapping.

At that time, he believed he was a champion of justice.

At that time, he believed in light.

The cigarette butt burned his lips, and Yuan Zhisheng hissed softly before spitting it out. The faint red light traced a weak arc in the darkness, disappearing into the unfathomable depths.

Chapter 705 Boss, There's Something I Need You to Take a Look At (Part 1)

Darkness has regained its dominance.

The sound of Caesar and his men's footsteps completely disappeared into the depths of the elevator shaft, replaced by another sound—rapid and dense footsteps, tactical boots clanging on the metal stairs, accompanied by shouts echoing in the empty shaft.

"Patriarch!"

"Boss! Where are you?!"

"Execution Bureau First Squad, continue the search downwards! Second Squad, check the access doors on every floor!"

The crow's cry was sharp and anxious, tinged with near-madness. Genji could even picture that face—a furrowed brow, lips constantly licking from nervousness, and small eyes that seemed to be calculating something. The crow was usually always playful and carefree, but the panic in its voice at this moment inexplicably moved Genji; this bastard was genuinely worried about him.

The footsteps grew closer. Sakura's voice joined in, as cool and clear as ever, but a closer listen revealed cracks spreading beneath the ice: "Check the area above the elevator shaft! Get a flashlight! Quickly!"

Genji took one last deep drag on the cigarette he was holding. The mouthpiece was flattened by his teeth, and the burning end of the tobacco had reached the edge of the filter, emitting a slight burnt smell. He opened his mouth, letting the cigarette butt fall freely. The dark red dot traced a faint parabola, like a dying firefly, its last bit of warmth carrying it into the abyss below.

One second, two seconds, three seconds—

The cigarette butt didn't fall to the bottom.

It collided with something, and in that instant, the dark red light paused briefly as it fell, then rolled along the rough surface, igniting faint sparks along the way, like a shooting star streaking across the night sky, illuminating something that shouldn't have been illuminated.

A bluish-gray scale.

One piece, two pieces, ten pieces, a hundred pieces—countless pieces.

Scales covered the undulating body, each scale as large as an adult's palm, with sharp, knife-like edges, arranged in layers upon layers. The body was intertwined, like a giant having overturned a whole box of pythons, or like the sculpture of Laocoön and his son entwined by sea serpents in Greek mythology, only a hundred times larger. They piled up from the deepest part of the elevator shaft, all the way up to the height that a cigarette butt could reach.

How many meters? Thirty meters? Fifty meters? Or even deeper?

A cigarette butt rolled down, and red light slid down the edges of the scales, illuminating more things. Thick muscles, bulging spines, and bone spurs and claws that shouldn't be there. Some bodies were still twitching slightly, muscle fibers contracting instinctively without any life command, making the dead monsters look like they were turning over in their sleep. Many more were completely still, piled up into a pyramid of flesh and scales, exuding a strong, pungent stench—a mixture of blood, decay, and some indescribable animalistic smell, like a giant tomb whose lid had been lifted.

Deep inside the elevator shaft, piles of python-like corpses lay.

Those were the corpses of Deadpools. Not one, not ten, but hundreds. Genji couldn't even estimate the exact number, because the bodies were so tightly intertwined that it was impossible to distinguish where one ended and another began. They piled up from the bottom of the shaft, turning the lower half into a giant snake pit. Some Deadpools remained in their life postures, heads tilted back, mouths full of sharp teeth, as if trying to climb upwards even in their dying moments; some were curled up in a ball, like fetuses in the womb; and some were tearing at each other, one tooth deeply embedded in the neck of another, not letting go even in death.

That's why the elevator can't go down.

That's why there's a faint, fishy smell permeating the elevator shaft.

They died here, piled up here, and rotted here. Yuan Zhisheng was just hanging directly above these corpses, probably only thirty or forty meters away from the nearest Dead Servant corpse.

The beam of light from the flashlight pierced the darkness from above.

"The boss's over there!" Crow practically shrieked. "Quick! Lower the rope! What the hell are you all standing around for?! Save him!"

The beam of light flickered on Genji, then moved downwards, landing on Deadpool's corpse. In an instant, all sound ceased. Crow stood at the edge of the elevator shaft, his flashlight shining directly downwards, his beak agape, but no sound came out. Sakura stood beside him, her face as pale as a sheet, her hands gripping the railing tightly. The other members of the Execution Bureau were also frozen in place, as if collectively petrified.

After a long while, the crow finally found its voice: "Holy shit..."

It took them nearly half an hour to get Genji down from the beam. The purple rope, soaked in water, had swelled and tightened, the sailor's knot getting stuck, and they finally had to cut it with a knife. When Genji's feet finally touched solid ground, he could barely stand. Not from weakness, but from the fact that the prolonged upside-down position had disrupted his balance. Sakura supported him; her fingers were cold but trembling slightly.

“Young Master, we…” Crow hesitated, his gaze drifting towards the elevator shaft, “We found this place while we were looking for you all over the building.”

He pointed to a door at the end of the corridor. The door should have been locked, but the lock had been pried open, and the door was ajar, letting in a faint light.

“Before we go in, Boss, I have to say a few words,” Crow said, blocking Genji's path, his expression unusually serious. “The situation inside looks pretty bad. You're so weak right now, Boss, we shouldn't have brought you here immediately. You should have gone to the infirmary to lie down, get a blood transfusion and painkillers, and get some rest. But—”

He paused for a moment and exchanged a glance with Yaksha.

“What’s in here is far too important,” he said in a low voice. “So important that the three of us dare not hide it from anyone, including you. We originally wanted to report it to Mr. Masamune first, but, but this is something you should know first. The responsibility of concealing information is something the three of us cannot bear. Boss, do you understand what I mean?”

As he spoke, his gaze remained fixed on Genji's eyes. His eyes held unspoken words, a multitude of unsaid thoughts. Crow was never one for words; he was adept at solving problems with violence, not conveying subtle messages through language. But at this moment, his eyes clearly said: Boss, this matter might involve people none of us want to get involved with. Be prepared.

"Hmm? When did you become so long-winded?" Genji frowned.

Chapter 706 The Second Generation Deadpool

Genjiro's condition was terrible. Although the wound in his abdomen had begun to heal, it was only at the surface and muscle level; the internal damage was far from recovering quickly. With each step, he could feel his internal organs sloshing around in his abdominal cavity, a dull pain like someone slowly churning his stomach with a blunt knife. Excessive blood loss caused his vision to blur intermittently, his temples to throb, and his ears to ring. But by supporting himself on Sakura's shoulders, he could barely walk. Sakura's shoulders were thin, yet very steady, like the force supporting him to continue forward.

The doctor had just given him a quick treatment, unwrapping the bandages Caesar and the others had used, cleaning the wound, applying a more specialized ointment, and then re-bandaging it. The doctors all gasped when they saw his wound, but no one dared ask how the patriarch could have suffered such an injury, no one dared ask what kind of knife could have cut open the Emperor's body. They simply worked in silence, treating him with the utmost professional skill, and then withdrew.

After treating the wound, Crow approached and said furtively, "I have something important, boss. Do you want to see it?" His expression was furtive, like a street vendor selling stolen goods. Genji initially wanted to refuse; he wanted to go back to sleep and forget everything that had happened that day. But he saw the unusual tension in Crow's eyes, so he nodded.

After entering the same underground level as the Iron Dome, they took an elevator that even Genjiro didn't know about to descend. The elevator was hidden behind a door disguised as a wall, and the buttons had no markings, only three rusty numbers: -3.

The elevator moved slowly, creaking and groaning, as if it hadn't been used for many years. No one spoke as it descended. Sakura stood beside Genji, one hand constantly on his arm; Crow and Yaksha stood in front, their backs to them, but their shoulders were visibly tense.

The elevator doors opened, revealing a long, narrow corridor. The walls on both sides were covered in water stains, and half of the fluorescent light tubes on the ceiling were out of order, the remaining ones emitting a pale, lifeless glow that obscured all color. The floor was covered in a sticky liquid that creaked slightly underfoot, like some kind of secretion.

They finally arrived at a rusty iron gate.

There should have been a lock on the iron gate, but it had been pried open, obviously done by Crow and his gang.

Yuan Zhisheng already had a general idea of ​​what lay behind the iron gate. From the corpses of the Deadpools in the elevator shaft to the sticky liquid on the corridor floor, everything pointed to one conclusion: the floor here was covered in slime, and there was no doubt that a large group of Deadpools had walked this path on their bellies. Therefore, behind the iron gate was the Deadpools' lair.

He initially guessed that Deadpool swam into Genji Heavy Industries through the sewers, which was the most reasonable explanation. Tokyo's sewer system is extensive, connecting every corner of the city, and Deadpool could easily have infiltrated the underground dock through the sewers. However, the dock security personnel said that apart from a shark that had wandered into the sewers, they hadn't seen anything unusual. They had even managed to salvage the shark and make it into shark fin soup.

That leaves only one possibility, a possibility that Genji has always refused to consider:

Deadpool's lair is in this building.

Right at his feet.

Right beneath the place where he worked, held meetings, ate, and slept every day, in the heart of the Snake Clan, which he thought was absolutely safe, there was a breeding farm, a breeding farm specifically for raising Dead Servants.

"Get out of the way!" Genji pushed open the iron gate.

The iron gate creaked open slowly. The light inside made him squint, and then he saw everything clearly.

Despite being somewhat prepared, seeing this scene in person still sent chills down Genjiro's spine and made him tremble slightly.

This was a huge basement, at least half the size of a football field, and over ten meters high. The walls were covered with all sorts of tools—rusty iron operating tables, each stained with blood; sharp knives, from scalpels to bone cutters, neatly arranged on shelves; gear saws for cutting bones, with bits of meat still clinging to their teeth; and strings of iron hooks hanging from the air, like the kind used to hang pork in a slaughterhouse.

Coupled with the pervasive stench of blood in the air—a sweet, pungent, and nauseating odor—this place looked exactly like a slaughterhouse. No, this was a slaughterhouse.

But what's truly shocking is the wall.

The opposite wall was entirely constructed of glass bricks, each half a meter square and ten centimeters thick, stacked layer upon layer to form a transparent wall. Behind this wall should have been a huge water tank. Judging from the limescale and algae remaining on the glass bricks, the tank was once full of water. But now, the glass brick wall has collapsed, and huge glass bricks are scattered all over the ground.

Tens of thousands of tons of water had spilled from the water tank at the back, leaving half a foot of water on the ground. The water had flooded the entire basement, flowing slowly beneath our feet, icy cold and carrying a strong, fishy stench. In the water, a creature resembling a young snake was still twitching. Yes, it was still moving, still convulsing, still struggling.

These creatures ranged in length from half a meter to a meter, with slender bodies covered in newly grown white scales. These scales were thin and soft, not yet fully keratinized, and had a translucent quality under the light. Yet, they already possessed sharp, bony claws. These claws grew from their short limbs, curved like hooks, with tips sharp enough to easily tear through flesh. Their muscles had begun to bulge menacingly, forming two thick, fleshy ridges along either side of their spines—a muscular structure unique to reptiles, capable of unleashing astonishing power.

As expected, he's the second Deadpool.

They have much stronger bodies than the first Deadpool—that's what the textbooks say, but seeing them with his own eyes, Genji truly understood the meaning of that statement. The first Deadpool were humans who had transformed; their bodies still retained the skeletal structure of humans, only mutated upon that foundation. But these second-generation Deadpools, propagated from the first generation, have completely departed from human form; they are pure monsters, true monsters.

However, these young Deadpools haven't had a chance to grow up yet.

Trapped in the puddles, they struggled, convulsed, and made faint hissing sounds. Some were already dead, their bellies turned white, floating silently on the surface; others were still alive, desperately pawing at the water with their newly grown claws, trying to crawl in one direction, but could only spin in circles.

Genji took the Glock 17 from the crow; it was a standard model, with the magazine full of 9mm Parabellum rounds. He checked the magazine, pulled the slide, and chambered a round.

Chapter 707 Human-Raised Dead Servants

Yuan Zhisheng walked into the floodwater and shot each of the unborn babies in the heart.

Gunshots echoed in the empty basement, one, two, three. Each shot was accompanied by spurts of black blood. The black blood spread in the stagnant water like blooming flowers. With each gunshot, a convulsing body came to a standstill.

Yuan Zhisheng's hands were steady. He aimed, pulled the trigger, and changed targets without any hesitation. He didn't know how many shots he fired, maybe a dozen, maybe twenty, until the magazine was empty, until there was nothing left to move in the water.

He returned the gun to the crow, who took it, looked down, and noticed that Genji's hand was trembling slightly.

“These things are artificially bred,” Crow said, covering his mouth with a handkerchief as he spoke. Although he had once been a ruthless scoundrel in the underworld, having driven many people to ruin through loan sharking, the thought of such bloodshed still made his stomach churn.

He paused, took a deep breath, and continued, “We found a large number of fish, cattle, and sheep skeletons in the tank. The kind of whole cows, with the ribs still intact, gnawed clean. There were also Deadpool corpses. The skeletons of adult Deadpools, gnawed down to the skeleton, with teeth marks on the bones. These things will eat anything when they’re hungry.”