“No, it’s not like a hacker… it’s like… the hand of God… tipping the scales of wealth,” Henkel said softly. “Starting now, monitoring Lu Mingfei becomes a priority.”
“Understood. If there’s nothing else, I’ll leave now.” The man played with the glass of tequila, the brown liquid containing a curled-up butterfly larva. “Henkel, you must’ve been a cool cowboy back in the day—you even choose your drinks like a cowboy.”
“Tequila from Tequila Town, pure blue agave, top quality.” Henkel pushed a silver tray with fine salt and lemon slices toward the man. “Try it.”
“If I’d known there’d be drinking, I’d have dressed as Zorro,” the man lamented. “Colonel Sanders is a bit cumbersome.”
He carefully widened the mouth hole in the paper bag, deftly sprinkled some fine salt on the web between his thumb and index finger, grabbed a lemon slice, raised the glass with his right hand, and stared at the butterfly larva curled in the brown liquid, taking a deep breath. “A real man’s drink!”
He took a lick of the lemon, licked the salt clean off his hand, and then threw back the entire glass of tequila, finishing by loudly spitting the insect onto the silver tray.
“Wow!” He exclaimed comfortably, twisting his body. “It feels like a fireball just rolled into my stomach!”
“You really are a performer. Now roll yourself out of here like a ball, and don’t forget to close the door.” Henkel said flatly. “And by the way, change what you’re covering your face with. Your paper bag’s about to tear.”
“That won’t stop me.” The guest rotated the bag, moving the tear to the back of his head, the intact side covering his face.
“See you next time, Sheriff Henkel.” He stood, saluting like a Texas lawman, then turned to leave.
“Bang!” He bumped into the doorframe.
“Forgot to poke eye holes… damn!” he muttered, fumbling his way out.
Henkel silently watched out the window, wondering whether entrusting the future of hybrids to someone like that was an act of bravery or madness.
The Maserati sped along the highway, the hardtop open. An old man and a young man wore sunglasses, with sunlight and wind splashing against their faces.
“Give this to the Academic Affairs Committee, and they’ll cancel your makeup exam,” Anjou handed Lu Mingfei a hastily written note.
“That’s it?” Lu Mingfei took the paper that determined his GPA. It was just a slip of paper, not even stamped.
“This is a special authorization from the Principal,” Anjou glanced at him. “I rarely use this privilege, so as not to let the School Board question my fairness as an educator.”
“Principal, you seem very serious…” Lu Mingfei cautiously peeked at Anjou and turned to glance at the back seat, where the heavy black case containing the alchemical weapons worth one hundred million dollars lay.
They were like two big thieves, fresh from robbing the Dragon Slayer from a martial arts meeting at Shaolin Temple, fleeing on horseback. Shouldn’t they be laughing triumphantly? But after the originally elated Principal had been called to have a drink by some old friend, he had been expressionless ever since.
“Those guys who call themselves old friends will soon become our enemies,” Anjou understood Lu Mingfei’s thoughts. “If we can kill all four Dragon Kings… I mean if. The day the last Dragon King falls in a pool of blood… that will also be the day hybrids turn on each other.”
“Turn on each other? But we’re all from the same blood…”
“Dragons don’t have much sentiment for their kin. Although there seems to have been a strong brotherly bond between Constantine and Norton, most dragons kill each other. The so-called dragon lineage is the strongest gene in evolutionary history. Its nature is a fight to the death. Only dragons with the best lineage can survive and continuously improve the genetic advantage. This nature has been passed down to us, though you may not have noticed it yet.”
“Well, I’d rather not notice it. As a coward, realizing my genes are all about survival of the fittest would be a tragedy!”
“Can’t you have a little self-respect? You are our only S-Rank!” Anjou smiled helplessly. “We’ve already pushed you out there. Attending this auction was your first step onto the hybrid social stage. They already have a strong impression of you. Soon, hybrid families around the world will know a new, outstanding bloodline has emerged, and his name is Lu Mingfei.”
Lu Mingfei froze for a second before losing it, “Hey! I was just a decoy this time, right? A decoy doesn’t need every person he tricks to remember his name, does he?”
He realized the old man’s sinister intentions—this wasn’t an opportunity to make his name known but a complete pitfall.
Soon, the entire reptilian world would know that Lu Mingfei was Cassell College’s new ace. What does being an ace mean? Like Guan Yu during the Three Kingdoms period—a prominent figure. Everyone knew he was Liu Bei’s most capable underling, one of the most formidable outlaws of his time. All the other outlaws wanted to kill him, but they didn’t dare. Even Cao Cao admired him, acknowledging his prowess. But he died—after decades of glory, ambushed by a nobody. And that was with some real skill to stay alive that long. If the ace had been Jiang Gan instead… He wouldn’t even have made it to Maicheng; he’d be dead before passing five checkpoints.
Compared to Guan Yu, Lu Mingfei didn’t mind admitting he was more like Jiang Gan. Jiang Gan was great—when he was an emissary, Zhou Yu didn’t kill him, and after stealing false intel, Cao Cao didn’t kill him either.
No wonder the invitation used his real name—it wasn’t because the college was too lazy to come up with a fake name. They were always planning to use this opportunity to make “Ricardo M. Lu” known.
“Hybrids, like dragons, are proud of their superior bloodline. Every family will introduce their most outstanding descendants to everyone. The more exceptional offspring a family has, the more respect they get. We finally found you, an S-Rank, so of course, we have to introduce you,” Anjou said, “just like introducing the family’s most beautiful young lady to society.”
Lu Mingfei wanted to slam his head into the airbag in front of him, let it pop out, and wrap his head in it.
“Principal, are you sure you’re not messing with me by assigning me an S-Rank?” Lu Mingfei looked miserable.
“Of course not, I wouldn’t joke about such things. Your S-Rank,” Anjou gave him a meaningful look, “is determined by the purity of your parents’ bloodline.”