“Power is an addictive thing. Once you try it, it’s hard to turn back, brother… You’ve fallen into my trap!” Lu Mingze reached out, clapping his hand into Lu Mingfei’s. “This is our contract, it’s a deal!”
“Brother?” Lu Mingfei stared blankly into the youth’s eyes, bright as molten gold.
In his memory, Lu Mingze—the real, chubby cousin—had never called him that. Lu Mingze would lie on his bed, yelling, “Lu Mingfei, stop hogging my computer! I need to chat on QQ! Lu Mingfei, go grab me a Coke from the fridge. Lu Mingfei, don’t lean on my down jacket, move over, move over…”
Brother? It sounded so unfamiliar, yet also familiar, so natural.
“The gathering, caster, mana unlimited.” Lu Mingze slapped his palm against Lu Mingfei’s forehead. “From this moment on, this cheat is unlocked!”
“Noglues, your opponent cannot use their Yanling, equivalent to ‘Yanling: Discipline’. From this moment on, this cheat is unlocked!”
“What is this? Transfer of power? I don’t feel anything.” Lu Mingfei rubbed his forehead, which stung painfully from the slaps, making it seem like Lu Mingze was some Mongolian doctor applying weird ointment on him.
He understood the phrases “The gathering” and “Noglues”—they were cheat codes from StarCraft’s single-player mode, activated by pressing “Enter” to unlock various cheating functions. They were similar to “Black sheep wall,” but more powerful.
“Yanling, your Yanling,” Lu Mingze said.
“Everyone else’s Yanling sounds grand and majestic, like some sacred hymn in dragon language, but mine is just English phrases?” Lu Mingfei found it absurd.
“As long as it works, why do you care? As long as you can cast spells, does it matter if you’re using a magic wand or a rolled-up newspaper? Also, these two are only effective for a short time, but there’s one you can keep using—something you’ve unlocked yourself.”
“What?” Lu Mingfei was taken aback.
“Do… not… die,” Lu Mingze said slowly, as if he wanted Lu Mingfei to clearly see the shape of his lips. “What you shouted before coming here was ‘Don’t die, don’t die, don’t die.’ You really don’t want that girl to die, right? You had a wish, but no power—now you can use it. With ‘The gathering,’ you’ll have the power to manipulate life. That is your… authority!”
“Wait… wait, there’s a Yanling in Chinese too?”
“Actually, Yanling can exist in French, German, or Hebrew as well, but you only understand Chinese and English, so stop thinking about anything else.” Lu Mingze was growing a bit impatient with his many questions. “As a descendant of dragons, all power is in the form of words.”
“Is there… some kind of instruction manual?”
“No, just say it aloud. It’s a cheat code, does a cheat need a manual?” Lu Mingze rolled his eyes at him. “Lastly, a task reminder: to harm a First Generation, you need an alchemical weapon, and it must be the most powerful alchemical weapon!”
“The most powerful alchemical weapon? What’s that? I’ve never heard of it. What kind of top-level gear is it? But as a Level 1 character who’s just started, I haven’t had the chance to run any high-level dungeons for such weapons!” Lu Mingfei was exasperated.
“If this were an online game, you wouldn’t need to look for it. This weapon is part of your starter pack. It’s the box that Ye Sheng found—it contains seven deadly weapons forged personally by Norton at the beginning of the Common Era, weapons capable of killing dragons, and also himself. It’s called ‘The Seven Deadly Sins.’”
“That can’t be right. Don’t try to trick me just because I haven’t read the Bible. The Seven Deadly Sins are a Christian concept, aren’t they?” Lu Mingfei scratched his head.
“Human religions and myths are all falsehoods, meant to conceal the prehistorical Dragon Era that was buried. Don’t ask too much, just remember.”
“Oh.” Lu Mingfei nodded.
“The Seven Deadly Sins are named ‘Pride,’ ‘Envy,’ ‘Wrath,’ ‘Sloth,’ ‘Greed,’ ‘Gluttony,’ and ‘Lust,’” Lu Mingze said. “They represent the seven sins of mankind. For Norton, it was ‘Wrath’ that afflicted him, so you should use the heaviest weapon—‘Wrath’!”
“Got it, but… I’ve never taken a combat class. The heaviest knife I’ve used is a kitchen knife, so I don’t know if that will affect your plan.” Lu Mingfei spoke earnestly, feeling that Lu Mingze was the real mastermind in this dragon-slaying endeavor, while he was just a lackey.
“No plan is necessary. On the battlefield between us, there is no plan—use absolute power to erase him.” Lu Mingze spoke lightly.
“You make it sound like squashing a cockroach.” Lu Mingfei stuck out his tongue.
Lu Mingze hesitated for a moment. “To be safe, I’ll give you a bonus. You can temporarily copy a Yanling ability—not too advanced, though, or you won’t be able to control it. Choose one.”
“Caesar’s—can I use it?” Lu Mingfei thought for a moment.
“Caesar’s? Are you sure? Compared to Caesar’s Sequence No. 59, ‘Kamaitachi,’ Chu Zihang’s Sequence No. 89, ‘King’s Blaze,’ is much more destructive.”
“I need to know the basics to copy it.”
“Alright, ‘Kamaitachi’—consider it unlocked for you.” Lu Mingze gently touched Lu Mingfei’s forehead, and Lu Mingfei could clearly feel the sensation of that touch.
In a flash, images flickered across his mind, but he couldn’t catch them—he was only left with an involuntary sense of shock.
“Go, Lu Mingfei! Judge him! This is your stage now!” Lu Mingze suddenly shouted—something unimaginable for a young boy. The voice was so authoritative that it made every hair on Lu Mingfei’s body stand on end, as if to avoid the fierce chill.
At the same time, Lu Mingze did something mischievous. He leaped forward and kicked Lu Mingfei off the deck from behind!
“We agreed not to push anymore!” Lu Mingfei shouted as he plummeted toward the dark water.
“This time I kicked you,” Lu Mingze’s voice replied.
He opened his eyes in the darkness again and saw that pale face and the seaweed-like red hair floating in the water.
Separated by a piece of glass 20 centimeters in diameter, he felt her dying.