Chu Zihang

* Donghua
* Novel
* Game
* Manhua (1)
* Manhua (2)

Chu Zihang (楚子航), also known as **Johann Chu** in the mobile game, is one of the main characters in the Dragon Raja novels and most of their adaptations.

Born to a hybrid father and a human mother, Zihang carries a special heritage in his blood. After losing his father in a tragic confrontation with Odin, he started investigating his origins, leading him to discover the existence of Cassell College and his eventual admission to the school. His discovery and use of the taboo technique "Blood Rage" allowed him to become one of the school's strongest students.

He achieved the position of president of the Lionheart Society, the oldest student association in the college and developed a rivalry with a fellow student named Caesar. In the battlefield, he built himself a reputation as a problematic agent, causing lots of collateral damage on every mission.

After completing an assignment for the Execution Bureau during the summer break, he had to stay at a hotel with Lu Mingfei during a railway strike and he invited a fellow student, the freshman Xia Mi to stay with them for the night. They bonded at an amusement park while he attempted to train her and incidentally saved dozens of lives during a rollercoaster accident, revealing his knowledge of Blood Rage to Anjou and the school board.

During his days at the hospital he developed romantic feelings for Xia Mi. He also learned about the negative effects of Blood Rage from the principal, particularly the risk of becoming a death servitor and his gravely reduced lifespan.

His feats eventually caught the attention of the school board. Frost Gattuso attempted to have him expelled and contained as part of a major conspiracy to take control of the school away from Anjou. He was sent to Beijing among the elite students to investigate the awakening of Fenrir. During a confrontation with the dragon, he was betrayed and attacked by Xia Mi, who was actually Jörmungandr, a Dragon Queen and Fenrir's sister. After he managed to kill her, Xia Mi's blood helped to stabilize his, but it also left enough genetic material within him for her potential resurrection.

After getting sent to Tokyo to investigate the potential discovery of the White Empress's embryo, he was trapped in Japan along with Lu Mingfei and Caesar, where they became fugitives and wanted targets in the Japanese hybrid wars. They took refuge at a night club where they worked as hosts and entertainers. Following a series of violent encounters with the Yamata no Orochi and the Mou Kishu, they uncovered a conspiracy by Dr. Herzog, who manipulated both sides of the war to transform himself into a White Dragon Emperor. Herzog was defeated by the combined efforts of the Secret Party and the Mingze faction. Zihang inherited Gen Chisei's blades and returned to America.

Two years later, he was sent to the North Pole in a mission to learn more about Herzog, where he discovered a secret cult named The Far North. He accompanied them in their search for Hyperborea, which was actually the location of Nidhogg's embryo. Zihang learned of Jörmungandr's presence within him right before she took control of his body to fight Odin, who in turn fed her to Nidhogg. Jormungandr gave Chu Zihang her power so he could have his revenge against Odin, turning him into the new Dragon King of Earth and Mountain, but their fight was interrupted by Nidhogg's awakening.

To prevent the end of the world, Odin reversed time, he changed the world's line of causality, erasing Zihang from existence and making him die at the age of 15, right next to his father. Mingfei, Nono and Finger embarked on a search for Zihang that resulted in a confrontation against Odin. The fight was interrupted when Mingfei discovered that Zihang was alive and well, but possessed by Odin's mask. Free from the mask's influence, Zihang couldn't remember his life past the age of fifteen, and he joined Mingfei and Nono in their search for answers, as fugitives of the Secret Party.

## Appearance and personality traits

Chu Zihang is described as having black hair and bright golden eyes. Characters often remark his attractive looks, which made him popular with women. He is also said to be muscular and athletic. His face, however, rarely makes an expression, earning him the "face paralysis" nickname. He also has good taste in clothing, anticipating fashion trends years in advance. Zihang knew how to play the saxophone, which he usually did at cultural events.

After he started making use of Blood Rage, his golden pupils never went away. Any hybrid who looks at him in the eyes is affected by the yanling skill "Imperium" which prompts them to temporarily submit to him.

Zihang is fond of gossiping and has a weakness for father-son relationships. He struggles to understand people who lack determination. Zihang is the type of person who hopes that others can be happy, even if he isn't, since the happiness of others warms his heart.

## Biography

### Early Life

He was born to Chu Tianjiao, a hybrid father, and Su Xiaoyan, a human mother. She was a dancer and Tianjiao was smitten after he witnessed one of her performances. She was charmed by his personality and his promises of a fruitful life. It was only after they got married that it became clear he could barely afford to support himself. They lived in a tiny apartment, struggling to make ends meet. Xiaoyan eventually left him, accusing him of being a liar. She met and soon married a wealthy man named Lu Tianming, taking a young Zihang away with her.

Tianjiao made Zihang promise that he would take good care of his mother. During the following years, they could only see each other one day per month due to visiting rights, and yet Tianjiao wasn't always available to do so. His mother on the other hand, started a cycle of shopping during the day and drinking at night.

When Zihang was young, kids made fun of him because of his adoptive father, saying that he was only good to Zihang because he was sleeping with his mother. The bully who started this teasing was a black belt Karate student, Zihang's dragon blood hadn't awakened yet so he couldn't fight back. He took a children's Kendo class and practiced with a bamboo sword every day. He challenged the bully before the graduation ceremony and managed to win the fight. His mother then defended him when the bully's mother spoke ill of them.

### Facing Odin

At the age of fifteen, Beijing was hit by a typhoon, which forced Zihang to stay in school after class. A schoolmate named Liu Miaomiao offered him a ride, but he rejected her in favor of his dad. Zihang noticed that Tianjiao didn't use an ignition key to turn on the car, his father explained that it could only be activated by the voice of three specific persons. Zihang was resentful towards his father's absence in his life and was constantly annoyed by Tianjiao's attempts at starting a conversation. Tianjiao then took a highway to avoid traffic, and asked Zihang about his college choices. When Zihang expressed interest in going abroad, his father tried to dissuade him, which prompted Zihang to yell at him. He asked his father what could a man like him know about career choices, recriminating his lack of responsibility towards him and his former wife.

His father admitted that he wasn't a good parent, but they would always be connected by their bloodline. Immediately after, he noticed that they were being chased by death servitors, which forced him to wield his sword, Murasame and run over them with his car. He assured Zihang that the things they were fighting were not human, he was still the father that he always knew.

They both ran into Odin, which forced them to get out of the car. Tianjiao already knew what Odin wanted, asking Zihang to take a suitcase out of the trunk. He then asked Odin to let his son live. Odin promised them both new lives, not like the one of the death servitors, but stronger in nature. Tianjiao ordered his son to run, get in the car and drive back home as fast as he could. He also revealed that he attempted to dissuade Zihang from going abroad because he didn't want him to leave, now admitting that it could have been a good idea.

Remembering Tianjiao's clue, Zihang used his voice to activate the vehicle and drive away, holding back on his desperate wish to go back and die next to his father. Tianjiao attempted to fight against Odin and his servitors but he was swiftly murdered by the Dragon King.

#### Noticed by Xia Mi

During their encounter, Odin left a mark in Zihang's shoulder, which had the shape of the world tree. Around this time, the mark was noticed by Xia Mi, a fellow student and secretly a Dragon Queen named Jörmungandr. She could trace the mark's origin back to Odin and wanting to learn more about the mysterious dragon, she decided to closely observe Zihang.

Xia Mi spent time watching the boy play basketball by himself, initially pitying him, she came to find his loneliness relatable, since she was also suffering from Blood Mourning. Xia Mi wanted to learn more about love and started flirting with Zihang, who failed to notice her advances. She constantly asked for his help with school assignments as a series of excuses to go out with him on dates. Her lack of success led her to erase his memories of her after each failed attempt.

#### Finding Cassell

The shape of Odin's mark allowed Zihang to discover the existence of Cassell College, since the tree was also the school's emblem. It was a feat that not even the CIA nor the KGB managed to accomplish. Zihang called the school and asked if he could study there, professor Schneider was impressed and took him to the campus instead of declaring him a threat. At some point, Schneider took advantage of a dentist appointment to hide a tracking device in one of Zihang's molars.

On his first day, he met a student named Susie on the CC1000 train and she quickly fell in love with him, while he remained oblivious to her feelings. Regardless, the two were rumored to be a couple by the rest of the students. Both of them became members of the Lionheart Society, the oldest and most prestigious student association in the school.

With the help of Susie, he found scrolls that described the taboo technique of Blood Rage. It allowed him to increase the percentage of dragon blood in his veins. He kept this a secret and used its advantage to achieve success in his missions, but it gave him perpetual golden pupils as a side effect. Not knowing of his use of the ancient technique, Zihang's golden eyes made everyone think that his bloodline was superior to the rest of the students, including a jealous Caesar Gattuso, the president of their main competitor, the Student Union, which prompted a rivalry between the two.

### Second Year

#### Day of Liberty

During his third year, he participated in the celebration of the annual Day of Liberty. The Lionheart Society joined the Free for All combat games against other factions in the school. Caesar bet his own Bugatti Veyron to anyone who could defeat him. After being among the last four survivors of the match, Zihang engaged Caesar in a decisive sword fight. his Murasame blade wasn't as strong as Caesar's sword "Dictator" but it was faster. Unexpectedly, a new S-rank student, who was unknown to both parties, showed up in the middle of the fight and shot them with Frigga Bullets. It was Mingfei, who mistakenly believed the match to be a real altercation, he was promptly informed of his mistake.

#### The S-Rank

Interest piqued, Zihang decided to wait until Mingfei finished his 3E exam, as the freshman could lose his S-Rank status if he failed the test. During the mission to the City of Bronze, Zihang was among the A-rank students that were summoned to the Execution Bureau's installations to offer remote support. They had to find a way out for a pair of trapped agents. Zihang got into an argument with Caesar during the operation and Mingfei found the map instead. After his success, Principal Anjou showed up on a screen and congratulated Mingfei for keeping his S-Rank status.

Once outside, the school released doves to commemorate the fallen agents. Zihang congratulated him for his achievement and asked if he was afraid to look him in the eyes, since everyone else was, thanks to his golden pupils. Mingfei denied the idea, commenting that they were probably intimidated by his looks instead. Zihang was charmed and invited him to join the Lionheart society, as he was the only one who could potentially outmatch him.

#### Protecting the college

The next month, in the night of the attack on Cassell, Zihang was tasked with the protection of the church. He asked his fellow club member, Susie, to wait for him and promised her they would have supper together after everything was over.

At the church, only one enemy showed up. Sakatoku Mai called her fellow intruder 'Deadpan' (since she didn't have any facial expressions, personality or body figure). During their match, Zihang made use of Royal Blaze without knowing that his opponent was in fact Zero, a freshman. She used her Mirror Eyes skill to replicate his, igniting the church in a massive explosion.

#### Valentine's Day

In the following months, Zihang and Caesar were relocated to the campus dorms. Chen Motong and Susie refused to go out of their room on Valentine's Day, which prompted the bitter rivals to make a temporary truce and bake some pizza for them, shocking both Mingfei and Finger.

### Summer assignment.

During the summer break, Zihang spent his time mostly by himself. He took care of his mother and played solo basketball games. The day before his return to Chicago, he received a notification from the Execution Bureau with a special SS assignment. To his surprise, the school board put Lu Mingfei in charge of the mission and made him an assistant based purely on his S-Rank status.

He noticed that Mingfei's birthday was marked on the calendar and congratulated him with a text message.

On his way out, he came across his hungover mother and aunts, and he ordered a meal for them. At the moment, Mingfei seemed to be at a pizza restaurant, so he parked his car outside and listened through the door. The young S-Rank had gotten himself in a fight while attempting to defend his high school crush, Chen Wenwen. Zihang decided to go inside and stop the fight, paying for Mingfei's food and acting as his assistant in front of his former classmates.

Briefing him on the mission, Zihang attempted to boost Mingfei's confidence. After failing multiple times, he dropped him on the sidewalk and went back to Wenwen, giving her an invitation to have dinner with Mingfei at the luxurious Aspasia restaurant. Failing to get a reservation, he requested help from the Night Watchman forum users in exchange for any favor. Caesar answered the request.

#### The crime scene

The pair arrived at a train station where an agent named Raymond perished during an earthquake, losing important documents that belonged to the school board. Zihang requested the help of Chen Motong through Norma. Nono used her profiling skill to recreate Raymond's last moments and Zihang enacted the situation faithfully.

The investigation led to the discovery of skid marks on the ground, which were tracked by the Bureau. They learned of a criminal organization known as "Young Three" led by a man named Tang Wei. Zihang ordered his group of combat assistants to take care of Mingfei's chores while they finished their investigation, which intersected with a family dispute that ended on Mingfei leaving his aunt's home. Trying to cheer him up, the assistants drove him to his dinner with Wenwen and joined Zihang afterwards.

#### Recovering the documents

Zihang met his assistants at Tang Wei's headquarters, and he tasked them with creating a commotion that would drive civilians away. Schneider asked him to keep collateral damage to a minimum, but Zihang ignored this request, jumping from the top of the building and burying his blade into the walls to slow down his descent.

Inside he found armed guards that seemed mentally controlled by a Yanling skill. He resorted to use Blood Rage to intensify his abilities, which was noticed at the Bureau by Manstein. On his way to his target, he was met by a horde of Death Servitors led by a hooded figure. He managed to defeat them using his father's sword, but he couldn't learn anything about them.

He finally reached Tang Wei and decided to interrogate him using brute force. Tang lamented not being able to see his father again and Zihang noticed a picture of them on his desk, prompting him to drop Wei and deal with him in more peaceful terms. Tang gave him the documents and Zihang left the scene.

### Meeting Xia Mi

Back at his place, Zihang didn't find his mother at the house. She tried to cook him dumplings as a goodbye dinner, but she burned them by accident. Moved, he tried to eat them anyway, but the burned taste made him sick, and he asked his housekeeper to throw them away. After giving her instructions on how to take care of Xiaoyan, he left to catch his plane.

He arrived at the Chicago train station with Mingfei, only to find the service interrupted by a worker's strike. Zihang offered to pay for a room and their conversation was overheard by a girl collecting union signs to use them as blankets. She accidentally fell from the roof and Zihang managed to catch her. It was Xia Mi, she planned to make a tent and sleep at the nearby park. Zihang, who's memories of her were erased, offered to pay for an extra room but she refused to accept the gift, opting to sleep in their room instead. Then she stole soda from a machine that the workers forgot to turn off as a way of thanking them for the room.

Xia Mi joined Zihang on his posture exercises and they discussed alchemic history. Mingfei instead opted to talk about her cosplaying hobby. The three had an amicable evening before going to bed. Zihang had to share a bed with Mingfei and felt uncomfortable looking towards Xia Mi. He tried to avoid looking at her, and instead he stared at Mingfei under the excuse of doing oxygenation sleeping postures, making his underclassman feel nervous.

The next morning, he left with Xia Mi for "training", and they entered a Six Flags amusement park. After hiding inside a Ferris wheel car, Zihang attempted to discuss school matters, frustrating Xia Mi, who thought he was taking her on a date. She insisted on having conversations about themselves and their lives instead, which led her to tell the story of her twin brother, who was mentally challenged and represented a constant limitation in her life. Despite that, she still loved him more than anyone. Zihang's attitude remained cold and distant, until they were interrupted by Mingfei and principal Anjou.

#### Ferris wheel incident

Anjou took his students for ice cream, and he seemed unusually excited to hang out with a young girl. Xia Mi insisted on a ride called Midgard Snake, which was a rollercoaster that Zihang found frightening. Mingfei was afraid as well, but they boarded it out of social pressure. Once the ride started, Zihang let out a scream of horror, before they reached the top of the mountain, time seemed to stop, Anjou activated his skill, Time Zero.

Anjou and Mingfei noticed that the tracks ahead were heavily damaged, and they only had a few seconds to do something about it. The structure was secretly damaged by Xia Mi, who wanted to test Cassell's defenses. Using his knowledge in mechanics and the ride itself, Zihang gave Mingfei instructions on how to force the brakes. After realizing they had run out of time, he used Blood Rage and Royal Blaze to bend the tracks back to their place. Zihang nearly fell to his death, but was ultimately saved by Xia Mi, who used her wind Yanling to ease their fall.

### Blood trial

Zihang woke up at the school hospital, where Xia Mi was waiting. After explaining how she saved him, she was annoyed when he failed to show any sort of gratitude. She advised him to stop being so hard on himself and after leaning on his bed, she suddenly fell asleep. Zihang asked the nurse to bring her a blanket.

While he was sleeping, Anjou took advantage of the situation to hypnotize him and learned about his encounter with Odin. When Zihang woke up, he had a conversation with the principal. Anjou explained the principles and consequences of using Blood Rage and the nature of Death Servitors, advising Zihang to stop shortening his own lifespan and give up on the taboo technique for his own good. After that, Anjou organized an operation with Finger and Flammel to erase incriminating evidence of Zihang's problematic behavior and unstable blood. A few hours later, he woke up to find Parsi Gattuso next to his bed, who then proceeded to take a blood sample. Anjou had already replaced most of Zihang's blood.

Mingfei visited him after he found out about Nono's engagement and Zihang noticed his sadness. Zihang asked his underclassman "When you like someone, what does it feel like?"

Mingfei answered that, if Zihang already had the girl's name in his mind when he made the question, that meant that he liked her. As soon as Mingfei left the room, Xia Mi entered with a bowl of tremella soup, but Zihang complained about the lack of sweet osmanthus in it, once again causing her to be mad at his lack of manners. When Zihang asked her for advice on Mingfei's situation, she answered that Mingfei needed to move on and let go of Nono.

Xia Mi herself had rejected many marriage proposals in the past, according to her, "no one ever owed anyone a chance". However, this didn't mean that people shouldn't try to confess their feelings to the people they loved. As she left, she encouraged Zihang to do so.

#### The court

Zihang was brought in front of a trial conducted to verify his blood condition and reliability as a student and agent. This was actually part of Frost Gattuso's plan, intending to use him as an excuse to get Anjou fired from his position as Cassell's principal. However, all evidence presented against Zihang was invalidated thanks to Finger's efforts and the key witness, his rival Caesar, who defended him in front of the jury (as accorded with Susie in exchange for the Blood Rage files). The trial was interrupted by the news of Fenrir's appearance in Beijing. Zihang asked to be allowed to prove his worth in the battlefield and the judge freed him.

After that, he visited Anjou's office at his request, along with Mingfei and Finger. Each one of them was asked to retrieve a sword from the Seven Deadly Sins case. Zihang was the only one who couldn't, since his blood's "draconic pedigree" wasn't recognized by the weapons. To compensate for this, Anjou gave him the dragon slaying knife of the Cassell family.

### Mission in China

Zihang spent most of his time in Beijing researching seismic activity. Xia Mi interrupted them after coming back from a shopping spree and asked Zihang to visit her parents' house for dinner. Initially reluctant, Zihang accepted her invitation.

That night, his research led him to the Beijing subway tunnels. As he walked through them, he realized that he was entering a Nibelungen and he was quickly surrounded by Death Servitors. Deep down, he had been waiting for that moment his whole life, so he started fighting them on his own inside of an empty train wagon. Quickly overwhelmed, he was assisted by Xia Mi, who had followed him in a hurry. Combining their skills, they formed a fire tornado that got rid of the servitors.

He offered her a piggy-back ride since she was still wearing slippers, and they reached Fenrir's lair. Zihang made use of the Cassell knife and attacked the dragon king, who didn't fight back. After blinding Fenrir and severely wounding him, he was met by a humanoid creature, who pierced through his shoulder with her bare hand. It was Xia Mi.

#### Jörmungandr

Xia Mi revealed herself to be Jörmungandr, Fenrir's twin in the throne. She induced a vision where she explained her manipulations. Xia Mi took the form of a human to learn about their behavior, specifically their ability to love. After learning that Zihang had the mark of Odin, she decided to investigate him, attempting to seduce him on multiple occasions and erasing his memories of her every time. She came to pity Zihang and invited him to dinner that night to get him as far away from the tunnels as possible.

Her final plan was to consume Fenrir, a thought that she dreaded, as she needed to gather strength for an impending "awakening", becoming a new being called Hela, opening the gates of the world of the dead so they could conquer the living.

Zihang tried to fight back, reaching the third stage of Blood Rage and nearly turning into a death servitor himself. Jörmungandr ultimately won the fight and destroyed Murasame. As she got ready to kill Zihang, he asked if Xia Mi was ever real, which she denied. After accepting that she was Jörmungandr, he stabbed her with Cassell's knife in the back, fatally wounding her.

Jörmungandr was impressed, in the end he acted more like a dragon than she did. Before dying, she gave Zihang the key to Xia Mi's house, where he'd be able to find the last traces of her made-up identity. Zihang asked Mingfei for his shirt so he could cover her body.

#### Shiva's Dance

To their surprise, Fenrir recovered, consumed Xia Mi and initiated a skill called *Shiva's Dance,* the effects of which would be devastating for the whole city. The pair decided to evacuate by boarding the train, but Zihang revealed that he intended to go back and fight Fenrir, not without advising Mingfei to try his best and confess to Nono.

He pushed his blood to the limit, turning more and more draconic as the fight went on, but his technique failed him at the last second and he went back to his human-self. Mingfei arrived and made a deal with Lu Mingze to both save him and defeat Fenrir. After the dragon king was defeated, Mingfei took Zihang back to the train and healed him with *Don't Die*.

#### Visiting Xia Mi's home

After the crisis was over, he was invited along with Mingfei and Finger to assist church by Chen Wenwen. He decided to go visit Xia Mi's house instead. When he entered, he noticed that the place still smelled of her and he laid down on her bed.

### Going to Japan

#### Supporting Mingfei

Back at Cassell, Zihang wrote a letter to his mother every day, writing mostly mundane details about his school life, like what he had for lunch. She didn't like that he went to Cassell, a relatively unknown and unexceptional school. A huge explosion was heard outside and some of the campus was on fire, the gear department usually caused one or two explosions per day.

After the school celebrated the gear department's success at putting out the fire, he had supper with Mingfei at the cafeteria. Mingfei ordered an extensive dinner while Zihang had double fried eggs, a bowl of cereal, and orange juice. After Beijing, both of them became even less enthusiastic than usual. Xia Mi made Zihang livelier, but now she was gone, in fact, she had never existed. When they talked about Nono's wedding, Zihang offered Mingfei his help to win her affection before she married Caesar. Mingfei instead wanted to give up on her, which infuriated Zihang, who hated hearing the powerlessness in Mingfei's words. This feeling of anger confused him, since he usually didn't care this much about other people's affairs.

#### Flight to Tokyo

That night he was notified about an urgent mission in Japan, giving him little time to pack his belongings. Anjou sent him along with Caesar Gattuso and Lu Mingfei on his personal jet, the *Slebnier 1.* Attempting to avoid working with each other, both Zihang and Caesar even tried to convince the principal to send them off by themselves. The pair bickered during their flight after Zihang started teasing his rival, while Caesar decided to ignore him. Zihang fell asleep, and after a few hours, Mingfei fell asleep on his shoulder. Caesar wondered how the girls at Cassell would react at this sight.

Their mission required them to go to the bottom of the Japanese Trench in a submersible and confirm the presence of a dragon embryo inside of *The Lenin*, a sunken Russian ship.

#### Airport escape

Once the plane arrived in Japan, the three came out wearing kimonos gifted to them by Anjou. They were surprised to find only a handful of agents and a hummer vehicle waiting for them. Zihang didn't wear his contact lenses appropriately and his eyes were irritated, forcing him to reveal his unquenchable golden pupils. The man in charge of picking them up was the Gen clan chief Chisei, who was enormously annoyed by the trio's overall lack of professionalism.

On their way out of the airport, the Japanese police attempted to apprehend them for their unauthorized access to the country, as well as some political issues with the Yamata no Orochi. When Caesar proposed using a rocket launcher against the authorities, Zihang suggested a shotgun instead. In the end, Sakura Yabuki stopped the police using her wind based Yanling skill

#### Meeting the Eight Families

Chisei took the team to Genji Heavy Industries, the headquarters of the Yamata no Orochi, there they met the clan chiefs of the eight families and the main patriarch, Masamune Tachibana. The head of the family was an enthusiast of traditional Japanese ceremonies and prepared some tea to welcome the Aces. Caesar noticed some oddities in Tachibana's accent and correctly deduced that he was of Russian descent, while Zihang wondered if there was some connection between Tachibana and the sunken Lenin.

Mingfei got confused after reading about a cold tea ceremony and told his partners to drink the boiling tea in one gulp. The Japanese were amazed by their ferocity while the Aces tried to contain their tears of pain.

The Aces were introduced to the Trieste. The trio asked to take a trip around Tokyo and Zihang bought a Kansai iron teapot and Yakiniku utensils for Susie. At dinner, they learned more about Chisei's life and aspirations. Caesar instead wanted to learn more about the life of the Japanese underworld and the enemies of the Yamata no Orochi: The Mou Kishu. Chisei gave his guests uniforms and took them on one of his tasks.

Chisei took the Aces to a manga cafe in Shinjuku, where a young mobster attempted to raise the protection fees set by the Orochi on the small business. They were alerted by an anonymous call from the store clerk, a girl named Makoto Asou. During their visit, Caesar admired the store's merchandise and reflected on his troubled childhood, a comprehending Zihang, who previously teased him for his lack of a childhood agreed to be more cooperative with him despite of their rivalry and the two stretched hands.

The next Morning, the team departed for their mission, Chisei took them to the Unsinkable Sumeru Throne, a floating fortress in the middle of the ocean. Caesar bought king crabs from a fishing vessel, and they prepared them in the ship's kitchen. Before the start of their task, Zihang sat down with a nervous Mingfei and gave him words of advice.

The Aces started their descent, without their knowledge, Tachibana managed to re-configure the nuclear reactor in the submersible to detonate before the team managed to reach their destination, prompting their stowaway, Mai Sakatoku to exit the submersible and deactivate the device. This breach in the submarine's pressure sent it spiraling down without control, Caesar was asked to provide the password of the nuclear module, but he forgot it. In the end, Chisei accidentally activated the safety lock mechanism and stopped the unstable submarine from crashing.

The Aces soon reached the magma river of the Japanese Trench, which was surprisingly brimming with life. The team theorized that a dragon embryo was indeed located at the bottom of the sea and its influence was gathering the fish banks. Their theories were proven true after the dead body of a shark was reduced to bones by Ghost-toothed Dragon Vipers, an ancient dragon subspecies. Zihang noticed that the creatures were capable of biting through metal, and they decided to stay as quiet as possible to avoid calling their attention. The high temperatures reached by the submarine motivated the team to get rid of most of their clothes.

#### The City of Gods

The Aces soon crossed paths with Takamagahara, an ancient city built by the ancestors of modern hybrids. Zihang immediately decided to sketch the city in order to bring some sort of record back to Cassell. In the outskirts of the city, the Lenin was covered by mutated clamshells and a stream of dragon blood dripped from it. The dragon embryo was dying, and it was merely being offered as a sacrifice for something else. The blood also awakened a sleeping army of death servitors, and they started swimming towards the surface.

In order to contain the incoming servitor infestation and to obliterate the embryo inside of the Lenin, the team was asked to activate the nuclear device, which could potentially get them caught in the blast and killed. Caesar, while furious, accepted the task and recorded a farewell message for Nono in the event of his death. He passed the radio to Zihang who recorded a message for his stepfather, thanking him for taking care of his mother and advising them to have another baby. He then passed the radio to Mingfei, who couldn't think of anyone who could receive his message.

Due to Caesar's inability to remember the password, someone was required to leave the submarine and make a walk on the seabed to activate the nuclear module manually. Zihang offered to do it, since Caesar was engaged, but the latter opted to act based on his pride as a team leader and do the walk himself. Caesar activated his Kamaitachi skill to use it as a sonar, but it made him more susceptible to the embryo's influence and induced him into a trance. In his vision, he was reunited with Nono.

Zihang had to make the walk to rescue Caesar and used Blood Rage to gather the necessary strength, while Mingfei was provided with the password by Lu Mingze and activated the nuclear module with it. Once back at the submarine with an unconscious Caesar, Zihang and Mingfei realized that they didn't have the necessary strength to raise the submersible fast enough, so Zihang combined his Royal Blaze skill with Xia Mi's Tyrant's Eye to form a fire tornado under the Trieste. The resulting maelstrom was enough to allow Chisei to pull them back to the surface, but he was forced to abandon them since Erii Uesugi had already started her attack under Tachibana's orders. The Trieste was unknowingly destroyed by Erii before it could reach the surface.

### Fugitives

Zihang survived the events and managed to reach the college's safe haven, an internet café. Much to his surprise, the place stopped being a refuge many years ago, and it was overridden with gangsters. He hid among them and waited, until one of the mobsters decided to leave during a raid with an unconscious waitress on his shoulder. Trying to protect her, he attacked the mobster and fought him for a while, only to discover that he was none other than Caesar, and the waitress was Lu Mingfei in disguise. Zihang activated his Royal Blaze skill, making their assailants flee and they retreated towards the café.

Makoto Asou showed up and hid them in the locker room, but they were forced to leave when mobsters started firing on the lockers, accidentally killing a cat. Zihang and company managed to get in a sports car and drove away, but Chibei ordered them to come back after he captured Makoto and held her hostage.

Caesar ordered Zihang to infiltrate the building and save Makoto while he and Mingfei distracted the gang, however, Chibei anticipated their moves and activated a trap that covered Zihang with oil and set him on fire. Outside, Caesar failed to recover Makoto, who died before he could save her, despite receiving support from EVA, Mingfei was wounded in the fight after he jumped in front of a bullet to protect Caesar.

#### Takamagahara

Zihang and Caesar took a wounded Mingfei and ran away. They tried to get him medical attention, but every clinic was surrounded by police vehicles. A vehicle offering employment for male entertainers at a night club appeared and they decided to apply for jobs. They lied to Humpback Whale (the club manager) about their situation, saying that they were illegal immigrants trying to make money. Whale decided to employ them and offered Mingfei some clandestine medical attention.

Zihang and Caesar were offered artistic names, Caesar's was Basara King and Zihang's was Ukyou. Every day, the club offered tickets that allowed the customers to vote for their favorite entertainer, and they constantly got the highest votes. Also, Zihang would prepare meat dishes that would sell for high amounts of money. It took Mingfei two days to wake up from his comma and Caesar showed him around. He and Zihang took him to whale's office, who gave Mingfei a job as a waiter.

#### Uncovering secrets.

One night, he and Caesar decided to drug a group of customers in a private room and take decoy pictures with them, this would allow them to leave the club for the whole night to infiltrate Genji Heavy Industries.

#### References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Dragon Raja 2 - Eyes of the Mourner (Novel) https://www.tianyabooks.com/fantasy/longzu2/
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Dragon Raja II (manhua adaptation) https://www.webnovel.com/comic/dragon-raja-ii\_15704965405691401
3. ↑ Dragon Raja I - Webnovel https://www.webnovel.com/comic/dragon-raja-i\_15704951006809401
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Dragon Raja - The blazing dawnlight (Novel) 51shucheng.net/wangluo/longzu