Lu Mingfei

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

Lu Mingfei (路明非), also known as **Ricardo M. Lu,** and **Luminous** in the mobile game, is the protagonist of Dragon Raja in most of its adaptations.

After being recruited by Chen Motong (Nono) and Professor Guderian to join Cassell College, Mingfei was the first S-Rank student in 40 years, the highest rank in the school.

Due to his inability to make use of Yanling skills, other students and professors doubted that his ranking results were accurate, forcing Mingfei to rely on wits, help from others, and sometimes simple luck in order to get by. After becoming the champion of the "Day of Liberty" competition between the Student Union and the Lionheart Society, he instantly became the college's center of attention, which prompted other students to harass him.

He quickly befriended his roommate Finger and developed a crush on Nono. With the help of the demonic entity known as Lu Mingze, he defeated the King of Bronze and Fire and saved Nono's life by trading one fourth of his own with Mingze, though most of these accomplishments went unnoticed by the other members of his team.

Right before starting his second year at the college, he assisted Chu Zihang on a mission in Beijing and then Anjou on recovering the Seven Deadly Sins blade set. After finding out about Nono's engagement, he sunk into depression, only getting back on his feet after he realized that he finally had people in his life that he would die for. He sold the second quarter of his life and fused with Mingze to defeat Fenrir.

He joined Zihang and Caesar on a mission to Tokyo, which ended poorly. The trio had to run away from law enforcement and every Hybrid organization in Japan. He met Uesugi Erii and got tasked with a mission to take her out of the country. After he hesitated and let her go back to her family, she was sacrificed by Herzog to transform himself into the White King. The overwhelming guilt led him to give up the third quarter of his life. He defeated Herzog with Mingze's help and after inheriting Erii's belongings, he returned to Chicago.

In the following years, he swore to learn the truth behind Herzog. Caesar passed down the presidency of the Student Union to him and went under a special program to become a physically capable dragon hunter.

## Appearance

Mingfei's appearance is rarely described in the novels. Jiang Nan has called him "good looking, with beautiful eyebrows". He has dark hair, similar to Chu Zihang's, which even led Humpback Whale to use him as a replacement for Zihang during their time at Takamagahara.

He is also said to have a striking resemblance to Number Zero.

## Background

    According to Anjou, Lu Mingfei was born to Lu Lincheng and Giovanni, two S-Rank hybrids who worked as archeologists for the Execution Bureau. Due to their high blood purity, his mother's pregnancy represented an enormous risk, since the child could be born as a pure-blooded dragon. An audience was held to determine if the child should be killed before birth. Mingfei's mother gave a moving speech, with his father offering to deliver the baby himself. After a successful birth, Mingfei was put under surveillance for the rest of his life.

## Biography

### Early years

Lu Mingfei knows little about his own background. His earliest memories involve his parents rarely showing up, forgetting to pick him up from school and leaving him in the care of his aunt and uncle. Despite that, he admired them immensely and spent his time reading about archeologic discoveries. He spent most of his early life alone and suffering the effects of Blood Mourning. He focused on hobbies like anime and videogames, becoming very good at Starcraft, where he became friends with another player, a Chinese-American named Old Tang.

When he was a kid, he saved money for three years to buy a used PlayStation 2, but he accidentally broke his uncle's watch, and his cousin asked for all of his savings as a bribe.

### School days

During his days at high school, he was unpopular, lonely and full of rage and frustration, with nowhere to vent it. He noticed the fascination that some of his female classmates had with a senior student called Chu Zihang, who was admired by the whole school, specially by Mingfei's cousin, Lu Mingze. Mingfei envied Zihang immensely, especially for the attention he received during his participation in music recitals.

One day during a typhoon, Mingfei and many students were trapped at the school by the rain. A popular girl named Liu Miaomiao offered Chu Zihang a ride home but he refused the offer. Mingfei asked her to give him a ride instead, but she rejected him on account of their homes being in opposite directions, despite her house being opposite to Zihang's as well.

His first crush was a popular girl named Chen Wenwen from his literature club, which was basically formed around her by her admirers. When she invited him to join the club, he considered the possibility of Wenwen having feelings for him as well. Wenwen knew of Mingfei's feelings, but she didn't feel the same way about him, in fact, Chu Zihang and the rest of the school could easily tell that Mingfei had a crush on her.

Wrongly believing Wenwen to be frail, Mingfei later joined a 5 km race hoping to impress her, but she was among the first students to reach the finish line. Mingfei was in last place and nearly gave up, only gathering the strength to continue when Wenwen went back to cheer for him, yelling that no one in their club could afford to lose. Later, they were paired in a school dance recital, Mingfei made sure to practice, and his dancing skills proved useful later on.

During his military service, he demonstrated to be skilled with firearms.

### Recruited by Cassell

As his graduation came close, Mingfei applied for different universities, getting rejected by all of them. He put his last hopes on going abroad to the University of Chicago. After getting sent by his aunt to buy groceries and pick up the mail, he received a letter with an offer for a complete scholarship from Cassell College. His aunt and uncle considered the offer to be a scam, since it was worth 36,000 U.S. dollars, but Mingfei ignored their mocking remarks and went back to his room, where a mysterious Starcraft player named "Nono" challenged him to a match. Nono taunted and defeated him, leaving Mingfei impressed. After that, he called Old Tang for tips on English pronunciation in preparation for his Cassell Interview.

He went to a luxurious hotel for his interview where Wenwen, Zhao Menghua and Su Xiaoqian were also waiting to be interviewed. Mingfei was so bad at school that his mere presence shocked his classmates. Ye Sheng introduced himself and started the interviews, which lasted just a few minutes, leaving Mingfei for last. His interviewer was Sakatoku Aki, who asked him if he believed in aliens and superpowers. He answered positively, since the absence of aliens would mean humanity is lonely and a lack of superpowers would make life plain and dull.

Thinking he had failed the test, he was happy to realize Wenwen might have failed as well, meaning she wouldn't leave him behind to go to America. His answers fascinated Professor Guderian, who met with him and his family. He justified the college's interest in Mingfei by revealing that his parents were outstanding graduates and great contributors to the school. He also showed them a letter from Mingfei's mother to Principal Anjou, which moved him to tears, since he believed that they never cared about him. He then left to hide in a bathroom stall and cry.

#### Meeting Nono

A girl found Mingfei and pointed out that he was in the women's bathroom. Guderian introduced her as Chen Motong, revealing herself to be the player that managed to beat him in Starcraft, the help from Norma going unmentioned. She instantly realized that he was hesitating because of his love for Wenwen, so she pointed out Wenwen's lack of interest in him and chastised him for his lack of initiative.

    That night, Mingfei climbed to the roof of his apartment building and Nono called him on the phone. She talked to Mingfei about the three keys for a successful love confession: Playing touching music, giving flowers, and writing a good confession speech. She warned him that, if he was successful in winning Wenwen's heart, the path to Cassell would be closed forever. Despite his embarrassment, Mingfei felt truly understood for the first time in his life, and motivated by Nono, he spent the next day planning how to confess to Chen Wenwen.

    The following morning, he went with Wenwen to run some errands. While they walked by the street, Nono interrupted them and spent the rest of the evening with the pair, chatting with Wenwen while Mingfei walked behind them, unable to hear their conversation.

At evening, Nono called Mingfei to inform him that he needed to make a decision by the following night. During the literature club's party, Wenwen gave Mingfei a suit to wear for his speech, which boosted his confidence. He prepared his confession, but the film projector displayed Zhao Menghua's own confession for Wenwen and she accepted it.

Resigned and defeated, Mingfei attempted to leave, only to get pressured by Menghua to go back to the stage, as a way to rub his victory on his rival's face. Out of nowhere, Nono broke into the theater, calling him "Ricardo M. Lu" and urging him to leave as they were running out of time. Her assistants improved his clothing on the spot, and she drove away with him in a Ferrari, stealing the spotlight away from Menghua and Wenwen. She also revealed that it wasn't Guderian's decision to enroll him, but that of the principal himself.

They met with Guderian at the hotel where they asked him to sign his admission papers. Mingfei kept doubting, but he accepted the invitation to join the school after Nono tricked him to sign the form. She tried to cheer him up with a hug and drove him back home.

#### Meeting Mingze

> "Exchange?"
> "What?"
> "Exchange?"
> "What? I have no money... I am poor, no money!"
> "Then you'll refuse?"
>
> -Lu Mingze's first words to Lu Mingfei

    After getting fined 500 dollars in customs for the possession of pirated PS2 discs, Mingfei was left with nothing but a 20-dollar bill. There, he met a fellow student named Finger, whom he initially confused with a beggar, since he was asking for money after losing his wallet. Mingfei purchased one cup of soda and got two straws so they could share it, since the restaurant offered free refills. Finger explained that they needed to wait for the CC1000 train, which was the only way to reach Cassell College. Since Norma, the school's AI butler, prioritized high ranking students, they had to wait for the train to pick them up at the station. They waited for two days and two nights, sleeping on the wooden benches of the station. Finger claimed to be used to it by that point, since he was the lowest ranking student in the school.

In the middle of the night, Mingfei woke up and noticed that both Finger and the security guard had disappeared. He heard a bell for a moment and in front of him, there was a 13-year-old looking Chinese boy. He sat next to Mingfei and stayed there, staring at the moon.

He proceeded to ask Mingfei if he wanted to make an exchange with him, but the latter's incapacity to understand the boy's intentions led him to believe that he was asking for money. Mingze's golden pupils suddenly shined and scared Mingfei, making him fall over Finger. As he struggled to understand what just happened, the train arrived.

Before boarding the train, the conductor came outside and chastised Finger for dropping down yet another rank, going from being an A-rank in his first year to an F-rank after eight years in the school. He then proceeded to apologize to Mingfei, since he was ranked as an S-class student, but a mistake in scheduling led to his days-long wait. The news equally surprised Mingfei and Finger.

#### Learning about the dragons

On the train, Mingfei was asked to put on his uniform and watch a presentation from Professor Guderian. They revealed the existence of dragons and Cassell's objective of wiping them out. Incredulous, Mingfei attempted to leave, forcing Finger and Guderian to tie him up and bring him into the school unconscious.

Once at the college he was introduced to Professor Toyama, the school counselor, and they showed him convincing evidence of the dragons' existence. First, by making him shoot an explosive bullet at a dragon scale, and second, by displaying their captured dragon embryo. When Mingfei came close to it to make sure it wasn't made of plastic, the dragon opened its eyes and manipulated the wind around him. Guderian invited him out for a stroll, convincing him to stay at the school instead of leaving and getting his memories of the college wiped. As Mingfei accepted, a bullet hit Guderian in the chest.

#### Day of Liberty

Out of nowhere, the school turned into a battleground, where both Guderian and Toyama died under the heavy fire and falling rubble. Mingfei hid on the ground by pretending to be dead and waited for the battle to end. Two contestants showed up on the field: Chu Zihang, whom he recognized from high school, and Caesar Gattuso; the two engaged in a sword fight. In the final minutes of the duel, Mingfei heard footsteps coming in his direction, only to discover that it was none other than Nono. She was surprised to see him on the field but got shot in the chest because of her distraction, falling to her apparent death. Horrified and overwhelmed with rage, Mingfei shot Susie and used her gun to shoot both Zihang and Caesar, who were surprised at the sight of an unidentified player and didn't fight back.

The field was suddenly filled with medical personnel and a rabid Professor Manstein. Guderian woke up, to Mingfei's surprise, and explained the anesthetic nature of the Frigga Bullets. That evening, Finger explained that Mingfei won the Day of Liberty competition and therefore earned a spot in the Star of Cassell tournament, the right to live in the Amber Hall installations and to date any person he wanted for three months. Caesar, who bet his own Bugatti Veyron, gave it to Mingfei.

The entire school set their eyes on him and started betting on his 3E test results, Caesar bet 5000 Yuan against Zihang's 500.

#### The 3E exam

That night, the frightened S-rank was then tested by reading the draconic texts of the Black King Nidhogg. To him, there was no reaction whatsoever, which is unprecedented in hybrids. Guderian and Finger attempted to teach Mingfei the basics of Korean, since his admission test consisted in writing down a dragonspeak recording in Korean characters and failing would result in his expulsion. Guderian had to leave for the library after using Mingfei's student credit card to buy him and Finger a $497 dollar banquet, much to Mingfei's annoyance. Finger revealed that he knew a method that could allow Mingfei to cheat on the exam, in exchange for $3000 dollars.

After accepting the offer, Mingfei wrote the answers to the test on his arm and got a few hours of sleep. The next morning, he overslept and was late for his test. Other students who were taking the test didn't wait to show their admiration for his victory in the tournament, except for a girl sitting at the front. When the test started, strange music came out of multiple speakers. The other students reacted to the dragonspeak speech hidden within the music and experienced visions, then started dancing around and crying uncontrollably.

    Mingfei was seemingly unaffected by the recordings, so he wrote Finger's answers on his paper and finished early, only to notice the boy from the train station sitting on the window. The boy claimed that his name was Lu Mingze, which was also the name of Mingfei's cousin. According to Lu Mingze, Mingfei was experiencing a vision, which shows every student what they love the most. After waking up from his vision, Nono took his test papers away, noticing that he unconsciously doodled something on his paper but was too late to erase it.

#### Finding a path

The following morning, Mingze showed up on his window and gave him a "cheat code" from Starcraft: **Black sheep wall**, telling him he was going to need it soon in order to unlock a map. Later that day, Nono dragged him to the Execution Bureau during an emergency, where he had to cooperate with other students to find a way out for Ye Sheng and Sakatoku Aki who were trapped in the City of Bronze. The students had to listen to draconic language and use it to decipher a way out.

Norma replicated the interface of Starcraft for Mingfei, since he didn't know how to use the college's computers. Remembering Mingze's clue, he typed "Black Sheep Wall" as a cheat code and the map suddenly materialized. In the meantime, EVA challenged Mingfei to a Starcraft match while the pair of trapped agents escaped the ancient ruins and secured the Bronze vase that contained Constantine.

Principal Anjou congratulated Lu Mingfei through a video conference, and displayed his result for the 3E test, revealing that he retained his status as an S-Rank.

After leaving the installations, he noticed a flock of doves that were released by the church, signaling a death in the school's personnel. There he met Chu Zihang, who asked him if he was afraid of looking him in the eyes like everyone else was. Mingfei instead answered that people were intimidated by his good looks. Zihang declared him his only worthy successor as president of the Lionheart Society and invited him to join. The school's paparazzi photographed them and suggested they were having a romantic exchange on their news site, pairing him with Nono as well on a different note, much to Mingfei's annoyance.

### Attack on the school

That same night, he reconnected with Old Tang for a match of Starcraft when an e-mail from Nono, on behalf of Caesar Gattuso, invited him to the Student Union's ball dance. Following her advice, Mingfei and Finger had to borrow suits from the drama club. While other students mocked them for it, Nono showed up and personally escorted them to the dance. The pair failed to get any dance partners, forcing them to dance with one another. The silent girl from the 3E test, who proved to be a talented dancer, asked Mingfei for a dance. When he asked for her name, she told him to call her "Zero".

    Mingfei failed to bow properly when they finished and Zero left the party. Caesar then showed up on a balcony and gave a speech about Cassell students, acknowledging his guest as the best among the best and inviting all of them to join the Student union, particularly Lu Mingfei. However, before he could give an answer, the cellphone of every student started ringing.

When Caesar answered the phone, the voice of Old Tang announced the arrival of "new guests". A group of armed mercenaries created an explosion on the outside, which could be seen from the window. Every student was instructed to arm themselves and defend the school. Meanwhile, Mingfei instead attempted to evacuate. Surprised by Nono during his attempt, she asked him to follow her instead, as it would be better for him to learn from his senior.

#### Fireworks

Nono had little interest in participating in the college's defense. Taking the Bugatti Veyron that Mingfei won from Caesar, the pair left the campus, ignoring the school guards. Nono asked Mingfei to take her to the top of a mountain so they could see the stars, which was strange to Mingfei since it was cloudy that night. She fell asleep in her seat and Mingze took the opportunity to induce a dream-like vision on Mingfei so they could have a conversation, which almost caused a car accident.

Mingze seemed unsupportive of Mingfei's feelings for Nono, considering them to be incompatible. Mingfei attempted to deny his feelings for her, but Mingze dismissed his excuses. He offered him a new cheat code: **Show me the flowers,** which supposedly would help him to confess to her, since he already possessed two of the three keys that she mentioned before: beautiful music and a good speech.

At the top of the mountain, they found a small lake. Nono challenged him to dip his feet in the water, which was unexpectedly cold.

Nono revealed that she was the one who invited him to the dance and also confessed that it was her birthday, which she attempted to keep a secret. Caesar learned of this and organized the dance as a party just for her. She also described the nature of their relationship, how it was based on admiration and status rather than love. Since Nono couldn't understand love, she looked for someone who was worthy of her.

She also revealed what she meant by "watching the stars": hundreds of fireflies emerged from the grass.

Teasing him, Nono reminded Mingfei that he could ask her out and she'd have to give him a chance for three whole months due to his victory at the tournament. Trying to think of a good birthday gift, he decided to use Mingze's cheat code. Mingze had prepared a fireworks show, and he started it at that very moment, which brought Nono to tears.

#### The ghost

Once the pair decided to go back to the school, Mingfei almost hit a man riding a motorcycle. The man was revealed to be Old Tang, his online friend from America. The reunion was interrupted by the arrival of Constantine, the brother of the Dragon King Norton, who was attempting to reach Tang. The three drove back to Cassell to hide from the creature, bumping into Finger in the process. After coming across Caesar and Sakatoku Mai in the Hall of Heroes, Caesar ordered them to retreat while he and Mai distracted Constantine. Mingfei's mood lowered even further after witnessing a romantic conversation between Caesar and Nono.

Finger had the idea of hiding in the pool, since water might counter Constantine's use of the fire element. The plan didn't work as expected, Constantine got in the pool and started boiling the water, forcing them to get out. Mingfei couldn't find any of his friends but came across Constantine, who peacefully asked for his brother.

On his way out of the gym, principal Anjou found him and took him to meet the Night Watchman. Anjou made use of his skill "time zero" to attack Constantine, allowing Mingfei to shoot him in the head with a spirit element bullet. He was successful in his task and Constantine was forced to use the last of his energies to reach Tang, reactivating his memories of being the Dragon King Norton. After that, Constantine died, and a gigantic fire cross formed over his body.

### Operation Bronze

Two months after the incident, Mingfei sent an e-mail to Caesar, accepting to join the Student Union. As soon as he pressed the "send" button, a union member knocked on his door to give him his membership card. Caesar called all of the Student Union members, including fellow freshmen Zero, to an emergency meeting. The school had solicited the top students to assist a dragon slaying mission at the Three Gorges Dam in China. Initially frightened, Nono offered Mingfei some reassurance, promising to take care of him. Mingfei trained under his seniors for two months before the mission.

#### The city of bronze

    Once at the Three Gorges Dam, the leader of the mission, professor Manstein, described the battle plan. A team of divers would swim down into the city of bronze and locate Norton's embryo, since it was assumed that he would go into a metamorphosis process to reincarnate into his dragon form. The divers would then detonate an explosive to wake him up. Once the weakened dragon reached the surface, the crew on the ship would hit him with an advanced torpedo.

Mingfei and Nono were assigned together to infiltrate the city, due to Zero being unable to dive that night. They were supposed to locate Norton and detonate the explosive. The pair reached the mural that protected the city where a face carved in stone came to life and bit Mingfei's arm. It released him after tasting his blood, which had enough dragon blood purity to grant them access.

The pair entered the city, contemplating the different passages and structures in their way, analyzing the remains of an ancient battle between humans and dragons. After losing communication with the ship, they came across a giant water wheel, which opened a passage to Constantine and Norton's palace. Nono used her profiling skills to experience some of the dragon twins' lives and nature. After activating the time counter for the explosives, they started their evacuation.

On their way, they came across Ye Sheng's body, with a strange bronze case strapped to his back. They decided to take him back for a proper burial. Mingfei carried the body while Nono carried the case. Suddenly the palace begun to crumble, both only managing to escape thanks to Finger and Norma's help. Nono also noticed a leak in Mingfei's suit and decided to give him hers while she held her breath until they could reach the surface. After apologizing to him for putting him in danger, the diving bell sunk from the surface to get them out. Right before entering it, Norton arrived and impaled Nono's torso with his tail. Powerless, Mingfei passed out and woke up in a vision, in which he was resting in a sailing boat.

#### The first deal

> "Has that girl changed you this much? For thousands of years, you've been so interested in many different things, but you would have never agreed to do anything like this before. Brother, you just fell into my trap".
>
> -Lu Mingze's words to Lu Mingfei after the deal was made.

In the boat, Lu Minzge welcomed him and made him an offer: He would give Mingfei the cheat codes he needed to save Nono and defeat the dragon king, in exchange for the right to a quarter of his life. Nono had already lost 90% of her blood and Mingfei was defenseless against Norton.

    Out of options, Mingfei accepted the deal. Mingze gave him unlimited power for a short period of time, the ability to use a yanling skill of his choice, one use of "Don't Die", and a powerful weapon. Mingfei chose Caesar's skill and Mingze opened the bronze case, and a set of swords came out. Mingfei chose the shortest one, which happened to be the worst one according to Mingze.

After leaving the vision, Mingfei used the codes to get out of the diving bell, heal Nono and face the dragon king. The increased hearing provided by Caesar's skill initially overwhelmed him, but he took advantage of his increased strength to stab Norton's humanoid body in the chest, making him sink to the bottom of the river. Signaling the diving bell, the crew of the boat took them back to safety.

#### Aftermath

Norton was finally killed by a philosopher's stone bullet shot by Sakatoku Mai. Caesar previously fought the dragon king at the surface and managed to hit him with the advanced torpedo. Cassell College was unaware of Mingfei and Mai's roles in the battle and considered Caesar to be the sole one responsible for Norton's defeat, so he was recognized as a dragon slayer. Mingfei had a meeting with the principal, who promised him excellent grades as long as he wrote a thesis about the mission. The principal also gave him a letter from his mother, who congratulated him for his achievements during the mission and expressed her pride for him. Mingfei teared up after reading it and left the room. Anjou took Mingfei's 3E exam out of his desk, noticing that Mingfei drew himself sitting by the window with Lu Mingze, whom Anjou recognized.

#### Valentine's Day

After recovering, Mingfei was mortified to see his pictures from the mission posted on the Night watchman forum. Not only did the photos omit his heroics but captured him in his most embarrassing moments. Mingfei soon realized the pictures were distributed by Finger. Caesar interrupted their argument and asked them for some pepper. The pair were shocked to see him not only in their dorm building but wearing an apron. They followed their club president to the kitchen, where he was baking pizza with Chu Zihang. Finger explained the nature of Valentine's Day to Mingfei and how the celebration prompted the rivals to join forces in order to convince Nono and Susie to get out of their room.

Nono then showed up to give Mingfei a box of chocolates as a Valentine's Day gift. Nono was unconscious when Mingfei saved her life, but she knew that he helped to bring her back to the ship, so she expressed her gratitude. They were, however, interrupted by a delivery man who had a package for him. Inside, there was a smartphone, marking the remaining quarters of his life and a direct line of contact to request more favors from Lu Mingze.

### Summer mission

#### Student Reunion

After nearly holding hands with Nono in a dream, Mingfei woke up to answer a series of quizzes from EVA. Soon after, his aunt berated him for spending his time sleeping and sent him out to buy groceries and a new toilet seat. He received his first text message in a long time, and it was also from EVA, congratulating him for his birthday (which even Mingfei forgot) and also notifying him that he failed his summer evaluation. More birthday messages followed soon after, one from Chu Zihang and another one from Zero. Chen Wenwen texted him as well, but she was inviting him to the literature club's student reunion. Discouraged by the possibility of seeing her with her boyfriend Zhao, he doubted for a while, before deciding to show up anyway.

    He was the first one to arrive and he greeted the rest of his classmates as they entered the restaurant. To his surprise, Wenwen and Zhao were not together anymore, and he showed up with Liu Miaomiao instead, his new fiancé. Angry at Zhao's insensitive attitude towards Wenwen, Mingfei confronted him in front of their former classmates. Zhao grabbed Mingfei by the collar of his shirt, but they got asked to pay for their meal. Mingfei attempted to pay for his share and took out his luxurious credit card, but it was declined. Chu Zihang showed up to his rescue and paid his bill. Seeing the former star of their school acting as Mingfei's assistant was shocking for the others, and especially embarrassing for Zhao.

Zihang was visibly annoyed by Mingfei's lack of initiative and invited Wenwen to dinner on behalf of Mingfei. The restaurant was expensive and extremely luxurious, so Zihang indirectly requested help from Caesar in exchange for any favor. Caesar secured the reservation and also congratulated Mingfei for his birthday.

#### Scene of the crime

Mingfei was selected as the main commissioner on an assignment for the Execution Bureau, who based their decision solely on his rank. Mingfei decided to leave the assignment to Zihang's more capable hands. They arrived at the crime scene: A train station abnormally demolished by a relatively small earthquake. Zihang bribed the guard to let him through and contacted Nono to help them reconstruct the events that led to an agent's death. Mingfei was excited to hear her voice and anticipated a birthday greeting, but she instead asked him to get out of the scene, since he was interfering with her process. Zihang accurately reenacted the scene and they concluded that the lost documents they were looking for were taken from the agent's corpse, the culprit having drove away in a car.

#### Family dispute

Zihang ordered his supporting crew to take care of Mingfei's chores, but they failed to get out of his apartment before his family arrived with his birthday cake. His aunt was initially furious at the sight of strangers in her home, but the argument soon went downhill, ultimately revealing her inferiority complex when comparing herself with Mingfei's mother, as well as her own son with Mingfei himself. After Mingfei left the house, he moved to Cassell entirely and avoided coming back to his family, feeling that he wouldn't be welcomed anymore.

#### Dinner with Wenwen

Mingfei arrived at the restaurant to find Wenwen already waiting for him. They talked about simple things like wine and his experiences in the United States. A waiter suggested bringing dessert with a hidden romantic message in it and Mingfei asked for the Olympic rings, as a reminder of the 5km race they had in high school.

He decided to finally confess his feelings, but the moment was soon interrupted by Mingze, who offered his brother an exchange. For the second quarter of his life, he could have the devoted love of Wenwen, or even Nono. He went as far as to offer psychological enslavement. Mingfei angrily refused and sent the little devil away.

After coming back from his vision, Mingfei instead decided to confess his feelings as a thing of the past. Wenwen acknowledged that she knew about it and apologized for disappointing him. He instead thanked her for making his miserable high school life happier and admitted that he couldn't really afford such a restaurant. Wenwen in turn recognized him for growing up.

### Back to Chicago

#### Meeting Xia Mi

After Zihang finished the mission by himself, they got on a plane and flew back to Chicago. He checked his messages before turning off his phone; there wasn't a birthday message from Nono. They arrived at the train station to find it deserted and covered in blankets with union strike signs on them. Zihang offered to get a hotel room for both of them and their conversation was soon overheard by a girl on the station's roof. She tripped with a blanket and fell, but Zihang managed to catch her. She introduced herself as Xia Mi, a freshman. When she declared her intentions to build a tent at the park while they waited for the strike to end, Mingfei offered to join her, but Zihang offered to pay for her room as well, an offer that she refused, instead opting to stay in their room.

Xia Mi charmed Mingfei almost immediately; attractive, charismatic and an anime cosplayer. She also stole soda from a machine that the workers forgot to turn off. After the trio spent a few hours together, Mingfei wished that friendly moments like this could last forever.

#### The dragon feast

The next morning, he woke up to find himself alone in the room. A note from Xia Mi indicated that she left with Zihang, but they ordered Chinese breakfast for him. The one delivering it was none other than Mingze, who offered his brother a new cheat code: **Bring me the Money**. When Mingfei got out of the building, Anjou showed up to pick him up with a luxurious car, day-drinking and driving at high speeds. He handed Mingfei a case with two million dollars and took him to an auction. Anjou wanted to obtain a special alchemic object, but his offer would easily spark a bidding war. Instead, he disguised Mingfei as an upstart with terrible taste, hoping that his interest in the piece would dissuade other attendees from bidding against him.

Once inside, the host asked his attendees to display their golden eyes, revealing the event to be exclusive to the hybrid society, what Anjou described as a Dragon feast. The object that the principal wanted was a familiar case for Mingfei, one that contained Norton's set of swords, the Seven Deadly Sins.

Mingfei joined the attendees who shouted joking bids like one or two dollars, but a mysterious woman with her face covered showed up to offer 200,000 dollars. Her bid kept going up, all the way to Mingfei's two million. He offered twenty-million dollars, but the financial advisers asked to see his bank account balance to confirm, when it displayed only the two million that Anjou gave him, the woman offered to re-open the auction with a fifty-million offer. Mingfei decided to use Mingze's cheat code, which immediately transferred one-hundred million to his account, winning the auction. The woman congratulated him with a kiss on the cheek.

After the event ended, Anjou decided to have a conversation with Mingfei by the side of the road, laying down in the grass. He told him the story of his parents and how he was born. Mingfei hadn't known this and was touched by Anjou's tale. On their way back the principal asked to know what his reason to live was, the one thing that was bigger than his own life, but Mingfei didn't know what to answer.

### Zihang on trial

#### Midgard's Fall

Mingfei and Anjou met Zihang and Xia Mi at Six Flags after they finished their ride on the Ferris wheel. Anjou was excited to hang out with a young girl like her and they all went to get ice cream. When Xia Mi showed excitement to ride a rollercoaster called Midgard Snake, Zihang and Mingfei were both afraid to join her, but did so anyway. During the ride, time stopped, and Lu Mingze took Zihang's place next to Mingfei in a vision, where he warned him about an impending accident, the tracks ahead of them collapsed. Mingze offered to his brother, again, another deal. For a quarter of his soul, he'd save his life. But Anjou noticed Mingze and scared him away, instead using Time Zero to organize his students and find a way to activate the brakes of the train before it reached the bent tracks. When their effort failed, Zihang used a combination of Blood Rage and Royal Blaze to melt the tracks and put them back into their place, saving everyone on the train but himself, starting to fall both unconscious and to the ground. Xia Mi jumped from the ride and used the Wind Lord's Eyes to save him.

#### The Ice Cellar

That evening, Anjou took Mingfei to his office at Cassell College, where they boarded a secret elevator that took them to the ice cellar. Anjou showed him the secret buried treasures of the college, which included a Mayan pyramid, an aquarium and Constantine's skeleton. As the principal explained, every culture on earth prophesied a dragon apocalypse and Mingfei was Cassell's trump card to prevent it. Mingfei was distraught by this information, since he considered that an unrealistic amount of expectations put on him.

#### Nono's engagement

The next morning, Mingfei failed to pay for his water bills, so he went to the fountain to brush his teeth where he also found Finger doing the same, apparently an old habit of his. He noticed the arrival of Andrew Gattuso, a representative investigator of the Gattuso Family and Vice-principal Flammel's effort to distract him. Finger later let him know that Caesar and Nono submitted a marriage request to the school board, which made Mingfei depressed and sent him on an alcoholic streak.

He went to visit Zihang, who was recovering at the school's infirmary. To his surprise, Zihang asked him about his interest in Nono and Wenwen, since he wanted to confirm his own feelings for Xia Mi. Mingfei answered that, if he already had her name in his mind when he asked what it was like to "like someone", that meant that he already did. He also gave Zihang some astrological advice and lamented his own situation with Nono before leaving. On his way out, he came across Xia Mi and he asked her about her zodiac sign to confirm his suspicions.

#### Witness

At Zihang's trial, Nono entered the room and sat next to Mingfei. She asked why he was helping a member of their opposing faction, since they were both members of the Student Union. Mingfei expressed his loyalty to his friend and was interrogated as a witness by Andrew Gattuso. He assumed full responsibility for their summer assignment and made a joke to diminish Andrew's threat to take away his S-Rank status, which made the whole audience laugh, including Nono, much to his relief. When Caesar defended Zihang as well, Nono jumped to his arms and Mingfei's mood went down again.

#### Tested by the principal

The trial was interrupted by the news of Fenrir being located at an unknown point in Beijing. Mingfei was immediately summoned to the principal's office along with Zihang and Finger. There, Anjou informed them that they were going to be sent to China to investigate and locate the dragon king. Since the school board was impeaching Anjou, they were left without support from the Gear Department, so Anjou decided to provide them with blades from the Seven Deadly Sins. Mingfei managed to retrieve the "Lust" blade but none other, Finger took "Sloth", and Zihang couldn't retrieve a single one. Instead, he was provided with the Cassell family knife. The college sent them on a tourist class flight that was filled with other hybrids who wanted to slay Fenrir.

### Hunting Fenrir

#### Gaming streak

As soon as the team arrived at Beijing, Mingfei ditched his mission and went to an internet café instead, where he spent three days and three nights playing Starcraft matches against a champion of the game and winning all of them. The other player attempted to persuade Mingfei to take a break, even offering to pay for a taxi to take him home, but Mingfei answered that he didn't have a home. Sakatoku Mai and Enxi attempted to motivate him by hiring an actress that resembled Chen Wenwen to seduce him, but the plan failed immediately when Mingfei didn't show any interest. By sheer coincidence, the real Wenwen showed up at the cafe and requested Mingfei's help to locate a missing Zhao Menghua and he promised to help her. Mingfei then paid for his stay and left.

Outside, he found a gang harassing Wenwen in an alley and he ran to her rescue, only to get beaten up as a result. He noticed that Wenwen wasn't the one in danger, but the actress that resembled her. To his luck, Mingze stopped time and offered his help, after which Mingfei rejected the idea of making a deal with him.

Mingze was enraged, expressing that he was the only person in this world who truly loved him, so he decided to give him another gift, a cheat code called **Something for Nothing,** which fused them together. Mingze only used 1% of the spell and this gave Mingfei incredible strength and a violent personality that helped him dispose of the gang with ease. After splitting back into two, Mingfei was horrified by his actions and left the place in a hurry, taking refuge in the Beijing Subway where Menghua disappeared. There, he was immediately chased by Kamaitachi until he boarded a train.

#### Fenrir's game

Without knowing it, he entered Fenrir's Nibelungen. There, he met Gao Mi and Wan Boqian, two agents of Cassell who went missing days earlier, along with Zhao Menghua. The three of them were noticeably skinny, since there was nothing to eat or drink, yet they couldn't die of starvation. Periodically, the train stopped at the same station, allowing them to have a game of Texas Poker with an automated croupier machine that looked like a Kamaitachi Queen.

The participants would bet the only thing they had, loneliness, since losing the game would send them back to the train to wander around endlessly until their next attempt at the gambling table. The croupier provided the players with bottle caps to be used as poker chips. Mingfei got the highest number of coins, since he was the loneliest person in the room. Supported by Mingze, he won the game but failed to free any of his peers.

#### Meeting the dragons

Once he won Fenrir's game, Mingfei was allowed to finish walking through the tunnel and meet with Fenrir himself, who was childishly frustrated after losing. The dragon's body was not complete, and he also had a mountain of salted potato chip bags and a small television to entertain himself. Confused, Mingfei decided to join him and together they enjoyed a comedy show.

After a while, Zihang arrived at the cave with Xia Mi and they immediately attacked Fenrir. The terrified dragon pushed Mingfei away from danger along with his TV and focused more on protecting his toys than defending himself, trembling under his now wounded wings. Zihang managed to blind the dragon but before he could kill him, he was stabbed by Xia Mi's claws as she revealed herself to be Jörmungandr, Fenrir's sister.

Xia Mi intended to consume her brother, despite feeling greatly hurt for having to do so. She explained that she required the combined strength of both dragon twins to face an upcoming threat, and Mingfei quickly guessed that she was talking about Lu Mingze.

Zihang fought her after reaching the third stage of Blood Rage but it wasn't enough. Xia Mi defeated the young hybrid and asked for his last words. Taking advantage of the situation, Zihang used the knife that Anjou gave him and stabbed her in the back, effectively killing the dragon queen. Before dying, Jörmungandr gave Zihang a key to Xia Mi's house, where he could find the last traces of her life as a human. Zihang asked for Mingfei's t-shirt to cover her naked body, confusing Mingfei since Mingze covered her with flower petals in one of his visions.

Xia Mi's death enraged Fenrir, who apparently consumed Xia Mi's body and started the *Shiva Dance* Yanling, which had a strength similar to a tactical nuke. The pair attempted to escape the cave and reached a train, but Zihang stepped down as soon as he managed to activate the engines and went to fight the dragon, not without advising Mingfei to confess to Nono before it was too late.

#### The second deal

Mingfei started doubting on the train wagon when a birthday song that Nono recorded for him was finally received by his phone, the message originally intercepted by Lu Mingze. This fueled Mingfei with motivation, realizing that he finally had something to put his life on the line for. He arrived at Fenrir's lair and caught an unconscious Zihang after he failed to stop Fenrir. Mingfei was wounded by a metal bar, so he summoned Mingze and accepted to exchange another quarter of his soul in exchange for defeating Fenrir and saving Zihang's life.

Lu Mingze fused with Mingfei again, this time 60% of the process was completed and together they used the available blades from the Seven Deadly Sins to slay Fenrir with ease, while Mingze declared that Fenrir's death was payback for his rebellion. Fenrir released his sister's body and disintegrated before the Nibelungen started to collapse. Laying on the ground and awaiting their deaths, Mingfei lied, telling Zihang that he was the one responsible for Fenrir's defeat. He also hoped that Nono would name her kids after them.

On their way out, they were met by a train sent by a mysterious friend, and they boarded it back to the city. Mingfei repeatedly said "Don't Die" to his friend, which healed his body and saved him from death. Mingfei noticed that Zihang was still holding on to Jörmungandr's key.

#### Church visit

Before they departed back to Chicago, they met Wenwen and Zhao Menghua, who was released from the Nibelungen when it collapsed and had his memory wiped by Cassell's agents. Confused, Zhao resumed his relationship with Wenwen and converted to Catholicism. The pair invited Mingfei, Finger and Zihang to their church and they accepted the invitation, except for Zihang who went to visit Xia Mi's home.

### Mission to Japan

#### Dealing with grief

After Finger graduated, Mingfei stayed alone in their dorm room. One night, the school celebrated the Gear Department's success at putting out a fire caused by themselves. For most people, it was just an excuse to have some hot wings and beer. After everyone left, Mingfei and Zihang had supper in the otherwise empty cafeteria. Mingfei ordered a whole chicken, a piece of smoked pork leg, a beef burger, a vegetable salad, and a large bowl of mashed potatoes.

Zihang wondered if Mingfei was eating to suppress his grief, since Caesar announced his intentions to hold his wedding in Tokyo. After being pushed by Zihang to confess to Nono, he went back to his room. In the middle of the night, Mingze gave him a visit and offered to murder Caesar to make a mourning Nono more susceptible to his advances. A fuming Mingfei refused his offer and was met with a warning: Cassell intended to send him on a mission to Japan and Mingze could not intervene in Japanese territory, much to Mingfei's delight.
Before leaving, Mingze gave his brother a cultural guide to Japan and a copy of Nono's secret photo book.

#### Arriving at Tokyo

Mingfei was sent along with Cassell's top ranking students: Caesar and Chu Zihang. They traveled in the principal's private jet, the Sleipner 1. Zihang attempted to argue with his rival by taunting him but fell asleep after getting underwhelming responses from Caesar. Mingfei fell asleep on his shoulder soon after.

As a souvenir, Anjou gifted them three Kimonos. The trio expected to be warmly welcomed by a limousine but instead were met by a small team from the Yamata no Orochi, led by the young chief, Gen Chisei. They failed to recognize Chisei as a clan chief, mistaking him for a driver and soon realized that they were being followed by the Japanese police, since they were smuggled illegally into the country. Chisei's assistant and bodyguard, Yabuki Sakura, managed to repel them with her wind-based Yanling skill.

The trio, also known as "the Aces", were taken by Chisei to Genji Heavy Industries, the headquarters of the Yamata no Orochi. There, they were familiarized with the nature of the organization and met the Orochi's clan leaders, including the patriarch, Tachibana Masamune, who started a traditional tea ceremony for them. Mingfei got confused and assumed that the tea was served cold, inviting his peers to drink their cups in a single drink, effectively burning their tongues and throats.

The trio requested to visit Akihabara on a tourist ride before preparing for their mission, to which Chisei begrudgingly complied. Mingfei bought a figurine of Asahina Mikuru. At night they received rooms designed around their preferences, with Mingfei's being themed around anime and video games. At diner, they bonded with Chisei over anecdotes and their dreams for the future. Caesar wanted to learn more about the underworld and Chisei decided to take them with him on a mission.

#### Meeting Makoto

The group arrived at a small manga shop, where a girl named Asou Makoto requested their help to deal with a mobster who threatened the shop's owners after they refused to pay for protection. Chisei and Sakura managed to scare the thug away. When they left the store they witnessed the apparent start of a street riot, but the crowds dispersed instead.

### At the bottom of the sea

The mission was to locate a Russian sunken ship called The Lenin, which was suspected of containing a dragon embryo. The Aces were taken to the Unsinkable Sumeru Throne, a floating ocean fortress. On their way, Caesar jumped to a fishing boat and bought king crabs, which he cooked in the boat's kitchen. Once at the floating station, they were presented with the Trieste, a submersible donated by Caesar's father Pompeii. Mingfei witnessed Caesar's charisma while he worked with the crew and visualized himself as a lonely figure, sitting helplessly on the floor.

The mission started and the trio begun their descent. Caesar was so confident that he even decided to start smoking a cigar, completely unaware of Sakatoku Mai's presence on board. Mai noticed that the submersible's nuclear reactor had been sabotaged and was about to explode. She received instructions from Enxi that allowed her to disable it in order to protect the Aces. Mai had to exit the submarine and the resulting air leak sent the vehicle spiraling down. Caesar was instructed to activate the nuclear module in order to unfold the Trieste's gliders, but he forgot the security password that he set the night prior. Chisei ultimately saved them after he activated the safety hooks by accident.

#### The ancient city

The Aces noticed a light source which turned out to be a river of lava inside the Japanese trench, but it was inexplicably inhabited by thousands of mutated sea creatures who were attracted by the dragon embryo. They witnessed a fight between a giant squid and a shark. After the squid won, Ghost Tooth dragon vipers quickly turned the corpse into a skeleton, prompting the trio to remain quiet since the creatures were capable of biting through steel.

Temperatures soon rose, forcing them to take most of their clothes off. Following the trace of living creatures, they came across an ancient gate, which led them to the sunken remains of Takamagahara, a city built by the one of the earliest generations of hybrids. The Aces also managed to locate the Lenin, but the embryo inside was malformed and wounded, with its blood forming a stream that flowed into the city. The dragon blood nurtured the corpses of an army of Mermaid-type death servitors, and they started swimming to the surface.

In order to contain the corpses, they were ordered to activate the nuclear device, but the damages to the submersible reduced their possibilities of survival to a mere 1%. Caesar and Zihang recorded farewell messages for their loved ones; Caesar's was destined for Nono and Zihang's was for his adoptive father. When his turn came, Mingfei couldn't think of anyone to leave a farewell message to.

The disabled Nuclear module failed to activate, and Caesar was forced to do it manually by making an underwater walk on the seabed. He activated the Kamaitachi to protect himself from danger, but it made him vulnerable to the embryo's magnetic field and he was soon clouded by visions, forcing Zihang to go out to rescue him. Mingfei was overwhelmed by a feeling of uselessness, until Mingze interrupted the scene with a vision.

Mingze showed his brother the ancient city before it sunk and kept toying with the idea of killing Caesar by shooting ketchup on his face. Before leaving, he gave Mingfei a new cheat code that would allow him to bypass the reactor's password. Back in the real world, Zihang retrieved Caesar and Mingfei activated the nuclear module. Unable to ascend in time, Zihang combined his "Royal Fire" skill with Xia Mi's "Tyrant's Eye" and the resulting reaction propelled them to the surface just in time to be retrieved by the safety hooks, leaving the rest to Chisei. On their way up, they were intercepted by the resurrected carcass of a dragon, but it was slayed by a colossal ice cross casted by a powerful hybrid at the surface.

The damaged submarine collapsed and got torn to pieces by the water current. Mingfei started sinking, drowning with the remains of the Trieste, until he was rescued by the strange hybrid, a figure that looked just like Nono. The red headed girl passed him oxygen mouth-to-mouth and covered his face with a breathing helmet. She accidentally dropped a rubber duck, and Mingfei kept it with him even after he was taken out of the ocean.

### Fugitives

Mingfei woke up in a hospital room and stole the doctor's coat in order to escape. He found money in one of the pockets and spent it on a ramen bowl and a train ticket. He went looking for an internet café that was secretly a safe haven for agents of the Execution Bureau and was surprised to see that it was remodeled years ago into an adult-oriented café. One of the waitresses took him into a room and offered to polish his shoes. Realizing that he wasn't at a safe haven, he started thinking of a way to escape since he didn't have any money to pay for the cafe's services. As he did so, the lights suddenly went out.

Caesar entered the room along with miss Asou Makoto, much to his surprise. Caesar neutralized two gang members and informed Mingfei of an attack from the local mafia. To protect Makoto from the gangsters, Caesar ordered Mingfei to exchange clothes with her, and Caesar carried him away on his shoulder. They tried to escape in one of the gang's sport cars, but they were interrupted by Chu Zihang, who failed to recognize them as he attempted to rescue Mingfei. The trio were aided by Makoto, who hid them in the locker room until they found the right moment to run away. However, they were forced to return when they were informed that she was captured and held as a hostage.

Caesar sent Zihang to sneak back into the building to rescue Makoto while Mingfei used a rifle from a long distance to serve as a distraction. Their leader managed to see through their plan and Caesar was forced to charge towards the gangsters with the sports car and asked Makoto to jump into his arms. The gang leader nearly shot Caesar in the head, which made him miss Makoto by a short distance. Because of this, she was crushed by the car and died.

The gangsters previously employed a bulldozer to chase them, and a furious Caesar managed to take control of it. In the middle of the chaos, EVA sent a military drone and delivered a set of firearms to Caesar, who quickly took control of the battlefield, while Mingfei took refuge next to him. Caesar apprehended the gang leader, who took a molotov cocktail and mutated into a draconic creature. One of his fellow gang members attempted to shoot him to conceal the evidence of Osho's participation, but Mingfei, believing that he was attempting to shoot Caesar, jumped in front of the bullet and it nearly hit his carotid artery, putting him in a coma for days.

#### Takamagahara

Caesar and Zihang tried to take Mingfei to a hospital, but they were met by police officers guarding the entrances at every turn. They ran into a recruitment vehicle that was scouting for male entertainers to work at a night club and begged the manager to take them in. The club agreed to hide the trio and hired a doctor to treat Mingfei, who woke up two days later in a traditional Japanese bathroom. He was met with the image of a beautiful blonde woman, but soon realized that she was none other than Caesar wearing makeup. Caesar decided to take Mingfei on a tour of their new refuge, a club called Takamagahara, where male hosts entertained wealthy women.

They worked with artistic names. Caesar's was Basara King and Zihang's was Ukyou. Mingfei was called upstairs to the manager's office for his official interview. The manager, called Whale by his employees, asked a simple question to Mingfei: "What is it like to love without regretting?" Mingfei answered that it was "to use all of one's strength to avoid thinking about fear and guilt". His phrasing was considered terrible by Caesar and Zihang, but it convinced Whale, who hired him as a waiter and gave him the nickname "Little Sakura".

#### Infiltration

Mingfei struggled to keep up with the fast pace of the club; he only got one flower ticket out of the minimum 800 required for him to stay there, the tickets a display of one's popularity. Zihang and Caesar convinced a group of guests to pay for a private room and sedated them so that the three could leave for the night.

The pair guided Mingfei through an old sewage system that led them straight into Genji Heavy Industries. Mingfei almost got discovered when a shark nearly grabbed his leg. After avoiding a submarine, the three of them reached the main elevator. Zihang and Caesar intended to destroy Kaguya in order to get support from EVA and expected to find her at the top floor. A frightened Mingfei convinced the pair to try the second to last floor instead. The doors of the elevator opened and they were met by Nanami Sakurai, a clan chief in the Orochi, who mistaken them for employees and scolded them for wasting their time.

To prevent Mingfei from getting hurt, his superiors asked him to stay away for the moment and he started helping the other employees to carry boxes around. An earthquake shook the building, yet a DHL delivery man located him and gave him a package from Lu Mingze, containing a new phone. He argued with the little devil until he received an app with schematics of the whole building and a path to a room marked by the "ξ" symbol, a mathematical representation of uncertainty. In the room he found a vault behind a ceremonial door and plenty of death servitor corpses.

Uesugi Erii was inside. She had just taken a bath and was brushing her teeth, mostly indifferent to the whole situation. Mingfei asked her to leave with him and she killed a mob of servitors with one command. Erii wanted to leave the building before Chisei returned and grabbed some of her favorite belongings in a box, each toy was tagged with her name. The pair ran to the roof and Mingfei blocked the door. Erii stood still, looking at the city, while Mingfei got her a can of hot coffee from a vending machine. Under Sakatoku Mai's orders, a police helicopter showed up to rescue them.

### Tokyo Love Story

The helicopter dropped them in front of a hospital. Erii took Mingfei to a love hotel instead, where they played video games all night. In the morning, she sat down to watch the birds through the window while Mingfei called Caesar and Zihang on the phone and asked them to meet him at a capsule hotel, no questions asked. The three of them paid for a room, unaware of the compact space and struggled to fit in.

Erii was in the building across the street, Mingfei wanting to observe her from a safer distance. She started getting undressed to take a bath and Caesar closed the shutters. The three started discussing the psychology and lifestyle that she developed under the Orochi families, coming to the conclusion that Erii had trouble adapting to new environments and the only thing that kept her stable was her trust in Lu Mingfei.

A terrified Mingfei asked to be sent back to Takamagahara but Caesar demanded that he take care of Erii. They instructed him to stay at the love hotel and gave him all of their money. That night, he ordered a hot pot for dinner. Mai and Enxi sneaked in a bottle of wine as a gift, believing that the socially inexperienced pair would need a catalyst to fall in love. They also hired a special team of professionals and told them that Mingfei and Erii were at the center of a reality show but were unaware of it, and the team's mission was to make them fall in love, starting operation: Tokyo Love Story.

Mingfei tried to change Erii's appearance and asked her to wear the clothes brought to them by Caesar and Zihang. The next morning, he took her to a salon across the street, but the vendor was a specialist hired by Enxi, who gave them a full beauty treatment with a big discount. The shopkeeper also gave them a discount card for a clothing store, where Erii tried on and bought numerous outfits. The store clerk, who was also a hired specialist, gave them a tourist pamphlet that primarily recommended Disneyland and they took a taxi to the amusement park.

Erii tried many foods and snacks, and they watched the parade together and she would constantly write "The world is so big!" on her notepad. Mingfei took her back to the hotel room and he slept in the bathtub. On a rainy day, he decided to take her out for dinner at the Chateau Joel Robuchon restaurant, near Ebisu, and Caesar made a reservation for him. The day was extremely rainy, and they took a taxi to get there. Once they arrived, Mingfei learned that the restaurant had already offered his reserved table to a different family, and he was surprised to realize that it was his uncle, aunt and cousin. He hadn't seen them since he left their home last summer and decided to join them.

His aunt was attempting to impress a potential girlfriend for her son Lu Mingze, since the girl came from a wealthy family. Mingfei attempted to cooperate, but his presence, elegant attire and Erii's refined looks made the girl's parents become more interested in him instead. Mingfei and Erii were notified about approaching Orochi agents by Mai and they decided to leave. When his aunt embarrassed herself by demonstrating that she couldn't pay for everyone's dinner, Erii asked the waiter to put it on her tab.

#### The Woodblock

Mai left the keys of a sports car in the envelope and Mingfei took Erii towards the exit of the restaurant. She wanted to know if she did something bad and Mingfei reassured her that she acted properly. Right before they reached the exit, they met Osho, who was disguised as a waiter. He opened a tray and revealed two wood clappers. As soon as he sounded the instruments both Mingfei and Erii went into a trance. While Erii became motionless and terrified, Mingfei turned extremely violent and started experiencing visions of Number Zero and Renata during their escape from Black Swan Bay. He didn't understand these visions and could tell that they weren't his own memories.

They got in the car and Mingfei tried to run over Osho, but the man's eyes turned gold red, similar to those of dragons and blood rage users, and he survived both getting hit by the car and bullet wounds. Mingfei reminisced Zero's citing of the book of revelations and his oath to Renata, he pronounced these words and Osho became extremely terrified. Mingfei took the opportunity to escape and they were followed by many gangsters who were after the reward offered by the Orochi for recovering Erii.

Once they got trapped, Mingfei's started fighting the gangsters, using *Don't Die* to heal himself and keep fighting. He could feel Lu Mingze's nature taking control of him. Once the gangsters managed to subdue him, Erii stood on her feet and activated Judgement, ordering everyone in her sight to die, except for the wounded Mingfei. After that, Erii took him back to the hotel.

Mingfei woke up the next morning and learned of the incident. He found Erii, still shocked by the effects of the woodblocks. Her body showed signs of draconization and he realised that she didn't have a lot of time before she lost control. Caesar and Zihang instructed him to take her out of the country on a ferry and gave him sedatives and glucose injections to keep her alive.

#### Saying goodbye

Mingfei took Erii to Umezudera Town in the Ehime Prefecture. He remembered this place from the Tokyo Love Story TV drama and he wanted Erii to see the ocean before she left. There, she asked him multiple questions about the outside world, most of them concerning fictional things that she saw in anime series.

> "If the world really doesn’t like you, then the world is my enemy.”
>
> - Lu Mingfei

Erii expressed her love for the world, but lamented that the world didn't like her. Mingfei explained that being liked by the world means to be liked by one's true friends. The pair embraced, and Mingfei finally realized that Erii loved him.

He took her to the train station and gave her a one way ticket back to Tokyo, also calling Chisei to inform him of his decision. Chu Zihang tried to reach her, but Caesar sabotaged their car, since he secretly wanted to support Mingfei's choice. He claimed that a true gentleman would risk everything for a girl's smile, and that he wouldn't have killed Xia Mi if he was in Zihang's place. Back at the love hotel, a nervous Mingfei was surprised to see his seniors helping him pack Erii's belongings and taking him out for a meal.

### Spies

Back at Takamagahara, the trio was found by Finger, who was on an internship in Japan and suddenly found himself incommunicated and persecuted by every faction in the country. He had been eating from dumpsters for days on end and was extremely happy to meet them.

Ruri Kazama was pretending to be a bartender and he notified them of Tachibana's plans to meet with Osho. He proposed the Aces spy on their conversation. Mingfei suggested tying Finger up to an air balloon so he could use a laser pointer as a listening device. Mingfei was brought with the team as a sniper.

When the negotiation went wrong, Tachibana, Chisei and Sakura wounded Osho, who tried to escape but got seemingly killed by Ruri Kazama. Mingfei tried to help Sakura when she was surrounded by death servitors, and she noticed his presence, bowing in his direction before jumping to her death. Tachibana sacrificed himself to save Chisei while Caesar and Zihang left to save Kazama from Osho, who was still alive and in one piece.

#### Negotiating

Without their knowledge, Whale put their faces on giant advertisements and they were instantly surrounded in Takamagahara by cadres of the Yamata no Orochi. Nanami Sakurai and Kotaro Fuma met them at the entrance of the club, and they were surprised to find Zero standing next to Fuma. Before the Orochi could attack them, Su Enxi revealed herself and used her influence as the biggest investor in the Yamata no Orochi to protect the Aces and Gen Chime, who was hiding from Osho in the club.

The Aces requested an audience to negotiate with Gen Chisei and Fuma accepted. He gave Zero back to her allies and she requested Mingfei's help to stay on her feet, since her knee was bandaged, but Finger hurried to her aid instead, much to her annoyance. Zero informed them of the situation in the Red Well, where the white dragon queen's embryo had been drowned in mercury, and then she suddenly collapsed due to her injuries.

The following day, Enxi organised a massive event, filled with celebrities as a way to prevent the situation from escalating into violence. Before the negotiation could start, a sudden alert was heard on every device in Tokyo: a giant tsunami was on its way. Izanami's embryo was alive, and it finally awakened.

#### The queen awakens

The entirety of Tokyo was soon hit by the giant waves and the streets were flooded. Takamagahara was invaded by death servitors and mercenaries of the Mou Kishu, and Lu Mingfei heard the sound of the wood clappers over the club's sound system. He managed to find Ruri Kazama, who reverted back to Chime thanks to the wood clappers. He couldn't move, so Mingfei had to carry him on his back through the flooded hallways, but Kazama recovered when they were met by a death servitor and praised the fire in Mingfei's eyes before leaving to fight the creature.

After Kazama left, Whale, along with guests and celebrities reached the wine cellar and found Mingfei unconscious. They tried to resusicate him only to realise that he was playing dead, and he was drinking alone in the corner. Whale unsuccessfully tried to boost the boy's confidence, but Mingfei kept drinking in the dark. Erii reached him through a messaging app and offered to pick him up on her way to the airport, but Mingfei urged her to leave.

Whale decided to leave the cellar and find a way for his guests to escape, but he met a death servitor outside, the creature bit his arm off, restricted his body and tried to suffocate him. Mingfei's attempts to rescue him were futile, but Sakatoku Mai showed up and killed the servitor. Mingfei noticed that Erii left her location information active and she was headed towards the Red Well, so he left in a hurry.

### The third deal

> "It's very late now. Half an hour ago you could have changed the outcome of this story, but what were you doing then?
> You were drinking, hesitating, and pitying yourself. By the time you made up your mind, it was too late."
>
> Lu Mingze scolds Lu Mingfei.

When Mingfei reached Mount Fuji, the whole place was covered in a strange silk, its filaments drained the blood of any living being that they managed to capture. Mingfei found Erii's car and it was abandoned, Lu Mingze was sitting on the roof with a serious expression, and he showed his brother a vision.

Mingfei was sitting in an empty theatre, and a kabuki performance unfolded in front of his eyes. Through the play, he learned of Osho and Tachibana's true identity as the same man: Jung Von Herzog. He saw the death of Chisei and Gen Chime and Herzog sacrificing Erii to turn himself into the White Dragon King. Mingfei realized that this play represented real events, and Erii was already gone. Mingze scolded him for hiding, drinking and feeling sorry for himself while Erii was in danger.

Mingfei reached Erii's body and in a fit of rage, he removed the parasite from her back and crushed its bones. He dressed Erii in her favorite dress and sat her down. When he found her belongings next to her, he discovered that she had collected a variety of tourist postcards and wrote messages on the back detailing her experiences with him. This ultimately broke his spirit and he asked Lu Mingze to make a deal for the third quarter of his life. Mingze explained that he couldn't bring Erii back, but Mingfei clarified that he wanted to kill Herzog.

Their fusion reached 100% and they were covered in a cocoon. The dead hybrids who once served Herzog came back to life as a draconized army and they floated around the cocoon to defend it.

#### Revenge

In the sky, Herzog brought down a squadron of fighters, but was wounded by an experimental aircraft piloted by Renata. She ran out of fuel and ejected herself out of the plummeting aircraft, but the parachute failed to open. Mingfei and Mingze came out of the cocoon, looking like a draconized Number Zero, covered in dark blue scales, with wings on their back.

Number Zero caught Renata and he opened her parachute. Herzog recognized him from Black Swan Bay and demanded to know who he was. Zero answered that in his heart, Herzog already knew the answer. Herzog understood and cried in anger after realising that he lost his time focusing on Izanami when the ultimate power in the world had been in front of him since they were in Siberia.

Herzog released Yanling after Yanling but Zero cancelled them all just by snapping his fingers. He lost his patience and ordered his army of servitors to attack Herzog, but the doctor took them down one by one. The pair fought in the sky all over Japan and Herzog gained the upper hand. He noticed that Zero's blood wasn't that of a pure dragon, that his lineage had human genes in it, making him weak. Zero answered that Herzog still had the cowardly heart of a human. Despite this remark, Herzog overpowered Zero.

Zero explained that he originally intended to let Erii die and foil Herzog's plans, but after he saw her bond with Mingfei, he decided to let her live, a plan that Herzog ruined. With his last remaining strength, he punched Herzog's heart and fell to the ground. Herzog was unaffected and mostly confused by this move, but he soon realised that Zero set a trap for him. The orbital weapon of the Gattuso Family opened fire and Zero had accurately positioned Herzog in the projectile's path. Herzog was obliterated and Zero landed safely on the ground.

#### Goodbyes

Before the trio left Japan, Whale organised a goodbye event for them, where Mingfei participated in a musical number with Caesar and Zihang. During the popularity contest, his flower ticket count was embarrassingly low, but Erii bought 100,000 tickets for him days before and he won the competition. Crow gave him Erii's belongings and he noticed that she added his name next to her's on her toys. Erii's death became his biggest regret.