Chapter 142: Can We Make Peace, Xia Mi?

"Little fool."

Lu Mingfei let out a helpless, quiet murmur.

Furina had said that the Traveler informed her the Dottore was afflicted by Nidhogg's curse. This simple sentence already contained a wealth of information.

Thinking carefully, the timing of the Traveler receiving news about the Dottore must have been after the Dottore arrived in Fontaine; otherwise, she would have had no reason to gather intelligence on him. In other words, the Dottore must have arrived in Fontaine quite a while ago.

Prior to that, the relationship between Furina and himself was extremely close. Without any special circumstances interfering, it would have been absolutely impossible for her to conceal such an important matter from him.

Therefore, the exact time of the Dottore's arrival in Fontaine must have coincided with when Lu Mingfei was pushing his limiter to the absolute limit. Furina had a certain degree of confidence in her own self-preservation and, at the same time, did not want to disturb him, which was why she kept this news a secret.

'Although nothing happened, acting like this makes me feel completely useless,'

Lu Mingfei muttered to himself in his heart.

After a brief wave of emotion, he reverse-engineered the timeframe in which the Traveler had discovered the news about Nidhogg's curse and found that the process was remarkably short. From the time he pushed his limiter to the present, it had taken the Traveler at most two days to find the clues. Her efficiency was absurdly high.

It seemed the Traveler was not simple either.

No, continuing to grow and develop at the current speed was still far too slow. He had to find a way to accelerate his growth and strive to reach the world of Teyvat as soon as possible.

"的路鸣泽 (Lu Mingze)."

"Lu Mingze."

"Lu Mingze?"

Lu Mingfei called out his name several times in succession, but the little demon showed no sign of appearing at all. This was completely different from usual, when he would appear the moment he was called, or even proactively pop out unsummoned.

"Where is everyone?"

He murmured in confusion, but quickly came to terms with it. Perhaps demons had lives of their own; he couldn't expect the kid to stare at him all the time.

Understanding was one thing, but not being able to summon the little demon still made Lu Mingfei feel somewhat uncomfortable.

"Sigh~"

He sighed once more, collapsed onto the bed, stared blankly at the ceiling, and fell into silence as he pondered how he could rapidly improve his strength right now.

Among the options, the best method was perhaps to directly acquire the White King's power and devour his dragon bones. However, having already come into contact with multiple Dragon Kings, Lu Mingfei now felt a slight aversion to the idea of consuming other Dragon Kings' remains.

Although among the Dragon Kings there were irritating fellows like Odin, the vast majority of them seemed quite lovable. For example, the strongest second-generation breed, Xia Mi, or the brothers of the King in Yellow and Bronze. The personalities of most Dragon Kings Lu Mingfei had encountered were actually relatively gentle; perhaps the White King wasn't necessarily a heinous vicious monster either.

"Ding~"

A crisp phone ringtone sounded, and Lu Mingfei instinctively opened his phone to check the message.

"Chu Zihang": Norton is here?

Lu Mingfei: That's Lao Tang, my friend. He's working at Cassell College now.

Lu Mingfei: Never mind, call him whatever you want. It's just a title anyway. What, do you want to see your older brother?

"Chu Zihang": You really have a death wish.

Lu Mingfei: What's wrong with me? It's so weird, why should I fear death? Did I do something wrong? Please stop talking about things that don't exist, okay?

"Chu Zihang": 6

"Chu Zihang": Our journey is almost over. Now, he has obtained the key. Perhaps the war between kings will break out in the near future.

Lu Mingfei: Oh, really?

He could actually understand the other person's mindset. First of all, the person on the other side of the phone screen was definitely not Chu Zihang; it was Xia Mi. She probably felt that Chu Zihang's identity had been exposed, so once Chu Zihang appeared in front of Norton, Norton would fly into a rage.

Because his younger brother was fake, he had been deceived by a fake brother, hence the war of kings.

However, Chu Zihang at this very moment should have already obtained the dragon bones of the King of the Ocean and Waters, so Xia Mi was not particularly afraid of Norton. She spoke with a great deal of confidence, throwing around talk of war left and right.

"Ding~"

A new message popped up. This time it was news from Cassell College, and it was a top-level priority notice—a temporary mission.

A suspected Nidhogg discovered in the Beijing subway?

Is it Odin?

More importantly...

Mission Specialist Roster: Lu Mingfei, Xia Mi, Chu Zihang, Ronald Tang, Yan Qing, Chen Mokuang, Caesar.

It was... rather speechless.

A suspected Nidhogg found in Beijing, and Cassell College directly dispatched four Dragon Kings to handle it. If Xia Mi was included, that made five Dragon Kings. If one added the little demon who might be tagging along with him, there would be six Dragon Kings.

Cassell College was truly brimming with extraordinary talent~

"Chu Zihang": Answer me a question.

Lu Mingfei: ?

"Chu Zihang": Can we reconcile?

Lu Mingfei: ? ? ?

"Chu Zihang": Actually, I think the war between Dragon Kings is still far too dangerous. I am a peace-loving person; how could I possibly like such things?

Lu Mingfei: No wait, we're just going on a mission together, why do you sound a bit nervous? Do you have something to hide? Don't worry, if there's a Dragon King, I'll slaughter it right away and let you witness what top-tier dragon slayer power looks like.

~

"Chu Zihang": Why resort to fighting and killing? How old are you? The adult world is about human relationships and worldly sophistication. Jianghu is not about fighting and killing; it's about worldly sophistication.

"Hahahaha, I'm dying of laughter!"

Lu Mingfei, sitting in front of his phone, laughed happily. He was gradually realizing why Xia Mi's attitude had changed so rapidly. The answer was simple: the Nidhogg discovered by Cassell College had a lot to do with Xia Mi; it was suspected to be Fenrir's old home.

Right now, Xia Mi and Chu Zihang had not returned yet, and the college was about to transfer Norton and the others to Beijing, so Norton would inevitably arrive at Fenrir's Nidhogg ahead of time.

If a war between Dragon Kings truly broke out, Fenrir might well be the first to disappear.

The King of Earth and Mountain, Fenrir, possessed immensely powerful strength, but alas, his intelligence level was low. Norton, on the other hand, was an intelligent Dragon King skilled in alchemy. If Fenrir were discovered by Norton, Norton would certainly find a way to kill him.

Put simply, it was bullying a fool.

If Norton obtained Fenrir's dragon bones, his own power would skyrocket. Even though Chu Zihang had already obtained the power of two Dragon Kings, he might not necessarily be able to defeat Norton, who also possessed multi-dragon power. After all, the gaps in combat experience and alchemy were right there, and they were very difficult to make up for.

Under these circumstances, Xia Mi naturally did not want to fight Norton. Once a battle started, what was originally a crushing match or an even stalemate would become extremely complicated, and there was even a high probability that they would die.

Lu Mingfei: Then why are you telling me? Go tell Norton yourself.

"Chu Zihang": Uh, probably because I spoke a bit too loudly just now, and he blocked me.

"Hahahahaha!"

Lu Mingfei burst into laughter instantly.

Just now? Just now!

If he guessed correctly, Xia Mi must have inflated her ego, directly engaged in a simultaneous conversation with Norton and himself, and then declared war. Midway through shouting her slogans, she realized her own home was being burglarized, and now she didn't want to fight anymore.

"Chu Zihang": We must keep our objective clear. Our common enemy right now is Odin. Before the decisive battle with Odin, there is no need for internal friction.

Lu Mingfei: Lol.

He smiled, then used his phone to send a message directly to Norton to see what the other side meant.

Lu Mingfei: Lao Tang, did you get the message?

Norton: Yeah, I guess someone snatched Constantine's phone and sent me that kind of trash message. I got so pissed I blocked him right away.

Norton: What? Did he talk to you too?

Lu Mingfei: [Screenshot].JPG

Norton: Hahaha, reconcile? Can we reconcile? I'm dying of laughter. Anyone who can say something like that can figure out who it is with their toes. Only that fellow would say such things, hahahahaha!

Lu Mingfei: You figured it out?

Norton: Of course, she must be that impressive monarch. Aside from this fellow, who else could say things like that? Lol!

Norton: I can already guess who's hiding over there now. Hahaha, let me tell you, someone right now is definitely panicking, extremely panicking. She probably wants to rush back from the Three Gorges area at the very first moment, but by the time she gets back, it'll probably be too late, hahahahaha. This mission is truly peerless.

Norton was a monarch skilled in alchemy. As long as he approached a Nidhogg, he could roughly guess which Dragon King was hidden inside based on the gold content of the Nidhogg. Xia Mi couldn't possibly hide it from him.

The Nidhogg with the highest level of alchemy belonged to Constantine and Norton; the second highest belonged to Odin; and the one with the lowest level of alchemy must be Jormungandr's or Fenrir's. Norton didn't even need to go inside; standing outside the Nidhogg and roughly sensing the complexity of its spatial structure was enough for him to guess which Dragon King had created it.

This kind of thing simply couldn't be concealed!

Xia Mi was definitely going to panic!

Lu Mingfei: Then what do you plan to do?

Norton: Simple. I plan to make a little dress for that fellow, trick her into wearing it, and tell her the little dress looks great and I'm really looking forward to someone's reaction. Haha, I'm dying.

Lu Mingfei: You really are a good guy. Then I'll buy a little lipstick to go along with you.

Norton: Awesome, awesome!

On the other side, the existence of Visions had blown up Cassell College completely. To the vast majority of ordinary half-bloods, this thing was simply too absurd. As long as one held a Vision, they possessed at least S-class combat strength.

"An epoch-making, great invention."

The Vice Principal evaluated it as such.

Prior to this, he had already deconstructed Gungnir and the Spear of Blazing Flame that Lu Mingfei had sold to Cassell College. The existence of Gungnir was far more profound than he had imagined... It was practically like the genuine article! It looked nothing like a clumsy replica, but rather a battle-damaged authentic piece!

And the Spear of Blazing Flame was even more absurd. Although there were only fragments, with Cassell College's current alchemical deconstruction tools, there was no instrument capable of allowing him to understand the internal structure of the fragments.

An immensely powerful force resided within the fragments of the Spear of Blazing Flame—a force that protected the fragments, rendering them immune to all kinds of damage and shielding them from various prying effects.

Research? There was simply no way to research it at all!

"That fellow Lu Mingfei is strange. The alchemical level he has displayed far exceeds our understanding, surpassing this era."

The Vice Principal's emotions were stirred to a high pitch, and he even went on to say: "I even seriously doubt whether he is the King in Yellow and Bronze, Constantine, among the Four Monarchs. The alchemy he commands is far too superior compared to what humans understand."

At the Board of Directors meeting, other directors countered, saying that the Vice Principal might be experiencing some reactive stress. Throughout history, there had been great half-bloods like Newton, Maxwell, or Einstein; the wisdom they displayed was enough to shock even Dragon Kings.

After a long silence, the Vice Principal finally collapsed helplessly into his chair, stared at the ceiling, and said, "Perhaps what you all say is right. The existence of Visions is enough to leave a heavy, colorful stroke in the history of dragon slayers. Furthermore, prior to this, no one had ever been able to create such a great alchemical creation... Its existence is practically a miracle, and it is entirely worthy of the name 'the Gaze of the Gods'."

Afterward, a director proposed letting the Vice Principal study the structure of a Vision to see if it could be replicated and restored, thereby forming a powerful anti-dragon combat force.

The Vice Principal refused. The reason was simple: skilled in alchemy as he was, he could guess with his eyes closed that Visions must use some high-grade material, and they were absolutely impossible to mass-produce.

Besides...

He hadn't even finished figuring out Gungnir yet! And he hadn't found a way to deconstruct the Spear of Blazing Flame either!

He hadn't even finished the work in his hands, and now he was expected to take on a new project. Who could possibly endure this? Although researching Gungnir was also very difficult, the Vice Principal at least saw hope there. But studying a Vision? He seriously doubted whether he would even be able to understand its internal structure, let alone replicate it.

By dispatching Chen Mokuang and the others on this mission, the college's purpose was actually to see what the practical combat value of Visions was and whether there were any hidden safety hazards. Although Visions looked wonderful on the surface, it was best to leave a record of actual combat to corroborate it.

Inside the city of Fontaine, nighttime.

The Dottore sat quietly on a bench, the pain originating from his soul easing slightly. The pain he suffered was indeed related to sleep; giving up sleep could, to a certain extent, prevent him from suffering trauma again.

"Why are you here?"

He turned his gaze to look at the servant standing beside him and asked.

"It's so late, aren't you considering finding a place to sleep?" the servant asked.

"I still have missions uncompleted; how could I dare to sleep?" The Dottore looked coldly at the servant. With his brilliant intellect, he had already realized something was amiss, and the Dendro Gnosis within his body was ready to activate at any moment.

"So dedicated."

The servant smiled scornfully, then said, "Let me give you a reminder. The Traveler has already started investigating the things you did in the past. It might not be long before you're pushed onto the trial bench of the Opera House."

"..."

The Dottore's gaze gradually grew colder.

In the night of Fontaine, two Fatui Harbingers stared at each other. Neither of them slept; perhaps neither night nor sleep was a good thing for them.

But was this really of any use?

In the shadows, the little demon smiled playfully, then gently snapped his fingers.

"Snap!"

The two of them collapsed at the same time.