Dragon Raja: A Look Back at Lu Mingfei's Legendary Life

Chapter 4 The "Younger Brother" Inside the Body

The real world, outside the golden screen.

The students and faculty of Kassel College fell silent as they watched this scene unfold.

The life of Lu Mingfei shown on the screen was too ordinary, so ordinary that... it was even somewhat tragic.

Living under someone else's roof, with his parents rarely around, residing in a converted storage room, and even the air conditioning is broken—could this be the future principal of Kassel?

"I don't understand," a student murmured. "He doesn't seem like the kind of person who could lead the Secret Service at all."

"Maybe... appearances can be deceiving?" another student said uncertainly.

"But this is such a huge difference! Look at Principal Angers, look at the records of all the past principals, isn't it..."

"Quiet." A dignified voice rang out.

Everyone looked in the direction of the sound and saw that Principal Angers had somehow walked to the open space in front of the Amber Hall. He was not carrying an umbrella, and his silver hair was wet in the rain, sticking to his forehead, but he did not care. He just looked up at the light screen with a complicated expression.

"Principal..." someone seemed to want to say something.

Angers raised his hand to stop him, his gaze still fixed on Lu Mingfei's calm face on the light screen: "Keep watching. Since this light screen has chosen to display this, there must be a reason."

He paused, then added, "And...I know this boy."

This statement was like a bombshell, exploding in the crowd.

"Does the principal know him?"

"When? How did you meet?"

"Could it be that he was already pre-selected as...?"

"Enough." Angers' voice wasn't loud, but it carried an undeniable authority. "Keep watching."

Everyone fell silent and turned their attention back to the light screen.

Inside the light screen, the image began to change.

Lu Mingfei was lying in bed, seemingly asleep. But as the camera zoomed in, you could see his eyeballs moving rapidly beneath his eyelids—he was dreaming.

Dreams are fragmented and disjointed.

A palace ablaze, a black dragon roaring in the flames; a woman's tender embrace and her gradually cooling body on a cold, rainy night; a man's lonely figure on the boundless snowfields of Siberia; and... a pair of golden eyes gazing at him in the darkness, filled with sorrow and longing.

These images flashed by so quickly that they were almost invisible.

Lu Mingfei frowned in his sleep, his body trembled slightly, and fine beads of sweat appeared on his forehead.

Then, the dream froze on one scene:

In a vast, church-like space, countless candles flickered in the darkness. The candlelight illuminated the exquisite murals on the walls—epic wars of dragons, scenes of battles between hybrids and pure-blooded dragons.

In the center of the space was a huge throne.

The throne was carved from black stone, with a bronze dragon coiled around its back, its eyes inlaid with blood-red gems. No one sat on the throne, yet Lu Mingfei felt… that position should have belonged to someone.

Just then, a voice rang out in his dream, deep and majestic, as if from ancient times:

You can't escape, Lu Mingfei. This is your fate, your curse, and also your... glory.

Lu Mingfei suddenly opened his eyes.

He was breathing heavily, his sweat soaking the sheets. Outside, darkness had fallen, and the last rays of twilight pierced through the curtains, casting an orange-red band of light on the wall.

He sat up, wiped his face with his hand, and found that his palm was trembling slightly.

It's that dream again.

From childhood to adulthood, he had similar dreams many times. Sometimes it was burning, sometimes it was freezing, sometimes it was fighting, sometimes it was... sitting alone on a throne, looking down on all living beings.

He once asked the voice in his mind—the being he called "Lu Mingze"—what these dreams meant.

Lu Mingze always said in that childlike yet mature tone: "Those are your memories, brother. Although they're sealed away, they always seem to surface in your dreams."

"Memories?" Lu Mingfei scoffed at the time. "Where would I get these memories? I'm just an ordinary high school student. My parents are doing scientific research abroad. My grades are average, my looks are average, everything about me is average."

Brother, do you really believe you're just an ordinary person?

Lu Mingfei remained silent.

He doesn't believe it.

From the time he could remember, he knew he was different from the other kids. Not because he had any superpowers—quite the opposite, he felt ridiculously ordinary—but because he could always sense…something.

For example, he can see colors that others cannot.

It's not colorblindness, but sometimes, on certain people, he sees a faint, misty halo. Some are white, some are blue, some are red... and he himself, in the mirror, occasionally sees a fleeting glimpse of gold.

For example, he has a strange sense of familiarity with dragons.

Not the winged lizards of Western mythology, but something more ancient, more majestic, and more...real. When he first saw illustrations of dragons in his father's book, "A Preliminary Exploration of the Dragon Genealogy," he felt neither fear nor surprise, but rather a sense of "Ah, so this is what you look like."

Also, there is another person living inside his body.

Or rather, another consciousness.

Lu Mingze.

Lu Mingfei didn't know when Lu Mingze appeared; it seemed that the voice had been in his mind since he could remember. Lu Mingze claimed to be his younger brother, but they were clearly not brothers in the biological sense—Lu Mingfei was an only child, and his parents had never mentioned that he had a younger brother.

Lu Mingze knows many things that Lu Mingfei doesn't, and he says some strange things. Sometimes he even "helps" Lu Mingfei when he is in danger—although such help often comes at a price.

Lu Mingfei had tried to get rid of this voice, but failed. Lu Mingze was like a part of his soul, or rather, a kind of existence parasitizing his soul.

"What exactly are you?" Lu Mingfei once asked.

"I'm your younger brother, older brother." Lu Mingze always answered like this. "I'm here to help you. When you need it, I'll give you the strength to help you fulfill your wishes—for just a small price."

"What price?"

[A quarter of my life, brother. In every transaction, you give me a quarter of your life, and I give you strength.]

Lu Mingfei thought it was a joke at the time. A quarter of his life? How could he give that away? Could he possibly cut a piece of his own lifespan off?

But now, looking at his own pale face on the screen and feeling the irregular beating of his heart, Lu Mingfei suddenly felt... perhaps what Lu Mingze said was true.

Perhaps he really isn't an ordinary person.

Maybe he really does have some damned "fate".

The knocking interrupted Lu Mingfei's thoughts.

"Mingfei, dinner's ready!" Aunt's voice rang out from outside the door.

"I'm here," Lu Mingfei replied, taking a deep breath to suppress the pounding in his heart.

He put on a T-shirt, opened the door, and transformed back into the ordinary, listless Lu Mingfei.

Dinner was uneventful as usual. Uncle was watching the news, Aunt was complaining about the rising vegetable prices, and Lu Mingze was eating with his head down. Lu Mingfei ate quietly, occasionally responding with a word or two, but mostly remaining silent.

After the meal, he took the initiative to clear the dishes, wash the dishes, and wipe the table.

Business as usual.