Chapter 82 Kassel Academy
The air in the Chicago train station was filled with the smell of tar and steel. A crumbling crystal chandelier hung from the old ceiling, casting dim light, and the light and shadow cast on every pedestrian's face had a vague and gloomy feeling.
The bustling crowd kept moving back and forth, the creaking sound of the suitcase wheels on the floor tiles mixed with the occasional harsh sound of the broadcast, creating a cacophony of noise.
Lu Mingfei stood in the middle of the platform, holding a ticket in his hand. The texture of the ticket was different from ordinary paper. The dark background was slightly silvery, as if coated with a layer of invisible moonlight. On the ticket, silver lines were used to outline a giant tree with lush branches and leaves, with branches winding and entangled like an ancient spell. Lu Mingfei handed the mysterious ticket to the staff on the platform and asked.
"Hello, when will this train arrive?"
The staff member raised his eyelids, took the ticket nonchalantly, his eyes stayed on the ticket for a few seconds, then frowned: "CC1000 Express? Never heard of it. But the ticket looks real. You can go to the timetable and see if there is this train on it." After that, he casually handed the ticket back to him with a bit of impatience in his expression.
Lu Mingfei frowned and took the ticket again, wondering if he had been fooled by that school called Kassel College.
When he met Angers for the first time, he wanted to take Lu Mingfei back to school, but Lu Mingfei wanted to stay with Kropp for a while. Originally, Angers wanted to keep Nono and let her take Lu Mingfei to school, but Nono refused to agree.
Later, Ange wanted to ask other people from the school to come over, but was rejected by Lu Mingfei. It was just a matter of taking a plane and a car. He was not a primitive man and could handle it himself. He could just send the train and plane tickets to him when school started.
Lu Mingfei stayed in Prussia for three weeks. During these three weeks, Klopp took him to visit all the cities in Prussia, big and small, on crutches. He and Klopp went to pay tribute to their deceased comrades until the plane and train tickets were sent.
There was nothing wrong with the plane ticket, and Lu Mingfei flew from Munich to Chicago normally, but there was a problem with the train ticket. It seemed as if this train, called CC1000, did not exist at all.
"It seems I have to find a hotel nearby first." Since the thing sent by Cassel did not show the departure time, Lu Mingfei rushed to the train station as soon as he got off the plane, but he didn't expect to come to a deserted place.
But now Lu Mingfei is no longer a pauper and does not have to spend the night at the train station. When Lu Mingfei was about to leave Prussia, Klopp gave him a card with at least one million euros in it. The wealth accumulated by Klopp in a century is still amazing. Lu Mingfei originally did not want it, but Klopp said that this was what Lu Mingfei had placed with him 93 years ago, and now he was just paying it back with interest.
Lu Mingfei vaguely remembered what Kropp said to him before he left: "There are still a lot of pretty girls in the school. Those pretty girls are good at spending money. How can you survive without money?"
The scene of the elders in the family seeing off their younger ones made Lu Mingfei frown, but he still felt warm in his heart, at least he still had a bond in this world.
"One dollar, just one dollar..." someone said behind him.
In the United States, this is a typical begging phrase, asking for a dollar, just like the lotus flower song sung by beggars in ancient China.
Lu Mingfei turned his head and saw a tall and burly young man standing behind him, looking at him with pleading eyes. He was wearing a dark green plaid shirt that had not been washed for who knows how long, and loose-fitting trousers, looking like a beggar.
Lu Mingfei frowned, took out a coin from his pocket and handed it to the sloppy young man, saying, "You are so young, why do you become a beggar when you can do something else?"
Lu Mingfei just said this casually. Since he had been speaking Prussian for three weeks in Prussia, what came out of his mouth was also Prussian. He did not expect the beggar opposite him to understand.
But unexpectedly, when the beggar heard Lu Mingfei speaking Prussian, he immediately switched to fluent Prussian, but for some reason this fluent Prussian had a BJ accent.
"Uncle, your Old Prussian accent shows that you are from the Black Flag family of Old Berlin, more authentic than me, a real Berliner. But I'm not a beggar. My name is Finkel von Frings and I'm a college student. I just lost my wallet when I went out." As he said this, the beggar took out a brick-like book with complicated patterns on it from the backpack behind him.
Lu Mingfei looked at the pattern and felt it looked familiar. He suddenly remembered that the pattern on his ticket seemed to be the same.
He took out the ticket from his pocket and compared it to confirm that the patterns on it were indeed the same. When the beggar named Finger saw the ticket Lu Mingfei took out, he suddenly rushed towards Lu Mingfei, shouting something like "Dear ones! I finally found the organization."
When Lu Mingfei saw the dirty beggar rushing towards him, he raised his leg high and chopped down, hitting the beggar's head and stomping the beggar's head on the ground. Killing intent flashed in his eyes, and the temperature around him seemed to drop by several degrees at this moment.
"Don't kill me, sir! I'm also a student of Kassel College!" The beggar whose head was stepped on by Lu Mingfei trembled all over and shouted loudly.
The beggar's voice attracted the attention of the people around him. When Lu Mingfei heard the beggar's words, he finally realized what he had done. The murderous intent in his eyes faded, and he moved his foot away from the beggar's head before attracting more people's attention.
When he saw the beggar rushing towards him just now, he subconsciously thought that it was an enemy charging at him, and his body automatically made these movements.
Lu Mingfei realized that Kropp was right, he was still alive in the war and his body was always in a state of alert.
The beggar squatted on the ground, holding his head and shoulders, twitching, as if he was crying because of Lu Mingfei's kick.
Lu Mingfei looked at the beggar and felt a little embarrassed. He took out a hundred-euro bill from his pocket and handed it to the beggar.
"Sorry, but don't get so close to me next time. Do you want to go to the hospital..." Before Lu Mingfei could finish his words, the hundred-euro bill was in the beggar's hand. The beggar stood up immediately as if nothing had happened, holding the bill with light in his eyes.
"It's okay, it's okay. I have thick skin and am not afraid of pain. If you want to kick me again, I'll give you 100 euros each time. I'll let you kick me to your heart's content today." The beggar waved his hand nonchalantly and continued to look at the 100 euros in his hand.
Lu Mingfei looked at the beggar who seemed fine and knew that this man was not that simple. Although he did not use much force in that kick just now, it should not be underestimated. An ordinary person who was kicked by him would have to lie on the ground for at least half a day, and might even get a concussion, but this beggar just squatted on the ground for a while.
"You said you were a student of Kassel College. Would Kassel College accept beggars?" Lu Mingfei suddenly remembered what the beggar had just shouted while lying on the ground.
"Cough cough cough... I'm not a beggar, I just lost my wallet..." Finkel looked at his shabby clothes and felt that his words were not convincing, so he coughed twice awkwardly.
"Then do you know when the bus will arrive?" Lu Mingfei raised his eyebrows and believed the words of the beggar-like college student in front of him, then raised the ticket in his hand and asked.
"No one knows the exact time when the bus will arrive, but it will always come if we wait. However, people of lower class will have to wait longer," said Finkel.
"Class? Does your school still divide people into the bourgeoisie and the proletariat?" Lu Mingfei felt more and more that there was something wrong with this school.
"This class is like the card pool in the game, ranked like ABCD. The higher the class, the more powerful people are, and more resources will be allocated to them, such as priority in queuing for cars," Finkel continued.
"So what class are you in?" Lu Mingfei looked Finkel up and down. If this guy reported a higher class, he would really have to consider whether to join this school. Anyway, the money Klopp gave him was enough to pay for the previous travel expenses.
"I... to be honest, I am the lowest E-level in the school, comparable to a serf in the Middle Ages. I am bullied by my classmates every day. Big brother, since you are so powerful, can you protect me in school in the future?"
Finkel hesitated at first and was a little embarrassed to speak, but soon he shamelessly wanted to hug Lu Mingfei's thigh, but when he thought of the kick he had just received, he stopped abruptly.
At this time, a train whistle and bell rang from the VIP channel, accompanied by a person's voice, echoing in the train station. A person wearing a dark green conductor uniform, shaking a small golden bell in his hand, with a golden conductor badge on his hat and a card reader in his other hand, stood at the ticket gate of the VIP channel and shouted outside.
"CC1000 Express, please prepare to board the train, please prepare to board the train."
But Lu Mingfei discovered that no matter the train entering the station or the conductor's shouting, the many pedestrians coming and going in the train station seemed to have heard or seen nothing, and no one even glanced in that direction.
"Why is it so fast this time?" Finkel seemed to have heard the conductor's shout and looked towards the VIP channel.
"Let's go, the car to pick us up is here." Finkel stood up and walked towards the train.
But when Lu Mingfei saw the golden pupils flashing in the conductor's eyes, his body began to tense up and he entered a state of alert, ready to take action at any time.
"Handed-blood..." An increasingly ominous emotion began to spread in Lu Mingfei's heart, but now was not the time to retreat. If the people in that school were the remnants of the Presbyterian Church that Hill mentioned in the letter, then this was a good opportunity to eliminate them.
"Fingal, why haven't you dropped out of school yet? This should be your eighth year, right? When I saw your list just now, I thought I had read it wrong. Your grade has been dropped from E to F. This is the first time I have seen such a low grade." The conductor took the ticket handed over by Finkel and swiped it on the card machine, complaining.
"F... Damn it, I'm really like a beast now... But if I'm F-class, how come the car came so fast?" Finkel muttered to himself with a bitter face.
Lu Mingfei also followed at this time, but his muscles were tense, ready to defend against possible attacks at any time.
Seeing that no one was attacking him, he handed his ticket to the conductor, but his hawk-like eyes were still fixed on the conductor's movements.
The conductor was a little frightened by his gaze, but he still swiped the ticket through the card machine. However, this time the card machine actually made a cheerful music, as if welcoming someone.
"So you are the S-level one! Please get on board!" Hearing the cheerful music from the card reader, the conductor's eyes brightened even more. He shouted excitedly at Lu Mingfei, then bowed and gestured for him to get on board.
"S-Class! There is another S-Class in the school besides the principal! Big brother, you have to protect me in school from now on!" Finkel exclaimed when he heard the conductor's words. This time he didn't care whether he would be kicked again. He directly fell down and hugged Lu Mingfei's thigh, and then was kicked away by Lu Mingfei, flying directly from the ticket gate into the open door of the train.
"It's time to get on the train. Welcome, Lu Mingfei, to Kassel College..." Professor Guderian, who had interviewed Lu Mingfei in China before, happened to come to the door of the train to greet Lu Mingfei, but before he could finish his words, he was hit by Finkel who flew in like a cannonball.
"Fingal! What are you doing! Get up quickly!" Professor Guderian grimaced in pain and pushed away Fingel who was on top of him.
"Ahem, it was just an accident. Get in the car." Guderian dusted himself off and coughed awkwardly, then took Lu Mingfei into the car.
The interior of the carriage is decorated with crimson velvet seats and wall lamps inlaid with gold edges. The wooden tables and chairs are finely carved. It seems that every detail exudes the aristocratic luxury of the last century, making this train look like a work of art.
"Our school is a rather special school." Guderian sat at the wooden table, picked up a cup of black tea and took a sip.
"Please enjoy your meal." Finkel placed another cup of black tea in front of Lu Mingfei, then stepped aside for fear that Lu Mingfei would kick him again.
At this time, he shaved his beard and changed his sloppy clothes into a dark green suit. If you ignore the flattering smile on his face, he can still be called a handsome guy.
Lu Mingfei also put on the same dark green suit as Finkel. This was the school uniform of Kassel Academy, and it looked quite classy.
"Don't keep us in suspense, let's get straight to the point." Lu Mingfei said. He had already seen that these people had no ill will towards him, but he still did not let his guard down.
After hearing Lu Mingfei's words, Guderian swallowed back the long speech he had prepared.
"Since you don't want to hear nonsense, let's get straight to the point." Guderian stood up and grabbed a corner of the canvas on the giant oil painting behind him, and shook it open violently, exposing the hideous picture under the light.
Lu Mingfei's attention was immediately attracted by the painting. In the painting, a huge black dragon spread his wings and spit out black flames towards the sky. Next to it was a huge dead tree, and the spreading dead branches covered the entire sky.
"Is this a dragon?" Lu Mingfei looked at the creature in the painting with some uncertainty.
"Yes, all the teachers and students enrolled in our Kassel Academy are hybrids of humans and dragons, and the only purpose of our school is to train dragon slayers and protect world peace." Guderian told Lu Mingfei the situation of Kassel Academy in a concise and clear manner.
"So your school exists for the purpose of slaying dragons." Lu Mingfei said calmly after listening.
"Do you believe it?" Guderian looked at Lu Mingfei with a calm face and felt a little unbelievable. It was the first time he saw a freshman so calm while receiving freshman guidance.
"Well, but I have another question. Do you know the Elders' Council?" Lu Mingfei nodded. He had seen many half-bloods. Since there were half-bloods, it was not strange that there were dragons. However, he was skeptical about the purpose of Kassel Academy's dragon slaying. Whether they slayed dragons to protect world peace or to consolidate their own position remained to be discussed.
What he wanted to know most now was whether Kassel Academy had any relationship with the Elder Council. If they were related to the Elder Council, then Lu Mingfei would slaughter them first. When he got to the school, Lu Mingfei planned to kill everyone in the school.
"The Presbyterian Church? The world's largest mixed-race organization? Didn't they disappear during World War II? But how do you know about this organization?" Guderian looked at Lu Mingfei in confusion.
Lu Mingfei stared at Guderian's eyes carefully. After careful identification, he found that Guderian was indeed not lying. This made his body, which had been tense since he got on the car, relax a little.
"A school for mixed-bloods?" Lu Mingfei thought of the blood sorrow Kaczynski had mentioned. Was it true that mixed-bloods would eventually gather together because of loneliness? Lu Mingfei didn't know, but he didn't know where to go or what to do. Perhaps a monster like him should be mixed with other monsters. Slaying a dragon meant that he wouldn't have to kill any more people.
The roar of the train and the slight vibrations continued to be heard. The scene outside the window began to rapidly recede. The skyscrapers of Chicago gradually became blurred in the mist and clouds. Professor Guderian continued to explain in detail the history, disciplines and significance of slaying the dragon of Kassel College.
And so, as Professor Guderian was telling his story to Kassel College, the train arrived at its destination.
"Welcome to Kassel College." Guderian said again as the train pulled into the station.
Lu Mingfei stood on the platform, his eyes wandering around this ancient and unfamiliar campus. He raised his head and saw the college building in the distance glowing with a strange golden light under the sun, like a portal to another world.
But Lu Mingfei was a little surprised by the sudden gunshots and explosions in the distance.
(End of this chapter)
