Chapter 129: Constantine! Breaking the Shell!

After a brief moment of confusion, Lu Mingfei suddenly recalled that he had spent one cent on an online shopping site to order a "Constantine." Perhaps the delivery person outside had actually delivered a Constantine.

As if!

A dragon king for one cent? Anyone who believed that would be an idiot!

However, although Lu Mingfei didn't believe it, he still walked toward the door with a slightly nervous heart. Even though he knew it couldn't possibly be Constantine, he still felt a tinge of excitement when it actually came time to open the door.

"Click!"

The door opened. There was no one outside, only a massive box. It was over two meters tall, looking like a refrigerator container. The shipping information for Lu Mingfei was written on it, explicitly stating that the box contained "The King of Bronze and Fire - Constantine."

"So... it really is home delivery?"

Lu Mingfei examined the box, his eyes filled with a trace of doubt. He had a feeling that there was something important inside. Though he had no proof, he could just sense it; it was an indescribable feeling.

I should take it inside first. I can't leave this thing out here to be unboxed.

He picked up the huge box, brought it into the room, laid it horizontally on the floor, closed the door, and carefully observed this "King of Bronze and Fire" cargo.

"Cassel College has eyes and ears everywhere. If the item I bought really is Constantine, there’s no way they wouldn't know. Besides, they are a human faction whose goal is to slay the Dragon Kings, so they would never let me easily obtain the power of another Dragon King."

Lu Mingfei muttered to himself as if trying to convince his own mind. He elegantly raised a finger and triggered a partial dragon transformation; soon, his finger turned into a slender, sharp dragon claw.

"Rip!"

The dragon claw sliced through the packaging, revealing the true contents of the massive cardboard box. It was a quartz glass chamber containing a brass vessel that looked like an egg.

The surface of the vessel was covered in dark green patina. Faintly visible were Gandhara-style engravings: two snakes guarding a giant tree. It looked exactly like the dragon egg of the King of Bronze and Fire, Constantine.

"Is this for real? No way, right?"

The smile on Lu Mingfei's face gradually stiffened. If this thing were real, he would be in big trouble. Not to mention being discovered by Norton, if anyone else from Cassel College found out, he would face catastrophic consequences.

The scenario would be:

Cassel College: "Why do you have Constantine's dragon egg? Where did you get it?"
Lu Mingfei: "Bought it online."
Cassel College: "Where online?"
Lu Mingfei: "The Dragon King Flagship Store. Besides the King of Bronze and Fire, they also sell the King of Ocean and Water."
Cassel College: "How much did you pay for it?"
Lu Mingfei: "One cent. Just for fun. I didn't think they'd actually send it. It's an accident."
Cassel College: "Right, right, so you don't want to talk, huh? Using such a clumsy excuse, are you insulting the intelligence of us hybrids? Or were you never planning to make up a convincing excuse and just wanted to brush us off? Whatever, it doesn't matter. Let's detain you first."

And then, a war would break out.

Just thinking about it was terrifying!

With this in mind, Lu Mingfei furrowed his brows and said in his heart, "Little Furina, I’ve encountered a rather serious pro—"

"Who are you calling 'little'?"

Furina interrupted at light speed. Having grown up, she could no longer stand such terms.

"..."

"Forget it, go ahead and keep talking."

"Oh."

Lu Mingfei gave an awkward response and continued, "I previously bought a King of Bronze and Fire for one cent from a shop called the Dragon King Flagship Store. Did you know about that?"

"You talked to me about it, but wasn't that fake?" Furina asked suspiciously.

"I thought it was fake too."

"Huh? Then you mean..."

"Today, just now, a courier delivered a large package. I opened it and saw that it really seems to be the dragon egg of the King of Bronze and Fire. It's Constantine," Lu Mingfei replied with a strange expression.

"Huh?!"

Furina was instantly shocked, her expression too weird to describe in words. She didn't know how to evaluate this feeling; it was like the Tsaritsa going out to buy groceries and spending a cent to buy a Gnosis of Natlan—it was simply incomprehensible.

"Do you want to double-check it?" Furina thought for a moment and added.

"Yeah."

Lu Mingfei lowered his head to gaze at the dragon egg. But the more closely he looked, the more he felt a resonance between their bloodlines. The pulsing power of the blood seemed to prove that it really was Constantine.

The brass dragon egg was trembling gently; the life inside seemed to be rhythmically moving, as if it could break out of the shell at any moment.

It was a bloodline summoning!

Constantine's dragon egg had not reached its expected incubation date, but Lu Mingfei's bloodline could summon and awaken him early. His bloodline was no longer purely draconian; it was mixed with a portion of the power of [Immortality], allowing him to summon even the Four Monarchs ahead of time.

"I feel like it's about to hatch," Lu Mingfei said, staring at Constantine's dragon egg.

"Constantine is hatching? Then... will he call you 'Daddy'? I remember that little Kun-kun would treat the first person it saw after hatching as its mother. Is it the same for dragons?"

"What kind of outrageous joke are you making!" Lu Mingfei couldn't help but retort.

He felt extremely anxious now. If he just hid Constantine's egg and it was discovered by the hotel staff, Cassel College, or Norton, he would be in danger.

Not only that, but Constantine's egg could hatch at any moment. The real King of Bronze and Fire, Constantine, was about to be resurrected. God knows what this guy would do after waking up; it was no different from gambling with his life.

But if he tried to move the egg, it was too large and conspicuous. If something went wrong, Cassel College would immediately find out that he had moved the dragon egg and would subsequently suspect him. When Cassel College realized that a Constantine had leaked out of Lu Mingfei's hands...

Lu Mingfei wouldn't be able to wash his name clean even if he jumped into the Yellow River!

What if he first used the power of [Immortality] to fix Constantine's state, hide him away, and then let him emerge at a critical moment?

"Click!"

A crisp cracking sound echoed. Lu Mingfei's gaze focused on the egg in an instant. Visible cracks appeared on the brass surface, and the sound of the heartbeat seemed even louder than before.

"It's a good thing I double-checked for surveillance before constructing the limiter. I can be sure the hotel doesn't have any cameras, otherwise... it would have been a huge disaster," Lu Mingfei muttered as he watched the egg hatch.

Constructing a limiter using alchemy was clearly something that couldn't be seen by others. It was normal to search beforehand; not doing so would have been the problem.

"Is Constantine hatching? Will you be okay?" Furina asked anxiously.

"He can't beat me, it's fine."

Lu Mingfei stared fixedly at the widening cracks on the dragon egg. Although Constantine definitely couldn't beat him, a fight between them would definitely trigger the two "bombs" of Cassel College and Norton. If possible, he absolutely could not let a fight break out.

On the other side, Furina could understand. Now she could only wait anxiously for the result; she couldn't help the Lu Mingfei of another world.

"Click!"

The egg cracked even faster, and the look in Lu Mingfei's eyes began to change.

The Norton that hatched early had no memory. Constantine might also be hatching early and might lack memory as well. If he had no memory, Lu Mingfei might have a chance to maneuver.

And...

Lu Mingfei took the limiter out of his pocket and used alchemy at top speed to change its alchemical structure, adjusting it to a functional state.

Although many bugs would lead to low efficiency, these bugs, when stacked together, could still run the program. At least it would allow the limiter to function. While it might not be able to limit Norton, it should be able to hold back a newly hatched Constantine.

It's hard to be a good guy, so what if I play the bad guy?

I'll just hijack Constantine with the limiter, hold him hostage, and say to Norton: "Norton, you wouldn't want to lose your only younger brother, would you?"

That way, he wouldn't have to rely on the limiter to directly control Norton. I am a genius!

Decided. If Constantine is easy to talk to, I'll have a good conversation with him. If he's hot-tempered upon hatching, I'll use the limiter to control him.

"Click! Click! Click!"

"Thump! Thump! Thump!"

The sound of the eggshell breaking and the heartbeat grew louder. Lu Mingfei used the power of [Immortality] to mask the sound as fast as he could. Although he could use the power of [Immortality] to forcibly suppress Constantine's hatching, there was no point in doing that.

Suppressing Constantine's hatching would consume a massive amount of [Immortality] power, and Norton would arrive in China—in his city—soon. If Norton discovered Constantine's egg, the situation would only become more complicated.

Norton: "Isn't my little brother Chu Zihang? Then whose egg is this?"

It was agonizing!

"Lu Mingfei, why don't you consider just admitting your mistake to Norton, saying you mistook him for someone else, but now that you've found the real Constantine, you can let them meet directly?" Furina's voice echoed in his heart.

I've certainly thought about that!

But, but Cassel College has surveillance. How could I dare to tell Norton directly? If someone from Cassel College found out, it would be a disaster!

"I will think it over carefully," Lu Mingfei replied.

Although this method wasn't feasible, Furina's suggestion gave him a new perspective. He didn't have to be stubborn and try every way to control or deceive Norton; he could use other methods to tell Norton the truth directly, thereby avoiding conflict.

Perhaps because he had been overworking himself for too long and his mental state was poor, his thinking had become somewhat rigid. Thinking about it now, his situation might not be as bad as he thought; he just hadn't seen it clearly a moment ago.

I really should take a good rest...

"Click!"

The dragon egg shattered completely. What hatched from it was not a dragon, but a handsome youth with delicate features. He looked at Lu Mingfei with confusion from within the quartz glass chamber and did not immediately launch an attack.

Perhaps he could communicate; he didn't necessarily have to use force to suppress him.

Constantine placed his small, pale hand gently against the quartz glass, easily shattering it, and then looked at Lu Mingfei with a solemn expression, saying nothing.

"Welcome back to this world, Constantine," Lu Mingfei said, greeting him politely.

"It is an honor," Constantine replied softly. His eyes were complex and puzzled as he looked at Lu Mingfei. Unlike Norton, he possessed complete memories the moment he was resurrected. Furthermore, his resurrection was triggered by Lu Mingfei's bloodline, so he did not experience a state of collapse.

In his perception, Lu Mingfei possessed an aura similar to the Black Emperor—incomparably noble. His bloodline grade was higher than that of the Four Monarchs; even the White King couldn't compare... but he was not the Black Emperor, nor was he any existence he recognized.

Could it be...

Is he a human similar to Liu Xiu?

Dusty memories awakened in an instant. Constantine recalled the fear of being dominated by Liu Xiu. That man could hardly be called human; he single-handedly wrecked a pair of the Kings of Bronze and Fire. His combat power was outrageous! Extremely outrageous!

If the Black Emperor was a planetary-level lifeform nurtured by the Earth, then Liu Xiu was the embodiment of the planet's will. Even if the Black Emperor himself came, he might not be able to beat that guy.

Thinking of this, Constantine's heart rate accelerated even more. He had been killed by Liu Xiu in his past life, and now, just after being resurrected, he had encountered an existence comparable to Liu Xiu. This luck was invincible.

However, the other party didn't seem to intend to kill him immediately. That was good news; he should try to appear as friendly as possible.

"Do you still remember the past?" Lu Mingfei confirmed again.

"Yes, I remember," Constantine nodded gently.

He looked at the void around him. He could feel an invisible power covering the quartz glass chamber. The amount of that power was small, but its level was extremely high; it seemed to be a brand new power entirely outside the Dragon Clan's power system.

Is that the power of the Laws?

Constantine whispered to himself. He could recognize that the power was unusual, actually because he had already seen it in Liu Xiu. The power of the Laws was unsolvable; an existence possessing the power of the Laws was unstoppable. That power was equivalent to the will of the planet.

However, Lu Mingfei's [Immortality] was clearly different from Liu Xiu's Laws. Constantine could roughly feel it, but he couldn't identify the difference in detail. Although he was a master of alchemy and had mastered the seven supreme kingdoms of alchemy, the power of the Laws was above alchemy—a higher-level power that he couldn't distinguish in detail.

Only a monarch like the King of Bronze and Fire, who was skilled in alchemy and had encountered Liu Xiu, could clearly feel the power of the Laws. The seven kingdoms of alchemy were the application of the Laws, but only an application.

Using alchemy to apply the Laws was fundamentally different from mastering the power of the Laws at the root; they were not the same concept. After battling Liu Xiu, who had mastered the power of the Laws, Constantine and Norton would even directly suffer from the sequelae of being unable to continue using the seven kingdoms of alchemy smoothly.

And this guy in front of me...

He also mastered the power of the Laws!

"Hello, my name is Lu Mingfei. Shall we be friends?" Lu Mingfei smiled and extended his hand.

"Huh?"

Constantine looked at the hand Lu Mingfei offered, falling into a brief moment of doubt and contemplation.

What... does he want to do?