Chapter 58: We Provide Free Corpse Air Transport Services

"Hey, Professor, what are you doing? Put your hands down. Anyone seeing this would think I was hijacking you."

Lu Mingfei patted Guderian's arm, gesturing for him not to try attracting unwanted attention.

"Oh, oh, right." Guderian cooperated fully, dropping his hands and pressing his arms tightly against his thighs like a soldier standing at attention.

"You don't need to be that tense either. Never mind, let's just squat down, otherwise your snipers might lock onto my head in a second."

"They won't, I've already told them to protect your safety."

It's a bit difficult for a Westerner's skeletal structure to manage a full Asian squat. After trying a few times, Guderian ultimately chose to sit cross-legged instead. This posture, more suited for a casual chat, made Lu Mingfei feel more at ease.

Now that he was closer, he noticed that the red substance on Ye Sheng's chin was neither blood nor chili oil, but rather the anesthetic from a Freyr bullet.

Seeing that the skin hadn't even split, Guderian knew immediately that Lu Mingfei hadn't knocked the man out with the butt of a gun; in all likelihood, he had simply perceived that something was wrong with the bullet casing.

As expected of an S-class, so meticulous, simply unimaginably meticulous!

His power of minute observation was truly breathtaking!

In the fandom culture of later years, this little old German man could definitely become a top fan leader, leading countless admirers to wave flags and cheer for Lu Mingfei.

Unfortunately, Lu Mingfei wasn't into that kind of thing.

He gave the tranquilizer gun in his hand a slight shake, implying: *You know I'm holding a tranquilizer gun, and I know that you know I'm holding a tranquilizer gun.*

As long as you cooperate nicely, even if there's an investigation afterwards, it will be considered leaking secrets under the coercion of a gun barrel, meaning you won't have to bear primary responsibility.

Whether Guderian understood this subtle expression wasn't clear, but since he nodded, let's just assume he got the message.

"Go ahead, talk. About dragons, bloodlines, Spells, Kassel College, and the Executioners—I am so curious about all of this."

"In principle, wanting to know these things related to the dragon race requires signing a non-disclosure agreement..."

Guderian still hadn't given up, so Lu Mingfei nudged the muzzle he had previously pulled away right back against him. This made his restless heart instantly behave itself:

"Fine, actually, since you already know this much, signing or not doesn't make much difference anymore."

"On the surface, our Kassel is a classic, enclosed educational institution, and we do issue official degree certificates upon graduation, but those degrees won't help you find a corresponding major at any other university."

After abandoning his futile struggle, Guderian became serious and solemn. He still remembered his identity as an assistant professor; he couldn't disgrace the dignity of Kassel College.

His tone was deep, and every word he spoke sounded as if it had been weighed in his mind a dozen or twenty times:

"Our majors are special, very special—so special that if you want to pursue a master's or doctorate, or even find a job related to your major, your only choice is to study at this institution or be employed by organizations under its banner.

Kassel College is somewhat similar to those seminary schools, business schools, or medical schools, except that their students primarily research knowledge related to divinity, commerce, or pathology,

while we study the dragon race!

Every single course we offer serves only one ultimate goal—slaying dragons!"

As soon as he finished uttering the words "slaying dragons," Guderian stared intently into Lu Mingfei's refined and handsome face, hoping to catch a trace of excitement, daze, or even helpless panic.

To his disappointment, however, Lu Mingfei merely nodded without changing expression, replying in a flat, reading-from-a-script tone: "Uh-huh, and then?"

"Ahem, in places you don't know about, the war between humanity and the dragon race has silently spanned thousands of years." Guderian cleared his throat, mustering the energy of an academic interviewer to popularize knowledge about the dragon race for classmate Lu:

"There are two historical records in this world: one meticulously compiled by humans, in which dragons are nothing more than fictional creatures woven from fantasy; while the other is solemnly recorded by the dragon race, its lines brimming with the majesty and brilliance of their figures.

However, this secret is far too shocking. Once exposed, it will inevitably trigger incalculable and catastrophic consequences.

Therefore, several families whom we call 'blood descendants' have stubbornly guarded this heavy secret over the past thousands of years, shouldering the mission of slaying dragons.

They continuously unearth and nurture outstanding descendants, sending them onto the battlefields of dragon slaying, extinguishing the possibility of the dragon race's revival time and time again.

And today, Kassel College has inherited their legacy."

"What is a 'blood descendant'?" Lu Mingfei asked.

"In layman's terms, they are hybrids of humans and dragons. Usually, we also habitually refer to ourselves as half-bloods," Guderian explained.

"...You guys really know how to play," Lu Mingfei twitched the corner of his mouth. "And the legacy? Have those blood descendant families all gone extinct?"

"More or less; currently, only a few individual families retain complete lineages.

And so that the will and skills of dragon slaying wouldn't be cut off here, we abandoned traditional family lineages, introduced modern educational mechanisms, established Kassel College, and inherited the mission of our predecessors."

Once he finished speaking, Guderian could feel the heavy sense of obligation pressing down solidly upon his shoulders.

He expected that Lu Mingfei, a high schooler right in the flush of youth yearning to be a great hero, would be beside himself with excitement at being able to participate in such a grand action themed around saving the world. Instead, he heard him ask without so much as a blink:

"So your mission is to scour the world for outstanding half-bloods, train them into qualified soldiers, send them to the dragon-slaying battlefield, and take zero responsibility whether they live or die?

How is this any different from those shady vocational schools that send students to work in black-hat factories? Why don't you just rename yourselves the Kassel Dragon-Slaying Vocational and Technical School, anyway—"

"Wait a second!" Lu Mingfei looked at Guderian suspiciously. "If a student dies in battle, do their families get death benefits and insurance payouts?"

"Uh... this..." Staring under that gaze, cold sweat instantly poured down Guderian in torrents:

"We, we bought medical insurance for every student and professor."

"Only health insurance? What's the maximum coverage limit?"

"Well, it's..." The little German old man stammered in reply, "It means we fly their remains back to their home country for free."

Lu Mingfei: Σ(-᷅_-᷄๑)

"I'm sorry, I wronged you guys." Lu Mingfei apologized with a smile, moving the gun away from Guderian's chest and pressing it directly against his temple instead:

"Putting you guys together with those heartless shady operations makes me worried that some student's parents might award you a silk banner of honor.

Even when people make a donkey turn a millstone, they know to dangle a carrot in front of it. But you guys at Kassel—unbelievable. You want the horse to run fast, but you won't give it any grass.

The school is decorated lavishly, and the senior leadership are all dressed up like respectable human beings, which turns out to be because you embezzled all the students' compensation money, right?

You expect me to risk my life for Kassel with a thirty-six-thousand scholarship a year? Am I some kind of ridiculously cheap person?"

Lu Mingfei was genuinely laughed out of anger. Toss and turn as he might, it turned out Kassel was just such a piece of garbage operation.

If he had known earlier, he would have directly reported them all for espionage activities. Why bother waiting until now?

Thinking of Chu Zihang, who had just finished a physics competition at Kassel College, and his parents, who were trying to pull strings with the principal to shove him into Kassel College, Lu Mingfei felt an urge to just blindly pull the trigger.

Yet the little old man in front of him was merely a wage earner, and his attitude toward him had been so good—almost reaching the point of humbling himself.

Besides, even if he really pulled the trigger, Kassel College would only fly Guderian's remains back to his home country. Other than saddling him with the crime of murder and reducing their workforce by one disposable dragon-slaying grunt, they would lose nothing at all.

Just as he was frowning in deep thought, a red dot quietly crept onto the center of his forehead.

Guderian, who was desperately trying to explain that he was merely a wage earner and that school regulations couldn't be changed, saw this and turned pale with fright by a factor of three:

Someone had already discovered that the supreme commander at the scene had been hijacked, and had designated Lu Mingfei as an enemy!

Without a shred of hesitation, the burly old man threw his shoulder directly against Lu Mingfei, knocking him away from his original spot.

"Bang!"

With a deafening gunshot, a dark red bullet swept violently through the air, dragging an invisible shockwave as it slammed heavily into Guderian's chest, bursting open a splash of crimson blood mist.