Chapter 396 The Ocean and the King of Water
Lu Mingfei had never seen any other members of the Lu family except his father, uncle, and chubby cousin, but he could tell at a glance that the last person to appear in Friedrich von Rohn's dream was his grandfather's grandfather.
He had a braid and was covered in bruises, looking the most miserable of the three.
Lu Mingfei didn’t know what happened back then, but what was certain was that when the first generation of the Lionheart Society was attacked by the Dragon King, the traitor Friedrich was still in China.
Therefore, everything in the nightmare was just his attempt to reconstruct the tragic scene by piecing together the information he had collected.
Some criminals like to return to the crime scene and watch, but Friedrich obviously does not have the courage to set foot on his hometown because there is a hateful avenger there.
Gilbert Jean Angers!
Ange in the nightmare was young and handsome, looking no more than thirty years old, and his emotions were more obvious than the other two.
There was a dent in his chest, but his movements were as fast as lightning. He appeared in front of Friedrich in an instant, grabbed the latter's neck and threw him hard onto the ruins.
"Friedrich!"
"Why betray us?!"
Young Ange questioned angrily, his bloodshot golden eyes as sharp as knives, as if he wanted to cut Friedrich von Roon into pieces with his eyes.
However, Friedrich von Roon had his throat strangled and could not speak at all. He could only look at him with horror, looking at Meneck Cassel, Lu Shanyan, and the figures that walked out one after another from the smoke and blood.
The burly black "Chief," the slender Indian "Tiger," the petite and adorable "Ghost," the most mature and steady "Smoke" of the original Lionheart Society, the bamboo-like "Silver Wing" Viscount Charlotte, the elderly "Iron Cross" Lord Mayek, and...
He and his teacher at Angers, the Marquis de Gambet, the "gravedigger".
Without exception, their appearance cannot be described as good-looking, and can even be described as miserable.
The Chief, Tiger, and Ash were just three charred corpses, dragging broken guns in their hands, staggering forward like zombies.
The same was true for Lord Mayek, the Iron Cross Rose who also died in the explosion.
The youngest ghost's life was frozen in her best years, her neck was torn, and Viscount Charlotte was like a broken and re-glued porcelain. As a sharpshooter, he was almost torn to pieces by the group of Deadpools after being close-ranged.
The one who looked the most miserable was Friedrich's teacher, Marquis Gambet. This usually elegant old man looked like he had fallen into a high-speed blender, his body covered in blood and flesh. Only a pair of eyes were still looking at him, revealing deep disappointment.
Staring at those eyes filled with hatred, anger, or disappointment, Friedrich felt that the shame he had long since abandoned had suddenly returned.
At this moment, not only did his body return to his youthful appearance, but even the mentality and sophistication that had accumulated over the years disappeared as if time had gone back.
He lowered his head, trying to escape the gazes that could burn through him, but he met Ange's golden eyes that were like an angry lion.
"I'm not a traitor. I was just deceived and used..."
Friedrich grabbed Ange's arm, trying hard to find a gap to breathe, and forced these words out of his throat.
"You're full of lies!" Ange shouted, the veins on his grabbed arm bulging, and he wanted to strangle the man to death.
"What did you betray us for? For power? For survival? Or for damned riches?
Look at what you've become! A rat hiding in the gutter!"
Back then, he rushed to China as the secret party's trading representative, completed the negotiations and sent a telegram back to notify the completion of the transaction. He signed the "goods" and stamped a special mark with the secret party's silver ring to indicate confirmation. Only then did the goods successfully cross the ocean and were delivered to the secret party's base - Cassel Manor.
However, the goods he confirmed eventually became the culprit that led to the destruction of the first generation of Lionheart Society. He should have returned to Kassel Manor in Germany with the goods, but he made excuses that he had to stay in China because of subsequent transactions. He went to the site of the excavation of the "goods" at the ruins of Tongwan City for an inspection and has since lost contact.
If it happened in another place, and he said that he was bewitched and exploited, perhaps some people would hesitate.
But this is a nightmare created by the Night Tapir based on Friedrich's deepest fear. In this nightmare, he defines himself as a traitor, a traitor confirmed by his former companions.
Even he himself admitted that he was a traitor and that he indirectly killed his fellow Lionheart Society members and the leader of the Secret Party. What else could he say in his defense?
"You know what that dragon corpse is, don't you, Friedrich."
The bloody Marquis Gambet came closer, and a strong smell of blood hit his nose. As he spoke, blood flowed out from his gums exposed to the air.
"No, I don't know. I was just ordered to negotiate and complete the deal." Friedrich shook his head and tried to defend himself:
"I've confirmed that it's really just a specimen. He's been dead for over a thousand years!"
"Then why don't you come back?" young Ange asked harshly, "Don't you want to come back, or are you afraid to come back?!"
There was a sharp pain in his neck and the feeling of suffocation came again. Friedrich felt as if his cervical vertebrae were about to be broken by Ange.
He tried hard to pry the hands of the young angry lion, but compared to the future star of the secret party, the second strongest after Menech, he, the banker's student and outstanding archaeologist, could only be described as weak. He was strangled by the throat and unable to break free.
But he finally got the chance to defend himself. He used all his strength to pry open Ange's fingers, and the air passed through the gap and entered his lungs through his trachea. He answered very quickly:
"The Chinese merchant I'm dealing with said there's more than just this one specimen in Tongwan City. There are also other dragon remains. He said Xixia might be a kingdom founded by dragons!"
"If what he said is true, this will be a discovery that will shock the hybrid world. We may even get more dragon skeletons."
Menek walked closer and stared at him. "So, what did you find at the ruins of Tongwan City?"
"Dragon King, or the remains left behind after the Dragon Clan founded their nation?"
A hint of panic flashed across Friedrich's eyes. He shook his head and said, "I don't know. At that time, the Eight-Nation Alliance invaded China, and I was wanted by the Qing government for my collaboration with the secret party and the revolutionary party. After leaving the capital, I hid everywhere..."
Back then, it was not only the Dragon King's body that crossed the ocean, but also the Deadpool sent by the Queen Mother, in order to eliminate the revolutionaries who tried to shake her rule, as well as Lu Shanyan and the secret party who secretly funded the revolutionaries.
At that time, almost all the Deadpools and awakened dragons in Germany received the call from the Dragon King and went to Kassel Manor, preparing to completely wipe out the world's oldest dragon-slaying organization.
However, the dragon clan's long-planned attack ultimately failed to succeed. The great Menek Cassel erupted with a fighting power comparable to that of the Dragon King, and died together with the Dragon King.
At this moment, after hearing Friedrich's sophistry, the disappointment in Menech's eyes completely faded away, leaving only deathly indifference.
He raised his cracked Atkan longsword and stabbed it into Friedrich's shoulder, pinning him to the wall.
"ah--!!!"
Friedrich cried out in pain. He couldn't remember how long it had been since he was injured and felt pain.
But compared to this little bit of pain, what made him even more unbelievable was that the leader of the Lionheart Society, who had always been extremely kind and friendly to his companions and cared about them like a patriarch, would actually be the first to attack him.
Menech ignored his incredulous look, and just stood aside with his broken body, looking at him indifferently.
Then, in Friedrich's increasingly terrified gaze, the tiger, like a charred corpse, staggered over, raised the tattered rifle in its hand, and pulled the trigger.
With a "bang", his right leg was broken. The full metal jacket bullet tore his flesh and broke his bones, leaving only a layer of skin connecting his thigh and calf.
As Friedrich screamed, the tiger stepped aside.
Next came the chief. This sturdy black man no longer had to worry about anyone laughing at his skin color because there were two other people present who were as black as charcoal.
He held the shotgun in his hand, but only the twisted barrel remained, with no possibility of firing the shotgun shells.
So he went around to the other side, waited for Ange to loosen his grip on Friedrich's neck and make room, then stabbed forward without mercy.
The gun barrel pierced Friedrich's left shoulder, and together with the Atkan long sword on the other side, nailed him to the broken wall.
Due to the development of the times, among the first generation of Lionheart Society, only Menech and Ange were accustomed to fighting with cold weapons, while the others preferred to use hot weapons with greater lethality.
Yanhui's favorite was a Krupp cannon, but he only had half a barrel in his hand, so he just swung it lightly and broke Friedrich's other leg.
The ghost with his throat torn walked forward, holding a rifle, and shot Friedrich's arm in pieces as he tried to pull out the Atkan long sword.
Next came Viscount Charlotte. His emaciated figure could fall apart at any moment, but he still held the flintlock in his hand very steadily, and shot Friedrich's left shoulder with one shot.
Then came Lord Mayek, who took Viscount Shiloh's flintlock, reloaded it, and blew off his other shoulder.
Finally, it was Lu Shanyan's turn. He raised two silver large-caliber revolvers and began aiming from the intact thigh.
"Feel the pain of betrayal..." Lu Shanyan's voice was low and oppressive, his eyes were dim but he could still accurately identify the enemy:
"Use your body and remember it well!"
As soon as he finished speaking, he pulled the trigger.
"Bang!"
"Bang!"
"Bang!"
"Bang!"
"Bang……"
Every time the trigger is pulled, the muzzle moves up two inches.
After twelve shots, Friedrich's lower body and abdomen had turned into a mass of rotten flesh, and only inhuman howls could be heard from his throat.
After the bullet was emptied, Lu Shanyan stood beside Gui, looking at his student with guilt and sadness in his eyes.
Marquis Gambet was an old gentleman who was not good at fighting. As Frederick's teacher, he did not take the initiative to kill the traitor.
He simply walked up to the student who was lying on the wall like a puddle of mud and took away the secret party's silver ring from his finger.
From now on, he is no longer a member of the secret party.
When a teacher scolds his students, it means he thinks there is still room for saving the other person.
Only when you are disappointed and desperate will you remain silent, watch coldly, and let him fend for himself.
"No, teacher, teacher, please..." Seeing Gambet's decisive turn, Friedrich's last bit of hope was extinguished.
At this moment, he seemed to have forgotten that these people had already died, and that he had survived by stepping on their corpses, lingering on, and living in hiding for more than a hundred years.
But he couldn't finish his begging for mercy as the words were stuck in his throat.
Because a hateful figure reappeared in front of him.
Ange, his former classmate, good friend and partner.
Today's most feared Avenger.
"Ange, I..." He wanted to beg for mercy, but Ange's movements were much faster than his words, faster than he could imagine. The folding knife cut through the air, making a sharp whistling sound!
A long and narrow knife wound appeared on the only intact part of his chest. His clothes were torn by the sharp blade, revealing the wound underneath with flesh torn and blood gushing out.
The others basically stopped after one strike, but Ange's hatred for Friedrich was no less than Lu Shanyan's. His right arm almost turned into a shadow, leaving wounds on his former friend's chest.
Every attack is accompanied by the painful questions and overwhelming hatred of the deceased.
Every blow cuts into the bone and pierces the soul.
This was not an instant death, but a long, public execution-like torture.
Friedrich was nailed to the wall, struggling and wailing in pain, trying to escape, but to no avail.
The attacks from former classmates were like a torrential rain and never stopped. The disgusted looks from former teachers, seniors, and partners were like sharp blades stabbing from all directions.
His mental defenses were completely destroyed, and fear and guilt overwhelmed him like a broken dam.
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Under the extreme mental and "physical" pain, he finally broke down completely, screaming with tears streaming down his face:
"I'm wrong! It's my fault!"
"I shouldn't have betrayed everyone! I shouldn't have chosen to survive in the face of death!"
"The Chinese merchant I was trading with was also a dragon. He had already found out everything about me before we met, and he and the Qing government coerced me into helping them kill the secret party."
"I know the specimen in the coffin is the Dragon King. His name is Li Wuyue, the younger brother of Li Yuanhao, the Emperor of Western Xia, and he's suspected to be the King of the Ocean and Water!"
He revealed everything in his breakdown, but from the beginning to the end he was just a pathetic chess piece, thrown away after being used, and had no chance of getting involved in the Dragon King's plan at all.
He only knew that the Dragon King did this to buy time for development so that the secret party would not have the energy and ability to keep an eye on them.
Although the Dragon King did not kill him after using him, he will always live under Ange's shadow for the rest of his life, not daring to expose himself to the sun.
"What does that Chinese businessman look like?" Ange put the knife to his neck.
"I don't know. He has never shown up." Friedrich shook his head. He was controlled as soon as he arrived at the transaction negotiation site. He was always under the surveillance of the dragon clan afterwards and had never even seen the mastermind behind the scenes.
The reason why we can infer that the other party is also a dragon is simply because Deadpool is in charge of supervising him.
"Waste!" Ange asked again, "Who were you talking to on the phone just now?"
"Frost Cato..." Friedrich answered almost subconsciously, but soon he realized that something was wrong. How could Ange know who he was talking to on the phone just now?
"What are you doing—" He was about to ask, but saw Ange holding up his folding knife high.
Friedrich von Roon opened his eyes wide in despair, and with a flash of the knife, he stabbed down precisely!
“Puff—”
The cold blade completely pierced the heart.
(End of this chapter)
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