Dragon Raja: Reboot

Chapter 117, Chapter 119: Crossing 8.6 Light-Years (6.6k long chapter)

Percy frowned, but did not utter a word in rebuttal.

Because the explosions continued! Violent air currents swept in from the direction of the Annihilation Well, and the ground trembled, as if the death knell of the world was tolling!

What...is it?!

The thought had just crossed Percy's mind when, in the light and fire not far away, two hideous, inhuman figures passed each other by so fast that he thought it was his imagination!

An aura of destruction was brewing in the air; an even more violent explosion was imminent. The tremoring air conveyed unease to him, warning him that the battlefield there was absolutely not one he could set foot on!

Another violent explosion rang out, flames soared up, and hot air currents swirled with firelight, like an enraged fire dragon destroying everything in sight, radiating outwards towards the garden!

Large tracts of precious trees fell, and shrubs and lush green grass were plowed into crisscrossing black tracks by the flames. One of these tracks was less than a few meters away from Parsi, and the high-temperature airflow rushed towards them, carrying an aura of destruction!

Percy was finally certain that this was not an ordinary explosion, but the power of the Word of Power!

What kind of incantation possesses such terrifying power while also covering such a vast area?

This completely overturns the Secret Party's understanding of the power of words!

"I'm outta here! Go play with them if you want! Damn it, where did this monster come from! Is there another dragon king after Constantine?!"

The hand that was gripping his shoulder instantly released its hold.

The mysterious and burly man cursed under his breath, abandoned Percy, and turned to run wildly in the opposite direction from the Well of Annihilation, as if racing against death.

Percy hesitated for a second, then turned and chased after him relentlessly.

He had looked at a detailed map of the underground area before he came down. The fastest way to leave should be an elevator, but that elevator was in the Well of Oblivion. Trying to board the elevator now would be suicide.

The guy in front of me was clearly very familiar with this place; he had even called me a guest, acting as if he were the host.

"Hey comrade, don't follow me. Can't we all go home?" Mr. KFC called out as he turned around.

"Watch out!" he suddenly shouted.

Percy's expression changed drastically as a strong heat surged from behind him, almost engulfing him!

[A dust-free place]

The domain of the Word of Power suddenly expanded, repelling anything not allowed to enter, whether solid, fluid, or even temperature!

"Great! Your words are pretty effective!" The man leading the escape gave a thumbs up. "I know a shortcut. Just follow me, and I'll lead you out!"

Percy remained silent, but followed closely behind the guy.

They formed a brief alliance: one needed someone to "take the hit" from behind, while the other needed the fastest escape route.

Another earthquake struck!

The tremor was so strong that it was almost a magnitude 8 earthquake, pushing the school's earthquake resistance to its limit. The two people who were fleeing could barely stand!

"Holy crap! What kind of monster is this?!" Mr. KFC cursed, increasing his speed again. He still had some energy left.

Percy was also shaken. This power was completely beyond their comprehension. The other party was definitely not an ordinary hybrid; it was most likely a dragon that had infiltrated the academy. Had the incident involving Constantine last year been repeated?!

He couldn't help but look back.

Amidst the blazing fire, a figure with outstretched wings stood with his back to them in the air. As his white dragon wings spread, countless fire elements gathered around him!

……

Alarms blared throughout the academy, and flames erupted from the well in front of the Hall of Heroes!

The expanding, high-temperature airflow burst out of the wellhead, transforming into a graceful dragon shape in the night sky before disappearing in a flash.

Before the advent of running water, this well was known as the foundation well of the college, from which teachers and students drew water. Now it has long since dried up.

Everywhere, red lights flickered, and the sirens blared like the mournful cries of a flock of flamingos on their deathbed. The near-magnitude 8 earthquake caused buried water pipes to burst, and high-pressure water jets gushed out like springs. The granite cladding of the buildings peeled off layer by layer!

Chu Zihang rushed out of the Anbo Hall with a group of students immediately. Caesar stood beside him, and together they witnessed the rooster statue on the top of the Hall of Heroes collapsing with a crash not far away!

The entire campus was thrown into turmoil in an instant, far exceeding the uproar caused by Constantine's resurrection last year.

"Quickly! Evacuate the crowd!" Caesar shouted to the crowd. "Student council officers, assemble! Maintain order and contact the school administration as soon as possible to find out what happened!"

The unresting crowd quickly calmed down under Caesar's clear and organized commands.

Those who can stand here are all elites, or rather, Kassel College only trains elite students, not useless people who panic and lose their composure in the face of trouble.

This unexpected incident brought the welcome dance to a standstill, and everyone took off their masks, revealing their true faces.

Chu Zihang found Lancelot in the crowd, nodded to him, and signaled for Lancelot to cooperate with the student council to disperse the crowd and maintain order.

He and Caesar exchanged a glance, the two arch-enemies nodded in unison, and simultaneously rushed towards the Well of Oblivion.

As leaders of the largest student organization in the college, they had to be at the forefront of everyone else when the school administration did not intervene; this was the awareness of a leader.

"Watch out!" Chu Zihang suddenly stopped, his body slightly lowered, and his center of gravity was reduced, causing the ground to shake again.

He noticed the unusual movement beneath his feet. The pebbles and dust on the ground were jumping around, and a tremendous force was accumulating beneath the ground, ready to erupt at any moment, as if there really was a wild bull underground stirring up the world below!

"Something's not right. The [Discipline] hasn't been interrupted. Is this force a bomb? Or is the Equipment Department up to something again?" Caesar said in a deep voice.

"Hey, didn't you go to the equipment department the other day? Didn't you get any inside information?"

Chu Zihang shook his head and said, "The location is wrong. The equipment department isn't in this direction. This direction... is the ice cellar! Someone has infiltrated the ice cellar!"

Caesar said gravely, "The ice cellar? That's not a place just anyone can break into. To be able to sneak into the ice cellar despite Norma's surveillance, were they the same group from last year?"

"This is Instructor Schneider on duty! Students near Valhalla, please evacuate immediately! I reiterate, students near Valhalla, please evacuate immediately!"

Professor Schneider's deep voice echoed over the campus radio.

Chu Zihang suddenly said, "[Discipline] has its limits; the user cannot use it on a bloodline with a higher bloodline than themselves."

Caesar's heart sank, and he said in horror, "You mean... the first generation?"

Since Constantine's resurrection last year, the vice-principal's "precepts" have become meaningless.

Chu Zihang did not reply; a thought had surfaced in his mind.

Is the person in the ice cellar... my junior brother?

He couldn't find his junior brother since the start of the dance. Did this guy sneak into the ice cellar while everyone's attention was on the party?

But what's the reason? Constantine's dragon bones? For the first generation, is a dragon bone cross containing the power of its own kind really that tempting?

He didn't know; for now, he could only follow this chain of reasoning...

and many more!

He suddenly discovered a blind spot, and his heart skipped a beat.

There was definitely more than one person in the ice cellar. If the junior brother's goal was to sneak into the ice cellar and steal the Dragon Bone Cross, then he shouldn't have made such a commotion.

Who did they fight with?!

"Let's go, settle everyone in first, and wait for the school's reply." Caesar turned and left.

Chu Zihang took one last look at the location of the well in the Hall of Heroes before leaving.

……

……

"Haven't you hit enough? I've already released the sea."

The Well of Oblivion.

An invisible spiritual realm completely enveloped this space.

That should have been the king's domain, covering an area of ​​several meters around him. Its essence was pure spiritual power, and it was also known as the indestructible land. However, the man in front of him had covered the entire area within his field of vision with his domain.

Xia Mi's body and face were shrouded in a black robe.

She looked up at the masked man in mid-air, her gaze falling on "Nagato Yuki's" face, and an inescapable sense of helplessness and sigh welled up in her heart.

This guy...

Wearing this mask while waiting for her to come to him, is he too lazy to put in any effort to hide his identity? This morning he brazenly told me in front of me that he had bought a "Nagato Yuki" mask!

"So... it really was you," she said softly.

She should have been panicked and lost control, loudly questioning him about his identity to mask her inner fear, but under this spiritual realm, she only felt genuinely at ease.

It's like being immersed in a warm hot spring, washing away all negative emotions.

It was a gentleness that encompassed all things in the world, like the vast sky, as if it had sheltered the entire world under its wings with its selfless and supreme authority. Even the true king of the sky and the wind was destined to bow down before it!

"You should have guessed something by now, shouldn't you?" The man retracted his dragon wings and landed smoothly on the ground. "I've always thought you were the smartest among them."

"Thank you for the compliment."

"You're too kind."

After the lighthearted, joking conversation, the tense, adversarial atmosphere returned.

"I had some guesses, but I just couldn't believe that a monster like you could actually return."

Xia Mi said softly, turning to look at the dragon bone cross in front of her, her tone low and sorrowful.

"Constantine...you killed him too, didn't you?"

"Don't use honorifics, it sounds strange to me, it always feels like you're cursing me in your heart," the man said politely. "I didn't kill Xiao Kang, but it's somewhat related to me, he was just unlucky."

Before them lay the skeleton of a boy, its entire body gleaming with a heavy bronze hue, like a work of art crafted from pure copper.

Crystalline eyeballs, like a pair of golden glass beads, were embedded in the skull's eye sockets. Two slender bones on its back opened like fans—those were its wings. Its arms stretched out, grasping the wing bones behind it. The skull drooped, like Jesus nailed to the cross.

Xia Mi leaned down slightly and gently stroked the boy's withered face, as if she could still see the dying smile on that long-withered face.

"Have you returned to seek revenge against us?"

She turned around, straightened her back, and her eyes were cold and sharp.

Even when facing an insurmountable force, her pride as a monarch would not allow her to bow down.

"Stop fooling around." The face behind the mask smiled as the man plopped down on the stone coffin behind him, saying lazily, "You are not my enemies."

Xia Mi remained silent for a long time before sighing, "Yes, we are not even qualified to be your enemies."

"Isn't this a good thing?" the man comforted her. "Do you want to become my enemy? You'll die."

"Senior brother really knows how to comfort people," Xia Mi said with a bitter smile. "So, what are you planning to do next?"

"Do whatever you want. Anyway, I'm definitely not giving you Constantine's dragon bones. I still have a use for them," the man said decisively.

"Is it... to devour?" Xia Mi asked softly after a moment of silence.

"I'm also making soup," the man said irritably. "How about I grill half of it and sprinkle it with salt and pepper, and make soup with the other half? I'll give you a bowl then?"

Xia Mi gave this guy a deep look. Judging from his tone, this guy really wasn't planning on doing anything to Constantine's dragon bones... Did he look down on them?

"Then I'm leaving." Xia Mi smiled and turned around, slowly walking towards the exit, completely unsuspecting.

"I won't see you out!" The man waved vigorously behind her, as if he couldn't wait for her to disappear from his sight.

"Senior brother, if your identity is exposed, it must be a real headache, right?" The girl suddenly stopped and asked him with her back to him.

"Yes, if I expose myself, I won't be able to enjoy the peaceful and comfortable university life. It will definitely cause me a headache, so I need to trouble you, junior, to help me cover up a bit."

The man sighed and clasped his hands together in a gesture of respect behind her back.

Yet her voice still held a smile, without any emotional fluctuation.

Xia Mi smiled helplessly. The test had failed. As expected of his senior brother, he was as watertight as before.

"Aren't you going to consider giving me some hush money?"

"Yes, yes, it's all prepared for you. Remember to check it when you go up!"

"Really?"

"Of course! We can't let our junior sister suffer! You won't find another reliable senior brother like me in all of Kassel!"

The sound of pounding chests and self-praise came from behind.

Xia Mi touched the ground lightly with her toes, remaining silent. She walked to the exit, just one step away from stepping out of the Well of Oblivion, but stopped at that last step.

"Are you... really still you?" She turned around, her pupils reflecting the surrounding firelight, and the man sitting on the stone coffin became the center of the world.

"It's a pity." Lu Mingfei slowly stood up, and the stone coffin beneath him instantly turned into dust that swirled and flew with the air currents. "I am still me, but I am no longer myself. I still hold power, but if I were the person I used to be, you would never have had the chance to talk to me for so long, nor would you have been able to leave me alive."

"I see...that makes sense." Xia Mi raised her hand to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear and smiled. "One last question: why did his memories return? And why did you try to bring us together? In this life, do you possess matchmaker qualities, or is it some kind of wicked sense of humor?"

Lu Mingfei slightly raised his head, looking at the corner of the night sky above the well opening, and said helplessly:

"This isn't just one problem, but what can I do? You're my adorable junior sister, after all. First of all, I didn't help my senior brother regain his memories; it was the result of his own efforts. Don't underestimate humans; there's still a lot you can learn from them."

"Remember, memories can be erased, but emotions can only be suppressed. Then, at some point in life, by some chance coincidence, the suppressed emotions will inevitably erupt again. All control is as thin as paper in the face of that erupting torrent."

"As for the second point, I didn't deliberately try to match you two up." He pointed to his chest. "The help I provided was all at your request; it all stemmed from your own ideas."

Xia Mi stood there, stunned.

She gently grasped her left wrist with her right hand, and said with a smile, "What are you talking about? It's as if that guy liked me before, even though he never succeeded in seducing me once."

Her smile was as bright and cheerful as the daylight in the small town, yet it was tinged with a faint sadness, like snow.

In those years in the small town, a stubborn girl, learning to live like a human being with her toes, clumsily tried to seduce another lonely boy countless times, but it seemed she never succeeded.

She secretly observed him in the crowd, watching him shoot hoops alone on the basketball court, eat alone, clean alone, practice the piano alone, and stand by the window staring blankly at the heavy rain outside. She couldn't find anything interesting or gossipy about him. This guy was incredibly boring, but those silly girls thought he was super handsome. She just thought he was a complete idiot! What's with the cool act? Would it kill him to smile?

But if the initial interest stemmed from a certain mark on him, then what followed...

What is it?

"Senior brother, there's no such thing as love in the rules of the Dragon Clan, is there?"

"some."

"Huh?"

"I just changed it."

"...Pfft, as expected of you! You said you're different from before, but aren't you still just as autocratic as ever? You want to change the whole world at the drop of a hat..."

The girl covered her mouth and laughed. Her smile was so beautiful and radiant, but tears kept flowing down her face.

She finally emerged from the Well of Oblivion.

I left this place.

Lu Mingfei stood alone at the bottom of the well, which had become a wasteland.

He withdrew his gaze from Xia Mi's retreating figure and sat down in front of Constantine's dragon skeleton.

Xia Mi's words reminded him of something he had overlooked—

Love does not exist in the world of dragons; they usually only love themselves, just like he once did.

and so……

Isn't this great?

Lu Mingfei took off his mask, looked up and smiled, his smile appearing especially warm in the firelight.

He gained even more confidence in his script.

It's so wonderful that I met the right person the first time I liked someone, junior sister.

By the way, I hope you like the gifts I sent you.

Love, sometimes, really does require "divine revelation."

……

……

The call still shows no answer.

Chu Zihang dialed again, turned around and looked around. The Anbo Hotel was empty, the corridors were deserted, and the air of the early autumn rainy night was cold and damp.

Anxiety gradually took hold of him, and his heart slowly sank.

He hadn't been able to find Xia Mi since the start of the party. He searched for everyone during the evacuation of the students attending the party, but couldn't find Xia Mi anywhere. He also couldn't get through on the phone. Considering the unusual events that happened tonight, and Caesar's previous speculation, it was hard for him not to have bad thoughts.

It's been raining all day, and it seems like all sorts of troubles have come crashing down on us at once.

Chu Zihang tried to calm the suppressed and agitated feeling in his chest, but the emotion did not subside with his suppression; instead, it intensified.

He suddenly felt a little lost.

What's wrong with me? What am I panicking about, and what am I afraid of?

He should have been fearless! Even facing God, he would have dared to grip the hilt of his sword and charge forward! What is it that a person who is not even afraid of death is afraid of?

He turned his head abruptly, a cold wind blowing through the corridor, and blurted out, "Xia Mi..."

But there was still nothing.

Just a moment ago, he seemed to smell that familiar scent of sunshine and rain again.

Is it just an illusion...?

"Hey! I'm here!" Xia Mi ran out in the rain, covering her head with her hands. She clasped her hands together above her head and shouted, "Sorry, sorry, I ran into a little trouble. I just heard you were looking for me."

Suddenly, the girl stood gracefully in front of him, as if that memory had suddenly re-entered his world. Her clear eyes pierced through the rain, and her radiant smile bloomed in his eyes.

In the hazy rain, even if you searched all of Kassel, you could not find eyes clearer than those of the girl named Xia Mi in front of you, eyes that seemed to penetrate the rain and strike straight to your soul!

This sudden surge of emotion pierced my soul.

He finally understood.

He finally realized what he was afraid of.

He was afraid of losing someone vital to his life, just like he had six years ago.

But the premise of fearing loss...

Shouldn't we possess it?

So that's how it is...

He once believed that if you never have something, you will never lose it, so he closed his heart and prepared to go to the battlefield alone.

He was supposed to be a bit of a gossip, someone who loved to meddle in other people's business, but he put on a cold mask and seemed indifferent and apathetic to everything, until he met his junior, a guy who, like him, came from Shilan High School and also arrived at Kassel College.

He showed a level of attention and curiosity towards this guy that far exceeded his interest in others.

But this is not the end; quite the opposite, it is only the beginning.

Not long after that, he encountered another girl he had almost forgotten...

Chu Zihang quickly took off his coat and pulled it over the girl's head, who was soaked in the rain. His face and voice were contorted with suppressed emotion as he asked, "Where did you go? Are you alright?!"

Suddenly, a burst of smoke and fire erupted above their heads.

A low murmur arose from the crowd gathered in the distance.

Fireworks of all kinds rose and fell in succession into the sky, blooming freely in this rainy night, like shooting stars streaking across the sky, but from bottom to top, the glow of the fireworks illuminating their faces.

Xia Mi stood beside him, her coat draped over Chu Zihang's head. The fireworks exploding in the night sky flashed alternately in her eyes.

Under the sky ablaze with fireworks, the girl stared blankly at the boy who, all those years ago, had always suppressed his emotions and acted cool and aloof, now revealed an anxiety she had never shown before.

A picture suddenly popped into her mind.

……

……

"Senior brother, you should know that I used to be a ballet dancer, right?" Xia Mi touched the ground with her toes and spun lightly. Her neck and legs were long, like a swan treading on water.

"The day you came to my house, I was practicing on the yoga mat behind you." The girl wrinkled her nose and widened her eyes. "Question! Did you secretly turn around that day?"

"No, no..." Chu Zihang subconsciously refused, but the fleeting glimpse from many years ago came to mind.

"Don't lie! You're a dog if you lie!" the girl suddenly shouted.

Someone obediently slammed on the brakes, managing to stop uttering the last word.

They looked at each other, and Chu Zihang looked away slightly.

……

……

What the heck...

I did succeed once during those years!

Chu Zihang stared blankly as the girl in front of him slowly reddened, feeling somewhat at a loss.

What's wrong? Was my voice too loud?

Xia Mi suddenly spoke, and it seemed she was saying something...

But her voice was swallowed up by the deafening explosions of fireworks.

The sky was ablaze with the brilliance of fireworks, which illuminated the world, while the continuous explosions drowned out everything else.

But Chu Zihang suddenly understood.

So much so that he stood there blankly in the rain, still not believing it.

That is--

"I'm right here!"

He stood there, his voice still ringing in my ears, but the world had fallen silent, and all other sounds were slowly being withdrawn.

Amidst the fireworks, raindrops clung to the girl's long eyelashes, and her pupils reflected the vibrant colors of the fireworks.

"I... I've finally found you."

He lowered his head and murmured to himself, as if possessed.

……

……

The rain that day lasted from morning until midnight.

Fireworks lit up the night sky like shooting stars.

Just like the anime called "Voices of a Distant Star," two hearts 8.6 light-years apart approach each other at a speed exceeding the speed of light, and collide tightly in that instant.

So far away.

Yet they are so close.

……

……

……

……

At the end of Voices of a Distant Star, the female protagonist Mikako and the male protagonist Asahi are 8.6 light-years apart. At the end of the story, the two of them, 8.6 light-years apart, say the same thing to each other at the same time - I am right here.

In addition, there is the first chapter of Lu's Essays: "If one day you are lucky enough to meet her, please tell her on behalf of your former self—I have finally found you."

So this is where he confessed his feelings (I'm sure of it).

(Specifically, reread Chapter 108)

(I put the author's notes in the main text so that readers outside the site wouldn't miss them, because this interpretation is quite important, sigh.)

As for why I wrote it so subtly, it's because that's how I got into the writing! (Sound of excitement)

(End of this chapter)