Just because I wrote "Zhu Xian," the school beauty sent me razor blades.

The four people continued to sit around the lamp.

The rain outside the window hadn't stopped, which was perfect weather for reading Dragon Raja.

Eighty meters underwater. The mechanisms of the Bronze City suddenly locked down.

Ye Sheng tucked the last oxygen cylinder into Aki's arms.

Shen Qingci unconsciously slowed down her speech, pronouncing each word carefully—

"There's only enough oxygen for one person to float. Take the bone vial and the photo of the dragon with you. The academy must obtain the Dragon King's relics. It's fine for me to stay here."

Xie Wanyin's fingers were already pressing on the edge of the book page.

Aki's eyes were red-rimmed, her voice trembled, and tears streamed down her face: "There's something I've been holding back for a long time, and I was planning to tell you after the mission was over..."

Ye Sheng interrupted her decisively.

"I love you too."

He paused, looked into her eyes through the diving mask, and said another sentence—

"Fool, trust me, that's enough."

Xie Wanyin suddenly looked up.

Shen Qingci's recitation also stopped.

"He waited for her to speak first, then responded before she could finish." Xie Wanyin's voice was a little tense. "He only dared to confess his feelings, which he had kept hidden for so long, when he was almost dead—and even lied to her, saying 'it's enough.'"

Gu Zhiwan reached out from the side and gently pressed down on the page.

Xie Wanyin looked at her.

Gu Zhiwan simply shook her head, indicating that they should continue.

Shen Qingci continued reading.

Ye Shengsong released his hand.

He glanced at the oxygen tank, then at her.

Aki frantically signed through her mask, her lips constantly moving—that sentence had been stuck in her throat for too long, ever since the day she set off.

Ye Sheng understood.

He didn't let her finish speaking.

He lowered his head and kissed her through his diving goggles.

Aki was stunned.

His lips moved slowly: "I love you too."

He added, "Trust me, it's enough."

He smiled slightly. The mask and muddy water blurred his face, but his eyes remained calm.

He shoved the last oxygen cylinder into her arms, then turned to face the bronze door.

Blood seeped from his body, flowing silently along the bronze patterns, as if something was being drawn from his bones.

The gears meshed. The door opened.

He did not stand up again.

Aki, clutching the bone vial, swam desperately upwards.

The communicator had long been broken. She couldn't hear what he said last.

With her last ounce of strength, she pushed the urn containing her remains onto the Moniach, and hands reached out to her from the ship—

Almost.

She screamed hoarsely toward the deck, "Professor, take the jar and get out of here! Ye Sheng got it back!"

Something underwater had tangled around her leg.

A tremendous force surged up from the abyss, pulling her back. She struggled desperately, her fingertips brushing against the light she could almost reach.

Only a single bloodstain remained on the river's surface, swallowed clean by the undercurrent.

The person is gone.

Shen Qingci closed the book.

Dormitory 404 was quiet.

It wasn't a brief silence. It was a silence where a breath was stuck in your throat, and neither of you wanted to speak first.

Eighty meters underwater, one died the moment he escaped, and the other died the moment he covered the retreat alone.

But at the very last moment, he was still lying to her, saying, "Trust me, it's enough."

Xie Wanyin stared at the ceiling, her lips moved but she didn't make a sound.

Gu Zhiwan leaned against the headboard, her fingers gripping the corner of the blanket, her knuckles turning white.

Su Zhiyuan turned to the next page.

The Bronze Throne Hall.

The dome is engraved with ancient dragon patterns, and seven swords float in the center, their blades swirling with golden dragon flames.

"The seven deadly sins," Xie Wanyin said in a low voice.

The moment Lu Mingfei approached, the seven swords trembled simultaneously and moved closer to him.

Shen Qingci read aloud the words on the outer wall of the sword case—

"The blood of kings must end with the sword."

Xie Wanyin got goosebumps all over.

Su Zhiyuan: "Continue."

Dragon King Norton emerged from the underwater shadows.

Its body was covered in dragon scales, and its eyes burned with molten gold and raging flames.

Nono gave the diving suit to Lu Mingfei and stuffed him into the diving bell.

She had run out of oxygen. Foam billowing from her mouth, she swam with all her might towards the diving bell. Lu Mingfei reached out from inside the capsule to pull her out—

But just as she was about to reach it, Norton's dragon tail swept across.

The water was torn apart, and the enormous impact flung Nono's body toward the abyss. Her eyes began to lose focus, and her lungs, depleted of oxygen, felt like they were being scorched by fire.

Xie Wanyin quickly covered her mouth.

Shen Qingci did not stop.

Gu Zhiwan closed her eyes, her brows furrowed as if in a knot.

Through the round glass with a diameter of twenty centimeters, Lu Mingfei could clearly see Nuonuo's life slowly fading away.

He pounded on the hatch and screamed as he tried to break free.

The heavy metal door remained completely still.

He could only watch helplessly.

"The only person who had treated him kindly in the past eighteen years," Xie Wanyin's voice squeezed out from between her fingers, "died right in front of him. And—he watched her die with his own eyes."

Su Zhiyuan did not speak.

She turned right to the next page.

Darkness engulfed everything.

Wearing a black tuxedo and looking exactly like him, Lu Mingze slowly emerged from the void.

"Something for nothing. Brother, I can save her, and I can slay the Dragon King for you. The price is a quarter of your life."

Those who met Lu Mingze in the previous chapter know this condition.

But the context is completely different.

The last time was "a desperate gamble in an exam".

This time, it's "the only person who treated me well is dying right before my eyes."

Lu Mingfei's eyes were red-rimmed, and his whole body was trembling.

Without the slightest hesitation.

I'm in a hurry!

Xie Wanyin slammed her hand on the bed.

A burst of golden light erupted. Her eyes transformed into burning golden pupils, and the dragon blood was completely unleashed. The Seven Deadly Sins automatically flew around her, and the golden patterns of the Word of Power "Don't Die" spread remotely to Nono underwater, forcibly repairing the fatal wound that pierced her chest.

He burst forth in fury, bursting through the hall to confront his former online friend, Old Tang—the Bronze and Fire King, Norton.

"Wait a minute," Gu Zhiwan suddenly spoke up, "Old Tang?"

"I wrote about it before," Shen Qingci said, her voice not yet fully recovered. "Lu Mingfei has an online friend at Kassel College; the two of them play StarCraft all night long. That Old Tang is none other than Dragon King Norton."

Gu Zhiwan remained silent.

Lu Mingfei gripped his fist in fury, his voice hoarse.

"Old Tang, it's me. We used to play StarCraft all night together, and you even taught me how to beat it... Do you remember?"

Shen Qingci read this sentence very softly.

Lu Mingfei drew out the short "Lust" from the Seven Deadly Sins. The gold patterns on the blade blazed brightly like flames, and with one strike, he severely injured Norton's dragon body.

On the surface of the water, Caesar had already laid out a torpedo ambush net around the Moniach.

In the distance on the river, Mai Shude, hidden in the shadows, set up her sniper rifle, and the Philosopher's Stone bullet shot out, accurately piercing the Norton Dragon Core.

The Dragon King's body slowly sank.

Old Tang's consciousness completely dissipated.

He will never wake up again.

Xie Wanyin stared at those six characters, not turning the page for a long time.

"He killed his only friend." Her voice was hoarse. "Someone who stayed up all night playing StarCraft with him, someone who listened to his grievances—he ended it all with his own hands."

The self-destruct sequence of Bronze City was activated, causing the walls to crack and the beams and pillars to collapse.

Lu Mingfei stared at Norton, who had sunk into the deep water.

A victory in slaying the dragon? No. Only the overwhelming loneliness of personally ending a dear friend's life, engulfing me completely.

He carried the unconscious Nono out of the collapsed ruins.

He alone bears the entire secret of killing Old Tang and sacrificing his lifespan.

There's no one to confide in.

Shen Qingci closed the book.

The rain outside the window had subsided at some point, leaving only the intermittent sound of water droplets falling from the eaves, one drop after another.

None of the four people spoke.

Xie Wanyin was the first to break the silence.

"Ye Sheng and Ya Ji said 'I love you' eighty meters underwater, then one died covering their retreat, and the other died because of the hand they couldn't hold."

"Nono used her last breath to close a door, leaving the way out for those inside."

"Lu Mingfei traded a quarter of his life for power, and then used that power to kill his only friend."

She lowered her head, her voice muffled: "Who exactly does that old scoundrel have a grudge against?"

Shen Qingci leaned back in her chair, staring at the ceiling.

Gu Zhiwan remained silent.

After a long silence, she finally spoke, her voice very soft—

"Something for nothing."

The three people looked at her.

"There is no power that comes from nothing," Gu Zhiwan repeated. "Every time Lu Mingfei becomes stronger, he loses something. This time, Bronze City lost a quarter of his life and his only friend. The stronger he becomes, the lonelier he grows."

She paused for a moment.

"It's like the novel *Zhu Xian*. The stronger Zhang Xiaofan becomes, the more he loses. The old man never wrote 'power fantasy' stories; he wrote about the immense price a person has to pay to become stronger."

"It's different." Su Zhiyuan opened the closed book and pointed to the silver dragon totem on the cover.

In the novel *Zhu Xian*, Zhang Xiaofan lost Biyao due to a misunderstanding of fate. But Lu Mingfei is different—every exchange he made was a choice he made himself.

Nobody forced him.

"He came up here by himself."

"That's the cruelest part."

Xie Wanyin listened to their analysis and remained silent for a long while.

Then she picked up the book and turned to the last page.

Dragon Raja Part 1: Dawn of Fire.

The End.

She closed the book and placed it next to the lamp. The silver dragon motif on the cover reflected slightly under the light.

"Finished?"

"The first part is finished," Su Zhiyuan said.

"Is there a second part?"

"There must be."

Xie Wanyin lay down in the blanket, pulled it up to her chin, and stared at the ceiling.

"You old scoundrel."

Her voice came from under the covers, muffled.

"I cried once when you wrote about Biyao's death, and I suppressed my emotions for three days when you wrote about Poirot's compromise on The Orient Express. Now you're making me watch Ye Sheng and Ya Ji embrace each other and wait to die eighty meters underwater, and then you're making me watch Lu Mingfei kill Lao Tang with his own hands."

She rolled over.

Do you think our tears are free?

Shen Qingci turned off the table lamp.

"You still finished reading it, didn't you?"

"Just because I finished watching it doesn't mean I don't hate him."

"Even those who hate him will buy a second copy tomorrow."

"..."