Dragon Raja: Lu Mingfei finds a Freylian

As the ancients said, the world is but an inn.

“That building you’re looking at is the Tokyo Skytree,” Lu Mingfei said, his voice slightly muffled by the wind and rain. He cleared his throat and raised his voice, “It’s the tallest radio tower in the world. You can go up anytime, and the view of Tokyo from the observation deck is beautiful. If there’s a next time, I’ll take you there.”

He handed the hot coffee to Erii. Hot coffee is the best thing ever; it's much more comforting than orange juice. Lu Mingfei felt like he was a perfect, unparalleled floor heater right now.

Erii held the hot coffee in both hands and sipped it slowly.

White steam rose in front of her nose, only to be quickly washed away by the rain. She took a sip, glanced up at him, took another sip, and glanced up at him again, as if to confirm he was still there. The corners of her mouth curved slightly upward, forming a very faint arc. She drank slowly, savoring each sip, holding it in her mouth for a long time before swallowing.

Looking at her, Lu Mingfei suddenly felt a pang of heartache. He wondered what kind of life she led, that she cherished even a cup of hot coffee so much.

Frillie stood a few steps behind them.

From the moment she stepped onto the rooftop, she stood in that spot. Not too far, not too near, silent and still, like a quiet shadow, like a stray cat crouching under the eaves to take shelter from the rain.

She watched as Lu Mingfei took off his trench coat and draped it over Erii's shoulders.

His movements were very gentle, as if afraid of startling her. Lu Mingfei turned up the collar of his trench coat and helped Erii adjust it. His fingers paused for a moment when they touched her wet hair, then he casually withdrew them. The trench coat fit him perfectly, but it was too big for Erii, with the hem almost reaching her knees, completely enveloping her.

Watching Lu Mingfei turn up the collar of his trench coat to help Erii keep warm.

Erii looked down at the extra clothes she was wearing, then looked up at him, blinking. She didn't say anything, but simply pulled the coat tighter around herself, shrinking into it like a small animal hiding in its shell. She sniffed the collar, perhaps inhaling its scent.

Lu Mingfei gazed at Erii with deep affection for a long time. At least Frilian thought it was affection, but Lu Mingfei probably just seemed to be daydreaming. Then, hesitantly, he uttered the words that had been hidden in his heart for a long time: "Hey girl, when your family rushes out later, can you plead for me and Frilian? We're not human traffickers."

As he spoke, he clasped his hands together, his face full of sincerity. Rain streamed down his forehead and into his eyes, but he squinted, still maintaining the clasped-hands gesture.

Erii tilted her head, understanding the meaning of the sentence. Then she nodded, a very serious nod.

Lu Mingfei didn't know if this strange girl understood the meaning of "pleading," so he could only assume she did. He sighed, lowered his clasped hands, and wiped the rain from his face.

Frillie looked at Lu Mingfei's mournful face, her sincerity evident, and said nothing. She then shifted her gaze from them to the golden tower in the distance.

The rain fell on her, soaking her hair and her clothes. Her plain clothes were now completely drenched and clung to her body. Her silver hair was also wet, hanging down in strands over her shoulders. She stood there, motionless, like a statue.

A long time passed.

“Eri,” Frilian said, her voice so soft it was almost drowned out by the wind and rain.

Lu Mingfei paused for a moment, then turned his head.

"Frilian? What did you say?"

“Eri,” Frilian repeated, her gaze still fixed on the distant tower, “she’s fine.”

Lu Mingfei didn't quite understand what she was trying to say.

"She's good-looking, obedient, and can even write," Frillie said calmly, as if stating a fact unrelated to herself. She paused, then added, "You're very good to her."

“…Huh?” Lu Mingfei was completely baffled.

Frillie didn't say anything more. She just looked down at the empty can in her hand, soaked by the rain.

The jar, printed with Yui Aragaki's smiling face, was slightly wrinkled from being soaked in rainwater. She gently rubbed the smiling face with her thumb, causing some of the ink on the jar to bleed and stain her fingertip with a pale pink dot.

She didn't know why she said those things. All she knew was that when she saw Lu Mingfei put the trench coat on Erii, something strange suddenly came over her—maybe a small spot on the left side of her chest.

It felt like something gently tugged at my skin.

It's not pain, just a bit uncomfortable. Like something's stuck there, neither going up nor down.

Frillie didn't know why.

So she didn't say anything, but just continued to rub the smiley face on the jar with her thumb.

I looked up and glanced at them again.

Lu Mingfei was talking to Erii while looking down, probably saying something like, "Don't be afraid in a little while." Erii listened attentively, nodding occasionally, while still sipping her coffee.

So close, so close that Frillie felt a gentle tug on her chest.

"Hmm," she uttered softly, making a sound that was difficult to decipher, then lowered her head and stopped looking at them.

Chapter 692 Tokyo Special Police

The iron gate is still being pounded.

"boom!"

"boom!"

Each blow was heavier than the last. The plaster around the door frame began to peel off, and small pieces of cement crumbled down. The sheet metal around the latch was warping and curling outwards. Light from the hallway shone through the crack in the door, flickering as if someone was signaling with a light.

Lu Mingfei sighed and decided to stop thinking about it.

He turned around and stood side by side with Erii, gazing at Tokyo in the rain.

Tokyo is so beautiful in the rain, but it feels a little lonely.

In every brightly lit window, a family was relieved that the earthquake had passed. The father was still watching the earthquake warning on TV, the mother kissed her child's forehead and told him to go to sleep, the gamer turned on his game console to catch up on his pre-earthquake progress, and the girls put on face masks and called their boyfriends to tell them how scary it had been.

Standing on this rooftop hundreds of meters high, they looked through the rain at the bright windowpanes.

Erii stood on this side of the rain, a hint of longing in her eyes.

On the other side of the rain, the people inside the windows have no idea that someone so longs for their life.

Frillie stood behind them, holding an empty can, watching Lu Mingfei and Erii's backs as they stood side by side.

The rain blurred their figures into one, making them appear very close.

A blinding beam of light descended from the sky, and the roar of the wind drowned out the sound of the torrential rain.

A shadow loomed over Lu Mingfei and Erii.

A black helicopter hovered in the air. Its steel rotors sliced ​​through the torrential rain, tearing the rain curtain into countless scattered fragments. Raindrops traced slanted bright lines in the beams of the searchlights, like countless silver threads dancing in the air. The gale-force winds whipped up by the rotors were more violent than the downpour, making it almost impossible for a person to stand.

The aircraft is painted with a gold cherry blossom emblem and the four letters: MPD. Metropolitan Police Department. Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department.

Lu Mingfei's head buzzed. Although he desperately didn't want to fall into the hands of the Hebiki Hachike, he was now a wanted terrorist by the Metropolitan Police Department, and falling into police hands wouldn't end well for him. Genji had also explicitly stated that the Hebiki Hachike had friends within the Metropolitan Police Department. The police might even sell him to the Hebiki Hachike.

Before he could decide whether to seek help from the police or surrender to the underworld, fully armed special police officers descended from the sky.

The black figures slid down the rope with precise aim and swift movements. They wore MPD-marked bulletproof vests over their black combat uniforms, bulletproof helmets, and submachine guns slung across their chests—clearly elite members of the Metropolitan Police Department. Rainwater streamed down the edges of their helmets, splashing at their feet.

Lu Mingfei quickly hid the pistol behind the ventilation duct and raised his hands high.

The special police rushed up to Lu Mingfei and, without saying a word, hoisted him onto their shoulders.

"Survivor found!" a SWAT officer shouted, his voice mostly drowned out by the roar of the propellers. He carried Lu Mingfei and ran towards the helicopter, his movements clean and efficient, as if he were carrying a sack of rice.

Two other SWAT officers hoisted Erii onto their shoulders. Erii was suddenly lifted up, still holding the half-finished cup of hot coffee. She froze for a moment, instinctively trying to struggle, but the SWAT officers moved professionally and swiftly. Before she could react, she was being carried towards the helicopter. Some of the coffee spilled from her hand, landing on the SWAT officers' bulletproof vests, where it was quickly washed away by the rain.

Frillie was picked up by the third SWAT officer. He seemed a little confused, wondering where this quiet girl standing beside him had come from, but that was procedure; no survivor could be left behind. As he lifted her, Frillie simply glanced at him quietly, without saying a word, still clutching the empty can tightly in her hand. Her body was very light, as light as a feather. She didn't struggle, simply letting him hold her, her eyes fixed on Lu Mingfei ahead.

They shouted "Survivors found!" and ran toward the helicopter.

Lu Mingfei was carried on his shoulder, head down, watching the rooftop floor sway before his eyes. Rainwater pooled on the ground, reflecting the helicopter's lights. He saw Frillie also being lifted up, her long silver hair hanging down, almost dragging on the ground. She was holding an empty can in her hand.

Then he was thrown into the cabin.

The SWAT officers threw him and Erii into the cabin and, without explanation, put oxygen masks on them. The cabin door slammed shut. The SWAT officers shouted for takeoff. The helicopter pilot yanked the control stick, and the helicopter rose sharply into the air.

The entire rescue operation was completed in less than half a minute.

The executive officers finally broke down the iron gate to the rooftop. The first few nearly fell to the ground from the force of the impact; they staggered to their feet and rushed into the rain. Their black trench coats fluttered in the wind like crow's tail feathers. They reached the edge of the railing, raised their guns, and aimed, but none dared to fire at the MPD helicopter.

Through the cockpit window, Lu Mingfei could see the leader angrily waving his Colt revolver. He seemed to be shouting something, but his voice was swallowed by the wind, rain, and the roar of the propellers. He waved the gun at the helicopter, then pointed it downstairs, as if giving some order.

Then the helicopter turned, and Genji Heavy Industries moved further and further away, becoming a black dot in the rain, a lone lamp in the night, and finally disappearing into the vast rainy night.

"Relax, relax, don't be afraid. You're safe now." The SWAT officer shook Lu Mingfei vigorously. "Take a deep breath. Yes, a deep breath. Come on, look at me."

He took off his helmet, revealing a young face with beads of sweat on his forehead and eyes filled with the excitement of surviving a close call. He had thick eyebrows and bright eyes, and looked to be only about twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old.

Medical staff turned on flashlights to check Lu Mingfei and Erii's pupils. They gave a thumbs-up and waved it. Blood pressure was measured. A knee-jerk response test was performed. A small metal rod was tapped near their ears to check for hearing loss.

Lu Mingfei nodded to indicate that he had heard it very clearly and had no questions.

The likelihood of hearing loss due to getting wet in the rain is extremely small.

He couldn't understand the following examination at all. In short, within a few minutes, he and Erii had undergone full-body examinations. Although they were both safe and sound, even lively and energetic, the cautious attitude of the special police and medical personnel suggested that they had just been dug out of the rubble of an earthquake and were in a state where they could die at any moment.

Lu Mingfei couldn't help but wonder if he had suffered some kind of injury. He touched himself all over, but couldn't find a single spot that hurt.

He then looked at Erii.

Erii was having her hair dried with a towel by a female medical worker. She sat obediently, motionless, like a wet kitten. Her gaze passed over the medical worker's shoulder and landed on Lu Mingfei, where she blinked.

Lu Mingfei gave her an "OK" sign.

She paused for a moment, then copied the "OK" sign, but she pinched her thumb and forefinger together while sticking out the other three fingers, like a little duck's beak.

Lu Mingfei couldn't help but laugh.

Chapter 693 The Melancholy of the Thousand-Year-Old Girl, Frilian

Frillie sat quietly in the corner of the cabin.

No one checked on her. Perhaps it was because she looked too calm. She didn't look like someone who had just been rescued from the rubble, but rather like someone who had just come back from grocery shopping and hitched a ride. She sat there, knees together, hands on her knees. Her hair was still dripping wet, but she didn't seem to care.

She watched as Lu Mingfei and Erii were surrounded by SWAT officers and medical personnel. They sat very close, almost touching. When the medical personnel took their blood pressure, Lu Mingfei's arm was against Erii's arm. Erii's hair had been dried slightly and was draped over her shoulders, with a few strands falling onto Lu Mingfei's arm.

Then I felt a gentle tug on my chest.

She looked down at the empty can in her hand. She had carried the can all the way from the rooftop to the helicopter and hadn't thrown it away. There were some dents on the can, from where she had squeezed it earlier. The orange juice inside was long gone, but a faint sweetness remained, mixed with the scent of rain.

She didn't know why she kept it.

After checking Erii's vital signs, the SWAT team leader straightened up and stretched his neck. His gaze inadvertently swept across the cabin, first lingering on Erii, then on Frillian, and finally on Lu Mingfei.

He paused for a moment, then looked at the two girls. Then he looked at Lu Mingfei. Then he looked at the two girls again.

His expression became very subtle. He moved closer to Lu Mingfei, lowered his voice, and said in a tone unique to men, "Brother."

Lu Mingfei turned his head: "Huh?"

The SWAT captain gave him a thumbs-up and waved it in front of his eyes. It wasn't directed at him, but rather at the two girls behind him. He pointed his thumb towards Erii, then towards Frillien, and then waved it in front of him.

"That's impressive."

Lu Mingfei didn't react: "What's so amazing?"

The SWAT captain winked, a knowing smile playing on his lips. His smile held a mix of admiration, envy, and a hint of sarcasm—"You're something else, kid."