Dragon Clan: Starting with the Azure Dragon Fruit

The situation seems to have been stabilized in such an absurd way.

Chu Zihang watched quietly for a moment, his tightly furrowed brows gradually relaxing, and he silently withdrew his hand that had been hanging in mid-air.

He didn't separate the two of them. No matter how improper the posture was, it seemed that Nono was able to stay steady because of this.

If he were to go through the trouble of separating them, and something went wrong, he wouldn't have a second option.

So they simply let the two of them lean against each other like that.

The room was so quiet that only two deep and shallow breaths could be heard, along with the faint sound of a television coming from downstairs.

On the other side, the feeling of weightlessness as consciousness plummeted gradually disappeared.

Lin Yuan landed in a thick gray fog, and when he looked up, he bumped into that familiar dark red color not far away.

Nono seemed to sense something and turned around.

Upon suddenly seeing a familiar face in this space, the unease in his eyes visibly faded quickly, replaced by an unconcealable joy.

"How did you get in?" Nono blurted out, her tone full of disbelief.

She had entered a spiritual realm, which was essentially a closed mental prison. She had never heard of two people experiencing spiritual matters together.

Lin Yuan coughed lightly.

He couldn't very well admit that he originally intended to use his Observation Haki to create a miracle, but ended up accidentally crashing and being pulled in by that suction force.

"It's a shortcut, and I doubt it'll be easy to replicate," Lin Yuan said vaguely, changing the subject as he went.

"But you, you were fine just now, how did you suddenly faint? Where is this place?"

"I'm not quite sure either..." Nono rubbed her slightly swollen temples, gradually calming down.

"It was probably the dragon blood left in the house, combined with the emotions in that letter, and the fact that I was doing my best to profile at the time, that caused this spiritual vision."

“If I’m not mistaken, we are now... in Amei’s mental fragments, or rather, in her memories.”

Hearing that Nono's analysis was exactly the same as Miranda's deduction, Lin Yuan felt reassured.

As if to confirm Nono's conjecture, the stagnant gray fog around them suddenly began to surge violently.

Lin Yuan's intervention, with his external consciousness, effectively relieved Nuonuo of a large portion of her mental burden.

Memories that had been blocked due to emotional overload were finally able to continue to unfold.

The surrounding space began to swirl rapidly before their eyes, like a carousel.

The two witnessed Ame's years in America from an outsider's perspective.

From initially following the local thugs through narrow alleys, to being crammed into a dark basement like cargo, and squeezed together with a dozen or so fellow villagers.

Because she didn't understand English, she could only sell her cheapest labor.

Washing dishes in a greasy kitchen, operating a sewing machine in a dimly lit garment factory, working non-stop for more than ten hours a day.

Even when life was bitter as gall, every time she received her paycheck and sent money back home, a hopeful smile would appear on her face.

Until one day, everything changed.

All low-level laborers were suddenly forced to increase their workload, and they would not be paid if they did not complete the work.

As they watched more and more exhausted laborers collapse in the scene, Nuonuo and Lin Yuan exchanged a glance and saw the same guess in each other's eyes.

It was the Sackler family who were pulling the strings behind the scenes, using capital to strangle their employers.

They then exhaust the bodies of low-income laborers with extremely high-intensity work, thus selecting the perfect experimental subjects for their "miracle drug".

The scene continues to flow forward.

Ah Mei was finally overwhelmed by the enormous workload. She went to an underground clinic in Chinatown that didn't require any identification, and the doctor prescribed her the cheapest painkillers.

At first, the medicine's effects lasted for a while.

But as her workload continued to increase, she took more and more medication until finally, no matter how many pills she swallowed, she could not relieve the pain in her body.

Just when she was about to despair, through a fellow villager's introduction, he bought a "powerful painkiller".

The pain miraculously disappeared the moment I took the medicine.

But soon, she discovered that something seemed to have been awakened inside her body.

She began having frequent nightmares, dreaming that she was wandering the streets at night, chasing her prey at incredible speed, and stabbing her claws into their chests.

Whenever she woke up from a nightmare, her mouth was always filled with the taste of blood, and bits of flesh remained between her fingers.

She didn't know what was wrong with her, and she was too afraid to call the police.

Overwhelmed by immense fear, she could only buy nylon rope and tie herself up every night.

But her periods of lucidity were getting shorter and shorter, and she knew she couldn't hold on much longer.

Finally, one night...

While she was still lucid, she carefully counted the money she had saved, one bill at a time.

Sitting at the table, I took out a piece of paper, wanting to leave something for my daughter one last time.

The hand holding the pen hovered over the paper for a long time, but couldn't write a single word.

What can a mother who is about to become a monster say to her young daughter?

In the end, she simply traced her daughter's name stroke by stroke on the letter paper.

After finishing the last stroke, she pressed the envelope between the bed and the wall, then turned around and once again bound herself to that dark corner.

The fog closed up again.

Lin Yuan stood in the embers of darkness, remaining silent for a long time. Nono beside him turned her face away and quickly wiped the corner of her eye.

No one spoke to break the silence.

As a part of human memory, Amei comes to an end here.

As that desperate will to preserve it gradually dissipated, the surrounding space seemed to lose its support and began to collapse in large swathes.

That familiar feeling of weightlessness returned.

Just before her consciousness was pulled back to reality, Nono vaguely sensed that the guy next to her, who always seemed so lazy, was emanating a terrifying aura that was chilling, as if brewing a storm that would shatter this despair.

Chapter 51: Your bestial nature has been unleashed, huh?

When Miranda arrived at the gambling den, the sun had already climbed up to the second-floor window.

But the corridor was still dimly lit, so she had to use her phone's flashlight to make out the blurry numbers on the doors one by one.

I made my way to room 203 and knocked on the door.

There was no response after waiting for a while.

Miranda glanced at the text message on her phone suspiciously, then leaned closer to compare it with the house number. After confirming that she hadn't gone to the wrong place, she suddenly realized what was happening and whispered through the crack in the door, "It's me, Miranda."

Then, light footsteps came from inside the door. Chu Zihang opened the door and stepped aside to make room for him.

By the dim light behind him, Miranda could see that Young Master Chu had a layer of stubble on his chin and two faint dark circles under his eyes.

Although his back was still ramrod straight, he exuded an undeniable weariness.

"Wow, junior, your look is quite unique." Seeing that he looked a bit tired, Miranda couldn't help but blurt out some nonsense.

"You care so much about your female classmates, you didn't want to sleep all night."

"Yeah, I'm not asleep," Chu Zihang replied with a muffled sound.

Miranda was taken aback by his utterly humorless reply, coughed twice, and squeezed into the room.

After entering the room, she was about to greet Lin Yuan when her gaze swept across the room and she stared blankly at the single bed.

Lin Yuan was seen leaning against a girl with dark red hair, presumably the freshman Chen Motong he had mentioned on the phone.

But this posture is a bit too ambiguous. Not only is one arm on the girl, but his head is also resting directly on her neck.

The girl's cheek turned slightly, resting against his forehead, and the two snuggled together like a couple.

Miranda's eyes widened instantly. Pointing at the bed, she stammered, "Holy crap... what's going on? You two, no, Lin Yuan, this guy went berserk and took advantage of someone while they were unconscious, and you just sat there watching as an accomplice?!"

Chu Zihang dragged the wooden chair over and sat down again, explaining in a dry tone, "After hanging up the phone last night, Chen Motong's condition suddenly worsened. Lin Yuan said he had a way to try. But as soon as he touched her forehead, he collapsed too."

He glanced at the bed and added, "However, after that, Chen Motong's condition did stabilize."

Miranda, who was originally furious, stepped forward, wanting to poke Lin Yuan's shoulder to see if he was pretending to be asleep to take advantage of the situation.

Upon hearing this, she was so frightened that she felt as if she had been electrocuted. She quickly pulled her hand back and took a big step back, afraid that she would fall asleep and be taken advantage of by Lin Yuan.

She observed them carefully from a "safe distance" of about a meter away, noticing that their chests rose and fell very evenly and their complexions were normal.

"Judging from this, it should be nothing serious." Miranda patted her chest and sat down in a relatively clean cardboard box.

She was relieved that it wasn't indecent assault, thinking that Lin Yuan didn't seem like such a lewd person.

She then glanced at Chu Zihang and couldn't help but suggest, "Why don't you lean back and take a nap? I slept on the plane and will keep an eye on them for you."

Chu Zihang shook his head: "No need."

Seemingly feeling that his refusal was a bit cold, he turned his head slightly and added stiffly, "It's not that I don't trust you, senior, it's just that I'm not sleepy yet."

Miranda was taken aback by his earnest explanation, chuckled dryly, waved her hand, and gave up on trying to persuade him to go to sleep.

Silence quickly fell over the room.

Miranda, being a restless person, turned to trying to stir up conversation and liven up the atmosphere.

No matter what topic she brought up, Chu Zihang would only respond with one or two words at most, and the conversation would inevitably fall into an awkward silence within three sentences.

After several setbacks, Miranda gave up on communicating and listlessly scrolled through her phone, waiting for Lin Yuan and the others to wake up. Little did she know that she would wait until dusk.

The afterglow of the setting sun crept into the house through the window.

Miranda couldn't sit still any longer. Not only had she used her phone until it was out of battery, but she was also so hungry that she was experiencing acid reflux.

She irritably rubbed her slightly oily blonde hair, then suddenly tilted her head back and let out a few low moans.

The commotion startled Chu Zihang, who had been resting with his eyes closed. He opened his eyes and looked over, seemingly asking what had happened.

"It's alright, it's alright, there are no enemies." Miranda quickly waved her hand, then stood up and stretched.

"No, no, if we wait any longer, I'll faint too. Let's contact the academy. At worst, they can send a helicopter to bring me back to headquarters. There's bound to be a solution."

As he spoke, he reached out his hand to Chu Zihan: "Junior, can I borrow your phone for a moment?"

Chu Zihang had just taken his phone out of his pocket, but hadn't had a chance to hand it over yet.

Suddenly, a rustling sound of fabric came from the other side of the bed.

Lin Yuan's eyelashes twitched; his brain, which had been asleep for a day and a night, was still a little heavy.

As his consciousness returned, he felt a warm patch on his forehead and a pleasant shampoo scent lingering around his nose.

He slowly opened his eyes, looked down, and froze on the spot.

Nono was fast asleep nestled next to him, with one of his arms draped over Nono's waist, their faces so close they could feel each other's breath.

He was jolted awake, and immediately recalled what had happened. He sweared to God that his moment of unconsciousness was an accident, and he had no despicable thoughts of taking advantage of someone in distress.

But given the current situation, it's impossible to clear one's name even if one jumps into Lake Michigan.

Lin Yuan instinctively slowed his breathing and carefully moved his gaze upwards little by little, afraid of meeting Nuonuo's eyes directly.

Fortunately, the girl, who was so close to him, kept her eyes closed. In the dim light, her long eyelashes cast a small shadow under her eyelids, trembling slightly with her breath.

The usual arrogance had vanished from his face, replaced by a quietness like a cat with its claws retracted.

Lin Yuan was stunned for a moment, but then he quickly realized that there were more important things to do now.

He quickly held his breath and, like a thief, slowly withdrew his arm, afraid of waking Nuonuo.

No matter how gentle the movements, the rubbing sound between the fabrics is still unavoidable.

As if awakened by a noise, Nono's eyelashes fluttered, and she slowly opened her eyes.

Those dark red eyes, with a perfectly timed drowsiness, met Lin Yuan's somewhat stiff gaze.

The expected scream didn't happen the moment their eyes met. Nono simply blinked, looked away slightly, and whispered, "Thank you!"

Seeing her reaction, Lin Yuan secretly breathed a sigh of relief, assuming that he had retreated in time enough that she hadn't noticed his dangerous position.

He coughed lightly and took another step back. He chuckled to cover his guilt, "It's nothing, it's nothing. Since you're my teammate, I can't just stand by and watch you pass out."