Dragon Raja 2; Chapter 201: A Dead Childhood in Everyone’s Heart (2)

Dragon Raja 2

Finger gulped down his wine and swallowed the bread in one bite, wiping his hands on his pants. He gave Lu Mingfei a sidelong look, “If the College approved Caesar and Nono’s wedding, do you think Caesar would invite you to be the best man? ‘The man who witnessed our undying love must be Lu Mingfei!’ And then he invites Zhao Menghua as the pastor, with Chen Wenwen in the bridesmaid party. Now that would be lively!”

Lu Mingfei shot him a glare and turned to leave.

“So sensitive, can’t even take a joke,” Finger shrugged and turned to the girl beside him. “Could I get your number? You know… seeking salvation…”

Lu Mingfei stood under the carved brick archway of the South Cathedral. Just outside was a bustling street, filled with people constantly flowing by. The cold air was tinged with a warm and ambiguous atmosphere. He stepped into the crowd, brushing past men and women, as the setting sun fell behind him. He opened his phone and looked at the bronze wheel. The life gauge on it was down to just one-half.

“A boy selling matches, with only two sticks left… Damn it, what kind of lousy life is this!”

“I don’t know why, but even after eating the Lord’s flesh and drinking His blood, I’m still starving. Either I’m too much of a glutton, or the Lord’s flesh and blood aren’t filling enough.” Finger somehow appeared beside Lu Mingfei, strolling along with his hands behind his head, burping as he walked. “I suddenly miss that little dragon girl. It feels like she would still bring us something to eat…”

As the sun set, Chu Zihang found the old residential area hidden behind towering buildings. Surprisingly, sycamore trees still stood there, their leaves all fallen, the bare branches cutting the dim sunlight into fragments.

Building 31 was an old red-brick structure with a cement balcony and green-painted wooden windows. It was hard to tell how old it was. The hallway had poor lighting, with only a few dim incandescent bulbs illuminating it, and the walls were plastered with flyers advertising services like “Drain Cleaning” or “Invoice Service.” The blue-painted plaque “Unit 15, Room 201” was nailed to the green wooden door, which clearly hadn’t been used in a long time. A thick layer of dust covered the doorknob, and layers of flyers had blocked the keyhole. The smell of cooking and the sound of a neighbor teaching their child drifted over from next door, full of warmth and happiness.

When Chu Zihang gently touched the rusted plaque, an elderly neighbor suddenly appeared from somewhere, holding two green onions as if she were brandishing a pair of knives, her face full of suspicion. “Are you a friend of Xia Mi’s?”

Chu Zihang nodded, taking out a key and shaking it slightly. “I’m here to help her pack up some things.”

“She won’t be living here anymore?” The old lady relaxed slightly.

“She won’t be coming back,” Chu Zihang said softly.

The old lady’s eyes flashed with a calculating glint. “Could you ask if she’s planning to sell the place? My grandson’s getting married, and we need another apartment. Real estate agents keep coming around to post ads. Rather than selling to them, she could sell it to me. We’ve been neighbors for so long, and I’ve taken care of her plenty…”

She shut up abruptly when she saw the young man’s expressionless face, as though he had come to collect a debt.

“Did she owe you a lot of money? Did she give you the apartment as collateral?” she asked.

“I’ll ask her. If she wants to sell, she’ll sell it to you,” Chu Zihang replied, as he reached up to remove the flyers from the door and inserted the key, turning it slowly.

He placed his hand gently on the door. As a Taichi practitioner, even without relying on dragon blood, his inch power could break metal locks. But this time, the door felt heavy, as if it was a gateway to another world.

The door opened, and the setting sun rushed in. He stood in the sunlight, stunned.

Directly facing the door was a huge floor-to-ceiling window, with the enormous sun outside slowly descending. The dim light cast the window’s grille shadows onto the ground, resembling the bars of a dark prison cell. The metal window frames were heavily rusted, and several panes of glass were broken, letting in the evening breeze that moved through every corner of the room.

It was hard to imagine such a bright room with a floor-to-ceiling window existing in an old building like this. It was probably originally some kind of utility room, like a power distribution room. After electrical modifications, the equipment had been removed, leaving this west-facing space behind. Just one room, without even a bathroom. It was empty, with a bed placed right in the middle, the blue sheet covered in dust. An old-fashioned chest of drawers stood in the corner, and another corner housed a gas stove and an old double-door refrigerator. Those were all the furnishings.

He walked along the walls, brushing his fingers over the dusty stove, and opened the refrigerator, which only held a carton of expired yogurt. The curtains were beautiful—white lace with deep blue velvet. Of course, someone living in such a room would care about the curtains. There was no television, so when alone, she must often have sat on the bed watching the sun set. Late at night, she would draw the curtains tightly shut, wouldn’t she? Otherwise… wouldn’t she feel scared?

Do dragons fear the dark? Chu Zihang wondered.

After some hesitation, he opened the chest of drawers. Surprisingly, it was full and meticulously organized. Sky-blue school uniforms were neatly folded, with the Shilan Middle School emblem on the chest. There were stacks of white blouses, each with a different embroidered cuff. Hair accessories were stored in a paper box—wooden, metal, tortoiseshell, and even shiny satin bows. Long socks, short socks, cotton socks, and stockings were all rolled up neatly, like a nest of fluffy squirrels. On the other side were colorful underwear, folded just as carefully. Chu Zihang had never imagined there were so many styles of women’s undergarments. He reached out tentatively to touch them, getting dust all over his hand.

He pulled off the dusty sheet on the bed. Beneath it was a simple white bedsheet and a white duvet, with a pillow that was also white, except for a small Rilakkuma bear in one corner, looking serious.

He sat on the edge of the bed, facing the sunset. The sun was about to set, and darkness was creeping in through the window, casting his long shadow on the wall. Outside, he could vaguely hear the noise of children playing basketball after school.

Was this how she had lived all those years? There were no parents, no brother with dementia, no wardrobe full of clothes to mix and match, no one to cook for her, no one to talk to her. She sat here alone in the deep silence of the night, listening to the sounds of humans and learning about their lives. The dragon named Jörmungandr had fabricated the life of “Xia Mi.” How much of it was her? Or did Xia Mi never truly exist, just a phantom?

“You don’t really understand dragons. Like humans, they were children when they first came to this world.” Her voice echoed in his mind again.

How resentful and lonely that statement was. Yet she had said it with such icy indifference, full of sarcasm, never showing weakness.