Dragon Raja 4; Chapter 97: Gate of the Nibelungen (1)

Dragon Raja 4

On the way back, some sections of the road were already flooded. Nono slowed down and drove cautiously. Earlier, they occasionally saw other cars, but now there wasn’t a single shadow in sight.

Nono turned on the radio and tuned into the traffic station. The broadcast was issuing a red rainstorm warning, saying that the rainfall would exceed 100 millimeters in a short time. If this amount of rain fell in the mountains, flash floods and landslides could happen at any moment. Nono switched to the music station, but there were no programs at this time, just a loop of old songs.

“We still need to come back tomorrow and talk to Su Xiaoyan’s doctor,” Nono said casually. “We couldn’t find her medical records at the nurse’s station.”

“No need, she’s not sick. She’s just pregnant and staying in the hospital for a few days to protect the baby,” Lu Mingfei said.

Nono froze for a moment. “She’s in the hospital for pregnancy? Did she tell you that?”

“She told you, didn’t she? Why would she lie to me about that?” Lu Mingfei didn’t understand why Nono was so surprised.

“I was just thinking about how to comfort you earlier and didn’t really think about it, but that hospital definitely isn’t an obstetrics hospital. Would an obstetrics hospital be so quiet, without the cries of babies? If a pregnant woman is admitted, she could give birth at any moment. How could there not be doctors and nurses coming and going?” Nono’s expression turned serious. “Search that hospital online. Something’s not right!”

Lu Mingfei immediately searched, and a few seconds later, he looked up, his face strange. “The Sacred Heart Ren’ai Hospital is a psychiatric hospital!”

There wasn’t much information about Sacred Heart Ren’ai Hospital online, but searching by its address revealed that it used to be a half-developed villa project. Due to issues with the land, it was never fully completed, and a medical group took over and turned it into a rehabilitation center. The reason it hadn’t officially opened was that they hadn’t completed all the paperwork, but the center only admitted psychiatric patients.

“Interesting!” Nono mused. “You’re the first patient, and Su Xiaoyan is the second! The closer someone is to Chu Zihang, the more likely they are to go insane!”

“Psychiatric disorders aren’t contagious,” Lu Mingfei said. “There must be a hidden logic behind this.”

“Su Xiaoyan used to have a son, but one day he disappeared. She wanted to fill that void, so she imagined she was about to give birth, hoping to use the baby to fill the space Chu Zihang left. Does that logic fit?” Nono glanced at Lu Mingfei. “Let’s assume there’s a Yanling that can modify everyone’s memories. It forcibly erased Chu Zihang, distorting relationships, which caused some cognitive dissonance in everyone. I think you’re an idiot, but Chen Wenwen and the others think you’re the school’s big star because the original star disappeared, and someone had to take their place. Otherwise, the past wouldn’t make sense.”

“The distortion might be subtle for most people, but for a mother, it’s too much to ignore, so Su Xiaoyan had a mental breakdown.”

Both of them had studied at Cassell College and received the same logical training. Their conversation flowed seamlessly.

“Let’s go back and check!” They said in unison.

The Ferrari turned around and retraced their route. At some point, the music in the car stopped.

The rain poured down relentlessly, and visibility was extremely low. The Ferrari sped up, and Lu Mingfei was pressed hard against the seat by the acceleration. They were still on the winding mountain road after coming off the overpass, with frequent sharp 90-degree turns. The Ferrari took the corners at high speed, sending up walls of water taller than a person, and the tires screeched as they skidded on the wet surface. This car wasn’t designed for off-roading, and driving like this was extremely dangerous. Sacred Heart Ren’ai Hospital wasn’t going anywhere, so Lu Mingfei didn’t understand why Nono was driving so recklessly.

Lu Mingfei looked at Nono in confusion. Nono was biting her lip tightly, her expression slightly fierce as she shifted gears quickly and pushed the accelerator hard.

A thought struck Lu Mingfei. He turned to look behind them. If someone wasn’t driving fast to catch something, perhaps they were trying to escape something? A bright beam of light appeared from behind, followed by the roar of an engine. It was a car as fast as their Ferrari, and the driver was even faster than Nono. Nono swerved to avoid it, and the car behind passed them, leaving flying leaves in its wake. In the blink of an eye, only its red taillights were visible.

Lu Mingfei felt like he’d been struck by lightning. In that split second, he saw the emblem on the back of the other car—a Maybach 62S… A stormy night, an overpass, a limited-edition luxury car—everything fit together perfectly. History was repeating itself. He quickly turned the dial on the dashboard but couldn’t find any radio station, only static. He looked out the window. The sky was pitch black, and occasional lightning illuminated the clouds, which looked like scales, as if a giant dragon was looming overhead.

There was no doubt about it now. Nibelungen was approaching. After all these years, that ghostly Maybach was still racing here.

Nono watched him fiddle with the radio but didn’t say anything. She had figured out what Lu Mingfei had. Their reactions to danger were eerily similar.

Suddenly, a figure appeared on the side of the road, wearing a raincoat and holding a large black umbrella. The person was leaning against the guardrail and extended their thumb as if trying to hitch a ride.

“Pull over, senior sister,” Lu Mingfei said.

Nono didn’t say a word, pulling over to the side of the road. Lu Mingfei got out and ducked under the stranger’s umbrella. “Talk fast, I’m busy.”

Lu Mingze glanced at Lu Mingfei, then pointed to the road sign above them. The wind blew away the branches covering the sign, revealing the words: “Highway 0.”

Of course, there’s no real road labeled with a 0. After all these years, Lu Mingfei had finally arrived in this mysterious space. At this moment, he couldn’t tell if he was terrified or excited.

Lu Mingze pointed ahead. Two large glowing green arrows appeared on the road, one pointing forward and the other backward. Beside the arrows were some explanatory texts, and inexplicably, a traffic light appeared overhead, flashing red, yellow, and green in a chaotic pattern. Lu Mingfei stepped forward to read the text.

The arrow pointing forward read: “Nibelungen, the land of glory, where you will find old friends or bury yourself.”

The arrow pointing backward read: “A warm bed at Auntie’s house, with Finger sleeping in the next bed and a few cute little beers in the fridge.”

Lu Mingze came up beside him. “You’re stuck at the edge of Nibelungen. Turn back. Didn’t I tell you? Once you step into the torrent of fate, it’s hard to get out.”

Lu Mingfei looked up at the traffic light hanging in the rain. “Is Guo Jing standing under the traffic light?”

Lu Mingze nodded. “Ahead is the Song Dynasty, behind is Mongolia. If you choose the Song, you’ll die defending Xiangyang. If you choose Mongolia, you’ll return to the grasslands as a golden blade prince.”

“But if you choose Mongolia, you have to give up being a Song man and give up Huang Rong. Equivalent exchange, just like in Fullmetal Alchemist?”

“Exactly. If you go forward, you might find Chu Zihang, but it could also be a dead end,” Lu Mingze said. “I can’t just watch you walk into a dead end, but I can’t stop you from making your choice.”

“But Guo Jing has to go to Xiangyang. If he doesn’t, he won’t just lose Huang Rong, he won’t even be Guo Jing anymore,” Lu Mingfei said.

“I knew you’d say that, so I brought something for you.” Lu Mingze took off the large bag from his back and handed it to Lu Mingfei.

That was Lu Mingfei’s own weapon bag, filled with his swords, guns, and other weapons. When he escaped from the college, this large bag was already strapped to the motorcycle Anjou had prepared for him, packed with bullets and cash. It seemed that Anjou had long realized this trip wasn’t just about finding the truth but about fleeing for his life. Lu Mingfei reached into the bag and felt around—everything was there, plus an extra Scorpion submachine gun, likely a weapon prepared for Nono.

“There are also bandages and painkillers,” Lu Mingze said with a serious expression. “Stay alert. In the game world, you’re invincible, but in the real world, that’s not necessarily the case.”

“Sometimes I can’t even tell who’s the older brother,” Lu Mingfei tossed the bag onto the back seat and turned to give the little devil a high-five, but there was no one behind him anymore.