Dragon Raja 3; Chapter 369: Grand Escape Into the Sunlight (6)

Dragon Raja 3

After so many years, he had forgotten much of the plot. Even the parting scene that had once moved him became a little blurry, but as he listened to the song leaking from the earphones, like the wind, he could hum along without thinking.

What often lingers in the depths of memory are fleeting things, like how you often remember someone not for their beauty. Many years later, you might even forget what they looked like, but when you catch the scent of their familiar perfume in a crowded street, you instinctively turn around, only to see the backs of countless strangers. Only then do you realize that even if she had brushed past you just now, even if you had met face-to-face, you might not have recognized her as she is today.

Just like in that dream, Lu Mingfei had seen those silver four-leaf clover earrings and impulsively rushed toward the bell tower without a second thought.

For the few minutes that the song played, Erii remained silent, without any expression. She quietly watched the tranquil coastline under the setting sun, the ebbing sea, and the slowly turning Ferris wheel. Lu Mingfei, feeling a bit nervous, kept glancing at her.

This was the most beautiful place in Japan to Lu Mingfei. He had seen pictures online of tourists standing on this very rock to capture the sunset, and it looked exactly like what was before them now. This might be Erii’s last trip in her lifetime, and even if it wasn’t, it was likely the last one they would take together. Lu Mingfei hoped she would like this place. If Erii’s reaction was that this place wasn’t interesting, only suitable for some nostalgic person to reminisce about a love they had never truly experienced, then Lu Mingfei would have no choice but to sheepishly lead her back down the mountain.

“The world is gentle,” Erii wrote in her notebook for Lu Mingfei to see.

Gentle? Lu Mingfei had never thought the word “gentle” could be used to describe something as vast as “the world.”

“The world wasn’t like this before. It was never this gentle,” Erii wrote again.

“What was the world like before, to you?” Lu Mingfei asked.

“A gem guarded by snakes. Beautiful, distant, and dangerous.”

A gem guarded by snakes? That was an unexpected metaphor, but in some ways, it was perfect. Isn’t the glittering city of Tokyo, with all its lights, just like a gem guarded by snakes? Massive ambitions slither through the sleepless city like dark serpents, hiding dangerous fangs.

“Is the world outside different from what you thought?” Lu Mingfei wrote for her.

“Are there sea monsters in the ocean?” Erii held up her notebook, staring into Lu Mingfei’s eyes.

“Those kinds of things are probably just myths…”

“Do airships really exist?” She quickly wrote again.

“Technically, they haven’t been fully developed yet, but they’ll likely appear soon.”

“Hell, does it exist?”

“I’m not sure. Supposedly, you have to die to get there, and I haven’t died yet.”

“Is A-LAWS still fighting the Celestial Being?”

“All the stuff in Gundam is fictional, just like Naruto and One Piece. Please stop asking similar questions…” Lu Mingfei was starting to feel exhausted.

They sat under the eaves of the mine, with Erii constantly scribbling questions while Lu Mingfei answered each one. It seemed like she had a whole collection of questions saved up, and now she was asking them all.

Her questions ranged from highly logical, like why the sea has tides or where the trains in Meizutsu Town came from, to completely nonsensical ones, such as when the Britannian Kingdom’s oppression of Area 11 ended.

Lu Mingfei gradually realized why Erii had such a bizarre understanding of the world. Her worldview was shaped entirely by video games and anime. No one had ever patiently explained what the outside world was truly like to her. Even Chisei only played video games with her because he assumed it would make her happy. To prevent her from becoming “too bored” and losing control, the Yamata no Orochi clan would arrange various entertainments for her, such as taking her to Château Joel Robuchon or Dragon Chant restaurant for a lavish meal once a month. However, due to the danger of her interacting with the outside world, her most common entertainment became games and anime.

She had watched almost all the anime ever released. The medical staff noticed that while watching anime, her heart rate, pulse, and brain waves were very stable, but they failed to realize that a distorted worldview was gradually forming in her mind.

In her perception, the world was full of chaos, where characters from Gundam and Code Geass fought in the same timeline, and Saint Seiya coexisted with Ghost in the Shell. She would also sometimes question the logic of certain games and anime, like Gintama.

She had always wanted to verify whether the world she imagined was real, which was why she repeatedly ran away from home. While she longed for the outside world, she was also terrified of it, so her attempts to leave always ended in failure.

Looking back at the moment they met in front of the vault, when Erii had immediately turned back inside to pack her bags and run away with the stranger she had only once seen in the deep sea, she was like a kitten who had seen her cage door open.

The sun gradually dipped below the sea, with its last rays spreading over the water. The half-hidden sun and its reflection formed a complete circle. Using hand-drawn maps and gesturing wildly, Lu Mingfei finally managed to explain to Erii what the world beyond the sea was like. He described a world with China, America, and the warlike Russians, places where endless deserts stretched for miles without rain, and lands of ice and snow where polar bears fished by the ice floes. Unlike Caesar, who had visited most of the world and could vividly describe the customs of each place, Lu Mingfei spoke clumsily and relied on travelogues he had read online. Only someone as sheltered as Erii would listen so intently.

“So that’s what the outside world is like,” Erii wrote for Lu Mingfei to see.

“Yes, that’s what it’s like. There’s no Britannian Kingdom and no Celestial Being. Are you disappointed?” Lu Mingfei asked.

“No, not disappointed. I like this kind of world. This world is gentle.” Erii once again used the word “gentle.”

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