Dragon Raja 3; Chapter 370: Grand Escape Into the Sunlight (7)

Dragon Raja 3

She turned to watch the sun slowly retreat from the land, the red-and-black forest fading into the dusk. Soon, night would descend upon Meizutsu Town—this was the last glimpse of the setting sun.

Her gaze became dull yet radiant, and Lu Mingfei could see the sunset reflected in her eyes. Time passed quietly, and neither of them spoke. As the sky darkened, the light in Erii’s eyes dimmed too.

“I really like this world…” Erii wrote for Lu Mingfei, just before the sun disappeared.

Lu Mingfei felt slightly relieved. It seemed that Erii truly liked the sunset view in Meizutsu Town.

“But the world doesn’t like me,” Erii wrote next.

She hugged the giant Rilakkuma plush, lowering her eyes like a cat that had been scolded for doing something wrong.

Lu Mingfei didn’t respond, nor did he know how to. He had once felt something similar in high school—thinking that the world was cold and hard, that the world didn’t like him. That’s why he used to sit on a rooftop for hours, where no one could find him.

If the world doesn’t like you, then why shamelessly show yourself where everyone can see? You’re better off quietly staying where no one knows you, growing silently and withering just as quietly, like a wild dandelion.

“I’ve caused trouble for everyone, and I’ve troubled Sakura too,” Erii wrote again.

“I was too willful, insisting on running away from home.”

“I should’ve gone back long ago… but I’m still happy.”

When Lu Mingfei didn’t reply, Erii continued writing on her own. At first, she showed him what she wrote, but eventually, she just kept writing, like she was talking to herself, silently scribbling.

“It’s so beautiful here. I wish we had come here on the first day. Thank you, Sakura. Thank you…”

“It wasn’t me.”

Erii paused in surprise.

“That’s not true,” Lu Mingfei repeated.

Erii raised her head, meeting his eyes. He tilted his head, his expression unusually serious. “Don’t think that just coming out for a few days means you can understand what the world is like. I’ve been living in this world for over twenty years, and I still don’t fully get it. You’ve only been out here for a few days and think you already know?”

Erii seemed a bit flustered. For the past few days, Lu Mingfei had been accommodating her in every way, never once disagreeing with her. She felt she must have said or done something wrong, but before she could figure it out, she lowered her head and nervously fidgeted with her skirt.

“When I was a kid, I lived in the suburbs. We called it New City—basically, a newly developed residential area on the outskirts because the Old City didn’t have enough housing. New City was cheap but far from everything. It was a long walk to work, so only people without much money lived there. The big commercial district was in the Old City—we called it the CBD. It was fancy, full of shiny buildings that looked like mirrors. People there wore designer clothes, and their shoes were always clean, no mud stuck to them. As a kid, I loved looking at the CBD from the rooftop. It was the brightest part of the city, and I thought only elites lived there. Everything about it seemed better, and people like me didn’t belong there. The CBD wouldn’t like someone like me.”

Lu Mingfei paused.

“And then?” Erii lifted her notepad.

She was truly a great listener. Whenever Lu Mingfei started talking, she’d perk up and act like a student attending a lecture. If he paused, she’d ask, “And then?”—making him feel like everything he said was important.

“Then I went to the CBD, and after that, I went to the CBDs of many cities. I realized I really didn’t belong there because I didn’t know anyone in the CBD.” Lu Mingfei looked at the setting sun, his voice soft. “The CBD isn’t just made up of skyscrapers and bright lights; it’s made up of people. Everyone there wears designer clothes, the girls wear pretty makeup, and there’s lots of money. Even if I stand on the street in the CBD, I don’t belong there because no one there notices me. They walk past, busy with their own lives.”

These thoughts had only come to him recently, after realizing that Kaguya could easily cut off communication between him, Caesar, and Chu Zihang. That’s when he understood—even though there are over 6 billion people in the world, only a few truly connect with you. Even someone like Caesar, a super-wealthy aristocrat, could list all his contacts in just a few pages. Once those connections are severed, the whole world slips away.

“The size of the world depends on how many people you know. Every person you meet makes the world a little bigger for you. There are so many cities in the world—Tokyo, Paris, Cairo, London, Istanbul—but most of them are just names to you. You’ve never been there, and you don’t have anyone you want to visit there, so they aren’t really part of your world. There are also many, many people in the world, but if you don’t know them, they aren’t part of your world either. There’s lots of delicious food, fun things to do, and beautiful sights to see, but the world that truly belongs to you is very small. It’s just the places you’ve been, the food you’ve tasted, the sunsets you’ve watched, and the friends who care whether you live or die.”

He was a bit surprised by his own eloquence—like a river that just kept flowing. He’d never thought he had a knack for this. In high school, his Chinese teacher had assigned him to represent their class in a speech competition since he was a member of the literature club. Lu Mingfei had carefully prepared, writing a lengthy speech and rehearsing it over and over. He even marked where the audience should laugh or clap. He planned to start with a joke: “Dear school leaders and classmates, hello! I’m Lu Mingfei from Senior Class 1. The title of my speech today is ‘Thank You.’ Lin Yutang once said, ‘A good speech should be like a mini-skirt—the shorter, the better…’”

At this point, the audience was supposed to laugh, so Lu Mingfei paused, smiled, and looked at the crowd. But the vice principal, notorious for his old-fashioned ways, let out a deep cough. The few students who were about to laugh quickly stifled themselves, realizing the vice principal didn’t appreciate this sort of humor, even if it was a quote from Lin Yutang. The entire auditorium fell silent, and over a thousand cold eyes stared at Lu Mingfei. He felt as though he had gone from a hero ready to receive applause to a criminal telling a vulgar joke, deserving of public scorn.

In the end, he had to bow and say, “I’m not ready yet,” and withdraw from the competition. His one and only attempt at public speaking ended with just an introduction. His classmates later teased him, saying he had given the world’s most suggestive speech—if a speech were like a mini-skirt, then Lu Mingfei’s mini-skirt was just a belt. Ever since then, he thought he had no talent for speaking, only able to talk nonsense, so he always chose to say silly things.

He’d never thought that what he said mattered much, so he never spoke seriously… But now he gently patted Erii’s head, her serious little face bathed in the warm glow of the setting sun.

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