Dragon Raja 4; Chapter 128: Su Xiaoquian’s Spring Strategy (2)

Dragon Raja 4

“I found it on the ground. I just looked down, and there it was, lying there,” Lu Mingfei muttered awkwardly.

“What, like it’s a cigarette butt? Why didn’t you pick up a tank while you were at it?” Nono decided to let the matter drop. “Where are we going now?”

“Just follow me. This is my hometown—I know the roads here,” Lu Mingfei said, pulling over to the side of the road. “Let me just change the tire.”

“Are you serious? Changing a tire at a time like this? We’re still inside the Nibelungen, and we haven’t escaped yet! Shouldn’t this car have run-flat tires or something?”

“It does, but they won’t last forever. I have a feeling we’ve got a long way to go.” Lu Mingfei opened the trunk, took out a spare tire and a jack, and slid under the car. He expertly set up the jack and began changing the right rear tire. There was a deep gash on the inside of the tire.

One of the spirit warriors had slashed the Maybach’s tires, and they had been stranded multiple times because of hidden dangers like this. The game had many such “hidden traps.” For example, if they didn’t pass a certain checkpoint in time, the toll gates would close, and thick iron pillars would rise from the ground, blocking the car’s way. Some parts of the CBD district would flood, making certain roads impassable. Lu Mingfei had to constantly find detours, but time was always tight.

“Hey, are you hungry? I found some nuts in the car!” Nono exclaimed joyfully.

“You go ahead, I’m not hungry!” Lu Mingfei shouted back, mentally running through the steps of changing a tire.

He hadn’t known how to change a tire before, but he’d learned by reading the manual, at the cost of losing one round with no progress—except now he knew how to change a tire.

This time, he was playing well, buying back a lot of time. Now they had more time to explore the Nibelungen. At midnight, Odin would throw his spear, Gungnir, as always. They had never survived past midnight.

He was anxious, but the more anxious he got, the more mistakes he made. Just as he removed a bolt, it slipped from the end of the wrench and rolled away, clattering down the side of the highway, disappearing into the endless darkness below.

The abyss below the highway was unfathomable, a place Lu Mingfei had never explored. There was no way he could retrieve the bolt.

He got back into the car and sat in silence. Nono, still munching on nuts, silently observed him. As a skilled profiler, she probably sensed something was wrong, but it didn’t matter. Once they reset, she would forget everything, grab her Scorpion submachine gun, and charge at the spirit warriors again. She’d still be surprised when he pulled out the rocket launcher, and just as delighted when she found the nuts.

Lu Mingfei reached out to her. Nono, startled, tried to move away, but Lu Mingfei only took a nut from her hand, smiled, and ruffled her hair.

Time froze. From the back seat, a voice sighed softly, “Tired again? In the end, it’s the fatigue in your heart that will break you.”

“How do we leave without a car?” Lu Mingfei waved dismissively. “I lost a bolt, and now I can’t even fix the tire. Just reset it.”

“In the last ten reloads, six of them ended with you giving up halfway through, not even bothering to see Nono in danger before asking me to reset.”

“I want to rest, but I can’t. There’s not much time left, and Odin could return at any moment.” Lu Mingfei slowly chewed the nut.

“Because of Shao Yifeng? That guy dumped all his emotional garbage on you. He left feeling refreshed, but you’re even more exhausted. I’m so annoyed. I’m planning to bankrupt his family before spring warms up!”

“It’s not because of him. I just realized two things: I’m not the only monkey Senior Sister has taken out of the Water Curtain Cave. I need her—she doesn’t need me. She doesn’t owe me anything,” Lu Mingfei said quietly. “Like you said, in countless world lines, Senior Sister has liked countless people. I’ve liked people too… and how I wish that the person I could fall in love with was right in front of me. I could leave behind this Gattuso woman and run away with her.”

“Have you moved on or not? Brother, give me a straight answer. Do you want me to summon someone you’ll fall in love with at first sight? A snap of my fingers, and it’s done. Why are you making it so complicated?”

“You’re asking a madman for a straight answer? You’re the crazy one. Just reset it. Make sure there’s wontons and a rocket launcher ready.”

“Gamma Spring, 104th reload, stormy night, highway, Action!”

Lu Mingfei and Nono sat side by side on the top floor of the clock tower, their legs dangling over the edge, with a massive abyss below them. The giant glass walls reflected the towering figure of Odin.

It wasn’t midnight yet, so Odin hadn’t thrown the deadly spear, but they had nowhere to go. The crows shrieked, circling the tower, and the spirit warriors slowly climbed up the glass walls. The scene reminded Lu Mingfei of Yabuki Sakura’s final stand—when she retreated to the top of the radio tower, surrounded by Death Servitors. She stood tall and proud, like a flower blooming in the dead of winter, shining the brightest in her last moments.

Nono was slowly chewing the last few nuts she had brought from the Maybach. In this reload, Lu Mingfei’s tactics had gone horribly wrong, leading the spirit warriors from the highway into the CBD district.

Nono’s hand was clutching her abdomen, where blood had soaked through her school uniform. A barbed arrow had pierced her, and Lu Mingfei didn’t dare pull it out—he had only cut off the exposed shaft. The “don’t die” force in her body was doing its best, but her life was still slipping away with every drop of blood. She no longer felt pain, because when a person is near death, the body releases large amounts of endorphins to numb the pain. This is what people call the “calm before death.”

“I’ve always wanted to thank you,” Nono said softly.

“Thank me for what? I’ve always been a burden to you, haven’t I? Other people’s underlings can fight for their leaders. Your underling just comes to you for help whenever he’s in trouble.” Lu Mingfei stared into the distance.

“Because of you, I wasn’t the only kid who hid away to cry. Your leader isn’t much good either. A useless leader with a useless underling—it’s a perfect match.” Nono tried to sit up straight.

“You hid away to cry? Why would the young lady of the Chen family need to hide and cry? Who bullied you?”

“That was a long time ago… I don’t have time to explain… Anyway, you don’t owe me anything… But I’m sorry. I never liked you. I just thought… you were another me in this world, and I couldn’t leave you behind.”

“I know you never liked me. You don’t have to apologize.”

“If there’s a next life, don’t be afraid of those who bully us… break their teeth… don’t hide away and cry… we don’t give them our tears…”

Her head slowly drooped, her long hair fluttering in the night breeze, and her hand loosened, letting the last few nuts fall.

Lu Mingfei didn’t show any emotion. He gently held her by the shoulder, letting the dying girl rest her head against him.

Lu Mingze quietly appeared behind him. “Buddha said all beings suffer, and an ancient Greek philosopher said the second-best thing in life is to die the moment you’re born. The best is to never have been born at all.”

“Do you have to turn everything into philosophy? Right now, I just want to be quiet. And don’t tell me your name is Quiet. That joke’s too old.”

Lu Mingze, ignoring him, sat down next to him. “That’s just how people are. The more of the world they see, the more they suffer. But people still want to see the world. Do you regret accepting the admission letter from Cassell College?”

Lu Mingfei shook his head. “But if I hadn’t gone to Cassell College, I wouldn’t have met Senior Brother, Senior Sister, Caesar, Xia Mi, or Finger, or the Turtle Brothers, or Uesugi Erii.”

“It scares me when you talk like this, brother. Please don’t do anything crazy again.”

Lu Mingfei ignored him and held the girl in his arms tighter. “I had a secret thought back then—if I loved Senior Sister so much that I would give up my life for her, why couldn’t I be with her? Caesar was born with everything. If he lost Senior Sister, there would still be many girls for him. But I only had Senior Sister. But then I realized I was wrong. That was just my wishful thinking. I needed Senior Sister, but she didn’t need me. If saving her meant she had to like me, that would be expecting her to repay me. I was so selfish. I don’t even understand why someone as righteous as Senior Brother would support me.”

“Your Senior Brother isn’t as righteous as he seems. He’s very protective.”

“Yeah, he’s been better to me than to anyone else. Maybe because we’re all idiots… He’s missing, so of course, I have to find him. That’s my job.”

“If everyone’s inner world is like a Nibelungen, everyone guards their own Nibelungen, ruling over a bizarre world…”

“I don’t want to be a king. I just want to blow up this damn Nibelungen.”

“Why put yourself through this? She already told you she never liked you. She just felt sorry for you because you reminded her of herself when she was young.”

Lu Mingfei turned his head, coldly staring at Lu Mingze. “This is the 104th reload of Gamma Spring. I’ve died dozens of times in your game, and so has she. We’ve been fighting on the edge of life and death for 100 hours, and she’s made the same choice 104 times—to fight with me until the end! Do you understand how incredible Chen Motong is now? Even though her data sheet only lists height, weight, and measurements, she’s not just a side character to me—she’s my brother!” His voice strained with anger, his jaw clenched, and the muscles in his face tightened. “How can you expect me to give up on her? I don’t care if she likes me or not! Don’t bother me with this nonsense! Love isn’t the only theme in life!”

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