Dragon Raja 5; Chapter 232: For Your Majesty (47)

Dragon Raja 5

Caesar pondered for a moment. “Let’s go back to the research station as planned. We must call for help. The YAMAL is severely damaged. A ship like that can’t hunt the Leviathan.”

“We have to hurry. After getting rid of us, Leviathan will have to return to the YAMAL.” said Jude Mai.

    ***

YAMAL, small library.

In the fireplace, the pages of the book curled up as they burned, transforming into black, fiery red, and pale butterflies, carried by the hot air currents and flying.

Schneider was curled up on the sofa by the fireplace, wearing a thick winter coat with various layers of clothes underneath. If he wasn’t worried that he couldn’t bear the weight, Percy would probably have given him more clothes.

His body was on the verge of collapse and he was not suitable for this difficult expedition.

Caesar had been away from the Yamal for only two days, but the situation onboard had steadily worsened. More and more crew members fell ill with strange illnesses. Whether it was poisoning or an infectious disease, they couldn’t be confirmed, and with no treatment available, they were sent to the medical bays to die. Once their breathing stopped, their bodies began to undergo a strange graying phenomenon, their flesh not decaying but turning to a mineral-like powder. Anyone witnessing this scene would have thought it was some kind of curse. And every fallen crew member had witnessed Snow slay the Hydra hatchlings with a single look and a single scream.

The crew was in great fear, and voices were circulating among them that they wanted to throw this ominous girl into the icy sea to fend for herself. Rebalko could no longer control the situation.

Snow was still alive only because of Abbas and Percy. Percy issued a direct warning to the crew, saying that ensuring Snow’s survival was Caesar’s last order before leaving. In order to complete this order, he doesn’t mind killing everyone on the ship except Snow.

He said this without smiling but still politely, but the fascist sense of terror still temporarily shocked the crew.

At this moment, the fascist butler was standing at the door with the ferocious knife named Augustus hanging on his belt to prevent the irrational crew members from suddenly rushing in.

This gave Schneider the opportunity to have a quiet conversation with Abbas.

Abbas leaned against the fireplace, helping Schneider throw books in one by one, the firelight illuminating his haggard face.

“Everything will be fine when Caesar comes back,” Schneider said hoarsely, “if I can still live to see that time.”

“Professor, you didn’t come here to comfort me, did you?”

“That Inuit girl, Snow, don’t you have any doubts about her?”

“I have no right to doubt someone who risked her life to save me. But you should be suspicious of me, professor, right?”

Schneider was silent for a moment. “News from Japan says Lu Mingfei brought someone with him when he fled, and they say it was Chu Zihang. He’s an excellent fighter and looks like he’s received rigorous training. We haven’t had a chance to speak with him in depth yet, but people on the front lines say they’d believe it if we said that man graduated from Cassel Academy.”

“I see. If he’s real, then I must be fake. There can only be one Lionheart leader at any given time.”

“You are my student. I have watched you grow up. I can treat this as boring noise, but there are other people on this ship who know this news, so it’s not just those crew members who are afraid of you.”

Abbas nodded, finally understanding some of the uneasy looks.

Schneider sighed. “I still remember our first meeting. Norma told me there was a child who had awakened naturally. She’d emailed me and needed someone from the academy to pick him up. It had been years since a naturally awakened hybrid had appeared, so I decided to go see for myself.” The old man smiled silently, lost in the past. “We met under a railway bridge. It was raining heavily that night, and there was a traffic light hanging underneath. The agreed time passed, but you didn’t show up. I began to wonder if this was all a scam? How could I believe someone could awaken naturally without guidance? I decided to wait until the third train passed, and when its rear end left the bridge, I would turn around and leave. The third train passed, and you still didn’t show. Just as I was about to leave, someone on the bridge spoke to me, saying, ‘Hey, are you here to pick me up?’ I looked up, and there you were, standing at the highest point of the bridge, holding an umbrella, like a bird separated from its flock on its migration.”

“I arrived early and I’ve been watching you. I was scared, not knowing what was coming to pick me up.” Abbas also smiled, “It turned out to be an old guy who couldn’t survive without a ventilator.”

“I can see your fear, a mixture of loneliness and terror. If you really are the Dragon King, and you’ve been acting since that moment, does that mean I’ve been living a lie all along?”

“I heard that some Dragon Kings, having lived in human society for so long, mistakenly believe they are human. Then, one day, their memories suddenly return, and they completely abandon their human identities, including their friends, family, and loved ones.”

“I hear fear again.” Schneider raised his head and stared at Abbas.

“When my Dragon King self awakens, my human self will actually be dead, right? But my Dragon King self won’t feel pity for my human self. If I were truly the Dragon King, then I don’t know when this me will die.”

“Abbas, don’t overthink it,” Schneider said softly. “Believe in yourself. That’s the only way to live up to those who have believed in you until now. We’ve done a thorough physical examination of you, from your blood to your bone structure. You possess Indra’s high-risk Yanling, but your bloodline is stable. You are not Jörmungandr, you are the one who killed Jörmungandr. You are Abbas, the Dragon Slayer!”

“Jörmungandr…” Abbas whispered the name, looked up at the roof with icicles hanging down, and smiled silently, as if mocking himself.

“The ice storm has stopped, but communications haven’t been restored. The reason is unknown. We’ve explained it to the public by flaring solar flares and intense ionization in the polar atmosphere, but it’s more complicated than that. We seem to be separated from the outside world by some force. Alone on a frozen sea, facing a life-or-death ordeal, their minds are on the verge of collapse. I must find a way to soothe them.” Schneider extended his withered hand and pushed two boxes toward Abbas. “They’ve suggested installing arterial locks on you and the girl.”

Abbas’s eyes twitched slightly. “Will this reassure them?”

He’d heard of this thing, called an arterial lock, but it was actually a blasting device. Using cardiac imaging, wires were precisely inserted around the heart. Each wire connected to a major blood vessel. When necessary, they would cause a very small explosion, but it was enough to destroy all the aortas around the heart. Even with the Dragon King’s regenerative abilities, he couldn’t heal all the aortas if they were destroyed.