Dragon Raja 5; Chapter 364: For Your Majesty (179)

Dragon Raja 5

“I’m incredibly strong. If I unleash my full power, taking on dozens of people like you wouldn’t be a problem. But it requires trading souls, so I don’t dare to unleash my full power easily,” Lu Mingfei said. “Besides, I don’t know what my limit is. Sometimes I feel like I’m about to reach my limit, and then the devil helps me raise it.”

“It sounds like cheating in a game,” Chu Zihang said.

“You’re right, it’s cheating in the game.” Lu Mingfei sighed. “If this were really just a game, I would unplug the game console, delete the save file, and go to sleep right now. I hope I’ll wake up in my own bed with my cousin snoring next to me.”

Su Enxi immediately handed him vodka to help him through his grief. Lu Mingfei took it and took a big gulp, then passed it over the flames of the gas stove to Zero.

He meant it was Zero’s turn to tell a story. Of all these people, he most wanted to hear Zero’s story, but he also knew that Zero was the hardest to get to talk.

Zero immediately took it, but then handed it to Chu Zihang, saying, “Your senior brother wants you to drink and tell stories.”

Chu Zihang clutched the wine bottle, looking somewhat dazed, like a groundhog that had just crawled out of its burrow. He had initially volunteered thinking he could just say anything, but after listening to stories, it seemed everyone was talking about earth-shattering secrets, while his life before the age of fifteen was rather unremarkable.

He pondered for a long time, seemingly having made a great decision, but still hesitated slightly before saying, “I’ve actually had crushes on several girls, is it okay to talk about that?”

Su Enxi clapped first, her gossipy spirit infecting Bunin and Zero, who also clapped. But Lu Mingfei was the most eager, saying, “Tell me who it is! Liu Miaomiao, Su Xiaoqiang! Let me tell you, when it comes to beauties at Shilan Middle School, our class has the most. They all like you. If you had made a move back then, whoever you wanted would have been yours. If you had been ruthless, you could have taken them all!”

Chu Zihang waved his hands awkwardly, “It wasn’t them, it was a classmate from elementary school.” He paused, took a big gulp of vodka to bolster his courage, “She was a girl who could dance, and the teacher made her sit next to me. She could dance ballet and folk dance, and she always performed as the headliner at school performances. All the boys in the class talked about her and wanted to see her dance. When she had a performance, she would tell me, ‘Come if you want, otherwise don’t.’ I always said I would go if I finished my homework, and I always did. She wasn’t a good student, so she always asked me to do her homework for her. She lived in a very old villa with many old trees, and there was a gap in the wall. She led me through that gap, poured me some orange juice, and while I was doing her homework, she would practice dancing right next to me.”

At first, he hesitated a bit, but the more he spoke, the smoother it became, even a little rambling. Some people are taciturn because they don’t like to talk, while others don’t have a suitable person to confide in; Chu Zihang probably belongs to the latter.

On this cold winter night, a group of desperate people, their whereabouts unknown, drank and gathered around a fire. A strange feeling arose that everything said here could be forgotten, as if buried by the heavy snow outside.

After talking about the dance troupe leader, he went on to talk about the cheerleading captain, from elementary school to junior high. He really had a lot of experience with crushes. It seemed like all the girls he had crushes on were outstanding and well-received. He grew up being protected by a platoon of goddesses, but he couldn’t remember any of their names.

Bunin and Zero nodded as they listened, but their expressions were clearly just polite formalities, as if to say, “I’m listening to your story carefully.” Su Enxi, however, was quite different. While excitedly rubbing her hands together, she waved her hand dismissively, saying, “You’re obviously making this up,” “If you say something like that and don’t kiss me, you’re a beast,” and “You can’t make up the Ferris wheel part like that. Let me tell you some really exciting ones.”

Lu Mingfei was the only one who believed every word he said and knew the girl’s name—her only name—because from beginning to end, there was only that one bad girl who stayed by his side.

Chu Zihang finally finished speaking despite the landlady’s criticism, and quickly handed the wine bottle back to Zero, as if it were a baton.

Zero took it and then tossed it to Lu Mingfei, who was a little confused and didn’t understand why.

“You didn’t finish your story. You’re Faust, then you encountered the devil, and now you’re heading to some destination. You have no idea what awaits you, yet you insist on going,” Zero stepped across the fire, coldly looking at Lu Mingfei. “Why?”

Her voice was calm, yet aggressive, like a stern politician in the British House of Commons challenging his political opponents and starting a debate.

Lu Mingfei wasn’t provoked; he just smiled. “The person who told me those coordinates was my dad. To be honest, I don’t know if it’s really him. With today’s technology, it’s too easy to fake someone’s voice. He knows some secrets that only he and I know, but that’s nothing. I’ve seen all sorts of strange things. For example, someone forcibly erased my senior brother from this world, and even he himself thought he was a fifteen-year-old ghost. But I have a feeling that the answer will be there. When I get there, I’ll know what I am and where I came from.”

Does the answer matter?

“It’s important,” Lu Mingfei nodded. “If you don’t know the answer, you won’t even know what slogan to shout when you die—long live humanity or haihyrda?”

“Haihydra, much cooler,” Finger interjected from his pocket.

“Believe it or not, I’ll put you on the fire and roast you,” Lu Mingfei burst.

They chatted and drank quite a bit. Russians always chill their vodka before drinking it, so the alcohol tastes like it’s been frozen. It’s easy to drink, but it warms up in your stomach, and every breath you exhale is full of the smell of alcohol.

The others had also drunk quite a bit, their faces were rosy, and in the firelight they all looked like red apples.
Thinking back, the last time I got drunk was with Nono in Tokyo. I wonder how she is now. She should have met Caesar by now. Caesar will probably take her to Italy. It’s a wonderful place, warm and pleasant, sunny, with large clusters of roses blooming outside the window.

Lu Mingfei was lost in thought for a short while before Zero’s cold gaze pulled him back to reality. Of all the people by the fire, she was the only one who was cold and unyielding, like a glass of vodka that was almost frozen.

“Faust, you should have read Faust, right?” Lu Mingfei had no choice but to continue, “God and Mephistopheles made a bet to see who could obtain Faust’s soul. Mephistopheles appeared before Faust, promising him a lifetime of unbridled freedom, but his soul would belong to the devil after death. Faust signed that pact. He later regained his youth and lived an incredibly extravagant life, chasing young girls, engaging in politics with the king, even traveling back to ancient Greece and getting together with Helen of Troy, having children with her. Then he even wanted to move mountains and fill seas to benefit humanity. In short, with the devil’s help, he did everything he wanted to do. He also wanted to get rid of…” He escaped the devil, but the contract remained. This story was destined to be a tragedy, but how did Goethe turn it into a comedy? At the end of the story, Faust was already dead, and Mephistopheles was happily digging a pit to bury him when God sent a large group of angels to snatch Faust’s soul away. Mephistopheles was still too inexperienced before God; he had no chance. The contract had to be fulfilled by force. God’s fist was stronger, so Faust’s soul belonged to him.