Dragon Raja; Chapter 96: Little Brother (5)

Dragon Raja

“I really don’t, although many people don’t believe it.” Nono pouted. “I can resonate with Draconic but can’t wield any spiritual power. Professor Mance is quite frustrated.”

“How many types of Yanling are there?” Lu Mingfei leaned on the passenger seat, watching the wind blow Nono’s hair into a mass of dark red flames.

“There are 118 types of Yanling “Word Spirit” abilities recorded so far. Combined, they form something like a periodic table of elements. Yanling with a higher serial number is less stable and more dangerous, and the backlash against the user is also stronger.” Nono said, “This will be taught in ‘Introduction to Yanling’ next semester.”

“What’s the most powerful Yanling?”

“I don’t know. Yanling with serial numbers beyond 88 are unstable. From 89 to 100, they’re rated ‘dangerous’; from 101 to 112, they’re ‘high-risk’; and from 113 onwards, they’re ‘classified.’”

“Classified?”

“Even if the Word Spirits after 113 have been observed, their information will not be made public, because the danger of such Word Spirits is hard to imagine. So the most dangerous Word Spirit I know is ‘Rhine’ at 112. ‘Rhine’ was used in Tunguska in the 19th century. Today, no one knows who released the Word Spirit, but at that time a team of dragon slayers did enter Tunguska. There was a dragon tomb there. The owner of the dragon tomb was about to wake up according to the hibernation schedule. The purpose of their going there was to make it sleep again. But no one left Tunguska, and a shock wave effect similar to a nuclear bomb explosion occurred there. Hundreds of hectares of forest land fell down, and the light emitted could be seen as far as the Rhine River. So this Word Spirit was called ‘Rhine’. It is speculated that ‘Rhine’ only lasted for 0.003 seconds, and the releaser was completely exhausted in a short moment, and then destroyed by the power of the Word Spirit he released.”

“The… Tunguska event?”

“Yes, it’s called ‘the Rhine burn’ at Cassell College.”

“Such a powerful force is only ranked 112th?” Lu Mingfei was dumbfounded. “Then what’s the 118th Yanling? It must be something like a twenty-times Kaioken!”

“No, it’s definitely a Super Saiyan transformation!” Nono shook her head as she joined him in joking around.

“Do you have a Yanling like Kamehameha?” Lu Mingfei mimicked a pose. “Look at me, look at me—just like this. One person drives, and the other person in the passenger seat uses Kamehameha—it’s basically a tank! Boom!” He thrust his hands forward.

Nono imagined the scene Lu Mingfei was describing and suddenly couldn’t help but burst out laughing, causing the car to swerve slightly.

“Watch out, watch out! Don’t get carried away and end up with a tragedy!” Lu Mingfei shouted.

They both went quiet for a while. The dark mountain road was lit by the car’s headlights, and the cries of wild owls echoed in the night sky. They were driving a sports car, the boy dressed in a rented suit, the girl in a purple dress. The wind blew against them, lifting their hair—the boy’s was messy, and the girl’s flowed elegantly. Battles were raging on the mountainside, while in their car, they were playing the cheerful “Douya Douya Dou Dizhu.”

“Senior, does your phone have a camera?” Lu Mingfei suddenly asked.

“Yeah,” Nono said as she tossed her phone to Lu Mingfei. “Don’t peek at my messages.”

“Come on, let’s take a picture.” Lu Mingfei waved the phone.

“Hey, don’t mess around! We’re going 60 kilometers per hour on a mountain road—how can we take a picture?”

“You don’t need to move; I’ll just lean over.” Lu Mingfei turned, half-leaning against Nono, stretching one hand out with the phone for a selfie.

He thought about how many times in his life he would have a moment like this. All the other things in the world were left behind by the speeding car. The battles of others became a mere backdrop as a boy and girl drove at lightning speed, laughing loudly, like they were running away from something—or perhaps… eloping.

He had heard of Cao Cao’s famous horse, “Shadowless,” so fast that even its shadow couldn’t keep up. Lu Mingfei imagined that horse as having golden fur, always running in sunlight, with the boundary between light and dark always behind it. Whenever darkness tried to catch up, it would gallop away once more. But when he played Dynasty Warriors, he found the horse was depicted as black.

At this moment, they were speeding along, destination unknown, just being spontaneous, like a pair of knights who, after causing trouble, decided to roam the world, with the entire world shouting after them to catch them. As long as they ran fast enough, they could get away—if they were riding “Shadowless.”

He wanted to capture this moment, capture this escape.

It was much later that he learned “Shadowless” was just a myth. The Bugatti Veyron was the fastest production car in the world, but it couldn’t outrun time or the destiny that had already been determined.

As he pressed the shutter, Nono let go of the steering wheel with one hand, pinched Lu Mingfei’s nose, and quickly turned her head, sticking her tongue out in a funny face.

With a “click,” the photo was taken. Lu Mingfei’s wide-eyed expression of surprise was frozen in the flash memory, with Nono’s arm wrapped tightly around his neck.

“Remember to forward it to me.” Lu Mingfei said when he returned the phone to Nono.

“I know, I know. I’ll send it to you when you buy a mobile phone.” Nono waved his hand.

5. Aquarium

Number 13 was still trudging along; he was getting ready to swim. The passage began to slope downward, and water droplets above splattered down, making him feel like he was walking through a downpour. The water reached his knees, and every step became a struggle. Ahead, a red light was flashing—Number 13 guessed he was almost at the end.

Suddenly, his foot found nothing to support him, and he was completely submerged. The water was icy and salty, like seawater, but fortunately clean and clear. Number 13 took a deep breath and dived under. He immediately regretted it—the shotgun shells would be useless after getting wet, and even worse, there was the phone.

He quickly surfaced and desperately tried to shake the water off the phone, pressing the power button repeatedly. But it was clear the water had soaked into the battery; no matter how hard he tried, there was no response. The phone, mailed to him by his employer before the mission, was just an ordinary one, not valuable. However, he hadn’t received the final instructions yet. Now, he would have to figure things out himself.

After all, it was just about finding the target and writing a report, right? If it came to writing reports, Number 13 was good at that—he practiced his writing by posting after-action reports on real-time strategy game forums.

He threw the phone into the water and dived again, slowly swimming toward the flashing red light.

The phone sank slowly, getting wedged into a crack.

Series Navigation

<< Dragon Raja; Chapter 95: Little Brother (4)Dragon Raja; Chapter 97: Little Brother (6) >>