Dreaming for 10,000 years

Chapter 360 Knight
Shi Fei looked at the half-eaten king crab with slight surprise, but quickly recovered.

He knew that sooner or later, A-Gu would leave.

After A-Gu left, the courtyard returned to silence, with only the sea buckthorn rustling in the wind, as if A-Gu had never been there.

Shi Fei wasn't in a hurry; once there was a first person, a second person would come.

As the sun rises and sets, the shadows of the sand dunes slowly move across the walls of the small courtyard.

Shi Fei sat on his homemade sand chair, using special techniques to mold quicksand into various shapes to while away the time. Until one morning, a series of heavy footsteps broke the silence.

Is anyone here?

Shi Fei raised an eyebrow and looked over. A blond knight stood outside the courtyard gate, sunlight streaming through his gilded armor.

The armor was exquisitely crafted, with a golden crown and lion emblem carved on the breastplate, shock-absorbing soft leather inlaid at the elbow joints, and even the steel studs on the boot soles gleaming coldly.

Unfortunately, this magnificent armor is now covered in sand and dust, and the red tassel on the helmet is drooping listlessly.

The knight leaned on a two-handed warhammer, its head covered in sand. With each step he took, his iron-plated boots sank deep into the sand, sometimes requiring him to struggle to pull himself out.

In this desolate desert, his hardships were unimaginable. Every step he took left deep shoals in the sand, and sometimes he almost got swallowed up by the desert.

Even so, he did not take off his armor or put down his weapon.

He finally made it to the front of the courtyard, because there was no sand there.

"You are..." Shi Fei opened the door and looked at the uninvited guest.

“I am the esteemed Lord Luo.” The knight was about to straighten his back when the door slammed shut. A voice drifted out from the crack in the door: “There is no esteemed Lord Luo here!”

The knight opened his mouth, his Adam's apple bobbing up and down. He licked his chapped lips; the shirt beneath his armor was already soaked with sweat.

Normally, the knight would have been furious, but he was exhausted and hungry and had no energy to argue with Shi Fei.

He once thought this was a devil's trick, a test of the holy light, but now it seems that this is just an endless sea of ​​sand.

Survival is his biggest problem right now.

Finally, he shed his arrogance and gently knocked on the door: "Please forgive me, I'm just a passerby. Could I please have a bowl of water?"

The door opened again, and Shi Fei leaned against the doorframe: "Isn't the esteemed Gou Ba anymore?"

The knight, not understanding what "gouba" meant, said, "Could you give me a bowl of water?"

"What's your name?" Shi Fei asked, looking him up and down.

"Lord..." He wanted to say that he was Arthas, the prince of the great Kingdom of Lordaeron, but looking at Shi Fei's ambiguous smile and considering what he had just said, he hesitated.

He changed his words, his voice hoarse like sandpaper, and said, "Asa. My name is Asa."

"That sounds strange!" Shi Fei beckoned him into the courtyard and said, "Come in."

The courtyard was much more comfortable than Asa had imagined.

The sea buckthorn fence blocked the wind and sand, and the tables and chairs under the parasols were made of some kind of solidified quicksand with a smooth surface like marble.

Asa stood awkwardly under the umbrella, fine sand constantly falling from the seams of his armor. He looked at the stool and then at the armor he was wearing.

"Um... could you do me a favor?" Asa pointed to his back embarrassedly, "Could you help me unfasten the clasps on my armor?" Wearing armor is not a one-person job. If a knight wearing armor falls, he cannot get up on his own, let alone remove the armor.

"You're dressed like a canned food, where did you come from!" Shi Fei chuckled, lightly patting Asa on the back. The entire suit of armor spontaneously unfolded like flower petals, cascading to the ground with a rustling sound.

"Magic?" Asa stared wide-eyed at his armor falling off and asked, "Are you a mage?"

"A mage?" Shi Fei shook his head and said, "You haven't answered my question yet."

Asa thought of Shi Fei's question and said, "Canned food? What's that? I came from Stratholme and don't know how I ended up here."

"Mages, demons, and knights all over again, your place doesn't look very impressive!" Shi Fei shook his head, then took out a can of yellow peaches from his black bag.

"As for canned food, this is canned food! Why don't you try some?" Shi Fei opened the can and handed it to Asa.

Asa took the jar and curiously examined the golden peach petals inside. He carefully took a sip of the syrup, and his eyes widened immediately. The cool sweetness slid down his throat, and his fatigue vanished instantly.

When he took his first bite of the peach, the juicy flesh burst in his mouth, and the sweet juice made him let out a satisfied sigh.

"This is so delicious!" he exclaimed, his eyes lighting up.

For a tired and thirsty person, a can of yellow peaches is the best thing.

"Sweeter than the candied fruit from the royal palace!" Asa licked his lips, still savoring the empty jar. A few drops of glistening sugar syrup clung to the glass, shimmering enticingly in the sunlight.

He murmured, "The taste of this fruit is something even the royal orchards of Lordaeron can't replicate."

Shi Fei stared at the blond knight. Although Asa's armor was covered in sand and dust, the finely crafted gauntlets and boots still revealed intricate crown and lion motifs.

The aristocratic tone he unconsciously exuded when he spoke contrasted sharply with his feigned humility.

"Royal palace? Magic? Knights?" Shi Fei mused. "It seems you come from a world of swords and magic."

“Indeed.” Asa relaxed slightly, his fingers unconsciously tracing the patterns on the tin can. “To be honest, the food at the palace isn’t nearly as delicious as the bards sang about. Dalaran, on the other hand…”

He suddenly stopped and glanced at Shi Fei warily.

“Did you know? Dalaran is a magical kingdom,” he said tentatively.

He thought Shi Fei was a magician.

Shi Fei looked at the blond, blue-eyed Asa and roughly knew who he was. A slight smile played on his lips as he said, "So, esteemed Mr. 'Asa,' how did you come to this desert?"

Asa's Adam's apple bobbed. He thought of the gloomy skies of Stratholme, the plague-infected grain, and Uther's disappointed gaze.
“I was just patrolling around Stratholme,” he finally said, his voice as dry as the desert wind. “It was over in the blink of an eye.”

"You're probably asleep," Shi Fei said.

"Asleep?" Asa asked, puzzled.

Could this be...?

Asa looked around. The scorching sand burned the soles of his boots, and the dry wind, carrying fine sand, lashed his face. In the distance, the undulating outlines of the dunes distorted in the heat.

It all felt terrifyingly real.

"So...this desert, and you..." His voice trembled slightly, "are all part of my dream?"

(End of this chapter)