Dragon Clan: Avoid the College Entrance Examination to Slay the Dragon

Chapter 4

Raindrops meandered into tear marks on the glass windows. Gu Yi stood in the mist wrapped in a bath towel, and the water droplets falling from the ends of his hair soaked the carpet.

The computer screen flickered in the dim living room, the red numbers of unread messages piercing his eyes. He slumped down in his chair, his mouse hovering over the contact list for a moment before clicking on the cartoon avatar.

Liu Miaomiao: "Gu Yi, it's raining heavily today. Have you arrived home?"

"I'm home, thank you for your concern." The moment he pressed the send button, he saw his face reflected on the screen - the corners of his eyes were red from the steam in the bathroom, and his hair was wet and drooping, like a stranded fish.

The note column suddenly jumped to "Input." Gu Yi unconsciously rubbed the edge of the mouse until the second hand on the clock turned twice before waiting for a brief pause.
"That's good".

He looked up at the patterns on the ceiling, his fingertips hovering over the keyboard for a long time, and finally closed the dialog box - the word "hmm" sounded too much like a piece of cold and hard iron, so he decided not to reply.

When the dialog box switched to the panda avatar, the microwave oven was making a dull hum.

Lu Mingfei: "Is he dead? If not, reply. Has he been to the hospital? How is grandpa?"

"I didn't go to the hospital today. Something happened." When he finished typing this line, the sweet aroma of hot milk had filled the living room.

Lu Mingfei's reply came quickly, with his characteristic concern: "As long as you're not dead, remember to come to the internet cafe before going to the hospital tomorrow."

Gu Yi looked at the screen and chuckled softly. The water droplets condensed on the wall of the cup flowed through his fingers and into his sleeves. The coldness made his eyelashes tremble slightly.

"You really deserve a trophy for being the straight man of steel." A light, sarcastic remark came from the other end of the sofa. The girl, wrapped in a beige cashmere blanket, curled barefoot in the shade, her face blurred by the steam from the mug in her hand. "That girl named Liu Miaomiao, doesn't she weigh every word on a scale three times before sending a message? You, on the other hand, reply more perfunctorily than an auto-answering machine."

When Gu Yi stood up, the leather made a harsh friction sound, like a blunt knife cutting through the silence.

"Hey!" She swung her legs. "You're such a straight man! When a girl starts chatting with you, she immediately turns her face up and walks away. That's very disrespectful, okay?"

Gu Yi held the door handle and asked, "What should I talk to you about? You don't want to tell me anything."

"Then we can chat about family matters." The beige blanket was piled around her waist, and she curled up in the shadows like a crumpled piece of rice paper. "Men like you who are somewhat handsome but always have a cold face are the most lovable. There are many people who care about you. Why are you only so nice to Lu Mingfei?"

The door hinge let out a faint sigh, and when the door opened, the girl was already leaning against the goose down quilt, the moonlight smudged her outline into a translucent silk painting.

"If you don't want to talk, then don't talk. It's boring."

Gu Yi's eyebrows gathered into a mountain range in the shadows. "You're particularly active today." "After all, you almost became a pool of blood on a rainy night." She floated in front of Gu Yi, bringing with her a breeze that smelled of camellia. "I have to make sure my shelter is secure."

"What the hell are you?"

"It's not schizophrenia, it's not multiple personality." She suddenly leaned close to Gu Yi's ear, her hair brushing against his neck, causing a small shudder. "It won't affect your gender identity. Are you relieved now? Stop worrying about it on the internet."

"Then explain yourself clearly!" Gu Yi's voice exploded in the room: "What is that world? What are those monsters? Why did I encounter these things?!"

The girl landed on the edge of the bed. "I told you, that's another dimension. Here it's called Dragon Ruins, and to the west it's called Nibelungen. And as for you? Gu Yi, do you still think you're an ordinary person? You've been out of tune with the people around you since you were a child. Your physical fitness far surpasses that of an average person. Injuries that would take other children a hundred days to heal can be healed in one night in yours. And have you ever been sick since you were a child?"

The girl continued, "You have no parents and have lived with your grandfather since you were a child. Your grandfather taught you to hide yourself and not act different from others. You've been hiding for so long that you really think you're just an ordinary person?"

Gu Yi suddenly recalled the scene when his grandfather held him in his arms and applied medicine to his wounds, which had already healed quickly. He did not answer the question.

"You still haven't explained clearly what you are? Why did you suddenly appear on the overpass? And why did you want to help me? What do you want from me?"

"I can't tell you what I am. You saved yourself on the overpass. I will help you, and one day in the future I may let you repay me, but not now."

Gu Yi asked in confusion: "Then why can't you explain all this to me clearly?"

The girl looked out the window at the rain. "Gu Yi, you'll meet someone in the future who can explain things better than me. They'll find you sooner or later. In front of them, you're like a blank sheet of paper, unable to hide anything. If you know too much about these things, it'll easily arouse their suspicion."

Silence swelled amidst the sound of rain. The neon lights of the distant viaduct cast fragmented spots of light in Gu Yi's eyes.

"One last question," he heard his own dry voice, "Why didn't you save everyone on the bus?"

The rain marks on the glass cut the girl's face into blocks of different shades of color. "I'm sorry, I can't do it."

She suddenly leaned forward and stretched out her hand with the scent of camellia towards Gu Yi's head. Gu Yi's eyelashes trembled, but he did not retreat in the end. This incident made a strange light flash in the girl's eyes, like the flickering phosphorescence on the sea on a stormy night.

The girl placed her palm on the top of Gu Yi's head. "Don't be so hard on yourself for something you can't do. It's already a miracle that you were able to save Grandpa."

Gu Yi lowered his head, gazing at the traces of fallen carpet nap. When he looked up again, only tiny dust particles, whipped up by the draft, remained between his fingers. In the empty room, the final chorus of words climbed along the rain streaks on the window: "The petrel that survives the storm will eventually see the clear sky beyond the dark clouds."

(End of this chapter)