Dragon Raja: Lu Mingfei Returns from Japan

Lu Mingfei has ridden in many cars, but he has only experienced this kind of acceleration in Caesar's Bugatti Veyron and Nono's Ferrari.

"With such heavy rain, your mother didn't even come to pick you up."

"Luckily I didn't go to wash my car this morning."

"By the way, that security guard at your school..."

The man spoke animatedly, as if reminiscing about his youth, but Chu Zihang ignored him completely, continuing his monologue. However, Lu Mingfei felt that Chu Zihang was listening to every word the man said.

Perhaps annoyed by the man's ramblings, Chu Zihang simply turned on the radio and listened to the news.

The female announcer's clear and articulate Mandarin came through the radio.

"...Typhoon Dandelion made landfall on the southeast coast of our city this afternoon..."

"I hate this kind of typhoon weather the most. The rain is heavy, the water rises, and there are traffic jams everywhere."

As the man spoke, the Maybach indeed slowed down gradually. Through the water-drenched windows, one could see that all around were blocked-off traffic.

It's like a group of flying fish swimming against the current reaching the mouth of a waterfall in the river, unable to move forward no matter how much they swish their tails.

The Maybach moved slowly forward with the traffic, and a few hundred meters ahead, red and blue lights appeared; two cars had collided.

Two drivers, each holding an umbrella, stood in the rain, pointing and gesturing towards each other, while a traffic policeman in a raincoat stood between them, taking photos of the cars. Only a small lane remained open for vehicles to squeeze into.

"I told you I hate rainy days. When it rains, there are more car accidents and then the whole area is blocked."

The man tapped his fingers on the steering wheel, sounding somewhat impatient.

"Damn it, I don't know what's there to argue about. Anyway, the insurance company will pay, so just move the car and that's it. I have things to do after dropping my son off..."

He craned his neck and looked around, when suddenly he saw a right-turn lane not far ahead that led to a side road. For some reason, it was completely empty, and an overpass that was almost blending into the night stretched across the direction of the side road.

"That road should connect to the elevated highway, but the elevated highway is probably closed now," the man said.

"You want to drive on the elevated highway?" Chu Zihang's brow twitched. "What if you can't get off?"

"If you can go up, you can come down," the man said. "It's just a matter of saying a few nice words to the traffic police and offering them a couple of cigarettes. In this heavy rain, they won't make things difficult for us."

Just then, the traffic on the right moved forward a few meters, making room for an oncoming car.

The man reacted swiftly, smoothly shifting the accelerator, handbrake, and steering wheel in one fluid motion, executing a beautiful drift out of the parking space, precisely slicing the 6.2-meter-long Maybach into the gap between the two cars like a scalpel.

The BMW driver behind him slammed on his horn and cursed through the windshield as he braked suddenly.

"Can you even drive, you fucking idiot? Are you going to a funeral?"

"Don't worry about him, he wouldn't dare hit us. The rear bumper alone is enough to exceed his insurance limit."

The man shrugged, whistled merrily, and turned the car onto the side road leading to the overpass.

The dim yellow light of the streetlights crisscrossed, illuminating the road ahead. The Maybach sped along the empty viaduct, the splashing water reflecting an amber light under the lamplight.

With the road ahead clear, the man seemed to feel much better and started chatting with Chu Zihang about everyday things again.

It was nothing more than Chu Zihang's college entrance exam after graduating from high school, some funny stories from his childhood, and so on. He even took it upon himself to play music, a foreign song that Lu Mingfei had never heard before.

The trees they grow high, and the leaves they do grow green,

Many is the time my true love I've seen,

Many an hour I have watched him all alone,

He's young but he's daily growing.

……

"Altan's 'Daily Growing,' isn't it good? Everyone said it was a good album, which is about fatherly love—Lu, do you know them?"

Not wanting to spoil the fun for the men, Lu Mingfei kept agreeing: "I know, I know, I love them too, I sing them every day when I take a shower."

"That's good, that's good. I was worried you wouldn't like it. The young people I know don't really like listening to foreign songs, they just love listening to Jay Chou. I love listening to him too, humming and hawing, it's so catchy!"

"Then why did you buy this album?" Chu Zihang looked out the window expressionlessly and suddenly asked, "Can't you tell that this is a song a girl sings for her father? It's not appropriate for us to listen to it."

"Isn't this a way to cultivate one's taste? Listening to foreign songs makes one seem more refined. Besides, isn't having a boy or a girl the same..."

Suddenly, for some unknown reason, everyone on the bus fell silent. Only a plaintive mezzo-soprano, accompanied by the faint sound of a guitar, began to hum an Irish folk song in the carriage.

Although the conversation between the man and Chu Zihang was quite restrained, Lu Mingfei still vaguely sensed some complex relationship between Chu Zihang and the middle-aged man.

Chu Zihang showed obvious aversion to, and even anger towards, certain topics related to men.

If he hadn't been in the car, Lu Mingfei thought they might have started arguing.

Everyone has their own troubles...

Thinking of Chu Zihang, who was so impressive in the eyes of everyone at Shilan Middle School and Kassel College, but who actually had untold growing pains, Lu Mingfei couldn't help but sigh in his heart.

Suddenly, the music playing in the carriage stopped abruptly. Lu Mingfei initially thought the man had turned off the stereo.

But then it was discovered that it wasn't just the sound system that was turned off; the dim light pillars, the splashing water, the speeding Maybach... everything seemed to have been paused.

A handsome boy dressed in gothic black mourning clothes sat in the passenger seat. He produced a window crank from somewhere and wedged it on the inside of the door, rolling the window down back and forth like a paddle.

"Isn't it beautiful, brother?"

Without turning his head, the boy stretched his hand out the window and said, "This kind of scene is rare. Even Hollywood blockbusters wouldn't dare to give you such exquisite special effects."

As the boy spoke, he reached out and tried to touch the raindrops that were suspended in mid-air.

His movements were gentle and delicate, as if he were not caressing the paused raindrops, but plucking the strings of an ancient musical instrument.

Chapter 4 The Darkness of the Torrent of Rain (4)

"Lu...Lu Mingze?" Lu Mingfei stammered, "How did you end up here?"

"I'm so sad, brother."

Lu Mingze pulled his hand back from the car window, turned around, and deliberately made a mournful expression on his face:

"I came all this way to see you, but you don't seem to welcome me very much."

"Bullshit! When I was a senior at Advanced Nurturing High School, and I was almost killed by Ayanokoji Kiyotaka and Yanagi Arisu, where were you?"

Although Lu Mingfei said that, his heart actually started pounding when he saw Lu Mingze appear. This was the first time he had seen Lu Mingze in three years.

"But didn't you solve those difficulties yourself?"

Lu Mingze said softly,

"Brother, haven't you realized yet? You're not the same pathetic kid you were a long time ago. Although time has rewound, those experiences are still real for you."

You have personally killed three dragons and fought against tens of thousands of Japanese gangsters on the streets of Japan.

Your courage and wisdom have grown significantly, far exceeding those of ordinary people, and the physical education classes at Kassel College have indeed improved your physical fitness.

Didn't you notice that you were able to reject Liu Miaomiao without hesitation just now? The old you definitely wouldn't have been able to do that.

As Lu Mingze spoke, he let out a soft breath, his beautiful golden eyes meeting Lu Mingfei's gaze in mid-air. He continued in a tone of sighing relief:

"Brother, you've grown up too."

"Pah, pah, pah, don't talk like an old father, okay?"

Lu Mingfei couldn't help but complain, but then he fell silent.

The two remained silent for several minutes before Lu Mingfei finally asked, "So, you also have those memories from before I traveled back in time?"

"Of course, brother, I'll be wherever you are."

"Do you know what really happened?" Lu Mingfei asked.

In his eyes, the little devil Lu Mingze should be omniscient and omnipotent regarding such supernatural things.

"I remember we fought Herzog to the death over Tokyo Bay, so why did I wake up as a high school student in Japan... and even become classmates with those light novel characters? And why didn't I see you here in Japan?"

"Do you remember the Nibelungen I told you about?"

"remember."

"The world is actually a giant Nibelungen."

Lu Mingze withdrew his gaze, his dazzling golden eyes once again fixed on the pitch-black night sky filled with torrential rain.

“Every Nibelungen has its own alchemical rules, which I cannot defy. I can only respect the rules and go with the flow.”

In that world, there were no dragons, no hybrids, and therefore no me. So I could not appear, and could only slumber somewhere within your heart until you returned to this world, at which point I awoke from my long sleep.

Lu Mingfei was silent for more than ten seconds, then asked, "Then, was the world I traveled to before real? Or was it just a dream?"

Lu Mingze suddenly laughed, looking at Lu Mingfei through the rearview mirror: "What do you think, brother?" he asked, "There's more than one Nibelungen in the world."

Just then, a thunderclap streaked across the sky, the cold blue light tearing a huge rift in the heavens. The light lingered in the sky for a few seconds before gradually disappearing, but the thunder never came.

Looking at the now silent night sky, Lu Mingfei suddenly sensed something was amiss.

Why did lightning flash across the sky during the time Lu Mingze paused?

“He has already discovered me,” Lu Mingze said. “My control is slowly disappearing, and I can’t stay here for long.”

"Who is 'he'?" Lu Mingfei had a bad feeling.

"Brother, guess."

Lu Mingze said,

"Don't you think the elevated highway is a bit too empty? With such a serious traffic jam, how could he be the only one who thought of taking a detour via the elevated highway? You've experienced this quiet and cold feeling here before."

"You mean...we're in the Nibelungen now?"

Lu Mingfei felt a chill spiral from the soles of his feet to the top of his head. He excitedly tried to stand up, but his head hit the roof of the Maybach with a "thud." But at that moment, he had no mind to care about the pain on his head.

He stared intently at the little devil, hoping to get a negative answer from him, but Lu Mingze simply nodded, confirming his answer: "Yes."

"Why?" What Lu Mingfei wanted to ask was why they had inexplicably driven into the Nibelungen.

"Every car's destination is determined at the moment it sets off. This Maybach's destination is on the overpass on a rainy night."

This happened before you returned, brother. Their lives are now bound to the master of this Nibelungen, and even I am powerless to change that.

"Even exchanging lives isn't an option?"

"Would you trade your life for a man you've only known for less than an hour?"

Lu Mingze chuckled, "You've changed, brother. Back then, you wouldn't even give up a quarter of your life for Erii."