Chapter 72: A Good Dream

「……。」

Chu Zihang stared at Lu Mingfei, trying to discern something from his face.

Lu Mingfei wasn't flustered; after all, Chu Zihang's Golden Eyes had no effect on him.

He simply thought that, from this angle, Chu Zihang really was good-looking…

'No wonder that little female dragon was completely infatuated.' Lu Mingfei thought silently.

Oh, wait—no, that guy was a cultivation-type character; according to what he'd read in the book, that ancient dragon who had lived for years had set her sights on him back when he was in elementary school, only to end up losing her heart in the end.

Lu Mingfei suddenly felt Xia Mi was kinda intense.

He sighed, surprised that the tender grass was the senior brother—this was the ancient dragon eating tender grass.

'This hypothesis doesn't hold.' Chu Zihang said calmly, having just recalled the information he knew: 'Your father is Lu Lincheng, your mother is Qiao Weini; both are alumni of the Cassell College. Your father has a younger brother—your uncle…'

Lu Mingfei stared in surprise at Chu Zihang, who was deviating from the script and reciting his family genealogy.

'…All of the above, including your birth—so your hypothesis is invalid.'

'You are human. Strictly speaking, you are a half-blood. You cannot be a dragon.'

Chu Zihang spoke as if solving a logic puzzle—his evidence, reasoning, and argumentation were flawless.

'Why do you know so much about my family?'

'As one of only two S-Class students in the entire school, your past records are hardly a secret.'

Chu Zihang didn't tell Lu Mingfei that for just ten dollars, he could buy details of an S-Class student's daily habits from Fenger—but sadly, the purchase rate was zero.

Lu Mingfei thought that if he were an interviewer, he'd give Chu Zihang a perfect score.

But he was the one grading the exam…

Senior brother, the answer seems wrong.

Lu Mingfei didn't know what species he was, nor could he even be sure if he was truly the biological child of Lu Lincheng and Qiao Weini—there might be deeper secrets here.

In Lu Mingfei's pie chart of possible identities, the combined percentage for human and half-blood might only be ten percent.

'Senior brother, can't you just play along?' Lu Mingfei sighed. 'Everything is possible—haven't you heard that saying?'

'Clearly, it's impossible.' Chu Zihang spoke with absolute certainty.

'Alright.' Lu Mingfei sat up, turned around, and sat cross-legged facing Chu Zihang.

'But what if I really am a dragon, senior brother? Assuming it's true—what would you do?' Lu Mingfei's eyelids drooped; he didn't really want to discuss this topic, since it involved Xia Mi, and Chu Zihang might feel uneasy.

But he really wanted to know: if one day he turned into a little dragon, would Chu Zihang activate Bloodline Rage and slash at him, or first cut ties, saying, 'Next time we meet, we'll be enemies,' then let him go?

'There is no such possibility…' Chu Zihang paused mid-sentence, falling silent—the atmosphere shifted slightly.

'She said there never was a Xia Mi—only Jormungandr.'

'But I've always felt Xia Mi existed.'

Chu Zihang remembered the key Xia Mi left behind—the room it unlocked was filled with the traces of a girl's life.

An old TV and radio, a single bed from another era, a single incandescent bulb hanging from the ceiling that had been used for years.

He lay on that bed all night, thinking deeply.

'Senior brother, maybe you should get some rest early,' Lu Mingfei said, sensing something off about Chu Zihang—his thoughts had suddenly turned to the little dragon girl. He began to regret bringing it up, stirring up painful memories.

Chu Zihang shook his head, ignoring Lu Mingfei's suggestion, and said seriously: 'If you are also a dragon, then is Lu Mingfei real?'

Lu Mingfei hadn't expected Chu Zihang to ask that.

But unquestionably, the question didn't need thought.

'I definitely exist,' Lu Mingfei said without hesitation.

Chu Zihang stood up and said to Lu Mingfei: 'I never had many friends growing up—and Lu Mingfei is one of the few.'

He turned and walked toward the door.

'I will always stand by Lu Mingfei—and only by Lu Mingfei.'

'Get some rest,' Chu Zihang added. He felt a bad premonition, a suspicion—he used to attribute such suspicions to the potential of an S-Class.

He hoped Lu Mingfei was just having a midlife-crisis phase.

'Don't overthink it. If you're under pressure, it's fine for me and Kaiser to represent Cassell and dive down for the mission tomorrow.'

'I'm fine, senior brother—I'm sorry for worrying you.' Lu Mingfei saw Chu Zihang to the door; the oppressive feeling had lessened considerably.

'Good night.'

'Good night.'

Closing the door, Lu Mingfei looked out at the night through the floor-to-ceiling window, his mood lifting.

This trust and friendship was medicine for spiritual pressure.

He worried about the future, afraid that certain fated events couldn't be changed.

Like that strange dream—everyone slept in the polar blizzard, while he alone walked across the snow.

The dream felt impossibly real, as if symbolizing his final fate.

He pulled the curtains shut, lay back on the bed like a salted fish.

He reached out, groped twice on the wall, found the main switch, and clicked—*pacha*—the room plunged into darkness.

The room was well-insulated; even the sound of rain outside was inaudible.

Slowly, Lu Mingfei drifted into sleep.

He wondered what kind of dream tonight would be—he remembered that as a child, the only show he didn't have to fight Martin for the remote control was Martin's Morning, a show he loved—a Sino-French animated series.

The protagonist Martin took on a different identity every morning—sometimes president, sometimes a dinosaur, sometimes an alien or a superpowered being.

He was the opposite: every night, he had strange dreams.

I hope tonight's dream is normal…

With these scattered thoughts, Lu Mingfei fell asleep—and in a daze, he found himself inside a grand villa.

A familiar golden-haired girl in a swimsuit walked out from the indoor pool.

She was cool and aloof like a flower on a lofty peak, but once this white flower came ashore, she walked straight toward him.

She cupped his face and kissed him.

The next day

Lu Mingfei woke from the dream and was silent for a long time.

"Damn!"

He cursed under his breath—why had he suddenly turned into the Alien Queen!?

Fortunately, there were only two dreams tonight, so when he got up this morning he still remembered where he was.

Just what on earth had his other-world self passed down to him? Every night it was something different.

Apart from a greatly boosted cultivation speed and the nightly VR movies, he felt there was nothing else being passed down—where were the techniques? Where were the secret manuals?

"That guy actually had a romance plotline too..." Lu Mingfei recalled the scene from the dream; that girl seemed to be Zero.

Lu Mingfei touched his own lips, his heart pounding rather fiercely. If there were a mirror, one could see his face flushed bright red at this moment.

But the moment he thought of the Alien Queen afterward, he instantly calmed down.

Knock knock knock

The sound of knocking came.

"Lu Mingfei, are you up yet?!"

It was Caesar's voice.

"Time for lunch."