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"Is there any way I can avoid that gun?" Lu Mingfei asked. He stepped on the accelerator and the BMW moved like a nimble fish through the unusually crowded traffic in the early hours of the morning.
"Anger, who can travel through the fragments of time, cannot avoid the bullets fired by Han Gao when he recites the Holy Judgment. Brother, how are you going to dodge the attribute of that gun that is sure to hit?" The little devil sat comfortably on the leather seat that exuded a slight leather scent, leaned back, crossed his hands on his chest, half of his face was hidden in the shadows, and the other half was illuminated by the car lights in front of him, and his pupils reflected a molten glow.
The traffic light turned from green to red, and Lu Mingfei slowly slowed down in the traffic while driving his uncle's BMW. He lit a cigarette and held it between his lips with a frown, feeling the stinging pain of death that was brought to his soul.
At this time, lightning flashed through the clouds, but there was no sound of thunder. Only the purple-white lightning made Lu Mingfei's face pale.
Lu Mingfei looked up and realized that there were no clouds either. The night sky was clear.
When he lowered his head again, he was suddenly stunned. There was only such a thin layer of glass between them, but the world outside the glass seemed to be torn apart all of a sudden. Every car became as black as ink. Hundreds and thousands of cars as black as ink drove silently on the wide Changjiang Road. It was so quiet that it seemed like a wilderness with only the wind blowing.
The surrounding buildings all became huge hourglasses that towered like mountains in the darkness. There was very little sand left on the top of the hourglass, but the sand was piled up like a mountain below.
Lu Mingfei smoked silently, the smoke rising straight up.
He didn't even need to turn his head to look as he knew what was sitting in those cars. Sure enough, just as Lu Mingfei was thinking this, a flickering light like ghost fire appeared in the depths of each car. Narrow and strange black shadows pressed their featureless faces against the windows of their cars and looked out. Every face and every eye was finally focused on the BMW in the center of the traffic. The headlights of the BMW tore a path in the darkness like a silver sword. The black shadows on the road tore the roof of the black car and stood up, clearly evil spirits quietly waiting for food.
Lu Mingfei looked at them silently. After a moment, everything returned to normal. The tall buildings on both sides were brightly lit. BYD, Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Changan cars were crisscrossing on Changjiang Road with bright lights and constant honking of horns.
"That is the phantom of death. Kungunir is telling you in this way that your death has been anchored and its coming is irreversible." The little devil whispered, "The name of that road is Huangquan, and the end of Huangquan is the Styx. Cross the bridge connecting the two sides of the Styx and you will become one of those black shadows."
"I remember we discussed the topic of soul. In the dragon clan's worldview, the so-called soul is actually the essence of the spirit, that is, the spiritual element that carries consciousness." Lu Mingfei said.
"You're about to die, and you still have the mind to discuss academic topics?" The little devil pouted.
"If you hear the truth in the morning, you will die in the evening."
"So what do you think when you know you are dying?"
"I don't have any thoughts. I was quite scared at first, but later I just felt regretful."
"What's your regret? Didn't you manage to bring your sister-in-law back?"
"Well, that's the reason. I regret that I never found out the truth of some things until I died. When they pick up my body from the ruins, they won't even know what to write on my tombstone." Lu Mingfei said calmly.
The little devil was silent for a moment and said, "Kungunir is a bug in the world. To deal with such a conceptual thing, only a conceptual weapon can be effective. When it was thrown out in the name of fate, even the Seven Deadly Sins could not cut it off, but in essence, the gun is still an alchemical weapon."
"So no matter how many times it happens, the Bronze and Fire Kings will always be included in Odin's hunting list first." Lu Mingfei's mind moved. He suddenly guessed what the order in which the Dragon Kings died in Pompeii's script was.
"Norton is the supreme master of alchemy. This is a motto written in the code. Time cannot dilute it. He is the natural restrainer of Kungunir. The gun is nothing but a rebellious subject in front of Norton." The little devil gritted his teeth, his expression ferocious as if he was swearing that he would not become a Buddha until hell was empty. "How dare a traitor meet the king without kneeling!"
He waved his hand, and all the obstacles in front of the BMW were pushed apart to the sides. The high-speed cars rolled up huge waves like the Red Sea parted by Moses, and then crashed to the side of the road. Alarms sounded one after another, and airbags popped out from the front seats of every car.
"Brother, hurry up, otherwise you will really be with your girl." Lu Mingze said softly.
"Thank you." Lu Mingfei stepped on the accelerator hard, and the engine of this family car roared like crazy.
Lu Mingfei never feared death, as that is what people who fight against fate should do.
But Xia Mi's soul is still in his body, and when he dies, he will take his sister with him.
The only person who is qualified to carry Jörmungandr is Wa. Lu Mingfei always looks at his watch anxiously, hoping to return to the Regent Hotel as soon as possible.
Su Xiaoqiang leaned against the pillar on the rooftop, her long hair flowing like water ripples in the wind. She was drinking a glass of whiskey, her corset fluttering, her waist very thin, her face slightly flushed, beautiful as if carved out of ice and jade.
She looked at the skyscrapers standing in the night. Those skyscrapers that were titanium black or grayish white during the day lit up like countless gemstones inlaid in the sky. There was no sadness or joy in her pupils.
A petite girl with a pointed chin and a bit of baby fat stood next to her, with the coat left by Lu Mingfei draped over her shoulders.
The wind gradually grew stronger. Wazhu sighed and said, "Damn it, Lu Mingfei brought back that Japanese beauty. He was really reckless. He even triggered the elemental tide and made Hefei so cold."
Logically speaking, elemental tide should be a completely new term for Su Xiaoqiang. She had never been exposed to similar knowledge in the first twenty years of her life. But at this moment, the girl's face showed neither surprise nor curiosity.
Calm and solemn, like the wooden carved Buddha statues in thousand-year-old temples.
"By the way, how many times have you restarted? Don't you want to live with a human body bearing the highest mysteries of alchemy?" Lord Wa grabbed Su Xiaoqiang's wrist, frowned and felt her pulse.
"Ninety-nine times. This is the hundredth time." Su Xiaoqiang said, "I spent all my time learning about your society in the first twenty times, and then started trying to crack the concept of that weapon. The closest time was when Kungunir obviously hesitated when he pierced Ming Fei's chest."
"Is it worth it to fight so hard?"
"Why is it not worth it? Didn't you leave?" Su Xiaoqiang's mouth curled up slightly, but it was just a cold smile, "Everyone who stays here has to face it. I repeated it ninety-nine times in five days. Ronald's strength was almost exhausted and he fell into a deep sleep again, but so far I have never been able to escape fate."
The entire Regent Hotel was emptied after Lu Mingfei left, and it was not difficult for Lord Wa to do this. She had the largest wealth in this country and even in the world.
The wind from the east suddenly blew in from the window of the rooftop. The cold wind blew around Su Xiaoqiang and Wazhu, making a shrill laugh.
"His name is not Ronald Tang." Lord Wa said, "His name is Norton, the King of Bronze and Fire. He is the only one among the four monarchs besides Odin who has the chance to reverse cause and effect, but he was severely injured and stripped of his authority. Even if you leave a cocoon through alchemy, there is no way for you to use this ability without limit."
"Yes." Su Xiaoqiang nodded.
A trace of confusion flashed across her pupils, and then that trace of confusion collapsed silently, turning into a determination to split mountains and seas. "So this is the last attempt. If I fail, I will die here. It's not a big loss to know the truth of this world before I die."
"It's interesting... for the so-called love? But he can't even give all his love to you alone."
"But if it were me, he would do the same." Su Xiaoqiang said, "You don't seem to believe in love."
“In the tens of thousands of years, I have witnessed hundreds of times more betrayals than loyalty, and most betrayals can bring huge benefits to people.” Lord Wa held her chin. Lu Mingfei’s coat was too long, covering her knees, and the hem swayed slightly, like a plump leaf.
"But in the ninety-nine reincarnations I experienced, you stood in front of him every time." Su Xiaoqiang tilted his head to look at the soft, cute and bright old ancestor, squinting his eyes and smiling, with a strand of hair hanging down from his ear. "The first thing to collapse was the nine-headed ice crystal monster, and ice debris fell like raindrops. You opened your arms to block Kungunir... What were you thinking when the branch pierced through you? You and him... maybe you have known each other for more than just a few days?"
Lord Wa was stunned. She lowered her head, and the red glow climbed up from her graceful swan-like neck, until it colored her earlobes and ear tips.
Then she raised her face.
"He calls me sister..." she said.
Chapter 533: Fire King's Cocoon
Ever since she parted with Lu Mingfei in Chicago, Su Xiaoqiang always had a strange dream. In the dream, she was standing on a mountain, looking into the distance at a sea of trees that seemed to be rippling with waves as if blown by the wind. The sea of trees stretched all the way to the horizon, and a huge copper pillar stood at the end of the sky and the earth.
There would be fog in the dream, and the fog would rise from the mountainside like a cloud. In the depths of the cloud, Su Xiaoqiang would sometimes see a young man with drooping eyebrows and wearing a stiff denim jacket. His face would always be full of bitterness and hatred, and he would never utter a word.
They stared at each other across the clouds that flowed like water on the mountain. Su Xiaoqiang vaguely remembered that the man's surname was Tang, and he was Zhao Menghua's friend. Their first meeting was in the autumn of 2009, when the lush red pine forests in Illinois gradually turned yellow. It was the first time Su Xiaoqiang and Lu Mingfei met again after graduating from Shilan Middle School.
The first time Su Xiaoqiang woke up from this dream in his dormitory near the economics activity area, he felt as cold as if he was thrown into a lake in winter.
Outside the window, there was continuous snow and wind, and the gray-black clouds were so tall that they looked like mountains that were about to fall. The flames in the electric fireplace were jumping and reflecting the skin on her wrists, which was white with a hint of red.
Thinking back to the man in the dream, Su Xiaoqiang's face was filled with confusion and helplessness. She didn't know why she kept having the same dream over and over again. In her dreams, she always felt that she was facing something huge. That thing was rolling over her, and she was powerless to stop it, as if she would be crushed into dust immediately.
She was tormented by this emotion for a long time. Since the first time she had this dream, Su Xiaoqiang always felt as if there was always a layer of impenetrable fog in front of her, and the man surnamed Tang in the fog was carrying something heavy.
Meeting a young man in a dream should be wonderful, but Su Xiaoqiang always felt that she was just looking up at him. Even though Ronald Tang was actually standing at the foot of the mountain, she felt that he was high above her, like an emperor.
Of course, Su Xiaoqiang often dreamed of Lu Mingfei, but those dreams were not good. He was always pierced on a strange branch, like a dying bird, with his drooping eyebrows revealing infinite sorrow.
All this seemed to be foreshadowing something, until later she even got used to those ancient, strange and even somewhat weird dreams.
Anyway, the person in the dream would not hurt her, so she sat on the mountain and enjoyed the scenery.
The copper pillar at the end of the sky seemed to be reflected in a sea of fire. Its bottom was illuminated red by something, while the top was black like dark iron. If you look closely, you can see that the surface of the copper pillar was engraved with ancient language in some kind of small seal script.
The color of the sea of trees gradually changed from dark green to pale yellow, mottled and gorgeous, like stubborn brushstrokes.
Su Xiaoqiang thought it was pretty good this way. The scenery in her dreams was peaceful and harmonious. There were always clouds rolling around her, as if she was in a fairyland.
Everything in the dream seemed to be in an endless cycle, until one day the man in the fog stopped staring at her and walked towards her.
He sat down next to Su Xiaoqiang, and Su Xiaoqiang didn't feel scared at all. It was as if he was reminiscing about his childhood with a friend he hadn't seen for many years.
He said, "My name is Norton."
"Zhao Menghua told me that your name is Ronald Tang." Su Xiaoqiang did not look back. She just raised her face slightly and stared at the copper pillar in the sky gradually disappearing into the darkness that slowly took away all the light and fire.
When the world becomes completely dark, she will wake up from her dream.
"Ronald is to Norton like a river is to the sea. No matter how far the river goes, it will eventually return to the ocean." Norton said softly. He was very tall and handsome. In Su Xiaoqiang's eyes, he was perhaps only a little bit inferior to Lu Mingfei.
"Why are you here?" Su Xiaoqiang tilted his head. "Are you a ghost? If you are a ghost, then you and I have only met once. In comparison, Zhao Menghua is more like the person you should dream about, right?"
"That's true from Ronald's perspective, but if you want to explore fate from Norton's perspective, you are the more suitable person."
"destiny?"
"It's like everyone is written in a script, and everything they do is predetermined from the moment they are born," Norton explained. He always had a smile on his face when he said these words, and his skin was clean and had a marble texture.
"I don't actually understand love between humans. Is your feeling for Lu Mingfei love?"
"Maybe." Su Xiaoqiang said.
"Maybe?"
"That's right." This time the girl's tone was higher and her voice became firmer.
She was a girl called a little angel by many people. She was very proud, so proud that she seemed a little conceited. She never refused any courtesy approaching her and was always alone, until that year when she saw the boy at the high school entrance ceremony who was clearly standing in the crowd but so lonely that he seemed to be outside the world.
That kind of loneliness made him out of tune with everyone around him, but it was this incompatibility that suddenly attracted Su Xiaoqiang for no reason.
She thought the boy was such a cool guy. He always walked alone on the narrow gravel path between the library and the classroom. His hair was always wet and covered his eyes on rainy days, as if he would not look at you even when you talked to him. He always sat silently by the window, gazing into the distance.
But what really made Su Xiaoqiang feel that he liked this guy a little bit was the time when Chen Wenwen was diagnosed with lupus erythematosus. At first, the school organized students to visit her, but later no one wanted to go anymore. Only Lu Mingfei insisted on going to discuss Duras's lover with her every week.
Su Xiaoqiang also insisted on going there every week. At dusk, the two of them would walk back along the Fei River together. As they were walking, Su Xiaoqiang asked Lu Mingfei, "Do you like Chen Wenwen?" Lu Mingfei was stunned and showed a look of shock on his face for the first time, and said, "No."
Su Xiaoqiang asked again, "Then why do you visit her every week?" Lu Mingfei asked, "Aren't you the same?"
As the two were walking, Su Xiaoqiang suddenly said to Lu Mingfei, "Look, look quickly." Lu Mingfei looked in the direction she pointed, and saw a kitten fell into the bank of the Fei River.
In autumn, he took off his clothes and jumped in, scooped up the kitten and threw it on the shore. It was hard to say why, but the moment he jumped into the Fei River, Su Xiaoqiang felt that he might like him.
Maybe it was the courage to risk his life, or maybe it was the rare kindness that he dared to express, or maybe it was because Su Xiaoqiang liked kittens very much. In any case, Lu Mingfei quietly broke into her heart.
Later, there was another time, she forgot what happened, Su Xiaoqiang was alone, hiding in the corner of the stairs wiping her tears while others were going home after class. She cried so sadly. At that time, she wanted to be with a man riding a white horse from the sky to hug her and comfort her. No matter whether that guy was Tang Monk or a prince, she would be willing to marry him.
But the one who showed up was neither Tang Seng nor the prince, but Lu Mingfei, who was wiping his wet hair with a towel and returning to the classroom to pack up his things after playing basketball with the boys from the physical training team on the playground.
The guy didn't have the courage to hug Su Xiaoqiang in the end, he just sat with her silently on the rooftop of the teaching building, waiting together until the sunset took away all the afterglow, and the silent city woke up in the sea of light. He said that no matter what happens, don't cry, you must not lose your composure when you are frustrated, because those people you hate are waiting to laugh at you.
Su Xiaoqiang asked, "Are you here to laugh at me?"
Lu Mingfei said, "No, I came here to see the stars. I often watch the stars on the rooftop of my uncle's house." When he said this, he was looking up at the stars in the sky. The starlight was reflected in his eyes, so bright that it seemed to fall into the sea.
Su Xiaoqiang blinked and forgot her sadness. After many years, she once again felt the alienation and loneliness from the boy beside her.
Lonely people always sympathize with each other.
When he was in high school, Lu Mingfei ranked first in his grade for three consecutive years, but someone told Su Xiaoqiang that when he was in junior high school, he was just a weed growing in the corner of Shilan Middle School and anyone could step on him.
Sometimes she would secretly look at the boy's profile in another corner of the classroom and wonder what changed him, what made you go from that useless boy who talked nonsense to the majestic Senior Brother Lu he is today?
"What does it feel like to like someone?" Norton asked.
"You will know if you try it. Why are you asking me?" Su Xiaoqiang said.
"We are all born with flaws, and only a few of us understand the meaning of love, so that even if we feel a little warmth, we will try our best to hold on to it."