Brother Tu's Left Emissary of Light

"Right?"

Lily's smile was beautiful and gentle.

This was completely different from his usual indifferent and guarded demeanor.

Perhaps this is her truest self... It's just that from childhood to adulthood, the malice from the outside world and the departure of her loved ones forced her to build a strong mental fortress to disguise and protect herself.

"Lily..."

The dragon sighed deeply, its eyes rolling as it lay dying, gazing at the strange yet familiar figure. Childhood memories, the smiles that had faded from its recollections, now reappeared before its eyes.

But it wasn't directed at them anymore.

Instead, it was directed at a human being.

For a dragon, to have its body corrupted, its soul defiled, its once noble bearing tainted by decay and filth, and to be forced to endure a dose of dog food before death—that's quite a tragic fate.

Kang De and Lily turned to look at him.

"After I die, do not bring my remains back to my homeland. Apart from His Majesty the Dragon Emperor, do not let any other members of my clan know about them. Do not let me be remembered by my clan in this way."

"This is my final request and last wish."

Kang De's image was reflected in Luzi's enormous dragon eyes. The dragon's eyes were cloudy and distorted, filled with purple blood vessels, and the last bit of light was slowly fading away.

"Humanity," he said slowly, "She chose the same path as her father. Accept this supreme honor and recognition with gratitude; you will never know how momentous a decision she made."

"At least, don't let her get hurt again."

After saying this, he glanced at Lily one last time. Before Kang De could reply, the dying dragon let out a muffled but powerful roar, supporting its decaying and deformed body. With all four legs pushing off, it charged towards the bottomless chasm not far away. A tremendous wind howled from the narrow chasm, the roar of the massive dragon's free fall. After a long while, a muffled roar finally echoed from afar.

All its vitality and essence had been taken away; its life was now like a candle flickering in the wind. It was unwilling to die at the hands of humans, unwilling to let Lily do it for it, and unwilling to prolong its life and die miserably and humbly under the gaze of others. Suicide was the only option.

The moment the dragon charged down the rift, Lily instinctively wanted to stop it, but she stopped. No one understood the dragon's pride better than her, and no one knew her childhood friends better than her.

She bit her lip until she heard the echo of death.

"Dragonfall."

The dragons defined the death of their own kind.

After a while, Kang De slowly walked to her side. "Should I say now—if you feel bad, then cry it out?"

Lily laughed, glanced at him, and said, "That's so cliché. Have you always been like this?"

Kang De smiled and said, "Yes."

Horus's reply came through the earpiece. The probes patrolling below had used various scanning systems to track and assess the situation. "Father, it did indeed crash and die. It was badly mangled and is motionless."

Yes, I've always been like this.

He thought for a moment and said, "I still suggest you and A Xing return to the surface first. I'll pursue Cuixisi. With you gone, my tactics will be more flexible."

Lily's expression and tone softened considerably. She didn't respond to Kang De's suggestion, but simply brushed the dust off her black dress. "Let's go, the road ahead is still long."

Kang De sighed helplessly, "This is dangerous."

The Dragon Girl chuckled, then gently poked Kang De. Kang De felt as if a giant boulder was pressing down on him. Lily chuckled, "Please, you're so weak. Who gave you the right to call it dangerous?"

"These are different."

"It's the same," Lily smiled. "It's the same battle, the same facing of an unknown and powerful enemy, the same danger. The only difference is that either you face the danger alone, or we go together. I know you may have ways to solve the problems, but are you absolutely certain of victory? You always habitually want to solve all the problems yourself because you don't want to lose again... Am I right?"

Kang De's gaze stirred.

"Don't be so quick to deny it," the dragon girl said gently, gazing at him. "I'm very good at reading eyes."

She said softly, "But what's the difference? If we go together, you worry about our safety, afraid of losing someone. But if we go together, it becomes us waiting anxiously and helplessly in a safe place, filled with fear and unease. What if we never see you come back?"

Kang De silently replied, "I would rather betray the world than let the world betray me."

"What a selfish thought... but I feel the same way." Lily gently grasped Kang De's hand. "Like you, Kang De, I don't want to be left behind again."

"So, Fire Thief, tell me your plan."

The dragon girl raised her long, beautiful eyebrows. "Didn't you say you have your own style of doing things?"

Kang De slowly exhaled.

He shook his head and said, "So, you two have made up your minds?"

Lily just smiled, A Xing countered, "Why do you think I would break up with you?"

"So, look at this little group: the Fire Thief suffering from PTSD due to the Space-Time Flashback images and something else; the dragon, terrified and destined to be a sacrifice by the final boss; and the gorilla lady, who's been in a daze and completely disoriented since entering the underworld... Aww!"

As he was saying this, he was suddenly punched by A Xing.

It was both very light and very heavy; it didn't cause any injury, but it did cause a slight pain—the force was just right.

A Xing looked at him, her bright golden eyes revealing displeasure. "Don't call me that, it sounds awful."

What's wrong with this guy?!

After Kang De's gaze fell upon him, A Xing looked bewildered and tilted his head. "What's wrong?"

He was just like his usual carefree and goofy self.

This guy talked to her many times along the way, either pretending to be stupid or showing a bewildered and sad look, with tears in his eyes and a wronged expression, as if he had done something wrong, making it impossible to continue the conversation... to the point that Kang De is now completely unaware of A Xing's situation.

At this moment, the filial son's call came from the earphones, "Father, you have forgotten that I am the Transformer who from time to time provides my father with love guidance, backstabbing, and incidental firepower and technical support."

Incidentally, this guy has never officially appeared in front of everyone. Even Tina and the others didn't know that Horus could transform into his battle suit form and hide himself close to his body. This is probably a security consideration, always leaving behind a last trump card or a killer move... When Kang De told Iron Son about this guess, Horus was silent for about thirty seconds.

"Father," he sighed, "If they knew that most of the time they spent together was actually being observed and listened to by a third party, you probably wouldn't get any benefits or opportunities at all."

In short...

Kang De sighed, "Then let's make a plan first."

Lily smiled sweetly and nodded like a chick pecking at rice.

"Cuixisi also experienced Space-Time Flashback, but unlike mine, I witnessed the fate of the ancients. He, however, was lured and guided by a will and a voice. In terms of intelligence, he clearly obtained more, so he was performing a so-called sacrifice and using mysterious energy to strengthen himself..."

Kang De frowned as he said this.

This was the source of his unease.

The previous battles did not go well. The existing light and heavy firepower from Earth was either unable to be used effectively in the narrow underground area or was not powerful enough. The protective shield erected by the mysterious elements was extremely effective against kinetic weapons, and explosive weapons that relied on shock waves and fragmentation damage were completely suppressed. Only large-scale firepower that had also been enchanted and amplified by the mysterious energy had a chance to break through the defenses.

What they had just faced was Cuixisi, who had fought a long and bitter feud with Luzi, and had infused Lutz with a large amount of mysterious elements to perform a ritual, resulting in immense depletion of her own energy.

If he used Luzi's power to complete the exchange and sacrifice, or even extracted the power of another dragon, it's unimaginable how much his power would expand.

So once he realized this, his first instinct was to run out and find outside help.

But Luzi said no.

We cannot give Cuixisi time to recover. The longer it drags on, the greater the variables will become. After all, the Underworld is so vast that if Cuixisi wants to hide, finding her will become extremely difficult. We are in the dark while she is in the light, putting us at a significant disadvantage. Moreover, she has a crazy plan to raise the infinite mysterious elements of the River of Origin to the surface and spread them throughout the world... In any case, we must nip this nascent threat in the bud as soon as possible.

Therefore, we must take the initiative and immediately pursue and kill them.

However, launching a hasty attack is still not advisable.

Historically, many setbacks have been caused by reckless actions.

"Therefore, I have a decision, a plan, a scheme."

Three types or one type?

Three types.

Which three?

"The decision is that I will still inform the Dragon Emperor and the Phoenix King about this matter, reminding them to prepare. I will have them gather their forces and be ready to launch a surprise attack at any time. After all, they don't know the way, and there's no time to guide them down now. I can only have them prepare nearby."

The best option would have been to have the Dragon Emperor bring his henchmen down to fight for him, or have the Parrot bring a group of henchmen down to cooperate with him, so there would be no need to worry about the Dragon Emperor dominating him. However, the fatal problem with calling in outside help is that it is easy to alert the enemy and allow Cuixisi to hide completely. According to Luzi, the Dragonfire Soul Lamp is no longer effective, and even if the Dragon Emperor has the household registration system, it will be difficult for him to locate Cuixisi's whereabouts.

Therefore, we can only leave them on standby.

They also pinned their hopes on a rush to wipe out Cuixisi in one fell swoop.

"This is the ideal plan: to kill Cuixisi on our own before he recovers," Kang De said. "For this, we need an upgrade."

What upgrade plan?

"Power, weapons—it might be a bit risky, but it should be controllable." Kang De took a deep breath. "I saw images of ancient battles in the Space-Time Flashback. They used the power of mystical elements to enhance their equipment and themselves, thereby gaining powerful weaponry and significantly increasing their combat strength. But doing so has side effects. Once a critical point is reached, the mystical elements will go out of control, turning the host into a monster."

"The Fire Thief can neutralize this power."

But I remain cautious.

"So my idea is to create weapons and items for you that incorporate elements of mysterious craftsmanship."

Lily said, "I usually use my fists..."

"Then bring a power boxing glove."

Kang De gazed at the Dragon Girl, her black dress reaching the ground and her long hair flowing. Dragons can do whatever they want. She had survived a fierce battle in this gloomy and oppressive place, yet she was still clean, like a paper doll.

That won't do.

He said, "You need to build up some armor. With your strength, it'd be a shame if you didn't become a tank."

"... What's the meaning?"

Kang De pulled out the Brotherhood of Steel's T-45 Power Armor from his phone. "I'll weld you a full set of this in a bit. With enchantments and mystical elements, it should be fine. Anyway, when you're fighting Cuixisi, you should stick to human form. The dragon form is too big, and the tentacles play is too risky."

Lily exclaimed, "It's so ugly!"

"At a time like this, stop being so picky," Kang De said. "At least the excessive infusion of mystical elements should provide excellent defense. Do you want to be caught in Cuixisi's tentacles while wearing a skirt, or get captured while wearing this muscular power armor? Think about it."

Power armor is clearly essential equipment for magical girls who want to fight tentacle monsters!

If you don't wear a skirt, the tentacles won't easily pry open your underwear and [beep--] go inside. Why don't you understand such a simple principle!

"--I don't want to get caught at all!"

Kang De ignored the Dragon Girl's shouts and looked at A Xing.

A Xing raised her long staff, which she said was forged from a reinforced concrete sledgehammer given to her by Kang De. However, Kang De had studied the staff and found it to be incredibly dazzling, something that even the Power of the Fire Thief couldn't comprehend.

Even if you ask A Xing to make another one, she can't do it anymore.

"You should get one too," he said. "How about I get you a rocket-propelled hammer?"

A Xing smiled and replied, "Okay."

Everything is fine.

"So, from now on, we'll split up. You guys pursue carefully, while I go to the surface to take care of some business and design and manufacture your equipment," Kang De said. "Then we'll find Cuixisi and take him out."

"So..." Lily asked, "You said you had a plan."

"Yes, regarding the plan to eliminate Cuixisi."

In the previous battles, everyone's attacks had limited effectiveness. Even if they broke through the defenses and beat Cuixisi bloody and mangled, her body had been completely deformed. The corrupted tissue brought about by the mysterious element could regenerate and heal rapidly. Even though Cuixisi was beaten to a terrible state, she recovered quickly.

Only one attack inflicted a deep, irreparable wound on the Aberrant Dragon.

That's the Great Severing of China... well, it's spatial severing.

The White Mist World isolates life; apart from Kang De, any living organism from the outside world, whether bacteria, plants, or animals, will be instantly inactivated, its fate clearly predetermined.

Since discovering this power, Kang De regarded this mechanism as a weapon, trying to teleport his enemies to the White Mist World so that the laws of the world could kill them instantly—how pleasant and easy!

However, it is technically difficult, and the enemies encountered after leaving the island can be dealt with by large-caliber cannons and Forbidden Spell. If that doesn't work, then continue to increase firepower.

But this time they finally encountered a formidable enemy.

Kang De had previously tried to leave a portal to lure it inside, but for some reason, the creature stopped at the last moment. Kang De had no choice but to leave only its two tentacles behind.

But severing those two tough, long tentacles as easily as cutting tofu still gave him a chance to win—in fact, if Cuixisi had really rushed into the White Mist World, then Kang De would have already won.

He rushed in, only to be killed by the laws of the world.

It charged halfway in, then was cleaved in two.

Even in the worst-case scenario, if this guy isn't obliterated by the laws of the White Mist World —just kidding, this is my home turf, okay? Today, I, Kang De, will use Akatum's spacetime laws to stuff your rotten Dio into your dragon's mouth and let you know who the Lightbringer under Brother Tu is.

"This is my plan."

Kang De sighed, "It's a pity that it was just a spur-of-the-moment idea. Otherwise, if the plan had been more meticulous, such as when he stopped, you could have worked together to give him a hard push from behind, or used a super-powerful jet cannon. Even if it only smashed his head in, his dragon would be gone..."

"So, let's go through the details of the plan."

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PS1: Update... It's a bit late today, mainly because I've been following the drama all day. Sigh, things are really turbulent, the industry is about to change again.

PS2: I'd like to recommend a friend's new book, "We Will Eventually Win You Over." Those interested can check it out.