Lu Yingheng flapped his dragon wings and returned to the ground. The enormous wings folded up and quickly vanished.
Belle stared at Lu Yingheng's expressionless face, feeling a tight ache in her heart.
Under Belle's control, Eous ran up to him and watched him quietly.
Sitting in front of the Hollow Deep Dive System, Belle saw Lu Yingheng's cold expression and his silence. Her eyes slowly reddened as memories of their time together over the past few days kept replaying in her mind.
They really hadn't spent all that much time together.
Belle even felt that those few days might not amount to so much as a drop in the ocean of Lu Yingheng's life.
But they had left a deep, deep impression on her.
When they ate ramen, she would secretly slip the things she didn't like into his bowl;
When he slept on the couch and couldn't be bothered to cover himself, she would secretly tuck a blanket around him;
And when she won a scratch-off lottery ticket, she would throw herself into his arms without thinking, then shyly scramble back.
Whenever he went out to buy snacks, he always brought an extra portion back for her;
Whenever her brother called and asked him to protect her, he was never late;
They joked with each other and horsed around, worked together, went shopping together, watched movies together...
Even if they were sworn brother and sister.
[No! Lord Husband isn't going to stop coming back to the video store after he gets his memories back, is he?]
[This is the first time I've ever hoped a game character wouldn't get his memories back. If they have to part in the end, what was the point of meeting at all?]
Xia Linxi was going through crushing sorrow, immense joy, and then crushing sorrow again:
"Belle! You have to keep Lord Husband at the video store! Whatever it takes! Even if you have to seduce him!"
Lu Yingheng stood quietly in front of Eous, the silence between them growing heavier and heavier.
The human and the Bangboo remained at a standstill, as though performing a mime that would never end.
Suddenly, Lu Yingheng turned sideways, tucked one hand into his robes, and raised the other, resting his fingertips lightly against the dragon horn at his temple. His golden eyes slanted to the side as he curled his lips into a wicked smile.
The dark scales on his profile shimmered faintly, and his black dragon horns made the pose look especially showy, while giving him the kind of handsomeness unique to the Dragon Emperor:
"Well? What do you think of your Brother Heng's new look and this pose? Did I dazzle you with my good looks?"
"Pfft..."
Belle finally burst out laughing, her sadness vanishing in an instant. Sitting in her chair, she couldn't stop the corners of her lips from curling up.
Ding. This chapter's story has ended. Emotion Points gained: 700 million.
[Whoa, whoa, whoa! Lord Husband actually knows how to pose! Though it is a little showy.]
[Cold and merciless to his enemies, but gentle and open with his friends...]
[This kind of character is exactly my type! What do I do? Lord Husband! Come to my room tonight! I have something to discuss with you!]
Wise sat on the couch nearby. Although he had insisted all along that Lu Yingheng would definitely come back to the video store, he couldn't help worrying a little.
But things were fine now. Lu Yingheng was still the same Lu Yingheng who joked and horsed around with them.
Wise said from the side, "Yingheng, have you remembered something? Are you feeling all right? If you're uncomfortable, come back as soon as you can and get some rest first."
Lu Yingheng picked up Eous and went to find Koleda to say goodbye:
"My memories are coming back starting from my childhood. My combat abilities, on the other hand, have more or less recovered. I'm fine."
Belle's attention was elsewhere entirely:
"Then can you tell me about your childhood? Brother Heng, you must have been a little brat when you were young too!"
"Hey, hey, hey! I was smart from the time I was little, all right? I skipped the little brat stage entirely and became a mature adult!"
"I don't believe you. Maybe you even wet the bed when you were little!"
"Sigh..."
Koleda lay slumped over her desk, surrounded by technical reports.
She had only just seen the Proxy and his assistant off, and had promised not to reveal the Dragon Emperor's identity.
Then she had sent the evidence left behind after the mechanical monster was killed to the Public Security Bureau, only to come back and face this pile of financial reports on the losses...
But none of those miscellaneous matters was really what had left her so exhausted. What concerned her more was what her father had gotten caught up in back then.
Yet she didn't have the slightest clue.
Even setting that matter aside, so many years had passed that any evidence left behind had probably long since vanished under the Hollow's erosion.
And whatever had been able to drive her father, a company president, to his death so many years ago-what kind of behemoth had it become now?
"Dad, how am I supposed to find the truth? The Proxy said the Dragon Emperor was killed by the same force. Even a Void Hunter couldn't stand against it, so what am I supposed to do?"
A fierce gust of wind blew the window open, and raindrops gradually pattered in from outside, like a movement that had suddenly begun, expressing a desolate mood.
"Who's there? Who's playing tricks?"
Koleda sprang to her feet and instinctively grabbed the hammer beside her:
"My hammer doesn't have eyes! Come out, now!"
"President Koleda, there's no need to panic."
A dark figure appeared out of thin air and sat down on the edge of the window. Raindrops slowly fell against his cloak:
"Allow me to introduce myself. Dragon Emperor Guard, Long Yi."
Koleda sneered:
"The Proxy already explained everything to me. You're too obsessed with finding the Dragon Emperor, and the way you operate is especially strange. He told me not to trust you."
"Oh, no, no, President Koleda. Surely you've misunderstood something?"
The dark figure slowly shook his head. "I've never belonged to the Dragon Emperor Bureau. The young lady cannot command me. I answer only to the Dragon Emperor."
"Hasn't the Dragon Emperor lost his memories? Then how did he get in touch with you?"
Koleda keenly spotted the problem. Her construction hammer was already beginning to glow with fire, as though a great battle would be unavoidable if the person before her gave the wrong answer:
"Are you lying to me?"
The dark figure raised his head, his golden eyes shining brilliantly in the darkness:
"You still know nothing of the Dragon Emperor's abilities. Of the many, many possible futures, only if everything proceeds according to the Dragon Emperor's plan can all of this be brought to a perfect end!"
In truth, Long Yi had no idea what the Dragon Emperor's plan was, nor did he need to know.
From the moment he became Long Yi, there had only ever been one thing for him to do with the Dragon Emperor's orders: carry them out.
So he had merely repeated what Lu Yingheng had taught him, word for word.
As for whether Koleda believed him?
Long Yi wouldn't concern himself with that.
Because the Dragon Emperor's orders were absolutely correct!
Koleda would surely follow the Dragon Emperor's guidance and reach the ending he desired!