novelraw Chapter 212
Chapter 212
Chapter 212: Scared the Dragon to Death!
“Scared the dragon to death.”
“Meow…”
After the two patrol officers in reflective vests walked away, a series of sighs of relief came from the car.
Lucia took off the coat from her head and slowly crawled out from the front of the seat.
Her already fair little face was even paler from fright.
Ten minutes ago, when Lucia saw out of the corner of her eye humans approaching with holy light magic… flashlights, she immediately took action.
With little magic power left in her body, she used the last bit to hide her figure, then held her breath and stealthily ran onto Xia Li’s car.
To hide herself, she even covered her head with Xia Li’s coat, disguising herself as a pile of clutter in the corner.
Fortunately, Lucia was quick-witted and wasn’t discovered. Otherwise, when those two Uncle Police asked for her ID number, she would definitely have been exposed.
“Whew.”
Lucia patted her chest, still feeling scared.
Although she had squeezed out the last bit of her magic power, she had at least escaped a disaster.
“Meow ha.”
Wuqi, who had climbed into the car, also breathed a sigh of relief.
His legs had gone weak from fear, especially when he saw Xia Li about to draw his sword, which made his fur stand on end.
Xia Li was also covered in cold sweat.
Turning the air conditioner up a couple of degrees, Xia Li kept fanning his neck.
“No ID?”
Qin Chuan’s voice came from behind.
Anyone with eyes could see that the atmosphere just now was tense.
Xia Li nodded in response: “Yeah.”
Qin Chuan thought for a moment.
It made sense.
The dragon girlfriend Xia Li brought back wasn’t from Earth, so naturally she wouldn’t have an Earthly identity. If those official personnel discovered her existence, the consequences would be severe.
“Don’t you have magic?” Qin Chuan asked again.
“Even if we have magic, it’s not omnipotent…”
Xia Li took off his soaked shirt. Seeing this, Lucia in the passenger seat quickly handed him his coat.
While handing it over, Lucia glanced warily at the back seat, her warning look seemingly concerned about Xia Li’s body being seen by outsiders—even though she hadn’t cared about this when she had stripped Xia Li’s clothes in front of the cat and him earlier.
Xia Li said while putting on his clothes:
“Our abilities are also limited on Earth. Society now isn’t like it used to be, where you could get an ID just by going through a written procedure. It’s still very difficult to change the information database with magic, and there’s a high risk of exposure… So we didn’t take that risk.”
Qin Chuan listened to all this with a serious face, feeling like this author’s life wasn’t so comfortable after all.
Everyone had their own difficulties; what he saw online was just the glamorous side that the other party presented.
His gaze slowly fell on the little girl in the passenger seat. Qin Chuan glanced at her and then silently lowered his head.
Although he had somewhat guessed that this author from another world had brought his girlfriend back to Earth, Qin Chuan was still deeply moved when he truly confirmed that the other party was a Silver Dragon.
It was somewhat… magical?
Speaking of which, did this count as some kind of fan meeting?
Qin Chuan had learned about Lucia’s backstory from the book, and like most readers, he admired her personality.
Of course, Qin Chuan wasn’t some ‘daughter-raising party’; he was a true setting enthusiast.
Thinking of this, he shifted to the side a bit awkwardly, seemingly feeling that his clothes were too dirty. He pulled at his pant legs to minimize contact, his butt only occupying a small area of the seat.
Xia Li turned the steering wheel, making a U-turn.
The road ahead was full of obstacles, the power hadn’t been restored yet, and everything was pitch black.
Xia Li turned on the high beams and slowed the car to a crawl.
“Do you have anywhere you need to go?”
He glanced at the rearview mirror and asked as tactfully as possible.
Listening to Qin Chuan’s conversation with the patrol officers just now, it seemed like he was a local. It didn’t seem right for Xia Li to just drive him away.
If there was anywhere he needed to go back to or get something, Xia Li could take him there first.
Qin Chuan lowered his head, his face filled with exhaustion.
When he heard Xia Li ask him this, he twitched the corner of his mouth, unclear if he was laughing or mocking himself.
“No.”
He was homeless.
He didn’t even have a place he wanted to take a last look at before leaving.
If he could, he actually wanted to go back and visit his parents’ graves.
But he felt ashamed of his parents, so he didn’t dare go back.
Moreover, the bridge leading to his hometown had collapsed, and along with it, his last bit of attachment.
“…But, if you take me away now, you’re playing with fire.”
Qin Chuan suddenly thought of this and spoke up to remind him.
“If they investigate what I did, it’ll be easy to trace it back to me. We just left records together, finding me means finding you.”
“Meow.”
The cow cat sitting next to Qin Chuan suddenly meowed, unclear what it was saying.
Xia Li stepped on the brakes. Qin Chuan looked up, thinking that the other party must have some concerns and wanted to abandon him—after all, the other party had a Silver Dragon girlfriend to hide at home. Compared to his girlfriend, how could his existence be cared about?
Qin Chuan didn’t blame Xia Li. He pulled the car door, preparing to get out.
However, the car door wouldn’t budge.
Then, Xia Li handed him a glowing object.
“My phone, lend it to you. Log in to your B-Call account now and delete your post.”
Qin Chuan: “…”
“Since I’ve already come here, I’m naturally not afraid of playing with fire… Besides, didn’t you say it yourself? We both left records, now we’re both grasshoppers tied to the same rope.”
Xia Li paused, adding half-jokingly:
“Leaving you out there alone is even more dangerous. What if you come up with another world-destroying idea? Wouldn’t my trip have been in vain?”
“…”
Qin Chuan was speechless, silently operating the phone, logging in to his account, and deleting the post.
Thinking about it, he simply deactivated the account.
Since Xia Li had said so, he didn’t want to really implicate him.
Every message he left on this website was a cyber footprint. If he decided to hide now, it was better to erase it all.
“Done.” He returned the phone to Xia Li.
“Meow…”
Wuqi in the back seat sighed.
『I’ve found that you people chosen as heroes all have one thing in common. 』
『That is, you can’t be that bad. 』
『This brother was about to destroy the world, and you even beat him up. When those patrol officers asked him if anyone else was present, he immediately chose to speak up for you… Can this kind of person be called a villain?』
Wuqi said with feeling.
Xia Li also felt that it was true.
This was also why he decided to help Qin Chuan all the way.
Just as he had said to Qin Chuan before: ‘If you are the epitome of my misfortune, I would hope that someone would reach out to me at this time’.
So he reached out to Qin Chuan.
“Is there anything you want to do? Or anything you want to eat?”
Xia Li held the steering wheel and looked ahead.
◈◈◈
Now there were really four lives in one car, and after staying up all night, he had to be even more alert.
When he said the word ‘eat’, he clearly saw Lucia tilt her head.
The evil dragon’s eyes suddenly lit up, as if the fatigue from lack of sleep had been purified by the word ‘eat’.
“I… do.”
This time, Qin Chuan didn’t refuse. His voice was a little weak, even sounding a little desperate.
“…Don’t tell me you want to die or something.” Xia Li said alertly.
Qin Chuan shook his head: “I’m too tired now, I want to find a quiet place to have a good sleep.”
“That can be arranged.”
As soon as Xia Li heard it was this kind of thing, he readily agreed.
◈◈◈
The return trip wasn’t as rushed. When the sun peeked out and hung high in the sky, Xia Li finally returned to Qingcheng City.
It was already noon.
Lucia had asked for half a day off in the car. As an intern, there was no such thing as a perfect attendance award. The attending physician told her to just rest well today and come back tomorrow.
The dragon insisted on going to work in the afternoon. She had promised a client that she would deworm her dog in the afternoon.
This dragon was now a big star at the pet hospital.
Xia Li felt sorry for her lack of sleep, but she insisted that she wasn’t tired, her big eyes heavy with sleepiness.
After going home to change clothes, Xia Li took the hungry dragon to the restaurant downstairs for a hearty meal and then sent her to work.
“Only three hours left until you get off work… Just don’t go.”
“I have to go!”
The evil dragon was very stubborn. Xia Li couldn’t persuade her and reluctantly sent Lucia downstairs.
A lot had happened today. He even drew his sword and fought a ‘battle’ with the ‘enemy’… All of this was done according to Stinky Dragon’s arrangements.
As a result, this dragon was about to leave after patting her butt, without giving him any reward?
But it seemed like… the reward had already been paid in advance.
Xia Li suddenly remembered the collapsed bed at home.
Before getting out of the car, Lucia leaned her head over, wanting to give Xia Li a peck on the cheek.
But then she suddenly remembered the two pairs of eyes in the back seat, so her pouting little mouth silently deflated.
“Wait for me to come back tonight!”
As if seeing the ‘dissatisfaction’ written all over Xia Li’s face, Lucia softly comforted him.
Now this dragon had learned to draw a pie in the sky.
“Okay, I’ll wait for you.”
Even though he knew he was being played by Lucia, Xia Li’s mouth still curled up at lightning speed, his lips hooked up.
Watching Lucia’s retreating figure, Xia Li withdrew his gaze and looked at the rearview mirror.
Now what he had to do was…
Settle Qin Chuan first.
At this time, Xia Li really wanted to ask the other party if he had any thoughts or plans, but then he thought about how bad his mood must be now, so he decided to let him rest first and talk about it after he woke up.
◈◈◈
Arriving downstairs at a hostel, Xia Li went to the front desk to check in.
His house was too small to accommodate another person.
Xia Li originally wanted to take Qin Chuan to a hotel, but Qin Chuan said a hostel would be fine, and it was cheaper.
This hostel cost fifty yuan a night, with air conditioning and hot water. The toilet and shower room were shared, and there was also an old washing machine available.
Qin Chuan seemed to often stay in such places. He said these facilities were enough to meet his living needs.
Xia Li was very curious about his situation and had many questions he wanted to ask.
But looking at Qin Chuan’s exhausted face, which seemed about to shrivel up, he held back these questions.
“You rest well first.”
Xia Li stood at the door, the cow cat at his feet meowing along with him.
This kind of hostel was very common in the old city. This one was only two hundred meters away from Xia Li’s house, a five-minute walk.
After all, Qin Chuan was still considered half a dangerous element, and now he was under Xia Li’s supervision, so the place where he stayed was also arranged very close.
“These things, and the money, consider it a loan from me.”
Qin Chuan changed into a set of clothes. Xia Li lent him his own clothes. They were about the same height and weight, so his clothes fit Qin Chuan perfectly.
It could be seen that Qin Chuan was a person with strong self-esteem. Xia Li didn’t want to hurt his self-esteem, so he didn’t say much and just nodded in agreement.
“Okay.”
He felt his pocket and took out a white charging cable.
“You don’t have a charger on you, right? I saw your phone also uses a Type-C charging port. You can use mine first, we still need to keep in touch later.”
“Mm…”
Qin Chuan lay tiredly on the bed in the hostel. This hostel was quite old. The surrounding walls were moldy and peeling due to dampness. The corners were piled with unswept hair and dander, and even the sheets had a faint strange smell.
But Qin Chuan didn’t think the environment was bad.
He had lived in dungeons piled with rotting flesh in the Zela Continent, soaked in jars filled with strong acid. After returning to Earth, the small bed in his aunt’s house where he would be beaten if he lay down, and the looks of exclusion from the restaurant staff in the dormitory… those were his nightmares.
In comparison, the environment here was already comfortable enough.
After a long time, Qin Chuan felt a sense of peace, as if even his restless emotions had been calmed down a bit.
He looked at Xia Li, and after a long time, he managed to utter two words:
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” Xia Li smiled.
The cow cat at his feet stretched out its paw and waved it.
“Meow!”
『You’re welcome, brother!』
“You sleep first, keep in touch.”
Xia Li put the charger on the bedside table, along with two hundred yuan in banknotes.
“Creak—”
The old door of the hostel slowly closed. Qin Chuan stared at the ceiling, the Heart of Stone on his chest had long since returned to calmness.
The crack still existed there.
It was like a scar, left on Qin Chuan’s chest.
Qin Chuan gently held it, and as if responding, it beat again, emitting a faint white light.
Death was a stupid thing to do.
Qin Chuan had died countless times, so he looked upon death lightly.
In fact, death was very painful.
“Dad, Mom…”
Qin Chuan raised his arm and placed it on his forehead.
Hot tears streamed down, quickly absorbed by the white sheets.
“I’m sorry.”
He said to himself, his voice thick with a stuffy nose.
“I will definitely become a successful person in the future.”
“Just like I promised when I was a child.”