svetikya 015 Who exactly are you?
015 Who exactly are you?
Two long, slanted shadows were printed on the paper door of the hot spring inn.
Nono was still tightly wrapped around Lu Mingfei's waist, her cheek pressed against his thin back. A few seconds later, a drop of warm water landed on the back of her hand.
She pulled her hand back as if she had been electrocuted and suddenly walked around to stand in front of Lu Mingfei.
The nightlight was dim, but the smell of blood was overwhelming.
The loser remained in the same moon-gazing posture, two streams of blood flowing down his nose, his chin and collar a complete mess. He seemed oblivious, merely blinking blankly and staring at the bloodstains on the tatami mat.
"Lu Mingfei! You—" Nono's voice changed instantly.
She lunged forward, grabbed the cold, wet towel that had fallen onto her lap, and pressed it firmly against the lower half of Lu Mingfei's face.
The snow-white towel was soaked in an instant, and large patches of glaring scarlet red quickly seeped and spread on the white cloth.
Lu Mingfei's chest clenched violently, and his vision went out of focus for a moment.
The pungent smell of blood was so similar to the LCL solution filling the insertion plug. The suffocating sensation of drowning loomed over him, followed by a phantom pain digging into his flesh at his carotid artery—the countdown to the DSS's self-destructing collar.
But he immediately gritted his teeth, raised his hand, and clumsily patted Nono's trembling hand.
"Senior sister... be gentle, you're going to break your nose." He chuckled muffledly through the towel, forcing out a bit of his usual slyness. "It's really not my fault, it's definitely because the matsutake mushrooms in that kaiseki meal were too nourishing..."
"Shut up! Lie down!" Nuonuo grabbed his wrist and pulled him down onto the floor.
The usually aloof red-haired witch's voice now carried an unconcealed sharpness and a slight tremor.
She knelt beside the pillow, constantly turning the towel over and over to find a clean spot, and slowly wiped the blood from his chin.
Lu Mingfei's gaze passed over Nuonuo's shoulder and fell lifelessly onto the ceiling. His hand rose limply, instinctively wanting to push Nuonuo's arm away.
"Go away..." He stared blankly into the air, mumbling incoherently in his sleep, "The water's too deep... it'll melt. The bomb... the bomb's on my neck... if it explodes, it'll hurt everyone..."
Nono froze, her hand wiping away the blood.
She put down the towel and tightly wrapped Lu Mingfei's cold, struggling hand in her own palm.
"Without water, you're just getting a nosebleed from being too hot." Nono lowered her head, leaned close to his ear, and spoke to him in a coaxing, calm tone, word by word, "There are no bombs here, you're safe."
He slowly turned his eyes to meet Nuonuo's gaze, his tense shoulders finally slumping down. His heavy eyelids closed completely, and he drifted into a deep sleep.
Nono didn't let go; she pulled the blanket over with one hand and tucked the poor child's feet in tightly.
Then I brought a basin of water, washed the towel, and cleaned up the bloodstains on his face.
Lu Mingfei's breathing finally became even and long.
The paper lantern on the tatami mat emitted a faint yellow light. Nuonuo knelt beside Lu Mingfei, her legs already numb. But she didn't change her position; her body was stubborn, as if moving would cause something to fall apart.
The copper basin lay beside me, its surface stained a dark, rusty color. The light from the paper lantern flickered in the water, breaking into small, fragmented pieces.
Nono was a little distracted, her gaze gradually drifting away from the basin of red water, and the scene from just now flashed through her mind without warning.
A boy sat alone atop the ruins, cradling a girl in his arms. The girl's red hair danced in the blood-red sunset, almost blending into the boundless red sea.
That dark red was too glaring.
She rubbed her cheeks, forcing her gaze away from the copper basin, a stray red hair stuck to her hand.
Nono recalled the mental world she saw in Lu Mingfei, as if she had a vivid dream. Upon waking, she found that she couldn't describe the texture of the dream—the humidity of the air, the angle of the light, the hardness of the ground, the throbbing pain in her chest that she couldn't quite place, whether it was fear or sadness.
All I remember receiving was a dry plot outline.
"A city was destroyed, a dragon devoured the world, and everyone died."
That's how it is when you say it; you lose 99 percent of it.
But the remaining 99 percent is still inside her body.
She remembered the dying red-haired girl that Lu Mingfei was holding in his arms.
And there was the red dragon's corpse that had been devoured by nine white dragons.
The two images overlapped in her mind.
The same red, the same atmosphere, the same sense of life fading away.
The connection was so strong, it was like—
"Twins."
Nono murmured.
The academy's conclusion is clear: dragons can transform into human form, but this is essentially a disguise, like wearing clothes. The human form is the outer skin, while the dragon form is the true form.
But what she saw was not the relationship between the outer skin and the core.
What she saw was a tree with two branches.
There is no hierarchy or distinction between branches, no inside and outside, no "true self" and no "disguise." They grow from the same place, stretching in different directions, but they share the same sap.
She could sense an invisible line between the red dragon's corpse and the red-haired girl in Lu Mingfei's arms. It was like a plant split in two, one half withered in the soil, the other half dying in the hands that held it.
Then she remembered the figure behind Lu Mingfei.
That quiet black dragon.
At the time, her attention was completely captured by the boy and girl in the sea of blood, and she almost ignored the enormous background. But now she remembered it; the black dragon stood silently at the end of the ruins, back to back with Lu Mingfei, like a silent shield.
Nono's hands began to tremble.
She realized that the relationship between Lu Mingfei and the black dragon was symmetrical to the relationship between the red dragon and the red-haired girl.
The same structure, dragon and human, are twins in one body, inseparable.
Two pairs of twins, two camps.
They are rebelling against the same thing.
Nono suddenly opened her eyes.
"Black King".
All the pieces began to come together.
Nidhogg the Black King, Ragnarok, and the World Tree were devoured; the Red Dragon was nailed to the ground, and the Black Dragon fell silent; all life was emptied from its vessel, and the world dissolved into a red sea.
Dragons and humans, on the same side, lost together.
They were devoured by Nidhogg and returned to the World Tree, becoming part of that giant tree woven from light and bones. The entire world dissolved within the Black King's belly, leaving only Lu Mingfei, sitting atop the ruins, embracing his companions who would never awaken again, waiting to become part of nothingness himself.
Nono's head pressed against the wall; it was cool and felt good.
She recalled the image of Lu Mingfei kneeling on the surface of Lake Lu.
Now she understood; he was confirming whether the Red Sea was hidden at the edge of this world.
He found the answer: nothing.
He didn't say anything, he just knelt on the water, covered his face, and curled up into a ball.
"Lu Mingfei".
"Who exactly are you?"