Chapter 4: Dark Torrent of Falling Rain (4)

"Lu... Lu Mingze?" Lu Mingfei stammered, "How could you possibly be here?"

"How heartbreaking, brother."

Lu Mingze pulled his hand back from the car window, turned around, and deliberately wore a mournful expression on his face. "I came all this way just to see you, yet you don't seem very happy to have me."

"Bullshit. When I was in my third year at Advanced Nurturing High School, nearly played to death by people like Kiyotaka Ayanokoji and Arisu Sakayanagi, why didn't you pop up then?"

Though Lu Mingfei said this, his heart was actually racing when he saw Lu Mingze appear. It was the first time in three years he had seen him.

"But didn't you manage to resolve those difficulties perfectly well on your own, brother?" Lu Mingze said softly. "You haven't realized it yet, but you are no longer the pathetic kid you were so long ago. Even though time has rewound, those experiences were truly real for you. You have killed three dragons with your own hands and engaged in street battles against tens of thousands of gangsters in neon-lit cities. Your courage and wisdom have grown significantly, far surpassing ordinary people, and the physical training courses at Cassel College have genuinely improved your physique. Didn't you notice that when you faced Liu Miaomiao just now, you were able to reject her without the slightest hesitation? The old you would never have been capable of that."

As Lu Mingze spoke, he let out a soft breath. Those beautiful golden eyes met Lu Mingfei’s gaze, and he continued with a sigh of relief, "You have... grown up, brother."

"Pfft, stop talking like an old father, will you?" Lu Mingfei couldn't help but retort, but then he fell silent.

The two remained in silence for several minutes before Lu Mingfei asked, "So, you also have the memories of the time before I traveled back?"

"Of course, brother. Wherever you are, I am there."

"Then do you know what all of this is about?" Lu Mingfei asked. In his eyes, the little devil Lu Mingze should be omniscient regarding such supernatural phenomena. "I remember we were locked in a death struggle with Herzog over Tokyo Bay. Why did I wake up as a high school student in a neon city... and become classmates with characters from light novels? And why didn't I see you while I was there?"

"Do you remember what I told you about Nibelungen?"

"I remember."

"The world is actually a massive Nibelungen." Lu Mingze looked away, his brilliant golden eyes fixed on the ink-black, rain-drenched night sky. "Every Nibelungen has its own alchemical laws. Even I cannot defy them; I can only respect the rules and go with the flow. That world had no dragon race, no hybrids, and therefore no me. So I couldn't appear and had to sleep somewhere in your heart, until you returned to this world once more, and only then did I awaken from my long slumber."

Lu Mingfei was silent for ten seconds before asking, "Then was the world I traveled to before real? Or was it just a dream?"

Lu Mingze suddenly laughed, looking at Lu Mingfei through the rearview mirror. "What do you think, brother?" he asked. "There is more than one Nibelungen in this world."

Just then, a bolt of lightning streaked across the sky, a cold blue light tearing a massive fissure through the firmament. The light lingered for several seconds before fading, yet the sound of thunder was delayed.

Watching the night sky return to silence, Lu Mingfei suddenly sensed that something was wrong. In the time frozen by Lu Mingze, why had lightning flashed across the sky?

"'He' has discovered me," Lu Mingze said. "My control is slowly fading; I cannot stay here much longer."

"'He'? Who is 'he'?" A sense of foreboding washed over Lu Mingfei.

"Take a guess, brother," Lu Mingze said. "Don't you think the elevated highway is a bit too empty? With traffic this congested, how could he be the only one to think of taking a detour? This feeling of silence and cold—you’ve experienced it before."

"You mean... we are in a Nibelungen right now?"

A chill crept from the soles of Lu Mingfei's feet to the top of his head. He tried to stand up in agitation, but his head hit the roof of the Maybach with a thud. Yet, at this moment, he had no mind to care about the pain. He stared fixedly at the little devil, hoping for a denial, but Lu Mingze merely nodded, confirming his answer: "Yes."

"Why?" Lu Mingfei wanted to ask why they had inexplicably driven into a Nibelungen.

"Every car’s destination is determined the moment it sets sail. The destination of this Maybach was this elevated highway in the rainy night. This happened before you returned, and their lives have already been bound to the master of this Nibelungen. Even I am powerless to change it."

"Not even by trading lives?"

"Trade lives for a man you've known for less than an hour?" Lu Mingze chuckled. "You’ve changed, brother. Back then, you wouldn't even trade a quarter of your life for Erii."

Lu Mingze’s words were like an eternal thorn, piercing a spot near Lu Mingfei’s heart. Lu Mingfei suddenly felt an inexplicable rage. He clenched his fists, his voice rising, "Cut the crap. I’m just asking, can trading lives change fate?"

"But I don't want to trade with you, brother. And you don't really want to trade, either." Lu Mingze turned, kneeling on the driver’s seat, leaning over the backrest to look at Lu Mingfei through the headrest. He shook his head. "You aren't desperate enough yet."

"You won't trade, you talk in riddles—what exactly did you come here for?"

"I just came to inform you of one thing: you won't die here, so there is no need to be so terrified."

"Then who will die?"

Lu Mingze suddenly stopped talking. He sat back in his seat, his hand reaching out the window once more to stroke the raindrops that had begun to fall, his head swaying gently.

Though it was slow, Lu Mingfei could see it: the lines of rain were falling and vibrating at a speed barely visible to the naked eye. Lu Mingze’s expression was solemn and grave, utterly absorbed, yet so sorrowful that it gave Lu Mingfei the illusion that the threads his fingertips brushed were not rain, but real strings of music.

No, it was not an illusion. Lu Mingze was truly playing a piece of music! He could hear the movement composed by the vibration of the rain.

It was Chopin’s *Funeral March*!

Lu Mingfei suddenly understood why Lu Mingze had appeared in a gothic black mourning suit. He really had come to attend a funeral!

Suddenly, a peal of thunder came slowly and angrily—the sound of the lightning that had flashed earlier, only just arriving now. Lu Mingze pulled his hand back from the window, causing the heavy *Funeral March* to break off mid-movement. A look of regret appeared on his face.

"The rain is falling faster; this piece cannot be finished. I must go." He turned his head and waved gently at Lu Mingfei. "Brother, until we meet again."

As if someone had pressed the play button on a tape recorder, the moment Lu Mingze’s figure vanished from the passenger seat, everything around them began to flow again. The music playing in the Maybach was no longer the *Funeral March*, but the song the man had been playing earlier, *Daily Growing*.

The man drove leisurely, and Chu Zihang stared out the window, his arm propped up, expressionless. Everything was as it had been. It was as if Lu Mingze had never arrived and never left.

Lu Mingfei felt a flicker of hope; perhaps what Lu Mingze had said was just a misjudgment. The Maybach was driving straight on the elevated highway in the rainy night; they hadn't taken any detours, so how could they have accidentally driven into a Nibelungen?

But in that instant, Lu Mingfei observed a sudden change in the man’s face through the rearview mirror.

A moment ago, the man’s expression had been as carefree and roguish as Fingel’s, but in a flash, the muscles on his face tightened. The veins at the corners of his eyes pulsed like small snakes, and his entire body went rigid, as if red-hot iron had been plunged into ice water.

Chu Zihang also observed the change in the man through the rearview mirror. In his memory, the man had never worn such an expression. It was the look of a wounded lion encountering an unprecedentedly fierce enemy, his pupils suddenly contracting, revealing immense terror.

*Tap, tap, tap...*

Someone suddenly knocked on the car door.