Lu Mingfei, who had read Dragon Clan before slaying the dragon

"But 'Doctor', Renata has already awakened, and she hasn't had the surgery yet. I can't stop her or control her..." The head nurse's face looked a little ugly.

Admitting this was undoubtedly a shame for her. After all, Renata had always been the target of her bullying, but now this girl's fighting power surpassed hers. It was difficult for her to accept the gap by admitting it in person.

"Do you know why I'm considering you?" Herzog said, looking at the head nurse. "I've looked into your record in the Soviet Red Army. Besides your extensive medical experience, the two things I admire most about you are your exceptional marksmanship and your battlefield experience. You even shot and killed five Italian soldiers who tried to rape you during one battle."

As he spoke, Herzog took out a black pistol from the inside pocket of his white coat and slapped the pistol into the head nurse's hand.

"A modified Smith & Wesson M500, combined with a specially formulated M99 anesthetic, can even bring down a polar bear. It'll be equally effective against these awakened children." Herzog pointed to Renata and then Zero to the head nurse. "It's time to put your expertise to use. Renata is in your care, and I'll keep an eye on Zero."

As he spoke, Herzog raised the pair of black clappers in his hands. It was obvious that he no longer had the leisure to talk to Lu Mingfei. Something must have invaded the harbor, and the soldiers were fighting that thing outside. The sound of gunfire and shouting had not stopped yet... But the lives of those soldiers combined were not as important as a test subject. The first thing Herzog had to do was to ensure his own safety, and the second thing was to ensure that his test subjects in the building were safe. Even if the soldiers outside were all killed, the senior officials of the Soviet government would send new garrison soldiers to the harbor next month.

"Doctor seems angry?" Renata, or the girl named "Zero," said to Lu Mingfei. She leaned over and whispered a secret in Lu Mingfei's ear. "You know, the noise outside is because a huge black snake has come into the harbor."

The head nurse took the Smith & Wesson M500 pistol from Herzog's hand. The moment she picked up the pistol, she suddenly remembered that she was raped by several Italian soldiers a few years ago. When the soldier in front of her reached the climax and was weak, the soldier made a disgusting groan. She pulled out the M460 revolver from the other's waist, loaded it skillfully, and shot the heads of several Italian soldiers who had violated her. In the end, she emptied the magazine.

One has to admit that holding a gun does make people feel more confident and arouse a certain bloodthirsty desire, especially for those who have actually killed people with guns... The head nurse loaded the gun skillfully and aimed the black muzzle at Renata's forehead.

Herzog was right. Her skills with firearms were superb. She won first place in the shooting competition among Soviet female recruits that year. This was because she knew from the beginning that guns were designed to kill people. Every time she fired a bullet, she imagined that the bullet would penetrate the enemy's chest or brain. If it missed and hit a non-lethal part, she would be the next to die... In the era before the war began, she trained with this idea in mind, and of course she grew much faster than the other recruits of the same period.

This time the head nurse was aiming at Renata's life. The "Doctor" had always been reluctant to perform surgery on Renata. She had been able to control Renata before, but Renata had awakened now. This annoying girl would definitely mess up the entire institute... The head nurse's resentment towards Renata actually came from the "Doctor's" preference for Renata. Just like what the "Doctor" mentioned about her past, in this man's eyes, she was a piece of dirt that had been defiled by many men, while Renata was a clean and pure white flower. The strong sense of disparity made her jealous almost crazy.

This is a golden opportunity. The entire harbor is in chaos. She and the "Doctor" have to stop the awakened Zero and Renata. The gun was handed to her by the "Doctor". In a hurry, she accidentally killed Renata, which was uncontrollable... Although the barrel is filled with anesthetic, with the power of the modified Smith & Wesson M500, if the injection is shot into the forehead of a person, the shot person has almost no chance of survival.

Herzog didn't pay attention to the head nurse. His attention was now entirely on Lu Mingfei lying on the iron bed, and the clappers in his hands were about to collide.

Lu Mingfei ignored Herzog and the head nurse. He simply asked Ling the same question he had just asked Herzog but which Herzog had not answered: "Renata... No, Zero, is there a full moon tonight?"

"Oh, yes. Besides the Black Snake incident, I came here to tell you this. Tonight is the full moon night. Have you found the things you lost?" Ling then asked Lu Mingfei, "I can't tell you anymore. Are you Lu Mingfei or Zero?"

The boy on the bed slowly shook his head.

Ling looked at the boy, she couldn't tell whether it was Lu Mingfei or Zero, because she saw the shadows of both people in the boy at the same time. He looked like both Zero and Lu Mingfei, but it seemed that he was neither Zero nor Lu Mingfei... The two boys with completely different personalities she knew seemed to have become one person, a familiar yet new and unfamiliar person.

"When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth—Gog and Magog—to gather them for battle. Their number is like the sand on the seashore." The boy was tied to the iron bed and chanted softly, facing the black muzzle of a gun and a black clapper.

A "dong dong dong" sound came from somewhere in the room, as if someone was beating a drum, or as if countless demons were hiding in all directions and singing in unison for him.

The building shook violently, as if hit by a meteorite. Herzog and the head nurse fell to the ground. The cold moonlight shone into Ward Zero. Because the roof was blown off, a round bright moon hung high in the sky.

Under the moon was a pitch-black and enormous shadow, like a long black river hanging upside down from the sky. The shadow covered the entire Ward Zero in its shadow, and the pair of huge golden vertical pupils were as bright as candles.

"Snake! Snake! Snake!" The head nurse stared at the black shadow with wide eyes and shouted these three words. She was so scared that she almost fainted.

The black snake came, bringing with it strong winds, ice, snow and lightning. The black scales on its body expanded and closed like cheerful castanets. Its long tail stood tall, wrapped with purple-blue electric currents.

It was with this ferocious giant tail that it blew away the dome of the building. It was absolutely violent. It wrapped around the building and attacked it several times. This building that could defend against missiles and an 8-magnitude earthquake was actually torn apart by it... Behind it were the corpses of soldiers and the fragments of the building. The blood dyed the entire ice field red.

The black snake looked up at the bright moon in the sky and let out a howl that was between joy and anger. It was joyful because it finally found the boy, and it was angry because it saw the boy tied to death on the bed.

"What...is this thing!" Herzog raised his head and stared blankly at the huge monster towering above him. He forced himself to suppress the fear in his heart and asked.

"Snake! Snake! Snake!" However, the head nurse couldn't answer him at all. She kept repeating these three words, looking completely frightened.

The black snake lowered its huge head, and its head alone was enough to fill the entire Ward Zero. Herzog couldn't help but hind legs. The golden eyes that were bigger than others made him feel that his soul was trembling.

Chapter 691 Collapse

However, the black snake was not coming for Herzog at all. It completely ignored the man who was extremely wary of it. The black snake's huge head slowly probed to the iron bed in Ward Zero. It touched the arm of the boy on the iron bed affectionately with its nose tip. It looked like a friend greeting, or like a pet acting coquettishly to its owner.

But how could such a species possibly become friends with humans? And who could possibly tame such a giant creature as a pet...even if they couldn't speak the same language!

Moreover, this thing is so big that it completely exceeds the records of existing species recorded by humans. Even the largest Titan Anaconda in the world is as small as an earthworm or caterpillar in front of this black snake. It is definitely some kind of prehistoric species... It must be!

When Herzog looked into the pair of huge, golden pupils like candles, he couldn't help but think of the following: the golden pupils are a symbol of bloodline, and coupled with the huge body like a mountain, Herzog couldn't help but think of the demon buried under the ice of the Black Swan Port in Siberia, the beautiful, hideous creature between an angel and a devil, that... dragon!

Herzog had personally seen the prehistoric giant beast that was frozen more than a hundred meters under the ice field. He still remembers the feeling in his heart when he first saw that thing. It was a shock that cannot be described in words. His life, his ambition, and his worldview all collapsed in an instant because of that white, pale and beautiful beast. From then on, Herzog knew that there was not only humans but also one kind of intelligent creature in the world. He learned that there was also a kind of creature in the world that was far more powerful and more dominant than humans. Herzog's life trajectory was changed because of this.

Herzog extracted genes and tissues from the dead dragon. He collected children with special bloodlines from all over the world and conducted repeated experiments on them in an attempt to create more perfect humans that could even rival dragons.

But the first time Herzog saw the black snake, he instantly realized two things. First, he immediately understood that this black snake was not a genetic mutation or a beast of unknown origin. It was the same creature as the dragon that died in the Siberian ice.

Although their appearance and body shape are different, that unique pair of golden eyes is definitely not fake. They all exude a certain oppressive aura that makes people's souls tremble... Even this black snake brings a stronger sense of oppression to Herzog than the white dragon. It may be because this black snake is alive and the dragon is dead, or it may be because this black snake has a more noble and terrifying bloodline than the white dragon!

The second thing Herzog realized was that he was wrong. The first time he came face to face with this ancient black snake, he knew he was wrong. He was so wrong. At this moment, Herzog could clearly realize how naive his ideas, his plans, and the research and experiments he had insisted on over the years were... Only those who have seen this ultimate living creature with their own eyes can understand this despair, this fear. The human body cannot compete with such a creature. No matter how successful his experiment is in the end, no matter how excellent and perfect the new human being is, it can never compare with such an ultimate creature!

The scales on the tip of the black snake's nose rubbed against the edge of Lu Mingfei's bed. The friction between the iron bed and the black snake's metallic black scales made a sharp and piercing sound. It looked like it was kissing Lu Mingfei. After a while, the black snake opened its bloody mouth again, as if it wanted to swallow Lu Mingfei in one bite.

But it had no intention of eating Lu Mingfei. The black snake's sharp teeth carefully avoided Lu Mingfei's body and bit the iron bed under Lu Mingfei and the iron chains that bound Lu Mingfei's body. These hard iron products were as vulnerable as dried mud and stones under its amazing bite force.

Lu Mingfei's body was freed by the black snake, and he broke free from the restraints. Lu Mingfei moved his wrists and looked up at the black snake spitting out its red tongue. Lu Mingfei stretched out a hand, placed it between the black snake's nose, and soothingly stroked its cold and hard metal-like scales. This was a kind of gratitude and a response to the black snake's goodwill, just like a drowning owner stroking his beloved dog who came to save him.

The black snake bowed its head reverently, and Lu Mingfei stepped on it naturally. The magical thing was that this was the first time he saw a black snake with his own eyes, but he was not afraid. Lu Mingfei didn't know what this black snake was, but he knew that the black snake would never harm him. When he recalled everything, Lu Mingfei knew that this black snake would definitely come to save him. This was a mysterious induction. In some ways, this black snake was like his most loyal servant.

"Come up." Lu Mingfei stretched out a hand towards Ling.

"Is it okay?" Ling was a little flattered. "Won't it get angry if I step on it?"

"No, we are friends, aren't we?" Lu Mingfei said, "It won't be angry with my friends."

Ling took Lu Mingfei's hand and stood on top of the black snake. Lu Mingfei leaned over and patted the black snake's head. The black snake stood up and twisted itself out of the dilapidated building. Only then did Ling see that the black snake's body was longer than she had imagined, definitely over a hundred meters long. Its body was wrapped around the waistline of the building, just like the scenes described in those disaster prophecies in the Middle Ages: "On the day of doomsday, the devilish mad snake will wrap its earth-shading body around the towering Tower of Babel. On that day, blood will flow like a sea, and the era of mankind will come to an end."

The black snake landed on the ice field. The building that had just been entangled and hit by it shook and slowly cracked. The giant snake's twisting posture was like an evil dance. Huge cracks spread from the bottom of the building to the ice field. The round dome shook off dust and sand. The metal parts that fixed the roof fell one after another. The vast ice field seemed to be plowed by an iron hoe, and the whole building was crumbling.

The fire started from nowhere, perhaps the candles in the lamps in the corridor were splashed out due to the shaking of the building. The fire spread extremely quickly, and the curtains and flammable cotton fabrics were all burned. The dark corridor of the building was illuminated by the flames, and the light and shadows were mottled and swaying.

The children screamed in terror in their rooms, not knowing whether it was the high temperature of the burning flames that made them feel pain, or their shadows cast on the walls that looked too much like ghosts that frightened them. The cages and doors in front of the rooms peeled off and collapsed, and the children all ran out of their rooms. The girls ran in the corridor with their skirts lifted, and the boys crowded and shoved, throwing away their gentlemanly manners and the safety of others, just like a group of lunatics in a concentration camp coming out for some fresh air.

Zero stood on top of the black snake. She looked at the collapsed and burning buildings, dancing with excitement. Above her head was a full moon emitting bright and brilliant light. The cold air of Siberia brushed across Zero's face. She breathed the long-lost fresh air. Her little face was red from the cold air, but Zero laughed wildly. She didn't care if the cold air pouring into her respiratory tract was too cold, nor did she care if she would get sick because of it. Zero enjoyed the rare breath of freedom. The cold wind passed through her body, and Zero felt like she was flying in the air.

There is a small church on one side of the building. Every Christmas or someone’s birthday, they would gather in the church to pray and read the Bible in the warmth of the mass... The black snake's body spread over the sacred cross on the top of the church, and its scales scraped mottled and rugged marks on the wall. This giant beast has no Jesus or God in its heart. In its eyes, the sacred buildings built by human civilization are at best just a pile of waste stones.

The black snake carried Liang Lu Mingfei and Ling up the towering snow-capped mountains of Siberia. The freezing cold wind blew in their faces, and the jagged icebergs flashed by in their sight. The huge ice blocks floating from the polar regions rose and fell slowly with the waves on the black ocean. A winding ice gorge was cracked in the center of the ice blocks. The sea water floated in the center of the ice gorge, emitting a faint blue glow. The nearby clouds reflected the flames burning on the buildings, and the fire illuminated their heads with the color of the sunset. In the distant sky, colorful ribbons were floating, as soft as snake bones and as gorgeous as neon lights. It was a beautiful miracle that only happened in the polar regions... the aurora.

Ling covered her mouth. She didn't know how to describe her inner emotions at the moment, but she almost couldn't suppress the urge to burst into tears. She had never seen such a beautiful scene. She had been living in this quiet and depressing building for all these years. She didn't know that the scenery outside the building was like this. It was as if the black snake carried her to the end of the world. It was so dreamy and so lonely.

"Over there, 453 kilometers from here, is the North Pole of the Earth. Over there, 5862 kilometers from here, is the equator of the Earth." Lu Mingfei turned around and said to Ling, "I remember your home is in Moscow, right? 3781 kilometers from here is Moscow. A little to the right, 2963 kilometers is the city in China where I live. A little to the right, 2866 kilometers is Seoul in South Korea. A little to the right again, 2500 kilometers is Tokyo in Japan..."

Having said this, Lu Mingfei was suddenly stunned.

This scene in my memory seems familiar. They stood on a towering cliff with the endless sea in front of them. They looked at the scene in front of them quietly, and he told the girl beside him about what the world was like.

"Why are you crying?" Ling looked at Lu Mingfei's profile. Crystal tears rolled down Lu Mingfei's cheeks. She could clearly feel the complex emotions emanating from the boy beside her, like a tide of loneliness, nostalgia and... sadness.

"I suddenly thought of some things and some people." Lu Mingfei whispered, "I'm just a little sad. I shouldn't have forgotten them."

"What should I call you now? Zero? Or Lu Mingfei?" Ling looked at Lu Mingfei's familiar yet strange face. "But I feel like you look neither like Zero nor like Lu Mingfei now. So you're neither Zero nor Lu Mingfei, right?"

Lu Mingfei was stunned. He looked at Ling. Ling's words were completely beyond his expectations, but he still nodded.

"You've known me for a long time, right?" Ling asked Lu Mingfei. "I don't know how to describe that feeling. Maybe it's in your dream, or maybe it's somewhere outside this world."

Lu Mingfei was silent for a moment, then nodded. He said to Ling, "But you are also quite different from the you I remember. However, both of you are real. You are very special."

If an ordinary girl heard this, she would probably ask Lu Mingfei what kind of impression he had of her. However, Ling didn't seem to care about this question at all. She asked Lu Mingfei another question that concerned her more: "Did you find it? What you lost?"

"No." Lu Mingfei shook his head and added, "I don't know. Too many things happened in the final moments. I lost too many things. I thought everything would be over once I got my memories back, but now it seems it's still not over. I don't know what to do."

"Or rather, I don't know how to find myself again." Lu Mingfei sighed softly, "I'm a little confused."

"What does it mean to find yourself again? Remember your name? Or see your appearance?" Ling asked, "Or, do you want to remember what you were originally going to do?"

After a moment of contemplation, Lu Mingfei decided to tell the truth: "Zero, I can't tell you that this world is fake, but at least in my eyes, this world is wrong. The moment I saw Dr. Herzog, I discovered the mistakes of this world, but I can't prove that these things are wrong. In other words, if I can't prove that something is real, I can't return to my own world."

"Zero said that if I don't find what I lost before the full moon, something irreversible will happen." Lu Mingfei raised his head and looked at the full moon hidden in the clouds. "This is the final deadline. If I don't find what I lost before the moon rises to the sky, everything will be irreversible."

"Did the Doctor take your things? Zero has been threatening the head nurse to have the Doctor talk to you." Zero asked, "What did you talk about with the Doctor just now?"

The corners of Lu Mingfei's eyes twitched, and a strange light flashed in his eyes. Suddenly, Lu Mingfei turned his head and quickly approached Ling.

Ling couldn't retreat, as there was a snow-capped cliff behind her. However, Lu Mingfei was too close to her. Ling could even hear the boy's heartbeat and feel his warm breath in the cold. She saw herself in Lu Mingfei's eyes, which reminded her of the time when she was violated by Zero. Two blushes appeared on Ling's fair face.

But Lu Mingfei did nothing, he just looked into Ling's eyes quietly

Chapter 692 The Non-Existent Lu Mingfei

"I found it." Lu Mingfei said, looking into Ling's eyes.

"What... did you find?" Ling was a little at a loss because of Lu Mingfei's sudden actions and words, and she spoke haltingly.

"Zero, what do you think of me?" Lu Mingfei asked Ling.

"You...you...you..." Ling was stunned. Her expression was a little unnatural. She began to avoid looking at Lu Mingfei, as if she had misinterpreted the original intention of Lu Mingfei's question.

"Don't get me wrong, Ling. I'm asking about my appearance." Lu Mingfei pointed at his face. "What I mean is, in your eyes, what do I look like? Can you describe it to me?"

"Oh... appearance?" Ling finally reacted. She carefully examined Lu Mingfei's face and said, "His eyes, nose, and mouth are all quite straight, but put together they seem a bit... ordinary?"

"I didn't mean to say you're not good-looking," Ling said hastily. She was afraid that Lu Mingfei would be hurt by her words. "It's just that you're Oriental, and I don't really understand the characteristics of Oriental people. Maybe you're handsome in your culture's sense of beauty."

"I'm not fretting over whether I look ordinary or not. I've been told that since I was a kid, and I'm used to it." Lu Mingfei waved his hand at Ling, indicating that this little stab wouldn't hurt him. "I asked this question just to see if you have a concrete image of me. If you can see a concrete version of me and have an impression of me, then I think I've found what's wrong with this world."

"What's wrong with this world... is that there's something wrong with your appearance?" Zero asked this question but felt that the way he said it was a bit strange.

Lu Mingfei shook his head slowly. He did not answer Ling immediately. Instead, he bent down and touched the black snake under his feet.

The black snake seemed to be inspired by Lu Mingfei. It raised its head and looked at Lu Mingfei with its huge golden eyes.

"The most fundamental mistake in this world lies right here." Lu Mingfei pointed at the black snake's pupils and spoke to Ling in a meaningful tone, as if revealing the world's biggest secret to him.

Ling lowered her head and looked in the direction of Lu Mingfei's finger at the black snake's golden eyes. Ling frowned slightly. She couldn't understand what Lu Mingfei meant. She thought Lu Mingfei was saying that the most fundamental mistake in this world was this black snake. This snake was indeed incredibly large, but apart from its huge size and golden pupils, there seemed to be nothing wrong with it.

Ling looked at Lu Mingfei again. She was sure that Lu Mingfei was pointing at the black snake under his feet... To be more precise, Lu Mingfei was pointing at the black snake's pupils, but those golden pupils were nothing but mysterious and magnificent. Ling could not see anything else in them. The pale golden vitreous body, the bright golden pupils, the dark golden lens. In these huge pupils like pools of water, they reflected the dark red clouds in the sky, the snow-covered Siberian sky, the continuous icebergs and the endless black sea. Even Ling's own figure was reflected in them...

No, a strange feeling suddenly arose in Zero's heart. It was as if the human subconscious had noticed something that went against common sense, but the brain had not yet realized where this violation of common sense occurred. Zero squatted down, close to the black snake's pupils, and began to carefully observe the scenery reflected in the black snake's pupils...

The sky, the distant mountains, the falling snow, the sea, and herself... The sky, the distant mountains, the falling snow, the sea, and herself...

For a moment, Zero seemed to finally realize something, and at the same time, a huge sense of weirdness exploded in her heart. Zero stared at the black snake's pupils, looking at the pair of mirrors that reflected the entire world. She stared back and forth several times, as if trying to find something in the black snake's pupils, but from her increasingly widened eyes, it could be seen that she did not see what she wanted to see.

Ling also noticed what Lu Mingfei said was the most fundamental error in this world.

Ling raised her head and looked at Lu Mingfei with an extremely complicated look. It was unclear whether it was because she felt that this boy she was once familiar with had become a stranger, or because she felt that she had discovered some incredible secret of Lu Mingfei.

"If something goes wrong in this world, then I am the biggest mistake in this world," Lu Mingfei said. "But Zero said that those who don't even trust themselves will eventually lose everything. It's better to doubt the whole world than to doubt yourself... Now that I don't think I'm fake, then there must be something wrong with this world."

Lu Mingfei and Ling stood side by side. The black snake still kept looking up at the sky. In its pair of golden pupils like glass amber, the whole world was reflected in them...but Lu Mingfei was the only one missing.

Everything in this world can be seen in the reflection of the black snake's pupils. The clouds in the sky are flowing, the cold snow is whistling through the towering mountain cones, and huge icebergs floating from the polar regions are suspended on the sea. Everything in this world seems to be extremely real... But the strange thing is that there is no one next to Zero. In the reflection of the black snake's pupils, Lu Mingfei, who is standing side by side with Zero, cannot be seen at all.

That's why Ling felt so creepy and weird, because in the real world, she could clearly see Lu Mingfei, and Lu Mingfei's words and deeds, including his every move, were so real... But it was only her subjective perspective. In the objective reflection of this world, it seemed that Lu Mingfei did not exist at all.

"Not only in Black Snake's vision, there's no reflection of me in your eyes either. I just approached you just now to take a closer look at your pupils and verify this." Lu Mingfei whispered to Ling, "In other words, I only exist in the subjective consciousness of this world. You can feel my presence, the nurses can see me and touch me, and Dr. Herzog is the same, but my existence is not objective. In fact, if you observe carefully, you will find that there is no reflection of me in your eyes, whether it's you or Black Snake."

"Actually, I should have noticed it earlier. Those nurses shouldn't have seen my reflection in their eyes, but I just didn't pay attention to it. Besides, Ward Zero is too dark, and many truths are hidden in the darkness." Lu Mingfei pointed to the snow-capped mountains below and in the distance and said softly, "It should be very clear from this perspective. It's a full moon night, Ward Zero really put in a lot of effort. This desolate Siberian seaport may only see such a bright moon today."

In the moonlight, Ling's shadow gathered at the feet of the black snake, but Lu Mingfei's shadow could not be seen at the feet of the black snake. Following the direction of Lu Mingfei's finger, the shadow of the giant snake coiled on the top of the ice cliff in the distant snow-capped mountains was clearly visible. Above the giant snake's head, Renata's shadow looked lonely and thin, because the figure of Lu Mingfei beside her was not projected on the snow-capped mountains.

Just as Lu Mingfei himself said, he only exists in the subjective consciousness of the people in this world, and his shadow cannot be reflected in anything that can objectively reflect the state of things.

"If I had had the opportunity to come outside earlier, I should have discovered this sooner." Lu Mingfei immediately shook his head again, "But that's not realistic. After all, I forgot everything at that time, and the nurses couldn't let me out of Ward Zero."

"But why 'Doctor'?" Zero couldn't help but ask, "Is 'Doctor' someone special to you? Only when you see 'Doctor' can you remember everything."

"Of course it's special, Dr. Herzog." Lu Mingfei whispered, "Jung von Herzog... He's the one who killed me."

"Kill you?" Ling was stunned.

"Yes, I was killed by Herzog. He drained all my blood for his own ambition." Lu Mingfei said, "But I was willing to be killed by him."

"All the blood in my body has been drained... That must be very painful, right?" Ling's little face wrinkled.

Lu Mingfei was stunned. He originally thought that Ling would be curious about why he volunteered to be killed by Herzog, but Ling didn't ask this question at all. Her first reaction was to care about whether Lu Mingfei was in pain after all the blood was drained from his body.

Lu Mingfei took a deep breath and forced a smile at Ling: "It does hurt a little, but I have to do this. This is my responsibility and my mission. This is the best way I can think of. Otherwise, many people I care about will die in my place."

"But if a person dies, doesn't he lose everything?" Zero asked in confusion.

"Maybe, but I'm surrounded by idiots like this, idiots who are willing to die for something. These things can be friends, lovers, inner justice, or irreparable regrets." Lu Mingfei smiled, "But I'm special. Isn't the reason I'm here because Zero wants to find a way to bring me back to life?"

"One day you'll have something you're willing to die for, but don't let that stop you from taking your life seriously." Lu Mingfei reached out and touched Ling's head. He whispered to Ling, "Don't be in a hurry to die, little queen. Life is still a beautiful thing. If you die, those who care about you will be very sad."

Zero nodded, not quite understanding.

"Do you want to continue enjoying the scenery?" Lu Mingfei asked.

"No, I've seen a lot today." Ling shook her head. She asked Lu Mingfei, "Are you going to find the 'Doctor'?"

"It's getting late." Lu Mingfei bent down, patted the black snake's head, and said to it, "Let's go, take us back."

The black snake let out a long howl like a cry of joy, and the snow on the mountain peak collapsed layer by layer. It twisted its body around the top of the snow-capped mountain at high speed, and its iron-like black scales left winding and deep marks on the snowy road. The cold wind blew across the faces of Lu Mingfei and Ling. Ling's little face had been frozen red. Lu Mingfei stood in front of Ling, using his body to protect her from the wind and snow.

The black snake's body landed on the ice field, rolling over the dead soldiers. Its dark scales were stained with blood. Zero looked at the devastated scene, closed his eyes, clasped his hands in front of his chest, and prayed silently for the dead soldiers.

"That's good enough. Protect Zero." Approaching the dilapidated dome building, Lu Mingfei patted the black snake's body and made it stop in front of the building.