Chapter 26: Jiaolong? (First Update) Please vote and add to your favorites.

First, a tribute to Beyond and Ka Kui Wong—you will forever live in my heart... Classics never grow old! Deeply moving.

(The sound of bells signals the return home... Time turns possession into loss, weary eyes hold onto hope. Today, only a shell remains to greet the glorious years, clutching freedom in the storm. A lifetime of wavering struggle, confident that the future can change—who else could achieve this?)

(A pair of hands, impossible to embellish, bring warmth always from behind... Not cherishing enough brings guilt... Yet a mother's love never retreats, determined to break through inner struggles, eventually repaying parental kindness. A lifetime of silent care, teaching resilience, urging me never to give up when I fall. How can I explain repaying parental love? Affection boundless and infinite—please let me say, I truly love you...)

(Staring in boredom and hesitation, reaching ideals is not easy; even with confidence, spirit is suppressed. Who decides my coming or going, determines the universe in my heart? I only wish to reach out toward ideals with my own hands, asking how high the sky is—my ambition is higher still. Self-assured, indomitable, living to old age; oh... even wounded, I never retreat...)

The scene seemed to be accompanied by the melodies of their favorite band, Beyond. Liang Jing felt as if he returned to his youth—two boys surrounded by other children fighting and quarreling. From childhood, they were almost always isolated, but never surrendered. Every time, they fought with peers their age, each time facing their enemies alone, never crying out, never begging for mercy, never giving up. Again and again, they fell and rose, returning home covered in dust, the woman merely shaking her head and sighing.

Gradually, with constant fighting, no one dared insult or bully them anymore. The scene shifted—the boy grew to sixteen. This time, the slightly shorter boy, in a moment of impulsive anger, struck his opponent so seriously that the other’s hand might be permanently disabled.

This was a disaster... For a moment, the boy was terrified and lost.

Then the other boy stepped forward, knowing this would not be a small matter. The other side had powerful connections; he might even face a prison sentence. Before turning himself in, he told Liang Jing, “Brother, you still have your mother to care for. Let me take this one.”

From then on, Liang Jing never saw him again. Ten years passed. He could never have imagined the sentence would be so severe, never imagined his friend would go so far—this would ruin his life! It was only a moment of youthful anger, a surge of adolescent temper, wasn’t this how they had always lived? It finally awakened him from his ignorance.

“According to the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China, Article 234, Jia Yu Jin is convicted of intentional injury, causing serious harm and disability; sentenced to fifteen years in prison.”

It was like a thunderbolt, leaving him stunned. Wasn’t he under eighteen? Didn’t he turn himself in? He never saw his best friend Jia Yu Jin again. A bewildered youth, a reserved traditional farm woman, seeking help everywhere, praying, only to meet indifference, ridicule, even humiliation and scolding. One could imagine how dark and unbearable those days were.

And in the end, the other’s hand turned out to be just fine!

(Eyes dried by tears, powerless to look back; the mountain no longer steep, but your weary silhouette remains beside me. Sand does not fear the wind—one day it will gather;... In the song sung out of necessity, how much heartbreak remains? Could we stop retreating, so I need not sigh? White hair, weathered—no more dreams to hope for...)

The scene changed again. In the wilderness, seven or eight people, tall and short, tattered, two of them supporting a robust man over one meter eighty, the others guarding the sides, stumbling as they fled, glancing back again and again; behind them, a scattered group of twenty or thirty pursued.

“Stop, don’t run!”

“Scrap metal and garbage, let’s see where you’ll run...”

“Heh, who would have thought that Lord Jin from prison would end up so miserable.”

The pursuers cursed relentlessly. Suddenly, one of the two supporting the robust man drew a gleaming dagger and stabbed at him...

“Ah...”

Liang Jing suddenly sat up from sleep, drenched in cold sweat, soaking his quilt. He knew he had dreamed a nightmare—his best friend, his brother, Jia Yu Jin, was the one being supported and fleeing; he had gotten out, was being hunted, his body covered in over ten bloodied wounds, still being betrayed...

He wiped his face, hands wet with sweat. Liang Jing forced a bitter smile. Thanks to the monster’s life essence, which allowed him to survive battles, his body retained sweat glands and functions, but under the effect of the life essence, Liang Jing rarely sweated, no matter how hard he worked. Who would have thought a dream would do this to him?

Suddenly, Liang Jing felt a pang in his heart, as if he were about to lose something. A suffocating pressure weighed on him. With the continual cleansing of his body by the life essence, he had become purer, his senses sharper, and he was not a complicated or dark person—quite the opposite, simple and pure. Well, sometimes he fantasized about women, which was normal for a man; overall, he was clear and transparent, like a pure jade, sensitive to danger. Now, Liang Jing could not help but feel sad. The world had changed—maybe Jia Yu Jin really was out there. Was he truly in danger?

What should he do? Where could he find him? The scene was just a wilderness, the province and city unknown. What to do? For a while, Liang Jing nearly tore his hair out, unable to come up with a solution.

“Hoo...”

He couldn’t help but exhale. The cool air cleared his mind. He stood by the window on the second floor, looking out. The moonless night sky, the glow of several stars making the night bright and enchanting. Monsters roared and howled in the distance, reminding everyone that the world had changed, become brutally dangerous...

“Aw...”

Crash...

Suddenly, a wild, primal beast roar erupted from the right, very close, deafening! Compared to it, the golden baroque was nothing. The roar alone revealed its strength and ferocity.

This was bad!

Liang Jing hurried out of the room. By the time he reached the living room, the others were waking up, clearly startled by the beast’s roar, but still composed, not shouting. Seeing them emerge from their rooms, faces pale in the moonlight, Liang Jing quickly signaled them to stay calm and silent—don’t provoke the monsters. He alone went to the balcony to see what was happening.

Boom... Crash!

Just walking onto the balcony, Liang Jing was stunned. In the starlight, to the right of the building, a lake about a square kilometer in size revealed a gigantic serpent. No, judging by its ferocious head, it resembled the legendary flood dragon. Its head was not the flat shape of a snake, but bearded, with thick fangs, ears, even two fleshy bumps on its head. Its body’s diameter was at least one and a half meters, with over twenty meters exposed above water, its armored scales glimmering, churning the lake with massive waves.

Liang Jing’s eyes narrowed. Facing the monster, waves of helplessness overwhelmed him. Was this truly a mythical flood dragon? He didn’t see any claws beneath its belly, but it was terrifyingly close, its ancient might pressing him so hard he didn’t even want to fight, not even daring to use [Basic Insight]—it was simply too massive, three or four times larger than Amazon anacondas. Suddenly, Liang Jing’s nerves tingled, sensing the creature’s eyes glance his way, catching a glimmer of hatred...

Run! He had to escape! Quickly!

Whether or not the beast had truly seen him, the building was far too close to it—right under the tiger’s jaws. Facing such imminent terror, he dared not trust luck; even if he had to flee in the night, he must go!