CH 20

Chapter 20: An Illusion in the Water

“How is that possible?! Doctor, I can tell by your figure that you exercise regularly, there’s no way a weakling shut-in like me could match up to you.” Li Qian abandoned himself to despair.

Dr. Daniel came to stand under the line. Zhou Yu patted Li Qian on the shoulder. “Watch Dr. Daniel’s movements carefully. Also, wind the rope around both wrists so that even if you let go, the rope will hold onto your wrists to prevent you from falling off.”

“So that’s how it is!” Li Qian’s expression was of sudden enlightenment.

Doctor Daniel immediately provided him with another stab, “Don’t even think of letting go, or else your wrists will dislocate and then it’ll hurt so much that you’ll want to die.”

Li Qian gulped.

Doctor Daniel crossed over without a hitch. After all, he was a rock climbing enthusiast and often participated in outdoor survival activities.

However, when Li Qian buckled onto the cable line, his heart almost cracked open.

“Li Qian, remember that you can’t hesitate when you leave. Once you hesitate, you lose speed. If you get stuck in the middle, that means you’ll be blocking my way into a dead end too.”

Li Qian’s heart contracted, “Why don’t you go first?!”

“If I go first, then what will you do? You certainly won’t cross over anymore.”

Zhou Yu’s voice was steady.

“Zhou Yu, is there ever a time when you’re afraid?” Li Qian asked.

He thought it was amazing that Zhou didn’t use the suppressants, could shoot the two-headed wolf spiders at close range, and had sniped those strange birds without so much as a wrinkle in his brows. It was simply inhuman.

“Of course,” Zhou Yu answered.

The little thing at his waist popped its head out and looked at him curiously as if it was also interested in the topic.

“When?” Li Qian asked.

“When I feel that I may lose all my companions.”

“How did you overcome that feeling?!” Li Qian asked as he put his hands through the rope.

“When I realized that losing them was the reality, I stopped being afraid. When you have something more important than your life to protect, your fear will be overwhelmed by persistence. Li Qian, past the Angel’s Horns, you will find that you are braver than you think.”

After saying that, Zhou Yu pushed Li Qian out.

When Li Qian remembered that he would block Zhou Yu’s path if he couldn’t make it across, he ran forward as if his life depended on it. The moment his foot touched down on air, it was as if he was rushing into Angel’s Horns. The world flew by at his feet, time was meaningless.

“Very good, that’s it…” Zhou Yu looked after Li Qian’s figure growing distant, a smile tugging at his lips.

When Li Qian was caught by Wu Yun, Han Li hugged him.

“You scared me to death! I was really so scared! I was afraid you wouldn’t come or that you were too scared to come!”

Li Qian eyes were also opened wide, he couldn’t believe that he had made it over either. And what’s more, he hadn’t let go!

It turned out that many things were not as terrifying as he had imagined them to be!

Li Qian turned and waved at Zhou Yu, who nodded back.

He lowered his head and tightened the scarf, or else the little thing might fall out in mid-air.

The little thing stuck out its head and looked around, then it shivered in fear.

Zhou Yu was amused and teased it with his fingers, but unexpectedly, it didn’t latch onto Zhou Yu’s fingers. Instead, it kept retreating deeper, as if it was afraid.

“Hey, you have wings. By logic, you should be able to fly, if worst comes to worst, you can just start flying.”

The little thing stuck its head back out and rubbed its nose against Zhou Yu’s fingertips, as if to comfort him and say, “I am not afraid, so you shouldn’t be afraid either.”

Zhou Yu’s heart instantly softened. He hadn’t been comforted like that for a long time.

“Good, do you know there’s something in my world called a roller coaster?”

Zhou Yu grasped the hand-rope and stepped back.

“Let’s push forward without looking back!”

Zhou Yu’s legs made large strides across the rocks and then he leaped out.

His speed is extremely fast. Meanwhile, Wu Yun was already prepared to catch him on the other side.

But in that instant, something unforeseen by anyone happened.

A giant reverse-scaled dragon leaped out of the turbulent waters with a massive splash, as if it had reversed the flow of the waterfall!

Its wide mouth and pointed teeth stunned Li Qian and Han Li.

Its scales were like sharp blades, they reflected a cold brilliance under the sunlight as if they could shatter their prey, layer by layer.

Wu Yun immediately pulled out the gun at his waist and fired at the reverse-scaled dragon.

The gunshot sounds were drowned out by the dull roar of the water.

Handgun bullets weren’t enough to penetrate the scales of the reverse-scaled dragon!

Zhou Yu was headed directly into the jaws of the reverse-scaled dragon right before their eyes!

“Brother—” Zhou Qing shouted.

Zhou Yu clenched his teeth and at a critical moment, used his right foot to kick the reverse-scaled dragon in the teeth, rebounding in the opposite direction. Unfortunately, the reverse-scaled dragon bit down on the cable line. The two ends couldn’t bear the added weight and snapped into two.

Wu Yun wanted to grab ahold of one end, but everything happened so quickly that Zhou Yu fell into the river.

“Zhou Yu!” Wu Yun madly dashed along the shore, but the current was too fast for him to even catch a glimpse of Zhou Yu.

Zhou Qing almost jumped in, but Dr. Daniel caught him from behind with a firm grip.

“Don’t be impulsive, Zhou Qing!”

“That’s my brother! Let go of me! ” Zhou Qing’s eyes turned red. That was the first time he had shown an out-of-control expression.

Without saying a word, Dr. Daniel restrained Zhou Qing, “Calm down, Zhou Qing! You can’t go there!”

“How is this possible… Tell me… Am I dreaming…?”

Li Qian was also dumbfounded.

How could Zhou Yu fall off?

Why did the giant reverse-scaled dragon suddenly appear?

This didn’t make sense! What the hell was going on?

“Save him… We have to find a way to save him!”

Li Qian remembered how Zhou Yu had encouraged him. He looked cold and frosty, but he has a good sense of responsibility. How many times has he helped everyone escape from death? How could he just disappear just like that?

“I want to go down… Let me go down! ” Zhou Qing’s tears fell, he used his fists beat the sand and stones on the ground.

If he hadn’t wanted to come to Nibelungen, how could Zhou Yu have come here? It was clearly he, Zhou Qing, who was terminally ill. The one who was going to die was him, so how could it be Zhou Yu?

Wu Yun ran for a few hundred meters, throwing off everything on him that was weighing him down while running, just so he could go a little faster.

“Zhou Yu—Zhou Yu—”

No matter how hoarse he shouted himself, he still couldn’t find a trace of Zhou Yu.

“Damn it! Damn it! Damn it! ” Wu Yun tripped over a stone and fell to the ground.

He squeezed his eyes closed and gritted his teeth.

He knew better than anyone… that Zhou Yu couldn’t come back anymore.

Forcing himself to hold back his tears, Wu Yun’s eyes turned red in an instant.

He immensely regretted it, Zhou Yu should have been the first to glide across. Maybe then, the giant reverse-scaled dragon wouldn’t have swam over yet!

A few seconds later, Wu Yun got up and came back. He looked at Zhou Qing struggling to jump down, and gave him a resounding slap!

“You know what Zhou Yu cares the most about. Do you want to abandon everything he cares about?” Wu Yun grabbed Zhou Qing’s collar and ruthlessly interrogated him.

Zhou Qing’s body trembled, “I’m going to die soon anyway…”

“That’s why every minute and every second you have left is vital!”

“We… We have to find him… Just because he fell in doesn’t mean he’s dead! He wasn’t bitten by that giant dragon, I saw it clearly!” Han Li said.

“The ecosystem of the Angel’s Tears is more complex than the Amazon’s. How many young dragons do you think there are in the river…?” Wu Yun said no more.

Han Li’s tears fell and Li Qian clenched his fist tightly.

“Even I was able to make it over, so why couldn’t he? Why did that giant dragon attack Zhou Yu? Zhou Yu definitely wouldn’t have been afraid of it!”

“It’s because the first bird that Zhou Yu shot fell into the water and was devoured by the young dragons. That bird had neurotoxins in its body, so the young dragon that ate it would have certainly died. The mother dragon’s sudden attack was for revenge,” Wu Yun answered.

“So… He still died for us…”

Wu Yun grabbed ahold of the dispirited Zhou Qing and hauled him up, “Let’s go. As matters stand, even if I die, you’re not allowed to die, because you’re the person my partner cares for the most.”

Zhou Qing breathed with effort and tried his best to bear with the reality of losing Zhou Yu.

“Listen up, Professor Zhou. You will complete your research, you will fix the tumor in your brain, and in Zhou Yu’s place, you will… Have a long and happy life. You must have a stronger desire to live more than anyone else in the world!” Wu forcefully kept ahold Zhou Qing’s cheeks.

Zhou Qing subconsciously covered his pocket, which still contained the fruit of Elpis.

At the same time, Zhou Yu was being battered by the strong current, all his bones aching in pain. He had already choked down a few mouthfuls of water, and his body could not compete with the force of the current.

Then, a school of fish with long and narrow beaks rushed over towards him. Zhou Yu was like fish bait in the water, on the verge of being ripped apart by the masses.

The beaks were hard and dense, they ruthlessly pierced through Zhou Yu’s shoulder and abdomen.

Blood flowed out but quickly dissipated in the water.

Compared with the river, Zhou Yu was only a drop in the pond.

Heavy blood loss blurred his consciousness.

He knew that this time, he had reached his end.

Fortunately… Zhou Qing had crossed the Angel’s Horns. He was a genius, so he was bound to find a cure for himself in his future research.

And as Wu Yun… That guy looked unreliable, but he actually had a strong sense of camaraderie… He would certainly spare no effort to protect Zhou Qing…

Suddenly, all the sharp-billed fish fled.

The tenacious mother reverse-scaled dragon had caught up to him.

Its hatred for Zhou Yu was hard to put into words. As the ruler of the waters at the Angel’s Tears, it absolutely would not allow other creatures to have a piece of Zhou Yu.

Just as it opened its mouth and was about to swallow Zhou Yu, something stretched out in the water and and came to block Zhou Yu in front of him.

In the midst of the chaos, Zhou Yu saw an enormous creature. Its silver, translucent figure seemed like a mythological beast out of a fantasy movie, and for all of its elegance, it was brimming with an oppressive air.

His line of sight quickly flew away with his consciousness, and for the first time, Zhou Yu felt a loss of control.

It charged towards the reverse-scaled dragon, who could not put up any resistance. In a flash, the mother dragon was battered to pieces, and like a sudden shower of billions of stars, it disappeared into the endless torrents.