Volume 3 Hello, Eri Chapter 357: Throne of Thorns (Part 2)
"What year is it now?" Chu Tianjiao asked.
"August 12, 2011, 9:31 p.m." Lu Mingfei glanced at her watch. She had a strange feeling that Chu Tianjiao seemed to be in an extremely confused and weak state. Not long ago, he was a machine capable of efficient killing, but the moment he recognized her, he was like a small toy with its spring run out, and his whole body was weak.
"Seven years have passed." Chu Tianjiao whispered, "It's faster than I thought."
"We always thought that you had left us because you didn't come back that time. Have you been in Nibelungen for these seven years?" Lu Mingfei asked.
"It's a long story. More happened here than you can imagine. I guess you are now a member of Kassel Academy."
"Yes, and I came here to find you because of the principal's request. And my senior brother was brought to Nibelung by Odin." Lu Mingfei showed Chu Tianjiao the map on her phone. The red cursor representing Chu Zihang was very close to them. The straight-line distance was only about 2-3 kilometers. "This red dot is my senior brother."
"I know." Chu Tianjiao took big gulps of air, as if only in this way could he maintain normal communication. "He was not brought to this Nibelungen by Odin, but by me."
"You?" Lu Mingfei was stunned. How could a father deliberately harm his own son? Didn't he know what kind of place this was?
“Odin is a ghost, a ghost trapped and died in this Nibelung.” Chu Tianjiao said, “After you drove away the Maybach that day, I was indeed killed by Odin, but I also discovered this secret because the Odin who attacked me put his mask on my face. At that moment, I understood that Odin’s body had long been dead, and only this mask was left. He himself was a member of Valhalla. Whoever wears the most powerful mask will be the strongest Odin, and the remaining imitation masks are just alchemical instruments that can enhance bloodline.”
"So you have been playing Odin for the past seven years? But why would you work for him?"
“I can’t help myself.” Chu Tianjiao shook his head. “Odin’s mask has a similar ability to mind control. When you put it on, you will still be aware of your own existence, but your mind will be controlled by the mask. You will think that you should be Odin to realize your long-cherished wish. This method is similar to the dragon’s consciousness cocooning. The mask is Odin’s collective consciousness. As long as the mask exists, Odin is immortal. He can find a new powerful hybrid to give birth to a self at any time.”
"But you are no longer Odin now." Lu Mingfei suddenly noticed the crux of the problem.
“I am just a member of the huge army of Valhalla.” Chu Tianjiao looked down at his hands. His hands were as dry as branches, but they were so powerful when holding a knife. “When I put on the other replicas, I became a heroic spirit. In this Nibelungen, there is no concept of death. All dead things will become heroic spirits. Even those guys you defeated or destroyed before will return to the world soon. This is the rule of the Nibelungen. Every Nibelungen has its own rules when it is built. Some are to protect the builder himself, and some are to defend against foreign enemies.”
Lu Mingfei suddenly thought of Fenrir's Nibelungen. The only way to enter and exit that world was with a subway card. That was its rule. If you didn't have a subway card, you couldn't take the tram inside. No matter which way you walked, you would never be able to reach that mysterious world.
"There was a stronger person chosen by the mask to replace you, right?" Lu Mingfei asked, "Who was that?"
Chu Tianjiao did not answer. He leaned against the fence and looked up at the dripping rain falling in the gray world in his eyes. His golden pupils became dimmer and dimmer, until finally revealing their original soft chestnut color.
"Silly son." He said softly.
Lu Mingfei felt as if someone had hit the back of her head hard with a sledgehammer, and her pupils went blank.
"Chu Zihang?" She would rather think that she had heard it wrong.
"There will always be an Odin. This is the strongest rule in the Nibelung. Valhalla was established for this purpose. All heroes can be Odin's reserve army. Many of them have worn that mask in history and have briefly become Odin for a period of time . Whenever he finds a better prey, Odin will take off the mask that represents himself and put it on a brand new face. This is the only way to take off the mask." Chu Tianjiao said, "Only when Zihang takes over from me can I be free from the mask. The price is that he ascends the throne wrapped in thorns. His bloodline will be raised to an unprecedented height, and he will master all of Odin's power, but he will also not be himself at the same time."
A huge force grabbed Chu Tianjiao's neck and slammed him against the fence. A creepy light flashed in Lu Mingfei's eyes.
"Are you still Chu Zihang's father? The Odin you played led him into the abyss, and then you put on that nightmare mask for him. What kind of dragon-slaying hero are you in Kassel?!"
It was more than just anger, it was simply betrayal. Lu Mingfei could even reconstruct the reason why Chu Zihang was willing to go to Tokyo with Odin, because he recognized that the person under the mask was his father, but that guy always thought that this was his own business. Even though they had discussed so many things together, he still stubbornly chose to face it alone.
"Do you think I would do that?" Chu Tianjiao's response was very calm. The seven years he spent as Odin in the Nibelung seemed to have completely worn away his former manly heart.
Lu Mingfei was stunned, and her clenched fists slowly loosened. She stepped back step by step, with no strength left in her body. She leaned softly against the fence, and in front of her was the green mist under the overpass.
She said she would never cry again, but she was still spineless and shed tears secretly.
Yes, on that rainy night, it was Chu Tianjiao who took the initiative to jump out to resist Odin, allowing her and Chu Zihang to escape. How could someone who had the courage to die betray his own son? At that time, he had no idea that Odin was such a terrifying and difficult ghost.
Then there is only one answer, it was Chu Zihang himself... who took the initiative to put on Odin's mask. Only in this way could he free his father, even if the price was his downfall.
But in this case, the end of this journey is more than just challenging a big devil? The guy's body is the person I care about the most. There is no worse ending than this, and there is no worse design than this. Chu Zihang, you are a fucking bastard! When you do anything, you don't even consider what will happen to me!
Chu Tianjiao patted Lu Mingfei's shoulder silently without saying anything. On that rainy night, he was very happy to encourage Lu Mingfei and Chu Zihang to be together, because he felt that a talented man and a beautiful woman should be a natural match. Of course, it was indeed a joke from adults to children, but no one expected that the joke would really come true many years later.
"Are you guys together?" he asked softly.
"Yeah." Lu Mingfei answered with a sob.
"How has that silly boy been doing over the years?"
"I am still very popular with girls, but I am still very straight. I never understand what love is."
"But you still think he's nice."
"I received his letter when I was most helpless. To me, he is my white moonlight."
"It sounds like there is indeed no reason to dislike him." Chu Tianjiao nodded, "But you probably don't know that to him, you have always been his white moonlight."
A folded piece of letter was handed to Lu Mingfei, and her tears just happened to slide down her face and fall on the familiar signature on the seal.
Chu Zihang.
"He left it here before we exchanged masks. I didn't expect that at my age, I would still have to be a bridge for you young people to pass messages. But what can I do? He is my son. Even if you have to step on my back to meet me, I have to crawl to the Milky Way and lie down obediently, right? I owed him this in my last life. In my next life, I will be his son and ask him to buy me a house and marry me a wife!"
Chu Tianjiao was full of dirty talk, but in fact he was still the boastful man. It was just that he hadn't seen her for so many years, so he had to take a good look at how good this girl was who made his son obsessed with her.
Lu Mingfei stared at the piece of letter blankly. Chu Zihang didn't understand what romance was. If you suggested to him that we write something from our hearts to each other and send it by postcard, he would tell you that it would be faster to make a phone call, and even faster to send an email which can be delivered in seconds.
So Lu Mingfei never expected to get any surprises from Chu Zihang. It was too much to force a person to compromise and change for her. Chu Zihang was Chu Zihang, and he would never have the prodigal sentiments like Caesar. But it was only this kind of Chu Zihang that Lu Mingfei would like, knowing that he would never betray her, because it was very important for him to admit that he liked her, and he had already told her that.
Now I am quite surprised to see this letter. What is in it? A long and eloquent letter? A confession of deep love and friendship?
With a head full of questions, Lu Mingfei slowly opened the letter. She didn't expect that the thing left behind so solemnly only contained a short line of words.
I'm waiting for you.
Lu Mingfei burst into laughter at once. She was really irritated by this guy's begging. What do you mean by "I'll wait for you"? Is that just a sentence for your girlfriend? Did you boldly exchange masks with your father because you knew he would chase after you? Chu Zihang, what do you think I am? Others are heroes saving beauties, but you want me to be a hero, right? Just wait, when I catch you, I will definitely tie you up and hang you up, and torture you to see what's in your pig head!
"It looks like a love letter." Chu Tianjiao leaned against the fence and tilted his head, admiring the tearful and smiling expression of his future daughter-in-law. Some people say that to judge how beautiful a girl is, just look at her crying. Anyone can pretend to be a beauty, but only those girls who are truly sensible and well-educated can look so beautiful when they cry. People around them will feel anxious for her for no reason, while those rubbish who pretend to be beautiful will mostly just act hysterically and make a scene, like Mei Chaofeng.
Before meeting Su Xiaoyan, Chu Tianjiao was also a playboy like Caesar, and had seen too many beauties. As an old father, Chu Tianjiao felt that his son's vision was higher than his own, and he had already chosen this super potential stock when Lu Mingfei was about to bloom. For any man, there is nothing better than making a girl become charming in his hands. She can be the jade cabbage that your family has raised with great difficulty, or your first wife who you feel like you know at first sight in the crowd.
"Yes, it is indeed a love letter, the first love letter from that idiot Chu Zihang." Lu Mingfei sniffed, folded the letter again and put it in her pocket, "But the quality is still not very good, it's written in a silly and cute way."
"He's not like me in this respect. He didn't inherit my true teachings. What a pity." Chu Tianjiao also felt that his son's biggest weakness was dealing with girls. A man's charm comes from the inside out. It can't be just the outside without the inside. It seems that the girls in the past were attracted to Chu Zihang's appearance and never considered that this guy's inside was dry and boring, like the yellowing lawn in autumn.
"But it's good this way. He won't attract many men. He will belong to me alone."
"Are you going to find him?" Chu Tianjiao asked.
"Yeah." Lu Mingfei nodded.
"Not sad or upset?"
"Um."
"What if I can't win?"
"Then tie him up first, drag him back, persuade him with emotion and reason every day, and date him until he becomes shy."
"Like a female bandit. But I also always feel that he just needs a beating. Girls who liked him in the past were deceived by his appearance and only dared to watch him from afar. In fact, he just lacks a wild girlfriend. When you beat him up, remember to be merciless and beat him to death. It's best to hit his butt. His weakness is his butt. When he was a kid, he would lose the energy to resist if his butt was spanked."
Chu Tianjiao was crazy about exposing his son's shortcomings. If it was a son, he should be tortured to death, and if it was a daughter, she should be spoiled to death. In fact, Chu Tianjiao's biggest regret in his life was that he didn't have a daughter. But now, his son's wife is also his daughter, it's the same.
"You sound like you won't go with me." Lu Mingfei turned her head and looked at Chu Tianjiao.
"Of course not. Young people's love, but old people will become light bulbs? That's too bad. I still have a lot of things to do." Chu Tianjiao carried Muramasa on his shoulders and strode in the direction where Lu Mingfei came from, leaving only her back. Golden pupils flashed from the darkness, and those heroes who were destroyed before came back again. It was clear that Lu Mingfei had cut them into pieces and thrown them into the fog under the bridge, but they were climbing back onto the viaduct one by one.
“But I can’t guarantee that I can help you delay for a long time. Odin’s replica mask is like a clockwork toy. If it’s not wound up enough, we masked guys can talk, or even play mahjong or poker. When Odin comes to his senses, he’ll wind us up again, and then we’ll be just stupid puppets staggering forward.” Chu Tianjiao waved his sword to clear away the continuous rain, and everything in the time zero realm gradually slowed down. “So you have to be quick, facing the wind and rain, facing the life you want!”
