https://thirdfan.lofter.com/post/1eec1806_2b9de673a?continueFlag=8c1001bcc605cca9c61dd638f94fb94a

AKA: A man named Blade decides to wait before he dies. Full 4.9w+.

The background privatizes Blade with cubs and Heng after his metamorphosis after the Final Battle.

Planet info from the Bit Sphere and the Ligature Rope text, ooc goes to me

Second editor: in fact, so complete can pass the review I did not expect, and then woke up a sleep it for some reason was ban la (bitter smile), I try to make up!

primer

Tip article more than 50,000 words so abridged, red and white station has the complete, basically does not affect the reading ~ ~

"one" radical in Chinese characters (Kangxi radical 1)

Dan Heng was pronounced dead by a monitor at 9:30 a.m. on the first Saturday morning after the final game.

Endgame is the definition given by Elio to denote the final chapter of a play, where the slaves of fate stumble forward and finally allow the story to play out to its expected conclusion, with man and god offering a grand curtain call. Of course, inevitably, a significant portion of the cast remains on stage forever, but the pages of fate turn over and today is a brand new day, isn't it?

Yes, but you promised me eternal death.

When the dome found its way to the base, Blade was in Elio's office, the ever-silent man still clutching his shattered sword in silence, while the leader of the organization sat behind his desk, shifting from his usual black cat form to human, but still hidden in the shadows, gazing at the silent beast through the shadows. Outside the door was the feverish post-war reconstruction, but inside the room through the door was as quiet as a long night, and the two men just sat opposite each other until the machine by the wall ticked, signaling that the coffee was ready to be ground.

Of course, of course. The slave gestured with the grace of an aristocrat as he lifted his glass, raising his hand in a distant salute. This is the promise I made when you joined the Starcore Hunters, and I'm always a man of my word - but before you honor it, won't you go say goodbye to your friends?

Blade's first impulse was to reply, I have no friends; but the words slipped to his lips, or he swallowed them back, like swallowing a mouthful of razor blades that stung his throat, and when he opened his mouth again his voice was a little hoarse, and needed to be lubricated with another mouthful of spittle; and he heard himself say that he didn't need to.

Too long ago the past had long been blurred, covered with layer after layer of blood, and the silhouettes distorted along with it, only to be cleansed and awakened by memory after memory, torn pain, scarlet eyes, and fragmented dreams, full of blood in the sky and on the ground, unable to distinguish between reality and illusion. Jing Yuan, Mirror Stream, Dan Feng - he couldn't help but pause when he thought of the name - Ying Xing, the one who had died a complete and utter death of himself, using the artisan's skill, the blood, the laughter and tears of the feast as a shroud, and packing them together to be buried into the desert of the years, and then letting time forget where the body was buried.

As for the Star Core Hunters, on the surface, they were in the same boat because of their interests, but in private, they were unexpectedly close, calling each other by their companions, role-playing together in scripts every other day, and buying things with their families in tow from time to time. --Could they be considered friends? Blade thought about it for a moment, not thinking clearly; but he knew better than to bother now.

After the last battle, it was Silver Wolf who carried Kafka back; the always elegant woman was in a rare mess, half of her body was crushed by the destructive force, and she only managed to survive by relying on the six-phase ice to freeze the trauma, and she's still in a coma in the medical bay. Silver Wolf was affected by the rain of arrows that broke through the air from the patrol hunt, breaking an arm is a small matter, the big thing is that her manipulator was shattered into crumbs, even if the screws Gumm help, it is very difficult to recover, even the Black Tower unblocked the account didn't make people happy. As for Sam, that rather nasty tin man, all had to press on and plunge into the reconstruction of the base, using the newly connected prosthetic eye to review all kinds of reports, and dragging copper wires and hoses while running around the construction site, it was really a temporary shortage of materials for repairing her body, and she had to wait for a few more days before she could fill in the hole in her waist.

Farewells were not a necessity, Blade replied thoughtfully.

Everyone in Starcore Hunters knew that the day the drama came to an end, wherever the rest of them were going, they would have to say goodbye to the silent man of the group. Silverwolf didn't know it at first, so when Kafka came back dragging a suitcase with Blade's stumps in it and blood spilled from the gap in the zipper, the young girl let go of the game she saw she was going to win for the first time; and then she knew it, too, so that whether Blade came back standing up or laying down or was being packed up, she could stare at the screen without a second thought and say hello, " Uncle, you're back?" A winning game, she bounced to follow the blood and shoved a medical kit through the doorway to her room, "Better use it Uncle, even though I know you don't need it, don't make yourself so miserable before the ending la!"

Everyone knew the day was coming and a formal goodbye would only be sad and rah-rah, so there was no need for it; so that even if they knew I was gone, they could treat it as if I'd gone on a trip and just left without saying hello.

Whether it is Ying Xing or blade, both are literary literacy of the people, but blade at this time thought of the four words of the end of the song, may be in Luofu when listening to more hold Ming time tune, the first time I saw only remember those sad and gentle singing, from the ears of the sheep past, but unintentionally remembered the singer's curtain call when the report - a song has been completed, just to leave, you all! I'm sorry, but I don't know what to say.

Since there is no need to say goodbye, the funeral does not need to be organized, I have long heard that the immortal boat people pay attention to funeral rituals, objects have to be prepared in advance, this time is simple.

Aelio sighed somewhat helplessly, hooking Blade's thoughts back, his eyes dropping to the table, white smoke still faintly wafting out of his coffee cup, but nowhere near as hot as it had been before. So is there anything you haven't accomplished yet? Don't have regrets when people are leaving.

...... sorry about that.

If it is Ying Xing, there are indeed too many unfinished business, drawings and remnants piled up in the storehouse, forging techniques that have not yet been able to learn, friends and acquaintances who have gone missing, regrettable things into a tower of sand, round and round and back to the destiny of the short-lived species. Short as a mayfly's life, the opportunity to be pinched in the palm of fate, and from the gap between the fingers to leave a line, give the incomparable miserly, but also so that people can see, and wait until the passage of many years and then sigh. So fate should be Ahab's toy, in the universe to play one after another full of flaws in the drama, at the mercy of the spectators to play.

But he was Blade. What regrets are there for Blade, even for Blade himself to come and think about?

The composition of regret, the things not reached, the people not touched, the usual understanding. The former had long since been diluted into rounded pebbles by time, thoughts that had been kept away and emptied again and again, blood that had boiled and then forced to stop, springs that had been squeezed all the time would not be able to return to their original shape because of plasticity, and under the power of words and spirits and the ravages of death, Blade had already forgotten too many things, and his nerves were dulled along with them; the latter, he would always think of the Immortal Boat Luofu once again and again, the places where love and hatred had fostered together in full bloom, and Thinking of the blood-colored sky and the angry tides of the sea, thinking of those silent green eyes.

--But none of that mattered anymore, in the face of the death he had craved for so long. And so Blade chose to shake his head, slowly but surely, with no regrets left; not being able to die completely had once been his greatest regret, but now that death was close at hand, he wanted nothing more than to hurry up and make this rotting husk stop breathing.

It's not time yet, but I wish you a true and complete death.

Elio said very formally, and Blade subconsciously said thank you, and then reacted to the fact that Elio had not informed of the manner of death. So he stared into the shadows, and an almost substantial eagerness could be seen in his always ancient eyes; but interrupting the attention was a knock at the door, one after the other, so heavy that the panic and anxiety of the person could be heard. Uncle Blade! The soundproofing of the office door had suddenly become very poor, and Blade heard Dome's voice, vague, with a sobbing tone, and did not know with whom he had learned to address him.

"Dan Heng, Dan Heng, he's not well, can you go and see?"

--Death was something very, very important, something Blade had craved for far, far too long, waiting until his body reacted faster than his brain, always getting ahead of himself and letting his wrists hit the blade, fighting by slitting his wrists in a way that begged for death; but Blade couldn't explain why he was sitting in front of Thanh Heng's hospital bed, at this very moment, absurdly like a traveler lost in the desert who has abandoned the oasis.

Obviously starving someone until they were half dead and then bringing them a meal was one of the best ways to torture them, but the little man in the back of his mind kept his mouth shut and refused to spit out a single answer, only driving his body to leave the base as Elio watched, his feet hitting the floor of the Star Dome train.

Dan Heng was dying, and Blade knew it the first moment he saw someone, without even bothering to look at the monitors that surrounded the hospital bed. He'd seen too many dead people, so he'd seen a lot of dying people. When was the last time he'd seen one? Blade thought for a moment, it would have been a few days ago in the war, where human life really did become a molehill before the power of the Star God level, where the vacuum could not carry sound, but the starships traveled through asteroid belts made up of the wreckage of machinery, where silent explosions could be seen through the portholes and silent faces, also through the portholes, whose owners rested for eternity on the manmade planets.

There were common traits in the dying, the weakened breathing, the slowed heartbeat, the ashen face, and all of these were now gathered in the youth in front of him. Dan Heng usually didn't talk much, but he would never be as quiet as he was now, lying quietly in the snow-white bedding, quietly letting his body be filled with tubes, the wounds bleeding quietly, and the medication flowing quietly into his body.

Blade walked in to see the train crew all there, all of them wounded in one way or another, their eyes were red, and when they saw him coming they all got up in unison, moved out of their places in silence, and then left, leaving the space in the hospital room to the two men. Blade remembered why Dan Heng became like this now, is the last battle in order to protect the remnants of the cloud rider, straight in the face of the Nanuk's blow; the power of destruction to bring irreversible damage, not to mention the injuries to the internal organs, even if the abundance of proximity to the difficult to heal, at most, can only be a temporary stabilization of the injuries.

-Dan Heng is really going to die.

The first reaction to the realization was annoyance, a natural physical reaction. Blade's conscious mind knew it was sooner or later, for the destruction staining the wound would one day be unchecked, and he remembered their farewell on the battlefield, where Danheng in his moon drinking form stood atop the ruins, his form as silent as a pine on a cliff facing the wind. They were separated by crowds of people transporting the wounded, passing the noise as people came and went, but they stared at each other in silence. Dan Heng hid it well, even if the shirt at his waist was soaked with blood, he still had the posture of a cool Dragon Dignitary; but heavy injuries and illnesses would cause one to remove all pretenses.

--So it was a deathbed farewell. Obviously he was ready to die himself, and wasn't even prepared to say goodbye to anyone, but instead it was the enemy he'd been chasing who not only had to die first, but had to make him come see him one last time.

Dan Heng was as annoying as ever. Still, Blade sat down and very carefully tickled the youth's fingertips. The moment his skin touched, the memory cleared briefly for an instant, and Blade remembered that long, long ago, they had touched each other's fingers like this, when they had pushed their glasses under the moon, and the glasses had been slightly cold, but their bodies had burned from the strength of the wine. But now Danheng's fingers were cold and pale, on the verge of melting into the sheets like carved, transparent ice.

Blade heard a weak, broken, rasping gasp, perhaps from the forces rushing through his body, perhaps the pain of a wound trying to repair and tearing again was taking its toll, or perhaps it was an imbalance in body temperature due to infection at work. An endotracheal tube interferes with speech while assisting with breathing, but Blade hears a very low voice, a short syllable as if it were just a slight vibration of the vocal cords, tap-tap-tap-tapping to graze through the gaps in his lips and teeth, and disappearing again into the hum of the oxygen concentrator.

He didn't hear what Danheng was saying.

No one thought of it as words of farewell, and until the monitor declared the vital signs gone, Dan Heng never opened his eyes or made another sound other than a moan, and even the moans were slight, drowned out by the sound of the instruments in operation, so that unless one was very close, so close that it seemed like they were about to kiss, one could hear those tiny signs of weakness.

Do people's muscles contract after death? Blade blinked, feeling Danheng shrink, his already slender form even thinner, shrinking into the snow-white mattress, on the verge of being swallowed by the blanket of white. The youth - Blade gulped, or boy, as Danheng was to him in this life - had long, dark eyelashes, like the wings of a black butterfly, Blade observed for the first time. They covered the face quietly, a specimen of a butterfly that no longer fluttered its feathers.

The train crew rushed in, Edge heard the rising and falling cries, a little upset, people always die, is not it embarrassing to be watched die? And a little envious, so leaving could touch the hearts of so many people, raising a crowd. Quietly he got up and tried to leave, the room was already overflowing with too much sadness and needed more space to carry it; he should also go back to Aelio, for he did not yet know how to obtain true death, another deceased person bidding him farewell, and this made living more and more unbearable.

But once again, someone pulled him back.

With some impatience, Blade turned to break the hand that held the corner of his coat, but the jerking motion paused in the next moment, fumbling first for the ringing cell phone; the boy topped it off with a pair of reddened eyes, while sighting past the top of the gray hair, Blade saw a scaly, pinkish-white egg, lying still on the bed. Dan Heng was a Holdfast, it would have been normal for the egg to moult when he died, it was normal, sentimentality was just a waste of effort and would not stop him from leaving, at most, he would lament the new life of his old friend -

--If I hadn't seen the crack that nearly broke the eggshell. If I hadn't heard Elio's voice on my cell phone.

Fate is so fickle. It has once again played a joke, another new and absurd script.

"Only Danheng can bring you true death."

stupid (Beijing dialect)

Dan Heng can no longer return to the old land of the Holdfasts to wait for the hatching.

The person who told them about it was Shirou, the surprising and current Dragonfather of the Holding Bright Race. Outwardly young, the girl still maintains a clear child's heart, but time and war have allowed her soul to grow up passively, and so she chooses to take on the burden of leading her race, truly, like an adult, with a body that has inherited half of the power of a transformed dragon, in the midst of the deaths and injuries of the Holding Bright Clan.

"It's not that there's any old grudge, it's just that the ancient sea has been polluted and it's no longer suitable for hatching there."

The heavy load of business showed a weariness on the girl's face that did not belong to her age, but she kept a smile on her face when facing her friend, only for the words to be as bitter as the reality, "The remaining Holding Eggs have all been relocated, and we're in the process of searching for a new home." But where is the new home? Shirou was at a loss as well.

No one knew what this migration took as a unit of time, months, years, ten years, or many hundreds of years, as long as the emergence and rise and fall of the Holding Ming Clan. The remnants of the Holding Ming had to set out on a long journey once more, taking with them the clansmen and comrades who had been fortunate enough to shed their lives, as well as the legacies of those who had perished completely, and leaving the land of their clan that had been rooted for 10,000 years and the immortal boat that they had relocated to for 1,000 years. Fu Xuan as the representative of Luofu to send off, the new Dragonfather and the new general in the ferry port relative silence, a thousand words are converged into a heavy two words, take care.

Blade was guarding the monitor when March 7 and Dome returned with the news.

The ward where Danheng had passed away had been temporarily converted into an incubation room because of the cracks in his freshly molted Holding Ming eggs, the milky white egg membrane and the egg liquid inside visible through the cracks. Walter had come to look at it and said it was a remnant of the destructive force, that the wrath of the Star God had made death no longer even a relief, and that not even the reincarnation of the Holdmei could be fully dissolved. Even if it could hatch, it would have to spend a very hard time growing up, wouldn't it? The eyes behind the lenses hid sadness, what a suffering child.

The electrode sheet was carefully attached to the eggshell, not daring to stick it very tightly, fearing that the slightest external force would cause the eggshell to peel off. Normal Holding Ming eggs should have a hard and thick shell, like the dragon scales growing on their surface, so as to ensure the safety of transmigration, but Dan Heng's eggshell was as thin as an egg, and the dragon shape inside could be vaguely seen even when the room's headlamps shone down on it-

Yes, the dragon, a tiny, skinny one, curled up in the egg mixture.

It was as if the yolk had transformed into the shape of a dragon overnight. The ability to transform into a dragon was a great power that had gained immortal recognition, making every Holding Ming Clan member envious beyond measure, but at this moment in time, it was adding insult to injury for everyone guarding Dan Heng, because they didn't know how to feed the dragon if Dan Heng did hatch out in dragon form.

Himeko had moved materials from the Black Tower overnight, which even contained ancient books from lost civilizations, and followed Valter as he studied how the dragon bred races raised their young, even if the races that were only in dragon form were being referenced. The Think Tank was also commandeered, but of course, ever since Dan Heng became a Holding Egg, the Think Tank was consulted daily in a state of overload, and if it had been a physical book, the pages of the Holding belonging to the Holding Egg would, I'm afraid, have long since been turned over for good.

"The Holding Ming Clan is born as human beings and doesn't even need to eat milk. Although Dan Heng can transform into a dragon, he was a human being before, why don't we prepare a milk? But we need to choose the milk. Cow's milk or goat's milk? Should we add some nutrients into it, just drinking milk won't work, right?" March 7 and Vault came together, and at the coffee table full of samples - these were the young food of all the dragon-like creatures that could be found so far, a gift from Starpeace - both of them looked a little dazed. "Uh, what kind of powdered milk is this ......" March 7th picked up a bag of weirdly colored powdered samples, flipped to the back and saw the label, her eyes instantly widening, "'Produced on the planet Screwstar, the Iron Iron Powder that Dragon Beasts start taking at birth', is this something that can be eaten! No matter how much more, the Holdemin clan is also human, right?"

"I think we should be more worried about whether or not Danheng will be lactose intolerant than discussing whether or not the Holding Mings are human or reptilian." The dome showed an almost out-of-body expression, while March 7's thinking was always jumpy, "Are you saying we should prepare some more meat for Danheng? But then the question arises, will he eat raw or cooked? Will he get diarrhea, I've heard that diarrhea in cubs is fatal hey?"

While the people in the train car were arguing over raw or cooked food, Blade stared in silence at the electronic screen of the monitor through the door between the stateroom car and the hospital room. The curves on the screen were all different colors and distorted, and he couldn't quite make them out, except to know that there were no alarms, which meant everything was fine. The room was quiet, so quiet that he could only hear his own heavy breathing, the fragile life in the eggshell could not move yet, quietly suspended in the liquid, silence and silence.

Not knowing what deal Aelio and Himeko had made, Blade was let to stay on the train, even to the point where Blade wouldn't take a step away from the ward except for necessary activities, and the train crew wouldn't be asked to recuse themselves from their daily visits. As a star core hunter, Blade's deal with Aelio was terminated after the Final Battle, and he got the answers he wanted, but Aelio is a good boss who cares about his subordinates, and even made it a point to come see Blade again.

"I don't really look at fate anymore. Isn't that funny? A self-proclaimed slave of fate, yet you dare to rebel against the established arrangement."

The man came back with a projection, in which he still sat in the unseen shadows, as he always did, letting the gongs and drums in front of the stage, but staying behind the curtain and looking down on the theater. "It's also quite understandable that the story came to the ending I wanted it to, and rather than me letting you finish the script that was written, we were all actors in the theater.

"--Suddenly realizing that I actually did let the script go through the way I had foreseen it, and that the slave of destiny created destiny, really puts the master in a bad light, doesn't it?"

Cards made up of particles flipped between their fingers, then rose high and fell in unison, spreading a virtual carpet across the floor of the train. "So, I don't know what the future holds for you, but I can tell you that you'll get what you want, though there's no getting away from the prophecy - think of it as a final gift to you, some small ability, in a private capacity.

"Be well, my dear."

As if by magic, the man's fingertips slipped over the cuffs and removed two cards. The backs of the cards were turned over, the ghost cards of poker, joker, red and black. He also raised his hand in a letter, and Blade's vision involuntarily followed the rise and fall, and when he returned to his senses Aelio had disappeared, leaving only a floor of cards. The particles were unheated and insubstantial, but Blade's fingers moved as if he wanted to pick the cards up; eventually he stood, not to pick them up, but to go out and get a fresh sterile cloth. The ghostly blue particles shattered and then reorganized at the tips of his shoes, and by the time Blade returned, they were nowhere to be found.

...... It's ridiculous to get out of Starcore Hunters and have your first job be babysitting your former nemesis.

But Blade couldn't help but feel some annoyance at the thought that true death could only be given by Danheng; Elio swore that fate could be changed, but it still seemed to him that fate was as irritating as it was absurd. For that ending he had to stay here, preventing Danheng from even hatching out - was that a fate that could be changed? And if it really could be changed, why did it have to be Danheng who was the one to hand out his death?

No one was able to answer, the only one who could had left, and Blade chose to sit back down and continue to watch the spawn of his former enemy in silence.

Kafka had told him not to ruminate when he was fine, so as not to touch the past that would induce a demonic Yin body, so Blade was very good at self-emptying, which outwardly manifested itself as silence. He tried not to think about the last time Dan Heng metamorphosed, Dan Feng metamorphosed into Dan Heng to be exact; but the egg that Dan Heng would metamorphose into again was right in front of him. Who would he metamorphose into this time? Still unable to stop himself from thinking about it, Blade heard his breathing become ragged - the Holding Ming Clan's reincarnation would make them forget everything from their last life, so was Dan Heng going to forget again, and was he going to have to watch Dan Heng forget again?

He felt a headache, so he went out and called the dome in, intending to take a walk to relax; Blade knew that the holding-mind eggs in the inner ward were harmless, even immensely fragile, that they would shatter at the slightest touch, that the shells would puncture the egg membranes, and that the not-yet-formulated dan henges would follow the egg liquid, like embryos from a mother's womb from fresh blood; but he really couldn't be in there any longer. Something intangible held up the room, it could not be named, but Blade felt suffocated, suffocated without being able to fight it, making him uncontrollably remember the past, the blood, the sword that hadn't entered his body, the woman's face.

He passed the makeshift power cords pulled all over the floor on his way out, and they went on to the various instruments in the room; the pink-haired girl watched him leave with some trepidation, holding the oddly smelling milk bottle in her hand. "It's been hard on you, Blade." Himeko returned just in time to hold a new dossier, a genuine and gentle smile on her much thinner face, "Going out for a walk?"

Blade nodded a bit, he had already uploaded the guardianship report before he went out; the train crew, through the help of the Black Tower and Silver Wolf, used the hatching information of the oviparous organisms as a database, set up the baseline in combination with the actual situation of the Holding Mings, built a model, collected the daily guardianship data, and inferred the state of the Holding Mings' eggs through the fitting results. But observation is also a very important reference, and Blade dutifully writes reports every day - the coloration of the eggs, the smell, the internal state under the lamp - he is indeed reliable and dutiful, in line with the assessment of his former teammate, Silverwolf.

Danheng was still developing slowly, as it had been for many days before, but the overall change was small, still a pinkish-white egg with a crack in it. Bai Lu said it was normal, holding bright eggs often need several years to hatch out, and now only will be past half a year, can not rush. Instead, the train is too nervous, fearing that he had any accidents, day and night to guard, people have to boil dry.

He had been seriously injured before his metamorphosis, and he was still being affected by the power of destruction when he molted into an egg, so it only made sense that something would happen to him, didn't it? Everyone thought so, and then logically became more attentive, refusing to take a step away from the train unless necessary, even Blade went out for the first time in a long time.

He borrowed the train's small starship, a lightweight flying vehicle suitable for short-distance travel, and set his destination at the land city of Isuzuma. According to the calendar, the annual God's Fall Festival would be celebrated there soon, which was a grand festival for the people of Isuzuma Island to commemorate the civilization brought by the fallen giant ship "Daiyi", and extra-territorial visitors would join in the celebration, while the young locals would also sing and dance all night long; but the land city before the God's Fall Festival was silent and beautiful, and it embraced every visitor from the Star Ocean. The city is silent and beautiful before the Festival of the Fall of the Gods, and it embraces every visitor from the starry sea, and it is suitable for a person to go there and let his soul detach itself from his body in the breath of the waves and get a temporary respite.

The Senboat people were fond of Isumasu; the fall of the Daiyai had taken away the pollution of the Shou Plague Scourge Ancestor, and their fate with the people of Isumasu had begun to be linked; it was also a really good place to relax and unwind. Though he would encounter many immortal boat people, Blade decided to go there anyway, desperately needing water as vast as the ocean, warm in the sunlight and cold in the moonlit night, to submerge the tops of his feet and then the top of his head, so that he could sleep peacefully under the sound of the tide.

-Accidents love to happen at this time.

In the line of starships waiting to berth, Blade receives a message from the train crew that Dan Heng has broken his shell and is in bad shape.

He hurried back in a slow rush, and as soon as he entered the ward he saw the huge tank of water, the green fleshworm-like carnosaur lying itself in a ball under the water, its rounded snout topped with fine bubbles of air. But Blade saw that the membranes over the eyes had not yet been torn off, or more accurately, the eyes were still two greenish meatballs. Danheng's scales had not yet fully grown, appearing as a greenish-colored cuticle on his body, and his body was so thin that even the beating of his heart could carry his body with it as it shuddered and shook along with it, and the whole dragon lay wilted; it shouldn't be.

"Why did the shell break early?"

The dome replied, six-fold, that it didn't know, but it was the night Blade left the train that the eggshell suddenly shattered without warning, starting from the crack caused by that destruction; crystalline, amniotic fluid oozed out, and Dan Heng shrank at the source of the fluid, his beating heart visible through the translucent epidermis, a bright red mass. Walter and Himeko moved him urgently into the tank, which was filled with artificial seawater with nutrient solution added, even specially modeled after the seawater composition of the ancient sea. But Dan Heng had been in this state, still gasping for air, just shrinking at the bottom of the tank, and how not to move. The train crew didn't dare to fiddle with it, so they had to observe it through the glass with fear and trepidation, while texting Blade and shouting for him to come back.

So Blade, too, looked through the glass at the newborn Danheng, the glass reflecting the scarlet eyes, and the greenish-colored cub reflected under the scarlet eyes; and the little dragon lifted its head a little as if it felt something, breathlessly, and moved its body in Blade's direction, and then did not move again, and squeezed a new string of bubbles out of the tip of its nose. March 7 wanted to scream out in surprise, but didn't dare make a sound, so she went to grab Dome's hand and shake it, and Dome nodded desperately along. Himeko ushered them all out, and was kind enough to close the door behind them, but couldn't help but look up at the one man and dragon in the room before closing it.

The silent man bent his back, which had long been overburdened, and his bandaged fingers gently touched the tank of water, staring in silence at his late friend in it. There was only a glass between them, and some man-made seawater, but Himeko saw in a flash the invisible barrier; what it was, she could not say, only that it was too deep and too thick, and in favor of being invisible and indescribable, only that there it was, separating the two hearts, one beating within the chest cavity, and the other struggling under the scales, so close and yet so far away. She gave some heartfelt expression and withdrew gently, leaving time and space for both.

A number of people had gathered in the viewing carriage, projections of Shirou and Kurota, and many others who had helped to look after the train crew, and all were unanimously silent at the sight of Himeko, who shook his head slightly to indicate a continuation; and so the discussion went on as to what Dan Heng was to do behind him; he had shown that he was not adapted to the artificial seawater, but the ancient sea was not to be approached, and what he ought to eat, and the subject of feeding returned to the the initial point of contention, whether to eat meat or drink milk - no one knew, they had to continue the discussion, but one after another unspokenly lowered their voices.

Himeko didn't participate as she walked at a brisk pace to the window and poured herself a cup of coffee against the vast sea of stars. Her coffee had always been prestigious in the compartment, but all the time she had been watching over Danheng, everyone had gotten used to the bitter, never-ending aroma. When people argued over the solid-liquid form of their food, the coffee was still piping hot and could only be smelled; by the time Blade pushed open the door of the stateroom compartment and told everyone that he was taking Danheng away, the coffee was just the right temperature to be slightly scalding hot, so Himeko took a sip before crossing the crowd and asking the reticent man, Where are you going?

Blade doesn't know.

To take Danheng away was just a thought that arose in a flash, but at the same time it created an immense thrust that made him stand up, walk out, and speak out on near impulse, like a dragon guarding its treasure, roaring at a warrior who had trespassed into a cave. But he didn't know where he was going, or if this was the right thing to do, just that he knew he had to take Danheng with him. The idea of leaving arose when he and Danheng locked eyes across the membrane of their eyeballs, eyes that were clearly not yet fully developed and pupils that had presumably not even grown yet, but it was like his head splitting open and being poured into a fountain of fresh water, and Blade heard Danheng's voice, and he said that he wanted to get out. So Blade pushed open the door to the room, met the watchful or questioning eyes in the observation car, and said, I'm taking Danheng away.

"Are you sure, you want to take Danheng with you?"

The woman with the long red hair wore a gentle, motherly expression as she looked at herself quietly. Blade's mother had died a long time ago, in the mouths of machines bred by the Bountiful Folk as the cheapest sustenance; it was too long, too long ago, buried by countless memories so heavy with blood and tears that they should have long since been lost to trace, only to be recalled at this very moment, to the memory of a gentle brow and a warm, caressing palm over the top of her head.

Blade heard himself say, Yes, I'm sure - like an oath at some great ceremony. So the woman smiled, and said, yes, but please wait, let us prepare your bags before you set out.

So the train crew mobilized bigger and better starships and began the vast relocation.

Now Danheng was not fit for long journeys, but when the tanks were carried on board the starship, every one saw the young dragon roll under the water, not as a collision caused by the handling, but rather as a reaction to the maximum expression of delight that could be given by the constraints of a fragile shell. March 7 shoved various milk powders into the larder, forgetting even to be afraid, admonishing Blade to try a little of each, but if Danheng threw up, throw it away, and don't be finicky about it.

Dome helped to check the supplies and emergency medicines, and before closing the door, he whispered, "I've already put you in the group chat of the train crew, so let us know if you're okay from time to time, right? If there's any situation, don't keep it to yourself, Uncle Blade, just tell me if it's inconvenient. Blade didn't have a big expression, just nodded in silence.

Blade subconsciously looked back as the starship's link anchor detached from the train's davit, and through the porthole he saw faces, either worried or expectant, on the makeshift corridor bridge, watching himself and Dan Heng depart. Behind them was the Star Dome train that had kept him moored for most of the year, and beyond that was the infinite and silent sea of stars, while their eyes all shone, reflecting the starship's taillights and forming a quiet, distant river of stars.

Blade turned his head and looked at the silent young dragon in the tank. At some point the eyepiece had cracked open a slit, revealing a line of greenish-colored eyes, like emeralds hidden under a stone shell. Danheng endeavored to stick to the inner wall of the tank and also looked in the direction of the Star Dome Train, though by all accounts he could only sense light now, but it was as if he actually saw something, gently nudging the glass with his muzzle. After watching for a while, he seemed to tire as well, and curled up again in peace and quiet.

Blade watched him fall asleep once more, and for some reason raised his hand and touched the outer wall of the tankard with his fingertips, a very light touch, to the glazed eyes. Starship prompted to select a jump point, what is your destination? Blade thought for a moment and said, go to Isuzuma Continent, moor in that land city on the planet called Talassa.

If you recover quickly, you can still make it in time for the Divine Meteor Festival it, Blade poked the tank again, the artificial seawater didn't make any ripples, but Dan Heng exhaled a string of bubbles as if he was disturbed. The bubbles slowly and languidly gathered and merged into a larger one, then slowly and languidly floated toward the surface, then dissolved the moment they touched the water.

The water reflects the green scales and red eyes, and they are silent.

In silence, they arrive at the strange, Isumasu homeland.

surname San

The Ishuma Continent has a vast sea, and beneath the sea are fallen immortal boats.

Dragons are all fond of water, and when thinking of where to go, Blade thought of the ocean first, and then of this place. The sea of the Ishuma Continent was large, even larger than the ancient sea, very suitable for swimming around, and under the sea of the Ishuma Continent there were still the remnants of the Daiyi's ship, and although after hundreds of star-calendar years, these wrecks were either rotten or altered, and had long since ceased to be the sadness of the giant ship's first fall, it had once been an Immortal Boat.

Was Danheng supposed to like it here? Blade couldn't decide, and had a gut feeling that he wouldn't hate it, so he moved the water tanks to the waterfront to try the young dragon out on his own, with the help of the people of the Ishumasu. The locals were never shy about giving kindness to outsiders, and Blade had been born with the face of a Senkou, so they welcomed it, letting the starship anchor in the harbor and then helping him carry his things.

"Murim, you may call me that, a guest from afar."

Blade met the enthusiastic guide at the harbor, a young Isuzumoan whose hands and feet had not yet developed the webbed membranes suitable for water-dwelling, and whose eyes were clear and bright. He guided the starship to its moorings, then asked Blade if he needed any help, the unassuming traveler looking like a first-timer. "No need for payment, sir! The Festival of God's Fall is just around the corner, and we welcome every visitor, and we hope you'll have a wonderful holiday in Isuzuemashu, with us!"

So Blade agreed, surprising even himself, perhaps infected by the relaxed and pleasant atmosphere around him, and his ever-tight nerves couldn't help but relax. Murim was chatty, and didn't care until he was introduced to the rituals of the Festival of the Divine Fall, saying that this was the last Festival of the Divine Fall he would ever be able to attend in a land city, oblivious to the fact that he would have to go through puberty after the festival. His lungs would rapidly atrophy, and gills would evolve on the side of his neck, leaving him to make muffled noises and speak in the ancient language unique to the water dwellers, and to his equally aging people - the inevitable life of every water dweller in the Isuzuma Island.

"Please don't feel sad! This is a marvelous life for the people of Isumasu, and we have enjoyed our time on land, only to return to our homeland in old age, and the sea of Isumasu is our homeland."

The young man's laughter was light, the scent of the sea breeze filling his lungs and making his chest vibrate with laughter, even the air around him was infected with it, and Danheng quietly rolled over in the water tank. They set the tank down on the beach and watched as Danheng bumped his muzzle against the ocean-facing glass, and Murim leaned down with some surprise, poking the tank with his slender fingers, "Does the little one like the sea of Isuzuma Island too?" Blade put his hand in the water and saw the little dragon eagerly wrapping himself around it, eyes fixed on the endless sea outside, and replied very softly, I guess so, it was rare to see him so happy.

The scales had grown most of the way out, only the ones on the belly were still a little sheepish, and the parts that had already grown were finely arranged and tucked away obediently so as not to scratch Blade's hand. The dragon's body temperature was quite a bit lower than a human's, cool to the touch, and Blade thought of Danheng's body temperature when he was still human, hot enough to burn his stiff, cold body through the blood gushing out of his wounds. Perhaps it was the vulnerability of his previous injuries, or perhaps the young dragon's body was affecting his thinking, the newborn Danheng was not as even-tempered in nature as he had been before, and his displays of affection were much more outspoken - he prodded Blade's hand with a slap of his tail against the back of his hand, his wet fur sweeping over it to leave a sheer itch in its wake.

So Blade stood up, holding the little dragon's head and tail so that it was wrapped around his wrist, then walked down to the beach and half-kneeled again. The seawater soaked the fabric of his knees, but he drifted off into oblivion, concentrating only on dipping his hands into the water and then spreading his palms out. The waves gently kissed his fingers as they formed a makeshift reef, allowing Danheng to abruptly burrow into the water, like the slip of a fish.

Watching the cyan figure disappear into the seawater, Blade realized with hindsight that his pants were already mostly wet, and simply took off his shoes before rolling them up. It was now morning in Isuzuma Continent, the sea water was still cold, the skin could not help but shiver when it first touched it, it would have to wait for a midday and afternoon of sunshine, and by the time evening came again the water would be warm, like soft silk.

The sea in the daytime has a quiet breath that rises and falls with the wind, and if it could be gathered in the palm of one's hand, it would be a merchant's favorite clear blue jewel, untouched by dust and of immense value. The beach in the daytime is a glimpse of the golden color, and the waves together with the continuous to the sky, shells and gravel by the seawater grinding into fine rounded particles, sunk into the soles of each person's feet and palms, and no pain, is with the skin to come to an embrace with the temperature of the sun, the gold-like sand in the sunlight like diamonds glittering.

The sea is pretty at night too, says Murim, so don't miss it. When it gets dark people light lamps, yellow or white, to illuminate the beach. Lights are brought by visitors from outside. The old Isuzu people didn't need lights, they looked far away in the black water and saw visiting people walking on the beach, a light was lit up, so they thought it was a messenger from God coming and compared the lights to pearls scattered by God. Now that the people of Isumasu are accustomed to the lights, and the young people need the lights when they live on land, the beaches are sprinkled with pearls every night. Under each lamp were people. The Senkaku people would fish with the lamps at night, and when the fish saw the lamps, they would gather, and at night the beach was like the sea, and the people became the fish, schooling in twos and threes under the lamps.

At the time of the festival, the beach was even more amazing at night, and the people of Senkaku built huge bonfires that lit up half the sky, which they said were ancient signposts for the return of the generals to their homes. The people of Isuzuwa do not understand that the water dwellers are afraid of fire, but the young people are able to live on land, so they are not afraid, and they will dance in the light of the fire. The dance appeared from the beginning of civilization in Isuzuma Island, and has been passed down with the current to the present day. The gestures are a bit strange, but they are not in the eyes of the unexpected, they just dance on the second rest day of the month of Chao Sao, passed down from generation to generation to commemorate the fairy palace that fell down and brought civilization.

"Be sure to bring your little one to the God's Fall Festival, my friend!"

The sea breeze was loud, so Blade raised his voice in a rare moment and said, yes, I will come, and bring the little one with me. And the little one they were talking about swam back at some point, poking his tiny dragon head out of the waves and looking curiously at the two adults on the beach. After swimming around in the sea, Danheng's condition was visible to the naked eye, wrapping himself around Blade's ankles rather energetically, and the scales on his belly hardened considerably, gently brushing against the raised ankles. When Blade scooped him up, he poked Blade's palm with his muzzle, and his tail, full of the salty smell of seawater, gently patted Blade's cheek.

They stayed on the beach long enough for Blade to buy Murim a drink, a fruit wine specializing in the Isuzuma continent, low in alcohol, more on the beverage side, and when Murim mentioned it when he was introduced, Blade went to buy it and brought him one as well. So they clinked glasses on the beach, Murim happily humming a song he couldn't understand the words to, Blade silent in the song, watching Danheng tirelessly burrow through the water.

Seeing how much Danheng liked the sea water, Blade simply booked a hotel with a pool of even sea water and did not return to the starship. He pondered preparing some food for Danheng before the cubs starved to death, but the question of what Danheng could eat in this shape was indeed a big one, and the train crew nearly drew members of the Genius Club to come together for a meeting on the subject, before Blade finally set out with powdered milk and minced meat. This question was eventually answered when the order arrived - Danheng bit into the grilled steak on his plate.

Maybe they really underestimated the racial nature of dragons, Blade thought silently as he cut the cutlet into small pieces. The young dragon was half in the water, half hanging over the edge of the low table, his green eyes staring at his fingers as he sliced through the cutlets, looking for a moment before turning to Blade's face and staring fixedly. As he ate the cutlet his muzzle brushed a bit of sauce, which Blade gently wiped off with his thumb, and the young dragon twisted his head away in some discomfort, sneezing in the process. After he'd eaten and drank his fill Danheng ran off, hunkering down at the bottom of the pool and dozing off.

Blade looked at the greenish colored mass under the water, remembered that a long, long time ago Dan Feng, also can not resist the heat of the body, the temperature is higher on the transformation of the dragon form, lying in the bedchamber of the artificial pool to cool, do what all listless. In a short period of time the little dragon has grown a circle, the corner of the eye also gave birth to some red scales, like a deceased person's eye end of the stroke of red, so dynamic, so flamboyant, so piercing, like blood. He was suddenly startled and couldn't help but snicker at himself, before Dan Heng took shape, he started to commit a demonic Yin body?

The meal was accompanied by a drink, of average strength, but it was enough for a short diversion, so he drank it down; the fruit wine was sweetly scented and greatly diluted the spice, as if he had been drinking a glass of slightly stimulating fruit juice. Wine doesn't intoxicate, what does is the view after the sun has set; the room is well placed, sitting by the window you can see half the sea and half the beach, and really, as Murim said, people light up.

The lamps, whether round or square, were haloed and hazy when they were lighted, and from a distance they were all round, one by one. The gray surface of the sea was illuminated by the setting sun, which was mostly hidden, and the moon belonging to Isumasu had not yet risen, but the hands of the people had taken up the moon, and placed it on the branches and the seashore, so that the silken waters and beaches were embellished with pearls. A little farther out to sea the water-dwellers could be seen, the old Isumaju people who could no longer go ashore, but the lamps allowed those on shore to feel the breath of the sea with those in the water, through the lights that fell into the water, and through the shoals of fish and the streams of people that gathered under them.

From afar a song drifted with the sea-breeze, a song in a similar key to that hummed by Murim, a song that rose and fell in synchronization with the sound of the tides, and it was not clear whether it was the people of the Isuzuwa Chau chasing the sea or the sea of the Isuzuwa Chau whispering in response. Those ancient languages are incomprehensible to the people on the shore, they come from the gill-like vocalization of the artificial mimicry, is young at the bottom of the sea in the nursery rhymes heard in youth, in youth on land with the memory of transcription. The words that are so awkward that they can only be put together with similar syllables can only be learned by the people of Isuzuma Island at the moment of aging, and then gradually understand the meaning of the words under the guidance of the older ones and continue to be sung under the sea with their gills.

Naturally, Blade couldn't understand it, so he chose to empty his thoughts and watch the sunset fade away completely in a distant haze of song. The sea turned a somber black, while the lights on the beach grew even brighter, the Milky Way hanging in the sky and the sea of lights spread out on the ground. His soul grew lighter and then floated up as if it too was going to go with the wind. The bottom of his eyes reflected the lights by the beach, and he remembered his friends from many, many years ago, when they were enjoying the lanterns together in Luofu, also by the window on the fence, drinking wine and having a good time, with people coming and going on Xuanwang Avenue downstairs, and everyone holding lanterns for blessings in their hands. If you drive a helicopter through the night sky, you will be able to see the colorful dragons made of lights, and vaguely hear the song of the Flower Opera House, the melodious voice swept away the clamor of the crowds and scattered high in the night sky.

He recalled the face of the person beside him at that time, reflected by the glistening light, but he could see the thin red color that stained his cheeks, obviously so light that the scarlet color would be overlooked if he didn't pay attention to it, but as long as he saw it, it was even more eye-catching than the crimson at the end of his eyes. He thought of those clear turquoise eyes, like the surface of a calm mountain lake, reflecting the traffic downstairs, becoming sparkling, as if a wind had risen from the silent lake. It's so pretty, he heard the man's warm voice with a child-like surprise; I rarely see such a view, thank you, the man smiled with an arched brow, a smile that was quietly remembered for so many years by someone with a heart.

As his head began to ache, Blade subconsciously went to look for someone, turning around only to see the little dragon in the water. Dan Heng did not know when he woke up, floating to the surface of the water, also quietly looking at the lights downstairs; noticing Blade staring at him, he whimpered a bit suspiciously and swam over slowly, patting the back of Blade's hand with his wet tail. Being patted one by one, Blade felt much better from his headache, and his hand trembled a little as he went to touch the little dragon's head. Seeming to sense the state of affairs, Danheng did not resist the hand that had lost some of its strength, but instead touched the sweaty palm with his muzzle, tasting bitter.

When will he grow up? It was rare for Blade to feel anguish, and growing up was the only way to end his suffering. At least learn to take form first, when will he take human form? No one could answer, the little dragon only felt sleepy, so he put his head in Blade's palm to sleep.

Blade also no longer think about it; the night is getting deeper, the sea breeze of the Isuzuma Island becomes gentle in the night, so he also closed his eyes in the sea breeze, smelling the salty damp warm vapor, with the sound of the tide that becomes clearer and clearer after the tide of the people has died down, everyone who sets foot on the Isuzuma Island can't help but be on the same frequency with this ocean where life originates, breathing in and out, the tide rises and falls. In the palm of my hand was the subtle nostrils of a small dragon, gently brushing against my skin, those evil spirits chattering in my ears dissipating with each blow - a good night's sleep today.

They waited in Isuzumo. The sun rises and sets even longer in Thalassa, so that the seven days of Ishuma Chau were the greater part of a month in the usual perception, and they waited seven Ishuma Chau days and nights for the actual arrival of the Festival of the Divine Fall.

During the waiting time, Danheng grew at a rate visible to the naked eye, long enough to lay on Blade's shoulder, his tail wrapped around his neck like a green scarf. Blade took him to the beach every single day, putting the little dragon in the water and watching him swim around while he himself sat down by the beach, ordering a drink that he drank slowly and over the course of most of the day, the tart juice fermenting with the sunlight and the sea air, becoming sweet honey at the bottom of the drink.

During the waiting time, Blade saw people coming and going on the beach not far away, the starships of the immortal boats coming and going in the sky, the fallen daiyai becoming a new home for the people of Isuzumo, and the extraterrestrial visitors of the same immortal boats who regarded Thalassa as the homeland in their dreams, and so they met on the beach on the day when the palace of the immortals fell, and the people of Luofu made a bonfire, and the people of Isuzumo set up a stage. Poets came from different places to sing together on the moonlit night of the Festival of the Fall of the Gods, telling of a time long ago when the palace of the gods fell from the sky and civilization was born. The scriptures of the past become songs, and Blade listens to the chanting that blurs in the sound of the sea breeze, as they rehearse the stories that they already know so well, so melodious, so lofty, and with sadness, that it will remind one of the vast sea, where the ships traveled far away in the waves, never to look back, with the infinite starry skies above them.

The Festival of the Divine Meteor arrives in song.

The daytime festivities were grand and enthusiastic, and the young Isumans excelled in song and dance, so they sang, they clamored, and they reveled. The crowd left open space for the dancers and watched as they twirled, their waists painted like flames, their legs depicting fish totems handed down from hundreds of star-calendar years ago, converging in the air like schools of fish as they twirled, and then circling, round and round. The Immortal Boat people couldn't understand the obscure language, but music was a bond that resonated without words; they couldn't speak the words, so they hummed along, accompanying the dancing Ishumasu people, while the Ishumasu poets led the singing uninterruptedly, and the same song was repeated countless times on this day, but no one got bored.

In the tide of people, Blade saw all kinds of faces, some were drunk and red from not being able to win the wine, some were dancing and sweating crystal brightly, there were the dark skin and clear eyes of the Isuzuma Islanders, and there were the tails of the Fairy Boat Foxes that were stained by the sand and sea water, every one of them laughed, and every one of them sang. Obviously they were just partners with trade relations, obviously they were races that wind up in the bloodline, but on the night of the Divine Meteor Festival, both the Isumasu people and the Xianzhou people forgot about it without a second thought, and then embraced, held hands, and danced in the sea breeze as if they were brother and sister.

The warmth of the atmosphere set the beach all ablaze, no one was able to stay out of the waves of merriment, Blade didn't realize that his face was also flushed with red, like fermented juice producing alcohol that crept up his cheeks, he went to touch the little dragon's head on his shoulder, "You would have danced in those days as well." The little dragon couldn't understand what he was saying, just looking around curiously at the people coming and going around him. The laughter was too much and too loud, wrapped up in the sea breeze and blowing the dragon's head around; but he felt that the man was happy, so he wagged his tail happily, too, with a wag. Passing through the crowd, someone noticed them and invited Blade to join in, but Blade just raised his glass distantly, the song drowning out his voice, and he heard himself telling the merrymakers to have fun.

"Come here, guest, and little one!"

Murim waited for them in the center of the crowd, and in the center of the crowd was the huge bonfire stage that the Senkou people had lit up at night, and the bonfire covered a stone stage built by the Isumasu people, and the stage was still full of people. The Isumasu people and the Senju people held hands and they danced; the Isumasu people had Senju hairpins on their heads, and the Senju people had Isumasu totems painted on their arms, and holding the hands of the people next to them, they slowly twirled around the bonfire, stepped freely in the same direction, and sang. Each palm is sweaty, body heat is transmitted through the skin, and feelings warm up in song.

In the midst of the merrymaking, the days, which were longer than common sense, would also seem short, and in the warmth of the sunlight at sunset, Murim gave the silent man and the young dragon an introduction to the past of the Ishumasu continent, from its uncivilized beginnings to the present, which was closely tied to the Skydriver's Chamber of Commerce, and from the Festival of the Divine Meteor, which was a religious festival in honor of the gods, to the present, where crowds of people stayed up all night long, singing all the way through the day and all night long. "The Immortal Boat people love today as much as we do!" Blade echoed softly in his mind, yes, there was no one who didn't love this vibrant city, where laughter and song gathered into a tsunami, and where smiles and dancing were like flames.

As the night began to color the sky, torches were held up by the messengers of the fairy boats, and the largest bonfire roared to life lighting up the entire beach under the gaze of countless glittering eyes. A new wave of song rises, accompanied by a sudden and violent sea-wind, and the flames dance and the song soars in the wind, as the poets sob and sing of the fall of the great ships and the surge of life. The joyous dance of the daytime was even more enthusiastic at night, and fluorescent substances were added to the colorful paint of the Isuzuma Island, so there were schools of fish swimming on the beach; the Isuzuma Island was so good that at night one could see the vast river of stars, which was reflected in the tide of the sea, and the lamps were lit one by one, suddenly spreading out a whole beach of stars and the moon, and the stars on the ground extended all the way up to the sky, and the Blade turned his head to see that Dan Heng had somehow lifted up his head, and his green eyes sparkled.

Sweat, wine, tears, food, spices, many, many scents from the starry sea all mix in the salty smell of the sea breeze, and they blend together to ignite everyone who celebrates the festival at this time. The night brings the festivities to a climax, which reaches its peak and suddenly stops at a certain point in the night - the clamor of the voices recedes, as if the tide were being carried away by gravitational force; the youths, the children, and the fairy boatmen, all of them sit down by the shore and look out over the distant sea.

"This is the most important ceremony of the Divine Fall Festival, a pact between the Isuzuma Continent and the Immortal Boat."

The waters of the far ocean were black, and on the surface of the sea, which undulated and rippled like silk, older water-dwellers emerged from the bottom with smooth, fish-like, scaly skins, gills that opened and closed on the side of their necks, and eyes that were closer to the sides of their skulls. The human features had faded for the most part in the life of the sea, and they looked like alien monsters, but no one exclaimed, no one panicked, and both those on shore and those in the sea were uncharacteristically silent and waited in the calmness of the -

The blade saw the starcatcher that broke the sea.

He remembered, not long after he had arrived in Luofu, he had idly passed by the Nocturnal Marquis and heard the storyteller tell this tale about the fallen immortal boat giant Daiyi. It sailed away alone with the contamination of the Shou Plague Scourge Ancestor, and was torn apart by the attacks of the Abundant Folk and the Bu Li people, and when all was lost, the leader named Qingzhu chose to self-destruct, and the heroes broke the Shou Plague's curse with a magnificent sacrifice, leaving the alliance with a chance to catch their breath, and also keeping the contamination contained on the Immortal Boat.

The mikoshi then crashed in the waters of the Isuzuma Continent on the planet Tarasa.

Ishuma was not yet enlightened, and the people thought it was a fairy palace that had fallen from the sky, bringing knowledge and material things they could not understand. It was only after seven planetary days, when the trembling and shattering of the seabed had subsided, that they explored it with awe, and sang from the ruins of the great ship that long, long ago, the temple of the gods fell from the heavens. The fall of the gods brought new life, and so the myths built the first civilization, on the keel of the great ship.

The Daiyai allowed the people of the Ishumasu to begin a new flourishing, and so the people of the Ishumasu saw themselves as a sort of survival of the Daiyai, and it wasn't until Talassa made a pact with the Immortal Vessel Alliance, and the men of the Skydrive Chamber of Commerce set foot on the land for the first time, that the people of the two worlds began to learn about each other, strangely and familiarly, through the Immortal Vessel that had crashed hundreds of planetary calendars ago. By this time the giant ships had long since gone to sleep surrounded by seaweed and fish, and life was alive and well on the wreckage, so a special ceremony was carried out at the urging of both parties-

The Isuzumasu people will dive to the bottom of the sea, collect the bones of the immortal boat people, and send the heroes on the starships to return to their homeland.

On the shore, the immortal boatmen lighted the lanterns of blessing, which were prepared with the grass and leaves of the Isuzuma Island, and when they burned out, the remains sank to the bottom of the water, where they naturally degraded, and were the new sustenance for the living creatures, and so all the lamps on the beach were extinguished, and only the bonfires were left behind, and a sea of lanterns floated up along the shoreline. The waves push the lights toward the shore and back farther out to sea, and stars of light float on the black ocean. If any of the lamps were stranded along the beach, someone would push them farther away, so that the souls of the hosts would merge into the sea of lamps.

Blade remembered the Luofu funeral ceremony he had watched long ago, the mourning music filled the sky with paper money, flurrying like a heavy snowfall. He recalled that the Cloud Cavalry would hold mass funerals for fallen generals, and after each great battle, the generals of the Immortal Boat would bring the survivors to the square in front of the cemetery, and the Ten Kings Division would send out a ceremonial guard of the highest caliber, and people would recite their eulogies as they looked around the tombstones. Most of the generals would be buried in a collective grave, and many of them, not being able to find their names, would be referred to by a unified name.

Heroes.

Too many wars had been fought on the Immortal Boat, too many generals had given their lives for the stability of the rear, and every one of them was a hero. The sea breeze was warm and damp, but Blade remembered the blood that was equally warm and damp, splattering his face and soaking his gauntlets and clothing. In the soon-to-be unremembered past, he had piloted gold men into battle, where he had seen many Cloud Riders, meeting in passing, some standing and some lying down when they met again. And many of them were still young, both long-lived and short-lived species, both foxes and holdings, each one quiet after gaining a permanent deep sleep, lying in a pool of blood and making no more noise, waiting for the supine puppets of the Ten Kings Division to come and collect them.

Funerals were only for those who had a home, so Ying Xing's parents had no funeral because their home had long since been destroyed by the invasion of the Bountiful Folk. Blade remembered the book Kafka had read in her spare time, she had once read with inexplicable significance that a man had to die three times before he was truly dead, once physically, once at a funeral, and once when the last person in the world had forgotten him as well.

So Blade wouldn't have a funeral no matter how many times he died; he'd dived into the fairy boat to pay his respects to the cemetery, straining his scarred hands to brush over the communal headstones, wiping away the rain that had seeped into the crevices, and struggling to recognize the names with their peeling paint. There were many names that were familiar, and not so familiar, and he couldn't match the faces to the memories, only that there were many, many of them. Such memories would bring on the demonic shadow body more quickly, so Kafka rarely allowed him to go to the cemetery unless she was there with him; it was raining in the cemetery when they were there, the rain hitting the black umbrella surface, and Kafka stood away from him, watching Blade put down the white chrysanthemums in silence.

"They are the heroes of the immortal boats and the Isuzuma continent, the true gods."

Yes, the heroes who sheltered the people are the gods, Blade replied so, his head beginning to ache again. He, too, watched as the star hewer bearing the remains of the people sailed off into the sky, the heroes of centuries ago laying in eternal rest in a foreign land, and now, hundreds of years later, they were being awakened once more, it was the people of their homeland who would bring them home to the land that had haunted their souls. A line of beautiful writing was carved into the star hewer, the language of the Isuzuma Islands, finely traced with luminous paint that glowed in the moonlight.

What does it say?

Blade heard a familiar voice ringing in his ears.

Warm hands gently covered his neck, palms and fingertips soft, not calloused from long hours with a gun, carrying seawater and sweat over the most fragile and deadly part of a person. Blade knew his blood was rushing, his veins pulsing under his skin, and his heart, too, beating so fast it was about to burst out of his chest, favoring a mushy throat as if he'd filled it with a big mouthful of honeyed syrup.

Murim's eyes had not yet left the star-craft, and so it was left to him, an Ishmaelite, to answer, a prayer composed by the elder priests of the Ishmaelites, who were rumored to have psychic powers; and when the ceremony of requiem was over on the broken ship, the leader chanted as if with feeling, and then translated by the landed clansmen into phrases which the fairy boat people could also understand-

"You shall unhook the cable for the drowned sailor.

"Don't cry, you will sail in peace when I die."

4

He should have done it the moment Dan Heng took shape.

A small child's sinews were so soft that it didn't take a lot of force to pinch the back of the neck and twist it gently, and they would immediately lose consciousness and gain at least an hour's worth of unconsciousness. And the starship's leap would only take a short time, enough time to get to the next destination before Dan Heng woke up, and if it moved fast enough there was still time to do it even more finely, such as refining it from dropping the person off in some random nook or cranny of the planet Tekkonium to placing him in the backstreets of Tekkonium's big dugout.

Blade had learned of the planet Tekkonium during one of his missions. It had to be said that the company's vision was poisonous, and this ruined planet that was originally the company's shipwreck port was actually able to dig out the utilization from the cracks of the bones, no, to be precise, the carbon fibers and stainless steel of the decommissioned megaships. If he hadn't come here once a long time ago, he wouldn't have imagined that in just a few short decades, the planet Tycoonium could be transformed from a garbage dump into a dazzling athletic destination in the Milky Way.

For the Motorized Ball Contest, Blade walked through the streets of the planet Tycoonium and saw a giant poster flashing on a large electronic screen on the side of the road.

The advertisers used all the bright colors and exaggerated adjectives to describe this event, the best athletes, auxiliary thrusters capable of exploding starship-level thrust, the unpredictable three-dimensional ring-shaped track, the irregular motorized ball manipulated by the phase spirit fire, the intense body friction and collision ...... everything you can think of can be seen in it. It doesn't matter if you can't come to the scene in person, Star Peace Pictures is exclusively broadcasting the event, and they have mastered the most advanced over-the-horizon remote sensing technology, which allows them to record even the sensory experience of the athletes themselves, simply by purchasing the Motorized Ball Competition's exclusive member on-demand rights--

Blade retracted his eyes and reconfirmed the target of the mission, a representative of a film and television company based on the planet Tycoonium, who would be leaving the security-heavy hotel at eleven o'clock late at night after tonight's semifinal game and walking into the back streets of the Tycoonium's big dome.

Backstreets, that's what's left of the last remnants of the old planet Tycoonium, obliterated from its original form by the company's robotic arm. The planet's spontaneous underground laws have been transformed by the sports experts of Interstellar Peace and Entertainment, with propulsion equipment originally intended for action in the tubes of sunken ship chambers becoming the tools of competition, and the highly regulated parts that the businessmen fought over being transformed into motorized balls of carbon fiber and stainless steel. The old laws of survival in the ruins were exposed to the sunlight in an almost absurdly entertaining way, but that didn't mean the shadows dissipated, no matter how pure and dazzling the lights were, the shadows would always be there - and so they turned underground, in what they called the backstreets.

While the above ground market revolves around licensed sponsorships, broadcast licenses and other bright and shiny deals, the below ground market is naturally the stuff that doesn't see the light of day, the lotto style betting, the skin trade, the illegal practice of medicine ...... all the trades that can only exist in the shadows, intact and perfected to grow and flourish in the shadows of the backstreets, through every single game that takes place in the Tecdium Grand Ballroom. contest. He should have left Dan Heng here, Blade thought with some ferocity, fragile, harmless, unknown children would be picked up by human traffickers, the good ones groomed to become waiters or athletes, and what happened to the bad ones, no one knew.

A harsh existence forces a man to grow up quickly, Blade knew that all too well, like the first time he was killed after he opened his eyes after his long life, when his newly awakened flesh didn't even react to what was happening and the blade stabbed into his chest, slicing precisely into the cracks of his ribs and piercing his heart; and so it was that he learned to take up the sword in death after death, the shattered and broken sword, blended together with a rich mix of power, full of hate that was going to tear the spirit apart, to strike back at the cost of destroying himself.

--He needed Danheng to be like that, too. To hate him, to hate him to the bone, to let that hate serve as motivation, to push himself backwards to grow up quickly, and then to take up Strike Cloud, or something else would do, just to kill the man so that he would be relieved.

It would have been much simpler to limit the death to Danheng doing the deed, Blade could have shoved a knife in Danheng's hand right now, or a gun, aimed at his own heart, and he would have died as easily as he did so many years ago; Blade had even actually done so, saying goodbye to Murim, carrying the infant Danheng back to the starship, and then shoved a knife in the clueless child's hand. The knife had been found from the starship's galley, sharp enough for boning.

He placed Danheng in the chair, letting his soft hands grip the hilt while he himself half-kneeled, like a knight waiting to be honored, and let the tip of the blade rest against his chest. For the first time, Blade was patient with a child, using his hand to assist Danheng in centering the tip of the blade so that it would not be stuck in the wrong place, and then suppressing the hissing call that boiled in his blood, he said in a gentle voice, Come, push forward.

The metamorphosis literally returned Danheng's mind to that of a small child; he stared blankly at Blade, who was laughing somewhat maniacally, and subconsciously tried to let go of his hand, only to have Blade forcefully immobilize his fingers. He felt afraid, and a thin mist emerged from his green eyes, seeing that he was about to cry out - to a child, the scene before him was inexplicable, but he had an innate perception of fear - the thin arms began to tremble, and even the tip of the blade shook to and fro with it The tip of the boning-knife was so sharp that it pierced through the material of the coat by the very act of swaying, not to mention the chest, which rose and fell violently from the excitement of the blade.

It was only a matter of breaths before the tip of the blade had sunk into the skin tissue and was churning in the wound from Danheng's trembling, so that the color of blood spread quickly. But it wasn't enough, not by a long shot, and Blade could feel the abundance of power starting to work, the growing flesh on the verge of biting the tip of the blade. "Come on, come on!" He roared out in a near-disordered voice, and Danheng's tears came down with him; but the child just held onto the hilt of the knife, refusing to move a muscle, even as he tried to throw away the heavy thing that was impaling the adult in front of him.

So Blade took the initiative and sent the sharp blade into his chest.

The knife wasn't in the right place, and it stuck in the ribs, so Blade held Danheng's hand, letting the tip of the knife slant in upwards, thwarting the top edge of the bone so hard they both heard a dull, plopping sound. Blood flowed out in an instant, sliding down the blade and into Danheng's and Blade's fingers, warm and slightly sticky. The outflow of blood took away body heat and consciousness, so Blade leaned back contentedly, not caring when the back of his head knocked against the cabinet; blood loss made the ears ring, and he closed his eyes at the growing buzz, hearing the piercing cries of a small child, but he didn't care.

Death. His throat made a clicking sound, from the blood rushing up and blocking his windpipe, so good, just right, to hasten his death. He then stopped trying to speak and obediently relaxed his body, letting himself sink into the darkness.

Blade died many times, but he came back to life each time. Death felt like a dark, sweet dream; there were no gods to receive him, no hell, it was just like falling asleep until the curse of abundance mended his body, and he slept and woke up. But he hadn't expected to wake up this time; the first thing he felt before he opened his eyes was a warm mass, wrapped tightly around his neck, on the verge of strangling him to death, a very familiar touch, smooth and with fine lines.

...... is the tail end of Dan Henderson.

He's back from the dead.

The interior of the starship was brightly lit, and Blade's eyes were shaken for a moment, and along with it, his brain was a little dulled by the loss of blood, and he took a moment to realize what had happened, pursing his lips together in some annoyance. The sharp knife that had killed him had fallen to the floor next to him, presumably muscle tissue had pushed it out of the wound as it mended, and there was dried blood all over his clothes and the floor. He tried to get up before realizing he had a child lying on top of him, it was Dan Heng.

Now Danheng was really too small, and his bones were sheepish and soft, shrinking to a small mass. He buried his head in Blade's shoulder, and the dragon's tail, which he could not yet retract, wrapped tightly around Blade's neck, as if he was afraid that the person would run away, and even used his hands to pick at Blade's collar, nearly strangling the adult. Blade somewhat impatiently picked up the back of the cub's neck, wanting to pull the person off his body; but he felt wrong just as his hand touched Dan Heng's skin, and hurriedly flipped the person over, revealing a flushed face.

--Dan Heng is running a fever.

Blade finally remembered that the dragon's tail was supposed to be cool, but it was hot because its owner was running a high fever. It should be a convulsion caused by being scared so much, followed by a high fever, and he didn't know how long the fever had been going on, Dan Heng's lips were already a little purple, his breathing was rapid, and his body couldn't stop twitching. Not caring about the blood on the ground, Blade rushed to carry the person into the bedroom, let the child lie down flat, undressed to prevent breathing difficulties, and then rushed out to look for medicine.

The undead star core hunter was really inexperienced in this aspect of being a doctor, so the advanced medical droid inside the starship was awakened, and after scanning it, it quickly analyzed the condition and automatically retrieved the appropriate medicines from the medical bay. Waiting for the calming and fever-reducing drugs to flow into the body a little bit, Dan Heng's breathing gradually stabilized, and Blade realized that he had sweated all over the body, and it was already about to dry out, but his clothes were still sticking to his body.

He went out to change his clothes, cleaning up the blood on the floor in the process, and as he bent down to mop up the floor Blade realized in hindsight if he had been a little too worried about Danheng, and that everything he had just done had seemed like an instinctive reaction, not even realizing that he was in a mess. It's because no one can kill himself if Danheng is dead, he soothed the doubting villain in his mind, and then went to work on what to have for dinner tonight.

Edge has never paid attention to the desire for food, as long as it can ensure the most basic survival needs can be, compressed dry food even eat for a month does not matter, but look at Dan Heng's current state, the meal can not be arbitrarily dealt with, at least Dan Heng that guy's can not. He had to be patient to look at the recipe, seriously injured hand some do not listen to the command, but the knife when cutting meat is still quite good, some clumsy stew pot of chicken congee, in order to take care of the patient has not put much seasoning. But his cooking was really average, the porridge was a bit mushy, so Blade took the clean part of the top and put it in the warming box separately, and took care of the rest himself.

Danheng woke up four hours later, his eyes still red even though his fever had gone down, and when Blade came in with his bowl he saw him scrunched up in a ball under the covers, clutching his tail, showing only the soft black top of his hair and two short, just-pointed dragon horns. Feeling slightly amused, Blade cleared his throat, and as expected, saw the comforter shake a little, and the little guy balled up tighter again.

"Well, get up and eat, aren't you hungry?"

He was answered by carefully open green eyes, blood creeping over the whites and half a bag of water in his sockets. After staring nervously at the blade for a moment, Danheng crawled out anyway, tentatively trying to reach for the bowl before he was met with a gentle tap on the paw. "Sit still and I'll feed you." With his white bib tied around his neck, Danheng stared dully at the rice spoon stretched out in front of him, then at Blade, who was quietly holding it up, and carefully stuck his tongue out to lick the rice broth, before having a spoonful shoved semi-forcibly into his mouth.

A meal in almost suffocating silence in the end, blade's silence because he already do not like to say more, Dan Heng's silence is more because of fear, small children do not remember much, but that does not mean they do not understand things. After eating, Blade wanted to wipe Danheng's mouth, he eased the force to pinch the child's soft cheeks, wrapped a towel around his fingertips, and leaned down to wipe the remnants of the corners of his mouth, he wiped with such concentration that he didn't notice the tiny hand reaching out to his own chest.

Very lightly, touching the spot where the knife had gone in earlier, Blade froze at first, then heard himself say, It's okay, it's healed. He hadn't expected that answer to make Danheng start producing tears again; a child with a fresh fever's speech was still a little muffled, and to cry or not to cry was even harder to hear, but Blade tried to make out what was being said--Danheng asked him, Are you in pain?

Instead, Blade froze for a moment, unsure of how to respond.

Pain, the inherent response of the nerves, the instinctive transmission of information. Even if one has felt the pain of extinction more than once, it only raises one's threshold for perceiving pain, and does not achieve complete senselessness through self-deception. Does it hurt? Of course it hurt, how could it not when the heart was pierced by the tip of a blade and bled outward like a leaky balloon, and when the back of the head hit the door of a cabinet of synthetic metal with a heavy thud? But Blade touched Dan Heng's head and said, it doesn't hurt, it doesn't hurt at all, don't be afraid. Dan Heng did not look too convinced, but he still nodded his head and said that he was not afraid, Blade did not hold back and popped his head, the brat is still talking tough, go to sleep.

The rice bowl was placed on the bedside table, Blade did not rush to leave, but sat on the edge of the bed and waited until Danheng was fully asleep. The little dragon cub was also restless in his sleep, and took his tail into his arms again; such an action inevitably lifted the quilt, so Blade gently covered it back up and tucked the corners of the quilt in tightly again. When the quilt was covered, staring at the two green dragon horns, Blade was again a little lost in thought; he didn't know what came to mind, he snorted a laugh, the sound was so soft that if you didn't listen carefully you could only feel a breath of wind rolling across his throat.

The high fever caused by the convulsions went away quickly, and after another sleep, Danheng's temperature had returned to completely normal, so Blade breathed a sigh of relief and began to think again about how to obtain a real death. But no one expected that the hidden disease brought from the egg and caused by the contamination of the power of destruction would just explode in an acute illness.

With fragile immunity comes the ever-present risk of infection, and a cure that is so long that it's about to fade in time after getting sick. Blade had forbidden Danheng to leave the starship after he had coughed and coughed but vomited up blood because of a cold, and they had just made the leap to the planet Screw. Danheng had seen the place in a book and was curious about the planetary differential machine that was built from an entire planet, so Blade adjusted the destination.

You can't go. Danheng's eyes showed obvious disappointment, but Blade's attitude was strong. Screwstar is full of mechanical floating dust, and I don't want to go down there and collect your body.

What Blade said was true, the dying planet had been transformed by races searching for the origins of mechanical life to run differential machines, planetary level energy allowed purely rational gear megacons to act out everything by gulping down punched paper tape, the bite and nesting of countless gears had hollowed the planet out completely, so that it was no longer suitable for carbon-based life, and normal humans needed to rely on armament-grade external assistive equipment to walk around. There is equipment on the starship, but I don't want to take the risk, Blade crouched down to be level with Dan Heng, the boy's pale face reflected in his scarlet eyes, You're in such bad shape.

And so Dan Heng delved into the starship's database, which had been remodeled with reference to the Star Dome Train's Think Tank, loaded with all of humanity's existing knowledge and constantly replenished along the way of pioneering. Much like Dan Feng's time in the Psi Prison after he transformed into Dan Heng - Blade had once heard Jing Yuan say something vaguely about it - the newborn Dragonfather, who was not allowed to set foot outside of his cell, relied on reading books to learn about the outside world.

Before knocking on the door with his tea, Blade looked at Danheng through the doorway for a long moment, watching as the tiny body climbed up the bookshelf ladder and carefully took down a large book inlaid with rivets and gears. The book, which Blade had rummaged through in the storeroom and supposedly put in by the train crew, chronicled the history of the Screw Planet, very appropriately decorating the cover with small parts. The day before the ship arrived on Screwtape, Blade had put it on the shelf and, as expected, saw Dan Heng pick it up in the present.

Blade felt suddenly sad again. He had spent many sleepless nights thinking about why he had suddenly taken the wind out of his sails to bring Dan Heng out instead of honestly staying on the train or sending the man back to Luofu; he couldn't answer, he only remembered the time when he had locked eyes with Dan Heng through the water tanks and the eye film, and his brain had done so in a moment of heat; he had subconsciously felt that Dan Heng wanted to go out for a walk.

If the lifespan of the Holding Ming Clan was superimposed, then Dan Heng had already lived ten thousand years; not long ago when he was still in dragon form on the Ishuma Continent, perhaps one of the few times in his long ten thousand years that he had been truly free, with no identity or mission, purely carefree, not knowing too much, only obeying his nature to zigzag in the seawater. But now Dan Heng couldn't get out, and was back at the beginning of that cycle of reincarnation, life after life, in a courtyard hidden in the Scaly Abyss realm on one side, in a cell that didn't see the light of day, only the location had changed to a tiny starship and a miniature think tank.

Blade was a little annoyed, directed at himself, why was he in such a hurry that day, scared Dan Heng out of his mind, still don't know how long it will take to recuperate; and the demonic Yin body was teasing in his ear, isn't that what he deserves, that's your enemy, the one you hated, once upon a time, he ruined everything - won't personally watch him reincarnate, and you believe in the Holding Clan's line, the You're just going to buy into the Jiraiya's line of thinking and write off the past, aren't you?

...... will not.

Blade held the still dripping kitchen knife in silence, he had just finished bleeding the ingredients for lunch, the body tossed in the hot water used for dehairing while the hot water allowed the stench to mingle with the blood to permeate the kitchen, mixing it into a rich, eerie smell capable of clogging up the airways. Like a corpse stench, and it was indeed a corpse stench, only narrowly referring to humans, used at this point to generalize all raw meat, unspeakably nauseating, locusts sticking to his body, and after dealing with it he was going to take a shower.

His preferred water temperature was colder, to free the overwhelmed brain from the boiling blood, and the sound of the water running would override the calumny. At this point Blade chose to turn the water down to the lowest temperature, letting the cold liquid hit his head densely and then fall to the floor, taking with it a body full of stickiness. He wanted to vomit, back in the kitchen, but it was better now; so he continued to think about things.

He would also be chagrined, thinking of Dan Heng and himself now. Why didn't he just throw Dan Heng to the planet Tycoonium at that time, there were special people in the backstreet of the Tycoonium Dome, ostensibly under the name of selecting good seedlings, but behind the scenes they were notorious human traffickers in the Milky Way, extending their hands farther and farther away based on the acquiescence of the company; or throw him to Talia, the rumored principality made up of interstellar bandits, where the population was complex and the society was even more chaotic. Just make sure that Dan Heng does not die, so that he will not have a sense of guilt, and even less to stay; life can survive in the Jedi, Dan Heng's life is so hard, maybe when we meet again, he is already a top motorized ball player or the head of the thieves, and then stabbed himself to death, one to avenge a grudge and the other to get what he wanted, would not it be a happy ending!

But fate was an asshole, making everyone one wrong step at a time, causing Blade to be on the verge of going insane in a chasm of vengeance and preciousness that gave him a splitting headache every time he thought about it. Still, Blade would cook for Danheng, consulting the nutritious recipes circulating on the StarNet and varying his selections. He would watch the order and rate of the boy's eating to deduce what he preferred to eat, and then adjust the dietary ratios appropriately.

After his body degenerated into a small child, Dan Heng's nature inevitably took on a bit of childishness, even if he had already read many, many books, such as picking at his food. He was smart and knew how to go along with Blade's nature, so when a dish he didn't like was brought up, he would eat it quietly and show an expression of discomfort.

At first, Blade thought he was not feeling well, when I looked up the information, I saw that children's congenital deficiencies can affect their appetite, or there is something wrong with the food, from the taste to the quality, and was scared a few times for no reason. Later, I learned that this is a child's bad intentions, look at the pair of green eyes, the blade can not be ferocious, so I had to find a way to add more or less a little bit of the food that I do not like to the rice, as long as it is not found, if it is found, go to knock the little dragon cub's head and say, you this little cub, it is really difficult to serve.

Rationality told him to do all this just to make sure that Danheng, the sickly boy, lived and lived until the day when he could pick up a strike cloud and kill him; but selfishness murmured in hidden corners that not only growing up, but growing up healthy was the only way to do it.

Reluctantly, he admitted that cooking calmed Blade the vast majority of the time, as the learning of recipes was something entirely new to him, and the mind was able to pull back from confusing, stale and illusory memories - of course, there were occasional flashbacks to those of the bloody past, but he wasn't alone at this point, and the still young dragon cubs were no more than well-behaved. Every now and then, he was able to make a commotion and divert his attention to reality - and then focus on the ingredients within reach.

The injured hand gradually stabilized as he picked up the kitchen knife, like gripping a hammer when he was still at Koboji, the fish and vegetables on the counter overlapping the red-hot iron material on the anvil. Cooking required some patience, attention to color during the preparation stage, to smells during cooking, and to decorations before serving at the table; his fingers did not support Blade in any elaborate patterns, but he could wipe the soup off the edges of the plate with blotting paper.

Blade would empty his mind as he watched the ingredients roll around in the pot in silence; he didn't actively recall the past, but he also didn't think about the future in too much concrete terms; raising Danheng was a large but clear goal, and making too many plans beyond that was just adding to the frail nerves. "Blade is a strong and fragile person yeah, but reliable." Kafka had commented, "But learn to relax yourself too, huh?"

But Dan Heng was a man with ideas for the future, at least in this life he was. While the Dan Heng of long ago lived under the teachings of the Dragon Master, and the Dan Heng of his last life had been lost in exile and didn't have a goal until he stepped onto the Star Dome train, the Dan Heng of now awakened to a sense of planning too soon, perhaps from reading too many books. Starships were self-sufficient in fuel, and mature adults were too put out, so Dan Heng became the travel route planner.

They had traveled many more places after leaving the Ishuma Continent of Talassa. Salsotu was a golden color in the universe because of its vast deserts, a planet that had gradually stopped rotating many star-calendar years ago because of the pinch caused by the impact of a meteor shower, where the long days of sunshine brought unsurvivable heat, and the night, which was so bitterly cold as to be intolerable, took up the rest of the year, and so the city had been forced to learn to fly chasing the line of morning and nightfall.

Salsotto hadn't quite stopped spinning when they arrived. Danheng was still in good shape, so in a rare moment of relief Blade took the men out, and they donned their flutter suits, stood up on the lookout of the tumbleweed, and leapt down. The Salthotu, who survived between day and night but grew an optimistic and romantic heart, cheered the traveler's first attempt at flight, and would not laugh at the woeful way in which someone who had lived on land all their life cheered at the prospect of autonomous flight and ate a mouthful of tumbleweed as soon as they opened their mouths. When Blade returned with a groggy Danheng, he received a glass etching of a large and small man in flight.

The speed at which the city flew determined the length of day and night, and the Salthotu people were not willing to rigidly divide time into two, and in the roiling yellow sand there were also seasons of summer and winter, a simple distinction that nevertheless allowed the unchanging year to produce a change in the scale of time, making it flexible and well-defined. Not wanting the trip to turn into a haphazard passing through, Dan Heng took him to live in Tumbleweed for three months, just in time for Daylight Saving Day, when the days were appropriately lengthened.

The Hollow Fishermen's hunt was also extended, as they flew to the sands in the early morning and returned to the city in the late afternoon, their catch of combustible jellyfish being the driving force behind the city's continued march. Blade and Danheng lived close to the harbor called Hollow Harbor, and so saw many departures and returns. Empty fishermen would put on their beak-like eagle helmets, fit metal supports with tangled strands of their family's hair into their harnesses, secure their winged suits with the harnesses, and swoop away with wishes for a safe return, led by the captains of the fisheries and hunts.

Hunting was a dangerous job, and the sands were filled not only with jellyfish loaded with spirit fire, but also with giant birds that included humans in their recipes; so there were few casualties in the ranks of the Hollow Fishermen, and Blade and Dan Heng had seen many a funeral. The watchtower was the center of the city, and it was used not only to observe the direction of travel, but also to lay souls to rest. If the remains could not really be brought back, the winged suits and eagle helmets represented the dead, and the families would cast them off the watchtower towards the dark earth behind them.

The landing was the death of the Salthouse.

Every Salsotu flies and is imprisoned in the sky until he dies to sleep forever on the sand. There was no weeping at Salsotu's funeral, and the dandelion letterboxes of the fallen winged suit and were the same, only the spirit of flight lingered for a moment in the here and now. And his companion will still fly, and the owner of the letter will still advance, and neither man nor city can stop.

Blade and Danheng had been invited to the funeral. As the remains, wrapped in wingsuits and tied with bungees that caught the family's hair, fell from the edge of the watchtower and dissolved into a tiny dot in the field of vision, Blade hugged Danheng and asked him, what do you think about death; the question was too deep, but Blade asked it anyway, not thinking about what funerals meant to the child; he felt that Danheng would be able to answer, that the child's body held a ten thousand year old, tired, and cleansed with the reincarnation of the decaying soul, the molted one who had only temporarily forgotten the past, but remained precocious, a trait of the long life.

Danheng said he was free. The Sarsotu who passed away died in a raid on a hunting trip, his mate snatching an arm and a leg from the bird's beak, along with the blood-stained eagle's helmet. His family carved on the helmet, and the blade read out to Danheng that the earth is not the eagle's yoke, the wings are; because of it, you must fly.

"Is that also freedom?" Danheng thought for a moment, his voice still childish, "Yes, because his soul will be carried by his family will fly without having to wear a winged suit."

Blade didn't say anything else, just touched the top of the child's soft hair and told him that if you don't have a fever when you get back, we'll make a trip back to Screwstar after a while; you can go for a walk up there, but wear a dust-proof mask, that stuff is thick and heavy and it'll be uncomfortable to wear while Danheng's eyes suddenly lit up and he said yes very happily.

He burrowed back into Blade's arms and wiggled his fingers, saying that when he was reading a book he had seen a planet called Unwak, where there was an island called Wak Island, with a large tree called Sistem, which bore fruit from which animals would hatch. Blade knew it was there and answered him that they had already passed by, the reason they hadn't gone down there was because it was the sixty year war on Vak Island, new demon lords were hatching out of the fruits along with the animals, and people were fighting to survive, why did you want to go? Dan Heng thought for a moment, because it would be amazing to have animals growing in big trees, Blade rubbed his head, if you like it you can get one of the fruits and come back to study it, haven't you always liked to tinker with those?

While they were talking, the funeral had already come to an end, according to the tradition, the Sarsotu people will take out the glass musical instruments, record all the words to be said to the deceased, and throw them down together with the winged suit; not thrown with the winged suit because the musical instruments are used to pay homage to the sandy land that has given birth to and devoured the Sarsotu, and the people can't be left behind before they die, and the musical instruments that are thrown down represent the landing to be reunited with the deceased's The heart.

Talking required some formatting, starting with one's name before beginning. Blade and Danheng were not from the area, so naturally they did not need to join in, so they listened from the sidelines. After listening for a while, Dan Heng suddenly stirred and struggled to get out of Blade's arms, Blade was a bit puzzled but let go. The cub had grown quite a bit taller, and the dragon's horns on its head had grown, poking out rounded tips. Danheng turned his head in some panic to look at the funeral, then back to Blade, his green eyes filled with confusion; Blade heard him whisper.

The sun in Salsotu was so hot that it could dehydrate your skin without protection, but upon hearing what Danheng said, Blade felt a chill that crept up from his tailbone all the way to the back of his neck, like an ice cave; and his blood began to bulge with difficulty, and the calumny of the madman in his ears became clearer: don't think of running away, you see, it's all still going to happen.

--Dan Heng said, "Blade, you haven't told me why my name is Dan Heng.

5

Blade notified the train crew to come to Luofu to pick them up, then sent Dan Heng to the immortal boat.

He had been living with Blade until now, and suddenly he was going to be separated like this, Dan Heng was scared, crying and asking if he had done something wrong, and if Blade could forgive him and not leave him behind. Blade took him in his arms and gently patted the child's back, which was shaking from choking, and told him that it wasn't true, he hadn't done anything wrong, he just couldn't bring himself to bring him around anymore, and that it wasn't his problem. But Danheng was incapable of understanding what was happening, and just cried; Blade had to add tranquilizers to his meal, and by then they had just enjoyed a soup together of Sisteng fish stew, snow white as buttermilk.

The portion of the drug didn't work at all for Blade, it was enough for Dan Heng, after carrying the person back to the bedroom Blade went to the cockpit and glanced at the starship's voyage route plan, it was expected to arrive at the Jade Realm Gate in an hour. He had already said in advance that the starship would moor at Liuyundu, he would leave and Dan Heng would stay on it, Fu Xuan would be in charge of picking her up, and the train crew would just go directly to her; he had also sent a message to Silver Wolf, troubling her to set up a temporary teleportation portal, with the other end positioned at Nailed Shell Town in Talia.

穹一直在给他发消息，问他怎么了，列车组的小群里也是信息不断，叮叮当当地响，刃一概没有回复，直接删掉了他们的联系方式，再一键退出群聊。 Silverwolf sent a holographic projection over, and wondered how she'd managed to locate it, telling him that Kafka had woken up, and that whatever was going on, the people were going to have to make a trip back to the base first. "Don't turn me down, Uncle, consider it payment for letting me help." Genius Hacker's arm was healed and he had a lollipop in his mouth, the stick twirling uneasily in his teeth, "Kafka was worried about you."

Blade agreed, and waited until the starship was parked, then went through the makeshift leapfrog device, Dan Heng was still dutifully sleeping in his bedroom, the drug should still have half an hour to work, and according to the importance of the train crew, waking up was almost as important as the man's arrival. The device takes a little time to start, Blade just in this time to look at Dan Heng's sleeping face, the person has grown up, the dragon's horns have grown, but the cheeks still have a rounded curvature, he reaches out and gently touches it. The green eyes, identical to those of every previous life, were closed, and Blade remembered that when Danheng had first broken out of his shell, the dragon's eyes bulged out and were covered with a pinkish-white membrane.

It was clear that he had traveled many planets and a long time in the sea of stars, but it felt like a blink of an eye, a blink of an eye, and in a blink of an eye, the half-dead little dragon had turned into a big kid, from sleeping wanly nestled under the water to being able to climb up and down bookshelf ladders by dragging them with him. Blade felt a little proud that the little dragon hadn't been raised to death by him, and that he had raised it well, with flesh growing on its cheeks; and a little mixed up in his feelings, that he had raised a dear friend from his last life and an enemy from his last life -

--So he began to have a splitting headache again. The demon laughed in his head, yeah, you brought up the man you hate with your own hands, do you really hate him?

Yes! Blade hysterically cried out, if it wasn't hate, why did he hunt down Dan Heng in his last life until he died from the severe injuries of the Final Battle. They were accomplices in the Drinking Moon Rebellion, it was clear that he was sentenced to death by the Ten Kings Division, but he was tainted by Dan Feng and Suddenly's power, and turned into the Everlasting Seed with a crippled hand; by the time he was killed over and over again by insane women until he learned the martial art of self-mutilation, the first thing he did was to flee with blood all over his body, stumbling to find his former best friend. He wanted to question Dan Feng, what had happened, what happened to those wrongdoings, why did he become like this, and what about you; but the only thing that answered him was the striking cloud that poked into his heart, the tip of the gun breaking his ribs, and the face that looked exactly like Dan Feng's was filled with horror.

Of course he hates Dan Heng, retreating the scales to let Dan Feng reincarnate, so all those beautiful pasts and monstrous great sins are forgotten, he repaid the debt he owed to Immortal Boat, as long as he doesn't set foot in his homeland, he can let go of the past, but Blade has to carry all this to live, keep living, endlessly living to the end of the world, on what grounds, why?

Then that shit fate also want to take him to make fun, mouth said he can also go to death, backhand on the right to give death to Dan Heng, so his hunt became a comedy, live from the hatred of the driving force into the Dan Heng grow up and then get himself killed, round and round or grab him and Dan Heng do not let go. Dan Heng is a fragile body, not more care are not necessarily able to grow up safely, in case of halfway to death how to do?

But you can make him hate you, the moment the color of blood filled the field of vision, Blade heard teasing voices, why did you take him out? Doesn't traveling make you both happy?

That was pity for him! Couldn't a little pity be showered on him after being a puppet imprisoned by the Dragon Master by duty in his last life and before, a sinner banished from his homeland in his last life, and eroded by destruction and nearly dead in his egg before he was even born in this life! --Blade saw green eyes again, one pair after another, either shining because they saw something they had never seen before, or glittering in the color of blood, or calm to the point of a deep lake, or pupils clenched in terror, they were all Dan Heng's eyes - -I pity him! This is my reward; he owes me thanks!

Blade heard his heart beating like a drum, one after the other, hitting his ribs; his head ached, too, as if the tip of a knife had stabbed through his temple and churned his brain into a pulp. Blade saw black figures writhing in front of him, and Danheng on the bed disappeared, replaced by the faceless corpse, blood pouring out from underneath him in a steady stream that soon flooded the floor of the room; and when he blinked hard, the corpse grew a face, his own, with long gray hair spreading out in a sea of blood, like floating seaweed. He wanted to scream, to draw his sword and slash all before him, but someone told him not to, and so he fled, almost rolling and falling through the particle door of the Leap.

Consciousness disappeared in that instant. It was like a drop of water mixing into the ocean. Blade knew that his Demon Yin body had attacked, and once it did he would become another person, but he didn't expect it to be so severe this time, it was like being taken over and completely losing control of his body; but he was powerless to care anymore. The only thing he was thankful for was that he walked away and didn't stay on the starship, it was Dan Heng who had just been lying in front of him and he hadn't hurt the child.

The unconscious man couldn't tell how long had passed, and when he opened his eyes again, Blade found himself lying on the ground unable to move, his body wrapped in restraining straps. These straps were made of high-strength composite materials, one or two of them could lift a medium-sized Jaguar, and Blade couldn't do anything about it, not to mention the pain he felt in his body, coming from the bones in his limbs. They should have been broken and carefully connected back together, the splints and restraint straps together fixed the breaks, but they were still a bit misaligned. It didn't matter, this body would twist the bones back together again on its own, it just hurt a little, he knew best.

In front of him was a gray ceiling with white light strips embedded in it, it took Blade some time to remember that it was supposed to be a room in the Starcore Hunter base, the reconstruction still retained the original style. He craned his neck painstakingly to see the person sitting on her knees, it was Kafka, her hair had grown quite a bit longer during this time of unconsciousness, it was somewhat messy and draped over her shoulders, making her face even paler. And the biggest difference was her body, where there was no clothing to cover it was an alloy prosthetic body that glowed coldly in the lamp.

...... haven't had a chance to get bionic skin fitted yet, the prosthetics doctor at Punkelodeon isn't very good at making appointments, scares you, doesn't it?

Kafka's voice was as gentle as ever, her lavender eyes had a weariness in them that could not be hidden, as well as a hidden sadness. She reached out her normal, flesh-and-blood material hand and gently covered Blade's forehead, her palm was warm; Blade heard her say, Blade, you came back with a serious demonic shadow body, never before, Sam had to injure you, don't blame him, okay. Are you alright, Elio already told me, it's been hard on you, you must be tired, right?

Kafka didn't use her words, as she didn't start with hear me out, but Blade calmed down nonetheless, maybe because of the serious injury, maybe because of the constraints, but in his mind he thought it was her words that did the soothing, because the moment the words landed he felt relief, or exhaustion, welling up from the deepest part of his body, and it seemed to be on the verge of tears as it crept up to his eyes burning hot. "I'm like a clown." Vocal cords vibrated, hoarse from choking on blood.

Yes, he was like a clown, Blade had realized at that Salsoto-esque funeral when Dan Heng had asked why his name was Dan Heng, and everything he had done before had been a comedy of the absurd. If asked why he was taking good care of Dan Heng, he could answer that it was to make sure the man grew up safely, or, to be more extreme, to abandon the man when he really knew what he was doing so that the hatred would fester to the point that he would not be merciful when he saw him again; but he couldn't explain why he was addressing Dan Heng as Dan Heng.

The Holding Ming Clan's metamorphosis will really forget everything about their previous life, Blade has seen it all, the newborn Dan Heng is really a brand new, know-nothing, remember-nothing child, the only good thing about it is that it has skipped the stage of being a baby. This metamorphosis should be a true newborn, Luo Fu had long ago revoked the punishment of exile, and the journey of the Star Dome train had reached its end for the time being, the world would be moving to a new future after the war, everything would be brand new, and Dan Heng would be new, and a white soul would be hatched in the Holding Brightness Egg.

A name has an extraordinary significance for a person, representing the expectations of those close to them, or their own hopes. For example, when Blade decided to live as a weapon to cut down everything, Ying Xing died for good, and "Blade" was the new name he gave himself. But he just naturally gave Dan Heng his name, or "Dan Heng"; at this point he finally realized to think.

Dan Heng, Dan Feng. Dan Heng is Dan Feng, who once committed a felony, and Dan Heng is the person he hates most--

So the shell of the old days was put back on, with this scarred name.

Blade felt that the Danheng of the past was too bitter, and that the newborn Danheng should be longing for freedom, so he took Danheng on a trip, forgetting that what was around him was no longer the Danheng of the past; he was a completely new individual; Blade did not ask the newborn little one if he wanted to see the trip as freedom. Blade felt that he had given Danheng freedom; Blade knew that the metamorphosed Danheng was no longer the Danheng of the past. But Blade at the same time treated the brand-new Danheng as he had treated the past Danheng; even the freedom was based on the memory of the past.

So his so-called freedom is like a clown. He is contradicting himself, he is deceiving himself. He's still looking at the shadows of the past through the people in front of him. That's why the one who really can't let go of the past is himself.

The Demon Yin Body that had been suppressed then completely exploded, and when he realized this.

Blade didn't tell Danheng that he had already killed himself once, in his own room, before he thought to send the man away. At first it was to suppress the demonic yin body, using the branching sword to cut his wrist and bleed it out, but with little success, so the tip of the sword was stuck into the palm of his hand, piercing through his entire left hand and nailing it to the ground, and it still didn't work. So he chose to put a sword through his heart, the blade stuck in his ribs, so he pressed hard on the hilt until his ribs couldn't withstand the force applied to them and snapped, and then punctured his lungs. He knew he wouldn't die, so he didn't hold back; he had to make himself unconscious immediately, because the demonic Yin body kept harping on it: kill Dan Heng, or abandon him.

So once again he was back from the dead, in a pool of his own blood, just as he had been the day Dan Heng had first taken form, only this time the room was empty and Blade had locked the door and even lit incense to mask the odor. As he cleaned up the blood Blade thought to himself that Dan Heng had to be sent away, his demonic Yin body was bound to become completely uncontrollable in no time.

"So what are you going to do now, Blade?"

Blade heard a mournful female voice. The lights overhead were too harsh, so he closed his eyes and heard himself answer, I'm going to Nailshell Town in Talia.

Once the dumping ground of a prosperous star, deserted by the war of extermination, intergalactic thieves fleeing the Rangers formed what they called a principality, in effect living in tunnels dug by the rodent population, risking their own lives and the lives of others for food and water. It wasn't until the old rogue who called himself "Sergeant" set up the original Nailshell Town on the scrapyard that the order of the bandits began to be truly established - no, I shouldn't say order, Talia is a planet of chaos, there is no order, what was set up in Nailshell Town was a temporary convention, a place of respite. could take a temporary breather, where wasteland engineering experts could sit down and argue over which bare-skinned wires to use for mechanically-powered leg armor, and wastelanders could get themselves drunk on gasoline-flavored grape juice.

The barbaric society formed because of the escape is also very suitable for a lone self-exile, so Blade said, I'll go there, the undead body so that he does not have to worry about the safety, the barbaric land is also able to withstand the berserkness caused by the demonic Yin body. But what exactly he was going to do in Nail Shell Town, Blade hadn't thought about it either, he only thought about leaving; thinking of the fact that he had once considered throwing Dan Heng to Thalia before, Blade couldn't help but laugh bitterly at this point, it was truly a creation, in the end, it was still his own place to go.

Think of it as a banished trip then, no deadline, no plan, alone for now. Kafka gently took Blade's hand, one of her hands was slightly sweaty and one was cold iron, both used to hold Blade's injured hand as if holding some precious treasure. She said, "Elio told me that he gave you a gift, so let me give you one as well.

"Listen to me--

"You must remember the pains, but do not stay forever; when you feel out of control, drop what you are holding for a moment and go for a walk; if you feel sad, eat something sweet and drink some wine. You will surely get what you want, but until the wish comes true, I want you to have peace.

"Blade, be good."

Blade felt something block his throat, he felt like he had a lot to say but couldn't say too much, so he stared into those purple eyes that were seductive enough to be a charm, but at the moment were only gentle, and answered with a raspy voice, Good.

He took up residence in Nailshell, situated in the desert some distance from the center of the town, seeking shade among the jagged boulders and building his camp out of scraps of the olden days gathered along the way. Having experienced the destruction of the Thieves' Principality at the hands of the Great Bandit's watch, the exiles of Thalia finally realized that fairness was a mirage, and that only strength was the benchmark for survival, and so the riots took place overnight, and remained after countless sunrises and birthdays, and everyone who survived was a bruiser. Through the sand and stale tarps, Blade saw the violent fleet of modified off-road vehicles traveling across the wilderness, the road in search of a new watering hole filled with smoke and sand, with people constantly joining in and being left behind, all of them hidden in the dust and smoke.

The immortality of the Elder Seed had conditioned Blade to control the necessary survival needs, and many of the difficult tasks of the past had forced him to learn to reduce his physiological activity; the need to drink and eat had been compressed to just enough to keep breathing, and he had remained seated in a semi-frozen state, leaning against the shadows on the inside of the cave's entrance and gazing out in silence at the sprawling wilderness. Consciousness was squeezed out of activity by survival, and the frequency of attacks on the demonic Yin body would be greatly reduced, except that this method was so extreme that Blade would rarely use it unless the symptoms were already extremely severe.

The wastelands of Thalia are filled with the wreckage of starships and abandoned radiation sources, and no one wants to leave the damp, warm underground if they're not desperate, preferring to weave like rats between passages. When it was necessary to ascend to the surface, everyone wore heavy respiratory masks, because there was so much radiation and dust storms on the surface that it was difficult to move an inch without protection. The masks were made of discarded decks bent and pieced together, and clothing recovered from the wreckage of old-time buildings became the filtering layer, with no guarantee of cleanliness, as long as they didn't eat a lungful of sand.

The eyeballs were also vulnerable, so people dragged the airships into the ground, removed the glass, and polished it into eye-protecting lenses that looked like the bulging eyeballs of frogs when worn with a kind of comical horror. A single outing can wear away the tempered, reinforced outer lenses, and the desert's horrific day/night temperature difference is even more of a deterrent; keeping alive and supplied on the road is a top priority, so few stop to observe the day and night of Thalia.

Blade saw it. Most of the daytime was covered in red sand, and those huge ships became poor toys in front of the sandstorm, and when the sand passed they would find another part of the scrap metal disappeared. Humans are proud of the structural materials across the sea of stars, after they stop after the erosion of time and the environment, gradually distorting the shape of the cohesion of wisdom and technology, into the destruction of civilization in the form of broken, rotten, until completely annihilated. At this point it was the native stone that remained standing, and Blade hid in the cracks, listening to the deafening howl of the wind, and the cloth that covered it.

There was still a wind in the desert at night, but it was milder, passing through the jungle of steel corpses and making a sound like a cry or a roar, like an evil spirit. Once the wind and sand stopped, the stars revealed themselves; the moon in Talia was bright, whitening the gray clouds around it, but the sea of stars was brighter than the moon, glittering against the inky night and falling into Scarlet's eyes. It was so cold at night that the temperature would plummet below zero in short order, so the body rightfully froze, even the eyes froze in their fixed direction, silent to the point of death as they stared at the night sky.

Blade lost track of time and wouldn't bother counting the change of days and nights, he just emptied his mind, so when another picture of a sea of stars surfaced in his drowsy toned mind, it took him some time to think, where was this? The recollection gave him a headache and his body's physical reaction was to avoid it, but Blade subconsciously felt that the matter was important, so he continued to think back; he finally remembered that it wasn't a sea of stars, it was a sea of reflected lights, a sea made of water.

Isuzuma Island, the Festival of the Divine Fall. People light up lamps on the beach, and people put down flowers of blessing in the sea water, which reflect with the reflection of the Milky Way, depicting the sea on the earth as a sea of stars. There was no lack of life in Isuzumo, where there was lush jungle with plentiful water, and the wind was moist as soft lips. Blade remembered the slightly cool ocean water kissing over his feet, the silken surging high tide when the wind rose, and a pair of green eyes with a fiery red campfire reflected in them.

He thought of Danheng. The boy's stoic, deceased-like face, the sinuous, verdant horns; and then he remembered his own deserter-like flight, his hiding in Thalia, where few but stragglers came. He should have felt pain, as he did every time he stumbled over a passing, and a heavy color of blood filled his vision, and his consciousness twisted into a truly malevolent ghost; and he did, but it was sore muscles from long inactivity, and his joints crunched in the friction.

It was as if his personality had suddenly disintegrated, half his soul floating upwards, half his soul sinking with his body, half a step to freedom, half a step in reality. Blade saw himself patting the sand off his clothes with a shaking hand, he really didn't know how long he had been sitting there, the wind and sand had buried him up to his chest. Blade heard the devil Yin body began to whisper again, it recited Dan Heng's name, sometimes the tone of voice changed to Dan Feng, Dan Heng, Dan Feng, over and over again, stimulating the nerves, forcing the brain to begin to automatically recall those in the past, picking up the story from the rotten mud. Blade remembered the child's clear laughter and serious expression as she read the book, the bonfires of the Divine Meteor Festival that had stained all their cheeks red, and the days and nights of Salsotu, when they had watched the winged suits rise and fall together from the watchtower. So Blade climbed out of the sand and stumbled in the direction of Nailshell Town.

He's going to live.

Who he was referring to, Blade thought it was Dan Heng, and then he thought it wasn't exactly Dan Heng; maybe it was himself. None of it mattered. Since then Nailshell Town had gained another engineering mechanic, not too nimble with his fingers, and a man who didn't like to talk, but good at offering new solutions to assembling things, or hooking up broken wires to seemingly discarded machinery, and then the cobbled-together pieces of iron moved around and lasted for a while longer. It was natural for the bandits to probe him, some wanted something, some wanted to destroy it, but no one could ever ask for favors, and the silent man always had a broken sword at his side -

Still with some trembling fingers, he jammed the screwdriver tight and set the last component in place on the shell, and looking at the table with the initial improvements to the completed power leg armor, Blade knew that this could be exchanged for at least a month's worth of food and clothing. The world of the underground practiced the most typical survival of the fittest, but engineering technicians who could realize the use of waste were not among them, and their work could be a direct substitute for currency to some extent. Although his fingers couldn't do too fine a job, the experience in his memory was still able to be utilized, and Blade faced a pile of machinery in silence, in a trance back to his days in the Engineering and Construction Division.

He had forgotten the exact time; there was no daylight in the subterranean world, so he had simply discarded calendars and clocks as well, and when he concentrated on his work, he was even less aware of anything else, and the lights in his workshop stayed on for a long time. This is how he got out of the pressure of the years for a while, will be reduced to a minimum of human interaction, unless the necessary transactions, do not make any friends, there is no entertainment, the most seen every day is the strange shape of the scrap metal machinery, they are also cold and silent.

It was undoubtedly draining, each day feeling like a repeat of the previous one in an endless cycle, but Blade gained respite from this state of affairs, his demonic shadowy body subsiding quite a bit when he was no longer trapped by the past or deeply involved in complicated feelings. That didn't mean he'd forgotten everything; when he got tired of making repairs, he'd also put down his tools for a while and reminisce about his previous travels. The images were somewhat blurred, the landscapes, magnificent or withering, the festivals and hurried exoduses, perhaps too long in the past, but there was always one person who was clear, who shone forever - it was Dan Heng.

When memory is no longer a burden to the mind, but a treasure to be cherished, recollection becomes a tonic, and the man becomes lighter, so that the blade can go back in peace. He compresses much of his suffering with day to day living, so that the good is culled out, like a stone sinking under water and a feather floating on water, and then carefully placed in the center of the palace of memory.

In his last life, Dan Feng liked to sneak out of the Scale Abyss realm, no matter where he went, as long as he left the Dragonfather's residence, with his valued friends beside him; in his last life, Dan Heng always liked to read books in the Think Tank, which he said was a habit from the past, not a hobby, but when a solitary book was put in front of him, he still couldn't help but reach out, carefully touching the tumbling paper or mottled stone carvings; in his last life, the little guy who metamorphosed into a new generation was full of curiosity about everything. All full of curiosity, curiosity when he will raise his tail.

Now that Blade could look calmly into the memory of Danheng's face, he decided to truly refer to it by its deceased name, and he would not think twice about it as he looked into those green eyes; just looking at it was a spiritual soothing experience. Yes, Danheng now was a soothing relief for the repetition; even when the symptoms of the demonic Yin body had somatized into a physical reaction that made him want to pick up a hammer and smash the person in front of him or himself, Blade could quickly stabilize his emotions and tell himself to calm down, as if he was untutored in the spirit of speech.

Blade couldn't help but smile when he thought about how Danfeng from back then would help pass tools while he worked, and how Longzun, who was good at harnessing water but didn't like buckets by the fireplace, would have to duck out of the way every time, and then realized it was time to drop something off at the market. There was a new tavern in Nailshell that had a restaurant business in it, he didn't really feel like cooking for himself tonight, he could go there for a drink.

When they first came to Thalia, the thieves had to use grape juice instead of alcohol, because the environment was so harsh that everyone had to run for survival, so busy that they couldn't give the juice the time it needed to ferment into wine, now it's much better. The wastelanders who were done running loved to rest at the bar, gathering in groups of three or two to spar, every dance of their arms raising sand and dust, and shouts that could shake the ceiling; others could just fall asleep in the hustle and bustle, leaning against the wall with their arms wrapped around them, not caring about the bottle of wine they hadn't finished yet that rolled next to them, their exhausted faces under their breathing masks.

Blade made it to the bar and ordered a new drink. The bartender warned that this one wasn't low in degrees, and he nodded that he knew that; the spirit with the ice ball was pushed in front of him, a small half glass of amber liquid that tasted pungent, so it needed to be diluted with a ball of ice. The drink needed to be sipped slowly, but Blade gulped it down quickly - it did have a bit of a kick to it, and his throat burned a bit - and then asked for another; today's modifications had been a bit draining, but with the month's list pretty much done, he could use a little drunkenness as relaxation.

Blade propped his head up and watched the bartender chisel the puck, his eyes falling on the clean white ice, but his mind had drifted away, to where exactly, he didn't know, maybe it was just simply letting go. Someone sat next to the seat, he ignored, now he still like quiet, but will not deliberately avoid the crowd. A glass of alcohol went a bit to his head, Blade felt a bit dizzy in front of his eyes, really underestimating the degrees, obviously not a bad drinker; then he heard the young voice beside him say, hello, I'll have a glass of wine please, same as the gentleman next to me.

It was like a strange pickup line you'd see in a bar, a way that could even be described as corny, but Blade's body froze for a split second. He didn't dare to turn his head to look, his blood congealing and freezing his joints at the same time, and only dared to mechanically rub the already empty glass with his fingertips; but the man beside him didn't give up by ignoring him, and he heard a smile in the young man's voice, "How's this drink taste?" It's good, it's just that the degree is too high for you, Blade heard himself reply with some despair.

The first thing that fades from memory is the sound, then the picture, Blade thought he had long forgotten the calm and gentle voice, but his brain told him no, the voice had been left in the deepest recesses of his memory, and would come back to him as soon as the late man opened his mouth, just as calm, just as gentle, and shivering slightly when he laughed.

The bartender added a new drink, the puck clinking crisply against the bottom of the glass, the drink cooling quickly as it flowed down, sharpening the taste but also diluting it properly; the glass clinking against the glass with a crisp "ting". Then Blade heard Dan Heng ask him, "Why don't you look at me, Blade?

6

It was in his thirtieth year back on the train that Dan Heng offered to go to Blade.

Thirty years was enough time for the Star Dome Train to open up a new galaxy, and they were already far away from the Black Tower space station and from Luofu; thirty years was also enough time for Dan Heng to grow up from a child to an adult. It had only taken him ten years to regain his previous appearance, not unlike his pre-war one, which had caused both March 7 and Dome to fail to hold back their tears; it had also taken him twenty years to regain his memories - memories of his last life, and even the one before that.

"The metamorphosis of the Holding Bright Clan is a fresh start, why are you looking back to your past life again, isn't it good to move forward?"

Recalling the past requires a secret method through the Holding Ming Clan, so the train crew found Bai Lu, who by now had grown into an excellent Dragonfather and found a new home with the remnants of the Holding Ming Clan after the war, and the Immortal Familiars recuperated in their new world. Before drinking the secret medicine, Bai Lu asked Dan Heng so; the room was lit with calming and sedative incense, Dan Heng watched the white smoke slowly rise from the cracks of the incense burner and then dissipate, and said softly, Because I want to help someone who is looking at the old me; I want to know what happened to my past.

Blade assumed that children's memories were short-lived, but he didn't realize that Danheng had always had a good head on his shoulders, especially when dealing with someone he valued. Dan Heng was impressed by the bloody night when he first took form, when he had just finished celebrating the God's Fall Festival on the Ishuma Continent with Blade, and as he watched the star hewers rise into the sky, he took form; there was no special reason for a dragon to take form, as long as the power was sufficient and the timing was okay, and Dan Heng seemed to sense that when Mulim was introducing the heroes of the Immortal Boat who had died in battle that this was the time to - It was the time -

Because he saw Blade's face.

The lights on the beach were joined into a sea of stars, and the lanterns in the sea lit up all along the coast, so Danheng could see Blade's face clearly. When Murim said that the fall of the daiyai had broken the curse of abundance and protected the people of the Ishuma Continent from contamination, Blade showed some expression of sadness, so subtle that he did not even frown, but Danheng could feel that he was sad, very sad. At the time he couldn't understand why this was so, all he knew was that it would be nice if Blade could be happier; Danheng remembered the dancing people he had seen during the day, who would smile as they embraced, and so he wanted to give Blade a hug as well.

So he took form.

Danheng's strength could only support his transformation into a small child's form, it was too short, luckily Blade was sitting on the beach and he was able to wrap his arms around the man's neck, like when he was still a dragon laying on his shoulders; he expected Blade to be happy but not the first reaction of Blade was shock and then frenzy, his gaze almost burning him. A look like that scared Danheng a little, but he still didn't let go of his hold on Blade; the dragon's instincts were sharp, and he didn't think Blade would hurt him.

But Dan Heng hadn't expected to be forced to hold the sharp knife used for boning and stab the person who had been taking care of him in the middle of the night in a starship.

At that time, he didn't understand what was happening, he only knew that as soon as he slashed, Blade began to bleed profusely, and soon lost his breath. The blood was red, so red that it was black, it flowed down the knife to Dan Heng's hand, hot, but quickly cooled; Dan Heng went to touch Blade's face with his hands full of blood, his face was cold, cooler than the floor. The knife was stabbed in by Blade holding his hand, it should be considered a suicide, Danheng didn't understand why it had to be, but he knew that the blood represented danger, and that Blade was dangerous; a child's reaction to danger is instinctive, and he let out a shrill cry.

Danheng reached for Blade's neck, as if they were still celebrating a holiday on the beach; he saw Blade staring at him dead in the face, a strange expression on his face, as if he was about to cry, or as if he was about to smile, and eventually it all twisted; the corners of his lips were lifted, and Danheng knew that it was a smile, but his brow was furrowed, and it was clear that he wanted to cry.

Blood soon soaked the clothes on his chest, Dan Heng lay on Blade's shoulder, hearing lighter and lighter breaths, something clogged in his throat, Blade's mouth moved again, but could only make a dying clicking sound. Dan Heng heard himself crying, a child's crying will involuntarily use the strength of the whole body, once crying it is very difficult to stop by themselves, crying to the head buzzing; in the deafening cry, he suddenly heard very light two words, squeezed out from the gap of the blood clots, and then out from the corner of the lips.

"...... Dan Heng ......"

Dan Heng did not know who "Dan Heng" was, but Blade's eyes had been staring at him; his own crying face was reflected in the scarlet, so Dan Heng thought that Blade was calling out to him, that he was "Dan Heng". "Dan Heng made Blade what he is now, Dan Heng killed Blade, but why did Dan Heng make Blade suffer so much, what did he do? What did he do? What happened before?

Danheng didn't know, all he knew was crying, never-ending crying, reaching out to help Blade up, but Blade was too heavy and his blood-soaked body was too slippery for him to do so, so he had to plop back down and hunker down on the familiar shoulder. Moments before his consciousness faded, Danheng was still wrapping his tail around Blade's neck in a death grip, afraid that he would suddenly disappear, even though Blade's body had gone completely rigid. So when he woke up again and saw Blade standing by the bedside with a bowl, Dan Heng really thought he was dreaming, and wanted to touch but didn't dare to move; small children don't understand those truths and falsehoods, and the ability to differentiate needs to be recognized gradually in the process of growing up, but Dan Heng already had a hazy notion: the person in front of him might shatter if he touched it, so he couldn't get too close.

--Korblade was feeding him.

Very fragrant stewed rice with a slightly sticky broth slid from his tongue all the way to his stomach, the warm aroma filling his entire nasal cavity and making Dan Heng want to cry out. The rice was real, and the person feeding it should have been real too, or why else would he have been able to be able to eat it. So when Blade wiped his mouth, Dan Heng stretched out his hand and carefully touched the chest that was still stabbed with a knife before, tears fell as soon as he opened his mouth, does it hurt ah, so much blood was shed.

Danheng didn't quite believe Blade when he said it didn't hurt, but he didn't dare to press the issue for fear that Blade would keep quiet; it was like before he woke up from sleep when he'd been crying, screaming at Blade to wake up, not to go to sleep, but Blade had soaked up the blood and closed his eyes and simply ignored him. So the little child learned to speak less and stick more to Blade's side; Danheng liked to lean into Blade's arms, his ear pressed to his chest to hear the sound of his heart beating beneath the skin, proof that the person embracing him was alive, the embrace so warm.

But he still lost the blade, for the sake of damn curiosity.

The child back on the Star Dome train had been crying, he couldn't adjust to his new surroundings, much less accept the loss of someone familiar, he didn't understand what abandonment was, he just knew that Blade wasn't in front of him anymore. The female with the long red hair had been by his side, her palm was hot as well, touching his forehead, which was burning from crying, and when she leaned in to speak in his ear, Danheng could smell the reassuring aroma of her, the faint scent of flowers muffled by her body heat, reminding him of the time on that beach when Blade had been gifted with a woven garland by the warmth of the people who had been half-heartedly put on it, and those flowers had been scented as well. "This has always been your home, was and is." The female's voice was gentle as well, blowing softly on his ear, "Blade is just off traveling, he'll be back."

Dan Heng had read a lot of books on the starship, he knew that people would substitute death with traveling, was Blade dead, like those books said, never to return, and he had to hold back his tears again just thinking about it. But instinctively he didn't want to cry in front of this woman, so he held the tears in his eyes and stared at her gentle face with watery eyes and asked, So what if Blade doesn't come back?

Adults will surely answer, wait until you grow up; first put it off, and then let time wash everything away. When you ask again many years later, no matter how strong the doubt will be because of the time between the hazy, asked out of the mouth also wobbly, then you can say, that time was a lie, he has left you forever. Tears will still flow, but will the heart still ache so much? Most people wouldn't, and Danheng didn't think he'd be all that upset, if time was really long enough, long enough for a star to perish and fall.

"Then you need to grow up fast and go to him."

Danheng hadn't expected to hear such a reply. The female's eyes were still gentle and determined, and when she looked at her quietly, Danheng would get the all-too-familiar feeling of being able to trust unconditionally. "If Blade doesn't come back, you go find him. Maybe he's lost in the sea of stars, maybe he's trapped by something, but he's got to be waiting for you somewhere."

...... Yeah.

Why did they keep having to passively wait for Blade to come back, why couldn't they just go and take the initiative to find him?

However, remembering the past of your previous life is a hard thing to do. The outwardly young Long Zun revealed a worried look, you are still so young, yet you have to go through so many memories that are already unfamiliar, although I am not entirely sure of the details of what happened before, I have heard of those heavy stories, and the average person would not be able to bear it just by watching from the sidelines, and reminiscing would make it even more immersive for you. Your mind could break, you'd go crazy and not even be able to return to normal, that kind of damage is permanent and I can't cure it.

Dan Heng quietly looked at the medicine bowl on the table. Inside the bowl was the drug used to forcibly awaken memories, and the principle was tantamount to digging out a box buried deep in the ground, which inevitably lifted the ground and destroyed the turf growing on it. "Even if you don't look at the risks, the price you have to pay is too much." Bai Lu gently held Dan Heng's hand, the youth's fingers were a little cold, the infirmity of youth had not completely subsided, "I know that all long lives are bitter, but there are few people of the Holding Ming Clan who would make such a choice ...... Have you really made up your mind?"

At those words, Dan Heng raised his head and was met with a pair of aquamarine eyes that reflected himself and reminded him of the golden beach and the blue sea. Back then he was still a small dragon and liked to swim around in the water while the silent man sat on the shore with him, slowing down for a drink. The sun was still shining around noon, and after a long soak in shallow water, which was a bit unbearable even with all the scaly armor he had grown, Dan Heng raised his head to look for someone in the shade, only to see the man still sitting in the same place-where he had put the little dragon in the water-with his red eyes quietly looking at himself.

I don't know where the blade is.

Dan Heng heard himself answer that. I'm going to find him, maybe for years, decades, decades, or my whole life. I don't know how long it will take to find him, traveling through the universe is lonely, and I need to be strong in my own soul until we are reunited.

I have to think.

A faint smile appeared on the youth's face. The medicinal liquid was still hot, white smoke drifted up, and through a veil of watery smoke, his eyebrows were a little hazy, but there was only determination in those green eyes that were exactly the same as they had been in countless previous lives. Bai Lu remembered that Ji Zi had said that this life's Dan Heng was the same as the previous ones, and that once he decided on something, he wouldn't change; she knew what she would hear in reply, but she waited quietly, watching the vivid red color.

I know a lot has happened in my past with him, but he's been in the past and hasn't come out. I can't leave him alone where he is. What would he do if I moved on?

The Dragon Lady seemed relieved and somewhat saddened as she handed the bowl of medicine over and said, That's good, then I wish you the best of luck with your heart's desire. Dan Heng thanked her and drank the bitter medicinal soup in one gulp, and for a moment he felt paralyzed from his tongue to his stomach, followed by an intense drowsiness. Bai Lu helped him lie down and told him that you will have a long, long dream of countless past lives of yours. She paused, and as Danheng was about to close his eyes, she asked him again, What should I call you?

The young man opened his eyes again a moment before he was about to fall asleep. The green-colored lake was already heavily misted, but he still stared into Bai Lu's eyes and replied softly, Call me Dan Heng. Like the Heng of the Moon.

So the youth named Dan Heng had a big dream, in which he played countless roles, they all had similar faces and were called by different names, Yu Bei, Dan Feng, Dan Heng. He saw gigantic trees with their roots submerged by seawater, he saw jeweled buildings hidden at the bottom of the sea, and he saw boundless waves rising up to the sky as a result of a finger breaking through. He walked through the winding corridors, where the ground was covered with red maples, and the tops of the trees rustled when the wind blew, and there was a shower of fangs like rain, and he stepped through the scarlet colors; he walked through the noisy streets, with the infinite night above his head, and the unending lamps beside his body, and the children running away with their silvery laughter, and he passed through the crowds of people coming and going; he walked through the land stained with blood, and the staircase that went downward all the way through the thickest shadows, and, when he lifted up his head, saw chains and dry marks on the wall, and he was silent.

Dan Heng searched for the familiar in his long memories, and finally found it in Dan Feng's eyes, when he still had his hair scribbled back. They drank tea together in the courtyard filled with red maples, stopped together in front of the stores on Xuan Night Avenue, and were born and died together on the ever-changing battlefield. They had looked at each other countless times in front of people, and embraced each other countless times behind people.

And their encounter was just in a usual Luo Fu autumn afternoon. At that time, the maple leaves were red, Dan Feng was reading a book when he heard the valet informing him that the Department of Public Works and Construction had appointed a new apprentice to study at Zhenming, and it was an extremely gifted one. There were so many things to do that he was tired of looking at them, so he thought of relaxing a little, thinking of taking a look when he passed by; he didn't realize that one look would set him up for the rest of his life. At that time, Ying Xing was still a half-grown child, seeing the rumored Drinking Moon Jun did not have much of a stance, so he stood closer to him, his eyes shining brightly, confidently saying that when he grew up a little more, he would be in charge of the objects that Lord Long Zun would use, and that they would definitely be impeccable.

Fate quietly heard this, and took it as a lifetime promise, so they also really accompanied each other for a lifetime, had countless real and beautiful, can let Dan Feng in the confusion to find their own days, and then with endless blood and tears to make a knot, a big open up, one retreat scales; destiny is always so temperamental. By the time they met again, it was already a sea of change, one struggling with the legacy of hatred and demonic Yin body, one sinking in the shadow of the past, both retreating.

As the tip of Striking Cloud's spear stabbed into Blade's chest, Dan Heng saw a pair of unbelieving, sad eyes for the last time; in every subsequent escape and pursuit, he could only see a monstrous hatred that reminded him of a churning tsunami, but these eyes were filled with blood. The dead Ying Xing was reborn with the identity of Blade, and with an undead body he said that there was no way to escape. But there was no way out for two people, both of whom were being toyed with by fate in the palm of their hands - they were the most loved lovers and the most hated enemies.

It all ends with a blow from Nanook.

When Dan Heng opened his eyes again, he saw people surrounding his bedside, each with undisguised worry on their faces, and he thought for a moment before remembering that it was passengers like him on the Star Dome train, Ji Zi, Uncle Yang, March 7, the Dome, who were the closest thing he had to family. Bai Lu heard the commotion and came over, holding his wrist in thought before asking him, What is your name. Suddenly asked this question, Dan Heng had a moment of stunned silence, too many names slid down his throat, too many similar faces surfaced in front of his eyes, leaving him momentarily confused as to which one of them he was; he suddenly thought of someone named Blade, blinked, and answered very slowly, Dan Heng, like the moon's Heng.

He saw the dragoness breathe a sigh of relief and told the others it was alright, not crazy for the time being. So the train crew gathered around, March 7's eyes were red as she grabbed his hand and spoke upside down, Dan Heng finally understood after half a day of listening that there was only one thing it meant, you finally woke up, we were all so worried about you. He tried to smile back, but felt a stiffness in his face, Ji Zi sat down next to him, reached out and gently wiped under his eyes with his thumb, Dan Heng realized that he had already cried, the tears had dried up a long time ago, and brought the skin and flesh to tighten.

You slept for fifteen years.

Hearing Walter say that, Dan Heng also froze, then laughed very lightly, actually only fifteen years? he thought that tens of thousands of years of memories would require him to use a hundred years of sleep to recall. "It's okay, just come back." Ji Zi touched the top of his hair, his palm was still warm, and the warmth flowed from the top of his head all the way into his heart, "Do you need to rest again, or do you want to do something?"

"I ...... I want to learn something about interstellar travel."

So Danheng spent five years studying, learning how to repair and maintain ships, how to survive on barren planets, how to recognize direction when a starship's navigation failed, how to treat simple illnesses and self-first aid, and how to determine and avoid wormholes. He continued to soak in the Think Tank in his free time, the book with the gears inlaid on the cover curling a bit around the edges as he flipped through it, the ecology and human landscape sections of Screwplanet being specifically labeled, and even found the Black Tower to help with the contact information for Screw Gumm, asking for a lot of things to know about that mechanical planet. The starship that Blade had piloted was refitted by Dan Heng himself, during the refit Kafka brought Silver Wolf for a visit, the woman with the prosthetic body half-fitted was still elegant and beautiful, they chatted for a night, so Dan Heng squeezed out another month to visit the base of the Star Core Hunters, and learned the beginner's speech spirit after Kafka.

"The speedy speech arts are shallow and generally effective, they might be somewhat useful against ordinary people, if it's against Blade, this level won't do anything at all, at least not for me." After the test Kafka added quite a few practical application techniques, after talking for half a day she was also a bit tired, taking a sip of coffee, the silver wolf chimed in from the side, "Well, but if you're Danheng, it should be able to have an unexpected effect."

Dan Heng felt his face heat up, but he didn't avoid the two's teasing gaze, and gave a hmmm, saying I'll work on it. "Himeko said you guys are very close, so it's really true." Kafka lifted the coffee cup in her hand at him, her lavender eyes curving into a smile behind the cup, "Then I wish you well, and find Blade early la, little one-

"Listen to me, you will get what you want."

It wasn't long after he learned the art of speech and spirit, Dan Heng set out, and that day happened to be the last day of the thirtieth year that he and Blade had been separated.

The train crew wanted to organize a grand send-off, but was stopped by Dan Heng himself, smiling and saying no need, when he found the blade, he will bring the people back, not a go and not return; so the original still a little sad atmosphere was swept away, the people enjoyed a pleasant meal. The dome drank a little too much, rambling to let Dan Heng pay attention to safety, do not forget to report a peace from time to time, March 7 also lying on the table to ask Dan Heng to remember to take pictures, Dan Heng said sure, on the road to see the fun will be sent to them to see.

It was Walter and Himeko who escorted him to the starship, saying goodbye to him at the end of the corridor bridge, like adults in a family sending their children off on their first day of school; they wished Danheng a safe and uneventful journey, and Danheng nodded and said thank you, and so did you all. "Now that you're ready to travel far, don't always think about looking back." The starship's power plant compresses wind as it warms up, and the wind blows into the corridor bridge, sending Himeko's long skirt fluttering slightly as she smiles in the wind, "The train is your permanent home, but your heart must always find harbor. I know where it is, and so must you, so just keep sailing towards it, the heart won't let you get lost."

Dan Heng then set off. In the cockpit of the starship, he watched as the system automatically planned the location of the leap and the subsequent route of travel, and pulled an arm title out of his pocket. The arm title had been given to him by Walter, saying that he had been badly injured by the forces of destruction in his last life, and had given it to the train crew for safekeeping after he had had to unravel it in order to put a needle in the back of his hand. "You said before that this item is important to you." Danheng replied silently in his mind, yes, it was important because it was something Blade had given him.

Slowly but surely he slipped the arm title on, the harness tightening and slightly strangling his small arms, and the boundaries of his clothing blurring temporarily; body heat would quickly muffle it. Danheng knew that in his last life Blade had sensed his location through the Traveling Dragon arm title, and as they got closer, the temperature of the title would increase until it was slightly hot; Screwgum and Kurotar had made some modifications to the title, adding the ability to reverse locate it, so then in this life it would be up to him to find it.

His first stop was set on the Ishuma Continent in Talassa. It was still in close proximity to the fairy boat, and the date of his landing was not as fortunate as the last time; there was still a long time to go before the Festival of the Divine Fall, so long that there was no need to prepare yet. So he walked alone on the beach, feeling the water gently wrap around his feet like silk with a familiar chill. The landed city of Isuzuma wasn't very big, and he had spent a month walking through every street and alley, sheltering from the rain under giant vegetation that looked like coconut trees, and sharing juices that could be made into fine wine with the local youths.

"Other than around the Divine Meteor Festival, not that many Immortal Boat people would normally come." The people of the Isuzuma Continent were still warm and hospitable, the guide that Dan Heng met was of a rare shy nature, but also relaxed a lot after spending some time together, "Why did you come here? I know a lot of people say that Isuzumo is great for vacations." Danheng smiled and shook his head, "I came here to find someone."

"Looking for someone? Where is he ah, I am particularly familiar with this place, I can take you to find it." The guide sat up straight, the juice in the cup shook slightly because of his movements, Dan Heng picked it up and drank it all in one go, and replied with some bitterness, "Actually, I don't know where he is, I came here because I wanted to see if he's in Isuzumo Continent, but he shouldn't be." He had mentally prepared himself before he set out, finding someone in the vast sea of stars was never an easy task, and it was quite normal to not be able to find them, but he still couldn't help but be disappointed when the reality was laid out in front of him.

Seeing the guest who had come from afar showing a somewhat lost expression, the guide felt that he had evoked sadness and scratched his hair somewhat apologetically, calling out to the waiter to order another glass of juice. "I'm really sorry for upsetting you, let's take this cup as my treat! Drink something sweet and one will be cheered up." Seeing that Dan Heng wanted to push back, he pushed a little more forcefully, looking rather serious, "Don't refuse la, why do you Immortal Boat people like to be polite, since you're here just relax a little bit, my friend, or else even the best juice is going to become bitter! I can't help you much, but I know the tradition in Isuzu, if a family member has gone out and hasn't come back yet, you can leave a light on at night and we'll put it by the beach. The fish will swim towards the light, and the person you're looking for will see your lamp and will surely come back one night!"

A sailing starship whose door was opened from the outside in the middle of the night would be more like a horror story than a heartwarming reunion, wouldn't it? Danheng had to laugh at the thought, picking up his glass and clinking it with his guide, the juice sweet as flowing honey. But the bedroom that the starship had vacated had been lit ever since, and the headlight had stayed on for the twelve years that Dan Heng had been sailing; only once had a bulb gone out and had to be temporarily disconnected for servicing, so Dan Heng had turned on his own bedroom light during the day, and had since gotten used to leaving a nightlight at the foot of his bed as well.

In twelve years, Dan Heng had traveled to many places, planets that the train had pioneered or visited with the Blade had all had their land measured by his feet once more, and galaxies he hadn't been to before had become familiar after a single leap. Not knowing who was the first to initiate the chase across half the planet, the two mobile cities of Salthotu were no longer located at the ends of the morning and evening lines, the turrets blew half of the outlying buildings into ruins, only the watchtowers had been standing in the center of the city; the outsiders of Wacker's Island came to a depression deep in the rainforest, and they found under the roots of the trees the management room of the ecological self-healing of the higher civilization, so the data of the Demon Lord was artificially deleted, and the planet welcomed a The Tecdonium Dome is playing a bloodthirsty motorized ball game every day, and the interested parties behind the game are sitting in a dark room in the back street, with the unseen dealings reflected in their glasses, and the money and greed on the screen behind them; there are also people coming and going in the headquarters of the company in Pilpointe, and the incoming and outgoing ships pass by Kripper countless times, and the star god is always silent. And the Star God always remained silent, as he had been millions of years ago.

--and for twelve years he hadn't seen Blade.

Sailing alone in the sea of stars was lonely, and even though the planets he landed on were colorful enough, whenever he finished packing up his things and preparing to head to the next leaping point, Dan Heng would feel some slight suffocation, with something coming up from his abdominal cavity and gently pushing against his throat like flatulence caused by overeating. In very extreme cases, he thought about simply staying in one place for a decade or two before moving on, rather than drifting without a clear destination as he was doing now; but he never thought about stopping there and going back. He kept in steady contact with the train, and whenever March 7 asked him how he was doing, Danheng's holographic projection would sit on the couch with a familiar, dependable smile that was reassuring enough to put them at ease before replying that he was fine and intended to keep going.

It wasn't until the penultimate day of the twelfth year of leaving the train that the starship anchored in the nailshell town of Thalia.

The almost endless sandstorms on the surface of Thalia made docking quite difficult, but Danheng had safely lowered cables in more extreme conditions before, so he was soon on the sandy outskirts of Nailshell Town. The title of his arm began to heat up slightly the moment he stood on the sand, at first Danheng thought it was heat absorption due to sunlight, but he waited until he entered the dark underworld to realize that it was literally heating itself, and he could feel the warmth seeping into the skin of his arm even through his clothing.

Dan Heng had once read a poem that said that he was too timid to ask the visitor near his hometown, and he felt that he was like that now. Twelve years wasn't a long time for the Holding Mings, but it seemed long the moment he realized he was about to meet, so long that his first reaction was bewilderment, and he stood frozen for a long time before realizing that he should be excited, but his senses were a bit dulled, becoming a machine that had jammed because it hadn't been oiled for too long, and would only cackle when it moved again.

He then stepped on the steel plate paved cackling ground, cackling all over as he made his way to the center of town. As was his habit before, he should have stopped one or two locals and asked them where it would be easier to ask for information, or if there were more people; but now he just wanted to walk slowly, alone, and wasn't sure if he wanted to give himself some more time to prepare, or to reserve the surprise of a sudden meeting. Just follow the main road, Blade was in Nailshell Town, so Danheng would stay here until he found him.

The arm title was already a little hot by the time he reached the door of one of the town's rather newly renovated taverns, but Danheng couldn't be bothered to adjust the harness a little looser, letting it bind tightly around the small of his arm, even reaching out to hold it so that the lining was tighter against his skin. He thought a lot as he walked along, about the long goodbye after forty-two years, and Danheng felt he needed to have a well-prepared beginning; should he pretend to be relaxed and tap Blade on the shoulder, or give him a hug full of tears? He agonized for a long time, but when his body pushed open the door one step faster than his brain and his eyes saw the man sitting at the bar with his back to the door, Danheng only felt blank; his preconceived plans were all overthrown, and his instincts led him to sit down next to Blade in a quick step, and then smiled at the bartender, and said, "Hi there, I'll have a drink, please, the same as the gentleman's next to me.

He spoke the words of a stranger striking up a conversation, and sat down with such a familiar and relaxed demeanor that it was as if he had met an old friend he hadn't seen in a long time, and they were indeed old friends who hadn't seen each other in a long time. Danheng noticed Blade's body tighten for a split second, a moment in which he suddenly wanted to cry for no apparent reason; but he held back, literally going to the person next to him like an old friend, and asked how the drink tasted. --Why don't you look at me, Blade?

The youth of forty-two years later could smile and clink glasses in the present; the child of forty-two years ago was already howling in his heart. Danheng finally waited until Blade turned his head, his neck vertebrae twisting stiffly, and those scarlet, flowing golden lava eyes, washed by forty-two years of time and sand, remained familiar, reflecting his own self, whose eyes had gone red. Dan Heng saw Blade's hand shaking slightly as he held the wine glass, and Dan Heng heard Blade's voice shaking slightly as well, and heard Blade say very softly, It's been a long time.

Yeah, Blade and Danheng, long time no see.

7

Why did you come here.

Blade knew he should feel happy, because this Danheng in front of him had grown up as he wanted, looked exactly like his last life, and looking at him in the wind, he should have seen a lot of things, that should also have the ability to kill himself. But the first thing that came out of the question was this one, uncontrollably, the tone was calm, like he was catching up. Blade didn't understand why they had met here, Thalia was a desolate and distant planet, why come?

He saw the ends of the eyes traced in red curve slightly. Danheng didn't answer the question directly, taking a sip of his own wine, unsurprisingly spiced, frowning, and when he spoke again his voice was as gentle as he remembered it, just a little shaky, wondering if it was from the alcohol. "You may call me by my name, Blade. I am Dan Heng, as in Heng of the Moon, you know."

Blade almost crushed the wine glass, a little unbelievably looked at the pair of familiar green eyes, but Dan Heng just smiled, very calmly said, he has recovered his previous memories; "Dan Heng" this name is his own name, he knows and the name of the last life, but what does it matter, he is Dan Heng.

...... You crazy person. Blade heard himself say so.

Really crazy, just handing Dan Heng back to the train crew, just haven't seen each other for decades, it's so absurd to see each other again, the person who has been grasping the past and not letting it go has been able to move on, instead, the person who has been trying to run away from the past has gone back into the past. Holding the bright tribe's metamorphosis is just washing away memories and reshaping the flesh, inside the shell should be the same soul is right, but now Dan Heng is like having lost his mind, looking at the face of the deceased is just that, but every move is the appearance of the deceased, remembered everything about the deceased, and even specially picked a name that is the same as the deceased - he said it was him! himself. Blade really wanted to smash the wine glass on his head, crazy, crazy, really crazy!

"You are not Danheng. Danheng will not go to be a shadow of his past."

The current Dan Heng sat in front of himself, overlapping the figure of the Dan Heng of the past, tightly. Hearing this, Dan Heng laughed and smiled in a way that turned him back into Dan Feng, who also laughed like that when he encountered something very interesting; so Blade realized that the long-dormant demonic Yin body had struck again, and that the ghostly shadows of the past would stir as soon as he encountered something related to Dan Heng, not to mention that a living human being was right in front of him. Kill him, or be killed by him - those voices murmured in his ears again. Blade clenched his fists violently and took another drink of the spirits, forcing down the murderous intent boiling in his chest.

"Blade, listen to me."

A warm hand gently covered the back of his hand that was tense from exertion, and Blade subconsciously looked up, right into a pool of sparkling lake light. "I am Dan Heng, but I am not anyone's shadow. The Danheng of this life remembers everything that happened to Dan Heng and Dan Feng, everything; but the Dan Heng of the last life has not traveled with Blade to the Ishuma Continent, or to Tumbleweed, or come to Nail Shell Town."

...... You're still a crazy person, why are you trying to remember what happened before.

Blade suddenly felt lost. Perhaps it was because one had been closed off for too long in Nail Shell Town, or perhaps it was because there had been too long a time without seeing Dan Heng, and the river of years had suddenly slowed down in his endless life, so that the sediment had settled down and wrapped him thickly. But Dan Heng was too vivid, real, right in front of himself, so time began to flow the moment they were reunited, and the closed world disintegrated on its own, and he then felt that there was also a sudden localized collapse in his heart, revealing a pale hole that desperately needed to be filled with something.

He remembered the hate of long ago, so strong that it could almost materialize and cut a man, and he hurried to get it, wanting to fill the hole so he wouldn't continue to be confused; but it never felt real when he actually picked them up, all that blood and gore wrapped up in yarn, which should have given him a splitting headache at the touch and made him crazy, but it now lay quietly in his palm under Danheng's watchful eye, and so he was even more confused It was, how could this be.

How did this happen. Blade thought back to his last life in Dan Heng, when he lived on his hatred for Dan Feng, unhappy that Dan Feng had just spawned and metamorphosed and lived a new life, leaving himself where he was, hating Dan Feng for killing himself at their initial reunion after the Drinking Moon Rebellion, his eyes full of newborn cluelessness and bewilderment, so clean, so clean that Blade wanted to gouge out both of his eyeballs and crush them. He knew very well that what he hated was Dan Feng, by then Dan Feng had already been called Dan Heng, so he continued to hate Dan Heng; he knew very well that what he hated most was oblivion itself, what made oblivion an excuse to let go of the past, what made Dan Heng someone who had forgotten the past, and what made him not remember Blade - clearly they were close friends, but even more so, they were accomplices.

How could it be that he didn't hate anymore? Was it because Dan Heng remembered everything from the past? He remembered the monstrous mistakes and deserved sins they had committed together, remembered the good times they had had, remembered the love that had died a violent death in chaos before he could declare it, remembered that the Ying Xing of the past was the Blade of the present, and remembered that the Dan Feng of the past was the self of the present; and so the foundation of the hatred automatically fell apart, and they were both deeply sunk in the quagmire of the past. But Blade couldn't understand why Dan Heng chose to reminisce in this life; obviously the final war was over, obviously having a brand new future was the right thing to do, so why go back at this time, turning both of them into absurd clowns?

Danheng thought about what he was going to say, Blade would find it hypocritical and disgusting, but he said it anyway. "Because you've been in the past and haven't come out of it, I can't leave you there alone."

Hypocrite.

Blade really showed a disgusted expression, and without thinking or expecting a reaction, he laughed out, but it was full of sarcasm; he stared at Dan Heng's face with a deadpan look, trying to find any bit of breakage from it. ''Dan Heng, you're saying something that only you would believe. If you really wanted to stage a redemption, why didn't you go and do it in your last life, why did you have to wait until now, until time was already almost wearing out a person's vitality, just like what I'm doing right now, before hypocritically saying that I've come to save you-

"That's disgusting, Dan Heng. I'm starting to hate you all over again."

Danheng watched Blade quietly, watching his silence to almost dead calmness crumble, finally revealing an almost out-of-control, berserker-like expression, and breathed a very light sigh of relief. And he didn't try to explain those loves or hates, they had mingled and twisted in the four broken lives of two people, it was long since impossible to say, to say at this point that they had loved was to add fuel to the fire, to say that they still hated was to deceive themselves, they couldn't say it again, to say it again would only cause them more pain. So he said, you have to continue to hate me, blade, I met Kafka, she and I said the prophecy of Elio; only I can kill you, your life in my hands.

Danheng gives a sad smile. He says, I'm sorry, I'll kill you, but not now.

There's nothing to be sorry for, because you're a clown, a liar, the vilest thing there is, you're the asshole, you're the person I hate the most. Blade wanted to pull out the Zhili rack and wipe it down on Dan Heng's neck, but all he could do was make a pale sound; Dan Heng's face was pale as well, and he said almost in a breathy voice, You know you can't kill me now, and I don't have the next reincarnation anymore, and that's the price I pay for remembering my memories. Blade looked at him a little incredulously and muttered You're crazy, is the past that important to you.

Because the past is important to both of us, Danheng corrected, and so they both fell into a sudden, uncharacteristic calm, staring into the silence of their glasses. It must have been silent long enough that even the bartender came to remind them that it was time to close, so they each settled their drinks and headed off, one after the other, to the temporary home where Blade had lived for forty-two years.

While walking on the road Dan Heng thought back to the past, in Dan Feng's life, at the very beginning of their acquaintance, it was Ying Xing who had been following Dan Feng like a second tail; later on it was the two of them walking side by side, the genius Hundred Metallurgical Craftsman and the honorable Drinking Moon Monarch, like the stars and the bright moon high up in the sky, and they carried each other to the end of the blood and the tears; and then ah later on the one who was chasing turned into the Blade who had been resurrected from death in the lead The one who escaped was Dan Heng who retreated from the scale and reborn in the last life, and they chased after each other until the endgame let each other separated. Now it's changed to be himself chasing after Blade, Dan Heng doesn't feel anything wrong, instead he's a bit happy.

He was so focused on his thoughts that he didn't notice Blade stopping suddenly, and just ran straight into him. Blade turned to look at him, and Danheng didn't react, staring somewhat dumbfounded into those red eyes. Nail shell town's street lamps do not know what year was repaired, stretched lighting duty but flickered badly, illuminating the human face suddenly bright and dusk; blade's half face hidden in the shadow of the bangs, features were deepened a little obscure, Dan Heng heard a somewhat tired voice, so light that it is not quite true, like a self-hating sigh, and like a feather gently flicked over.

Blade said, if only he had thought of it sooner.

Danheng knew what he meant. If they could think of it earlier, preferably before the endgame of their last life, they would still have time to sit down and sort out all those old grudges from the past, and account for all those unspoken loves, so that perhaps one wouldn't have to reincarnate with regrets, and the other would have to wait with grudges; and if they could think of it earlier, even if it was at the beginning of this life, when they hadn't yet traveled so much, they would still be able to think of a way how to to make the reincarnated ones completely new, how to make the waiting ones gain fulfillment. But Dan Heng remembered too late, and fate made the reunion come too late, so the beautiful became absurd, the painful became comical, and logic contradicted feelings, leaving only an unbridgeable silence, a silence that allowed them both to gain decency.

But I think we still have a chance.

Danheng tried to grasp Blade's hand, and was a little pleased to feel his fingers twitching gently in his palm, but not shaking it off. Those words that didn't come out, we can say them now-Danheng spoke sharply, fearing that Blade would backtrack-or speak slowly, and the same goes for those things that weren't explained.

The Holdfast had a lifespan of hundreds of years, and he'd only spent less than a tenth of that time, and Blade's was even further away, and they still had a chance; if Dan Heng could spend forty-two years looking for Blade in the universe, he could spend a couple of them making up for their regrets until the end of his lifespan took him into an eternity of sleep with no reincarnation, and Blade would get what he wanted before the darkness came.

Blade was silent as he looked into the green eyes of the man in front of him.

These eyes were his obsession many, many years ago, his indignation many years ago, his hesitation now, letting all those complex emotions pile up, letting them tighten abruptly in the middle of their catharsis, swallowing back the heaviness, and so he was silent. Still, he didn't hold back, like juice fermenting slowly, generating bubbles, which would naturally rise up; he heard himself expressing regret for the trickery of fate that had turned both men into clowns in a theater of the absurd. When Danheng had finished, he thought for a moment before slowly firing off a question about where to go next.

He saw a rosy smile on the pale face. We can go to Screwstar, when we passed by the differential converted from a planet, and you said it was full of floating dust, and that we could only look through the windows, and could not go down; I asked Screwgum, and he said that the treatment had now been done, and that we could travel up there without wearing protective masks. But before we go to Screw Gumm, we can make another trip to Talassa; I've counted the dates, and the Festival of the Divine Fall is coming up, so I'd like to be with you this time, too.

Danheng's eyes sparkled, reminding Blade of the reflection of stars in the sea, and he said yes, then they would go together. On the way there they could talk, about the past separated by the years, or those forty-two years of interstellar travel; why not talk about your life in Thalia? Dan Heng asked rhetorically, and Blade thought for a moment, saying that he found it boring because he was always repairing machinery, and Dan Heng hadn't been good at that since Dan Feng's time, and couldn't learn any of the theory.

You can teach me now, I can learn, Dan Heng said with some disbelief, like you taught me to fly with a wingsuit in Salthootoo. He suddenly thought of the city that had been destroyed in the civil war, maybe the watchtower was gone, and lost it a little; Blade looked him in the face and said, nonchalantly, Yes, I will teach you, after we've said all we need to say.

As he packed his bags and prepared to leave, Blade remembered Elio's farewell gift, the slave of fate who said he would get what he wanted, though there was no escaping the prophecy. He thought about it for a moment, and it was still true, only Danheng could bring him true death; but then he seemed to break free of some of the settings. The death given was no longer out of hatred or fear, but because of something more complex, as if they in the tavern were venting suspicion and malice against each other, and at this point they couldn't discuss whether I am your lover or your enemy -

-So fate is a comedy of the absurd.

END

Very much looking forward to the review!