Extra 3: If Life Has Reincarnation (2)
“Awooo…”
Although that face was terrifying and his gaze was vicious, Jiaojiao still recognised him.
The “dragon” before him was his father.
He had the same aura and the same familiar presence.
All the fear that had surrounded Jiaojiao and frightened him instantly disappeared.
Father would never hurt Jiaojiao.
It was very dark here, and Jiaojiao was starting to feel cold.
The tiny gold-and-white dragon cub slowly crawled out of the pitch-black corner, inching his way towards him.
Mr. Dragon watched as the rather unattractive little dragon cub crawled ingratiatingly to his side. The cub gazed at him with tear-filled eyes brimming with trust, then stretched out his short front paws and fearlessly grabbed the hem of his sleeve, which was stained with rotting blood.
“Wu…”
Jiaojiao was cold.
The dragon cub who had somehow appeared inside the barrier hugged him and acted spoiled in a soft, childish voice.
Mr. Dragon’s eyes were filled with deathly numbness. He could barely move and was already on the verge of death. Irritated, he lifted his foot and kicked away the dragon cub who had inexplicably appeared inside the barrier.
The kick was not particularly forceful, but blood still spilled from the corner of the cub’s mouth.
Mr. Dragon straightened his back and sat beside the ice coffin he had built for himself, which seemed as though it would make a suitable place to rest.
After taking his revenge and nearly overturning the entire continent, he was now approaching the end of his life.
The wounds he had accumulated over several hundred years, combined with the almost irreversible curse caused by his repeated failures in the land of inheritance, were gradually devouring his life.
Before the last of his dignity was exhausted, he spent more than half his remaining strength constructing the strongest barrier on the continent.
Everyone believed he intended to make one final desperate struggle and enter seclusion to cultivate.
Only he knew that this was merely a tomb he had personally built for himself.
He would die here in failure, just as he had lived a failed life.
Why this dragon cub had suddenly appeared, why he looked so similar to Mr. Dragon as a child, and why a dragon was wearing clothing—none of it mattered to him anymore.
He only thought that the cub was extremely noisy.
…
When Jiaojiao rolled several times across the floor after being kicked, the entire little dragon cub was stunned.
He climbed back up and looked towards Mr. Dragon, unable to stop his tears from falling again.
Why had Father kicked Jiaojiao?
Father had to apologise. Otherwise, Jiaojiao would never speak to Father again.
Whimpering, the little dragon cub crawled back to Mr. Dragon’s side and reached out with his front paw to tug at the hem of his clothes.
Mr. Dragon slightly raised his pitch-black phoenix eyes and, with great effort, flung him aside.
“Wu…”
This time, Jiaojiao rolled across the floor only two or three times before getting back up.
He shook his head, making his pair of tiny, fluffy ears tremble.
Could Father be playing a game with him?
But Jiaojiao did not like this sort of game. Rolling around on the floor made him dirty, and Mother did not like that.
Jiaojiao was still rather angry. He decided that he needed to reason with Father, who had suddenly become fierce and refused to speak.
And so, the legs of Mr. Dragon, who barely had any strength remaining, were once again wrapped up by the little dragon cub.
Jiaojiao blinked. Before he could speak, he suddenly felt pain in his neck.
Father had seized him by the throat.
Mr. Dragon’s empty gaze rested on the dragon cub who had appeared so abruptly. His thin, withered fingers gradually tightened.
Jiaojiao began struggling to breathe. His entire body hurt, and this time, he truly felt wronged.
“Wu… Wu!”
Fa… Father.
Jiaojiao’s pitiful voice came out in broken fragments, yet it sounded exceptionally clear inside the silent room.
Mr. Dragon’s eyes flickered.
His five fingers opened.
With a soft *plop*, Jiaojiao fell to the floor.
The dragon cub was now completely aggrieved. He sobbed and cried until he could barely catch his breath, accusing his father of everything he had done.
Father had changed.
He had kicked Jiaojiao and even hit him.
Jiaojiao was going to complain to Mother. He would complain to his older brother and sister too, and tell everyone not to speak to Father anymore…
Father?
Why was he calling him Father?
In this lifetime, apart from the three years he had spent unconscious—during which someone had forced upon him a nominal wife who had not survived even seven days—he had never had a wife, nor had he ever been intimate with anyone. How could someone like him possibly have a child?
Mr. Dragon tilted his head slightly and met Jiaojiao’s watery yet unwaveringly trusting gaze. An almost imperceptible pain tightened around his heart.
He had nearly strangled the cub to death just moments ago. Why was Jiaojiao still looking at him like that?
Was he not afraid?
“Cough…”
A sharp pain pulsed through his decaying body. The scars across Mr. Dragon’s forehead seemed to come alive, spreading little by little. As a muffled groan of agony escaped him, they crawled across his entire face. Thick, black, tainted blood trickled down their winding paths and splattered onto Jiaojiao’s still-tender scales.
“Awoo!”
It hurt!
Jiaojiao immediately retreated several steps. He shook his head, flinging away some of the tears in his eyes, and stared at the dragon before him. Aside from those familiar, brilliant golden eyes, the dragon’s entire body was soaked in foul-smelling blood.
Jiaojiao cried out instinctively.
“Wu!”
Mother!
Father…
Father was bleeding.
There was so much… so much blood.
Jiaojiao called for his mother several times, but the only response was the deathly silence of the darkness.
“Wu…”
Jiaojiao began crying again. He crawled to Mr. Dragon, who was no longer able to move, and clutched his sleeve with his little paws. Raising his small head, he affectionately rubbed his face against Mr. Dragon’s, comforting him just as his father had done to him countless times before.
Bright red blood seeped from the places where the tainted blood had fallen onto Jiaojiao. It dripped onto Mr. Dragon’s scarred face, bringing with it a shock he could not ignore.
Their bloodlines were connected.
The scent of a bloodline belonging solely to him was unmistakably strong. Mr. Dragon understood almost instantly that this ugly little dragon cub truly was his child.
How could that be possible?
“Wuwu—”
Father, it hurts.
Mr. Dragon coughed up a mouthful of blood, raised his hand, and threw Jiaojiao away.
This time, however, Jiaojiao landed on a chair covered with soft cushions, and Mr. Dragon’s movements were exceedingly gentle.
He had grown accustomed to these old injuries and had even been calmly waiting for death. Yet the dragon cub who had appeared so suddenly had now aroused his curiosity.
How could he have a child?
And if this little dragon truly was his child, then to whom did the other half of the cub’s bloodline belong?
Jiaojiao rolled around in pain. Once it had eased slightly, he discovered that the little clothes his mother had made for him were dirty.
Jiaojiao still had to comfort Father later. Father was dirty, so he could not allow his clothes to become even dirtier.
Enduring the pain, the cleanliness-loving little dragon quickly stretched out his front paws and undid the fastenings Mu Wanwan had specially designed so that he could open them himself. He twisted his body into an odd position and removed all his clothes.
Only then did Jiaojiao notice a tiny jade token that Mu Wanwan had sewn into one of the pockets.
What was this?
Jiaojiao reached out to grab it, but his paw also brushed against another object—a small, round, translucent bead.
Jiaojiao did not recognise the jade token, but he knew what the bead was.
It was Jiaojiao’s toy!
As long as he worked hard and bit it open with his teeth, there would be a sweet medicinal pill inside. Mother had specially made them for the cubs. After eating one, they would feel very comfortable, and no illness would remain.
But Father was injured now, so Jiaojiao had to give it to Father.
Jiaojiao grasped one object in each of his front paws and tried to crawl towards his father. However, supporting his body on only two paws was already difficult. He staggered crookedly as he tried to move and, after struggling for a moment, fell from the chair.
The jade token and the bead rolled in opposite directions.
The bead rolled into a corner. The jade token struck one of Jiaojiao’s little dragon horns and landed beside Mr. Dragon’s foot.
“…”
Mr. Dragon picked up the jade token with fingers covered in tainted blood. The spiritual imprint left within it felt incomparably familiar.
It was his own spiritual sense.
An unfamiliar emotion surged within his chest. Trembling slightly, he pressed his lips together and sent a faint wisp of his meagre spiritual energy into the token.
A pale white light appeared.
A familiar figure materialised before him—black hair, white robes, phoenix eyes, and golden pupils.
It was “him,” without a single scar.
The “him” in the recording bowed to him with exceptional courtesy and said many, many things that he himself would never have said.
That “him” explained that this ugly little dragon cub was the child of “him” and his wife—their precious Jiaojiao. If Jiaojiao ever became lost, then “he,” the first expert on the continent to transcend the seventh tier, would undoubtedly come and take him home.
The underlying message was that whoever encountered Jiaojiao had better treat him kindly.
Otherwise, they would die a very miserable death.
In that respect, the man was remarkably similar to him.
Or perhaps, if he had a child…
The “him” within the image initially wore a frighteningly stern expression. However, he soon seemed to see something incomparably precious. His gaze softened, and a clear smile even appeared on his face. The tiny dimple beside his cheek, which he had always treated as a secret, emerged as he smiled.
How foolish.
Mr. Dragon thought this just as an unfamiliar woman’s voice sounded from the recording, addressing the other “him.”
“Husband.”
His heart abruptly tightened.
The image before him disappeared, yet for some inexplicable reason, a name seemed to rise gently from the depths of his soul.
“Wanwan?”
His head began to ache.
Jiaojiao, however, heard his mother’s name and responded with a delighted whimper.
Despite the pain in his head, Jiaojiao hurriedly tried to retrieve the round bead that had rolled beneath the table.
But his little paws were too short.
He could not reach it.
It would be wonderful if he had hands like his older sister.
Jiaojiao thought enviously.
He rolled several more times, then suddenly felt as though his field of vision had changed slightly. His bare bottom pressed against the floor, which felt rather cold.
Jiaojiao raised a pale, tender hand and blinked at it. Then he lay on the floor and reached underneath the table for the bead.
After several attempts, he finally caught it.
But why did this round bead feel wrong?
Why was it so large?
Jiaojiao forcefully pulled out the slightly smooth object, only to discover that it was something quite large and rather black…
An egg?
Jiaojiao blinked at the filthy egg and gradually fell into a daze.
Mr. Dragon, however, had already vaguely guessed what had happened.
Struggling to support himself, he rose to his feet. He retrieved the few medicinal pills remaining inside his spatial storage and consumed them, recovering a little strength.
Mr. Dragon’s spiritual sense slowly swept over the naked little dragon cub who had suddenly assumed human form—
He looked like a version of “him” without any scars.
The cub looked almost exactly as Mr. Dragon had when he was young, except that his facial features were gentler. Around him flowed faint and chaotic currents of time that Mr. Dragon had initially failed to notice.
This child did not belong to the current him.
He was the child of his next life.
The little dragon cub foolishly hugged the phoenix egg Mr. Dragon had once happened to pick up—an egg that had long since lost all signs of life.
“Jiao…”
In a hoarse voice, he attempted to call the dragon cub’s name.
But he was met by a pair of enormous, terrified eyes overflowing with tears.
Jiaojiao clutched the phoenix egg, which no longer possessed even the slightest trace of life, and sobbed so violently that he could barely breathe.
“Bro… Brother.”
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