“What is it?”
Mu Wanwan suspected she had misheard, so she asked again.
Mr. Dragon became a little embarrassed this time, but still said softly, “It means an egg.”
Mu Wanwan: “…”
“It should mean someone’s egg, right?” Mr. Dragon thought for a moment, then seriously attempted to interpret it based on the hint Mu Wanwan had just given him.
Seeing how earnest he was, Mu Wanwan began thinking as well—
If the owner of this cave was named Hundun, then when the inscription was read together, did it mean:
“Hundun’s egg?”
Or:
“Hundun is an egg?”
Mu Wanwan pondered for a moment before feeling a slight tug on her hand.
“Madam.”
This awkward dragon was becoming increasingly bold. He lightly squeezed her fingers.
“Go to sleep.”
He did not want to continue discussing the writing on the stone wall.
What if Madam discovered that he could not recognise any of it?
However, the timeless law that whatever one feared would inevitably happen remained unchanged.
In the next moment, Mr. Dragon heard his little wife ask, “Mr. Dragon, which two characters did you recognise?”
The dragon panicked.
The dragon fell silent for a second.
The dragon believed his expression was cold and his voice indifferent.
“You—you tell me first.”
Mu Wanwan: “…”
“They’re ‘Hundun.’”
The moment Mu Wanwan finished speaking, the gentle grip around her hand suddenly tightened, hurting her slightly.
But the dragon released her almost immediately.
Under the faint light, Mu Wanwan only saw a pale shadow.
Then even that weak light vanished, leaving her unable to see anything at all.
“What’s wrong?”
As soon as she spoke, the hand that had just been squeezed was gently lifted.
A warm, soft sensation touched it.
Mr. Dragon kissed her fingertips, his voice filled with sadness and guilt.
“Does it hurt?”
“Not at all.”
Mu Wanwan had roughly guessed what was happening.
She reached out with her other hand and firmly grasped his, then felt her way forward through the darkness until she touched his chest.
“Mr. Dragon, is Hundun someone you knew?”
She waited for a while, but Mr. Dragon did not answer.
Just as Mu Wanwan was about to change the subject, she heard him say, “Mm.”
“Hundun… was probably a monster.”
A monster who had never once admitted that he was his father.
Mu Wanwan had never heard Mr. Dragon speak in such a sorrowful tone.
Her heart ached.
She intertwined her fingers with his and carefully protected his feelings.
“Mm. Then he must have been a very good monster.”
Warmth settled in Mr. Dragon’s eyes.
He drew her into his arms.
He quietly held her for a while, then could not resist kissing her cheek.
“Do you want to know?”
Mu Wanwan shook her head.
“No. I’m a little tired.”
Even without him explaining, Mu Wanwan could guess some of it.
They had already gone through so much together, yet he had never sounded this sad before.
If he had to recount it again, it certainly would not be a pleasant memory.
After speaking, she simply pushed the dragon away and took out an extremely old wooden bed from her mustard-seed space.
It was so worn that it looked close to collapsing.
She spread out a quilt, pulled him over to sit beside the bed, and stuffed a pillow into his arms.
“I’ll sleep here.”
“All right.”
Mr. Dragon stroked her cheek.
In the darkness, he could see her expression clearly.
There was no reluctance or displeasure.
She hugged the pillow with one arm and tightly held his hand with the other.
Whenever he moved even one finger, she would immediately open her eyes in worry and search for him in confusion.
It was as though—
He was her most precious treasure.
That realisation made his heart burn.
His eyes filled with the possessiveness he usually suppressed, never daring to reveal it in front of her.
He was no longer a lonely dragon.
Would Hundun be happy if he knew?
Mr. Dragon’s ears trembled.
He knew far too little about that monster.
His memories from when he had still been a small dragon had gradually faded throughout the years he spent wandering alone.
Even though that monster had been very ugly, Mr. Dragon could barely remember what he looked like anymore.
He only remembered that his body had been covered in deep-black scales, and that four ugly horns grew from his head.
When he had told him, “You are a dragon,” his expression had been extremely serious.
If the words on the wall had been left behind by that monster, they probably carried a meaning that was not particularly gentle.
For some reason, Mr. Dragon felt unbearably sad.
It was as though he were about to lose something important.
The hour gradually grew late.
Mu Wanwan’s grip on his hand loosened.
She was too exhausted and had already fallen asleep.
Mr. Dragon placed the pillow in her arms properly and carefully changed positions.
As a result, Wanwan, who was sleeping soundly, had another nightmare.
She dreamed that she had transformed into a weak and helpless cat being hunted by a wicked dragon.
Not only did it bite the scruff of her neck, sealing her fate, but it also gripped her fluffy waist tightly.
In any case, it was extremely uncomfortable.
She struggled twice.
Then something cold fell onto her face.
It felt a little like the wicked dragon’s tears.
So she stopped struggling.
It was as though she were silently comforting the wicked dragon behind her, telling him not to cry.
The wicked dragon’s voice was thick and nasal, but gradually, he stopped shedding tears.
The markings carved into the stone wall remained clear.
Meanwhile, Hundun, who was imprisoned by the Witch Clan and had nearly lost consciousness, rarely dreamed of something that brought him a little relief as he approached the brink of complete exhaustion.
It had been a day with almost no light.
After transforming into a monster and hiding in the abyss for several decades, he had exchanged shifts with a sea-controlling monster and begun roaming freely through the deep ocean.
Hundun had been born with inherited memories.
He could also approach dangerous regions near certain continents, where wisps of chaotic energy occasionally fell.
To him, they were reasonably nourishing.
This time, he had only intended to search for some “food.”
But why had the chaotic energy he had nurtured for so long gradually disappeared?
Hundun narrowed his bell-sized eyes and rapidly swam towards the edge of a continent that had partially shattered.
Amid crisscrossing ravines and violent ripples from fractured space, he saw an egg.
A tiny golden dragon egg covered in several fine cracks.
Hundun cursed under his breath.
He watched the scattered wisps of chaotic energy nearby flow through those cracks and become absorbed by the little creature inside.
He became so angry that even his whiskers twisted.
Still, it was certainly a tenacious little creature.
Despite being trapped inside such broken space, it had somehow remained alive.
Hundun stroked his chin.
“Forget it. I’ll take you back and eat you.”
He bared his fangs ferociously and scooped up the egg.
He pulled it away from the precarious position where it was about to fall into the fragmented space.
However, if he brought it back, he would have to share it with the other monsters.
Hundun rubbed his stomach.
Instead, he sat down where he was and violently reached out a claw to strike the egg.
His claws were extremely sharp.
The cracks on the shell grew larger and larger.
Just as he prepared to strike forcefully again, a tiny sound came from inside.
It sounded like the not-yet-fully-formed creature’s desperate longing to live.
His claw could not descend.
Instead, he ended up sacrificing an enormous amount of his own true chaotic spirit to repair the little creature’s shell.
Hundun became furious.
His scales, however, happily spread open.
Later…
What had happened later?
Hundun, whose energy was being drained and who was close to losing consciousness, had already lost two of his four horns.
He now looked like an ordinary horned monster.
His consciousness was blurry.
He had grown old and could only remember fragments.
Right—
Within the territory controlled by his subordinates, he had found a piece of sea rock, carved it open, and placed the dragon egg inside.
At the time, he had only just learned how to record things.
He had even carved a line of words.
“On a day when the weather was very fine, Hundun found a beautiful dragon egg.”
The dream lasted a little too long.
He seemed to see the little dragon cub again, only a metre in length.
“Is he about to collapse?”
Wu Yao stood before the place where Hundun was imprisoned, staring at the ancient monster.
His scales had already turned mottled white.
The horns that had once glowed faintly gold were now reduced to fragile, hollow shells.
“After all, he was captured by us only a few decades after his birth. The fact that he survived until now means he must have possessed a powerful obsession,” Wu Yao said.
He sensed the powerful energy gradually spreading throughout his body and looked at the enormous Hundun beast before him, who remained massive despite his age.
Hundun lifted his eyelids.
He felt that he was close to death.
However, he was not worried about what would happen afterward.
His inherited memories told him that Hundun was nurtured by heaven and earth.
Although his strength was weak, his soul was exceptionally precious.
When he approached death, his body would return to chaos and await the next birth.
One hundred years after his death, a new Hundun would be born.
However, that Hundun would no longer have anything to do with him.
Every Hundun lived a life entirely their own.
His consciousness gradually cleared.
Hundun seemed to see the little dragon who used to cry out “awoo.”
Other monsters had bullied him and bitten off his scales.
Heartbroken, he had transformed into a very small child and tearfully asked him:
“Am I a monster?”
At the time, Hundun had answered him very seriously:
“You are a dragon.”
“But I’m very weak.”
Hundun had seen the little dragon’s eyes light up.
Before he could say anything else, another monster arrived to call him away for a shift change.
He never had the opportunity to tell him—
You are the only five-clawed golden dragon in the entire world.
You are an extremely precious, extremely powerful dragon.
Do not feel inferior.
The next time someone insults you, come and tell me.
We will fight them together.
Later—
From the members of the Witch Clan who liked to mutter to themselves in front of him, Hundun learned that the little dragon had grown up and become their sovereign.
Afterward, he had acted too impulsively and ended up in his current condition while trying to rescue Hundun.
Hundun truly wanted to beat him.
Later still, he heard that the dragon had found a little wife who did not despise him.
He would never be lonely again, would he?
Honestly.
“That’s wonderful.”
Hundun closed his enormous eyes.
The white scales gradually falling from his body landed on the ground and transformed into scattered wisps of chaotic energy.
Wu Yao was initially shocked.
Then his expression transformed into wild delight.
Before the Hundun beast died, its body was actually capable of transforming into chaotic energy!
Wu Yao attempted to absorb all of it into his body.
However, the wisps of chaotic energy seemed to possess consciousness.
They hovered beside Hundun, as though protecting the final remnants of his dignity.
Hundun’s core shattered.
He slowly closed his eyes.
The chaotic energy formed from his horns and scales tore open space.
Together with his rapidly weakening body, it vanished from Wu Yao’s sight.
“Fuck!”
The prize that had practically reached his mouth had escaped.
Wu Yao became so furious that he nearly lost his mind.
His face twisted hideously as poisonous insects and toxins erupted from his entire body, splattering across the prison cage.
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