After calling the police, Rong Sui had saved the officer’s contact number. Upon receiving Rong Fu’s phone call, he immediately relayed the news to the police and stood up to go out and look for the missing person.

“I’m coming too.”

“I want to go!”

Yin Zhuzhi and Bi Fang spoke at the same time, both demanding to tag along.

Bi Fang had been anxious and worked up for most of the day, his entire feathery form in a disheveled state, his teal down feathers nearly turning red from panic. Yin Zhuzhi, on the other hand, reservedly coiled his tail and raised his head to look up at Rong Sui—if one ignored the fact that his entire body was sprawled across the top of Rong Sui’s foot, he could still be considered an obedient and well-behaved dragon baby.

“No, it’s not convenient to bring children to this kind of setting.” Rong Sui refused flatly. He was going to head to the factory building with the police; bringing two children along was no joking matter.

“I want to go, I want to go!” Bi Fang flew onto Rong Sui’s head, throwing a tantrum and rolling around. After pulling his hair into a chaotic mess, the bird spat out a tiny spark of fire. “If you don’t let me go, I’ll burn all your hair off.”

Rong Sui: “…”

Reaching up to pluck the plump, round bird off his head, Rong Sui tried to reason with them with a darkened expression. “You definitely can’t go in child form, and you can’t let ordinary people see you like this either.”

“Stay at home obediently. I will definitely bring Bai Ze back.”

Bi Fang refused to comply. Kicking his legs and flapping his wings, he broke free and perched back on Rong Sui’s head, casting an illusion spell on himself in the process. “Ordinary people can’t see me. Qiongqi still hasn’t found anyone yet, so I’m worried.”

He had originally been the mount of the Fire God. After the Fire God fell, he became a masterless beast, eventually drifting to Mount Zhong when he had nowhere else to go. It was the gentle-tempered Bai Ze who had been the first to accept him, which was why his bond with Bai Ze was the deepest.

Rong Sui hesitated for a moment. Not wanting to waste any more time, he had no choice but to agree. Just as he spoke, he suddenly felt a chill on his wrist. Looking down, he saw that Yin Zhuzhi had shrunk his body and coiled around his wrist—a thin, delicate little dragon with its head touching its tail, looking like an antique-style bracelet when kept still.

Yin Zhuzhi blinked his golden eyes, opened his mouth to bite his own tail, and remained motionless.

Rong Sui: “…” Fine then.

Every single one of them had such strong opinions; now that the kids were growing up, they were getting harder to manage. A sense of helplessness akin to an old father watching fledglings leave the nest welled up in Rong Sui. With a face full of weariness, he headed out the door with the two little ones in tow.

A police car was already waiting at the entrance of the residential complex. The officer in charge of the case was surnamed Liu, whom Rong Sui addressed as Team Leader Liu.

Since Rong Fu was not very familiar with the area around the factory and couldn’t explain its exact location clearly, he could only describe the directions to Rong Sui. Rong Sui had recorded the voice message in advance, so after notifying the police, Team Leader Liu asked him to come along to avoid wasting time by taking a wrong path.

About ten people were split into three vehicles. The car Rong Sui rode in took the lead at the front, siren lights flashing as the police convoy cleared a smooth path ahead.

The driver was a young, unfamiliar police officer. Team Leader Liu sat in the back row with Rong Sui. Seeing that Rong Sui appeared somewhat tense, the officer assumed he was worried about the missing students and shared a bit of information within allowable bounds.

Rong Sui managed to respond perfunctorily while having to divide his attention to focus on Bi Fang atop his head.

Bi Fang had an impatient nature and wished he could just flap his wings and fly off to search for Bai Ze himself. One moment he shifted his rear on Rong Sui’s head, and the next he nervously plucked at his hair with his talons. Rong Sui felt like he was about to be plucked bald.

Besides, in an enclosed car cabin, what was with one’s hair constantly flying all over the place?!

Rong Sui coped with Team Leader Liu with a melancholy expression until he finally reached his limit, raising a hand and slapping the top of his head firmly.

Bi Fang, who had been disco-dancing on his head, finally settled down. Team Leader Liu, however, was startled by Rong Sui’s sudden action. He patted Rong Sui’s shoulder and comforted him with earnest concern, “Don’t worry, we will definitely bring the children back safely. Try not to get too worked up, taking care of your health comes first.”

Rong Sui tugged at the corners of his mouth, giving him a smile that was awkward yet polite, while inwardly resolving to pluck Bi Fang’s feathers clean when they got home—what a rotten little bird, not listening at all!

“Say, that bracelet of yours is quite unique. Is it a handicraft you bought in a tourist area?”

Rong Sui raised his hand, exposing the little black dragon coiled around his wrist with its head meeting its tail. Team Leader Liu found it quite novel and asked out of curiosity.

Rong Sui chuckled dryly: “Y-Yeah…”

Following Rong Fu’s description, the officers who were familiar with the routes quickly located the abandoned factory building. By then, it was already past midnight. The mountains were pitch-black, and the factory was situated a distance away from the neighboring villages, so quiet that it lacked even a trace of human presence.

Turning off the car lights, Team Leader Liu instructed Rong Sui to stay in the vehicle while he led his men to surround the factory from all four sides…

In less than five minutes, Team Leader Liu returned. A few officers dragged out three men who were bound tight as wrapped zongzi, like pigs being carried to slaughter. Team Leader Liu puffed on a lit cigarette with a deep frown. “There’s a huge hole in the roof, and the kids aren’t inside.”

The three men had been stacked in the corner like a human pyramid when found, all acting somewhat crazed. One was blabbering about ghosts, while the other two claimed they saw a monster—saying they saw a burly man turn into a tiger and fly away from the roof.

Police: “…”

When questioned further about where the children were hidden, they insisted either that ghosts had dragged them off or that monsters had stolen them away.

Enraged, Team Leader Liu spat fiercely onto the ground. “Dammit! A bunch of scumbags.”

Bi Fang spoke softly to Rong Sui from atop his head: “Let’s find a way to stay behind. Qiongqi has definitely found a lead.” A burly man turning into a tiger and flying away was undeniably Qiongqi.

Yin Zhuzhi agreed as well: “I also smell the aura of another demon.”

Rong Sui thought for a moment, adjusted his expression, and put on an anxious face. “Could they be hidden somewhere else that we just haven’t noticed?”

“No, I have to go down and take a look!”

With that, he opened the car door and slipped out like grease. Team Leader Liu couldn’t even stop him in time, watching as he dashed into the factory building like a swift rabbit.

Once out of the officers’ line of sight, Rong Sui picked Bi Fang off his head and cradled him in his arms. “What do we do now?”

Yin Zhuzhi unclasped his tail, sat up, and looked around in all directions. “Besides Qiongqi, another demon has been here.” He pointed at the ground. “There are bloodstains over there.”

Rong Sui was startled, only to hear Yin Zhuzhi continue: “They were left behind by that demon.”

Relieved of his immediate worry, Rong Sui speculated, “Were the children taken from the human traffickers by that demon?”

Yin Zhuzhi couldn’t be entirely sure either; there were too few clues at the scene. He could only say, “Let’s check further outside.”

Holding both of them, Rong Sui bypassed the police officers in front and circled around to the other side. The area surrounding the factory consisted of mountain woods, and going deeper would lead into the mountains proper. As Rong Sui hesitated between heading back to wait for news or risking a search ahead, a commotion suddenly erupted in the woods to his right, and even the ground began to shake slightly.

“What’s happening? Is it an earthquake…” Rong Sui stumbled and looked toward the source of the noise. Before he could even finish his sentence, his eyes widened in shock.

Deep within the mountain forest, a swarm of bright-red, hedgehog-like creatures was charging in his direction in massive packs. Before Rong Sui could dodge, the ones running at the front had already passed right through his body—

Semi-translucent creatures resembling shadows vanished rapidly into the distance, but an endless army behind them continued to flee madly in Rong Sui’s direction.

“Back off!”

A golden light flared from Rong Sui’s hand as the phantom image of a black dragon surfaced in the air, bearing a majestic demeanor. Its golden vertical pupils burned with fury, and red flames flickered faintly around its body.

Intimidated by the dragon’s aura, the fleeing demonic beasts hastily turned around and fled elsewhere. A few that failed to dodge in time continued charging straight at Rong Sui, but before they could even get close, they were engulfed by the fire radiating from the black dragon…

“Yin Zhu…” zhi.

Rong Sui witnessed this scene with his own eyes. Before he could express his awe, a sudden wave of dizziness and exhaustion hit him, causing his body to collapse uncontrollably toward the ground—

“Why are you so weak?”

A man in wide-sleeved black robes caught him steadily, gathering him into his arms.

The last thing Rong Sui saw was the man’s handsome face. He thought in a daze that his eyes hadn’t deceived him after all—the adult Torch Dragon truly possessed exquisite features, handsome as a painting.

A genuine, certified beauty.

A series of disturbances broke out somewhere deep in the mountains. Birds and beasts fled in all directions, accompanied by demonic qi soaring straight into the sky.

Rong Fu hovered in midair. Catching the familiar scent, he narrowed his eyes, let out a long roar, and sped toward the center of the commotion.

The area where the disturbance occurred was already in total ruin. Soaring tornadoes raged through the mountain forest, uprooting massive trees and sweeping them high into the air…

At the very eye of the giant wind, a massive black bird with nine heads circled continuously, its nine heads turned toward the sky as they let out a joint, blood-weeping wail.

The shrill cries sounded as if they would pierce the sky. Tears of blood flowed from the eyes of the Nine-Headed Bird, causing her to fly even more crazily through the mountains. Her massive wings whipped up fierce gales, carrying a force capable of destroying this entire stretch of mountain forest.

“Night-Stalker Woman!”

Rong Fu lowered his body as his form swelled dramatically. His sharp claws extended and retracted, and with a tiger’s roar, he charged straight toward the center of the wind’s eye.

As if sensing something, the Night-Stalker Woman turned her blood-red eyes toward him. However, Rong Fu was even faster. Bending and springing off his hind legs, he folded the wings behind his shoulders and bit down cleanly and accurately onto one of her heads.

The Night-Stalker Woman let out a shriek. Her other eight heads opened their sharp beaks wide and swooped down on him. A glint of malice flashed through Rong Fu’s eyes; clamping down tightly on the head, he flipped and thrashing violently in midair.

Caught off guard, the Night-Stalker Woman’s slender necks were whipped in one direction by the momentum, causing the remaining eight heads to collide with one another and let out miserable cries.

Rong Fu was hardly one to show tender feelings toward the fair sex. Holding the head in his jaws, he thrashed her about until she was thoroughly dizzy before slamming her onto the ground. He then produced a length of rope and bound all nine heads together to keep her from squirming.

The Night-Stalker Woman struggled, but the rope only pulled tighter. She lay on the ground utterly drained of strength, her wings spread out like a strangely shaped feather rug. “Qiongqi!”

Qiongqi gave an unceremonious roar in her face. “Sobered up now? Where is Bai Ze?”

The Night-Stalker Woman’s eyes rolled craftily as she remained obstinate. “What are you talking about?”

Rong Fu had no patience for verbal sparring. He stepped heavily on one of her wings with his paw and yanked out five or six flight feathers in a single bite.

“Ah!!”

All nine heads of the Night-Stalker Woman screamed in unison. “How dare you pull out my feathers!”

Seeing her fuming with rage, Rong Fu threatened triumphantly, “Where is Bai Ze? If you don’t talk, I’ll pluck you bald!”

Night-Stalker Woman: “…”

Dammit, what a total pervert!

__

Author’s Note:

Teacher Rong: My dad earned his single status purely through skill!