Chapter 990 — Cecil in Motion
Blade of Dawn · Page 2 of 4
And so, in what felt like the blink of an eye, everyone had arranged what he or she had to do; the Cecil administrators, who put efficiency first, had not the slightest intention of being bound by traditional courtesy and rules. But Gao Yang still remembered that there was a "guest" present who did not belong to Cecil. He turned his head to look at Meitzen Pernia, who still stood on the plaza in her dragon form. "If you..."
"I would very much like to stay as a guest, but the circumstances this time are unusual, and I wish to return to Talrond first," Meitzen spoke in a rumbling voice before he could finish. She lowered her elegantly curved neck slightly — for a dragon, a gesture of considerable courtesy. "Just now I tested the link with the Mithril Ring and found the communication has inexplicably recovered... I cannot make sense of it, but you should still be able to reach me through it."
Her tone was as unhurried as she could make it, her manner calm and detached, yet Gao Yang could faintly perceive the anxiety and unease deep within this dragon lady — she seemed to suspect that something was about to happen in Talrond, and was already impatient to take her leave.
Of course, Meitzen's agitation was surely not merely because of a trivial "malfunction" in the Mithril Ring — it stemmed more from Gao Yang's two secret private talks with the Dragon God, the anomalies that had once occurred in the Upper Temple, and the current stirrings among the gods of the Loren Continent. And the "malfunction" of the normally infallible Omega System had happened to serve as a trigger, rousing some warning in the dragon lady's intuition.
As for that, Gao Yang felt that he, as a human, had no grounds to intervene. He could hardly obstruct any decision Meitzen made, so he could only give a slight nod and offer a casual reminder. "Be careful on the way back — you have been flying at high intensity for a long time."
Meitzen swayed her head slightly, a trace of amusement in her voice. "Don't worry. I have considerable confidence in my own stamina — everyone, please step back. I am about to take off."
A moment later, the blue dragon beat her wings once more. That vast creature, blotting out the sky and the sun, soared up from the city, and after several successive accelerations it became a speck of shadow at the horizon, swiftly vanishing from everyone's sight.
...
Gao Yang returned to his familiar study — he looked at the familiar desk before him, the familiar bookshelves, the familiar carpet, and the familiar ceiling. In this room familiar in every detail, he could also see the familiar faces of Rebecca, Hetty, and the others.
His mood finally settled somewhat.
Talrond was a very advanced place, and it could not be called uncomfortable to live in; there were neon-lit cities, automated homes, and all manner of highly developed entertainments. In fairness, it could even make Gao Yang recall the city life of his homeland — at least in terms of prosperity and advancement, the two shared a certain resemblance. Yet even so, Gao Yang always felt that the days he spent living in the dragon nation were... rather awkward.
He had never figured out just where that awkwardness came from, and could only vaguely attribute it to "not being used to sleeping in a strange bed." But now he felt he had begun to grasp something.
He went back behind his desk. It had been dusted spotless by Betty, and on it were laid the implements he was accustomed to using, every handy thing placed within easiest reach. He looked up again and saw Hetty standing just ahead and to his side, with Rebecca a little farther off; the latter seemed to want to come over and strike up a conversation, yet was too nervous to step forward.
Gao Yang smiled, realizing that he had already fully settled in here — that Talrond, prosperous enough to remind him of his homeland, was ultimately just another foreign land.