Chapter 39: Tea Room Rendezvous

Gray clouds hung low, and the downpour cascaded like a waterfall. The neon lights at the street corner were shrouded in a misty veil of rain vapor, while the radio looped endless storm warnings. In the pitch-black night, few vehicles remained on the roads—scarcely any driver dared venture out in such weather.

But exceptions always arise. With a few sharp honks, a Maybach glided to a stop at the entrance, its bright headlights slicing through the darkness like swords.

A waiter hurried forward respectfully, umbrella in hand. From the back seat emerged a woman whose age was impossible to gauge. Ignoring the attentive server, she strode indifferently into the club, her face half-covered by a pure silver mask as unyielding as a medieval knight’s visor.

She needed no guide to find the appointed room—she was clearly familiar with the place. Tonight, she had come for a meeting, even though the invitation had come from a devil.

The bamboo door slid open softly, the screen partition half-closed. Amid the elegant, antique tea room lingered a faint scent of tobacco. By the floor-to-ceiling window, misted over with condensation, sat an elderly man, puffing on a Ming-style pure copper pipe in his old-fashioned way.

“Long time no see,” the old man finally said after a long pause, turning his head. He smiled as he met the woman’s gaze and softly uttered that number, now like something out of a dream: “Number Thirty-Eight.”

Number Thirty-Eight shuddered reflexively for an instant, her pupils contracting sharply as long-buried fears from secret years resurfaced. Though she quickly composed herself, the old man seemed to have noticed.

But she refused to show weakness.

So Number Thirty-Eight sat down in silence. For a moment, neither spoke, locked in a wordless standoff, vying for dominance in this long-awaited reunion.

A waiter respectfully offered a cup of tea, but neither reached for it. One couldn’t stomach the foul-tasting brew; the other simply refused to drink with the enemy.

“I don’t see the point of this meeting,” the woman said abruptly after a while.

The old man kept smiling. “I’ve missed you. Isn’t that reason enough?”

“You’re always like this,” she sneered, as if she’d heard the biggest joke. “Killers love returning to the scene of the crime to satisfy their twisted urges. Too bad, I’m not your handiwork.”

“Don’t say that. You’re the Project Y’s most perfect Number Thirty-Eight.” The old man’s smile remained serene, as if no words could ever faze him.

“Perfect?”

Number Thirty-Eight scoffed. Slowly, she removed her mask. In that instant, lightning flashed through the clouds outside, its eerie glow illuminating half her face—a terrifying, furry beast visage.

Thunder boomed. The old man’s movements froze as he stared at her horrifying appearance, his smile suddenly fading.

“Beautiful,” he praised in a choir-like tone. “Such a pity the Source of Will was lost for so long. Otherwise, you’d surpass any S-rank exotic beast in this world.”

Number Thirty-Eight tugged at the corner of her mouth. “Haven’t you already found the key? The Source of Will will come knocking on its own.”

“Ah, you mean Number One? She’s the key we deliberately crafted, but I’m not sure if she can actually unlock it.” The old man glossed over the topic and turned back to the window, falling silent once more.

The rain outside showed no sign of letting up, endless sheets pounding the glass and streaking it with irregular patterns.

“Actually, I’m puzzled why you gave her the Azure Lamp,” Number Thirty-Eight said after a long pause. “Her life isn’t worth much.”

“Call it pity. Anyone would spare a bit of affection for a drowning child.”

The old man set down his pipe and chuckled again, his tone light as a jest. “Besides, I want revenge too.”

Number Thirty-Eight said nothing more.

“Alright, since you’re not in the mood for jokes, let’s get to business,” the old man said with a shrug, softening his demeanor. “Speed up Koxiche’s awakening. Only it can lead us to Pandora’s Box. The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse have been gone too long—I can’t wait any longer.”

Number Thirty-Eight nodded crisply, sensing the meeting had reached its end. Without a hint of reluctance, she donned her mask, rose swiftly, and hurried toward the door—like an eagle escaping its cage, eager for freedom.

The old man didn’t stop her. He even smiled and bid her goodbye, unconcerned whether she’d respond with any respect.

The tea room’s wooden door slammed shut, followed by the waiter’s polite inquiry from outside. The old man chuckled to himself in place, picking up his copper pipe again. The tiny embers glowed steadily as he lowered his gaze, his eyes brushing over the photo on the table.

He tapped his pipe and exhaled a thick plume of white smoke. The night rain continued, blurring everything.

“What a tiresome world,” he sighed, his finger tracing Shi Zui’s face in the photo. In a nostalgic murmur, he added, “Number One, I’m waiting for you to end it all.”

~~~

Ye Jingqiu couldn’t believe her eyes. She knew Teacher Xu had deep ties to the Beijing Candle Dragon Incident, but she’d never imagined she’d one day meet her in a dragon’s underground palace.

Even so, the reunion filled her with joy. Xu Xianyue, who had seemed so aloof moments before, suddenly smiled. She withdrew her blazing Azure Flame, her gentle expression as warm as ever.

“Long time no see, Xiao Qiu.”

The little Candle Dragon continued writhing and wailing beside them. The sheer volume of information nearly overwhelmed Ye Jingqiu. Hadn’t the captain said Teacher Xu lacked instincts? The base had tracked Candle Dragon victims for so long—was it a mistake on their part, or had Teacher Xu long known how to hide herself?

She turned to the suffering little dragon, momentarily at a loss. Without instincts or purpose, she felt like a fool in this foreboding underground palace. All she could do was call out that familiar name again:

“Teacher Xu…”

Ye Jingqiu stepped forward unconsciously. At this distance, she could face Xu Xianyue squarely, taking in the teacher’s unchanging gentleness.

But why did Xu Xianyue’s face look so pale?

Ye Jingqiu chalked it up to the dim light in the underground palace. She watched the long-silent Xu Xianyue for a moment before broaching the most innocuous topic she could think of:

“Teacher Xu, when did you… first awaken your powers?”

“It’s been a long time now,” Xu Xianyue replied softly, her gaze dropping as she scuffed her foot against the golden brick floor. “Probably starting from the year my parents died. I’m sorry, Jingqiu. I kept it from you for so long.”

The underground palace fell silent once more. Ye Jingqiu tried her best to muster a warm smile, but suddenly she felt like life had a twisted sense of humor. She’d carefully spoken to Ning Wan about keeping a closer eye on Teacher Xu, after all—Teacher Xu hadn’t shown any powers at all.

She’d thought she was protecting Teacher Xu, but Xu Xianyue was clearly far more familiar with this other world than she was.

“No need to apologize,” Ye Jingqiu said quietly, pressing her lips together. “I’m just glad you have these abilities. At least I don’t have to worry about something happening to you anymore.”

She didn’t let the conversation linger on that point. Ye Jingqiu could vaguely guess why Xu Xianyue had come here, and she worked to steady her emotions:

“Teacher Xu, where did you enter from? Let’s get out of here together, okay?”

Xu Xianyue didn’t refuse, but her eyes were filled with apology. “I’m sorry, Xiao Qiu. I just want to find my parents.”

The worst possible outcome had come to pass. Ye Jingqiu stepped forward anxiously, shoving aside her disappointment. “But the Candle Dragon is right here—who knows when it might go berserk? Teacher Xu, trust me. We can handle the Candle Dragon. You could be in danger if you stay.”

Perhaps it was her imagination, but Ye Jingqiu felt like Xu Xianyue’s face had grown even paler.

Xu Xianyue shook her head in silent refusal. “I’ve been searching for it for so long. The chance to make my wish come true is right in front of me now, Xiao Qiu. I can’t give up.”

The little Candle Dragon had extinguished the Azure Flame on its body by now and was panting heavily on the ground. Ye Jingqiu glanced at it, her eyes earnest. “But Teacher Xu, your Azure Flame can’t kill it. The base has other ways to deal with it. Let’s go out first, okay?”

Xu Xianyue shook her head. “The Azure Flame really can’t kill it—because this isn’t the dragon I’m looking for.”

A pure azure flame bloomed into existence, drifting straight toward the square trough in the center of the hall. In an instant, the entire underground palace began to shake!

“The Golden Hall is the Candle Dragon’s lair,” Xu Xianyue said. “Some say this hall towers as high as the azure sky.”

Ye Jingqiu crouched slightly to steady herself, her tone urgent. “But this platform is only about five or six meters high, Teacher Xu. Maybe you’ve got it wrong.”

“That’s because something was blocking our view.” The underground palace continued to rumble as Xu Xianyue looked up at the ceiling. “The true Candle Dragon is coiled right above our heads.”

Ye Jingqiu froze. She followed Xu Xianyue’s gaze upward, and sure enough, the golden dome overhead was moving.

The “ceiling” was slowly peeling back, revealing even brighter golden light shimmering far above in the distant sky. That was the real towering roof of the hall—what she had taken for gold was merely the dragon’s ventral scales!

The underground palace seemed on the verge of shattering! No wonder the ancients called earthquakes “the earth dragon turning over”—because a massive dragon was truly flipping its body.

Her vision blurred, an uncontrollable dizziness flooding her mind as her agitation levels spiked. Ye Jingqiu’s head throbbed with pain, but she gritted her teeth and finally made out the rising “ceiling”!

The flowing molten steel and mercury vapors were no longer illusions. A colossal head the size of a truck reared up, and the Candle Dragon from ancient myth materialized once more in the mortal world.

The serpentine creature began to writhe—a hundred-meter-long behemoth. Menacing bone spikes and sword-like scales rippled from head to tail. The dragon extended its razor-sharp claws, its dreamlike vertical pupils blazing like fire!

This was the second S-rank Exotic Beast the base had discovered since 1994. It had once dominated the East Asian Continent, time and again attempting to plunge the world back into a sea of fire, only to be relentlessly suppressed by Awakeners.

It was the legendary deity that commanded time itself: the Candle Dragon.