Time passed, and the next day arrived.
As agreed, Qiu Qiqian, Li Meng, Xia Xinglian, and the others assembled on time at the entrance of the Association Branch.
Then, they boarded the specialized vehicle assigned to the branch.
Since the body was painted with the Association’s emblem, they encountered no obstacles along the way and were even able to use the fast lane reserved for emergency vehicles.
The car drove out of the city, and the scenery outside the window began to change noticeably.
The towering skyscrapers were gradually left behind, replaced by lush trees and rolling hills, vibrant with greenery and full of life.
In the afternoon, the car turned onto a somewhat remote country road with little traffic.
After passing through a dense stretch of shade, the view suddenly opened up.
Before them lay a village that had already been commercially developed.
The roads on the periphery were paved with fresh black asphalt, gleaming and perfectly smooth, completely unlike the potholed yellow dirt paths of traditional impressions.
In the parking lot at the village entrance, all kinds of private cars were already parked, from sedans to SUVs, everything imaginable.
Inside the village, the sound of drums and gongs filled the air, along with the clamor of people and lively bustle.
The aroma of food drifted through the atmosphere, occasionally accompanied by local dialects spoken with heavy accents.
Xia Xinglian skillfully parked the car, pulled the handbrake, pushed open the door, and stepped out.
She adjusted the sunglasses perched on her nose, took a deep breath of air mingled with the scent of soil and grass, and a nostalgic smile curled at the corner of her mouth.
“Whew, it’s been a while since I’ve been here. The air is still as good as ever.”
She gazed at the village, packed with people and fluttering banners, in high spirits.
Li Meng, who had gotten out from the back seat, immediately lit up the moment she set foot on this land.
She curiously looked around at the houses with black tiles and white walls, listening to the shouts and laughter coming from the village.
It seemed she had never been to a place like this before.
“So,” Yao Xueyue said, straightening her clothes and quickly walking over to Xia Xinglian, “where do we go now to find that so-called… dragon?”
But Xia Xinglian remained her usual carefree self, spreading her hands and shrugging.
“How else would we find it? Naturally, we go into the village and look around first. If I had known how to precisely locate that dragon, why would I have bothered calling you all here?”
“You!”
Yao Xueyue was about to lose her temper, but at the last moment she stopped herself, biting her lip hard and suppressing the anger rising in her heart.
She finally understood that she and this Lingxun simply didn’t get along in terms of personality.
Realizing this, Yao Xueyue let out a long sigh.
Deciding not to argue any further, she turned and, with Isana, walked straight into the bustling crowd, intending to search for clues on her own.
“Then… what about us?”
Qiu Qiqian crossed her arms and looked at Xia Xinglian.
“Just wander around for a bit~”
Xia Xinglian turned back, her slightly mischievous purple eyes looking at Qiu Qiqian and then at Li Meng, who was huddled close beside her.
A sly smile curved at the corner of her mouth.
“Anyway, the actual Dragon Calling Parade isn’t until tomorrow. For now, just go into the village and ask around. If you really have any ideas, you can use your status as Association members to request some people to cooperate with the investigation. As for now…”
“Just think of it as you two lovebirds having an early honeymoon~”
Xia Xinglian deliberately drew out the last syllable, wanting to see the expressions on the two girls’ faces.
“Wh-what lovebirds?! What are you talking about?!”
Qiu Qiqian’s face instantly flushed a bright red as she hurriedly refuted.
“Oh my, just kidding~ Your reaction is so cute~”
Xia Xinglian waved her hand, watching the pair with keen interest.
She had originally thought that Miss Li Meng would at most just giggle a little, but when Xia Xinglian noticed her, she saw that her face was also tinged with red, and she kept sneaking glances at Qiu Qiqian now and then.
Xia Xinglian felt as if she had stumbled upon some forbidden knowledge.
The smile on her face froze for a moment.
Whoa, whoa… no way, are those two actually developing in that direction? That would be…
Too interesting!
Xia Xinglian didn’t continue to expose the ambiguous situation between them.
Satisfied as if she had successfully pulled off a prank, she whistled cheerfully.
After locking the car door, she hopped and skipped into the village.
Leaving Qiu Qiqian and Li Meng behind, the two glanced at each other.
Their cheeks visibly reddened, and they both awkwardly looked away at the same time.
“So…”
Qiu Qiqian felt her face burning and desperately needed a topic to break the awkwardness.
“I think I just heard someone selling sugar-coated hawthorns… Want to go try some?”
“Mhm.”
Li Meng replied obediently, carefully hooking her arm around Qiu Qiqian’s.
A moment later, Qiu Qiqian led Li Meng into the Fallen Dragon Village, walking along the stone-paved road.
Li Meng now had a stick of sugar-coated hawthorns in her hand.
She held the stick, with one bite already taken out, and waved it in front of Qiu Qiqian, seemingly completely unconcerned about something like an indirect kiss.
“Uh… I’ll pass.”
Qiu Qiqian glanced at the missing bite on the hawthorn, bit her lower lip in hesitation for a few seconds, and ultimately declined.
Li Meng reluctantly brought the stick back, feeling a bit disappointed, and continued enjoying it by herself.
The entire village seemed to be going for an ancient style.
Many of the shops inside had been deliberately remodeled to look like antique establishments, such as noodle stalls and tea houses.
There were even dedicated vendors dressed in ancient costumes, carrying wooden buckets of tofu pudding on shoulder poles and shouting their wares.
Besides that, what caught the most attention were the numerous dragon-related products and activities throughout the village.
At a roadside stall selling sugar figurines, the finished pieces used to attract customers were almost all in the shape of dragons.
Souvenir shops sold all kinds of dragon-themed merchandise.
“Xiao Qian! Xiao Qian! Look at this!”
Li Meng dragged Qiu Qiqian into a souvenir shop, picked up a Q version dragon plush, and held it out in front of Qiu Qiqian.
“What do you think? Should we buy one?”
“If you like that kind of thing, go ahead and buy it. You don’t need to ask me.”
“Huh? Don’t you think it’s cute, Xiao Qian~”
“…I’m not really interested in plushies…”
Qiu Qiqian murmured quietly, glancing around the souvenir shop.
Most of the items were just rip-offs, but there were a few that actually caught her interest.
“A Longquan sword, huh…”
Qiu Qiqian walked over to a nearby shelf and looked at the sword resting in its silver-black scabbard, frowning slightly.
What does a Longquan sword have to do with dragons? Could it be that they placed it here just because the name has the word ‘dragon’ in it?
If that’s the case, maybe she’d run into a store selling dragon fruit next.
Qiu Qiqian silently complained in her mind, then waited while Li Meng finished picking out her souvenirs before continuing their stroll through the village.
They had barely taken a few steps out of the souvenir shop when suddenly, the sound of gongs and drums came from an alley ahead, and people began hurriedly stepping aside.
Li Meng tried to poke her head out to see what was happening, but Qiu Qiqian pulled her into an embrace and pressed them both against the wall.
Into view came a dragon dance team, whipping the atmosphere in the alley to a fever pitch.
Exclamations of admiration and the clicks of cameras sounded incessantly from the surrounding tourists.
“Wow…”
Li Meng couldn’t help but let out a gasp, her eyes sparkling with curiosity.
Qiu Qiqian, on the other hand, showed little reaction.
She had seen dragon dances—a common folk activity—too many times in her previous life.
Probably only a girl with as little worldly experience as Li Meng would find it so astonishing.
However, neither of them seemed to notice that, at a certain moment, the shadow cast by the “dragon” being danced by the troupe was pointing directly at them…
Meanwhile, at Yao Xueyue’s location…
“Ma’am, do you know about the Fallen Dragon incident?”
“What dragon?”
“The Fallen Dragon incident.”
“Fallen what?”
“…”
Yao Xueyue repeated the mantra of respecting the elderly and cherishing the young in her mind, suppressing the urge to explode.
Seeing this, Isana made a “stop” gesture toward Yao Xueyue, indicating she would handle it.
Yao Xueyue helplessly stepped back and watched as Isana approached the old woman… and then pulled out a hundred-yuan bill.
The old woman, who had been half-dozing in her lounge chair, immediately snapped her eyes wide open, glanced around left and right, and with a speed that even Yao Xueyue could barely follow, she stuffed Isana’s hundred-yuan bill into her pocket.
Then she got up from the chair, went into her house, and waved for the two to follow.
After they entered, she quickly closed the door, pulled out a few chairs in her courtyard, and sat down.
“Ahem, although our new village chief specifically told us not to talk about this recently, since you’re so sincere, I’ll reluctantly tell you a bit.”
“As for that so-called Fallen Dragon incident… I’m not very clear about it, but the ‘dragon’… does exist.”
“Go on.”
Yao Xueyue took out a small notebook and a pen from her pocket and began taking notes.
“Roughly, every once in a while in the village, someone would see traces of the dragon’s existence. For example, a few years back before the village was renovated, someone washing clothes by the river happened to notice an enormous reflection beside them. Another time, someone went up the mountain to dig bamboo shoots after the rain and saw a dragon’s silhouette soaring through the fog. Or even more…”
“Wait.”
Yao Xueyue suddenly interrupted, looking up at the old woman.
“Everything you’re saying… is all so vague? Hasn’t anyone actually seen the dragon?”
“Oh, come on. A dragon shows its head but not its tail—isn’t that normal? Maybe it thinks we’re not sincere enough~”
The old woman said, nibbling on some melon seeds.
“But there are indeed some sincere people in the village who have seen the dragon’s true form. Take the newly appointed village chief from a few days ago. Let me tell you, he was one of the children who witnessed that dragon back then.”
“According to him, that dragon was blood-red all over, with furious wide-open eyes, carrying an aura that kills all living things and a presence that swallows the sky and devours the earth. Absolutely extraordinary. Except for one strange thing…”
“What?”
“Well, many of the children who saw the dragon with him died young. Those who survived say that the dragon wasn’t at all like what he described. Some say it was golden, others say it was black…”
Boom!
Just then, a sudden clap of thunder inexplicably rang out from the once-calm sky, startling the old woman so much that the melon seeds in her hand fell to the ground.
She looked up in terror at the sky, then quickly got up and ushered Yao Xueyue and Isana out.
“Oh dear, I can’t say any more, or the Dragon Lord will get angry! Don’t go around saying I told you this, or else… I’ll be punished by the Dragon Lord too!”
With that, the old woman slammed the door shut with a bang, leaving Yao Xueyue and Isana staring at each other.
“Isana… Did you pick up on anything?”
Yao Xueyue knocked on the door a few more times, but got no response.
She stepped down from the doorstep and asked as they walked.
Isana didn’t answer immediately.
Instead, she looked down at a small puddle on the road.
The water surface reflected her own figure, as well as the calm sky.
“Don’t trust it,” Isana said softly.
“Who, that old woman?”
“No… that ‘dragon.'”