DADH Chapter 20

The loud noise beneath the forest caught the attention of the three in the sky.

Following the sound, the Sand Vulture turned its head to look, and at the same time, the little dragon cub hanging from its mouth by its cloak also turned, lowering its head to curiously observe the massive crater in the center of the forest.

Then, it realized that there was a familiar figure in every single one of those craters!

Upon recognizing the giant dragons below, the little dragon cub’s surprised gaze turned into one of delight.

What were they doing?

The little dragon cub bounced on its little feet, eager to join in.

Sensing the “I want to play too” sentiment that the little dragon cub couldn’t hide, Jing Nian: “…”

He remembered the giant dragons he had seen before the little dragon cub hatched: majestic, fierce, and seemingly rulers of the continent.

And now, they were scattered all over the place, falling into dirt pits, each one looking more downcast than the next, akin to the lowliest of mutts.

The eccentric and ridiculous behavior of the giant dragons probably had something to do with the little dragon cub. Based on the positions from which the dragons fell and where Jing Nian’s group was situated, it was highly likely that the dragons had been tailing them before falling!

Realizing this, Jing Nian was astonished!

Suddenly, he felt even more apprehensive, not knowing how much the dragons had seen. But upon noticing that the dragons didn’t seem to find anything strange about the little dragon cub, he regained some composure.

No need to panic!

He Kun, the only one not in the dirt pile on the cloud layer: “…”

What a bunch of dragons with no dignity!

No wonder the Young Lord called them “silly dragons”!

Turns out the Young Lord truly had an all-seeing eye, noticing every detail!

–

Exposed now, they saw that the Young Lord wasn’t angry, but rather joyfully watching them.

The dragons, who had fallen into the dirt like dogs, quickly recovered. They shook off the dirt and twigs from their bodies and took flight once again.

One of the dragons, who had slipped, glanced at the sand vulture carrying the Young Lord with a piece of cloth and cautiously approached. With its broad back and enormous wings, it enticed the Young Lord playfully.

Sure enough, the little dragon cub’s eyes lit up.

Thus, under the envious gazes of the other dragons, this cunning dragon successfully coaxed the intrigued little dragon cub onto its back and flew toward the cloud layer.

After the dragons had their fill of playing with the little dragon cub, they returned to the dragon palace beneath the abyss.

The little dragon cub was placed back on the golden throne.

A string of dragon characters arranged with gemstones on the throne caught the little dragon cub’s attention.

“Hmm?” The curious little cub toddled over and recognized the dragon characters. In a childish voice, it began to read aloud.

“Play with… fat?”

Midway through, the little dragon cub tilted its head, pondered for a moment, and uncertainly added, “Chubby?”

Inside the Dragon Soul Space, the little dragon cub directed a suspicious gaze at Jing Nian.

The latter half of its sentence was directed at Jing Nian because it knew that when it was asleep, Jing Nian controlled its body, and when it woke up, its body was outside!

After slowly connecting the dots, a hint of reproach emerged in the innocent eyes of the little dragon cub.

So, its little brother snuck out to play while it was asleep!

It woke up and missed out on the fun!

Feeling the reproach from the little dragon cub, and with a group of imposing dragon elders still present in the dragon palace, Jing Nian dared not move. He quickly communicated through their shared consciousness, apologizing gently to the little dragon cub and assuring it:

“I’ll definitely take you along next time!”

Really?

The little dragon cub blinked its eyes, tilting its head in a mixture of belief and doubt.

“Absolutely! I promise!”

“Next time for sure!”

Jing Nian reassured the little dragon cub earnestly while facing the intimidating dragon gazes outside.

Using the “four-word unreliable promise” that only he knew about, he tried to cajole the little cub.

However, having experienced Jing Nian’s “betrayal” before, the little cub was no longer as easily fooled.

It maintained a skeptical posture, placing its hands on its hips and standing there for a moment. It wasn’t until Jing Nian reassured it repeatedly that it finally shifted its position and continued to tilt its head, staring intently at Jing Nian~

With an adorable air, it took a couple of steps on the throne. The little dragon cub furrowed its tiny brows and contemplated for a few seconds. Seeing Jing Nian’s expression growing more serious, it suddenly curved its eyes.

Alright!

Hehe.

Only then did Jing Nian realize that the little cub had learned some mischievous tricks!

It had actually turned the tables on him and succeeded!

Jing Nian recalled the situation when he was caught by Uncle Pippilu’s hand on the back of the dragon’s neck. He sneakily extended his “demon hand.”

The instant he lightly tickled its chin and back, the little dragon cub’s chubby legs gave way, and it plopped down softly onto the chair.

However, it didn’t react the way Jing Nian had anticipated, becoming all mushy and lost in blissful purring.

Instead.

“Hehe, hehehe…” It burst into wild laughter.

And it didn’t stop there. Like a little kitten feigning a fall, it slowly laid down and continued to kick its legs while holding its belly, all while giggling, “Hehehe.”

Jing Nian, who shared the sensory perceptions of their connected bodies, felt an itching sensation that directly penetrated his soul, starting from the top of his head.

He suddenly realized that he had been rubbing the dragon incorrectly; he hadn’t gotten the little cub to lie down and purr. Instead, he had become the one tickling!

Shaking his neck, Jing Nian withdrew his hand in annoyance.

The little dragon cub, who was having a blast, lifted its watery eyes, still holding a lingering smile.

It looked at Jing Nian as if to ask, “Why did you stop?”

Both inside and outside the Dragon Soul Space, the little dragon cub was curled up on its back.

Inside the space, the little cub, who hadn’t had enough fun, extended its tail tip to encircle Jing Nian’s hand, pulling it over and placing it around its own neck, indicating, “Keep going!”

Jing Nian, who hadn’t yet mastered how to isolate the little cub from the shared sensory experience, froze: “…”

It seemed that tickling had the same effect on the little dragon cub as it did on him.

But… the problem was, it was ticklish!

Seeing Jing Nian reluctant to move, the little dragon cub suddenly had an epiphany.

Excitedly, it got up and dashed over; it was its turn to tickle its younger brother!

With practiced ease, it climbed into Jing Nian’s arms, stepping on his thigh, tiptoeing, and gently scratching his chin and neck.

However, tilting its head while observing Jing Nian’s unresponsive reaction, confusion appeared in its eyes.

Why wasn’t he lying on the ground, rolling around and laughing joyfully like it did?

Was it not tickling hard enough?

The little dragon cub lowered its head in vexation as it looked at its own claws with tiny nails. It felt disheartened; if it applied too much force, would it hurt its younger brother?

Helpless, Jing Nian understood the little cub’s reaction and thoughts completely. He suddenly trapped the little cub in his arms and, just when it widened its eyes in surprise, he launched a sneak attack.

He tickled it, making a “kaka” sound.

Inside the Dragon Soul Space, the little dragon cub was nestled in Jing Nian’s embrace, laughing uncontrollably.

Outside the Dragon Soul Space, the little dragon cub on the golden throne was laughing so hard it was rolling around.

Infected by the little cub’s laughter, Jing Nian momentarily forgot about the group of dragons outside and laughed heartily as well.

Beneath the palace, the giant dragons watching the interaction between the two cubs couldn’t tear their eyes away.

The adorable and foolish demeanor of the dragon-shaped cub, combined with the exquisite beauty of the human-like dragon soul, captivated the dragons.

The dragons looked at the two cubs on the golden throne, their eyes turning into those of baby lovers gone mad. They stared fixedly.

And on the surface, all of their faces turned into motionless statues.

However, in the actual Dragon Soul Consciousness Link…

It was filled with all sorts of chaotic yelling.

“Wow~ Oh~~~”

“Howl~ Howl~ Howl~ The young master is overwhelmingly cute!”

“Sob, can I give a little kiss to the young master’s tiny feet?”

“Get lost! Jerk! Disrespecting the old! Wait for us to teach him a lesson!”

“Sigh, sigh, sigh, truly worthy of being the young master. My son wasn’t this cute when he was little!”

…

The only one present who had doubts about the meaning of life was…

The Sand Vulture King, who had lost its mount function outside the Lost Forest, and could only sit behind the giant dragons in loneliness.

The Sand Vulture wasn’t a giant dragon; it lacked the ability to sense dragon consciousness and wasn’t aware of the dragons’ ability to do so. It couldn’t see the dragon soul within the little dragon cub.

All it could do was judge from the surface that something was off with its master’s condition.

Why would he suddenly collapse without any warning, twitching uncontrollably?

Moreover, the dragons who clearly loved their young master like the apple of their eye had no reaction when they saw this. Instead, each of them seemed frozen in place, except for their eyes, which were desperately suppressing madness.

Why were they not taking any action?

This was almost as unsettling as some of the wicked rituals it had witnessed in its youth.

But what came through the main pet contract was its master’s subtle excitement and happiness.

The Sand Vulture’s dead fish-like eyes couldn’t help but widen, almost bulging out!

Had he gone mad?!

Was the master insane?! Were all the members of the Dragon Clan insane?!

However, the dragons in the “mysterious ritual” didn’t pay any attention to the puzzled Sand Vulture in the corner. They didn’t bother to explain this delightful misunderstanding to it.

After the playtime, it was time for the little dragon cub’s “feeding” session.

Hesse once again chased the dragons out.

The ostensible reason was to avoid disturbing the young master during his mealtime.

In reality, however, it was because Hesse wanted to exclusively enjoy the pleasure of feeding the young master!

Heh heh~

A sly and cunning smile appeared on Hesse’s old dragon face. He had drawn inspiration from the clever dragon that had carried the young master through the Lost Forest’s skies earlier.

Fortunately, during the previous two times of fruit milk feeding, both young masters had shown some caution. Although the group of young dragons was reluctant to leave, they didn’t doubt old Hesse’s words. They left obediently with a hint of regret.

And Hesse, who noticed even Jing Nian was gradually relaxing in front of the dragons, naturally had no intention of reminding them!

With a gentle touch of elemental power, he delicately opened the fruit of life. Since it was Young Master Number One who was in control of his body this time, Hesse was a bit more daring.

Seeing that neither of the young masters exhibited any resistance, he decided to emulate the posture of the Elven race when feeding babies. He cautiously placed the little dragon cub in his arms, tucked a bib under it, and started feeding it the fruit of life.

After the excitement had settled, the little dragon cub was famished. With the assistance of the old dragon, it happily opened its mouth, cradled the fruit of life, and joyfully suckled.

The feeding process went astonishingly smoothly!

Old Hesse’s enormous wings couldn’t contain their excitement and involuntarily flapped once.

After successfully testing and attenuating the shared senses with the little dragon cub, Jing Nian breathed a sigh of relief.

Fortunately, this time the little dragon cub was in control of its own body. Otherwise, if he lay in the embrace of the dragons to feed, he would have died from embarrassment before the dragons even discovered him!

—

[Dragon Slayer] Game Studio.

Everyone was waiting patiently in front of a large luminescent screen.

The screen displayed a vibrant and colorful magical world. The camera swiftly transitioned through different corners of this vast world.

Diligent and brave dwarves were clanging away at mining in the mines, singing loudly as they worked. Deep within the jungle, flawless and beautiful elves were singing the song of life. Beneath the white tower, devotees were on a pilgrimage. In the Ghost Valley, various undead creatures were engaged in combat…

The most breathtaking scene was a pitch-black abyss tearing through the forest. As the camera slowly approached, before anything could be clearly seen, a thunderous roar echoed from the depths of the abyss.

In the next moment, an enormous and dazzling golden dragon soared out from the abyss. The entire dark chasm seemed to be illuminated by its presence alone.

It was like a radiant sun.

Behind its figure, countless dragons followed in a submissive manner.

Just as the camera reached its head, the pair of regal golden dragon eyes filled the entire screen in an instant.

The piercing gaze of the golden dragon shot directly at the viewer, as if it was looking through the screen at the people in front of it.

Suddenly, even the creators of this creature trembled slightly because of those eyes.

It wasn’t until the scene had switched to another corner of this world that many people regained their composure and let out a sigh of relief.

The camera continued to take everyone on a tour of this world.

Even after the playback had ended, many people were still immersed in those eyes.

Only standing on the side, not caring about the game but only concerned about his little brother, the Jing family’s three brothers remained calm. Jing Yan glanced at the developers who were all in a daze and reminded, “It’s finished playing!”

The staff responsible for the final testing, as if awakening from a dream, hurriedly went to the side of the light computer and opened the raw data of [Dragon Slayer], finding the data for a certain NPC. The camera in the luminescent screen also appeared where this NPC was located.

The staff casually modified the appearance data of this NPC.

In the camera’s view, the image seemed to stutter, the NPC’s figure flickered like light particles, switching back and forth between the original and modified appearances a few times. Then, it automatically returned to its previous appearance, and the modified original data slowly reverted to its previous state.

This indicated that after the intricate and interlinked, autonomously growing holographic world was constructed, it became independent!

It was no longer under the control or modification of data!

In the holographic world, aside from the initially written original data, people and things could grow freely, with an unpredictable direction of growth.

If an NPC encountered a player, their meeting would be recorded in the NPC’s data.

And the NPC’s future would be influenced by their past data.

In other words, the game world wasn’t a constant state; when players entered the game world in the future, they would affect the development of the game world.

This was what they had spent years researching and creating, even though they suffered from a lack of funds. It was the first holographic world with advanced realism in history.

Once it went online, it would shock the entire holographic gaming community!

“We did it!!!”

The entire studio saw the data information displayed in the upper right corner along with the appearance of the NPC, and they erupted in excitement that couldn’t be contained in the office.

Finally, under the three icy gazes that were like cold blades, they forcefully calmed down.

The head of the studio, suppressing trembling hands, approached the Jing brothers. “The game world is now completely unbreakable and can even develop freely!”

The faces of the three brothers showed a similar eagerness.

The head of the studio wiped away some cold sweat and continued explaining, “There really is no trace of Mr. Jing Nian in the data. If you still believe that Mr. Jing Nian is in the game world…”

The studio head looked at the three brothers, “Searching for traces in the data is now even more impossible. You can only go in and confirm it yourselves.”

 

Author’s note:

“The legendary and awe-inspiring Dragon King!”

Little dragon cub, puzzled, raised its paw: Roar? Who’s calling me?