Chapter 455: Chapter 347: Freedom of Choice
That day, there were only Long Yi and Little Zi! There were no extraneous individuals!
Long Yi did not notice Solon at all, Solon’s camouflage was perfect, such that even Little Zi could not detect his presence. He transformed himself into a young girl, successfully getting close to Long Yi and launching a thunderous attack on him!
It has to be said that, in terms of combat instinct, Long Yi could be described as perfect. Even if the opponent is a girl, Long Yi doesn’t show any mercy. Solon possesses strong personal prowess, but Long Yi manages to hold him off with his formidable talents.
Unable to land a fatal attack, Solon quickly retreats. Long Yi and his group naturally give chase; at this time they clash with first-year students who had just finished class, Solon disappears into the horde. But, Little Zi manages to detect Solon escaping through the air. Long Yi continues the pursuit, finally catching up to Solon in a dead-end. Just then, those first-year freshmen also arrive.
In the Dragon Knight Academy, it is rare to see the fan-favorite Long Yi even once a year. And when they do, it is during an intense combat! Almost everyone rushes over, even if they can’t help, they cheer from the sidelines!
Solon, at this point, has one of his legs frozen to the ground by Little Zi’s frost aura, he has no way of escaping! But seeing the people who have come to block him, he decisively abandons his frozen leg and lunges at Long Yi. How could Long Yi let him run? A punch lands heavily on Solon’s chest, but at that same moment, Solon casts a strange magic - Thick roots emerge from the surrounding trees to ensnare the spectators, leaving them incapable of moving. His chest has been punctured by Long Yi, but his body is firmly fixed to Long Yi’s arm.
Solon has reverted back to his original form at this moment, devoid of any facial features, his voice, however, emanates from beneath his dragon skin.
"Die with me!"
He’s going to self-destruct!
Looking at the illuminating dragon skin of Solon and the terrified first-year students, Long Yi suddenly lets out a roar!
"Little Zi! Invoke psychic intrusion! Construct an imaginary world based on the plot in my mind! Quickly!"
It was due to that reason that the previous scene of Solon being captured had occurred. Long Yi and Little Zi’s psychic intrusion enters Solon’s mental world, giving a reenactment of the sequence and even crafting a plot to help Solon free himself from control.
Yes, this plot wasn’t entirely made up by Long Yi, but stemmed from Solon’s deep yearning for freedom. Long Yi and Little Zi merely utilized this yearning to rationalize part of the plot.
However, this psychic intrusion is like a dream, it can temporarily deceive a person’s brain. But if something clearly contradictory with their memory occurs, it will always inherently raise suspicions, thus allowing them to break from the intrusion.
"What, did you, do to me?" Solon asked.
"I have simply shown you what you long for the most. If you had a second chance, would you still choose death?" Long Yi asked Solon.
At this moment, the first-year students had an increasing number of roots wrapped around them. Solon himself was emitting a dazzling light, and the next moment he would explode. Even though Long Yi’s heart was filled with nervousness, he saw a glimmer of hope. Because instead of detonating himself, Solon chose to ask a question when he came to his senses. This means one thing! No one wants to die! The more one is created, the more they understand the value of life! And they’d want to live!
"Freedom..." Solon murmured, then, he slowly turned to look at the anxious Little Zi and gently asked, "Do you, have freedom?"
"I have always been free." Little Zi said. She astutely felt that Solon’s psychic fluctuations were rather unstable.
"But you are his follower, he is your master, the contract compels you to obey her in everything, even the things you are unwilling to do." Solon stated.
"However, he has never made me do anything I don’t want to do. I’m more like his little sister rather than his servant. About the contract you mentioned, believe it or not, not long ago, our contract between us disappeared due to an accident. It was me who pleaded with Brother Long to renew it. I am different from you, because my master, is Brother Long." Little Zi proudly said.
"Because your master is Long Yi?"
The voice of a saddened Solon was heard, as he was completely covered by dragon skin. Long Yi was unable to see his expression but felt the confinement on his wrist getting weaker.
"Perhaps, I can help you." said Long Yi.
"No, I don’t trust you, I want to kill you, kill all of you to accomplish my mission." said Solon.
"You won’t, if you want to do so, you could have detonated yourself long ago. But you should know, even if you detonate yourself, the ones who will end up dead are merely an unarmed bunch of first-year students. Your self-destruct cannot do any harm to me, at most, I will lose an arm. But I have countless ways to regenerate my arm."
"Liar."
"You know I’m telling the truth, and you should also know, that when I say I will help you, I will definitely help you. Your Blood Coagulation had made a thorough investigation on me, you know about my character, I like helping people, and if I promise to help you, I will see it through. As long as that person is not my enemy, I will certainly keep my word. Now, you can make your choice, Solon. Even after experiencing so much, in your dreams, you still long for freedom. Now, a chance for freedom is before you, are you willing to give it a shot?"
Long Yi felt like he had exhausted all the eloquence he had in this lifetime. He wasn’t really afraid of the self-destruction. As long as Solon’s self-destruction does not achieve perfect energy-mass equivalence (E=mc^2), he would not be afraid. But, it was apparent that Solon was more useful alive.
Solon remained silent, this was an extremely tempting offer. In Solon’s mind, there were absolutely no possibilities of loyalty to the state or the Emperor. His loyalty was strictly tied to the contract. Once the contract was dispensed with, he didn’t care about any country, or any Emperor!
But is it feasible?
Solon had once tried to escape, but due to the presence of the contract, no matter where he went, Kaniel would forcibly summon him back through the contract.
Will it succeed this time?
This was a chance! And even if it failed, what then? Merely more torment at worst!
Most importantly, Solon always remembered one thing.
This was something that happened shortly after Blood Coagulation first tried to assassinate Long Yi.
At that time, an elf claiming to be a Dragon Language Instructor of the White Dragon Empire had visited him. Her attitude, when she spoke, was as if she saw through his camouflage, and her might was something he could not resist, but she did not kill him.
Up until now, he still remembered the words that the elf had spoken when she left.
"If you want help, then seek out Long Yi yourself."
Could it be, right now!?
"I agree!" Solon firmly said.
"Alright, let me confirm two things. First, the Dragon Heart in your dream is the one upholding your covenant, correct?" Long Yi asked.
"Yes."
"Then, the second thing. How long can you survive without the Dragon Heart?"
"I... on my own, am a dragon with a human soul at its core. If I lose the Dragon Heart, I will immediately enter a state of suspended animation. I can maintain this state for a day, but if there’s no new supplement, I will die," Solon explained.
Long Yi didn’t speak, he looked at Little Zi instead. He needed to confirm Solon’s condition from Little Zi, more accurately, he needed to see if Solon was lying.
Little Zi, who was staring at Solon the whole time, solemnly nodded her head.
So Long Yi laughed: "Trust me, I won’t let you die. But before that, you must die once."
Solon nodded slightly as the surrounding restraint slowly faded away. Solon’s body gradually returned to normal, no longer glowing.
His body was not tall, only slightly taller than Little Zi; his figure delicate, covered entirely in soft light green scales. That was the true appearance of Solon, a chameleon-shaped man. The Chameleon can disguise itself into most dragon species, and the Chameleon Knight can also change their appearance with the Chameleon’s talent. But that needs a Chameleon nearby, while Solon can act alone. More covert, more threatening.
"Are you ready?" asked Long Yi.
"Yes, I am ready," replied Solon, not knowing why, but she somehow trusted Long Yi.
"Well then, die for me first!"
Long Yi suddenly withdrew his hand, a Dragon Heart was already in it!
The mysterious runes engraved on the Dragon Heart, Long Yi held the Dragon Heart with both hands, and the power of the Giant exploded! Then he threw out the Dragon Heart with all his might!
Bang!
In the high sky above, a huge fireball occupied everyone’s sight.
The moment the Dragon Heart exploded, Suolin felt everything between heaven and earth turn gray. His long-sealed memory started to restore. He began to recall that he once was a Chameleon Knight of the Green Dragon Empire, but was chosen by the emperor of the Black Dragon Empire to participate in the evil human experiment. He experienced countless cruel trials, his Chameleon got killed, his past memories sealed away, and he turned into his current form.
No, this was the soul’s memory, not this body’s memory. Perhaps due to the passage of too much time, his memory was not clear, especially when his previous personality slowly awakened, it started to conflict with the current personality, giving him a splitting headache.
"Little Zi! Mind-wipe everyone! We’re going to the Imperial City!" Long Yi held the limp Solon and ran like a madman.
"Don’t worry, Brother Long, these first-year rookies have no clue about what’s going on! Also, why are we going to the Imperial City?" Little Zi said with a wide grin.
"Of course to save Solon!"
"So this was not a delaying tactic then?" Little Zi asked in surprise.
"Of course not, since he really trusts me, I naturally cannot betray this trust," Long Yi said.
"Hehe, I knew it! That’s why Brother Long is my favorite!" Little Zi, flying beside Long Yi, sweetly smiled at him.
"Don’t forget to notify Ai Lin and the others!" Long Yi hurriedly reminded.
"Ai Lin and Isrile are on their way! Bajie and Xiaoyou are with them!"
"Great!"
"Brother Long?"
"What?"
"Actually, you have a covenant between you guys. If you want to save time, you can just use the covenant to summon them here."
"..."
"No, I think a covenant is an interference to freedom. You can see how much Solon dislikes covenants, then you’d understand how evil they are. I can’t just simply use a covenant."
"Brother Long, I suspect you just simply forgot it."
"Cough, cough, how could that be possible!? I’m so smart! Ah hahahaha!" (To be continued. If you like this work, please come to qidian.com to vote for a recommendation, monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users please go to m.qidian.com to read.)
