Chapter 267: Farewell Kiss Before the Dragon Arrives
On the afternoon of May 14, the day before the Snow Dragon arrived, Cosimo used his travel voucher to come to Huanjing and visit Anson Deer. The two met in the park.
"Let's sit down somewhere quiet. I want to talk to you." Cosimo lowered his head and said, "I don't want others to know that we are together."
"Okay, let's go." Anson Lu glanced at Cosimo, then took Cosimo for a walk around Beijing and found a cafe to sit down.
He pushed open the wooden door with an "Open" sign on it. The bell rang, making a clear sound. The afterglow of the setting sun fell into the dim coffee shop, illuminating the oil paintings in mahogany frames and the empty old wooden tables and chairs.
There were originally a few customers sitting in the cafe, but when the manager saw Anson Lu and the other person enter, he first looked surprised, and then immediately started to chase the customers away.
"Boss, what do you mean? We haven't even finished our coffee yet."
"Yeah, how can you open a coffee shop like this?"
"Go away, go away, when can't we drink coffee?" The store manager held up a cigarette and cursed:
"I'm not going to open this crappy place today, so all of you guys should get out of here right now."
After saying that, the customers were still annoyed at first, but when they saw Anson Deer and Cosimo, they were stunned on the spot, and immediately understood the manager's intention, so they walked away in shame, and some of them even asked for a photo.
Anson Deer is very gentle and patient.
They immediately felt a lot more cheerful. Although tomorrow might be the end of the world, it was still worth it to be able to get a photo with the world's number one.
Even if we take a step back, it can be regarded as a souvenir before the earth exploded.
The store manager stared at the two people who walked into the store, took a deep puff of his cigarette, and called out to the attic above the coffee shop:
"Xia Mingwei, come down quickly and help close the store door. We will not be open tonight. Also, see if these two customers need anything."
"Here you are? Why are you in such a hurry?" A young man quickly came down from the attic. He glanced at Anson Lu and Cosimo, his face suddenly changed, and then he looked at the manager.
The store manager gave him a look, and Xia Mingwei reacted quickly, closing the store door and turning the "Open" sign outside the door into "Close".
In the coffee shop filled with warm orange and yellow light, Anson and Cosimo sat opposite each other. Although a week had passed since Lorenzo's funeral, Cosimo still looked depressed.
Anson Lu asked the store manager for two drinks, then he held his chin and quietly played with his phone.
Soon, Xia Mingwei came over with a tray and handed over two glasses of orange juice with ice cubes.
The reason why it was orange juice and not coffee or wine was because he had read a very interesting interview in which the two strongest players in the world did not drink alcohol, but only orange juice.
"Should we go upstairs?" Xia Mingwei walked back behind the counter and asked the store manager.
"No, they don't look like they are here to discuss any confidential matters, otherwise they wouldn't be chatting here," said the store manager.
"good."
"This world has really gone crazy..." The store manager glanced at the two of them and sighed softly, "Let two little kids take on the responsibility of billions of lives."
"That's not just billions, the whole earth will explode." Xia Mingwei brought back the empty plate and said calmly, "Boss, you wash the dishes tonight."
"Okay, okay, you want to go to the movies again?"
"Well, it's rare that I can earn some money from my part-time job."
"It's almost the end of the world, and you're still thinking about that crappy movie?"
"The end of the world won't affect my ability to watch movies, okay? It will allow me to stay and watch a few more movies. At least I don't have to worry about my wallet."
"Even though that's the case, you'd better not go out tonight. There are probably not many movie theaters open. Now all those psychopaths have jumped out, either burning things or smashing things. It's the end of the world tomorrow. They are crazier than anyone else."
"It's okay, I'll try to avoid it." Xia Mingwei picked up a chocolate bar and said expressionlessly:
"I've already booked the movie tickets. If that cinema really closes, I'll write two 500-word negative reviews for them overnight."
"You little jerk, the world is almost ending. The earth might collapse tomorrow. Do you still care about a bad review of yours?"
"What's there to worry about?" Xia Mingwei shrugged and said slowly, "They are the two world's top players. They have time to drink coffee here in the middle of the night. Won't they go to fight the white dragon tomorrow with dark circles under their eyes?"
Anson Lu gently stirred the ice in the orange juice with a spoon while listening to the two people's whispers. After his level gradually improved, his hearing became almost superhuman, so he could hear clearly what the two were saying.
In fact, as they said, ever since Lorenzo and a group of sequence players died in the Tower of Babel copy, people all over the world have been in a state of panic.
In this situation, there are naturally many evil people who take advantage of the situation. Even if the authorities rely on sequence players to forcibly maintain order, riots are still happening all over the world, and the crime rate has increased significantly in just a few days.
But Anson Deer didn't bother to pay attention. It had nothing to do with him. As long as they got through tonight, whether they were dead or alive would be decided.
Since there is nothing we can do about the chaotic situation, there is no need to worry about anything else. It is enough to focus on the final battle at hand.
Cosimo looked depressed, but he still nonchalantly retorted: "Well, we drank orange juice, not coffee, which has no brain-stimulating effect."
"Sorry, I said something wrong." Xia Mingwei drank some boiled water.
"Aren't you afraid that someone will slap you to death?" the store manager said unhappily.
"I'm only sixteen years old and I haven't even obtained the qualification to be a player. If they beat me to death, it will be on the news."
"Go away, you bastard. How dare you speak so harshly in front of them? Go upstairs and read a book. Stop causing trouble for me."
The store manager patted Xia Mingwei on the back angrily and amusedly, and drove him to the attic.
Anson Lu chuckled twice and thought that the relationship between the grandfather and grandson was really good.
However, he also knew that Xia Mingwei's previous remarks were a mockery of himself and Cosimo.
After all, two people who were the focus of the whole world's hopes went to a cafe to kill time the night before the war. Even a dog would shake his head if he heard that.
Anson Lu himself also skipped one or two meetings for this reason. Captain Jiang is probably still looking for him all over the world. If he hadn't blocked the message alert sound, Jiang Yiji's messages would have occupied his attention.
But since Cosimo asked him out, he had no reason not to come out.
He took a sip of orange juice, the cold liquid went down his throat, and then he slowly asked:
"So, what do you want to talk to me about, brother Cosimo?"
Cosimo was silent for a long time, then, with his eyelids lowered, he said in a hoarse voice:
"I'm still thinking... If I could be stronger, my brother wouldn't have died. The same goes for Kamishiro Ruri. I failed to protect everyone I cared about."
Anson Lu sighed softly: "Tomorrow's boss battle, just win it. Here, for your brother, and for Kamishiro Ruri."
"Why are you always so calm?" Cosimo asked. "You are always so calm, even when that Icelandic girl left."
"You don't seem to understand." Anson Deer lowered his voice and spoke almost word by word: "We carry the whole world on our shoulders. You don't know that I have been trampled on the ground like a defeated dog by that dragon before. This is the second time. I will not allow myself to fail."
"But can we really win?"
"We have to win, no matter what the cost."
"But...what if we win and they can't come back?"
Anson Lu was speechless. He took a deep breath and spoke after a long while: "Then we have to try our best, right?"
"Anson Deer, do you believe me?"
"Of course I believe you." Anson Lu held up his chin, "If you're not here, what should I do with the dragon tomorrow? Will I have to handle it all by myself?"
After a long silence, Cosimo lowered his eyelids and said:
"I believe in you, too. To be honest, I didn't have much confidence after my brother left, but when I think of you being here, I feel like we still have hope."
"That's good. Come on, little cyber brat." Anson Deer paused and said unhappily, "No, I shouldn't call you a brat now. You're already the captain of the law enforcement team."
Cosimo slowly raised his head, a bright light flowing in his blue eyes.
"Well, I have to go back now. I still need to adjust my mecha using the materials dropped from the Babel Tower dungeon to prepare for tomorrow's battle."
"Okay, let's stop here for tonight," Anson Lu said. "We'll talk about the rest after we defeat the white dragon tomorrow. It's time for me to go back. Captain Jiang is calling me all the time. If I get scolded, I'll say it's all your fault."
"It doesn't matter." Cosimo curled his lips and stood up. "Then I'll leave. Bye, Anson Deer." After that, he used the travel voucher mechanism to return to New York.
"That little brat is really... annoying."
Seeing that Cosimo had finally left, Anson Lu slumped back in his chair, took a long breath, and drank the orange juice, essentially drinking it as if it were wine.
"It's so annoying. They just keep exposing my pain points... What do you mean even if I win, they can't come back." Anson Lu looked at the ceiling and murmured in a low voice: "Even if they don't want to come back, I will pull them back from underground one by one."
After saying that, he walked out of the cafe without looking back.
"Boss, I don't have any money with me. Put it on my account first. I'll come back and pay you back tomorrow after I kill the white dragon."
As Anson Lu finished his last words, the door of the cafe closed with a bang.
The store manager, who was sitting behind the counter and listening to the radio, couldn't help but snort coldly, with a faint smile appearing at the corner of his lips.
"Children nowadays..."
Late at night that day, in the conference room on the 19th floor of the national team building.
The sensor door slowly opened, and Anson Lu lowered his head and slowly walked in, and found Asuka Uesugi half-sitting on the table, waiting for him.
"Where have you been?" Asuka said unhappily, "Captain Jiang has been looking for you for a long time."
"Cosimo asked to meet with me and said he didn't want anyone else to know, so I blocked the information for the time being."
As Anson Lu spoke, he opened his friend list. Sure enough, his message had popped up. He had skipped several meetings tonight for Cosimo.
Of course... Cosimo probably skipped even more meetings.
"I said, tomorrow is the World Boss battle." Asuka Uesugi stared at him, "How are you preparing?"
"Well, everything that needs to be prepared has been prepared. The only things left are two uncertainties."
"Two uncertainties?"
"Yes, one is the chess set that the principal gave me. It contains an End-level chess piece called 'End-level Deer', and the effect of its skill is unknown." Anson Deer explained, "The other is the Anubis myth sequence. I don't know what the function of the second skill is."
"Then we can only try it in actual combat?"
"Well, the skills of the Final Deer and the Myth Sequence can only be used once. If you use them now, they are gone."
“How strange…”
"It's strange, but it might work." Anson Deer teased, "Go to bed early, or else if you fall asleep while playing tomorrow, you'll have to take some of the blame for the extinction of the human race."
Asuka burst out laughing and held her belly: "Ha, I really admire you. You can still be so optimistic at this time."
"Don't worry, the worst that can happen is that the Earth will be destroyed, and we can all go to the universe and eat dust together."
"That's good too."
"Are you serious?"
"Hmm..." Asuka put her hand on her chin, "As long as I can be with you, what does it matter if I float in space and wait for death?"
There was a faint smile on the corner of her mouth, as if she was not afraid, and her eyes, as smart as a bluebird, were filled with relief.
"I was just kidding, Asuka, try to be serious."
Anson Lu scratched his nose and suddenly said seriously: "I don't have the ability to travel through time. This time it's over, it's really over. In tomorrow's battle, we will definitely..."
His voice was cut off as Asuka Uesugi grabbed his arm and pressed her lips against his, kissing him softly.
In the conference room filled with cold light, Anson Lu leaned his back against the wall and groaned.
Asuka quickly let go of him, her brown hair shadowing her eyes.
Both of them lowered their heads and remained silent for a long time.
Asuka turned her eyes away from his face and broke the silence:
"Anson Lu, I say, what if I had met you earlier... If that were the case, would you have chosen me?
"Will you stop being hypocritical in front of me?
“If I had been earlier, would you have held my hand?
"Will you look back at me instead of just walking forward?"
Anson Lu opened his mouth slightly, and the words seemed to be stuck in his throat.
He just stood quietly against the wall, his brown eyes dim, and the warm and soft touch still lingering on his lips.
"This is the last time."
Asuka put her hands behind her back, lowered her head, and said softly:
"This is my last time being willful, because... I don't know if there will be a tomorrow, so I don't want to leave any regrets. Please forgive me."
It was a rare moment that she didn't cry. Her face was calm and she had a peaceful smile on her face.
Anson Lu still didn't speak. Asuka left the meeting room. The footsteps gradually faded away, and the sound of the sensor door closing fell.
"Asuka, you really are..."
He let out a long sigh, felt weak all over, and slowly sat down against the wall.
"What an idiot."
(End of this chapter)
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