Chapter 39: I smell… a baby dragon!

“Achoo—!”

The moment the teleportation light completely faded, Rest’s tall body gave a violent shudder. He let out a loud, crisp sneeze that sounded especially jarring in the silent underground space.

“A cold?” Angela raised an eyebrow, looking up and down at Rest with utter disbelief.

A thought flashed through his mind. Even bare-chested, the thick-skinned ancient dragon Rest actually had moments when he couldn’t withstand the cold.

At this moment, the other party was wearing a coarse, tight human-style jacket that was clearly several sizes too small. The V-shaped collar was stretched to the verge of bursting by his powerful chest muscles, revealing large swathes of wheat-colored skin. The simple garment somehow looked wild and unrestrained on him.

“How could I possibly catch a cold?” Rest rubbed his straight nose bridge, his tone carrying the inherent arrogance of the dragon race. A trace of smugness even flashed deep in his dark red eyes. “It must be my wife thinking about me.”

“…Heh.”

Angela’s mouth twitched. He inwardly roared: That sneeze carried so much force and resentment, she’s probably using all her life’s strength to curse you to drop dead right now. Wisely, he swallowed the words.

Angela looked around. The teleportation array’s light had already extinguished, leaving them in a eerie space.

Underfoot was cold, hard rock engraved with dim runes. What was most unsettling were the five twisted, ominous evil statues surrounding the array. Their faces were ferocious, as if silently roaring, their hollow eye sockets staring fixedly at the center.

Straight ahead, a narrow, uneven stone passage extended into endless darkness. The air was thick with heavy dust, the smell of decay, and a scalp-numbing chill.

This place was definitely not somewhere benevolent. It looked more like a long-sealed forbidden altar used for summoning abyssal evils.

“Would Miss Rose be in a place like this?” Angela’s purple eyes scanned the surroundings vigilantly. His powerful perception spread out, yet he couldn’t detect even a trace of living human presence.

Instead, countless cold, heavily resentful dead souls stirred restlessly in the dark corners, only to be suppressed by the powerful dragon might unconsciously radiating from Rest. They could only whimper silently from afar, cowering and not daring to approach these two uninvited guests.

“No.” Rest answered decisively. He even awkwardly adjusted the shabby, tight clothing. The collar exposed his overly developed chest muscles. What should have been a low-key outfit somehow looked wildly bold on him.

“She’s very smart. She knew I would chase after her, so she definitely tried to create some surprises for me and cut off her teleportation path. However,” he took a deep breath, as if catching faint traces in the air, “I should still be quite close to where she finally landed.”

His face already showed that near-fanatical, impatient excitement at the thought of seeing the little one again.

Angela looked at Rest’s expectant expression and heaved a heavy sigh in his heart. He really wanted to tell him to tighten that about-to-burst ragged jacket and wipe that “my wife is waiting for me” lovesick look off his face. The smell was way too strong. If he went over like this, it would be strange if he didn’t scare Miss Rose away.

“By the way, where is this place? Do you have any impression?” Angela examined the gloomy altar, trying to recall the demon race’s maps. He didn’t remember any such location.

Rest thought hard for a moment, then finally shook his head, his tone carrying a trace of bewilderment.

“Can’t remember clearly. I left too many random teleportation arrays across the continent back then. After so many years without maintenance, many have become invalid. Some,” he lifted his chin toward the evil statues around them, “were repurposed by earth spirits or similar lunatics into altars for summoning evil dragons. Hmph, nothing but the delusions of ants. I couldn’t be bothered to deal with them.”

Since there were no leads, Angela looked at the only passage leading outward and suggested, “Then let’s head up first and check the surroundings.”

The two walked along the deep, gloomy passage. The path underfoot was rugged and slippery, and the air grew increasingly damp and cold. After about a quarter of an hour, faint daylight finally appeared ahead.

When they reached the cave entrance, the view suddenly opened up. Layer upon layer of towering ancient trees, reaching into the clouds like green giant walls, surrounded them. The fresh scent of moist soil and vegetation rushed toward them, completely different from the underground decay and chill. This was clearly an ancient dense forest rarely visited by humans.

“So it’s here…” Rest’s dark red pupils contracted slightly. A trace of distant memory flashed in his eyes.

He looked around, his gaze passing over the majestic ancient trees as if looking toward a farther place.

“Back when there weren’t so many humans on the surface, I left some small toys in a stone tower on the other side of this mountain range.”

He paused, his tone casual as he fell into brief recollection. “After so many years of earthquakes, tsunamis, and wars, that tower was probably buried deep underground long ago, never to see daylight again.”

After speaking, Rest thought for a moment and suddenly realized something was wrong.

If Rose had been teleported inside that deeply buried stone tower, with her cautious nature, in order to completely cut off any chance of him tracking her, she would definitely choose not to use dragon magic to forcibly break out. Inside there was no food, no water, and the air might even be thin.

That would mean Rose could very likely be buried alive in that stone tower. The thought of that slender, delicate figure possibly curled up in despair and suffocation made Rest feel extremely panicked and uneasy.

If he went over now to rescue her, perhaps he could improve Rose’s impression of him and change the image he had in her heart.

“No!” Rest suddenly turned to Angela, his dark red eyes burning with urgency and fear. “My wife is in extreme danger right now. I must go save her immediately.”

As he spoke, violent magic power fluctuated around him. Black scales uncontrollably began to emerge on his exposed skin. A destructive pressure suddenly spread outward. Rest clearly intended to transform into his dragon form and fly over to rescue his wife.

“Wait, hold on.”

“I can’t wait!”

Angela was scared out of his wits. He hurriedly lunged forward and grabbed Rest’s arm tightly. Lowering his voice, he urged urgently, “This is human territory, and not some remote border wasteland. If you reveal your true form, a giant dragon suddenly descending from the sky would definitely be taken as a signal of full-scale invasion. It would ignite a new war in an instant. At that point, let alone finding Miss Rose, you wouldn’t even have the time or opportunity to search.”

Seeing Rest’s impatient look, Angela spoke rapidly to continue soothing him: “Since you’re the same race, perhaps you can contact her in a deeper way? We should first confirm whether Miss Rose’s life is safe before setting off.”

He swallowed hard and continued earnestly, “Besides, think about it. Miss Rose is currently very guarded against you. If you suddenly appear before her in this state, let alone saving her, she’ll probably run away the moment she sees you.”

Angela’s words hit the sore spot. Rest forcefully suppressed his boiling dragon power and made himself calm down. The scales slowly receded, but the anxiety in his eyes remained undiminished.

“I can smell her…” Like a true beast, he raised his head, nostrils flaring as he tried to catch even the faintest trace of that unique, sweet young-dragon scent from the damp air.

Rushing over now, no matter in what form, could trigger catastrophic consequences. Alarming the humans was secondary. The most important thing was that it would scare Rose away.

Since it was still late at night, according to human habits, Rose should be sleeping at this time. This gave Rest an idea for a clever method.

“Keep an eye on the surroundings for me.”

“What are you going to do?”

Under Angela’s puzzled and shocked gaze, he watched as Rest took a step back and—thud—flopped straight onto his back on the cold forest ground covered with moss and fallen leaves.

Immediately after, Rest closed his eyes tightly. His breathing instantly became long and steady, as if he had truly fallen into deep sleep.

Angela: “…..”

What kind of operation is this?! Planning to play dead again?

Rest’s consciousness, however, did not sink into slumber. In the chaotic, empty darkness of his mental sea, he searched carefully. Soon, a very faint yet pure silver-white light, like a firefly, flickered in the depths of the darkness.

Rest’s consciousness reached out without hesitation and gently touched that speck of light—

In an instant, the scenery shifted. He entered a space constructed by consciousness.

This was the familiar Demon King City—Rest’s bedroom.

However, sitting on the large bed covered with thick velvet blankets was not the newly hatched, innocent little silver dragon from his memories.

Instead, it was a silver-haired loli wearing a plain white bathrobe, her long silver hair cascading over her shoulders. She sat cross-legged in the corner of the huge bed. Her delicate little face, carrying bewilderment and unease, lifted slightly as she warily looked around this enormous, oppressive, luxurious cage that felt far too big for her.