The unborn Dragon roared in rage.

The torrent soared into the sky, towards the enemy in front of it.

Die!

.

.

"..."

Ji Jue was dazed. In a moment of trance, he seemed to hear shouts from afar, instinctively turning his head, but outside the window, there were only the mottled shadows of trees. In the square in the distance, kids playing soccer were still roughhousing.

Nothing had happened.

There was nothing to see.

"Ji Jue, Ji Jue... Stop spacing out."

Across the dining table, his mother raised her hand and waved it in front of him, raising her voice until he finally came to his senses and looked down at the table.

Bacon sausages, stir-fried kidneys, Mapo tofu, twice-cooked pork, steamed pork belly, bean paste fish... The table was completely filled, almost with no space left for bowls.

Too much, and too spicy.

His chopsticks hesitated a bit, noticed by his mother, puzzled: "Not to your taste?"

"Ah, no, no!"

Ji Jue shook his head and picked a piece of the least spicy steamed pork belly, starting to eat rice.

So, his mother laughed: "Being outside all the time, it's rare to come back home. Eat more."

"Hmm."

Ji Jue's actions came to a halt, hesitating, "Mom, I..." He stopped mid-sentence, hesitated for a moment, then instinctively changed the subject:

"Um, where's Dad?"

"Oh, downstairs, I guess? At the garage." His mother sighed: "Took a few bites and left, still busy with that junk car of his.

These days, tinkering day in and day out, no idea what he's up to. Men are really strange..."

Ji Jue stumbled once again without daring to speak, keeping his head down to eat, when he noticed his mother's gaze falling on his wrist, surprised: "You're wearing your grandfather's watch?"

"Ah?"

Ji Jue glanced at his wrist, the dial's hands silently moving—even knowing it's just a dream, he couldn't suppress his curiosity: "This watch..."

"The watch." His mother sighed softly, smiled: "Your grandfather used to give it to me mysteriously, like it was some family heirloom, fooled me for a long time.

Later, your grandmother told me he'd forgotten to buy me a birthday gift, afraid I'd cry, he passed off this twenty-dollar watch as ancestral to fool me..."

"Ah?"

Ji Jue stood bewildered, full of disbelief, unable to understand.

"If you like it, wear it. If it's a hassle, lose it—it doesn't matter, just a watch. Compared to this..."

His mother shook her head, carefree, resting her chin on her hand. When she looked over, her gaze suddenly became sharp: "...Got a girlfriend?"

"Uh..."

Ji Jue hesitated, instinctively babbling: "Don't know."

"Don't know?"

His mother laughed, not letting him off: "Don't know if you have one or not?"

"..."

Ji Jue hung his head, sighed after a long time: "Don't know."

"Then let's rephrase the question."

His mother's smile grew brighter, pressing: "Do you have someone you like?"

"..."

Ji Jue remained silent, quickened his pace eating, pretending not to hear, but heard his mother's laughter, playful and pleasant, full of teasing.

Without truly grasping anything.

Just resting her chin, observing his awkwardness, smiling:

"Then you should try harder."

"...I've, I've had enough."

Ji Jue avoided her gaze, set down the bowl: "I'll go check on Dad."

"Go on, go on."

His mother shook her head, smiling, tidied up the dishes, hearing the fleeing footsteps recede, couldn't help but laugh aloud.

Even through the door, it was audible!

In the corridor, Ji Jue sighed helplessly.

He looked up at the stairs leading to the rooftop but couldn't take the first step. By the time he came to, he had instinctively followed the stairs down, back to the ground.

Returning to the starting point.

No matter how encouraged, still stuck in place.

Looking up, staring blankly in the direction of the rooftop, unable to erase the doubt and hesitation in his heart—if he jumped from here, would they be sad?

Or should it be somewhere else?

Could he really do it without any hesitation?

He didn't know.

Even if all this was fake... is fake really not good?

He just wanted to see.

To see more...

In the midsummer sunlight, Ji Jue wandered aimlessly around the community area, finally stopping in front of the garage, squatting on the steps, watching the busy back hunched over the car hood.

Several times, he wanted to speak but didn't know what to say.

No matter how much he wanted to get closer and gain understanding, facing his father who had passed away when he was young, he always felt unable to speak.

Until his father turned around, looked at him, waved, and pointed at the hood.

"Hold this."

Ji Jue reached out, holding the hood, curiously looking down: "No gloves?"

His hands were covered in engine oil, leaving streaks all over his face.

"Too hot, it's sweaty all over." His father reached out: "Wrench."

Thus, Ji Jue handed over the wrench.

Acting as an assistant, listening to commands and orders, helping out.

In the midst of observing, he suddenly heard his father's voice while buried in repairs, abruptly asking: "Shouldn't you be going back to work soon?"

"...Wanted to stay home a little longer."

Ji Jue paused in silence before reaching out: "The belt's somewhat aged, but actually it's fine, probably the valve clearance is too big."

"Hmm?"

His father was momentarily confused, squinted and drew closer, realized: "Indeed, I was focusing only on the pistons and oil cups."

Ji Jue added: "There's also a bit of an issue with the hydraulic lifters."

"Impossible, right?" His father shook his head, "I even found the original design blueprint, it's this model."

"Then it must be design flaws, these lifters have been used for too long, internal pressure isn't sufficient." Ji Jue shook his head: "The car's mileage is too high, the designer likely didn't anticipate anyone driving it for this long."

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