Li Cheng’s head felt like it was about to burst. 

There was a ringing in his ears, and hammers knocking down on his head. His lips dry, his forehead soaked in cold sweat, and he felt uncomfortable in every part of his body. 

He tried to open his eyes, but it felt tremendously difficult. After a long and hard-fought struggle, he finally got them to see things. 

He found himself on a soft and cushy surface, most likely a bed, his body draped over by a thick fur blanket. Li Cheng never experienced the fluffiness of such a high-quality bed item before, so he was taken aback, albeit shortly. Above his head was an unfamiliar ceiling, one he had never seen before in his life. It was not as if he could have ever seen such a grandeur, for the ceiling was vast and decorated with an ostentatious chandelier on which dotted an intricate assortment of beautiful gems and crystals. He once had the chance to visit Zhongnanhai, the central headquarters of China government through a recommendation of his military superior, and he was agape at the splendor of the ceiling there and its chandelier. However, the masterful artwork laid before his eyes surpassed all of them. Li Cheng only knew to dumbly stare in awe.

“W-what is happening?”

He raised his body up, only to be beaten down by a sense of nausea. His head started to clear up, and so did his memory. He finally recalled it by now.

The humongous head, the spiky textures, the dried red color on its scaling skin and its thin, snake eyes that threatened to devour you whole, it was so vivid that Li Cheng broke out in cold sweat just by recalling.

“What the hell was th- no, what the HELL was that!?”

Li Cheng started to doubt his eyes and his own sanity. His recollection of the event was hazy, but the shudder deep in his spine could not simply be brushed off.

He was minding his own business, taking photos and such, when a swarm of these things surrounded and ensnared him. His eye vision was short and the targets were farther than his eyesight so all he could make out were silhouettes. Still, he assumed them to be light aircraft, the only thing was that they held some sort of trap device. For reasons unknown to him, his plane was held dead in its place.

Li Cheng was in a panic. He tried to get away, cranking up the engine to maximum power. The plane struggled at first, but after a hard-fought battle, he succeeded and the jet broke through. 

His victory would be short-lived though, as he noticed something was off about the main system. The radar was not working properly, communication lines broken and buttons damaged. His J-15 soon became unable to maintain speed, letting these unknown things get closer and closer. As they surrounded him, Li Cheng tried to make a last-stand by opening fire against his superior order, but to his dismay, the plane’s ammunition system was also destroyed. No bullets ever came out, and Li Cheng watched in despair as the engine shut down completely, his plane free-falling from the sky. He scrambled to find the ejection seat mechanism, but it was also beyond any hope. Li Cheng furiously smashed the big red button until there was blood dripping in his fingers, but all he got in return was the screeching sound of winds against his hull, pulling the plane to its certain doom.

Is this the end for me?

Li Cheng slumped down on his seat. Through the cockpit’s window, he could see shadows, figures that shaped vaguely like planes, but at the same time not quite so. They were not numerous, but it was enough, however incompetent they were, to put an end to a crippled opponent like him if they wished, though without their intervention he would still die from the inevitable crash. His plane would explode and his body drowned in the sea of fire. The heat from all the chemicals inside the plane would burn his remains to a crisp so intense that no recognizable parts would be found.

Zhao Lin ... I can’t believe I would leave you like this, you have to live well without me, Zhao Lin…

The warm color of chestnut flashed through his mind, accompanied by the familiar scent of cinnamon and vanilla. Li Cheng slowly closed his eyes. Just for a brief, very brief moment, his mind found peace. 

It was then, he heard a thundering explosion, followed by the sound of glass breaking. 

Li Cheng’s mind stood up in pure defensive reaction.

It was one of the things from before, since when did it approach his plane?

He sighed and slumped back down on his seat. It’s all useless though, why go the extra mile when he was sure to be a dead man?

As the silhouette got ever closer to his plane, close enough for his eye vision to pick up things, Li Cheng found that he might have misjudged.

Lavender pink hair that wafted gently in the winds, a fitted dress as black as the night sky, tightly embracing a figure that put both models and actresses to shame. Even on the verge of death, Li Cheng found himself gulping. The stark contrast between her stunning outer image and the enormous scythe the girl held further amplified her out-of-the-world beauty, as if she walked right from an anime or fantasy. 

Wait, scythe?

Li Cheng’s eyes rolled in disbelief. It was then his mind cleared up enough for him to see past the bewitching appearance before him. Questions, logical and common sense questions that should have come to him long ago now bombarded his mind.

Why could she float in the air?

Why were there black wings from her back? Why was she holding a scythe as big as her body? And where the hell did she find the strength to hold it?

There were so many questions that he could not comprehend the situation anymore. His tattered mind wanted to default everything to a hallucination, the kind when your life flashed through you moments before death.

Maybe she is a reaper that comes to take my life, which explains the scythe. Yeah, that probably is.

However, the next thing she did betrayed his every expectation, as the strange lady, with her enormous scythe, sliced open his cockpit window like it was butter. Air rushed into the flight deck in a mad scramble, its violent suction dragged him out of his seat. Li Cheng desperately held to anything he could get his hands onto, but they were to no avail. The force of air while a plane was free-falling proved to be a heavyweight opponent. No matter how hard he tried, Li Cheng’s grasp grew weaker and finally, he got blown out of his plane, somersaulting freely in the open sky. He screamed at the top of his lungs, the winds scratching against his suit and equipment. 

Great, now I will die an even more horrible death.

Through his blurry vision, he could see a figure approaching him like a bolt of lightning, not the girl from before, he was certain. The silhouette dashed through him, and before he noticed it, something strong grabbed his waist and seated him on a warm, but rough surface. His aerial somersault came to an end.

Li Cheng quickly removed his helmet and swallowed in huge gulps of air. Not anyone had the luck to avert certain death.

As he tried to figure out who saved him, it was then, those eyes stared at him.

He did not remember much afterward, but the primal fear he felt was etched deep in his subconscious mind.

“If I had to see that thing, or whatever the hell it is one more time, I might go crazy.”

Li Cheng’s throat felt dry. He needed some water. The crazy events took a toll on him, both physically and mentally. He scoured the room for something to drink, expensive furniture was abundant, but there was nothing that held water.

“All these extravagances but no water? Do you live on money alone?”

Li Cheng thought as he furiously scrolled through one gold-plated stuff to another.

Having found nothing, Li Cheng’s mind raged with the desire to punch and destroy things, but recalling his account balance, he hesitantly dropped the idea.

As his eyes wandered around, he noticed a small device on top of the bed drawer. 

It was small, pointy at the top, and of course, gold-plated. It looked like a tiny bell.

“I guess this is for pushing?”

His finger touched the pointy top, and a ‘ding’ echoed throughout the room. It surprised him a little.

Li Cheng didn't need to wait, as not long afterward, there was a light knock on the door, followed by a female voice.

“May I come in?”

senchou17

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