Chapter 302 - 298: This Can’t Be Real

Chapter 302: Chapter 298: This Can’t Be Real

It was just before dinner.

The three siblings had been in the kitchen, about to start preparing dinner, when they heard the startling sound of the front door opening and all ran out.

They never would have imagined that it would be him—the man who had left home more than a decade ago, the man who carried the Noeman name, the man who shared their blood.

Despite his weathered face, despite his graying temples, despite the dimming evening light.

But whether it was the father or the children, they all recognized one another the instant they laid eyes on each other!

The four of them stared at each other from across the vast, empty hall. For a moment, no one spoke.

Disbelief, apprehension, panic, anger...

Carl’s knuckles cracked and his muscles tensed with an uncontrollable tremor. Frank and Mani flanked him, clinging tightly to their older brother’s arms, terrified he would rush over and beat Old Noeman to death.

’Calm down. I have to stay calm!’

They all told themselves this in their hearts.

"Let go of me."

Carl’s voice trembled slightly, making it impossible to tell if it was from sorrow or rage. But he found his younger brother and sister only held on tighter.

"*Huuu...* I said, let go of me. I won’t hit him, you can relax."

His tone was much calmer than before.

"Really?"

Mani asked tentatively.

"Really!"

Frank glanced at their father, then exchanged a look with his sister before slowly releasing his arm.

Old Noeman set his luggage on the floor, his hands hanging awkwardly. He didn’t know whether to let them fall to his sides or open them in a gesture, nor did he know what to say.

Carl felt their grip release and sighed again, looking as if he was about to step forward and say something.

Then, with shocking suddenness, he shot forward.

"You bastard, you actually dare to come back?! Go to hell!!!"

BANG! A heavy punch landed on the side of Old Noeman’s nose, sending him crashing to the floor and knocking over his suitcase.

Frank and Mani’s jaws dropped. They rushed forward to grab Carl again, stopping him from continuing the assault.

"Let him go! Let him hit me! I deserve this!"

Blood streamed from Old Noeman’s nostrils, and the corner of his mouth was split where his teeth had cut it from the force of the blow. He pushed himself up, looking utterly wretched.

"Let go of Carl! Let him hit me!"

He had finally found the courage to speak.

Staring at that aged face, Carl panted heavily. In truth, if he had really wanted to keep hitting him, there was no way Frank and Mani could have stopped someone with his professional training.

Feeling Carl’s tense muscles relax, the two siblings hesitated for a moment before letting go. Thankfully, he didn’t strike again.

"Are... are you really Dad?"

Mani had only been five or six when Old Noeman left, an age when she needed her parents most.

Her words pierced Old Noeman’s heart, deepening his guilt.

Tears began to stream uncontrollably from his eyes.

"I failed. I should have come back sooner, but I didn’t dare... I’m a coward... I’m so sorry! I’m sorry!"

...

After his wife fell ill and died, Old Noeman had sunk into a long depression. The trauma caused a relapse of the hyper-imaginative psychosis he had once suffered from.

The end is coming! One day, while flipping through the Dawn Notes, he saw the descriptions of a battle against darkness—which seemed like nothing but lies—and read his ancestor’s mocking yet strangely emotional words. He suddenly came to this conclusion.

He had to find the Dawn! He had to find that group of Guardians with their miraculous powers!

Resolute and unwavering, he set out!

One year, two years... Over the long years of searching, although he found many clues and even some like-minded people who yearned for the mystical, the true "truth"—the existence his own father had been obsessed with before his death—was never tangibly found.

He went from having no clues to the excitement of discovery, from passionate enthusiasm to dejection, sometimes alone, sometimes with companions.

After four or five years passed, Old Noeman had actually begun to calm down and come to his senses.

But he didn’t dare go home. He was afraid his children wouldn’t accept him. Down on his luck, pitiful, and penniless like a tramp—how could he possibly go back?

He began working odd jobs as he traveled and sent money home regularly. After a four or five-year gap, he found the family bank account was still active. He’d once asked a friend to check on the children secretly, but this only made him more afraid to return... They hated him!

He couldn’t even imagine how his three children had survived those first four or five years.

’I’m a coward! A pathetic fool chasing an impossible fantasy!’

...

The old man’s sobs stunned the three siblings. At some point, another voice joined the crying, as Mani threw herself into Old Noeman’s arms, weeping without restraint.

Carl and Frank, maintaining their adult dignity, didn’t move, but they couldn’t stop the tears from flowing.

The knot in their hearts couldn’t be unraveled in an instant, but sometimes, it wasn’t indestructible either.

The four of them began to open up to one another. Even the ice-cold Carl would occasionally chime in with a sarcastic remark or two.

"Oh no, we haven’t made dinner! It’s already 7 o’clock!"

"Come on, let’s eat out. We’ll go to the best French restaurant. Or would you prefer Hua Country cuisine?"

Old Noeman had been frugal, and he had saved up a decent amount of money.

...

At 7:30 PM, Niso was locked onto the scent, refusing to let it go. While multitasking, he was driving the Volkswagen like it was a drift car.

Peter, having received the call for backup, had already calculated Niso’s route and was waiting by a statue of an ancient warrior at the edge of Lau Park.

He didn’t know what dangerous Demon Niso was chasing, nor was he sure if the two of them had enough power to handle it. The only thing he could be certain of was that the thing was flying through the sky!

But they were the only two Association members in the entire Munich City area. In fact, the De Yi Country branch had yet to be re-established, making them feel particularly undermanned in this sudden crisis.

They couldn’t retreat, and they absolutely wouldn’t. Besides, they had to find out what this thing was.

After they requested reinforcements from the Association, a Magic Controller who was preparing to come had already boarded an earlier flight. But distant water can’t quench a nearby fire. Even leaving from the closest branch in Paris, it would take several hours to arrive.

"VROOOM... VROOOM..."

The Volkswagen’s engine roared ceaselessly as he kept the pedal floored. The highways in De Yi Country had no speed limit, and Niso had to push the car to its absolute maximum just to keep from losing his target.

Gritting his teeth as he drove, he felt the dangerous presence grow clearer and clearer in his Perception.

But this wasn’t because Niso’s car was fast enough. It only meant one thing: the target was descending!

With Munich City looming closer and closer ahead, Niso’s heart began to sink.

"Peter, the Demon’s target really is the city! It’s Munich!"

When a Demon approaches a city, the most likely reason is the humans within. Flesh and soul are the most primal temptations.

He kept an open voice call with Peter on his phone to report any new information instantly.

...

Under the dim night sky, the Noeman family sat in their car, heading to the high-end restaurant they had booked. Frank was driving.

"Frank, go through Lau Park. It’s a shortcut."

His excited sister was navigating to the restaurant on her phone, even though she knew Frank knew the way.

"Come on, Mani. It’s way past rush hour. How many cars can there be? I’ll just drive a little faster."

Despite what he said, Frank still turned at the next intersection.

At this time of night, there was hardly any traffic around Lau Park. Few people visited such a large, remote park after dark, so their way was completely clear.

As they drove past a statue, the headlights seemed to illuminate a familiar figure. Frank even felt the person glance at him.

But he was driving fast, so he might have been mistaken. His body, however, reacted subconsciously, and he slowed the car down.

"What’s wrong?"

Carl, who had been resting in the passenger seat with his eyes closed, felt the deceleration and suddenly asked the question. He looked ahead and saw no other cars.

"I think I saw Peter, right by the park statue just now."

Carl thought of the salute. He glanced at Old Noeman and his sister in the rearview mirror. Neither he nor Frank had mentioned that incident to their father.

"Don’t worry about him. Let’s go eat."

"Yeah."

At a public phone booth by the statue, Peter was dialing the emergency number for the third time, telling them to contact the special divisions. There was a monster in the sky; it would be best to scramble fighter jets.

But the response he got could be summarized in three words: "You’re a lunatic."

"Fuck you!"

BOOM!

Unable to contain his rage for a moment, Peter smashed the payphone inside the booth with a single punch, sending half of the booth flying along with it.

It flew more than ten meters before crashing onto the road with a loud CLANG, sending up a shower of sparks.

Frank and Carl, who were watching the rearview mirror, both had their pupils contract at the same time.

"SCREEECH!" The harsh sound of braking tires filled the air as both brothers whipped their heads around to look.

...

It was very close now. Even though it wasn’t within his Perception range yet, Peter could already feel the Magic Power in his arms beginning to stir restlessly.

With a series of CREAKS and CRACKS, all the muscles and bones in his body activated.

At this moment, the temperature of Peter’s skin was rising rapidly, and scorching hot air blasted from his nostrils.

He noticed the car had stopped in the distance. He’d already seen that it was Frank’s family. A moment ago, he hadn’t used the Magic Power in his arm to activate a Sealing Technique to conceal himself, so Frank had probably noticed him.

He took two or three steps to the statue of the ancient warrior, leaped up, and grabbed onto something with both hands, then kicked off with his feet.

With two ear-piercing metallic RIPS, he forcibly tore the Copper Spears from the hands of two of the towering warrior statues.

He held the nearly three-meter-long Copper Spears, each weighing at least several dozen kilograms, one in each hand, lightly tossing and catching them to test their weight.

"Frank, listen to me... Get your family out of here, now!"

His roar carried clearly to the ears of Frank and his family in the distance. They were all staring in a daze. Even in the dim light, was that thing in Peter’s hands... the spear from the ancient warrior statue?

’That’s made of solid copper!’ 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ

The power throughout Peter’s body became fully active, and the Magic Power in his arms grew scorching hot. Pushing his physical strength to its absolute limit, the muscles on his body bulged slightly. The already-strong Peter now looked even more ferocious.

He staggered his feet and bent his body slightly forward.

The Demon was not yet within his Perception range, but his excellent intuition, honed by long-term training, already gave him a sense of its distant presence.

"Frank, it’s dangerous here! I might not be able to look out for you in a minute... Go now!!!"

As he roared, the ground beneath his feet exploded with a deafening BANG! The powerful reactive force launched his powerful frame forward, covering nearly a hundred meters in an instant.

The moment he reached his maximum speed—

WHOOSH! WHOOSH!

—the two Copper Spears vanished in a flash. Apart from a violent whistling sound, they practically left two streaks of red light in the air.

...

Frank and Carl’s bodies were trembling uncontrollably. They subconsciously looked toward their father, who was in a state of shock.

"This can’t be real..."

PS: Saturday’s second Chapter.