As Luan was walking along the cement roads of the human world, he discovered he hadn’t been here for way too long. Everything looked completely different from what he remembered. Holding the map presented by Dragon Ying, Luan was filled with unanswered questions – everything felt so new around here.

He looked at a metal box that opened nearby and a metal bird that flew high into the sky. Glancing to left and right, he almost forgot he was supposed to catch the train.

Once he finally rushed into the station, Luan was startled by the sea of people that crowded in the waiting room. So many people… Damn! Clutching his map and ID, he followed the flow of people that trickled towards the doorway. On the way, he was patted with glowing sticks wielded by some of the humans. On the other side, some other humans dressed in similar uniforms picked up his luggage and threw it into a large gaping mouth. He heard funny sounds, and his luggage was spat out on the other side. Luan nervously picked the luggage up and took a few steps forward. Suddenly he looked up only to find himself completely surrounded by the atmosphere of mankind.

A few steps away, a mother was holding a crying kid. Slightly further away, an old man was slowly walking on crutches. A young man leaning against a pillar was laughing and talking to a small metal box… Oh, there was a little girl biting something round in here hand – it looked very delicious! Luan swallowed saliva hungrily and looked up to see a middle-aged madam. (No! Parrot said to call them lady!) The lady was hurriedly dragging a suitcase up the escalator, accompanied by several noisy children, who were laughing and running around her. She called them to stop, but they just made a wry face and ran away.

"How do you do!”

Confused by the clear voice that addressed him from behind, Luan quickly looked back and smiled: "Ah, hello.”

A brown-haired boy greeted Luan and quickly moved over to his side. His smiling, round eyes narrowed: "You’re new here, right? I see you've been standing here for some time - don't you know the procedures?” Luan was simply nodding, so the boy said: "That’s fine, I want to stamp my pass too, so tag along! By the way, where you going?”

Luan carefully replied: "I'm going to Boshlake City.”

"Oh, Boshlake City – I’ve wanted to go there for some time, too! But today, I have to go in another direction for a fortnight long internship. Yes, I am a trainee doctor. When my parents heard that I had enrolled in a medical school, they went mad with rage and chased me with a stick in hand over two mountains, saying that they were going to break my legs if I got a job at hospital.” The boy stuck out his tongue and smiled: "But I’m not afraid, I believe studies are good! And where are you going? Oh yes, you're going to Boshlake City! That memory of mine! Anyway, we should have our passes stamped first.” The boy waved the ticket in his hand, and urged: "Quick, better not miss the train. By the way, what’s your name? Are you taking the high-speed train too?”

He spoke like a machine gun, and Luan discovered there were a lot of words he couldn’t understand. He simply gave an answer to the questions he remembered: "Well… My name is Zhu Luan. And I’m going to Boshlake City to find a friend.” He paused and asked: "What is the high-speed train?”

The boy scratched his head and muttered: "Oh my God, how long haven’t you come out? You don’t even know what the high-speed train is.” He thought for a while, and explained: "The high-speed train is a fast type of train. It only takes a few hours to get where an ordinary train would need a whole day. But you need to change trains to get to Boshlake City from here. Only the green train goes there, and it takes some eight or nine hours. Oh, I almost forgot to introduce myself - my name is Mulele, but friends call me Woody. You can also call me Lele.”

Luan’s eyes lit up, and he asked solemnly: "Woody? Is that what humans call each other? It sounds cute! So, why don’t you call me Loony?”

Mulele was stunned at first, and then explained, resisting the urge to laugh out loud: "No, you can’t call anyone Loony in the human world. You can’t change your family name at random. For example, one of my older family members is called “Roos Ter”. A youngster like me can simply call him “Elder”, but my teacher always calls him some strange name, such as Rooster, Cockerel, or Chick… Anyway, no matter what they call him, he always seems unhappy.”

Yet another question formed in Luan’s head: "Why strange? I think that Chick is very cute! Or, the same way you’re called Lele, why not call him Chick-Chick?”

Mulele was speechless: "Well… It’s really hard to explain why, but you simply mustn’t say that in the human world!”

Luan nodded in understanding, but Mulele observed him and felt a bit worried. He hoped this friend from the mountains wouldn’t stir up any troubles.

The two were wading through the crowd and chatting like this. Sometimes, the crowd would separate them, but finally, they found some empty spot. Mulele looked at Luan and smiled: "Some people like to dye their hair a variety of colors or wear contact lenses lens nowadays, but we don't need any disguise. Like the color of your hair, it could be dyed black. But this hairstyle… Well, it’s pretty special.”

Luan was glancing all around the place, but when Mulele commented on his hair, he asked curiously: "Why is nobody wearing braids? The last time I came… Well, the last time I came here, everyone was wearing pigtails. Those guys that let their hair unbraided were arrested and decapitated.”

This shocked Mulele, who started to think when was the time that people without pigtails had been beheaded... Could it be the last time this guy been here was in the Qing dynasty? He put on a smile and said: "That was the requirement of the Qing dynasty, but that was some two hundred years ago. Nobody cares about it now.”

The topic of braids reminded Luan of Liu Liu, who would pull his hair for fun or even fashioned it into a bird’s nest atop his head. Delighted, he said: "I have a child who always likes to play with my hair, so I tie pigtails for convenience. But hey, what are the contact lens that you mentioned?”

Before Mulele could answer, he turned to have his pass stamped. He moved somewhat slowly, so the fairy attendant in the window scolded him impatiently: “Hurry up! Stop dillydallying!”

Mulele quickly handed him his temporary pass, which had already been stamped with multiple red seals. Luan followed his example and handed the pass, but didn’t expect what happened next – the fairy attendant’s expression changed completely.

His expressionless face of a bored clerk changed, and a smile wrinkled his face when he said to Luan: “You haven’t seen people for a long time.”

Luan barely had the time to say anything when Mulele’s chin dropped in alarm. He had been to many places over the years, and often had his pass stamped by the fairy affairs agency, but he had never seen a fairy attendant show a nice face to anyone.

Who was that Zhu Luan after all?!

Puzzled, Luan took his stamped pass and asked Mulele: "Where is the train now?”

"Wait!” The fairy attendant asked someone to change him at work, and rushed out of the door like the wind. He stood by Mulele and laughed: "I'll take you to the VIP waiting room.”

Luan blinked and spoke, stunned: "Eh… But why?”

"It's OK, just follow me!”

The fairy attendant didn’t wait for Luan’s answer, but pulled him in another direction. Luan was at a complete loss, he just grabbed stunned Mulele. All the fairies who waited to have their passes stamped turned around and watched, amazed, how those three dragged one another and stumbled towards the lounge.

In the eight hundred years of Mulele’s “fairy” life, there had never been such a crowd of “people”, so he felt a bit shy. He couldn’t tell now if the person he was holding to wasn’t some deity. Red hair, pale face, handsome looks – the fairy attendant flattered him so much, so he certainly had a much higher status… But he had never heard of a god called Zhu Luan… Then again, he was still pretty young and couldn’t recognize all avatars of gods.

Mulele poked Luan with his free hand and softly asked, "Well, how old are you, if I may ask?”

He wished to estimate the origins of this deity based upon his age. But this “deity” was confused himself – curling his lips, he muttered: "I think I slept for a long time, so I can’t really tell. Once, I asked my uncle Dragon Ying, but he said he could not remember clearly either.”

"What! Dragon Ying?!” Mulele suddenly spoke up: "Are you talking about the god Dragon Ying who lives secluded on the Mountain Yin?!”

Luan stared blankly and replied honestly: "Indeed, he lives on the Mountain Yin. However, what is “god”?” Everyone else simply called him “master”.

"Oh dear!” Mulele exclaimed, his heart pounding wildly: "That is the ancient god Dragon Ying! Come on, it’s Dragon Ying, the hero of legends! In ancient ages, he helped the Yellow Emperor defeat Chi You, and killed Chi You’s father! He’s the great hero who helped the Yellow Emperor unite the whole earth! Also, when Da Yu tamed the floods, he helped him dredge the rivers to eliminate flooding! Human ancestors enshrined him as a god and worshipped him!”

Baffled, Luan asked: "Dragon Ying is so awesome?”

Mulele rose in excitement: "Of course! God Dragon Ying is my idol! Thousands of years ago, he and a few other great gods prevented a great chaos. If it hadn’t been for them, who knows what would be happening to the fairy land now… Although elders say that Dragon Ying lives in seclusion on Mountain Yin, disregarding affairs of life, the stories of his life are so fantastic as if straight from a fantasy novel!”

Luan was utterly confused. He felt that the Dragon Ying that Mulele talked about could not be the same Dragon Ying he had always known. The man he knew was a middle-aged uncle who would leisurely play with his son all day. He always had so much to do that he never allowed himself to come to the human world. If Little Dave hadn’t helped him escape, he’d be fossilized on that mountain.

Mulele, who didn’t notice Luan’s confusion, continued: "Hmm, you called god Zheng uncle, so…" So this guy was also a dragon? No wonder the fairy attendant was so respectful towards him! Mulele looked at Luan with respect and admiration, but Luan was still mulling questions in his head. At the same time, he was being dragged by the fairy attendant so quick that he almost fell down.

"Here’s the VIP waiting room.” They finally made it to the waiting room before Luan tumbled down. The fairy attendant respectfully ushered them inside: “I can only accompany you that far. Please come inside.”

"Oh, OK." Although he couldn’t make sense what was going on, Luan nodded in gratitude. Also, he remembered to turn around and drag his friend in, explaining: “We are together.”

However, Mulele was standing at the door – he could hardly suppress all the strong emotions that rushed within him from emerging. God, in the waiting room, there were at least three fairies over eight thousand years old, as well as a few immortals, waiting to cross heavens. As for the ghosts, their smell was strange to him, so he couldn’t assess their age. Whatever the case, he didn’t dare enter.

Well, this Zhu Luan guy was standing here so relaxed as if he didn’t feel any pressure at all. Truly, he was not an ordinary creature… Moreover, they had been waiting together for such a long time, and never did he show any signs of stress. As the elders used to say, the more powerful a fairy was, the better they could control their own power. This was true!

Thus, Mulele waved his hands and retreated a few steps: "It was a pleasure to meet you! But I’m travelling to a different place, so I’m not gonna go in! I hope we’ll meet again! ”

He bowed deeply and quickly ran away.

"I saw a dragon!” Mulele thought merrily, walking towards the ticket gate of the high-speed train to Hushlake City.

Huh?! Suddenly, something came to Mulele’s mind and he stopped. This god was going to Boshlake City, so he could take a high-speed train to Hushlake City first, then transfer and continue by a high-speed train to Boshlake City. It would only take an hour longer, so why would he prefer to take a green long distance train with the low-class fairies? He really couldn’t comprehend this god’s actions.

What Mulele didn’t know, was that the “god” he had met at the station had no secret at all. The only reason he was taking a green train was to save time he would lose changing trains.