Chương 169: Reborn as the Dragon — Chapter 169 - A Mind Full of Werewolves

If the sensory nerves in a dragon's head were a hundred times more sensitive than the rest of its body, then the sensory nerves in its ears were that hundred multiplied by two. Su Nian didn't say a word. He just punched a hole in the riverbank with a resounding BOOM. Anna barely noticed. She kept her focus, gentle and unhurried, as she worked her way through the Black Dragon's ear.

Su Nian felt it like a warm, fiery serpent coiling through the inside of his ear, and his entire body erupted into what felt like ten thousand ants crawling under his scales at once. The problem was surface area. Against something the size of his ear, whatever Anna was using to clean it simply couldn't cover enough ground. Every corner of his ear craved that tingling. Every fold and curve wanted it at the same time. But only a tiny patch could feel it at once. It was, undeniably, a pleasure.

It was also, undeniably, a kind of torment. Only a dragon of truly ironclad will could endure it without losing his mind. Any other dragon would have eaten her by now. Anna worked diligently, thoroughly, until she finally lifted her flushed face with a soft pant and inspected her work. The Black Dragon's ear was gleaming, catching the light from within, unmistakably clean. She spread her wings and fluttered around to the other side.

"Brother, are you ready? Anna's starting~""Ah—" His ear went cold. His whole body jolted. His fist came up and met the riverbank with a BOOM. Only that kept him centered. Time crawled by. Anna finally finished both ears, scrubbing them until they sparkled, bright and glossy in the light, before she allowed herself to stop. But the job wasn't done. She flew up to rest on the crown of his head, catching her breath, then descended to begin washing his body.

Same method as before: lather the scales with shower gel, scrub everything down with hands, feet, and tail working together, then rinse with Waterball, section by section. She washed. She rested. She washed again. By the time the sun sank below the horizon and night settled over the land, she had finished the main body.

"Brother smells so nice now~""Just like Anna — roses~" She shook out her damp wings and damp fox tail, tired in a bone-deep way but unable to keep the warmth from her face.

"Mwah~" This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. She barely managed to wrap her arms around his neck. She pressed a soft kiss to the underside of his chin. The Black Dragon kept getting bigger. That was all she could reach anymore.

"You've worked hard, Anna." Su Nian looked down at his little treasure, the faint exhaustion showing in her eyes, and felt a quiet ache in his chest. He had spent the entire time just enjoying himself. Lost in the sensation of being scrubbed. He hadn't once stopped to think about how enormous he was, and what an undertaking it must be to wash something this size.

"It's not hard~ Anna likes brother, loves brother. Doing this is completely normal~" Anna smiled, eyes half-closed, two small dimples rising at the corners of her mouth. Even with beads of sweat caught in them, those dimples were impossibly sweet.

"But brother, we're not done yet~ You still have the barbs~" She didn't wait for a response. She flapped her small wings, flew back under the tree, and returned with another jar of shower gel. The gel was made entirely from crushed natural roses blended with essential oil. The scent alone was enough to clear your head, and it cleaned well on top of that. Even Su Nian had to admit the System's everyday products were not only effective but fitted this era so smoothly that no one would ever look twice.

"Um — Anna, the barbs might be fine to skip?"

"They're sharp. What if you hurt yourself..." Su Nian shifted uncomfortably. His little treasure paid no attention whatsoever.

"How can that be?"

"If you're going to bathe, you bathe properly. You can't stop in the middle."

"Alright~ Be good, brother. Move over there, spread your wings a little, yes~ just like that, and open your front claws out a bit~" Anna directed him with her adorable wide eyes, studying the barbs with serious focus. Dragon barbs come in two types: primary spines and secondary spines. The primary spines are hard and razor-sharp, capable of punching through solid bedrock without leaving a scratch on themselves. The secondary spines grow in clusters along the primary ones.

In combat, they do support work, widening wounds, catching on flesh, dragging free, leaving prey in breathless agony. Cleaning around them required real care. Even with the Dragon Heart, Anna could easily get hurt if she wasn't paying attention. Though as it turned out, she'd been worrying for nothing. A dragon's control over its own body is extraordinarily precise.

Seeing that nothing was going to stop his little treasure from tackling the barbs, Su Nian quietly softened all the secondary spines along the primary ones. They went from razored points to something more like rounded nubs of granulation tissue, harmless, nothing that could pierce her fingers.

"Thank you, brother~ Love you~" Anna broke into a grin, a flash of delighted surprise in her eyes. She hadn't known the secondary spines could do that. This was, without question, excellent news. She hugged one of the primary spines and realized it was nearly twice her height. No wonder it was so devastating, no wonder it could shatter bedrock like it was nothing. A quiet swell of awe moved through her. It was brother. Even the barbs on his body were this magnificent.

She let herself marvel for a moment, then got to work, washing the primary spine in earnest with her fluffy tail and small hands. Because of all the secondary spines clustered along the surface, there were plenty of gaps and recesses that were hard to reach. The kind of corners that collect grime. Anna twitched her small nose and found barely any smell at all. She pressed her lips together to hold back a smile, then poured more rose shower gel over the spine.

With the secondary spines softened to a squishy give, they were oddly fun to handle. Pliable. A little bouncy. Anna couldn't quite stop herself; she started pressing and poking and playing with them.

"Brother, you have to be thorough when you wash yourself too, no cutting corners~""Look at all this dust on the barbs. They're dirty. There's not much smell now~ but if you leave it long enough, that could change~""And then brother turns into a stinky dragon, and Anna won't like you anymore~ Hmph~" She kept murmuring, soft and cheerful, as she worked. Su Nian stared up at the full moon. All four of his claws were pressed hard into the ground. He couldn't make a sound.... Two hours later, it was finally done.

Su Nian stood in the moonlight, completely renewed, his scales catching the glow from every angle, gleaming like he'd been polished. Anna was curled up asleep on his back, her breathing small and even and unbearably cute. Right after finishing his body, she'd been drenched in sweat, which meant her earlier bath had been entirely undone. To thank her for everything, Su Nian had brought out her favorite cream cake. Once she'd eaten it and taken a second bath, he'd coaxed her to sleep.

He hadn't managed to fall asleep himself. He watched the moon, his mind turning over werewolves. ps: Asking for power stones~ ➤ Next: Rolls-Royce