"Sometimes I think about things like this before I go to bed, and if a billionaire comes up to me one day and says to me that I'm his son, I think I'll be very happy." Ian took a sip of tea.

Ange couldn't help but smile: "What I said just now is just my personal speculation, a super hybrid like Uesugi Etsu has not appeared for sixty years, you are very similar to him in terms of strength, but more calm than him, I didn't come to you to discuss who your father is, but for another matter, about the Bronze Project." ”

"The Bronze Project? What's that plan? Ian asked.

"We expect to start a new mission on the Yangtze River in China in February 2010." Ange took out a few photos from the drawer and pushed them to Ian: "I don't know much about the dragons that appeared on campus three days ago, but according to our research, those two are the bronze and fire kings of the four monarchs, and the dragon kings on the throne are twins, and this has been confirmed that night." ”

"The dragon that was burning on fire hatched from its eggs, and about two weeks ago, Kassel carried out the 'Kuimen Project' on the Yangtze River in China, and our commissioner found the bronze palace of the dragon king at the bottom of the Yangtze River, and brought back the dragon king's eggs from it."

"These photos are materials from the time, you can look at them."

Ian picked up the photos, the photos showed a dragon shadow and an iron ship, and Ange chose a few photos that were extremely clear, and Ian wanted to say that he was actually there at the time, but his role at the moment was a half-blood, so he could only pretend to be a white lotus who didn't know anything.

"These photos are more in line with my perception of dragons, and the two that day are more like humans." Ian is very good at pretending, and he has experience with NERV.

"That's because they haven't grown up yet, and one day they can give birth to a huge dragon body, and unfortunately, we haven't been able to kill them in the academy." Ange propped his elbows on his desk, leaned forward, and looked at Ian: "One day, if we find them again, a new mission will be organized, but the goal of the Bronze Project is not these two, but their palace." ”

"The palace where the eggs were removed?" Ian asked.

"Yes." Ang nodded: "That palace is an important dragon cultural heritage, there are Norton's dragon squires entrenched, and there are some mysterious beings, we want to do a thorough investigation of that place, this is the Bronze Project, and maybe meet Norton and Constantine, the dragon king may want to return to their palace." ”

"Sounds interesting." Ian saw the picture of the fish angel being captured in those photos, and he had a faint smile on his face: "Please let me participate in the Bronze Project, I will definitely see a lot again." ”

"I knew you were coming." Ange smiled with satisfaction: "You really resemble a friend of mine. ”

"Is that the Uesugi Goshi?" Ian looked up.

"No, it's not Uesugi Koshi, he's German like you, and has blue eyes about the same as you." Ange stared at Ian's face: "His name is Menek Kassel, the Kassel Academy is named after him, he used to be the leader of the secret party, I don't mean that you look very similar to him, but your temperament, your energy field is very similar." ”

"I'm glad to meet a young man like you, and I look forward to you shining in the academy."

"I'm glad to meet you, Headmaster, too." Ian said, "I thought the headmaster of Kassel would be a clerical position, but I didn't expect to see you at the forefront of the battlefield. ”

Ange said softly: "The responsibility of the old man is to shield the next generation from the wind and rain before their wings are full." ”

"So to participate in the Bronze Project, do I need to sign any more agreements?" Ian asked.

"No need." Ange shook his head: "The plan is still in the preparatory stage, it will take at least three months, and the follow-up procedures will be notified to you by your mentor Schneider and will be responsible for the whole process." ”

"yes, I see." Ian stood up and nodded.

Watching Ian's back go downstairs, Ange took out the folding knife he had brought with him and fell into memory again.

He had lived for a century, there was not much else to do with him in the world, the places and people he once knew were gone, he had attended many funerals, and now he could only recall the voices of his old friends by these objects, as he does now.

"Time is the most merciless executioner, isn't it, Menek." Ange stroked the uneven lines on the knife and said to himself.

The redwood forests of northern Illinois, which encircle the Great Lakes region, are shaded by giant sequoia trees ranging from 1,000 to 1,000 years old, and even during the sunniest days, the forest is very dark, with only sporadic sunlight pouring down through the cracks in the canopy.

It's an undeveloped area, and there's no way around the beaten track, so even wilderness survival experts plunge headlong into it without any preparation, there's a great chance they'll get lost in this forest.

There are many places on this planet that humans have not yet reached.

Norton and Constantine lay deep in the redwoods, hiding at the bottom of the trees, a natural hollow surrounded by soft autumn leaves, as if some kind of expensive mink carpet covered them.

Norton couldn't get out of here, his breath of life was weak, the poison of the Philosopher's Stone had invaded his body, and the folding knife that slashed at his back was also mixed with the Philosopher's Stone.

He was hit by a bullet and a knife at the same time, and the Philosopher's Stone is as poisonous to dragons as arsenic is to humans

It stands to reason that his cells should have collapsed under the effect of the toxin, but something was hanging on to his life, the foreign objects that invaded his body after the toxin, and controlled the effects of the toxin for him within a certain range.

His consciousness was semi-conscious, Konstantin was slightly better than him, and the knife only cut Konstantin's membranous wings.

And Konstantin immediately called on the spirit of words to burn the flesh and poison from the wound into charcoal, which was an unintentional move, but it allowed him to save his life.

But it's just a life, both of them are in a bad state, if they are found by humans in this state, they will either calmly meet death, or burn all their lives and burst out with the last fire.

"Brother, they're here again." Konstantin whispered in Norton's ear.

It was the translucent crystallizers who brought food and water to Konstantin and Norton, and for the past few days, they had been relying on these unknown crystallizers to bring them food.

There are meat and vegetarian meat, such as mushrooms, pine nuts, and rabbit meat, which are all specialties of the redwood forest.

They didn't communicate, they just moved Norton and Constantine here and hid them, and when they found something to eat, they put it at the entrance of the cave and let them take it themselves.

Norton didn't know who those people were, but they were clearly not in Cassel's group.

Unable to explain these puppet-like things in terms of alchemy, he didn't feel the breath of spirit in these guys.

He remained wary of them, but due to the help they had provided during this time, and for not encroaching on his own and his brother's territory, he was temporarily receiving their assistance.

If it were him, he would definitely not accept such assistance, but with his younger brother by his side, this is a helpless move, he has no choice, if he wants to survive, he can only do this.

Norton thought it was the same as a few days ago, but suddenly he heard the sound of people talking and immediately became alert.

"Boss, is Don really here? I'm a little scared, is he going to attack us like he did in the academy? ”

"Don't be afraid, just stand by my side, those burns can't hurt you, and if he is smart enough, he won't mess around, this place is not far from Kassel, and anything unusual can be easily discovered."

There are two people talking and one of the voices sounds familiar.

Much like a human he knew.

Someone stood at the door of the tree hole, Konstantin curled up, he was now in half-human, half-dragon form, his face was back to a human face, but his back and limbs were still dragon-shaped, with scales and claws.

"Hello, we're meeting again." Ian waved at Konstantin.

Konstantin was stunned for a moment, looked at it a few more times, and said, "It's you." ”

"Mr. Norton, you're okay." Ian was carrying something in his hand, and two crystallizers stood behind him, "We brought you lunch. ”

Lu Mingfei and Ian stood together, and the two of them each held a lunch box, a large lunch box, like two big bricks.

"Old Tang, I'm here to bring you food." Lu Mingfei looked at King Norton with a complicated expression.

It can be seen that the face has the outline of the old Tang, but it has scales that the old Tang does not have, and the eyebrows and mustache that are quite happy are also burned clean.

The black eyes turned into golden vertical pupils, emitting a dazzling light in the dark hollow of the tree, like a ferocious beast.

It seems that Lao Tang, who knows Lu Mingfei, is not a person at all, in a word, it seems that there is a pitiful thick barrier between the two.

Norton glanced at him and didn't speak, but the fierce light in his eyes narrowed.

Lu Mingfei scratched his head, scratched his ears, and finally sighed and hid behind Ian.

"It's a lavish lunch made by the chefs of Kassel, and it's very complementary." Ian opened the lunch box and placed it at the entrance of the cave: "You should have the same taste receptors as humans, and when you are seriously ill, you have to take some supplements." ”

Konstantin looked at the delicacies of the mountains and seas in the lunch box, it was indeed a luxurious lunch, with vegetables, meat and fruits, very fresh and tempting.

But his brother didn't speak, and he didn't dare to move, he snuggled up to his brother, obedient and well-behaved.

The brothers stayed together, like hedgehogs covered in thorns, alienated from the whole world.

"Let's introduce myself first." Ian stepped back and cut a wound in the palm of his hand, and where the blood erupted, transparent crystals grew.

The crystallization quickly spread and condensed into a crystallizer, and after the crystallization was formed, the crystallizer broke away from his body and moved freely.

Norton's pupils constricted, and his gaze traveled back and forth between Ian and the crystallizer.

"The crystallizers who take care of you these days are in league with me." Ian said, "I'm not like humans in general, but I'm not a dragon either, at least for now, I'm not on the side of either half-breed or dragon, and I'm neutral on both of you." ”

“.” Norton was silent for a moment: "Say, what you ask." ”

"I just like this kind of straightforward conversation." Ian smiled, "To put it bluntly, I'm interested in dragons, spirits, and alchemy, and as you can see, I have some special abilities, but I don't have dragon blood, so I can't manipulate metal flames or change the flow of time like you do." ”

"This power of yours, although not very expressive, touches something more primary, and I want to learn the principles of it, and it is better to learn to the extent that I can use it myself, so I hope we can cooperate."

Norton, supported by Konstantin, sat up and smiled sarcastically: "You want to cooperate with the Dragon King?" Mankind? ”

"Isn't that weird?" Ian said lightly: "According to the information I recently found, you brothers have a record of cooperation with humans, you originally lived in the Nordic continent, but one day BC began to disappear, you crossed the Eurasian continent, went to China, at that time Wang Mang usurped the power of the Han Dynasty, China fell into war, Mr. Norton assumed the name Li Xiong, with the power of the dragon clan, won the trust of the warlord Gongsun Shu who occupied Sichuan, praised Gongsun Shu as the emperor, and became an important courtier of Gongsun Shu. ”

"At that time, didn't you cooperate with Gongsun Shu?"

Norton said, "We're just temporarily staying in White Emperor City for some purpose. ”

"But back then, you and Gongsun Shu were in a relationship of mutual help, you helped him become emperor, he helped you accomplish your goals, you have cooperated with humans in the past, why can't you do it now?" Ian looked Norton in the eye: "Mr. Norton, I hope you understand that I have many opportunities to reveal your existence to Cassel, and of course I am not threatening you. ”

"I mean, I'm still exploring the relationship between dragons and hybrids, and subjectively speaking, I don't think hybrids are necessarily on the right side, nor do I think that the resurgence of dragons will necessarily bring disaster to the human world."

"I think that as long as there are intelligent beings that can communicate and cooperate, it is possible to coexist."

"Of course, I won't ask you to make a decision now, you can think about it for a while, and today I'm just here to get to know you officially."

"But I hope you can make a quick decision, the toxins in your body are difficult to control, the Philosopher's Stone element, which is harmless to the 'Angel Factor', is constantly destroying your body, although the speed is very slow, but you are indeed getting closer to death."

"I don't know how to treat this injury at the moment, it's beyond my expertise, if you can tell me how you can and I'll help you as much as I can once we have a relationship."

Ian put a mobile phone at the entrance of the hole: "You change your mind, use this phone to contact me at any time, it has my phone number stored in it, you don't have to worry about being spied on by Kassel, I have very strong foreign aid in the information and online world." ”

After saying that, Ian beckoned and left with Lu Mingfei.

Before Lu Mingfei left, he glanced at Norton deeply, and his eyes looked a little embarrassed, like an aggrieved puppy.

"Brother. I'm a little hungry," Konstantin looked at the lunch box with a blank eye.

Silence returned to the hollow, no one disturbing the brothers' conversation, and no one was listening outside.

Norton looked at the phone, the human called him Sir instead of Your Majesty, and for so many years, those humans who discovered his true identity called him His Majesty, and although they called him Your Majesty, they never knelt, but swung their knives at him and Constantine.

"Bring those two boxes, Konstantin." Norton said.

Konstantin complied, and brought the lunch box to Norton.

Norton's palm glowed with fluorescence that shone on the lunch box, and after a few minutes, Norton handed the lunch box to Konstantin and removed the chopsticks inside.

"Eat."

"Hmm." Konstantin's eyes lit up, and he took chopsticks and stuffed the roasted lobster tail into his mouth,

He can use chopsticks, and during the time he lived in Baidi City, he learned various Chinese manners, he could also write brush characters, and he could draw ink paintings.

Norton stroked his brother's head and stared at the phone in silence.

"Old Don." He muttered in a low voice, looking at his face with the smooth side of the lunch box.

(End of chapter)