A Dragon

A brazen explosion born from pent-up emotion. Shen Yixiu's throw had ridden the beast's own momentum, borrowing the immense force of the monstrous python's thrashing lunge. As a result, the speed and power behind the heave were astonishing. The serpent was whipped outward, unfurling through the air like a coiled whip snapping straight before hurtling into the distance. When it finally crashed against the ground, it produced a crisp, resounding crack. "Hiss—!" The monstrous python gouged a deep trench into the earth. Its body went momentarily rigid, and as it struggled to roll, it let out a genuine howl of excruciating agony for the very first time. Yet its jaws and head remained locked in Rusty Sister's grasp. Seeing this, Han Qingyu thought to himself: *That's it. This thing is so massive and heavy, and clad in iron scales to boot. It's basically like an extraordinarily obese person wearing heavy armor—punch him a few times and he won't feel a thing, but if he takes a hard fall, his own weight will break his bones and cause internal injuries.* *Then slam it!* Evidently, Rusty Sister had the same idea. Or perhaps she hadn't thought about it at all, and simply wanted to keep going because slamming it felt so satisfying. However, this second toss was a brute-force heave without the full-body rotation or momentum-redirection of the first. Although she managed to hoist the monstrous python, it was an uphill struggle, unable to produce that whip-cracking impact against the ground. *Whoosh!* Blue light flared across Han Qingyu's back. Tearing through the air, he swept past her and reached the front, catching the airborne tail firmly in both hands. "Whip it!" Rusty Sister understood instantly. Exerting force with both hands, she shoved the massive head upward and released her hold, pulling her iron arms free. Ahead, Han Qingyu kept up his sprint without slowing down for an instant. Channeling the power of his entire body in unison, he hauled on the tail and whipped the monster's colossal form straight over through midair... *Piang!* The sound of the python's body slamming against the ground was not a flat thud, but a ringing metallic clang! This time, the monster did not even hiss, as if the breath had caught in its throat. After crashing down, its body twitched and contorted sluggishly, showing signs of brief unconsciousness, yet it was still struggling. Right at that moment, the figure of a girl lunged forward. Xin Yaoqiao leaped onto the giant python and used her sword like a cord, gripping the hilt with one hand and the spine of the blade with the other, desperately throttling the serpent's neck. Then He Tangtang, Liu Shiheng, and finally Shen Yixiu in her full iron armor leaped on as well, pressing down with all their might to pin the beast. "Qingzi, kill it!" Kill! A python had two great weak points. Han Qingyu located its "seven-inch" heart region, only to find it encased in the thickest dead iron scales. He was just looking for an angle to thrust diagonally inward, or hack through if all else failed— *Squish!* A sudden sound came from near the serpent's tail. Followed by another *squish*. *Ch-ch-ch...* Xin Yaoqiao and the others suddenly felt the resistance ease dramatically. The python's struggles beneath them grew feeble, before going completely limp. Turning around in bewilderment, they saw Wen Jifei standing near the tail, blade in hand. A python's body had two major weak points: one was the seven-inch mark, and the other was its cloaca. As Han Qingyu's longtime friend, Wen Jifei had heard this mentioned before and remembered it. So while Han Qingyu went for the heart, Wen Jifei had targeted the other spot. One stab inward, two twists, three strikes to claim its life... It outright extinguished most of the monstrous python's vitality. "Weren't there... scales there?" Han Qingyu asked with a rather complicated expression. "Maybe it grew too long and didn't cover it," Wen Jifei replied calmly. "Huh? Where is 'there'?" Xin Yaoqiao asked, her expression puzzled and her eyes earnest with curiosity. "Yeah, where are you two talking about?" Shen Yixiu chimed in, just as confused and curious. He Tangtang and Liu Shiheng were snickering. Suppressing a reaction, Han Qingyu kept a straight face and scolded, "Stop asking nonsense. Why are you young girls so curious about everything?!" Shen Yixiu and Xin Yaoqiao exchanged glances, feeling wronged and annoyed, and fell silent. Meanwhile, on the verge of death, the monstrous python lacked even the strength to turn its head. And so, nobody knew whether it realized—or what it would have thought if it did—that it had ultimately perished at the hands of the very person whose inscrutable strength it had initially found so baffling and terrifying. It died in utter humiliation, stripped of all dignity. *** With the scales peeled away and cast aside, the giant python's body had been sliced completely open. Han Qingyu felt a bit dejected and upset... What a loss. He hadn't found a single source energy block or metal block inside the python. Having searched every inch, all he found was a precision device forged from dead iron, its function unclear. The device clearly looked sophisticated, and since it had been kept inside the creature's body all along... it definitely served a crucial purpose. But to Han Qingyu, it was completely useless, and for now, even Xin Yaoqiao was utterly baffled after inspecting it. "If there's no source energy, what did it even eat to survive?" He Tangtang asked, balancing the gigantic gall bladder on the tip of his blade. What did it eat? The answer was simple: hadn't it just spat one out?! As Han Qingyu walked toward the suit of iron armor the beast had previously disgorged, he pieced the clues together in his mind. His deductions gradually took coherent shape: The device inside the serpent was most likely designed to help it absorb vitalized source energy. In its early stages, it had probably been infused directly with source energy, but over the ensuing decades, it had sustained itself on vitalized source energy. And the source of that vitalized source energy had to be the bodies inside those suits of iron armor, just like Rusty Sister—yes, *those*, plural. There were bound to be more than one of them hidden inside the mountain. It would swallow them, but dead iron obviously couldn't be digested. Thus, swallowing them was merely to extract vitalized source energy through the internal device. Once drained, they would be regurgitated to let the armor reabsorb and convert more energy, only to be swallowed again later. In this endless cycle, the python had lived for decades, growing continuously. "The person inside is likely a living corpse—alive only in terms of the body's residual functions, but dead in terms of consciousness," Han Qingyu said heavily, crouching down to examine the condition of the iron armor. Silence fell over the area. *If my logic holds, then this suit of iron armor should have source energy blocks on it, just like Rusty Sister. Or perhaps, because it needed to be sustained over a much longer period, metal blocks, along with a dedicated triggering apparatus.* With that hopeful thought, Han Qingyu reached out to feel around the armor... but to his surprise, there were none. The armor bore neither source energy blocks nor metal blocks. A momentary disappointment gave way to profound agony. And then, his confusion deepened: *In that case, where did their source energy supply come from?* His train of thought broke off there for the moment. Right then, He Tangtang gestured from beside the python's carcass and asked, "What about this, and all those scales? Do we dig a pit and bury them? If we leave this stuff here, we're bound to get exposed sooner or later." At his words, everyone instinctively grew worried. "It's fine," Han Qingyu said calmly. "Conveniently enough, we can claim that the monstrous python burst from the cavern on its own, swept Rusty Sister away, and we rushed in to battle it to save her." He laid it out plainly, yet the other five present all turned astonished gazes upon him at once. "A justified reason for entering, while also eliminating a hidden hazard for the researchers and providing clues for a major discovery. Not only are we not at fault, we've done a great service, haven't we?" Han Qingyu asked in mild bewilderment. Then he added, "Once we doctor the scene a bit, it shouldn't be an issue, right?" "No issue at all. Not in the slightest," Liu Shiheng explained. "We're just staring at you in awe of how ridiculously sharp and practiced your brain gets whenever it comes to pulling off stunts like this." "Exactly. If you could direct even a fraction of that brainpower toward a certain other subject, you wouldn't be such a hopeless dead iron straight man," Wen Jifei teased with a grin. At his remark, everyone chuckled, including Shen Yixiu and Xin Yaoqiao. Han Qingyu shook his head helplessly. While continuing to ponder the previous question, he led the others in setting up the scene. Wen Jifei and Liu Shiheng dragged the python's carcass back and forth twice. "Hey, do you believe dragons exist in this world?" Wen Jifei suddenly asked Liu Shiheng. "Sure do," Liu Shiheng nodded immediately. "Why wouldn't I? I've even had the full-dragon service before." "..." Wen Jifei thought for a second, then snapped, "Piss off!" Xin Yaoqiao, who was squatting beside Shen Yixiu examining the scales, looked up and asked with earnest curiosity, "What's a full-dragon service?" She truly was a young girl with an insatiable appetite for learning. Shen Yixiu looked up blankly as well, waiting for an answer... She was just as curious. Wen Jifei looked at them helplessly and snapped, "Questions, questions! Didn't Qingzi just say it? Little girls shouldn't be so nosy." Both Shen Yixiu and Xin Yaoqiao let out a subdued "Oh" in unison. "If you want to be curious, be curious about this," Wen Jifei said, turning serious as he squatted down. "Have you ever heard the saying, 'A serpent turns into a jiao, and a jiao turns into a dragon'?" Everyone nodded and looked at him. "Then look here," Wen Jifei said. He brushed aside the wrinkled skin on top of the python's head, exposing two white bumps, one on the left and one on the right. They were faint, but undeniably there. "I bumped into them by accident just now—they really are made of bone," Wen Jifei said, his eyes wide with astonishment. "So... could it actually be growing horns?! Or are these strange serpents just built like this?" Nobody recognized this monstrous python. Earlier, they had assumed it was mutated by source energy and thus different from normal snakes. Now, was it growing horns? A serpent turns into a jiao, and a jiao turns into a dragon?! They were stunned. Bewildered. "It might not necessarily be a jiao or a dragon; those things are too mythical, in my opinion," Xin Yaoqiao said slowly, pondering. "Still, have you heard the phrase, 'The more primitive it is, the closer it is to source energy'?" "We have." More than just heard—a few months ago, they had nearly eaten raw meat and drunk fresh blood because of those very words. Everyone turned to Xin Yaoqiao. "I can't fully explain it right now," Xin Yaoqiao admitted candidly under their expectant gazes. "I just feel that there must be some connection between Ne's experiments and that phrase. Our research..." "Research?! Leave that to your people," Wen Jifei cut in directly. "That's not work the rest of us can handle." With that, he stood up and walked away. Then, one by one, everyone including Han Qingyu stood up and walked away. *Scientific research isn't something I can get involved in, nor do I want to. All I want is source energy blocks,* Han Qingyu thought. "Qingzi," Shen Yixiu called out from behind. Han Qingyu turned around. "What's wrong?" "I want to go in there and take a look." Shen Yixiu pointed at the large hole in the wall where the python had broken through. "Can I?"