Chapter 484, Another line going on at the same time (free of charge in the form of testimonials)
(As usual, since it is the original text, it will be published in the form of a thank you note which is neither charged nor counted in the word count for the update.)
(Those who are familiar with the dragon tribe can skip this, or just review it. I post this mainly to illustrate that the world line is still moving forward, and these things are happening, but they have not yet intersected with the protagonist.)
No. 13 was hunched over, walking in a dark corridor, holding up his cell phone, relying on the light from the screen to illuminate himself.

This huge corridor system is like a maze, with only the buzzing sound of the exhaust fans repeating at a steady frequency.

On the 13th, I began to regret taking this job.

He was conceited that he was an expert in this field. In the past, he had been assigned to explore ancient tombs in the desert or shipwrecks in the icy sea. Each place was more mysterious than this academy. Today, his luck was pretty good. He overcame every difficulty. There were always some coincidental good things. It was said that the goddess of luck was on his side. But for some reason, after entering this corridor, he had a strange feeling, as if an inexplicable danger seemed to be just ahead. There was a thought in his mind that he could not go forward, he could not go forward.

He recalled the look that crystal-clear shadow girl gave him at the last moment.

It's like saying goodbye to a dead person.

"Ding-ling-ling-ling-ling-ling..."

The sound of the cell phone ringing in this dark and enclosed space, with an accompanying vibration, almost made his heart stop. Which cell phone service provider's signal could penetrate dozens of meters underground?
There was no caller ID, and the screen was simply a pale blue.

This phone is not in call mode!
No. 13 took a few deep breaths, pressed the answer button, and said nothing.

"This is a recording, not a phone call. All of this is part of our plan. Of course, if you are unfortunately dead, please press the power off button. The following content will be meaningless to you." A flat voice came from the phone. It was the woman who gave him instructions.

"How can I press the power off button when I'm dead?" No. 13 muttered.

"I just told a joke. I hope you can understand that I want you to feel more relaxed right now." The woman continued, but her cold tone made people want to flip the table.

"Please refer to the map and dial according to your current location. Press the '#' key to end." The woman continued.

"Excuse me, are you the customer service number of AT&T?" No. 13 scratched his head.

A complete map of Kassel College was displayed on the screen, like a gorgeous spider web. Unlike the map No. 13 found in the library, this was an underground cross-section, showing that the underground building of Kassel College was composed of three large sections, with countless lines in the middle connecting the three sections. Even the ventilation ducts were marked one by one, like countless silk threads sprayed by three giant spiders. The name of this layer was marked on the corner, "Three Goddesses."

"The three goddesses of fate?" No. 13 thought.

He had read Norse mythology. There were three sisters in Norse mythology. Urd weaved the lifeline, Berudandi pulled the lifeline, and Shikodi cut the lifeline. This was the fate of all things in the world and could not be changed.

These corridors are the silk threads on the map. It feels a bit unlucky for a person to walk on the silk thread of fate.

He found his position, and he was passing through a narrow, unbranched passage, numbered "13". He had a mischievous idea in his mind, and wanted to press another number to hear the instructions. But he thought that if this important recording prompt only worked once, he would die miserably.

He honestly pressed "13#".

"Congratulations, you have arrived at the designated location as planned. Now I will unveil the veil of the three goddesses for you."

A thin white line swept from the top to the bottom of the screen. Some channels were filtered out by the scanning and displayed in gray, while some channels were still bright white. The names of all the buildings were also changed. The three main building complexes were indeed named after the three goddesses of fate. No. 13 suddenly discovered a pattern. Those bright white channels all started from the place marked "Urd", passed through "Beldandi", and finally went to "Shikodi". There was no way out of "Shikodi" who was in charge of the "future".

This map is filled with a strong sense of fate. The flow of life is one-way, from the past to the future, and in the future... there is no way out.

Could it be that the designers of this academy don’t believe in the future at all?
No. 13 felt a little scary.

"Wait, am I heading to... the future?"

No. 13 realized one thing. The position where he was, No. 13, happened to be the silk thread from "Beldandi" to "Shikodi". The thread had been pulled out and the length had been measured, waiting for "Shikodi" to cut it.

"The path to 'Skodi' is also the path to the ultimate secret. The commission for this mission has been increased to 500 million US dollars."

No. 13 was cheered up. 500 million US dollars was indeed a huge sum of money, five times the original amount! After completing this job, he could retire. He did not do this job to punish evil or explore the mysteries of the world, but simply for the word "money". He was the kind of guy who was constantly striving for self-improvement. He had no other special skills, but he couldn't stand living on social welfare.

"Is the relative humidity close to 100%? If it is, please press '1#'. If it is not, please press '2#'."

There was a dense layer of water droplets on the handle of the sawn-off shotgun, the cotton socks in the shoes were also wet, and there was a layer of fog on the screen of the mobile phone. The air humidity here was indeed oversaturated.

No. 13 presses "1#".

"Extremely high residual magnetic field? If yes, please press '1#'. If no, please press '2#'."

No. 13 thought about it and rolled up his sleeves. The mechanical watch stopped at 21:30 when he entered the passage. There was no doubt that there was a very strong magnetic field here. But No. 13 had only heard that a magnetized watch would not run accurately, but he had never heard that a magnetized watch would stop completely, unless the magnetic field was so strong that the gears and the pendulum needle were firmly glued together and could no longer be separated.

No. 13 presses "1#".

"Is there a smell of rusty metal in the air? If yes, please press '1#'. If no, please press '2#'."

The air was filled with a pungent smell of rust, and No. 13 pressed "1#".

"After judging, you are extremely close to the target." The woman said, "Keep going, look for the target, observe and record. Remember, you must see the target with your own eyes, you must look directly at the target! You don't have to bring the target out, your report is worth 500 million US dollars. You will receive the final instructions when you see the target."

No. 13 was filled with joy. He didn't even need to take the target out. Just observing and recording the report was worth 500 million. This job was worth it. The shadow in his heart was instantly dispelled.

"Good luck, No. 13," the woman said leisurely.

After the recording ended, No. 13 put his phone in his trouser pocket and continued his trek. The further he went, the more humid the air became. Water droplets condensed on the top of the passage and dripped down. The water under his feet gradually flooded over the soles of No. 13's shoes. Now he was no longer an elegant bat, but just a water rat in the sewer.

"Good luck, No. 13." He suddenly remembered the woman's last words.

It was really strange that the last sentence was actually addressed to him alone. Originally, No. 13 thought that this recorded reminder was prepared for everyone in the team.

...

...

“You don’t have any spiritual power?” Lu Mingfei was very curious.

He and Nuonuo were on their way back to the college. Nuonuo was driving, and a woman was happily singing "Dou Ya Dou Ya Dou Di Zhu" on the car stereo. Nuonuo's MP3 contained all kinds of strange songs, rap, Nordic mysterious themes, hymns, and this ubiquitous "Dou Ya Dou Ya Dou Di Zhu". After watching the fireworks, both of them were very happy.

Nuo Nuo said that her way of collecting music is like a garbage collector, who walks on the street with a basket on her back, and puts the good things she sees into her basket, without sorting or organizing them. When she has time, she turns the basket upside down and dumps the good things all over the floor, looking here and there, with no pattern at all. Lu Mingfei admires Nuo Nuo's way of collecting, and he himself once yearned for the irresponsible life of garbage collecting.

"Really not, although many people don't believe it." Nono shrugged, "I resonate with the dragon words, but I can't control the words. Professor Mance is also very troubled."

"How many kinds of spirit words are there in total?" Lu Mingfei leaned on the passenger seat, watching the wind blowing Nuo Nuo's long hair like a puff of dark red flames.

"There are a total of 118 types of Word Spirits recorded so far. When combined, they can form something like a periodic table. The higher the serial number, the more unstable and dangerous the Word Spirit is, and the more severe the backlash to the person who uses it." Nono said, "These will be taught in the 'Introduction to Word Spirit Studies' class next semester."

"What is the most powerful word spirit?"

“不知道。序列号在88位以后的言灵都不稳定，89到100位评级是‘危险’，101到112位评级时‘高危’，113号以后评级是‘绝密’。”

"Top secret?"

"It means that even if the Word Spirits after No. 113 have been observed, their information will not be made public, and their danger is inestimable. The most dangerous Word Spirit I know of is the 112th Word Spirit, 'Rhine'. It was used in Tunguska in the 19th century. A team of dragon slayers entered Tunguska, and no one left alive. A shock wave similar to a nuclear explosion was observed there, and hundreds of hectares of forest land fell. The light emitted could be seen as far as the Rhine River. That's why it was called 'Rhine'. The research department speculates that 'Rhine' is a very consuming Word Spirit. It only lasted for 0.003 seconds, and the releaser was completely exhausted in an instant."

"Tunguska explosion?"

"Well, the name of this event at Kassel Academy is 'Rhine Burning'."

“With such a powerful force, it can only be ranked 112th?” Lu Mingfei was dumbfounded. “Then what is the Word Spirit of 118th? It seems to be only times the Kaio-ken!”

"No, it's definitely a Super Saiyan transformation!" Nono shook his head and talked nonsense with him.

“Do you have a spiritual power like Turtle Wave Qigong?” Lu Mingfei gestured, “Look at me, look at me, it’s like this. One person driving the car and another person sitting in the passenger seat performing Turtle Wave Qigong, isn’t it a tank? Boom!” He pushed forward with both hands.

Nuonuo imagined the scene described by Lu Mingfei and couldn't help laughing out loud, shaking with fear.

"Be careful, be careful! Don't let joy turn into sorrow!" Lu Mingfei shouted.

Neither of them spoke for a while. The dark mountain road was illuminated by car lights. The cries of wild owls swept through the sky. They were driving a sports car. The boy was wearing a rented suit and the girl was wearing a purple suit. The wind blew strongly in their faces, lifting their hair. The boy's hair was disheveled and the girl's hair was flowing. There was a fight going on on the mountainside and the happy game "Dou Ya Dou Ya Dou Dizhu" was playing in their car.

"Senior Sister, can your cell phone take pictures?" Lu Mingfei suddenly asked.

"Sure," Nuonuo said, throwing her phone to Lu Mingfei, "Don't peek at my text messages."

"Come on, let's take a photo." Lu Mingfei said, waving his cell phone.

"Hey, stop being weird! How can we take a photo at 60 kilometers per hour on a mountain road?"

"If it's inconvenient for you to move, just turn sideways." Lu Mingfei turned around, half leaned on Nuo Nuo, stretched out one hand, held the mobile phone and took a selfie.

He wondered how many times in his life there would be such moments, when everything else in the world would be left behind in a speeding sports car. With other people's fighting and killing as the backdrop, a man and a woman were running as fast as lightning, talking and laughing loudly, as if they were escaping or eloping.

He had heard that Cao Cao had a good horse named "Jueying", which was so fast that even his shadow could not catch up with it. Lu Mingfei thought that the horse should be covered in golden fur, always running in the sun, with the boundary between light and darkness always behind it. Whenever the darkness was about to catch up with it, it would run wildly again. But when he was playing Dynasty Warriors, he found that the horse was painted black.

They were running at this moment, not knowing where to go, just at random, like a knight or a heroine who had gone crazy and kicked someone's place, and decided to roam the rivers and lakes from then on, with the whole world shouting and killing them behind them. As long as they ran fast enough, they could get away, if they were riding "Jueying".

He wanted to record this moment, this escape.

It was a long time later that he realized that the so-called "Jue Ying" was just a legend. The Bugatti Veyron is the fastest mass-produced sports car in the world, but it cannot outrun time or its already predetermined fate.

The moment he pressed the shutter, Nuo Nuo freed one hand from the steering wheel and pinched Lu Mingfei's nose hard, while quickly turning her head and sticking out her tongue to make a face.

After a "click", Lu Mingfei's face with eyes wide open in shock was frozen on a small dot on the flash memory, and Nuo Nuo's arm crossed over his neck and squeezed his neck.

...

…No. 13 was still trudging. He had to prepare to swim. The passage began to slope downwards. The condensed water above dripped down with a crackling sound. He felt like he was walking in a rainstorm. The water was knee-deep and every step was very strenuous. There was a red flashing light ahead, and No. 13 guessed that he was almost at the end.

His feet were empty, he lost his support, and his body was completely floating in the water. The water was cold and salty, like sea water, but fortunately it was clean and transparent. No. 13 took a deep breath and dived in. He immediately regretted it after the dive. The shotgun ammunition was definitely useless after being soaked in water, and even worse was the cell phone.

He quickly emerged from the water and shook off the water droplets on the phone, then pressed the power button. However, the battery was soaked through by the water, and no matter how hard he pressed, there was no response. This phone was mailed to him by his employer before the mission began. It was just an ordinary item and not valuable. However, he had not received the last instruction, so he had to go it alone.

Anyway, it's just a matter of finding the target and writing a report! Speaking of writing reports, No. 13 is quite good at it. He practices his writing skills by writing battle reports on some real-time strategy game websites.

He threw his cell phone into the water, dived down again, and swam slowly towards the place where the red light was flashing.

The phone slowly sank into the water and got stuck in a crack.

No. 13 finally found the flashing red light. He was next to an old gate facility. The gate was located at the end of the passage. It was made of brass and was severely rusted. The corners were stamped with German to mark the time and the name of the factory that cast the gate. The year was 1912, nearly a century ago. At that time, Germany's casting technology was the most advanced in the world. This thing must have cost a lot to be shipped across the ocean to the United States.

1912, a long, long time ago.

No. 13 gripped the gate handle tightly, wondering what he would see when he opened the gate. That nasty feeling came back again, as if something bad would happen if he opened the gate.

It's that feeling where everything is obviously normal, but you really want to give up the 500 million dollars and turn around and run away the same way you came.

"elder brother."

He got goosebumps all over his body and turned around suddenly. There was no one behind him, just the sound of rippling water. Was it an auditory hallucination? He had no brother and was an orphan from head to toe.

He leaned against the gate and accidentally pressed down the handle.

"Ah!" he screamed.

The gates opened. Instantly, he lost his balance and fell with tens or hundreds of tons of salt water, like rushing out of Niagara Falls in a small kayak. No. 13 closed his eyes tightly until a "plop" sound came, and his body was wrapped in bubbles. He fell into the water.

No. 13 slowly opened his eyes and looked around. He was immersed in light blue water, surrounded by towering glass walls, with ice-blue lights embedded in the glass walls. The light was refracted and changed in this world of glass and water. It looked a little familiar.

"Water...aquarium?" No. 13 realized that he had fallen into an aquarium pool.

He had visited the Brooklyn Aquarium and watched turtles with the cheerleader in his high school class who loved marine life, but then the cheerleader stopped dating him, so he stopped going to the aquarium. He now sees the aquarium from the perspective of a turtle in the aquarium, which is different from looking at it from the outside through the glass.

"Is this such a big pond for raising turtles? Or..." No. 13 suddenly shuddered. He realized that the pond was too big.

"Shark?" This was the second half of the sentence.

No. 13 slowly turned around, and a pair of eyes as big as ping-pong balls were staring at him curiously. A real great white shark, probably to prove that it was a young shark with chewing ability, the great white shark slowly opened its mouth, revealing its thorny teeth.

"Come on...if you have the guts!" No. 13 said tremblingly.

The shark did not attack, but slowly shook its fins and tail. It was not advancing, but retreating silently. The distance between it and No. 13 gradually increased, like a wolf retreating in a planned manner when facing a wild boar. When the distance was about 10 meters, the great white shark suddenly turned around, dived underwater at high speed, and dived into the artificial reef cave. In an instant, red blood mist surged up from the reef cave, and then a big fish that had been bitten to death was thrown out. The shark bit the big fish to death and occupied its cave, as if to avoid danger.

"I told you you're a coward!" No. 13 gasped.

This was his natural ability, and it was also the reason why he was disliked by the beautiful cheerleader. All animals dared not approach him, from rabbits to turtles. When he was a child, he stood by the rabbit cage with a carrot for hours, and the rabbit just huddled in the corner and panted.

"Am I an annoying person?" No. 13 always had low self-esteem when he was a child.

But this time he was very grateful for the trait.

He swam hard to the glass wall, and the rope gun worked again, and he pulled the rope and flipped out.

"Kassel College, Water Ecological Pool No. 7, Main Habitat Species: Pliosauroidea." He read the sign on the glass wall.

No. 13 had no idea about the Greek word "Pliosauroidea", so he simply thought it was the biological classification name of the great white shark, and thus confused who was the prey and who was the predator in the huge seawater pool. He did not see the real owner of the pool.

He walked carefully through the passage between the glass walls. He didn't know how long he had walked before he finally saw the sign at the end of the underwater passage.
"icehouse"!
...

...

Shikodi District.

"Very good, let go." Someone clapped their hands.

After the four mechanical arms moved away, the brass tank was steadily suspended in the superconducting magnetic field of low-temperature liquid nitrogen, surrounded by a half-meter thick quartz glass wall. It was sleeping like a developing fetus, and the mother body was this specially made oval quartz glass cover.

"Perfect!" the researchers in white lab coats applauded.

"Let me happily announce that we have successfully captured Dragon King Norton." Principal Ange raised his glass. "We paid a heavy price to capture one of the 'four great monarchs' of the first generation of dragons, but it was worth it. Ladies and gentlemen, let's toast to those who have dedicated themselves to our cause."

The researchers all raised their glasses solemnly.

"In the past thousands of years," the principal sighed, "we have used alchemical tools, cold weapons and even evil witchcraft as weapons to fight against the dragons, and paid a heavy price. However, due to the limitations of human beings, all we can do is to make great sacrifices and put the dragon kings to sleep. They will 'cocoon', but their powerful spirits will still exist, waiting to be resurrected again."

"But now we have the weapon to destroy them once and for all!" He raised his voice. "That is science!"

The researchers applauded in unison. For these nerdy researchers, it was the greatest encouragement to see the science they had devoted their entire lives to be so appreciated.

"For hundreds of years, research on dragon genes, alchemy technology, and word spirits has also allowed us to learn more about dragons. But so far we have not been able to obtain a perfect specimen. Living dragons and complete skeletons are too difficult to obtain. The only living creatures captured are cubs, which are not fully developed and lack sufficient research value." The principal pointed to the copper jar isolated in the sealed glass chamber, "But today will be a historic day. Let us witness a miracle in the history of science. We will... dissect the Dragon King!"

There was thunderous applause as the dragon king was dissected. Perhaps the only thing that could be compared to the dissection of aliens at Area 51 in Nevada was the dissection of aliens.

"Is there any living thing in the brass jar?" The researcher raised his hand.

"It is not certain that the brass jar was cast in about 33 AD. This is a bone vase, and its owner was Li Xiong, a minister of Gongsun Shu, the ruler of Sichuan, China at that time. This man persuaded Gongsun Shu to become emperor, and showed Gongsun Shu the miracle of 'dragon coming out of the palace', so Gongsun Shu became emperor, and the reign was 'Longxing'. Li Xiong believed that according to the Chinese element theory, Gongsun Shu represented the west and belonged to 'gold'. He had a strange prophecy, 'eight Si Zi Xi, twelve period', which was a bad omen, 'eight Si' is the Chinese character 'gong ', Zixi means 'Sun', and 'Twelve Periods' means that Gongsun Shu was emperor for only twelve years. Sure enough, twelve years later, Gongsun Shu died at the hands of Liu Xiu, another ruler of China. As for Li Xiong, history does not record his fate. "The principal stared at the bronze jar, "That bronze jar is the coffin that Li Xiong cast for himself, and it is also his egg, which is used to hatch a new body. He placed the egg deep in the Bronze City to prevent it from being discovered by outsiders. Li Xiong is another name for the Dragon King Norton. He crossed the Eurasian continent to China. "

"Is this bone bottle, or egg, safe?" Another person raised his hand.

"It's safe. This jar is not really made of copper, but some unknown alchemical material. Norton is the king of bronze and fire. Flame and metal are important forces to awaken him, except for the egg itself. So the thing that seals him must not be made of metal. We designed this quartz glass chamber to house him for the same purpose. He is now in a low temperature, metal-free environment, and the uniform strong magnetic field keeps him suspended in the air." The principal paused, "This is the power of science!"

"The mistake made a hundred years ago must not be repeated," the principal whispered.

The researchers did not understand the meaning of his last sentence and just applauded. The scientists were full of anticipation, feeling lucky to witness this great moment in the history of science.

"Principal, what's going on with the gap on the copper jar?" Someone discovered that the upper part of the copper jar was cracked, and the black crack extended towards the inside of the jar.

"Professor Mans from the Executive Department used 'grey tin solution' on him. This is a liquid we obtained from an ancient Egyptian tomb. It is the only liquid that can corrode this alchemical material so far." The principal hesitated for a moment, "Why don't we start an MRI scan on it first?"

The results of the MRI scan were displayed on the huge screen, and in an instant, everyone's face changed.

A huge chill suddenly descended upon everyone's heart, and they realized that they had been too optimistic too early.

"Two cavities." Someone whispered.

"An empty one!" someone else said.

The internal structure of the copper pot was clearly visible, divided into two halves, one half seemed to contain a giant fetus, and the other half was empty. The disturbing crack was located right above the cavity!
"Something... escaped from inside!" the headmaster whispered, "Damn it, that gap wasn't caused by the gray tin solution... it's an old wound, a crack in... the dragon egg!"

He didn't say the last sentence, "That's the crack where the dragon eggs hatch!"

No. 13 stood in the crowd. At this moment, he was an assistant experimenter wearing a mask.

The journey was really smooth, and the road signs were very considerate. Finally, he entered a huge comprehensive laboratory. A group of men were taking a shower in the bathroom, excitedly discussing something that had just been delivered. No. 13 was keenly aware that the thing might be his target. He thought about it, took off all his clothes, and walked directly into the steaming bathroom.

There were dozens of naked men in the white steam room. No. 13 walked to a corner, said hello to the man taking a shower there, then knocked him out with one blow and hid him naked in a closet. In the sealed plastic bag in the closet was a sterile suit. After putting it on from head to toe, the protection was so tight that it seemed like he was going to land on the moon.

No. 13 realized that what was going to happen next was going to excite him.

What excited him was not the great moment in scientific history, but...500 million US dollars.

So far, everything has gone well. In this sealed glass laboratory, everyone was so excited that no one noticed him, the assistant experimenter. He even took off his mask and drank a glass of champagne to celebrate the success. He was a casual guy. He nodded when others nodded, applauded when others applauded, and drank when others drank.

He was just waiting for a suitable opportunity to get close and "observe with the naked eye" the copper jar so that he could go back and write a report.

"Do the autopsy right away," the principal said. "This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. We can't delay."

"Prepare the autopsy equipment cart." said the principal.

No. 13 was so excited. It was like someone threw him a pillow when he wanted to sleep. He was pushing the equipment cart, which displayed various transparent tools for nanomaterials.

"For safety reasons, only those in charge of the equipment can enter. The rest will be handled by the mechanical equipment." The principal turned to No. 13 with an expectant expression, "Are you ready?"

No. 13 could only nod vigorously. He had no idea what the Dragon King these people were talking about was. He had dissected a frog in high school biology class, but that knowledge was probably not enough for him to handle this level. Fortunately, he still had a sawed-off shotgun and a few soaked ammunition stuffed under his sterile suit, which gave him a little more confidence.

The cryogenic hatch slid open, and the white vapor from the evaporating liquid nitrogen rushed out and hit the mask, and No. 13 felt a burst of cold.

Everything in the cryogenic chamber was white, with liquid nitrogen vapor filling the air. Fluorescent blue lights flickered, and in the center was the oval quartz glass chamber with a huge copper tank inside.

For a moment he had an illusion that he was standing on an endless snowy plain, and from a distance beyond his sight came a low voice calling, "Brother."

(End of this chapter)