The Heavens: A Qing, the Yue Girl at the beginning

Raindrops tumbled down the bamboo ribs of the oil-paper umbrellas. Yuan Zhisheng looked at the collapsed scaffolding on the other side of the moat, and the remains of the crane soaked in the oily water. In the distance, the thunder in the direction of Sagami Bay was muffled in the clouds, like a muffled war drum.

"Principal Ange? He is like a thunderstorm cloud on the top of Mount Fuji. You can never guess whether there is a folding knife or a cigar hidden in his suit pocket." He paused, "But he said in the first lesson of Dragon Genealogy that the destiny of hybrids is to become bridges rather than dams."

"After the President's Scholarship Award Ceremony in early spring this year, the president invited me to have afternoon tea with him. He opened a bottle of 1926 Macallan. After three cups, I asked him, how much can a person pay for justice?"

Moss crawled along the stone lantern into his narration, and a Maritime Self-Defense Force helicopter was flying over the rain with a sonar array hanging from it.

"Pay a death made of iron and blood?"

Lancelot pulled out an old cover poster of Half-Blood Times. In the composition, Angers was divided into light and dark sides. The young man on the left was leaning against the charred ruins in a daze, while the white-haired old man on the right raised his glass to the camera with a bright red rose on his chest:

"Being able to fight alongside the greatest dragon slayer in the world is the ultimate dream of countless people who enroll in Kassel and join the Secret Party."

"When the first cup was finished, the principal asked me if I knew Benedict." Yuan Zhisheng stared at the broken cloud shadows in the moat, as if he saw the light spots falling on the oak table through the stained glass that day, "That's the American who wrote The Chrysanthemum and the Sword."

"Of course I know. She analyzed the sense of shame and group consciousness in Japanese culture." Lancelot took out a waterproof black pen and wrote down notes on the back of the poster, just like a fan chasing a star: "What does Principal Angers think of this book?"

"He said Benedict was only half right."

Gen Chisei's voice became damp with the sound of rain, "R himself does live in a web of affection and obligation, but the deeper driving force is 'mono no aware' - the kind of madness of dancing the last dance when the cherry blossoms are in full bloom even though one knows the ending is doomed to destruction."

"So Principal Ange thinks this is exactly the spirit that half-bloods need? Something like 'Blood Sorrow'?" Chu Zihang suddenly interrupted. He seemed to be listening attentively, but in fact he was sliding his thumb quickly on the screen of his mobile phone. The modified NEC N940 was frantically refreshing the real-time information.

Thanks to the powerful hacking technology behind him, he successfully obtained a virtual account in the encrypted discussion group of the "Freedom Flag" operation of the M-Day Joint Command, and could browse various internal communications.

In the chat box, a colonel of the Seventh Fleet just posted an emoticon of the Statue of Liberty punching Godzilla.

I have to say, as a Chinese middle school student, secretly spying on the M Army's top brass' exchanges and latest battle reports mixed with emojis seems to be more attractive than Yuan Zhisheng's personal experience and Angers' remarks, and can better satisfy Chu Zihang's desire to explore gossip.

"He said it was a double-edged sword."

Yuan Zhisheng sighed, "It can make people die for their beliefs, but it can also make people shine beyond common sense in desperate situations." A prematurely withered cherry petal stuck to his shoulder, like a solidified blood scab. "Justice is always looking down from a high place, while we are always looking up from the mud."

“If you feel doubt and pain, it is because you are following the ‘righteousness’ taught by others, not your own heart.”

"It is indeed the old gentleman who has lived a legendary life." The cover of Lancelot's pocket watch popped open, revealing the dial engraved with the poem "Nibelungenlied". The French boy suddenly recited a line that the principal often quoted in German: "I know that this world is as short as dew, but..."

Halfway through his speech, he took out a gold-plated cigarette case from his suit pocket, and put it back with regret after discovering that it was soaked by rain. "So what major did Yuan-jun choose? Bloodline studies? Alchemical engineering? It can't be dragon genealogy, right?"

Yuan Zhisheng bent down to pick up the fallen kerria flowers, and the tender yellow petals stuck to the calluses on his index finger: "Department of Philosophy. Hegel's Absolute Spirit, Schopenhauer's Representation of Will - although most of the time I help professors organize the records of ethical contradictions of mixed-race families in the Edo period."

Lancelot whistled, startling the dark-feathered starlings on the pine branches. "As expected of the heir of the Snake Family, even your course selection has the aura of a martyr. But I thought you would be more inclined to practical subjects? Such as high-energy physics? The scientific and technological level of the Ganliu Research Institute is said to be comparable to that of the headquarters?"

"The young people in my family are striving to be the best, but I seem to have lost my vitality... I can only hope that philosophy can help me find myself again."

Yuan Zhisheng kicked away a loose pebble at his feet and watched it fall into the stream, scaring away the koi. "But what I didn't expect was that the first lesson I learned in the philosophy department of Kassel was -"

"The greatest human virtue is revenge."

"This topic is a bit heavy." Lancelot tried to change the topic again: "Let's talk about our daily experiences in the academy?"

“The philosophy department’s class schedule looks like Dante’s map of Inferno.”

Yuan Zhisheng answered quickly this time: "On Monday morning at 8 o'clock, I will study "Being and Time" intensively, on Tuesday afternoon, I will discuss "The Birth of Tragedy", and on Wednesday night, I will listen to Professor Schneider's "Heidegger's Metaphors in Dragon Language" - he always translates "Dasein" into "Dragon Power Field."

"This is exactly the life I long for!" Lancelot asked, "Does Professor Schneider always wear a gas mask? I heard that he was burned by the breath of the Dragon King in Greenland."

"The gas mask is a rumor."

Yuan Zhisheng tilted the oil-paper umbrella slightly to let the water dripping from the pine branches pass through. "But Professor Schneider always wears a special respirator and has a hoarse voice. When I transfer to the Intelligence Analysis Department next semester, I may have a deeper understanding of this executive department head."

"Recently, I've been taking classes in cryptography and behavioral psychology, remote sensing mapping... I even had to learn how to use satellite photos to determine the reflective angle of dragon scales."

As he said this, he was looking at the old imperial palace on the other side of the moat. The golden dragons on the eaves flickered in the sunlight filtering through the clouds, like some kind of ancient mockery.

"To better inherit the family?" Lancelot asked.

"No, it's for living." Yuan Zhisheng had obviously prepared the answer long ago: "The philosophy department taught me how to face death, and the intelligence department can teach me how to postpone this moment."

“Analytical intelligence is really important.”

Chu Zihang paused with his thumb on the phone screen. Dozens of messages suddenly appeared in the encrypted group, and the White House spokesperson's profile picture was refreshing the screen: "... Firmly believe that the values ​​of the free world will eventually defeat the ancient evil dragon... [Stars and Stripes][Muscles][Flame]"

The live video of Tokyo Bay was printed with the words "OPERATION IRON SAMURAI" in bold, and the small words below it read "An overwhelming victory over the supernatural threat has been achieved." The content showed the burning remains of Shikamaru being dragged onto the ship, with seventeen malfunctioning Harpoon missiles stuck in the charred skeleton.

But when the commander of the Seventh Fleet just released a photo of a Japanese warship that was broken in half and gradually sinking, the comment section was filled with barrages of "JAPANESESTEEL=TOILETPAPER[shit]", and a user with a star-spangled banner avatar was explaining: "Japanese soul and foreign talent? It's better to call it Japanese soul waste material!"

To put it simply, at 8:32 a.m. today, the Seventh Fleet and the Maritime Self-Defense Force Combined Fleet encountered a large-scale attack by Shimori swarms off the coast of Sagami Bay. Prior to this, the fleet was fighting a group of Deviltoothed Vipers that were gnawing at the hull of the ship, and the Kongo-class destroyer "Kirishima" was attacked by Shimori swarms, and the hull was torn in two and sank.

8时47分，在舰炮、鱼叉导弹及战斧巡航导弹的饱和打击下，北纬34°41’，东经139°48’海域确认终止所有生物信号。经第七舰队与海自联合清点，13017具尸守残骸已沉降至3000米以下海沟。

Although ordinary corpse guards can be considered tough and can almost ignore attacks from ordinary pistols and rifles, and even the alchemical bullets fired by heavy sniper rifles may not be fatal, they cannot withstand the high-speed strafing of 20mm caliber armor-piercing discarding sabot bullets when encountering the CIWS. They are shot into sieves and bloody flesh residues in the blink of an eye.

Even if they were hybrids of the Age of Gods with "royal blood", without the help of defensive spirit realms such as the Dustless Land, they would not be a match for modern military weapons if they simply charged forward mindlessly, and would be easily wiped out in large numbers.

But it's different for the Corpse Guardian King, a high-level dragon with a title. The strength of its skeleton, which has been processed through alchemy, has far exceeded all materials that can be made by humans. It is completely unharmed by the Vulcan cannon, and the 127mm naval gun only leaves a shallow pit of half a centimeter.

Its main skeleton is half a meter or even one or two meters thick, and its total weight is over three hundred tons, but it can swing its blade-shaped tailbone to produce a sonic boom. Its movement speed is far beyond that of a warship, and it also has a small-scale elemental turbulence that interferes with electromagnetic signals. It is indeed quite difficult to fight against it, and it is not on the same level as the miscellaneous soldiers.

Therefore, it took a lot of ammunition to destroy this giant monster. Hundreds of heavy bombs and anti-ship missiles were used to barely deplete the dragon-shaped corpse's health bar - and this was under the guidance of professional secret party personnel, focusing on the spine and back of the head.

However, the fact that such a super target can be destroyed with just a few thousand tons of ammunition has given the Pentagon full confidence.

After all, in the eyes of the high-ranking officers of the M Army who have never seen the Word Spirit, there should be no essential difference between living ancient dragons and dragon zombies. Conventional weapons can do the job, let alone dropping nuclear bombs?

During this period, the latest assessment report that "the Japanese ship's steel did not meet the standards, resulting in increased war damage" immediately caused a huge uproar in the encrypted group. Comments such as "R should have thanked us for using missiles to sweep their graves! [fist][Stars and Stripes][flame]", "Craftsman spirit [bow][sweat]", and "WTF?!!! [thumbs down][explosion]" emerged one after another.

According to reliable intelligence, an anonymous source from the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry revealed that Kobe Steel, the supplier of SHU800 steel for the sunken ship, was confirmed to have systematically falsified the strength parameters of ship steel since 1998 (the yield strength was falsely marked by 20%).

Also exposed were scandals such as the tolerance exceeding the standard for shipborne radar cooling components, the shoddy workmanship in the destroyer's welding process, and even the involvement of data tampering in the landing gear materials of the Self-Defense Forces' F-15J fighter jets. These were truly shocking and diluted the joy of "defeating the group of corpse guards."

[Raytheon Consultant]: Latest news! Kobe Steel's fraud involves submarine pressure hulls! A record number of bows! It seems someone is better at gnawing steel than the dragon viper! Followed by nine folded hands [praying] expressions.

Chu Zihang kept pressing and collecting this post expressionlessly, and continued browsing. [V Corps Commander]: JAPAN QUALITY = [shit][shit][shit]! @ [Seventh Fleet Commander]: But our gundam shattered those skeletons! [Muscle][Stars and Stripes]
[Liberty Flag-Lt. General Anderson]: NIPPON STEEL=TOILET PAPER! Just gave those bowing monsters a lesson in quality control with Tomahawk missiles [Stars and Stripes][Explosion]
[Seventh Fleet - Rear Admiral Harper]: It is recommended to put the Kobe Steel director into the torpedo tube and launch it to give the Dragon Viper a snack [fist] (Attached: The latest inspection report of Yokosuka Shipyard.pdf)

[CIA-Tokyo Station]: Just intercepted the Ministry of Defense's encrypted communications. They were discussing using geisha apprentices to replace steel inspectors [Kimono][Bomb] It has been confirmed that Mitsubishi Heavy Industries provided defective welded parts for the submarine involved. The press conference is scheduled for 10:00.

"To be more specific, the philosophy department is more suitable for thinking about the deconstruction of modernity by the revival of dragons."

Yuan Zhisheng didn't notice Chu Zihang's strangeness, and continued talking while taking out a Zippo and lighting a Seven Star cigarette: "But intelligence analysis can help me understand the mathematical model of Morgan Stanley's shorting of the yen - for example, how they used the futures contracts of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange to transform the dragon viper disaster into the underlying asset of the credit default swap."

Lancelot sniffed the tobacco scent in the rain and suddenly thought of his classmates discussing deconstruction in a café on the Left Bank of Paris. Compared with the warship wreckage floating in Tokyo Bay, those debates wrapped in the mist of Blue Mountain coffee were as light as fallen leaves on the surface of the Seine.

"But after finishing these works, I want to find a place to rest for a long time."

Yuan Zhisheng scattered the remaining petals of Deutzia onto the water, watching them drifting towards the shrine. He then said, "Move abroad to a place with beautiful scenery and human habitation, eat and wait for death. I heard that southern France is nice?"

"Saint-Remy of Provence?" Lancelot's eyes lit up. "Van Gogh painted the cypress trees in 'Starry Night' there. But now there are so many tourists that they can collapse the stone steps of Saint-Paul Abbey..."

"Lavender fields give people the illusion that time has stopped, but the best place to relax and stay may be Chamonix at the foot of the Alps, the venue for the 1924 Winter Olympics. The mixed-race avalanche rescue team there registered and used the Word Spirit and Dust-free Land to clean the ice crevasses where climbers were in danger."

"The ice and snow don't seem to be suitable for lying down." Yuan Zhisheng put out his cigarette butt on the mottled stone lantern, and the sparks went out in the rain. "A certain issue of National Geographic said that in some villages in Normandy, you can see cliffs covered with poppies when you open the window?"

"You don't want to be an orange farmer, do you?"

Lancelot suddenly realized something: "Wait - Yuan Jun, aren't you the young master of the Sheqi Eight Clan? Can those old men in straight clothes let you go? The young master did not take over the position of the head of the family, but chose to retire early? Can you really leave as soon as you say so?"

"It is because of you, the young master, that I am tired and want to escape."

Yuan Zhisheng took out the Showa silver coin and threw it into the air again. The coin flipped and brought up small raindrops. "Every day I have to play the role of a perfect samurai sword. The blade cannot bend and the sheath cannot be rusted. But in my heart, it has long been an antique that even vending machines refuse to accept."

"Don't you Europeans have a proverb? 'Carved gods never smile'."

"Do you have any other places to recommend?" His eyes swept over Chu Zihang who was looking at another piece of news, hoping that this silent friend could also give some suggestions.

Lancelot continued speaking: "In Colmar, Alsace, geraniums are hung on the wooden houses along the canal, and the aroma of croissants wafts from the bakery at five in the morning." He suddenly showed a sly smile, "Or go to the Cote d'Azur and count the bikini girls on yachts - of course, this is not the option you would choose."

"Twenty kilometers west of the Palace of Versailles."

Chu Zihang tapped the edge of his phone twice while speaking, but his eyes were still fixed on the screen. The Seventh Fleet staff was uploading a nine-square grid photo of a Self-Defense Force officer kneeling down and apologizing.

So he long-pressed the save button and marked the file name as "43rd bow material.mp4".

"What?" Yuan Zhisheng was stunned by these incoherent words.

"There are many blind spots for surveillance, which is suitable for concealing one's whereabouts." Chu Zihang replied immediately: "During the flowering period, the purple irises cover 30 kilometers, and the probability of drone tracking failure increases significantly."

Lancelot's cane slipped on the pebbles. "Dear Chu, we are discussing retirement resorts, not planning a coup! Do we even need to do a SWOT analysis when choosing a resort?"

Yuan Zhisheng actually took out a black leather notebook and scribbled with a Montblanc fountain pen: "Specific coordinates?"

"The Royal Forest of Montsoreau."

Chu Zihang glanced at the group chat one last time before turning his head. The CIA Tokyo Station had just shared a video of a wrench hitting the submarine's pressure hull. The 12-centimeter-thick HY-80 steel plate shattered like a wafer biscuit. "The th-century hunting palace was converted into a bed and breakfast. The underground wine cellar leads directly to a tributary of the Loire River and can be used for emergency evacuation."

Lancelot's eyes widened. "The iris fields in Montsoreau Forest are indeed suitable for stealth - but have you even investigated the drainage system?"

He turned to look at Chu Zihang with a mixture of wonder and caution, as if he was looking at a humanoid self-propelled military satellite: "Can you directly become a professor in the Intelligence Analysis Department?"

“The crime rate index is also an important reference.”

Chu Zihang turned his phone horizontally to display a 2003D map. The patrol routes of the police in the Montsoreau area were flashing red and blue dots. "In 14, the number of local burglaries decreased by 37% year-on-year, but the number of attacks by wild animals increased by % due to climate warming."

"Could you have hacked into the Interpol database?" Lancelot pretended to wipe the cold sweat off his face, but in fact he secretly took out a miniature camera and took a picture of the software used by the other party, intending to identify it later and ask his family to help download the same one.

“It’s just public information consolidation.”

Chu Zihang shook his head, and then caught a glimpse of a message mentioning Yuanshi Heavy Industry in the encrypted group. He looked back at Yuan Zhisheng with a strange look, and couldn't help but doubt the character of the other party and his family. When he pulled up, he found that the problem was with another R-based company.

[CIA-Tokyo Station]: Latest news! Sampling of the collapsed section of Yokosuka Third Breakwater shows that the actual strength of HRB500 steel bars provided by Sumitomo Metal Industries only meets the standard by 72%! This accident will lead to a significant increase in the attenuation rate of the ceramic-based protective layer - Genshiki Heavy Industries was backstabbed by its peers!
The comparison pictures uploaded by the Logistics Department are shocking: the special ceramic layer, which should have been silver-gray and dense, is now peeling off like a crisp eggshell, revealing the rusty rebar inside.

Thirty American-striped flag emojis instantly appeared in the comment section, mixed with insulting slogans such as “Made in Japan=Trashcan”.

Just as the sharp-eyed Lancelot was about to take a closer look at the contents, Chu Zihang made a decision and turned the screen of his mobile phone to Yuan Zhisheng: "Breakwater repair project. The ceramic layer you provided has abnormal stress distribution because the deformation of Sumitomo Metal's steel bars exceeded the standard."

Lancelot tiptoed closer to the screen, took a look and then opened his mouth wide: "Dear friend, are you sure this is public information? I bet 500 euros that this thing can hack into the Pentagon's intranet. Oh no... This seems to be the Pentagon's intranet?!!"

Yuan Zhisheng's pupils shrank slightly as he stared at a terrifying comparison picture: on the left was a mirror-like cross-section of a steel bar in a Sumitomo Metal brochure, while on the right was a low-quality product full of slag inclusions and bubbles under an electron microscope scan, with the caption "God! This is equivalent to equipping a safe with a cardboard lock!"

"You're seeing things. It's just the chat group members role-playing." Chu Zihang quickly locked the screen before Lancelot reached out, refusing to admit the accusation of violating the Espionage Act. "Besides, three hours ago, Tokyo TV's morning drama had already broadcast a special report on the breakwater collapse."

Yuan Zhisheng smiled self-deprecatingly, as if he saw the century-old reputation of the Snake Eight Family gradually peeling off with the ceramic protective layer: "The anti-corrosion coating data submitted by Maruyama Construction last week was based on the basic parameters provided by Sumitomo Metal..."

If even national-level projects are treated so frivolously, how long can the hybrids' defense line last?

He vaguely recalled the past of the town of Kadori, the torii gates washed away by mountain torrents, the amulets soaked in mud, and the morning bells that still rang on time in the rainstorm: "But it is meaningless to discuss who is responsible right now. Perhaps..."

"Perhaps we should resolve the immediate crisis first?"

Lancelot suddenly turned around, and his cane drew a silver arc in the rain. The tip of the umbrella was frozen three inches away from Yuan Zhisheng's throat, and the French boy's emerald pupils were gilded: "For example, how to verify the actual combat level of Kassel's top students?"

Chu Zihang said "hmm", put away his phone and clicked on the latest news:

[NSA-East Asia Division]: Holy shit! Moscow has revealed something explosive! @All members, please take a look at the screenshots of the cargo hold video uploaded by the FSB!
Illustration: In the freezing cold chamber, thousands of amber embryos are suspended in blue culture medium, each with sharp tooth-like structures visible to the naked eye.jpg[bomb][skull] This thing is more powerful than a Sidewinder missile!
##[Moscow 09:00 statement: The Aurora was seized in the Sea of ​​Okhotsk, and 3000 frozen dragon viper embryos were found in the cargo hold. The Russian Federal Security Service accused the ship of belonging to an offshore registered company and the purpose of the voyage was marked as "transport of ornamental fish". The Russian side cited Article 23 of the Geneva Convention (prohibition of the use of weapons that cause unnecessary suffering) and accused an "unnamed force" of attempting to weaponize the dragon viper. 】

【Attached video link:

】##
[DARPA-Biotechnology Group]: Pay attention to the barcode on the bottom of the can! The first three digits 782 are the postal code of Yokohama Port District! Is anyone trying to turn the Sea of ​​Okhotsk into the second Mariana Hell? @[Maritime Safety Agency-11th District] Come and claim your electronic pets [shit]
##【Without regular academic review, the World Health Organization suddenly included "Gold Iris Syndrome" in the provisional entry of the 13th edition of the International Classification of Diseases, describing it as "abnormal deposition of golden iris pigment with cognitive hyperactivity." This move caused an uproar in the medical community: William Coleman, professor of epidemiology at Johns Hopkins University, scoffed: "They might as well have included vampire fangs and werewolf hair!"】##
[Director of NIH Genetics]: WTF??? [Laughing and crying][Skull] According to this standard, Einstein's iris photo is enough to be diagnosed three times! (Photo: Einstein's iris AI colored gold pupil version.jpg)

[CIA-Paranormal Research Group]: You guessed it right, Einstein is indeed a GIS patient, you can see the latest archive decryption (with picture: Princeton Institute for Advanced Study on a rainy day, close-up of Einstein's golden pupils.jpg) Now 50,000 pairs of beauty contact lenses have been ordered to cover up the golden iris features of the relevant people, color number: Hawaiian Sunset Gold → Caramel Macchiato Brown [Glasses][Palette]
……

At almost the same time, thousands of miles away in Binhai City, as if startled by the sound of thunder and rain outside the window, Lu Mingfei, who seemed to have fallen asleep in front of the computer, suddenly sat up from the chair in the Internet cafe, with cold sweat on his back. (End of this chapter)