Dragon Clan: Avoid the College Entrance Examination to Slay the Dragon

Chapter 16 Chen Motong

The glass curtain wall reflected the blazing lights of the cars. Gu Yi leaned back on the sofa, lost in thought, when the soft sound of a metal door sliding open interrupted his thoughts. He looked up to see Chen Motong, stepping across the boundary between light and darkness in canvas shoes, the KFC bag rustling between her fingertips.

She threw the paper bag onto the coffee table and sat down opposite Gu Yi. "I've bought you dinner, a double cod burger with iced cola. Now can you listen to me talk business?"

Amid the rustling of plastic wrapping, the ceiling surveillance camera suddenly lit up red. Chen Motong, like a conjurer, produced a laser pointer. The emerald green beam pierced the lens's sensor with pinpoint accuracy. The smell of burning plastic echoed with her soft laughter. "Some old-timers just can't stop eavesdropping."

"So what exactly is that damn place?" Gu Yi picked up the hamburger. "Those monsters, and the man who attacked Chu Zihang."

"Before I answer your question..." Chen Motong pulled out a yellowed photo from the inner pocket of his windbreaker, "Answer me first, do you believe in the existence of dragons?"

Gu Yi frowned, "What do you mean? Have you ever seen a dragon?"

Two slender fingers pushed the photo across the glass coffee table. The image showed a massive skeleton immersed in a pitch-like liquid. Even through the paper, a certain pressure stemming from his bloodline tightened Gu Yi's throat. The skull alone was the size of a shipping container, its jagged bones piercing the viscous black liquid and pointing towards the sky.

"what is this?"

"Dragon," Chen Motong said. "This photo was taken in Texas, USA, in 1986. A construction team dug it up during construction. Not long after, they were all killed by the Deadpool in the tomb."

"Deadpool?"

"It's the kind of monster you encounter. When the proportion of dragon blood in a hybrid exceeds a critical value, human consciousness is gradually consumed by dragon instincts, and eventually it will become something like this."

"Half-blood? What's that?"

"Literally, a hybrid of human and dragon." She suddenly leaned forward, the fragrance of lily of the valley suddenly approaching. "For example, classmate Gu who is eating a cod burger, and for me sitting in front of you right now."

Gu Yi shook his head in denial, "Although I've never met my parents, according to my grandfather, they are definitely not dragons."

Chen Motong picked up a cup of Coke. "You haven't signed the Abrahamic Covenant yet, so there are many things I can't explain clearly. Being a hybrid doesn't mean you're a cross between a human and a dragon."

"So dragons really exist?" Gu Yi was shocked. He had thought of countless possibilities recently, but this was not one of them.

"Yes, when humans were still in the stage of eating raw meat and drinking blood, that was the peak of dragon civilization. They built cities that towered into the clouds... You will learn more about the details later."

"Then why did they disappear?" Gu Yi was a little curious. Since the dragon clan really existed and had a highly developed civilization, why was it that humans dominated the world now?
"You are still a commoner and haven't signed the Abrahamic Covenant. I can't tell you."

"So, is it because I'm a half-blood that I can use certain superpowers?"

"Yes. You said that superpower is called the Spirit of Words." Chen Motong took a sip of Coke. "We often say that Sumerian writing is the oldest writing in the world, but that's only for humans. There are languages ​​and writings much older than that, and that's dragon writing! Dragons are magnificent creatures. They can directly sense the five basic elements that make up this world and call upon them using their own language."

"The man who attacked Chu Zihang also used a Word Spirit? He's a criminal?" Chen Motong nodded. "His Word Spirit is called 'Fake', and it's a very terrifying Word Spirit. He's committed many horrific crimes around the world, and the Executive Bureau has been unable to catch him. They only recently received intelligence that he would appear in this city. So Li Chengze came here as a special commissioner, and I was forced by my family to do odd jobs."

"From what you said, you are not from the Execution Bureau?" Gu Yi paused his hand that was holding the hamburger wrapper. He always thought that this girl was also from the Execution Bureau.

"Of course not," she said, bending her long legs wrapped in her pants. "I'm not even an intern specialist. It's just that my family insisted that I see the world before I start school."

"So what else can you tell me?"

"Wait till you sign the Abrahamic Covenant..."

"Okay, okay, got it." Gu Yi tossed the half-eaten burger back into the carton, the ketchup trembling on the lettuce. As he sank back into the sofa, the chandelier hanging from the ceiling reflected golden light in Chen Motong's pupils.

The girl picked up her Coke again. "I've got nothing to do anyway. I heard your Word Spirit has awakened? Let me see what kind of Word Spirit it is that has Li Chengze personally following you. It can't be the kind that can blow up half a building, right?"

"It's not that exaggerated." Gu Yi looked at the chandelier swaying in the air-conditioning, the metal chain making a very light humming sound, "but it's hard to describe."

Chen Motong suddenly slapped the coffee table, and the ice cubes made a clear sound in the Coke cup: "Then let's demonstrate it."

The golden light in Gu Yi's eyes suddenly lit up like a magnesium rod being ignited. Chen Motong felt a sudden sense of weightlessness at his fingertips. The Coke cup he had just held was now condensing with water droplets on the other side of the coffee table, and the icy mist on the outer edge of the cup was slowly rising at a speed visible to the naked eye.

"You are..." Chen Motong was stunned.

"Wait." Gu Yi interrupted her. "It seems I can bring you in."

A golden French fry leaped into the air. In Chen Motong's reflection, the fried food suddenly froze in mid-air, the fine crumbs of bread crumbs like enchanted stardust, retaining the perfect shape of the moment it burst forth.

Absolute silence washed over the room like a tide. The air from the central air conditioning vents stagnated into transparent ribbons, and the flashing car lights outside the window formed a continuous light trail on the glass curtain wall. Chen Motong's ears were filled with the roar of her own blood. Tentatively, she reached out to touch the ketchup hovering before her eyes—the sticky red thread stretched out a crystalline bridge at her fingertips, but it refused to fall.

"Time Zero?" She heard her own voice remarkably clear in the frozen space and time, like broken jade thrown into an icy lake. "Is it a Word Spirit of this caliber?"

All the suspended objects suddenly fell, and the French fries hit the glass table with a dull thud. The golden flame in Gu Yi's eyes suddenly went out, and cold sweat was sliding down his temples to his chin. "I used too much today, it won't last long."

Chen Motong chuckled, her chin propped up, her red hair swaying slightly in the air that had begun to flow again after stillness. She stared at the boy's temples, which were damp with sweat. "You will realize the significance of this word spirit in the future."

"Then what is your word spirit?"

"As for me..." She pressed the iced cola cup against her burning cheek, "My Word Spirit hasn't awakened yet."

(End of this chapter)