Dragon 3: Tide of the Black Moon (1)

"But after he found out he had a son, he suddenly became cautious. He said he cared about my likes and dislikes, watched me carefully, could whisper for me, and said he finally understood that no matter how powerful a father is, he can get down on the ground and play horse for his child to amuse his son, crawling while making clattering hoof noises from his mouth. At the end of the letter, he said that for the first time in my life I felt bound, not by some rule, but by my son. I had a family like a normal human being, even though there was only one bald son at home, and suddenly all the fear I had felt for so many years dissipated and I felt full of joy."

"Full of joy because you are bound?" After a long moment of contemplation, Schneider said.

"You didn't take any more students for so many years after the Greenland incident, but you still served as Chu Zhang's supervising professor." Manstein asked, "Is it just because he has a good bloodline?"

"No, it was because he was so stubborn." Schneider recalled Chu Zhang's lonely golden pupils in the rain, "I couldn't refuse."

"What kind of stubbornness?"

"He was one of those rare hybrid breeds in the Academy who found the Academy on his own, rather than the Academy finding him. I decided to interview him in person in Chicago, but I was still suspicious of him, so I asked him to meet me under a railroad bridge where few people were coming and going and where I could subdue or even kill him without being seen if he acted suspiciously, and I wrapped a Beretta in my coat. It was pouring rain, and I saw the boy standing at the traffic light, carrying his only luggage. We looked at each other across the street, he knew exactly who I was but he didn't approach me, we were like two lone wolves meeting, never coming together to sniff around, but examining each other from a safe distance. The traffic light changed for three cycles and no words were spoken between us. His eyes were stubborn and lonely, and I could tell he wanted to come up to me because I was the one he'd been looking for years to find, but he wouldn't take a step as long as I didn't show an invitation." Schneider sighed softly, "In the end, it was me who beckoned to him, I was cornered by a boy with nothing but his eyes, and the feeling I got then was that I either had to kill him or invite him, there was no choice."

"So did you invite him to a sword or a boy?"

Schneider was silent for a long time: "What foolish talk? Can I see a man as a lifeless weapon? Sometimes I've thought about it and wished he'd grown up as an ordinary man ...... but I met him on the battlefield and I could only teach him to use a weapon."

"You are not a man who can be completely cold and heartless, and you empty the central control room to smoke here alone because of uneasiness." Manstein said, "You're hesitating, you're worried about the safety of the dive team, if that's the case why are you rushing to organize the dive? Schneider, be honest with me. You should understand that I'd rather trust you than the school board, and although you're a madman, there's more foulness in that group of power players in the school board."

"The Prince, it's the Prince." After a long silence, Schneider whispered.

"The Crown Prince?"

"After the Greenland incident, that id named 'Prince' disappeared completely from the Internet. No one has seen him, only that he is an excellent hunter. The Academy suspected that the bronze shard and coordinates he sent us were a decoy and that he released those photos to lure us to the Greenland Ice Sea to find that embryo. Until a short time ago, the id 'Prince' came to life again when he released photos of a portion of a secret KGB document about Lenin online. The KGB believed that someone had built an institute for the study of unknown creatures and supernatural forces in northern Siberia and that this institute was suddenly blown up on the eve of the collapse of the Soviet Union. Before the destruction of the institute, Lenin happened to be on a scientific research mission in the nearby waters, and there is a high probability that Lenin took something important from the institute, after which the Northern Fleet warship went to Japan like a fugitive." Schneider said, "That's how we came to be concerned about that wreck."

"If it was another bait, why did you guys bother to bite the bait?"

"As soon as we confirmed that it was an embryo, we couldn't leave it to hatch. We don't have time to hesitate, the further back the embryo hatches the more likely it is that once it becomes self-aware it will be too late and the dive team will suffer the same thing that happened to the Greenland team. We failed to capture the hatchling in the Greenland Sea, but we should have interrupted its hatching, so the thing has not reached adulthood so far. It is bound to hide in another unknown corner of the world to re-cocoon. One thing the Prince always seems to do is he can find the hatchery of the ancient dragon embryos and lure us over to clean them up. We had to pay a high price for this and risk our lives, but this was the mission of the Secret Party. We knew that the Prince was throwing out bait, but we had to eat it. We guessed that we did it too late 11 years ago, and it was probably between the months of observing it that the embryo possessed self-awareness and that the young dragon could have broken out of its shell at any time. If it had been a little earlier and a little faster, maybe the Greenland team would have succeeded."

"The Prince doesn't get anything out of this, does he?"

"Yes, he doesn't get any benefit. In a way, he's our hidden ally, although he never comes out to fight," Schneider said, "so we don't dare wait. To reduce the risk, the principal ordered the equipment department to provide the highest level of technical support, but also let the technical strength is no less than the equipment department of the rock flow research institute to mention on-site support, according to the equipment department, even if the embryo hatch there is a high degree of certainty to evacuate from the bottom of the sea. In addition, I made this little thing myself, it's an early warning system."

Schneider turned on the power of the screen, a striking progress bar appeared in the center of the screen, complex calculation formula flowed from bottom to top: "I analyzed the heartbeat signal of Greenland embryos, as the hatching proceeded, the heartbeat intensity and frequency of embryos showed obvious changes. Based on this result, I designed software to calculate the hatching rate of embryos by monitoring the heartbeat signal. The current hatching rate is 32%, which is shown as green, a safe stage. The embryos might forcefully accelerate the hatching if they are alerted, and once the hatching rate rises significantly, the Moniah will use the safety hook to pull the Diecast up from the bottom."

"You designed that yourself?"

"You still can't leave that sort of thing to the nerves in the equipment department," Schneider said, "they just do their share of mechanic work."

Manstein pulled the black card from the slot and pushed it in front of Schneider: "Put the safety of the dive team before attacking the embryo, and if you agree, not only will I not call off the Dragon Abyss program, I will give you the black card, which will give you 100% access to Norma."

"You're here at the behest of the school board, and if you don't call off the Dragon Abyss program, you'll be implicated, right?" Schneider said.

"I'll eat that sin. I know that in your eyes I am a clerical employee, forever limited to such trivial matters as financial accounts and student discipline. My pedigree and abilities are indeed average, nothing compared to my perverted old man. But being a sin eater is good enough, I guess, and I will find a way to swallow this sin." Manstein held out his hand.

"The purpose of your coming here is to know the inside story of this matter, right?" Schneider stared into Manstein's eyes, "Since the beginning you just want me to give you a reason, and as long as I can find a reasonable explanation, you will suppress the school board's order."

"I just had to make sure that you did care about the lives of those young men, that you weren't making a rash and irresponsible decision, that you did your best but had to." Manstein sighed, "If there is no other choice, then a civilian like me is not afraid to pay the price."

"Then it's a deal."