A man among dragons, building a mysterious ancient church.

Chapter 74 The Three Reigns of Gods, Dragons, and Man
"Good heavens." Xu Lie was quite taken aback. He himself hadn't expected that someone would be so stubborn as to confront the Source Fortress and the Chaos Sea head-on.

The path he took, that of a thief, was most closely connected to the Source Castle. Xu Lie had already sensed it when he discovered that someone was spying on the Source Castle.

However, the person spying was too hasty. All nine source substances are integrated, and moving one will affect the whole.

Before Xu Lie could react, the Source Castle and the Chaos Sea had already completed their automatic counterattack. The other source matter hadn't caught up yet, and the spying person went silent.

It must have been quite a difficult time for Lu Mingze, right?

Xu Lie didn't need to capture him personally; he was absolutely certain that, with the Black King yet to return, the only person in the world spying on him was Lu Mingze.

Because of Lao Tang's disappearance, he came to investigate, only to get slapped twice by Yuanbao and Chaos Sea. He's really unlucky, this behind-the-scenes boss.

No, in some ways, this might be a kind of luck?
After a thorough analysis, Xu Lie realized that compared to the combined attack of the nine source substances, being slapped only twice by the Source Fortress and the Chaos Sea seemed acceptable.

In the secondhand Ford driven by Huang Tiekou, Lao Tang and Xu Lie sat together in the back seat: "Brother Huang, what's wrong?"

When traveling, one always needs an alias, so Xu Lie did not tell Lao Tang his real name and used the name Huang Tao instead.

Old Tang was also very outgoing, treating Xu Lie and Huang Tiekou as brothers, calling Huang Tiekou "Brother Huang" and Xu Lie "Brother Huang".

There was even a sense of nostalgia. After this feeling arose, Lao Tang was quite puzzled as to why he would feel nostalgic.
Even if he wanted a younger brother, shouldn't it be an expression of envy? Nostalgia or anything like that, as if he was supposed to have a younger brother all along.

Fortunately, Lao Tang is quite optimistic and doesn't bother to think too much about things he can't understand.

For example, as Xu Lie said, he was being monitored by electronic devices and couldn't figure it out for the time being, so he decided not to think about it and planned to ask again after completing the mission and having a better relationship with his employer, Xu Lie.

"We're almost there." Xu Lie couldn't possibly be completely honest, so he used the destination as a pretext to change the subject: "See that mountain over there?"

Huang Tiekou also took the opportunity to turn the steering wheel and drive directly off the highway, plunging into the wilderness.

Relying on the clown's control over his body, Huang Tiekou moved his hands and feet in unison, pedaling and shifting gears skillfully, dodging weeds and rocks in various ways, making him even cooler than a professional race car driver.

Old Tang wasn't shocked at all; he skillfully grabbed the roof railing to steady himself.

This is the case in the United States. After World War II, residential areas, commercial areas, and industrial areas were too far apart, so not having a car was like not having legs.

Because the area is so vast, it's already a blessing to have roads at all, let alone maintain them year-round. As a result, people often avoid the broken roads and head straight into the wilderness.

Old Tang could still look in the direction Xu Lie pointed out, towards the distant mountain.

The low hill looked unremarkable, and compared to the other lush mountains, it didn't stand out at all: "Brother Huang, what's wrong with that hill? Could it be my mission location?"

"Cong," Xu Lie didn't finish his sentence before the excessive jolt caused him to be thrown from the back seat. He managed to brace himself with his hand to avoid hitting his head on the ceiling.

He sat back on the cushion, bouncing back and forth before finally managing to sit still: "Smart, there's a third-generation slumbering being on that mountain. We need you, Old Tang, to take care of it."

These were all pre-divination results. After all, the main material for the Dream Thief to advance to Sequence 4 Parasites, besides the corpse of a third-generation dragon worm, also requires a third-generation soul.

"Three-generation species?" Old Tang felt a strange sense of familiarity with this unfamiliar term, as if he had known its specific meaning a long, long time ago.

But Old Tang swears he's never heard the word before.

“Yes, a third-generation species.” Xu Lie said nonchalantly, calmly facing the bumps caused by the rugged road: “This is a very long story, a long, long time ago…”

"Stop, stop, stop." Normally, Old Tang wouldn't mind listening to long stories, but in this situation, it's definitely not the right time for a slow narration.

"Brother Huang, how about we make this quick and to the point?"

“Alright.” Xu Lie was too lazy to go on and on, and while agreeing, he succinctly told his lie: “The planet we live on has had three generations of rulers.” “Initially, it was ruled by the Nine Ancient Gods. After the Nine Ancient Gods left the planet, what they left behind became the black dragon Nidhogg, who created the dragon race and ruled the world a second time.”

"With the rise of mankind, the dragon race withdrew from history, and it was mankind's turn to rule the world."

"Huh?" Old Tang's eyes widened, a "fuck" stuck in his throat, unspoken.

No way, what era are we living in? People still believe in gods and dragons?
Old Tang is also a loyal player of the Dungeons & Dragons series. He occasionally goes to board game stores in Brooklyn to find strangers to team up with. If there aren't enough people, he even has to act as a goblin or something.

But shouldn't tabletop games be separated from reality?

If it weren't for the generous money offered by Huang Tao, Old Tang would have already said he wanted to get off the bus.

"Aren't you surprised?" Xu Lie looked at Lao Tang with amusement. "Back when you were a bounty hunter, you often went to lost ruins and underground tombs to find what your clients wanted."

"You think those are just ordinary antiques?"

"Isn't that right?" Old Tang chuckled awkwardly. Based on his limited knowledge over the years, those antiques were indeed quite valuable.

However, while refuting the refutation, Lao Tang became inexplicably nervous.

Old Tang, who has been a bounty hunter for many years, often sees posts on hunter websites discussing which ruins are dangerous.

As a result, every time he went to these dangerous ruins, there was no danger at all. Apart from getting lost from time to time, he was always able to get the items his employer wanted safely.

Old Tang used to think that people's hearts were unpredictable, and that this was a conspiracy by certain small groups on the Hunter Network, deliberately making up stories to scare people and trying to monopolize the profits from these ruins.

But now that I've heard what Brother Huang said, something does seem a bit off. Could it be that the posts on Hunter.net aren't a scam?

Interestingly, Xu Lie, relying on the analytical skills he gained during his time as a scholar, deduced that Lao Tang's simple and honest nature might be due to the subconscious influence of Norton.

In order to fully restore his memories and devour Donald's personality in the future, Norton secretly exerted influence, causing Donald to ignore some obviously strange things.

In this way, Old Tang will remain in the dark, and Norton can recover without any worries in the future.

If Old Tang knows too much about the Dragon Clan and thus doubts himself, it might cause some interference with Norton's revival.

It's a real shame that Norton didn't follow the Mysterious System; the big shots in the Mysterious System value 'revival' so much.

"Uh, Brother Huang? Why aren't you saying anything?" Old Tang was still very professional. Seeing his spendthrift employer fall silent, he thought he'd liven things up himself: "Hey!"

"Actually, gods and dragon kings, they should exist, right? I see a lot of people who believe in gods and dragons."

I didn't say whether I believed it or not, but I just said things that the employer wanted to hear.

Xu Lie was jolted again, and only after regaining his balance did he stop Lao Tang's awkward conversation: "It's okay, seeing is believing."

"Soon, Old Tang, you'll be able to see that third-generation species with your own eyes."

Old Tang opened his mouth wide, wanting to say something, but couldn't get the words out. Damn it, seeing how serious Brother Huang looked, he really felt a little guilty.

No way, dragons really exist in the world, right?

What is this "third generation"?! Judging from the literal meaning, could it be the grandson of that Black King Nidhogg?

Thinking about the terrifying fighting power of dragons in the board games he often played, Old Tang couldn't help but feel discouraged.

Good heavens, if there really is a dragon, wouldn't it be better to stop the car and turn around immediately?
Are the three of them going to just fill the gaps in the dragon's teeth?
(End of this chapter)