Monster Dismantling Company

He returned to the side of the carriage with Luo Yinchang. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see a little old man in a military uniform pacing anxiously in the carriage, looking for his belongings.

Instructing Luo Yinchang to board the train from the other side, Li Lin quietly climbed into the carriage from the water dispenser side, then knocked twice on the water dispenser panel, pretending it was a knock on Yinlong's door.

"Dragon King! You're finally back!" The silver dragon lifted the panel, leaped out, and pounced on him. "I...I thought you were going to die!"

She was extremely excited because if Li Lin died, then she wouldn't be far from dying herself.

"I know, I know, we'll talk about the rest later." Li Lin shoved his bag into the water dispenser. "Make me a copy, and be quick."

The facility disguised as a water dispenser is actually a "mapper" mounted on the Silver Dragon, a kind of cutting-edge technology developed by the United Government that can never be seen outside. It can create objects from scratch by using the energy pipelines on the train centered around the Silver Dragon.

It can be printed or copied.

"This is... Ah! I understand, Your Majesty the Dragon King, you're up to no good! Yes, ma'am! Ready right away!"

The Silver Dragon was operating at full power, with the power output displayed on the control panel exceeding its peak. The entire briefcase was printed in less than 3 seconds—

"Wait, Your Majesty, there are some things inside that can't be drawn; they seem to be encrypted."

"No problem, I understand."

Li Lin put the printed copies into his magical conch shell. Then he took the original, which would definitely not cause any problems, into the carriage.

Inside the train carriage, Luo Yinchang was talking to his commander:

"Yes, a child found it and went to get it right away... Hey! He's here!"

The child, who looked to be a high school student, was carrying a bag and swaying along. He was playing with a dagger that was tucked into a quick-draw scabbard on the side of his briefcase.

"Oh my!" The commander immediately came forward. "Hello, little friend."

The term "little friend" is frequently used, but it actually shows considerable respect for minors. Friends are peers, just younger, hence the term "little friend."

"Hello, Grandpa~" Li Lin looked up and smiled at him.

It seems there are height requirements when selecting personnel for the defense force. Although this commander is not young, he is still considerably taller than Li Lin.

He looked like a high school student, though he certainly didn't look that young. But it was normal to be called a kid in front of an old man.

"Where did you find this bag?"

"I found it in the corner of the stairs. Grandpa, is this your bag? Can you check it?" He put the dagger he had been playing with back down.

"Ah...no need to say anything, this is my bag. Look." He opened the bag, took out his personal identification, and compared it with the name tag on his chest—

[Li Zihao, Commander-in-Chief of Taiping Air Base, First Theater Command of the Global Defense Force]

Another one with the character "子" in their name. You can tell from the name that this person was born before the war, because it seems to be a very popular name in the early 21st century.

"Okay, here you go. Goodbye, Grandpa."

"Hey, little one, don't go." The commander looked around, then unsheathed the dagger. "Here, take this as a little gift. If you encounter a monster, use this to cut it down—but remember, don't tell anyone, okay?"

"Definitely! I'm a person who keeps secrets! Grandpa, you can rest assured!"

Holding the dagger, Li Lin got out of the car—a reprimanding voice came from behind him, clearly indicating that the commander was about to give Luo Yinchang a good scolding.

However, being criticized is a good thing.

After getting out of the car, he exchanged a glance with Luo Yinchang through the car window and read the word "thank you" in the latter's eyes.

"He should thank you." Silver Dragon appeared at the right moment.

"He really should thank me. Because being scolded means that the matter can be resolved with a scolding—after all, the bag just flew out in a violent accident and was picked up by a passing child, nothing serious. If this matter had been very serious and had to be dealt with, then both of them would have been in deep trouble."

I'll just give them a scolding, and that'll be the end of it. Anyway, no one else knows.

"Human relationships are truly complex. I never imagined that even being scolded could be a form of protection... But speaking of which, I am quite interested in why you, Dragon King, are helping him."

"What are you referring to? I clearly got everything."

He obtained a copy of the briefcase and acquired all the information about the commander—it seemed there was no dagger inside, because the material of the ceramic steel dagger was so special that it could not be made with a drawing tool.

But the commander simply gave him the dagger. This shows that the dagger itself wasn't actually that important; the coalition government didn't value the worth of an object. However, this could be considered hush money.

"What I mean is, you don't actually have to help him. But you still want to save him anyway? But, it's something you can choose to do or not do. Even if you do nothing, it won't be traced back to you in the end."

"He is a gentleman," Li Lin replied. "A gentleman should be deceived in a righteous way."

"Eek~~ Dragon King, you're such a bad person."

"I never said I was a good person. Besides, there's a long road ahead. Someone like him will have a bright future in the defense force. I have a lot to do, so I need more friends."

Luo Yinchang's existence was like a hidden mole planted by him within the defense force. Perhaps one day, he would come in very handy—the reason he wasn't cooperating now was because he knew that a truly good person like Luo Yinchang would absolutely not cooperate with him, a non-human dragon, unless absolutely necessary. Rather than coercing and enticing him now, it was better to lend him a hand when he was in dire straits.

Therefore, this is called "deceiving them with a method".

"Alright, this time I got what I wanted most—an identity. We plan to make use of this general's identity. I'm going to Jin Gang State; I don't want to reveal my true identity."

"But Your Majesty, there's a problem: there are many things in that bag that, even if I replicate them, will not be the originals. For example, that identity tag; I only made a rough copy using ordinary metal, but in reality..."

Li Lin didn't say anything, but simply took out a blank tag: "I've already got the tag and number sorted out. You can handle the color-changing ink, right? And make me a complete set of identification documents according to the sample. It needs to be three parts real and seven parts fake. When I'm out on the move, I need a set of camouflage and a fake identity that can be quickly cut off and stop losses if necessary."

"Understood. Conceal your presence!"

"Okay. Our next stop is Jin Gang State..." He glanced at his phone, preparing to contact Lin Zhiqing to let her know we could leave.

To his surprise, Master Wang had just sent him a photo.

"Li Lin...do you recognize the person in this photo?"

A towering woman with two horns on her head, cradling a blue-gray cat, walks alone across a miasma-filled wasteland. The photo is of very low resolution, seemingly taken from a distance using a drone. But Li Lin recognized the person in the image at a glance:

"mom?!"