Chapter 831

Chapter 831: The Integrity of the Giant Dragon

Mr. Ross looked doubtfully at the haphazardly piled collection of items, feeling intrigued by the thief who had ransacked the vault.

Most of the treasures seemed to be intact, especially several extremely precious rare artifacts. Even the Luo Book turtle shell he had traded with Mr. DuPont lay undamaged on the ground, standing out prominently.

What was wrong with these "thieves"? Were they here to steal from the vault, or to take the treasures?

Mr. Ross called over his confidant to fetch the treasure inventory list for a thorough comparison, starting to assess the losses.

“Mr. Ross! We found no signs of anyone coming in! Neither on the walls nor on the floor did we discover any holes from digging.”

The confidants, armed with flashlights for better visibility, scoured every nook and cranny but found no trace of a breached passage.

“Is that so?”

Mr. Ross squinted his eyes, wondering if it was not someone who had schemed for a long time to come in and steal, but rather a kind of unknown natural mysterious phenomenon.

The vault was constructed with at least ten meters of reinforced concrete, lined with a layer of special alloys at least 50 centimeters thick, utilizing an integrated wedge shape that was even more unbreakable than the armor of a heavy tank.

Not to mention regular armor-piercing bullets; even the 120mm depleted uranium rounds specifically designed for the American main battle tank, the M1A1, would struggle to penetrate it. It could even effectively shield against nuclear radiation.

Calling it a vault, it was also a perfect underground facility for nuclear defense.

As an important treasure location for his family, Mr. Ross knew well that the underground vault area of Scarlet Manor held several artifacts that only existed in myths and legends. No strange incidents had ever occurred here before, yet this bizarre scene left him unsettled.

Could the treasures have awakened? Or had the huge turtle shell Luo Book just stored experienced some unknown chemical reaction with those legendary treasures from the land of myth, leading to this strange occurrence?

The massive amount of thick alloy sheets had vanished without a trace. Although no evidence of the thieves was found, Mr. Ross believed it had little to do with the guards stealing from their posts.

Stealing those metal sheets was not feasible; even getting them out of the vault was no easy task. Even if left there for professionals with large lifting equipment, it would take months to move them, and using a laser cutter would be a hassle as well.

What would be the point of stealing those metals? Any treasure taken from the vault would be worth far more than scrap iron.

Moreover, Mr. Ross had not yet heard any reports from his accountants confirming that anything had been stolen.

“Mr. Morin, I’m sorry. Have you gotten your belongings? I hope nothing has gone missing. If there are losses, please let me know promptly, and I will compensate you tenfold.”

Mr. Ross greeted Lin Mo, who emerged from the guest vault area carrying a large box and the Longinus spear, following the customs of a host.

Lin Mo entered with him, so even if Mr. Ross had any suspicions about others, he could never suspect Lin Mo.

As for the Longinus spear, that belonged to his old friend DuPont, and Ross chose to be a bystander in this minor matter; he would not overstep his bounds.

“Thank you, Mr. Ross. I have retrieved my belongings, and fortunately, nothing is missing.”

Lin Mo set the box he had been carrying on his shoulder down on the ground. According to the rules here, to take something out of the vault area, he needed to go through the inventory list check once more. This procedure was to prevent any opportunistic theft and ensure the integrity of the guest’s stored items.

“Thank God. That’s wonderful.”

Mr. Ross felt relieved as the host. Even if his losses were severe, he did not want to see losses incurred by his guests. For him, wealth represented numbers, but reputation was much more significant, especially for an ancient family where reputation was more important than life itself.

The guards and bodyguards noticed nothing amiss with the box. Even if someone had taken from the vault without permission, no one cared about this modern alloy box, which held no significant value or antiquity.

The odd box that appeared in place of the original safety deposit box was intricately carved with a fearsome-looking giant dragon, lifelike and vivid. A common person would mostly view it as a beautifully crafted decorative sculpture.

However, for the Dragon Knight, it was as if someone was trying to conceal something too obvious; was that not the Gold Coin? He wondered what had happened to this gluttonous Gold Coin, which suddenly had gone silent.

The Dragon Knight, however, did not believe it was possible for the gold giant dragon to have eaten too much and suffocated. There might be instances of overeating, but he had never heard of a gold dragon dying from it.

Lin Mo was not a gold dragon kin and did not know how to handle the situation, so he could only patiently wait for the giant dragon to come back to its senses.

The box did not contain gold, silver, jewels, or antique treasures. Lin Mo’s exit check was completed quickly. As he hoisted the box and turned to leave, he heard Mr. Ross say, “Mr. Morin, please wait a moment.”

“Is there anything else, Mr. Ross?”

Lin Mo paused, feeling anxious. He hadn’t stolen anything from this vault. Although he had a rough idea of the truth, it didn’t mean he would betray that gluttonous creature; after all, the Dragon Knight was not a fool.

“This is my business card! Please take it!”

Mr. Ross’s confidants looked astonished as their boss handed his business card to a young man they didn’t recognize and who had no notable reputation. This had never happened before.

“Thank you, Mr. Ross!”

Lin Mo, never concerned about the prominence of the other party’s identity, showed no signs of gratitude. He casually accepted the business card, feeling its weight; it seemed to be made of some precious metal, but he was not surprised and simply tucked it into his pocket.

Mr. Ross noted Lin Mo’s calm reaction and silently nodded in approval. This young man must be connected to some wealthy family; otherwise, he wouldn’t seem so composed.

Mr. Ross had no idea how far off his assumptions were.

Just as Mr. Ross speculated, the “thief” who had inexplicably removed most of the alloy protective layer from the vault was likely a brainless creature. The values of the gold giant dragon were vastly different from humans. Perhaps this glutton had, while mindlessly munching away, casually swiped a few treasures with its tail, almost enough to offset the enormous debt owed to the Dragon Knight.

Yet, not a single treasure was lost, resulting in this rather absurd “theft” incident.

As Lin Mo returned to the surface carrying the box and Longinus spear, the tremendous roar of F-35 fighter jets filled his ears.

Looking up, Lin Mo saw two F-35 jets hovering extremely low over Scarlet Manor, seemingly searching for something.

The flames outside had diminished somewhat, punctuated by the explosions of firebombs as smaller fires were extinguished. High-pressure hoses sprayed water columns toward the more intense flames.

The emergency rescue personnel arranged by the owner of the manor had begun to care for the injured and sent teams outside the manor to search for survivors. Despite the sudden chaos, the cleanup actions remained orderly. Even the wealthy socialites, usually caught up in their glamorous identities, joined in the rescue efforts, and the sound of moans and screams had significantly decreased.

The Dragon Knight paid no attention to the aircraft in the sky. He struck the metal box containing the Hydrogen-Oxygen Decomposition Tank samples and documents with the Longinus spear, hoping to awaken the silent giant dragon inside.

“Hey! Hey! Are you dead? Gold Coin! Gold Coin! Wake up! If you’re alive, make a sound.”

After a chaotic series of knocks, neither the Longinus spear, integrated with the essence of the gold giant dragon, nor the transformed box responded at all, not even showing signs of merging.

Lin Mo began to worry again. Calling out to Gold Coin yielded no response, and the telepathic dialogues from the dragon deity contract felt like a stone sinking into the ocean. If it weren’t for that faint connection of the contract, he might have believed that the giant dragon had suddenly died.

The Longinus spear gently prodded the box’s lid, easily puncturing a hole.

The Dragon Knight’s brow furrowed instantly; this was serious. It seemed the glutton was not pretending to be dead out of spite.

What to do now?

Lin Mo couldn’t imagine life without Gold Coin. He would lose a powerful protective charm and a crucial ally.

Though mismatched, one person and one dragon had to depend on each other’s strengths to fill in each other’s weaknesses in this entirely foreign world. Otherwise, both would likely meet the same fate, obliterated by the large-scale human conflict in this world without a trace.

This gluttonous creature had indeed ended up in trouble; it was a scenario the Dragon Knight had never anticipated.

What should he do now? Find a doctor?

What a joke; take a gold giant dragon to see a doctor? That would be like sending it back to the steel mill for reprocessing! How absurd!

For the first time in his life, the Dragon Knight had no idea what to do.

“Wait? That guy!”

As he was part of a two-plane F-35 squad that had just located a fierce beast’s corpse and dropped a firebomb to erase the evidence, Eagle King David de Hitt spotted a familiar figure on the ground while still searching for the locations of two other beasts.

Using the light from the manor and the flames, the advanced night vision system reconstructed most of the true colors through special computer modeling.

After a low pass that caught Lin Mo’s attention, “Eagle King” finally recognized who was beneath the manor.

The figure he saw was the same bastard he had never been able to forget.

A coward who fled from battle did not qualify to call himself an Air Knight.

“Dragon Knight!”

Boom!

The roar of the F-35’s F136 engine echoed angrily as the nose of the aircraft pointed directly at the Dragon Knight on the ground.