Volume 2 Hello, Xia Mi Chapter 151 Cicada, Mantis, and Yellow Bird (I)
The morning sun shines on the stone slabs of Liulichang Street. A human-powered tricycle is running briskly. On both sides are retro blue brick buildings. In front of every door hangs a black-and-gold signboard with words like "Baocuitang" or "Chongwenfu".
"During the Qing Dynasty, this was where the candidates who were going to take the imperial examinations lived. The most common shops here were paper and ink shops. There were the Hu brushes from Dai Yuexuan, the paintbrushes from Li Fushou, the Nan paper from Qingmi Pavilion, and the ink from Yide Pavilion. They are all century-old brands. There are also many antique shops. This street is full of treasures. I have been taking walks here since I was a child. In the 1980s and 1990s, you could find Song Dynasty porcelain on the stalls here..." The uncle driving the rickshaw got on the car with a grunt, and he was in high spirits and spitting everywhere.
"Now the main focus is to fool those stupid foreigners, right?" The passenger in the back seat said slowly. He saw some foreign tourists on the roadside holding exquisitely shaped jars. The boss's flattering eyes only showed a fierce determination not to let this big fish get away.
"You look like an expert!" The three-wheeled man clapped his hands and said, "We're here!"
The young customer got off the car calmly, wearing a green Chinese-style gown, rolled up white sleeves, casual pants, and a pair of old BJ cloth shoes. With such an outfit, golden hair, and eyes as blue as the sea, he looked like a silly old man who came to be ripped off, and several shops were eager to try. Caesar didn't even look at them, and flicked open a white paper fan with the words "If you haven't been to the Great Wall, you are not a hero" written on it, and strolled into the deep alley where the sun couldn't enter.
Good wine needs no bush. Most of the high-end places on the street are newly opened, mainly for tourists who are ready to buy souvenirs. The ones that really have something are in these small alleys. If you can still open a store in these old alleys, you should have packed up and left long ago if you don't have some hidden treasures and connections. Any store can bring out some rare treasures that others can't, and they are only for customers who know the business and like it.
The sign of "Fenglongtang" was a bit shabby, and one could tell at a glance that this place was probably older than himself. Caesar opened the curtain, and the copper bells on it jingled.
There are countless tiny specks of dust floating in the air. The big and small things displayed in the house are all old stuff. The most recent ones are probably from the Republic of China, and most of them are common items from the Ming and Qing dynasties. There are old-fashioned thread-bound books, inkstones, and brush washers. It seems that this store sells everything.
The boss poked his head out from behind the counter, holding a bowl of noodle soup in his hand. It seemed that he was squatting behind the counter eating breakfast when Caesar came in.
"Mr. César Gattuso?" asked the boss.
"Mr. Lin Fenglong." Caesar nodded.
It sounds like a genuine Chinese name, but this old man who speaks Chinese looks like a European, with gray hair and iron-gray eyes, and his thin cheeks still show the handsomeness of his youth.
The boss led Caesar to his seat and skillfully boiled water and brewed tea. A set of celadon tea sets flew up and down in the hands of this old European man, as dazzling as magic. When pouring water, he could hold the teapot half an arm's height and accurately pour all the hot water into the celadon cup without letting a drop spill out.
"It looks like you have been in China for many years and have integrated into the country, becoming a Chinese with a foreign face." This is how Caesar commented on Lin Fenglong's skillful tea art.
"It's been so long that even I have forgotten the exact number." Lin Fenglong smiled, "When you become my age in the future, you will understand that time is something that can easily slip away from your hands. Yesterday you were drinking tea in your own manor in Europe, and you went home to say hello to your mother in the evening. Today you are sitting in a small alley in Liulichang, waiting to die beside a bunch of things older than you."
"Don't say that, you look healthy."
"I'm only healthy on the surface, thanks to the dragon's blood." Lin Fenglong shook his head and coughed softly. It was hard to tell whether he was acting just right or if he really had an attack unconsciously.
Caesar and Lin Fenglong were connected on the Hunter website. After the Dragon King Fenrir awakened, some people were excited to slay the dragon, some were busy organizing the army, and of course some people were eager to sell the intelligence they had in order to get a piece of the pie in this feast of dragons.
As the heir of the Gattuso family, Caesar had no need to get involved in such a chaotic place, but he also had his own account on the Hunter website, which he used to observe the dark side of the world in the Hunter forum. He even took on several missions to test his own growth.
Lin Fenglong is one of the guys who became active on the Hunter website There are many people like him, all claiming that they have information about Fenrir. Whoever gets it first will be able to find the Dragon King before others.
Most of these people are scammers, but no one can tell if there are genuine goods among them. Caesar got in touch with Lin Fenglong in the forum. Some of this guy's words touched him, and the two agreed to do an offline transaction.
Caesar placed a heavy paper bag in front of the boss and said, "Two hundred and fifty thousand dollars for the news you mentioned."
"There are hunters who spend money like you." Lin Fenglong smiled with narrowed eyes. "With such a lavish gesture, aren't you afraid that you won't find anything after getting the news , or that someone else will get there first?"
"The rest is my own business. Just tell me about your treasured things." Caesar waved the folding fan in his hand. "No matter if I can get it or not, I just spend money to play with it for fun."
Lin Fenglong nodded. "Not far from here, there is a Guangcai Hutong near the Nationalities Palace. During the Ming Dynasty, it was a place for manufacturing firearms and explosives. At that time, it had another name."
"Wanggongchang." Caesar sipped his tea slowly. "At 9:00 a.m. on May 30, 1626, a huge explosion occurred in Wanggongchang, covering an area of more than two square kilometers and killing 20,000 people. The then emperor Zhu Youxiao had no choice but to issue an edict of guilt, believing that his actions had angered the heavens. To date, the Wanggongchang explosion still cannot be explained by normal logic. It is named after the Dead Hill in India and the Tunguska explosion in Russia, and is one of the three most mysterious explosions in history."
"We are all people with dragon blood, there is no need to beat around the bush. We all know that most of the events in history that cannot be explained by science have the presence of dragons behind them," Lin Fenglong said. "The Tunguska explosion was caused by the Word Spirit Rhine."
"You want to say that the Wanggongchang explosion was caused by the dragon clan?"
"According to the records at that time, the huge shock wave threw a stone lion weighing 5,000 kilograms to the Xuanwu Gate one kilometer away. Many people's clothes were torn and they were naked. Iron slag the size of rice grains fell from the black clouds, just like an iron rain. It was an unprecedented huge area, as large as two square kilometers. Everything in the area was destroyed, and the outside of the area was impacted." Lin Fenglong dipped his finger in water and drew a simple map on the table. "Wanggongchang is where gunpowder is stored, but the gunpowder there is not enough to cause an explosion of this scale. The iron slag in the rising black clouds is the black gunpowder at that time. Don't you think it's strange? In such an earth-shattering explosion, even the ancient black gunpowder itself was blown to pieces and there was no time to ignite it. This shows that there was no high temperature at all, and the impact force was strong enough to directly destroy the black gunpowder."
"Then it can't be called an explosion at all," Caesar defined. "There is no heat, only the impact on the outside, while the inside is directly destroyed. It sounds like a star destroyer in a science fiction novel, which directly evaporates the concept of matter."
"Fenrir, the King of the Earth and Mountains." Lin Fenglong whispered the great name, "His power is supreme force, which can easily destroy the balance point of things. In ancient Chinese martial arts, this is called the eye, which is the most vulnerable part of all things. No matter whether the target is a mountain or a tall building, or even some kind of life, as long as the King of the Earth and Mountains releases power into this eye, everything will be shattered without leaving a trace, because even any organizational parts that make up such a thing are destroyed together. Of course, such power will not cause explosion or high temperature."
"According to what you said, the King of Earth and Mountains awakened nearly 400 years ago, but the mixed-race people all over the world have not been able to get any news of him in these 400 years?" Caesar thought this idea was too incredible.
"Because his awakening is incomplete!" Lin Fenglong was very serious. "400 years is nothing compared to the long life and powerful strength of the dragon race. If you have lived in this city in recent years, you will know that there have been many strange urban legends here recently. For example, someone saw a rat bigger than a human in the subway tunnel, and its tail alone was as thick as the waist of an adult man. And the data from the earthquake monitoring bureau is completely different from that of decades ago. The earthquake phenomenon is very frequent but the amplitude is not large. What if there is a dragon that controls the earth element deep underground and is secretly moving?"
"If all you tell me is these speculations, then I have to say that this is not worth $250,000. This is completely different from what you promised me in the forum." Caesar said slowly. He is the buyer and has more power in his hands. He is qualified to be picky. To be honest, Lin Fenglong's old and shabby store is really not in Caesar's eyes. I guess this guy is the kind of person who doesn't open for three years and then makes a profit for three years. Caesar is not a stupid foreign old man who is easy to fool.
"If you go to that street and find a young clerk who can make up lies, he can do it better than me. I can't compare with them." Lin Fenglong smiled mysteriously, took out a card from his pocket and put it on the table, "So I only speak with facts."
Caesar took a glance and saw that it was a golden card with the words "Municipal Card" written on it.
"A subway card?" Caesar laughed .
"Please don't underestimate this subway card." Lin Fenglong said seriously, "It can help you reach hidden stations."
"The lair of the Dragon King?" Caesar picked up the subway card and looked at it. It was hard to imagine that such a thing would open the door to another world, but when he held it in his hand, he did have a strange feeling. The gold color on this card was not painted by Lin Fenglong using a mechanical spray paint. Its gold color was a bit like the most common dragon pupils among the hybrids. It was probably a card produced this year, but it made people feel that it came from the mysterious ancient times.
"I can guarantee you the validity of this card, but there is one thing I want to make clear. It will only work ." Lin Fenglong took out a daily report. The weather forecast in the gap stated the weather conditions for the past seven days. The next rainy day would be in three days.
"Why does it have to be a rainy day?" Caesar's suspicion wavered between trust and the conviction that this was a liar's trick.
"Have you heard of Nibelungen?" Lin Fenglong looked mysterious.
"The world of the Dragon King, the kingdom of the dead that alchemists have always dreamed of." Caesar nodded slightly. Of course he had heard of it, and even a plan based on this name had been opened to him, but he refused.
"It's impossible for a dragon to live underground in a city for 400 years without being discovered. But if he lives in his own Nibelungen, it makes sense, because Nibelungen is a reflection of the real world, but separate from the real world. The Dragon King wanders between these two worlds, and no one will notice that there is an ancient dragon hovering under their feet." Lin Fenglong pointed to the card, "Each Nibelungen has different rules. These are the constraints set by the creator, and the Nibelungen underground in this city is the subway. On a rainy night, use this subway card to swipe through the gate and you will reach the Dragon King's lair."
"I almost believed this urban legend." Caesar expressed his denial of these nonsense with the hearty smile of a nobleman bathing in the sun.
Lin Fenglong stood up suddenly, his fingers clenched into fists, looking angry and ready to hit someone. But he suddenly turned his back and opened his shirt, revealing the scars on his back.
From the left shoulder to the right side of the waist, the three parallel lacerations were shocking. Even though the wounds had healed, they still left light brown marks, just like being hit by a poison palm in some martial arts novels. Without an antidote, no matter how skilled the surgeon in the world was, he would not be able to recover.
"Have you seen the dragon!" Caesar suddenly became alert.
"Yes, I have seen it. It was a coincidence. I went around and rode all over the subway that day. When I passed the gate for the last time, the subway card turned gold." Lin Fenglong put on his clothes again and sat down. His temperament changed suddenly. He was an old antique before, but now he looked like a young soldier ready to go. "It is definitely an ancient king, but the way of survival is a bit awkward. It is lucky to survive in front of such a thing. Mr. Caesar Gattuso, I have to remind you that if you really plan to slay the dragon, you'd better bring an army with you."
"If that is really the King of the Earth and the Mountain, the moment he touches you, that supreme power will shatter the Eye in your body." Caesar stared coldly into Lin Fenglong's eyes, "You would never be alive today."
"So I said I was only healthy on the surface." Lin Fenglong smiled bitterly and coughed softly. "Thanks to the Word Spirit, I didn't die from that fatal tear, but to this day that power still remains in my body. As time goes by, I will eventually grow old and no longer be able to compete with it. By then, maybe I will suddenly turn into a flying ash while chatting and laughing with a guest."
Caesar was silent for a long time. "Mr. Lin Fenglong, you said you have lived here for many years, so old that you can't even remember, but you have the Word Spirit that can survive a fatal injury. And you know Rhine, but the name Rhine was completely determined when the Word Spirit Periodic Table was established in 1972. If you are just an old antique curled up in this alley, you must have been a very valuable thing."
"The fate of the old antique is to be shattered by those who hate him with his unknown past. At least that person will not be you." Lin Fenglong looked directly into Caesar's eyes. His words even sounded a bit provocative, but he was not afraid.
Caesar didn't say much. He had no intention of making an enemy of such a person. Besides, Lin Fenglong had already proved that what he offered was worth so much money. This was an admission ticket to the dragon's lair worth $250,000.
"To be on the safe side," Caesar pressed the subway card on the table and pushed the bag of money toward Lin Fenglong, "I have to ask you one more thing, is this the only ticket you have?"
"Don't you want others to get there first?" Lin Fenglong understood Caesar's intention as soon as he heard it, and smiled calmly, "Don't worry, there is really only this one."
Caesar nodded with satisfaction, feeling that he had already gained the upper hand in the competition with Chu Zihang's team. This is the way of the nobleman, many things can be solved with money, so you don't have to run around the streets and alleys of this city like a servant, making yourself dirty and getting nothing in the end. It seems that at this time Chu Zihang is still staring at his set of earthquake data, trying to study some thunder and fire from it, while Caesar has successfully obtained the admission ticket and can open champagne with Xia Mi and Nuo Nuo in advance.
He lowered his head and tried to put the card away to complete the transaction, but found that the subway card next to him was gone. He glared at Lin Fenglong. This was the first time in his life that someone was trying to cheat in front of the heir of the Gattuso family, taking the money but not delivering the goods! Did this old man think that his words that could save his life could escape Caesar's wrath? Caesar, who came from that mafia family, has always been a violent person who would repay his enemies tenfold!
But Caesar was suddenly stunned because Lin Fenglong was staring blankly behind him.
"You're only paying $250,000 for such a valuable ticket? It turns out that Gattuso's idiot is a poor fellow with very little money in his pocket." Someone pressed Caesar's shoulders hard, speaking Chinese that sounded like a middleman's, mixed with unpleasant jokes. Caesar, who was about to stand up and slap someone in the face, was forced back. "I'll pay $2.5 million for this subway card!"
