Volume 3 Hello, Eri Chapter 183 Death of the Black Swan (Part 3)
Bondarev took a deep breath and said, "Your appetite is bigger than I thought. I have to admit that this amount is not easy to raise. But in front of such a miracle, if I can buy it for 2 billion, this deal is simply too cost-effective. I can even say that I got a great bargain."
"Deal then?" Herzog smiled and held out his hand.
"Yes, deal." Bondarev shook his hand, and the two shook it heavily to show their sincerity. "The 200 million promissory note is a deposit. I will immediately contact the family to prepare the remaining 1.8 billion to build a new research base and holiday villa in the warm and pleasant Baltic Sea. In addition, all the research materials in this port must be moved away. We can't leave any clues for Alexander, lest he know that someone has intercepted his beard."
"Black Swan Port was well prepared when it was first built. There are 48 vacuum bombs buried under the port. These are giant bombs with power close to that of small weapons. When detonated, they will spray high explosive dust into the air. We can disguise this as an accident and let the fire ignite the bomb." Herzog quickly came up with a reliable plan in his mind, "But the problem is what to do with the keel? We can't take away such a large thing with a dog sled, and it would be a waste to blow it up. It may be the only well-preserved keel in the world."
"You don't think I skied all the way here from Moscow, do you?" Bondarev said.
They arrived at the dock of Black Swan Port, and Bondarev inserted a metal cylinder into the ground. Amid a deafening explosion, the metal cylinder spewed out a blazing flare, creating a magnificent band of light in the polar night sky.
"The Lenin's berth is only 40 kilometers away from Black Swan Port. They will arrive soon." Bondarev held a cigar in his mouth and lit it with a kerosene lighter.
"You said the Lenin wouldn't come," Herzog said.
"Moscow is not planning to send the Lenin to Black Swan Port to deliver supplies, but we can. We bought this giant ship and removed it from the military structure." Bondarev smiled. "The Moscow government needs money more than ever. After the disintegration of the Soviet Union, the army will also be dispersed to various countries. Instead of letting those weapons be picked up for nothing, it is better to sell them while we can still control them and make a little profit."
Even the previous employer, the Alexander family, probably didn't have such a big hand. They could secretly sell the country's arms, but they couldn't steal a ship from the army. Bondarev directly used the word "buy".
The black shadow on the sea level was like an eagle flapping its wings, and the roar was approaching at high speed. The red five-star was looming in the snow dust. The searchlight swept across the sea and hit the dock. Herzog turned his head to avoid it, and Bondarev smiled and waved his arms to the sky.
That was the Mi-26 heavy helicopter, codenamed Halo, one of the prides of the Soviet military industry, the largest helicopter in service in the world today, with a maximum crew of 84 people, and a world away from the small things most people imagine. It has a lifting capacity of up to 20 tons and can adapt to extremely harsh environments. Even within the Arctic Circle, they are excellent working machines and are almost fearless of the cold. Herzog stayed in Black Swan Port for too long and didn't know the rapid development and changes in the outside world over the years. Today's technology is no longer what he thought it was in World War II, and the entire Black Swan Port can be easily moved.
"As a gift for purchasing the Lenin, each aircraft costs $10.2 million. We have tried to find a way to cover the entire deck of the Lenin with them. We bought a total of six. The 120-ton rapid turning capability is enough to help Black Swan Port move its home." Bondarev smiled.
"You were so well prepared that I didn't even have to think too much." Herzog stared into Bondarev's eyes. "Perhaps you knew on your way here that this deal would be a success?"
"We will become more and more familiar with each other in the future, and you will gradually realize that I am a person who likes to do things to perfection." Bondarev patted Herzog's shoulder vigorously. The young and the old were as intimate as a pair of good brothers. He handed the cigar to Herzog.
Herzog glanced at the marks on the cigar and shook his head. "Although I am old, I am not so hungry for young men. Let's start the plan on Christmas Eve. Before that, we can move some equipment and materials in advance. May the beautiful festival bless everything to go smoothly."
Late at night, Bondarev was lying comfortably in the VIP room of Black Swan Port, soaking his feet. He didn't like most of the people who came with him to Black Swan Port, but there was only one person who was special. Now this special person was sitting at the table, flipping through some information books that Herzog gave Bondarev, which recorded in detail the children who had been genetically modified with dragon blood in Black Swan Port.
He was a young man. When he first arrived at Black Swan Port, the guards did not realize that he was unusual because of his military uniform. Now he sat in Bondarev's room, no longer needing to hide his identity. After taking off his military uniform, his face was tender and white, a little pale. His fingers flipping through the file were slender like jade. His hair was not well-groomed and naturally fluffy and curly, covering his ears. If it wasn't for the boy's voice when talking to Bondarev, one would think it was a girl just by looking at her back.
"Herzog took me to an underground ice cave. There was a dragon skeleton there. It had been dead for many years and was half decayed. The dragon gene he used was extracted from that skeleton."
Bondarev was sharing his daytime experiences with the boy. What Herzog didn't know was that the major in front of him, who looked surprised when he heard the secret of the dragon clan, actually knew everything about the research on the dragon clan in Black Swan Port. He did that just to act in front of Herzog.
"Are there any other characteristics of the corpse?" the boy said lightly.
"It is said that it was already seriously injured when it was found. It was killed by the human army in 1909 with a bayonet from a Mosin-Nagant rifle. I guess that human army also brought heavy firepower weapons such as rocket launchers and grenade launchers. Otherwise, even a dying dragon would be enough to kill them all. But the dragon might be so weak that it couldn't even use its words and could only rely on its flesh. So when it died, it was still standing and roaring." Bondarev thought for a while, "Oh, and its skeleton is very special. It is ice blue, very similar to the icebergs and sea surface in the Arctic Circle at this season. Its eyes are surprisingly well preserved, like marble. When I look into its eyes, I feel like I'm facing a living ancient dragon."
"That's right." The boy closed the file.
"What's right?"
"You said it yourself that the color is very similar to ice and water." The boy reminded, "There are not many corpses of this color among the dragon clan, not to mention such a pure one. They are a group of dragons with the fewest followers, and it is rare for them to survive to this day."
"You mean that corpse is the king of the ocean and water?!" Bondarev jumped out of the footbath, splashing water everywhere.
The boy frowned and wiped the water stains on the table and chairs with Bondarev's military uniform, then threw the uniform back to him. "Don't make such a fuss. Before I came here, I told you that the dragon being studied in this port might be someone I know."
"But you didn't say it was a dragon king..."
"Could a humble servant of inferior descent be my acquaintance?" The boy expressed his confusion. He thought he had made himself clear.
"Herzog actually got the corpse of a dragon king to conduct genetic experiments... Damn, I don't even have this kind of treatment!" Knowing that it was a noble first-generation species, Bondarev suddenly felt a little envious and jealous.
"I looked at his experimental results. I have to say that most of the children's levels are not even orthodox word spirits, but they are indeed very close to the water element. The direct experiment of the bloodline genes obtained from the king cannot be limited to this level. The ancient dragons used a similar method when creating their own followers. Modern human science has accidentally reproduced history in the hands of Herzog." The boy's eyes raised golden indifference, "He is definitely hiding something from you."
"That's normal. Although we have a real deal, it doesn't mean we can open up to each other so easily. If I were you, I would do the same. Haven't we concealed a lot of facts from him? We should just pretend to be ignorant. It will be very ugly if we reveal the truth." Bondarev shrugged. "Why are you so sure that the King of Ocean and Water is in this port? If it weren't for you, we wouldn't be able to infer what is happening here with such certainty after getting the information about this port."
"Because I was the one who hurt her to that extent." The boy looked calm, but his eyes seemed to have a storm collapsing from the dark clouds. "We met in the Mediterranean in 1909, and fought all the way from Rome to Crete. In the end, I stood on the coast and watched her slowly sink into the sea. I jumped into the strait and tried to take her keel cross, but when I only took half of it, she woke up again, broke her spine and dived deep to escape. After that, I searched for information about the sea in various European countries, but I found nothing. The sea is too vast, and anywhere could be her hiding place. I had to give up. It was not until you got the information about Black Swan Port that I realized that the girl's escape route might have bypassed the entire Europe and reached the northeast corner of Siberia. It was so far away that I could not catch up with her no matter how far I flew."
"It's a fight between the same clan." Bondarev was not surprised at all. This is the history of the dragon clan. Blood and violence are their main themes. "It sounds like you have a bad relationship with this girl who controls the ocean and water. You want to fight as soon as you meet."
"No..." The boy shook his head. "In fact, we used to have a good relationship. Among the eight brothers, I was the only one who was familiar with her. I even ignored my own sister. Because I think we are very similar. We are both people who are isolated from the world. The deep blue sea and the high sky will always meet on the distant horizon."
"Then why did you fight when you met this time? You were angry and humiliated because you failed in your pursuit of her, so you tried to force yourself on her, but when that failed, you just killed the girl?" Bondarev teased with a smile.
The boy was not angry at all. Although he could easily crush the dishonest idiot in front of him with his strength, he had a good temper, just like the rustling of leaves in the wind. It was very comfortable to talk to him.
"I invited her to prepare for the future together, saying that I had enough resources and means. She refused me, saying that she cared more about her sister than her father's return. She didn't know where her sister's cocoon was, so she had to go find her. Everything had to wait until she found her sister. So I took action."
"Fuck, did the sisterly love offend you? It's okay if you have a bad relationship with your sister, but you shouldn't just separate the sisters who respect and love each other?" Bondarev slapped his thigh and denounced the boy for his cruel act of destroying a flower.
"Emotions are a painful burden to us. If she keeps thinking about her sister, even if I don't do anything, that day will come. It's better to transfer the power to me now, which can be regarded as another form of cooperation."
The boy said calmly, "Father created us with seven deadly sins. In fact, those were his own emotions. After he took them away, he had no desires, but he left the sins to us and asked Norton to create the seven deadly sins for future judgment. I saw through his thoughts and followed his methods to clear all my emotions. In this way, the seven deadly sins cannot judge me, and I can live freely with my own will and ideas."
"No wonder you speak like an emotionless killing machine and don't care about trading or cooperating with humans." Bondarev exclaimed, "To be honest, I have known you for so long and I have always felt that you are an outlier among the dragon race."
"In my opinion, as long as you can achieve your desired goal, doing anything is an acceptable price, regardless of race, gender, or position. Others have no right to accuse those who work hard." The boy said, "I like reading the history of you humans very much. A short life can write more wonderful things and you can learn a lot. People say that there are many reasons for Napoleon's failure. In my opinion, the biggest reason is that he was too conceited, just like the vast majority of our dragons, thinking that humans are nothing special."
The boy held his chin up to his hand, looked at Bondarev and smiled slowly. His smile could even be described as kind, with a kind of touching elegance. If it were in a gathering of rich girls, many young ladies would be attracted by this perfect and cold boy.
"I never thought so. It is true that the power of a single human is insignificant compared to that of the dragons, but you have numbers. There are 6 billion humans in the world today. 6 billion ideas gathered together have infinite creativity, so you can evolve to such a level in these thousands of years, enough to fight against us. The number of dragons is really too small. Add them together, and the only idea they can think of is that we can kill all humans together, which is a stupid muscle man-like idea." The boy said, "And they can't even do such a simple tactic."
Bondarev looked at the boy quietly. This dragon was different from all the dragons he had known so far. From the moment he was born, he had learned conspiracy and cunning, hiding in the shadows, and was even willing to lower his noble status to find a suitable agent among humans.
"Honestly, I think with your personality, you are very suitable to be a sinister mastermind," Bondarev said.
"To me, this kind of words are compliments. If you can let others do things for you, then why should you work yourself to death and be targeted by certain people?" The boy smiled.
