Fucking Up the Competition

"Your Majesty the Dragon Emperor."

When Kant asked Kang De about it during lunch, Santos didn't hide anything.

"His Majesty has led the company's elite personnel to punish unscrupulous competitors who are disrupting market order."

Kang De took a sip of Nongfu Spring water. "... A fellow professional?"

Santos curled his lip, revealing a disdainful look. "Venom Nest."

In this world, Kang De was not only illiterate but also a narrow-minded country bumpkin, unaware of many common-sense things. Just as he was about to ask, Tina beside him said, "Wyvern."

After the princess explained briefly, Kang De finally understood.

In biology, dragons are exploratory creatures; these winged teddy bears have spent thousands of years trying to prove one ultimate question—that reproductive isolation truly exists.

Unfortunately, they all failed.

And they produced all sorts of hybrids.

It is said that the records of successful, stable, and multiplied dragon subspecies could fill a thick book. The sheer number of species would leave any human who reads it speechless, utterly bewildered as to how these dragons could possibly exist. The list includes, but is not limited to, earth dragons, nine-headed dragons, dragon wolves, golden dragonfish, dragon whales, dragon eagles, totoros, dragon rats, dragon flies, and dragon cockroaches.

And a spirited Argonian maid.

These hybrids acquired a portion of the dragon's bloodline and, of course, inherited a portion of the dragon's unparalleled power. Although their bloodline gradually diluted during continuous reproduction, causing their power to decline, this process would eventually stabilize, and under certain circumstances, whether by chance or intentionally, they would become the true strength of the race... Among these sub-dragon species, the Wyvern was only slightly worse off than the lizardmen.

Wyvern are hybrids of dragons and griffins, inheriting some of the dragon's power and possessing the griffin's claws. Although they are far weaker and smaller than dragons, they are much stronger than griffins. More importantly, this sub-dragon species has achieved an unimaginably high birth rate by reducing the dragon vein's power.

The quantity is extremely large.

Moreover, the most elite royal bloodlines possess wisdom and authority, and due to their relatively strong dragon bloodline, they exert a Dragon Might aura over their tribe members, forming an absolute hierarchical structure that means their level of organization is quite high, even compared to that of the dragon race.

It's basically an enhanced version of India without any debuffs.

Of course, this is no big deal for dragons. They have created countless subspecies, and they are somewhat celibate when it comes to blood ties, so they don't care where these guys come from.

Of course, that's all in the past.

The current Wyvern tribe has already attracted the attention of Dragon Island.

There is only one reason.

Seeing that the Dragon Defense business was thriving and making a fortune, the Wyvern King had a certain idea in mind. After all, they had perfectly inherited the dragons' love for shiny, golden things.

--If dragons can run defense companies, so can we.

Moreover, the quantity is large, the price is favorable, the compensation is low, and there is no need to hire a government employee to pay social insurance and housing fund contributions.

Intelligent beings are profit-driven, and in this process, they often excel at two things: controlling costs and expanding scale.

Wyvern are undoubtedly weaker than dragons, but they are cheaper, easier to raise, and don't have the tedious and complicated rules and problems of Dragon Defense.

Given limited defense spending, Wyvern are clearly a more suitable option.

Moreover, the king of the Wyvern also had a keen eye, accurately positioning himself and targeting the lower-tier market. After all, in the private duels under the rule of the eastern kingdoms, two viscounts were fighting over the historical ownership of a major commercial hub. With a scale of thousands of people, calling in a Dragon Knight for this would be a loss, even if they could win. But if they spent some money to call in a few Wyvern to help, things would be very different.

This matter is in full swing and developing rapidly. Localized conflicts under peace are the main theme of the international community. In small-scale, high-intensity conflicts, Wyvern are obviously more useful. Although the dragon's position is unchallenged in the strategic deterrence of major powers and top organizations, in low-intensity conflicts among third-tier countries and even city-states and chiefdoms, the cheaper mercenaries are the real protagonists.

--The entry of Wyvern represents extremely high cost-effectiveness, being much more useful than werewolves, barbarians, and lizardmen, and not too expensive either.

Thus, Wyvern first expanded its business at an extremely rapid pace, capturing the third and fourth-tier markets. However, the greed of a dragon is insatiable, and the desire to gain more is inherent in intelligent beings. Wyvern then cautiously expanded its business empire towards the second-tier and even first-tier markets.

After all, there is still market demand. Even in the war order of major powers, the highly mobile, numerous, and relatively inexpensive Wyvern can find their place.

But this is undoubtedly taking away from the dragon's cake.

Dragon Defense lacks mid-to-low-end products and refuses to lower prices, which is fatal. The board members, led by Dragon Emperor, suddenly realized that since they could not develop alternatives in the short term, their first thought was to invest in the company.

Let's have a management buyout.

However, the Dragon King of the Venom Nest refused.

Disregarding market rules, disrupting market conditions, and interfering with normal business order.

This is clearly a feud, a blood feud akin to killing the dragon's parents, comparable to the feud of Kang De exposing Dragon Island's annual financial report in ten minutes. The latter is heart-wrenching, the former is a persistent leech. The destructive power of the two is truly comparable. If one had to point out a difference...

That is, Kang De is more difficult to deal with, while the dragon is relatively easier to handle.

Kang De looked at Santos's slightly embarrassed smile and understood.

He understood why, at this crucial moment, the Dragon Emperor would lead his henchmen to slay the Wyvern.

It's not just about punishing the other party to avenge malicious competition.

Also, after the embarrassing defeat in the Battle of Danfeng Lucerne, they wanted to prove something to the world.

--I might not be able to beat Kang De, but surely I can kill you.

Faced with a business crisis, the Dragon Emperor remained calm and composed. On the Goth side, he first sent his trusted human general to negotiate, hoping to make money through peaceful means. On the Venom Nest side, he personally led a team to sweep the area and furiously crush the enemy.

This is a combination of a big stick and a carrot.

The big stick was used to hit the dragon, and the carrot was fed to Kang De.

Wonderful, wonderful!

Upon hearing this, Kang De clapped his hands in admiration, raised his cup, and exclaimed, "Your Majesty the Dragon Emperor, so lofty and strong!"

Santos quickly raised his glass and stood up to clink glasses with Kang De: "Your Highness Kang De, you're both tall and strong!"

Hey, it's so lonely when nobody's picking up on my jokes.

Just then, a soft chuckle rang out, "How do you know His Dragon Emperor is hard? Where is he hard?"

Santos wore a "here we go again" expression. He was helpless against the little dragon girl beside him. This young lady was not only good at fighting, but her behavior, temperament, and motives were also unpredictable. He had a real headache.

In this situation, neither of us men has said a word. Is it really appropriate for you, as a lady, to bring this up?

Kang De, with a calm expression, said, "Of course, he's tough, strong-willed, and decisive in fighting for the interests of the company and his people—a true man of steel!"

Santos smiled and nodded repeatedly. Kang De's response was perfect and showed great quick wit. However, he glanced over and saw that the One-Punch Dragon Girl was calmly holding a pen and paper, nodding and writing rapidly.

So what exactly are you writing?!

The thought had barely formed in his mind when Kang De asked, "Miss Lily... what are you writing?"

The little dragon remained calm, her eyes unblinking, and said indifferently, "Diary."

--lie.

Although the other person remained expressionless, such thoughts did indeed arise in Kang De's mind.

The moment a suspicious look appeared, Lily handed over the notebook. "Want to see?"

"Okay... okay."

Kang De took it without hesitation, and before he could even look down, he saw a faint smile on the little dragon's lips, and he immediately came to his senses.

--Wait, what the hell are you looking at? I'm Zhang Yu.

Wait a minute, how did she know I'm illiterate?

Just then, Tina's voice rang in my ears. "Dragon Language..."

The fragrance in the air grew stronger. Turning my head, I saw Tina's beautiful face approaching. Her long eyelashes trembled gently, her delicate nose was as white and smooth as jade, and her eyes were as blue as the sky.

The girl frowned and stared for a moment before noticing Kang De's gaze. Her face flushed, her small ears turning pink, and she whispered, "Don't look here, it's embarrassing..."

--So, it can be viewed elsewhere?

This little vixen is getting more and more formidable; a single sentence has left Kang De lost in thought. If it was intentional, then it's truly terrifying.

The two looked at each other, their eyes meeting.

A Xing coughed in dissatisfaction, but did not stop her immediately. Instead, he looked at Tina with a flickering gaze, as if he was recalling or pondering something.

Kang De smiled, then looked down at it.

--Dragon Language!

Kang De didn't even know the common language of humans on the continent, let alone the Dragon Language.

The font was strange, mostly using dots, hooks, horizontal and vertical strokes, each one perfectly shaped and meticulous, as if it contained some kind of power, and it had a strong sense of déjà vu—when Kang De saw these lines of Dragon Language characters, he even had the auditory hallucination that is unique to Skyrim players, as if he could hear a burly man roaring and shouting.

This is truly an enigmatic book; only a ghost could decipher it...

--Roar.

--distortion.

--tough.

--Press and hold.

--Stand up.

Um??????

Kang De was taken aback. His eyes darted back and forth across the lines of Dragon Language. When he saw a certain word, its meaning suddenly popped into his mind. However, he didn't understand dragon grammar, and even knowing the meaning of the words made it difficult to read fluently—but that's not the point, is it?!

What kind of cheat is this? A hidden attribute of the Armor-Donning Ritual? No way!

From the King of Gods, the Dragon of Space and Time, Akatum, my beloved Brother Tu?

Or perhaps it was the power gained from absorbing that dragon's remains?

Kang De leaned towards the second option. After all, the Armor-Donning Ritual allowed him to instantly learn human languages, but not reading and writing. He had seen several major languages in the world, but apart from the language of Cathay, which he could barely understand, he was completely clueless about the others... However, he had never seen the Dragon Language before.

Given that Akatum is the Space-Time Dragon God, it's not surprising that in addition to granting him powerful time and space abilities, he also conveniently gave him a bilingual dictionary in both human and dragon languages.

It's unlikely that he'd get a dictionary from absorbing dragon remains. He's Extraction people before; during the Valentan battle and when Danfeng Lucerne came to his aid, he was so engrossed in the fighting that he Extraction quite a few elves, but none of them helped him understand elven script.

His mind raced, his expression strange. The strangeness lay not only in his sudden ability to understand Dragon Language, but also in the fact that the words he read seemed rather odd...

Just then, a gust of wind suddenly rose. Kang De reacted extremely quickly, and time acceleration was activated abruptly. In this state, he could still see the Dragon Girl grabbing the notebook in his hand at lightning speed. At the same time, the A Xing beside him also quickly stood up and raised his hand.

Seeing that the dragon girl meant him no harm, he remained vigilant and allowed her to snatch the notebook.

The next moment, the notebook was snatched away, and the Dragon Girl's right arm was struck by A Xing's hand chop. The invisible force was released and transmitted, and the entire table shook. Plates, cups, flower baskets, food... all these things jumped up and then fell down with a clatter. Meanwhile, the sword light was sharp and cold. After Lily retrieved the notebook, Hilmeria's longsword was already pointed at her throat.

One-Punch Dragon Girl paid no attention to A Xing's swift and fierce slash, nor did she notice the sword blade that was inches away. She only looked at Kang De, and a rare look of panic appeared on her face.

She had initially handed the notebook to Kang De as a prank, wanting to see his dumbfounded expression, just to tease the guy. Now, however, she had a bad idea.

"You..." Her voice trembled slightly, "You understand Dragon Language?"

--Damn, I have an even worse feeling now. What the hell is this guy writing?

Despite this, Kang De still frankly replied, "I don't understand what you've written."

The truth.

It couldn't be more real.

Even with relatively simple English, looking up words in an English-Chinese dictionary and reading exam articles or everyday expressions might not be difficult. But truly reading classic English literature, with its logic, grammar, vocabulary, and proverbs, is not easy even if you know every single word. Trying to immediately grasp the original meaning is not easy.

The little dragon hugged the notebook, staring intently at Kang De, studying it very carefully. A faint blush even appeared on his cool and beautiful face, though it was very faint, it was still noticeable.

... There's definitely something extraordinary written in there.

Kang De felt a little uneasy under her gaze, and just then, a heavy, loud bang was heard.

Santos slammed his fist on the table, abruptly stood up, and stared coldly at Lily, his voice sharp. "What are you doing? Why did you commit such a hostile act? Do you know what the consequences of your actions might be? All the efforts, goodwill, and plans of His Majesty the Dragon Emperor and Prince Kang De may have been in vain, this city may suffer again, and perhaps even more of our people will perish! You have disappointed me greatly!"

This was a little awkward, so Kang De reassured him, "It's alright, it's alright, it's all a misunderstanding..."

Santos turned to his head and said, "Your Highness Kang De, Dragon Island will give you an explanation for this matter."

Kang De waved his hand and said, "It's nothing, he meant no harm."

Lily suddenly bowed and said, "I'm sorry, it was my fault."

Before Kang De could speak, she left her seat, her right hand clutching the notebook tightly, her left hand covering her right arm, her black dress fluttering, her long hair swaying, and she stormed out the door.

Santos looked embarrassed and angry; he was genuinely furious, yet also somewhat uneasy.

He didn't know whether Lily did this because the spoiled young lady acted recklessly on her own... or because it was at the behest of His Majesty the Dragon Emperor.

The luncheon was rather dull and ended hastily. In the afternoon, Santos was to receive a reply from His Majesty the Dragon Emperor using the dragons' communication methods and discuss the details of fixing the match with Goth's side.

After he took his leave, Kang De's smile faded.

The Sword Saint Cascading Snow said, "This mother dragon is probably doing this on purpose. She's testing whether you can dodge it—if you can't dodge her snatching, you can't dodge her heart-piercing punch."

Kang De scratched his head. "I could have avoided him, but since he didn't seem to have any ill intentions and A Xing was nearby, I didn't expose myself. If anything unexpected happened, I could have slipped away at any time."

Hilmeria shook her head and said, "You should stay away. Sometimes, showing your skills is more important than hiding and ambushing people... at least it can intimidate the enemy and prevent them from making any rash moves."

Kang De thought for a moment, "I think he wasn't trying to test me..."

The Sword Saint sneered, "You think you know something now? Do you really know her well?"

Kang De shrugged and said, "It's simple, isn't it? The reason he values that notebook so much is obviously because he wrote something shameful that he's embarrassed to let outsiders see. He gave it to me earlier because I've always acted rather assertive, which annoyed him, and he wanted to play a trick on me. But after I looked at it carefully for a while, he thought I might understand Dragon Language, and he panicked and, in a moment of anger, tried to snatch it, which led to this situation..."

Hilmeria's expression became subtle.

He sighed and said, "Poor Santos, stuck with such a jerk. He must be really annoyed. He's worried I'll think they're putting on an act, putting on a show. He's worried I'll think Lily is testing my abilities, and then he's worried I'll doubt the dragons' sincerity. He's even wondering if the Dragon Emperor secretly instructed that assassin dragon to do this. In other words, he's caught in the middle..."

Before he could finish speaking, he saw the Sword Saint roll his eyes and turn away, ignoring him.

A Xing blinked her big eyes, looking at him with a slightly resentful expression.

Stella's gaze drifted out the window, lost in thought, seemingly oblivious to what Kang De was saying.

And Tina.

Tina sat in the chair, looked up at him, then took one of his hands, placed it next to her cheek, rubbed it, and smiled, "It's alright, I like Kang De like this too."

Kang De applied slight pressure to the girl's face; it was smooth and supple, with an excellent feel.

Tina smiled, turning her cheek slightly and rubbing it.

"But..."

She whispered.

Then, he spoke in unison with Kang De.

Don't trust them too much.

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PS1: I'm so frustrated by writer's block if I don't write for a day, and I've achieved my goal of delaying updates until after the New Year.

PS2: In the new year, I hope to have a normal work schedule, and I also hope my family can see... well, let's change it. I hope my family can see my girlfriend... (stares into the distance)