Experiments, Conjectures, and a Way Out

The dragon shook its enormous head, gazing in astonishment at everything around it.

It asked in confusion, "Where... where is this...?"

What he saw before him was a sight he had never witnessed in his long life.

As a giant dragon, it has a long lifespan, great power, and stands at the pinnacle of the world. It has been to countless places and experienced many Civilization.

It has seen countless cities, from beautiful royal cities built in the forest to magnificent imperial capitals surrounded by the sea, from lava fortresses in the mountains to blue cities on the sea. It has seen all the wonders of the earth constructed by magic, human effort, engineering, and alchemy.

But it had never seen a city like this before.

Even in the ancient records of the dragon race, there has never been such a scene.

The flat avenue of unknown material, the towering buildings, the strange vehicles, the unique landscaping design—it was a landscape it had never heard of or seen before, a landscape it had never witnessed in its entire life.

Where is this place?

Amidst this astonishment and shock, even the chaotic minds affected by the mutated matter experienced a moment of clarity, as the amount of information presented before them was simply overwhelming.

As a dragon who has experienced ninety years of compulsory education, he can find many clues in these tall buildings, clean streets, and different but generally similar vehicles—which signify a high level of development in engineering, alchemy, and social progress.

Where exactly is this place?

Amidst the chaos and surprise, he heard a familiar voice.

From above.

"That really surprises me."

The dragon suddenly raised its head.

The tiny ant stood atop a lamppost, looking down with a curious gaze.

He said, "You're still alive."

Kang De.

The name surfaced in my chaotic mind.

Cathayan Kang De, a man from China.

The humans who deceived Lily.

A sinner who desecrates the dignity of the dragon race.

Shameless ants.

Kill him.

Even having fallen to this state, even having gone mad, these feelings and thoughts were amplified, becoming a demonic obsession that roared, "Kang De!"

No matter where this is.

They're all going to kill you.

"That's really interesting."

In the void, golden threads intertwined, and a gigantic scale appeared on the horizon. The lever shifted, subtly altering the timeline. The flow of time in the White Mist World became anchored to that of Earth. Kang De remarked calmly, "It's worth taking some time."

The Aberrant Dragon ripped several cars off the road with a single claw, its wings flapping, and purple mist spread out, corroding and dimming the gleaming exteriors of the surrounding cars. It then soared into the air and charged towards the lamppost. "Die!"

"An unexpected bonus, but you still have to die, however..."

Kang De said calmly, "To die here is the greatest honor of your life."

The dragon ignored them, its claws lashing out fiercely—this time, let's see where you can run!

Then it heard a deafening roar.

The scenery before him suddenly changed, the road stretched endlessly, and Kang De, who was standing on a street lamp, moved rapidly backward. No, not the Cathayan, but the street lamp beneath his feet. The scenery behind him roared away into the distance, the space expanded, the distance widened, and what was once within reach was now as far away as an abyss.

If Wei'insi were conscious, witnessing this scene would fill him with utter despair, perhaps even leading him to give up all resistance. But now, having lost his mind, his rationality replaced by madness and chaos, he is unable to grasp the significance of this scene—absolute control over space.

This is the realm of the gods.

As Kang De walked away, he roared and chased after him, but the road beneath his feet seemed to stretch endlessly. Even though he never stopped, the distance between him and Kang De remained so vast, without ever getting any closer.

Then, the world began to rotate.

The straight road suddenly rose up, turning into a wall. The dragon could not stand and staggered downwards. Wei'insi flapped its wings and rose into the air, but it seemed that there were countless walls of air around it. With a rumbling sound, the tall buildings around it unfolded like a kaleidoscope.

Layer upon layer, endlessly replicated, stones, vehicles, roads, and even buildings collapse and fold, everything falling into the void and then suspending high in the sky, constructing a wondrous world of reinforced concrete. In the sky-staircase corridor built by the seven buildings, Kang De stands on the light curtain wall of the building, looking at Wei'insi.

Wei'insi also looked at Kang De.

The other person was standing on the wall of a building that was leaning downwards, hanging upside down and looking at him.

But in Kang De's eyes, standing on level ground, what he saw was Wei'insi, suspended obliquely in the air in a comical posture, flying around aimlessly like a headless fly.

Who is right?

It's Kang De.

Because his will is the spatial foundation of this world.

Wei'insi flapped his wings and charged toward Kang De, but this action caused him to crash violently into a building behind him. His body broke through the tall floor-to-ceiling windows, smashed through the supporting columns, and rampaged through the vast office building. Kang De reached out and gently grasped, and the building collapsed with a roar. Countless weights squeezed and pushed, trapping the Aberrant Dragon inside. The energy shield deployed in response, and the dragon's muffled roars continued.

The mysterious elements remain powerful and can still instinctively deploy defenses.

But here, there's no need for guns and cannons to bombard and wear them down.

Kang De pointed, pushing the wreckage of the Wei'insi building upwards at high speed. Dozens of seconds later, space reversed again, and the building fell downwards again, scraping against the air like shooting stars.

It roared as it crashed into the ground.

The asphalt road cracked and collapsed, exposing the sewer system. The violent shockwave blew away all the surrounding vehicles and green belts. The shaking foundation rose and fell, and the debris from the impact was frozen in the air before scattering rapidly in all directions, revealing the struggling dragon within.

The energy shield has lost its luster.

More than a dozen high-speed falling objects roared down from the sky.

"To die here, with Akatum's divine power and the Fire Thief personally arranging your fate, isn't that the greatest honor of your life?"

After the impact, the dying dragon was lifted into the sky by an unseen force.

Kang De arrived, stepping through the air.

Even now, Wei'insi felt no fear, only madness, hatred, and resentment.

He murmured, "Lily... Lily... kill... kill..."

Kang De shook his head. "Are you alive, or are you already dead?"

He didn't expect Wei'insi to provide an answer.

But you can find it yourself.

"There are two possibilities. First, the dragon's powerful body and strength are enough to resist the annihilation of the White Mist World, but this possibility is relatively low, and besides, you are no longer a dragon."

Kang De said, "Then the second possibility... is that mystical elements are at work."

At this point, a strong light flashed in Kang De's eyes.

Although Lily and A Xing are still waiting in the underground world, and Cuixisi is carrying out his plan, the current discovery certainly warrants him spending a little more time.

"It was this unknown substance that protected you, allowing you to withstand the erasure rules of the White Mist World and arrive in this forbidden realm where life shouldn't exist. In other words..."

He took a deep breath and placed his hand on the dragon's almost rotten skin.

Let me prove it.

The Power of the Fire Thief is activated.

Accelerated startup time.

The spacetime divine power circulating within his body resonated with the White Mist World, and the Fire Thief's spirit expanded infinitely, instantly covering Wei'insi's entire dragon body and locking onto the distorted and warped power.

Extraction, stripping.

Mysterious elements were continuously drawn from Wei'insi's body.

The dragon struggled violently, its mysterious elements radiating light in an attempt to resist, but in Kang De's world, such resistance was futile. The power of the Fire Thief swept away everything in its path, and the divine power of space directed all counterattacks and struggles into a meaningless void.

The mutated tissues filling the dragon's body were continuously erased and eliminated.

The dragon's tattered body was gradually withering away.

His body was almost completely corroded, but some of the dragon part remained. Perhaps Cuixisi wanted him to stop Kang De and his group here, so she left him a little bit as a support for his intelligence. This was Kang De's opportunity; he wanted to conduct an experiment.

Most of the life essence of the Wei'insi has been plundered and filled with mysterious elements. After this unknown substance is extracted, the Aberrant Dragon will die quickly.

However, dying quickly and dying immediately are two different concepts.

The dragon's remaining vitality would also make this "rapid death" less rapid.

Therefore, comparisons will occur.

With comparison, results will emerge.

Time accelerated once more, the hourglass in the sky twisted, and mysterious elements were rapidly Extraction and stripped away. A large amount of these Element flowed into Kang De's body. The Fire Thief squinted, watching the dragon's vitality.

The purple superfluous creatures gradually disappeared, the tentacles withered, the scales peeled off, and the purple flesh shrank like rotten cotton. The dragon's enormous body gradually withered, but it gradually returned to its original dragon form.

Even the madness and distortion in his eyes gradually faded.

The dragon stopped struggling, but he was still alive. He murmured, "Where... where am I?"

Kang De said calmly, "Instead of this, how about a more meaningful last word?"

Wei'insi felt the foul, foreign matter inside his body being continuously expelled. He shuddered and looked at Kang De: "Are you saving me? Human, please save me! I don't want to die! I..."

Kang De calmly replied, "No, I'm just asking you to die a different way."

"What!?" Wei'insi raised his head with all his might and shouted, "Human! Stop! What do you want to do? I command you to stop immediately! I am Wei'insi, son of Kehastun, I am a noble golden dragon, you must do your best to save my life, and I will reward you accordingly, I..."

Kang De gave him a helpless look. "Don't you remember what just happened? I haven't cleared your head yet."

The other person was taken aback at first; although it was an experience from a period of madness, it was still remembered.

After all, it's the memory of a dragon.

He thought back to everything that had happened before.

A mysterious and unknown Civilization city.

And then there was that soul-chilling ability to manipulate space.

It was almost like the power of a god.

It paused for a moment, then looked at Kang De's calm expression, feeling the alien energy constantly draining from its body. Its scales peeled off, its dragon horns peeled off, and it clearly realized that when this filthy and unknown substance completely disappeared, it would be the moment of its demise.

"Your Majesty... Your Majesty!"

He cried out, "Forgive my rudeness! I pledge my loyalty to you! I beg you to save my life! I beg you! Merciful Your Majesty, I am willing to become your steed, I am willing to sign a pact with you, I do not want to die, I truly do not want to die..."

Kang De shook his head.

"What dragon?" he said. "It was just a case of being born into a good family."

Wei'insi's mouth was bound by the spatial lock, and his pleas turned into desperate sobs. His eyes went from pleading to despair, from despair to hatred, and from hatred to curses.

How familiar it looks.

They were definitely born into a good family.

Kang De continued to Extraction from the distorted body tissue; the enormous dragon body had shrunk by about sixty percent. Suddenly, Wei'insi's body shuddered violently.

The Fire Thief's eyes narrowed.

Having connected the world with the power of time and space, he had already obtained a portion of the permission here. His senses were sharp, and he could perceive the slightest changes in time and space. At this moment, he felt an indescribable mysterious power descend upon this giant dragon in an instant.

Kang De turned his head and looked.

The dragon's eyes had lost their luster.

It died.

"The abnormal substance still remains in the body."

Kang De examined it.

"The Extraction avoided vital areas such as major blood vessels, the heart, and the brain, and Extraction as evenly as possible throughout the body. The cause of death was not physical mutilation, and the body's internal circulation still maintained a certain level of vitality."

"In other words, it can be inferred that the mysterious element, at a certain concentration, can ensure that the host can resist the annihilation rules of the White Mist World. However, when the concentration drops to a certain critical point, the annihilation laws of the White Mist World will take advantage of the weakness and kill the host instantly."

"It wasn't specific to any particular area, because the mysterious elements in the brain and heart weren't cleared, and several areas with high concentrations were also left in other parts of the body as a control group."

"It should be calculated based on quantity, not density."

Kang De muttered to himself, summarizing the experimental results.

"How exactly does it work? Does the Extraction and detoxification of the mysterious Element have any effect? Does the Element need to be infused into the target's entire body, or is it enough to reach a certain quantity?"

Kang De stroked his forehead and paced back and forth.

"I need more test subjects..."

He muttered, "Go to Earth and find living animals or similar subjects to conduct experiments..."

"No, no, no, Earth's life forms are structured differently from those in another world. We'll have to go to that other world to find them, maybe even capture a few scumbag death row inmates. We captured quite a few slave-hunting teams before; we can put those to good use..."

"But this takes a lot of time..."

"No, it's still worth it..."

Kang De spoke rapidly.

Cuixisi is about to sacrifice his sixth victim, Lily. He wants to raise the River of Origin to the surface, and stopping him is of paramount importance. But now...

Kang De believed that the experiment at hand was the most important thing.

The former is about saving the world, the latter is about finding a safe way out.

"If my guess is correct, at least it could..."

He seemed to have made up his mind, but the next moment, the signal transmitter at his waist lit up with a flashing red light.

"Oh... fuck!"

Kang De closed his eyes and exhaled heavily.

Time reversed, Fire Thief opened the Dark Portal, returning to another world.

On the ground, the dead dragon lay there silently.

His body suddenly moved unconsciously, then moved again, as if he was trying very hard.

Then it all disappeared without a trace.

It hasn't been touched since.

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PS1: Update... 4,000 words.

PS2: I originally planned to write 12,000 words today, but I got really sleepy after finishing the first update, so I've been writing the second update until now. I'll talk about the rest when I wake up. Goodnight, going to sleep.