Where Had Everyone Gone?

"I'm taking this dragon." The little girl did not answer the branch president's question. She simply sat down on Zheng Yichen's head and gently stroked it with one hand, as though she enjoyed the feeling of touching him.

Her tone was not one of negotiation, either. She was stating a fact. To the branch president and the others, that was undoubtedly a provocation. As for their subordinates, they had all been specially selected. Their boss had not spoken, so they offered no opinions. Or rather... they had no chance to!

The branch president and the others failed to notice the state of their own men. They appeared no different from usual, but a closer look would have revealed their bodies trembling faintly and a trace of helpless terror in their eyes.

"Impossible!" A man glared coldly at the little girl. They had brought out everything they had to capture this dragon. After all, their base was only a town in a remote area, where it was difficult to amass much power.

They had managed to muster so much strength this time solely because the potential rewards were enormous.

After working so hard for so long, more than half the people present would never agree to give up the prize already in their hands!

The branch president was unwilling too, but... what he wanted to say was, If you want it, take it. Reaching the position of branch president, even at a branch in a remote town, meant he had some ability. At the very least, he was not completely blind when it came to judging a situation.

His experience far surpassed that of the local landowners in this town. He knew just how mighty some powers in this world were, and he knew what the right choice was now. But when that man spoke before he could, the branch president cried out inwardly, This is bad!

"Oh? Impossible? That isn't for you to decide." The little girl tilted her head. "You don't look like the one in charge, but that's all right."

"I was only asking..."

The little girl gently swung her little feet. The branch president's expression changed drastically, and he could no longer maintain his composure. "Please wait! You may take this dragon whenever you wish, Your Excellency!"

"Who gave you the courage to interrupt me while I was speaking?" The sweet, faint smile vanished from the little girl's face. As her expression changed, a thick scent of blood spread through the air.

"I... I'm very sorry... Please spare us..." The branch president stumbled back two steps. He opened his mouth, wanting to say more, but then a shadow fell over them. All that remained was terror and despair...

What was that?

As Zheng Yichen gradually regained consciousness, he felt a tickle on the tip of his nose. He instinctively tried to raise a claw and brush it away, only to take a solid hit to the face. The point of impact was tiny, but it felt as though an adult had slapped a child. His drowsiness vanished completely!

Clutching his dragon face, he sat up abruptly and looked around in astonishment. The crossbow bolts embedded in his limbs and wings had been removed. He had no idea how whoever had pulled them out had done it. The bolts had barbed heads, yet their removal had left no torn wounds where they had pierced him.

As for where he was, if he remembered correctly, this was the town he had secretly watched several times. These dragon eyes had many advantages; the most basic was that they could see far into the distance.

"#%￥..." A soft, sweet voice came from below. Distracted by his confusion over his situation, Zheng Yichen lowered his head. A little girl stood on tiptoe, raising one hand as she tried to communicate something.

This little girl... was the one from last night!

Zheng Yichen could not understand her. Judging by the changes in her speech, though, she seemed to have switched between several languages. One even sounded strangely melodious to him, both unfamiliar and familiar. The familiarity came not from his own knowledge but from something his body recognized. Yet it remained unfamiliar, and even without that strangeness, Zheng Yichen still would not have understood it.

Strange. There used to be plenty of people in this town. Why isn't there a single person here now? He looked down again at the little girl, who was still trying to communicate with him. Perhaps because he had not responded, her cheeks puffed up slightly. She looked so endearing that he could not help wanting to reach out and pat her head.

Then he saw his claw and gave up on the idea for now. He could control his strength well enough to scratch ordinary-sized characters into stone, but stone was an inanimate thing.

Even if he did not hurt this little girl of mysterious origins, what if he frightened her?

"You don't even understand Dragon Language. Are you really a dragon?" Hands on her hips, the little girl lightly kicked the ground and looked up at Zheng Yichen with narrowed eyes.

Zheng Yichen looked down at the little girl, who kept trying to communicate with him, with a helpless expression. No matter what she said, even if she was a prodigy who knew several languages despite her appearance and age, he could not understand what he could not understand. However many languages of this world she knew, could she somehow know Chinese?

As for other languages, Zheng Yichen's knowledge of foreign speech was limited to things like "good morning," "good evening," and a few easily understood words from certain little movies...

"Hmm... There shouldn't be any dragons who don't understand Dragon Language." The little girl leaned against Zheng Yichen, resting her chin lightly on one hand. Dragon Language was unique to the Dragon Race. Unlike human languages, it did not have to be learned through study or repeated exposure.

Dragons received their race's inherited memories at birth, and those memories included Dragon Language. Speaking it came as naturally to a dragon as eating and drinking—provided the dragon had grown past the stage of being a hatchling that could only wail.

Zheng Yichen had spoken while he was being surrounded and attacked, but in languages she did not understand. There were very few languages in this world that she did not know.

For a wild young dragon that seemed to have no inherited memories, and had not even been raised by a mother dragon, remaining more than a beast would already have been impressive. Yet the one before her had not "degenerated" at all. Instead, every sign showed that he possessed considerable intelligence and knowledge unfamiliar to her.

This dragon had another trait normal dragons lacked: he had no Dragon Aura.

Dragon Aura was not merely an imposing presence that exerted pressure on others. It could also place immense mental pressure on those weaker than the dragon, and could even affect an opponent of equal strength. If Zheng Yichen had possessed Dragon Aura, he would not have been driven into such a desperate position, even while surrounded and attacked.

At the very least, no ordinary horse within a certain range would have dared to move.

What interested her even more—and made her want to keep this dragon—was that he was unaffected by the dangerous nature of her body!