Italy, Rome, the Gattuso Family's research institute.
Unlike the Equipment Department at Cassell College's main campus, the institute's main building was not hidden deep in the mountains or somewhere similar. It stood in the suburbs, outwardly an ordinary biosafety level four laboratory that even collaborated with the government on projects. If Hybrid factions controlled vast political and economic resources, the Gattuso Family stood among the best of them. They could easily influence local policy, so naturally, they had no need to worry about keeping their family institutions secret.
Beneath the biological laboratory stood a fortress-like research institute built with advanced technology spanning biology, genetics, mechanical engineering, computer science, materials science, and other fields. It was equipped with multiple layers of physical and electronic access controls, round-the-clock video surveillance, and emergency response systems.
In the deepest part of this fortress, the project codenamed the "Nibelungen Project" was nearing completion. Its test subject was the Gattuso Family's young master, Caesar Gattuso.
Throughout the experiment, acting family head Frost and family secretary Pazzi remained present, watching the progress of Caesar's surgery, integration, enhancement, and recovery through a thick glass wall. Various biological and alchemical experimentation areas surrounded this core laboratory. The institute's most elite researchers used instruments and equipment with staggering price tags, some not even publicly announced, all to administer the precious serum safely and reliably to their future family head.
Frost only knew that Caesar had defied the elders at the Pantheon, but not the details.
Afterward, Caesar had taken Nono out of a class at Cassell College, and the two had boarded an international flight to the small city that was Lu Mingfei's hometown, where they had once again experienced a suspected Dragon King awakening incident.
Following that incident, Caesar had returned to college life. Yet a month ago, while