"Since I'm still the imperial grandson, I can't be said to be the 'last' princess.”Bondarev smiled.
"How do you prove yourself?" The doctor asked.
"I saw Raspujin's signature at the end of the tunnel. The heretic who was once a saint had been here before. He should be the one who discovered this cave, right?”
"Yes." said the doctor." This cave is his legacy.”
"Then you must know that Raspujin is a distinguished guest of the Tsar and a good friend of Princess Nastasia. The fact that I was able to find this place means that I know the secrets of the Lassprite crystal, which he told my great-grandmother. This is the proof that I am the last grandson of the Romanov Dynasty.”Bondarev raised his head proudly.
"Then, what is the secret that Raspujin revealed to Her Highness?”
Bondarev smiled mysteriously." I think you don't know some of the things I know. Of course, there are also some things you know that I don't. We might as well exchange information." Then maybe we can sit down and talk about cooperation.”
"After you." The doctor raised his gun.
"It all started with my great-grandmother's escape. The Red Army's bullet had indeed pierced her heart, and her body had been thrown into an abandoned mine. However, she woke up three days later, and her wound had miraculously healed. She then remembered what Laspugen had said to her, that he was willing to share the secrets of the world with his great-grandmother because she was a chosen one like herself. Like Laspergem, she had unparalleled vitality and could even return from hell.”
"Later, she married a Red Army officer. In that era, she could only get protection by marrying a Red Army officer. My great-grandfather later entered the upper echelons of the military. He was a very good man. He always protected great-grandmother and never revealed her identity. Her great-grandmother would sometimes wake up in her dreams and shout,'The Red Army is coming with guns.' Her great-grandfather would comfort her by saying,'I am the Red Army. As long as I'm alive, the guns of the Red Army will only protect you.'”
"What touching love." the doctor said lightly.
"Great-grandmother decided to give up her past identity, so she rarely talked about the past of the Romanov Dynasty, except for one thing. She told her great-grandfather that there was a god's relic in the north of Siberia, which was told to her by Saint Raspujin. The saint found the cave where God created life on the shore of the frozen sea. However, he did not announce it to the world. Instead, he used molten iron to seal the miracle, because the miracle had fallen into the cradle of the devil, and there were fallen angels hidden inside. The descendants of our family have to be wary of the reopening of that cave. The day the cave reopens, the end of the world will come.”
"So you're here to check if we're guarding the miracle well?”
"No, no, my great-grandmother was a kind and devout Orthodox Christian, but I'm not. I was extremely curious about everything. After inheriting this secret, I wanted to find a miracle. If I find it, I'll definitely open it and take a look. Not long ago, I found an engineering map from the old archives.”Bondarev pulled out the map roll and rolled it along the ice toward the doctor." It marks the elevator that leads to the depths of the permafrost.”
The doctor glanced at the map." This is not the original map. Someone drew it from memory.”
"It was drawn by a madman. He was once the battalion commander of the 13th Infantry Guards Division. He was ordered to participate in the excavation of the tunnel. Later, he was brainwashed by drugs and became a frequent visitor to the mental hospital. He only remembered that he was engaged in a big project on the northern coast of Siberia. The project was to dig a cave. I suddenly realized that I had found a breakthrough.
However, as the investigation progressed, I found that this matter was becoming more and more mysterious. Many years ago, the army built a port in a place in northern Siberia that was almost impossible to navigate. There was no information about it, and even the coordinates were erased. Beneath the harbor, the engineers dug through the hard frozen soil and opened up a cave that had been sealed for a long time.
So I decided to come and see for myself. As a KGB officer, I easily applied for the privilege to investigate this mysterious port, so that I could come as an imperial envoy.
Sure enough, I found Raspujin's signature at the end of the passage. I had finally arrived at the place I had dreamed of since I was young.”Bondarev looked around." But it looks like there's nothing interesting here.”
"You must have noticed on your way here that the closer you get to the door with Raspujin's signature, the more bones there are in the permafrost. They all climb out through the gap in the rock wall. Raspujin said that this cave would breed demons, and that was what he was talking about. But now, the cave was dead, and the mysterious power in the cave had dissipated.”
"I don't think so. If this cave was worthless, you would have left long ago.”
"If this cave is really valuable, I should shoot you and monopolize the secrets here.”
"Wait! I brought you a gift! Aren't you going to take a look at the gift before you shoot?" Bondarev took out an envelope from his clothes and slid it along the ice toward the doctor. He used this to show that he had no intention of resisting.
The doctor tore open the envelope, and inside was a Swiss bank check-a 200 million dollar check.
"This is a rare large check. What do you want to buy from me with this check?”The doctor asked.
"I'm not buying it. It's just a gift.”Bondarev smiled." We believe this gift will be useful to you. Your research has been going on for decades and consumes a large amount of national funds every year. It must not be completed, right? But now that the Soviet Union is about to split up and your backer has fallen, this means that you can no longer get funding to complete your research, and no one can help you keep it a secret.”
"It sounds like I'm in quite a bit of trouble.”the doctor said.
"Then why don't you cooperate with my family? We understand politics, technology, and war. As long as the secret of this cave can bring us returns, we are willing to invest in it. We can continue to support your project and share all the benefits with you. I've already shown my sincerity and told you everything I know. Shouldn't you tell me the part that I don't know? You still had time to shoot me after you finished speaking.”
"You are very calm, Comrade Major. You think I won't shoot you if you take out this 200 million dollar cashier's check, right?”The doctor's tone carried a hint of mockery.
"Not many people in the world can refuse 200 million dollars.”Bondarev smiled." And killing me isn't the best choice. If I don't return to Moscow safely, my family will know that something happened to me, and they won't let you off. At that time, the secret of Black Swan Harbor would be revealed to the world.”
"Ten times." The doctor threw the promissory note back to Bondarev.
"What did you say?" Bondarev was stunned.”
"Your clan needs to raise the price tenfold. I need three years and two billion dollars to complete this research. Then we'll share the whole world.”
"This amount is beyond my expectations. Even my family won't be able to raise it easily.”
The doctor smiled coldly." It seems that you really don't know the secret of this cave. Two billion dollars is too small a number in front of it. No one can afford the things here. It's priceless! Your family should be proud to be able to fork out two billion dollars.”
"Everything has a price. Weapons, women, secrets, and even souls.”said Bondarev.
"But who can bid against a god?" The doctor asked.
Hundreds of spotlights above his head lit up at the same time, illuminating the ice surface like a crystal stage. The sudden strong light blinded Bondarev.
" Open your eyes," the doctor's voice rang like a bell." The secret of this cave, the fallen angel, and even God, are all under your feet!”
Bondarev lowered his head slowly. The giant ice under his feet was transparent and clear, and his gaze could directly penetrate the bottom of the cave. He had the illusion that he was standing ten thousand feet in the sky. The world was empty, leaving only him and the ancient god-like behemoth in the ice staring at each other silently.
"Oh God!" he said, trembling slightly.
There was a pale green skeleton sealed in the ice. Even if one used all the adjectives, it was difficult to describe its grandeur, ancientness, and solemnity. However, one could only use one word-"dragon".
Dragons existed in the myths of various civilizations. Bards used all kinds of words to describe this mysterious creature, but the exact image of the dragon was unclear. Sometimes it was described as a ferocious lizard, sometimes as a winged multi-headed beast, and some said it was a one-legged snake.
But at first glance, Bondarev was sure that it was a dragon, a real dragon. It was so majestic and perfect, and every detail seemed to have come directly from the hands of God.
The skeleton was about 60 meters long. Even if the slender tailbone was removed, it was more than 30 meters long. The long tail and the lower half of the skeleton were rotten, but the front half of the head remained the same.
This mysterious animal was tall and sturdy, with scales covering its entire body. Blue bone spurs grew along its spine, and its face was filled with sharp bone spikes. Its pale eyes were well preserved, and the surface was shining like white marble. Bondarev had the illusion that a dragon was looking at him.
This was a dead dragon, but it still maintained the majesty of an emperor in front of humans.
"It's beautiful, isn't it?" the doctor said softly.
Bondarev took a deep breath.""You're right! It's priceless!"
"When the engineers opened the cave sealed by the Lars Crystal, what they saw was not a Fallen Angel, but this great creature. In the Mythological Era, they coexisted with humans. Humans sometimes called them gods, and sometimes called them demons.”The doctor said," Fallen angel is the argot used by Raspujin to refer to dragons. The fallen angel in the Bible is the form of a dragon. According to the Book of Revelations, the Fallen Angel Lucifer betrayed Heaven and turned into a red dragon that descended from the sky with one-third of the stars. That one-third of the stars was one-third of the Angel Army. They spent seven days and seven nights to cross the boundary of heaven and earth and collide with the ground.”
" In Lassprite's eyes, this might be a fallen angel," Bundarev said." He's a religious man who believes in the doctrine of God.”
"But I have to say that dragons have nothing to do with gods. They are ancient intelligent species, the masters of the world before humans.”
"Humans are not the only intelligent species?”
"Exactly. In modern biology, we believe that all species in the world evolved from the same origin, just like a big tree that gave birth to countless branches. We can call this big tree the tree of evolution. The tree of evolution has three main branches, which we call the three 'domains'. They are the bacteria domain, archaea domain, and the eukarya domain. Any known species belongs to one of these three domains. However, dragons were an exception. They were outside of these three regions.”
"In other words, there is a fourth domain on the Tree of Evolution?”Bondarev asked.
" That's right. In history, there was a mysterious evolutionary route-the fourth evolutionary route. Along that route, the top intelligent species evolved. They were existences that were more advanced than humans and were once the overlords of the world.”
" No wonder you call this project Project Delta. Delta is the fourth letter of the Greek alphabets. It represents the fourth domain.”said Bondarev.
"Yes, the fourth domain, the Dragon Domain! Until today, the creatures of this region had not been wiped out. There must still be living dragons in this world!”
"How can you be so sure?" " What?" Bondarev was shocked." If there are still living dragons in the world, how is it possible that human beings have never captured a living dragon for thousands of years? They didn't even find any fossils, except for this one.”
"Fossil? No, when the Laspercrystal arrived here, it was still alive!”Separated by the thick layer of ice, the doctor pointed at the dragon's spine." Pay attention to the middle of its spine, that black object.”
Bondarev looked at the doctor's direction. If he didn't pay attention, it was easy to confuse the black thorn with the bone spur on the dragon's spine, but after a closer look, Bondarev immediately recognized that it was an old-fashioned military bayonet.
Old rifles were slow to fire and had to be made up for with close combat weapons. Therefore, the bayonet was often cast into a sharp sword with a complete handle. When necessary, the soldier could take it off and wave it.
"It looks like the bayonet used on the British-made Li's long rifle. The material is very rare, probably made of meteoric iron.”
said Bondarev.
"The Li Clan's long rifle is only about a hundred years old. This dragon was killed with a bayonet, so it must have been dead less than a hundred years ago. Of course, we have more accurate information. This dragon died in 1909 AD, and was first discovered by a group of gypsies. They reported to the Patriarch in Moscow that they had found demons in the Arctic Ocean.”The doctor said," In the winter of 1908, the Romanov Dynasty was still ruling Russia. Your great-grandmother was still the princess revered by all of Europe. In that harsh winter, a group of gypsies took the risk to fish in the Arctic Ocean. The gypsies 'method of fishing was very primitive. They would dig a hole, wait for the fish to swim over to breathe in oxygen, and then use a wooden bucket to fish them out. This method had always been effective on the frozen sea, but no fish appeared that day, not even one. At this time, the elderly gypsy said that it was not a good day to fish, because if even the fish disappeared, it meant that there was a huge predator wandering in the sea, and the predator might jump out of the ice to attack people. However, some people were too hungry. They felt that even if there were predators in the sea, they would not dare to leave the water, so they decided to wait and see for a while. When the sun was about to set, the surface of the water in the ice cave suddenly shook. The seawater surged up, and then a huge head poked out of the ice cave, letting out a deafening roar. The people around them all suffered fatal nerve damage, and those who survived became crazy. The people in the distance were spared. According to their description, the thing had a thick neck and a huge head. Its face seemed to be covered with an iron mask, and its image was like Satan. Its eyes were shining with dazzling golden flames.”
Bondarev carefully observed the dragon's face. Its craggy face was iron-black and indeed looked like it was covered with an iron mask.
" The gypsies knelt down in terror and prayed to God, and the massive creature immediately disappeared. Now that he thought about it, it actually didn't have any ill intentions. It was just here to breathe in fresh air. But in the eyes of the gypsies, it was their devout faith that made this demon not dare to harm them. They searched around the ice and saw a huge shadow swimming under the ice. As it swam, red blood floated up. The blood was abnormally hot, and even the hard ice was melting. When the dragon swam here, it had already suffered a fatal injury. Some people curiously touched the blood that seeped out from the ice crevice. These people had mutated to varying degrees. Some had deformed skulls, some had scales on their bodies, and the most terrifying thing was that one person had another head growing out of his shoulder.”
Bondarev thought of the remains of the polar bear with two vertebrae.
" The gypsies were increasingly convinced that it was a demon, and that the demon's blood had tainted their family. Thus, they sent a young man to report to the Grand Patriarch from Moscow, hoping that the Grand Patriarch would help them with the divine power. But the Grand Patriarch refused to admit that the gypsies had seen demons, so how could he be willing to claim that demons had appeared in his own pastures? At this time, Raspujin appeared. He volunteered to organize an expedition to Northern Siberia to investigate, and the Patriarch agreed to his request. However, Raspujin's purpose was not simple. We later found his investigation log. At first, he wanted to use this matter to make a name for himself. He would announce that he had found and subdued a demon in Northern Siberia. He needed some achievements to prove that he was a hero and a prophet given by God to mankind. But he felt that it must be some rare whale, and the gypsy had misjudged it in his terror.”
"Is he trying to engage in religious speculation?"
" You are right," said the doctor." But there is one thing that cannot be explained by whales. It is that people who come into contact with blood mutate. Just in case, Raspugem brought a few priests and a large number of animals. The priests were used to deal with the demons, and the animals were used for blood tests. Their dog sleigh team came to the ice field and found a huge hole on the coast. Most of the time, the hole was below the sea surface, and only a small part of it was exposed when the tide receded. The hole was newly chiseled, as if a lizard had dug a hole in the permafrost, but judging from the diameter of the hole, the lizard was as big as a whale. The expedition team was terrified, but they realized that this was their only chance. It was summer when they arrived here, and in a few months, the sea would fill the entire cave and freeze it. The ice would expand, the hole would collapse, and the thing that was drilling the hole would be sealed in the frozen soil forever.”
"Of course, it has the strength to come out on its own. Laspugen decided to go in and take a look no matter what. The cave dug by the thing was very wide. Laspugen used the hound as a guide and finally reached the rock wall. He found the dragon under the rock wall. The dragon used the hole in the middle of the rock as its nest. After entering, it blocked the passage it had dug out and entered a dormant state. However, it ignored the crack in the rock wall, which Laspergem and the others had entered the dragon nest through. This was an opportunity given to mankind by history, and various coincidences allowed Raspujin's expedition team to enter the world of dragons. The expedition team was shocked. Everyone proposed to immediately close the cave and leave, but Raspujin realized that this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. He might be able to uncover the greatest mystery in human history. He told the Orthodox priests in the investigation team that this was a miracle, an injured fallen angel, a creation of God. They should study it and report it to the Patriarch. As for those who believed in science, they said that this thing was an ancient species, so they had to leave behind precious scientific research reports.”
"This pervert is really a weirdo." said Bondarev.
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