CH 17

The Little Golden Dragon felt hopeful and spoke with more excitement.

People always choose soft persimmons to squeeze1, and dealing with the Western Inner World was much easier than the Eastern one.

Those angels and demons were just winged bird people, not to mention vampires, a long-living species that could be killed by humans with silver nails. They were pathetic.

‘Hue Xia side is a high-risk area and the higher-ups don’t support spreading feudal superstitions. Over there in the West, the situation is much easier, with all kinds of sects everywhere, and they especially believe in all sorts of nonsense. If you go there, you can take the route of the sea god, pretending to be a mermaid, gathering followers to establish your beliefs, and you’ll have whatever you want when the time comes.’ 

‘What is a mermaid?’ Luoxi asked as if she didn’t understand.

The Little Golden Dragon immediately explained the tale of the Little Mermaid to Luoxi. Listening to how the Little Mermaid saved a human prince and fell in love with him, willingly trading her voice for legs, every step she took feeling like walking on a knife’s edge.

Luoxi: “……”

She interjected: ‘We sirens would never fall in love with humans. How can you have a relationship with someone from a different race?! Besides, their hair and eye color are different, blond hair and blue eyes are not as attractive as my double black2.’

The Little Golden Dragon became angry: ‘How is golden color unattractive?! The golden color is the best! Pitch-black is ugly. Black dragons are all troublemakers!’

Luoxi: ‘….you’re off topic. What happened to the mermaid in the end? Did she marry the prince? Live a happily ever after?’

The Little Golden Dragon: ‘No, the prince married the princess from a neighboring kingdom. The Little Mermaid couldn’t bear to kill the prince to regain her fishtail, and finally turned into bubbles and disappeared on the sea.’

Luoxi: ‘…..’

She firmly rejected the Little Golden Dragon’s proposal to impersonate a mermaid. As a long-living species, the Little Mermaid had blindly fallen in love with a human and ultimately died. Such a foolish act!

While the Little Golden Dragon was still trying to promote the benefits of the sect, Luoxi sighed softly, “Members of evil cult organizations have sentences starting from three years. Do you want to end up in prison?

The Little Golden Dragon angrily flicked its tail. It could tell that this Siren was determined to hang herself on this Hua Xia tree3.

To be honest, if those potential dangers were disregarded, it also felt that Hua Xia was very approachable.

There seemed to be a common historical origin between Hua Xia and Asmana, and the written characters of Hua Xia were considered ancient scripts in their world. Although there were slight differences in their languages, they carried surprising similarities when translated.

For example, the translation of Asmana into ancient characters was “Tang,” which was reputed to be the most prosperous dynasty in Hua Xia.

The Tang Dynasty of ancient times was a great power, receiving tribute from all nations, and was considered the most prosperous and advanced civilization in the world at that time. In contrast, Europe was still amid the Middle Ages, with a turbulent history.

The Little Golden Dragon’s origins could also be traced back to the myths once shared by Hua Xia and Asmana. Unlike the Western dragons with large bellies, the Little Golden Dragon preferred its current appearance, which was more majestic.

If Hua Xia’s Inner World wasn’t so dangerous, with stricter regulations than other countries and the restriction on beings attaining spirituality after its founding, and if its cherished bracelet wasn’t taken away, the Little Golden Dragon would not have urged Luoxi to leave Hua Xia.

Now that Luoxi refused to leave, the Little Golden Dragon grumbled a few words, but couldn’t do anything about it.

Its power had diminished greatly and it couldn’t survive without being with her. It was aware that, compared to Luoxi’s current human appearance, its own appearance would be a rarity even in the Inner World.

Without the power of a dragon, but with the appearance of one, it was just a vulnerable target that anyone could exploit.

In Hua Xia, legends about dragons were abundant. Despite the fact that actual dragons were no longer present in this era, folk remedies and training spells still existed and the parts of a dragon such as its horns, blood, scales, and claws were highly valued. Its entire body was considered a treasure. This content belongs to thehlifestyle.com, if you see this translation elsewhere, it’s been stolen!

If discovered by others, the Little Golden Dragon would surely face the fate of being deboned, skinned, bled, and used for scientific experimentation.

The thought of the records it found made the Little Golden Dragon completely wilted.

It hugged its own tail and coiled itself around Luoxi’s wrist.

The Little Golden Dragon was frustrated after watching the people search for the sunken ship for half a day without finding it. With a face of a second-grader4, it roared in Luoxi’s mind: ‘Stupid humans, the ship is sunk in an area with special restrictions and magnetic fields, so your instruments cannot detect it. Beg this uncle5, and this uncle will take you there.’ 

Luoxi: “…….”

It seems that this dragon’s IQ was impaired during its journey through the void.

The rescue ship had already arrived at the southernmost part of Hua Xia territory and was now heading towards the southeastern part of Asia. This meant that if it continued further, it would easily be detected by neighboring countries.

The South Sea was a sensitive area and was being closely monitored by many countries. If the location of the sunken ship was still in the south, its discovery by other forces would lead to a lot of bickering.

The person in charge stared at that sea with a serious expression.

If the sunken ship could be truly found, even if the other forces interfered, Hua Xia would fight back. They just feared that not only the vessel couldn’t be found, but they would be also bitten by those foreign forces and be subjected to the spread of the threat theory about Hua Xia on the international stage.

As the chief person in charge of this operation, the 40-something man weighted the gains and losses with a composed expression.

Should they launch a full-fledged search for the sunken ship or take a step back and proceed with caution?

The person in charge hadn’t reached a decision yet when one of his soldiers jogged over, gave a military salute, and made a report.

“Boss, there is a shark that has been following our ship, appearing to be a nurse shark.”

The person in charge’s eyes lit up: “Nurse Shark? Let’s go take a look.”

The group arrived on the deck and indeed saw the nurse shark swimming near the rescue ship.

Could this be the shark that found the sunken ship and brought the coral phoenix bracelet adorned with gold back to light?

The person in charge ordered his soldiers to feed the nurse shark with some fish, but the seemingly docile creature flipped its tail and coldly ignored the food that was thrown down.

The soldier feeding the shark held the bucket, and turned his head in bewilderment, “Boss, these are all fresh live fish. Why does it not like it?”

And it seemed like it wasn’t just the fish that was being disliked, but also them. The nurse shark’s round, bean-like eyes were full of intelligence and when it looked at them, it was with a haughty and contemptuous gaze through the corners of its eyes.

The eyes of the person in charge twitched: “…”

He has encountered many strange things and even seen some animals that exhibited human-like behavior. Besides the thoughts that everything in the universe was imbued with spirit entertained his mind, it was only that it was unscientific.

“Boss?”

The person in charge looked at the nurse shark. It was clearly disdainful of them but it didn’t leave.

The person in charge suddenly understood and turned his head to order someone to go and bring Luoxi over. As it was a disguised rescue ship, only professional individuals who were in disguise were allowed to remain on the deck, and Luoxi had been in the cabin the whole time.

Once she arrived, the group saw the previously aloof nurse shark change its demeanor completely. It happily jumped and frolicked in the water, acting cute and looking at Luoxi with its big round eyes, as if it was eagerly waiting for her to come down and play.

Everyone: “……..”

This nurse shark must have attained spirituality!

The person in charge chuckled and said to Luoxi, “Xiao Tang, why don’t you try communicating with the nurse shark and see if it can lead us to the location where it discovered the bracelet?”

Louxi looked at the person in charge and, under his expectant and encouraging gaze, slowly crouched on the deck and gazed at the nurse shark in the sea.

How to communicate with the nurse shark in front of so many people?

When the sunken ship is found, will she be treated as a killed donkey who was done with the grinding6?

Translation notes:

[1] It’s the soft persimmons that people choose to squeeze refers to a Chinese expression that means that it’s the weak who get picked on.

[2] In this context, her double black probably refers to her hair and eye colors.

[3] To hang oneself on a tree refers to a Chinese expression, meaning to stubbornly persist in a hopeless or dangerous situation despite the potential consequences, often with a connotation of foolishness or stubbornness.

[4] Second-grader refers to second-grade syndrome which is a term used to describe early teens who have grandiose delusions, who desperately want to stand out, and who have convinced themselves that they have hidden knowledge or secret powers.

[5] This uncle refers to a colloquial term in Chinese that means “grandfather” or “old man”. However, it is often used as a slang term for “I” or “me”, with a connotation of self-importance or arrogance.

[6] Kill the donkey when the grinding is done refers to a Chinese idiom that means to get rid of sb once he has ceased to be useful.