Based on the little knowledge Rong Heng had about dragons, dragon cubs usually had a long growth period. Dragons were huge in size and strong in physique, and it took a long time for them to fully mature.
There is something obviously wrong with the little dragon cub growing fatter every day.
It's like a balloon, which keeps expanding but is actually empty inside.
That night, after everyone fell asleep, Rong Heng quietly left the bedroom.
On the soft cushion in the living room, the much-grown dragon cub was lying face down, with a pair of bat wings hanging down relaxedly and his precious gems pressed under his belly.
Rong Heng transformed into a human form, picked him up gently, and carefully examined his body from head to toe.
Because it has grown rapidly during this period, the small horns on the top of the cub's head have also emerged, with a short round protrusion, which looks round and harmless like the cub itself; the bat wings behind it still look a little mini compared to the chubby body, but the bones of the bat wings are very strong, and even have grown blunt white bone spurs.
Apart from excess fat and overweight, the cub looks very healthy.
Rong Heng pressed his forehead against his again, feeling his mental state.
It is also very peaceful.
It doesn't look like there's any problem.
Is it really just a coincidence that I have entered the growth period
But he had never heard of any dragon growing so fast.
Rong Heng put the cub back, but his doubts were still in his mind.
The sleeping dragon cub was unaware of this and was still snoring happily. He didn't know what he was dreaming about. He closed his eyes and rubbed his face against the cushion, humming softly. Then Rong Heng saw him unconsciously stretching out his claws, groping around for a while, grabbing a gem and putting it in his mouth.
Crunch, crunch.
A teeth-grinding chewing sound was heard in the living room, and after a moment, silence returned.
The little dragon cub smacked its lips and slept soundly.
Is there something wrong with the gemstone
Rong Heng on the side looked at the gems, picked up one and looked at it carefully. It was indeed a gem, there was nothing wrong with it.
He had also never heard that dragons could grow rapidly by eating gems.
After pondering silently for a while, Rong Heng still couldn't figure out the key, so he could only switch back to the cub form and return to the bedroom.
It seems I have to contact Hector tomorrow to ask him.
Early in the morning, before Ruan Shiqing woke up, he heard the crying of the little dragon cub in the living room.
Ruan Shiqing woke up instantly, hurriedly put on his clothes and went out to check the situation.
I saw the little dragon sitting on the ground, holding the gem box and crying. He looked so pitiful: "A lot of my gems are missing, wuwuwuwuwuwu."
"Are there fewer gems?" Ruan Shiqing went forward to take a look, but didn't notice any changes: "Are there still so many?"
"Ten are missing." The little dragon sniffed and choked up, "I counted them last night."
The gem box was now his most precious thing. Every night before going to bed, he would pour the gems on the cushion and play with them one by one. When he was tired, he would lie down on it to sleep. When he woke up the next day, he would collect the gems on the cushion, put them back into the gem box, and take them to school.
In fact, he had felt that there seemed to be fewer gems before, but he just thought he remembered it wrong and didn't take it seriously. It was not until he woke up yesterday morning that the little dragon discovered that his favorite ruby was missing, and then he realized that something was wrong.
He was sure that the ruby was still there before he went to bed, but when he woke up, it was gone.
The little dragon cub finally became more careful. He counted the gems carefully before going to bed last night. As soon as he opened his eyes this morning, he got up and counted the gems.
As a result, I lost count and found that there were ten missing!
The little dragon was stunned. He held the jewel box and the more he thought about it, the sadder he became. Finally, he couldn't help crying.
The little mermaid and the little fox were also awakened by his crying, and helped him look everywhere, but they did not find any lost gems in the living room.
"Are you sure you didn't remember the number wrong?"
Ruan Shiqing also helped to search the living room. There weren't many things in it, and it was the children's playground. He searched every inch of it, but found no trace of the lost gem. He even asked 09 to check the surveillance to confirm that no one had broken into the house.
It's impossible for such a good gem to just run away on its own. I can only suspect that the kid took a nap and remembered the wrong number.
The little dragon shook his head and said firmly: "I'm not mistaken!"
There are just fewer gems!
The kid's pouty mouth is so big that you can hang an oil bottle on it.
Rong Heng in the bedroom finally couldn't stand it anymore. He came out of the bedroom and hit Ruan Shiqing's leg with his head.
Ruan Shiqing picked him up and asked, "What does Snowball want to say?"
Rong Heng tapped his smart brain, skillfully called out the virtual keyboard, and began typing: [It was him, sleepwalking, eating.]
Mr. Rong had explained before that when Xueqiu was at home, his language class grades were very good. Although he could not speak, he could communicate through text. In order to facilitate his communication with others, he was specially equipped with a micro-intelligent computer.
But even though he knew it, this was the first time that Snowball had communicated with him through typing.
Ruan Shiqing was slightly surprised, but after seeing what he wrote, he was speechless.
"How do you know that?"
Rong Heng continued typing: [Woke up, drank some water, saw it.]
Turning his gaze to the little dragon, Ruan Shiqing imagined what it would be like if the dragon woke up and ate the gem while sleepwalking. He squatted down and asked the little dragon to open its mouth.
"Ah—" The little dragon opened his mouth obediently.
Ruan Shiqing checked his teeth. They were white and neat, and his canine teeth were very sharp and not worn. They were very healthy.
Considering the hardness of the gemstone, if the little dragon cub really ate it himself, it would wear down his teeth to some extent... right
But when he thought that this was a dragon, who might really chew the gems like candy, he suddenly became uncertain and could only take the cubs to the workshop to retrieve the surveillance of the protection system.
The surveillance archive was opened, and the kids gathered around the virtual screen, watching with nervous expressions.
As time went on in the video, everyone saw that the little dragon in the video was sleeping soundly with the gem on top of it at first, but after a short while, he started to behave himself, groping around with his little paws, grabbed a gem and put it into his mouth.
The creaking sound coming from the speaker is so annoying.
Pausing the video at the part where the little dragon was crunching the gemstone, Ruan Shiqing pinched the little dragon's cheek helplessly: "Do you feel a toothache?"
Toothache is not a disease, but it can be fatal. Dental health is very important.
The little dragon shook his head blankly. He had not yet recovered from the shock that the missing gem was eaten by him while he was sleeping.
The little fox tilted its head, glanced at him, and before he could react, it quickly took out a gem from the gem box and stuffed it into its mouth.
As a result, I bit too hard and hurt my teeth.
The little fox's eyes suddenly turned red, and she almost cried. She rubbed her eyes hard and angrily threw the gem back into the box: "It's so hard, how can it be delicious?!"
The little mermaid next to her held back her laughter and handed her a tissue.
!!!!!!!
"What are you doing?!"
The little dragon cub came back to his senses with his eyes wide open. He took out the bitten gem with disgust, wiped it clean carefully, and then put it back into the box.
He stopped crying now, but started to worry while holding the gem box: "What if I eat all the gems?"
When asking this question, the little dragon was very serious, with an expression as if the sky was about to fall.
Ruan Shiqing was amused by him and started to laugh. He rubbed his little head and said, "Dad will buy you more after you finish eating it."
He looked at the little dragon cub's body, which had grown taller and shorter, and wondered if the little dragon cub's sudden growth had anything to do with the gems. But now he knew that dragons didn't eat gems, and there was no information showing that gems could promote the growth of dragons. Ruan Shiqing was shocked. Although the little dragon cub looked very healthy now, there was no guarantee that there would be problems in the long run.
Before everything is clear, you can't spoil your kid like this.
After thinking clearly about the pros and cons, Ruan Shiqing immediately changed his mind: "If you eat too many gems, you will not be able to digest them well. Before Dad figures it out, you may eat more, understand?"
The little dragon cub also gave up the opportunity to eat the gems. He hugged the gem box tightly as if it was his treasure and nodded obediently.
The truth behind the missing gems was revealed, and after breakfast, the cubs were sent to school.
The morning class was an activity class, and Rong Heng quietly slipped out of the school while the kids were playing.
After finding a secluded place, he dialed Hector's number.
The call was connected after a while: "What's the matter?"
Hector's virtual image appeared in front of him, as if he had just come back from outside, with ice even on his eyebrows.
"You landed on the nameless star?" Rong Heng asked.
Hector said with a satisfied “hmm”: “This damn place has nothing. The temperature is so low that even I can’t stand it for too long. I advise you not to come here. I will leave here tomorrow. It’s better to float in space than in this damn place.”
Sending Hector to explore the Nameless Star was originally partly to get him away. Now that he heard him say that the environment on the Nameless Star was harsh, Rong Heng did not force him, but went straight to the point and mentioned the purpose of this communication.
"Suppose a dragon cub that has just hatched suddenly grows up rapidly. What do you think is the reason?"
Hector:
"Then your dragon cub might be fake, or it might have been injected with growth hormones." He curled up in the driver's seat, legs crossed, cigarette in mouth, smiling nonchalantly: "Sixty years old is considered an adult for dragons, and a newly hatched cub is only a tiny size, right? How fast can it grow? This assumption is not valid."
Rong Heng: …
"No hormones." He looked unhappy: "Is there no precedent?"
"I did say it, it's fake, or it's hormones, you choose one."
Hector held the cigarette butt between his fingers, tapped on the console, and leaned closer to the camera: "Why do you suddenly ask such a question?" He narrowed his eyes, and his golden dragon pupils stood up with scrutiny.
"It's Dares." Rong Heng said calmly, "He has a new girlfriend who is from the Dragon Clan. She also brought a cub with her. There was a problem with the cub recently, so I asked you to ask about it."
"I was wondering why His Royal Highness the Crown Prince suddenly became concerned about the dragon cubs." Hector looked more serious: "Then I suggest that she take the cubs for a check-up first."
Rong Heng ignored this and proposed a new hypothesis: "This cub stayed in the egg for a long time before hatching, estimated to be more than a hundred years. Is it possible that this situation caused the cub to develop abnormally?"
"It's possible." Hector retorted: "It takes at most three years for a dragon egg to hatch from its birth. How could there be a dragon egg that takes more than a hundred years to hatch—"
Before he finished speaking, he was stunned for a moment.
—He suddenly thought of the egg many years ago. At that time, he and Galan had stayed in Luso for more than 20 years just to hatch that dragon egg.
Unfortunately, later...
A look of disappointment flashed across Hector's face. He bit the cigarette butt between his teeth and said vaguely, "It's not possible. Someone once told me a theory: many dragons believe that if a cub stays in a dragon egg for too long, it means that the cub is very weak and they will choose to give up hatching. But in fact, this is not the case. The cub will continue to accumulate strength in the dragon egg. After the cub breaks out of the shell, using dragon crystal to guide and stimulate the cub reasonably can promote the cub's rapid growth."
This statement can be compared with that of the dragon cub.
Although the dragon cub looked very lively and healthy, his horns and bat wings were indeed congenitally deficient for the dragon clan.
"What is dragon crystal?" Rong Heng had never heard of such a thing.
"A kind of ore." Hector explained, "It is hidden deep under the gem veins. Generally speaking, it is also a kind of gem, but it is a little different from gems. It stores a very huge amount of energy that is beneficial to dragons. It can promote the growth and development of cubs and increase the strength of adult dragons."
When he was young and energetic, he dug all over the mineral veins on Luxor Star, but only found a small bag.
Broadly speaking, it is also a type of gemstone... Rong Heng suspected that dragon crystal might have been mixed into the little dragon cub's gemstone.
"How do you tell the difference between dragon crystal and gemstone?"
Hector said, "I know, at least I do. Dragon crystal and gemstones are very similar and can be easily confused. Only professional scholars can tell the difference."
At first he was only responsible for mining, and the dragon crystals were all refined by Galan.
He really didn't want to mention Garland, so he thought for a moment and said, "Actually, I have a bag of dragon crystals hidden on Luxor Star. If you are willing, I can tell you the coordinates and you can go get it and make a comparison."
Rong Heng pondered for a moment. This was the only solution at the moment.
He hadn't heard of dragon crystal in all these years, and he thought that everyone in the dragon clan knew about it. It would be too easy to expose himself if he went to look for someone now. It would be better to bring back a bag of dragon crystal for reference and comparison.
"Thank you. Please send me the coordinates and I'll ask Dares to pick it up."
Hector sent him the coordinates, and then the communication was cut off.
He slumped into the driver's seat, looking at the icy plain outside the window, and muttered to himself for a while, "I have been saving those dragon crystals for so long but have never been able to use them. I hope they can be of some use this time."
Rong Heng got the coordinates, but did not inform Dares.
By this time, Dares should have arrived in Yangis. It was not realistic for him to go to Luxo Star to get the dragon crystal. After much thought, it would be safest for him to go there in person.
After thinking for a while, Rong Heng sent another text message to Ruan Shiqing: [Mr. Ruan, something happened at home, and I need to take Rong Xing home. I will have someone pick him up this afternoon. He will be back to planet b3024 in about ten days.]
After doing all this, Rong Heng climbed over the wall and returned to school.
After Ruan Shiqing received the text message from Mr. Rong, he asked 09 to pack up Snowball's things.
When I went to pick up the cubs after school in the afternoon, I specially asked for ten days off for Snowball.
When they got home, the cubs realized that Snowball had left.
The little dragon rushed over and pressed Rong Heng down, rubbing against him: "When will you come back?"
Even though it was a coquettish action, the little dragon now acted with the imposing manner of a mountain pressing down on his head.
Rong Heng was a little overwhelmed by the sudden pressure from him.
With a gloomy face, he pushed the heavy little dragon away, but was hugged by the little fox again. Even the little mermaid lay by the pool, stretched out her head to pull his ears, and looked at him steadily with her blue eyes.
The cubs were all waiting for his answer.
"… "
Forget it, I'm not angry anymore.
It's not worth getting angry with a group of cubs.
His Royal Highness the Crown Prince broke free from the cubs' encirclement, called up the virtual screen, and typed: [Ten days later.]
But the kids are just beginning to learn the phonetic symbols of the interstellar common language and do not know how to read.
The little dragon stretched his neck and stared for a long while, then turned his head and whispered to the little fox, "What did he write?"
Nota shook his head and whispered, "I know him."
Rong Heng heard everything: "…"
He said, if you don't study hard, you will become a loser sooner or later.
You two little idiots can’t even recognize such simple words.
The little mermaid took a look and uttered a soft "ah". After the two cubs looked at him, he stretched out his two hands and shook them.
"Will be back in ten days?" The two cubs understood and immediately felt relieved.
Rong Heng glanced at the artificial mermaid and felt slightly satisfied.
At least the whole army was not wiped out, there was still a smart one.
After dinner, the person who came to pick up Rong Heng arrived.
The person was sent by Mori, but he was sent under the name of Mr. Rong.
After Ruan Shiqing confirmed the other party's identity, he handed the snowball and a small suitcase to him.
"When you get home, remember to report safety." Ruan Shiqing rubbed the boy's head.
Rong Heng let out a soft "woop" and rubbed his back as a farewell.
After returning to Fita Manor, he transformed back into human form, drove the shuttle away from B3024 and headed straight for Luso.
Luso is located in the northeast region of Syracuse, while b3024 is in the central administrative region. There is also the Augusta region between the two, spanning dozens of galaxies and a very long distance.
After asking Noah to plan the shortest route, Rong Heng drove the "Glory", increased the speed to the fastest, and began to pass through one jump channel after another.
Some of these jump channels are artificially built, while others are developed from natural wormholes. Most natural wormholes are not stable enough, and are filled with meteorites. A little carelessness may lead to space accidents, which is a great test of the driver's driving skills and reaction ability.
Rong Heng's concentration was raised to the extreme. After sleeping and resting for three days, he finally entered the Syracuse area.
After handing over the driving rights to Noah, Rong Heng went to the rest cabin to rest. Five hours later, Noah woke Rong Heng up and told him that they were about to arrive at Luso Star.
Luxor is covered with volcanoes, and from the dark space it looks like a fiery red planet.
There are several space bases surrounding the planet, with many transport ships hovering around and countless shuttles traveling back and forth, transporting the mined ore onto the transport ships.
After activating the cloaking device and changing the electronic identification code, Rong Heng easily blended into the shuttle fleet and headed towards the surface of Luxor.
There are almost no dragons living on the planet Luso. Eighty percent of the land here is being mined. Apart from large helipads and warehouses, there are almost no other buildings on the ground.
After entering the atmosphere, Rong Heng left the shuttle team and headed to the other side.
The remaining 20% of the land on Luxor is almost all dormant volcanoes.
This is the burial place of the dragons and the place where the dragon cubs are hatched. Each dragon has an active volcano named after it. When they have dragon eggs and need to hatch them, they will return to Luso and use the high temperature of the active volcano to hatch the eggs.
The dragon crystal that Hector mentioned is also hidden here.
Rong Heng followed the coordinates given by Hector and successfully found the volcano he signed.
After handing over the control of "Glory" to Noah, Rong Heng opened the hatch and jumped directly into the crater.
Inside the volcano, the lava is boiling and the temperature is scorching.
In the thick smoke, Rong Heng climbed up the steep rock wall and found the hatching nest that Hector mentioned - it was actually a space carved out in the rock wall. The entrance was only about ten meters away, but after entering, he discovered a different world.
Rong Heng didn't have time to understand the dragon's hatching nest. According to Hector's instructions, he quickly found the storage room and the box containing the dragon crystal.
The box was covered with dust. Rong Heng frowned and opened it, only to find that there was nothing inside.
After confirming again and again that the box was indeed empty and there were no other boxes in the storage room, Rong Heng returned to "Glory" with a sullen face.
After taking a quick shower and washing off the dust, he called Hector again.
"Have you found the dragon crystal?"
"The box is empty."
They both spoke at the same time, and then fell silent together.
"Empty?" Hector said incredulously: "How could it be empty? The dragon crystal is indeed placed there. I can't remember it wrongly."
"It was taken away by someone else."
It was a wasted trip and Rong Heng was in a very bad mood.
"It's not possible." Hector said firmly: "I didn't touch the dragon crystals, and... he might have taken them. The development teams out there are forbidden to approach the hatching nest. The dragon crystals can't be lost."
"But the fact is that it is gone." Rong Heng pinched his brows, cut off the communication, and asked Noah to prepare to return.
Hector sat back, stroking the intelligent computer unconsciously with his fingers.
He wanted to contact Garland to ask, but when his finger touched the communication number, he hesitated.
"It could be him," he murmured.
When Garland left, he said that he would never come back here again, and he would not be allowed to come back.
This hatching nest that they had jointly excavated had been sealed in the dust for over a hundred years.