Renee couldn't reach Stefan's phone, and he hadn't replied to any of her texts. Although Renee was anxious, she believed that Stefan would be safe and return when he had promised… but now she wasn't so sure. "He was lucky you were there that day to save him, but will someone be there to help him if it happens again? Will he..." Renee bit her lip, too frightened to think about it."Don't worry about him, he's strong. He won't get into accidents that easily." Quinton tried to comfort Renee and told her about their plan. "I discussed it with him—I'm in charge of finding the Western Hills Fruit and Northern Lake Anaconda, and he's in charge of finding the dragon's saliva. His task is more difficult than mine, so naturally, he'll come home later than me."Renee, however, could not stop overthinking. "Is the dragon's saliva even real? I feel like Dr. Wagner is just trying to give me hope, and it doesn't actually exist.""Why not?" Quinton immediately fished out the three items he had plac
The existence of dragons had always been a great controversy, as they only appeared in legends. In Aeos, dragons symbolized power, honor, and luck, but in Benores, they were the incarnation of evil. Stefan had done his research, and found that there were records of dragons appearing in Water City, Srey, Cheville, Tregas, and Reka. The incident of a dragon falling was widespread in Reka, and they even had photos as proof. It indirectly proved that dragons were real, and there were other places where dragons had apparently resided too.Stefan had asked around and finally came to a village called Dragos. It was located in the depths of the mountains, and the villagers lived in groups on the cliff. They led a primitive life away from the world. There weren't many villagers, but they were united and quite unfriendly to visitors. All of them believed in dragons and used dragons as their totems. The walls of their houses were full of pictures of dragons. Stefan sent everyone except Elijah
Elijah tried a few times, but failed to pass through it. When he looked down, he saw a cliff with a huge gap, and it almost gave him a heart attack. "Ah, I... I can't do it. I can't!" Elijah grabbed his chest, feeling dizzy. He couldn't hold on even if he wanted to. "Just wait here if you can't do it. I'll go up and take a look. I won't be long," Stefan said briefly, then bent over and passed through the hole. It was hard for him to pass through that hole because he was tall. If he was careless, or if he slipped, he might fall off the cliff. Luckily, he was strong and agile, and entered the village smoothly. Neil also entered the village skillfully. Elijah had tried several times but failed, so he just waited at the entrance of the village helplessly. After entering the village, Stefan found that Neil was right—one could only move around through the cliffs. There was a palm-sized path that went up to the top of the mountain where only a few houses could be seen."How amazing!" S
Gravel rolled down the cliff, and Neil's body started slipping down the cliff. Just as he thought all hope was lost, a light shone ahead, and a few villagers with torches rushed over. "Great! Someone's coming!" Neil shouted for help in the direction of the light. "Help! Save us!"When the villagers heard his cries for help, they quickly ran over. "Ah, it's Neil! It's Neil!" When the villagers saw Neil and Stefan, they went over to help pull Stefan up. "Whew, how dangerous! If we fell, it would be over for us." Neil lay on the ground, taking deep breaths. He glanced at the bottomless cliff anxiously, realizing just how close he had been to death."Thank you." Stefan dusted himself off. In comparison with the frightened Neil, he looked a lot calmer. It was as if he hadn't almost died. "I'll remember your kindness today and repay you with a big reward one day.""Don't say that. I'm your guide—I'm responsible for your safety. It's what I should do." Neil spoke politely, full of respec
Stefan's eyes brightened and he eagerly asked, "Can you take me there to get some? My wife has been poisoned, and I need it to save her. If you can take me there to get some, I'll satisfy any request you and the villagers have." "We're doing fine as we are. We don't need an outsider like you trying to poke your nose into things." Easton glared at Stefan fiercely. "The dragon's saliva is a treasure belonging to my tribe, so how can we just give some of it to an outsider? If you keep this up, you'll be punished by our tribe's laws. For your information, my tribe doesn't belong to any administrative region, so we don't have to take responsibility if we want to hack you into pieces." Easton wasn't just saying that to scare Stefan—Dragos was a small society with a long history, and they had their own rules unbound by any laws. They were similar to the ancient cannibal tribes of Zambawi. Stefan had entered the village on his own initiative, which had infuriated the villagers. Hence, he was
"Mr. Abdon, don't worry—I'm also a villager of Dragos. I want our village to be safe, I was just a little impulsive today. I'm sorry..." Neil bowed to the villagers politely, then turned and said to Stefan, "Let's go, man. I told you this wouldn't work.""Okay, I understand." Stefan nodded.The both of them turned around and walked out of the village as the villagers watched.Stefan stopped when the torches were almost out of sight and asked Neil seriously, "This show has gone on long enough. Can we go back now?" "It isn't a show. I really do want to take you out of the village." Neil gave Stefan an awkward look and fished out the bank card with the large sum of money that he had accepted. "I'll return the money to you. I don't want you to get hurt by the villagers.""Excuse me?" Stefan frowned, his expression turning icy. He felt like Neil had fooled him. He wouldn't have left if Neil had told him that from the beginning. On the contrary, he would have tried to persuade that eld
"What? You... Are you still going up the mountains?" Neil's eyes widened, and he said in awe, "You're fearless!""I've made myself very clear." Stefan twisted the towel around his head that was drenched in sweat, and after taking a deep breath, he was about to set off again. Neil watched as Stefan walked away, feeling guilty. "Hey, wait!"Stefan stopped and turned around. "What's wrong?""I don't want to be your guide, but I can give you a map." Neil took out a notebook and drew something on a page, then tore it off and gave it to Stefan. "The terrains in Dragos are very complicated. This is a rough map of the village, and I'm guessing the dragon's saliva you want is in the memorial chamber. However, that place is at the highest point of the mountain, and it's also in the most complex cave. Our legends say that the ancestral dragon met his beloved woman there, and that was also where they built their family. That's how Dragos came along." "Really?" Stefan was overjoyed and acc
Stefan hid behind a rock, waiting for them to change shifts. He knew the security would be the weakest at that time. He'd heard from Neil that their guards had a ritual—they would perform a Dragon Dance, their ethnic dance, when they wanted to change shifts.Soon, the six guards at the cave and the other six guards who were taking over started dancing, and Stefan took that opportunity to sneak into the cave through a side door. The cave was small but deep, and there was only one lamp in the dark cave. It was a karst cave with unique stalactites that were shaped like the 12 zodiac animals—pig, dog, chicken, goat, tiger, and so on."I'm sure there must be a dragon here since it's one of the twelve zodiacs." Stefan eagerly walked into the deepest part of the cave. He could hear the sound of running water from time to time, and it sounded like the cry of a dragon. The deepest part of the cave was the highest part of it, and there was a stalactite there more than ten meters high. It w