Secular world: My destiny has no taboos

Chapter 526, Section 536: Lin Guanzhi
You have entered a special region - the space of increasing entropy.

The Dragon (辰龙) governs the Four Symbols, embodying the primordial principle of returning to the origin, and representing boundless entropy.

[Note: The current entropy-increasing space is in an abnormal state. The effects of the special states 'Spring Thunder,' 'Summer Rain,' 'Autumn Dew,' and 'Winter Hibernation' on all life forms within the space have disappeared...]

[Note: You have encountered a special target, Chenlong - the First Dawn Star Envoy, whose celestial secret and astrological talisman is the Four Symbols Dragon Horn.]

[Four Symbols Dragon Horn (Gold): Used by the Morning Star (Chenlong) to suppress evil, condensing most of its essence and spirit, using it as a gamble on the future.]

……

The message notifications flashed through Lin Beixuan's mind line by line.

This was the second time Lin Beixuan had formally entered the altar and dojo of the Twelve Zodiac Gods, following his entry into the Devouring Space of the Heavenly Gang Venerable.

"Entropy-increasing space!"

Lin Beixuan was slightly surprised. He turned his head to look at the Antarctic Immortal and the two official immortals who were completely unaware.

Is it because the entropy-increasing space has lost its original effect?

Lin Beixuan looked at the bluish-gray dragon horn floating inside the huge glass container, took a deep breath, slowly walked forward, and placed his hand on the container.

"Hey...you!"

An official was about to speak up to stop him, but when he noticed the chilling gaze Lin Beixuan was giving him, he swallowed back the words he wanted to say.

"Please...do as you please!" He cupped his hands in greeting to Lin Beixuan, and finally smiled.

Lin Beixuan ignored the immortal who had interrupted him and carefully examined the dragon horn inside the container in front of him.

It floats quietly inside the container, emitting a cool luster. Its surface texture resembles mountains and rivers, revealing a simple and ancient sense of order amidst its intricate structure.

"Does the Lord seem quite interested in these dragon horns?" Zhang Yuanxing noticed the serious expression on Lin Beixuan's face and asked.

Lin Beixuan slowly turned his head, his eyes calm and unwavering, and said indifferently, "Where did you get these dragon horns from in the mortal world?"

Upon hearing this, Zhang Yuanxing shook his head and said meaningfully, "No, it does not come from the mundane world."

Lin Beixuan frowned, thinking to himself, "Could it be that the authorities found it at the border crossing?"

However, just as this thought arose in his mind, Zhang Yuanxing's next words struck Lin Beixuan like a thunderbolt.

"We found it in the present world."

Zhang Yuanxing slowly approached Lin Beixuan, raised his head to examine the ancient dragon horn inside the container, and said with some emotion.

"I wonder if Your Excellency has heard of any legends about 'dragons' in the present world."

"I heard."

Lin Beixuan grew up in the modern world and was a seasoned internet surfer who frequently browsed forums. Naturally, he knew that posts about folklore and strange tales often appeared on forums in the past.

Most of these posts are half true and half false, and their authenticity needs to be verified. Just like the UFO incidents that occur every few years in the United States, similar incidents also occur from time to time in China.

However, these efforts often only last a short time before quickly disappearing into the tide of the internet.

"Has Your Excellency heard of the Jiangkou dragon incident that went viral online for a while?"

Upon hearing this, Lin Beixuan's eyes narrowed, and he said in a serious tone, "The dragon fall incident was actually true?"

"Our expert team went to the site after receiving the news, and there was no real dragon that fell down."

Zhang Yuanxing seemed lost in memories, saying whatever came to mind: "However, although it is not a real dragon, it is not a fake dragon either."

……

"Whoosh—"

The wind howled and the rain poured down. It was midday, but the dark clouds covered the sky, making it feel like the darkness of dusk.

"Professor Zhang, I suggest we go back first. The rain is too heavy. We can come back to see it when it gets a little lighter."

The voice was rough and had a strong local accent. The speaker was a tall, thin man dressed in a style of folk clothing typical of the last century, wearing a short jacket that revealed his dark chest.

"No, we came here under orders, and we need to report to our superiors immediately!"

"Just lead the way, stop talking nonsense."

At this time, Zhang Yuanxing was a middle-aged man, holding an umbrella and carrying a waterproof backpack with a series of testing equipment on his back. He was also quite muscular and was the team leader of the expert group.

He was accompanied by a number of expert team members, both men and women, the youngest of whom was only in his early twenties.

At that time, these people were still referred to as experts, and the word "expert" was not tarnished.

"Alright, alright, I'll take you there!"

The man leading the way warned, "However, the rain is too heavy, the river is surging fiercely, and the mud is slippery. You must be careful not to fall in."

"Understood, let's go quickly!" Zhang Yuanxing didn't intend to delay and ordered the man to lead the way.

The sky was dim, and thunder roared in their ears, as if trying to stop them from reaching the place where the dragon had fallen.

"Boom... Crash..."

The river water at the mouth of the river surged wildly, rising much higher than usual, and had already submerged the banks, reaching up to people's calves and knees.

Seven or eight bright flashlights illuminated the way ahead, and the expert team members, carrying umbrellas and wearing raincoats, worked tirelessly and finally arrived at their destination.

When they saw the scene before them, they were all stunned and stood there, their eyes filled with shock and disbelief.

Before them lay a colossal dragon, its form flickering in and out of sight as the rain washed over it.

It was like a candle flame about to go out in a storm, its life coming to an end.

Zhang Yuanxing suppressed his wildly beating heart and rushed forward, staring at the enormous dragon head that looked like a small mountain in front of him.

The eyes on the dragon's head were still turning, but the golden dragon pupils had turned grayish-white and were filled with death.

It uttered a low whimper unique to dragons, and apart from its pair of horns, its entire body slowly vanished as if it had never existed in this world.

It's more accurate to call it energy than an object.

Zhang Yuanxing immediately arranged for people to take samples from the dragon's body, because he was worried that it would disappear from his sight in the next second.

"Does a dragon not have a physical form, but exist as a form of energy?" This thought popped into Zhang Yuanxing's mind.

In the pouring rain, he took the equipment from his assistant behind him and was about to step forward when he suddenly turned back to his assistant and said, "Guanzhi, you'll be in charge of the upper part of it with me."

The assistant, named Lin Guanzhi, was one of the men and women in their twenties.

His body was well-proportioned and tall, showing signs of years of fitness training. He had a high nose bridge, deep eyes, and a handsome face that appeared even whiter after being washed by the rain.

"Okay, team leader."

Lin Guanzhi slowly walked to Zhang Yuanxing's side, and the two of them came to the dragon together. Considering that the dragon was likely to disappear, Zhang Yuanxing disregarded the rule of reporting the dragon's corpse to be transported back to the laboratory first, and planned to take away what he could in front of him first.

It was their first time facing a dragon corpse, so they had little experience and could only resort to the most primitive methods.

Anatomy.

However, the moment the sharp blade pierced the dragon's body, what one felt was not a difficult obstacle, but a sense of emptiness.

Zhang Yuanxing tried it on other parts of the dragon corpse a few more times and found that the same thing happened.

The assistant surnamed Lin stood next to the dragon corpse's bluish-gray horns, seemingly lost in thought.

"Boom!"

Another flash of lightning and thunder, even more rapid than before.

The dragon corpse's body was glowing and fading faster than before; if it was like a candle flickering in the wind before, it was now completely burned out.

"My God, it's going to be gone!" The tall, thin man leading the way shouted in astonishment as if he had seen a ghost.

He was the first person to see the fallen dragon. At that time, the dragon in front of him was clearly shining with golden light. The closer he got, the more terrifying the dragon's might became.

However, now not only is the dragon's might gone, but even the dragon's body is about to disappear.

This bizarre scene reminded him of the ghost stories his grandmother used to tell him when he was a child.

Zhang Yuanxing and the others ignored the man and focused on the dragon corpse in front of them.

They discovered that all the dragon's limbs were gradually disappearing, and they could not touch them. Only the pair of dragon horns had not yet completely disappeared and could be touched.

Without hesitation, Zhang Yuanxing ordered everyone to work together to dig the dragon horns off the dragon's corpse.

The dagger pierced through much more easily than expected. This dragon, whose life force was rapidly fading, had no steel bones and was instead like rotting flesh.

They dug out the dragon horn along with some flesh and blood from its base and placed it on the mat that had been laid out earlier. Everyone was both excited and thrilled.

Under the dim sky, although you can't see their face clearly, you can clearly feel their emotions.

But no one noticed that while everyone was celebrating, the assistant named Lin Guanzhi was staring intently at the dragon's head, at the bloody black hole.

Immediately, his right hand shot out like lightning, eventually reaching directly into the dragon's brain, as if grabbing something from inside, and then abruptly pulling it out.

"Boom!"

In an instant, a deafening thunderclap resounded throughout the world, and a flash of lightning streaked across the dark clouds, illuminating the surroundings as if it were daytime.

Immediately afterwards, a whirlwind that seemed to appear out of nowhere suddenly swept towards the group.

"Good heavens! A strange wind is blowing!"

Upon seeing this, the tall, thin man leading the way exclaimed in surprise and immediately lay down on the ground, while simultaneously grabbing a large tree by the river.

The whirlwind came out strangely, and Zhang Yuanxing and the others didn't have time to react. Many people were knocked down by the wind.

Lin Guanzhi, who was closest to the riverbank, was blown backward by the strong wind and finally slipped and fell directly into the surging river.

Everyone heard a 'plop' sound and immediately knew what had happened.

Zhang Yuanxing suddenly looked towards where Lin Guanzhi was, and after seeing that the other person had disappeared, he immediately shouted, "Guanzhi has fallen into the river! Quickly save him!"

Just as everyone on the shore was shouting for help, the body of the fallen dragon had completely disappeared, its fuel exhausted, leaving not a trace.

Lin Guanzhi, who had fallen into the raging river, was tossed about in the rapid current and completely lost his bearings.

However, his right hand was clenched tightly, with only a small piece of jade protruding from the edge.

It was something that was pulled out of the dragon's brain, and it looked like a jade tablet.

……

The scene abruptly shifts, and Zhang Yuanxing is pulled out of his memories.

Lin Beixuan, who was standing to the side, fell silent after hearing Zhang Yuanxing's story. Half of his face was hidden in the shadows, making it impossible to see his expression.

The Old Immortal of the South Pole stroked his long beard, looking somewhat unsatisfied.

He was a person from that era, so naturally he understood best whether things that sound untrue now were real or fake in that time when the internet was not developed.

The Old Immortal of the South Pole chuckled and asked, "Did you manage to rescue that last assistant who fell into the water?"

"Of course he was rescued, but unfortunately, after this incident, Guanzhi resigned from his job as a researcher and eventually returned to his hometown."

As Zhang Yuanxing spoke, he then looked at Lin Beixuan and said, "Speaking of which, I have some connection with the Lord of the Prefecture."

Lin Beixuan raised his head upon hearing this and said calmly, "Lin Guanzhi is my father."

Upon hearing this, the Old Immortal of the South Pole's expression immediately turned to astonishment.

Unexpectedly, the assistant surnamed Lin in Zhang Yuanxing's story was once an expert investigating the dragon crash incident.

The other two immortals responsible for protecting Zhang Yuanxing seemed to have known about this all along.

Zhang Yuanxing observed Lin Beixuan's expression and sighed, "Guanzhi was once an outstanding researcher. In terms of talent, even now, no one in the entire Academy of Sciences can match him."

"But that fall into the water left him with a lot of psychological trauma, which forced him to give up the job he loved."

"If this hadn't happened, perhaps..."

Lin Beixuan interrupted Zhang Yuanxing directly: "I don't want to know what happened to my father back then. Now that he has passed away, I shouldn't have any further contact with Professor Zhang."

"..."

Zhang Yuanxing smiled awkwardly and said nothing more.

Lin Beixuan then shifted the topic back to the dragon horns inside the container, asking Zhang Yuanxing, "Have you found anything from your research on these dragon horns?"

Zhang Yuanxing nodded: "After the first batch of incidents involving mortals occurred, we learned through the mortal world that the original owner of these dragon horns was a creature from the mortal world."

"In other words, in fact, secular border crossings have always existed during the decades since the founding of our country, but they just didn't occur as frequently as they do now," Lin Beixuan continued.

"That's right. According to our calculations, the earliest possible transit point in secular life was during the Republic of China period. At that time, there were no fixed transit points like we have now, and most of them were in a state of wandering."

"To date, we have been studying why the phenomenon of worldly transit occurs."

"The secular world and the present world are two different worlds, but they have strangely merged together, and they will suck the souls of us in the secular world into the secular world, and they will also have high talents and the ability to be resurrected and reborn. This has far exceeded the original definition of the fusion of the two worlds."

"Moreover, there are now instances of souls and bodies traveling together to the secular world, further proving that the connection between the secular world and the present world is deepening."

Zhang Yuanxing's gaze darkened slightly: "So this time I invited you to the Academy of Science and Education for two reasons. First, to thank you for your plan and to give you some reward. Second, I want to invite you to participate in one of our God-Investiture plans."

(End of this chapter)