My portable grandfather refreshes every week

Chapter 299 The Lonely Guardian

What a coincidence! Xue Dinglu just arrived here and is about to meet the Dragon Clan.

Following the big truck to Salem, along the way, it was as if we were running over a speed bump, and we ran over and killed another plant monster.

Xue's Law once again realized just how annoying the more than 6 million plant monsters in this world were. They had even reached the point where they could injure Greek heroes. He couldn't tolerate it any longer and had to take drastic measures.

Of course, Xue's Law has not forgotten the Earth in the main world. There is still a sacred tree that has been growing for more than 6000 million years under Boston.

That thing was even more of a headache for Xue's Law.

It has now been discovered that bacteriophages have some restraining effect on the Divine Tree, but this restraint is limited when faced with the Divine Tree's enormous size.

Wherever the bacteriophage infects, the Divine Tree can simply cut off the corresponding location and everything will be fine. And coincidentally, the Divine Tree in the underground world is almost everywhere in the underground river, endless in number. The bacteriophage can only fight against the creatures of the Divine Tree alone.

If you release a bacteriophage into the wild, it will probably die within minutes.

Meanwhile, the spread of bacteriophages is limited. For example, in the Holy Kingdom, the Destroyer used his cursed blood to form a fist blade and beat the Divine Tree for several hours before the bacteriophages were completely infected. By then, the battle had already ended.

Xue was reviewing the previous battle, while the truck was driving on the highway.

At this moment, Doctor Xue suddenly said, "I want to use bacteriophage technology to make corresponding weapons, such as bacteriophage bullets and bacteriophage poison gas bombs."

He looked at Xue Dinglu and earnestly shared his thoughts.

"Can bacteriophages be incorporated into conventional weapons?" Xue Dinglu suddenly asked.

The bacteriophages specifically targeting the Divine Tree are highly specialized, sacrificing all other survival abilities and environmental adaptability in exchange for a unique infectivity against the Divine Tree.

This bacteriophage is similar to a laboratory supervirus. Any microorganism in nature could easily defeat it, but inside the Divine Tree, this bacteriophage can even infect a level 5 Divine Tree.

This is a product modified from the cursed blood for special circumstances. Xue Law also uses the cursed blood as a protective shield for the bacteriophage when using the power of this bacteriophage.

Doctor Xue immediately complained, "It's difficult to apply to conventional weapons, which is why I need your cooperation. The most important thing is that I need your ability to modify microorganisms."

"Cursed blood?"

"Exactly."

After some consideration, Xue's Law still managed to separate out the degraded version of "Pseudo-Curse Blood".

"Thanks!"

The False Curse Blood only has two functions: condensing blood into weapons and manipulating biological characteristics through blood. It does not have the ability to absorb suffering or arbitrarily modify organisms, so distributing it is not a big problem.

Not long after, the truck stopped in front of the town of Salem. After the group got out of the truck, Xue Dinglu parted ways with them.

Xue's Law needed to go to the Dragon Clan's library, where they were going to negotiate.

When Xue Dinglu returned to the area, he was astonished to find that the entire mountain was completely different from before.

The entire mountain has been processed and decorated, and it appears as if the 1600-meter-high mountain has been carved through from the inside.

The dragons appear to be cave-dwelling creatures; they would dig out areas they wanted inside mountains and then build and decorate the caves they dug out.

This gave rise to a very novel architectural complex, with the entire mountain covered with caves. The dragons would deliberately use bronze to make doors and other decorations for each cave entrance, and these were closely connected to the surrounding reinforced mountain.

Looking out, Xue Dinglu felt as if he had arrived at the Ten Kings of Hell, with tens of thousands of bronze gates densely covering the entire area from the foot of the mountain to the top.

Xue Luding also found it novel. Not long after he arrived, the giant dragon playing with mud at the gate immediately put down the little figure it had made of mud and shouted into the cave: "Elder, elder, the son-in-law is here again!"

"I told you not to call him son-in-law, show some respect, call him Your Highness!" A roar came from inside the cave.

Xue Law: "..."

The dragon race remains so abstract.

Soon, a dragon elder arrived before Xue Luding, smiling as he said, "Your Highness, how have you been?"

Xue Daolu got straight to the point, saying he was there to investigate the Apostles and Mind Flayers, and the Dragon Ball Elder immediately assured him and led Xue Daolu to the library.

Then, several other small dragons guarding the data, along with the old dragon, helped Xue Lude search, and in just over ten minutes they found the information they wanted.

And it was truly confirmed that the original master of both the Dragon Clan and the Mind Flayer was the Fourth Apostle, that woman who was over three meters tall.

She is also a Duke-level Apostle, and should even be among the top five in the entire Mist Council.

A duke-level apostle is far stronger than an ordinary apostle.

No wonder Tyrannosaurus God only dared to contend with the Fourth Apostle after completely controlling the world's consciousness and draining it to cultivate tens of thousands of fifth-order primordial dragons.

All the dragon kings in the Dragon Tomb are at most only at the level of barons, and the difference in strength between them and apostle dukes may be thousands or even tens of thousands of times.

If it weren't for the authority of the world, even if all the dragons in the Dragon Tomb were filled in, they might not be able to harm the Fourth Apostle in the slightest.

“I think I understand now,” Xue Dinglu said.

Putting away the documents in his hand, he saw the dragon elder, and Xue Luding thought of something else.

In his hand, a branch slowly grew out, a sight that immediately startled Elder Long.

"This...this...this..." The old dragon seemed to be completely terrified.

"This is the Divine Tree, and I sealed it within my body," Xue Dinglu said.

Elder Long immediately looked at Xue Dinglu with a look of utter disbelief, his expression a mixture of shock, confusion, and disbelief, like a pie chart.

Ignoring the elder's exaggerated expression, Xue Luding plucked a branch, handed it over, and asked, "Can you eat this stuff?"

Shouldn't the dragons' diet include tree roots?

"Yes!" the elder replied immediately, then took the branch as if it were a treasure and asked directly, "Can I try it?"

Although they have been the fruit farmers of the sacred tree for millions of years, there are not many instances of the sacred tree stealing fruit from it. After all, the sacred tree also has a temper, and such behavior is easily discovered.

Therefore, for the dragons, secretly collecting fallen leaves and withered branches from the divine tree is already a great treasure. In fact, the greater purpose of these treasures is to cultivate their own dragon blood fruit and create food suitable for the growth of their baby dragons.

As for directly hugging and gnawing on a fresh sacred tree, they really couldn't have dreamed of such a good thing.

After receiving repeated confirmation from Xue's Law, the old dragon tried biting into the branch.

The next instant, Old Long's ancient clothes tore apart, his muscles bulging as if inflated, stretching the clothes to the point that they burst open, instantly exposing his muscular physique to Xue Luding.

Xue Law: "..."

He didn't give the elder the original divine tree, but rather a branch of the divine tree infected with bacteriophages. He wasn't sure how much of an impact the bacteriophages would have on the dragons.

"How is it?" Xue asked.

"Extremely fresh, extremely delicious! It even has a unique fermented flavor, completely different from the original divine tree's taste, but even more flavorful." The elder commented like a food critic.
"What surprised me the most was that although the microorganisms destroyed the original energy structure of the divine tree, they made that energy easier to absorb, and there was no longer any risk that the divine tree would attack its master in the stomach. This is the most delicious food I have ever eaten in my life!"

The elder's face was flushed, and his muscles seemed to come alive, making Xue Dinglu's eyelids twitch.

It seems that the dragon race can accept not only the divine tree, but also a divine tree infected by bacteriophages.

Perhaps to them, the original sacred tree was like hard bread—delicious but easy to break your teeth and even difficult to digest.

The divine tree infected by bacteriophages is like golden soft bread with added yeast, an indescribable delicacy and deliciousness.

This put Xue's law at ease.

So he said, "I have a sacred tree here with roots exactly like this one. Would you be willing to help me clean it?"

"By the way, that divine tree hasn't completely lost its vitality yet. There's still a risk of it going berserk, so you need to control and suppress it from time to time. You also need a large number of people to guard it and gnaw on it." Xue Dinglu pointed out the problem with the divine tree. He felt that even if tens of thousands of dragons gnawed on the divine tree, it would take a long time to finish it.

Similarly, the plant monsters throughout the world would need to be eaten one by one like snacks, which would make clearing this divine tree even less efficient.

"Yes, yes! By the way, Your Highness, now that you've covered the benefits, what about the price?" The elder immediately fawned like an Akita dog.

The dragon's tail behind him was wagging so hard it was almost leaving afterimages, like a dog's tail.

Xue Law: "..."

Old Long never expected that good things would come one after another after returning home. First, he found a strange plant that looked like a baby ginseng in his hometown, and then just a few days later, a sickly and completely subservient divine tree appeared.

Where would he get so many benefits when he was just scraping by working for the apostles! He even had a feeling of unreality, wondering if he was dreaming, and slapped himself.

It hurts a lot, it's not a dream!
No wonder our ancestors were so eager to go home. This place is amazing. Although there is no magic in the air and water, with the ginseng baby and the divine tree, who would care about the tiny bit of magic in the air and water?
They're too lazy to even take such a small amount, afraid of losing their dragon!
And Your Highness, you'd better hurry up and state your terms, otherwise he'll feel like this thing is too hot to handle.

"Oh, Your Highness, please sit down. Little Tuolong, go and pour His Highness a cup of dragon blood fruit tea, the best quality one. I'll go and fetch the Silver Dragon King right away." The elder immediately reassured Xue Dinglu, then flew away from the library.

Xue Law: "..."

In fact, the Divine Tree was purely a burden to him. He couldn't absorb the energy of the Divine Tree, and on the contrary, the Divine Tree within his body required the blood of curses to cultivate bacteriophages and suppress it at all times.

Over time, he even felt like Kakashi with the Sharingan, which is why he wanted to get rid of it as soon as possible. Conversely, what was trash to Xue's laws and the world was an unimaginable treasure to the dragons.

It can only be said that this is actually a mutually beneficial relationship.

And then I looked at this library, deep in the winding cave. I don't know why, but the ancestors of mankind, the scattered rats, survived to the new generation by digging holes underground. Now, however, humans prefer to build houses on the surface, while the dragons have started to dig holes in the mountains.

It's like the two poles have been reversed.

……

Soon, the Silver Dragon King walked over, dressed in formal attire, seemingly having just been at the negotiating table with the group of Greeks, negotiating further cooperation.

Then I was pulled over directly.

She took a deep breath, looked at the branch in the elder's hand that was now missing a piece again, and seemed to have made a decision. Then, she took off the necklace from her neck and solemnly handed it to Xue Dinglu.

"This is..." Xue Dinglu looked at the necklace with a puzzled expression.

"The right to use the Dragon Tomb—this is the final resting place for all of us dragons after our deaths, and the burial ground for the souls of countless ancestors—is now my entrustment of everything in this Dragon Tomb to you. This symbolizes the eternal alliance and covenant between the dragon race and the guardians of the world," she said earnestly, adding...
"Furthermore, you can borrow the power of the dragon ancestors by possessing the corresponding treasures, and have them assist you. I, the current Tyrannosaurus God Silver Dragon King, swear that the authority of the Dragon Tomb will be eternally entrusted to the World Guardian, and I will never break this covenant."

She looked at Xue Dinglu, and her fiery and determined gaze made him too embarrassed to turn his head away.

There's always a feeling that I'll be beaten to my knees at any moment and then dragged back to my lair.

However, after thinking for a few seconds, Xue Dinglu still took the necklace that was still warm. In an instant, a prompt appeared on the panel.

[Dragon's Tomb (A+ Rank): A tomb containing the souls of all dragons from the past ten thousand years. You can summon the power of dragons through the possession of a Noble Phantasm, including the seven Apostle-level Dragon Kings and the Dark Gold Dragon Kings. The strength of the summoned dragons will fluctuate depending on the Noble Phantasm possessed.]

This is a treasure that the entire dragon race has accumulated over nearly ten thousand years, and it is even a microcosm of the battlefield of world consciousness.

This treasure represents everything the dragon race did in the past, and now it has come into Xue Luding's hands.

"I will keep it safe." Xue Dinglu accepted the Dragon Tomb. The trust the Dragon Clan placed in him was like the trust one would place in someone else's backup hidden energy source in the world of Mech Warriors.

Therefore, Xue's Law will take this trust seriously.

The dragons were also very happy, because although there were 6 million monsters infected by the divine tree before, the energy to capture those plant monsters was not stable. Now, if there is a divine tree that they can eat to their heart's content, the dragon population should experience explosive growth in the future.

It wasn't just this one divine tree; Xue also revealed that he had another giant divine tree of unknown size that was difficult to deal with, and that in the end, that divine tree would definitely be handed over to their dragon clan to solve.

In this way, they can eat as much as they want without worrying about running out of food later.

That night, the dragons held a grand ceremony, and they were granted full access to a half-dead divine tree. Tonight, all the dragons were given infected branches of this divine tree.

As they gleefully gnawed on the twigs, the pure energy and exquisite taste like nectar to them, they raised their glasses of vodka—the life-giving water with 98% alcohol content—and shouted, "To our Prince!"

"Roar!"

Tens of thousands of dragons roared in unison, startling the mercenary farm of the Sky Thunder, which was more than ten kilometers away. The Greeks got up and wondered if it was an earthquake.

"A toast to the moon of my hometown!"

The dragons drank once more from the water of life, gazing at the full moon in the sky.

Finally, a toast to a bright tomorrow.

……

On the same night, on Earth.

Inside the room where Xue Dinglu had not yet returned.

Little Dragon Girl and two other children were playing computer games together. Their survival simulation game base had been laid out like a big city, with farmland and livestock areas interspersed on a large scale.

The individual children cooperated with each other, some building houses, some farming, some raising chickens and ducks, and a kitten and a puppy followed them around, playing online in a very professional manner.

Actually, Auntie was worried that Xue Linglong would become obsessed with playing games, but when she saw that Xiaolongniang actually read "The Complete Book of Animal Husbandry" because of playing games, and kept asking Baiya how to raise an old hen to lay eggs, she was relieved.

Well, she didn't expect the child to amount to much, as long as he didn't go astray. As for games that could both stimulate the child's interest and increase his knowledge, she turned a blind eye to them.

Right now, the three kids are playing computer games online in their room, while their aunt and Fafnir are watching TV in the living room.

If Xue's Law were here, he would definitely show his displeasure again.

The movie channel is currently showing "The Legend of the Heavenly Kings 2".

After Fafnir first saw the movie, she sat down and watched it attentively. Then, her aunt, who had finished comforting the three children, heard Xue's familiar voice and tone in the movie and also stopped to watch it.

When she saw a thin girl in the movie, her aunt recognized her as Fafnir.

Although Fafnir seems to have gained a lot of weight compared to the movie, her cheeks have become more chubby, her thighs are no longer as thin as bamboo sticks, and they can now show some flesh when she wears stockings. Her ribs, which were clearly visible on her body, have also been covered by her slightly plump belly.

All I can say is that home-cooked meals are still nourishing.

The only thing that remained unchanged was her chest, which showed absolutely no improvement.

Seeing Xue Dinglu and the child making a grand escape in the rain, the aunt sighed. She finally understood why the child had risked everything to find her and stay here.

For Xue's Law, Fafnir may just be a passerby in his life.

He had saved too many people and witnessed countless great deeds and tragedies. For him, Fafnir was more like a "daughter entrusted to him by a friend".

But for Fafnir, Schrödinger's Law seemed to be her everything.

However, Fafnir was impossible. Aunt was quite certain of this, after all, she was, to some extent, the person who had lived with Xue the longest and was the most familiar with the nature of Xue's personality.

"Aunt, do you think it's possible for me?" Fafnir asked suddenly, looking at her happy self in the movie, her elf ears drooping.

My aunt also fell silent. She wanted to smoke, a bad habit left over from cleaning up the artifacts of the ancient times over thousands of years. She would smoke to relieve anxiety when she was nervous, but she had given it up since the family had children and replaced it with lollipops.

She tore open the lollipop, and the sugar stimulated her taste buds, which relieved her anxiety a little. She thought for a long time about how to answer the girl.

The living room was very quiet, with only the television showing the scene of Fafnir playing with Xue Lude in the rain.

“If you continue with this mindset, you’ll never succeed,” my aunt suddenly said.

Fafnir fell silent, her elfin ears growing increasingly droopy, like withered flower petals.

She also felt that no matter how hard she tried, there seemed to be a sad, thick barrier between her and her teacher. Although her teacher was always smiling, like the winter sun, when she wanted to chase that sunshine, she found that no matter how hard she tried, the sunshine was always so far away.

"Why?" she asked stubbornly at the last moment.

"Because on the surface, Xiao Xue is a sunny and cheerful child, willing to save anyone, willing to be friends with anyone, as if she has a warm heart, and can face even the greatest hurt with a smile..."

"But in reality, his heart was colder than anyone else's," his aunt said.

Fafnir's pupils constricted.

"His coldness wasn't because he didn't value others, but because he placed everyone on the same scale. A beggar on the street and his own life were of equal weight to him. He loved not just any one person, but all that is beautiful and for the future..."

"However, a person's love is finite. When he falls in love with a higher goal and a future, the love he can give to those around him will become less and less. So you can easily become friends with him, even to a level that is more than friends but less than lovers, close to family. But after that, if you want to take it a step further..."

Auntie laughed, biting into the lollipop and making a "crunch crunch" sound.

"That is the insurmountable barrier."

Fafnir fell silent. In fact, she had also sensed Xue Dalu's true personality, because to Xue Dalu, she was not actually that special.

Even if Xue Lulu said he liked himself, he would probably only say, "I like Farna, and everyone else."

His aunt seemed to have known all along, and continued, "It may be related to his childhood experiences. He was a lonely person since he was a child, and now, he hasn't changed, he has just become a lonely hero."

"A cold-hearted but lonely savior."

"So if you continue to have this intentional approach, even if you live with him for more than ten years, you will still only be a 'friend's daughter'. At most, Xiao Xue will only treat you like a niece. You will never become someone who can walk side by side with the lonely hero."

The aunt felt that things were clear enough at this point, and seeing Fafnir's almost tearful expression, she concluded by saying...
"In another world, Xiao Xue got married. However, the woman he married was neither a genius nor a beautiful girl. She was just an ordinary girl who could help him with his experimental research and data processing and walk alongside him. Do you understand now?"

"Therefore, in conclusion, what Xiao Xue needs is not a woman who keeps clinging to him, but a comrade-in-arms who can stand shoulder to shoulder with him and support each other, as well as a partner with common ideals and aspirations. These are the people who can truly enter his cold heart, nothing more. I hope you can understand this."

The aunt felt like she was about to throw the answer key in the child's face. If the child still didn't realize the error of her ways, she really couldn't save her. She had done her best, but she couldn't win.

Auntie suddenly realized that it seemed that those who liked Xiao Xue were girls with heavy pasts, just like herself in the past.

Just then, a familiar voice rang out from outside.

"I am back."

　6K words in two-in-one chapter

　　
　
(End of this chapter)