Monster Dismantling Company

In the endless darkness, a blue dragon coiled among them, its head alone, level with his, almost filling his entire field of vision.

The dragon looked at him, and he looked at the dragon.

At this moment, the dragon had one eye open and one eye closed, existing in a state between sleep and wakefulness. However, as the closed eye fully opened, the dragon regained its energy.

"Long time no see." He looked into the dragon's eyes.

"Long time no see. My other self." The dragon spoke in his voice. The voice was exactly the same as his, because that was him. "Looks like you haven't been sleeping the right way."

The so-called "correct way" is what Li Lin said to himself in the mirror before going to bed that day: "Get a good night's sleep."

This is a powerful suggestion, because it's something his mother once said to him before bed.

Only by telling himself "have a good night's sleep" before going to sleep can Li Lin calm the restless, dragon-like thoughts churning within him.

However, he fell asleep just now because Shen pressed a button he shouldn't have, forcibly activating his dragon form—and then that's what Master Wang and the others saw on the water.

The newly awakened dragon's eyes gleamed as it read recent records: "A lot has happened recently. It's necessary to audit the completion of recent performance indicators."

This dragon, which is "opposite" to him, is essentially a self-protective mechanism he set up for himself, not another consciousness. As a dragon, he will evaluate his behavior from the perspective that a dragon should have.

This intuitive, unfiltered perception of all things comes from the dragon's innate talent. His previous ability to read information through his senses is no different from now. Only now, he is reading himself.

"Again? Self-reflection is truly painful."

Although it was a protective mechanism he set up for himself, Li Lin always felt that he might be being too strict with himself.

"This is the agreement. It is our father's vision and our mother's entrustment that we must live as human beings. Therefore, our dragon-like nature must be tempered. But while tempering it, our dragon nature must be regularly calmed. Only in this way can we contain the power we inherited from our mother in the body given to us by our father. Only in this way can we walk the truly right path."

Humans are the most intelligent of all beings. All order, harmony, and perfection can only be manifested within the human body.

This is the admonition of their mother, the previous Jia Chen Divine Dragon, engraved in his soul.

Li Lin, born as a human, is the current Divine Dragon of Jia Chen.

The now-vanished mirage believed that Li Lin had chosen to become human—the mirage was utterly wrong. Like all humans, Li Lin had no say in his birth. He was simply born from the fused life essence of his father and mother after ten months of pregnancy, following their love.

He is the son of man and dragon, inheriting a human body from his father and the power of a dragon from his mother.

The two are indistinguishable, not a distinction between the true form and the incarnation. It is simply that the nature belonging to the dragon and the nature belonging to the human are clearly divided into two distinct realms in his consciousness. He is neither a dragon who has become a human, nor a human possessed by a dragon; he is simply himself, an existence between human and dragon.

His appearance in human form stemmed from his mother's admonition: true evolution lies not in physical strength, nor in the confines of Earth shrouded in miasma. She and her father had gazed at the stars together; that was where he truly belonged. For the dragon's ascension must inevitably involve soaring through the universe.

After a brief review, Shenlong began the meeting's routine. This was Li Lin's self-examination, a process of sorting out his inner world:

"Have you forgotten your father's revenge?" Shenlong looked at him.

"I will never forget it for a single day."

"Have you found Mother's whereabouts?"

No. I'm still looking.

In the dragon's eyes, a screen like an Excel report was scrolling by; the first thing he saw was his recent gains:

"Interesting. You imitated the mirage's hunting methods and hunted one? That should allow you to claim the mirage as your own. A very good haul. There was just a minor mishap... but it's not a big problem. The harvest can make up for the loss, because that mirage is indeed useful. Next is the Raize part; we'll need it."

Then came the routine business operations: "You've been indulging your desires quite well lately, and your KPIs have been performing well... but, isn't the ending a bit perfunctory?"

"Really? Then try harder next time."

"You said the same thing last time, always being so perfunctory about the ending. This time, [Ren] came to you to mate? And you actually refused?"

He rejected Aren. Obviously, from the dragon's perspective, this was quite "outrageous." This was a source of self-reproach for him as a dragon.

"I wasn't in heat that day, we'll talk about what happens after that."

"Tsk." The dragon was somewhat displeased. "This isn't the proper way. She went through the courtship process; you should accept her."

"The final decision rests with me. I refuse to accept courtship from unknown sources."

"But the right to oversee is here." The dragon flipped through the pages again: "Lin Zhiqing is too weak. Your offspring will not be able to inherit divine power. This point should be re-examined."

The "company" of Monster Decomposition Company is not only reflected in the "Fire Crow" signboard; in fact, there is also a company in Li Lin's mind.

As a human, he holds the power of decision-making; as a dragon, he holds the power of oversight. However, in execution, the two are not separate—after all, they share the same consciousness. If there is any difference, it lies in the extent to which Li Lin reveals his true nature.

The dragon within him lacks self-awareness—it doesn't refer to itself as "I," at most using "we." But as Li Lin's self-protection mechanism, it resolutely exercises its supervisory power:

"There needs to be an explanation for Lin Zhiqing's matter. Offspring are very important."

"This has nothing to do with having offspring; it's my personal choice."

"This is putting you in a difficult position." The dragon closed its gaze on the report and looked at Li Lin again. "I can't let you pass so easily. Give me a reason, otherwise, according to the agreement, you should release the dragon within you."

Li Lin, having released the dragon, is still Li Lin. Everything he does is entirely of his own volition. It's just that, in his frenzied state, his actions are influenced by the dragon's nature.

Li Lin had seen some old movies featuring creatures called "werewolfs" that unleashed their wildness under the moonlight. There were also adventure games based on sanity (sanity level), where looking directly at the unspeakable would cause one's sanity to drop to zero, leading to madness. Both of these experiences had always served as a warning to him.

However, Li Lin has become quite adept at convincing himself.

"You're too late. I've already convinced her to shed her scales, and now she has no body at all."

"Huh?!?!?!" Shenlong's eyes widened. He flipped back through the records. "Is this something a human would do?! You actually schemed against yourself like this! You've gone too far! What's wrong with Ren?! I'm getting angry!"

"Don't be angry, don't be angry." Li Lin reached out and touched his nose. "Sleep well, have a good night's sleep."

"Don't use your mother's words as an excuse. This problem still needs to be solved eventually."

"Ugh," Li Lin shook his head, "I just can't do anything with you. Wait a minute."

He looked around and pulled a newly acquired secret weapon from the void, specifically designed to deal with himself—a yellow plastic package, half air and half some kind of puffed potato chip.

"What is this?" Shenlong tilted his head.

Open your mouth.

The dragon's mouth opened, and Li Lin opened the packaging and poured the entire bag of potato chips inside.

"?????????"

A tremendous, inexplicable, pure joy surged through his mind. His dragon horns turned a warm red.

This was a pleasure that Li Lin couldn't refuse, and naturally, his other self couldn't refuse it either. Especially when it came to "eating"—after all, Li Lin was known as the "Emperor of Ghouls."

"Ah...so full. Burp~~" He was not only full, but also stuffed:

"I'm so happy, I can't take it anymore... I don't want to do anything more. I really can't do anything with you, I'll let you off this time. Lin Zhiqing does have her merits, after all. But, you know, next time I won't be so easily satisfied."

"Okay, okay, go to sleep now and get a good night's rest. See you next time."

"See you next time..." He was so full that he yawned. "But I have one condition—get me some more potato chips these next couple of days! Let me out to eat! I don't want you to feed me, I'll go back after I eat."

"I know, I know. I've already prepared. I discussed it with Yinlong in the car, and I'll take a ride to Jin Gang Zhou to buy some. I was already planning to buy your portion when I was eating—oh right, I almost forgot. Since you're out now, I'll just save this here."