I, the Five-Clawed Golden Dragon, am being kept by the state.

Dragon Kingdom, Dragon City

Thirty meters underground, the archaeological team's makeshift laboratory was lit by stark white fluorescent lights.

Professor Wang took off his reading glasses and rubbed his sore eyes vigorously.

The dragon-shaped necklace on the table lay quietly on the shock-absorbing pad, its bronze surface covered with mottled marks left by time, but the more you looked at it, the more eerie it seemed.

Those mottled marks didn't seem like rust, but rather like scars left from a battle.

"It's been three months."

He sighed, his voice filled with exhaustion and resentment.

"They still can't find anything. This thing is like it's mocking us self-proclaimed scientific modern people."

The archaeologists next to him also looked exhausted.

Three months ago, after overcoming numerous hardships, they finally entered the main burial chamber of Qin Shi Huang's mausoleum.

However, apart from this dragon-shaped necklace and a mountain of bamboo slips, there was nothing else in the main tomb chamber.

The young researcher, Liu, tapped the bamboo slip in his hand impatiently.

"Professor Wang, I think we might be going in the wrong direction. Could this thing not even be a bronze artifact at all?"

"What else could it be but bronze?"

Another researcher countered, "Could it really be the legendary dragon scales?"

"I didn't say that..."

Carbon-14 determination, spectral analysis, X-ray scanning, and mass spectrometry detection.

They tried every possible means, but the necklace seemed to mock their incompetence.

All the data showed anomalies, and all the conclusions were contradictory.

The material is unknown, the process cannot be restored, and even the casting date cannot be accurately determined.

Even more bizarrely, the temperature of this thing remained constant at seventeen degrees Celsius, regardless of changes in the laboratory temperature.

"Professor Wang! Professor Wang! Look at this!"

From the corner came the excited voice of the young scholar, Kobayashi, which had become distorted.

He was squatting in front of a pile of bamboo slips, his whole body trembling, holding a bamboo slip in his hand, his eyes wide open, and his face ashen.

Professor Wang's heart tightened, and he quickly walked over and took the bamboo slip.

On the dimly lit bamboo slips, crooked seal script records something.

The handwriting is messy, suggesting that the writer was extremely frightened or agitated at the time.

He squinted to make out the details.

"In the winter of the thirty-seventh year of Qin Shi Huang's reign, a real dragon appeared in Xianyang Palace. It was more than thirty feet long, with golden scales and armor, and it stayed on the top of the palace for three days without leaving."

"When I asked him, the dragon replied: 'I am the guardian of China, and I am willing to protect it for all eternity with my dragon body.'"

"I was overjoyed and bestowed upon him the dragon's aura, which symbolizes the fate of the nation. The dragon said, 'If a great calamity befalls us in the future, I will surely return.' Then it transformed into golden light and entered a dragon-shaped vessel..."

"A dragon-shaped artifact!"

Xiaolin's voice trembled, "Professor Wang, could it be...?"

He pointed to the necklace on the table.

The laboratory suddenly fell silent.

All eyes were focused on the necklace.

"A true dragon? Ha!"

Researcher Liu broke the silence with a sneer, "It's that same old mystical stuff again."

"Back in the Qin Dynasty, people were superstitious and attributed everything to dragons."

"Perhaps it was a myth deliberately fabricated by Qin Shi Huang to consolidate his rule."

"But……"

Kobayashi argued, "The dating results of these bamboo slips confirm that they are genuine Qin Dynasty artifacts. And look, the shape of this dragon-shaped necklace matches the description of the 'dragon-shaped artifact' on the bamboo slips—the form of a five-clawed golden dragon—every detail is perfect!"

"It's just a coincidence."

Researcher Liu waved his hand dismissively.

"Kobayashi, you don't actually believe in dragons, do you?"

"We're here for scientific research; let's not waste our time on these feudal superstitions."

"I……"

Xiaolin blushed, wanting to retort but unable to utter a word.

Professor Wang didn't speak, but just stared intently at the necklace.

He has been engaged in archaeological work for more than 40 years and has seen countless rare treasures, but no artifact has ever given him this feeling—

It's as if there's some living thing inside.

Strangely enough, this chain was unearthed from the deepest secret chamber of Qin Shi Huang's mausoleum.

The secret chamber was extremely well hidden, located twenty meters below the core area of ​​the underground palace. It was riddled with traps and so meticulously arranged that even with modern technology, it took a full six months to decipher it.

It was as if they were deliberately trying to seal something away forever.

Apart from the necklace and bamboo slips, there was nothing else in the secret room.

No, there is also a stone platform.

The stone platform was octagonal, with each corner carved with lifelike dragon patterns, and the shape of the central recess was just right to hold the necklace.

When they found the necklace, it was lying quietly in the center of the stone platform, surrounded by densely packed runes.

Those runes remain undeciphered to this day.

Not right.

Something's really wrong.

Given Qin Shi Huang's personality, anything that he would treat with such solemnity, even going so far as to expend enormous manpower and resources to build a secret chamber for its preservation, could not possibly be just an ordinary burial object.

Moreover, Qin Shi Huang was obsessed with immortality during his lifetime. If he really had any treasures, he would have hidden them instead of carrying them with him.

unless……

Unless this thing is so important that it must be hidden.

Or rather, it's too dangerous.

"Everyone, that's enough for today."

Professor Wang waved his hand, his voice a little hoarse.

The others left one after another, still arguing quietly about the authenticity of the bamboo slips before they left.

As Researcher Liu passed by, he gave Professor Wang a meaningful look.

"Professor Wang, you don't believe in these things, do you? We must believe in science."

"I know."

Professor Wang said calmly, "You all go back and rest first, I'll stay a little longer."

After everyone else left, he was the only one left in the lab.

Silence, oppressive silence.

Only a faint sound of airflow could be heard coming from the ventilation ducts.

Professor Wang put his gloves back on, took a deep breath, and carefully picked up the necklace.

It feels slightly cool to the touch, yet surprisingly light, like holding a feather.

But he clearly remembered that when this thing was weighed on a precision balance, it showed three jin and six liang.

It's yet another inexplicable contradiction.

He leaned closer to examine it closely. The dragon carving was incredibly lifelike, with every scale clearly visible. The dragon's claws were outstretched and powerful, as if they were about to tear through space at any moment. The dragon's whiskers seemed to sway slightly in the still air.

Those dragon eyes...

Professor Wang was startled.

There seemed to be something moving in those eyes!

No, not like.

It's really moving!

A faint golden light emanated from the depths of the longan, growing stronger and brighter, bathing the entire laboratory in an eerie yet sacred golden glow.

"This...this is impossible..."

Professor Wang wanted to throw away the necklace, but his hand was stiff and unable to move, as if it were being held in place by an invisible force.

The necklace began to heat up in his hand, the temperature rising rapidly. Strangely, he didn't feel any burning pain, but rather a warm feeling, like returning to his mother's embrace.

An unimaginably vast consciousness surged into his mind!

In that instant, Professor Wang's world collapsed.

He saw countless images flashing before his eyes like a revolving lantern.

In the night sky above Xianyang Palace, a golden dragon coiled, its roar shaking the heavens. Officials knelt in worship, and Qin Shi Huang laughed heartily as he looked up at the sky.

At the foot of the Great Wall, a dragon's shadow swept by, and wherever it passed, the wind and clouds changed color. The 100,000 Xiongnu cavalry were as if they had encountered a god, and they were scattered like a tide.

Deep in the ocean, the dragon's roar shook the heavens, the waves for thousands of miles submitted, and countless sea beasts bowed their heads in respect to welcome the true dragon.

There was also a battlefield ablaze with flames, where dragon flames burned the sky and the enemy army was reduced to ashes;

Amidst the ruins strewn with corpses, a golden dragon coils, protecting the last remaining Chinese people;

as well as……

A pair of cold and majestic dragon eyes, piercing through two thousand years of time, are watching him.

That gaze seemed to see through everything, to see into his very soul.

A voice, ancient and majestic, full of domineering power.

It echoed in his mind.

"I am the true dragon."