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

Fusang country.

"Driver, to Haneda Airport."

"OK."

The taxi slowly drove into the traffic.

Li Lin leaned back in the back seat, the light from his phone screen reflecting on his face.

On the screen was a video released by the official media of the Dragon Kingdom, showing a golden dragon circling above the capital city, its roar shaking the heavens.

The comments section has completely exploded.

"Is this real? Or not special effects?"

"I was in Beijing, and I saw it with my own eyes! That dragon was at least several hundred meters long!"

"The Dragon Kingdom rises, protected by the divine dragon!"

Li Lin's fingers slid across the screen, his heart beating faster and faster as he looked.

He studied in Japan for three years, burying himself in experiments and writing papers. Even his advisor praised him as the most diligent international student.

Now they're telling him that a dragon has appeared in China?

And it happened more than once?

Li Lin turned to another news article—Kunlun Base is publicly recruiting scientific researchers, requiring majors in physics, materials, and energy.

He stared at that line of text for a long time.

"Sir, could you drive a little faster?"

"This... is already the fastest."

The driver glanced in the rearview mirror. "Young man, catching a flight?"

"Yes, I'm going back to China."

"Oh? Back to China."

The driver's tone was subtle. "We've been reporting on your country's news lately. That dragon... is it real?"

Li Lin raised his head.

The driver's eyes held curiosity, but also a hint of envy.

"It's true."

Li Lin's voice was calm, "Our country has always had dragons."

The driver didn't say anything more.

Outside the car window, Tokyo's neon lights were still dazzling, but Li Lin suddenly felt that no matter how bright the city was, it couldn't compare to a single scale of the golden dragon in the sky above Beijing at this moment.

He opened the ticket purchasing app on his phone.

The earliest flight back home will take off in three hours.

The bright lights of Haneda Airport illuminated the night sky as if it were daytime.

The taxi smoothly came to a stop in front of the international departure terminal.

"Thanks."

Li Lin paid the fare and got off the bus with his suitcase.

The evening breeze carried a hint of the salty, damp scent of the ocean. He took a deep breath, but his chest was filled with an even more intense emotion.

On the phone screen, the golden dragon that had been circling over Beijing seemed to still be swimming before my eyes.

He wants to go home.

The moment he took a step, four figures surrounded him from different directions.

Black suits, white shirts, ties tied meticulously, and leather shoes making a soft, uniform sound on the ground.

Their positioning blocked all escape routes. Exactly four people, no more, no less. Not a single movement was superfluous.

Li Lin's heart sank.

Four men in black suits, like four nails, pinned him to the spot.

Their eyes were devoid of emotion, and their movements were precise and efficient.

Li Lin's heart was pounding in his chest, and the surge of adrenaline brought not courage, but icy coldness to his hands and feet.

He opened his mouth, as if to call for help.

But the man closest to him simply put his hands in his suit pockets, and a hard silhouette protruded through the thin fabric.

It's a gun.

Li Lin immediately shut his mouth, all his shouts stuck in his throat.

He's just a PhD in materials science, not the protagonist of an action movie.

"Mr. Li, please come with us."

The man at the head bowed slightly, his posture polite, but his tone left no room for argument.

Li Lin gripped the handle of his suitcase tightly, his knuckles turning white from the force.

He nodded and chose to cooperate.

A black Toyota Alphard silently slid to the side of the road.

The car door opened, and Li Lin was ushered inside, flanked by two men in black.

......

The following day, at Beijing Capital International Airport.

At the bustling international arrivals gate, Li Jian and his wife Zhang Lan eagerly awaited their arrival.

The elderly couple beamed with barely suppressed joy, holding a red banner that read, "Welcome back Dr. Li Lin after completing his studies."

"This kid, the flight was supposed to arrive at nine, it's already ten-thirty, where is he?"

Zhang Lan stood on tiptoe, anxiously peering among the sparse passengers.

"Perhaps it was because of the amount of luggage that caused the delay."

Li Jianguo offered words of comfort, but his eyes remained fixed on the exit, afraid of missing his son.

Beside him, Li Lin's childhood friend Zhao Peng held up his phone, refreshing flight information.

"Uncle and Aunt, that's right, CA926, Tokyo to Beijing, it showed 'landed' an hour ago."

Time passed second by second.

The number of passengers at the exit went from a steady stream to just a few at a time, and eventually disappeared completely.

The cleaning staff began cleaning the floor, and a sweet female voice announced the arrival information of the next flight over the airport's public address system.

The smiles on the faces of the Li family of three had long since frozen.

An ominous premonition, like the chill of deep winter, crept into my heart.

"Could it be... that kid was playing a prank on us and sneaked out on his own?"

Zhao Peng's voice was a little hoarse, and the joke wasn't funny at all.

Zhang Lan's eyes instantly reddened, and she gripped her husband's arm, her voice trembling.

"Old Li, quick, call your son!"

Li Jianguo frantically pulled out his phone and dialed the number he knew by heart.

"Hello, the number you dialed is currently switched off..."

The cold system notification sound was like a bucket of ice water poured over me from head to toe.

Once, twice, three times... it's always the same response.

Zhang Lan swayed, almost unable to stand.

"Call the police! We're calling the police!"

Zhao Peng acted decisively, supporting the swaying Zhang Lan.

Half an hour later, at the airport police station.

After listening to Li Jianguo's account, the on-duty police officer took notes in his notebook in a formulaic manner, his tone conveying professional reassurance.

"Family members, please don't panic. There are many reasons why an adult might go missing. It could be that their phone ran out of battery, or they went to a party with friends and forgot to tell their family."

"impossible!"

Zhang Lan was visibly emotional. "My son is the most sensible person! He said he'd come back, and he definitely will! He video-chatted with us yesterday, saying he'd bought his plane ticket and that he missed home!"

"Auntie, we understand how you feel."

The police officer closed his notebook. "Well, according to regulations, we can only open a case after he's been missing for 24 hours. You can go back and wait, or contact his friends or classmates in Japan to see if there are any leads."

The bureaucratic and correct process seemed so cold at this moment.

Li Jianguo clenched his fist, then let it clench weakly.

He knew that the other party was talking about rules, but how could a parent wait?

No sleep for one night.

The next day, twenty-four hours had passed since Li Lin went missing, and there was still no news of him.

The police have officially opened a case, but investigations into transnational cases are complicated and slow-paced.

In despair, Zhao Peng came up with another idea. He compiled Li Lin's photo, information about his disappearance, and a screenshot of Li Lin's post on WeChat Moments yesterday, "May the dragon protect us, and may we return home," into a long article and posted it on Weibo.

He titled the article "A Shenlong 'Fan' Returning Home Mysteriously Disappears at Tokyo Airport, Parents Plead for Help in Desperation!"

Initially, the post circulated only within a small circle.

However, the combination of keywords such as "dragon," "returned PhD," and "mysterious disappearance" quickly ignited online public opinion.

After experiencing a series of worldview-shaking events, such as the divine punishment of the US, the national pride and cohesion of the Chinese people have reached an unprecedented peak.

The dragon is no longer just a totem, but a real-life guardian deity that protects the people.

Now, a top talent who responded to the call of the dragon and resolutely returned to China has disappeared on the land of Japan on the eve of his return.

"How can a country that can't even protect its own people rise up?"—This sarcastic and cynical statement was a favorite phrase of public intellectuals in the past.

And now, it has ignited everyone's anger.

"Fusang demands an explanation! Our nation's talent cannot simply vanish without a trace!"

"@Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Dragon Kingdom, @Heian-kyo, where is our PhD?"

"Isn't the Kunlun base recruiting? Li Lin studied materials science! This is severing our future!"