Dragon Clan: Starting with the Azure Dragon Fruit

At the same time, deep within the Valley of the Kings in Egypt.

Dozens of meters below those pharaohs' tombs lies an ancient underground palace that is difficult for ordinary people to access.

Animal fat burned quietly in the bronze brazier, the firelight casting distorted shadows on the tall stone pillars.

A group of people dressed in black robes gathered around a stone coffin.

They wore jackal head masks made of pure gold, a symbol of Anubis, the god of death.

“That man has spread the ‘Dream of Duat’ and fulfilled his promise,” one of the priests said.

“I can feel that souls are gathering continuously, and those mixed-race souls are exactly what the master needs.”

“But is he trustworthy?” another priest questioned.

"After all, the reward he demanded was too..."

“We have no other choice,” the high priest interrupted him.

"Decades ago, the Peruvian Party spared no expense to cut off the means of disseminating the 'Duart Dream,' thus interrupting the awakening of its master."

"In the future, all channels of communication will be firmly blocked. Now he can help us break free from the shackles of the Secret Party, and we must seize the opportunity."

The believers kneeling behind him echoed in unison, their voices reverberating through the tomb passage.

The flickering firelight illuminated the paintings on the stone wall.

In ancient Egyptian mythology, Osiris was the ruler of the underworld.

But the murals here do not depict him being worshipped; instead, they depict a colossal dragon that blots out the sky, with a dense crowd kneeling beneath it.

This "deity" that was worshipped had been lying dormant in the depths of this desert for a long time.

He intertwined reality and illusion, creating the Nibelungen known as "Duarte".

In this Nibelungen region, they continuously harvest the souls of hybrids through dreams to strengthen themselves.

At this moment, those golden eyes lurking in the darkness were gazing ambitiously into the distance.

He longed for it.

They yearn to replace the great being residing deep within the icy sea and ascend the throne.

Chapter 97: There's a mole within.

After a six-hour flight, the Sleipnir arrived over Cairo.

It was dusk, and looking through the porthole, the afterglow of the setting sun spread across the land. The winding Nile River was gilded with a layer of melting gold by the setting sun, stretching across the boundless desert, carrying the vastness of an ancient empire.

With a slight feeling of weightlessness, the plane landed smoothly on the runway at Cairo International Airport.

Kassel College had contacted Egyptian officials in advance, so Lin Yuan and Nono went directly through a special diplomatic channel.

As they walked through the airport terminal, the two found a currency exchange counter and decided to exchange some local currency.

At this time, one US dollar can be exchanged for about 5.3 Egyptian pounds. Lin Yuan has now become a big spender, asking for 10 US dollars at the drop of a hat.

The clerk stared at Lin Yuan for a moment, thinking she had misheard, and asked him to repeat himself, asking how much he wanted to exchange.

"Exchange for ten thousand US dollars." Nono interrupted Lin Yuan, turned to the teller and told him the new amount, then explained to Lin Yuan.

"Prices in Cairo are very low. Carrying too much money won't make our operations any easier and may even cause trouble."

Lin Yuan readily accepted Nuonuo's advice and only exchanged 53,000 Egyptian pounds. In fact, if he went to the black market, he could exchange 70,000 for 10,000 US dollars, but time was much more important than money at the moment.

Leaving the airport, the streets of Cairo are filled with a chaotic mix of the ancient and the modern.

In the distance, the minaret of the mosque echoes with the long, drawn-out chanting of prayers.

On the bumpy road, a Lada sedan honked its horn incessantly, trying to drive away a flock of sheep blocking its way. The piercing horn sounded in sync with the bleating of the sheep.

On the other side of the intersection, a brand-new Mercedes-Benz drove across the dusty crossroads.

"We've been on the plane for so long, why don't we find a hotel to rest for the night?" Nono suggested, looking at the chaotic streets.

"It's already this late, there's no need to rush the investigation. Let's adjust to the time difference first so we can act more efficiently tomorrow."

Lin Yuan shook his head; he didn't want Nuonuo to sit idly in the hotel all night.

“I don’t need to rest for now. I’ll go to the safe house to find the commissioner in Kassel. It seems like public transportation here is unreliable. I need to ask the commissioner to send a car to Saqqara.”

As he spoke, Lin Yuan took out his phone, and the two of them avoided the congested main road and headed towards the old town.

The alley was filled with a strange smell of water pipe smoke mixed with barbecue. Lin Yuan's gaze swept over the dilapidated walls and the illegal buildings that could be seen everywhere, and he was moved to speak.

"I thought Egypt would be more mysterious, but I didn't expect it to be so dilapidated. I didn't feel the profound heritage of one of the four ancient civilizations at all."

"Because the Egypt of today is a completely different country from the ancient Egypt that you think of as one of the four great ancient civilizations."

Nono picked up the conversation, habitually acting as a science communicator.

"The ancient Egypt you think of was already defunct in 30 BC, after Octavian's Roman legions captured Alexandria and Cleopatra committed suicide, along with the end of the Ptolemaic dynasty."

"For the next six or seven hundred years, this land was constantly plundered by the Roman and Byzantine Empires until 641 AD, when the Arab Caliph's army conquered it. Arabic became the official language, Islam took root here, and the hieroglyphs carved in stone, the religions that worshipped animal gods, and the ancient folk customs were all wiped out."

"For more than 1000 years thereafter, this place was ruled by foreign powers in turn, until Nasser led the Free Officers Movement to overthrow the Farouk dynasty in 1952, which established modern Egypt."

Nono paused for a moment, then added, "Later, this place was renamed the 'Arab Republic of Egypt,' which shows how deeply it was influenced by Arab culture. If you go out and ask the locals now, I doubt many of them would know about those ancient Egyptian myths."

Lin Yuan listened quietly. The streets of Cairo were exceptionally hot in the evening, but he felt very comfortable.

The girl walked beside him, and the tedious dynastic changes were narrated in Nuonuo's pleasant voice, gradually smoothing out the surrounding heat.

A strange thought popped into his head: if he didn't have to worry about that damned curse, and just listened to Nono's explanations as a tourist, and kept walking along this dirty and chaotic foreign street, it seemed like it would be quite nice.

However, this thought didn't last long before it was interrupted by the noisy surroundings.

If possible, try to take a walk in a better environment.

Lin Yuan changed his mind.

The two walked all the way to the Khan el-Khalili market in the heart of Cairo’s Old City.

Before the 14th century, this area was the royal family cemetery of the Fatima dynasty.

Later, Sultan Maruk ordered the demolition of the cemetery and the construction of a central courtyard-style inn for merchants and travelers on the site.

The ground floor was used for selling goods, while the upper floors were for living quarters, specifically designed to accommodate large caravans traveling between Europe, Asia, and Africa.

Over the centuries, this place has been expanded into a huge maze consisting of dozens of narrow alleys and more than 4,000 shops.

Lin Yuan checked the coordinates on the map and finally stopped in front of an old apartment building at the end of a secluded alley.

There's a shop selling handmade carpets on the first floor, and it's still open right now, but the owner is nowhere to be found.

Going up a wooden staircase on the side of the shop leads to the safe house of Kassel College in Cairo, where agents are stationed year-round. Before departing, Professor Schneider gave Lin Yuan the contact information of the four field agents in Cairo.

They will provide all possible assistance within their capabilities.

Stepping onto the creaking footboard, Lin Yuan arrived at the second floor and stood in front of the security door.

Following the previously learned code, they knocked three times: once lightly and twice heavily.

No one answered.

Lin Yuan found it strange. His Observation Haki clearly indicated that there was someone inside the house, but he didn't react to the knocking at all.

"Step back a bit," he told Nuonuo, turning around to instruct her to move a little further away.

Immediately afterwards, he applied a layer of Armament Haki to his right hand, gripped the metal doorknob, and twisted it forcefully.

With a "click," Lin Yuan twisted the lock off the door.

Upon pushing open the security door, a stuffy smell wafted out.

The room was dimly lit, with the blinds drawn tightly, a metal filing cabinet against the wall half-open, and several empty cigarette boxes scattered on the wooden floor, perfectly fitting the stereotypical image of an underground stronghold.

The old-fashioned ceiling fan overhead was turning laboriously, making a creaking, grinding sound.

The commissioner in Kassel lay slumped over the table, his eyes closed, but a strange smile played on his lips, as if he were lost in a beautiful dream.

The two quickly stepped forward.

Nono's gaze swept across the table, and her pupils suddenly contracted.

On the table was a photograph, clearly showing the "Mayat Feather" that had triggered the crisis.

"Don't look!"

Nuonuo instinctively reached out and covered Lin Yuan's eyes.

Lin Yuan turned his head to the side, raised his left hand, blocked her outstretched wrist, and gently pressed his hand down.

"It's okay."

He wasn't particularly afraid of the so-called curse, possessing Observation Haki and the Azure Dragon Fruit.

Lin Yuan didn't believe that a mere pattern of alchemical curses could cause him any harm.

Moreover, the purpose of this trip to Egypt is to address this root cause. If we can't even bear to look at the enemy's "bullets," then we can't fight this war.

Nono originally wanted to say something to stop Lin Yuan.

But he had already picked up the picture and was examining it closely.

After watching for a while, Lin Yuan frowned.

What does the 'Duart Dream' you see look like?

"It's just a pure white feather." Nono could only shake her head helplessly when she saw that he could clearly see the image. This guy was always so stubborn.

Lin Yuan fell silent. In his vision, what was printed on the picture was not a feather at all, but a pure white dragon scale with complex patterns on its surface.

The visual medium of this curse appears differently depending on the viewer.

However, he didn't dwell on it for long, casually flipping the image and flipping it back onto the desktop.

Even if we knew that the "Feather of Mayat" was a dragon scale, it wouldn't help much right now.

This visual filter, which only works on him personally, cannot be sent back to Kassel College for comparison to find out which dragon he is facing.

This at most confirms once again that the guy hiding deep in the desert pretending to be a god is a pure-blooded dragon.

Whether the opponent is an Egyptian god or a pure-blooded dragon, it's all the same: draw your sword and kill them.

After figuring this out, Lin Yuan reached out and probed the man's carotid artery, then slapped his cheeks twice.

Seeing that the other party remained unmoved, he withdrew his hand.

"Vital signs are stable, but consciousness has completely disappeared."

Lin Yuan didn't waste any more time and took out his phone to dial the dedicated line to the main campus of the college.

Schneider's voice came through the receiver; the head of the executive department had clearly also been up all night.

After listening to Lin Yuan's report, there was a moment of silence on the other end of the phone before an even worse piece of news was delivered.

“It’s not just here; all four safe houses in Cairo have lost contact with headquarters in the past few hours. Someone is using ‘Duat’s Dream’ to conduct planned, targeted raids on our Egyptian intelligence network.” Professor Schneider had said too much in one breath and couldn’t help but cough violently.

The mastermind behind this seems to be very aware of Kassel College's plans in Cairo, which suggests that there may be a mole within the college.

"Can the academy still provide us with support?" Lin Yuan asked, since Sakala is 30 kilometers away and it would take a lot of time for him to find a way there.

“There are other methods. Local resident agents usually maintain contact with local authorities. You can try to find their contact information at the safe house first.”

"The local bullies should be able to get you to Sakala, and the academy will also send two more groups of specialists to support you."

After listening, Lin Yuan prepared to hang up the phone and find the local bully's contact information.

Schneider added, "The agent in front of you is Gareth. He has completed seven A-level field missions on his own and has extremely rich practical experience. Even he was infected without notifying the academy, so you must be vigilant."

Chapter 98 Djoser's Staircase Pyramid

After hanging up the phone, the two rummaged through the pile of documents on the table. Soon, Nono found a note in a diary with a name written on it in ballpoint pen: Amir.

The address with the suffix points to a hookah lounge on the edge of the market.

According to the notes, this person is of mixed race and has been engaged in the business of tomb raiding and acting as a middleman for many years.

There was no time to lose, so the two immediately set off for the hookah lounge.

As night fell, the restaurant remained bustling with noise and filled with smoke. Locals gathered in twos and threes around low tables, puffing on pipes and exhaling thick smoke.

Lin Yuan walked to the bar and directly asked to see Amir.