Chapter 42 Chapter 42

Based on the little knowledge Rong Heng has about dragons, dragon cubs usually have a long growth period. Dragons are large in size and strong in body constitution, and it takes a long time for them to fully develop and mature.

There is something wrong with the way little dragon cubs grow fatter every day.

It's like a balloon, which keeps expanding but is actually empty inside.

That night, after everyone fell asleep, Rong Heng quietly left the bedroom.

On the soft cushion in the living room, the much-grown dragon cub was lying face down, with its pair of bat wings hanging down relaxedly and its belly pressing down on his precious gems.

Rong Heng changed into human form, picked him up gently, and carefully checked his body from head to toe.

Because it grew rapidly during this period, the small horns on the cub's head also emerged, with a short round protrusion that looks round and harmless like the cub itself; the bat wings behind it still look a little mini compared to the chubby body, but the bones of the bat wings are very strong, and even have grown blunt white bone spurs.

Apart from having too much fat and being overweight, the cub looks very healthy.

Rong Heng pressed his forehead against his again, feeling his mental state.

Also very peaceful.

It seems that there is no problem.

Is it really just a coincidence that it has entered the growth period?

But he had never heard of any dragon growing so fast.

Rong Heng put the cub back, but his doubts were still in his mind.

The little dragon cub, who was sleeping soundly, was unaware of this and was still snoring happily. No one knew what he dreamed about. He closed his eyes and rubbed his face against the soft cushion, humming softly. Then Rong Heng saw him unconsciously stretching out his claws, groping around for a while, grabbing a handful of gems and stuffing them into his mouth.

Crunch, crunch.

A teeth-grinding chewing sound could be heard in the living room, and after a moment, silence returned to normal.

The little dragon was smacking its lips and sleeping soundly.

Is there something wrong with the gemstone?

Rong Heng on the side looked at the gems, picked up one and examined it carefully. They were indeed gems, and there was nothing wrong with them.

He had also never heard that dragons could grow quickly by eating gems.

After pondering silently for a while, Rong Heng still couldn't figure out the key, so he could only switch back to the cub form and return to the bedroom.

Looks like I'll have to contact Hector tomorrow to ask him about this.

Early in the morning, before Ruan Shiqing woke up, he heard the crying of the little dragon cub in the living room.

???

Ruan Shiqing woke up instantly, hurriedly put on his clothes and went out to check the situation.

I saw the little dragon sitting on the ground, holding the gem box and shedding tears. He looked extremely pitiful: "A lot of my gems are missing, wuwuwuwuwu."

"Are there fewer gems?" Ruan Shiqing went forward to take a look, but didn't notice any changes: "Aren't there still the same amount?"

"Ten are missing." The little dragon sniffed and choked up, "I counted them last night."

The gem box is now his most precious thing. Every night before going to bed, he would pour the gems on the soft mattress and play with them one by one. When he was tired, he would lie on the mattress to sleep. When he woke up the next day, he would collect the gems on the soft mattress, put them back into the gem box, and take them to school.

In fact, he had felt that there seemed to be fewer gems before, but he just thought he remembered it wrong and didn't take it seriously. It was not until he woke up yesterday morning that the little dragon found that his favorite ruby ​​was missing, and then he realized that something was wrong.

He was sure that the ruby ​​was there before he fell asleep, but when he woke up, it was gone.

The little dragon boy finally became more careful. He counted the gems carefully before going to bed last night. As soon as he opened his eyes this morning, he got up and counted the gems.

When I counted them, I was shocked to find that ten were missing!

The little dragon was stunned. He held the gem box and became more and more sad. He couldn't help crying.

The little mermaid and the little fox were also awakened by his crying, and helped to look everywhere, but they did not find the lost gem in the living room.

"Are you sure you remembered the correct amount?"

Ruan Shiqing also helped to search the living room, which was the children's playground. There were not many things in it, and he searched every inch of it, but he found no trace of the lost gem. He even asked 09 to verify the surveillance to confirm that no outsiders had entered the house.

It is impossible for such a good gem to run away on its own. I can only suspect that the kid took a nap and remembered the wrong number.

The little dragon shook his head and said firmly: "I'm not mistaken!"

There are just not enough gems!

The kid's mouth is so pouty that you could hang an oil bottle on it.

Rong Heng in the bedroom finally couldn't stand it anymore. He came out of the bedroom and bumped Ruan Shiqing's leg with his head.

Ruan Shiqing picked him up and asked, "What does Snowball want to say?"

Rong Heng tapped his AI, skillfully called up the virtual keyboard, and began typing: [It was him, sleepwalking, eating.]

Mr. Rong had explained before that when Xueqiu was at home, his language class grades were very good. Although he could not speak, he could communicate through text. In order to facilitate his communication with others, he was specially equipped with a micro-computer.

But even though he knew it, this was the first time that Xueqiu had communicated with him through typing.

Ruan Shiqing was slightly surprised, but after seeing what he wrote, he was speechless again.

"How do you know that?"

Rong Heng continued typing: [Woke up, drank water, saw it.]

Turning his gaze to the little dragon, Ruan Shiqing couldn't imagine what it would be like for the little dragon to eat the gem in his sleep. He squatted down and asked the little dragon to open its mouth.

"Ah——" The little dragon opened his mouth obediently.

Ruan Shiqing checked his teeth and found them to be white and neat. His canine teeth were very sharp and showed no signs of wear and tear. They were very healthy.

Given the hardness of the gemstone, if the little dragon were to eat it, it would wear out its teeth to some extent, right?

But when he thought about it, this was a dragon, who might really chew the gems like candy beans. He suddenly became uncertain and could only take the cubs to the workshop to retrieve the monitoring of the protection system.

The surveillance file was opened, and the kids gathered in front of the virtual screen, watching nervously.

As time on the video continued to advance, everyone saw that the little dragon in the video was sleeping soundly with the gem on his chest at first, but after a while, he started to become restless, groping around with his little paws, grabbed a handful of gems and stuffed them into his mouth.

The creaking sound coming from the speaker is so annoying.

Pausing the video at the part where the little dragon was crunching the gemstone, Ruan Shiqing pinched the little dragon's cheek helplessly: "Does your tooth hurt?"

Toothache is not a disease, but it can be fatal. Dental health is very important.

The little dragon shook his head blankly. He had not yet recovered from the shock that he had eaten the missing gem while sleeping.

The little fox tilted its head, glanced at him, and before he could react, it quickly took out a gem from the gem box and stuffed it into its mouth.

As a result, I bit too hard and hurt my teeth.

The little fox's eyes suddenly turned red, and she almost cried out in pain. She rubbed her eyes vigorously and threw the gem back into the box angrily: "It's so hard, how can it taste good?!"

The little mermaid next to her held back her laughter and handed her a tissue.

!!!!!!!

"What are you doing?!"

The little dragon came back to his senses with his eyes wide open. He took out the bitten gem with disgust, wiped it clean carefully, and then put it back into the box.

He stopped crying now, but started to worry while holding the gem box: "What if I eat all the gems?"

When asking this question, the little dragon was very serious, with an expression as if the sky was falling.

Ruan Shiqing was amused by him and rubbed his little head: "If you finish eating, Dad will buy you more."

He looked at the cub's body, which had grown a lot taller, and wondered if the cub's sudden growth had anything to do with the gems. But now he knew that dragons didn't eat gems, and there was no data showing that gems could promote the growth of dragons. Ruan Shiqing was shocked. Although the cub looked very healthy now, there was no guarantee that there would be no problems in the long run.

You can't treat your kid like this before you figure out everything.

After thinking clearly about the pros and cons, Ruan Shiqing immediately changed his words: "I don't know if Baoshi will have indigestion if he eats too much. You are not allowed to eat it until Dad figures it out, understand?"

The little dragon was reluctant to eat the gems. He hugged the gem box tightly and nodded obediently.

The truth behind the missing gems was revealed, and after breakfast, the cubs were sent to school.

The morning class was an activity class, and Rong Heng quietly slipped out of the school while the kids were playing.

After finding a secluded place, he called Hector.

The call was connected after a while: "What's up?"

A virtual image of Hector appeared in front of him, as if he had just returned from outside, with ice even on his eyebrows.

"Did you land on the nameless star?" Rong Heng asked.

Hector said with an unhappy "hmm". "This damn place has nothing. The temperature is so low that even I can't stand it for too long. I advise you not to think about staying here. I'm going to leave here tomorrow. It's better to float in space than to stay in this damn place."

Part of the reason for sending Hector to explore the Nameless Star was to get him out of the way. Now that he heard him say that the environment on the Nameless Star was bad, Rong Heng did not force him and went straight to the point, mentioning the purpose of this communication.

"Suppose a dragon cub that has just hatched suddenly grows rapidly. What do you think is the reason?"

Hector: ????

"Then your dragon cub might be fake, or it might have been injected with growth hormones." He curled up in the driver's seat, legs crossed, cigarette in mouth, and smiled nonchalantly: "Dragons are considered adults at the age of 60, so a cub that just hatched is only a tiny size, right? How fast can it grow? This assumption is not valid."

Rong Heng: ...

"No hormones." He looked unhappy: "Is there no exception?"

"Didn't I tell you, it's fake, or it's hormones, you choose one."

Hector held a cigarette butt between his fingers, tapped on the control panel, and leaned closer to the camera: "Why do you suddenly ask such a question?" He narrowed his eyes, and his golden dragon pupils stood up with scrutiny.

"It's Dares." Rong Heng said calmly, "He has a new girlfriend who is from the dragon tribe. She also brought a cub with her. The cub has had some problems recently, so I asked you to ask about it."

"I was wondering why the Crown Prince was suddenly concerned about the dragon cub." Hector looked more serious: "Then I suggest she take the cub to get a checkup first."

Rong Heng ignored this and proposed a new hypothesis: "This cub stayed in the egg for a long time before it broke out of the shell, estimated to be more than a hundred years. Could this situation cause the cub to develop abnormally?"

"Impossible." Hector retorted: "It takes at most three years for a dragon egg to hatch from its birth to its shell. How could it be possible for a dragon egg to take more than a hundred years to hatch——"

Before he finished speaking, he was stunned for a moment.

——He couldn't help but think of the egg many years ago. At that time, he and Galan had been living in Luxor for more than 20 years just to hatch that dragon egg.

Unfortunately, later...

A look of despair flashed across Hector's face. He bit the cigarette butt between his teeth and said vaguely, "It's not impossible. Someone once told me a theory: many dragons believe that if a cub stays in a dragon egg for too long, it means that the cub is very weak and they will choose to give up hatching. But in fact, this is not the case. The cub will continue to accumulate strength in the dragon egg. After the cub breaks out of the shell, using dragon crystal to guide and stimulate the cub properly can promote the cub's rapid growth."

This statement can be compared with that dragon cub.

Although the dragon cub looked very lively and healthy, his horns and bat wings were indeed congenital deficiencies for the dragon clan.

"What is Dragon Crystal?" Rong Heng had never heard of such a thing.

"A kind of ore." Hector explained, "It is hidden deep under the gemstone veins. Broadly speaking, it is also a kind of gemstone, but it is a little different from gemstones. It stores a very huge energy that is beneficial to dragons. It can promote the growth and development of cubs and increase the strength of adult dragons."

When he was young and energetic, he dug all over the mineral veins on Luxor and only got a small bag.

Broadly speaking, it is also a kind of gem... Rong Heng suspected that dragon crystals might have been mixed into the little dragon's gem.

"How do you tell the difference between dragon crystals and gemstones?"

Hector swung his hands: "I don't know, at least I don't. Dragon crystal and gemstones are very similar and can be easily confused. Only professional scholars can tell the difference."

At first he was only responsible for mining, and all the dragon crystals were refined by Galan.

He really didn't want to mention Garland, so he thought for a moment and said, "Actually, I have a bag of dragon crystals hidden on Luxor Star. If you want, I can tell you the coordinates and you can go get it and make a comparison."

Rong Heng pondered for a moment. This was the only solution at the moment.

He hadn't heard of dragon crystals for so many years, and it seemed that not all the dragons knew about it. It would be too easy to expose himself if he went to look for someone now, so he might as well bring back a bag of dragon crystals for reference and comparison.

"Thank you. Please send me the coordinates and I'll ask Dares to pick it up."

Hector sent him the coordinates and then cut off the communication.

He slid into the driver's seat, staring at the icy plain outside the window. He muttered to himself for a while, "I've saved those dragon crystals for so long but they haven't been put to use yet. I hope they can be of some use this time."

Rong Heng got the coordinates, but did not inform Dares.

By this time, Dares should have arrived in Yangis. It was not realistic to ask him to go to Luxo Star to get the dragon crystal. After much thought, it would be safest for him to go there in person.

After thinking for a while, Rong Heng sent another text message to Ruan Shiqing: [Mr. Ruan, something happened at home, so I need to take Rong Xing home. I'll have someone pick him up this afternoon. He will be back at Planet B3024 in about ten days.]

After doing all this, Rong Heng climbed over the wall and returned to school.

After Ruan Shiqing received the text message from Mr. Rong, he asked 09 to pack up Snowball's things.

When I went to pick up the cubs after school in the afternoon, I specially asked for ten days off for Snowball.

When they got home, the cubs realized that Snowball was leaving.

The little dragon rushed over and pressed Rong Heng down, rubbing against him: "When will you come back?"

Even though it was a coquettish move, the little dragon boy acted like a dominant force.

Rong Heng was caught off guard and was overwhelmed by him.

With a gloomy face, he pushed the heavy little dragon away, but was hugged by the little fox again. Even the little mermaid lay by the pool, stretched out her head to pull his ears, and looked at him steadily with her blue eyes.

The cubs were all waiting for his answer.

“…”

Forget it, don't be angry.

It's not worth getting angry with a bunch of cubs.

His Royal Highness the Crown Prince escaped from the cubs' encirclement, called up the virtual screen, and typed: [Ten days later.]

But the cubs have only just begun to learn the phonetic symbols of Interstellar Common and do not know any words.

The little dragon stretched his neck and stared for a long while, then turned his head and whispered to the little fox, "What did he write?"

Nota shook his head and whispered, "I don't know him."

Rong Heng heard everything: "..."

He said that if you don’t learn, you will become a loser sooner or later.

You two little idiots can't even recognize such simple words.

The little mermaid took a look and uttered "ah" softly. After the two cubs looked at him, he stretched out his two hands and shook them.

"Come back in ten days?" The two cubs understood and immediately felt relieved.

Rong Heng glanced at the artificial mermaid and was slightly satisfied.

At least not all of them were wiped out, there was still one smart one.

After dinner, the person who came to pick up Rong Heng arrived.

The person was sent by Morley, but he was using the name of Mr. Rong.

After Ruan Shiqing confirmed the other party's identity, he handed the snowball and a small suitcase to him.

"When you get home, remember to report safety." Ruan Shiqing rubbed the kid's head.

Rong Heng uttered a soft "whoosh" and rubbed his hand as a farewell.

After returning to Fita Manor, he transformed back into human form, drove the shuttle away from B3024 and headed straight for Luxor.

Luxor is located in the Northeast Region of Syracuse, while B3024 is located in the Central Administrative Region. The Augusta Region separates the two, spanning dozens of star systems and a very long distance.

After letting Noah plan the shortest route, Rong Heng drove "Glory" to the maximum speed and began to pass through the migration channels one by one.

Some of these leap passages are artificially constructed, while others are developed from natural wormholes. Most natural wormholes are not stable enough, and are filled with meteorites. The slightest carelessness may lead to space accidents, which is a great test of the driver's driving skills and reaction ability.

Rong Heng focused his attention to the extreme, and after four sleepless days, he finally entered the Syracuse region.

After handing over the driving rights to Noah, Rong Heng went to rest in the rest cabin. Five hours later, Noah woke Rong Heng up and told him that they were about to arrive at Luxor Star.

Luxor is covered with volcanoes, and from the dark space it looks like a fiery red planet.

The planet is surrounded by several space bases, with many transport ships parked around it and countless shuttles traveling back and forth, transporting the mined ore onto the transport ships.

By turning on the cloaking device and changing the electronic identification signature, Rong Heng easily blended into the shuttle fleet and drove towards the surface of Luxor.

There are almost no dragons living on Luxor anymore. Eighty percent of the land here is being mined. Apart from large helipads and warehouses, there are almost no other buildings on the ground.

After entering the atmosphere, Rong Heng left the shuttle fleet and headed to the other side.

The remaining 20 percent of Luxor's land is mostly dormant volcanoes.

This is the burial place of the dragons and the place where the dragon cubs are hatched. Each dragon has an active volcano with its own signature. When they have dragon eggs and need to hatch them, they will return to Luxor and use the high temperature of the active volcano to hatch the eggs.

The dragon crystal that Hector mentioned is also hidden here.

Rong Heng followed the coordinates given by Hector and successfully found the volcano he signed.

After handing over the control of "Glory" to Noah, Rong Heng opened the cabin door and jumped directly into the crater.

Inside the volcano, the lava is boiling and the temperature is scorching.

In the thick smoke, Rong Heng climbed up the steep rock wall and found the hatching nest that Hector mentioned - it was actually a space carved out in the rock wall. The entrance was only about ten meters away, but after entering, he discovered a different world.

Rong Heng didn't have time to understand the dragon's hatching nest. According to what Hector said, he quickly found the storage room and the box where the dragon crystal was stored.

The box was covered with dust. Rong Heng opened it with a frown, only to find that there was nothing inside.

???

After confirming again and again that the box was indeed empty and there were no other boxes in the storage room, Rong Heng returned to "Glory" with a sullen face.

After taking a quick shower to wash off the dust, he called Hector again.

"Have you found the dragon crystal?"

"The box is empty."

They both spoke at the same time, and then fell silent.

"Empty?" Hector didn't believe it: "How could it be empty? The dragon crystal is indeed placed there, I won't be wrong."

"It was taken away by someone else."

It was a wasted trip and Rong Heng was in a very bad mood.

"Impossible." Hector said decisively: "I didn't touch those dragon crystals, and... he couldn't have taken them. The development teams outside are forbidden to approach the hatching nest. The dragon crystals can't be lost."

"But the fact is that it is gone." Rong Heng pinched his brows, cut off the communication, and asked Noah to prepare to return.

Hector sat back, his fingers unconsciously stroking the computer.

He wanted to contact Garland to ask, but when his finger touched the signal number, he hesitated.

"It can't be him," he murmured.

When Garland left, he said he would never come back here again, and he was not allowed to come back.

This hatchery they had dug out together had been covered in dust for over a hundred years.