r18novel Page 131
Page 131
He was certain he was no match for the young man, but even if there was only a one percent chance, he would fight for his master's life.
It was a promise made on a crimson rainy night, the moment the former matriarch of the Göttingen family handed Elsa, still an infant, into her hands.
The newly formed families on the Board of Trustees are different from the old secret society families that have now become the Elders. They have a long history of slaying dragons, and no one knows what they obtained from the spoils after slaying the dragons, or what kind of trump cards they have.
Furthermore, with the development of technology, these emerging secret society families inevitably invest heavily in it, although their directions and areas may differ.
For example, the Gattuso family, which has deep roots in the aerospace field, has developed a space-based kinetic energy weapon called "Divine Retribution".
Every inch has its strengths, and every foot has its weaknesses.
Alchemy has always been a closely guarded secret among dragons. Even within the pure-blooded dragon race, only those of the bronze and fire lineages possess the inherited knowledge and mastery of it.
Not to mention that the so-called hybrid race is actually power that humans stole from the dragon race.
This is why the Vice-Principal Night Watchman, also known as the "Flameme" lineage, holds such a detached and extraordinary position within the entire Secret Society.
Because the "Flamemer" lineage represents the pinnacle of alchemy among hybrids, this title has always been passed down through a single lineage.
Unfortunately, unlike the strength of hybrids which depends on their dragon bloodline, alchemy depends on genuine talent.
Without talent in alchemy, even if your bloodline rating is "S", it's all for nothing.
Therefore, if Cao Han hadn't personally explained the "mystery" of this bullet to the board members, most of them wouldn't have realized its value at all.
Upon hearing that the alchemical array engraved on the bullet had an "armor-piercing" effect, the monk school board member stopped fiddling with the sandalwood beads in his hands. "Is it possible to replicate such an alchemical bullet?"
"Hard to say."
Angers stared at the bullet and gave an ambiguous answer, not because he was intentionally being evasive, but because he genuinely didn't know.
Perhaps only Akadullah Ahmed Mohammed Farooq, the director of the Watt Alheim Institute, can answer this question.
To be fair, even Angers looked at the bullet with a hint of interest.
As the monks on the school board raised, if this bullet truly has the potential to be replicated, then its use in the dragon-slaying endeavor would be of great significance.
“If there’s one, there will be two. I think that since there’s a finished product, the difficulty of reverse engineering will be greatly reduced, so it’s still worth looking forward to.” The balding middle-aged school board member also stood up to support it.
If we could actually decipher this alchemical technique, even if we couldn't mass-produce it, using a small portion for the executive specialists in the execution department would be entirely beneficial.
Cao Han was surprised to see the school board members discussing the purpose of the bullet with such enthusiasm.
"Aren't you board members curious about why I brought this bullet here?" Cao Han's slightly chilling voice interrupted the discussion.
"Why?" Elizabeth blurted out instinctively.
Compared to other school board members, the naive Elizabeth Laurent lacked the depth of worldly wisdom and was, in other words, unable to keep secrets.
She was also very curious when Cao Han asked her this question.
Judging from the attitude the other party showed towards the Board of Trustees, even Elizabeth Laurent could tell that it was definitely not as they thought, intended to be given to the Secret Service.
“You only saw the bullet with the alchemical array, but what if I told you all…” Cao Han paused slightly, piquing your interest, “the bullet’s body is as red as fresh blood?”
Red like fresh blood?
What do you mean?
The school board members reacted in two completely different ways to this somewhat baffling description.
Clearly, the two young female school board members haven't yet been exposed to information about the Philosopher's Stone, or perhaps they haven't been in their positions for very long, given the rarity of the Philosopher's Stone...
The remaining four board members, including Angers, almost instantly understood what Cao Han was referring to based on this description.
That's why they could no longer maintain the shocked expression on their faces.
“Cao Han, do you know what you’re saying?” Angers had to ask again to confirm.
In front of everyone, Cao Han reached out and pulled down his collar, revealing his chest. There was a fresh scar very close to his heart. He said sarcastically, "An armor-piercing alchemy array paired with the Philosopher's Stone—anyone who didn't know better would think it was used to shoot down a dragon king. It's quite an honor to have it used on me."
Unfortunately, I'm still alive; some people are probably starting to feel uneasy!
The sarcastic remarks made the board members present feel uneasy, especially the phrase "a certain person," which was highly targeted and practically meant to refer to them directly.
Faced with such overwhelming evidence, the school board members looked serious, their eyes meeting and exchanging glances.
Just as Cao Han's decision to bring up this bullet at the board meeting could not have been without purpose.
Just as there was no matter how much the members of the board of directors fought each other, and no matter how much the Gattuso family, represented by Frost, targeted Angers, no one escalated the struggle to the point of "bloodshed".
And if Cao Han wasn't lying...
This only proves one thing: someone, or rather a member of the school board, is no longer content with the status quo and wants to take real action!
The monk school board member and the bald, middle-aged school board member exchanged a glance, seemingly glancing at Frost out of the corner of their eyes without saying a word.
That's right!
If you asked them to guess which school board member might be capable of doing such a thing, their answer would undoubtedly be the Gattuso family.
However, this kind of thing is unsubstantiated; a single bullet can't prove anything.
"If, as you say, this was a Philosopher's Stone bullet, then how did you survive?" Frost didn't intend to clear himself of suspicion, but instead offered a different perspective.
After all, everyone knows the fame of the Philosopher's Stone.
Since the contemporary alchemist "Night Watchman" Nicholas Flamel extracted the fifth element from dragons to create the Philosopher's Stone, it has been regarded by the entire Secret Society as a trump card against dragons and has always been kept secret.
"Maybe I'm just lucky, and God doesn't want me to die."
Cao Han glanced at Frost meaningfully. The scar on his chest was one he had deliberately kept, so that it would come in handy with the bullet when he attacked. Otherwise, with his recovery ability, it would have been completely healed long ago.
"Someone once told me that only a master alchemist could create the Philosopher's Stone. Coincidentally, we in the Secret Society had such a person. Even more coincidentally, the Philosopher's Stone, which only our Secret Society possessed, was made into a bullet and ended up in the hands of an assassin. And then, just as coincidentally, it hit me..."
Do you, the school board members, believe it or not?
I, for one, don't believe it!
Angers reached out and picked up the bullet, examining it closely, his face turning terribly grim.
For soldiers, dying on the battlefield is their destiny, but what they cannot accept most is being betrayed by their comrades!
He believed that Cao Han was not the kind of person who spoke nonsense, so this act of betrayal had to be taken very seriously. "Every dragon that our Secret Party has slaughtered is recorded, and every Philosopher's Stone we have extracted is also counted."
What Angers wanted to express couldn't be simpler.
The Secret Society has killed countless dragons over the years, but very few have actually been able to extract the fifth element, which is why the Philosopher's Stone is so precious.
Therefore, each Philosopher's Stone is limited in number within the Secret Society, and anyone who wants to investigate will be able to trace the origin of this Philosopher's Stone bullet.
"I suggest an investigation."
"Seconded."
"be opposed to!"
Faced with Elizabeth Laurent's proposal to investigate, and seeing that the school board had already agreed, Frost had no choice but to immediately step forward and state his position: "Although every Philosopher's Stone in the Secret Society is limited, there should have been instances of various families using them over the years."
"The Philosopher's Stone was originally created to slay dragons, so using it is perfectly normal. As long as you can provide a reasonable explanation, that's fine." A glint of shrewdness flashed in Elizabeth Laurent's smiling eyes.
Although there was no evidence whatsoever, the woman's intuition told her: something was wrong with the Frost board of trustees!
Sometimes a woman's intuition is just like that... irrational.
"Being betrayed by one's own people is a very serious problem! Even the strongest fortress will crumble from within. If we are facing the brutal and bloodthirsty dragons in front of us, we also have to guard against sneak attacks from 'our own people' behind us..." Angers abhorred this behavior more than anyone else.
For some reason, this brought back some unpleasant memories for Angers.
Even today, the "Summer Mourning," which nearly rendered the Lionheart Society, the elite secret society of the Secret Service, virtually extinct, remains shrouded in mystery.
Why did the agreed-upon goods end up being the Dragon King "Li Wuyue"?
But no matter what, as long as he remains the principal of Kassel College, Angers will not send his students to the battlefield against the dragons while watching them be betrayed by their own people.
"Did the assassin who used this Philosopher's Stone bullet reveal any further clues?" Angers asked the question that everyone present was very concerned about.
“What if I said yes? Frost… Acting Patriarch.” Cao Han revealed a playful smile, but his gaze was fixed on Frost Gattuso.
In fact, he had been observing since he joined the board of directors, observing each and every one of them.
The two young female school board members were the first to be ruled out; judging from their naive and unpredictable nature, they didn't seem like the kind of cunning old foxes who would do such a thing.
The rest were all cunning old foxes who never showed their true feelings; you couldn't tell anything from the subtle changes in their facial expressions.
However, they underestimated Cao Han's keen sense of changes in aura.
The moment Cao Han revealed that it was a Philosopher's Stone bullet, he still sensed a fleeting hostility from Frost Gattuso.
This unfounded hostility did not appear among the other board members.
Therefore, even though he had no evidence to prove it, Cao Han still directly pointed the finger at the other party, and his first words were almost as if he had directly accused Frost of being the mastermind.
The more this happened, the calmer Frost's expression became. His hands rested on his cane, and he uttered two words through the gap in his lips:
"evidence!"
"No! But all I need is to know who did it, I don't need any evidence!" Cao Han was also being a rogue; once he made up his mind, no one could change it.
Upon hearing this, Frost's face turned terribly grim, and the veins on his hands gripping his cane bulged.
He was the acting head of the Gattuso family. How many years had it been since he had been openly provoked and threatened with death?
Faced with Cao Han's arrogant boasting, Frost showed no sign of backing down. In an instant, his dazzling golden eyes lit up, and he said defiantly:
"Kid! You want to threaten the Gattuso family? Let me tell you, you've picked the wrong target!"
Chapter 128 Absolute Autonomy
Once the seeds of doubt are sown, they will take root and sprout, and the fortress of trust will crumble and collapse.
This is a situation that no one present wants to see.
It's good to take shelter under a big tree. No matter what their ulterior motives or what their plans are, all of this must be based on winning the final battle against the dragons.
Otherwise, the seemingly glamorous members of the Secret Service would be the target of a purge.
The bald, middle-aged school board member who always plays the peacemaker role also declined, since anyone with a brain could sense that something was amiss.
That is, from the moment Cao Han took out that bullet, he was being too overly targeted at Frost, or rather, at the Gattuso family.
Sometimes, saying too much can lead to mistakes. He was also worried that Cao Han might still have some crucial evidence pointing directly to the Gattuso family, otherwise it wouldn't make any sense.
"Alright, baseless suspicion will only make our enemies laugh!" The old school board member in the monk's robe gently put down his prayer beads and spoke, after all, the castle was his place. "Cao Han, we have no ill intentions towards you."
Your abilities are what our secret society values most. Since you have proven that you are not at risk of getting out of control, we will not hold a grudge.