Chapter 9: And Your Identity Is…
Swoosh! The automatic door to the meeting room opened.
A dozen or so people, some old and some young, walked out of the room. Zhao Yanzi was the first one who rushed out of the room. She snorted loudly at Hao Ren.
Hao Ren was nonplussed, wondering how he had offended her. "You lost your stuff, and I was taken here because of it. It's fortunate that your dad is a reasonable man or I would die at your hands."
While others passed Hao Ren on their way out of the office room, they cast strange glances at him.
Then Zhao Guang took Zhao Yanzi back to school himself. As to how he would persuade his daughter was beyond Hao Ren's knowledge.
Only Elder Lu and Hao Ren were left in the office room.
Hao Ren looked at Elder Lu and waited for him to speak first. After going through all the weird things in the past few days, his mind was a bit numb, and he didn't even try to think straight now.
"Is your name Hao Ren?" Elder Lu took a seat opposite to Hao Ren and asked kindly.
Hao Ren stared at him, "Yeah, and you are…"
"Hehe, you may call me Grandpa Lu." Elder Lu looked at Hao Ren kindly, "Are you a bit confused?"
"Not too much," Hao Ren answered stubbornly.
Elder Lu still looked Hao Ren cordially, "You will experience more things in the future."
"Well?" Hao Ren waited for him to continue.
"What do you think of the girl, Zi?" Abruptly, Elder Lu changed the subject.
"Immature, unruly, willful, bad-mannered..." Hao Ren began.
With a smile, Elder Lu interrupted Hao Ren, "In fact, Zi is a very cute girl."
"I disagree…" Hao Ren responded immediately.
"You will find out gradually in the future," Elder Lu said calmly.
"In the future?" Hao Ren looked at him with alarm.
"Yes. The two of you will live together for a long time." Elder Lu smiled at Hao Ren.
Hao Ren was alarmed, "Why?"
"Our boss appreciates you and thinks you are eligible to be his son-in-law," Elder Lu informed him.
Hao Ren's jaw dropped at this information.
"Are you kidding me?! That so-called Zi is only a fifteen-year-old middle-schooler while I'm no older than 19!" He thought.
"Do you think the bead you swallowed is an ordinary bead?" Elder Lu continued.
Thinking back, Hao Ren remembered that something like a candy had dropped into his mouth when he caught Zhao Yanzi.
"What is it?" asked Hao Ren.
"Dragon core," Elder Lu said slowly.
Hao Ren looked at him in a daze, thinking that the entire family was crazy.
"Dragons, flying across the heavens. Do you envy them?" asked Elder Lu.
Hao Ren shook his head.
"Dragons, transforming the sky and the earth. Do you envy them?" Elder Lu continued to ask.
Hao Ren shook his head again.
"Dragons…" Elder Lu tried again.
Hao Ren still shook his head.
Elder Lu's old face dropped. "If you don't listen to me, the bead will take your life at any moment."
Seeing the question on Hao Ren's face, Elder Lu opened his hand, and a green-blueish water bead appeared in his palm.
"The bead in your stomach is like the water bead in my palm." Ignoring Hao Ren's astonishment, Elder Lu raised the water bead in his palm slowly. "However, as time goes on…"
The water bead gradually expanded to the size as big as his whole palm…
The huge green-blueish bead had a clear reflection of Hao Ren's face on its surface.
"At last, it will…" Elder Lu gazed at the water bead.
Bang!
The water bead burst and water splashed all over Hao Ren.
Startled, Hao Ren backed off half a step.
Elder Lu pointed at Hao Ren's stomach with a smile.
Thinking of the moment when the water bead burst, Hao Ren suddenly had a stomachache.
"I have a set of cultivation technique. You can take it and work hard on your cultivation. But remember, you must hide it from other people. This set of cultivation technique can suppress the dragon core in your body and prevent you from dying of explosion in the near future." Like in a magic trick, Elder Lu grabbed an ancient book from thin air and placed it in Hao Ren's hand.
"Who the hell are you?" Hao Ren asked. He felt like his brain was in a buzz of confusion and was unable to accept all the overwhelming information.
"We are…" Elder Lu deliberately paused for better effects before whispering in Hao Ren's ear, "Dragons."
Hao Ren back off another half a meter. Looking at the bluffing old man, he thought he resembled the vendor who sold so-called secret martial arts scriptures near Cheng Huang Temple. (The so-called Cheng Huang Temple is where people gathered for traditional festivals.)
But Hao Ren couldn't figure out how he summoned the water bead.
Was it a new form of fraud? Faced with the complexities of society, Hao Ren didn't quite trust his recognition ability.
"I know it's hard to digest, but you will get used to it." Elder Lu patted Hao Ren on his shoulder amiably. "Now that you are one of us, you must guard our common secret. By doing so, you are also protecting yourself."
Hao Ren looked at him in bafflement, thinking the looks of the dragons were a bit too ordinary. Flying across the heavens? Transforming the sky and the earth? Seriously?
Instead, he thought it was a complicated scam, not a bunch of disguised superheroes hidden in the city like the Superman in movies.
"It seems you still don't believe me." Looking at Hao Ren, Elder Lu abruptly took the ancient book back from Hao Ren's hand and put his other palm on Hao Ren's forehead.
All of a sudden, a passage of shining golden characters appeared in Hao Ren's mind. Before he could react, Elder Lu removed his hand.
"F*ck! The old man looks harmless but is actually very aggressive…When did I promise to cultivate this stuff?"
Hao Ren stared at him with panic and fury.
"Don't worry, these cultivation techniques will do you good instead of harm. On the other hand, if you don't cultivate them, you will be in danger. From now on, I'm your guardian in our circle. If you have any questions, just call me…" Elder Lu took out a name card and presented it to Hao Ren.
"They even have name cards… The so-called dragons are quite professional, or can I say, not professional…"
Speechless, Hao Ren took the name card and froze at the information on it—Lu Qing, Managing Vice President of East Ocean University.
"Remember your identity. From now on, you are not only a student of East Ocean University but also…" Reaching out his hand, Qing Lu patted Hao Ren's forehead, "Dragon King's Son-In-Law."