My Notoriety Spreads Throughout the World-Chapter 404 - 344: The Eternally Frozen Dragon

Standing before the towering statue, Xu Xiaoyou looked up at the nearly hundred-meter-tall sculpture. The man wore an eagle helmet, draped in a wolf cloak, with broad and strong arms, standing like an insurmountable mountain, his gaze piercing with endless authority.

In a daze, she seemed to see the man roaring into battle, raising his spear towards the sky, with Three Wings on his back and riding an eight-legged Pegasus, charging across the battlefield, leading his troops in a charge against the enemy.

Odin, the leader of the Northern Territory, the initiator of the Freedom Wings movement.

Years of exhaustive resource extraction and heavy industrial production had severely deteriorated the ecosystem of the Northern Territory. The excessive deployment of shield tunneling mining machines loosened the soil structure, causing frequent geological disasters. Forests were ravaged, losing vegetation that stabilized sand and carbon. Areas severely polluted with toxic gases and turned into deserts were no longer habitable, becoming forbidden zones for life. Millions were displaced, and the entire cold land was ravaged.

The man led the oppressed people of the Northern Territory to raise the sword of rebellion against Chichu Heaven, launching a guerrilla war. At the cost of numerous lives and freedom, they resisted while negotiating and lobbying among various forces.

Under the pressure of internal turmoil and external threat, the Chichu Family ultimately chose to compromise, recognizing the legitimacy of the Freedom Wings movement, designating the area north of the Jotunheim Mountains as the Northern Territory, and granting a considerable degree of autonomy to the Northern Kingdom.

For centuries, the relationship between the Northern Territory and the Chichu Family has become increasingly close, forming an inseparable community of destiny through the joint efforts of many leaders. The Northern Kingdom bears the responsibility of resource extraction and heavy industrial production while guarding the Northern border and protecting the people of Chichu Heaven from external forces.

To this day, the land of the Northern Territory still tells the tale of this Divine King, and people praise him, erecting magnificent statues to let his glory shine on every inch of the cold land.

Xu Xiaoyou retracted her gaze, and along with Chichu Chun, approached the counter, handing the Black Gold Card to the staff. The latter seemed somewhat surprised upon seeing the card, repeatedly verifying it before looking at Xu Xiaoyou.

"Sorry, madam, may I ask you to wait here for a moment? I need to report the situation to the manager."

The woman trotted off in high heels, and Xu Xiaoyou stood in place, yawning and closing her eyes to rest.

Shortly after, a Bionic in a manager's suit, wearing a bow tie and meticulously combed mustache, strode up to her, nodding respectfully and returning the Black Gold Card.

"We've been keeping the items you stored for you; are you planning to go..."

The Bionic paused slightly before probing further,

"To retrieve them?"

The woman scurried back following the Bionic, her clothes somewhat disheveled due to the rush.

"Of course, and who is this?"

"He is our bank's manager, you may call him Mr. Screw."

"Bionics can be managers too?" Chichu Chun whispered to Xu Xiaoyou.

Xu Xiaoyou was indifferent.

"Please follow me." Mr. Screw solemnly gestured for them to proceed. 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

Asimov once proposed the three laws of artificial intelligence.

1. A robot may not injure a human being, or through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.

2. A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.

3. A robot must protect its existence, as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

Yet the supreme artificial intelligence Mourner of this world was never bound by any law from the very inception of its logical framework, and the people had only one request for her.

— "Calculate the only possible future of civilization."

Which means that, if she wanted to, with even just a fraction of a second of thought, Mourner could easily activate all of civilization's destructive weapons, reducing all traces of its existence to dust.

Therefore, it was not unusual for a Bionic that served humans to become a figure of authority; people in this world were long accustomed to keeping their heads tied to their belts.

Following Mr. Screw to the deeper vaults of the bank, Xu Xiaoyou keenly noticed the Fenrir Titans in the lobby approaching, seemingly guessing her thoughts. Mr. Screw stroked his mustache:

"Rest assured, beautiful ladies, those Titans are merely in a heightened alert mode because the item you're retrieving is so valuable; they are just ensuring your safety."

"Your trust in us is ideal and rare, and we would certainly not fail to uphold it."

As commonly seen in films, countless bronze gears rotated clockwise, spewing white steam, and the vault door made of Dragon Steel Copper alloy slowly opened outward.

Stepping through the alloy doors, taking the spacious cargo elevator, amidst its rumbling operation, they arrived at the deepest underground of the Northern Territory Bank, witnessing a scene that deeply shocked them.

Light slanted in, piercing the dense darkness, illuminating an iceberg. Within the iceberg lay the deep-buried bones of a Black Dragon, its form sinister and contorted, its kilometer-long wingspan still flowing with magma beneath thick ice. Even after a hundred years of death, the hardened scales of this sky king rippled like water waves, and as life approached, those massive golden eyes slowly opened, rapidly constricting to vertical pupils, with the descending cargo elevator appearing as small as a speck of dust before it.

Indescribable intimidation emanated from the giant dragon within the iceberg, and Xu Xiaoyou calmly met the gaze of the massive golden eye, while Chichu Chun beside her found it difficult to breathe.

"What is this?" Chichu Chun was puzzled, wondering why the Black Dragon harbored such intense animosity towards her.

"Nidhogg," Mr. Screw said calmly.

""Crimson Dancer" once slew this ravaging giant dragon in the Northern Territory before the final battle with the Eight-Spider Nest Mother in Yuyuan City, and entrusted the Northern Bank to carefully preserve its carcass. We believe she will one day return to reclaim what she left behind," Mr. Screw smiled.

"After all, I am an old acquaintance of Chichu Yin, and no matter how much speculation there is outside, I firmly believe she will return one day."

Chichu Chun was greatly shocked.

The skeletal remains of a mythological dragon, scourging the land and gnawing at the roots beneath the Chichun Shu, are actually preserved beneath the Northern Bank! Who would dare to believe this, let alone that the Northern Bank's business is so broad? They're not afraid that the Black Dragon might one day come back to life, wreaking havoc on the world?

Chichu Chun's mind was in turmoil.

And more chaos awaited her; besides the dragon's remains, the items stored underground by the Northern Bank were a whimsical assortment, ranging from keys and laser guns to military Titans, escort ships, pale-skinned, elongated-limbed mythical creatures, seal objects with various attributes, an unknown miraculous light orb, and even a... person??

Yes, indeed, it was a person, a young girl in her prime, sealed behind ice, clutching a bouquet as if having endured hardship before her death, yet her expression exuded an eerie sense of happiness, with her lips slightly upturned and tears shimmering at her eyes' corners, captured like a prismatic moment in the icy stone.

Chichu Chun's pupils shook violently, focusing on the label revealing the name of the owner of this girl collection.

— Arian Tide Sound.

Xu Xiaoyou recognized the owner of this name, her eyelids half-drooped: "Gloomy Blue Tide."

The ice stone sealing the girl had another recess, seemingly awaiting the embrace of a new collection.