Five years have flown by, and Alice is now in middle school. Her father has not returned, and Alice has gradually come to understand what happened. She realizes he might never come back; he has likely gone to heaven. Despite her sorrow, life goes on for Alice.
Alice's mother has not remarried. She works hard to keep the family going, and over the past five years, it has become evident that she has aged significantly. Sometimes, Alice secretly cries in her room.
The dragon has not reappeared, and the events from back then seem like a dream. Even now, Alice occasionally wonders if it was all just an illusion.
These five years have made Alice much more mature. She has grown from a little girl into a beautiful young lady. Her once chubby doll-like face has become slim and pure. Alice has started receiving many love letters, including from her former crush, Jack. Since breaking up with Lisa, Jack has been fervently pursuing Alice.
However, Alice no longer has any feelings for Jack. The once handsome Jack is now plagued with acne and has gained a lot of weight. He no longer has the charm he once did and is barely recognizable.
Alice's deskmate is still the snotty-nosed Hawk. Now, Hawk has grown into a handsome young man, and his nose is no longer runny. Hawk is a diligent guy, focusing on his studies when he isn't talking about dragons. According to him, he wants to become a great scientist, which is why he studies so seriously.
After school, Alice would go alone to that dreamlike place, just as she had always done. For five years, she never missed a day. It had become a habit, although no miracles had ever occurred.
Five years ago, when the dragon returned to the United States, Alice was thrilled and jumped with excitement, thinking the dragon had come back to see her. However, when the military attacked the dragon, it left again, leaving Alice heartbroken for a long time.
Alice walked along the deserted street, lost in thought. Remembering the past events made her giggle, not noticing the diminishing number of pedestrians around her.
A car slowly approached from the front, but Alice did not pay attention as she was immersed in her fantasies. Suddenly, a sharp brake noise snapped her out of it. She furrowed her brows cutely and turned her head.
The car door opened, and several men in black suits and sunglasses swiftly got out. One of them covered Alice's mouth and forcefully dragged her into the car. The others guarded the area, keeping watch. The whole operation was swift and precise, as if they had rehearsed it countless times.
Once the men in black got into the car, it immediately sped off. Alice struggled desperately, but her strength was no match for the adult male. The man’s large hand clamped over her mouth like an iron vice, and he tightly grasped both of her arms with his other hand.
The man in black suddenly let out a muffled grunt, and his hand covering Alice’s mouth loosened involuntarily. His palm bore two rows of neat, small teeth marks, with blood slowly seeping from the wound. Alice opened her mouth to scream for help, but before she could finish, she felt a sharp pain in her neck and suddenly fainted.
“What’s going on?” the driver asked, glancing in the rearview mirror.
“Nothing, the little brat bit me. Just focus on driving!” the man in the back seat replied impatiently.
“Better be careful, no mistakes allowed. If we’re discovered, we’re all dead.”
The car fell silent at once; the threat was no joke.
One of the men in black swallowed nervously, looking tense.
“What do you think the company is doing with all these people we’ve been capturing?”
“Who knows! We’ve taken over a hundred this month alone, and none have come out. Heard it’s for some experiment.”
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A chill filled the car, making everyone shudder involuntarily. They lost any desire to speak. The only sound was the car’s engine humming.
Everything about the company was shrouded in mystery: strict security measures, secretive research environments. Rumor had it that the company’s building extended dozens of floors underground, but no one could confirm it. The company was an enigma.
Desire drives human development. To run faster, humans invented cars. To fly like birds, they invented planes. Curious about the moon, they built spacecraft. Desire fuels progress, but human desires are insatiable. They are never satisfied with current achievements.
The more powerful the dragon became, the more it stirred human desire: its formidable body, long lifespan, supernatural magic. The dragon's allure was as addictive as a drug. But desire isn’t always beneficial; it can be like Pandora’s box, once opened, leading to endless trouble.
The dragon’s rapidly increasing strength was starting to rival modern technology, and it had the potential for even more growth. This super-strong physique caught the attention of many nations, and significant funding began flowing into biochemical research. Humanity started focusing on their evolution and abilities.
Thousands of years of human civilization had built a strong technological foundation. Advanced technology allowed humans to begin exploring the mysteries of the body, but the body is incredibly complex. Hasty exploration inevitably led to many mistakes. These mistakes could cause harm on a scale comparable to or even exceeding that of a nuclear disaster like Chernobyl.
Genes are mysterious and complex, each one a segment of biological code. For example, the genetic similarity between chimpanzees and humans is almost 96%, but that 4% difference makes humans human and chimpanzees chimpanzees. The gap is vast.
A large portion of human DNA is so-called junk DNA, thought to be useless and taking up space. However, what they didn’t realize was that much of this junk DNA had been activated by human ancestors. As the earth’s energy dwindled and ancient training methods were lost, these genes went dormant, making the human body weaker while the treasure trove within remained untapped.
In an underground laboratory, numerous researchers in thick white protective suits were busily working. They discovered that dragon genes had a highly aggressive nature, in other words, they were extremely infectious. All researchers had to wear protective suits to avoid contact with the research subjects and prevent genetic contamination from scratches. So far, several researchers had already died.
After five years of research, scientists have slowly begun to unravel the mysteries of dragon genes. They isolated a specific gene responsible for strengthening the body and transplanted it into a white mouse.
At first, the mouse showed no reaction, but after an hour, it became increasingly agitated, running around its cage nonstop.
Two hours later, the mouse’s skin began to rot, exposing its flesh. It became extremely excited, repeatedly banging against the cage, though its movements were slowing down.
Three hours in, the mouse was unrecognizable, yet still highly agitated. Its strength had increased so much that the researchers had to enclose its cage within another cage.
Five hours later, the researchers observed that the mouse lost its appetite for its favorite grass, completely ignoring it. When they placed raw meat in the cage, the mouse attacked it ferociously.
A day later, the mouse's body was even more decayed, with no fur left and blood-red chunks of flesh falling off.
Two days later, its muscles began to wriggle and regrow.
By the third day, the researchers noticed the mouse’s skin gradually healing, with new, shiny fur growing in. The mouse’s speed and strength had significantly increased, though its gaze was somewhat vacant.
The researchers chose to ignore this vacancy, celebrating their success. The consortiums believed they had finally found a way to evolve humans by implanting this gene, though it required extensive experimentation.
Animal trials concluded, and it was time for live human experiments. Animals couldn't speak or think, leaving significant gaps in understanding the gene's effects. Researchers couldn't determine the gene's specific impact solely through animal trials.
Over time, large numbers of people in the city mysteriously disappeared.
They discovered that after injecting humans with the gene, their bodies rapidly decayed within a short period, only to heal again after a few days, mirroring the animal results. Human strength and physical resilience increased dramatically, along with enhanced self-healing abilities. However, their intelligence seemed completely lost, reduced to mere instincts, unable to speak or communicate, driven only by the desires to eat and attack, with a newfound preference for raw meat.
The research hit a standstill. Scientists speculated that the gene’s invasiveness destroyed the brain, erasing memories and possibly extinguishing the soul.
The researchers confined those infected with dragon genes together. They emitted beastly roars, their strength growing exponentially. Their destructive power far exceeded human limits and continued to increase.
New test subjects were subjected to hellish training together. Without breakthroughs, further tests seemed pointless. They hypothesized that the gene’s success might relate to physical robustness, citing previous cases where individuals bathed in dragon blood without adverse effects.