Scene 3: The Dictator (3)

“The fact that students are trying to steal exam questions has nothing to do with the Executive Department. All that we care is pure blood dragons.” Schneider ignored Professor Manstein’s smile completely, “Norma’s security system is unbreakable. It’s designed to be an eternal loop.”

“If the dragons plan to have an invasion, the target should not be the host room, right?” Guderian said.

“I don’t know, dragons can’t be understood, but vigilance is never wrong.” Schneider raised his voice. “Norma, why is the security system dormant?”

The crystal chandelier above the hall suddenly lit up, and the clear brilliance drove away the dark and cold atmosphere. The stately library hall is lined with carved cherry bookshelves, displaying hundreds of thousands of reference books. Different areas are marked on the bookshelves with brass nameplates, while the long cherry-wood table is covered with all-green lamps. Now they were all lit up, no more shadow was left in the hall.

“Professor Von Schneider, Professor Manstein, Professor Guderian, this is a routine sweep, the garbage data is being swept away. I suspended the security system, turned on the data mask, and sent out the junk data.” A calm female voice appeared, “In short, I opened the door and took out the garbage.”

“Is there that much redundant data? Do you need to clean up late at night? When you open the door, you may make a mistake. It should be done in the presence of other people.” Said Professor Schneider.

“Before dragons learn how to use computers, I think I’m safe,” Norma said.

“They’re very quick learners, you have to be careful,” Schneider said, apparently he’s more friendly to Norma than to his two colleagues. “How much longer will it take to clean up the data?”

“Just finished, I have restarted the security system. The next time I take out the garbage is seventeen years from now. I’ll be absolutely safe from now on.”

“Sounds like I don’t have to check the library at night in 17 years.” Professor Schneider grinned hoarsely. “Good night, madam.”

“Good night, gentlemen.” All the lamps on the crystal chandelier and table dimmed, leaving only a few warm yellow wall lamps.

Schneider turned to leave. But he suddenly looked back at Guderian and Manstein. “The access records show that you two have just entered the ancient books section, which has high securing level documents. What kind of academic problems make you study ancient books here late at night?”

Guderian gets goosebumps under Schneider’s dull, cold eyes. He looked at Manstein with an appealing look. Manstein was still holding on to his phone, minutes before he tried to call the principal to report the “White King progeny”.

“What’s the matter?” Asked Schneider coldly.

Guderian had cold sweat on his forehead, he was afraid of Manstein to say things about Lu Mingfei. But he wasn’t much of a liar himself, as Manstein said, he couldn’t help scratching his head when he lied. Schneider is not a fool, and he was also a brilliant scholar before he led the Executive Department.

“The white king.” Whispered Manstein.

There was a buzz in Guderian’s head. It’s gone. All gone.

“White king?” Schneider’s eyes widened. The name obviously grabbed his focus.

“New speculation,” Manstein whispered, leaning close to Schneider’s ear. “the white king may be a female!”

“Female?” Schneider’s eyes widened more and he pondered. “How can you come to this conclusion?”

Guderian looked blankly at two of them.

“I have been thinking, the dragon civil war is for what. As a human monarch, he fought for land, gold or women. What was the purpose of the dragon civil war? Land and gold are not important to the dragon race, so is it possible to start a war for the females?” Manstein said serious and eloquent.

“Well!” Schneider nodded. “Very new topic.”

“The battle of the sexes, what an important motif in the history of mankind! We never thought that maybe the conflict between the white king and the black king was not about power, but about gender. We can cite many examples of monogamy in power at the same time, but different positions lead to serious differences, such as…” Manstein suddenly stopped. “Well… “

“Like Hillary and Clinton!” Schneider said.

“Reasonable! Hillary and Clinton!” Manstein tapped Schneider’s shoulder with big strength. “Imagine a subject like this. Suppose that the black king created the white king in order to find himself a wife, and the daughter would marry the father, which is very common in Greek mythology. Their gender conflict eventually led to a break.”

“It’s a little too humanized, but shouldn’t we be thinking about adding couple’s life into selective course as well?” Schneider mused.

“Very reasonable!” Manstein said, “Why don’t the three of us share the project, but when we publish the paper, do you ask to be the first name?”

“No, no, no, I never meant it.” Schneider waved his hand. “I’m just interested in this topic. Good entry point!”

“How about we sort out the detailed information and discuss it together?” Said Manstein gravely.

“Good, good, very interesting. Such topics are worth staying up for.” Schneider and Manstein shook hands, turned and walked away, brooding all the way until he’s gone in the distant darkness.

“Is the white king a female?” Guderian looked at Manstein.

“Just made up,” interrupted Professor Manstein impatiently. “I have to throw out something new and interesting for Schneider to think about, or we’ll have to explain why the classified files were used late at night.”

“But what you just said makes sense…” Said Guderian.

“Enough!” Manstein covered his old friend’s mouth. “Whether the white king is a male dragon or a female dragon is uncertain, but I would like to give your student Lu Mingfei a chance. Tomorrow is the 3E examination, the difference between the speaking spirit of black king descendant’s and the white king descendant’s is very big. If Lu Mingfei is a black king descendant, he will do well. Then forget all my supposition.”

“If he… Didn’t pass?” Guderian asked.

Manstein sighed. “Then he has to be reported to the principal, Guderian… I know your character, but you must know that we have no right to be selfish.”

“All right,” Guderian sighed, “but thank you.”

“It’s nothing. You’re right. If I’m Lu Mingfei, I don’t want to be treated like an outlier.” Manstein said, “We’ve all been through this, I hope it doesn’t happen to kids.”

Guderian finally left, pulling the handle of the cherry-wood door with a sudden thought. He had locked the door when he entered the library, but when Manstein opened it for Schneider, he did not seem to turn the brass handle three times in the opposite direction… But he was too tired to remember. Then he shook his head and closed the door.

Forty metres below the library, a shadow sat with his hands folded in a swivel chair and his head bowed. There’s only light with screens, which are not enough to show his face hidden in the shadows.

“Everyone else left, and in the interval between the security system’s sleeping process, the camera doesn’t work, you go in and there’s no recording.” It’s Norma’s voice. “When you leave later, I’ll put the security system to sleep again. Any problem?”

“Can’t I see my old friend?” The man in the swivel chair smiled. His chin, which had just been scraped, was livid. “Enter the EVA Personality Activation Program.”

“Why do you care about appearances? Whether it’s Norma’s personality or EVA’s personality, at the deepest level, I’m still me.” Norma said.

The huge screen went dark. In the darkness, there were only a great many little red and green lights flickering. The huge amount of personality data pouring into this super host is like the sea flowing into a river. Hard disk lights, data flow indicators, host frequency indicators were flashing ten times faster than before. At last, the last crazy frequency had taken over the rhythm of the basement.

Suddenly, all the lights went out and the basement was in complete darkness.

A beam of light came down directly overhead and fell in front of the swivel chair. Fluorescent fragments fluttered down in the light, like snow. A girl’s shadow stood in the center of the beam, translucent and shimmering. Her long black hair hung down till her feet, but tips were floating in the air. She was in a silk gown, bare feet and smiling.

“EVA.” The man in the swivel chair slowly reached out and entered the light.

“All you can touch is air. Why do you reach out?” EVA said softly.

“I just like to hold your hand. It’s my habit.” Whispered the man. The fluorescent fragments fell on his palm and vanished.

EVA covered the palm of his hand with a translucent hand, but could not bring any touch. Those are just illusions of light and shadow, and 3D imaging technology retains memories that are long gone. The man closed his hand gently, holding it empty as if he were really holding a girl’s hand.

“Sometimes you used to hold my hand for a dozen hours a day, and when you let it go, it was all sweaty,” EVA said.

“How do I know you’re here if I don’t hold your hand?” The man said.

“You’ve always been such a person. What does power mean for you?” EVA said.

“Loneliness, I guess.”

There was a long silence, and EVA said, “Are you here to talk about something?”

“I want you to do me a favour. I hope that this year’s newly recruited ‘S’ student Lu Mingfei passes the 3E exam, no matter what his potential is.”

“If he really is not of dragon lineage, let him pass the 3E exam to enter the academy may lead to a leak.”

“Just do a friend a favour. It’s not hard for you.”

“It’s not hard for Norma, I should say.” EVA sighed softly.

“Are you Norma?” The man looked at the translucent, petite palm in his hand. “I can’t feel your hand and I always think you are not here.”

“I’m really not here anymore,” EVA said softly. “what you see is just your own memory.”

The man was silent for a long time. “You are omnipotent here. I want a bottle of beer.”

“There’s only hard drives, processors, routers, but no beer. You’ve changed a lot over the years, but still can’t solve the drinking problem?”

“I used to think I would never drink again… Because if I hadn’t gotten drunk that night, maybe I wouldn’t have lost you.” The man’s voice cracked, “But I’ve been drinking all these years because when I don’t, I think of you. I hate memories, it’s hard to tell who you are.”

“You are who you are and never change.”

“Hip hip” noise came from behind the man. He turned with an alert, blue veins on his forearm exposed, like a snake twisted, incomparable strength had been condensed. What he saw was a strange thing. It was a little man formed by metal balls and metal rods about the height of a man’s knee. The parts, which are supposed to be scattered all over the floor, appear to be attracted together by a powerful magnetic force. It even has a funny face like a clown, two metal eyeballs rolled back and forth. Its mouth shows an obsequious grinning, and in its “hand” ’s tray was a cold bottle of Samuel Adams stout.

As the man grabbed the bottle, the little thing pulled out a corkscrew smartly and pop, it opened the cap.

“Have a pleasant evening, Sir.” The little thing’s voice came over the pa system with a barman’s tone.

“It’s a little thing I make when I’m bored, and it’s the only thing that plays with me here.” EVA said, “It’s called Adams.”

“You named it after a beer… Seriously? Or do you think it will be your Adam? It goes well with your EVA.” The man took a sip of the beer and waved to Adams. “You can go, boy.”1)

The little one smiled more sweetly, still holding the tray behind him.

“It likes tips,” EVA said.

“You know I’m poor.” Muttered the man, taking a few quarters from his pocket and dropping them on the tray.

Adams took a happy bow and let out a “hip, hip, hip” sound and flashed into the darkness.

“I wanted to name it with your name, but I’m afraid you’ll mind that,” EVA said.

“Am I that ugly?” The man shrugged. “I’d also like to know the latest plans for the guys in the Executive Department, ok?”

“Is that the real reason what you’re here for?” EVA sighed. “It’s one thing to cover up a new student. It’s another thing to give away the plan of the Executive Department.”

“You’ll tell me, EVA, that you’ve never said no.” The man whispered.

EVA was silent for a moment. “The Executive Department sent four additional teams, Tibet, Xin Jiang, Greenland and Mexico. The closest thing to success so far has been Professor Maans’s group, whose aim was the King of Bronze and Fire, Norton, the noble original, one of the four great monarchs. They will launch the Kui Men project on the Yangtze River. I don’t know the details of the plan. It’s made by the principal himself.”

“Who is involved in Kui Men besides Maans? Norton is one of the best in the first generation, it’s hard to kill him.”

1. In Germany, EVA means EVE.