Chapter 63: Unexpected Discovery
The GOC camp was attacked, all of the personnel and equipment had disappeared. After Zhang Jue's initial "interrogation" of the Fake Hunter, it was confirmed that the incident was the work of the Serpent's Hand.
Unlike the GOC, the Serpent's Hand was more adept at using unusual items in combat, and the GOC camp might have been completely wiped out without any preparation at all.
As for where those GOC people were now, whether they were alive or dead, they would have to wait for further interrogation by the professional team. But Zhang Jue couldn't wait. He had more important things to do now. Find the Dragon's nest.
It was clear that the reason this Serpent's Hand person had risked staying here was to stop the GOC support team or the SCP Foundation from continuing to investigate the Dragon. It was simple to do what your enemy didn't want you to do. He never thought about that so-called Dragon's treasure.
Zhang Jue had noticed that the Dragon was acting a little strange. When Zhang Jue had first seen it, it had obviously wanted to attack that plane. But in the end, it had given up.
Last night, it came to swoop Zhang Jue and the others at their camp and changed its mind at the last minute. It was even going so far as to bang its head on the mountain peak.
Looking at this inconsistency alone, this giant Dragon seems to be suffering from a split personality. Just like SCP-106. The fact that the Serpent's Hand attached to the Dragon so much made him feel that things were not so simple and that there must be some secret hidden in this Dragon.
Thinking about it, Zhang Jue wanted to spit at the GOC again.
This Dragon was the first creature they found that they tried to capture it for so long, but they didn't find any valuable clues regarding the Dragon itself. Instead, they were afraid of the Serpent's Hand's action to free the Dragon. So they thought about killing it, which was a stupid idea.
But talking like this doesn't change anything, and the GOC had already paid the price for their action. What we need to do now is to quickly find the Dragon, to see what lurks beneath its body. Zhang Jue had a hunch that there would be nothing left if he were too late.
Without further ado, Zhang Jue arranged for Hael and his assistant to stay at the GOC camp and wait to rendezvous with Harvey behind them. As for Zhang Jue, he continued onward to finish the job.
"Why can't I go with you, Advisor Zhang?" Hael hesitated, "It's too dangerous to go out alone in the middle of these deep mountains."
"No way." Zhang Jue waved his hand and pointed at the somewhat disheveled Davis and the tied-up Fake Hunter, "These two aren't competent enough for me. To make them obedient, you must suppress them with strength. If you leave with me, believe it or not. That assistant of yours won't even a bone left to be spared."
Hael looked at Zhang Jue, then at his assistant, and sighed, "But Advisor Zhang, if anything happens to you. I'm afraid that when the time comes, I'll be the one who gets the bones gnawed."
"Blah blah blah, what nonsense." Zhang Jue kicked him in the ass, "You're just making something that's not going to happen at all. You sounded like someone who will get into trouble or worry about yourselves. Alright, cut the crap. I'm leaving. You two be careful."
Zhang Jue put on his hiking bag and continued to head deeper into the mountain range, not giving Hael a chance to react. He didn't even notice that he had just done the most undesirable thing he should have done to reassure Hael – stand up against himself.
This is a fatal act.
Under various coincidental circumstances, Zhang Jue set out alone on the road to find the Dragon's nest. In order to facilitate the observation of the Dragon, GOC's camp is not far from its nest, only a few kilometers in a straight line. If it's any closer than that, it will be attacked by the Dragon.
But these few kilometers of mountain road is quite a long and dangerous walk. Anyone who has experience in the wilderness knows that a person traveling alone and two people traveling together is a huge difference.
Zhang Jue's decision to venture forth was not a deliberate act of seeking death but to fulfill his promise to meet Shirley. He had a bad feeling that if he didn't go there as fast as possible, something more sinister would happen.
The good thing is that he now has a variety of abilities around. If something happens, he can use his self-healing ability with no problem, which is why he didn't let Hael go with him.
The GOC had already grasped the general direction of the Dragon's nest, but because it was too dangerous, it had not been approached. Zhang Jue brought a map and a compass to advance with difficulty step by step slowly.
In his mind, he kept recalling all the information provided by the GOC about that giant Dragon. Influenced by his father, Zhang Jue had done special memory training since he was a child and mastered storing any information in his head similar to a 'bookshelf'.
What he didn't use would be put aside. If he needed to access it, he could simply open the corresponding "book" and recall the corresponding thing. Therefore, as long as he has read the SCP documents, he more or less will have the information he needed for in a type of situation.
He felt so familiar with the Dragon that he was sure he must have seen a description of it somewhere, but no matter how much he searched, he could not find an SCP number with characteristics that matched it.
The more it attacked with advanced weapons, the more powerful it became. An enhanced version of SCP-682?
No, it doesn't look like it. Maybe like Able, but had the same regeneration ability as SCP-682. So what exactly was it?
With this question in mind, Zhang Jue marched onward. After an unknown amount of time, the sky gradually became dark. In the distance, a big black dark cloud was formed. Zhang Jue didn't know how to observe the weather on a snowy mountain, but he knew that this was never a good thing.
He had to find the dragon cave quickly. Otherwise, this place would turn into a crypt for his eternal rest.
Half an hour later, the gale began to howl.
Zhang Jue opened his map with difficulty and looked at his compass, finding that he was only a few hundred meters from the marked point. But as he looked around, there was nothing but white snow with no sign of the so-called Dragon's nest.
The wind was getting stronger and stronger, mixed with snow particles hitting his face. Zhang Jue could hardly open his eyes. He brought up his goggles and looked around. The blizzard was coming, and he had to find a place to hide immediately.
Even the Dragon hides in his nest to escape the power of nature, let alone him standing against the blizzard himself.
The snow and wind soon became bigger. Zhang Jue found a large rock with a gap that looked like it was big enough to hide a person in. He turned his backpack to his chest and leaned against the rock, but the gap looked smaller than he thought, and he couldn't quite get in.
Zhang Jue took out his hiking pick and gave it a few strokes. He found that the rock was not as strong as it looked. Soon he plowed out an adult-sized hole out.
"Wow..." The rock crumbled in layers with his last few heavy blows, surprisingly revealing a hole underneath.
Holy shit. Accidental discovery? How could this happen?
Zhang Jue was still in disbelief as he pulled out his flashlight and shone it down to see how deep it was.
The wind outside was getting stronger and stronger. He hesitated to jump in. Then, a sudden whirlwind hit him and slammed him hard against the rock. Zhang Jue was struck on the head by the protruding rocks. He felt the sky was spinning. His feet were floating and falling backward into the hole…