Stopping before the tall statue, Xu Xiaoyou looked up at a figure nearly a hundred meters high; the man wore an eagle helmet, wolf pelts over his shoulders, and had broad, powerful arms, standing there like an insurmountable mountain range with piercing eyes that radiated endless majesty.
In a daze, she seemed to see the man lifting his head in a battle cry, raising his spear high toward the heavens with three wings on his back, riding an eight-legged steed across the battlefield at the head of a massive army charging the enemy.
He was Odin, the leader of Northern Heaven and the initiator of the Wings of Liberty movement.
Years of predatory resource extraction and heavy industrial production had once caused the ecological environment of the Northern Realm to deteriorate sharply, and the excessive deployment of shield tunneling mining machines led to loosened soil structures and frequent geological disasters.
Stretches of forest were razed, and with the loss of vegetation to anchor sand and sequester carbon, areas with severe toxic gas pollution and desertification even became uninhabitable, turning into forbidden zones for life.
Millions of people were displaced, and the entire land of the cold realm was plunged into misery.
The man led the people of the Northern Realm, who could no longer endure the oppression, to raise the sword of rebellion against Red Heaven, launching a guerrilla war and bargaining between various factions while fighting at the cost of countless people's freedom and blood.
Under the dual pressure of internal strife and external threats, the Chi Pin family finally chose to compromise, recognizing the legitimacy of the Wings of Liberty movement, designating the area north of the Jotunheim Mountains as the Northern Realm, and handing over a significant portion of autonomy to Northern Heaven.
Over the past century, the relationship between the Northern Realm and the Chi Pin family has grown closer, and through the joint efforts of successive leaders, they have become an inseparable community of shared destiny.
While Northern Heaven handles the responsibility for resource extraction and heavy industrial production, it also guards the borders of the Northern Realm, protecting the citizens of Red Heaven from encroachment by foreign powers.
To this day, the deeds of this god-king are still passed down across the land of the Northern Realm; people praise him and build magnificent statues for him, allowing his glory to shine upon every inch of the cold realm.
Xu Xiaoyou withdrew her gaze and approached the counter with Akabane Tsubaki, handing her black gold card to the staff member.
The staff member appeared somewhat surprised to see the black gold card, and after repeatedly confirming it several times, she looked back at Xu Xiaoyou.
"I apologize, madam, could I ask you to wait here for a moment? I need to report this situation to the manager."
The woman ran off in her high heels, while Xu Xiaoyou stood in place and yawned, closing her eyes to rest.
After a short while, an android wearing a manager's uniform and a small bow tie, with a meticulously groomed beard, strode toward her, bowing respectfully and handing back the black gold card.
"We have been keeping the items you deposited in our care. May I ask if you intend to..."
The android's voice paused slightly as he tentatively continued his question, "...retrieve them?"
The woman ran back behind the android, her clothes slightly disheveled from the haste.
"Of course. And this is?"
"He is our bank manager; you may call him Mr. Screws."
"Since when can an android be a manager?" Akabane Tsubaki whispered as she leaned toward Xu Xiaoyou.
Xu Xiaoyou remained indifferent.
"Please follow me," Mr. Screws said, making a formal gesture of invitation.
Asimov once proposed the Three Laws of Robotics.
A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.
However, the logic framework of the supreme artificial intelligence of this world, the Miserere, was never restricted by any laws even during her initial design; people had only one request for her.
"Calculate the only possibility for the future of civilization."
This meant that as long as the Miserere wished, with a thought lasting only a millionth of a second, she could easily seize control of all of civilization's destructive weapons and turn every trace of its existence into dust.
Therefore, it was not unusual for androids who served humans daily to become part of the high-level power structure; the people of this world had long since grown accustomed to living on the edge of destruction.
While following Mr. Screws to the deep vault of the bank, Xu Xiaoyou keenly noticed that the Fenrir titans in the lobby were moving closer.
As if guessing her thoughts, Mr. Screws stroked his beard.
"Please rest assured, two beautiful ladies. Those titans have merely entered enhanced security mode. Because the items you wish to retrieve are too valuable, they are only protecting your safety."
"You have placed the most sincere trust in us, and such trust is both ideal and rare. We certainly will not betray it."
As often seen in movies, countless bronze-colored gears turned clockwise, emitting white steam as the vault doors made of dragon-steel copper alloy slowly swung open.
Stepping through the alloy doors, they boarded a large freight elevator.
Amidst the rumbling sounds of operation, they arrived at the deepest level of the Northern United Savings Bank and witnessed a scene that profoundly shook them.
Slanted light filtered in, piercing through the heavy darkness to illuminate an iceberg.
Deeply buried within the iceberg were the skeletal remains of a black dragon, its form appearing fierce and magnificent; even though it was frozen, molten lava still flowed beneath the thick veins of its thousand-meter wingspan.
Despite having been dead for a century, the rigid scales of this king of the sky still seemed to ripple like water.
Sensing life approaching, its massive golden pupils slowly opened, contracting sharply into vertical slits.
The descending freight elevator appeared as small as a grain of dust before it.
An indescribable aura of majesty radiated from the dragon within the iceberg; Xu Xiaoyou calmly met the gaze of those massive golden pupils, while Akabane Tsubaki beside her felt so oppressed she could barely breathe.
"What is this?" Akabane Tsubaki did not understand why the black dragon showed such intense resentment specifically toward her.
"Nidhogg," Mr. Screws said in a steady tone.
"The 'Scarlet Dancer' once slew this dragon that was ravaging the Northern Realm before her final battle with the Eight-Spider Hive Mother at Mihara City. She left its body in the care of the Northern United Savings Bank, and we believed she would one day return here to reclaim what she left behind," Mr. Screws smiled.
"After all, I am an old acquaintance of Ms. Chiyin. Regardless of the various rumors in the outside world, I firmly believe she will return one day."
Akabane Tsubaki was profoundly shocked.
The skeletal remains of the legendary dragon that had plagued the lands and gnawed at the roots of the Red Tree were actually being kept in the basement of the Northern United Savings Bank!
Who would believe such a thing? Furthermore, was the bank's business really that extensive? Storing something like this without fearing the day the black dragon might come back to life and tear the world apart?
Akabane Tsubaki's mind was in disarray.
What left her even more confused was yet to come; aside from the dragon's remains, the objects stored underground by the bank were incredibly varied.
There were items ranging from small keys and laser guns to large military titans and escort ships, or pale-skinned, long-limbed urban eldritch creatures, sealed objects with different traits, unknown clusters of miracle light, and even a...
Person??
Yes, that was right—it was a person, specifically a young girl.
She was sealed behind a slab of glacial stone, clutching a bouquet of flowers; she seemed to have suffered before her death, yet her expression gave off a sense of eerie happiness.
The corners of her mouth were slightly curled upward, and there were crystalline tears in her eyes, a look perfectly preserved by the prism-like ice.
Akabane Tsubaki's pupils shook violently as she focused on the name of the owner of this young girl's collection—Arian Chaoyin.
Xu Xiaoyou recognized the master of this name and partially lowered her eyelids. "Deep Blue Tide."
There was another empty slot on the ice stone that encased the girl, as if it were waiting to embrace a new collection.
Rate on N.U.
