Chapter 562 — A Conversation with a Dragon

A few seconds later, her eyes gradually transformed into vertical golden slits that shimmered with a faint light, and fine scales began to surface around her cheeks and brow. She opened her mouth, and from it came a murmuring sound mingled with low, echoing reverberations that no human could comprehend. In that instant, Gao Yang noticed the shadow behind Mei Heng: it was slowly breaking free of the laws of optics, and a pair of enormous dragon wings was unfurling from the darkness. Her shadow was taking the form of a dragon.

Gao Yan nodded. "I already know the answer. You needn't say it."

Mei Heng's shadow swiftly returned to normal, and her dragon-touched eyes and scales likewise reverted to their usual state.

Looking into Gao Song's eyes, she said softly, "We are still in the well."

At last, Gao Yang had come into contact with the true secret.

Looking at the agent, now back to her normal self, he felt a sudden curiosity. "You've told me so much... because you raised the so-called 'contact level'?"

Mei Heng nodded. "Yes."

After that, Gao Yang spoke with Mei Heng Pernia at considerable length.

Yet in the end he still failed to pry any further secrets out of the dragons, including where they dwelled, just how extensive the Mithril Vault's operations on the continent truly were, what concrete plans the dragons had for the magic tide and the Dark Well, and whether they would take any action on the continent next.

Clearly, even with the "contact level" raised, Mei Heng intended to keep a great many secrets.

But the conversation had already left Gao Yang quite satisfied.

He had gained far more than he had originally expected.

At the same time, he knew that since the Mithril Vault, or rather the dragons, had taken the initiative to be so candid with him, it could not possibly come for free.

"And what do you hope to get from me?" Gao Yang asked. "This so-called 'raising the contact level' surely isn't just about you telling me a pile of secrets, is it?"

"Actually, we truly seek nothing," Mei Heng said with a gentle shake of her head. "Even this raising of the contact level came about through my own negligence and accident. We only wish to be quiet bystanders. If there is indeed anything you must do, it is that we hope you will continue to cooperate with us, as always, and keep our shared secrets."

Gao Yang could not help laughing. "Honestly, you should have told me to keep secrets before you revealed them."

"There is no real difference," Mei Heng said, spreading her hands. "With someone like you, candor serves better than calculation. We trust that you are not the sort who enjoys spreading tales everywhere. And besides... we do not much care whether you spread these secrets or not.

"The Mithril Vault has existed on this continent for many years. Hundreds of dynasties and countless generations have come into contact with us. Across that vast expanse of time, there has never been any shortage of chilling 'secret tales' about the Mithril Vault; some of them even rose to a clamor that lasted a full century. But in the end, amid the rise and fall of dynasties, they all became fragmentary history and legend.

"You may repeat everything from today's conversation. Believe me, a century from now it will become a story; two centuries from now, it will become a rustic legend; and by the third century... even your descendants will not believe it."

Gao Yang wanted to say that the other party underestimated the short-lived races' ability to pass down information, but then he thought of the eighty-odd wives mentioned in a certain knight novel, and at once he could say nothing at all.

Given enough time, history will always blur into legend.

Gao Yang, who had likewise witnessed long ages, had to admit it.

"When it is unnecessary, I have no interest in spreading secrets far and wide," Gao Dai said.

"Nothing could be better."