Chapter 129: The Harvest

Huang Ze rested for a full two hours before setting off to assess the results of the battle. It wasn't that his body truly required such a long recovery time; rather, it was out of the most basic respect for the mushroom bomb. After all, with his dragon scales serving as a protective coating, the energy this thing could release was quite considerable.

Huang Ze estimated that while the missile was designed for a fifty-kiloton yield, the actual output was likely around twenty kilotons. Although it had still been dampened by the power of the laws, it was a significant improvement over previous attempts.

Ever since his trip to the Astral Realm, Huang Ze had integrated nuclear-powered technologies, and his body's resistance to and ability to digest radioactive materials had been greatly enhanced. He was no longer the little rookie who would get dizzy and lightheaded after drinking a few gulps of low-abundance Iridium-192. However, this did not mean he could withstand a nuclear explosion; after all, being able to utilize nuclear energy and being able to tank a nuclear bomb head-on were two entirely different concepts.

...

"Stop following me and making things difficult! That area ahead is extremely dangerous!" Huang Ze roared at the little red dragon who was trotting happily behind him.

He had no idea what kind of madness had taken hold of this little female dragon. They had known each other for less than a day, yet she was already devoted to him, acting incredibly clingy, constantly trying to rub against him as if she wished to be fused to his body. If it weren't for the fact that dragons possessed high mental resistance and were generally immune to the influence of divine authorities, Huang Ze would have suspected that she had fallen victim to the goddess Freya and had come specifically to seek retribution.

"I won't... It is precisely because it is dangerous that I must face it together with Mr. Dius!" the little red dragon declared loudly. Before the black dragon, she was sometimes obedient and other times incredibly stubborn.

"How old are you, anyway? Can you stop being so dramatic?" Huang Ze felt exhausted. He didn't want to resort to hitting or scolding her—he had always detested domestic violence—so he could only try to coax her with patience. "Be good, listen to me, and go back and wait. I hate disobedient little female dragons the most. If you follow me again, don't expect me to ever pay attention to you!"

"Fine..."

Seeing the black dragon's firm attitude, the little red dragon had no choice but to comply. Still, she was not entirely willing to give up, blurting out, "But I want a kiss and a hug before I go back..."

"Where on earth did you pick up such bad habits?" Huang Ze was visibly incredulous, caught between laughter and tears. "How could we dragons make such an outrageous request? You must have learned this from Xia culture, didn't you? You don't learn the good stuff, only the bad... Stop dawdling and get out of here!"

He barely managed to suppress the urge to kick the red dragon a few times, then inexplicably thought that domestic violence seemed to be a traditional skill of dragons—it surely had its reasons for existing!

...

Having finally sent the red dragon away, Huang Ze flapped his wings hard and flew toward the site of the nuclear airburst. He hadn't rushed to check on the status of the Titans on the ground for two reasons: first, they were severely injured and had lost the ability to move, so they certainly wouldn't be escaping anytime soon. Second, he suddenly remembered the uranium-atom demons he had hallucinated earlier and couldn't help but want to observe them up close to see if any existed here.

"Hmm... the radiation intensity doesn't seem very high." Huang Ze flew to the center of the mushroom bomb's fireball and felt around, discovering that there weren't many residual radioactive elements left, especially considering less than three hours had passed.

"Actually, it makes sense... After all, today's mushroom bombs are no longer like the ones from the past; the technology is clearly much more advanced."

"Naturally, there wouldn't be a large amount of unreacted radioactive material left behind that would take decades to naturally degrade." Huang Ze grew thoughtful. He remembered how a certain trash country, due to a nuclear power plant leak, had produced vast amounts of nuclear wastewater and, unwilling to spend the money to treat it, had unconscionably dumped it into the ocean.

In fact, there had been another solution at the time: firing low-yield neutron bombs into the reactor core to accelerate the decay of the nuclear fuel. This would have naturally eliminated the need for so much water for cooling, thereby preventing the creation of massive amounts of nuclear wastewater.

"So, the best way to clear nuclear pollution is actually to use a hydrogen bomb. It sounds a bit magical..." Huang Ze mused. After circling a few times and seeing no uranium-atom demons—perhaps he had arrived too late and they had already clocked out—he stopped wasting time and turned toward the Titans lying prone on the ground.

...

"...The mushroom bomb is indeed powerful!"

After inspecting them, Huang Ze found that these Titans who had taken the nuclear blast at close range were mostly unconscious. Only the golden-haired Titan remained somewhat lucid; seeing the black dragon approach, he struggled to rise in resistance, only to be knocked out cold by a ruthless swipe of the black dragon's iron claw.

"So, I should develop this capability more in the future. I can't use satellite guidance abroad, but if I can guide it with my spiritual power, it would be even more reliable in terms of hit rate and surprise factor," Huang Ze couldn't help but think. Although he hadn't known where he got the confidence earlier to think he could take these Titans down with his own strength, that would have inevitably been a bitter struggle, and he couldn't have guaranteed that none would escape. Nothing compared to the ease of clearing the field with a mushroom bomb.

"An artifact..."

Huang Ze picked up the golden longbow with his claw and examined it curiously with his Eye of Truth. Perhaps because it had been blasted by the mushroom bomb at close range and battered by all sorts of radiation, this so-called artifact was clearly withered; held in the black dragon's grip, it didn't even put up a fight.

However, the black dragon's Eye of Truth couldn't discern much from it, only that its primary material was gold, with a total weight of about four tons... Just based on that, an ordinary person couldn't even lift it, let alone use it.

"I wonder what the forging process is like... can it be mass-produced?" Huang Ze turned it over and over, feeling that this golden bow was quite impressive and effective. It could potentially fill the gap left by the serious degradation of technology and the lack of air defense firepower in Xia after the barrier disappeared.

"This thing... it wouldn't require a master to claim it, would it?"

Huang Ze tried pulling the bowstring with his claws for a while, only to find he couldn't draw it. He couldn't help but mutter to himself. It had been less than a year since Xia had transmigrated, and they naturally hadn't acquired any artifacts yet. However, according to their research, most artifacts seemed to possess their own intelligence. To obtain usage rights, one had to earn its recognition, or even become its master.