The Dragon Country, with "Dragon" as its national designation, has revered the dragon as a national totem since ancient times, highlighting the immense favor and worship the people of Dragon Country held for this creature that existed only in legends.
Whether it was the four mythical beasts of legend or the twelve zodiac animals, the dragon held a place. Yet, for some reason, no one had ever seen what a dragon truly looked like.
To be precise, no visual records had been preserved, leading most people to believe that dragons did not exist.
However, with the appearance of a series of live streaming videos from Douyin, countless individuals who firmly believed dragons didn't exist found themselves utterly discredited.
Among them, the most popular video, barely over a minute long, clearly documented the entire process of Sang Xiaoxia and a group of tourists in Xiongling witnessing a real dragon.
Less than ten minutes after being uploaded, the video surpassed one million views, with its shares exceeding one hundred thousand.
By the time the video had been uploaded for half an hour, its view count had reached tens of millions, and even more outrageously, the number of shares was almost on par with the likes.
A casual glance at the comment section of this video revealed a consistent stream of @ mentions. Some were tagging their friends and family, while others were tagging various science popularization bloggers.
The individual tagged most frequently was none other than Director Yang.
"@Director Yang, what's going on at your place? Is there really a dragon?"
"@Director Yang, quickly tell us, is this a real dragon or a prop dragon."
"@Director Yang, don't tell me this is a new experience program arranged by Xihong Zoo. You must have brought a real dragon, right?"
"@Director Yang, I knew you could produce a dragon, kid. So, the zodiac mascot for next year is already sorted."
"This is insane, the world has gone mad, dragons are appearing."
"Could it be that it's not a dragon, just a very strangely shaped large snake?"
"I don't care, it has to be a dragon."
"Dragon Turtle Valley, Dragon Turtle Valley, so Director Yang's promotional claims weren't false after all."
"Impossible, absolutely impossible. Aren't dragons made up of parts from various different animals?"
"Is it possible that dragons, as a species, have always existed, but like dinosaurs, they went extinct? And Director Yang has now revived them?"
"Woolly mammoths are reappearing, so dragons aren't entirely out of the question."
"Aren't there tourists at the scene? Let's see what they say."
...
As the video's popularity skyrocketed, the topic of whether dragons truly existed was reignited.
The tourists currently present in Dragon Turtle Valley became the focal point of this discussion, leading to Sang Xiaoxia's live stream channel being instantly overwhelmed by millions of netizens.
However, it was clear that Sang Xiaoxia could no longer manage.
After recovering from the immense shock of encountering a real dragon, her gaze was fixed on the misty valley.
After much deliberation and struggle, in front of the remaining tourists, she charged into the valley.
At this point, she was no longer concerned with traffic or popularity. All she wanted was to understand if what she had just seen was indeed a dragon.
As she entered the mist, everything around her became ephemeral, with visibility dropping to about five meters.
Without any reference points or direction, she could only proceed cautiously, fumbling her way forward. As she walked, she took out the scale she had found earlier.
She had a strange premonition that as long as she held this scale, she would be able to see the true dragon hidden within the mist.
Fueled by this belief, she ventured deeper and deeper.
No matter how long she walked, the surrounding scenery remained unchanged.
Just as her patience was about to run out, a mournful, song-like sound drifted from ahead.
Without time to think, Sang Xiaoxia quickened her pace.
However, after only a few steps, she felt the ground give way beneath her feet, followed by a sensation of rapid freefall.
Without a doubt, she knew she had stumbled to the edge of a cliff.
Though she couldn't comprehend where a cliff would come from within the park, the overwhelming fear of death that washed over her caused her to cry out in alarm.
She thought she was doomed, but just then, she felt the straps of her backpack snag on something.
Her rapidly falling body came to an abrupt halt.
"So close, so close, I almost died."
Still shaken, Sang Xiaoxia instinctively reached behind her, intending to find a protrusion on the cliff face to pull herself up.
But as her hand extended, she felt something cold and patterned, like metal.
"This texture, this material..." As she felt it, her expression changed.
If she remembered correctly, this felt exactly like the scale in her pocket.
With this thought, Sang Xiaoxia struggled to turn her head.
The next second, a familiar large head appeared before her.
The moment she saw the large head, Sang Xiaoxia promptly closed her eyes, kicked her legs, and fainted.
...
While Sang Xiaoxia was venturing deep into Dragon Turtle Valley and successfully fainting from shock, Yang Lin, on his end, also saw the myriad of @ mentions after opening his phone.
He casually clicked on one, and the video from the live stream appeared on his phone screen.
"Well, they found the little dragon so quickly."
"But these tourists, to be scared by a dragon, are they truly descendants of the dragon?"
Yang Lin was not surprised at all that the tourists had discovered the existence of the little dragon.
After all, as the little dragon grew larger, it was only a matter of time before it was discovered.
If he didn't want the little dragon to be discovered by tourists, he could have simply not opened the Dragon Turtle Valley area.
The only thing that surprised him was that the first group of tourists who saw the little dragon were actually scared by it.
This made Yang Lin recall an idiom he had learned as a child: Ye Gong Hao Long (Lord Ye's love for dragons, a story about someone who claimed to love dragons but was terrified when he met one).
Despite his internal commentary, Yang Lin felt it was necessary to respond to this matter.
Just as he was about to summon employees from the live streaming department to organize a dedicated live broadcast explanation, an employee rushed into the director's office.
"Director, we just received a call from a tourist. One tourist ran into Dragon Turtle Valley by herself and is now missing."
"And it seems she's a streamer."
"Additionally, tourists now know that there's a suspected real dragon living in Dragon Turtle Valley and they all want to go in and see it. How should this be handled?"
Hearing the employee's report, Yang Lin's brow furrowed slightly, but only for a moment.
Two seconds later, this slight frown disappeared.
"Don't worry, I'll go over there myself. Have them temporarily restrict access to the entrance of Xiongling."
He then added.
"Also, have the live streaming department come over."
As Yang Lin's arrangements were implemented one by one, a large crowd of tourists soon gathered outside Xiongling.
As for himself, he, along with the live streaming department, headed straight for Dragon Turtle Valley.