Dragon Raja 3; Chapter 146: The Sea of Hidden Dragons (13)

Dragon Raja 3

Caesar used his claw-like prosthetic arm to tear off the armor covering the circuit board. The LCD screen inside flickered faintly; it had withstood the extreme temperature of over 200 degrees at the bottom of the trench, proving that the Equipment Department could indeed produce good things when they took things seriously.

Caesar felt a bit dazed as he slowly input the password, confirming it successfully on the first try. The nuclear power chamber reignited, and as the cadmium rods recovered, the neutron density began to rise. This time, it wouldn’t enter safety mode; it truly transformed into a nuclear bomb. Caesar turned around, grabbed Chu Zihang, who was struggling in the pile of lung snails, and removed the lead weights from his Zephyr gear. With the reduced weight, they immediately began to ascend, still bearing the ghostly-toothed dragon vipers that clung to the Zephyr gear. Half a minute later, Lu Mingfei heard the sound of water filling the adjacent pressurized chamber, followed by drainage. When the pressure in the pressurized chamber returned to that of the cockpit, Lu Mingfei eagerly pulled open the pressure door.

Chu Zihang was dragging the recently unconscious Caesar out of the Zephyr gear, but the dragon viper, which had been desperately biting at the gear, smelled the scent of organic matter and leaped onto Caesar, trying to bite him, swinging its tail and aiming to burrow into Caesar’s chest cavity.

“What the hell is this fish!” Lu Mingfei’s scalp tingled.

Chu Zihang drew a long knife, using the tip to scrape off the dragon viper’s fangs and tossed it aside, stomping on it afterward. When there were only a few of these creatures, they weren’t much to fear, but to kill them would still come with a price. After biting for a few seconds, a dent appeared on Caesar’s back, as the dragon viper tore off a small piece of flesh. Lu Mingfei retrieved a fire extinguisher from the cockpit and sprayed it at the two Zephyr gears, causing the dragon vipers to fall off one by one. Although these creatures could remain active even when out of water, they still needed oxygen, and the foamy carbon dioxide expelled from the fire extinguisher was deadly for them.

“He still has a heartbeat; he should be fine.” After hitting Caesar’s chest hard, Chu Zihang pressed against it to listen. “Those last few pushes took too much energy, and he just exhausted himself.”

“Hurry and inform the Sumeru Throne to recover! Recover immediately! Tell them the nuclear power chamber has been successfully ignited.” After saying these few words, Chu Zihang also lay weakly on the ground. “I’ll just catch my breath for a moment”.

Mai knelt atop the deep submersible, blood seeping from the scales on her body. The Heavenly Feather Blade and the Spirit of Bu Du stood guard over the Trieste like raised wings.

Individual Corpse Guardians could not challenge her, but a horde of them could overwhelm an aircraft carrier battle group. They swarmed around Mai like a pack of wolves attacking a fierce horse, constantly draining the prey’s stamina, waiting for her to truly tire out before they would pounce. But she was not yet truly exhausted; her movements still exuded a fierce killing intent, and the horde of Corpse Guardians lingered nearby. However, Mai was acutely aware that her current challenge was not due to physical exhaustion but rather the drug-activated bloodline that was corroding her body. Originally, this drug could sustain her for four hours without losing control of her bloodline, but fighting against the horde of Corpse Guardians at a depth of 8,600 meters had already pushed her beyond her limits, and the bloodthirsty genes within her were becoming restless.

At that moment, the Corpse Guardians suddenly began to retreat. Mai sensed a surge of hot water rising below her, as the base of the ruins of Takamagahara groaned in a cracking sound like a dying gasp.

A wall of flames began to rise slowly from the side of the Trieste, and thunder echoed deep within the trench. The river of magma erupted! Millions of tons of magma gushed forth from the fissures! When the magma first spewed, it was a fiery red, gradually solidifying and turning black as it rose about half a kilometer before completely solidifying into a black giant wall. The surrounding seawater instantly vaporized, as if a million thunderclaps were exploding simultaneously in the depths of the sea. The Trieste and the horde of Corpse Guardians were only hundreds of meters from the wall of magma, with streams of lava shooting up from below and the newly solidified volcanic rock beginning to fall. Thus, the Corpse Guardians abandoned their assault and started to flee; even these creatures couldn’t help but feel fear in the face of such a massive disaster. Clearly, when the magma wall collapses, it would result in “no egg left unbroken under the fallen nest.”

From the very beginning, their flight was not out of fear of the nuclear power chamber; they sensed the impending eruption of the underwater volcano.

Mai tied herself to the surface of the deep submersible with a strap and patted the round-headed iron contraption. “Sister can only help you to this point… the rest depends on your luck,” she mouthed.

“Calling the Sumeru Throne is too late; we need to accelerate our escape! You control the rudder and stabilizers!” Chu Zihang stumbled into the cockpit. “The nuclear power chamber is about to explode; we must reach a safe distance!”

“But we have no power! We’ve already discarded the nuclear power chamber! Relying on lithium batteries isn’t fast enough!” Lu Mingfei exclaimed in disbelief.

“But I’m also an engine.” Chu Zihang tightly secured himself in his seat.

His golden eyes ignited, illuminating the cockpit walls with a golden glow, while the hot waves reverberated in the air.

The King’s Blaze erupted! A vortex of black flames appeared in the seawater beneath the deep submersible, representing the most concentrated state of the King’s Blaze. The internal temperature reached several thousand degrees, yet no heat leaked out. The black vortex slowly spun for a second before collapsing, releasing heat and vaporizing massive amounts of seawater instantaneously. The swirling white steam roared through the deep sea, intertwining with the flames. Lu Mingfei had seen Chu Zihang release the King’s Blaze this way before; at that time, the King’s Blaze combined with Cape of Storms to create a fire tornado. Now, even with Chu Zihang releasing the King’s Blaze alone, he could still trigger a fire tornado. Lu Mingfei had no idea if he had practiced this repeatedly.

The King’s Blaze produced vast amounts of steam, and under the high pressure of the explosion, the Trieste suddenly surged upward. Lu Mingfei felt as if his neck might snap from the acceleration, but he still strained to turn his head and glance at Chu Zihang, whose calm face seemed to be covered by a golden mask.

In Chu Zihang’s heart, the Little Dragon Girl was still alive, always standing behind him, silent during everyday life, but supporting him with Cape of Storms whenever he unleashed the King’s Blaze. When he sat in a café flipping through magazines, the empty seat across from him was occupied by the unseen Xia Mi. When he watched the beluga whales in the aquarium, Xia Mi would be leaning over the tank, making faces at the whales. Chu Zihang increasingly enjoyed visiting the aquarium, often sitting alone in the beluga exhibit for several hours, slowly eating a burger. Lu Mingfei once thought that Chu Zihang’s mental state was concerning, becoming more and more like a monk. At this rate, Cassell College would soon need to establish a dedicated Buddhist Studies department for him.

But now Lu Mingfei felt a tinge of jealousy toward this dead monk, thinking that this guy was actually quite happy. Although Xia Mi was just a virtual creation, she completely belonged to Chu Zihang. Even Jörmungandr had taunted him before dying, calling her “your girl.” Chu Zihang could never be with her but would also never lose her. But what about Nono? She was out there, full of life, yet Lu Mingfei could not possess her. He was Nono’s friend, sharing her friendship with many others, but some things couldn’t be shared. A person could share breakfast’s bread, afternoon tea snacks, the evening starry sky and the sound of cicadas, the world and the sunlight, even a brother’s underwear, but there were always some things that couldn’t be shared.