Dragon Raja 3; Chapter 255: Divine Hall of Murals (9)

Dragon Raja 3

“This won’t work. We have to lift the lockdown,” Chisei said.

“We can’t! If someone sees the murals and manages to copy or steal them, the consequences would be catastrophic! It’s not just about a few casualties—it could affect thousands! Those secrets must not be leaked!” Tachibana pressed a handkerchief to his bleeding forehead. “This will be over soon. With the safety doors locked, the intruder can’t escape from the mural hall. I’ve opened a fire escape, and the people from the archives are on their way there. They’ll arrive in five or six minutes.”

“There could be aftershocks at any moment. Five or six minutes is too long. Let me handle this. In five minutes, whether I’ve caught the intruder or not, you’ll open the doors,” Chisei said firmly.

“You’re the head of the family now! The family’s future depends on you! You don’t need to take this risk!” Tachibana grabbed his arm.

“I’m just the acting head. Please, rest assured and stay safe. I’ll take care of this.” Chisei pushed open the maintenance hatch above the elevator. “There aren’t many beings in this world that pose a threat to me.”

Effortlessly, he flipped himself up onto the top of the elevator, standing on its roof. The elevator shaft was filled with the sounds of high-speed wind and electric sparks. Dozens of meters of steel cable stretched from the top of the building to the basement. The wind here exceeded ten levels in speed, the air turbulence generated by the high-speed elevators creating a powerful draft. In theory, one should avoid using elevators during an earthquake, but right now, these elevators were running at full speed. People were already panicking, unable to open the emergency exits and taking elevators to other floors in desperation, only to discover that all the floors were locked.

Chisei pulled Tachibana up, guiding him to one of the crossbeams between the elevator shafts. The beam was only about 30 centimeters wide, with the elevator shafts on both sides. The high-speed elevators could pass by at any moment, dangerously close, and they both had to remain upright to avoid being struck by one of the multi-ton machines. Even hybrids couldn’t survive such an impact.

“I never realized elevator shafts could be such an extraordinary place. Feels like standing in the middle of a highway,” Tachibana leaned wearily against a steel column.

He hadn’t slept for two days. Ever since learning that the Tokyo Metropolitan Police had requested a special search warrant for Genji Heavy Industries from the Prime Minister’s Office, he had been tirelessly coordinating the evacuation of sensitive materials. He was always like that—meticulous and constantly busy.

Chisei draped his coat over Tachibana’s shoulders. “Can you hang in there?”

“It’s just a cut on the forehead… but I really am getting old, becoming a burden to you,” Tachibana sighed softly.

“Don’t say that. When you were at your best, I was your burden. Five minutes—whether I’m back or not, unlock the building.” Chisei leapt up, grabbed a cable, and slashed at the connection between the cable and the elevator car.

The elevator car sparked as it scraped against the tracks, falling into the abyss of the shaft. The cable carried Chisei upward at high speed, disappearing into the darkness above.

Meanwhile, Caesar was hammering against the stainless-steel security door with the high-temperature air currents from King’s Blaze. Despite the intense heat and force, the door remained intact. The security doors were far more robust than they had expected. Caesar drew his Desert Eagle and fired repeatedly into the lock, but the bullets merely rebounded, leaving only shallow dents on the door. Even with armor-piercing rounds, designed to penetrate Kevlar vests, the door seemed impervious, as if he was firing toy BB pellets at it.

“Damn it! This door is as solid as a vault door!” Caesar kicked the door hard.

Chu Zihang knocked on the security door, and the sound was unusually dull. “The entire piece is cast from steel, just like a small vault door, and the walls are reinforced with steel bars as well!”

Caesar slapped his forehead hard. They should have thought of this earlier. No wonder this floor had no windows and only one security door—this was indeed a vault, storing priceless artworks and the secrets of the Dragon Raja. They were trapped inside the Yamata no Orochi’s secret warehouse.

“The power of King’s Blaze should be more than enough, right? Can’t you push it harder, or just melt the door?”

“Releasing King’s Blaze in a confined space is forbidden. If I push harder, the blast wave rebounding off the walls will affect us. I can only cause an explosion; maintaining a static super-high temperature on an object is the power of the Bronze and Fire King.”

Caesar recalled the night when the Bronze and Fire King awakened. That strange boy slowly walked through the Hall of Heroes, melting everything in his path and leaving a burning trail. So that was the true master of flames—no explosions, no blinding light—the violent power of fire was precisely controlled, unleashed at will, like a top-tier swordsman slowly swinging a treasured blade, silently severing everything it encountered. Even Chu Zihang admitted that such a high-tier Yanling as King’s Blaze had its limitations, and he seemed oddly happy about it. But then Caesar was filled with frustration. After all the effort they had gone through to gather these precious mural data, they were now stuck without even a chance to analyze them.

He turned and ran towards the elevator. Compared to this security door, the elevator door might be easier to breach. But no matter how hard he tried this time, he couldn’t pry the elevator door open. Even the door’s edges became deformed, but he still couldn’t get it open. The reinforced design of the gallery, built by the Maruyama Construction Company, was as solid as a fortress. The elevator doors were also reinforced; Caesar had managed to open them by hand earlier because they were in an unlocked state. But once in a “locked” state, not even a rhino could break through.

“Damn it! We walked ourselves right into a prison!” Caesar punched the door.

The elevator door cracked under his fist! This solid bronze door weighed hundreds of kilograms, hard to breach even with a forklift. Caesar looked at his fist in astonishment. The bronze door continued to tremble, its booming echoes like the tolling of a church bell, reverberating endlessly. The door was made of cannon bronze, a copper-tin alloy used for casting heavy cannons before iron ones became widespread. It was extremely hard but lacked toughness; when the force exceeded its limit, it would crack like stone. Now, the door was teetering on the brink of collapse.

Caesar suddenly realized what was happening. It wasn’t his punch that had exceeded the cannon bronze’s limit—someone was pounding on the door from the other side!

He jumped back, but it was too late. A black-suited arm reached through the crack and struck Caesar in the chest! Caesar drew his Dictator, pressing the hunting knife against his chest, bracing himself for the impact. He felt like a massive siege ram had smashed into his chest, his sternum and ribs on the verge of shattering. The impact made his heart stop momentarily. If not for the fact that he was in his Blood Rage state, this blow might have caused a heart attack!

Chu Zihang rushed over and held Caesar, helping him absorb the impact, but the two were still sent flying by the immense force of the punch.

“How do you feel?” Chu Zihang asked in a low voice.

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