Dragon Raja 2; Chapter 100: Nigh Watch (3)

Dragon Raja 2

Lu Mingfei felt his chair and the entire floor shake slightly. Suddenly, he, Anjou, the enormous mahogany desk, and the steaming tea plunged into darkness.

“Ah! An earthquake? Are we having an earthquake?” Lu Mingfei shouted.

“No, we’re just descending,” Anjou’s voice came from the darkness, the tip of his cigar glowing.

“Descending?” Lu Mingfei was stunned. “Descending to where?”

“To the other half of Cassell College.”

The floor and desk shook again as their speed slowed, and then finally, the descent stopped. Suddenly, light flooded from all directions, and Lu Mingfei looked up to see sharks! Not just the massive hammerhead shark—on his left, there was a lazy sea turtle, and on his right, a bluefin tuna over two meters long, surrounded by giant schools of mackerel swimming rapidly. Everywhere he looked, there were shimmering reflections of water.

“This is our aquarium,” Anjou explained. “We are now in an underwater passage below the tank.”

“A… an aquarium?” Lu Mingfei was dumbfounded. “How are we inside an aquarium?”

“Technically, we’re in an elevator. A VIP elevator for the Principal’s use.” Anjou said.

“Elevator?” Lu Mingfei became even more confused.

“Yes, this is an elevator—about the size of the floor we were standing on, surrounded by transparent glass walls. This is my elevator,” Anjou said. “My elevator has just descended into the underwater passage.”

“What kind of VIP elevator is this, big enough to fit a desk? This is way too extravagant!” Lu Mingfei murmured. Just the size of Anjou’s large desk alone was bigger than the area of an ordinary elevator cabin, and as they descended, they even brought down Anjou’s liquor cabinet!

“Someone with grand dreams of saving the world doesn’t mind spending a little money,” the old man defended himself half-heartedly.

Suddenly, the “elevator” began moving, but not up or down—it was sliding horizontally. It broke through the surrounding schools of mackerel, and neither the hammerhead shark nor the sea turtle showed any interest in the moving glass box, probably having grown used to it.

“There are various marine animals in the aquarium; it’s the college’s gene bank. Comparing dragon samples requires a large number of genetic samples,” Anjou explained. “Of course, the aquarium is just a part of this underground space. We are now going to visit other parts. In the coming time, you’ll be touring the highest-level classified area of Cassell College, which is also known as ‘The Vault. ‘Ice Cellar’’”

“The Vault?” Lu Mingfei thought he misheard. Few students were allowed into the Vault; it was said to be the storage area in Cassell College for alchemical equipment and dangerous weapons. Those who had been inside always kept silent.

“You all think the Vault is just a warehouse or exhibition room? That’s only part of the Vault. The Vault is the term for the entire underground facility of the college, which is far larger than the surface facilities. Those department heads you saw—whom you had never seen before—do not appear on campus because their real work is research, and all their labs are underground. There’s also Norma’s mainframe, heavy experimental equipment, and even an underground railway to the outside!” Anjou said with pride. “This underground space combines electronics, mechanics, and alchemical technology. No human could ever break in.”

“Then… could dragons?”

Anjou paused, slightly embarrassed. “No dragon has invaded here, but we did find mice… not sure how they got in.”

“That’s hardly reliable!”

“Up ahead is our botanical garden,” Anjou said.

A lush green area appeared below Lu Mingfei’s feet, but it wasn’t a lawn or a flowerbed—it was a forest! Two iron tracks were elevated over the treetops, and their “elevator” was crossing over a subtropical forest. Above them, there was even sunlight!

“Artificial sunlight provides energy for the plants here to photosynthesize. This is a large crack in the crust, so the space isn’t actually that big, but over 120,000 species of plants are preserved here,” Anjou said. “Next to it, there is also a zoo with over 8,000 animals, from pigs to pandas, but it’s never open to visitors.”

The elevator entered a rocky crevice, then soon emerged again.

“What is that? It looks like a pyramid!” Lu Mingfei exclaimed, pointing ahead.

“Oh, it is a pyramid,” the old man answered nonchalantly. “We pulled it up from the South American jungle, transported it here, and rebuilt it. That was quite the project; we rented a 70,000-ton container ship and labeled each stone to ensure we reassembled it correctly.”

The principal’s elevator stopped in front of the pyramid, and they walked along the metal stairs to a large concrete platform where the pyramid was placed.

“Notice anything different about it compared to other pyramids?” Anjou led Lu Mingfei in a circle around the pyramid. The entire pyramid was built of jet-black stone blocks, without any adhesive—like a stack of blocks, held together solely by its weight and precise cutting. Despite some wear, the carvings on its surface were still clear. The people who built the pyramid had carved patterns into the hard black stone and filled the deep grooves with molten copper.

“It seems… like there’s an extra side?” Lu Mingfei said.

“Yes, unlike every other pyramid, this one has five sides, each with 133 steps, all engraved with ancient Mayan texts—specifically, numbers. The entire pyramid is, in fact, the Mayan calendar—the Mayan record of the entire world’s history.” Anjou traced the black stone surface with his hand. “But the Mayan concept of history was not only about the past—it was also about the future.”

Lu Mingfei blinked.

“It’s a book of the past, a book of the present, and a book of the future. It is a history book, but also a book of prophecy,” Anjou said.

“That’s pretty deep,” Lu Mingfei scratched his head.

“You’ve watched 2012?”

“I have,” Lu Mingfei nodded. “The one where the world is ending, and the sci-fi author saves his ex-wife.”

“The director took the year ‘2012’ from the Mayan calendar. It marks the most significant point in the Mayan calendar—the end of the fifth sun,” Anjou explained.

Lu Mingfei nodded vaguely, half-understanding.

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