Dragon Raja 3; Chapter 138: The Sea of Hidden Dragons (5)

Dragon Raja 3

“Arriving above the wreck of the Lenin, preparing to deploy the nuclear power chamber. The neutron density has exceeded the safe threshold of 120%. The nuclear power chamber is expected to explode in 20 minutes, with an initial estimated yield of 1 million tons,” Caesar said loudly.

“Agree to deploy the nuclear power chamber,” Chisei responded. “The Sumeru Throne is ready to recover the Trieste.”

The Crow and Yasha behind him exchanged glances. They both understood how low the survival chances for the Trieste really were. It was far from what Chisei had stated. According to the Kaguya simulations, the survival rate was less than 1%. After the nuclear power chamber had been modified, its explosive power was far greater than the million tons Chisei had mentioned. Its power could indeed trigger a tsunami, and only something of such power could destroy the ruins that buried the gods. Even if Caesar’s group were fortunate enough to evade the shockwave from the nuclear explosion, they would still struggle to escape the surviving Corpse Guardians. The explosion’s power might not eliminate all of the Corpse Guardians.

“Release the nuclear power chamber! Return immediately!” Caesar opened the hook suspending the nuclear power chamber.

“Wait!” Chu Zihang shouted.

But it was too late; the yellow nuclear power chamber slowly began to descend. Once the hook was released, it was no longer attached to the Trieste. With the weight of the nuclear power chamber, the Trieste could not reattach it.

“What’s wrong?” Caesar asked.

“The neutron density suddenly dropped before you released the nuclear power chamber. The chamber has re-entered safe mode, and the cadmium rods have been inserted back into the reactor, so it won’t explode!” Chu Zihang exclaimed.

“No way?” Lu Mingfei said. “The Equipment Department made this. Previously, when we didn’t want it to explode, it blew up everywhere. Now we’re making such an effort to detonate it, and it’s not exploding? Is the Equipment Department playing tricks on us?”

“The Ganryū Research Institute needs to analyze this immediately! What malfunction occurred in the nuclear power chamber?” Chisei was also stunned.

The careful design by the Yamata no Orochi had gone perfectly up to this moment. In 20 minutes, the divine tomb would be destroyed in the heat and shockwave of the nuclear explosion. Yet, at this critical moment, the meticulously modified nuclear power chamber had malfunctioned.

“The analysis results are in; the detonation circuit has failed!” Miyamoto Shio said urgently on the Yamata no Orochi’s secret channel. “We had modified the control circuit designed by the Equipment Department and added the detonation circuit. But we just analyzed the current records of the detonation circuit, and it’s damaged. It might have shorted out during descent. After we descended, we had Caesar activate the self-test system on the Trieste, but we couldn’t inform him about the detonation circuit, so it didn’t self-test.”

“Then it can’t explode? We’ve disturbed the spirits in the divine tomb, and now the nuclear power chamber can’t explode?” Chisei’s face turned pale.

He couldn’t believe the outcome. A small oversight—just a small oversight—had led to a catastrophic disaster with almost no chance of reversal.

“No, there’s still a chance to detonate it. But you must… you must manually input the password. After inputting the password, we can trick the control circuit and force it to overheat again.”

“But they’re 8,600 meters deep in the sea! How could they manually input the password?” Chisei shouted in anger.

“There’s a chance. The Trieste is equipped with Zeppelin gear for underwater walking. While it won’t last very long, it’s enough for them to descend and input the password. If they open the metal plate on the bottom of the nuclear power chamber, they will find the keypad. It’s waterproof; we can only hope it doesn’t melt under the high temperature,” Miyamoto Shio explained.

“But who would be willing to sacrifice themselves to input the password in this situation? Now, even deception is useless. Asking them to input the password is asking them to die! How could they believe me? They should be directly following the orders from headquarters!” Chisei slammed his fist on the railing.

“Those who have already written their farewell letters may not have made preparations for death. How can we know they’re unwilling if we don’t even try to persuade them?” Sakura said quietly. “At this point, we can’t afford to exert force. If possible, I would be willing to descend into the deep sea to input the password, but I can’t. If we don’t destroy the divine tomb, it will be a disaster. What we awaken is a devil, and if it escapes, it would be better to keep it sealed.”

Chisei took a deep breath. He understood Sakura’s meaning. At this point, it was no longer a matter of whether to sacrifice the diving team. If sacrificing everyone here could suppress whatever was in the divine tomb, Chisei would do so without hesitation. If it couldn’t be suppressed, the consequences were unimaginable. But Chisei had no confidence in persuading those three in such a dire situation to make any further efforts. The spirits of Caesar’s group were already stretched to the breaking point. They had been waiting to be pulled to the surface safely after throwing the nuclear power chamber. Telling them that not only could they not ascend but also had to walk in the deep sea, Chisei found no reason to convince them.

“Gentlemen, bad news: there’s a problem with the nuclear power chamber’s circuitry. You still cannot ascend; you must make a deep-sea walk and manually input the password,” Chisei accessed the communication channel. “This is our only opportunity.”

He could no longer continue the facade. All he could do was speak the truth. Now he needed Caesar’s group to make a deep-sea walk, and whether they were willing or believed it was up to Caesar’s group to decide.

“If we refuse, you won’t pull us up, will you?” Caesar said quietly.

“If you refuse, everyone will die; it won’t matter whether we can pull you up,” Chisei said.

“Are you telling us to die ourselves to save more people?”

“If I were on the submersible, I would do the deep-sea walk.”

“Damn it! If you do that, you’ll never be able to sell sunscreen at Celestial Beach again, flat turtle! Would you be willing? And what you’re asking me to do will prevent me from ever seeing my own wedding!” Caesar yelled.

“I don’t want to, but I still will. Whether you want to or not is your business,” Chisei said, each word deliberate.

“The Japanese branch is indeed full of madmen!”

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