Dragon Raja 3; Chapter 140: The Sea of Hidden Dragons (7)

Dragon Raja 3

The Zeppelin gear was already operating beyond its limits, with pressure and output exceeding specifications. The lights in the helmet flickered on and off. If it weren’t for the protection of the high-pressure saline inside the gear, Caesar would have suffered internal bleeding by now, but the high-pressure saline was also causing his eyes to become bloodshot and his breathing to be labored. He could only see the nuclear power chamber less than ten meters away, but he was unsure if he could crawl through ten meters in the lung snail pile that was waist-deep.

His vision became increasingly blurred; the impact of high pressure was most evident on his eyesight. The target in his view began to show double images, and his brain throbbed with intense pain. The metal prosthetics slipped in the pile of lung snails, as if he were struggling in a debris flow, ready to be swallowed at any moment.

Caesar closed his eyes and released “Kamaitachi.” Few people knew that his hearing was not an aid but even more effective than his vision. The Kamaitachi circled and danced in the seawater, and Caesar was pleasantly surprised to find his field of perception expanding to unprecedented levels. Water was an excellent conductor of sound, and the loss of sound wave transmission was less than in the air. He could hear the sounds of the currents, the heartbeats of the Corpse Guardians, the cracking of the ruins, and the ancient, silent ringing. Caesar remembered that the collapsed ancient buildings were adorned with thousands of black bells. In the era when Takamagahara stood on the earth, when the wind blew, the entire city must have been submerged in the sound of bells.

But in the water, the sound of the bells was a sub-bass frequency beyond the hearing range of normal people. Without releasing the Kamaitachi, Caesar would not have been able to hear this magical music. The heavy, ancient sub-bass sounds wove through the ruins with the currents. Caesar immersed himself in the ancient music, imagining what Takamagahara must have looked like when it stood on the earth. The thousands of bells flipped and turned in the wind, and the sounds of the tides surged back and forth in the city like a melody. He had never “heard” such a magnificent city before.

When he was young, every spring he would go on holiday in the Alps with his mother, often standing for hours on the grassy slopes, gazing at the sky. The butler and servants whispered not far away, questioning whether the young heir had some sort of mental issue. To them, the plains seemed extremely monotonous, but the young Caesar would reveal a smile, receiving the cheers of the crowd. In Caesar’s world, the plains were filled with music; the wind scattered dandelions, and countless little umbrellas spun in the breeze. When the wind was amplified a hundredfold, it sounded like church music played on a pipe organ, and the sound of the dandelion umbrellas gliding through the air was like the choir singing hymns, with the entire plain serving as the resonance chamber of that invisible pipe organ. The whole world played for just one person, more enchanting than the cheers of the crowd. At that moment, only his mother would stand behind him, gently stroking his hair.

As he grew older, Caesar would climb to high places in every city he visited to listen to the music: the sounds of the wind, voices, rain, dust storms, mechanical rumblings, atmospheric ionization… Each city had a different sound, blending into distinct music. Caesar could hear some cities singing like old men, others crying like young girls, and some even roaring like demons. But so far, no city’s music resembled that of Takamagahara. The music of Takamagahara was tranquil and serene, like a monk standing outside the mundane world, compassionately observing the changes of the world, reminiscent of the moonlight in Nara, where the bell tower cast long shadows on the earth.

The discomfort had faded, and his body felt soft and comfortable. Caesar swam through the pile of lung snails, gliding his prosthetic limbs, but he felt as if he were walking on the long streets of the ancient city. The moonlight above seemed to have been silent for a thousand years.

He was a young monk in white robes, scooping a handful of clear river water by the riverside. A small girl with a delicate face walked by in the reflection of that handful of water, her dress adorned with beautiful maple leaves and butterfly flowers, a vermilion folding fan tucked into her waist. The wooden clogs of the young woman tapped gently, and the water in the monk’s hand dripped rhythmically. In the distance, the ancient bell tower rang, and the monk and the girl looked up at the same time. At that moment, their gazes met, and the water in the monk’s hand soaked his robe. The young woman instinctively clutched the fan at her waist, which was a gift from her beloved, destined to one day be placed in her husband’s hands.

The girl’s long hair flowed under the moonlight, a captivating red.

“Nono…” Caesar whispered.

The girl was Nono. Caesar seemed to remember how he had traveled thousands of mountains and rivers from the Great Qin to Japan and had suddenly met the girl destined for him. He joyfully reached out across the river, and Nono grabbed his fingers and jumped over. They exchanged shy glances, their faces flushed. Under the moonlight, the pagodas in Nara slowly stood up, and ancient demons manifested their huge figures, their eyes burning with golden flames, silently roaring at the moonlight. They danced under the moon, as if bestowing blessings upon the young couple. Caesar embraced Nono and inhaled the delightful fragrance of flowers.

“Caesar! Caesar! Respond! Respond!” Chu Zihang shouted.

Three minutes after the submersible was ejected, Caesar lay in the pile of lung snails. His last action was to hold tightly onto a mound of lung snails, and through the helmet’s camera, his face retained a serene smile.

There was no response. The life monitoring device showed he still had a heartbeat, but he had completely lost consciousness.

Chu Zihang covered the microphone and handed the headset to Lu Mingfei, staring into his eyes. “Remember, once the nuclear power chamber detaches, the Sumeru Throne can no longer monitor its operational data. Communication underwater must rely on cables.”

“What do you mean? I don’t understand!” Lu Mingfei shook his head in confusion.

“It means you don’t tell Chisei. He won’t know if the nuclear power chamber has reignited. If I can’t bring Caesar back, you tell Chisei that ignition was successful but that you can’t retrieve me and Caesar, and he should recover you immediately. Chisei can’t verify the ignition result, but he can only choose to retrieve you. If I’m still here, he will ask one of us to stay in the submersible while the other exits,” Chu Zihang said, placing the headset on Lu Mingfei’s head. “Don’t say too much, and don’t hesitate to argue with me out of embarrassment. Just like Caesar didn’t exit the submersible to sacrifice himself for you and me, it’s just that as the captain, his pride doesn’t allow him to force us out.”

“My pride also doesn’t allow me to let a lower-year student exit,” Chu Zihang stood up. “If we don’t make it back, you’ll be the leader of the diving team.”

Lu Mingfei slumped in his chair, his eyes innocent like a little raccoon. But he truly hated the look of a raccoon. Damn it, damn it, damn it! At such a time, if he faced such an innocent and helpless gaze, he would probably feel disgusted too.

“Answer me sincerely: can you still not forget Nono?”

Lu Mingfei lowered his head. “Yes, but I have no way to do anything about it. I just try not to think about it.”

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