Dragon Raja 4; Chapter 120: Chu Tianjiao (9)

Dragon Raja 4

Finally, Nono’s heart calmed. She curled up in the person’s embrace, unsure if it was a god or some confused child… Do you want me to die or not?

Slowly, she regained control of her body. She was lying on that uncomfortable bed, coughing violently, covered in cold sweat, tears streaming down her face.

Nono gasped for breath, curling up tightly in the corner of the small room, clutching her arms, pressing against the wall just to remind herself that she was still alive, still in the world. She had once been a renowned swimmer and diver at Cassell College, visiting beautiful and dangerous diving spots from the Great Barrier Reef to the Blue Hole. She could free dive to an unbelievable depth of 80 meters, moving with grace and ease, her fins gliding like a mermaid’s tail. Back then, her bikini-clad free diving photos were saved on many boys’ phones. But after the Three Gorges incident, she rarely swam in open water. She still moved effortlessly in pools and lakes, but she would tremble uncontrollably when facing the ocean. Masashi Toyama speculated it was a form of PTSD caused by painful memories from that mission, but he said it wasn’t difficult to overcome.

Her memories of the events in the Three Gorges Reservoir were hazy, pieced together from Caesar and Lu Mingfei’s accounts. The story went like this: Dragon King Norton was closing in on the diving bell, Nono was attacked and knocked unconscious, but Norton was then distracted by the Moniahe above the water and went to attack it instead. Caesar cleverly used a torpedo to kill the Dragon King, and it was Lu Mingfei who eventually brought the unconscious Nono back to the surface.

But Nono often had a strange dream where she felt all the blood drain from her body as she sank slowly into the depths of the water. The near-death experience was cold and lonely. She wanted to cry, but she didn’t even have the strength to shed tears. She wanted to scream, but only cold water filled her mouth and nose. Then, at the last moment, an angry god or demon descended from the sky, crying and roaring, scaring away the god of death, forcefully pulling her back from the abyss.

That god or demon was terrifying, but also warm and sad. She lay on the god’s powerful shoulder, like a bird returning to the warmth of its nest.

Moments ago, she had pushed herself to her limits trying to reconstruct Chu Tianjiao, but the profiling spiraled out of control, pulling her into another strange dream. The one who saved her from that dream was still that furious god, who seemed to always be lurking in the depths of her subconscious—immense, sorrowful, and ready to roar at a moment’s notice, with tears like molten lava.

Suddenly, the room trembled, the lights went out, and the hum of the compressor ceased.

“Uncle, what’s going on outside?” Nono jumped to her feet, instinctively sensing something was wrong.

There was no answer. She realized, with a shock, that she was standing in water. The room was flooding—water had risen to her ankles, and more was gushing in through the crack under the door. Nono threw open the door, only to see a torrent of whitewater surging down the stairwell, carrying with it all sorts of debris, even a small diesel engine. The wave hit her before she could react, sweeping her down the hallway.

Where was all this water coming from? Even with the heavy rain outside, this was too much.

The flood would undoubtedly destroy Chu Tianjiao’s room, the last trace he left in this world. She had fought so hard to get here, finding crucial clues, and maybe, with one more deep profiling session, she could uncover Chu Tianjiao’s secrets. But now, it was all being swept away. The basement would soon be entirely submerged, and the remaining two lights would flicker out due to the shorting wires. In the pitch darkness, it would be nearly impossible to swim from the second basement level to the surface.

Fear was not an option now. Taking a deep breath, she dived into the water, kicking off her rain boots, peeling off her leather jacket and pants, and tying the corners of her white shirt around her waist.

Her skills remained intact; she swam rapidly, agile as a mackerel, feeling her way as she went. She could hold her breath for up to seven minutes—she had to find her way to the surface in that time. She focused on recalling the path she had taken into the basement.

She quickly reached the first basement level, which was also flooded. Debris floated everywhere, and more than once, she was scraped by large pieces, leaving her body covered in scratches.

Suddenly, she felt a steel handrail beneath her fingers. She remembered noticing this when she first entered—the handrail ran from the surface all the way down to the second basement level. It was like a blind person’s guide, and if she followed it, she could save a lot of energy on the way up. But after swimming just a few dozen meters, her heart sank. Ahead was a wall of debris. The handrail disappeared into the mass.

It wasn’t supernatural—just that the basement was overstuffed, and floating junk had clogged the passage.

She tried, in the darkness, to untangle the mess. It was a knot of wood, woven bags, plastic ropes, and asbestos tiles. It wasn’t tightly packed, but she had no tools, no light, and no leverage. The basement had become a watery prison. Her fingernails broke on the rough asbestos tiles, but she ignored the pain, punching the debris with all her strength. All she got in return was a hollow thud.

Her ears rang, her vision blurred, and her lungs were almost out of oxygen. Her heart raced, and her blood pressure spiked. She tried to float up, hoping to find a pocket of air in the upper parts of the passage. But to her dismay, the entire ceiling was flooded. Was this still a building on solid ground? Or was it a ship sinking into the sea?

Her brain started to numb, her muscles went limp, and she instinctively opened her mouth, inhaling a mouthful of filthy water. She struggled desperately, reaching out into the darkness but grasping nothing… Could the profile she had created of Chu Tianjiao’s life be a prophecy of her own death? Would Chen Motong drown here, in this forgotten black water?

The mechanical voice echoed again in her mind: “Frigg-03 refuses to answer. Increasing intensity… increasing intensity…”

This time, they really were going to kill her. The world no longer needed her. She let go of the handrail, drifting upwards, a strange, serene smile crossing her face. This was perfect; her plan was complete. This was the death she had prepared for herself, a final act of defiance against her enemies… at the cost of her life.

Too bad that godlike figure hadn’t come to save her this time…

Her consciousness began to fade, her soul seemingly slipping away from her body. Just then, a large hand grabbed her wrist with force.

When Nono woke up, she was lying in the back of an ambulance, the sound of hurried footsteps echoing from outside. Everything felt chaotic. She was soaked, wrapped in a white sheet.

“Miss Park, you’re awake! You’re really lucky!” A nurse leaned over, shining a small flashlight into her pupils.

“What happened?” Nono pressed a hand to her forehead. The repeated drowning sensations and deep profiling had left her memory muddled.

“The rain softened the foundation, and a whole building sank into the ground. Everyone’s busy with disaster relief, trying to see what they can salvage from the building. Luckily, the factory had already gone bankrupt. When it collapsed, it was just you and an old man inside. If it had still been operational, imagine how many people could have died!” The nurse clicked her tongue in amazement.

Nono pulled the sheet tighter around herself, barefoot, as she hopped out of the ambulance. She squished through the mud and approached the edge of the pit. The small building had completely sunk into the ground, with only the top floor barely visible above the water, bubbles rising as rainwater flooded into the pit. It hadn’t been an illusion earlier—she had almost died, nearly drowning in that strange basement flood. The nurse had already pumped the water from her lungs, but her mouth still tasted strongly of mud and filth.

The disaster relief crew stood by helplessly, muttering about how strange the situation was, or how it must have been shoddy construction to begin with, causing the foundation to give way.

The middle-aged office manager was there too, looking completely different from before. He was wearing nothing but a pair of apple-green swim trunks and a raincoat, standing by the water’s edge and giving orders as if he was in charge.

“What happened?” Nono asked him.

“A classic case of shoddy work! The foundation wasn’t set properly, and the whole building collapsed into the ground.” The man sighed. “Good thing you’re okay.”

Nono stared into his eyes, trying to gauge whether he was lying. He had led her into the basement, and not long after, it flooded. No matter how she looked at it, something felt off.

But the man seemed completely honest, even looking somewhat proud as he wiped down his half-naked body with a towel like some kind of bodybuilding champion.

“How did I get out?” Nono asked again. Her last memory was of someone rushing toward her and grabbing her wrist, but she hadn’t seen who it was.

“Me!” The middle-aged man patted his chest proudly. “Don’t let my current job fool you—I used to be a champion swimmer for the provincial team! You don’t believe me? Check out these abs!”

Sure enough, the man had a well-defined eight-pack, looking almost like a boxing champion. It was no wonder he was so pleased with himself. The people around him even clapped, clearly familiar with his glory days.

But Nono just quietly stared at the pit still bubbling with muddy water, feeling as though someone was playing a cruel joke on her. Just when she was about to sense Chu Tianjiao, the thread of clues had snapped once again.

“γ Spring, 53rd reload: Night, storm, highway, Action!!!”

Lu Mingfei strode through the fire and wind, his coat billowing, and not a single piece of debris could touch him. He reached Nono and pulled her up. When the Ferrari exploded, Nono had instinctively hit the ground, face-first, scraping the asphalt and leaving her looking disheveled. In contrast, Lu Mingfei stood tall, exuding confidence like he was on a runway.

“What’s with this over-the-top mode?” Nono gaped. “You’re being way too dramatic!”

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