Everyone’s gaze focused on Lu Mingfei.
He turned and saw Nono staring out the porthole, her face expressionless. She had always been like this since they first met. She seemed like someone who would never get nervous, never worry, and never really care.
No matter what he said, whether yes or no, Nono’s attitude probably wouldn’t change. Lu Mingfei thought.
“Fine, I’ll go,” he said.
“Alright, then let’s get changed into our diving suits.” Nono replied calmly.
“As expected, that casual tone,” Lu Mingfei thought to himself.
Lu Mingfei sat on the ship’s rail, gazing up at the starry sky. He was about to dive into the water and become a hero, and suddenly he felt the world was so beautiful—the stars were so bright, and he wanted to breathe in the fresh air a bit longer…
“Remember, whatever happens, stay behind me. I’m the leader, you’re the team member, got it?” Nono turned to look at Lu Mingfei.
“Got it.” Lu Mingfei replied, face scrunched up in dismay.
“Pay attention to your oxygen gauge. It should last about three hours, which is more than enough for you,” Manstein squatted by the rail, reminding them.
“The data line is also your lifeline. Its outer layer is made of nanomaterial, so it generally won’t break. If you lose consciousness, we’ll pull you back with it.” Manstein tugged on the black tether attached to Lu Mingfei’s diving suit.
“The diving suit is custom-made, fully enclosed, capable of withstanding 20 atmospheres of pressure, with a nanomaterial surface. But be careful not to tear it—if it leaks, not only will you lose oxygen, but the pressure difference could be catastrophic.” Manstein patted both of their shoulders.
“Can I ask a question?” Lu Mingfei asked timidly. “We’re diving into the Dragon King’s lair to plant a bomb… If he finds out, I assume he won’t be happy… What do we do then?”
“Rest assured on that point. The ‘Bronze Plan’ was formulated by the principal and all the professors. We did a lot of research and estimated that the Dragon King won’t awaken, as he still needs time to regenerate his body.”
“Regenerate his body?” Lu Mingfei was stunned.
“Dragon bones have high plasticity, so they can mimic human forms, with dragon forms also having different variations. But to use the final Yanling, they need a massive body—human form simply can’t bear that power. The dragon you encountered at the college couldn’t fully control its power because it hatched prematurely due to an accident, thus using less than one percent of its true strength. As for this Dragon King, to master the ultimate form of fire-based Yanling, he will inevitably reform an egg and grow a massive body. He won’t awaken easily, which is why we are using bombs to force him to hatch early.”
“What is the ultimate form of fire-based Yanling?” Lu Mingfei asked.
“Candle Dragon, Sequence No. 114, extremely dangerous, with effects unknown. The Dragon King wants to master it because he seeks revenge… against the whole world.” Manstein stood up. “And that’s why we must kill him before he can exact his revenge on the world!”
“Good luck!” Manstein pushed both of them on the shoulder, flipping them overboard.
The searchlight could only penetrate about five meters into the Yangtze’s waters, and Lu Mingfei found himself in a murky dark green abyss filled with drifting particulates.
The pressure pressed on his eardrums as if they would split, and the gauge indicated they had descended to a depth of 50 meters. High-pressure helium-oxygen mix was forced into their suits to counteract the pressure, making them look like Michelin men.
“Breathe deeply, otherwise the pressure could really burst your eardrums,” Nono’s voice came through the earpiece. “Don’t be such a coward. It’s just 50 meters deep. There are people who can free dive over 100 meters deep, and you’re even using an oxygen tank.”
“Over 100 meters without a scuba tank? They’d suffocate, wouldn’t they?” Lu Mingfei breathed heavily, and the pain in his ears subsided a bit.
“The guy said when he reached those depths, it felt like he was on another planet—so quiet, everything in the world seemed far away,” Nono said. “More than suffocating, it was that sense of isolation that was terrifying. That’s why the Execution Bureau requires deep dives to be done in pairs.”
Lu Mingfei was startled. Only now did he understand why a mission that could have been completed alone was assigned to pairs. He tried imagining Nono not being beside him, just endless dark green water all around. He couldn’t help but shiver slightly.
“We’re at the target location. We need to enter the crevice below,” Nono said. “Hold onto me, and let yourself sink naturally.”
Below them was an underwater crevice. They gripped it with their hands and relaxed, letting their heavy lead belts pull them down slowly. The jagged stone walls tightly confined them. Lu Mingfei looked up, seeing nothing but darkness. The pressure increased as the gauge showed 80 meters—a further 20 meters since entering the crevice, about the height of an eight-story building.
“We’re here,” Nono said in a low voice.
Lu Mingfei aimed his searchlight forward.
He saw a wall—a giant wall stretching infinitely to the left, right, up, and down. In the searchlight’s beam, it had an ancient greenish hue, mottled with copper rust that looked like cotton batting. Strange plants grew in the foam-like corrosion, slender strands swaying gently in the current.
Lu Mingfei took a deep breath. This was the outer wall of Bronze City. This thing was simply miraculous.
“It’s been buried here for thousands of years, right? Who would have found it if not for the earthquake?” Lu Mingfei marveled.
“Because this was in the rock strata, an area of stress formed during the earthquake, creating a fissure along this line,” Nono said.
“There’s a face here!” Lu Mingfei reached out to touch the slightly raised face on the bronze wall—an anguished face, biting down on a burning log, its expression fierce.
“That’s a ‘Living Spirit.’ You’ll understand when you take Alchemical Biology,” Manstein’s voice came through the earpiece. “The burning log in its mouth means it’s bound by fire, in agony with no release. Dragon King Norton was the strongest alchemist among the four lords, as he controlled the fire element. He could burn metal with the purest flames, ‘killing’ it, removing impurities, and then ‘reviving’ it. This metal is called ‘regenerated metal’—it has incredible properties and can imprison souls. This is a bound soul, tasked by the Dragon King to guard the gate of Bronze City.”