“Wait, wait, wait! I need… I need to print!” Finger was in the office of the campus news network, filled with computers, roaring into the microphone.
The sleepy reporters around him were instantly awake, originally waiting to post the news from China online in real-time.
“Print! Find the transparency slides! Print them for me!” Finger shouted, jumping around in the middle of the computers.
The reporters demonstrated the utmost speed and professionalism of journalists, quickly handing two printed transparent slides to Finger. Finger stacked the two slides, held them up to the light.
“Finger, how are you on this channel?” Caesar demanded, “You hacked into the secure channel—that’s against school rules!”
“Take a break, junior! If I hadn’t hacked the channel, your girlfriend and my useless junior would be dead together!” Finger uncharacteristically snapped back.
Caesar immediately fell silent.
“Forget the school rules! Find the location! Finger, your mechatronics skills are top-notch; you can do this!” Professor Guderian’s voice came over the channel. The old man was in the library’s control room, hopping around like he had springs in his shoes.
“Shut up! I’m looking, looking, looking!” Finger was sweating.
“Speed it up!” Caesar chimed in again. “Professor Manstein is reaching his limit.”
“Roger that!” Finger gritted his teeth, his expression fierce. “Listen, useless junior! The place you’re in right now is a circular passage about 2 meters in diameter. You just passed a sluice gate, and there were a lot of rotating wheels before that, right?”
“Yes!”
“I’ve analyzed it. According to mechatronics principles, the operation of the bronze city this time isn’t much different from last time, except it’s running in reverse. You’ve taken Alchemy Chemistry Intro, right? The alchemical symbol is a pentagram. In ancient times, during the ‘Summoning of Fire’ ritual, wizards would draw the pentagram from the top towards the bottom right. Conversely, drawing from the bottom right upwards was the ‘Banishment of Fire.’ Now the bronze city is operating in the latter mode—a self-destructive process.”
“Is this really the time for a lesson?” Lu Mingfei screamed, “Senior, get your head straight!”
“I’m explaining the principle so you’ll trust me! If this city keeps operating, it’s gonna be completely destroyed. You need to escape as soon as possible! Forward, downward, there’s a square well—it’s gonna shrink and disappear within a few minutes—that’s your way out! I’ll give you the next step soon!” Finger sat at his computer, hammering on the keyboard. “I need Norma’s support… damn it, I only have ‘F’ level clearance!”
“Use mine,” Professor Guderian’s voice came through. “I have ‘B’ level clearance. My password is…”
“No need! I’m accessing with ‘A’ level clearance!”
“Are you… hacking our system?” Guderian asked.
“Critical moments, who cares black or white… it just needs to work!” Finger hit Enter, and the screen rapidly changed. “A” level access granted, database open, computing resources prioritized, bandwidth surged, special functions exclusive to ‘A’ level were added to his original ‘F’ level permissions, which only allowed checking grades and ordering food.
“Norma, it’s all on you now,” Finger gasped.
“I will pause all other calculations to prioritize the bronze city’s computations and provide timely information,” Norma’s calm voice replied. “Trust me; I’m a good GPS.”
“Caesar, look outside!” someone suddenly shouted.
Caesar looked up and saw a vast expanse of white vapor outside the porthole. Visibility had dropped to the level of a dense fog without anyone noticing. The reservoir looked like a boiling pot, steaming out thicker and thicker white vapor, thick like milk.
“He’s here. The Bronze and Fire King, Norton. His intense heat has warmed the river water, producing a large amount of steam. We overlooked the temperature gauge—the water temperature outside has already approached 50 degrees, too hot even for a hot spring,” Zero said. “It seems planned. He’s here to hunt us.”
“Professor Manstein?” Caesar shook Manstein’s shoulders.
Manschtine was limp, his whole body weak. Only his pupils were moving rapidly—his “Yanling: Serpent” was operating at overcapacity, and all of his remaining consciousness was focused on maintaining communications. The commander of “Operation Bronze” had lost his ability to function. Caesar looked around. Most of those left were students—the elites he’d selected from the Student Council.
“First Officer Grayson, do you agree to let me take over as captain?” Caesar asked.
“Agreed,” Grayson replied without hesitation.
“I am now taking over Captain Manstein’s duties. Grayson, take the helm. Gunayar, monitor sonar. Kumagai Nao, ensure fuel in the engine room. Pacino, check the torpedo bay and prepare the Storm torpedo for launch.” Caesar issued orders rapidly. “Zero, you handle the torpedo launch.”
“Me?” Zero asked calmly.
“This kind of task is best left to those who don’t feel fear. We only have one chance.” Caesar looked around. “Everyone, do not panic! We’ll see him on the sonar, then fire the torpedo. It’s as simple as that!”
“Since learning your girlfriend is okay, you immediately perked up,” Zero said.
“It has nothing to do with that. I just like strong opponents,” Caesar replied, loading bullets one by one into the sniper rifle he had prepared, the dark red bullet tips gleaming with a dangerous hue. The Equipment Department had prepared plenty of alchemical ammunition. As they had said, the ship was now fully armed.
The ship shuddered violently, and a muffled sound came from the lower hold. Caesar’s expression changed instantly—that sound came from the torpedo cabin.
“The torpedo bay has been breached! The warhead is damaged!” the first officer shouted through the headset.
In the torpedo bay at that moment, the first officer couldn’t believe his eyes. A black, spear-like object had pierced through the lower hold, punctured the torpedo bay, and penetrated the warhead of the Storm torpedo.
Moments later, another muffled sound echoed.