Dragon Raja; Chapter 63: A Dragon’s Shadow

Dragon Raj

1. Reversal

The Three Gorges of the Yangtze River, a strange abyss under the turbulent waves. Just when Lu Mingfei’s map was transmitted to Ye Sheng’s mind through Norma’s radio waves, Ye Sheng was undergoing an extremely painful test at the bottom of the sea.

A massive influx of information surged into Ye Sheng’s brain through the “Snake,” like the entire Pacific Ocean reversing into the Yangtze River.

Ye Sheng’s brain was like an overclocked and overheated computer at this moment, and the huge pain seemed to tear him apart. Ye Sheng felt that he was about to give up, and his consciousness was like a giant beast panting loudly with fatigue, ready to fall down at any time. But he couldn’t, because the information contained the last chance of escape, and analyzing them would be a huge three-dimensional map that directly appeared in Ye Sheng’s mind.

Ye Sheng didn’t know why Norma didn’t help him deal with it this time, but directly passed the most original information to him. The huge bronze city, perhaps the real “Baidi City” in history, was completely transparent in front of Ye Sheng at this moment.

The City came alive.

A colossal mechanism forged two thousand years ago came alive. What appeared to be a solid bronze wall split open; millions of cubic feet of air rushed through the cracks and escaped with a piercing whistle, while the raging waters below surged in to fill the void. The cobweb-like bronze passages rotated and reconnected, like the cylinder of a revolver spinning in the instant of firing, a new chamber aligned with the muzzle.

Every moment, the escape route was changing. Ye Sheng was losing his mind—he had the map, but… it was like staring at a map of Beijing, only to find Chaoyang District slowly shifting towards Fangshan District, Haidian District sliding clockwise to fill Chaoyang’s position, and the East Third Ring detaching from the North Third Ring before reconnecting with the South Second Ring moments later! If someone had to drive out of the city in thirty minutes under these circumstances, it would be crazy not to lose their sanity.

The twenty-meter-high bronze wall behind them was slowly tipping over, looking as if the heavens themselves were collapsing. Aki hooked her arm around Ye Sheng’s neck and swam forward; Ye Sheng was on the verge of exhaustion. While he was enslaving the “Snake” with his words, he was weak as a child.

Aki’s mind was in turmoil, and she thought of when they first reported to college. Ye Sheng was just an eighteen-year-old young man who had come from China to the United States, sporting two thick black eyebrows. He was the best swimmer in the class and became the sailing team’s captain in his second year, winning the “Golden Fleece Cup” back from the University of Chicago, which made him popular among the girls. His greatest hobby seemed to be mocking Aki—every time during swimming lessons, when clumsy Aki was still in the middle of her one-kilometer warm-up, Ye Sheng had already finished his kilometer and basked in the sun once, wearing only swim trunks, exposing his broad shoulders and long arms, and patting his behind at Aki, saying things like, “Is it because Japanese people have shorter legs that they can’t swim fast?” He would then suddenly put on a look of despair and say, “If we ever become partners, I’m not going to die underwater, am I?” He was insufferable.

The bronze wall plunged into the water, raising a massive wave that pushed Aki and Ye Sheng against the opposite wall. Aki turned in time to shield Ye Sheng in her embrace; the impact nearly dislocated her spine. She gritted her teeth, holding the weakened man like a baby, blood seeping from the corner of her mouth.

When did protecting Ye Sheng become a habit? Back then, she had pointed at his nose and shouted, “If you die underwater, don’t expect me to save you!” in response to his mocking. How did it end up like this?

“The key!” Ye Sheng shouted hoarsely.

Through the currents of the “Snake,” his voice echoed in the cabin of the Maniakh, like the last howl of a wounded wolf.

Mance paused. “Yes! The key! The key will work!” he shouted.

The sleeping baby was quickly sent to the front cabin. Every time he used the Word Spirit, he was very tired and had to sleep for two or three days with a pacifier in his mouth. But the moment he was placed in front of the display screen, he miraculously opened his eyes, with a faint light flowing in his eyes. He stretched out his chubby fingers and slid them on the huge screen, his eyes scanning every corner of the map, like a lawyer reviewing an important contract for a multinational transaction, or NASA scientists checking the orbit of the space shuttle for the last time. Everyone standing around him held their breath. At this moment, no one would regard him as just a baby with a big appetite and a crying habit.

“Hurry, baby, it’s up to you!” Mance watched his finger intently.

The fingertip traced the screen, slowly moving down… down. The light in the infant’s eyes faded, and he returned to being an ordinary baby. Suddenly, he burst into tears!

Mance’s heart sank to the bottom. Was there… no way out?

Ye Sheng’s eyes snapped open, and faint golden light filled his pupils. The cry of the “key” reached him, and a clear red line suddenly appeared on the ever-changing map in his mind. It led downward, straight down, through the gaps in the walls, the passageways, even the solid bronze walls, finally exiting from directly below.

“That’s the exit!” Ye Sheng realized.

The “key” had grasped the workings of the bronze city. All they had to do was keep going downward, and when they reached those thick walls, the operation of the bronze city would create a new path there. This was the final escape route, but they had to be fast—if they weren’t, they would be trapped in a dead end with no way out, or be crushed by the slowly closing gaps.

The “key” wasn’t crying out of sadness—it was out of fear. The “key” was urging them!

“Directly down! Ye Sheng, Sakatoku Aki, prepare to escape!” Ye Sheng’s voice echoed back to the forward cabin.

“Directly down?” Mance paused, only then noticing the mark the “key” had left on the screen—a straight line, piercing down through the bronze city.

“Distance, forty-five meters!” Selma said, “Oxygen supply remaining: three minutes!”

“With breath-holding while swimming, they’ll just make it out at their speed!” Mance’s voice was almost flying with joy.

“The helicopter from the Chinese Waterway Rescue Agency will arrive in about ten minutes to rescue us,” Selma said with great excitement. “They have all the necessary life-saving equipment and will be here just in time to pick up Ye Sheng and Aki.”

Ye Sheng deactivated the Yanling, restoring his strength. He turned to grab Aki’s hand, but Aki didn’t move. She turned on the dim light inside her helmet so that Ye Sheng could see her face. Her lips were moving, but Ye Sheng couldn’t hear her voice—the signal line between them had also just been severed.

“We don’t have enough time; we don’t have enough oxygen.” Aki opened her visor, her extremely low oxygen level causing her to cough violently.

Ye Sheng glanced at the remaining oxygen—it would last for three minutes. Combined with their ability to hold their breath and swim underwater for five minutes, it was just enough to make it out.

“It’s enough.” He opened his visor too.

“It’s not enough.” Aki shook her head, tears slowly rolling down her cheeks. “Let’s stay here; I want to look at you. There’s not much time left… there’s something I’ve wanted to tell you for a long time… I…”

“I love you too.” Ye Sheng cut her off, direct and simple. He did something that might get him punished by the Execution Bureau—he pressed his lips hard against Aki’s, kissing her. Aki was stunned.

“I love you, too.” Ye Sheng simply and neatly interrupted her lip movements. He tilted his mouth, and the corner of his mouth once again revealed the kind of smile that makes people forget their troubles. It reminded Aki of the time when Ye Sheng slapped his butt in the sunlight through the floor-to-ceiling window, “Stupid, believe me, it’s enough!” He hugged Aki’s strong and slender body tightly.

Series Navigation

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