Dragon Raja; Chapter 64: A Dragon’s Shadow (2)

Dragon Raja

He tilted his mouth, that sometimes annoying but sometimes endearing smile once again appearing on his face, and Aki remembered him slapping his behind at her in the sunlight by the pool.

“Idiot, trust me, it’s enough!” Ye Sheng hugged the tall Aki tightly.

“Hey, your legs aren’t short at all!” he said in his mind, pulling her as they plunged into the water.

A whirlpool was faintly forming underwater, signaling that a gap was opening below.

Mance was dancing his most proud cha-cha-cha in the front cabin, and the person dancing with him was Selma, and the background music was Beatit by MJ. This was not a suitable music for dancing to cha-cha-cha at all, but there was no way, the captain was proud of his feat of turning the tide, and was excited beyond words. Only the old song Beatit was enough to express the uncle’s mood at the moment, and he only knew how to dance cha-cha-cha. Selma was still in the internship period of graduate students, and she had several credits to complete, including Mance’s class. She had taken advantage of Mance’s happiness to get the promise of “guaranteed pass”…

In fact, everyone wanted to stand up and sing and dance, if they were not still trying hard to stabilize the ship that was drifting in the uneasy waves.

“This is what I call a grand reversal! A big reversal at the last minute!” Mance boasted to Selma with a cigar in his mouth, “It’s like a three-pointer shot in the last second of the fourth quarter of basketball, or a complete break in the third game of tennis!” He glanced at the clock on the bulkhead, “My good students are coming back…”

He froze, his dance steps faltering, stumbling almost to the point of falling, barely steadying himself by gripping the ship’s helm tightly. Mance’s face turned deathly pale. He pushed the door open and rushed outside, standing in the storm, staring blankly at the choppy river.

“Captain?” Selma and the first officer followed him out.

“The escape point is directly below the bronze city. They can escape the bronze city, but they won’t have enough time to make it to the surface.” Mance’s face twitched. “We miscalculated… Their oxygen… isn’t enough!”

In the cabin behind him, “Key” suddenly stopped crying, and tears welled up in his big eyes, which were unique to babies. Ye Sheng’s “Snake” could no longer be contacted, and all that filled Mans’ ears were the sounds of the storm and the hoarse sound of the radio turbulence. To him, the whole world was as silent as death.

2. Slay The Dragon

There was a faint buzzing sound in the wind, followed by lights. In the distance, there was a huge light spot moving on the dark water. A moment later, a call came from the front left of the bow, “Maniakh, please pay attention, Maniakh, please pay attention, this is the Three Gorges Waterway Emergency Rescue Agency, this is the Three Gorges Waterway Emergency Rescue Agency, please turn on the lights to reply, please turn on the lights to reply.”

The third officer climbed onto the deck. “Captain, should we wait any longer?”

Mance stared at the water in silence for a few seconds, then looked down at his watch—fourteen minutes had passed. He suddenly felt tired.

“Signal with the light. Accept the rescue, everyone evacuate.”

A bright xenon lamp was turned on on the top of the ship, emitting three short flashes of light. This was a distress signal. A helicopter cruising at low altitude received the signal and immediately moved its lights towards this side. The “buzzing” sound was amplified hundreds and thousands of times. The huge wind pressure from top to bottom made it difficult for people to breathe. A pitch-black helicopter appeared in the aperture of the signal light, with seven huge rotors, and an estimated length of thirty meters.

“CH-53E, ‘Super Stallion’, the Chinese rescue agency actually uses such a luxurious heavy helicopter.” The third mate recognized the American military aircraft.

Mance had completely lost interest in these things. He turned to return to the cabin when he heard a muffled sound from the stern. Instinctively, he took out his flashlight and shone it over. Near the lifeboat on the side of the ship, a pitch-black head surfaced, followed by a deathly pale face.

“Aki!” Mance couldn’t believe his eyes.

His favorite student, Sakatoku Aki, that Japanese girl always glowing with maternal warmth, had somehow survived by surpassing human diving limits. She was struggling to push a brass cylinder almost as tall as herself onto the lifeboat.

“Selma! Selma! Help her!” Mance shouted, then cursed, “Get up here! Forget the cylinder! You Japanese are all crazy!”

Aki didn’t answer him. Instead, she shouted something in Japanese, using the last of her strength to push the brass cylinder onto the lifeboat. Only then did she look up at Mance. She didn’t try to climb onto the lifeboat, and her slender arms clung to the rope on the side of the lifeboat, so weak that she could be swept away by the current at any time. But her eyes were so bright that Mans was stunned for a moment.

“Professor, take the Jar and go! Go!” Aki said hoarsely. It was what Ye Sheng… had fought to retrieve…

She sank, an enormous force from beneath the water violently dragging her down. Her long hair swirled in the waves, then vanished completely. By the time Mance rushed to the side of the ship, fresh blood surged from underwater, like a plume of rising red smoke.

“Aki!” Mance roared, ripping open the buttons of his captain’s uniform in a frenzy, ready to jump in.

“Drop the anchor! Start the engine! Full thrust!” the third officer also shouted, pulling Mance back forcefully.

He was the most experienced crew member there, having spent over ten years on the ocean. What had just happened to Aki was incredibly strange; it reminded him of a shark attack on a diving companion. But obviously, sharks wouldn’t live in freshwater, and the massive whirlpool forming on the surface when Aki sank indicated that whatever it was, it was enormous.

Two anchor chains were simultaneously cut loose, and the powerful engine started instantly without preheating. The massive acceleration sent both the third officer and Mance tumbling, holding on to each other. In the moment before falling, the third officer saw a sharp line of water chasing straight after them from behind the ship.

“What is that?” The third mate broke out in a cold sweat. The Maniakh was equipped with engines purchased by the academy at a high price. These engines were originally used for German submarines. When accelerating, they could reach a speed of 50 knots, which is about the same as a speedboat. What can swim at a speed of 50 knots while submerged? The fastest swordfish is probably no faster than that, and the torpedoes in World War II were probably no faster than that.

“Is it really a torpedo chasing us?” The third mate shuddered and shouted, “Detour! Detour!”

He also thought his guess was ridiculous, but anyone would try their best to avoid that waterline and that terrifying feeling. The waterline did not give up and followed closely. The helicopter of the waterway rescue agency was probably also puzzled by Maniakh’s sudden and unreasonable escape. It was even more puzzled that a passenger ship suddenly ran like a speedboat and followed.

“Activate the sonar, see what that thing is!” Mance dragged the copper can into the cabin, his face twitching, filled with murderous intent.

“Too fast, can’t get a clear image. Length is about fifteen meters, looks like a fish!” the second officer said loudly.

“A fish?” the third officer said, “What kind of fish can swim at fifty knots?”

“It’ll be easy if it’s a living thing,” Mance cut open a new cigar, put it between his lips, lit it, and moved his facial muscles vigorously. “No matter what your relationship with those lizards is, as long as it’s a living thing, it will die! Give me the sniper rifle!”

Selma opened the weapon cabinet on the cabin wall. An L115A3 sniper rifle stood in the center. This British-made long-range sniper rifle was known as the emperor of sniper rifles, but the Execution Bureau had still not been satisfied with its performance and had optimized the ammunition. Mance loaded each bullet, each with a cold blue glow and ancient patterns engraved on the bullet heads, into the magazine. The primers of each bullet were painted red, marking them as high-risk weapons.

“I really like those madmen who do weapon optimization at the Execution Bureau!” Mance slammed the magazine into the gun.

“Could it be the Dragon King?” the third officer asked.

“If it is, that’s perfect, because I’m here to kill him!” Mance dashed out of the cabin.

The light from the xenon lamp illuminated the surging white foam behind the ship clearly, but the white foam could not hide the sharp waterline. It seemed that not deep underwater, there was an invisible knife cutting the water surface, and the front of the waterline was only more than 500 meters away from the Moniach.

Mance leaned against the cabin wall, his foot on the ship’s railing, his whole body forming a triangular brace against the cabin wall and railing to maintain his balance amidst the intense rocking. Through the infrared scope, he saw the “fish” underwater. It was moving at full speed, its body temperature far exceeding the water’s, completely exposing it.

“Good, young one,” Mance said softly.

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