Dragon Raja; Chapter 67: A Dragon’s Shadow (5)

Dragon Raja

The first mate held the steering wheel tightly, watching the temperature on the display screen rise rapidly to a scalding 80 degrees. The chief engineer could no longer bear the high temperature and went up to the deck. The engine roared like a monster, but it could stall at any time. The dam in front of them was getting closer and closer. Less than a kilometer away was the giant miter gate of the first layer of sluice gates. The Three Gorges waterway has five layers of ship locks. Through water storage and release, each layer can raise or lower the ships passing through the locks by as much as 20 meters. Those miter gates that look like the gates of the giant castle in mythology are the largest miter gates in the world, and each one is made of about 2,000 tons of steel.

“Navigation prohibited! All vessels, reduce speed immediately!” came the call from the dam’s lock control staff above.

The Maniakh’s course was suicidal—the locks were all closed in the storm. The Three Gorges had a five-step lock system, with a twenty-meter water level drop between each lock. Even if the staff began filling the water immediately, it wouldn’t raise the water level of the next lock by twenty meters in time. If they opened the lock gate, it would only lead to a flood discharge—a massive torrent of water would rush down into the lower lock, forming a spectacular but deadly rapid that would drag the ship in, smashing it as it fell along the cascade. If they didn’t open the gate, the ship, traveling at such high speed, would crash into it with the same outcome.

“Keep moving forward!” Mance’s roar came from the stern.

The first officer’s face was ashen, his hands firmly gripping the helm. The second officer’s hand rested on the red detonation button. The creature had closed its mouth, and the signal had disappeared again.

The third officer held the “key” in his arms, appearing in the forward cabin. The “key” opened his eyes wide, staring at the approaching lock gate in the night. He extended his small hand, pointing towards the front, his young body trembling slightly, his eyes filled with a faint golden light. Everyone felt the enormous power surging from his hand.

With a thunderous sound, the lock gate opened! The “key’s” Yanling had forcibly opened the passage—he could command not only the living but also the safety systems of the Three Gorges. A huge amount of water flowed into the lower lock. The rapid current on the surface immediately pulled the Maniakh in. The ship reached an unprecedented speed of 70 knots under the dual drive of the engine and the water flow. But they were speeding towards death.

They accelerated towards their doom, with a twenty-meter-high waterfall awaiting them. Amidst the turbulent currents, the Maniakh could no longer maintain its course, swaying sideways at times, shooting forward like an arrow at others. The creature sensed the danger and slowed down.

Mance opened an old tin bottle in his hand. This tin bottle had slept for thousands of years in an Egyptian tomb, and Cassell College had paid a fortune to acquire it at an auction. The seller didn’t understand its true value, but the people at Cassell College did. They painted the entire tin bottle in red to symbolize “high risk” and stored it carefully in the “Ice Vault.” Mance poured the liquid from the tin bottle onto the brass cylinder, which he had tied to himself with a cable.

Severe corrosion occurred instantly. The gray liquid bubbled up like concentrated acid when it encountered the copper pot. The liquid crawled along the patterns on the surface of the copper pot, looking like little gray snakes frantically looking for gaps to get into the copper pot. The copper pot was hollow. After thousands of years of protection, it still retained a lot of air. Otherwise, it would not be so light. Now the seal was about to be broken.

The dragon in the water let out an ear-piercing shriek. What Mance was doing undoubtedly drove it into a frenzy. It abandoned the struggle against the currents, bending its spine like a bow as it plunged into the water, rushing towards the Maniakh.

“Everyone fasten your seatbelts!” the first officer shouted.

“Forward!” The first officer pushed the accelerator to the limit.

The Maniakh “flew” through the first lock gate along with the rapids, passing through the gate, hanging briefly in the air. The first officer heard the engine stall mid-flight. He had done everything he could according to Mance’s orders. He didn’t particularly want to die fighting a dragon, but if such a day came, he was ready for it. He closed his eyes.

The second mate heard Mance’s roar from the stern, “Detonate!” Almost at the same moment, the signal of the last bomb was found again. Amid the “beep, beep” sound, the second mate pressed the detonator trigger. If someone stared at Mance’s eyes at this moment, they would see a terrifying scene of a huge mouth opening rapidly approaching. The two angry yellow, scimitar-like teeth were one meter long, and the other rows of teeth were as dense as thorns! The back half of the thing’s body was still in the lock, eagerly poking its head out. Its dark and slender body could not be seen clearly in the dark night, and only the densely packed scales could be seen glimmering.

A series of sonic explosions came out of Mance’s mouth, and at the same time, a violent explosion came from the body of the thing, and the flames that spewed out were like an oversized welding gun.

“Word Spirit “Yanling—Pure Land.

He issued commands within his domain, and enormous pressure pushed outward, repelling the bomb fragments and scorching flames. In an instant, a spherical barrier formed around Mance, isolating him from the explosion. Outside the barrier, the intense heat softened even steel. The creature was pushed back by the shockwave, its slender upper body curling into a coil.

In the third officer’s arms, the “key” suddenly clenched his tiny hand!

The lock gate’s engine immediately engaged. The two-thousand-ton steel gate slammed shut. The fifteen-meter-long creature was severed in half, and a chilling, deranged laughter erupted from the torrent, like a sharp sword. Mance covered his ears—he had never heard such laughter. It sounded like laughter, but also like a deathly agonizing wail.

Mance didn’t know if it was the creature’s fearless spirit in its final moments or if it could only make sounds like laughter. Either way, he didn’t care. This thing had to die—it was his tribute to his students.

“Farewell, His Majesty Norton.” A cold, mocking glint flashed in Mance’s bloodshot eyes.

The Maniakh fell with the current, plunging towards the water of the second lock. “Keep going!” Mance’s roar came from the stern.

The first mate’s face was livid, and he held the steering wheel firmly with both hands. The second mate’s hand pressed on the red button to detonate the bomb, and the thing probably closed its mouth, and the signal disappeared again.

The third mate appeared in the front cabin holding “Key”. “Key” opened his eyes wide and stared at the tightly closed gable door that was getting closer and closer in the night.

“Baby, it’s up to you.” The third mate patted the baby’s head.

The “key” stretched out his tender hand and pointed forward. His young body shook slightly, and a faint golden light shone from his eyes. In an instant, it seemed as if a huge force surged out from his hand, and everyone felt it.

A faint light suddenly appeared on the dam, and the herringbone door slowly opened. The mysterious words of the baby commanded the computer that controlled the access system to force the passage open.

3. True “S” Class

Cassell College Library, control room—a deathly silence.

The signal from the Maniakh had been cut off, the screen was pitch black. Half an hour had passed. Professor Schneider paced back and forth, rubbing his hands together; the wait was unbearable.

But Lu Mingfei was very interested, because virtual girl named EVA on the screen was playing a tower defense game with him. The game looked simple, a large number of dragons hatched from the nest at one end of the screen, they had to cross a wilderness and climb the white moon at the other end of the screen, Lu Mingfei could set up various weapons in the wilderness to stop them, some were triple-mounted rapid-fire cannons, some were freezing cannons, there were also ground-to-ground laser weapons hanging high in the air, and target-tracking missiles, but the most effective was a kind of sword-wielding warrior named “Alchemy Dragon Slayer”, they had only one attack distance, were very expensive, and had a low attack frequency, but they could kill any target passing by with one sword.

Lu Mingfei’s seat was in the last row, and no one could see his screen. He could complete the operation by moving his fingers slightly on the touch screen, which was very concealed. Logically speaking, for such a big thing, he should remain a little quiet and solemn, but he was not familiar with the Maniakh and the elites of the Rundstedt family. He never had any sense of responsibility. In high school, every time the teacher talked about class honor, he would keep his mind empty and nod continuously. Sense of honor and sense of responsibility are of course the most important things, but only for heroes. The puppies in StarCraft never need a sense of honor and sense of responsibility.

So he did not resist the temptation of EVA. After she kept pacing, jumping, scratching her head, and sitting on the ground drawing circles out of boredom, she popped up a dialog box saying “Let’s play a game”. Lu Mingfei felt that as a man, he could not refuse!

Series Navigation

<< Dragon Raja; Chapter 66: A Dragon’s Shadow (4)Dragon Raja; Chapter 68: A Dragon’s Shadow (6) >>