From Naruto onwards, I've become a dreamer.

Chapter 349 Mission Cancelled, The Vanished Diving Duo!
"Chen Motong! Chu Zihang! What happened? What's wrong?!"

"Chu Zihang, answer quickly!"

"Chen Motong, report the current situation. What exactly happened?"

Manstein's anxious voice came through the headset in the diving suit.

Shaking her groggy head and fighting off the nausea from the dizziness, Nuonuo said, "Chen Motong reports that there was a slight mishap, but we have successfully entered the Bronze City. Neither of us was injured. The only problem is that the communication line is stuck inside the wall."

She tried to tug at the black rope, but unfortunately it was embedded in the bronze wall without any gaps, as if it had been poured in.

Manstein breathed a sigh of relief and said, "I've prepared an extension cable for you. You can find it in your pocket. Don't worry about anything else. It will be restored when the door is opened again."

Nono indeed found the extension cable in her pocket, attached it to her diving suit, and tested it again: "Calling the Moniach, can you hear me?"

“The signal is clear, there’s no problem,” Manstein replied immediately.

“Something is not as expected,” Nono said. “When Ye Sheng and Jiu Deya entered last time, the air here was depleted due to years of metal oxidation and could not be used for breathing, but now the air quality is normal enough to breathe.”

“I can probably answer the first question,” Manstein said. “It’s probably because the Dragon King is in an incubating state. He is a reptile and needs to breathe oxygen. In other words, He is in Bronze City right now, and is probably not far from you.”

"I hope your prediction is correct." Nono sighed and said, "Otherwise, facing the Dragon King underwater, even ten lives wouldn't be enough."

"Therefore, you must hurry!"

Manstein said in a deep voice, "Place the alchemical bomb as close as possible to where the Dragon King is hatching. The bomb's explosive power is average, but the alchemical potion inside will react violently with water and metal, quickly depleting the air in the Bronze City. At that time, the Dragon King will feel suffocated and will have to hatch prematurely."

“Then, while he’s weakened, we’ll give him a good hard time, right?” Nono said.

“Although your description is rather rough, that’s roughly it.” After Manstein finished speaking, he suddenly realized that someone was missing, so he asked, “Where’s Chu Zihang? Why isn’t he saying anything?”

"Hey, team leader, the professor is calling you," Nuonuo called out to Chu Zihang, who was squatting down in the corridor.

However, Chu Zihang remained silent, squatting in the passageway, carefully observing something.

"Hey, Chu Zihang?" Nuonuo frowned and walked over after calling him several times without getting a response. She patted him on the shoulder and said, "What are you looking at? Professor Manstein said that the Dragon King is likely in the incubation stage and we need to confirm it as soon as possible."

"footprint."

Chu Zihang ignored Chen Motong and stared intently at the row of clear footprints on the floor of the passageway.

"There are footprints, so there's nothing to be surprised about, right?" Nono said casually. "They should be the footprints left by Ye Sheng and Jiu Deya when they came in last time."

"No, look closely."

Chu Zihang shook his head and gestured for Nuonuo to take another look: "There is only one row of footprints here, and the shoe size is around 44. It belongs to a man. I have seen Ye Sheng's feet, and they are not that big."

Upon hearing this, Nono was startled and immediately squatted down to examine the footprints closely, instantly becoming horrified!

"So, Senior Chu, why are you even concerned about how big a man's feet are?" Xia Mi's sarcastic voice came from the other end of the communicator.

“Male, around thirty years old, weighing around 170 pounds.” Nono was born with the ability to perform psychological profiling. Although it was just a single footprint, it was enough for her to analyze a lot of things: “And it was also very fresh. Chen Motong reported some bad news.”

"what?"

Manstein chased away the troublesome Xia Mi and hurriedly asked.

Nono raised her head and looked at the passageway lined with countless bronze sculptures on both sides. She took a deep breath, as if suppressing her inner fear, and said in a trembling voice, "Before us, there was another person who secretly entered the Bronze Ancient City!"

"Besides the Dragon King, who else could enter the Bronze City?"

On the Moniach, Manstein looked horrified and almost instinctively wanted to abandon the plan.

More than a decade ago, Schneider led the elite of the Executive Department on a mission in the Greenland ice sea, but they encountered an unknown dragon. The entire team was almost wiped out, and Schneider himself was contaminated by dragon blood and suffered severe frostbite, only able to survive on a ventilator.

The same tragedy. Manstein did not want to experience it himself, much less ruin what was arguably his best student!
“Perhaps, it really is the Dragon King?” Xia Mi said softly, her eyes filled with complex emotions. “Impossible!”

Manstein instinctively retorted, "Ye Sheng and Jiu Deya have already confirmed that the Dragon King's egg is in the Bronze City. If you don't understand, don't talk nonsense!"

"Uh, I'm just guessing. What if the Dragon King has twins?"

Xia Mi realized she had misspoke only after the words were out of her mouth, and quickly tried to cover it up, saying, "Hahaha, I was just saying, don't mind it."

However, the speaker has no intention, but the listener has intention.

"Twins, twins?!"

A sudden flash of insight struck Manstein, causing him to tremble violently: "That's right, how could we not have thought of that? The twins on the throne, the four Dragon Kings... perhaps they are not one, but twins, each wielding power and influence. Only in this way can they be matched up!"

Xia Mi clenched her fists in frustration. It was all her fault for letting slip that such important information had been leaked.

Gazing at the surging river, she was slightly lost in thought. The years she had spent with Chu Zihang flowed through her mind like a clear stream.

Never mind, let's just consider it a small compensation.

"Chu Zihang! Chen Motong!"

Manstein shouted anxiously, "Listen, there is more than one Dragon King. Each Dragon King is a twin, each wielding power and strength. The one who entered the Bronze City before you is likely the other one of the Bronze and Fire Kings. The mission is canceled. You must retreat immediately!"

swish swish swish
The signal, which was clear just moments before, was now reduced to a piercing electrical buzzing sound.

"The connection is lost!"

Manstein was pale and sweating profusely.

"I'm going down!"

Upon hearing of the danger, Caesar could no longer sit still and grabbed his diving suit, ready to rush down.

"No! You can't go down there!" Manstein immediately stopped Caesar. He couldn't just stand by and watch the heir of the Gattuso family trespass into the Dragon King's forbidden territory.

"What about Nuonuo? What about Chu Zihang?" Caesar was like an enraged lion.

"Calm down, you must calm down!"

Manstein took a deep breath; he needed to stay calm. He said in a low voice, "The situation underwater is currently unknown. Even if we let you go down, will that change anything?"

"Are we just going to watch them die?" Caesar said coldly.

"I go."

Manstein said, "My Word of Power is 'Snake,' which allows me to contact them within a certain range!"

Upon hearing this, both Caesar and Xia Mi were stunned.

Caesar was somewhat skeptical, after all, Manstein was quite old, and if he encountered any danger, it would basically be a death sentence: "Do you want to go down yourself?"

“Only I can do this.” Manstein no longer hesitated, began to put on his diving suit, and instructed, “Caesar, from now on, you are the supreme commander. If none of us make it up, your task is to do everything possible to kill the Dragon King, understand?”

Looking at the determined Manstein, Caesar felt a sudden weight on his shoulders and nodded emphatically: "I understand, Professor Manstein."

Pfft!
Manstein, carrying an oxygen tank, dived alone into the river, pulling himself along a black rope.

"Nono, Chu Zihang, you have to be alright!"

Caesar could only force himself to calm down, control his anxious and agitated feelings, and wait for Manstein.

(End of this chapter)