Dragon Raja: Lu Mingfei Returns from the Elden Ring

"Later, after much painful reflection, he went to save the world and became a great hero?" Lu Mingze raised an eyebrow, tentatively asking about the next development.

"Pretty much," Lu Mingfei smiled faintly. "What I'm trying to say is that one day you'll see something more terrifying than death, and then the scorching flames, the tearing lightning, the swords cleaving through flesh, the gushing blood, the darkness of your vision, and the fading sound will no longer be so frightening."

"So death won't scare you, brother." Lu Mingze sighed, understanding what Lu Mingfei meant.

Lu Mingfei walked past Ye Sheng and Jiu Deyaji into the darkness deep within the passageway. "I've experienced this kind of death countless times."

Chapter 26 The Bedchamber

He's about to wake up.

Time resumed its flow, Lu Mingze disappeared, and Lu Mingfei, who had been at the rear, now walked in front of Ye Sheng and Jiu Deyaji, without being reset because the dream ended.

This may not be as simple as a dream; Lu Mingze can really influence reality.

Lu Mingfei made a note of this matter, as it would overturn the very nature of Lu Mingze's existence; the other party's actions were not merely a mental invasion of his consciousness.

Ye Sheng and Jiu Deya were momentarily dazed when they suddenly realized that the "S" class at the rear had moved to the front.

"Has any of us developed clairvoyance?" Ye Sheng immediately asked over the communication channel. He looked at Jiu Deyaji, who shook his head.

"Lu Mingfei's camera and communications just malfunctioned," Professor Mans's voice came through the comms. "When did he go to the front?"

“In Aki’s vision, a snake-faced statue turned into me. Is it possible that we’re in a hallucination?” Ye Sheng’s gun was in the activation position. Thinking that the “S” class in front of him might actually be that kind of eerie bluish-black statue, he couldn’t help but tighten his grip on the gun handle.

“No, the first thing Aki was induced to do in the hallucination was to cut off the signal line, which shows that hallucinations cannot deceive cameras.” Professor Mans reacted quickly and had Selma adjust the camera views of the three people together. After comparing the positions and details, they confirmed that Lu Mingfei was not a hallucination. “Lu Mingfei is fine.”

"Professor, I'm fine." Lu Mingfei's voice rang out as he raised his flashlight. "This is the gate."

On the screen that Professor Mans saw, Lu Mingfei's perspective suddenly brightened.

Ye Sheng and Jiu Deya also immediately ran over.

This is a bronze gate; if it weren't for the bronze human face holding a match in the very center, it would seem as if the end of the passageway was a dead end.

"Is there enough time to get the 'key' down?" Ye Sheng asked.

“No, your oxygen will only last about 30 minutes. You’ll have to come back and do a second dive. Norma has already modeled the route you’ve taken, so we’ll be much more efficient the second time.” Mans stared at the rust-covered door. “It seems the Dragon King hasn’t woken up yet. Time is on our side.”

Lu Mingfei suddenly opened the sealing ring between his diving gloves and diving suit at his wrist. After they entered the Bronze City, the air pressure in their diving suits was adjusted by Norma to be equivalent to the pressure in the cavity of the Bronze City.

He cut his own finger and then dab the blood on the lips of the bronze face.

Yin Hong's blood appeared black and viscous on the bluish-black metal surface before seeping into the metal. The bronze face truly began to change; its hard surface writhed, and its pained, ferocious expression suddenly collapsed.

It seemed to have seen something terrifying; even pain couldn't stop its terror. It opened its mouth wide, wider and wider. If you hadn't seen it with your own eyes, no one would believe that a "person" could open its mouth so wide, unless it had no jawbone and its mouth structure resembled that of a giant snake capable of swallowing an elephant.

“It seems that Lu Mingfei’s bloodline is also sufficient to open the door of the Living Spirit Guardian.” Professor Mans looked at the terrified bronze face with a complicated expression.

Ye Sheng touched the black box at his waist, the bomb inside was prepared to destroy the Dragon King's egg. "Looks like we can complete the mission."

The bronze-faced figure, just like the one at the entrance of the bronze city, opened the door.

Lu Mingfei and Ye Sheng led the way, followed by Jiu Deya. The three entered in a triangular formation. The flashlight beams could only illuminate a small area, but they almost immediately illuminated the Dragon King's palace.

This is a small house, an ancient dwelling cast in bronze, indistinguishable from any other ancient Chinese dwelling in history book illustrations except for its material. It even has windows, except that the outside is a black metal wall.

In the confined space, the beam of the powerful flashlight was reflected multiple times, making even areas not directly illuminated by the flashlight beam vaguely visible.

"This is the Dragon King's palace?" Shude Aki swallowed hard. "Why do I feel like the people living here are real humans?"

"No one can say for sure what the noblest first-generation dragons might look like. They could be saviors from mythology, or they could be enormous monsters that dwell on mountains," Professor Mans said.

Ye Sheng walked to the two bedrooms connected by this room.

Inside was a rattan bed, covered in dust from the passage of time. Apart from that, there were only two white "deep robes" hanging on the wall. It was hard to imagine a dragon wearing such elegant clothes.

The place they entered appeared to be the main room. Jiu Deya carefully searched the small space but found nothing unusual. There was only a low table with a ceramic vase on it, containing a withered flower with a black stem that looked like it was made of wire. A stack of yellowed coarse paper lay on the table, the writing clearly legible in elegant Han Dynasty clerical script. Ye Sheng had already seen it; it was an incomplete sentence: "The twelfth year of Longxing, divination, ominous..."

“My ‘snake’ has been circling around this place, there’s no mistake.” Ye Sheng searched the area and then met up with Lu Mingfei, who was searching another bedroom.

“If it were me, I would definitely hide the eggs too. This Dragon King is an alchemy master, he might have some tricks up his sleeve,” Selma muttered, biting her finger.

Not only were the three underwater searching meticulously, but Professor Mans and the others on the ship were also glued to the screen, not wanting to miss any details. Meanwhile, Norma had already created a detailed model of the Dragon King's palace using images transmitted from multiple cameras; perhaps the strange features could be discerned in the 3D model from a god's-eye view.

“If all else fails, we can place the bomb here. The safe zone of this bomb is 50 meters, and the core kill zone covers the entire room, which is enough. You’re running low on oxygen, so if things get really bad, we’ll retreat,” Professor Mans said.

“Alright.” Ye Sheng took the black box from his waist.

Lu Mingfei stood aside, his unease growing stronger. Lu Mingze's words sounded so urgent and terrifying, as if the Dragon King had opened his gaping maw, waiting for them to enter his belly. But now they were about to complete their mission and leave, safely returning to land. Ye Sheng and Jiu Deya would return to the Executive Department, he would return to Kassel College, and the beautiful peace would continue, with everyone living in tranquility.

"Huh?" Shudeya sat cross-legged in front of the low table, tilting her body to the side, her head at the same height as the edge of the table.

“There’s a mechanism here,” she said, looking at Ye Sheng. “I didn’t press it. Could it be a switch for a secret passage or something?”

When Ye Sheng heard her exclamation, he had already planted the bomb and was confirming the signal of the trigger device. He immediately knelt down on one knee next to her and stared at the bulge that protruded slightly from the side of the table.

Chapter 27 Awakening

"The bomb is in place. Let's take a look at what this is." Ye Sheng gently placed his finger on the small mechanism.

Lu Mingfei and Jiu Deya immediately took two separate alerts in different directions to ensure that the triggering of the mechanism would be detected immediately.

Through the 5mm thick diving suit material, Ye Sheng pressed the mechanism. He could clearly feel some kind of structure inside the low table meshing together, emitting a slight vibration and a crisp sound.

The trigger point wasn't hidden; it was right behind Ye Sheng. The bronze wall opened, and a bronze figure moved out along a slide rail and knelt by the table, holding a tray of shriveled grapes.

"So it's a serving doll?" Shudeya was facing the doll and could even count how many grapes were on the tray.

Ye Sheng glanced at the bronze puppet, frowned, and turned to look at the space the puppet had slid out of. It was an area hollowed out from the bronze wall, which was brightly and clearly illuminated by the beam of his flashlight.

He was stunned for a moment, then felt an extreme fear, a chill that ran from the soles of his feet to the top of his head.

"Let's go!" he stood up and shouted.

There are three things inside.

Deep inside is the most conspicuous bronze pot, made of brass, with a surface covered in dark green patina. You can vaguely see engraved Gandhara-style patterns, with two snakes guarding a giant tree.

The other two items were what truly baffled Ye Sheng and instilled in him a profound sense of crisis.

Because of the angle and position, it was not visible to the audience. On both sides of the opening from which the bronze doll emerged, infrared transmitters and receivers were fixed with brand-new aluminum corner brackets. The process of the bronze doll emerging had activated this sensitive technological product of humankind, which triggered an injection device fixed to the mouth of the copper jar. The main body of the injection device was something inside a gray tin bottle.

Ye Sheng didn't know what the thing was, but the gray tin bottle was upside down, and there was no doubt that whatever it was, it was now completely inside the copper pot.

This is a conspiracy!

Someone had already come in and installed this thing, waiting for them to activate the mechanism, or the device itself could be triggered at a set time.

There was no time to think about it anymore.

He sensed that the "snake" he had left around as a watchdog was fleeing, something he had never experienced before. The "snake" was his loyal servant, always dwelling deep within his consciousness, and now, immense fear was forcing it to escape its master.

"Run! It's a trap!" Ye Sheng endured the excruciating pain in his head, raised his gun, and shot the empty gray tin bottle. Deep within his consciousness, other snakes slithered in terror, trying to crush his head.

The copper pot made a boiling and bubbling sound, and numerous irregular black holes appeared among the intricate patterns on its surface. Something was corroding out of its body, and the large amount of gas produced by the reaction created a huge pressure difference. As a result, the gas splashed out from the narrow holes, carrying dark green mist-like droplets.

"Get out of there immediately, into the water in the main hall!" Professor Mans roared. He too had seen the horrific changes on the bronze vessel. "The passageway will absorb some of the explosion's energy. There's still time! That thing hasn't come out yet! There's still time!"

Jiu Deya and Lu Mingfei immediately followed Ye Sheng, running wildly along the way they had come.

An indescribable growl came up from behind them, echoing through the passageway, filled with anxious rage.

"He has returned to the world."

A woman's whisper came through the earphones.

"It's rare to hear you speak so seriously."

A tall woman wearing a deep-sea diving suit sat by the river, the waves of the stormy river washing over her long legs, which were covered in a tight black material.

No sooner had the words left his mouth than the sound of something crispy being chewed was heard, making the other person's voice muffled. "The boss said this might change everything."

"That's like the boss's way of speaking." The woman sighed, rubbing her forehead. "One word from him, and I've run my legs off!"

"Heh heh, things are getting lively down there now," the other person said with great interest. "Those guys in Kassel seem to be planning to detonate a bomb."

"You're eating chips and watching a movie in the hotel, while I'm getting soaked in the rain. I might even have to clean up after our little bunny." The woman took off her diving helmet, revealing her fair, slender neck and her jet-black hair tied in a ponytail. She looked up at the gray rain clouds above her and sighed, "That bomb won't just kill Constantine, will it?"

"How could that be? That's the King of Bronze and Fire. Even if it's incomplete, it still has the power over metal and fire. Besides, that's his city," the communication was interspersed with the sound of plastic wrapping being torn open. "Even if the boss changed the plan, what he prepared for the little white rabbit was half of one of the four thrones. It's just as high-class as the whole one."

......

In the dimly lit hall, Lu Mingfei and his two companions ran towards the passageway until the water reached their thighs, at which point they plunged into the water.

"Detonate!" Professor Mans gave the order decisively.

Two seconds after the command was given, the bomb that Ye Sheng had placed in the Dragon King's bedroom exploded.

Even from a considerable distance, the three submerged in the water felt the intense tremors of the Bronze City and the water itself. The booming sound was like a thunderclap exploding in their ears, and moments later, a hazy flash of fire appeared on the surface of the water. The modified bombs from the Equipment Department, if a safe distance of 50 meters was assumed, could potentially cause fatal damage within that distance.

“Recovery! Your mission is complete.” Professor Mans’ tone returned to calm. “Even if the bomb didn’t cause any casualties, the alchemical potion inside would have a strong chain reaction with the water and metal, quickly depleting the air in Bronze City. He had to leave Bronze City; the fire support promised by the principal had arrived.”

However, the vibrations did not stop after the flames and sounds subsided.

The Bronze City has been activated again, and this time the changes are even more dramatic. Even in the floodwaters of the passageways, one can feel the surging, turbulent water, as if the city has opened a breach and billions of tons of river water are pouring in.

If someone were watering an anthill with a watering can, they would be three little ants deep inside the nest.

At the same time, communication with Mans suddenly stopped. It seemed that the changes in the city had cut off the signal line. Maybe it was that creature that did it, with its sharp teeth.

"Retreat." Ye Sheng and Jiu Deyaji could still communicate, as there was still a separate signal line connecting them, but they had lost contact with Lu Mingfei.

Ye Sheng looked at Lu Mingfei and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that this "S"-level was not acting alone.

The three swam in the rushing water and reached the previous cave.

However, after climbing out of the water, they finally learned why the signal line had broken.

The entire space seemed to have been reorganized. The passageway from which we came was now closed, and this place had become a dead end. The severed signal cable lay not far from the passageway, having been broken by the tightly sealed bronze door.

Chapter 28 Dragon King

The water level is rising, and the air in the cavity is decreasing.

“The water must have been flowing in from the opening; there might be a gap underwater.” Ye Sheng waded through the shallow water and peered down into the center of the hollow.

The cave was mostly submerged in water. The group had been standing on the bronze bridge in the middle, but now their only foothold was flooded.

He looked out into the dark, deep water, where there was now an opening into which water was constantly flowing.

However, all of them were running low on oxygen. If they were trapped underwater, or if the opening was too narrow for one person to pass through, death would be their only fate, and the most painful kind of death would be suffocation. Many deep-sea divers die from air embolism. When air bubbles travel through the blood vessels to the brain, the person is already unconscious, and the suffering lasts only a short moment.