Dragon Raja: Lu Mingfei finds a Freylian

Even in the quietest indoor environment, there is still background noise of over ten decibels, such as the vibration of a heavy truck in the distance and the water flowing from the air conditioner pipes, but most people don't notice it. At this moment, the background noise is zero, and although the operating noise of the deep-sea submersible is loud, the heartbeat and breathing are exceptionally clear.

Lu Mingfei could hear his own heartbeat: thump, thump, thump, faster than usual. He could also hear Caesar's steady, powerful breathing, Chu Zihang's almost silent inhalation, and even the faint sound of blood flowing past his ears. The extreme silence amplified all sounds, and also amplified the unease in his heart.

Caesar's expression turned serious, his hands rhythmically switching valves and knobs. Clearly, no one knew beforehand that they would need to dive aboard the Trieste, and there had been no training, only an operating manual. Yet, overnight, Caesar had memorized the controls, navigating the ship like an experienced captain caressing a familiar wooden rudder.

Lu Mingfei couldn't help but sigh inwardly. Caesar was truly a strong-willed person. He seemed nonchalant, but in reality, he must have stayed up all night memorizing the manual. He had always been like this. No matter how tired or exhausted he was in private, once he put on his formal attire and stood in front of others, he would be radiant, calm, and composed, with a lazy aristocratic air about him.

So-called blue-blooded aristocrats are those born extraordinary. They never emphasize hard work; those who achieve prominence through struggle are ultimately just nouveau riche.

But Lu Mingfei knew that Caesar worked harder than anyone else. At Kassel College, Caesar consistently ranked among the top in combat-related subjects, achieving straight A's in hand-to-hand combat, weapons, and tactics. He was also the student council president, managing hundreds of students, organizing events, and handling family demands.

How could someone like that not work hard? He just never shows it, always appearing effortlessly relaxed.

Perhaps this is the dignity of the aristocracy: never letting anyone see them in a sorry state, never sweating in front of others.

Caesar pulled a Cohiba cigar from his combat uniform. Normally he would carefully trim it with silver scissors, but this time he had to make do; he simply bit off the end and slowly lit it.

A deep red glow illuminated the dimly lit cockpit, filling the air with the aroma of cigars, a blend of leather, earth, and honey that instantly overpowered the smells of metal and lubricant.

"The cockpit is so small, and the oxygen is limited. Why are you smoking cigars?" Lu Mingfei said helplessly, the smell was pungent.

"It's alright, there's an air circulation system anyway, the smoke will dissipate quickly." Caesar exhaled a wisp of smoke, the white smoke rising in the light and being sucked into the ventilation vents. "We're going to be underwater for four hours, are we just going to stare at each other? If you say the space is small, didn't someone even bring a knife with them?"

The hilt of Chu Zihang's long sword pressed against Lu Mingfei's lower back. From the outside, the Trieste appeared to be fifteen meters long, but the cockpit was as cramped as an elevator, surrounded by watertight compartments, airtight compartments, and various pipes. The cockpit was densely packed with valves and instruments, making it difficult to turn around. Lu Mingfei and Chu Zihang sat back to back, having to duck and hunch their necks to avoid bumping their heads.

Lu Mingfei leaned forward slightly, trying to make room for the knife behind him, but his forehead almost hit the dashboard. He quickly pulled back, and the hilt of the knife pressed even tighter against the dashboard.

"Senior brother, could you move the knife somewhere else?" Lu Mingfei said with a pained expression, "It's almost like there's a hole in my lower back."

"Sorry," Chu Zihang said briefly, moving the knife a little closer to himself. But the cockpit was too small, and there was only so much he could move.

Chapter 420 Old Equipment

"How weird. Didn't you hear anything? Or am I hallucinating? Where did that strange noise come from? Could this antique submersible have broken apart midway?" Lu Mingfei tried to distract himself from the knife that could pierce his kidney at any moment.

The submersible was indeed making various sounds: the slight creaking of metal, the gurgling of fluid flowing through pipes, the clicking of valves opening and closing, and a continuous, low hum, as if the submersible were conversing with the seawater. These sounds were amplified in the absolute silence, each one sending chills down one's spine.

“These are such old pieces of equipment. It’s inevitable that there will be some minor problems after the equipment department modifies them and reuses them. As long as they don’t fall apart,” Caesar said, taking a puff of his cigar, smoke escaping from the corner of his mouth. “Trust the academy, Lu Mingfei. Everything will be alright.”

“In Italian, ‘things’ and ‘fate’ are homophones, right?” Lu Mingfei adjusted the spotlight, looking at the situation outside.

He tilted the spotlight downwards, the beam piercing the darkness and forming a pillar of light in the murky seawater. At the end of the pillar of light was still darkness, endless darkness. They seemed to be flying through the night sky, with an abyss of unfathomable depth beneath their feet.

In a short while, they had reached a depth of 300 meters, no longer the shallow waters teeming with life. The small silver fish had vanished, replaced by the occasional appearance of strangely shaped deep-sea creatures.

A transparent creature, resembling both a jellyfish and an octopus, drifted past the light. Its internal organs emitted a bioluminescent glow, shimmering with a ghostly blue light in the darkness. Several slender, almost completely transparent fish swam swiftly past; were it not for the reflection in their eyes, Lu Mingfei would have completely missed them.

At this moment, there was only darkness outside, as if it were the beginning of the universe, and they were suspended in the center of an empty world.

"Depth 300 meters, all normal," Caesar reported to the surface, then turned to Lu Mingfei, "What, starting to get bored?"

“It’s not boredom, it’s emptiness.” Lu Mingfei thought for a moment and found the right word. “It’s like being abandoned by the whole world, leaving only the three of us, falling into a metal can, not knowing when we will reach the bottom, or what’s at the bottom.”

“The philosopher Lu Mingfei,” Caesar laughed. “I never knew you had this side to you.”

“I’m just telling the truth,” Lu Mingfei shrugged, but his shoulder bumped against the bulkhead, making him wince in pain. “Aren’t you scared? We’re 300 meters above the water right now, the pressure is so high it could crush a person.”

He stopped, not wanting to say that word.

"Crushed into a meat patty?" Caesar finished for him. "Don't worry, the deep-sea submersible is designed to withstand 1100 atmospheres of pressure, enough to reach the deepest part of the trench. Our current pressure is approximately..."

He glanced at the dashboard. “30 atmospheres, which is equivalent to 30 kilograms of pressure per square centimeter.”

"How much pressure is there outside?" Lu Mingfei asked. He actually knew the answer, but he just wanted to hear people talk and fill the suffocating silence with their voices.

"A girl weighing 200 kilograms standing on him," Caesar did a quick mental calculation.

"Am I even human? I'd say I'm covered in pigs from a pig farm," Lu Mingfei rolled his eyes.

“Once we reach the bottom, we’ll have 20 pigs from 20 pig farms on us!” Caesar laughed, his laughter echoing in the cramped space.

Lu Mingfei imagined the scene and couldn't help but laugh. Although it was absurd, it did relieve the tension.

Chu Zihang didn't laugh. He stared intently at a display screen showing sonar data. A smooth curve lined the screen, representing the echo signals from the seabed. But just now, a tiny ripple had appeared at a certain point on the curve.

"Have you discovered anything?" Caesar noticed his focus.

"Nothing for now," Chu Zihang said. "The sonar signal is normal, but the seawater density here seems to be fluctuating abnormally. It could be due to temperature changes or salinity changes."

"A hydrothermal vent?" Caesar immediately considered the possibility.

"Possibly. There is often underwater volcanic activity at the bottom of the trench, which can form hydrothermal vents that spew out hot, mineral-rich water. A special ecosystem will form around it, which is known as a deep-sea oasis."

“Then we might see something interesting,” Caesar said, adjusting the deep-sea submersible’s course and heading toward the area where the sonar indicated anomalies.

Lu Mingfei pressed himself against the observation window, trying to see what was happening outside. But all he saw was darkness. The beam of the spotlight pierced the deep sea like a sharp sword, but the sword's length was limited, unable to reach the bottom of the abyss.

He suddenly remembered something and turned to ask Chu Zihang, "Senior brother, you just said that the dragon race might be a marine species, so why did they later come to live on land?"

Chu Zihang was silent for a few seconds, seemingly organizing his thoughts. "There are several theories. One is the environmental change theory, which believes that the marine environment underwent drastic changes in ancient times, forcing the dragons to leave the ocean. Another is the evolutionary selection theory, which believes that the land provided greater space for development and more resources. And there's another one..."

He paused for a moment, then said, "It's about mission."

"mission?"

"I believe the dragons left the ocean to fulfill some mission, or perhaps to escape something," Chu Zihang said softly, but clearly in the silence. "Like the Great Flood in the Bible, Noah built the ark to preserve the seeds of life amidst destruction. Perhaps the dragons left the ocean also to escape some kind of disaster."

"What kind of disaster could force an entire race to flee the ocean?" Lu Mingfei asked.

"I don't know," Chu Zihang shook his head. "The history of the dragon race has been lost for too long. We can only piece together some fragments from scattered ruins and legends. But one thing is certain..."

He looked out of the observation window into the boundless darkness. "For dragons, the deep sea is both their home and their grave. They are born here and return here in the end. The burial ground is not a place chosen arbitrarily; it is the final resting place that dragons choose for themselves."

Silence fell in the cockpit. Caesar's cigar was about a third burned, the smoke swirling slowly in the lamplight. The submersible continued its descent, the depth gauge on the instrument panel steadily increasing: 350 meters, 400 meters, 450 meters…

“Depth 500 meters,” Caesar reported. “Stable current, temperature 3 degrees Celsius.”

"Received," Yuan Zhisheng's voice came through the communication channel. "Continue descending, remain vigilant. According to family records, the depth of 500 to 1000 meters is an active zone for deep-sea creatures, and we may encounter something special."

"Something special?" Lu Mingfei couldn't help but ask. "Like what? A giant squid? Or one of those deep-sea monsters from the movies?"

“For example, the dragon subspecies,” Yuan Zhisheng said. “The deep sea is the habitat of many dragon subspecies. They are adapted to the high-pressure, dark environment, and some have never even set foot on land. Our family was once attacked here and lost three deep-sea submersibles.”

Lu Mingfei swallowed hard and suddenly realized that the knife pressed against his lower back wasn't so bad after all.

"Understood," Caesar said, turning off his cigar and carefully putting away the remaining half. "All personnel on alert."

Chapter 421 Potato Chips and Long Legs (Part 1)

"Potato Chips, are you there? Please answer if you hear me."

“Long-legged, I’m here, but you’d better keep your voice down. If Caesar opens his scythe, he can hear two women chatting next to the cockpit. But he’s probably focused on dealing with underwater pressure and instrument readings right now, so he doesn’t have time for that yet.”

"It's clearly a pretty older sister talking, while another slovenly girl who only knows how to eat potato chips is hiding on the ground controlling the remote!" Mai Shude thought to herself, even though the other person couldn't see her.

“I’ve strategically gained weight,” the potato chip girl said matter-of-factly. “Besides, even if I were as slim as before, the space would be hellish for me. With my physique and this Heavenly Evolution Word of Power, I’m not cut out to be a vanguard. I’m born to be a supportive mother, strategizing and managing from the rear.”

“Who isn’t a wet nurse?” Mai Shude sighed silently, her breath condensing into a fleeting wisp of white mist on the cold pipe wall. “From delivery to emergency rescue, from nannies to cleaners. Our company, which has no fixed address, has practically become the dedicated logistics support department for these troublemakers.”

Next to the cockpit, between watertight compartments three and four, Mai Shude was curled up in a narrow crevice filled with pipes. Her body was bent over in an almost seductive way. Fortunately, her ninja training since childhood had made her flexible and unyielding when necessary, allowing her to barely find a place in this twisted, maze-like space.

To catch this ride, she hadn't eaten or drunk anything all day. At this moment, two tubes were pressing against her lower back and abdomen; if she had any food in her stomach, she probably would have vomited it out long ago.

The bodysuit was even tighter than Sakura's close-fitting armor, its surface as smooth as fish scales. Wearing it made her already slender waist even more constricted, like a French court lady in a whalebone dress, making even breathing difficult. If it was this difficult for someone with her figure, imagine how much more difficult it would be for someone like Potato Chip Girl; she'd probably be completely stuck in the pipes.

It was precisely because this space seemed impossible to accommodate living people that the Equipment Department and the Rockflow Research Institute did not conduct any inspections.

Six hours ago, Mai Shude had already submerged into the Sumeru Throne. Taking advantage of the staff's shift change, she used a special lubricant to slide herself into this theoretical dead end like an eel. She had been here for four hours, listening to the submersible being hoisted, filled with water, and lowered, listening to the three young people's casual conversation, listening to the hum of the machinery and the groans of the deep sea squeezing the outer shell.

We've reached a depth of 500 meters; it's time to get to work.

She switched on her powerful flashlight, the beam piercing the darkness and illuminating the metal bulkhead above her. Against a black background were yellow and black markings—a nuclear radiation warning. This deep-sea submersible contained a nuclear fuel tank. She took a deep breath, tightened her waist again, and slithered like a snake through the gaps in the pipes, avoiding sharp metal protrusions and scorching hot tubing.

A few minutes later, she arrived directly beneath the nuclear fuel compartment. It was slightly more spacious there, at least allowing her to kneel comfortably. She circled the compartment, took out a Geiger counter from her backpack, and pressed it against the wall. The instrument emitted a faint beeping sound, and the numbers on the screen jumped rapidly, finally settling on an alarming value.

Mai Shude glanced at the readings and raised an eyebrow: "Alpha particles are hundreds of times over the limit. This isn't a nuclear fuel tank at all; it's a nuclear bomb. What is the Snake-Headed Eight Families trying to blow up? This deep-sea submersible is essentially a manned nuclear bomb. Those three idiots haven't realized that their mission is to their deaths."

She lowered her voice, "What do we do now? Defuse the bomb? Let me make it clear beforehand, I studied humanities at the University of Tokyo, defusing nuclear bombs is not my specialty. Although I used to date a PhD in nuclear physics."

The crisp sound of the potato chip girl chewing potato chips came through my headphones, so carefree it was infuriating.

"It's not that complicated. This nuclear bomb is a modified off-the-shelf nuclear fuel tank, and its structure isn't very sophisticated. You only need to remove its detonation circuit; you don't need to touch the main body of the bomb. I've already written down the removal steps and sent them to you. But be careful, once it's removed, the monitoring system on the pedestal will detect the anomaly through a self-test. So you have to disguise the circuit failure as an accident. I've also written down the disguise method in the document."

Mai Shude took a tablet out of her waterproof backpack. The screen lit up, displaying a detailed bomb disposal guide. She quickly scanned it and sighed softly.

"But that would require climbing out of the submersible! And I'm currently 500 meters underwater!"

"That's why I had you bring the medicine. After the injection, you won't be afraid of a depth of 8,000 meters. But remember this: you must take the locking agent four hours later, otherwise your bloodline will go out of control. In the deep sea, no one can save you." The potato chip girl's voice was unusually serious.

"The drug works by temporarily awakening the dormant dragon bloodline within you, granting you superhuman strength and resilience. However, if you fail to take the locking agent on time, the awakening of your bloodline will spiral out of control, and you will..."

“I’ll become Deadpool. I know,” Mai interrupted her. “The boss warned me. He also said that with my bloodline purity, my out-of-control form might be very special, unlike a regular Deadpool.”

“So please be careful,” Chip Girl whispered. “I don’t want to lose my best partner and friend.”

"I know, you're as nagging as an old woman," Mai said impatiently, though her eyes softened for a moment. She pulled a finger-thick air injection needle from her waist, the syringe filled with a dark red preparation that gleamed eerily in the dim light.

This is a drug personally concocted by the boss, codenamed "Song of the Siren," prepared specifically for this mission.

The needle pierced the vein in her wrist, and compressed air propelled the preparation into the bloodstream. At first, there was only a slight sting, but after a few seconds, a burning sensation spread like wildfire, as if someone had ignited a raging fire within her blood. Mai Shutoku gritted her teeth, not uttering a sound.

The medicine flowed through her bloodstream to her limbs and bones, causing dramatic chemical and physiological changes. Power spread like tangible vines to her extremities. She could feel her heartbeat changing; the once rapid and powerful human pulse gradually became slow and deep, each contraction echoing like an ancient drumbeat deep within her veins.

The joints emitted a soft, crackling sound, not painful, but rather like a kind of liberation. The muscle fibers reorganized, becoming finer and denser, capable of unleashing several times the strength before. Pale blue, scaly patterns appeared on the skin's surface, shimmering with a metallic sheen in the darkness.

Mai Shude tilted her head back and took a deep breath, as if trying to absorb the world into her chest. Unparalleled willpower, strength, and majesty. Her already queenly aura surged tenfold, a hundredfold. Looking around in this small space, she resembled a monarch looking down upon her trembling subjects.

His pupils turned pure gold, the pupils standing upright like a dragon's, his gaze clear, unconsumed by his raging instincts. This was a controlled awakening brought about by the drug, a temporary and limited dragonification.

"Long legs, has she transformed into Her Majesty the Queen now?" Chip Girl whispered in the encrypted channel.

After a long silence, a flaw appeared on Mai Shude's face, which was as silent, stern, and beautiful as a queen. She sighed helplessly, "Your servant wait aside, this queen is going to dismantle the nuclear bomb."

Chip Girl chuckled on the other end of the communicator: "Alright, alright, Your Majesty, please begin your performance."

Chapter 422 Potato Chips and Long Legs (Part 2)

Mai Shutoku turned off the microphone and focused on the task at hand. Dismantling the detonation circuit wasn't difficult; the Ganryu Research Institute had various methods to prevent damage to the circuit. However, they hadn't anticipated that someone could enter this confined space.

It's as terrifying as when humans first landed on the moon and found that someone else had already done it.

Mai Shude found a concealed maintenance panel on the side of the nuclear fuel tank and pried it open with a special tool. Inside was a complex network of wires, red, yellow, blue, and green, all connected to the central control module. Mai Shude took out a magnifying glass and tweezers from her backpack and began operating according to the instructions.