Dragon Raja: Lu Mingfei finds a Freylian

The Trieste traveled along a wide street lined with neat pedestals that once held statues, but most had collapsed, leaving only a few intact. One relatively complete statue depicted a woman with a human torso and a serpent's tail, her hands raised to the sky, her expression solemn and sorrowful.

"What is she doing?" Lu Mingfei asked.

"Prayer? Or mourning?" Chu Zihang guessed. "This posture has appeared in the funeral rites of many civilizations."

The submersible continued to penetrate deeper into the city center, gradually approaching the central tower. As it drew nearer, the details on the tower became increasingly clear. The serpentine script coiling around the tower appeared even more mysterious under close observation; each character resembled a living snake, twisting, coiling, and extending.

“I feel like I’ve seen these words somewhere before,” Lu Mingfei suddenly said.

Caesar and Chu Zihang both looked at him.

“In the Nibelungen of the Beijing subway,” Lu Mingfei recalled, “there were some similar symbols, but not as complicated.”

Chu Zihang's expression turned serious: "Are you sure?"

"Not entirely sure, but it feels very similar," Lu Mingfei said, scratching his head.

...

"Is it really an ancient city of dragons?" Manstein questioned.

“There’s too much information, it’s hard to process,” Schneider said, feeling uneasy. “Perhaps we should turn back now. If we’ve located the cities, then there’s still a chance to resolve the embryo issue.”

Upon hearing this, Manstein did not look away from the screen. He examined the photos almost greedily, analyzing every possible trace of civilization, trying to grasp a piece or two of driftwood called understanding in the torrent of shock.

Until his gaze was fixed on the high-resolution photo of the torii gate.

It was a colossal structure standing at the entrance to the ruins, strikingly similar in form to the torii gates in front of Japanese shrines, yet far larger, older, and more menacing. Its entire body was covered in unidentified black shellfish, gleaming with a damp, oily sheen under the powerful lights of the submersible, like the petrified, yet still dripping, incisors of a giant beast.

Manstein's pupils contracted, and a chill gripped his heart.

“A door,” he murmured, his voice dry like sandpaper scraping, “A torii gate, a torii gate is just a damn door!”

He turned sharply to Schneider, the last trace of color draining from his face, leaving it a pale, ashen gray: "Damn it! Schneider! Caesar and the others really did see the door underwater!"

The word "door" was like a red-hot iron rod, piercing deep into Schneider's nerves, which had been corroded by the nightmare of eleven years ago.

Fear exploded in Schneider's heart. Yes, the torii gate is a door, separating the inside from the outside. The tragedy of eleven years ago could repeat itself. He dived, found the door, and headed towards it... In the video, the Trieste was sailing straight toward the torii gate, the building turning into a twisted, gigantic maw in his eyes.

"A torii gate is actually a door!" Manstein's urgent voice pulled Schneider out of his brief stunned silence. "It's just that, like the Arc de Triomphe, it's a symbolic door, not connected to a wall, but it is indeed a door! Because it distinguishes the inside from the outside! We were so engrossed in our amazing discovery that we forgot about the door!"

Yes, a door. It separates the inside from the outside, defines space, and also signifies a passage, an entrance, and the unknown beyond. Aside from the damned pressure relief valve malfunction hanging over them like an ominous premonition, the rest of the mission proceeded unusually smoothly, so smoothly that even these veteran hunters lowered their guard slightly, captivated by the astonishing discoveries.

The story from eleven years ago is being replayed word for word. Dive down, find the door, and head towards it!

Schneider's gaze was fixed on another live video feed. The Trieste, the deep-sea submersible carrying the academy's new generation of elites, was steadily, straight, and irrevocably heading towards that enormous, eerie torii gate.

In his field of vision, the bizarre structure covered with wriggling shellfish instantly twisted and deformed, opening into a gigantic mouth full of sharp teeth, waiting to devour everything.

"Caesar Team! Don't come any closer! Return to base! Return to base immediately! Return to base immediately!" Schneider roared uncontrollably. At this moment, he was not the cold-blooded head of the executive department of Kassel College, but a survivor whose throat was once again gripped by the same nightmare.

But the communication channel was completely silent, with no one answering.

Norma's voice rang out: "The Moonlit Princess system has severed all connections. Our communication with the Japanese branch and the deep-sea submersible has been lost. We are attempting to repair it, but there is no response."

Schneider suddenly looked up, staring intently at the point of light on the central screen that represented the location of the Trieste, a faint glimmer deep in the Japan Trench.

The next second, the light went out.

It wasn't a weak signal, nor a temporary interruption. It vanished completely and decisively from the college's monitoring screen.

Chapter 440 Takamagahara (Part 2)

At the bottom of the sea, 8,600 meters below.

The Trieste hovered in front of the massive torii gate, refraining from rushing underneath. Caesar controlled the air chamber, drawing in some seawater to bring the steel spherical vessel to a stable stop at a delicate balance between the strong currents and the ruins.

He didn't associate the building in front of him with the dangerous concept of a gate. What drew him to stop was that Chu Zihang needed time to photograph the dazzlingly intricate details on the torii gate, and he himself rarely had the opportunity to take a photo with such an ancient and mysterious relic.

He even took out his phone and, while observing the hellish, lava-like light outside the window and the shadow of the massive torii gate, took a selfie. Cesare Gattuso, standing before the historical site, maintained his usual cynical pride.

“It looks a lot like writing,” Lu Mingfei said, pointing to the twisted, coiled serpentine patterns on the central pillar of the torii gate. The patterns were somewhere between graphics and writing; at first glance, they looked like countless abstract little figures dancing wildly around a roaring bonfire, a grand yet eerie scene, exuding a primitive and wild jubilant atmosphere.

This style of pattern had never appeared on the towers and other ruins they saw as they descended.

“It could be script, but it’s not dragon script,” Chu Zihang said calmly as he adjusted the focus of the high-resolution camera. “Let Norma compare and analyze it.”

"Norma can analyze this?" Lu Mingfei expressed his doubts; this thing looked even more abstract than a Taoist's scribbles.

“Norma can access almost all the world’s text databases for comparison and analysis to find the text system with the highest similarity,” Chu Zihang explained. “In this way, we might be able to determine the relationship between this ancient city and Japan, or rather, with any known civilization.”

"Beep beep-"

Genjiro's voice came through the earpiece, "We've encountered a communication problem with the main campus of Kassel College, possibly due to interference from a solar flare. The Ganryu Research Institute is working urgently to repair it." He paused, "However, our branch's Kaguya-hime system can also handle the text comparison."

Caesar remained silent for a few seconds. The loss of communication with Norma headquarters was an extremely rare and dangerous situation at this critical juncture of an S-level mission for the Execution Department. According to regulations and mission hierarchy, the highest command authority on site should right now… He quickly recalled the Execution Department's thick, almost overwhelming manual, but found no clear provisions for dealing with this bizarre situation where the assisting system had taken over communication.

Stay put? With less than thirty minutes' worth of oxygen left, every second is more precious than diamonds.

Caesar's gaze pierced through the hull of the submersible and the seawater, landing on the surface of the water where a Japanese man, his eyes as calm as an ancient well, sat atop a pedestal—the Pinta Island tortoise. Caesar Gattuso's pride and leadership principles told him to trust his companions.

"Then let Princess Kaguya connect to the channel," Caesar decided.

Princess Kaguya connected to the channel, her gentle, beautiful voice ringing out. "Hello, I am Princess Kaguya. How can I help you?"

"Oh, oh, oh, it sounds like Lin Chi-ling," Lu Mingfei exclaimed.

"In Japanese, it's Sakamoto Maaya, Commissioner Lu," Princess Kaguya said with a smile.

"I've sent you the picture. Please take a look and see what kind of script this is," Caesar sent the patterned image, requesting analysis.

Located within Genji Heavy Industries' supercomputer, Princess Kaguya began operating at full capacity, comparing texts from Norse mythology, the Xia, Shang, and Zhou dynasties, black magic runes, Sumerian, Egyptian, African, and Inca scripts—texts from all over the world.

"Comparison complete. No similar text found in the true language database."

"A real language database?" Lu Mingfei didn't know that languages ​​could be real or fake.

“What is widely used is the true language; pseudo-languages ​​are considered by linguists to be forged scripts,” Princess Kaguya replied.

"How long will it take to compare the fake documents?" Caesar asked.

“About seven minutes. The pseudo-text lacks structure, making analysis more time-consuming. Norma would be faster, but I still need seven minutes,” Princess Kaguya replied.

"Seven minutes?!" Lu Mingfei exclaimed anxiously, "Boss, we're running out of oxygen!"

"Begin the comparison," Caesar decided. "Simultaneously search for the embryo. Understanding the history of this city might reveal the embryo's identity."

“What’s the use of knowing the name? We’re not going to erect a monument for it,” Lu Mingfei said, somewhat puzzled.

“After slaying a dragon, you need something to talk about,” Caesar said. “Otherwise, how will you brag about your achievements to the guys at the academy when you get back?”

"Boss, we're at our wits' end right now, aren't we?" Lu Mingfei sighed. "No matter how magnificent this city is, there's not even a trace of an embryo!"

“The Lenin,” Chu Zihang suddenly said.

"Why bring this up all of a sudden?" Caesar asked, looking at Chu Zihang.

“We haven’t been able to find the Lenin yet,” Chu Zihang said, looking at the photos. “It should be sunk here, but there’s no sign of it. Icebreakers have heavy bows, so they would dip into the seabed, but they couldn’t be completely submerged.”

"Will it be crushed by the pressure of the deep sea?" Lu Mingfei thought of the deflated oxygen tank.

“No, the pressure inside and outside the ship is balanced,” Chu Zihang said. “It may have been covered by shellfish and become part of the ruins.”

"Then finding it means we can find the embryo!" Lu Mingfei exclaimed excitedly.

"Where is it?" Caesar asked, flipping through the photos.

"Look up," Lu Mingfei said, pointing to the observation window.

Behind the torii gate, a building covered with black shellfish stands tall like a mountain. Upon closer inspection, the "rust" is actually wriggling; it is countless lung snails frantically mating and reproducing, constantly spewing out their larvae.

“This is too dense,” Chu Zihang murmured. “Where are the nutrients coming from to attract so many lung snails?”

“What are they doing?” Lu Mingfei felt disgusted.

“Mating and reproduction. Thousands of offspring are born every second,” Caesar explained. “This forms a protein factory that feeds the entire deep-sea food chain, from which mutated organisms survive.”

"So the embryo is inside?" Lu Mingfei asked.

"Yes, we found it."

At this moment, Princess Kaguya completed the analysis: "Matching complete. In the Japanese 'Ancient Divine Script' font, the pattern refers to Takamagahara."

Caesar's voice trembled slightly: "Takamagahara?"

"Yes, the matching result is Japanese ancient script, Takamagahara."

"Is the script of the Age of Gods really that bad?" Lu Mingfei wondered why Caesar and Chu Zihang looked so serious.

"Most historians believe that Japan did not have its own writing system until Chinese was introduced. However, priests in the Kamakura period claimed the existence of pictographic writing from the mythological era, namely, the script of the Age of Gods. Most people consider it a forgery," Caesar explained. "Perhaps the script of the Age of Gods is not Japanese, but another prehistoric script, a pictographic script derived from dragon script."

“The gods in Japanese mythology,” Lu Mingfei thought, and he had his answer.

"The Dragon Clan. The so-called divine race in Japan is actually the Dragon Clan!" Chu Zihang said in a deep voice. "The history of the divine race in Japanese mythology is the history of the Dragon Clan!"

"Was the emperor a mixed-race person?"

“The Imperial Family is not a hybrid,” Caesar continued. “You are very familiar with the real hybrids; they are the Snake-Headed Eight Families.”

Lu Mingfei was astonished: "Ha people, our Japanese branch is actually descended from the gods."

Chapter 441 Blood Sacrifice

Kassel College Main Campus.

The progress bar jumped, moving from left to right on the screen like a bloody gash tearing through the darkness. The numbers fluctuated wildly; the embryo hatching rate had reached 60%.

Preliminary results from Norma's emergency repairs: the sonar array monitoring the seabed has regained contact. But as soon as contact was restored, the hatching rate began to skyrocket.

“How is this possible! This is ten times faster than the one in Greenland!” Schneider jumped up from his command chair, nearly knocking over his coffee. He screamed into the broken communication channel, knowing no one could hear him: “Recover Caesar Team! Recover Caesar Team!”

The terrifying memories of eleven years ago, beneath the icy seas of Greenland, overwhelmed him like a tidal wave. The stark white ice, the crimson waters, the silent disappearance of his companions… like an inescapable fate, no matter how meticulous his preparations or how strong his defenses, the shadow of the dragon would inevitably coil around him once more.

The hatching rate surpassed 80%, then 90%, and the heart rate monitoring curve surged, accelerating to 500 beats per second. The central control room's amplification system amplified the life-force emanating from the seabed into a deafening roar throughout the space, each sound like a hammer blow to everyone's chest. The ancient dragon embryo could awaken at any moment, but at this critical juncture, the connection to the Shining Moon Princess system was completely severed.

Schneider could only stare intently at the screen, watching the numbers leap and rise like the pulse of a dying man: 97%, 98%, 99%, 100%.

"It's over." He staggered back a step, his voice so soft it almost disappeared into the air. "The hatching was successful."

"What's going on? The hatching rate is still increasing!" Manstein pointed to the big screen.

The hatching rate reading didn't stop at 100%. It kept climbing, like a wild horse breaking through all theoretical limits: 110%, 150%, 180%, 200%.

“That’s impossible,” a young technician muttered. “How could the hatching rate possibly exceed 100%?”