Dragon Raja: Lu Mingfei finds a Freylian

Schneider was jolted, and cold sweat instantly soaked through his shirt.

“Unless,” he stared at the wildly soaring curve, the most terrifying hypothesis surfacing, “unless there’s more than one living creature there. The overlapping heartbeat signals are causing an algorithm error. If a hundred dragons awaken at the same time, then the upper limit of the hatching rate is 10000%.”

Before the words were even finished, the number on the screen had already broken through 8000% and was still climbing at an alarming rate.

The control room was deathly silent, with only the heartbeats of countless lives pounding like war drums on everyone's nerves on the verge of collapse.

...

Cold, absolute darkness, and water pressure of ten thousand meters high enough to crush steel. The Trieste hovered above the abyss, like a speck of dust that had inadvertently fallen into ink. Inside the cabin, the only light came from a few screens flashing eerie green data, reflecting three young faces, all taut with tension.

Lu Mingfei's forehead pressed against the cold observation window, his gaze fixed on the chaotic expanse below, barely sliced ​​apart by the searchlight. It wasn't an illusion; the underwater ruins called "Takamagahara" were moving. Extremely slowly, with a sickeningly dull rhythm, like the migration of continental plates, as the billions of lung snails enveloping it shed their sheen, revealing the nauseating truth beneath.

No longer the jagged skeleton of a sunken ship as imagined. Covered in textures resembling biological fascia and tendons, it pulsates slightly. The outline of the icebreaker Lenin is still faintly discernible, but it looks as if it was swallowed by an indescribable behemoth and then clumsily spat out half of itself, with steel and flesh strangely fused together. Huge, still-wriggling wounds are cracked on the surface of the hull, and remnants of lung snails cling to the deepest parts like maggots.

"Mommy, Mommy, Mommy..." Lu Mingfei's lips trembled, and the last word was finally squeezed out, his voice cracking, "...Damn it!"

Caesar's golden eyes burned intensely in the dim light, equally filled with shock. A hundred-meter-long behemoth, even its exposed portion was so horrifying; if it truly was the embryonic form... He forced himself to avert his gaze and look at the seabed. Centered on that object, the wreckage of buildings collapsed radially in reverse, the traces of the shockwave clearly visible.

"Chu Zihang is right, it's an impact from the fall. But why is it moving?"

Chu Zihang said, "Look at those blood vessels."

He pointed to the point where the Lenin met the seabed, where thick, dark red, pulsating tubular structures were deeply embedded in the rock, like the roots of a giant tree, or like umbilical cords transporting nutrients. Dragon's blood, through these structures, was continuously pumped into the cracks in the black seabed below. The entire ruins were awakened by this evil irrigation, and the shaking intensified.

"The embryo didn't die?" Lu Mingfei felt his throat go dry.

“No,” Caesar took a deep breath, “it was alive, but dead. Someone killed it, or rather, disposed of it. Turned it into a sacrifice.”

Offering. The word sent the temperature inside the cabin plummeting. An ancient dragon, even just an embryo, as a blood sacrifice? And what would it nourish?

“How pathetic,” Mai Shude stood atop the Trieste, her domain of ecstasy perfectly concealing her in the absolute darkness of the deep sea, only her sighs mingling with the ripples. “The former queen, before a more powerful being, is destined only to be sacrificed.”

Like a jet-black sailfish, she silently and swiftly sliced ​​through the seawater, approaching the withering Lenin. Her dragon blood was frantically sucked, the fleshy surface rapidly drying and cracking, thick, syrup-like blood plasma drawing scarlet threads in the seawater, clinging to the Trieste's hull. Fleshy tentacles extending from the portholes swayed weakly and withered.

She pierced through a window, easily severing a bud, and slipped inside the enormous placenta.

...

"Everyone!" Yuan Zhisheng's voice echoed far and wide across the stormy sea through the loudspeaker.

He stood atop the highest point of the Sumeru pedestal, his long black overcoat billowing wildly in the beams of searchlight and the pouring cold rain. His figure was imposing, yet seemed to carry an invisible mountain on his back. All around, the rotors of the Wind Group's helicopters sliced ​​through the rain, the Fire Group's boats circled and cut through the waves, and the Forest Group's fishing boats silently deployed. All eyes of the black-clad members were fixed on him.

"I entrust this to you all!" Without any further impassioned vows, he bowed deeply, entrusting all his burdens, resolve, and sense of responsibility into this single sentence. The tortoise only knew how to carry the weight forward, never how to unload it.

"Yes!" The roar of thousands converged into a muffled thunderclap, drowning out the wind and rain. The camouflage crumbled, revealing the menacing array of triple-barreled machine guns, heavy torpedoes, and depth charges; the cold glint of the guns mingled with the phosphorescent glow of the sea. This was an army unknown to the world; tonight, they would open fire on a mythical enemy.

Sakura appeared silently behind him, her voice calm: "Abyss, a 3.2 magnitude earthquake. The Burial Grounds of Gods have awakened."

“Our ancestors have never truly found peace.” Genji gazed at the pitch-black sea, a sea that led to hell, and also to the origins and sins of his family. “How is Erii?”

"Ready."

Genji lit a soft seven-star candle, its sparks flickering in the rain: "Sakura, do you still remember Sakurai Akira?"

"remember."

"If I had ordered you to kill him, taking advantage of his trust, could you have done it?"

A brief silence.

"Yes," Sakura replied without hesitation, "because I trust you. This is my way."

Yuan Zhisheng turned his head, looked at her for a long time, and finally reached out and gently ruffled her hair: "Thank you." The coolness of her hair touched his fingertips.

He turned and walked to the edge of the railing, leaving his back to the loyal ninja and to the soon-to-boil ocean beneath his feet. On the communication channel, the diving team argued amidst the static of the electrical circuits.

"We can't handle it! Absolutely not!" Lu Mingfei's voice boomed in the cramped cabin of the Trieste, filled with desperate anxiety. "What's down there? A zombie siege? We only have one sulfur bomb! Where do we throw it? To let them see it as fireworks?"

“There is a way: detonate the nuclear power plant,” Genji said.

"How will we survive after the explosion?" Caesar asked anxiously.

"Listen to me, activate the nuclear power module, then float up immediately. I will use the safety rope to pull you up. When the nuclear power module explodes, you will be several kilometers away from the explosion center, so your chances of survival are very high."

Caesar stared at the sonar screen, where countless red dots, like boiling porridge, were constantly emerging from the depths of the ruins at an extremely fast speed.

“Yuan Zhisheng is right, sulfur bombs are useless. The only solution is a nuclear-powered capsule,” Chu Zihang said.

"A nuclear explosion?!" Lu Mingfei's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. "Have those lunatics in the Equipment Department gone mad?! We're still down there! How are we supposed to escape?"

"Activate the nuclear power module, overheat it, then drop it. We'll surface immediately." Chu Zihang had already brought up the control interface for the nuclear power module. His tone was frighteningly calm, and his finger hovered over the button. "Yuan Zhisheng will use the safety rope to accelerate and pull us up. By the time of the explosion, we'll be far enough away."

"A nuclear explosion could cause a tsunami!"

"Small capsule, detonate underwater, the shockwave won't reach the surface." Caesar took over the pilot's position, rapidly tapping the control panel to set the launch parameters. "Lu Mingfei, there's no time. Chu Zihang, prepare to activate. We'll drop it when we're directly above the Lenin, then ascend at full speed. This is our only chance."

"We must not let the Corpse Guardians reach the ground, or it will cause widespread death and destruction."

"Corpse Guardian, what the hell is that?" Lu Mingfei was still making a last-ditch effort.

"Corpse guards created through dragon alchemy, a forbidden technique," Caesar explained briefly, his gaze fixed on the enormous, writhing offering illuminated by the faint glow of lava and dragon blood in the darkness ahead. "Someone deliberately awakened them with the blood of embryos. This is both a sacrifice and an attack."

"Chu Zihang, you activate the nuclear power module, I'll take the pilot's position!"

The submersible began to move upwards towards the massive, pulsating shadow, like a moth drawn to a candle flame. Below, the cracks in the seabed multiplied, and thick, black blood gushed out.

"What am I responsible for?" Lu Mingfei asked, looking at Caesar and Chu Zihang, who had clearly defined their roles, feeling like an unwanted passenger.

Without turning his head, Caesar's voice pierced through the engine's low growl: "Help me and Chu Zihang record our last words."

Lu Mingfei opened his mouth, then slumped back into his seat.

Chapter 442 Leaving a Last Word

The Trieste, like an iron walnut seized by an invisible hand, trembled and groaned in the raging currents of the deep sea. Ascending eight kilometers in a mere half-hour—this was the almost insane timeline given by Genjiro, meaning the pressure would change at more than three times the normal rate.

Caesar's hands blurred across the control panel, fine beads of sweat glistening on his forehead, his golden eyes fixed intently on every instrument. He was adjusting, or rather, pleading with this old machine born in a legendary era, pleading with every pipe, every valve, every weld to hold up in the impending, violent ascent.

"Caesar, the password! Give me the activation password for the high-power source of the nuclear power module!" Chu Zihang violently accessed the nuclear power module's electrical control system and pulled out all the cadmium rods used to absorb neutrons and suppress the reaction. Inside the reactor, the neutron density was soaring at an unprecedented rate, and the system alarm lights were flashing red wildly. This was not operation; it was a frantic test of the edge of detonation.

"What password do you need!" Caesar said without looking up, his voice distorted by the roar of the engine. "We're using brute force to break the security! What password do we need? Besides," he paused, a rare hint of embarrassment in his voice, "I forgot the password I set, and it just won't work no matter how I type it."

"You forgot the password you set yourself?"

"I was drunk that night!" Caesar almost roared. "I remember setting Nono's birthday in the settings, but neither the year-month-day nor the day-month-year is correct!"

"It was too easy to guess."

"It was just a confirmation step! Who the hell would sneak in here to play with a nuclear power source? Dozens of people from the Snake Clan are guarding it every day!" Caesar slammed his hand on the control panel in frustration, and one of the instrument needles jumped up suddenly.

"Alright! I skipped the password verification, cadmium rod status locked. Nuclear power module overheating, can be dropped at any time," Chu Zihang reported.

"Good!" Caesar's eyes flashed with a fierce light as he pushed the output valve of the weak power source to its limit.

The submersible shuddered, its lithium battery pack humming under strain, and the propellers began cutting through the water at maximum power. Seawater in all non-essential airtight compartments was forcibly expelled by high-pressure gas, and the Trieste, like a drunken bubble, began struggling to break free from the embrace of darkness.

The underwater currents were in complete chaos, with countless rising and falling water currents tearing at each other. Caesar had to simultaneously control multiple jets to maintain balance, and the high-speed airflow inside the pipes emitted a sharp and continuous long whistle, like a giant bagpipe.

Lu Mingfei and Chu Zihang strapped themselves tightly to their seats, the seatbelts digging deep into their combat uniforms.

"Nono, this is my will for you. If you hear this recording, it means I can no longer be with you."

Lu Mingfei was taken aback and turned to look at the driver's seat. Caesar's profile was clearly defined in the dim light of the dashboard, his lips were pursed into a line, and his gaze was fixed on the dark sea ahead, as if that affectionate yet confused and fearful monologue came from another parallel universe.

The contents of the suicide note flowed through the cramped, bumpy cabin filled with the atmosphere of death.

Caesar spoke of never having taken her home to meet her wretched family, and of not wanting to meet them either. He confessed his pre-marital anxieties, fearing that one day he would know her as well as he knew his ex-girlfriend, and thus grow tired of her. He laughed at his own imagined image of a Chinese son-in-law in a Tang suit, carrying ham and eggs, as utterly ridiculous.

Caesar could never guess which restaurant she would choose next; she was the ultimate achievement he wanted to challenge, a witch with countless possibilities.

Caesar even consulted a psychologist and received the harsh lesson that "one day you'll get tired of it," yet he still stubbornly, fearfully yet hopefully, prepared for that year-long round-the-world wedding. He booked the services, paid for them, and in his will instructed her "not to waste it," to travel the world in his place, asking only to bring back a red Tang suit to hang out to dry in the sunset in Fiji, letting the wind dance around it.

"If there really are souls in the world, then I will overcome my fear and be overjoyed, because I have left my best time in your memory, and I will never get tired of you."

As the final line, "Yours truly, from the depths of the Japan Trench," fell, the Trieste shuddered violently, finally breaking free from a tangled descent current and plunging into a powerful upwelling current.

The fuselage emitted a teeth-grinding creak, but its speed suddenly increased, like a wounded but finally invigorated whale, rushing towards the unreachable sea.

For a moment, only the roar of machinery and the sound of water rushing through the cabin could be heard inside.

After a moment, Chu Zihang's calm voice broke the silence: "I heard from Lancelot that you wrote a book in private, which made it onto the New York Times bestseller list."

"Dragon Raja, the third book in the series, is in the works, if I survive." Caesar's voice returned to its usual tone, tinged with a hint of displeasure at being spied on. "Don't be so bored as to eavesdrop on my will."

"I know. You have a very good writing style and you've been working hard to learn Chinese."

"How can you pursue Nuonuo without learning Chinese?" Caesar snorted. "Chu Zihang, aren't you going to record a segment? Or do you and Lu Mingfei think leaving a suicide note is unlucky?"

"I recorded it. It wasn't on the public channel," Chu Zihang replied, pressing the playback button. "I'll play it if you want to hear it."

“Dad, by the time you hear this recording, I will already be dead. Please don’t be too sad. It was all my own choice; no one forced me. After I die, please take good care of Mom. I know that you and Mom didn’t have children because of me. But you and Mom would have been happy if we had children. Thank you for taking care of me all these years.”

Recording has ended.

"Chu Zihang, your will is actually for your stepfather. I thought it was for your mother," Caesar said, somewhat surprised.

“My mother is an ordinary person. Saying these things will only make her sad. There’s no need for it.”

Lu Mingfei listened, his heart clenching inexplicably, and interjected, "Why would you want someone to take your place? If it were me, I would be heartbroken."

Chu Zihang was silent for a few seconds. "It's okay to be replaced, there's nothing to be sad about."

“Lu Mingfei,” he then asked, “Do you want to record this?”

Lu Mingfei scratched his head. "Okay."

"Frilian, by the time you see this recording, I'll already be gone. Please don't be too sad. You'll definitely be able to handle the Demon King and the demon race. There are photos of you in the dorm; I took them secretly."

Above the sea, atop the Sumeru pedestal, Yuan Zhisheng leaned against the cold railing, the soft seven-pointed star cigarette between his fingers burning to its last embers. He listened quietly until the cigarette butt reached his fingertips, a slight burning sensation spreading through him. He released his grip, the last spark falling silently into the surging, inky waves below.

Chapter 443 The Proud Caesar and Chu Zihang

"We are over the Lenin. Request the release of the nuclear power module," Caesar said. "Equivalent to 100 million tons."

“Release is possible,” Genji said, standing atop the Sumeru pedestal amidst the raging winds. “Preparations for retrieval are complete.”

The crow and the night behind him exchanged a glance, both understanding the heaviness in each other's eyes.

They knew the real numbers; the survival rate simulated by Princess Kaguya was less than 1%. After being secretly modified by the Ganryu Research Institute, the nuclear-powered capsule's power far exceeded the so-called megaton level—enough to trigger a tsunami and completely obliterate the Divine Burial Site. Even if one miraculously survived the shockwave of the nuclear explosion, whatever crawled out of the ruins would not spare any living creature.

"Release the nuclear power module and begin the return journey!" Caesar released the nuclear power module from its lock.

The nuclear-powered hull sank, and its own weight allowed it to quickly move away from the deep-sea submersible.