Dragon Raja: Lu Mingfei finds a Freylian

"All this evidence points to the same thing: a brilliant ancient civilization lies buried deep in the earth's strata, stretching from present-day Tokyo to Shimane Prefecture, with its ruins scattered everywhere. It was built by our ancestors. They constructed cities with bricks made from a mixture of stone powder and metal, covered the roofs of every palace and shrine with bronze artifacts, and cast colossal towers that reached for the sky from a special iron-containing metal. Today, those ruins lie deep in the earth, eroded day after day by underground rivers that flow through streets and squares long since deserted, ceaselessly rushing down the stone steps of yesteryear."

Tachibana Masamune slightly raised his hand to signal to the crow.

The crow took out a long white scroll from its bosom and slowly unrolled it on the stone table.

The scroll contains a hand-drawn map, meticulously sketched stroke by stroke with an extremely fine pencil, the lines precise and rigorous, like a cross-section from a geological survey report magnified countless times. Along the Red Stone Mountains, the map marks a winding ancient kingdom, like a black dragon lying prostrate deep within the towering mountains.

The ancient kingdom's territory stretched from present-day Kanagawa Prefecture all the way to the Izumo region of Shimane Prefecture. City ruins were marked with tiny squares, connected by lines as thin as hair, which were speculated to be ancient roads or canals.

At the heart of the ancient kingdom, a scarlet circle was repeatedly drawn with a pencil, next to which were four tiny characters: Well of Hidden Bones.

"This is the ancient kingdom we deduced. Last night, we finally obtained conclusive evidence that not only are the relics of the Age of Gods buried in this stratum, but the incubation grounds of the gods are also located here."

Tachibana Masamune pointed to the red circle on the map with his bandaged finger. The end of the bandage lightly rubbed against the paper, leaving no bloodstains, only a very faint crease.

"The Red Demon River flows from Yamanashi Prefecture to Tokyo, an area with the highest concentration of relics from the Age of Gods. The Well of Hidden Bones is very likely connected to the Red Demon River by a geological fault somewhere. After returning from Takamagahara, the gods traveled along the underground river, passing through layers of rock walls, and finally arrived at the Well of Hidden Bones, where they carried out their final incubation. The Demon-toothed Viper originally only existed in the deepest parts of the ocean, but the Trieste discovered their nests in the ruins of Takamagahara. These silvery-blue fish may have lived in the gaps between the gods' scales, swimming back to land from the depths of the trench with the gods and into the Red Demon River. The fact that they haven't strayed too far from the gods suggests that the gods themselves are in a section of that underground river."

"How far is the Red Demon River from Tokyo?" asked Kotaro Fuma, the old ninja speaking for the first time tonight.

“Less than forty kilometers,” Yuan Zhisheng replied.

“If God awakens there, Tokyo will be the first target he crushes,” said Genichiro Ryoma.

Hundreds of thousands of people squeeze onto trams during rush hour in apartment buildings along the Tama River, unaware that forty kilometers beneath their feet, a river of blood is slowly engulfing a writhing embryo, approaching this most densely populated metropolitan area in the world.

"There wasn't even time to mobilize air power to intercept them," Ryoma Genichiro added.

It only takes a few minutes to fly from Tokyo to the upper reaches of the Tama River, but if the target is buried under hundreds of meters of rock, any conventional weapon is useless.

The faces of the family heads were extremely grim.

The tea on the stone table had long since gone cold, and no one touched it anymore. Even the Gentle Seven Star cigarette between Yuan Zhisheng's fingers was left unlit, its butt burning silently in the wind, leaving behind a long, grayish-white ash.

“This isn’t all bad news. In fact, it could be considered good news,” Kotaro Fuma broke the silence.

"We found it before the gods awakened. Compared to those utterly unlucky first priests in mythology, at least we didn't have to wait until the gods had already hatched before wielding swords to fight them to the death. Incidentally, we also found the lost civilization of the gods. If we can excavate a site from the era of the gods, even if it's just digging out a few intact alchemical tools from the ruins, the technology we can obtain is immeasurable: lost alchemy, the dragon race's alloy craftsmanship and architectural mechanics, and even methods to unlock certain Nibelungen. The families that master these technologies will undoubtedly become the de facto rulers of this world."

“That’s right. That’s why these technologies must never be shared with the Secret Service. If the wrong people acquire these groundbreaking technologies, the inevitable result will be a catastrophe in the next era,” Tachibana Masamune continued. “I only hope that the technologies that are discovered can allow our family, which has silently protected Japan for thousands of years but has always remained hidden in the shadows, to return to its peak.”

“Compared to ruling the world, killing the god is the most important thing right now,” Genji interrupted this ambitious discussion.

All the whispers on the table came to an abrupt end after that one sentence.

"We don't know what state it's in under God's Eyes. Is it a piece of skeletal remains slowly multiplying, an embryo with a heartbeat, or something that has already grown eight heads and eight tails, crawling along the rock wall of the underground river towards Tokyo? We must seize every minute and second. Head of the Miyamoto family, does the Ganryu Research Institute have a plan to explore the Akakigawa River?"

Miyamoto Shio remained silent for a long time.

"No. The Akaki River is located 300 meters underground in the Raimei Valley, and its length is likely no less than that of the Tama River on the surface. In other words, from its source in Yamanashi Prefecture to its mouth in Tokyo Bay, this underground river is probably more than 150 kilometers long. The borehole we drilled last night is at best equivalent to sticking a needle into the wall of a water pipe. If you want to drill a 15-centimeter diameter hole to reach that underground river, you'll have to measure the time in days. Even if I had a whole year, I still couldn't complete the complete mapping and retrieval of that underground river."

He unfolded the water quality analysis report and pointed to the biochemical indicators that he had circled in red pen.

"What's even more troublesome is that the dangers lurking in the Akagi River are far more complex than we anticipated. In addition to blood components, the water quality report also showed extremely high concentrations of nitrogen and phosphorus compounds. Such concentrations of excrement could not have been left by a few small fish; only a large, dense school of fish in an environment with a continuous energy supply could accumulate to this level. The biological density in the Akagi River is astonishing; an entire ecosystem that we cannot currently imagine has quietly taken shape deep within the underground river where sunlight never shines."

"An ecosystem consisting of dragons and dragon subspecies?" Genji asked.

“Yes,” Miyamoto Shigeo nodded. “I can imagine this scene: swarms of Ghost-toothed Vipers following the embryo of the god as they swim in underground rivers, like a group of silver-blue meteors trailing behind a huge shadow. And these vipers themselves are nothing more than the most insignificant scavengers in that ecosystem. In the dark underground world, the subspecies of dragons rely on the chemical heat escaping from the mantle and the minerals in the magma to survive, multiplying rapidly in warm underground lakes, and the entire vast biome eventually becomes nourishment for the god.”

"The dragon viper swarm is suppressed by the fear of the ancient dragon, daring not to cross the line even a step, and can only share the scraps left by the God of Food. This is an extreme ecosystem built around the ultimate predator, similar to the hydrothermal vent ecosystem, except that it does not support tube worms and blind crabs."

"Where do the nutrients come from for a dragon ecosystem consisting of a large dragon and countless dragon subspecies?" Sakurai Nanami asked softly. "Based on my rudimentary common sense, maintaining an ecosystem requires an extremely large and continuous input of nutrients. The organic matter carried by underground rivers alone is far from enough to support a basin filled with dragons."

“Lava,” Miyamoto Shio said slowly.

"Do you remember the dinosaur ecosystem that the Trieste discovered deep in the Japan Trench? It was the first time in human scientific history that a completely new deep-sea ecosystem, sustained entirely by geothermal chemical energy, was directly observed. Hundreds of millions of krill and lung snails fed on phosphorus and nitrogen compounds released from magma vents, small carnivores fed on krill and lung snails, and large predators fed on small carnivores."

"A bottomless food chain is supported by a hot spring vent that requires no sunlight. And what this food chain ultimately gives birth to is the ultimate predator that transcends everything, gathers all biomass into its own body layer by layer, and absorbs all the chaotic evolutionary deviations through the bloodline of the ancient dragon. That is, a god."

“No wonder every awakening of a god is accompanied by rising sea levels and volcanic eruptions,” Ryoma Genichiro exclaimed, slapping his knee hard. “It needs seawater to nourish the earth, to fill underground channels with seawater to create a warm bed for itself; it needs magma to continuously supply nutrients from underground, injecting energy into the entire ecosystem. This is not just mythology; it is a hatchery that a dragon has already laid out in its embryonic stage. Every time Mount Fuji smokes, every time the tide of Tokyo Bay washes ashore, it is the heartbeat of the dragon when it is still trapped deep in its eggshell.”

“That’s right. If we intend to explore that hatchery, we’ll be facing not only a god still incubating, but also its entire retinue. We’ll probably have to confront an entire dragon ecosystem head-on in the dark underground river,” said Shio Miyamoto.

Chapter 805 Preparing for the Final Battle

"The simultaneous occurrence of abnormal climate and crustal movement indicates that the incubation of the gods is nearing its end, leaving us with extremely limited time. But in this limited time, are we just going to sit here helplessly?" Yuan Zhisheng frowned.

“The possibility of directly exploring the incubator is indeed extremely slim, but I do have a plan to force them out from underground for a final battle,” Miyamoto Shigeo said slowly.

"tell me the story."

“The existence of the Red Demon River was known to people in ancient times. Heian period documents record that there is a reddish underground river beneath the Raimei Valley, which meanders through a long underground rock layer and finally emerges on the surface in the western suburbs of Tokyo, where it meets the Tama River. In normal years, this underground river is clear and the water is even drinkable; however, once the earthquake season begins, the river water turns reddish, which is the result of iron in the magma and blood from deep underground being washed out by the groundwater.”

As he spoke, Shio Miyamoto pointed his finger and traced a line from Yamanashi Prefecture eastward to western Tokyo on the long scroll map that the crow was pressing against.

"Now that we have the exact location of the Red Demon River's outlet, we can directly excavate an artificial tunnel at the outlet and set up the battlefield for slaying the god at the tunnel entrance, just like Susanoo waited for the Yamata no Orochi at the mouth of the eight rivers."

He paused for a moment, raised his eyes, and calmly swept his gaze over everyone present.

"But this requires the most advanced tunneling equipment available today, as well as an extremely large amount of funding."

"What kind of equipment?" Yuan Zhisheng asked.

"I need that super tunnel boring machine used to excavate the Channel Tunnel between England and France."

The heads of the families fell silent. Fuma Kotaro tapped the stone table lightly with his withered knuckles; Sakurai Nanami tightened her lapels slightly inside her sleeves; Ryoma Genichiro frowned; even the Yaksha and the crow standing behind Genji exchanged a glance.

The device that Miyamoto Shio asked for was truly terrifying.

The Channel Tunnel is a monumental engineering feat that spans the English Channel, connecting the British Isles with the European mainland. Its construction pioneered the use of unprecedentedly large-scale equipment such as super tunneling machines.

The machine was shaped like a colossal cannonball, nearly six meters in diameter and over a hundred meters long. Its cone-shaped head was made entirely of high-hardness alloy, with coarse threads covering its surface, and a layer of fine diamond particles on top of the threads.

It relies on a powerful track system to propel itself deep into the earth. The high-speed rotating alloy cutter head cuts through the granite like a chef cutting tofu with a cleaver. It roars as it plunges into the ground, leaving behind a giant tunnel with a diameter the same as the machine body and an inner wall polished smooth as a mirror.

Its drilling speed is fast enough to make all traditional drilling methods seem like relics of the Stone Age.

However, this machine, like the Trieste, is a "legendary piece of equipment." From design blueprints to parts forging and final assembly, it would be impossible to build a brand new one without a full year.

"Explain your proposal in detail." Genji remained completely still, without even frowning, as if Miyamoto Shigeo had asked for "a new microscope" instead of "the largest underground tunneling machine in human engineering history."

Miyamoto Shigeo opened his military-grade rugged laptop, rapidly tapped a few keys on the keyboard, and turned the screen towards the entire family.

The screen displays a giant underground engineering structure diagram, with blue and red lines crisscrossing and serpentine on a pure black background, covered with dense Japanese and English abbreviations.

"The outlet of the Akagi River is located on the west side of Tokyo, roughly in the mountainous area of ​​Tama City. There, the Akagi River seeps out from the underground rock strata and merges with the main stream of the Tama River. About twenty years ago, in order to cope with the large-scale urban flooding caused by frequent typhoons and torrential rains, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government commissioned Maruyama Construction to build a new generation of Tokyo underground drainage facilities, and the Rock Flow Research Institute also participated in the entire design. The project was codenamed G-Cans, and its official name was 'Iron Dome Temple,' a super-large underground drainage network system with active storage and diversion control functions."

He tapped the keyboard, and the blue network of lines on the screen suddenly magnified, then automatically focused on a node at the westernmost end of the entire system.

"The Iron Dome's pipeline network extends all the way to the outlet of the Red Demon River. To accommodate the excess water flow from the Red Demon River and the Tama River during the rainy season, we built the Iron Dome's thirteenth regulating water storage shaft, also known as the No. 13 well, inside the mountain near the outlet. It is the largest and deepest well in the entire Iron Dome system. Because the water in this well is reddish all year round, its internal code name is very simple, and we directly used the name from the ancient books—'Red Well'."

The screen switched to a structural cross-sectional view of the Red Well.

A giant vertical shaft with a diameter of over ten meters was drilled vertically down nearly a hundred meters from the surface of the mountain. The shaft walls are lined with several meters of reinforced concrete, and the bottom of the shaft is connected to multiple large drainage pipes that converge from different directions.

One of the main pipes, with a diameter of twelve meters, extends westward from the bottom of the well, directly connecting to the outlet of the Akaki River.

Genji's gaze moved westward along the pipe, finally stopping at the end of the blue line.

That is the outlet of the Akagami River, less than two kilometers away from the Red Well as the crow flies.

Miyamoto Shio continued pushing downwards.

"I will hoist the super tunnel boring machine from the ground and sink it into the Red Well. Then, it will tunnel westward from the bottom of the well, creating an artificial tunnel that leads directly to the main channel of the Red Ghost River. The diameter of this tunnel will be the same as the tunnel boring machine itself, about six meters, enough to force the entire flow of the Red Ghost River to be diverted and poured into it in a short time. The straight-line distance from the Red Well to the main channel of the Red Ghost River, after correction, is about 1.5 kilometers. The super tunnel boring machine can advance about 1,000 meters per week in medium-hardness rock strata. If we carry out continuous day and night construction and work in three shifts at full capacity, this tunnel can be completed within ten days."

“Once the tunnel is completed, the waters of the Crimson Demon River will all flow into the Red Well within hours. Along with the Crimson Demon River, the entire dragon ecosystem that inhabits the Crimson Demon River will also be swept into the Red Well, including the Demon-Toothed Dragon Viper, the dragon subspecies that provide nourishment for the gods, and even the god's embryo itself. The final task of slaying the god will take place within this artificial tunnel and the Red Well,” he said.

Kotaro Fuma frowned: "What methods do you plan to use to kill a god? Line up a gun emplacement at the tunnel entrance, or plant high explosives beforehand? We're not dealing with a crazed Deadpool; the target is a Dragon King. The standard weapons issued by the Execution Bureau are completely ineffective against Dragon Kings—even if you piled the entire ammunition depot at the wellhead, it would only be enough to scrape off a few of its scales at most."

“No,” Miyamoto Shio said slowly, “I will use mercury.”

"I have carefully examined Herzog's original notes left in Black Swan Harbor. The data in them is still the most complete experimental record on the toxic reactions of dragons. Mercury is highly toxic to dragons, a conclusion that has been repeatedly verified on countless test subjects without exception. Once dragon tissue proteins come into contact with mercury, they will undergo irreversible denaturation and precipitation. The scale structure will be disintegrated from the inside by the amalgam reaction. Organs will undergo large-scale necrosis in a very short time after contact with mercury vapor. The same principle applies perfectly to dragon king-level targets, regardless of whether they have completed hatching."

"The price of mercury on the international market is about $30,000 per ton, which is not too expensive. The core issue is the quantity—I need five thousand tons of mercury to repeat the ancient strategy that Susanoo used to kill the first Yamata no Orochi with strong liquor and the fangs of the Yamata no Orochi. I want to fill the Red Well with five thousand tons of liquid mercury, so that even if it is the embryo of a god, it will inevitably be severely corroded by being soaked in the poison of an entire well."

He paused, then tapped the keyboard again. A cross-sectional view of the internal structure of an incendiary bomb popped up on the screen, showing the bomb's interior filled with a dense mixture of metal powder and oxidizer.

"Liquid mercury alone is not enough. I will simultaneously release thermite incendiary bombs into the Red Well. Military-grade incendiary bombs can generate temperatures exceeding 3,000 degrees Celsius upon detonation. This temperature is not only enough to evaporate all the liquid mercury at the bottom of the well into mercury vapor, which is even more lethal to the respiratory system of dragons, but the extremely high temperature itself can also penetrate the scales and subcutaneous fat layer of dragons, causing direct and deep burns to dragon king-level targets. However, thermite incendiary bombs, like mercury, are not cheap. The combined procurement cost of 5,000 tons of mercury and military thermite bombs will require a huge amount of financial support."

"Do we need to airlift that tunneling machine from Britain or France?" Genichiro Ryoma asked.

“No. Absolutely not.” Miyamoto Shio shook his head and tapped the keyboard again.

A satellite image of a large machinery warehouse along the Tokyo Bay coast pops up on the screen. A giant cylindrical machine, disassembled into three sections, is quietly parked on a leveled site, with several engineers wearing reflective vests conducting routine inspections nearby.

"That super tunnel boring machine is currently in Tokyo. Three years ago, after completing the final section of the Channel Tunnel, it happened to pass by here and was acquired. It has been stored on an artificial island in Kawasaki, originally intended for use in the new Tokyo Bay undersea tunnel project. It is readily available and does not need to be rebuilt. Leasing and using it requires a deposit of 5 billion yen, plus 1.8 billion yen per day for usage and maintenance. It will take ten days to complete the tunnel, and it may be needed again to widen the working face at the bottom of the shaft. Roughly estimated, it will take about fourteen days of use. This amount of money, plus the cost of purchasing mercury and thermite, means the entire project requires an extremely large amount of capital."

Yuan Zhisheng didn't ask for specific numbers. He simply stared silently at the giant machine on the screen that stretched across the artificial island and nodded.

"One last question. What if the tunnel is breached, filled with mercury, and the thermite is burned out, but God is still not killed?" He stared into Miyamoto Shio's eyes.

Miyamoto Shio was silent for a few seconds, then gently closed his laptop. He took off his gold-rimmed glasses and slowly wiped them with the hem of his lab coat. In the harsh daylight, his eyes, which were usually hidden behind lenses, appeared more open and sharp than ever before.

“Then I have failed,” he said. “My family has been the technocrats of the Snake Clan for generations. If, in my generation, even the most advanced technology and the most abundant resources of my family cannot stop the god, then I have no choice but to shoulder the responsibility as the head of the Miyamoto family, draw my sword, jump into the Red Well, and confront that dragon that has not yet fully hatched. What other choice do I have?”

"I want to apologize for my dereliction of duty."

Genjiro sat in the head seat in silence for a moment. Then he stretched out his hand, without turning around, and simply opened his palm.

Yasha reacted almost instantly, taking a long, black-sheathed sword from the sword rack behind him and handing it to Genji with both hands.

Genjiro gripped the scabbard and, across the entire stone table, threw the sword at Miyamoto Shio.

The long sword traced a smooth, waveless arc in the air before being caught by Miyamoto Shio with both hands.

He lowered his head, staring at the dark gold chrysanthemum pattern on the scabbard, and froze.

"Crow, can we get our hands on thermite incendiary bombs and mercury?" Genji asked Crow, turning his head to the side.

"As for thermite incendiary bombs, I know the ropes. There's a group called 'Musashi' over in Tokyo Bay that specializes in transnational arms deals. The Japanese Self-Defense Forces don't have these high-explosive thermite bombs in service, but they have them in stock in their warehouse in Tokyo Bay. I'll take some men there tonight," Crow replied, bowing slightly.

"Leave the mercury to me. Five thousand tons is no small amount; it will likely require assembling and purchasing through at least three different channels. Please give me three days," Sakura said, bowing slightly, her voice steady and decisive.

“Withdraw all available liquid funds from the family’s emergency reserves, at least 20 billion, and issue them all as bank drafts to be handed directly to the head of the Miyamoto family.” Genjiro still kept his head up, staring intently into Miyamoto Shigeo’s eyes, not glancing at anyone else.

“Understood. The cash will be available within three hours,” Sakura said.

Miyamoto Shio drew his sword. He saw the sixteen-petaled chrysanthemum engraved on the blade. The sword, Tachibana Ichimonji Norimune, was a national treasure in the history of Japanese swords. It was a ceremonial weapon forged for the imperial family during the Kamakura period and held a unique position in the vast collection of famous swords of the Hebi family, serving as their prized possession.

This sword has always been carried by the patriarch of the family and is only allowed to appear in the most solemn ceremonies—ancestor worship, enthronement, and state funeral.

But Genjiro casually tossed it to him like a sledgehammer.

He was about to decline when he looked up and saw Yuan Zhisheng sitting at the far end of the long table.

Behind them, churning dark clouds swept across the Tokyo sky like a flat, rolling tide. A tiny flash of lightning silently illuminated the depths of the clouds, casting a brief silhouette of Genjiro and the vermilion torii gate behind him.

The tortoise-like man sat in the impending downpour, his figure as immovable as a majestic mountain peak.