“Why should I dance with you?”

“Is it because you don’t dare to invite those pretty girls?”

Lu Mingfei and Fingel hugged together, dancing the tango beside the dance floor… The strong head-shaking action was done very well by both of them, with a fierce look in their eyes, like two weasels fighting for eggs.

Near them were the boys’ black formal clothes and the girls’ white formal dresses. The boys’ hair was all combed with classical elegance and olive oil, the girls’ hair had been taking cared more meticulously, which presents by elegant curl with all sorts of different perfume.

The polished black shoes of the boys and the white high-heeled dancing shoes of the girls trampled on the polished, mirror-like wood parquet floor, which reflected the huge crystal chandelier. From time to time, the lights were obscured by the skirts that spread out as they rotate.

It’s a long story about why they are dancing… Back to the time Nuo Nuo pulled the thief Lu Mingfei and innocent passer-by Fingel went straight to the door of Amber Hall, and Caesar stood in front of the door in white to watch them with applauding. Caesar’s ice blue eyes flow with cold light, behind him stood the minister of the six departments of the student union, as neat as a thousand armed soldiers.

“Just in time.” Caesar glanced at his Philippe watch on his wrist and smiled faintly.

“Caesar smiles at you!” Fingel made a fuss.

Lu Mingfei was shocked because he suddenly saw love in that smile…

“I have a ballet class in the afternoon.” Nuo Nuo went up.

Caesar put his hands gently around her shoulders and gave her a most elegant cheek kissing. “You look brilliant. I’ve never seen you wear this before.”

“I bought it with Professor Guderian on his business trip to China,” Nuo Nuo shrugged. “You can’t have seen all my clothes. I still had those ghost customs during Halloween, do you want to see?”

“I’ll definitely give you candy if you knock on my door in that dress,” Caesar said graciously, and took Nuo Nuo’s hand, entered the hall like an emperor.

In this process, he did not look at anyone else, and when his eyes flashed over others, it was like a sharp blade cutting the air. They were the only two left in front of the door after Lu Mingfei and Fingel talked privately and raised their heads. It was embarrassing for Ricardo M. Lu and his eighth-grade senior brother Fingel, who had just summoned the courage to shake hands with Caesar.

“Is that a severity shown by him?” Fingel wondered.

“Shouldn’t we heroes value face above all else?” Lu Mingfei turned around, “He does not give us face, we do not give him face! We turn our heads and go!”

“Don’t! Dude, you need to hold on at this moment!” Fingel twisted him back, gave him the thumbs-up, encouraged the dignified schoolboy like a brother and pushed his shoulder, “Get in! You’ve been invited. What are you afraid of?”

Lu Mingfei held on tight to Fingel’s thumb. “Senior brother, I trust you! I’m just as good a hero as you, Fingel! Let’s go together!”

“No problem! I, Fingel, as the oldest student in the school, has dropped to level F, would I fear Caesar?”

Inside, the student union members in charge of signing saw Lu Mingfei and Fingel shaking hands, face to face, and looking at each other just like a passionate couple dancing the tango and entering the hall of Amber Hall.

The sumptuous buffet was soon enough to convince the roommates that their courage was not in vain. Fingel quickly counted the number of people in Amber Hall, and Lu Mingfei counted the number of lobsters. They got a critical result instantly: This is a socializing activity that mainly involves eating. The generous host had an Australian lobster for each of them, and the red-covered animals were lying on the ice, their backs open to reveal a glinting white flesh. Fingel and Lu Mingfei put down their vigil and brandished their knives and forks. Their momentum can be described as “tigers dashing down the mountain”.

Until a white-gloved student union member rang a brass bell and the black-clad boys and white-skirted girls showed up, they were enjoying themselves.

The bell rang and the student union members in the hall stopped talking. Crystal chandeliers lit up in the center of the hall, and on two curved staircases lead to the second floor, handsome black cloth boys walked down with white cloth girls in silk gloves. The room was quiet and the dance was about to begin. People don’t dance had already exit to different corners, except for the two guys standing in the middle of the hall with plates, brandishing knives and forks in front of a red lobster.

The two guys suddenly mentioned the scene, they stopped eating, talking loudly and wiped their mouths.

“Seriously? Dancing?” Lu Mingfei stunned and swallowed the lobster in his mouth.

“The one with mustard on his mouth… Is he the new ‘S’ level?” A girl on the stairs sounded surprised.

“It is said that he was a child from a poor family.” Said her partner. “But he works hard!”

“What is ‘he works hard’? Is this a commentary on children from poor families?” Lu Mingfei thought, “It’s my parents’ business!”

“He looks really creepy… The one next to him… Creepier.” Another girl frowned. “That cheap suit… The texture is terrible.”

“It is said that he is the illegitimate son of the principal, who has always been an outcast.” Said another.

“The principal has such an illegitimate son? The principal’s impression has gone down in my heart… “

“Sir, please leave the space. It’s the social dance section.” The waiter came to remind them politely.

Lu Mingfei was hanging his head and was ready to run, as he got such an amnesty hearing this sentence. But he couldn’t run away. He was caught by Fingel!

“Haven’t dance for a long time!” Fingel clapped his hands and uttered the words that would make him a lifetime to search for a remedy of regret. “I was the Elvis Presley when I entered the college!”

The waiter stared at the guy, stunning.

“Why look at me? Am I a social misfit? I’m here to dance!” Fingel stared, straightened his bow tie, and snapped smartly.

Fingel looked up and down the stairs of the ladies, Lu Mingfei understood that he was cornered. He had to choose a partner to dissolve the awkward moment.

But the field was full of pairs, no girl was idle. Also, every girl saw Fingel turned her head with a collective “oh,” as if she had seen a pile of cow dung.

Only Lu Mingfei and he were two “redundant” men.

On the second floor of a side of the crimson curtain was pulled open, a small band was doing an audition, leading by the conductor, who’s the chef who brought Lu Mingfei and Fingel food last night. It seems that he is indeed versatile. The chef, who’s the part-time conductor was about to wave his baton when he turned his head and saw the two men in the centre of the spotlight and was hesitated. So, the members who didn’t receive orders can only repeat the beginning again and again.

“It’s Tango! That’s my strong point!” There was a decided look in Fingel’s eyes. “Don’t be ashamed my buddy, hold on! You and I, let’s show a path to Caesar!”

“Excellent, point out your way!” Lu Mingfei echoed his senior brother’s courage.

“Your ambition let me happy surely, so dear junior brother, you can dance female step…” Fingel grabbed Lu Mingfei’s waist, grabbed his hand and snapped to the conductor on the second floor. “Let’s rock!”

It was the first time Lu Mingfei had ever seen Fingel exudes such intensity, such a brave man, that a woman who had a soft spot for gangsters might suddenly fell in love with this scruffy man. But Lu Mingfei wasn’t a woman, and it turned out that every time Fingel becomes very confident, they were going to be in a corner… A dead-end corner.

Music starting and the dress spinning. The two weasels, under great external pressure, could only hug each other.

The air was filled with the ethereal scent of perfume, and it was clear that the guests had all taken the same dance class, taught by the same teacher. The dance was graceful and well-positioned, forming a rectangular array at one time and dispersing into a circle at another. The black suit boys were in the outer circle and the white dress girls were in the inner circle.

The only incongruity is that… Lu Mingfei was also in the inner circle… Dancing lightly.

“Damn, is this the scene that we are the royal concubines of the Austro-Hungarian emperor? I’ve seen Sissi and it’s the same!” Lu Mingfei regretted that he didn’t kick Fingel’s face at the moment he was caught and ran away. By the time they were surrounded, it was too late.

Beside him, the white dress with lace edges rotated with the girls, like huge white flowers blooming.

“Cassel is a German school, you’re right about Austria-Hungary. We have superior court dance teachers.” Fingel danced with great commitment.

“Is this what you called ‘the pathway’? Please, we’ve lost all the face we can!”

“Use your head. It’s a classical European social dance. They’ll exchange partners!” Fingel stepped strongly and lowered his voice, “They’re pairs of XY chromosomes, and we’re two YY chromosomes… Genetically we’re definitely going to win, you know the YY chromosome? Think about what you learned in high school biology class,” he said, serious and academic. “This means that no matter how we exchange partners, we are still YY at least, we will never fail!”

“I can’t imagine that you have so many physiology lectures and optimism in your head, and you still think we are invincible.” Lu Mingfei is pulling the thick, bear-like waist of Fingel, hesitating to want to do that high split movement like those beautiful girls around. Other people’s dancing postures are too tacit. He felt that since they all split legs, he should split too.

“No,” said Fingel mournfully, “I mean we can’t fail, like a stock at its bottom. Plus, I think you can give up the idea of doing a split since they’re wearing dresses and you’re wearing pants, your crotch seams will be the one to split… “

Without answering, Lu Mingfei suddenly felt a little crow flying over his head, croaking.

“This is the moment! The target is the girl with the butterfly hairpin!” As the music changed, Fingel gave the order to start the war.

The two men, manly and gamely, clasped arms and in one place, like a cannon waiting to be fired, went straight at the pretty girl about ten metres from them. That girl is in the chest of a tall and thin schoolboy to rotate with a blooming white skirt, her shape below the skirt is gentle and beautiful.

“Senior brother, good taste!” Lu Ming was impressed.

That boy’s expression first changed, then followed the girl’s, that pair of white high-heeled shoes almost trip together, the girl was supported by the boy to stand normally. It was a normal reaction, anyone who saw the cannon of two men approaching, filled with murderous terror, would have been horrified.

“Hey! Lady! Don’t fall before I hold you!” Whispered Fingel.

The uniform steps of the court dance forced the couple to approach Fingel and Lu Mingfei, closer and closer, five meters, four meters, three meters, two meters…

The girl stepped out of the beautiful rotation, girls and boys cut off their hands and the opportunity flashed, the chance is in a moment!

The two-man cannon also separated, they leaning forward to pull the girl’s hand like two weasels simultaneously. The outstretched hand of the boy, who was determined to hold his partner and finish the dance, was completely ignored. His swallow-tailed coat fluttered and whirled past the weasels.

“I go first!” Fingel pushed Lu Mingfei on his shoulder.

“Can you have some comity to the younger!” Lu Mingfei gritted his teeth.

The push created a small gap, the girl’s whirling skirt flashing through the gap. At the same time, the boys’ and girls’ hands overlapping again as Fingel tried to raise his legs to kick Lu Mingfei.

Perfect shift; the butterfly hairpin was relieved to be far away. The cannon duo took one look at each other. They sighed heavily and regrouped helplessly.

Not far away came a laugh, Lu Mingfei looked up in frustration, Nuo Nuo had put her hand in the hands of a Japanese boy wearing white gloves. She is spinning, as light as a purple swallowtail butterfly. It’s the kind of little witch smile at your worst time. The smile is neither cute or annoying, then stepped on your embarrassed face several times. For the moment Lu Mingfei was a bit angry, also a bit sad.

It’s exactly the same clothes, just like that day in the VIP hall of the cinema. The door opened, the light came in and the girl entered like an angel.

But now she’s laughing at you for you looking so silly.

“Damn, why do you fight with me? The result is still the same, YY is still YY!” Fingel was angry.

“Fuck off! If it’s not you did this first, would we be so embarrassed?” Lu Mingfei withdrew his gaze.

“There will be bread, and there will be girls! We must first unite ourselves. Next time you can go first!” Fingel sighed.

But there was no next time. The quick wit of the first pair inspired everyone else. For each time they change partners, white skirts will fly from the edge again and again. The cannon group fought on all sides and were repeatedly defeated. Nuo Nuo was not alone anymore, elegant laughter falls and rises, which spreads among all people like a plague. Lu Mingfei doubts that if it were not for the stupid nobility etiquette that requires these students to complete the dance, several girls would have laughed and fell.

“What about this?” Lu Mingfei had to count on Fingel’s quick wit.

“What?” Fingel sighed with impending relief. “Listen to the dance: It’s close to the end. Congratulations on being the first person to dance the whole dance with me… My male partner.”

The music began to fade, and couples bent over each other in courtly elegance.

“Go Go Go!” “Fingel ordered.

At this time, the band suddenly refreshed. They did not interrupt but re-opened a new overture, music appears to be highly motivated. The partners looked at each other in surprise. Music didn’t stop, so the dance didn’t end. They worked together and took each other’s hands again.

It’s a new tango.

“I wanted to kill the conductor’s family…” Fingel held Lu Mingfei firmly and sighed.

A touch of eerie violin changed tone as if a blade tearing the whole song, people were frowning to look at the second floor. At Cassel, where everything was of the highest quality, even the orchestra leading by a chef should be first-rate, and such mistakes shall not appear.

When the concertmaster had finished the long note, she stood up, placed her fiddle on his chair, and turned to go downstairs.

It was a girl with light blond hair, dressed in a silver gown inlaid with crystal. Her skin was almost transparent, and she was small, somewhere between a child and a girl. Lu Mingfei stared at her shape, it was a bit familiar.

The dance went on, and everyone was concerned about the sound of footsteps coming down from the top. The music went on because the well-trained second violin took over as chief conductor while the concertmaster didn’t look back.

“Clump!”

A pair of silvery high-heeled shoes were put on marble ground, the brilliant diamonds got refraction like the crystal shoe in the fairy tale. The concertmaster, or the ice girl whom Lu Mingfei met in the 3E exam, took off her black leather shoes and stepped into the high heels. Her originally petite figure suddenly stood up against the high heels, her tight abdomen and chest made her look graceful. She was an amazing girl, but her face was still like ice without expression.

Slowly she raised her arm, raised one leg and stopped. It was a classic ballet move, like the death of a swan. It was so beautiful that it made people’s hearts tremble.

She dances the standard tango with strength and power. She twirled, cutting into the circle in a straight line, straight to the center of the circle where Lu Mingfei and Fingel were. Everyone made a way for her. The circle was cut by the girl like a silver knife. No one could resist her coming, for her dancing was so perfect that she overwhelmed them all with a queen-like vigour.

“I think… She’s not for me.” Fingel said regretfully, “After all, you’re the hot one.”

He did an unexpected thing to Lu Mingfei, that is, he pushed Lu Mingfei to the Russian schoolgirl, but himself… Spinning, too, cutting through the crowd in the opposite direction with the same vigorous dance as the girl. Lu Mingfei had to admit that Fingel is also a good dancer, probably he was indeed an “Elvis” before.

Russian girl put her hands on Lu Mingfei’s. At this moment, the dance entered the climax paragraph manly, with a strong sway, Lu Mingfei corrected his dancing posture under the girl’s powerful arms.

The laughter and the exclamations died down, the truly magnificent dance had begun.

Lu Mingfei never thought he could dance the tango smoothly. He gets all the dance training only for three months, for the Spring Festival performance. The dance teacher shook his head, again and again, commented that Lu Mingfei clearly belonged to the incongruous type kid: If he moves his hands, his legs will be in the wrong position, vice versa.

It’s not good to think of anyway.

Lu Mingfei was able to stick to it because his partner in the group dance was Chen Wenwen.

But under the control of the girl and the suggestion of her eyes, Lu Mingfei immediately followed the rhythm. All the movements were engraved in his mind, such as how to put his arms and how to walk under his feet. There’s no need for him to think, he just needs to follow the dancing queen. Their dance is free and unrestrained as if they have practiced it for many years. The silver skirt flew and reflected the light of the whole hall.

“Hate their dragon lineage? How come that? You guys look so cool!”

“Do you know why Manstein and Guderian are BBF? Because they ‘graduated’ from the same psychiatric hospital.” Fingel raised his eyebrows.

“What!” Lu Mingfei was stunned. “The same psychiatric hospital?”

“Our thinking way is different from ordinary people; it is difficult for us to integrate into the general groups. Guderian and Manstein were regarded as psychotic because they behaved exceptionally as children and remained in hospital until they were fifteen years old. That’s why Cassel College calls itself ‘another option’. Choose Cassel College, you have to say goodbye to normal life, where the only thing you can do is slaughter dragons because dragons hate us the most. We have the ability of the dragon race, but we are human in our hearts. We are a group of people living in the crack, not flattering on both sides.”

“Yes,” Lu Mingfei said thoughtfully, “You are not human indeed.”

“You are not human, and your family is not human…”

“That makes sense… If my parents are college students, they should all have dragon tails.” Lu Mingfei agreed.

Fingel has become accustomed to the fact that his roommate’s face is thicker than the wall because it’s the same for himself. “Another example is Chu Zihang. Everyone in the college said he was extremely depressed before. He had been trying to hide his differences from ordinary people and had been searching the internet for dragon information since high school. He was one of several people who contacted Cassel College by himself over the years. At first, the school did not believe that there would be such a high purity of dragon lineage. So this guy must have been very depressed when he was a kid. Now he has found an organization. Of course, he has to slaughter the dragons bravely!”

“What about Caesar? He’s not depressed at all. He’s an ‘inpressed’ man.”

“Caesar is the exception. His full name is Caesar Gattuso. The Gattuso family is a famous aristocratic family in Italy, there were seven or eight dukes in this family. Unfortunately, none of them succeeded in ascending the Italian throne, thus the Gattuso family always thought that their family should have an emperor. Later, they found that Caesar had a strong leadership temperament and talent for mathematics and fighting when he was young. His logic of thinking was very different from that of ordinary children. The elders of the Gattuso family were gratified.” Fingel said, “Caesar was so saucy because his elders loved him so much.”

“How lucky! Nobody thinks he’s such a bastard because he is saucy?” Lu Mingfei didn’t like Caesar.

“That’s the emperor! He is the person whose family expects to become an emperor! The emperor must be different from ordinary people. Strange if they’re the same.”

“Emperor? What time is it?”

“The Gattuso family felt very sorry! After waiting for hundreds of years to get a young who can be the Italian emperor, well, democracy came and no more emperor. So they had to reduce the target to the Italian Prime Minister. Caesar graduated from Eton Public School. Famous schools were competing for him. And he chose Cassel College between Cambridge and Cassel. He’s not looking for comfort, it’s just because he feels that it’s more challenging and suitable for a strong person like him. His first sentence in school was: ‘You can challenge me, but I’m ready to laugh at you!’

Lu Mingfei muffled his face. “What’s the first sentence of my entrance?”

“If it starts from the moment you board the train, I remember you said… Ah, what a luxury!”

“I can’t see that you have a good memory in your lotus-like head!” Lu Mingfei sighed again. “What about the senior sister?”

“Senior sister? Sounds so dear! Unfortunately, this yellow page does not include your coveted, Caesar’s, girlfriend’s past. She seems to have a very wealthy father, but she always tells people that she has no family, she has a brother, who is a baby and a dragon-human generation, named Gates, nickname ‘The Key’, with his name exactly the opposite. That little fellow’s blood can open all the doors in the world.” Fingel looked expectant. “I often think that if I’m poor enough and want to rob a bank in the future, I’ll ask him for help.”

“I’ve seen her drive a Ferrari!”

“I’ve also seen her in Lamborghini. But strangely enough, she also works part-time on campus with Guderian, she doesn’t need to make money by herself at all. Anyway, be careful to approach her.”

“Why?” Lu Mingfei was in a daze.

“Do you know her nickname? ‘Nuo Nuo the Red’ or ‘The Red Witch’.” Fingel looked mysterious. “Sometimes she’s quiet, sometimes she’s crazy! If you try to use your privilege of dating a girl for three months, she may agree with you!”

“Will Caesar blow me up?”

“What are you afraid of? Did you remember Paris dude, the prince of Troy, took the risk of being blown up by Agamemnon and Achilles and robbed Ms. Helen to go back to the palace?” Fingel sounds heroic. “What’s more, Caesar is a hero. Brothers are like the body and women are like clothes!”

“Bah…” Lu Mingfei suddenly thought, “By the way, Chu Zihang talked to me today!”

“I know, the whole school knows,” Fingel moved his computer to the home page of the Cassel College website with the headline “S vs A! Falling in love with each other!” The background of the photo is in the afternoon sunshine. The two people look at each other with a smile with glimmers in their eyes. One is the new student Lu Mingfei, and the other is Chu Zihang, president of Lionheart Association.

Lu Mingfei covered his face again. “Is there a paparazzi in this college? Will they doubt my sexual orientation?

“Absolutely not! Your sexual orientation has been corrected in the second piece of news.”

Lu Mingfei opened the second news. The picture shows him looking at Nuo Nuo’s back when he is rushed to the library with Nuo Nuo. Even Lu Mingfei himself wishes to punch the man in the picture. The title was “Looking deeply like the sea, don’t worry if you have girlfriends, S level has a goal!”

“What a ‘deeply like the sea’!” Lu Mingfei almost jumped up. “Which guy wrote this? It’s about killing me!”

“It sounds like one of my fellows.” Fingel pondered.

“Mr. Director! Can you delete it? It’s not the time to let Caesar see that!” Lu Mingfei cried, “Please!”

“Caesar may not have seen it yet, but… He had so many friends that may saw the screenshots early and gave it to him… Delete them is meaningless right now.” Fingel comforted him, “Public figures are not afraid of gossip, just as male monkeys can dominate a group of female monkeys if they can do so.”

“What metaphor is this?”

“There are similarities between the social relations of monkeys and those of humans.” Fingel’s eyebrows fluttered.

“Stop!” Lu Mingfei waved violently. “Don’t say anything else! Now the problem is that Chu Zihang invited me to join the Lionheart. He also said that I would be the next president after him. If I did not join him, he would… Nevermind, and Kieran, Kieran said I should join the Freshman Fraternity as Chairman. Do I have to choose a side when I enter your college? Can we live without a side? Which side is better to worship?

Fingel looked up at the roof as if it was a big problem that needed to be pondered for a long time.

He stood up and paced for a few steps, saying, “Strategically, you’ve gone too far in deciphering maps. The highest score in the history of the 3E exam, awarded your principal’s scholarship, all of these went over too much. If it was in the Middle Ages, you would be called a dragon slayer who had been granted knighthood, so every club tried to attract you. Understandably, freshmen don’t want to be caught between the Lionheart Association and the Student Union. Both clubs want to attract new people. Once the freshmen are separated, they should be their opponents. Kieran has a little organizational ability, but not as strong as you, no charisma.”

“Charisma? Me? ” Lu Mingfei dropped his head.

“Compared with Kieran’s offer, Chu Zihang’s more attractive. He’s trying to train you as his heir. Lionheart Association is still above the Student Union in college. The president of Lionheart Association is always the most talented young person. It is said that the boss of our principal, Maynic, is the first president of the Lionheart Association. Therefore, everyone feels that the principal is quite partial to Lionheart Association. Being president of Lionheart will make a good start for your heroic journey!”

“Bah! What heroic road? Are you joking? I’m just thinking about how I can survive in this college.” Lu Mingfei turned his eyes. “Others do not know, how could you don’t know how I pass the 3E exam? The map thing… It’s hard to explain, but it’s not my skill anyway. It’s all fake! Do you want to be a king with only two shotguns on your waist? Now I just want to know which side should I go pick.”

“You’re a capitulator. Come on, are you Liu Chan? You’re going to make a name for yourself. People invite you to be the boss, not a flunky. All in all, only Caesar’s Student Union did not invite you, and you secretly coveted his girlfriend…” 1)

“Hello! It’s not coveting, it’s “having a good feeling for the good-looking senior sister!” Lu Mingfei said quickly.

“Although Caesar is an open-minded campus politician, he is a true man. But a true man just has one good cloth, Caesar doesn’t want to walk naked, nor share the cloth with you. If you want to live well in the college, there’s nothing you can do but join Chu Zihang. After all, you are from the same school.” Fingel simply ignored him.

Lu Mingfei grasped his head hard, this will decide that he would live good or bad in the future, which is very difficult.

The computer suddenly prompted a new mail. Lu Mingfei opened the new mail and was stunned.

Ricardo:

Dinner and social dance will be held in Amber Hall tomorrow at 18:00. If you have time to eat, Caesar says he wants to talk to you.

Remember to wear formal clothes. Warm Tip: School uniforms are not formal. You can rent one at the Academy Theatre.

Nuo Nuo

Fingel took a look and was silly for a long time. “Liu Chan… Sima Zhao came to invite you to dance… Now all three clubs have taken a fancy to your, the hottest newbie.”

Lu Mingfei raised his head. “Senior brother, now… Which country should we surrender to?”

As night fell, the Amber Hall lit up, and the lights shone brilliantly through the huge floor-to-floor windows. This is a gothic spire villa with deep red tiles on the roof and granite walls from India. The Student Union executives, dressed in black dresses, with white handkerchiefs or crimson roses in their jacket pockets, stood under the corridor to greet the guests.

“My dear! Caesar’s house is enough for a hundred of us, isn’t it?” Lu Mingfei was hiding in the distant bushes, praising, “The capitalist society is indeed man-eating. “

“Caesar did not always live here, but he rented it as a place for Student Union activities. In the past, he didn’t have to pay rent. He won the right to use the Norton Hall every year… Now the Norton Hall belongs to you.” Fingel was dressed in black. He’s actually a tall guy, it’s just his soul is a little trivial. In the suit, he shows his good shape. Plus the German gray eyebrows eyes, and a small braid which showing a quite handsome forehead, he stood behind Lu Mingfei like a bodyguard.

“Then why don’t we move to Norton Hall?” Lu Mingfei thought about this.

“You have to spend tens of thousands of dollars to renovate the furniture, plus expensive heating and land taxes… I’d love to move in if you want to pay the money. It’s even ok to sleep with you.”

“Fuck off!”

“Then I’ll fuck off now. Say hello to Caesar by yourself.” Fingel turned around and pretended to leave.

“My dear senior brother, you must accompany me through this journey in any case.” Lu Mingfei grieved and grabbed him.

“Hum! You think you don’t need me?’ Fingel turned his eyes, “Look carefully, it’s not that easy. They spend a lot of money! These fellows wore Armani or Zegna suits, Montblanc or Constantine watches, and in front of the door was either Aston Martin or Jaguar…” Fingel shook his apparently too small school suit. “Compare our rented suits… I think Caesar is ready to show off his wealth to you, or he is ready to slap dollars on your face and say to you come fight together with me or lick my shoes right now!”

“I hope he has no foot odour…”

“No dignity!” Fingel covered his face. “Wait, there’s something new!”

The reporter standing at the entrance of the Amber Hall clicked on the camera. The focus of the magnesia and vision was a pickup truck that was backing up to the main entrance of the Amber Hall. It was carrying something unknown, covered with thick rain cloth. The rain cloth was suddenly uncovered by the student union cadres. The bright red like a waterfall flowed down from the warehouse of the pickup truck. Under the cloudy evening sky, a bright colour appeared to be thrilling.

It was thousands of just picked roses with fresh dew, sprinkling like rivers into the sea in front of the Amber Hall.

“Caesar has even prepared roses for you. You see how much he loves and values you!” Fingel sighed.

“Value your sister!”

“I don’t have a sister!” Fingel said.

“Then it’s my sister?” Someone said behind them.

Lu Mingfei and Fingel turned around, and the girl stood behind them. Dark purple dress, moon-white silk shirt, purple stockings, a full set of gold-inlaid Amethyst customized jewelry and neatly combed dark red hair, 10 cm high Mari Jane heels, holding a black umbrella. Rain poured down the edge of the umbrella, making her look like hiding in a veil.

He didn’t mention that when Nuo Nuo was standing behind them.

“Eh? Does the hostess greet the guests personally?” Fingel was stunned.

“It’s to catch thieves! What are you sneaking about? Come with me!” Nuo Nuo took up her umbrella, seized Lu Mingfei in one hand, Fingel in the other, and led them straight to the door of the Amber Hall.

Lu Mingfei was dizzy and turned around and heard the lonely and forceful applause. Turning his head, he saw Caesar in a white suit standing at the end of the corridor, his hair shining like gold. The lace scarf in his neck was inlaid with rhinestone, and the corner of his mouth had a cold smile. It was not clear whether it was welcome or ridicule.

1. All references come from The Three Kingdoms. The Shu Emperor, Liu Chan, surrendered to Wei Dynasty in the end.

Professor Guderian came up and shook hands with him. “Principal Scholarship! This is the greatest honour of the college. Mingfei, I have always had confidence in you!”

Lu Mingfei was a little confused. When Nuo Nuo tapped him, he didn’t understand her expression. In a word, it was not a happy expression. It was cold. “S” level offended Nuo Nuo?

When the students came out of the library, the church bell rang.

Lu Mingfei thought it’s strange that he had been in the college for several days, but the church bell never rang at all. Now the clock was swing, again and again, the deep bell had rung for a long time, like a stubborn old man.

Everyone stood up, looked up at the direction of the bell tower, where a large group of white pigeons came out, singing and hovering. Finally, the sky on the lawn was covered with white feathers of pigeons. Caesar held out his hand to the sky, a pigeon fell on his finger. Then all the pigeons landed on the lawn, not looking for food, but cooing, which sounded a little sad.

The laughing students had become silent. Caesar pulled a white scarf out of his uniform pocket and tied it on the fence beside the lawn. Other students did the same. The fence was now like a tree with white flowers.

Lu Mingfei was at a loss to hear someone behind him, “Somebody left us.”

He turned his head and saw Chu Zihang’s pale golden pupils. The president of the Lionheart Association somehow took the initiative to talk to him.

“Every time someone leaves us, pigeons fly out of the church. It’s mourning.” Chu Zihang looked at the lawn and said softly.

Lu Mingfei, himself, is an “S” level, Chu Zihang is an “A” level, but speaking to such student leaders, Lu Mingfei just feels like a little brother who nods vigorously.

Chu Zihang patted the shoulder of Lu Mingfei and smiled faintly. “Thank you. If you hadn’t worked out that map, more people would have left us.”

Lu Mingfei never thought Chu Zihang would smile. At any time, Chu Zihang always has an expressionless face, even when he was shot down by Lu Mingfei. His expression is different from Caesar’s indifference. Caesar was proud and Chu Zihang was just indifferent to everything. But now he was smiling, gentle as a brother.

“Is your brother okay?” Chu Zihang asked.

“Oh… he’s fine,” said Lu Mingfei. “He admires you very much.”

Chu Zihang still laughed, very polite, but not that happy.

“You’re not afraid to look at me, are you?” Chu Zihang said again.

“No.”

“That’s good. To tell the truth, I can’t see many eyes, others do not like me staring them.”

Lu Mingfei suddenly understood why Chu Zihang always drooped his eyes and showed no expression, because those golden pupils that never extinguished would make others uncontrollably afraid, and he was avoiding others’ sight. At this moment, the golden pupils were completely opened to Lu Mingfei, showing a strange beauty.

“This is my formal invitation. Please join the Lionheart.” Chu Zihang said, “You will be the next president after me, I promise.”

“Why?” Lu Mingfei was stunned.

“Because the person who can take over from me must be the person who can rival me!” Chu Zihang said.

Lu Mingfei bowed his head and grabbed his back neck. This is the second invitation he received today. In the library, Kieran has indicated that as acting chairman of the freshmen’s fraternity, he has finally found a suitable chairman, Lu Mingfei, which bluffed Lu Mingfei to shake his hands.

The chairman position of the freshmen’s fraternity is suitable for him, although he can’t fight, he can rely on his “S” level. But the president of Lionheart… Is that a big joke? The Lionheart Association is the oldest community in Cassel College, and its leader is something that Caesar coveted for a long time. Caesar joined the Student Union only because of his predecessor, the Lionheart president before, did not like Caesar’s pride. How can he get something that even Caesar can’t get?

He would like to say some stupid word sincerely like it is not easy for you to give up the position of emperor and give it to me! But he didn’t dare to say that crap. Chu Zihang looked directly into his eyes, his expression was indifferent but serious, like a young and promising king, and every word he said was taken seriously.

“Caesar also expects you to join the student union. If you choose the student union, that’s fine.” Chu Zihang said lightly, “I will be happy to be a friend or an opponent of yours.”

He lowered his eyes, patted Lu Mingfei on the shoulder, and turned away.

Lu Mingfei stood in his place for a long time, and finally got a breath of cold sweat all over his body. What is it called “I’m happy to be a friend or an opponent of yours?” Is that a threat? Is it a naked threat? Can threats be spoken in such a calm tone? It’s like a girl squinting and smiling and saying, “I would rather kill you if I can’t love you!”

In the Three Gorges Reservoir, the black helicopter hovered over the lock, and on the undulating surface of the water, Moniaher turned over to reveal its belly of the ship. When it fell into the water, it overturned and the parts above the draft line were immersed in the cold river. The helicopter lowered the ladder and a slender dark shadow took it down. He was holding a black umbrella against the rain with his back to the light.

Maans looked up at the shadow with difficulty and grinned with the wet cigar. “Mr. Angers.”

The baby in his arms was crying loudly, no other voices except for endless storms. His closest friends were floating in the cold river, the young intern Selma never had a chance to receive her full mark. In the instant of felling, the third mate held “the key” in his arms to block the impact with his bodies, which broke his spines.

Principal Angers went to Maans and squatted down, got his lighter to light Maans’s cigar, then examined the wound in his waist, where a yellow tooth pierced. In the violent explosion, a long tooth broke and flew out. The “Undusted” didn’t block it.

“If it goes a little further up, I won’t be able to wait till you come.” Maans sucked his cigar deeply.

Principal Angers pressed Maans’s wound. “Don’t talk, the doctor will come down at once.”

Although the principal is very old, his hands were still warm and powerful. Maans felt life slightly flowing back into his body and grinned: “Doctors are useless. Let me finish my final report, just like the heroes in the movie.”

“Yes, the doctor is useless. There is a poison in the dragon’s teeth. The poison is eroding your nervous system. We can’t save it.” The principal nodded. “Let’s start right away.”

Maans handed the baby to the principle. On the other hand, he held on to a rope all the time and did not loosen it when he passed out. He also handed it to the principal. The principal pulled a rope and lifted the copper jar from the sinking water, stroked the fine lines on the surface and read in a low voice.

“I think I killed Norton the Dragon King. This copper pot was brought out by Ye Sheng and Aki Shutoku from the bronze palace. I don’t know what’s in it, but Norton wants to take it back. It should be of great research significance; we should search the skeleton of the dragon upstream of the reservoir and perhaps we’ll have time to extract its DNA. There’s nothing else. I know I have an insurance policy to airlift my body back to Germany…” Maans insisted that in the end, his physical strength can’t hold anymore.

“It’s not Norton the Dragon King, but a servant, a warrior who serves as a dragon servant and guards the Dragon King’s soul.” The principal said, “This copper jar is a bone reproduction bottle, or ‘the egg’. The words on it are: ‘Give my blood to the great Majesty Nidhogg, who is the existence of supreme, strength virtue, who rules the whole world with fate’. What inside is Norton!”

“Is he hiding behind Gongsun Shu?” Maans asked.

“We’ll know after we’ve learned it. When we get the answer, should we engrave it on your tombstone?” The principal said.

“No, just carve my wife’s name,” Maans said. “Don’t tell the students that the whole Kui Men Operations Group has been destroyed, it’s a long way for them. They shouldn’t be sad for us, they should still think that slaughtering dragons is a fun and bloody thing and worth fighting for their whole life.” Maans whispered, “That will be good.”

“I didn’t say that. They only knew that Ye Sheng and Aki had left us. I acted calmly.” The principal said, “I just don’t know how to get rid of this lie when I get back to school. What about the course of yours? You still have classes this semester.”

“Schneider then, he wants to continue to be a professor.” Maans puffed a cigarette through his nostrils. “Let’s just say we’re going on a new mission. Anyway, the world is big and there are dragon relics everywhere. They can always say they’re busy with new adventures. In a few years, it doesn’t matter whether it’s public or not.”

“Okay, just as you said.”

“Goodbye, please say Hi to Nuo Nuo. It’s time for her to change her mentor.” As the cigar fell into the water, Maans slowly closed his eyes.

The principal pulled out the blooming rose from his chest and put it on Maans’ chest. He stood up with the crying baby in his arms. Lights poured in from all sides, searchlights shot on the principal, and military and police cars surrounded the banks of the river. The old man rose silently and patted the baby on the face, put his little head into his arms, and covered himself with the black umbrella.

“So bigone!” Professor Manstein said softly. He was on the second floor of the library, watching the students disperse downstairs, leaving only white scarves tied up in the fence.

“Bigone?” Professor Guderian was stunned.

“Chinese dialect means silence.” Manstein took off his glasses and felt deep, “In the new semester, some people have left us. The freshmen have not yet grown up, but we are old again. It makes people feel bigone.”

“Yes, really bigone.” Guderian also lamented, “One thing I’m curious about is that before you know Lu Mingfei’s 3E exam results, you didn’t doubt him anymore. I heard you’re even betting on the Internet that he will pass. What are you hiding from me?”

“I won’t hide it from you. Aren’t we good friends from the same psychiatric hospital?” Manstein shrugged his shoulders.

“That’s a strange statement…”

“That’s the truth. I dispelled my doubts about Lu Mingfei.” Manstein pointed to the belfry in the distance. “Because I called my father and he said that he was the best descendant of dragons.”

“The Watchman said that?” Guderian marvelled.

“Yes, but there’s no explanation.”

Professor Guderian looked at the clock tower, which was never open. “It’s always hard for me to associate the Watchman with your father. You don’t look like you should have a father.”

“He made my life and my mother’s life so bad so that I had no childhood at all. I could not tell we have affection… But to speak of the dragon slayer, he is probably the only person in the world who can be compared with the principal!” Manstein said, “There are some things I still believe in, at least… Thanks to his instruction, I won a big one in the lottery.”

Lu Mingfei was lying in bed, listening to the sound of paper flipping from the upper bunk, rang again and again, back and forth endless.

“Hello, Mr. Loser.” Lu Mingfei said.

“I’m busy. Shut up if there’s nothing important.” Fingel was rarely serious.

“Is it just reading? Can’t you talk? Speaking will kill you?” Lu Mingfei said.

“What’s important about reading?” The upper bunk continued to rattle.

Lu Mingfei looked up to glance. “Hello! Can you be more ridiculous?”

The upper bunk was piled with bills. Fingel was counting money in piles, with a Le Pere Goriot smile on his face. Every stack was torn from his so-called favourite philosophy book and tied up with a page of the book.

“Honesty, I won them but not a bank robbery.” Fingel said, “I knew you were gifted, you lucky little prince! You will bring me good luck! If Manstein didn’t take my part, I would have won more.”

“The name of the lucky little prince is so disgusting! Hey, I’m not sure about something. Do you have time to explain it?” Lu Mingfei said.

“If you have a cream soup, the Yellow Pages of Cassel College will provide you with the most comprehensive answer service,” Fingel patted his chest. “Which’s me.”

“Robbers!” Lu Mingfei grabbed the phone. “Two crispy cream soups! I want a big cheesecake too!”

Fingel clapped his hands.

“Somebody… Dead? ” Lu Mingfei asked.

“Actually the death list has been published, Executive Department, Ye Sheng, Aki Shutoku.” Fingel said, “You can look at the message board.”

Lu Mingfei was silent, and he remembered Aki smiling and correcting his pronunciation and saying, “おはよう.” Why did they suddenly die?

“Don’t worry too much. The Executive Department is not necessarily that dangerous. Most of the time, they fly around the world like a group of archaeologists, exploring the dragon relics. In the past ten years, it seems that only a few accidents occurred when the grave collapsed and people died. This is a special case.” Fingel said, “Bronze City is the palace of Norton, the Dragon King, which’s a highly dangerous dragon tomb. There is a legend that at least one must die in a group of people who enter the tomb, which is a sacrifice. But the mission of entering the dragon tomb is confidential, nobody knows all, so it’s just a legend.”

“Did you ever worry about death?” Lu Mingfei asked.

Fingel said, “Are you worried about eating caterpillars in hamburgers?”

“Of course!”

“Of course I’m worried about death. Isn’t that everyone’s normal reaction?” Fingel shrugged. “In fact, everyone has their own reasons to come to Cassel College, but all in all, many people in this college don’t like their dragon lineage.”

“But not yet digested! The creature’s body can insulate the electromagnetic waves, but now it was going to rise to the surface of the river and open its mouth! Your bombs are calling daddy in his stomach!” Maans snapped the trigger button.

A deafening explosion was heard kilometres behind, shaking the entire Moniaher. When ten underwater bombs exploded at the same time, a pillar of fire was set straight into the water, like a sword made of fire thrown down from the cloud by the gods. Moments later, the flames burst with sharp pieces of metal, mixing with explosives, splashing in all directions. Some of them directly hit Moniaher’s stern.

“It worked!” Selma shouted and waved her arms as she saw the dark line twisted in the instant of the explosion. As long as it’s a living thing, it can’t survive.

Moniaher’s hull turned nearly 90 degrees above the surface of the water and stopped hardly, its overheated engines vaporized large amounts of water from the bottom of the ship. People got out of their cabins and stood in the storm, looking at the boiling water far away. Huge eddies on the surface of the water were swirling around, sucking huge amounts of foam deeper into the water. Maans wiped the rain from his face and let out a long sigh of relief as he imagined the not yet completely destroyed massive spine sank slowly to the bed.

“It will be good if we can capture a living creature.” The third mate sighed.

“How are you going to transport a 15-meter-long, 50-ton living body back to Cassel College?” Maans asked.

“Is that Norton?” Asked Thelma.

“Should be not, the intelligence of dragon kings can’t be that low to eat bombs.” Maans said, “We can go over there later and see if we can get the pieces of the body and go back to do a study. You did a good job, Selma. I’ll give you a 4.0, it’s a rare score for internships.”

Selma nodded. “Thank you, though I’d rather trade it now for Ye Sheng and Aki.”

Maans grabbed Selma’s shoulder and tapped her. That was all he could do to encourage her. He was then reeled and froze. Selma slipped from his grasp and flew backward, plunging into the water, as though a monstrous hand had seized her waistcoat in the darkness. Selma sank, the light moved to here at the last moment. Maans saw Selma opening her mouth, but she couldn’t make a sound. Water poured into her mouth. She disappeared, leaving only a black, slender coil of something like a snake on the water.

It’s a long tail. A tail should have been blown to pieces.

Manse picked up the sniper rifle and pumped a whole magazine into the water. Moments later, red and black water rose to the surface.

Suddenly, it occurred to him that it was not only the monster but also Selma underwater. Maans didn’t know if the blood was Selma’s or the dragon’s, but with the intensity of the shooting, Selma wouldn’t have survived. Dropping his sniper rifle, he stumbled back and leaned against the bulkhead.

Strange laughter seemed to rise from the waves and echo around Moniaher. Very low, but with a very frivolous gaiety.

“Did you all hear that?” The third mate’s voice was trembling.

“Of course. The dragon was laughing. He was… Laughing at us.” Whispered Maans.

There was a quick beeping sound in the cabin. The second mated found it, that’s the fire control radar once again caught the bomb signal, there’s a dud left. In the water, not far from Moniaher, a black spine rose slowly. Slowly the creature opened its mouth so that everyone could see its dense jaws reaching down close to its throat. Deep inside was a glowing underwater bomb.

“Do we need to use it?” The second mate asked.

“It’s waiting for you to detonate it.” Maans said, “Do you remember that there was a pillar of fire coming at us at the moment of the explosion? It was the thing that opened its mouth to the sky, the explosion sent a huge stream of hot air out of its mouth, releasing the pressure like a flame. It got its mouth opening on us now; if you blow it up, the heat will come towards us.”

“Its digestive tract is made of iron?” The second mate couldn’t believe it.

“I was wrong.” Whispered Maans. “Its intelligence is not low; It swallowed the bombs because it knew they were useless to it; It attacked the helicopter because he didn’t like the lights bothering it; Dodging my bullets was just because it doesn’t like being harassed, it doesn’t hurt it. He’s playing with us, the desperate prey… Start the engine!”

“The engine is too hot to last much longer.” Said the chief engineer.

“We don’t have to run very far. Light up the bow and see what it is.” Maans said.

The first mate looked back and was stunned. In the dark, they were just running away and their sonar was scanning the direction of the tracker but did not realize that the front of them is a huge shadow like mountains.

The Three Gorges Dam.

They were only a few kilometres from the massive man-made structure, which cost tens of billions of dollars. The towering embankment stood in the dark water like a giant lying asleep.

There was no escape.

“Return to the cabin. Start the engine and go straight ahead.” Maans said.

All the people looked at him in silence.

“I’m the captain, and I call the shots here.” Maans said, “Start the engine with maximum power, go!”

The overheated engine roared again, the stern whipped up the waves, and Moniaher rushed toward the Three Gorges Dam. Maans stood alone in the stern of the boat, watching the distant swimming behemoth as the rain ran swiftly down the wrinkles on his face.

“Come on! “He whispered.

As he thought before, the thing was waiting for the moment. The last hunt begins when the prey begins to flee. It suddenly sank under the water, its sharp waterline reappeared, and now nothing could disturb its approaching with unprecedented speed.

“Navigation prohibited! Navigation prohibited! Slow down immediately!” From above the dam came the call of managing people.

The Moniaher’s actions amounted to suicide. During the storm, all the locks were closed, and the difference was so high that the water level of each lock was 20 meters. Even if those managing people started to fill the water immediately, they could not raise the water level of the next lock by 20 meters. If the herringbone door is opened at the moment, the result can only be flooded discharge. The enormous amount of water would have released into the next lock with a thunderous force, creating a spectacular and deadly torrent that would have dragged the ship into it and smashed it along the spillway. If they don’t open the herringbone door, at the speed of this ship, it will shatter. Each of these huge doors was made of two thousand tons of steel.

“Keep going!” Maans’s roar came from the stern.

The chief mate was livid and his hands were steady at the wheel. The second mate’s hand was on the red button that set off the bomb. The thing closed its mouth and the signal disappeared again.

The third mate appeared holding “the key” in the front cabin, the infant’s eyes opened widely, looking straight ahead in the closer and closer to the herringbone door. He stretched out a tender hand, pointing to the front. This young body shook slightly with light gold in the eyes. Great power surged out of his hand and everyone felt it.

The herringbone door opened in a moment! “The key” ’s speaking spirit opened the channel forcibly, he can command not only living spirits but the Three Gorges waterway security system.

A huge amount of water spilled into the lower lock, the rapids pulled Moniaher in immediately, and the ship reached an unprecedented speed of seventy knots.

They were speeding toward death, waiting in front of them is a 20 meters’ waterfall. Moniaher was unable to maintain its course in the turbulent current. Now the whole boat was going sideways than going straight ahead like an arrow in the current. The thing sensed danger and slowed down.

Maans opened the old tin cylinder bottle in his hand. The cylinder had lain dormant in an Egyptian tomb for thousands of years, and Cassel college had paid heavily for it in an auction. The sellers didn’t understand the real value of the item, but the Cassel knew and they had painted the entire tin bottle red to represent “dangerous” and stored it in the “Icebox”. Maans poured the liquid from the tin bottle onto the copper pot beside him, which he tied to himself with a cable.

Severe corrosion effects occurred instantaneously. When the gray liquid met the copper pot, it bubbled like thick acid. The liquid crawled along with the pattern on the surface of the copper pot, like a small gray snake looking for space to get into frantically. The copper pot was about to be opened.

The dragon in the water screeched. What Maans was doing made him furious undoubtedly. It gave up its fight against the current, bent its back into the water and lunged at Moniaher.

“Everyone fasten your seat belts!” Shouted the chief mate.

“Forward!” The chief mate pushed the accelerator to the top.

Moniaher ‘flew out’ of the first-class lock with turbulence, passed through the mitre gate, and remained temporarily in the air. The chief mate heard the engine stall in idling and did everything he could under Maans’s orders. He didn’t want to die for killing the dragon, but he was prepared and ready for the day. He closed his eyes.

“Du Du” beeping, it’s the last bomb’s signal, the second mate pressed the detonating button!

Maans’s pupils reflected the terrible scene, a huge mouth opening and closing rapidly, two withered yellow teeth like scimitars, rows of teeth as dense as thorns! The back of its body was still in the lock, and it thrust its head forward eagerly.

The violent explosion came from the creature’s insides, spewing flames like an oversize welding torch.

A series of burst noise came from Maans’s mouth.

Speaking Spirit – Undusted.

He gave orders in the field, huge pressure came from the inside, whether bomb fragments or hot flames were forced to back. In an instant, a spherical wall appeared around Maans, isolating the blast. Outside the walls, the hot wind softened the steel. The thing recoiled from the shock wave, its body retracted uncontrollably and coiled into a ball.

In third mate’s hand, “the key” suddenly grasped his small hands!

The engine of the herringbone gate started immediately, and the huge 2,000-ton steel gate roared to shut. The huge body was intercepted by the waist, and piercing laughter stabbed out from the turbulence, like a sharp sword. Maans covered his ears. He had never heard a laugh like this. It’s laughing, but comparing with roaring close to death.

Maans didn’t know if the creature’s deathbed fearlessness was at work, or if it could only make sounds like laughter. But he didn’t care. He had killed the guy. It was his memorial to the students.

“Good-bye, Lord Norton.” In Maans’s bloodshot pupils flashed cold irony.

Manus laughed silently as Moniaher plunged with the current toward the surface of the secondary lock.

In the control room of Cassel College Library, dead silence remained.

Moniaher’s signal was cut off and the screen went black. Half an hour later, Professor Schneider was rubbing his hands, walking back and forth.

Perhaps only Lu Mingfei did not feel that time passed too slowly, for he was engaged in a fierce battle. EVA proposed a game of StarCraft. He knew it would be a shame if he was caught playing StarCraft, but EVA seemed to find the time difficult. The virtual girl was pacing, jumping, scratching her head, and drawing circles on the ground in a boring way. At that time, she suggested “Why don’t we have a solo”, and that’s something Lu Mingfei can’t reject as long as he’s a normal player.

He hasn’t played for a long time, but he still had a good hand. He’s playing Zerg, and he’s set up Photon Cannons outside his base, with several upgraded Zealots 1) in the cannons. Lu Mingfei’s group of Hydralisk did not rush forward, he realized that EVA must be playing tricks, she is a computer virtual personality, so it is not difficult for her to check the map. She’s already used this trick with Nuo Nuo before.

“Have you seen my map again?” Lu Mingfei typed.

“Yes, but I only have a crystal mine and a gas mine. You’ve opened six bases, twelve main bases and you can have three groups of Hydralisk in a second.” EVA said, “Update all your unit, and then our game will begin.”

“What?”

“I’m going to storm you, see what you can do,” EVA said.

“A beautiful girl would like to play like that?! You won’t cheat, right?” Lu Mingfei suddenly looked a little forward to it, it’s such a pretty girl AI, and she’s even chatting with you!

“No, the full population is two hundred, fair to fair.” EVA said, “Let’s go!”

No sooner Lu Mingfei saw the tide of Zealots gushing out from the position of EVA’s base!

“Be a man to survive ten waves!” EVA said.

“Don’t run away little girl!” Lu Mingfei was very happy with the new rule of playing.

Then came the most exhausting tug of war of Lu Mingfei’s life. For an AI like EVA, she doesn’t have to worry about the command at all. Each unit is operating on its own in a roundabout way. Lu Mingfei tried to resist with the full population of Hydralisk and turrets everywhere, his mines and gas have been added to the infinite by EVA, his 20 bases were streaming out Hydralisk frantically, converging on the central battlefield. This versatile weapon is great for both air and ground strikes and can be used on hatching Lurker. Each wave of EVA arms is different, Zealot, Dragoon, Corsair, Scout, Marauder… With the unparalleled speed of Zerg, Lu Mingfei carried nine waves. He was down to a half-dozen wounded Hydralisk when the last wave was three groups of Aircraft Carrier.

“Come again. I’m ready.” Lu Mingfei filled his population again, his Defiler and Queen were all full-energy.

“The tenth wave,” EVA said.

Aircraft Carrier? Dragoon? Or groups of Light Templar? When Lu Mingfei was expecting, the screen suddenly went black, only faint dark lines floating by. He pressed the enter key and amazedly found that he can still activate the conversation.

“EVA, did you crash?” He typed.

“No, the game is continuing. Let me show you a little bit more by pulling the camera a little further.”

“What? Camera?”

He suddenly saw the enemy on the screen, EVA is right, only “pulling the camera further”, the enemy can be seen. The last wave, EVA has only one unit, a black dragon. It was big enough to hide everything, and it was spreading its wings and gliding slowly past. It spat out the flame, wherever it went, all the Hydralisk into plasma. The screen wasn’t black, but because the dragon was many times larger than the screen, the dark lines were his scales.

“What a bigone!” shouted Lu Mingfei. 2)

“Lord of Black Dragon, Nidhogg, whose name means ‘Despair ‘.” EVA said, “You’ve lost. Let’s play together next time, Lu Mingfei.”

The screen flickered back to the unattractive work interface.

“Bigone?” Professor Schneider frowned. “What’s bigone?”

Lu Mingfei stood up suddenly. ” ‘Bigone’ in Chinese slang means quiet… I mean, it’s so quiet!”

Professor Schneider nodded slightly. Lu Mingfei was speaking from the heart of each of them. Indeed, it was too quiet, the black screen, the silent megaphone, like… It’s like death. He had a vague, ominous foreboding that he could not say to anyone, as if the word would become real if it were spoken.

“It is bigone indeed! Maans… Are you ok?” Schneider gave a long sigh.

Suddenly the screen lit up and a serene old man’s face appeared. His silver hair was neatly combed, and the years had left deep marks on his face, turning his skin into cracked old trees or weathered rocks, but his appearance was still tough, silver pupils shone lights. His stiff black suit was wrapped around his still erect body, with a bright red rose in his breast pocket.

The old man’s age was hard to tell for a time. He was very old for his skin and his face, but he sat like a young lion.

“How handsome!” Lu Mingfei sighed, “Such an old playboy!”

All stood up.

“Principle Angers.” Said Professor Schneider.

“Moniaher has landed safely in the second lock of the Three Gorges Reservoir. We have obtained important information, thank you for your efforts, I declare the dissolution of this meeting.” Said the principal blandly.

The control room erupted, everyone raised their arms in cheers, professors hugged each other in excitement and students high-fived in the air. But it was clear that the students were divided into two groups, one around Caesar and the other around Chu Zihang, while Kieran hurried to the bathroom at this critical moment. Lu Mingfei left a distance from everyone, do not know which group of people should he join.

Then he saw Nuo Nuo against the wall alone chewing gum, looking out of the window in a daze.

Lu Mingfei suddenly felt happy, that Nuo Nuo is still with him.

“Hey! Lu Mingfei! You are the best!” Kieran came back, holding a bunch of flowers unexpectedly. He came up and shook hands with Lu Mingfei vigorously then hugged him.

There was nothing but silence in the control room and professors clapped their hands. The elites in Lionheart and Student Union looked at their presidents, Caesar and Chu Zihang also clapped. So everyone clapped. Lu Mingfei was surrounded by the crowd at the moment, they blocked the line of sight of Lu Mingfei to see Nuo Nuo and had handshakes with him. When Lu Mingfei felt respected for the first time, he saw Nuo Nuo glancing at him outside the crowd, blowing bubbles. The bubble got bigger and bigger and finally blew up.

“Dismissed!” Professor Schneider announced.

As the students left the control room, they waved to the on-screen principal, who was an icon. The principle just smiled and did not answer.

When Lu Mingfei got to the door, he heard the principal, “Thank you, Lu Mingfei.”

Lu Mingfei surprised to turn around, the principal on the screen throws up a stack of white paper. “Congratulations, you have passed the 3E exam with the highest score in a decade. You have retained your ‘S’ status and I am awarding you a special Principle’s Scholarship.”

Professors and students exchanged astonished glances. Decades later, another true “S” student appeared at Cassel College. The boy with normal appearance used not only marks but the extraordinary ability to make a note of his level.

The unparalleled “S” level.

“Don’t blow your bubbles up!” Nuo Nuo passed Lu Mingfei, patted him on the shoulder and went out.

1. Zealots: This might be a mistake, Lu Mingfei is playing Zerg here, but Zealot is the basic unit of Protoss.
2. Lu Mingfei used not proper Chinese here so his friends and professors can’t tell what he’s talking about.

A huge amount of information flowed into Ye Sheng’s brain through the “snake”, just like water flowed back from the whole Pacific Ocean into the Yangtze River.

At the moment, Ye Sheng’s brain was like an overheating computer, the great pain almost tore his brain apart. The information contained a three-dimensional map of the great bronze city, perhaps the real “Bai Di City” of history. It was completely transparent to Ye Sheng at the moment.

The super system that was cast two thousand years ago came to life, a whole bronze wall split. Millions of cubic meters of air escape through the cracks, carrying a cacophony of wind and water below to fill the void. Bronze like spider’s web spun and rejoined, like a revolver’s wheel spinning at the moment of fire, and new bullets were placed at the muzzle.

Every moment, the path of escape is changing. Ye Sheng was going to be crazy, he got the map, but… It’s like if you look at a map of the world, you can see Africa moving slowly towards Australia, Asia sliding clockwise to fill the Pacific, Hawaii leaving Americas, and a moment later docking with India! For a gentleman who needs travelling the world in 88 days, it’s not surprising that he’s going to crazy.

The bronze walls twenty meters high behind him were slowly falling, looking like the sky was tilting. Aki hugged Ye Sheng’s neck to swim forward who was almost collapsed.

Aki’s mind was a mess. She remembered that Ye Sheng was a young man of eighteen when they both entered the college. He just came from China to the United States with two thick flying black eyebrows, and he’s the best swimmer in the class. He led the sailing team the following year, winning the Golden Fleece Cup from the University of Chicago, which was a hit with the girls in his class. His biggest hobby is to laugh at Aki in swimming class when the stupid duck Aki is still in the middle of a kilometre warm-up, Ye Sheng has swum a kilometre, basking under ultraviolet ray. He is wearing only swimming trunks, half-naked, and patting his ass back to Aki, saying something “Is it because the Japanese legs are shorter so you can’t swim fast” bitchy word, and suddenly shows the look of despair: “After we became partners I will die in water because of you,” as hateful as he can.

The bronze wall broke into the water and caused a huge wave, pushing Aki and Ye Sheng against the opposite wall. Aki turned to drag Ye Sheng in her arms timely, the collision almost let to lumbar displacement. She gritted her teeth and hugged the frail, infantile man in her arms, blood was spilling from the corner of her mouth.

When did protecting Ye Sheng become a habit? At that time, it’s her pointed at his nose and shouted to counter Ye Sheng’s taunt, “In the future, if you die underwater, don’t think I’ll save you!” Why did this happen?

“The key!” Shouted Ye Sheng hoarsely.

Through the snake’s electric current, the sound reverberated in the Moniaher’s cabin like the last roar of a wounded wolf.

“Yes! The key! The key will find a way!” He shouted.

The sleeping baby was hugged to the fore cabin. The moment he was placed in front of the screen, he opened his eyes miraculously, a light dripped under them. He held out his fleshy fingers, glided across the huge screen and started to scan the corners of the map.

“Come on baby, it’s up to you!” Maans stared at his fingers.

Fingertips stood against the screen then fell slowly… The glow of the baby’s eyes faded and he returned to his normal infant state. Suddenly, he burst into tears!

Maans’s heart dropped to the floor. So there’s no way out?

Ye Sheng suddenly opened his eyes, pale gold light occupied his pupils. The cry of “The key” came, and suddenly a clear red line appeared on the ever-changing map in his mind. It ran down, straight down, through the cracks in the walls, the passages, the bronze walls, and emerged right below.

“That’s the exit!” Ye Sheng understood!

The key has mastered the laws of the bronze city. All they had to do was go down to the thick walls, where the work of the bronze city would create new roads. This is the last escape route, but they need to be fast. If they are not fast enough they will be closed in the dead road, or be compressed by gaps getting closer and closer.

The key cried not because of sadness, but because of fear. The key is urging them!

“Right below, Ye Sheng, Aki Shutoku, ready to come out!” Ye Sheng’s voice echoed back to the front cabin.

“Directly below?” Maans was stunned when he noticed the trace left by the key’s finger on the screen, straight out of the bronze city.

“Forty-five metres!” Said Selma. “Three minutes left for the oxygen supply!”

“Plus the airless snorkelling time, they can come out successfully!” Maans’s voice was almost in the air.

Ye Sheng took back his speaking spirit and recovered his strength. He turned to take Aki’s hand, but Aki did not move. She turned on the shimmering light in her helmet so that Ye Sheng could see her face. Her lips moved, but Ye Sheng couldn’t hear her. The signal line between them had just broken.

“It’s too late. We don’t have enough oxygen.” Aki turned off her mask, the low oxygen levels made her cough violently.

Ye Sheng glanced at his oxygen reserve, which can last three minutes, plus his ability to hold his breath underwater for five minutes, it should be enough for them to make it.

“It’s enough.” He also turned off his mask.

“No, it’s not.” Aki shook her head, tears creeping down her cheeks. “Let’s stay here. I want to look at you. I’ve been wanting to talk to you for a long time… I….. “

“I love you too.” Ye Sheng cut her words off simply and neatly. He did something that could have been punished by the Executive Department, he pressed Aki’s lips hard to kiss her. Aki was stunned.

He crooked his mouth and showed that smile sometimes hateful, but somethings can let a person forget all the troubles of the again, Aki thought back her in the swimming pool, she saw Ye Sheng patted his ass under the sun from the french dash.

“Fool, believe me, it’s enough!” Ye Sheng hugged slender Aki tightly.

“Hey, actually her legs are not short at all!” He said to himself, yanking her into the water.

A faint swirl formed in the water, indicating that a gap opened directly below.

Maans was doing the cha-cha in the front cabin, it’s a rare gaffe of Captain Maans. But the captain was too proud of the way he had handled the situation, and the students he loves will come back safely.

“This is what I call a reversal!” Maans danced and yelled to Selma, “It was like a three-pointer in the last second of the fourth quarter. It was like a service break in the third set of tennis!” He glanced at his watch. “How many minutes?”

He was suddenly dumb, his steps were so clumsy that he nearly stumbled and fell, clinging to the steering wheel. Maans’s face became miserable. He flung open the door and rushed out, standing in the storm, staring blankly at the undulating river.

“Captain?” Selma and the first mate came after him.

“The exit is below the bronze city. They can get out of the bronze city, but they can’t get to the surface.” Maans’s face twitched. “We did the math wrong… They don’t have enough oxygen!”

In the cabin, “The key” suddenly stopped crying and tears welled up in the baby’s large eyes.

There was a hum in the wind, and a great distant spot of light moved over the dark water. A moment later, the call appeared to the front left of the bow. “Attention, Moniaher, this is the Maritime Bureau of the Yangtze River Waterway, please reply with light, please reply with light.”

The third mate went onto the deck. “Captain, do we still need to wait?”

Maans stared at the water for a few seconds, then looked down at his watch. Fourteen minutes had passed. He suddenly felt tired.

“Signal returned, rescue accepted, we will go.” He turned to go back to the cabin, but then he heard a groan from the stern, he unconsciously took out his torch and lit it. At the side of the boat, a black hair head floated up, followed by a pale face.

“Aki!” Maans couldn’t believe his eyes.

His favourite student, Aki Shutoku, the Japanese girl who always sparkles with maternal brilliance, somehow surpassed the limits of human diving and survived. She was struggling to push a brass pot, almost as tall as her, onto the lifeboat.

“Selma! Selma! Save her!” Growled Maans, and then he shouted, “Come up! Leave that stupid jar alone! You Japanese are all paranoid!”

Aki didn’t answer, but with a yell in Japanese, she pushed the can with all her might onto the lifeboat. She did not attempt to climb the lifeboat, her slender hands hooked to the ropes on its side, and looked at Maans from a distance.

“Professor, take the pot and go! Just go!” Aki yelled hoarsely, “That’s Ye Sheng… Ye Sheng fought it back… “

She sank, torn down by a great force from below. The long hair seemed to disappear in the water. As Maans ran to the side of the boat, red blood rose from underwater like a red smoke.

“Aki!” Manse shouted, tearing the buttons of the captain’s coat wildly and wanted to go into the water.

“Abandon the anchor! Start the engine! Full power!” The third mate roared, pulling Maans back hardly.

He is the oldest crewmember here and had spent more than ten years on the ocean. What had just happened to Aki was very strange. He had seen a shark attack a diving companion. But obviously, sharks don’t live in freshwater, by looking at the huge vortices that swirl up in the water as Aki sank, it’s an incredibly big thing.

Both chains were cut at the same time. The powerful engine didn’t need to warm up, it started instantly, the huge acceleration caused the third made and Maans to tumble over each other. Just before they fell, the third mate saw a sharp waterline following them straight behind.

“What the hell?” The third mate broke out in a cold sweat.

“Turn on the sonar and see what it is!” As Maans dragged the can into the cabin, his deadly face twitched.

“It’s too fast to make an accurate image. It’s about 15 meters long and looks like a fish!” Shouted the second mate.

“A fish?” Said the third mate. “What fish can dive at fifty knots?”

“Good to hear it’s a living thing,” Maans said, cutting open a new cigar and lighting it, flexed his facial muscles. “As long as it’s a living thing, it can be dead!”

Maans opened the weapon cabinet on the bulkhead and an L115A3 sniper rifle was erected in the center. This British-made long-range sniper rifle may be the king of sniper rifles, but the equipment department is still not satisfied with its performance and added more deadly ammunition. Maans filled the magazine with one cold blue bullet after another, each with an ancient engraving on the warhead, and each with a red primer, which’s the signature of a high level dangerous weapon.

“I fucking love those crazy people in the equipment department who optimize weapons!” Maans pushed the magazine into the gun.

“Could it be the dragon king?” The third mate asked.

“Good if the answer is yes, I am here to kill him!” Maans flashed out of the cabin.

Xenon lights shone brightly on the foaming water behind the boat, which could not hide the sharp waterline, as if an invisible knife was cutting through the water below. Maans leaned against the bulkhead, his foot on the side rail. His whole body was like a tripod between the bulkhead and the railing to keep him balanced in the violent turbulence. He had seen the underwater “fish” in the infrared scope, it was swimming at full speed with a much higher temperature than the water’s, which exposed it completely.

“Very well, boy,” Maans whispered.

He pulled the trigger and a straight line of cold blue light entered the water, which’s the result of the tracer head heating up as it rubbed against the air. The sound of the gun was like thunder, and the force of the recoil could turn a strong man over. The propulsion of the waterline was suddenly impeded and a vortex arose on the water. Maans fired in succession with ten large-calibre bullets into the water. Before the first cold blue light extinguished, the latter has been pulled out. Several cold lights made retention in the dark air with deadly beauty. Maans watched it wriggle through the water as if trying to avoid it, took off his cigar and laughed hoarsely.

“More bullets, Selma!” He shouted.

He wanted to watch the corpse of it come up out of the water so that he could see what it was that dared take his student from him a few metres away.

Selma rushed out of the cabin with a newly filled magazine and saw the Marine Bureau helicopter was hovering in mid-air. Apparently, they had also noticed that the Moniaher had been chased by something, and they hit the swirl with the searchlight. There were a lot of bubbles in the middle of the vortex. Suddenly, a huge and mysterious figure appeared. For a moment, Selma suspected that she was seeing something. At this moment, the lightning tore the sky, and the black shadow in the electric light was like a dragon. Selma collapsed on the deck, she learned from countless theory classes that this species existed in the world, but never once saw them in person. It was a miracle, a dragon breaking water into the sky, all these storms are to meet this great moment.

Maans grabbed the magazine, filled the gun and fired into the air. In an instant, the thing was at the height of the helicopter. It was exhausted, but its long tail caught the landing gear of the heavy helicopter. It’s not small, but for a heavy helicopter capable of carrying 15 tons of cargo it’s still not big enough. Maans’s bullet hit its body with sparks.

The thing leaped up again on the landing gear, and another bolt of lightning shot across the sky. In the electric light, it stretched out after a slight meal and writhed like a long whip, beating hard on the rotor of the helicopter. Pieces of steel flew in all directions, the helicopter lost its balance, spiralled toward the water. Selma could see several black figures opened the hatch and dived. The helicopter crashed violently into the water, splashing nearly fifty meters high. A dozen seconds later, the flames burst into the night sky because the helicopter exploded underwater.

“Did… Did it destroy a heavy chopper? How can it leap twenty meters out of the water?” Selma was stupefied.

“It should be called ‘him’, an intelligent creature,” Maans said. “We’re going to be his next dish.”

Again the fearful waterline rose from the bottom and followed Moniaher.

“Why is it chasing us so hard?” Asked Selma.

“Probably the copper pot is the thing that it really cares about….” Shouted Maans to the foredeck, “What else weapon?”

“There are only ten miniature underwater bombs. We are now a tugboat and we have removed all our weapons to avoid trouble during the inspection.” The first mate responded with a roar. He was at the helm, the full-throttle engine made the Moniaher looks like a crazed swordfish. The first mate’s forehead was thick with perspiration; he was absorbed in the intricate instrument panels.

“Because I didn’t think it will be a brush encounter! Underwater bombs are ready to release!” Maans shouted.

The steering wheel spun swiftly in the chief mate’s hands, and Moniaher splashed nearly ten meters high, creating a zigzag pattern in the water with a large angle. At the same time, the second mate opened the underwater hatch, ten underwater bombs were released continuously. Because of the “Z” shaped route, they formed three rows, three in the front row, four in the middle and three in the back row. The miniature engines were turned on, and the bombs were suspended five to ten meters below the surface. From sonar monitors, they looked like traps waiting for that thing.

“Nice job!” the second mate said.

The location of the bombs was perfect. This thing has to either slow down and get around to give the Moniaher some time to escape, or it has to get in close contact with bombs. Although the bombs are small, they are the products of the crazy people in the Equipment Department. They were designed with the hope that each one of them could blow through the armour of the Los Angeles nuclear submarine.

Maans pushed aside the second mate and leaned on the board. The bright lights on the sonar display were getting closer and closer to the giant fish.

“Super close, fifty meters left!” the second mate shouted, “That thing came straight at us without slowing down!”

“Good! Blow him up!” Maans said.

The cruising speed of the creature was close to Moniaher at 50 knots, and the distance of 50 meters will only take it two or three seconds, it’s just a sharp brake distance. But who can brake in water with only 50 meters?

“It’s… It’s stopped!” The second mate’s face was white.

They all covered up their ears for a thunderous explosion, but sonar showed that the monster stopped in front of the underwater bomb cordon. It’s not like the brakes, there’s no sliding, but the whoosh stopped completely and the speed went to zero. Even dolphins can’t do that.

“Detonate the bomb now?” The second mate looked up at Maans.

“Will it work?”

“Can you please look at the screen first…” One of the interns said carefully.

Five of the original ten points of light on the screen have disappeared. The behemoth was swimming around the remaining points of light, like a small whale playing curiously with a school of jellyfish. Completely stunned, the second mate looked up at another monitor screen, where the signal for five underwater bombs had disappeared.

The last blip was gone, too, before the second mate had time to detonate the bomb.

Maans looked up. “I guess… Your bombs were eaten.”

“Were eaten?” The second mate felt a great sense of powerlessness. “Will they taste good?” He suddenly asked a nonsensical question.

“Captain…” Selma’s voice was trembling as she pointed to the stern.

Maans followed Selma’s fingers. There was no longer a thin waterline chasing them. A dark back rose to the surface, each of which was dimly discernible as a reef. The long tail swung at high speed but did not pick up any spray. A huge mouth was half-submerged, and on the surface of the water was a ferocious upper jaw with two yellow teeth.

“Sure… It’s a vertebrate.” Whispered Maans.

“Reptiles are vertebrates, of course.” Selma was stunned.

“A lot of theories about dragons are extrapolations, no one is sure they’re reptiles. Maybe the so-called dragon is just the shadow in people’s hearts.” Maans said.

“Captain! There are bomb signals again!” The second mate exclaimed in surprise, like a sorrowful father who suddenly finds his missing children.

Suddenly, Maans realized something. “Quick, detonate!”

“Weird, I thought they were eaten?” The second mate was at a loss.

The boy opened the door like a normal schoolmate and went out. The moment the door closed, there was a deadly silence in the dormitory. Lu Mingfei stunned for a long time and shivered ruthlessly, stretching out a hand to pinch his own face. From outside came a shrill beeping sound, like a thief triggered alarms of all banks in the world in the same instant.

“Is that kid playing with a lighter and triggered fire alarm?” Lu Mingfei thought.

He rushed out of the dormitory, calmed his mood done and shouted, “What the heck is that?”

“What the heck is YOU?” A person said that.

Lu Mingfei was stunned and saw the person standing in front of him. Nuo Nuo, wearing a school uniform skirt, reaching out her hand to pat his face.  “Wake up. Do you sleep too much?”

Lu Mingfei was standing in the hall of the dormitory. Red lights flickered on the ceiling, the beeping came from speakers hidden in the walls. The students, men and women in school uniforms with serious looks, were gathering at the exits of the stairs toward the elevator. Cassel College is limited in size and has a mixed dormitory.

“Is it a fire alarm? Does everybody need such a serious expression for the fire alarm?” Lu Ming looked left and right.

“The first thing for Cassel College is to read the Manual of Emergency. From the day of its establishment, Cassel College is ready to deal with all kinds of emergencies related to the dragons. This alert indicates a sudden emergency and summons the upper-level student to assemble in the library. Hey, Nuo Nuo, you look more and more good-looking!” Fingel peeped out his dishevelled head from their room. Lu Mingfei knew that he only dared to show his head because he liked to sleep naked.

“And you haven’t broken the habit of sleeping naked.” Nuo Nuo said.

“As an F grade loser why do you know the Manual of Emergency! So what is it for? Like the Earthquake Self-help Guide?” Asked Lu Mingfei. “This has nothing to do with me, right? The mark of the 3E exam had not given, I’m not a proper student, can I go back to sleep?”

“It’s actually A FOOL’S BOOK: THE FIRST STEP ON THE BATTLEFIELD FOR A DRAGON SLAYER. I was asking you to bring me a coke when you come back later.” Fingel said, “In my ‘A’ years, I knew it was a state of emergency, they’ll take away your practical marks if you’re absent.”

“But I don’t have any practical marks at all!” Lu Mingfei shouted.

“Just go!” Nuo Nuo pulled him out and ran.

“Why are you pulling me? Shouldn’t you pull your Caesar?” Lu Mingfei stumbled.

“No need to pull him, he’s the most excited one about it. He must have assembled all the best minds from his Students’ Union and rushed to the library!”

A group of people burst into the library and entered the main control room.

Before Lu Mingfei could catch his breath, he saw Caesar strutting in his school uniform with a deadpan face. Behind him were the same deadpan Students’ Union executives, each holding a briefcase as if they were attending the biggest staff meeting. At the same time, Chu Zihang had arrived. All the upper-class students were divided between the Lionheart and the Students’ Union, sitting on the left and right sides neatly.

Lu Mingfei counted quietly, A total of 13 people, all “A” level above. Those who are not divided between the two groups are Kieran, him, and the little girl like the ice sculpture in the 3E exam. She sat in the front row, still leaving only her back to everyone. The professors occupied the remaining positions. Professor Guderian, Professor Manstein, and Professor Von Schneider of the Executive Department looked grim.

“There were 13 students, 12 ‘A’ level, one ‘S’ level, 27 professors, all arrived.” Professor Manstein said to Professor Schneider.

“Start right now.” Professor Schneider dragged his cylinder cart up to the wall and scanned the crowd. The ferocious face, half-hidden by the black mask, made the surroundings quite rapidly.

“Folks, we need your help right now. At that moment, two members of the Executive Department were trapped in a relic of the dragon nationality. We just got important information from there, but the mechanism was triggered and the access road was blocked. Their oxygen is going down every second, and we have to find a way out for them as quickly as possible.” Professor Schneider’s voice was low and quick. It seems it’s very urgent indeed.

“To find the way… They can use Google Earth.” Lu Mingfei raised his hand. “Well… It works fine.”

He didn’t realize how stupid it was until he said it. The whole party turned to look at him with hell-like looking.

“Google doesn’t offer services in place like this.” Professor Schneider clapped his hands, the sides of the teak bookshelves on the top wall moved away, revealing a giant 100-inch screen.

Huge 3-D simulations appeared on the screen, with rulers at the corners. Everyone gasped, it’s a pure bronze city!

“The palace of Norton, King of Bronze and Fire, ancient ruin. Some of you are related to him. Here is a picture of the dragon’s language shot by Aki Shutoku, one of the members inside the dragon’s tomb. Based on speculation, we think it’s a monument to the bronze city, and I want you to concentrate on reading it.” Said Professor Schneider.

“Do you want one of us to resonate with it to have ‘spiritual vision’?” Caesar asked.

“Yes, we could have taken a decade to read it. But they don’t have more than 20 minutes of oxygen! Please as soon as possible!”

“Aki Shutoku?” Lu Mingfei recalled the girlish Japanese girl who interviewed him. He also remembered her gentle smile, how she got in trouble?

Everyone took their computers out of their bags. Both Kieran and the girl connected the cables and pulled out their student cards to swipe through the slots in front of them deftly.

“Approved… Approved… Approved… “

Norma’s voice echoed in the control room as students and professors got into their interfaces.

At the same time, the giant cyan dome stitched together by photos appeared on the big screen. Lu Mingfei stared about it. Is it the dragon’s language? It looks like a big tree!

“The dragons are a group of literary youths right?” Lu Mingfei scolded, is this kind of thing done by people? How can these literary youths create a language that does not make rhetoric but uses pictures to express their content?

“Scan your card! There’s a backup computer.” Nuo Nuo said not far away.

“Oh, oh!” Lu Mingfei took his student card and fumbled through the card slot.

The desktop flipped open with a tablet. The screen lighted up and the boot page appeared automatically. A 3D image of a young girl emerged. She is wearing a white gown like a nightgown, her long hair flying, bowing down to Lu Mingfei.

“Freshman Lu Mingfei, glad to serve you. Please configure your system.” The girl’s voice came through the earphones.

“Wow! The novice guide is so sweet!” Lu Mingfei was very happy to see such an interface, “Are you Norma? I thought you were a middle-aged woman.”

“This is EVA.” The girl smiled. “According to the record, you didn’t take any computer-related modules. Shall I just follow the default setting?”

“No problem!” Said Lu Mingfei. All is well said by the little beauty. He can’t use the system anyway unless it’s configured to look like the StarCraft interface.

The window flashed quickly and the StarCraft interface appeared on the screen.

“Are you familiar with this interface?” EVA said, “Use this. All the reading, moving, and storing is done with a single click, and it’s easy to get started.”

Lu Mingfei stared at the picture of the big tree in his map frame blankly.

Maans looked serious on Moniaher. “Can you get in touch with them? How much longer can they hold?”

“Ye Sheng’s snake can still maintain the communication, I don’t know how long it will last. The speaking spirit will consume his strength, and his oxygen consumption will rise.” Selma looked pale. “Time is running out.”

“The rescue helicopter is only 60 kilometres from here.” Shouted the chief mate, taking off his headphones.

“I think I understand what the system Aki triggered. It wasn’t a clock, the whole city was a machine! Once started, the bronze components begin to move. Old roads were blocked and new ones appeared. It’s a Rubik’s cube city, but we don’t have a map… Aki may have taken photos of the map, but none of us could read them!” Maans clenched his fist on the operating table.

“The principal has ordered the college to support the interpretation. All we can do is wait.” Selma comforted.

Lu Ming looked left and right. Everyone stared at the painting, meditating, sketching on paper with pencils rustling. Caesar and Chu Zihang both stared at the big screen, their faces were gloomy and terrible; Kieran held his forehead in his hands; Nuo Nuo folded her hands in arms, frowning; The little girl sat sculpted and motionless.

The professors kept their voices down and argued fiercely. They are inferior in lineage to these higher-level students, which’s why they cannot expect the happening of spiritual vision. But they’ve been studying dragon’s language for decades, they’re going to bring that knowledge together to do wonders in 20 minutes.

Lu Mingfei thought these people are quite loyal, and quite not easy. It is an impossible task to read a map from a picture in 20 minutes. But these people are the elite, for them even if there is a glimmer of hope, it will be shameful to give up. This is just like what Uncle Ben told Spiderman before he died. With great power comes great responsibility. But Lu Mingfei was different. He was just the sort of person who would scream “ah” when he saw Mary Jane being thrown from the sky by Goblin. Others heard the dragon language as heard thunder, saw dragon language as flowers, long branches and leaves. While for Lu Mingfei, chanting is chanting, the tree is the tree, simple and vigorous.

In fact, if, just say if, he has the ability to think with these elites to save Ye Sheng and Aki, he will try all he can do to save them.

He likes handsome Ye Sheng and beautiful Aki, though their interview questions were kind of silly. It would be a pity if these two people died. Nuo Nuo was right. Why don’t they got married?

As the minutes ticked by, he sighed. This cross-sea rescue is not realistic at all, things are very cruel, for example, you are the Zerg, your two dogs were in the Terran’s base, they are going to set tanks to bomb, you start hatching dragon to save those dogs, do you think there is any chance? You can’t save them at all.

Lu Mingfei froze for a moment and shivered slightly. Not necessarily too late, there is a chance… As long as you want to cheat!

The map of the dragon tomb… Isn’t that a map?

Black sheep wall!

Black sheep. The restless evil among the white sheep, it stirs.

Lu Mingfei felt that he was only a layer of paper away from a taboo. In the control room were a flock of white sheep, cooped up in the wall, very good, looking down at the grass, not looking out, so they had to be pulled over and sheared by the owner. The black sheep… The black sheep is different. It jumps the wall and runs. Anyway, he’s a really bad, bad boy, and he doesn’t play by rules.

Lu Mingfei looked around sneakily and pressed the Enter key. Sure enough, the input box jumped up.

“Black sheep wall.” He typed letter by letter to make sure there’s no mistake.

After a few seconds, everyone’s screen changed to black. From top to bottom, a giant 3d map refreshed. Everyone froze, unable to believe their eyes. On this map, the great bronze cities were dissected into running pieces, old roads were blocked, new roads were generated.

“Lu Mingze” promised a reality, the miracle is happening. Lu Mingfei went over the wall. He played the role of naughty black sheep.

Everyone jerked their heads to look at Lu Mingfei, and everyone realized it was the right map. In the corner of the map marked clearly, “Lu Mingfei’s result.”

The ice-sculpture-like girl also turned around, Lu Mingfei saw her face for the first time, transparent as snow.

“You are an idiotic team member, but the good thing is you are well-behaved.” With a thumbs-up, Ye Sheng dived into the water. The bronze city was filled with holes, each of which was connected by a bronze passage that, when submerged, lay mostly below the surface, like a half-submerged ant nest.

Aki looked up with her flashlight at the cavern, which was as big as a giant’s palace. The dome was carved with ancient patterns. It’s a huge tree with leaves and branches acted as unknown characters.

“Dragon’s language?” Aki suddenly understood what it was.

She took out the waterproof camera in her pocket, began taking pictures piece by piece, then immediately transmitted them back to Moniaher.

“Backup! Backup! It’s a bonus!” Maans rubbed his hands in surprise. “For the first time since Nicholas Flamel, the human had access to such a vast amount of dragon’s language data. Although it is impossible to interpret it, for the time being, it is extremely precious to the dragons, which uses words to convey power.”

Complex patterns entered the helmet of Aki constantly. The patterns reminded her of what she had seen when she had a “spiritual vision” in the 3E exam, but it was more complicated. The leaves gathered together like human faces, which, when separated, were indeed ancient texts that had disappeared for many years, rotating counterclockwise on the dome. She wanted to shoot more, so she turned down the output pressure of the oxygen cylinder to give her more time and to wait for Ye Sheng.

The reduced oxygen flow made her dizzy, the pattern on the dome blurred. She paused, closed her eyes, took a deep breath and tried to stay awake.

“Aki, your heart is beating faster. Are you ok?” Selma’s nervous voice came through the headphones.

“Nothing, just a little dizzy,” Aki said.

She put the knife back in her pocket, opened her eyes again, and swam to the edge of the cave.

“Signal out!” On the board of the Moniaher, Selma exclaimed, “Data transmission between us and Aki is interrupted!”

Maans paused. “Get the line on! Warn Ye Sheng!”

The turbine in the stern turned again to retrieve the lifeline of Aki.

“There’s no tension in the engine,” Selma looking up with a drained face. “Her lifeline was gone again.”

Ye Sheng floated from Aki’s side, holding her arm which made her feel much easier.

“Are you back? Is the mission finished? I didn’t hear the explosion.” Aki was relaxed when she saw her partner.

“Underwater explosion, not that noisy.” Ye Sheng said, “I have solved the problem. After collecting, we are ready to return. Time is running out.”

“Ok, I have finished taking photos of the dome pattern.”

“Let’s collect some more bronze stuff and go back to analyze the composition,” Ye Sheng said, pointing to a statue on the bronze wall not far away. “We can try to bring that back. It’s not a Chinese statue but came from Europe.”

“Good,” Aki said as she swam toward the statue, dragged by Ye Sheng. The water was parted along with her wetsuit with faint warmth.

The statue was only dozens of centimetre long, which was not comparable to the huge statues they had seen when they entered the bronze city. It stood on a bridge-shaped bronze pole, dressing in an ancient Chinese robe and carrying a sceptre, with its head lowered slightly in a reverent manner like a nobleman. It has the head of a cobra, whose neck was sticking out of the collar of its robe, which was extremely abrupt.

It was a snake-faced man.

“What is this?” Aki turned to Ye Sheng.

“I don’t know, probably a totem of the dragons, but will be useful to bring it back. Take it.” Ye Sheng said.

Aki nodded and swam over. There was a hint of surprise in the instant she met the statue of the snake-faced man, whose eyes were of pure silver. On its dark bronze surface shone a solitary silver light like blinking. Aki reminded herself to give up the strange idea, it is only because of reflection caused by the illusion. She must remain calm in underwater operations.

She reached out and grabbed the snake-faced man by the neck. The bronze sculpture was not as heavy as she had thought, and she lifted it easily.

A shadow rose from her side and seized her neck with indescribable rapidity. With her combating lessons at Cassel and years of underwater experience, Aki didn’t hesitate to pull her knife out of the pocket to cut the shadow.

At the same time, she shouted: “Ye Sheng! Be careful!”

Ye Sheng had equipped a Russian-made SSP-1 underwater pistol that had been modified by the Equipment Department.

But the shadow was even faster than Aki and Ye Sheng. He used a weapon in hand to separate the folding knife of Aki and hit it on the top of Aki’s helmet. Aki instantly lost the ability to fight back. She rolled back subconsciously to avoid the shadow’s next attack but was already clasped in a tight embrace.

“Ye Sheng! Shoot!” Aki shouted.

“At whom?” The shadow asked.

Aki was stunned. It was the voice of Ye Sheng. Once, when they were training in the Great Barrier Reef, her oxygen cylinder broke down underwater. At the moment of suffocation, she heard Ye Sheng’s voice and regained consciousness, which saved her life. She opened her eyes wide and looked at the black shadow around her. The glimmer of light in the other’s helmet lit up his face, it’s Ye Sheng’s face.

“How can there be two Ye Sheng?” Aki’s heart exploded with fear.

She turned her head to her back, and the man who swam with her, Ye Sheng, was gone. What floating in the water was a sculpture of a snake-face man. No one knew why a bronze sculpture could float in the water. Its silver eyes shone with a taunting smile.

Ye Sheng took out his pistol and blew up the head of the snake-face man, “I came back and found you swimming here, and the thing was floating behind you. I didn’t get why it was following you until you reached out and started the system.”

It was then that Aki found her lifeline was cut. She touched down the rope, which had been cut by a knife, and found a smooth notch. Aki touched her waist… She used her knife and cut the lifeline!

“For god sake!” Aki shuddered. “Is it an illusion?”

“Maybe it’s because of those dragon inscriptions,” Ye Sheng said, pointing to the dome. “When you take pictures in succession, it’s like reading the dragon inscriptions in order. It made a spiritual vision that led to disorder.”

“This spiritual vision… Is very weird.”

A creepy voice sounded. It was like someone holding two pieces of rusty iron and rubbing them against your ear. At the moment similar sounds are amplified hundreds of times.

As Ye Sheng and Aki look around at the bronze walls: Thousands of bronze gears turned slowly, huge bells rang inside the cavern, rust began to peel off from gears, and tooth clucked each together. Ye Sheng looked upward. In the darkness, an unprecedented huge bell vibrated with great power. The bronze pendulum vibrates back and forth around the bearings. The snake-faced man on the bronze wall moved at the same time. It raised the truncheon in its hand, curving its neck as if holding an ancient pilgrimage.

“You’ve activated the system,” said Ye Sheng, looking at the bronze pole that had just been pushed by his partner. “I don’t know what the system is, but it doesn’t seem like a good thing… This is a trap!”

He felt in his heart that the “snake”, whom he had left on guard around him, was running away. This was unprecedented. The “snake”, his faithful servant, was always in the depths of his consciousness. Ye Sheng had severe head pain and other snakes in the depths of his consciousness were swimming in terror, trying to burst his head.

Must evacuate as soon as possible, this is Ye Sheng’s intuition.

He pulled out the knife from Aki’s waist and plunged it into space between two gears with great strength. The folding NT knife was intersected into the bronze wall two inches deep. Two gears were buckled by the folding knife and could not be turned. The shaking of the huge bronze clock slowed down immediately while losing its power.

“No matter what machinery it is, power is needed, this alchemy machinery is not an exception.” Ye Sheng shouted, “Better run! The whole city seems to be moving!”

The knife fell, and the great bronze bell resumed its power. It roared heartily.

Lu Mingfei woke up hearing the deafening bell. He suddenly sat up, turned to look out of the window and saw the sun is shining at noon.

“What the hell? Americans don’t nap?” His first reaction was to curse, and his second reaction was to lift the quilt over his head and go back to sleep.

He huddled under the quilt for a moment and realized something was wrong. The bell did not die down. Fingel was napping too, sleeping like a dead pig, how can he sleep without waking up? Lu Mingfei slowly lifted the quilt.

“Hi, here.” Someone said at the window.

The boy in the small black suit, white silk shirt and small square shoes was sitting on his windowsill, watching in a daze quietly.

Lu Mingze.

Lu Mingfei hesitated for a moment. He tiptoed to the boy and suddenly reached out and grabbed the boy’s hair. The touch was very real, his washed hair was smooth and easy to touch, his temperature was also real.

“Hey… Can you tell me if I’m dreaming?” Lu Mingfei stood beside the window.

“Depending on how you define ‘dream’. According to your understatement, you’re not looking at the real world.” The boy shrugged. “But what is the real world? Maybe the real world is your dream.”

“But I feel super real! I’ve never had a dream this real,” said Lu Mingfei, pointing to the clock tower outside. “The clocks are still going. Everything is normal except you.”

“Don’t trust your eyes too much. What you see may not be true. Maybe you’re dead now, and you just feel like you’re still standing here talking.” The boy looked at Lu Mingfei in the eyes. “Maggots are crawling about in your body like worms in a cheese hole.”

Lu Mingfei froze for a moment, feeling cold sweat all over him, “Hey, Hey! I had just had cheese for dinner, can you avoid this negative metaphor? And don’t push me down this time. Let’s talk it over.”

“Not this time. You were so annoying last time. I can’t stay too long, just to remind you that something is happening and you need to be prepared.” The boy said.

“What is it? Dragon invasion, world destruction? Don’t wake me up from my nap without such an event.”

“Don’t you hear? The clock is striking.” The boy said significantly, “You have to be prepared to continue your studies in this place as an ‘S’ student but not garbage. Remember the secrets of StarCraft?”

“Of course, power overwhelming is unbeatable, show me the money is adding 10,000 mines and gas, and black sheep wall can open the map.” Lu Mingfei was familiar with this.

“Black sheep wall, open maps. Useful, hum?”

“Sure, don’t you know how important the map is in StarCraft?”

“The first secret I taught you was Black Sheep Wall, unlocking right now. Using it, you’ll get a detailed map of your surroundings. But don’t overuse it. They’ll find out.” The boy smiled mysteriously.

Lu Mingfei hesitated, “You think we’re in Harry Potter? Magic Academy? I just need to say… Black… “

The boy suddenly put his hand on Lu Mingfei’s mouth and shook his head. “I said, don’t abuse it.”

The boy jumped off the ledge and patted him on the shoulder, “Black sheep wall, remember it… You’ll need it soon at that very moment.”

“If you see a wall that goes up and down and left and right and you can’t see the end, and you never get to its end, what is it?” A calm voice raised in the channel.

Maans looked up in surprise. It was Ye Sheng’s voice.

“That’s death. I used to read a book and now I understand. This is Ye Sheng, both Aki and I are alive, and I am talking to you through the current of snakes. We have arrived at the palace of Norton, the King of Bronze and Fire.”

“Are you sure?” Maans’s voice was quivering.

“Professor, if you see this bronze wall in front of me, you’ll believe it, too.” Ye Sheng said.

At the bottom of the water, Ye Sheng and Aki held each other’s hands tightly, suspended in the deep green water. The shooting lamp’s light from upper is lost in faint green, all directions are the same and endless. Except at their front standing a huge bronze wall that extends in four directions. It looks like it has no boundary, it’s infinite.

The earthquake stopped temporarily. The dust in the water gradually fell, making a clearer view.

Ye Sheng identified a mottled mark in the rust on the bronze walls. It was the same mark as on the clay tablets they had just found. It was a burning face, only much larger.

“This is a… city of bronze?” Aki said quietly. There was a separate line of communication between her and Ye Sheng.

“Like the legendary bronze city he made on the snow and ice in Myth of North Europe.” Ye Sheng said, “We are lucky! We wouldn’t have been able to drill our way through the water until the earthquake opened the fissure.”

“Yeah, who knew it was buried dozens of meters underground? Casting the whole city in bronze, I don’t know how the dragons did it.”

“Professor Von Schneider had a guess. Norton, the dragon king, used the whole mountain as a chisel and poured the copper paste into it from the top. At the same time that the bronze city was being built, the heat caused the rocks to crack and formed a technically impossible behemoth city. A city made entirely of bronze, his habitat.”

“It’s crazy to imagine that.” Aki whispered, “He… Will he be in there?”

“You’ll have to go in and see.” Ye Sheng said. “I’m looking forward to it.”

“Ye Sheng, Aki, prepare to withdraw,” Maans said. “I’m afraid there will be aftershocks, and your oxygen reserves are low.”

“Professor, do you know what I see now? It’s the edge between the worlds of dragons and humans. Do you stop breathing when you touch the edge of the world? If an aftershock closes the gap, you’ll regret it. There was something inside,” Ye Sheng said. “I could feel my snakes swimming around something. They are scared.”

Maans was silent for a full minute. “Fear… Is it Norton’s grave that scares the snake?” He took a deep breath. “Ok, I see. I will replace the new equipment for you, but remember, you only have two hours. Both oxygen and electricity will last only two hours, and the helicopter of the Chinese government will probably arrive in two hours when the underwater operation will be forced to stop.”

“Yes,” said Ye Sheng. “but now I wonder where the door of the dragon king’s house is. There’s even no gap.”

“I probably do know. Wait, I’ll bring a locksmith down to you soon.” Maans said.

Maans went to the cabin and dialled. “Principal, a new development of Kui Men Project. We found a city made entirely of bronze in an underwater fissure created by the earthquake.”

There was silence on the other end of the line. “Bronze city. It’s the palace of Norton, the King of Bronze and Fire.”

“We must explore it at once. Even though the wind and rain on the Yangtze river are heavy, it’s risky,” Maans said. “but it’s hard to wait. We have competitors.”

“Competitors? Who is it? There are too few people who can compete with us in the field of archaeological exploration.”

“An underwater expedition, funded by private foundations in Hong Kong, China, is exploring a newly discovered underwater burial site. They don’t seem to know anything about dragons, but they will be diving soon.” Maans said, “If they found the bronze city, we might not be able to keep the secret. Ye Sheng thinks… There’s something in the ancient bronze city… It’s not a dead city.”

“I see. Your request has been granted,” said the principal. “For them, the first is to capture alive, the second is to kill. If this thing is out of control, the whole world will be upside down.”

“Time is limited. May I use ‘the key’ to open the bronze city?

“That’s why I let you take him!”

Maans put the phone away and bent down to stroke the baby in the cradle. The baby, who had been wailing, grew quiet and looked around with wide, innocent eyes. Near the cradle sat a charming woman, about thirty or forty, who had a diamond ring glistened on the third finger of her left hand.

“Honey, did you feel that thing?” Maans pinched the baby’s nose.

“He must be used with care; it is our only ‘key’ at present., it is difficult to find a second people with such high purity of dragon blood, even Chu Zihang cannot compare with him.” The woman said.

“But he is much better behaved than Chu Zihang,” Maans teased the baby. “Don’t act so unbelieving. You are just his foster mother, all of us love him. How much time you have to take care of your daughter?”

“Chen Motong?” The woman said simply, “I don’t see her thinking of me as a mother.”

“Your family problems are complicated… Let’s not talk about that during the work session,” Maans said, picking up the baby and looking at her. “Don’t mind I speak one more line about your family? Unless the daughter treats you as a mother, you don’t treat her as your daughter, isn’t a mother like this too demanding? You have a beautiful adopted daughter.”

“You’re her mentor, and I know you care about her. However, a girl looked at her mother died in front of her, but do not cry, just wait for two days until people knocked quietly, left me no intention to love.” There was no movement in the woman’s voice.

“Well,” sighed Maans, “I just wanted to say that Nuo Nuo can be very eccentric sometimes… But she’s a… very nice girl.”

Maans returned to the front cabin and stood at the window, arms outstretched, waiting for Selma to put him in his diving suit.

His sight wandered through the wind and rain to the mountains above the water. “Bai Di city,” he said. “I like the name.”

“Captain, does Bai Di city refer to the residence of the dragon king or a city?” Asked Selma.

“It’s a city built more than two thousand years ago. Decades ago it was exposed to the air because the Three Gorges Reservoir was built, the water level rose and the main part of the old city was submerged, leaving only the Bai Di Temple on the island. The city was founded by a man named Gongsun Shu, who set up his state here against an idealistic dynastic rebel, Wang Mang. Some people call him the white emperor.”

“The name reminds me of the white king.” The third mate said.

“Not the white king, but the King of Bronze and Fire. He is also known as the Grey King, the noble ancestor of the dragon race, one of the ‘four monarchs’. His name is Norton. Descended from the black king, Nidhogg Directly.”

“Self-fertilization?” Said Selma. “Is Nidhogg his father or mother?”

“According to the current research, dragons are like normal creatures on breeding. For the vast majority of dragons, there are parents. However, the first generations are different, the ‘four monarchs’ are not produced by the mating of male and female bodies. They represent the four elements, which were split directly from the black king. The black king is both his father and his mother.” Maans said, “The Chinese have five elements: gold, wood, water, fire and earth, while the dragons have only four elements: earth, water, wind and fire. You should have learned that in an introductory course in alchemy.”

“Is that Chinese, Gongsun Shu, actually a dragon king?”

“No, it’s someone hiding behind Gongsun Shu. Before he claimed himself as an emperor, he claimed to have seen a dragon rising from the well and lying prone in front of his mansion. In Chinese history, it is recorded as ‘dragon’s appearing’, which is regarded as a good omen by Gongsun Shu.” Maans said, “Sichuan Province was the west on the map of ancient China, and Gongsun Shu thought his luck came from metal. The colour of the metal is white, so he was called the ‘white emperor’. In other words, the so-called ‘Bai Di’ is not the ‘white king’, but means ‘king of metal’ in Chinese. And coincidentally, Norton, the King of Bronze and Fire, had two miracles. First, incredible flame. Second, he refined bronze from the depths of the earth and used it as a weapon.”

“This man… Oh no, why does this dragon do this? Casting such a bronze city is an incredible project!”

Maans spread his hand and took off his cigar. “We never knew that. If we want to figure out what the dragons want to do, we have to figure out what their relationship with humans is. This is an academic problem. We can’t get the answer by only analyzing the fossils of dragons. We may have to catch a living dragon king to torture him.” He paused. “Tonight is an opportunity!”

Ye Sheng felt that the uneasiness of the “snake” he had left inside the bronze city had increased, it was swimming much faster.

The beam of spotlights came down, a figure was swimming towards them. Maans did not speak, but tapped his helmet and mask in greeting and let out a string of bubbles. He looks like a pregnant woman because his special diving suit has a transparent material pouch in front of him. Inside is a baby wearing a very small diving suit. In this underwater world, which adults can’t help but fear, the baby was miraculously not crying. He turned his head slowly around, the golden light was flowing in his pupils.

Maans took the new signal line, and after the connection, he replaced the oxygen cylinders for Ye Sheng and Aki.

“Ooh! The key!” Ye Sheng patted Maans on the stomach to tickle the baby. “Professor, you look like a diving kangaroo.”

“Then you are like a fox who came here to steal my wallaby! Remember, two hours, “Maans said, raising two fingers. “Get ready. I’m going to open the door.”

Ye Sheng and Aki floated behind Maans, each of them put a hand on his shoulder. Maans folded his hands across his chest and gave his favourite students a firm pat on the hand.

Maans closed his eyes, pressed his hand on the bronze wall and murmured. Like singing and roaring, the majestic voice directly penetrated the depth of Ye Sheng and Aki’s mind. Maans suddenly opened his eyes and did what will freak out normal divers. He opened the mask on his pressure suit 120 meters below the surface. This will allow the huge water pressure directly to press his fragile human body, his blood in every bubble will scramble to escape, may burst his blood vessels!

Maans’s voice echoed in the water. At this moment, he released his speaking spirit.

Speaking Spirit – Undusted.

The water around Maans swirled, and a transparent shell of water expanded rapidly outward around him. Water was forced out of a spherical space several meters. The vortex swirled around them at high speed, and the high-pressure oxygen leaking from the oxygen cylinder of Maans filled the space in the bubble. They are standing in the air!

Where Maans’s hand had touched, as the wind blew over the surface of the bronze walls, chunks of copper rust had been stripped away, revealing new metal surfaces with a greasy-black sheen. The pattern on the wall was clearly visible, a raised face with a burning log in its mouth. It was a strange picture, its face twisted in pain, but it would not let go of the teeth that held the log.

“Baby, the rest is up to you.” Hanging from the bronze walls with steel claws, Maans lifted the baby carefully from the belly of the suit.

Silence, only the sound of high-speed rotation of the vortex. The baby with the golden pupils remained silent for a long time, then bent down hard and stood up, standing on the palm of Maans’s hand. He looked only a few months old, with a sucker in his mouth, a one-piece baby suit with cows of all sizes, and only a few stray hairs on his head. But such a child straightened his back solemn as a priest. He gazed into the bronze man’s face, and stretched out his little chubby hand slowly, put a finger between its eyebrows.

A bronze bulge between the eyebrows cut the baby’s delicate fingers, and blood ran over the anguished face. For an instant, Aki saw the face twisted with a happy expression. Ye Sheng reached out and caught the pacifier that had fallen from the baby’s mouth. The sound, low as a bell, gushed out of the child’s mouth. The bronze wall stated to react.

The baby’s blood poured into the bronze face’s mouth as if it had been forcibly sucked. But the infant stood in the martyr’s impassive attitude, completely ignored the loss of blood without expression. He bent slightly as if to kiss the mouth of the bronze man. Maans hugged him and stopped the appalling act forcibly. He took out the tourniquet, wrapped it around the baby’s pinkie carefully and patted his face. “Key, that’s enough, you’re wonderful.”

After sucking the blood, the bronze man fell silent for a moment, then slowly opened its mouth like yawning. There was a terrible noise of metal being heated and broken up deep in the bronze wall. A dark hole about one meter appeared on the bronze wall. Around were the teeth of the bronze face, not human teeth, the sharp edges were like daggers.

“This is the entrance.” Ye Sheng whispered.

“The great achievement of alchemy was to contain the spirit in the purest substance and then serve as the guardian here,” said Maans. “You have about two hours, and the spirit will be closed.”

“About?” Ye Sheng said, “So imprecise? If we were exploring the moon, would you say we have about two hours to land on the moon? It’s even more dangerous than the moon!”

“Then we shall save a minute for discussion,” Maans said. “I will take back my speaking spirit, and you can enter after the passage is filled with water.”

The pale gold in the baby’s eyes faded. He held up his bandaged finger to himself, looked at it in surprise, and burst into tears.

“Oh-oh-oh, don’t cry don’t cry, that’s good enough for you.” Maans put the baby back into the pouch with a helpless father’s look on his face.

“Remember, two hours,” Maans looked into Ye Sheng’s eyes and told him again, “it’s not time for Norton to wake up. The goal is to find his eggs, but if not, destroy it.” He passed a black tin box. “Something from the Equipment Department. It can destroy the egg but you must move at least 50 meters before its detonating.”

Ye Sheng gave a thumbs-up and Maans put his helmet back on. He took his speaking spirit back, the huge ball of air broke into countless bubbles in a flash, rising rapidly towards the top, and the surging water made Ye Sheng and Aki almost unable to breathe. The professor was as agile as a fish, diving back into the water on a bronze wall while turning on the hydro-assist device behind him and leaving at high speed.

Aki looked up at Maans disappearing into the distance. Darkness had returned, and the only light was the spotlights on Ye Sheng’s helmet.

Aki suddenly felt the cold, devastating cold on the edge of the world.

“Ye Sheng!” She called back.

“Here I am.” Ye Sheng held out his hand and shook with her through thick gloves, smiling.

Maans stepped back to the ship and took off his fins. He was so hurried that he didn’t take off the diving suit and went ahead to the cabin.

“Life parameters normal, signal unobstructed. They’ve gone deep inside, and there’s a lot of bronze statues, space station tunnels, and… Anyway, you won’t believe it. My god, people who haven’t seen it with their own eyes won’t believe it!” Selma came up with excitement.

“Put it on the big screen,” Maans said.

Dark green video footage appeared on the big screen, which was sent back from underwater by Ye Sheng and Aki. In the spotlight column, ripple shown an incredible round bronze. Around it is a circle as sharp as spikes. At first sight, it reminds people images of it whizzing in eerie arcs and spinning around the neck of an enemy if thrown.

“Incredible craftsmanship.” Whispered Maans.

“It looks like some kind of weapon.” Said Selma.

“It’s not a weapon, it’s a gear, a part of a system.” Answered Maans.

The camera kept pulling away, and it seemed that Ye Sheng was swimming away slowly with his helmet-mounted camera, which rose above the water.

“There’s a lot of residual air in there, which buys us a lot of time,” Maans says.

“No, the composition of the air is so low in oxygen that the oxygen is used up by the oxidation of the metal.” Said the first mate, “They only have enough oxygen for an hour and 35 minutes… No, for 33 minutes.”

A second metal disc appears in the shot, followed by one and another… Countless metal discs covered a huge wall of bronze, with teeth clenched together. Maans looked down at his wrist, there was a mechanical Omega diving watch.

“This is Ye Sheng reporting. I feel like I’m swimming in a huge mechanical watch.” Ye Sheng said.

“It’s a kind of alchemy machine,” Maans said. “By looking at the complexity of it, I can tell that Norton is a great machinist. However, this is not surprising. Ancient Chinese story said that people were able to create wooden birds that could fly in the sky without falling. You have only 50 minutes, Ye Sheng, Aki, find the bedroom of Norton ASAP.”

“Roger that, I can feel the snake’s position is getting close to me.” Ye Sheng said.

He touched the black box and turned to Aki. “You can take pictures and samples here, I’ll find the snake under us. Pay attention to my vital data. If I have a problem, don’t rescue me. Evacuate first. This is the order of the group leader.”

“Yes,” Aki said.