Lu Mingfei doesn't want to be a superhero

"Let's go first. My ice might not be able to stop these mechanisms for long," Lu Mingfei said.

Ye Sheng gritted his teeth: "Alright, let's leave first!"

……

Even hybrids become sluggish in extremely cold waters, and Ye Sheng and Jiu Deya's swimming speed noticeably decreased.

So, for the sake of speed, Lu Mingfei simply had Jiu Deya hug Ye Sheng's waist, while he himself grabbed Ye Sheng's arm, dragging both of them forward at the same time—anyway, with his current physical condition, carrying two burdens wouldn't affect his speed much.

After turning a particularly large gear, the coldest part of the water was left behind, and the oncoming water suddenly became warmer.

But Lu Mingfei suddenly stopped and looked at a corner of the dark water.

"What's wrong, junior?" Ye Sheng asked.

He had ended the release of the Word of Power, and with limited vision in the dim water, he and Aki could not see what Lu Mingfei could notice.

"Senior brothers, can you swim by yourselves now?" Lu Mingfei asked.

Ye Sheng and Jiu Deya exchanged a glance, confirmed each other's situation, and nodded at the same time.

“Then you should swim back using Senior Brother Ye Sheng’s lifeline,” Lu Mingfei said. “I’ll catch up with you later.”

"What happened?" Ye Sheng asked.

"It's nothing serious, but some citizens might come to us," Lu Mingfei said. "Maybe they want to complain about us making noise?"

"Citizens?" Ye Sheng was taken aback.

They are now in Bronze City, a city built by the Dragon King. In ancient times, when that king of metal and fire ruled his vast fiefdom, this place was probably closer to the concept of a "royal capital" or "capital city".

In such a city, what would a "citizen" be?

Ye Sheng shuddered violently, looking at Lu Mingfei with a face full of terror: "A dragon has arrived?"

“It might not be a dragon, it could be something like a tomb guardian,” Lu Mingfei said. “Senior brother, have you ever read any tomb raiding novels? In those novels, the tomb owners would raise things that could survive for a long time, or a group of things that could reproduce and survive for a long time, in order to prevent themselves from being disturbed. When the tomb raiders came in, they would gnaw them down to the bone.”

"Senior brother, have you read a novel called 'Ghost Blows Out the Light'? It features fireflies and giant salamanders..." Lu Mingfei asked.

"I really envy you, junior brother, for still being in the mood to joke around at a time like this." Ye Sheng smiled wryly, reaching for the Russian-made SSP-1 underwater pistol at his waist.

This weapon was modified by the equipment department, and its power is close to that of some sniper rifles. However, if there is a dragon hiding here, this gun cannot give Ye Sheng any sense of security.

"Let's run!" Shudeya made the right decision.

“You go first,” Lu Mingfei shook his head, “I’ll follow later.”

"Lu Mingfei!" Professor Mans' voice came through the communication channel, "Don't try to be a hero. Even if you're an S-class, you can't fight a dragon in the water. Dragons can evolve the breathing ability of aquatic animals. Even if you can fight it, you'll be worn down by the lack of oxygen! Escape with Ye Sheng and the others!"

“I’m afraid it’s too late, Professor,” Lu Mingfei said calmly. “It has already opened up an unknown domain of Word Power.”

Ye Sheng and Jiu Deya were startled.

Theoretically, the domain of releasing the power of words can indeed be sensed, but this requires an extremely high bloodline. No wonder Lu Mingfei had already discovered a menacing enemy nearby while the two of them were still completely unaware.

“I’ll hold it off for now, you senior brothers and sisters go first,” Lu Mingfei said. “Don’t worry about me, I’m confident, and don’t forget I have the home advantage.”

After a moment of silence on the communication channel, Professor Mans said, "Ye Sheng, Jiu Deya, you two leave first!"

Ye Sheng gritted his teeth unwillingly, but he had received professional training and knew that in this situation, he and Jiu Deya would only hold Lu Mingfei back, so he could only nod: "Junior Brother Lu, you have to be careful."

Lu Mingfei nodded.

Ye Sheng and Jiu Deyaji have gone far away from playing hand in hand.

Lu Mingfei exhaled into his diving suit and watched Ye Sheng and Jiu Deya leave.

Then he swam to the frozen giant gear, looking at the thick ice wall encasing the gear, and the slender figure encased in the ice wall like a small insect in amber.

Lu Mingfei patted the ice wall.

Mai Shude, inside the ice wall, stared at him expressionlessly.

Chapter 175 Battle

In the Bronze City.

The ice wall shattered, and Mai Shude, who was frozen inside, fell out. Lu Mingfei grabbed her wrist with one hand to prevent her from falling.

When Lu Mingfei grabbed Mai Shude's wrist, he suddenly felt something was wrong—Mai Shude's diving suit was also lightweight, so he could vaguely feel that there seemed to be a layer of something like scales under Mai Shude's diving suit.

Even more surprisingly, Mai Shude, who had just been thawed, was able to regain her normal mobility after only a few seconds. She could float and swim in the river on her own without Lu Mingfei holding her.

Having caught her breath, Mai Shude floated in front of Lu Mingfei, her beautiful eyes staring at him intently, as if she wanted to stare Lu Mingfei to death.

"Heh, what a coincidence, we meet again." Lu Mingfei greeted him without changing his expression.

"Yes, what a coincidence..." Jiu Demai smiled insincerely.

"If I said that what just happened was an accident, would you believe me?" Lu Mingfei asked sincerely.

"I'll believe you for now, since you specifically told a lie about a dragon nearby so you could stay and help me escape," Mai Shude snorted.

"Huh? Who said I stayed behind specifically to help you get out of trouble?" Lu Mingfei asked, puzzled. "I stayed because there really is a dragon here."

Lu Mingfei could indeed feel himself being covered by a domain, which seemed to be conveying a simple message to him—if he retreated any further, he would be attacked.

That's why Lu Mingfei let Ye Sheng and Jiu Deya leave.

As for why he didn't directly tell others the information he sensed from the domain, firstly, it was only a vague feeling that he couldn't confirm with 100% certainty; secondly, the fact that a dragon specifically wanted to keep him here was very strange in itself, so he didn't want to tell others to avoid arousing unnecessary curiosity.

As for rescuing Mai Shutoku, it was really a piece of cake. After all, he only found Aki Shutoku with Mai Shutoku's guidance. Judging from Mai Shutoku's current behavior, she cares about her sister and has not shown any hostility.

To his surprise, Mai Shude emerged from the ice seemingly unaffected, a level of physical ability rarely seen even among A-grade bloodlines.

"Then why aren't you running?!" Mai Shude smirked.

"I'll hold it off, you go first!" Lu Mingfei said with a righteous expression, but in reality, it was just because he felt that if he went any further, the Word Spirit Domain would attack him.

Lu Mingfei wasn't worried about himself. Not to mention that he would unleash his full power when he was near death, he had also copied Hulk's abilities and had the Silver Oak Sword in hand. Even if he couldn't kill his way through the entire Bronze City, escaping wouldn't be a problem.

The biggest problem for him is that once he reveals his ability to transform into the Hulk or go into a super form after being near death, he can't explain it to the outside world. Hybrids should only be able to use one Word of Power. Except for a few hybrids who can evolve their Word of Power, they can have the equivalent of two Words of Power, but they can only release one at a time.

Moreover, the ability to transform into the Hulk is somewhat exaggerated, even as a Word of Power.

When the Bronze Throne of Word of Power Sequence No. 87 is released, it will enhance the hybrid's body strength to that of a dragon. It will be able to withstand bullets with its flesh and blood, and its self-healing ability will be greatly enhanced. Even its skin color will turn bronze, which is similar to the Hulk's dark green.

The problem is that the Bronze Throne at most makes the caster appear a size or two larger due to muscle expansion. After he transforms into the Hulk, he is at least three meters tall, which cannot be explained simply by muscle expansion.

You can't exactly say he swelled up after being soaked in water, can you?

Therefore, he had to get rid of Ye Sheng and Jiu Deya. Only the two of them were equipped with cameras, while Lu Mingfei only had a voice communication device. Once Ye Sheng and Yaji left, no one would know if he transformed into the Hulk or went into a super form underwater, or even if he transformed into the Dragon King of the East Sea.

Of course, he also needs to get Saketoku Mai away now, otherwise the secret will still be exposed.

But to his surprise, after hearing that she was told to go first, Mai Shude resolutely shook her head: "No, we'll go together. I won't abandon my teammates."

"Damn it! Sister, is it really appropriate for you to be saying those idiotic lines from the main character's idiotic teammates in this kind of brainless anime?" Lu Mingfei complained, his eyes twitching. "You're a ninja, not a Naruto character! Shouting 'Never abandon your comrades' is the style of a shonen manga, but this is a tomb raiding movie!"

"Enough talk, let's go!" Mai Shude's attitude was firm.

Is it too late to freeze her back now? Lu Mingfei twitched the corner of his mouth.

A deep humming sound came from all directions.

Lu Mingfei and Jiu Demai looked up at the same time, and a huge slashing blade came down vertically.

As if on cue, Lu Mingfei and Jiu De Mai pushed each other, their palms touching. The immense recoil instantly pulled them out of the attack range.

After pushing the sword aside, Lu Mingfei finally had time to look at what had attacked him and Jiude Mai—it wasn't a large sword, but a strong dragon tail covered in metal. The dragon appeared silently nearby, its tail swung with such force that it could stir up turbulent currents in the water.

The dragon's tail swayed silently, and hidden in the dark waters behind it was a colossal creature whose golden eyes tore through the gloom.

The dragon looked to be over ten meters long, with a tail that was over five meters long. Only a dragon could wield such a massive weapon.

"Lu Mingfei! What happened?!" Professor Mans asked over the communication channel.

The dragon's attack was so powerful that Professor Mans noticed the problem immediately.

"Professor, I have a question. Is there any compensation for encountering dragons while working? After all, the task we mentioned before was just exploring ruins, not running dungeons and defeating bosses," Lu Mingfei complained.

"Selma, retrieve the lifeline immediately! Lu Mingfei, hold on!" Professor Mans said.

“No need, Professor, the lifeline has already been cut,” Lu Mingfei said calmly. “What we need to deal with is the alpha dragon, which is an intelligent being.”

As he said this, Lu Mingfei saw Jiu Demai's slender figure rush towards the dragon at an extremely exaggerated speed, like a sailfish that had been accelerated. The dragon's long tail swung, but it brushed past Jiu Demai and instead slashed a hideous wound on the dragon's own heavily scaled body.

"Okay, maybe not that smart." Lu Mingfei smirked.

He hung up the communication and swam towards the dragons and the wine-loving Mai, where the surrounding air was filled with a chilling aura.

But as Lu Mingfei swam closer, he noticed something was amiss. The diving suit worn by Jiu De Mai had developed some tears, and what was revealed through the tears was neither underwear nor alluring skin, but rather cold, hard, bluish-gray scales.

Looking at her face again, the bright face behind the helmet still looked mostly human, but small scales had appeared at the corners of her eyes, and her golden eyes were so bright that they seemed to be glowing.

Correspondingly, at this moment, the physical qualities displayed by Jiu Demai were even far superior to those of Senior Brother Chu.

An invisible domain unfolded around her. When the dragon's long tail lashed out at her, a look of savagery and pain would simultaneously appear on Mai Shude's face. The dragon's knife-like tail would be blocked and deflected by an invisible barrier. It had been tricked by Mai Shude in this way before, and ended up hurting itself instead.

Seeing Lu Mingfei swim over, a hint of mockery flashed in the dragon's eyes. It, which had previously only used its long tail for melee combat, suddenly opened its mouth in Lu Mingfei's direction, and its viscous fiery breath burned fiercely in the river water, engulfing Lu Mingfei.

"Lu Mingfei!" Jiu Demai was startled and shouted loudly.

The dazzling flames illuminated the river. The flames released by the dragons could not only burn in the water, but the temperature seemed extremely high. The surrounding river water instantly boiled and vaporized, and the violent boiling produced a large number of bubbles, making it impossible to see what was happening inside.

Until a large green hand reached out from the bubble.

177. Chapter 176 Dragon Attendant Samson

At the bottom of the Yangtze River, in the Bronze City.

A green hand emerges from the flames burning in the water.

The dragon that was breathing fire immediately thought it had misread the image.

The flames he exhaled were not in the form of words of power, but rather the "bloodline mark" of his high-ranking bloodline as the King of Bronze and Fire, which was the natural talent "dragon breath" bestowed by his bloodline.

This was arguably his most lethal attack; even the high-risk incantation "Monarch's Flame" couldn't match the temperature of this dragon's breath.

While it's possible that there are words of power that can withstand the power of dragon's breath, the hand extending out flames in front of it doesn't seem to be protected by defensive words of power like "Dustless Land" or "Diamond Realm".