Dragon Raja: Reboot

Chapter 171 The Gates of Hell

When they came down from the top of the Sky Tree, Erii was still holding onto his clothes.

Lu Mingfei looked at her clothes, which were soaked by the rain, with pity, thinking that he should quickly take her to a place to take a hot bath and change her clothes.

Although a mixed-race person shouldn't catch a cold so easily, the cold weather and the damp clothes sticking to the body are definitely not comfortable.

They walked out of the Sky Tree gate, where a heavy motorcycle was neatly parked in front of them.

That wild aura was almost overwhelming.

Lu Mingfei was taken aback. This feeling of being arranged... it really felt familiar.

He looked around but couldn't find anyone, and suddenly laughed silently.

This time, he didn't object to the arrangement at all; on the contrary, he felt a pleasant surprise.

A raincoat was placed on the bright red heavy motorcycle.

Lu Mingfei hopped on the motorcycle, reached out and pulled Erii onto the back seat, then put the raincoat on the girl. He told her to sit tight.

Erii put on her raincoat, her eyes sparkling with surprise; she had clearly never ridden in such a wild and dangerous mode of transportation before.

Feeling the warm little hand encircling his waist, Lu Mingfei paused in his grip on the helmet, then silently tossed it aside, and turned the handlebars with great spirit, the engine of the fiery red heavy motorcycle roaring like thunder.

This moment.

Lu Mingfei was genuinely grateful to the unknown guy who taught him to drive a motorcycle in his previous life, and for his experience as the student council president.

The torrential rain lashed his face, stinging and cold, yet he was filled with joy, for the girl he loved sat on the back seat, and he was about to embark on a long-awaited journey with her, the journey's destination being Meiji Shrine, where a grand wedding would be held.

Accompanied by the sharp, piercing sound of tires screeching against the ground, a fiery red car silhouette, sharp as a blade, cut through the night's storm amidst the white exhaust fumes!

They cut through the rain, charging along the streets, splashing high into the puddles, speeding like phantoms through the city immersed in the downpour.

Lu Mingfei's soaked black hair was blown about by the strong wind, like a battle flag fluttering in the wind.

He held his head high, his pupils burning with a fiery light!

Every man dreams of having such a day, right?

That day, you were riding a heavy motorcycle that only a real man is qualified to drive. Amidst the roar of the engine, the girl sat behind you, tightly hugging your waist. At that moment, nothing in the world could stand in your way!

You and your girl braved the storm and became invincible, slaying gods and Buddhas alike!

Heaven and earth are without restraint.

……

……

The white yacht bobbed up and down with the rising tide.

Akira Sakurai went up to the deck and stood at the bow, gazing at the tranquil sea under the night sky.

"It's so quiet," he murmured. "So this is what the sea looks like at night."

"Am I beautiful?" The girl in the white dress stood beside him, raised her hand to brush her wind-blown hair aside, and smiled sweetly.

"Yes." Sakurai Akira nodded and said with emotion, "We are all children who live in the mountains. Even though this country is an island nation, we have hardly ever seen the sea."

"Today you'll not only have the chance to see everything, but you'll also have the chance to experience naval warfare," Mako said with a squinting smile, handing over her phone.

Akira Sakurai took the phone; a call had already been connected.

He glanced helplessly at Mako; the call had obviously been connected before the girl came to his side, yet she had only handed it to him now.

Mako blinked.

"Xiao Ming, are you ready?" A familiar, cheerful voice came from the phone.

"Yes, sir!" Sakurai Akira replied solemnly and in a low voice, "We are ready to go into battle at any time!"

"Very good, you look very energetic. Did you receive the gifts I gave you?"

"What does sir mean...?" Sakurai Akira looked at the injection he was holding in his hand.

The air needle is as thick as a finger, and the syringe contains a blood-red preparation.

"That's serum. Once injected into your body, you'll be able to experience the power of the perfect [Orochi] ahead of time. Guess whose blood this serum was extracted from?"

Sakurai Akira felt a sudden, suffocating pain in his heart. He took a deep breath and whispered, "Could it be... the master..."

"Congratulations, you answered incorrectly! Well then, I wish you all good luck in your martial arts endeavors."

Akira Sakurai put down his phone with a wry smile, feeling helpless. This editor was sometimes truly unpredictable.

He calmed himself down and turned back to wave goodbye.

The companions, who were already prepared, revealed excited and ferocious smiles.

They had been waiting for this day to come, constantly honing their skills in the strange and wonderful world of their dreams, just so that they wouldn't disappoint the adults when this day arrived.

And now.

The day has finally arrived.

The small boat left a white trail of water as it sailed toward the light at the horizon.

The lights there were so bright that it seemed as if a palace was floating in the sea, and the six Sumeru pedestals made a huge rumbling sound.

……

……

"Report in depth." Saeki Ryuji's voice came through the earpiece.

"Depth 200 meters, everything normal, oxygen level 95%, visibility zero," Caesar replied lazily.

"Okay, continue descending. Please remember the operating procedures: hover for one minute every 100 meters of descent to allow the submersible to fully adapt to the pressure before continuing the descent. Do not rush it."

The crow read aloud strictly according to the instruction manual.

"Report the depth to me every 10 meters, check all instruments every 100 meters, give me a full report, and continue the dive only after getting my approval."

Caesar curled his lip and took a cigar wrapped in an aluminum tube from his diving suit pocket.

Conditions inside the submersible were rudimentary, so he made do with what he had, biting off the end of a cigar and lighting it with a butane lighter.

He exhaled a puff of cigar smoke, then took another one out of his pocket and handed it to Yuan Zhisheng, raising an eyebrow as he said, "Want one?"

Yuan Zhisheng frowned as he watched his series of actions, thinking to himself, "This guy really is a spoiled brat, carrying a cigar while carrying out an important underwater mission?"

He was about to refuse, but Caesar's tone and raised eyebrow made him feel a sudden jolt, as if he had been provoked, as if refusing meant losing to this idiot.

He silently accepted the cigar, the spider cut an inch from the sheath, chopped off the cigar head, and then took Caesar's lighter.

"Oh...no wonder you all carry knives." Caesar watched him chop off the end of a cigar with an ancient sword, his eyes filled with envy.

Yuan Zhisheng froze.

Why does this guy make it sound like he carries a knife just to smoke cigars?!

With a cigar dangling from his mouth, Caesar moved his hands rapidly across the control panel, adjusting the pressure values ​​of each valve and pipe to stabilize the submersible once again.

Of the three, only he was familiar with the deep-sea submersible. He studied the operation manual for several hours and transformed into an experienced captain.

From the outside, this deep-sea submersible is a behemoth that is 15 meters long, but the watertight compartment for people to move around is only the size of a small elevator.

According to Caesar, the water tank valves and oxygen equipment took up a lot of space.

This small watertight compartment is also filled with various valves and instruments.

The three seats with aluminum alloy seat belts were almost back to back. Once they sat down, it felt like they were strapped to some kind of rack. It was difficult to move their hands or feet, and they would accidentally touch the valves painted red with "Danger" warning signs.

Even under these circumstances, Yuan Zhisheng and Chu Zihang each carried a knife.

Of course, this is nothing to be surprised about. The only thing that puzzled Caesar was that Chu Zihang did not bring the family heirloom Murasame, but another one.

This guy was originally planning to bring two swords, but after seeing the watertight compartment, he had no choice but to select one.

"Chu Zihang, release another 100 liters of gas now, and we'll dive another 100 meters," Caesar said.

The valve that controls the submersible's descent is in Chu Zihang's hands. Each time Chu Zihang releases a certain amount of gas, a certain amount of seawater will rush in, and the submersible will sink.

The complex task of coordinating the entire deep-sea submersible fell to Caesar.

As competitors, the two cooperated quite well.

As for Yuan Zhisheng, he was assigned the work that originally belonged to Lu Mingfei.

Chu Zihang released more compressed air, and the submersible sank into deeper waters.

Their ears were filled with the sounds of machinery running and air whistling.

Although the submersible was making a lot of noise, the sound of heartbeats and breathing was exceptionally clear.

"Did you know that although humanity has entered the aviation age and embarked on the path of exploring the stars, in reality, humanity has only reached less than 0.2% of the entire Earth?"

Chu Zihang said in a low voice.

The atmosphere in the watertight compartment was somewhat tense, and he felt he should say something to improve this damn atmosphere.

"What?" Caesar's hand, holding a cigar, trembled, and he exclaimed in surprise, "Haven't we already landed on the moon?"

"If you've taken geophysics classes seriously, you'll know that the Earth is divided into three parts: the crust, the mantle, and the core. All human activities currently take place on the crust," Genji said casually, taking over the conversation.

Caesar and Chu Zihang immediately looked at him with strange eyes.

Any high school student knows the basics of the Earth's crust, mantle, and core, but Yuan Zhisheng mentioned geophysics, a course whose difficulty level can be described as hellish.

Yuan Zhisheng coldly swept his gaze across them with a disdainful look: "I am your senior. I studied in a continuing education program and completed four years of university courses in just one year. Unlike some of you, who fail every year."

Caesar corrected him seriously, "I've only failed twice. Once was when I accidentally caused a small explosion during a lab class, and the other was when I held a winter beer swimming competition, which violated school rules."

Chu Zihang looked on with respect. He was well aware of the value of the four-year course at Kassel College. His original plan was to complete all his studies in two years and graduate early to join the Executive Department.

The fact that Genji completed all his studies in just one year is enough to prove his excellence.

"During the Cold War, the Soviet Union conducted an experiment that you should all have heard about," Chu Zihang said in a low voice.

"Dig through the Earth? The Gates of Hell?" Caesar shrugged, indicating that he had indeed heard of it, but knew very little about it.

"This project continued until 1992, and the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, finally stopping at a depth of 12262 meters," Chu Zihang said softly. "In the end, the Russian military's Northern Fleet took over the Kola Peninsula, and the 12262-meter-deep borehole was completely sealed by the military with a steel cover weighing 12 tons."

The watertight compartment fell silent instantly.

Caesar asked in a low voice, "The Northern Fleet?"

Their target, the Lenin, once belonged to the Northern Fleet!

"The Lenin left the Northern Fleet at the end of 1991, and the Northern Fleet took over the Gates of Hell in 1992," Chu Zihang said quietly. "I only discovered this by chance last night. Although it doesn't prove anything, I'm afraid Russia inherited a lot of secrets from the former Soviet Union."

Genji frowned and said, "According to irresponsible rumors, scientists at the time collected what sounded like human screams from beneath the Gates of Hell. They suspected they had opened the gates to Hell and ultimately shut down the project."

"You suspect what's down there?" Caesar asked.

"I don't know," Chu Zihang said calmly. "Perhaps only by actually going down there can we discover the secrets buried below."

"There might be an ancient city down there," Yuan Zhisheng suddenly said.

Facing the two people looking at him at the same time, Yuan Zhisheng said without changing his expression: "Dragon Clan Ancient City. The Dragon Clan has left almost no traces in this world, which is unreasonable. The only explanation is that those traces are hidden in areas that humans cannot access."

"Like in the deep sea?" Caesar asked, puffing on his cigar and squinting.

Yuan Zhisheng was silent for a moment, then said softly, "Since there may be an ancient dragon city 12,000 meters underground, it is reasonable that there is also an ancient dragon city buried 8,000 meters deep in the sea."

Silence returned to the watertight compartment.

……

……

Schneider sat in the center of the hall.

Norma presented different images in a holographic projection to the front, back, left, and right of the position: the results of the sonar scan, the underwater video taken by the Trieste, the weather conditions in the Sea of ​​Japan... all the information converged in front of Schneider.

Tonight, Schneider has a firm grip on the Sumeru, Moniach, and Trieste.

The direct connection between the Norma system and the Kaguya system across the ocean made him feel as if he were there in person.

The black card provided by Manstein also gave him 100% access to Norma resources.

Manstein had no intention of helping; he was an office worker whose expertise lay in meetings, speeches, and report writing.

Now he sits at the table in the corner, writing furiously.

"What are you writing?" Schneider asked without looking up.

"A performance review report explains that I am not disobeying the Board of Trustees' orders, but rather, from the perspective of the Disciplinary Committee, after good communication with the Executive Department, I believe that halting the Longyuan Project at this time is not in accordance with the relevant regulations of the college." Manstein did not look up. "I know you don't understand what I'm saying now, and you don't need to understand it. This is a matter for us civilian staff."

"Are you just going to treat Frost like this? Is Frost really that stupid?" Schneider asked curiously.

“I didn’t say I was talking to Frost,” Manstein looked up. “The person who sent me was Pompeii Gattuso, the head of the Gattuso family.”

"Pompeii?" Schneider asked, somewhat surprised. "Wasn't he the one who donated the Trieste to support us? Did he regret it after donating the submersible?"

"No, it was Frost who sent a team to the snowy mountain pass to pick up Pompeii from his hermitage in order to stop the Dragon Abyss Project. Basically, Frost forcibly kidnapped Pompeii and demanded that he come forward to stop the Dragon Abyss Project."

"I understand. But why did Pompeii specifically ask you to come?"

Manstein thought for a moment and said, "I feel that he doesn't want to stop the plan. His goal is more to get me to hand over this black card to you."

Schneider frowned.

The black card in Pompeii's hand, combined with the black card in the principal's hand, allowed him to fully utilize Norma's abilities.

“I’ve always had a feeling,” Schneider said in a low voice after a long pause, “that Pompeii knows something. He might know what’s in the deepest part of the Abyss, which is why he wants us to send people to dive into the Japan Trench, even if it means risking his own son.”

"...Why do you think that?"

"Because his behavior is too suspicious," Schneider said quietly. "Whether it was his proactive donation of the submersible in advance, or Pompeii's delight that his son would have the opportunity to pilot his collection on a mission when I suggested that we might include Caesar in the diving team, and his request to have it painted with a Japanese flag, all of this is too suspicious."

"you mean?"

"If Pompeii and Caesar's relationship were reversed, I might suspect the son resented his father for holding the position for too long and wanted to oust him. But given the current situation, I can only suspect that Pompeii felt diving was safe, and might even bring some benefits, so he didn't object to Caesar going into the sea!"

(End of this chapter)