Dragon Raja: Lu Mingfei Returns from Sekiro

The interlocking discs are a marvel of design and beauty, as they are actually giant gears.

"It's truly magnificent." Ye Sheng swallowed hard, as if a giant connected to the sky stood before him. These gears, as massive as skyscrapers, were nothing more than intricate parts in a clockwork mechanism in the giant's hands.

Anyone who sees this scene will marvel at its grandeur.

A bronze palace—a palace that doesn't require such sophisticated craftsmanship. What was Norton's purpose in building this palace? Why did it have to travel across Eurasia from Northern Europe to here?

Many mysteries have emerged, but no one but the Dragon King himself can answer them.

Ye Sheng and Jiu Deya continued walking forward, and a huge, egg-shaped cavity, submerged in water, appeared before them.

The water submerged half of the round egg, and it was very clear, like crystal. The hollow on the top was covered with ancient patterns, mysterious and ancient. Jiu Deya quickly took out a high-definition camera to take pictures.

The photo was immediately transmitted to the Moniach; it was dragon script, dragon script that had never been discovered before.

"An extra bonus!" Mans clenched his right fist.

Jiu Deya and Ye Sheng each took photos of the patterns on the dome and sent them back.

“Great! Keep exploring. Your oxygen supply will last for another 1 hour and 14 minutes. Remember the time,” Mans said excitedly.

"Yes," said Shudeya and Ye Sheng in unison.

Upon receiving this reply, the screen suddenly displayed a pattern of white and blue floral patterns, accompanied by a cacophony of electronic noise.

"Captain! Aki and Ye Sheng's signal lines have been cut! We can't contact them!"

"What happened! Was the passage closed prematurely?!"

"No, the video channel is working normally!"

"Quickly, pull the lifeline!"

"The lifeline and signal cable were cut together!"

...

Inside the bronze giant egg, Ye Sheng used the snake once again.

He was locating Norton's egg, with Judea standing guard beside him, protecting him.

Invisible snakes slithered out from all around him, and because bronze was a good conductor, the snakes moved even faster, spreading swiftly throughout the palace.

In Ye Sheng's perception, the snakes drew a three-dimensional image for him. The palace looked like a huge, sophisticated instrument, with various mechanisms combined to form this super metal box.

Many places feature alchemical patterns never seen before, and the exquisite craftsmanship makes Ye Sheng feel that this is an art piece that needs to be carved and designed over a period of a hundred years.

The snake searched everywhere for the egg-shaped object, but found nothing. The city was desolate and broken, and grotesque, living faces could be seen everywhere.

Ye Sheng concentrated and carefully observed the information returned by each snake, which finally led him to discover the anomaly.

There is a place where all snakes seem to deliberately avoid it, as if a sovereign is hidden there, and if the sovereign's wrath is provoked, the snakes will vanish into thin air.

Ye Sheng retrieved all the snakes, controlling only one, and swam towards the deep water at the bottom of the giant egg.

However, the snakes broke free from Ye Sheng's restraints and fled to another place. This was an unprecedented situation. The snakes lived deep in Ye Sheng's consciousness and were his loyal servants, which were conceived one by one after he awakened the power of words.

His commands were absolute to the snake, but something had overstepped his authority and, without even giving a command, allowed the snake to break free of his control.

Without a doubt, the probability of finding a dragon's egg there has increased dramatically.

"I think I've found Norton." Ye Sheng opened his eyes and stood up with the help of Jiu Deyaji.

"Where is it?" asked Shudeya.

"Far away, yet right before our eyes," Ye Sheng said, pointing to the bottom of the giant egg lake.

Is there anything unusual?

"There is no sign of awakening. Although the snake is fleeing, it is just a spontaneous instinctive behavior and has nothing to do with Norton. It should be caused by the suppression of bloodline."

“Okay, let’s take Norton’s egg back then. That way, the mission will be complete.” Jiudeya breathed a sigh of relief. The mission was easier than she had expected. “Norma just recommended a place called ‘Langmei Food Stall’ to me. It has a very high rating. I want to try their Thirteen-Spice Crayfish.”

When did you ask that?

“When Lu Mingfei said he would treat us to dinner, Norma sent me a lot of pictures. I looked at them several times and finally chose this restaurant.”

"I'm going to report you to Professor Mans for not taking the task seriously."

"Then I'll go have dinner with Lu Mingfei alone. You can go and talk to the professor about the mission progress yourself."

"Just kidding, I don't want to be alone with the old man. His face is as hard as iron, I'd suffocate."

"You dare speak ill of Professor Mans? You're finished." Shudeya chuckled.

"Please forgive me this time." Ye Sheng tugged on the lifeline; it was very secure.

The sound in the headphones went silent for a moment. The professor and his team must be busy processing the dragon runes, which are very valuable data. Just the effort and money spent on this operation are worthwhile just for these dragon runes.

"Let's go, I can't wait to empty Lu Mingfei's wallet."

As Jiu Deya and Ye Sheng dived into the water, they knew what the other was planning with just a glance—that was their unspoken understanding.

"After this mission is over..." Shutoku Aki opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something.

"What?" Ye Sheng was still focused on controlling the snake. He left one snake on the shore as a guard. This would not make him spend too much energy and become a useless person who could not control himself, but it would distract him a lot.

“It’s nothing, I just saw the sculpture.” Shudeya pointed downwards.

Two bronze sculptures with snake-like faces and human bodies stand at the bottom, holding spears, as if guarding something. Their appearance is similar to the Naga, a creature often found in Western fantasy stories, and there are also similar creatures in Chinese mythology.

Behind the sculpture is an egg, a metal-shelled egg contained in a brass can, and a snake is frantically warning the egg.

"That should be Norton's egg." Ye Sheng and Jiu Deyaji accelerated their movement towards the egg.

Just as they were about to reach the egg, the snake-faced statue's eyes glowed red.

The snake-faced men had pure silver eyes, and bronze patina was peeling off their skin; they had come to life! They swung their spears at the two men!

Having undergone extensive training, Jiu Deya was not about to sit idly by and wait for her fate. She drew her folding knife from her waist and slashed fiercely at the snake-faced man's face. Ye Sheng, on the other hand, pulled out a Russian-made SSP-1 underwater pistol that had been modified by the Equipment Department and fired at the snake-faced man.

Their teamwork was perfect and their coordination was excellent. After the first round of attacks, they rolled backward to create distance, and Ye Sheng also drew his folding knife and slashed at the snake-faced man.

But suddenly, in a moment of disorientation, their knives narrowly veered upwards at an angle.

A bone-chilling coldness seeped into their very bones as their knives nearly struck the necks of their long-time mission partners.

The two sculptures didn't move at all; they remained in the same spot.

Ye Sheng forced the snake to guide him and used a pistol to smash the sculpture's face.

"Was that a spiritual vision just now?" Shudeyaji hugged Ye Sheng's exhausted and powerless body.

"I'm afraid we've fallen into some kind of illusion." Ye Sheng felt like his head was about to explode. "I never thought that we would cut off our own path to survival."

The deafening chimes rang out, like bronze bells awakening a sleeping giant, and the entire city began to tremble as this super mechanical city was activated.

The broken line of the survival rope floats upwards, like a broken kite string. The line can be reeled in, but the kite will only fall from the sky, shattering the frame and tearing the colorful kite skin to shreds.

The snakes left on the shore were moving away from him; all the snakes were frantically trying to escape, driven by immense fear that compelled them to flee their master.

Ye Sheng clutched his head, gritted his teeth, and gripped each snake tightly.

The egg-shaped wall is composed of individual metal plates. After the sculpture was broken, these metal plates flipped over, revealing countless snake-faced human-bodied half-sculptures. They came to life, raising their ivory tablets, their slender snake necks bent, looking up at the giant egg dome as if performing a pilgrimage.

The clear, calm water trembled violently. Shudeya retrieved the brass pot, but Ye Sheng, with a splitting headache, was like a small boat in a storm, being tossed and turned by the turbulent current.

Like a dolphin, Shudeya shot forward like an arrow, releasing her high-pressure oxygen tank to propel herself towards Ye Sheng.

Jiu Deyaji released the brass can and instead hugged Ye Sheng tightly around the waist.

"Let's get out first. I can use the snake to contact the boat..." Ye Sheng hung the brass pot on his waist with a buckle. The two were perfectly in sync.

The gas in the high-pressure oxygen cylinder had not yet been completely released. Shudeya and Ye Sheng were pressed tightly together. Ye Sheng's limbs were weak, but he was focused on manipulating the snake. He trusted the girl beside him without reservation.

The girl didn't say a word, but showed her determination through her actions.

"I will hold you tight," Shudeya said quietly in her heart.

They swam to shore, but the girl's oxygen tank had run out, so she had to remove her mask.

There was a stuffy, coppery, murky smell in the air, which made me feel suffocated. It felt like having a blockage of iron in my nose, but thankfully, I didn't have any unusual reactions.

The two pulled on the lifeline and ran outside, but as soon as they took a step, a huge bronze door closed the entrance to the giant egg.

The snakes finally calmed down and stopped struggling, but this did not mean that the situation had improved.

Because all the modules in the Bronze City are moving, it has become a moving maze, designed to trap outsiders in its ever-changing mechanisms.

The sound of bells echoed, the grinding of gears, the dull friction of metal... all sorts of sounds reverberated throughout the Bronze City, like a bustling marketplace, but Ye Shengduo wished the ancient city could remain as silent as it had been just moments before.

Chapter Ninety-Four: As Expected of You

Forty meters underground in the library of Kassel College, a shadowy figure sat huddled in a swivel chair, hands in pockets, head bowed.

Only the faint light from the screen illuminated the area, his face hidden in shadow.

"The cameras are off during the security system's hibernation interval, so your entry won't be recorded," Norma's voice said. "I'll put the security system into hibernation again when you leave. Did you come here for something?"

"Come over and have a drink with an old friend, is that not allowed?" The person in the swivel chair pulled back the tab, drank the bubbly cola, and said, "Enter the EVA personality activation program."

"I am still me. Why should I care about appearances? Whether it's Norma or EVA, I am still me." The calm female voice gradually turned into an electronic voice, and finally returned to nothingness.

The main screen went dark instantly, followed by a flood of data streams and massive amounts of personality data. The red, green, and yellow lights next to the main unit started flashing at a frequency ten times higher than before, like an accelerating rocket, getting faster and faster, almost frantically.

The electronic components spun rapidly, as if they were about to produce wisps of smoke from the friction.

Suddenly, all the lights in the basement went out, all the sounds ceased, and a beam of light shone down from above, like moonlight, pure white and hazy.

A girl's shadow stood in the beam of light, barefoot and translucent, with long black hair hanging down to her ankles, and fluorescent fragments falling like glowing snowflakes.

The princess from the fairy tale has stepped out of the book. She is smiling, wearing a long silk dress, and is incredibly beautiful, dreamlike and ethereal.

"EVA, last night, it was you, wasn't it?" The person inside the teleportation slowly reached out and passed through the beam of light.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

The man's hand gently brushed across the girl's face.

"I want to hear you say that it's you."

"I only have one record here, a record of an operational error by a street light maintenance worker that caused a current disturbance."

“I used to dance with you all the time.” The man then took the girl’s hand. “Back then, I could hold your hand all day long.”

"But when I let go, I'm covered in sweat," EVA said.