Lu Mingfei: What? They're all real!

After a while, Ye Sheng was finally pulled up. His words of power seemed to have exhausted him, and his face was full of weakness. Norma, who was on the other side of the earth, had prepared a visual 3D image based on his report and appeared in front of Lu Mingfei. Finally, it was time for the protagonist to make his appearance.

“This is bad. The images show a reaction tens of meters below the rocks.” Mans frowned at the images. “But if that’s the case, how are we going to get to that place… And the Yangtze River Maritime Safety Administration keeps asking us about it, which is really unfortunate… Honestly, if only an earthquake could happen and displace the rocks…”

"Of course not, what are the chances of such a coincidence? If it really happened, you'd suspect someone deliberately invited you." Lu Mingfei packed up his scuba gear. "Mance... uh, I mean Captain, can't we just break through the rock?"

"It's difficult. The rock is about forty meters thick," Ye Sheng added, nearly exhausted. He wouldn't normally be this tired, but he wasn't allowed to go into the water today, so he scanned every part of the terrain as thoroughly as possible, which caused him to expend a great deal of energy.

"I really didn't expect this to happen... Maybe we should request some explosives." Mans felt a headache coming on. All the previous feasibility studies had focused on verifying whether the Dragon King's palace was actually here and the feasibility of entering the site. No one expected such difficulties to occur.

"This is not good. The Maritime Safety Administration's ships have been patrolling, and there are other underwater exploration teams as well. Such a commotion is too conspicuous," the second mate analyzed from behind Mans.

"Are we going to return empty-handed?" Mans looked at the water with worry.

"Professor," Lu Mingfei called out.

“Sigh, perhaps this operation needs to be postponed?” Mans turned to discuss with the first mate.

"Professor," Lu Mingfei said, raising his voice slightly.

"Perhaps we should wait until the principal arrives before making any plans. The maritime bureau's ship will be here soon," the first mate suggested.

“Professor!” Lu Mingfei shouted, pulling on Mans’ ear.

Startled, Mans turned to look angrily, only to meet a pair of eyes even angrier than his own.

"Listen carefully! I'm speaking with the intention of achieving great things!" Lu Mingfei said. "That's why the principal is the principal; he's indeed smart. Didn't you guys consider bringing combat personnel before this operation? Luckily, I'm here!"

He yelled, "It's just some rocks, leave it to me."

"But--"

“There are no buts,” Lu Mingfei actually suppressed the professor’s dignified tone. “If it works out, I hope I can be exempted from Magical Mechanical Design, or at least not be called on. Your class is that dreaded 8 a.m. class, I really can’t get up.”

Mans blinked, surprised to find himself being bargained with by a student.

Lu Mingfei turned and left, no longer bothering him. He called out to Zero at the stern, then put on his mask and jumped into the water, splashing up a wave that went over the deck and hit Mans' face.

"Young people these days are really...enthusiastic," Mans remarked.

"Wait! I haven't gotten on the bus yet!" the girl, who had been deliberately ignored, shouted hurriedly, quickly put on her mask, and then jumped into the water.

Another wave splashed up, and Mans, who had just dried his face, got it wet again, and couldn't help but sigh repeatedly.

……

"You're so disloyal! Why didn't you wait for me?" Xia Mi finally caught up. "You weren't thinking of hoarding—uh, hoarding all this glory, were you?"

She suddenly remembered that the mask was connected to a communication system that went all the way to the loudspeaker on the water, so every word she said would be heard. So she reluctantly changed her mind.

Lu Mingfei descended too quickly, and she had to hurry to catch up with him. They had already arrived at the rock that Ye Sheng had described.

"It hasn't officially started yet; I'm just scouting ahead," Lu Mingfei said with an embarrassed smile. "There's no need to bother you, sir."

But as he said this, Lu Mingfei nudged Ling's arm, signaling her to say something. Ling blinked several times, then suddenly realized that he wanted to make the situation a little more chaotic.

Zero's tone then turned sarcastic, "There was no need to call you in the first place. The two of us are enough for this whole operation."

"Hey, we've been close friends, haven't we?" Xia Mi was stunned for a while, then received his signal and began to denounce Zero's betrayal over the communicator.

“No, we’re not friends.” Zero said quietly, her tone indifferent, her gaze fixed on Lu Mingfei.

He's now touching the rock, deep in thought, seemingly pondering something.

“Why doesn’t it count?” Xia Mi retorted pointlessly, while also looking at Lu Mingfei.

He closed his eyes and, unusually, uttered a syllable, more like a command—something he had thought about since the day he enrolled, but had never dared to try. It was a decree of destruction, and there was no suitable place for it except in a moment like this.

The sound was drowned out by the girls' noisy chatter, and no one on the ship noticed the voice he uttered or the deadly command he gave, which slid across the thick rocks like a knife cutting into butter.

……

"I know, I know, you want to dye your hair red, right? Go ahead and dye it. It's fake anyway, it won't become real."

"No, I like my hair, and he likes it too."

The loudspeaker emitted the sounds of two girls bickering. Everyone gathered around the communicator with serious expressions and dark faces. Chen Motong didn't dare to turn around, focusing all her attention on "Gates." The baby rarely had the opportunity to spend time with her older sister, and she lay in her swaddling clothes, raising her hands and making happy babbling sounds.

"They are..." Ye Sheng asked the girl beside him, Selma, puzzled.

"If you have such low emotional intelligence, don't bother exploring these kinds of questions. Just go back and ask your Aki, she'll understand." Half of the girl's face was twitching; she hadn't expected that all the posts in the discussion forum were true!

She'll have plenty of content to submit to the news department when she gets back!

Mans's expression grew increasingly grim, not because the two girls seemed to be vying for his attention underwater, but because he was genuinely concerned about the progress. He hadn't heard anything about Lu Mingfei for a long time, and he didn't know—

The ship suddenly shook violently, the ground trembled, and something seemed to collapse.

Chapter 101 They were practically a family of three.

Lu Mingfei surfaced and, with the girls' help, swayed as he boarded the boat. He took off his mask, revealing his forehead covered in water droplets, or rather, sweat.

"Sorry, that was a bit loud." He sat down on the spot, breathing heavily.

He was glad he had never tried to unleash this ability, otherwise he couldn't imagine what kind of damage it would cause. Unlike his previous playful tricks, this was something truly terrifying.

"What did you do?" Mans asked seriously, already preparing his equipment and planning to dive.

Just then, a ship from the Maritime Safety Administration came by, broadcasting a message on the radio that "an earthquake has just occurred," and patrolled back and forth on the Yangtze River. Mans could not break the law under such circumstances, so he had no choice but to slowly retreat back into the cabin.

"I didn't do anything, just removed the stones blocking the way," Lu Mingfei said slowly, gradually feeling himself recover.

He actually found it somewhat amazing.

Unlike before when he directly commanded elements, he now uses a pre-defined command, similar to a programmer calling a "function". Although the damage is much greater, the consumption is much less. The only drawback is that it is difficult to control, and he can hardly guarantee that he will not crush his opponent into blood.

More importantly, he himself did not understand the meaning of the order at all; he only felt that it was like throwing a command arrow before execution, simply representing death.

This memory was blocked from his mind.

Lu Mingfei exhaled and looked at the crowd.

"That's a forty-meter-high rock!" the first mate exclaimed in shock.

"Don't be shocked, this is our S-class." The old man's voice came through the communicator.

“Principal.” Mans turned and bowed his head, as if Angers were standing right there.

“Let’s cheer for Lu Mingfei,” Angers said, “but we’ll have to wait until you return victorious… Now, be fully prepared and continue the operation once the maritime patrol boats have left. I will also go there as needed.”

Angers' words were brief, and then he fell silent.

“Okay.” Mans nodded, then the connection was severed.

"Unbelievable." The first mate was still reeling from the shock.

“The principal is right. We shouldn’t be shocked. This is an S-class. Bloodline class is like an insurmountable chasm.” Mans had calmed down now. He let out a long sigh and returned to his seat in the cabin to continue working out the plan.

Intern Selma whispered to Ye Sheng, "You're a B-level, right? Do you think you can do something like this?" Ye Sheng rolled his eyes at her and sneered repeatedly, saying that he was glad he had completed the task of interviewing Lu Mingfei before carrying out this mission; otherwise, if he had to face the rocks, he would probably have ended up with a bloody head.

Lu Mingfei staggered to the baby's side, where the only relatively soft seat was.

"That was quite a commotion." Chen Motong quickly made way for him and sat down on the other side, exclaiming, "It was like an earthquake! Did you manage to cut the mountainside open?"

“It’s not that serious, but it might be a bit like damaging an antique,” ​​Lu Mingfei said. “I hope the academy won’t hold me responsible, and certainly won’t make me pay for it.”

"Antiques?"

"I didn't control my power well and accidentally cut into the ruins below," Lu Mingfei chuckled.

"Is there really something down there?" the girl asked. "I thought the professors had just made another mistake."

"It's not a small thing either."

Lu Mingfei recalled what he had seen, and his heart pounded. He wasn't shocked or scared, but rather felt something incredibly familiar stirring within him.

That represents the highest and most supreme status.

He shook his head, then suddenly turned to the side, turning his gaze toward the baby lying in swaddling clothes. He was very interested in the little guy.

"Is this your brother?" Lu Mingfei asked.

“Yes.” The girl nodded, then reached out and poked the baby’s face. The baby grabbed her hand and whimpered.

Lu Mingfei blinked, held his breath, and leaned closer to see who this person was.

But the baby seemed very afraid of him, and would suddenly burst into tears as soon as their eyes met, whimpering and struggling wildly in the swaddling clothes.

"Good boy, good boy~" The girl was surprisingly good at this. She picked up the baby, gently rocked him, and made childish sounds while sucking her lips to soothe the stressed child.

In the distance, two eyes stared intently.

"Sigh, sigh—" Xia Mi nudged Ling beside her, gritted her teeth and asked in a low voice, "Don't you think the three of them look like a family of three right now?"

"A little." Zero nodded.

"Then what are you standing there for? Hurry up and put it in, or it'll be too late!" Xia Mi pushed Ling's waist and shooed her over there.

Actually, she wished she could take the lead herself, but sometimes she thought that it wasn't good to always act like a jealous woman... such frontline tasks should be left to others.

Zero suddenly plunged between the two of them without warning.

"What's wrong?" Lu Mingfei asked quietly.

"Uh..." Zero couldn't think of an excuse for a moment.

Chen Motong fell silent. She recalled the sounds coming from the loudspeaker... the two girls arguing about "red hair." She felt her face burning. Although she had heard many rumors before, this was definitely not a rumor. She had clearly heard it with her own ears.

Holding the baby in her arms, she quietly turned her face away. She couldn't describe what she was thinking; she just felt embarrassed, and her face was burning...

"that--"

Zero finally found an excuse. She pointed to the ship's side, where Mans and the intern Selma stood fully armed. The Maritime Bureau's ship had already left, and they followed closely behind, diving into the water.

……

"It's simply... a miracle." Mans gazed at everything before him, sincerely marveling.

On one hand, they were amazed by the sheer size of the bronze gate, which was practically a mountain; on the other hand, they were shocked by the gap that brought the ruins back to light—a gap created by Lu Mingfei.

"Was this...his doing?" Selma asked quietly.

“I think so,” Mans said. “I think he’s right. He should be given the privilege of exemption from repairs. He probably won’t need any ‘magical machinery’ assistance for the rest of his life. It’s terrifying.”

“Yes, it’s terrifying.” Selma reached out and touched the edge of the rock, which was incredibly smooth.

This gap was probably created by some kind of slashing, but it doesn't seem like it. The edge is too smooth, almost as if it had been polished with an angle grinder. No one can imagine how Lu Mingfei created this gap. What's even more terrifying is that he probably didn't control his strength and left such a gap on the bronze door as well.

Mans looked up and saw the same gap left on the ancient, heavy, and divine bronze wall, which was far beyond human comprehension.

"Is this some kind of magical power that has created this great achievement?" The intern, Selma, was very curious about it.

“I can’t imagine what kind of Word of Power would have such an effect…” Mans pondered, “except for a dangerous Word of Power that only exists in speculation and no one has ever witnessed it.”

"How did you make that deduction without seeing it with your own eyes?"

“Just like the periodic table, some things have clues. Although I haven’t seen them before, I can deduce them through rigorous reasoning… I think this is probably the one Saint Kirill discovered, the one that, theoretically, hybrids cannot possess…” Mance took a deep breath and softly uttered the name of this word of power—

"Trial".

Chapter 102 You said you would protect me

The moment of truth finally arrived, and all the members who were about to go into the water were on high alert.

"Nono, be careful," Mans repeatedly reminded the girl.

"Don't worry, I'm just opening a door." The girl waved her hand and pointed to the boy beside her. "They are the ones facing danger. You should be sending them your blessings."

“I think it’s probably not necessary. I just hope that Lu Mingfei can control his emotions.” Mans had kept his distance from Lu Mingfei ever since he surfaced, and seemed to be wary of him.

"Don't make it sound like I'm the one in danger!" Lu Mingfei protested loudly, quickly packing his equipment.

He couldn't help but feel a little flustered.

During this time, he saw a lot of information from Norma through his S-level privileges. He felt that the commotion he created should be in line with an "S-level" status. However, with Mans, he always felt as if he was being treated as some kind of dangerous element, and he was afraid of giving himself away.

He jumped into the water, taking the lead.

……

"It's truly speechless." Chen Motong said solemnly, facing the enormous bronze wall that resembled the edge of the world.

She now resembled a kangaroo, cradling a bulging device in her arms, in which her younger brother was secured.

Mans chanted a dragon script in a low voice, "Word of Power: Dustless Land." A huge vortex unfolded around him, and then he removed his mask. Oxygen leaking from his diving suit filled the vacuum, and they were lifted into the air.