Chapter 67: The City in the Water

After explaining the reasons behind Operation Bronze, Aunge briefly introduced the core steps for the upcoming hunt for the Dragon King:

"For this hunt targeting the 'King in Bronze and Fire', we are relying primarily on two major lethal weapons!

First! The 'Storm' equipped on this ship! It is the fastest torpedo in the world, capable of reaching underwater speeds up to 200 knots. According to data, the cruising speed of dragon-類 [dragons] can reach 50 knots, meaning the target cannot shake off the Storm torpedo; it can even be fitted with a nuclear warhead.

Of course, what we have equipped is an alchemical warhead with a much smaller blast radius, embedded with 8,000 spiral alchemical shrapnel pieces. When the warhead detonates, the 8,000 shards will bloom like a metallic flower, rotating across a plane 30 meters in diameter—more than enough to slice the Dragon King in half in an instant!"

Lu Mingfei's eyelids twitched. Anyone with Chinese heritage knew the immense importance of the Three Gorges Dam.

How on earth had the Yankees managed to transport such a thing into the Three Gorges? Were there traitors among them?

"There is only one Storm torpedo, which means we have only one chance. The underwater team will lure the Dragon King out of the Bronze City, and once he enters sonar range, we will launch the torpedo and end it all."

Anjou's voice sounded like an aged, weathered piano. It played notes of passing time, transporting those primed and ready aboard the ship back through the thousands of years of conflict between hybrids and Dragon Kings.

"After thousands of years, everything is finally going to be different..."

Flesh, blades, and even bloody, evil witchcraft.

Due to the limitations of human flesh, hybrids had been forced to pay a heavy price just to exchange for the temporary slumber of the Dragon Kings. And now, a weapon born of human wisdom—"science"—capable of altering the course of history, was finally about to bare its fangs.

Everyone could not help but imagine how history would record this unprecedented epic of dragon-slaying.

Except for Lu Mingfei.

He occasionally stole glances at Zero’s ice-snow-like profile, but for the most part, he gazed intently at the water's surface.

A light breeze began to blow, stirring ripples across the river water that had been dyed the color of dark ink by the night. Neither the lights of the *Moriah* nor the bright moonlight could pierce the depths of the river.

However, however...

When Lu Mingfei gazed at the pitch-black water from a specific angle, the river, which had originally reflected the light, seemed to transform into transparent glass.

A faint light, slightly refracted, shone directly down to the riverbed.

In the dead of night, a black city was outlined in stark clarity.

Black spiral spires, walls with obtuse-angled streets, and vast patches of withered, dead aquatic weeds.

No, not just aquatic weeds; everything was dead. Lifeless corpses lay scattered across the streets, varying in age, clothing, and facial features.

Young, aged, mature, tender, and even some corpses that did not appear human.

It was as if they had sensed something. Their previously silent and motionless rotting bodies began to twitch slightly, and their dull eyes slowly began to open.

An overwhelming, pure malice flowed along Lu Mingfei's gaze, transmitting outward from pair after dull pair of eyes.

Amidst them, Lu Mingfei spotted a familiar face: Ye Sheng...

His physical body had undoubtedly been destroyed by Lu Mingfei on the mountain at Cassel College. This proved that the black city beneath the water was not some lost civilization, but rather a domain formed by the Great Old One named Glaaki through the manipulation of his dream dominion.

Lu Mingfei felt a slight pang of guilt for not having attained the blessing of Cthulhu the High Supreme Dragon Deity, but the Central Yellow Taiyi Immortal Lord—who had accepted his blood sacrifices on multiple occasions—held the honorific title of "Lord of the Deep Sea and Starry Sky." If he called upon Him in a moment of crisis, surely He would come to help, right?

Although he had already resolved to become a double agent, hadn't that not yet...

Zero tugged at the hem of Lu Mingfei's clothes, interrupting his train of thought:

"Focus. The Principal is about to start discussing matters concerning the underwater operations team."

The college had a rule resembling that couples could not team up for missions, which was why Lu Mingfei and NoNo had been paired initially.

However, Lu Mingfei felt that NoNo's spiritual perception was far too high, and lacking a Spiritual Word (Spiritual Discipline) for combat prowess, she wasn't suited to step into Glaaki's dream domain with him. Therefore, he had requested the Principal to assign Zero—who possessed outstanding willpower and looked quite capable of fighting—to his group instead.

NoNo was reassigned to the surface operations team, while Caesar, who boasted exceptional diving scores, also joined the training so that he could step in should anything go wrong with either Lu Mingfei or Zero.

Anjou gently clapped his hands, standing before the team to announce:

"The specific duties of the crew have been assigned. The second lethal weapon against the Dragon King will be carried into the Bronze City by underwater operations team leader Lu Mingfei for deployment. The details remain classified. Now, the two cadets may go change into their diving suits."

The *Moriah* did not feature a dedicated changing room, so after collecting his diving suit, Lu Mingfei returned to his cabin to change.

He needed more preparation.

Lu Mingfei gently removed the Yellow Sign hanging from his neck.

Even though it was just an ordinary-looking small piece of wood carved with something resembling a child's doodle, the moment he truly held it in his hand, Lu Mingfei clearly felt as though the tentacles on the design were licking his palm.

Slimy, soft, and cold.

An ethereal, unearthly chant, coming from no known origin, began to echo in Lu Mingfei's mind, accompanied by the writhing and rotation of the Yellow Sign.

When he involuntarily began to listen closely, the chanting suddenly grew chaotic and hurried, stirring an uncontrollable sense of irritation within him.

Resisting the discomfort caused by this dissonance, Lu Mingfei gently propped the Yellow Sign upright against the desk in his room, placing his battle-tested little incense burner right between the Yellow Sign and himself.

He meticulously lit three incense sticks, sprinkling them with Zhao Menghua—oh wait, immortal sand made from Zhao Menghua.

This time, Lu Mingfei chose the "flesh and blood" immortal sand, which was most effective at enhancing summoning spells.

Next, he retrieved from his luggage a talisman paper inscribed with bizarre red symbols, the only two recognizable characters being "Demon-Capturing."

*The Secret Scripture of the Seven Chapters of the Mysterious Sovereign*, the Demon-Capturing and Ghost-Binding Register, the Demon-Capturing Register. (Ghost-binding referred to the heavenly soldier and horse arts he had used earlier.)

Crafted from yellow paper, cinnabar, and meteorite powder, it allowed one to summon the subordinate race of the King in Yellow sealed in Aldebaran, enlisting them to aid in completing a specific objective.

An uninitiated mortal could only summon His subordinate race, the Byakhees (heavenly demons known as Ru Ji), during nights when Aldebaran rose above the horizon. However, Lu Mingfei intended to leverage the Yellow Sign and the immortal sand to summon an even more powerful subordinate race, one that would come in handy while trespassing in Glaaki's dream domain.

The glowing red tip of the burning incense turned blue.

Lu Mingfei paced within the cramped room, forming hand seals, and chanted bizarre incantations under his breath:

"Those captured by demons, either unraveling oddities, unraveling mysteries, or unraveling dream omens, their hearts are filled with dread. In time, some die by wood, some die by metal, some die by rope, some die by wells..."

An inexplicable spatial fluctuation rippled through the confined room.