svetikya Chapter 35 The Broken Knife and the Bronze City
Chapter 35 The Broken Knife and the Bronze City
"Everyone, get ready!" Professor Mance roared. "Lu Mingfei, prepare to go into the water!"
Lu Mingfei took a deep breath and walked to the side of the ship. A diving bell—a spherical metal chamber that could only accommodate one person—had already been set up there. This was the elevator to the riverbed, and also his temporary underwater shelter.
"Lu Mingfei," Angers walked to his side and whispered, "Remember, the Bronze City is alive. It will test you, tempt you, and try to devour you. What you need to do is not to defeat it, but... understand it."
He took a folding knife out of his pocket and handed it to Lu Mingfei.
It was a folding knife that looked quite ordinary, with a dark gold handle engraved with intricate patterns. But when Angers pressed a certain mechanism, the blade popped out—not metal, but a flowing, dark red light, like solidified flame.
"An alchemical weapon; I've used it to slay dragons," Angers said. "Take it with you. Hopefully, you won't need it."
Lu Mingfei took the folding knife. The hilt was warm to the touch, pulsating as if it were alive. He could feel the power contained within it—ancient, majestic, and full of killing intent.
"Thank you, Principal."
He took one last look at the people on the deck—Professor Mans's stern face, Ye Sheng and Aki's encouraging eyes, Caesar's complex gaze, and Angers's unfathomable eyes.
Then he turned and went into the diving bell.
The hatch closed and sealed. Oxygen began to be injected, and the pressure was gradually adjusted. Through the circular observation window, he saw figures blurring in the rain outside, saw Professor Mans shouting instructions into the walkie-talkie, and saw the crane lifting the diving bell and slowly moving it towards the river surface.
"The diving bell is going into the water!" Ye Sheng's voice came through the walkie-talkie.
A feeling of weightlessness came over me.
Lu Mingfei watched as the river water overflowed the observation window, first a murky yellow, then gradually deepening to dark green, and finally becoming utter darkness. The searchlight outside the diving bell switched on, two pale beams piercing the darkness and illuminating a distance of less than five meters ahead.
The river water was murky, with floating mud and sand, and occasionally a school of fish swam by.
silence.
Absolute, suffocating silence.
Only the faint hissing sound of the oxygen tank and the increasingly loud thumping of my own heartbeat could be heard.
Intermittent sounds came through the walkie-talkie, Professor Mans transmitting data from the command center: "Depth 30 meters... Water temperature 12 degrees Celsius... Visibility less than 2 meters... Lu Mingfei, status report."
"Everything is normal," Lu Mingfei said, his voice echoing in the enclosed space.
"Continue descending. Target depth 180 meters."
The diving bell continued to sink.
The darkness deepened, and the pressure mounted. Even with the pressure regulation system, Lu Mingfei felt a stinging pain in his eardrums and a tightness in his chest. The beam of the searchlight seemed so faint in the darkness, like a firefly trying to illuminate the night sky.
He started seeing some strange things.
It's not fish, it's not water plants, it's... architecture.
Huge, bronze-colored pillars rise from the riverbed, carved with intricate patterns—not decorations, but dragon script, ancient, lost dragon script. Between the pillars lie collapsed walls, broken covered bridges, and shattered statues.
A sunken city.
Bronze City.
Ye Sheng's gasp came through the walkie-talkie: "My God... this scale... is even bigger than we anticipated..."
"Stay calm." Professor Mans' voice remained steady. "Lu Mingfei, what you're seeing now is the outer area of Bronze City. Continue descending and search for the entrance. According to the information, the entrance should be a huge bronze gate, engraved with patterns of flames and dragons."
Lu Mingfei maneuvered the diving bell, slowly traversing the ruins.
Under the searchlights, the bronze structures gleamed with a dim light. Even after being submerged underwater for thousands of years, they showed no signs of rust, only a thin layer of aquatic plants clinging to them. The carved lines were clearly visible, each stroke brimming with power, as if they might come to life at any moment.
He saw the ruins of the palace, the foundation stones of the square, and the collapsed statues—these statues were not human, but dragons, dragons in various poses, some coiling, some leaping, some roaring to the sky.
One of the statues caught Lu Mingfei's eye a few more times.
It was a gigantic dragon with outstretched wings; even with only half its body remaining, its majesty and oppressive aura were still palpable. Its eyes were two enormous rubies, reflecting an eerie light under the searchlight.
For some reason, Lu Mingfei felt... that the statue was looking at him.
"Brother," Lu Mingze's voice echoed in his mind, "Be careful. We've entered its territory."
"Who?" Lu Mingfei asked in his mind.
[Samson, the dragon servant of the King of Bronze and Fire.] Lu Mingze's voice was unusually serious. [It was asleep, but our arrival awakened it. It's nearby.]
Lu Mingfei's heart clenched suddenly.
He steered the diving bell to speed up, navigating through the ruins. The beam of his searchlight swept across the broken walls and rubble, searching for the legendary bronze door.
Then, he saw it.
Deep within the ruins, in a huge depression at the bottom of the river, stands a door.
A real, enormous, breathtaking bronze door.
The gate is at least thirty meters high and more than twenty meters wide. It is dark gold in color and covered with intricate reliefs—flames burst forth from the cracks in the gate, a giant dragon coils in the flames, below are kneeling crowds, and above are the sun, moon and stars.
In the center of the gate is a huge circular pattern: the World Tree, which is entwined and devoured by a black dragon.
Nidhogg.
A burst of static came through the walkie-talkie, followed by suppressed gasps of surprise from everyone in the command room.
"Found it..." Professor Mans' voice trembled. "That's the entrance. The gate to the Bronze City."
"Lu Mingfei," Angers' voice broke in, "there's a mechanism on the door. You need to find a way to open it."
Lu Mingfei maneuvered the diving bell closer to the bronze door.
The closer you get, the stronger the sense of oppression becomes. This door isn't like an inanimate object, but rather like a sleeping giant, each heartbeat causing a slight tremor in the surrounding water. Under the searchlight, the reliefs on the door seem to come alive: flames flow, dragons roam, and the kneeling crowd whispers prayers.
He carefully observed the patterns on the door.
Then, he saw it.
Below the Nidhogg pattern is a small, palm-shaped groove.
"Principal," Lu Mingfei said into the walkie-talkie, "there's a handprint on the door. I think... we need pedigree verification."
There was a few seconds of silence in the command room.
"Let's give it a try," Angers finally said.
Lu Mingfei manipulated the robotic arm to press the diving bell's palm-shaped external sensor onto the groove.
Nothing happened.
“No,” Professor Mans said, “not mechanical sensing. It’s…real contact. Lu Mingfei, you need to touch that door yourself.”
To touch it personally?
As Lu Mingfei looked at the massive bronze door outside the observation window, and at the faint, dark red light shining through the crack in the door, a chill ran down his spine.
But he did not hesitate.
"Open the hatch," he said.
"Lu Mingfei!" Ye Sheng's voice came through the phone. "The pressure outside is too great, you..."
"Open it," Lu Mingfei repeated, his voice eerily calm.
Anger's command came through the walkie-talkie: "Do as he says."
The diving bell's hatch slowly opened.
The river water rushed in instantly, icy cold and with pressure so great it felt like it would crush his bones. The pressure regulation system of his diving suit went into overdrive, and a rapid alarm sounded from his oxygen mask.
Lu Mingfei swam out.
Without the protection of the diving bell, he truly felt the terror of the riverbed. The darkness felt like a tangible weight, suffocating him. The current felt like countless hands tearing at his body. The temperature was so low that his limbs quickly went numb.
But he swam forward anyway.
Swim towards that bronze door.
With each meter he moved forward, the pressure increased, and the cold intensified. His vision began to blur, his breathing became difficult, and his heart pounded wildly in his chest, as if it were about to explode.
Finally, his hand touched the bronze door.
The touch was cold, but not the cold of metal; it was a deeper, deathly cold. The patterns on the door trembled slightly beneath his palm, as if recognizing his bloodline.
Then, the door opened.