Speedrunning the Three Gorges, Record Verifiable

A tugboat moved slowly across the pitch-black water, like a lizard crawling through a rainy night.

The howling wind and torrential rain battered the hull without pause, making it creak with a teeth-grating sound.

"Professor, heartbeat detected, 300 meters directly below us. Radar indicates it is obstructed by a structure." A girl in a Kassel uniform reported while staring at the screen before her.

"Call me Captain. My current identity is the captain of the Moniyahe, not your substitute professor." Professor Mans exhaled cigar smoke. "Notify Ye Sheng Aji and the others to prepare for the dive, along with the two accompanying agents."

At that, Mans frowned. The two agents accompanying the ship had been personally inserted by the principal. Even he did not know their identities, but Mans chose to follow orders. "I'll go check on the 'Key.'"

"Yes, Captain!" replied the Latina girl named Selma.

At the stern, two masked figures received the message.

"I only just signed the contract. How am I already being sent out on a mission?" One of them, wearing a Pigsy mask, spoke in a listless voice. "Is there compensation?"

This was Lu Mingfei, who had been dragged here to fill the ranks. When the teachers at his school heard he wanted to take a long leave so close to the college entrance exams, they refused no matter what. Then one phone call from Kassel University settled everything. Lu Mingfei himself had nearly been placed on Shilan High School's list of outstanding students. Their shift from arrogance to deference had been faster than a Peking opera face change.

Beside him, Caesar adjusted the slightly crooked SpongeBob mask on his face and decided that, no matter what, he could not let Lu Mingfei buy things next time.

"It's nothing major. We're mainly here to prevent accidents. According to the academy's calculations, the Dragon King should still be dormant. We only need to go through the motions this time." Caesar adjusted his voice himself, making sure his real voice could not be recognized. "If you want compensation, I can pay you personally."

Lu Mingfei's mouth twitched. "Yeah, yeah, we get it, you're loaded. But don't raise a flag like that. Things were fine, but now that you've said it, something might actually go wrong."

After signing Kassel's agreement, Lu Mingfei had learned the truth about this world—or at least one corner of it. Dragons really existed in this world. The flag he had raised before had come true.

And this time, they had come to search for the Bone Bottle of one of the strongest beings among Dragon Raja, the King of Bronze and Fire.

Basically a resurrection coin, at least that was how Lu Mingfei understood it.

After Lu Mingfei said that, Caesar shut up too. With his personality, he would never have covered his face to participate in a mission. But when he thought about possibly having to transform into a Magical Girl in public later, his sense of shame briefly overcame his pride.

After a while, Caesar suddenly said, "Ye Sheng Aji is preparing to enter the water."

Lu Mingfei turned around just as the rear hatch opened. A man and woman in diving suits, carrying massive oxygen tanks, walked out one after the other. Behind them came a string of logistics personnel and a middle-aged man holding a baby? "Your hearing's really good," Lu Mingfei praised.

Several splashes followed, and then all they could do was wait.

About ten minutes later, good news came through the public channel in their earpieces—the dive team had discovered a massive Bronze City, matching the descriptions of the King of Bronze and Fire's bedchamber in the records.

Lu Mingfei clicked his tongue softly. His imagination was too limited; he simply could not picture such a colossal city, hollowed out from an entire mountain and cast into shape.

"Wouldn't selling all that scrap metal make us filthy rich?"

"The professors would come chop you up before you could." Caesar was somewhat speechless. It seemed Nono's profile had been right. The legendary Rank S really was a purebred loser. "It records extremely advanced alchemy. It is priceless in the truest sense."

"Not good!" The voice in the earpieces suddenly turned urgent. "Agent Jiu De Aji has lost control after falling into Spirit Vision. The Bronze City... came alive? No, it's mechanical engineering. The entire Bronze City has begun changing. We've lost contact with the dive team agents!"

"It is time for the two agents to deploy. Enter the water immediately." A stern middle-aged man's voice rang out over the channel. It was Professor Mans.

"Received," Caesar said in a muffled voice, then turned to look at Lu Mingfei.

Lu Mingfei looked at Caesar speechlessly. His eyes practically spelled out, I told you not to raise a flag, didn't I?

The two removed their outer robes, revealing the diving suits and oxygen tanks they had already put on, then donned their masks.

"I've only been learning to dive for one week," Lu Mingfei casually tossed out some trash talk to vent his stress. Without waiting for Caesar's reply, he plunged into the water.

Caesar nodded slightly. Lu Mingfei might usually be a bit of a loser, but he had unexpected courage.

Perhaps even Lu Mingfei himself did not know when he had changed.

The two dove one after the other, following Ye Sheng's communications cable all the way to the gates of the Bronze City. Professor Mans was already waiting there.

He spat out several strange syllables, and a spherical space unfolded beneath the water, forcing out vast amounts of river water.

Professor Mans then opened an air tank, and air reappeared beneath the water, a hundred meters below the surface.

"Damn!" Lu Mingfei was a little envious. This was the kind of Magical Girl he had in mind! At least he knew how to use magic! A burst of static crackled in the earpieces. "This is Ye Sheng. I'm using Words of Power · Snake to establish a connection with you. Please respond if you receive this."

Professor Mans wore a helmet, so they could not see his expression, but his body language clearly showed his delight. "Don't panic. Stay where you are. We've already dispatched agents to rescue you!"

As he spoke, he opened a hatch in the bulging front of his diving suit and took out a baby. He squeezed a drop of blood from his finger. When it fell into the mouth of the living spirit on the bronze gate, an entrance immediately appeared before them.

"I'll leave it to you. Remember, do not look at the murals inside carelessly." After his final instruction, Mans canceled Words of Power Dust-Free Land and floated to the surface, while the river water filled the space again.

Lu Mingfei and Caesar slowly entered through the gate and exchanged a glance.

"Magical Girl Lu Mingfei, transform!"

"Magical Girl Caesar Gattuso, transform!" Caesar was still a little unable to let go.

It was too humiliating, but rescuing people came first.

After a burst of dazzling light, their diving suits turned into pink and yellow little dresses. Thankfully, their oxygen tanks remained.

Lu Mingfei grabbed his oxygen tank, took a deep breath, and threw a punch at the nearest wall.

Boom!!! Tremendous force crashed against the oxidized green bronze wall, but it only blasted out a gap and did not punch all the way through.

Caesar took a breath from the oxygen tank as well and followed up with a punch.

Boom!!! This time, it truly punched through. There seemed to be air inside the inner layer. The two passed through the gap one after the other and landed on the ground.

"Keep going!"

According to the school's monitoring and the information Ye Sheng had sent, the Bronze City was shifting constantly like a Rubik's Cube.

Ye Sheng Aji and the others clearly did not have enough oxygen to hold out until the academy deduced the perfect exit. So Lu Mingfei and Caesar chose the shortest path between two points—a straight line. They would smash their way through.

In this situation, there was no need to worry about cultural value. Saving people came first.

Speedrunning the Three Gorges, record verifiable!