Dragon's Return City

Chu Hengkong had seen his share in his short career. He had fought wild beasts in the old forests along the northeastern border, and hunted enemies through Paris's labyrinthine sewers; he had gambled his life against drug lords' private armies in South American alleys, and dueled Aikido grandmasters in ancient Japanese dojos.

He had faced death too many times to care much for gods and ghosts. Though he could not claim to have been born beneath the red flag and raised in the spring breeze, he was still a firm materialist. Yet the worldview he had spent years reinforcing suffered a devastating blow in less than five minutes—

That ritual he had just witnessed... however he looked at it, it was supernatural power, wasn't it?

He had been peacefully fishing at sea, only to be "summoned" into this secret chamber in the blink of an eye. There was simply no explaining that process of transportation. And this new left arm that had appeared out of nowhere was even more absurd. Ordinary people at least got anesthesia when they went to the hospital to have a tooth pulled. Who would believe that, in the blink of an eye, an arm had turned into a tentacle?

"This is spooky as hell." Chu Hengkong smacked his lips, then gave Alex's robe a hard shake.

Even while his mind was turning things over, his hands had not been idle. In less than three minutes, he had searched every fanatic in the secret chamber from head to toe. The haul netted him several watches, tobacco of unknown origin, a few transparent beads, and a purple Pendant. The last item had been on Alex himself. Chu Hengkong was certain the great wizard's skills were nowhere near enough to evade the tentacle's sweeping strike, yet after gripping the Pendant, he had made an evasive move as though he had foreseen the future.

As it happened, the necklace had emitted a faint glow at that exact moment.

Chu Hengkong casually wound the Pendant around his right wrist, hoping the thing might prove useful. He had now picked the secret chamber clean of anything usable. Unsurprisingly, everything he found was unfamiliar. The tobacco smelled like moldy bananas, rotating currents were sealed inside the transparent beads, and the "numbers" on the watches looked like elegant ghostly scribbles.

There were no newspapers or books nearby, and the usable intelligence was truly scarce. The only clue he had yet to investigate was the large book the great wizard had used during the ritual.

Unlike the scattered clutter in the room, this book looked exquisite and meticulously made. The hardcover tome was half as thick as a dictionary, its rigid cover wrapped in pale fabric as soft and smooth as silk. At its center, a single eye had been embroidered in silver thread. The eye's design was simple yet lifelike; one glance at it gave the illusion that it was gazing back.

Chu Hengkong quickly flipped through the Silver-Eyed Tome and found every page blank. The crumpled paper gave off a moldy smell, as if it had soaked in seawater for three or five years. The only writing was hidden on the tome's title page. An entire passage had been blurred beyond recognition by dampness, leaving only several severely warped words barely legible:

"Knowledge... wisdom... eye... tentacles...

Mystery... Sinking Motion Realm..."

The word at the very bottom had been deliberately printed in bold. The large scarlet letters looked deeply enticing: "Summon"!

With a snap, Chu Hengkong shut the tome, stuffed it into his coat, and left the secret chamber without looking back. His expression was not pleasant. Even someone with nerves as thick as his could not help but overthink things after seeing this.

This was obviously some unknown evil god's relic, wasn't it?! Those idiots had just looked like they were saying, "You ruined the summoning ritual." If that ritual had really succeeded, some tentacled monstrosity dozens of meters tall might have descended on the spot and feasted to its heart's content. And the first things Lord God would eat would be you idiots!

What made Chu Hengkong feel even worse was that he had effortlessly read words he had never seen before, with a fluency as natural as his mother tongue. He decided to ponder that carefully when he had time. After all, more pressing than his newfound reading ability was the task of figuring out where he was—and whether this place was still Earth.

Outside the secret chamber lay a long flight of stairs rising straight upward. The surroundings were dim, with no lights, and he could not hear anyone else moving. There was no signal on Chu Hengkong's phone, and satellite positioning was unusable, so he had to judge his location by the environment. He tried shortening his tentacle and moved forward step by step, bracing himself against the wall with his right hand. The wet, greasy sensation beneath his hand and shoes told him that the floor and walls were covered in droplets of water. The sealed space was bitterly cold, its dampness so thick it seemed able to seep into his skin and rust his bones.

Chu Hengkong smiled. In this unfamiliar environment, he had found something familiar. The southern regions of his homeland during the humid return-south season were exactly like this. There were no windows in the secret chamber, and the stairs outside led directly upward, which meant he was most likely in a basement. Then there was that book reeking of the sea, along with those fanatical worshippers of an evil god...

A ruined village, sea winds heavy with fishy stench, superstitious local residents—this was most likely a small village along the coast. He had smashed up places like this by the dozen during past missions, and that gave him three parts more confidence. A few breaths later, he reached the top of the stairs. Yet the door was not vertical; it was set overhead like a skylight. Chu Hengkong was not frightened by this small abnormality. He shoved the door open and poked his head out of the basement.

A shrill gale came howling in, strong enough to uproot trees. Chu Hengkong had barely sprung out of the passage like a carp leaping from dry ground when, before he could make out his surroundings, he flung himself flat on the ground like a salted fish. A flash of cold light slashed toward him, tearing through the air above his head with murderous force.

The cold flash came without shadow and vanished without trace. It was incredibly fast, as ethereal and traceless as something carried on the wind. Then similar whistling sounds rang out one after another, and flash after flash of cold light swept past. Chu Hengkong instinctively felt something was wrong. He narrowed his eyes and stared hard. As they adjusted to the light, his surroundings gradually came into focus—and the truth left his mind blank.

That was not light at all. They were rust-covered weapons! Great axes, long sabers, sturdy spears, sharp swords... countless weapons screamed through the gale, forming a torrent of death above the secret chamber's exit. And the gale was not truly wind either. It was a Tide surging like a tsunami, thousands upon thousands of tons of seawater carrying weapons through the air. The Tide was so close to Chu Hengkong that if he jumped up, he would fall straight into it.

Chu Hengkong swallowed. He cautiously eased himself out and crawled forward beneath the Tide of weapons. After crawling roughly fifty meters, he found a gap where he could barely stand. Chu Hengkong rose carefully and strained to look around.

He found no safe place, only more weapons dancing through the air like flocks of birds migrating in autumn. The Tide carrying those weapons was everywhere, and this mad spectacle filled the entire sky. No—there was no sky. The colorless Tide formed a thick curtain of water. It was the "sky" here!

His vision broadened as he stood, revealing more and more to Chu Hengkong's eyes. Beneath the water curtain stood ruined buildings in dense layers, stacked like a mountain city. From the peak of the tallest building, streaks of white extended into the water curtain, fishing away weapons and armor like hooks. Countless ancient, weathered houses hid in the shadows of high-rises, their windows glowing in continuous lines like firelight, brightening the dark night.

And where that mad water curtain surged, a long, slender white shape danced like a snake. Chu Hengkong tried gripping the purple Pendant. The Relic that enhanced perception activated at that moment, allowing him to see the white shape's true form.

It was a dragon! A white dragon as long as a ladder to heaven! Its elongated body swam within the water curtain, traveling alongside the weapons without suffering the slightest harm. Its pair of pale eyes shone like stars; even from a thousand miles away, one could see its gaze. The white dragon rode the whirlpools forward, like a guardian deity embracing the city beneath the Tide.

Chu Hengkong was completely stunned. The worldview he had formed over the past twenty-two years had been smashed to pieces by those few seconds of overlooking the city. His lips moved, and he let out a dry voice.

"Fuck... did I really transmigrate?"

"That's right. Welcome to Dragon's Return City, where destinies converge, the city of the ancient dragon's return." A crisp female voice sounded behind him. "Now turn around slowly, so we can get a good look at you."

With an unbelievable sense of calm, Chu Hengkong slowly turned around. Ten meters away stood a youthful, beautiful blonde girl holding a gleaming golden shield. Behind her stood ten burly men wearing strange masks, all fully armed and carrying loaded guns. Every one of them looked like a powerhouse who could single-handedly mow down fanatics.

Everyone's eyes were fixed on Chu Hengkong's left arm, staring at that glowing silver tentacle. The blonde girl flashed her identification and grinned, her little canine teeth reflecting a dangerous gleam.

"I'm Ji Huaishu, captain of the Resurrection Corps. Regrettably, because this involves a demon-summoning ritual, you are under arrest."