Aki stopped filming. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, trying to shake the confusion from her mind. When she opened them again, a trace of warmth had somehow seeped into the cold, dark depths.
A figure approached from the side and firmly supported her arm. Aki tucked the Folding Knife back into her pocket, and her taut nerves suddenly relaxed.
"Signal lost!" Selma cried aboard the Moniach. "Our data transmission with Aki has been cut off!"
Mans froze for a moment. "Reel her in! Reel her in! Warn Ye Sheng!"
The winch at the stern turned again, reeling in Aki's Lifeline.
"There's no tension on the winch," Selma said, raising her head. "Aki's Lifeline has snapped!"
"You're back? Is the mission over? I didn't hear anything." Seeing her "partner" again put Aki much more at ease.
"We're working underwater. There wouldn't be much noise," the shadow said in Ye Sheng's voice. "I've got it. Once we finish collecting samples, we'll head back. We don't have much time left. Look over there. We could try taking that bronze statue back with us."
Aki looked in the direction "Ye Sheng" pointed.
An eerie statue stood in relief on the bronze wall not far away. It wore ancient Chinese robes and held an Ivory Tablet, but its head was a cobra's, its slender neck extending from the collar. The snake-faced figure's eyes were pure silver, glinting with a cold, savage light against the dark bronze, as though winking mockingly at her.
"Take it down," "Ye Sheng" urged softly beside her.
Aki nodded blankly and swam toward the statue. The voice began whispering in her subconscious, urging her to stay in this city forever. She did not find the idea absurd at all. Instead, she felt a sense of release.
She reached for her helmet. The instant she broke the seal, a hand shot out like an iron clamp and locked around her wrist!
Madness shone in Aki's eyes. She twisted sharply at the waist and drove her right knee viciously toward her attacker's stomach, drawing the Folding Knife with her other hand and stabbing backward at him.
The vicious moves flowed together without a pause.
But Lu Mingfei reacted faster.
As Aki's knee came at him, he raised his left leg and stamped down on it, forcibly kicking her knee back.
Then Lu Mingfei abruptly tightened his right hand, wrenching Aki's knife-wielding left wrist backward. The searing pain of her wrist bones nearly dislocating instantly forced her fingers open.
"Ah!"
Aki gave a brief cry of pain, and the sharp Folding Knife slipped from her hand.
"Wake up!"
The warm river water vanished. Aki was drenched in cold sweat, gasping for breath as she stared wide-eyed in terror at Lu Mingfei, who was gripping her wrist.
"Lu, just now, I saw..."
"Close your eyes and steady your breathing. Don't look at anything with patterns on it," Lu Mingfei said, holding Aki's helmet in both hands.
"Lu Mingfei! Lu Mingfei! Respond!" Mans's anxious voice came over the channel.
"I'm fine. So is Aki. She slipped into Spirit Vision just now."
There was not the slightest fluctuation of emotion in Lu Mingfei's voice, but beneath that calm lay a terrifying fury that could have boiled even the deep sea.
Splash-
A rapid stream of bubbles surged out of the gear-lined passage below. Like a black fish, Ye Sheng shot through the narrow gap with a Brass Jar cradled in his arms.
"Got it!" Ye Sheng panted excitedly over the comms, swimming quickly back to Lu Mingfei and Aki. "The Main Bedchamber had no defenses at all! Mission objective recovered! Let's go!"
Ye Sheng glanced at Aki's pale face, concern in his voice. "Aki, are you all right?"
"I'm fine, thanks to Lu." Aki shook her head.
"Ten minutes of oxygen left. We're pulling out now." Ye Sheng checked his oxygen and said, "Selma, report the weather outside. We're preparing to surface."
"Copy. Force ten winds on the river, torrential rain. We're ready to reel in the Lifelines. I'll be waiting here for you." Selma's reply came immediately over the channel.
"Move! Back the way we came!" Ye Sheng looked at Aki and Lu Mingfei, ready to lead them toward the passage diagonally above.
Clack... clack, clack, clack...
A spine-chilling sound came from all around them, like someone grinding two rusty sheets of iron together right beside their ears!
The river water fifty meters below the surface instantly erupted into a frenzy!
The patterns on the surrounding bronze walls began writhing at a frantic speed. Countless gears and threaded shafts started moving. Streams of bubbles burst from the seams in the bronze, creating powerful turbulence.
Faces rolled across the bronze walls, and sharp metal barbs sprang from concealed gaps. The once-spacious passage began to rearrange, shift, and twist, shrinking rapidly amid a teeth-grating screech.
The Bronze City's defense mechanism had activated.
This enormous Bronze City existed to guard the Brass Jar. The moment Ye Sheng took it, the city came alive. It sealed every exit, determined to grind the tomb robbers who had stolen its master's treasure to pieces underground!
"Alert! Ye Sheng, Aki!" Professor Mans roared over the channel. "Hold on to Lu Mingfei! We're reeling in his Lifeline! Hurry! Hurry!"
Ye Sheng and Aki quickly grabbed Lu Mingfei's arms, one on each side. "Ready!" Lu Mingfei said.
The motor immediately began hauling in the Lifeline, and the three of them shot toward the passage. But only a few seconds later, the pull abruptly stopped!
"Fuck! The Lifeline's been cut!" Ye Sheng raised his searchlight. Huge bronze gates were dropping one after another through the passage they had come from, crushing through Lu Mingfei's Lifeline. The walls around them began closing in. Only beneath the dome above was there any space left, and that too was narrowing.
Retracing their route to the city gate was no longer possible. Their only option was to swim straight up.
"Swim up!"
Lu Mingfei's voice rang out over the private comms channel. He raised his head and looked up at the closing bronze dome. Kicking hard off the bronze floor below, he swam upward, with Ye Sheng and Aki close behind.
"Hurry! Swim faster!" Ye Sheng roared over the channel, kicking his flippers desperately. The Brass Jar in his arms dragged against the current, slowing him down.
The gap ahead was less than two meters wide. Huge bronze gears meshed along the edges of the walls, sparks flashing and dying in the water. At their current speed, there was no way all of them could get through before it closed.
A flicker of despair crossed Ye Sheng's eyes. He turned toward Aki, preparing to push her and the Brass Jar out together at the last moment.
"Don't do anything unnecessary! Stay close!"
Lu Mingfei roared at Ye Sheng.
Humm-!
Dazzling golden light erupted in Lu Mingfei's eyes, and a radiant, perfectly hexagonal Absolute Domain burst open!