Deep in the pitch-black river, a dazzling light of pure gold spread through the water from Lu Mingfei, forming a cubic geometric barrier that enclosed the three of them and the Brass Jar.
A moment later, the bronze dome, about to seal shut, touched the golden barrier-and stopped dead!
The bronze dome jammed against Lu Mingfei's field. The shock wave compressed the surrounding water into white mist. Unable to engage the slots opposite them, bronze gears burst from their bearings, and great chunks of bronze debris tumbled through the water.
"Wh-what level of defense is this?!" Ye Sheng clutched the Brass Jar, his mind blank. Instinctively, he tried to curl up to brace for a violent impact, only to realize that nothing had happened.
"I have twenty minutes more oxygen than you," Lu Mingfei said. "Looks like it came in handy."
Lu Mingfei opened the valve on his oxygen tank. High-pressure oxygen poured out, rising along the inner walls of the field and gathering at the top of the polyhedron, forcing the river water in that small pocket down several dozen centimeters.
He removed his helmet and took a breath. "Ye Sheng," he said. "Use your Word Spirit to find a way out. Upward. I don't care whether it's a ventilation shaft or a dead end."
"Straight up?" Ye Sheng froze for a moment, then closed his eyes. Bioelectric currents shot out of his body and spread along the bronze walls. "Forty-eight meters in a straight line! But there are three main load-bearing bronze domes closing above us, and each one is over two meters thick!"
"As long as there's a way out. Hold on tight!"
Lu Mingfei bent his knees slightly, and the A.T. Fields beneath his feet began stacking.
Propelled by the fields, the polyhedron accelerated steadily, driving the river water above them upward. Water rolled off to either side along its golden edges. The first Dragon-Breaking Stone blocked their path directly overhead. Rather than slowing down, Lu Mingfei rammed straight into it.
Boom!
The two-meter-thick bronze plate cracked from the point of impact, fractures radiating outward. Fragments sank through the water, only to be hurled away again the instant they approached the golden barrier.
The polyhedron kept rising through the shattered opening. Bronze debris scraped across the sphere's surface, producing a string of piercing shrieks.
A trickle of blood ran from Lu Mingfei's nose, dispersing in the moisture inside the field into a small cloud of red mist.
The second dome came next. The polyhedron dipped as it struck, and the screens of light beneath Lu Mingfei's feet stacked up again, slowly pushing upward against the crack they had just made. The dome split in two, its halves falling away to either side like the pages of an open book.
"L-Lu-kun?" Aki's voice trembled.
Standing behind Lu Mingfei, Aki saw the capillaries around his eyes rupturing. Crimson threads of blood instantly spread across the whites of his eyes. Blood began seeping from both ears as well, running down his jaw and dripping into the water, where it drifted like little bloody blossoms.
The field itself could block all physical harm, but his mortal body could not withstand an A.T. Field of this intensity. It was like forcing a household electrical wire onto a nuclear reactor. The fact that he had not burned to ashes on the spot was already a miracle.
Did it hurt? Of course it did. Lu Mingfei felt as though he had been stuffed into a blender. But compared with the agony of being torn apart and devoured alive by Unit-01, what did this amount to?
"Lu-kun! Stop! Your body's going to fall apart!" Watching the boy bleed from every opening in his face without the slightest change in expression, Aki spoke over the comms, her voice breaking into a desperate sob.
But Lu Mingfei was not wearing his helmet. He could not hear her.
All Aki could do was support his back. She pressed her palm against him, feeling the muscles beneath his diving suit twitch in waves, like the chills of a high fever.
The third, Lu Mingfei counted silently.
The field pressed against the bronze plate overhead, bowing it upward and slowly bending it out of shape.
Ye Sheng and Aki opened their oxygen tanks to increase the buoyancy inside the polyhedron. At last, it forced its way through a hole and, with nothing left to obstruct it, shot toward the surface.
The Morania rocked violently in the howling wind and towering waves. Professor Mans gripped the railing, staring at the bubbling river.
"Sonar shows a huge cavity rising fast underwater!" Selma shrieked. "It's about to surface!"
"Get the rescue lines ready! Now!" Professor Mans snatched up his radio and roared.
BOOM!!
A column of water exploded from the river, carrying shattered bronze and silt into the night sky. The golden polyhedron emerged from its center, hung in the torrential rain for an instant, then fell back onto the water.
There was no need to keep it up anymore.
Lu Mingfei closed his eyes. The golden screens of light shattered like glass, dissolving into a skyful of golden motes that vanished in the cold downpour.
Holding him in her arms, Aki caught a rescue line. Together, the people aboard hauled all three of them onto the Morania's deck.
"They're back!"
Professor Mans and the crew rushed forward like madmen. But before they could utter a single word of gratitude to the freshman who had stunned them all, a petite figure slipped through the crowd.
Zero ignored Ye Sheng and Aki on the deck and walked straight to Lu Mingfei.
"Mission complete. Come with me."
She pulled Lu Mingfei to his feet, and he stumbled after her toward the cabins. The people on deck applauded as they cleared a path for them.
Bang.
Zero swung the watertight steel door shut behind her, sealing out the wind and rain, the clamor on deck, and everyone's eyes.
Under Zero's guiding pull, Lu Mingfei dropped heavily into a treatment chair. His head tipped back, his chest heaved, and dark specks swarmed across his vision.
Zero undid the clasps on his diving suit, opened a bottle of saline to soak some gauze, and carefully wiped away the blood leaking from the corners of his eyes and his nose.
"Your vital signs are dropping rapidly. Your blood sugar is bordering on shock," Zero said evenly. "Hold out your hand."
Lu Mingfei lacked the strength to raise his hand. Zero simply took his wrist and turned it over, pressed two fingers to his radial artery for a few seconds, then unpacked an IV line from the medical kit and inserted the needle into his vein. Concentrated glucose and a specially formulated repair solution flowed slowly through the tubing into Lu Mingfei's overloaded body.
After a while, a sliver of clarity returned to Lu Mingfei's muddled brain. He turned his head slightly to look at the Russian girl sitting beside the bed.
"Aren't you going to look at what's outside?" Lu Mingfei's voice was faint. "That's part of your boss's plan, isn't it?"
"That's their business." Zero adjusted the IV valve lightly with her fingers. "The boss ordered me to keep an eye on you. If you break yourself, it'll be a problem for me."
Lu Mingfei closed his heavy eyes and slowly let out a weary breath.
"Got it. You really nag."