Lu Mingfei lost interest in talking to him again. He turned back to Constantine and considered what to do with this fellow who no longer possessed the authority of a Dragon King.
Just then, Constantine frowned and suddenly opened his pitch-black eyes.
His gaze settled on Lu Mingfei, and he spoke softly. "Have you seen my brother? He was gone when I woke up."
Lu Mingfei looked at Lu Mingze.
Lu Mingze spread his hands. "I don't know either. At this point, brother, even if you pulled out a Divine Light Stick and transformed, I'd just applaud rather than be surprised."
A slender, sharp bronze spike formed in Lu Mingfei's hand. He held its tip against Constantine's mirrorlike eyes. "I'm looking for your brother too."
"Oh, I see." Constantine seemed not to notice the sharp weapon. His eyelids drooped in disappointment. "If you see my brother, please let me know. Thank you."
With that, he passed out again.
Lu Mingfei waited a moment, then withdrew the bronze spike.
His earlier impression had been correct. The dragons' power was not simply power, but a kind of cursed authority. Those who possessed it would go mad, becoming cruel, lofty "gods" or "kings."
Perhaps this was Constantine's true self. Perhaps the real Constantine had already died when he lost his power.
It didn't matter.
Lu Mingfei did not care what the truth was. His current assessment was that Constantine now had a stable personality like that of a human Hybrid. Given the Great Rune's potential instability, he could neither kill him rashly nor leave him here.
Chapter 35: Leaving the city
In the bronze floor, which resembled a heap of poured asphalt, Lu Mingfei found the remains of Red Skies. For some reason, he could not control the metal used to forge it, so he had to break open the bronze and bend down to pick it up.
The once plain yet imposing blade of the Eight-Sided Sword had been mangled beyond recognition.
Lu Mingfei casually melted a large mass of bronze. Under his control, a glowing red sphere hovered in midair, faint sparks flickering across it. Droplets churned as impurities were continuously squeezed out, dripping onto the floor and cooling with a hiss.
At last, a mass of refined metal that no longer resembled bronze fused with Red Skies in the intense heat, reshaping itself to restore the original blade.
Lu Mingfei had wanted to turn it into a longsword, broadsword, or greatsword-something he was more accustomed to using-but the "spirit" remaining within Red Skies would not support that. Forging it in its original form could not fully restore its previous enhanced state, but would preserve some of the effects.
The restored Red Skies was slightly heavier than before.
Lu Mingfei swung the blade, producing a shrill whistle as it cut through the air, then examined the longsword he had forged. Not only could he control metal completely, he could also sense its condition.
He recalled a popular military science book he had once read. It said that the final test a large aircraft's wings underwent before leaving the factory was a destructive load test, and that this test had a peculiar threshold: 1-1.2.
The lower limit was understandable. If a wing broke before reaching its rated load, putting it into service would be extremely dangerous, and the finished product was clearly defective. But an upper limit seemed strange. Shouldn't a greater load capacity be better?
The book explained that if a wing could withstand more than 1.2 times its rated load without breaking, the design had failed to fully exploit the potential of the aircraft's structure and materials.
Human engineers did not pursue greater capacity for its own sake. They sought to draw out the full potential of the materials, manufacturing processes, costs, and structure.
The "dead metal" used in the sword he now held, also called "regenerated metal," had every last bit of its potential squeezed out. If it broke or suffered damage, that would only mean this was the absolute limit of what the material could achieve as a bladed weapon.
The book also said that this test was the most tedious. By this stage, the aircraft was essentially complete, and the engineers' job was to attach loading equipment evenly across the wings. The process was both boring and uncreative, while the test itself required a great many people and meticulous records. That was why a successful destructive test was a moment worth cheering for.
The results human engineers achieved through precise testing, combining manpower, computers, physics, materials science, mathematics, and many other disciplines, were now available to Lu Mingfei with a wave of his hand.
It only consumed his mental energy.
He put away Red Skies, returned to the bedchamber, and dressed Constantine in another, larger shenyi robe. Then he made the bronze cage hover beside him.
He could have stayed to explore the Bronze City further, but Lu Mingze reminded him that Ye Sheng and Jude Jiqu were about to suffocate at the bottom of a dead-end passage. They could have waited for rescue in the hollow chamber, but to return and help him sooner, they had risked searching for a way out again after the Dragon Servant left. Unfortunately, they had gotten lost just as their oxygen was running out.
Lu Mingfei fashioned a full suit of armor from bronze and carried Constantine in his bronze cage toward the exit.
Within a certain range, metal served as his eyes and ears. He proceeded along the upper passageways, and the closed bronze doors before him opened one after another. When a wall's gears were jammed, he simply broke through it.
Before long, he reached the spot directly above Ye Sheng and Jude Jiqu.
Beneath the thick bronze was a maze of dark passages, already filled with water. This was where the Bronze City stored water that spilled in from its outer areas while it exchanged air. The door had been open when Ye Sheng followed the current to investigate, but after the two entered, it shut because the reservoir was full.
Lu Mingfei continued forward. Below him, amid a heavy, shuddering rumble, the passage doors slowly opened again, allowing the two people in the water to pass.
Ye Sheng's Snake immediately discovered the opening they could pass through, and the two promptly matched Lu Mingfei's pace above.
On the upper and lower levels, four people advanced almost in unison.
To avoid being detected by Snake, Lu Mingfei once again released the mental domain he had used during his second-stage Blood Rage. Subtly and gently, he prevented Snake from probing above the floor beneath his feet.
In Ye Sheng's perception, a layer of material with almost perfectly insulating properties seemed to have appeared overhead, making the already weakened Snake reluctant to approach. But with his life hanging in the balance, he had no time to dwell on it. As long as there wasn't a Dragon King above him, everything else could wait.
And so, both routes reached the edge of the Bronze City smoothly, almost at the same time.
Lu Mingfei waited until Ye Sheng and Jude Jiqu had risen and left before breaking through the bronze wall. Water rushed inside. He chanted Dragon Script in a low voice, and the same kind of domain Professor Mans used unfolded around him. High pressure pushed outward from within, repelling water and other impurities.
Word Spirit: Dust-Free Land.
Lu Mingfei controlled his ascent, rising slowly toward the surface and keeping as close to the riverbank as possible.
He could not manipulate wind as he did flames, nor could he see the "wind" element in nature. But after obtaining one supreme authority, he could command other elements through Word Spirit chants. These abilities had limited power and consumed very little mental energy.
Stepping onto the soft mud, Lu Mingfei set Constantine down and dismantled the bronze cage into countless fragments, sinking them into the river.
Half an hour later, two strangely dressed people entered a hotel.
A person in blue-black knight's armor walked into the lobby carrying a child in oversized traditional Chinese robes. Perhaps it was the dim lighting combined with the late-night shift, but for a moment, the receptionist thought his eyes were playing tricks on him: the armor left neither footprints nor water stains on the polished marble floor.
It was pouring outside.
Or were the hotel's carpets simply that good?
The receptionist did not think much of it. He was an anime fan himself and often attended conventions, so he merely thought the visitor's elaborate cosplay looked cool. He even wanted to ask for a photo together. He vaguely felt that this pairing was common in anime, but couldn't immediately think of any matching characters.
Ah, I've hardly watched any new anime since I started working. Maybe they're from a new series?
Despite those thoughts, the receptionist maintained a professional smile. When he first started working, trying to get friendly with guests had landed him in exhausting trouble. These days, he stuck to his duties.
When asked to show his ID, the visitor merely pointed at the telephone.
"Could I use the phone first?"
Unexpectedly, the voice was that of a gentle teenage boy.
The receptionist picked up the corded telephone and politely handed it to him.
Chapter 36: Angers
Through voiceprint recognition, Norma confirmed the location of S-rank student Lu Mingfei, immediately verified his identity, and booked him a luxury suite.
The account paying the bill belonged to one of the highest-tier VIPs in the hotel's records. The Assistant Lobby Manager, who had been sleeping soundly in the staff quarters next to his office, was awakened by the electric bell. He then immediately learned that the guest required neither personalized premium room arrangements nor a manager's reception, so he called the front desk on the internal line and reminded the receptionist to be especially courteous and send up their finest fruit platter and drinks.
After sending room service away, Lu Mingfei tossed Constantine onto a bed, then sat alone before the living room's wall of floor-to-ceiling windows.
The suite occupied the hotel's top floor. It was not a "room," but an entire beautifully furnished apartment with three bedrooms, a living room, and a small but fully equipped kitchen.
Beyond the floor-to-ceiling windows, the storm raged and the wind howled. There were few lights at this late hour, and they glimmered faintly like fireflies.
Lu Mingfei sat cross-legged with Red Skies laid across his lap. Through the curtain of rain, he could just make out the distant river.
He was thinking.
The nature of the connection between Constantine and the Great Rune remained uncertain. For now, he had to keep him under control and alive.
Then there was Cassell College. He knew only the slanted information it made available to students and used in its publicity. An organization whose legacy lay in the shadows of human civilization could not be judged from a one-sided impression. At the very least, what it stood for beyond being an enemy of dragons remained to be seen.
He believed he could not yet tell Cassell College about Constantine's identity. At most, he could cooperate with a few trustworthy individuals. Or rather, only by working with a few individuals could he delay the moment when the leadership of this vast Hybrid organization discovered the truth.
He was no brilliant schemer. All he could do was consider his present circumstances as calmly and objectively as possible, thinking through both the best and worst outcomes.
The greatest piece of good news was that he now possessed the power of a First-Generation Dragon's Great Rune.
When you held nothing, every door to power remained shut. When you held one Great Rune, you earned a seat at the game. And when you held almost every Great Rune, the weight of the world would fall upon your shoulders.
In the small hours, the rain stopped. The sky was a curtain washed in deep blue and ink-black, and only the cold wind still howled.
Downpours rarely lasted long. Otherwise, they would become disasters.
Jude Jiqu arrived with two Executive Department agents. Wearing the hotel's white robe-style sleepwear, Lu Mingfei opened the door for them.
"You're all right... aren't you?" Jude Jiqu looked uncertain. She had been worried about Lu Mingfei and, rather than rest, had asked Professor Mans to let her join the mission to bring him back.
But Lu Mingfei looked perfectly fine. There wasn't a single injury on him, or even any dark circles beneath his eyes.
He looked exactly like someone who had just woken from a good night's sleep.
Following procedure, the woman in charge of medical care stepped forward, took off the medical kit slung over her shoulder, and examined Lu Mingfei carefully.
Her final conclusion was that Lu Mingfei was healthy, with only slightly low blood sugar.
"Before you rest, Professor Mans would like you to give a brief mission report," Jude Jiqu said.
"No problem." Lu Mingfei nodded.
He already had the Dragon King under control, so the city's greatest danger was gone. He could simply make something up.
In his account, he had not seen the Dragon King. Instead, after entering the passage, he had been trapped in a hollow chamber by the Bronze City's shifting mechanisms. He had been very close to the Dragon King's bedchamber and heard what sounded like the Dragon King fighting. Finally, when the Bronze City shifted again, he had accidentally struck his head and passed out. When he woke up, he was on the riverbank.
It was a vague account, but many details matched Ye Sheng's version: the Dragon King seemed to have been losing some battle, for instance, and the Bronze City's final shift had opened a route outside.
Far away on the river, Professor Mans accepted his report without dwelling too harshly on the vague wording that mission reports normally prohibited. After all, Lu Mingfei was only a freshman. The courage he had shown underwater alone deserved an "excellent" mission rating.
The follow-up mission had nothing more to do with Lu Mingfei. He only needed to return to school and submit a detailed written report to receive his credits.
As for Constantine, Lu Mingfei explained that he was a Hybrid child he had found after waking on the riverbank, and requested to report privately to Angers.
After confirming Lu Mingfei's safety, Jude Jiqu left. She needed to return and join Ye Sheng in the subsequent dives or help guide them.
With Constantine now awake, Lu Mingfei took an Executive Department car to Angers's command post.
Though called a command post, it was actually the top floor of an upscale private club. Beyond the living room was an open rooftop terrace with a swimming pool. Because of the storm, many unsecured furnishings had been removed. The silver-haired old man sat at a white stone table facing the entrance, drinking tea. The wind was strong on the top floor, yet not a strand of his hair was out of place, and his eyes held nothing but composure.
After confirming no one else was present, Lu Mingfei asked, "Headmaster, are you sure no one's listening in?"
Angers's gaze swept over him and Constantine behind him. His tone was casual. "You can report matters of considerable secrecy here."
"All right." Lu Mingfei pointed at Constantine. "He's someone from inside the Bronze City."
Angers's spiritual presence abruptly expanded. Everything slowed: the wind, the swaying shrubs, the steam rising from his teacup, and the raindrops blown from the eaves. Within that slowed space, he swung his Folding Knife. A burst of air slowly lifted the hair at Constantine's temples.
Word Spirit: Time Zero.
Unaffected, Lu Mingfei reached out and stopped Angers's Folding Knife.
He caught it between just two fingers.