Scene 5: Dragon’s Shadow (2)

“But not yet digested! The creature’s body can insulate the electromagnetic waves, but now it was going to rise to the surface of the river and open its mouth! Your bombs are calling daddy in his stomach!” Maans snapped the trigger button.

A deafening explosion was heard kilometres behind, shaking the entire Moniaher. When ten underwater bombs exploded at the same time, a pillar of fire was set straight into the water, like a sword made of fire thrown down from the cloud by the gods. Moments later, the flames burst with sharp pieces of metal, mixing with explosives, splashing in all directions. Some of them directly hit Moniaher’s stern.

“It worked!” Selma shouted and waved her arms as she saw the dark line twisted in the instant of the explosion. As long as it’s a living thing, it can’t survive.

Moniaher’s hull turned nearly 90 degrees above the surface of the water and stopped hardly, its overheated engines vaporized large amounts of water from the bottom of the ship. People got out of their cabins and stood in the storm, looking at the boiling water far away. Huge eddies on the surface of the water were swirling around, sucking huge amounts of foam deeper into the water. Maans wiped the rain from his face and let out a long sigh of relief as he imagined the not yet completely destroyed massive spine sank slowly to the bed.

“It will be good if we can capture a living creature.” The third mate sighed.

“How are you going to transport a 15-meter-long, 50-ton living body back to Cassel College?” Maans asked.

“Is that Norton?” Asked Thelma.

“Should be not, the intelligence of dragon kings can’t be that low to eat bombs.” Maans said, “We can go over there later and see if we can get the pieces of the body and go back to do a study. You did a good job, Selma. I’ll give you a 4.0, it’s a rare score for internships.”

Selma nodded. “Thank you, though I’d rather trade it now for Ye Sheng and Aki.”

Maans grabbed Selma’s shoulder and tapped her. That was all he could do to encourage her. He was then reeled and froze. Selma slipped from his grasp and flew backward, plunging into the water, as though a monstrous hand had seized her waistcoat in the darkness. Selma sank, the light moved to here at the last moment. Maans saw Selma opening her mouth, but she couldn’t make a sound. Water poured into her mouth. She disappeared, leaving only a black, slender coil of something like a snake on the water.

It’s a long tail. A tail should have been blown to pieces.

Manse picked up the sniper rifle and pumped a whole magazine into the water. Moments later, red and black water rose to the surface.

Suddenly, it occurred to him that it was not only the monster but also Selma underwater. Maans didn’t know if the blood was Selma’s or the dragon’s, but with the intensity of the shooting, Selma wouldn’t have survived. Dropping his sniper rifle, he stumbled back and leaned against the bulkhead.

Strange laughter seemed to rise from the waves and echo around Moniaher. Very low, but with a very frivolous gaiety.

“Did you all hear that?” The third mate’s voice was trembling.

“Of course. The dragon was laughing. He was… Laughing at us.” Whispered Maans.

There was a quick beeping sound in the cabin. The second mated found it, that’s the fire control radar once again caught the bomb signal, there’s a dud left. In the water, not far from Moniaher, a black spine rose slowly. Slowly the creature opened its mouth so that everyone could see its dense jaws reaching down close to its throat. Deep inside was a glowing underwater bomb.

“Do we need to use it?” The second mate asked.

“It’s waiting for you to detonate it.” Maans said, “Do you remember that there was a pillar of fire coming at us at the moment of the explosion? It was the thing that opened its mouth to the sky, the explosion sent a huge stream of hot air out of its mouth, releasing the pressure like a flame. It got its mouth opening on us now; if you blow it up, the heat will come towards us.”

“Its digestive tract is made of iron?” The second mate couldn’t believe it.

“I was wrong.” Whispered Maans. “Its intelligence is not low; It swallowed the bombs because it knew they were useless to it; It attacked the helicopter because he didn’t like the lights bothering it; Dodging my bullets was just because it doesn’t like being harassed, it doesn’t hurt it. He’s playing with us, the desperate prey… Start the engine!”

“The engine is too hot to last much longer.” Said the chief engineer.

“We don’t have to run very far. Light up the bow and see what it is.” Maans said.

The first mate looked back and was stunned. In the dark, they were just running away and their sonar was scanning the direction of the tracker but did not realize that the front of them is a huge shadow like mountains.

The Three Gorges Dam.

They were only a few kilometres from the massive man-made structure, which cost tens of billions of dollars. The towering embankment stood in the dark water like a giant lying asleep.

There was no escape.

“Return to the cabin. Start the engine and go straight ahead.” Maans said.

All the people looked at him in silence.

“I’m the captain, and I call the shots here.” Maans said, “Start the engine with maximum power, go!”

The overheated engine roared again, the stern whipped up the waves, and Moniaher rushed toward the Three Gorges Dam. Maans stood alone in the stern of the boat, watching the distant swimming behemoth as the rain ran swiftly down the wrinkles on his face.

“Come on! “He whispered.

As he thought before, the thing was waiting for the moment. The last hunt begins when the prey begins to flee. It suddenly sank under the water, its sharp waterline reappeared, and now nothing could disturb its approaching with unprecedented speed.

“Navigation prohibited! Navigation prohibited! Slow down immediately!” From above the dam came the call of managing people.

The Moniaher’s actions amounted to suicide. During the storm, all the locks were closed, and the difference was so high that the water level of each lock was 20 meters. Even if those managing people started to fill the water immediately, they could not raise the water level of the next lock by 20 meters. If the herringbone door is opened at the moment, the result can only be flooded discharge. The enormous amount of water would have released into the next lock with a thunderous force, creating a spectacular and deadly torrent that would have dragged the ship into it and smashed it along the spillway. If they don’t open the herringbone door, at the speed of this ship, it will shatter. Each of these huge doors was made of two thousand tons of steel.

“Keep going!” Maans’s roar came from the stern.

The chief mate was livid and his hands were steady at the wheel. The second mate’s hand was on the red button that set off the bomb. The thing closed its mouth and the signal disappeared again.

The third mate appeared holding “the key” in the front cabin, the infant’s eyes opened widely, looking straight ahead in the closer and closer to the herringbone door. He stretched out a tender hand, pointing to the front. This young body shook slightly with light gold in the eyes. Great power surged out of his hand and everyone felt it.

The herringbone door opened in a moment! “The key” ’s speaking spirit opened the channel forcibly, he can command not only living spirits but the Three Gorges waterway security system.

A huge amount of water spilled into the lower lock, the rapids pulled Moniaher in immediately, and the ship reached an unprecedented speed of seventy knots.

They were speeding toward death, waiting in front of them is a 20 meters’ waterfall. Moniaher was unable to maintain its course in the turbulent current. Now the whole boat was going sideways than going straight ahead like an arrow in the current. The thing sensed danger and slowed down.

Maans opened the old tin cylinder bottle in his hand. The cylinder had lain dormant in an Egyptian tomb for thousands of years, and Cassel college had paid heavily for it in an auction. The sellers didn’t understand the real value of the item, but the Cassel knew and they had painted the entire tin bottle red to represent “dangerous” and stored it in the “Icebox”. Maans poured the liquid from the tin bottle onto the copper pot beside him, which he tied to himself with a cable.

Severe corrosion effects occurred instantaneously. When the gray liquid met the copper pot, it bubbled like thick acid. The liquid crawled along with the pattern on the surface of the copper pot, like a small gray snake looking for space to get into frantically. The copper pot was about to be opened.

The dragon in the water screeched. What Maans was doing made him furious undoubtedly. It gave up its fight against the current, bent its back into the water and lunged at Moniaher.

“Everyone fasten your seat belts!” Shouted the chief mate.

“Forward!” The chief mate pushed the accelerator to the top.

Moniaher ‘flew out’ of the first-class lock with turbulence, passed through the mitre gate, and remained temporarily in the air. The chief mate heard the engine stall in idling and did everything he could under Maans’s orders. He didn’t want to die for killing the dragon, but he was prepared and ready for the day. He closed his eyes.

“Du Du” beeping, it’s the last bomb’s signal, the second mate pressed the detonating button!

Maans’s pupils reflected the terrible scene, a huge mouth opening and closing rapidly, two withered yellow teeth like scimitars, rows of teeth as dense as thorns! The back of its body was still in the lock, and it thrust its head forward eagerly.

The violent explosion came from the creature’s insides, spewing flames like an oversize welding torch.

A series of burst noise came from Maans’s mouth.

Speaking Spirit – Undusted.

He gave orders in the field, huge pressure came from the inside, whether bomb fragments or hot flames were forced to back. In an instant, a spherical wall appeared around Maans, isolating the blast. Outside the walls, the hot wind softened the steel. The thing recoiled from the shock wave, its body retracted uncontrollably and coiled into a ball.

In third mate’s hand, “the key” suddenly grasped his small hands!

The engine of the herringbone gate started immediately, and the huge 2,000-ton steel gate roared to shut. The huge body was intercepted by the waist, and piercing laughter stabbed out from the turbulence, like a sharp sword. Maans covered his ears. He had never heard a laugh like this. It’s laughing, but comparing with roaring close to death.

Maans didn’t know if the creature’s deathbed fearlessness was at work, or if it could only make sounds like laughter. But he didn’t care. He had killed the guy. It was his memorial to the students.

“Good-bye, Lord Norton.” In Maans’s bloodshot pupils flashed cold irony.

Manus laughed silently as Moniaher plunged with the current toward the surface of the secondary lock.

In the control room of Cassel College Library, dead silence remained.

Moniaher’s signal was cut off and the screen went black. Half an hour later, Professor Schneider was rubbing his hands, walking back and forth.

Perhaps only Lu Mingfei did not feel that time passed too slowly, for he was engaged in a fierce battle. EVA proposed a game of StarCraft. He knew it would be a shame if he was caught playing StarCraft, but EVA seemed to find the time difficult. The virtual girl was pacing, jumping, scratching her head, and drawing circles on the ground in a boring way. At that time, she suggested “Why don’t we have a solo”, and that’s something Lu Mingfei can’t reject as long as he’s a normal player.

He hasn’t played for a long time, but he still had a good hand. He’s playing Zerg, and he’s set up Photon Cannons outside his base, with several upgraded Zealots 1) in the cannons. Lu Mingfei’s group of Hydralisk did not rush forward, he realized that EVA must be playing tricks, she is a computer virtual personality, so it is not difficult for her to check the map. She’s already used this trick with Nuo Nuo before.

“Have you seen my map again?” Lu Mingfei typed.

“Yes, but I only have a crystal mine and a gas mine. You’ve opened six bases, twelve main bases and you can have three groups of Hydralisk in a second.” EVA said, “Update all your unit, and then our game will begin.”

“What?”

“I’m going to storm you, see what you can do,” EVA said.

“A beautiful girl would like to play like that?! You won’t cheat, right?” Lu Mingfei suddenly looked a little forward to it, it’s such a pretty girl AI, and she’s even chatting with you!

“No, the full population is two hundred, fair to fair.” EVA said, “Let’s go!”

No sooner Lu Mingfei saw the tide of Zealots gushing out from the position of EVA’s base!

“Be a man to survive ten waves!” EVA said.

“Don’t run away little girl!” Lu Mingfei was very happy with the new rule of playing.

Then came the most exhausting tug of war of Lu Mingfei’s life. For an AI like EVA, she doesn’t have to worry about the command at all. Each unit is operating on its own in a roundabout way. Lu Mingfei tried to resist with the full population of Hydralisk and turrets everywhere, his mines and gas have been added to the infinite by EVA, his 20 bases were streaming out Hydralisk frantically, converging on the central battlefield. This versatile weapon is great for both air and ground strikes and can be used on hatching Lurker. Each wave of EVA arms is different, Zealot, Dragoon, Corsair, Scout, Marauder… With the unparalleled speed of Zerg, Lu Mingfei carried nine waves. He was down to a half-dozen wounded Hydralisk when the last wave was three groups of Aircraft Carrier.

“Come again. I’m ready.” Lu Mingfei filled his population again, his Defiler and Queen were all full-energy.

“The tenth wave,” EVA said.

Aircraft Carrier? Dragoon? Or groups of Light Templar? When Lu Mingfei was expecting, the screen suddenly went black, only faint dark lines floating by. He pressed the enter key and amazedly found that he can still activate the conversation.

“EVA, did you crash?” He typed.

“No, the game is continuing. Let me show you a little bit more by pulling the camera a little further.”

“What? Camera?”

He suddenly saw the enemy on the screen, EVA is right, only “pulling the camera further”, the enemy can be seen. The last wave, EVA has only one unit, a black dragon. It was big enough to hide everything, and it was spreading its wings and gliding slowly past. It spat out the flame, wherever it went, all the Hydralisk into plasma. The screen wasn’t black, but because the dragon was many times larger than the screen, the dark lines were his scales.

“What a bigone!” shouted Lu Mingfei. 2)

“Lord of Black Dragon, Nidhogg, whose name means ‘Despair ‘.” EVA said, “You’ve lost. Let’s play together next time, Lu Mingfei.”

The screen flickered back to the unattractive work interface.

“Bigone?” Professor Schneider frowned. “What’s bigone?”

Lu Mingfei stood up suddenly. ” ‘Bigone’ in Chinese slang means quiet… I mean, it’s so quiet!”

Professor Schneider nodded slightly. Lu Mingfei was speaking from the heart of each of them. Indeed, it was too quiet, the black screen, the silent megaphone, like… It’s like death. He had a vague, ominous foreboding that he could not say to anyone, as if the word would become real if it were spoken.

“It is bigone indeed! Maans… Are you ok?” Schneider gave a long sigh.

Suddenly the screen lit up and a serene old man’s face appeared. His silver hair was neatly combed, and the years had left deep marks on his face, turning his skin into cracked old trees or weathered rocks, but his appearance was still tough, silver pupils shone lights. His stiff black suit was wrapped around his still erect body, with a bright red rose in his breast pocket.

The old man’s age was hard to tell for a time. He was very old for his skin and his face, but he sat like a young lion.

“How handsome!” Lu Mingfei sighed, “Such an old playboy!”

All stood up.

“Principle Angers.” Said Professor Schneider.

“Moniaher has landed safely in the second lock of the Three Gorges Reservoir. We have obtained important information, thank you for your efforts, I declare the dissolution of this meeting.” Said the principal blandly.

The control room erupted, everyone raised their arms in cheers, professors hugged each other in excitement and students high-fived in the air. But it was clear that the students were divided into two groups, one around Caesar and the other around Chu Zihang, while Kieran hurried to the bathroom at this critical moment. Lu Mingfei left a distance from everyone, do not know which group of people should he join.

Then he saw Nuo Nuo against the wall alone chewing gum, looking out of the window in a daze.

Lu Mingfei suddenly felt happy, that Nuo Nuo is still with him.

“Hey! Lu Mingfei! You are the best!” Kieran came back, holding a bunch of flowers unexpectedly. He came up and shook hands with Lu Mingfei vigorously then hugged him.

There was nothing but silence in the control room and professors clapped their hands. The elites in Lionheart and Student Union looked at their presidents, Caesar and Chu Zihang also clapped. So everyone clapped. Lu Mingfei was surrounded by the crowd at the moment, they blocked the line of sight of Lu Mingfei to see Nuo Nuo and had handshakes with him. When Lu Mingfei felt respected for the first time, he saw Nuo Nuo glancing at him outside the crowd, blowing bubbles. The bubble got bigger and bigger and finally blew up.

“Dismissed!” Professor Schneider announced.

As the students left the control room, they waved to the on-screen principal, who was an icon. The principle just smiled and did not answer.

When Lu Mingfei got to the door, he heard the principal, “Thank you, Lu Mingfei.”

Lu Mingfei surprised to turn around, the principal on the screen throws up a stack of white paper. “Congratulations, you have passed the 3E exam with the highest score in a decade. You have retained your ‘S’ status and I am awarding you a special Principle’s Scholarship.”

Professors and students exchanged astonished glances. Decades later, another true “S” student appeared at Cassel College. The boy with normal appearance used not only marks but the extraordinary ability to make a note of his level.

The unparalleled “S” level.

“Don’t blow your bubbles up!” Nuo Nuo passed Lu Mingfei, patted him on the shoulder and went out.

1. Zealots: This might be a mistake, Lu Mingfei is playing Zerg here, but Zealot is the basic unit of Protoss.
2. Lu Mingfei used not proper Chinese here so his friends and professors can’t tell what he’s talking about.