Family heirloom, then turned into a demon girl

Chapter 282 Mission: 07-2 Hidden Enemies
Even knowing the potential for enemy presence within Bronze City, Professor Mans didn't order a retreat. As he'd previously explained to the principal, despite not being officially commissioned due to their inferior bloodlines, Ye Sheng and Shude Aki were still the Executive Division's best underwater operations team, and no one else was suited for this mission. Professor Mans was certainly concerned for their safety, but as the commander of the operation, he couldn't order a retreat without first seeing the enemy's true form.

Even if it might be a living dragon.

For Ye Sheng and Jiude Aki, the priority of the mission changed. Within the limited time, they had to find the enemy lurking in the darkness.

Every step in the ancient bronze city seemed to become more dangerous. It was the first time that Shude Aki had truly interacted with a "dragon", and even his breathing became more rapid.

"Relax." Ye Sheng turned his head to look at her, the corner of his mouth curled up under the mask: "Your bloodline is not as strong as mine. If that dragon wants to eat, it will eat me first."

"Don't say that!" Jude Aki grabbed Ye Sheng's hand and frowned slightly.

Ye Sheng casually pulled his hand away and glanced at the pressure gauge on his wrist. It represented their remaining time. "How much oxygen do you have left?"

"Probably another hour and a half."

“Half of it has been used up.”

Professor Mans on the ship joined the conversation. "To ensure a safe return, you must reserve half an hour's supply of oxygen. Considering that the deeper you go into the ancient city, the longer it will take. We will explore for another forty minutes and then prepare to return."

"That should be enough for us to tour the palace," Ye Sheng replied. He then shut up completely, because talking also consumes oxygen and energy.

The oxidized metal devoured every molecule of oxygen in the palace, and the two men who had gone deeper into it never took off their masks. But because of this, they were unaware of the thick, pungent smell of blood that gradually grew stronger as they advanced.

It was not until they felt a slight sticking sensation on the soles of their feet that they lowered their heads and took a deep breath of the little remaining oxygen.

It was as if long needles of ice were piercing their spines, a bone-chilling chill stinging their bodies, stiffening their backs and chilling their hands and feet. Selma, who was monitoring Ye Sheng's overhead camera, also gasped and called out to Mans Rundstedt in a trembling voice, "Professor... look..."

Limited by the signal line, the image quality from this camera was very poor, and it was also shaking due to Ye Sheng's trembling. But despite this, everyone could see clearly that the bronze floor in front of Ye Sheng was stained with dark, semi-coagulated blood.

The blood alone wouldn't have frightened them, but the blood hadn't completely solidified. Not only had it not completely solidified, but it had even formed a trail of footprints leading deeper into the city. Everyone who saw this image could imagine the scene—a blood-soaked humanoid creature, weapon in hand, silently stalking through the darkness.

He might even have just left.

"Aki." Ye Sheng quickly calmed his shaky nerves and calmly gave the order: "Stand here."

Although he was a little confused and had not yet recovered from his fear, Jiude Aki still instinctively followed Ye Sheng's finger and stood on the bloody footprints.

She is a member of the team and Ye Sheng is the team leader. Following orders is her first priority.

Ye Sheng nodded and issued two more instructions.

"Turn around." "Take a step forward."

At this point, even a pig would understand what Ye Sheng meant. Jude Aki took a step forward according to his own pace, then paused in this position for Ye Sheng to compare.

Ye Sheng chuckled and twisted his lips in a rogue manner: "It seems that the other person's legs are longer than yours."

Aki's eyes widened. She hadn't expected this man to make such an irritating joke in such a serious situation. But before she could get angry, Ye Sheng had already shared the information he had obtained with Professor Mance, the captain of the Moniach, through his headset: "Judging from the traces, the footprints were left by a barefoot human, probably about the same height as Aki. I'm afraid some other hybrids got here before us."

But Professor Mance seriously denied this speculation: "No. I suspect this is dragon's blood. You keep going."

"Dragon blood?" Ye Sheng moved again as ordered and asked back.

"Yes, dragon blood. Human blood only takes an hour to coagulate, and we just opened the gate of Bronze City an hour ago. There's no oxygen here, and we haven't found any other diving teams. So the dead 'thing' lived in the city, and it didn't need to breathe air like humans."

"So dragons have gills." Ye Sheng joked, pretending to be nonchalant. "I understand. But why do you say the one who killed it wasn't a hybrid?"

"Because that footprint was a barefoot."

"You mean he didn't have his oxygen tank?"

Mance was slightly stunned, but then denied it: "No, just because he was barefoot, we can't tell that he didn't bring an oxygen tank... Although I think he probably didn't bring it.

"That's not the point. Dragon blood is extremely toxic to the human body. Even if it just touches the skin, it will cause excruciating pain if not treated promptly. The fate of such a person is either death or becoming Deadpool. As hybrids, we have a certain resistance to this. If we can resist the erosion of dragon blood, we can become slightly stronger, but most people don't have this ability."

He then concluded, "But that footprint... is too normal. The person stained with dragon blood—if he were human, he might have missed washing it because he had no access to water, but his steps would have been twisted by the pain. But the footprints you see are straight."

Shutoku Aki whispered, "But even if you say so... those footprints are clearly human."

Yes, not just Ye Sheng and Shude Aki, but everyone saw those footprints. The long arch of the foot and the distinct toes showed that they were indeed human footprints, not dragon claw marks.

"Don't forget, we still know very little about dragons," Mance said grimly. "Especially regarding the Dragon Kings. We only know their titles, not even their names."

These last few words hit the others hard: "No one can guarantee that the Dragon King cannot or will not disguise himself as a human."

This was truly alarming. If the Dragon King could act like a human, how could they be pulled out of the vast sea of ​​people?
How long have they been operating in the dark, and how much of a threat have they posed?

(End of this chapter)