Dragons begin with courage

The lakebed was covered with countless human skeletons, layer upon layer, stretching endlessly. Pale skulls with empty eye sockets looked upwards, and twisted ribs and limb bones were piled up in countless numbers.

Nono and the others couldn't comprehend the cause of this scene. Was it the accumulation of a thousand years of blood sacrifice? Was it the residue from a failed alchemy of a living spirit? Or was it the ultimate fate of all tomb raiders who dared to desecrate this place? History remained silent here, leaving only silent skeletons as its annotations.

"When we came last time, there was no lake, let alone these things..." Ye Sheng's voice carried suppressed shock in the underwater communication, "This city... really is like a constantly changing Rubik's Cube."

"These people are soldiers." Nono's gaze pierced through the murky water, precisely catching sight of the rusted metal fragments nestled among the bones. Rectangular, with holes at the four corners, they gleamed dimly under the spotlight. "Han Dynasty-style armor, the broken hilt of a ring-pommel sword... They weren't civilians; they were a well-organized unit of the Eastern Han government army."

As Caesar struggled to swim against the whirlpool's aftershocks, he said in a deep voice, "Government forces? It sounds like the King of Bronze and Fire once fought against human dynasties? Or... was he defeated?"

"Thousands of well-equipped soldiers died here simultaneously, without any external injuries..." Nono frowned deeply. "How did they die? Suffocation? Poisoning? Or some other way... we can't understand?"

"Archaeological work is temporarily suspended!" Professor Manstein's voice cut in forcefully, carrying an undeniable sense of urgency. "Have you found the underwater entrance? Has Samson caught up with them?!"

Nono looked back. Above the dark lake, there was only the faint light and shadow of swirling eddies; the expected torrent of bronze and the ferocious dragon shadow did not appear.

"They didn't pursue us," she reported truthfully, her doubts deepening. Why? Because this was the last forbidden area before the Dragon King's throne, a place even the guards dared not overstep? Or was it because...they had something more important to accomplish?

They had no way of knowing.

The scene on the lake at this moment was completely different from what they had imagined.

The colossal dragon Samson, instead of angrily stirring the lake in pursuit, knelt on one knee by the lakeside in an almost reverent posture, bowing his proud dragon head deeply towards the twenty-meter-tall bronze statue of Norton in the center of the lake. Behind him, countless alchemical spirits with snake heads and human bodies knelt in orderly rows like the most loyal subjects, their silver pupils shimmering with devout light.

They did not come to annihilate the invaders. The clamor of battle was merely an interlude.

They gather here for a pilgrimage that spans a thousand years.

When the eyes of the bronze king statue blaze with a crimson light, it signifies only one thing—the slumbering authority has awakened, and the scattered royal soul is returning to its rightful place.

"Woo... Awooo..."

A deep, resonant chant, in a non-human language, emanated from the "mouths" of Samson and all the living spirits, coalescing into an invisible wave of sound that echoed across the empty altar. It was not a war cry, but a hymn of worship, as if proclaiming, "Welcome back, our King!"

Underwater, Nono and the others had no time to think about anything else. They dived to the bottom of the lake and saw that Mai and her men were like leaves sucked into a drain, rapidly descending and tumbling along a long, thin, and incredibly fast waterspout, disappearing in the blink of an eye into the bottomless dark tunnel.

"What should we do? Go in with him? That guy up there doesn't seem to be planning to come down." Pacino covered the burn on his shoulder, his voice hesitant.

"I suspect this is a trap to lure you in," Nono said bluntly.

"But we have no way out." Caesar's voice was calm and resolute. "Samson is up there, and our oxygen reserves are limited. We can't afford to fight a protracted battle with it at the bottom of the lake. Our original mission was to penetrate deep into the core, and now the entrance is right in front of us. There's more than one exit from the Bronze City that we came in through."

This is the only option in a desperate situation, and it's a soldier's instinct—to move forward.

Ye Sheng nodded and swam towards the spinning waterspout first: "Let's go!"

Just before Nono, bringing up the rear, was about to be swept away by the current, she glanced back one last time. Her gaze pierced through the deep lake water, landing on the enormous, bloodshot-eyed statue of Norton. An indescribable, complex emotion swept over her—it wasn't just fear, but more like…witnessing.

After a dizzying, teleporting sensation, my feet touched solid ground again.

The magnificent palace that was expected and befitting the Dragon King's status did not appear.

There are no giant columns like those of ancient Greece, no dome with coiled dragons, no flowing mercury river, and no ever-burning mermaid lamps.

They stood in front of a small hut.

A simple, almost rudimentary ancient Chinese dwelling, cast entirely in bronze. Apart from the cold metal material, it is indistinguishable from any Han Dynasty commoner's residence depicted in the illustrations of a history textbook.

Ordinary, quiet, even exuding a loneliness that seemed out of place for the Dragon King.

"Where are Mai and the others?" Nono quickly looked around; apart from her own team of five, there was no one else. The attackers who had entered first had vanished as if they had evaporated.

"When we came in, this place was already empty." Ye Sheng gripped his weapon warily.

Pacino said, "We may have fallen into a trap."

"Nono, what's the status of the communication line?" Caesar asked.

Nono touched the black regenerated metal rope at her waist, the last link to the outside world. The break was smooth and clean. "Completely severed. Not only is it physically isolated, but even the connection to living metal has been blocked."

Just then, Zero, who had been silent as ice, suddenly raised his hand and pointed to the window of the bronze hut, his voice cold and emotionless:

There are people inside.

Everyone felt a chill and instantly went into high alert, slowly approaching the cabin.

Through the bronze window without glass, they could see what was inside the house.

A uniquely designed bronze palace lantern illuminated the small space. The lantern was shaped like a kneeling palace maid, holding the lamp in one hand, her sleeves gathered into a lampshade—a delicate design. Beside the wooden table bathed in the lamplight, a man sat with his back to the window.

He was wearing a black, tight-fitting combat suit similar to the one worn by the Shude Mai Squad.

"The body type is wrong," Akira confirmed in a low voice. Her "candlelight" granted her an unforgettable memory of details. "It's not any of the attackers. But the clothes... are from the same batch."

Just as everyone was filled with doubt and uncertainty, the man with his back to them, as if he could hear their whispers through the walls, spoke in a strange tone that was a mixture of bewilderment, reminiscence, and final certainty:

"I remember now..."

His voice wasn't loud, but it seemed to carry the echo of a thousand years, clearly reaching everyone's ears.

"I am not human."

"It's nothing... Ronald Don."