Dragons begin with courage

With a snap, Old Tang snapped his fingers.

"Ugh..." She couldn't even utter a complete cry of pain before her consciousness, like a screen losing power, suddenly plunged into boundless darkness. Her body slumped limply onto the cold bronze floor.

Norton gazed silently at the unconscious girl. A few seconds later, the last faint glimmer of "Ronald Don" in his eyes was completely extinguished, leaving only a pure, eternal, molten gold color that seemed capable of burning away eternity.

"The ritual... requires offerings, and it also needs witnesses." He murmured to himself, turned around, and the door of the bronze hut closed silently behind him, separating the inside from the outside into two worlds.

===================

*Splash!* On the banks of the Three Gorges, Mai Jiude, like a graceful dolphin, broke the surface of the water and landed wet on the rocky shore. She pulled off her diving helmet, tossed her long, black hair, and the cold water droplets glistened in the moonlight. Even after a fierce underwater battle and a life-or-death escape, her movements still carried a sense of effortless agility.

Almost the instant she regained her footing, her phone vibrated in her waterproof bag, and the screen lit up with a cartoonish potato chip image and the words "Potato Chip Girl".

Mai Shude pouted, answered the phone, and said lazily, as if she had just finished a task, "Stop rushing me. Why are you acting like you're going through menopause? You never stop."

"You think I want to be an alarm clock?!" Su Enxi (Potato Chip Girl)'s crisp yet anxious voice came from the other end of the phone, accompanied by the rapid tapping of a keyboard. "I'm watching over a dozen screens! The boss just asked about the progress again! Everything's going smoothly? No more 'surprises,' right? I haven't even gotten rid of the blame for the 'key' almost waking up prematurely last time!"

"Don't worry, 'fate' hasn't gone astray." Mai Shude leaned against a boulder, wringing the water from her combat suit, her gaze fixed on the dark, rushing river that had just swallowed the entrance to Bronze City. "'Red-Haired Princess' remained on the stage as per the script, serving as the final catalyst to stimulate the 'actors.' The 'audience' also evacuated with enough shock and clues. It's just..."

She paused for a moment, as the image of Nono's calm yet almost defiant gaze flashed through her mind.

"What is it? Don't exhale so much!" Su Enxi pressed.

"It's that Chen Motong... her 'eyes' are even more cunning than we anticipated." Jiu De Mai's voice lowered, carrying a rare hint of solemnity. "When I left, her eyes were burning with excitement, without a trace of fear. She must have guessed something. Hopefully, this won't become a new variable."

Su Enxi calmly looked at a butterfly-shaped ornament on the table and said, "It can't be changed. There are always people who think they can change their fate, but what cannot be changed is fate. Their fate has already been written in the story of the dragon race."

The river wind howled, and another storm was gathering on the river surface.

The Monyach, main command module.

The atmosphere was as heavy as lead, making it almost impossible for anyone to breathe. The once bustling and orderly command center was now deathly silent, with only the monotonous hum of the instruments and the incessant sound of the river outside the window.

The hatch was flung open, and Caesar and his men, drenched in sweat, smelling of gunpowder, and utterly exhausted, stumbled in. Caesar had already taken the antidote to the tranquilizer dart and regained his mobility. Their diving suits were covered in burns and tears, and their faces were stained with river water, blood, and the pallor of someone who had survived a near-death experience. The group was missing a flamboyant figure, and a vibrant splash of red.

All eyes were instantly drawn to them, then quickly looked away, unable to meet Caesar's golden eyes burning with anger and pain, but more than anything, they felt powerless and desperate.

"Report the situation."

"The Bronze Gate mission... has failed completely." Ye Sheng continued, "Norton, the King of Bronze and Fire, has been confirmed to have awakened and possesses a high level of intelligence."

"We were attacked by Samson, the Dragon King's direct Dragon Guard," Ye Sheng's voice finally trembled slightly. "Samson used the Word of Power 'Monarch's Flame.' Commissioner Pacino... was unable to evade, confirmed... sacrificed. No remains were found."

Dead silence. Pacino, the student council member who always seemed a bit cynical but had also passed the rigorous selection process, was simply "erased" from the world.

"During the evacuation," Caesar closed his eyes upon hearing this, as if unwilling to hear the cruel news. Ye Sheng continued, "Commissioner Chen Motong was seriously injured in a surprise attack by Jiu Demai while covering our retreat. When we... when we were forced to evacuate, the entrance to Nibelungen closed. Commissioner Chen Motong... was unable to escape in time and was left behind in Bronze City. His current status... is unknown."

The coffee cup in Manstein's hand finally gave way under the pressure and shattered with a "crack," splattering brown liquid and porcelain shards all over the floor.

Caesar's eyes snapped open, a flame of humiliation burning within them: "I failed to save Nono, and I'm willing to take full responsibility! But the most important thing now is that Nono is alive! We must organize a rescue immediately! She might still be..."

"Rescue?" Professor Manstein interrupted him wearily, rubbing his temples. His voice was filled with a deep sense of helplessness. "To launch a rescue against Nibelungen, a dragon king that has just proven its master has awakened and is now completely sealed off? With this ship, and all the people on board? Caesar, are you sending us all to our deaths, to add more sacrifices to Norton's awakening celebration?"

The command center fell into a suffocating silence once more. Rational despair was more unbearable than a frenzied charge.

"So we're just going to do nothing?!"

Manstein shook his head, his face grave. "The awakening of Norton, the King of Bronze and Fire, goes beyond the scope of an S-rank mission, and even beyond the authority of any single hybrid organization. This is a crisis warning at the civilization level. Inform Principal Angers that I need him to immediately end all diplomatic engagements and, in the name of Kassel College, issue a top-priority warning to all active executive branches, ancient families, and trusted allies worldwide—'Bronze' has awakened."

The order was issued swiftly, and the command center once again entered a tense and high-speed operating state. However, this time, the air was no longer filled with the tension of exploration, but with the smell of gunpowder smoke of an impending battle.

Meanwhile, Lu Mingfei pulled down the brim of his baseball cap and wandered aimlessly along the familiar yet unfamiliar streets. The light pollution from the neon lights dimmed the starry sky, and the noise from the street food stalls, the laughter of children, the dialogue from the soap opera on the television... all the sounds that belong to the "normal world" seemed to come through a thick layer of frosted glass, blurry and distant.

Before he knew it, he had stopped downstairs at his aunt's house. Looking up, he saw a familiar window glowing with a warm yellow light, and he could vaguely hear the sound of the television and his uncle's shouts as he watched a football game. That used to be the corner where he huddled, his whole world as "loser Lu Mingfei."

However, Lu Mingfei had no intention of going back; he had already entered another world. Just as Lu Mingfei was preparing to return to the training factory, the television in the convenience store suddenly interrupted with a news report.

"We now have an emergency news report." The announcer's voice was professionally urgent. "According to the monitoring of the National Earthquake Administration and reports from our reporters on the ground, this afternoon, a small-scale localized earthquake and an abnormal landslide occurred along the Zigui section of the Yangtze River Three Gorges. A research team conducting a joint geological and cultural site investigation has encountered a sudden emergency. Preliminary verification indicates that a young archaeologist accompanying the team, 'Chen Motong,'... is missing."

Lu Mingfei stopped in his tracks, an ominous premonition piercing his spine like an ice pick.

A familiar ID photo appeared on the television screen.

"Here comes the charge!"