Otherworld Bone Dragon Operation Guide

Chapter 400 Celestial Stone Hydropower Station
Bowers, a member of the Temple of Light's Dark Side Operations Group who was previously arrested on the "Golden Coachman," was interrogated "thoroughly," but no further valuable clues were uncovered.

He had to refocus his attention on the master assassin.

Although the assassin committed suicide on the spot after his defeat in battle, for a necromancer, life and death are never absolute boundaries. The tricky part is that the assassin was branded with runes that shatter the soul, which were triggered upon death and destroyed his soul structure.

Gerus, who was present at the time, reacted quickly, but busy treating Reshuri, she could only intervene briefly, leaving the assassin's soul as a pile of fragments instead of crushing it into powder.

Bowers used necromancy, painstakingly piecing together and gluing together the assassin's shattered soul fragments, barely managing to create a ghostly form. Unfortunately, this ghost was dazed, devoid of intelligence, and unable to communicate.

Taking advantage of the respite brought by the heavy rain, Bowers convened a group of necromancers specializing in the realm of spirits for a consultation. Each displayed their unique abilities, attempting various methods of repair and awakening, finally restoring the ghost's basic instinctive perception. However, it was still far from being able to provide a confession.

A necromancer suggested an idea: instill messages like "mission accomplished" or "return quickly" into the "foolish" ghost, and then follow it to see where it eventually drifts off to.

Bowers' eyes lit up, and he immediately put it into practice. Sure enough, under the infusion of his mind, the originally dazed ghost seemed to be triggered and actually regained a trace of "life," beginning to drift unsteadily in a certain direction.

"I just don't know how far we'll have to chase them," the mage who offered the advice remarked. He prepared to return to his cabin to continue playing cards with his colleagues.

Bowers replied, "It's alright, we'll pursue this to the end anyway."

"...Wait, what about us?"

"We!" Bowers glared at him. "Hurry up and pack your bags."

Soon, Bowers dragged the grieving mage along, following the ghost's figure, and together they stepped into the depths of the cold rain.

****
The heavy rain lasted for a day and a night.

After the storm, the dwarven cargo ship "Bronzebeard" finally sailed slowly into the calm harbor of Sapphire Harbor.

After completing its supply delivery mission on Shining Island, it headed to the Northern Port to patiently wait for Newman and his party, who were stranded on Mount Holy Mountain due to dismantling their spoils. Now, the mission has finally been successfully completed.

The ship docked smoothly, and the large quantity of precious alchemical materials dismantled from the Holy Mountain Divine Prison and the Divine Grace Sea began to be unloaded. Apart from the key components of the 'Antelope Horn' and the 'Eternal Obelisk', Newman and his men looted everything they could find that was easy to carry and of value.

However, Su Ming's gaze swept across the deck of the Copperbeard. The sailors, having withstood the fierce storm, appeared quite listless, and some even went directly to the newly built medical center in the port.

The sail on one of the masts was badly damaged, but fortunately, Sapphire Harbor can now provide this type of material and repair services.

Newman looked around at the port, which was already taking shape and was very well constructed, and began to nitpick what he considered unreasonable.

"Your berth layout is a bit too symmetrical," he commented, turning to Su Ming. "You must consider the berthing needs of vessels of different tonnages, as well as the actual utilization efficiency of the water surface space—"

Su Ming raised his hand, signaling him to stop the topic, and instead tossed him a flat schematic diagram.

Newman unfolded the blueprints and quickly grasped the overall layout. "You're going to build a large dam on the White River? — Wait, why is the shape of this dam so crooked?" he asked, his tone full of surprise.

"Oh, how strange," Su Ming teased. "You 'crazy swallow,' you actually have moments when you think things are crooked?"

“I only pursue asymmetry when necessary!” Newman immediately retorted. “I would never be asymmetrical for the sake of being asymmetrical!”

"Heh." Su Ming scoffed lightly, "Then why did you cripple the tracks of my doomsday motorcycle? What was the 'necessity' of that?"

"...Don't you tech people have a concept called 'static instability'?" Newman forced an explanation, "I did that to improve steering maneuverability!"

"Stillness and instability doesn't refer to this at all!" Su Ming bluntly exposed.

As they talked, they walked to the door of the workshop. Pushing the door open, they were greeted by a scene of utter chaos. Scattered debris littered the floor, tables and chairs were overturned, and the walls were broken.

The large screen monitor hanging on the wall was particularly eye-catching, covered with large spiderweb-like cracks.

Su Ming summoned several skeleton servants and ordered them to clean up the mess, while he walked straight to the damaged screen.

The light of "Summoning All Things" flashed softly, and the large screen was instantly transformed, except that the serial number on the back quietly changed to another set of numbers.

"What's going on here?" Newman looked around at the chaotic scene, bewildered and uncertain. "I heard that an assassin broke in earlier—could the enemy have already attacked this place?"

"Oh, it's nothing serious." Su Ming pulled up the sofa, straightened the table, and answered casually, "It's just that a young lady wasn't playing the game very well. Then we got into a fight and forgot to clean up."

Since it wasn't a formal sparring session and the venue wasn't suitable, both of them used only the minimum of their strength. Although Zi Jin made the first move, Su Ming actually gained the upper hand once the fight started.

Su Ming is still puzzled. Compared to her ruthlessness and severity when she first arrived in the other world, Zi Jin's actions during training and combat now seem inexplicably gentle at times.

Therefore, this fight, which started with a verbal argument during a game, came suddenly and ended just as quickly. Ignoring the torrential rain outside, the two stopped fighting and ran outside to play together.

Zi Jin enthusiastically recounted to Su Ming the many things she remembered about Dragon Valley, took him for a stroll around, and even personally demonstrated how to play pranks on the little dragons. Afterward, she generously gave them sweet candies, making the little ones stop crying and start laughing.

Recalling these scenes, Su Ming's lips involuntarily curled into a slight smile.

"Hey hey hey?" Newman stretched out his tiny bone claws and waved them vigorously in front of Su Ming's eyes a few times. "Can you stop laughing like that? It's giving me the creeps."

Su Ming shook his head, pulling his thoughts back to reality. "I just happened to think of something interesting." He glanced at Newman. "But you, why do you find it creepy that people's natural expressions make you feel uneasy?"

“You smile just like Daphne, and you look at me with the exact same eyes, don’t you think?” Newman retorted irritably.

"..."

****
Su Ming unfolded his phone, connected it to the large screen on the wall, and then projected a detailed engineering drawing.

"The name has been officially decided; it will be called 'Tianqingshi Hydropower Station'," Su Ming explained, pointing to the blueprints. "The main dam will be constructed using an earth-rock dam structure."

It may seem counterintuitive, but from a technological standpoint, especially in the field of high dam engineering, earth-rock dams are the most widely used and common type of dam. In particular, in the homeland of Su Ming, thanks to its mature construction technology, earth-rock dams are the absolute mainstay in large-scale water conservancy projects.

Among ultra-high dams exceeding 250 meters, earth-rock dams account for a higher proportion. Thanks to the rapid development of engineering technology, the 300-meter mark has now been successfully broken through both theoretically and technically.

"An earth-core rockfill dam?" Newman's soul fire focused as he carefully studied the details of the dam's cross-sectional structure. "Hmm... the construction principle has many similarities to some of our designs. However, your design and dimensions will require less than half the material!" His tone was full of concern. "I need to calculate carefully whether this design can really hold back such a high river."

"I suggest you don't waste your energy on this," Su Ming reminded him seriously. "If it comes to computing power, you can only bow down and admit defeat to Earth's supercomputer clusters."

The optimized configuration, achieved through complex fluid mechanics and structural mechanics simulations, is far more sophisticated than any individual human could achieve. Moreover, any single member of the engineering team involved in this project has likely participated in more large-scale water conservancy projects than all the large dams in the entire history of this other world combined.

Su Ming didn't finish his sentence, fearing it would hurt Newman's pride. Su Ming would rather believe that Earth might suffer defeat in a potential future conflict than doubt that the certain madman would lose in terms of infrastructure technology.

Newman paused for a moment, then let out a long sigh, “...I understand.”

He continued examining the blueprints. "A hydroelectric power station?"

Su Ming swiped his finger, and the screen quickly switched to display the turbine unit design diagram. He explained the working principle concisely: "Water flow drives the turbine to rotate, which in turn drives the generator impeller to rotate, generating electricity."

"It works on the same principle as our doomsday train's power generation, using water instead of steam." Newman understood quickly. "How much electricity can this hydroelectric power station produce?"

“The designed elevation difference is 150 meters,” Su Ming replied. “It will house four large generator sets with a total installed capacity of 100 million kilowatts—you can understand that if it operates at half power, it is equivalent to providing the power of more than 4000 tons of coal per day.”

"Damn it!" Newman cursed under his breath. In just one day, he had easily equaled the annual output of a small coal mine in another world.

Industrial monsters are indeed inhuman!

“These generator sets need to be embedded in a sturdy structure to operate stably, right?” He gestured for Su Ming to switch the view back to the overall layout diagram, and he quickly understood. “Oh! I get it! We’ll dig a water diversion tunnel inside the side of the mountain and embed the turbine generator sets directly into the rock strata. That way, when the earth-rock dam cuts off and raises the water level of the main river, the water flow will be forced to change course, flowing at high speed downstream through the side water diversion tunnel, driving the turbine generators inside to rotate and generate electricity!”

“That’s right!” Su Ming nodded in confirmation. “This way, we can avoid large-scale concrete structure pouring. Otherwise, if we wanted to build it, we would have to wait for a large amount of cement to arrive.”

While the cement from that other world met the basic requirements, its production capacity was so low that he shook his head in disbelief. Not to mention, the entire process, from placing the order to its arrival at the port by sea, would take at least two months.

Fortunately, three months ago, in preparation for the planned production base construction, Su Ming had placed a massive order for tens of thousands of tons of cement with the Dwarf Merchant Guild. After confirming the location in the Dragon Kingdom, he immediately arranged for the shipment to begin.

Besides the few cargo ships that have already arrived at the port, there are still more than twenty fully loaded transport ships on their routes.

With the strategic plan pressing, Su Ming didn't want to wait a moment longer, so he could only try to save money in the design.

"The entire project is divided into four main phases," he continued, explaining the construction blueprint. "In the first phase, we will focus our efforts on excavating the water diversion and power generation tunnel and installing the turbine generator units. In the second phase, we will construct the primary earth-rock dam to close the main river channel. As long as these two steps are successfully completed, the Tianqingshi Hydropower Station will be able to start operating and generate electricity."

“You’re really impatient,” Newman said, staring at the flickering soul flames on the blueprints. “But the amount of earthwork is still enormous. Even if we send all the Bone Mage members on board—”

“The main construction team isn’t them,” Su Ming interrupted him. “A thousand dragons, is that enough?”

The "PUBG Internet Cafe" business continues to be booming. The Sapphire store has expanded to 150 sets of gaming equipment, and a second store is under construction in the Ruby base to accommodate more dragon "customers".

The number of dragons forced into labor due to abject poverty is increasing every day.

“A…a giant dragon?!” Newman’s soulfire trembled violently as he exclaimed incredulously, “Those notoriously lazy bastards?!—Haven’t you heard the proverb: The most diligent dragon in the world must be a bone dragon!”

"The dragon's side is a matter for Zijin and me to handle," Su Ming said. "You just need to tell me, how long will this project take to complete?"

"You guys... are really amazing!" Newman praised, then calculated for a moment, "Hmm... if the construction capacity is truly guaranteed, the first and second phases should be completed in about ten days!"

Su Ming clapped his hands together forcefully. The progress was much faster than he had expected, which was undoubtedly a good thing.

“Of course, there are still many details to be adjusted in the plan,” Newman added. “Magic, alchemy, including necromancy modeling, can all be applied on a large scale to engineering operations to improve efficiency and quality.”

“Alright.” Su Ming looked around and saw that the skeleton servants had already cleaned the workshop. He spread a stack of printed drawings on the table. “Come on, let’s get started!”

****
While Su Ming and Newman were fully immersed in their work on the Azure Stone Water Conservancy Project, at the Ruby Base, the second "PUBG Internet Cafe," managed by Violet, officially opened. She had also arranged for Stacy to work there, and next to the internet cafe, she built a shared medical service center for humans and dragons—of course, dragon-specific medical services would be charged. On one hand, this area would become the main activity center for members of the Bone-Bone Mad Machines for some time to come; on the other hand, the dragons seeking treatment would also bring customers to the internet cafe.

Stacy holds a high position and prestige among the dragons, and no dragon would easily offend her. Therefore, when she intervenes to resolve frictions or disputes, the results are often surprisingly good.

As the localized supply chain gradually improves, the cost of providing food for dragons is also rapidly optimized. The catering department lowers its prices, attracting more dragons to accept this diet.

In terms of taste and hygiene, this is a world of difference from what they used to do by eating raw tubers!

As planned, the "PUBG Internet Cafe" has officially launched a membership points system. Apart from reserving a small number of seats for new customers who are trying it for the first time, most seats are given priority to those with points, and the higher the "VIP" level, the higher the priority.

This system immediately caused a huge uproar among the dragons, with discontent rising. Many shrewd and wealthy dragons could have lived comfortably for a long time thanks to their savings.

But with these new rules, they can't even get in line, which is forcing these "old folks" to do the work!

In response, Violet's response was very simple. She firmly pressed all the dragons that were making the most noise and inciting the boycott into the ground, leaving only their heads and struggling claws sticking out, creating a very "harmonious" scene.

****
The number of migrant workers in Longnan has climbed to three digits.

With a significant increase in the labor supply, Newman immediately initiated the construction of the Azurestone Hydroelectric Power Station. On the vast construction site, the dragons displayed astonishing power, either casting powerful earth and rock magic or using their sharp claws to directly chisel and excavate huge water diversion tunnels, and then transporting the excavated massive amounts of earth and rock into slag trucks.

Incidentally, these massive slag trucks are also powered by the Giant Dragon Power system.

In short, the entire construction site was extremely spectacular and awe-inspiring. Newman, the halfling skeleton, now loved to climb to the highest rock on the construction site and admire the dragons' taut, massive muscles undulating in the sunlight.

Su Ming organized a publicity team to erect a huge project display board in a prominent location near the construction site, showcasing the design plan, grand plan, specific scale, and many powerful functions of the Tianqingshi Hydropower Station after its completion and commissioning in a comprehensive and detailed manner.

The surrounding mountain walls are covered with slogans such as "Building the valley, I share in the glory!", "Strive for the rise of the dragon!", and "Revitalize the dragon race, make the valley strong and the dragon rich!"

Meanwhile, Zijin mobilized the administrative power of the Dragon Court to cooperate, with many elders setting an example by personally participating in the labor. In terms of propaganda, the dragons' original behavior of earning computer points was solemnly defined as "dedicating themselves to the future of the dragon race," and outstanding dragon laborers were commended.

As more dragons joined the fray, expenses for paying wages and providing food began to rise rapidly.

Su Ming was initially worried about the cash flow. Although they had a lot of savings and had seized a large fortune in the Holy Mountain battle, there were still many things to be done and the expenses would be considerable.

However, after carefully checking the accounts, Yunier was surprised to find that after deducting all the wages paid to the dragon workers, the "Chicken Dinner Internet Cafe" had actually made a huge profit of over 100,000 gold coins in such a short period of time!

Furthermore, it still maintains a considerable surplus in terms of turnover!
Su Ming was furious about this, and he angrily added another batch of new games, vowing to squeeze every last drop out of these dragons' pockets!

Although making money is tempting, he's even more craving the dragon's body!

****
On the dragon's side, despite having plenty of gold coins, they were denied access to the machines due to the membership system. Their discontent grew increasingly intense.

A group of dragons, unable to contain themselves, went to Dragon King Ge Lie to petition, strongly protesting the business model of the "PUBG Internet Cafe," arguing that it should not link computer access with work points, as this was forcing them to work.

Moreover, the fee doubles after three hours of use each day, and they refuse service after six hours, which seriously affects their experience.

Following the most direct tradition of the dragon clan, Ge Lie pressed all the protesters into the ground without exception as a way of "appeasing" them.

Su Ming felt somewhat reluctant to accept this solution, and he suggested to Zi Jin that she should formulate and promulgate clear laws and regulations as soon as possible, which would lay the foundation for promoting the rule of law in the Dragon Clan.

After some discussion, the council of elders formally passed and promulgated the new law, "Those who cause trouble shall be put to the ground."

Very good, they have taken a solid and... quite distinctive step toward the goal of "governing Long by law".

But Ge Lie also developed a strong interest in the construction site, and he personally came to the Tianqingshi construction site. Witnessing these dragons who used to lazily bask in the sun now sweating profusely and working hard, the Dragon King was so moved that he almost shed tears.

“Your Majesty Ge Lie, the application of hydropower can greatly reduce our dependence on combustion-based energy sources.” Su Ming rode on Ge Lie’s broad dragon back, accompanying him on the inspection, while explaining the advantages of the project. “This will have immeasurable long-term benefits for protecting the ecological environment of Dragon Valley.”

“I don’t understand that,” Ge Lie’s deep voice rang out. “But in terms of transportation, it has built a solid passage connecting the east and west banks, making the upstream river channel smoother and greatly facilitating inland waterway shipping.”

“That’s right.” Su Ming nodded. “The rise in water level also means that irrigation conditions on both sides of the upstream area will be improved.” He added, “Tens of thousands of square kilometers of land will benefit—of course, this part requires the construction of a detailed network of irrigation ditches.”

“This is the duty of the Dragon Court,” Ge Lie replied.

“There is another benefit,” Su Ming continued, “that is, by storing and managing water in the reservoir, we can improve the flood situation in the lower reaches of the Baihe River.”

Upon hearing this, Ge Lie nodded his enormous head and said, "Thank you very much. I have decided to refund the land management fees you paid."

Su Ming didn't care about this. "Your Majesty need not do this, lest you give others something to criticize. We will also reap considerable benefits from this project."

“I have conditions attached.” Ge Lie shook his head, revealing his true intentions. “I will give you an additional 500,000 gold coins, and the electricity will be yours, but this Azure Stone Dam must belong to the Dragon Clan.”

Su Ming quickly weighed the pros and cons: it was not unreasonable for Longting to hold and manage such a huge asset; moreover, this was equivalent to receiving a cash injection of hundreds of thousands of gold coins, which could indeed alleviate Su Ming's financial pressure in the future.

"Deal!" Su Ming readily agreed.

"Also, those roads and such," Ge Lie's gaze swept over the newly built, twelve-meter-wide, smooth road Su Ming had constructed, "please feel free to build them."

Dragons can fly, but the millions of alien people engaged in production on this land are highly dependent on the road network.

Before Su Ming arrived, Dragon Valley only had one main road running north to south that was in decent condition. The rest were production trails built spontaneously by humans, dwarves, or goblins, which lacked unified planning standards and varied greatly in quality.

“I’ve long envied the magnificent infrastructure projects in the homelands of other races, and I’ve always been incredibly envious,” Ge Lie remarked. “Therefore, the construction costs in this area should rightfully be borne entirely by the Dragon Clan.”

"Please allow me to be blunt," Su Ming asked directly, "Can the Dragon Clan's current financial situation sustain this?"

Although the dragons are largely self-sufficient in terms of food, Dragon Valley relies heavily on imports for various daily necessities, alchemy materials, and other essentials.

"Isn't Zijin going to start reorganizing the management system for the dependent population within her territory?" Ge Lie replied. "This will bring a significant increase in fiscal revenue to Dragon Valley."

Su Ming cautiously shook his head, "This takes time, and it requires a considerable investment in the early stages."

Ge Lie, however, seemed unconcerned. "That's not a big problem. We old dragons still have some savings that we can use to cover the costs. In short," he said firmly, "we absolutely cannot let the construction process be disrupted by the least important factor like funding."

"……Understood!"

****
Soon, Ge Lie's inspection came to an end.

He was genuinely satisfied with the tremendous changes that had taken place in the area. The bustling scene at Sapphire Port, along with the supply chain and ecosystem spurred by "PUBG internet cafes," had quietly transformed the previously stagnant Dragon Clan economic model.

Although Grell didn't fully understand these changes, he could clearly sense that they were moving the dragon race closer to human and dwarf societies.

"Your Majesty Ge Lie, there is one more thing I need to report to you." Su Ming led the Dragon King to the internet cafe and into a nest-like computer station.

He connected his phone to the projector, and a newly obtained topographic map was displayed on the huge screen.

“Your Majesty Ge Lie, while organizing the survey data, I discovered a strange phenomenon.” Su Ming pointed to the comparison map on the screen and said, “The actual terrain and boundaries of Dragon Valley that I measured are significantly different from the map data provided by your side.”

The surveying technology in this other world is not backward. At first, there was about a 2% discrepancy between Su Ming's actual measurement results and the map markings. The distribution was relatively random and within a reasonable range.

However, the situation changed when the surveying work progressed to the border area where it met the Grey Ridge goblins.

“Look here.” Su Ming circled a section on the screen with his finger. “According to the scale, the goblins’ territory extends all the way to the foot of the mountains. But our on-site survey results show that their controlled area is much larger than what is shown on your map.”

"You mean, the goblins are encroaching on our territory?" Ge Lie's voice deepened, his enormous dragon eyes fixed on the map on the screen.

Su Ming shook his head. "It was wrong from the start. On the map, some key areas near the border were deliberately drawn to be unusually small, while other areas were disproportionately enlarged." He pointed to a river dividing point. "For example, here, the map uses this small river as the boundary. The land on this side of the river, which belongs to Dragon Valley, is depicted on the map as nearly three times larger than it actually is, creating the illusion that it is equally divided between the two sides."

"Crack!" Several crisp sounds rang out as a hard rock beneath Ge Lie's feet shattered.

“There’s something that puzzles me,” Su Ming said frankly. “As an aerial race, you should have been able to easily notice this discrepancy when dividing your territory.”

“This map was drawn a thousand years ago by the previous Dragon King and the Gray Ridge goblins, depicting the division of territory.” Ge Lie sighed heavily, his tone filled with anger and resentment. “The specific details are lost to history, but there is no doubt that those cunning Gray Ridge greenskins were behind it all!”

“According to the map, the area of ​​Dragon Valley should be 150 million square kilometers,” Su Ming pulled up the calculation data, “but our actual survey results are only about 140 million square kilometers. Based on the analysis of the boundary line offset, I think that in terms of territorial division, we have been encroached upon by about 10 square kilometers.”

"Hmph!" Ge Lie was furious, slamming his massive forepaws into the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust and rubble. "These audacious green-skinned trash! Thank you for investigating this matter, I'll—"

“Your Majesty, please calm down,” Su Ming quickly advised. “Our trade with the goblins is currently very frequent, and a large amount of logistics and transportation rely on Greenthorn Harbor as a transit hub. I implore you to suspend your actions at least until the current peak of trade ends.”

Ge Lie took a deep breath, suppressing his surging anger, his massive chest heaving. "Fine! I'll endure it for a while longer. Anyway," he stared at the occupied area on the map, his dragon eyes flashing with cold light, "those lands, they can't escape!"

****
The forest dragons in the dragon workforce were specially organized and assigned to the newly established agricultural and forestry chemical industry department, mainly responsible for producing ethanol through bio-fermentation using plant raw materials.

Qi Luo enthusiastically mingled with this large group of people, and her position was promoted to technical supervisor. Now, wherever she goes, she carries with her an inescapable smell of alcohol from fermented plants.

The paper mill project was also successfully launched. Su Ming used mature technologies from the other world for traditional processes such as dehydration, forming, and drying in paper production; however, he introduced equipment and advanced processes from Earth's technology side in the pulping stage.

The final paper produced was of exceptionally high quality, far exceeding the local standards of the other world.

Similarly, the production lines for ethanol separation and purification, as well as the synthesis units for ethylene oxide, which played a significant role in the Battle of Holy Mountain, are also gradually entering the construction and commissioning phase.

As soon as Su Ming had the spare energy, he began to implement the interdimensional teleportation of the equipment. He had already removed the pair of bracelets from the 'Spiritual Enclosure Crystal Barrier,' and as he adapted to the 'Whispers of the Stars,' his spiritual power was slowly becoming more refined, and its total amount was also increasing.

(End of this chapter)