Otherworld Bone Dragon Operation Guide

Chapter 406 Close-In Weapons
Three days ago, a shipment of goods from the Smart Gear Chamber of Commerce arrived at the port.

Accountant Siabette received an accounts payable voucher for a staggering 12000 gold coins. He meticulously checked the voucher's contents, confirming that it perfectly matched the contract amount kept by the Chamber of Commerce, and that the approval and review process was flawless.

But the payment still struck him as unusual. The large amount was secondary; what struck him most was the goblin guild leader's swiftness, which seemed very off.

In his experience, even if the payment was strictly agreed upon beforehand, the goblin guild leader would always find a way to find fault, using excuses such as "damaged packaging" or "defective goods" to deduct a small portion of the final payment, or at least delay payment for a few days.

This time, however, the full amount was paid off decisively. In all the years that Siabette had been with the shrewd gears, she could count the number of times she'd encountered this situation on one hand.

Out of caution, he reviewed all the documents again, but his doubts still lingered. In the end, Siabette personally reported to the vice president and confirmed the authenticity of the transaction before signing "consistent" in the financial review column and handing it over to the cashier for execution.

Although the process was somewhat unusual, it was just a small part of Siabette's busy daily work.

In the afternoon, another batch of vouchers arrived on his desk. These were all small, routine expenses, requiring no review from him; he only needed to record them in the books and perform the corresponding cost allocation.

This is what Siabette is best at, and it is also his main responsibility.

However, one of the receipts caught his attention—it was a payment for unloading goods for 3 silver coins and 93 copper coins, with the note stating that there were eight boxes.

In terms of timing, its occurrence coincides perfectly with that shipment of 12000 gold coins.

"Unloading fee?" Rupert's voice came through the mask, tinged with confusion. "What's so special about that?"

The unloading work at the dock is naturally handled by a handling team. The Chamber of Commerce only needs to pay according to the amount of work done each time, which is much more cost-effective than hiring a group of people long-term.

The unloading process includes unloading the cargo from the ship, short-distance transport to the warehouse designated by the Chamber of Commerce, or other locations.

Siabette explained, "The port association has long established a set of rules for calculating unloading fees."

He picked up a quill pen and wrote down a calculation on the paper: "The cost of unloading and transporting a standard medium-sized long heavy box is 41 copper coins each, so eight boxes would cost 3 silver coins and 28 copper coins."

The Chamber of Commerce accountant's pen flew across the rough paper: "100% overweight, the pricing rate is multiplied by 1.5, and if it is loaded on-site, 20% of the original cost of transporting it to the warehouse needs to be deducted."

He wrote down the final calculation result—393.6, which, after removing the tail, is 3 silver coins and 93 copper coins.

“This is the only combination of all types of goods and methods of handling that can come up with this payment figure!” Siabette affirmed.

Rupert's work at the docks hadn't been in vain; he immediately spotted the problem. Using heavy crates and handling them with care to avoid collisions was standard practice for transporting alchemical items.

A standard medium-sized long rectangular box is over two meters in length and has a weight limit of 1500 kg. Exceeding this weight limit by 100% means the density of the contents is extremely high, severely restricting the variety of items that can be stored.
The phrase "loaded on-site" indicates that the goods were not temporarily stored in the port warehouse after being unloaded from the ship, but were directly transported away by vehicles—which perfectly matches the common operating mode of smuggling contraband.

Rupert gasped. He had only wanted to catch a big fish, but instead, he had hooked a whale shark!
“I need substantial evidence.” Rupert tossed the two gold coins he had been playing with to Siabette.

Siabette raised his hand and steadily caught the gold coin. At this moment, his face was ashen, and his tone was unusually calm. His previous bewildered and lost appearance had vanished without a trace, and he had clearly made up his mind.

“I can give you evidence and continue to help you investigate this matter to the end.” He weighed the two gold coins in his hand. “Although the owner of the Shrewd Gear Merchant Guild is a man of great stinginess, he has indeed treated me well over the years.”

"That--"

As she spoke, Siabette looked up, her gaze fixed on Rupert's mask. "So, we have to pay more!"

"...How much more?"

“Ten times!” Siabette said, her tone very firm.

Rupert closed his eyes and quickly weighed his options. He had originally planned to develop Siabette into a long-term informant, but given the current situation, he definitely couldn't keep this shrewd Gear Merchant Guild around.

Naturally, there's no need to consider a gradual, long-term approach.

"Deal!" Rupert opened his eyes and agreed readily. He then pulled out five gold coins from his pocket, and together with the three remaining on the table, pushed them in front of Siabette. "This is a 20% deposit; the rest—"

He stared into the accountant's eyes, his tone laced with a stern threat, "But you'll have to see your excellent performance from now on!"

****
Later that day, Su Ming received a communication from Rupert, who quickly reported what had just happened.

The fact that he was able to successfully find a pawn within the "Smart Gear" Chamber of Commerce was not unexpected for Su Ming. However, intercepting such crucial and dangerous information did exceed his expectations.

Based on the specifications and weight data of the crates provided by Siabette, it can be almost certainly concluded that military alchemical weapons were smuggled into Dragon Valley.

Judging from the shape of the box, the possible weapon types are not many, but the one that best fits the characteristics is the alchemical rocket, which is most popular among goblins!

A box costs 1500 gold coins, and even with the premium for special items, the price is within the corresponding range.

“I have personally examined the original transaction stubs that Siabette brought out,” Rupert added. “It is indeed true. I now have copies of the stubs and the images of the documents taken with the photographic stone.”

Su Ming nodded slightly, "It seems that this Siabette has a plan to use us to completely 'send away' his goblin boss!"

The dragons have only one method of dealing with goblins who dare to smuggle weapons—annihilation. Occasionally, if their technique is flawed, some remains might be left behind.

“This way, Siabette won’t have to fill the huge deficit on the books, and he can still enjoy the generous reward we offer.” Rupert had already guessed the accountant’s plan. “I suspect that the amount he actually embezzled is probably more than one hundred gold coins.”

"To be able to extract so much profit from the cunning goblin merchant guild..." Su Ming rarely exclaimed in admiration, "He's a real talent!"

****
After ending his communication with Rupert, Su Ming immediately summoned Violet and Newman, who were already resting.

"Eight crates of goblin rockets have flowed in?!" Newman's soul fire trembled upon hearing this. "Are they coming for us?"

"Could it be that those goblins suddenly spent 12,000 gold coins to go and blast dragons?" Su Ming retorted irritably.

Zijin frowned and pondered for a moment, analyzing the current situation. "If the enemy's target is to attack the core chemical production area of ​​the Ruby Base and trigger a series of secondary explosions, it could indeed cause catastrophic consequences and bring us enormous trouble."

To be fair, given the mountain of chemical raw materials and flammable and explosive intermediate products currently piled up in the factory, even if no one touches them, Su Ming himself is often worried that something might suddenly go out of control and explode.

During this period, he invested a great deal of manpower and resources in safety issues, and often even preferred to have lower production efficiency and choose more outdated processes.

This is why chemical warehouses are specifically located on the relatively edge of the site.

However, this also means that if the goblins were to launch a rocket attack on this area, they would be extremely likely to succeed. A single successful attack would be enough to wipe out the large amount of chemical supplies that Su Ming had painstakingly accumulated over this period.

“I have raised the alert level and urgently increased the patrol density on the perimeter,” Su Ming said. “But this is only part of the work. We also need to set up a defense system against goblin rockets.”

In the short term, high-intensity patrols may be able to contain enemy activity. But over time, the enemy will still be able to find weaknesses in the defense chain.

Moreover, the guards performing monotonous defensive tasks will inevitably become less vigilant over time, a pattern that is difficult to reverse.

"We were already short of magic crystals!" Newman lamented. "Intercepting high-speed goblin rockets requires a detection-capable, active-attack magic array. Our reserves are far from sufficient to cover such a large area as the base!"

“I don’t intend to use a magic circle to solve this problem.” Su Ming stood up. “Let’s go to the workshop. I’ve already planned a solution.”

****
Previously, after the preparation of nitric acid and ethanol, the manufacturing of mercuric fulminate also officially began.

The core reaction involves the reaction of mercury with nitric acid to produce mercuric nitrate, which then reacts with nitrogen oxides in an ethanol medium to produce the target product.

The preparation process of this initiating explosive is both complicated and dangerous. Fortunately, it is only used as a primer to ignite the propellant inside the bullet, and the amount required is not large.

Mercuric fulminate is corrosive and has many drawbacks, such as being susceptible to moisture and having poor long-term stability. It has long been replaced by more advanced detonating agents on Earth.

However, mercuric fulminate had dominated the field of ammunition detonation for over a century, and in the absence of better alternatives, its performance remained usable.

Ji Su specially produced a batch of unloaded bullets equipped with "downgraded" primers for Su Ming.

Inside the bullet production workshop at the Ruby Base, in addition to mercury fulminate, materials such as copper, iron, and aluminum are also ready.

Su Ming unleashed the "Summoning of All Things." Material information from Earth descended across dimensions, and the materials in the otherworldly workshop were shaped and combined, reconstructing a nearly 3-ton 14.5mm bullet with a brass casing and alloy bullet head.

Transporting matter on this scale no longer posed a significant burden on Su Ming. After calming down for a few minutes, he regained his composure.

Newman stepped forward, extended his bone claws, picked up a spent cartridge case and a matching bullet, and examined them carefully against the light. The smooth surface, precise dimensions, and impeccable tolerance control drew his sincere admiration.

"Are our existing localized production facilities capable of achieving this level of manufacturing?" Newman inquired.

Su Ming has already transferred a batch of basic lathes and processing equipment. Currently, the metal processing workshop at the Ruby Base has basic metal cutting, drilling, and simple forming capabilities.

Many simple small items and daily necessities displayed on the supermarket shelves were produced in this way by the workers of the Bone-Bone Mad Machinery. Su Ming intended to use this as a way to train workers to learn techniques and hone their skills.

Su Ming shook his head. "These cartridge cases and bullets may look simple in structure, but the material processing, precision stamping process, dimensional tolerance control, and surface treatment behind them are a whole lot of troublesome."

Bullets are not simply made by simply forming them. Not misfiring, not jamming, and not leaking are merely the most basic and minimum requirements.

Of course, the situation with the five permanent members of the UN Security Council on YouTube is a different story. They'd be extremely grateful if they could at least avoid killing some of their own people.

In the normal world, to improve combat effectiveness, bullets must possess excellent ballistic stability, resulting in a small dispersion range after firing. Therefore, the requirements for material consistency and manufacturing precision in bullets are virtually limitless. Every step of the production process must control variables as much as possible to ensure that the performance of each bullet is as close as possible to the previous one!
Only in this way can it be perfectly integrated with various advanced ballistic prediction and tracking systems on the technology side to unleash powerful combat capabilities.

"Newman, your task is to process the smokeless gunpowder we produce to a sufficiently uniform degree," Su Ming instructed. "The combustion speed must also be precisely controlled to the ideal level."

As the propellant in bullets, the burning rate of smokeless powder must be properly controlled. Too fast a rate will damage the firearm or even cause the barrel to explode; too slow a rate will result in insufficient chamber pressure during the explosion, weakening the bullet's power.

“No problem!” Newman replied. “What about the loading and sealing of subsequent bullets?”

Su Ming pointed to the bullet packaging production line in the corner of the workshop, "It will be done by those machines, and Bei Anqi will be in charge."

"understood."

Su Ming raised his arm, and magic, carrying the surrounding materials, gathered together once more. A 14.5mm sniper rifle, gleaming with a cold, hard metallic luster, materialized and landed in his hand.

He casually tossed the weapon to Newman. The halfling skeleton quickly stretched out his bony arm to catch it, but was knocked back several steps before staggering back to regain his balance.

"This is for you to test the bullets," Su Ming said.

"Hey, can't you have a little pity for my old back?!" Newman protested.

****
Afterwards, Su Ming and Zi Jin walked out of the workshop side by side, leaving Newman to work the night shift alone. Anyway, as an undead, he didn't need sleep.

"If the bullet problem is solved, stopping those low-speed rockets from the goblins will be a piece of cake," Su Ming said.

“Then I plan to start with the transportation routes, investigate and track them down, and try to find these lurking enemies,” Zijin interjected. “In addition, I want to start rebuilding the ‘customs’ at Longxia Port. This defense line has to play a practical role and can’t be a useless decoration.”

Zijin's duties in the dragon race's administration were equally complex. Although individual dragons were few in number, they ruled over this vast territory and millions of people of other races. Many administrative bodies dealing with these other races were led by dragons, who also commanded groups of other races.

As a result, key locations like Longxia Port Customs have long been infiltrated by various forces, becoming as sieve-like as they are now.

Fortunately, Su Ming's "consumption stimulus" strategy has indeed begun to influence the mindset of the dragons. Those department heads who were previously indifferent to their responsibilities are now starting to pay attention to their performance evaluations, especially the wages and bonuses linked to them.

All sorts of desires are always the primary driving force.

Su Ming nodded. "So, how do you plan to deal with this 'Smart Gear' Chamber of Commerce?"

During this period, only the "Labor Merchant Guild" has openly stood up to oppose the new policies of the Dragon Clan. Most other foreign merchant guilds within the Dragon Kingdom have cunningly disguised themselves as "normal commercial competition" and carried out covert, soft resistance.

Such tactics as sabotaging others and feigning compliance were completely unsurprising to Su Ming.

However, the ruby ​​base's current reliance on local resources is mainly concentrated in the procurement of primary raw materials. These chambers of commerce have no way to obstruct it further, nor dare they act too blatantly.

With their keen sense of smell, the goblin merchants concluded that the dragon race's leadership had definitely been replaced!

No longer is Ge Lie, who was hot-tempered but indifferent to local affairs. Instead, a new dragon has risen to power, ruthless and adept at using both administrative and physical force to strike!

Su Ming remained wary of these chambers of commerce and their potential clandestine actions, which is why he arranged to send Rupert to infiltrate them.

“‘Smart Gears’ is a large chamber of commerce, and the chain of evidence we currently have is not enough.” Zi Jin shook her head. “It would be best to catch them red-handed, seize the alchemical weapons that have been smuggled in, arrest the specific culprits, and solidify the irrefutable evidence!”

"Why are you suddenly playing these games?" Su Ming asked, puzzled. This was really unlike Zi Jin's behavior lately.

After all, everyone knows that nowadays, if a dispute arises between the dragons and the dragons themselves, as long as they are in the right, there is still room for negotiation.

But when it comes to that mysterious and unpredictable necromancer force that has suddenly appeared, it's a completely different story—the dragons will never reason with you.

Especially if they get caught using their weakness against the Bone-Beast Crazed Machine... then the only outcome is a choice between being three-tenths cooked and seven-tenths cooked.

“The core assets and foundation of the ‘Smart Gear’ Chamber of Commerce are all in Gray Ridge,” Violet explained. “If we only destroy their branch in Dragon Gorge Port, it’s just a minor injury. They can easily abandon this arm and then make a comeback.”

Su Ming narrowed his eyes; Zi Jin wanted to resolve the problem more thoroughly.

"So what are your specific plans?" he asked.

“Once the evidence is irrefutable,” Violet said in a cold tone, “I will lead the dragons in a cross-border raid, uprooting the Smart Gear Merchant Guild’s headquarters in Gray Ridge and confiscating their assets!”

“Grey Ridge certainly won’t stand idly by,” Su Ming said. “A stalemate will definitely ensue.”

“Of course.” Zi Jin had naturally anticipated this. “We’ll use the excuse that ‘Grey Ridge’s supervision is inadequate and that it has allowed illegal chambers of commerce to infiltrate the Dragon Clan’s territory’ to argue with them.”

Su Ming nodded in agreement. When it comes to power struggles between nations, one cannot be hasty. It's always good to establish a plausible reason first.

“I have a feeling,” Su Ming said, “that the dragons and goblins are bound to fight sooner or later.”

Zijin did not deny this, saying, "This is also a way to solve the problem."

****
A night breeze swept by, carrying the warmth of spring and the fragrance of earth and flowers.

Su Ming has been busy lately, and sometimes his thoughts still linger on the feeling that he has only recently left the world of ice and snow.

Zijin had changed out of her daytime clothes and was now wearing a comfortable lake-blue floral lounge dress, with a soft knitted cardigan draped over it. The cardigan's sleeves were slightly long, gently covering half of her fair hand, exuding a lazy and casual vibe.

The thin hem of her skirt rippled in the night breeze as she swayed her legs.

The girl's long, smooth, light blue hair was tied into a loose, low ponytail with a flaxen hair tie, and a few unruly strands of hair playfully fell beside her ears.

Noticing Su Ming's gaze on her, Zi Jin raised her finger and gently tapped the back of her head. "Have you forgotten the hair tie you gave me?"

Su Ming withdrew his gaze. "I was wondering why you looked so familiar."

He was still discussing matters involving war, but suddenly became somewhat absent-minded, and sighed softly to himself.

However, since it was currently a rest period, Su Ming stopped talking about work.

The commercial district in the distance was dimly lit, and most shops had begun to close, with only a few still keeping their signs lit and continuing to operate under the cover of night.

Su Mingxiang invited Zijin to go for a walk over there. However, considering the safety risks, she decided to give up before even saying it.

“Su Ming,” Zi Jin suddenly called out.

"Hmm?" Su Ming responded.

The two left the relatively quiet workshop area, where more workers were passing by. They all stopped and greeted each other respectfully.

"Hello, President!"

Good evening, Chestnut Owl Scholar!

The two nodded in response to the greetings.

A moment later, Su Ming turned to look at Zi Jin, "What were you trying to say just now?"

"How about asking if you want to take a walk together?" Violet sighed softly, glancing at the occasional glances cast her way around her, her interest waning. "But given the current situation... I think I'll pass."

"Too."

"Hey! You two, that's rare!" Stacy's voice came from not far away.

Su Ming looked in the direction of the sound and saw the doctor struggling to pull on a leash, the other end of which was attached to a brown Newfoundland dog.

She tried to pull the stubborn dog this way, but the Newfoundland was clearly unwilling, gripping the ground firmly with its four paws, creating a standoff with Stacy.

The dog weighed at least 50 kilograms. Stacy clearly couldn't move it by sheer physical strength.

Although he didn't know where she had adopted this big dog, Su Ming hadn't seen a dog in a long time. He stepped closer and reached out to pet its head.

The Newfoundland dog, which had just been arguing with Stacy, suddenly seemed startled. With a nimble movement, it quickly hid behind Stacy, peeking out only half its head to warily observe Su Ming.

Su Ming then gave up. “You really like keeping animals,” he said to Stacy.

“Pet therapy, it’s said to be able to solve many psychological problems.” Stacy patted the big dog’s head gently and explained earnestly, “I found it in a book.”

Su Ming felt that their conversation seemed to be on different wavelengths.

"Then good luck, we'll go back and rest first!" Su Ming said.

"Okay, bye-bye!" Stacy waved to the two of them while holding the dog leash with one hand.

(End of this chapter)