Otherworld Bone Dragon Operation Guide

Chapter 45 Visitors
Su Ming nodded in understanding, which was why he hadn't used the sails for the past few days.

Another issue is the low-visibility paint scheme and exhaust smoke. Currently, the Zhiyuan retains its original hull color, making it easily spotted at sea. The black smoke produced by the steam engines also significantly increases its visibility.

Zijin replied, "We don't need to worry about the enemy discovering the Zhiyuan for now."

"Why?" Su Ming asked, puzzled.

"Because of the low priority, we have already entered the open sea, where it is difficult to be surrounded and attacked by a large-scale navy."

"What about the local forces?" Su Ming asked.

“The forces here are mainly chambers of commerce.” Zijin pointed to the sea chart. “This sea is called the Central Ocean Sea. The Central Ocean Islands ahead of us are the most important transit and supply points on the trade routes between the East and West continents.”

The armed forces of the Central Ocean were mainly mercenaries, with a decentralized organizational structure, and their main business was to deal with pirates and escort merchant ships.

This place is too far from both continents, and with the navigational capabilities of this other world, it is impossible to station a large-scale regular army here.

With Zijin's explanation, Su Ming studied the sea chart and roughly understood what was going on.

"You still have a bounty on your head, right? What about these mercenaries—" he asked another question.

"Ignore them. No matter how high the bounty is, no one will dare to mess with us." Violet clapped her hands. "I'm not very good at politics or Machiavellian tactics, but I understand the law of the jungle and the principle of seeking advantage and avoiding harm. We escaped from the encirclement of five regular naval fleets, defeated the strongest battleship, the UFO, and crippled the Fusang—do you think any foolish mercenary would dare to provoke us?"

Su thought for a moment, and then suddenly realized, "They are very strong?"
Since transmigrating to this other world, he has been constantly on the run from danger, facing only the most powerful forces in this world. Only now has he belatedly realized that his side is also being viewed with equal suspicion by those forces.

"By the way, your magic," Su Ming asked, "that six-pointed star spell?"

“It was the power borrowed from your fellow villagers,” Violet replied. “Without the amplification from Deathrattle, Hexagram Divine Decree would probably only have half its power left, and it wouldn’t be able to lock on at a great distance.”

That's still very strong. If it weren't a large warship, even a regular ship would be vulnerable to damage overflow from a single shot, Su Ming calculated. The recovery period for the Bone Mark is about ten days, and the scholar, in a healthy state, can recover full mana in two or three days.

Reconnaissance, mobility, and firepower—in the desolate Central Pacific Islands, where there are no tigers in the mountains, they are indeed a force to be reckoned with.

Su Ming continued organizing, listing the next steps in his work—he suddenly felt that working in a factory was great; at most, it required physical labor, but not mental effort, and there was a salary.

Why do so many people want to travel to another world?

There are also those who seek to be granted titles and positions and build up their own power bases—personnel management is always the most difficult thing. With that kind of workload, haven't you had enough of working 996 all the time?
Finally, Su Ming wrote down the two most important items: material collection and shielding against undead fluctuations.

Resources are crucial to their survival. Earth has countless valuable resources, but most are unusable due to resource limitations. If they can solve the resource problem, their combat capabilities will leap forward.

The undead fluctuations he and Violet were the root cause of their continued passivity.

"Is the UFO's inward-sloping armor meant to shield against magical detection?" Su Ming asked.

“Yes. It has a special coating that can greatly conceal magical fluctuations,” Violet replied. “They also severely affect the radar,” Su Ming pondered the connection. “Is there any way to get a piece?”

Zijin thought for a moment, "It seems we already have some." She had a servant bring out a few fragments from the cabin, which were the hull of the UFO. "I just picked them up on the spot."

Su Ming took it and examined it closely. He found that it was a very hard wood, wrapped in steel, with several layers of paint of unknown material on the outside, faintly glowing with purple light.

He noticed the girl was holding the shards, looking somewhat dazed. "What's wrong?"

“When I was retrieving these fragments, I think I also retrieved something else,” Violet frowned. “I just can’t remember.”

"Think slowly, don't rush."

After such a long discussion, the scholar began to feel sleepy; she hadn't fully recovered from the exhaustion of the previous period. She reclined her chair and took a nap.

The radar suddenly emitted an alert, detecting aerial target activity. As Su Ming became more familiar with the radar, he learned to configure its functions in more detail.

He looked at the screen; several small dots appeared about 100 kilometers away. They were at an altitude of about 200 meters, and judging from the signals, they were likely flying creatures. They were conducting a net-like search of the sea surface, probably looking for something.

Having discussed it before, Su Ming was no longer worried. He set the radar to a 50-kilometer approach warning and then connected with the troublesome little guy.
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It was lunchtime, and all the warehouse staff had gone to eat. Su Ming manipulated the little troublemaker into the warehouse office—he had taken a set of work clothes beforehand, so he went straight in.

Finding the computer with ease, Su Ming searched for information but didn't find any long-wave radar. Sure enough, no one in the civilian market for marine equipment used this kind of device.

"Great, I need to find another place to get the best deals," Su thought to herself.

He printed out a list of the goods he had stolen, wrapped a 50g gold bar he had previously taken from the sanatorium director's house, and stuffed it into his boss's drawer as a way of settling accounts for the past few days. An employee approached through his psionic vision; Su Ming calmly avoided them and left.

There were quite a few people outside, so Su Ming found a corner in the industrial park again and settled in, charging his phone and power bank while making calls to inquire about the second-hand steamship.

Su Ming needed to acquire many things, and nothing was cheaper than buying used equipment. He could also get the ship's equipment along the way, all ready-made and debugged. This way, he could solve multiple tasks on his to-do list at once.

With Su Ming's magical repair skills, old equipment can be almost as good as new for him. On the contrary, newer things are troublesome to use because he lacks the materials and the support of the entire Earth system.

This time it went relatively smoothly. He contacted a used ship dealer who claimed to have a ten-year-old ship with a displacement of 8000 tons and two steam engines.

Just as he noted down the address, the Zhiyuan's radar sounded an alarm. Su Ming quickly switched his view back to the control room and found that a target had indeed appeared within a 50-kilometer radius.

Su Ming calculated the other party's speed and woke up Zi Jin.

“At this speed, it can only be scouts riding dragon eagles,” the scholar said, yawning. “At a distance of 50 kilometers, they’ve already spotted us.” She thought for a moment, then raised her hand and released two yellow and one blue signal magic orbs into the sky above the Zhiyuan.

Signal: Warning! You have entered the restricted area!
(End of this chapter)