Assembly

After clearing all that away, he returned to the workshop office. None of the computers had passwords, so he turned them on and searched through them one by one. Sure enough, he found the ship's documents on one of them: a wealth of blueprints, a complete set of manuals, and plenty of study materials.

There was a laptop in the office. Su Ming opened it and found that its performance was decent and it had all the common utility software he needed. He copied the files onto it and carried it back to the dock. It was almost time.

Little Spiky Head carried the stuff into the cabin. Su Ming found that the boiler and steam engine had turned into a huge pile of metal fragments during the previous night's summoning.

The shipyard had probably suffered hundreds of thousands of yuan in losses from all this, and all Su Ming could do was apologize. He could afford the three thousand yuan for the motorcycle, but there was nothing he could do about this.

Sorry as he was, Su Ming still had to escape. He picked up some paint and wrote in the cabin: "I had no choice but to borrow this. If I have the chance, I will repay you."

After a moment's thought, he signed it Little Spiky Head. That would make it easier for the police uncles to handle the cases together and use as few public resources as possible. He was well aware that this sort of thing wouldn't happen just once.

The second summoning and transfer was much easier on Su Ming. Besides the gearbox, drive shaft, propeller, and other propulsion components, he went ahead and brought the generator too.

This time was much better. He still felt weak, but he didn't pass out. After recovering for a bit, Su Ming controlled Little Spiky Head to swipe a can of gasoline from the storeroom, then leave the shipyard. He kept Little Spiky Head riding the motorcycle until he had fled more than ten kilometers and found an abandoned factory building to hide in. Only then did Su Ming disconnect.

He slept for much less time this time, waking up on his own after about four hours.

White Bone had even had a skeleton servant prepare instant noodles for him. But they had sat for a little too long, and she had kept them warm with magic the whole time. The noodles were such a mushy mess that he could barely stand to look at them.

Su Ming dug out a packet of pickled mustard greens and only then managed to choke them down.

After a short rest, Su Ming began assembling the steam engine. Only a day and a half remained, and there was still a great deal of work to do.

According to the blueprints, he needed to take each of the separated sections apart a little further before he could put them back together. He also needed to build a base platform to secure all the equipment on.

"So you're actually an alchemist after all," White Bone said, watching him tinker with everything. "You just don't have any direct combat ability yourself, right?"

"In my world, someone like me is called a skilled worker," Su Ming replied. "I've got a level-four fitter's certificate!"

White Bone watched for a while, then began summoning Galio's subordinates as high-level zombies.

The zombies were heavy and strong. Several of them working together could carry a one-ton component.

As for tightening bolts and the like, Su Ming was glad he had transferred a few torque wrenches over. Otherwise, they would have snapped every bolt they touched.

White Bone built a soul core for each zombie, wrote control runes for them, and kept adding functions to suit Su Ming's needs. By the afternoon, the zombies could even grease bearings.

If he hadn't been completely unable to understand her rune arrays, he would have been eager to try it himself.

"I shouldn't have called myself a worker," Su Ming said. "These guys are the ones born with the sacred physique for wage slavery!"

"Oh? What level of fitter would they be now?" White Bone asked.

"No, no, no, they're nowhere near being fitters. At best, they're entry-level mechanical assemblers," Su Ming said. "But that's not bad either. They follow orders, do plenty of work, and cause little trouble. That puts them ahead of most workers on Earth."

With the simple equipment preparations done, Su Ming and White Bone began building the equipment platform.

"This part needs to be a little more level."

"I am very level!" White Bone was a little angry, because she truly thought the bone platform she had assembled was already very flat.

"No, here, you've got a bump." Holding a laser level and a spirit level, Su Ming pointed to several spots on the bone platform. "And here and here."

"Your standards are too high. I can't do it!"

Su Ming put down his tools, walked over to the side, and took out his insulated cup for a drink. After thinking for a moment, he said, "Let's try another way."

He found a few metal pipes among the materials he had brought over, then dug out several steel plates from the dismantled truck bed.

With the zombies' help, he quickly built a formwork mold for a support base.

"Fill this with bone material," Su Ming said. "Fill it a little past the top."

White Bone quickly finished pouring it.

"Keep the bone material active," Su Ming said. Then, together with the zombies, he used a long straightedge and a taut string to scrape from one side to the other, removing the excess bone material.

Finally, they solidified it. This time, Su Ming found that it was finally level enough to use.

Su Ming made a mental note that he needed to bring over some civil engineering tools next time he transferred.

Next came drilling holes. He had taken quite a few batteries out of the new-energy vehicle, along with a 220-volt inverter. Su Ming connected them and had a power supply. He had the zombies drill holes with an impact drill. White Bone's ability to make the bone material hard or soft as needed was very convenient.

Of course, writing instructions into the zombies' soul fires took quite a bit more of White Bone's energy.

Once the platform was ready, White Bone used Levitation and worked with the zombies to move both halves of the power system onto the platform and secure them with expansion bolts.

By the time they finished, it was already evening. Su Ming lay on the ground, unwilling to move. White Bone was also a little listless, and the zombies, lacking the support of her mental power, were all slumping and swaying.

"This is what you called the simplest, easiest-to-assemble magic device?" White Bone demanded of Su Ming.

"If we get out alive, I'll take you to assemble something that isn't easy," Su Ming said as he crawled onto a cushion taken from the vehicle. He wrapped himself tightly in a blanket, tilted his head, and fell asleep.

White Bone glanced at Su Ming sleeping like a baby and suddenly missed the days when she had still been a living being. She sighed softly, disconnected Mind Synchronization, and began dealing with the Temple of Light Legion's nighttime harassment.

When he got up in the morning, Su Ming began connecting the two halves as planned.

The transmission between the steam engine and the gearbox was connected with bolts and various shafts. With all the components on hand, it didn't take long. But some of the pipes hadn't been installed and needed welding.

The inverter couldn't possibly supply enough current to run a welding machine, so Su Ming hadn't brought one back in the first place.

He hadn't made a transfer today, so he felt much better mentally. He learned a few beginner cantrips from White Bone and tried welding with them. Although he couldn't manipulate the fire element, using dark-element corrosion and then dispelling it produced an unexpectedly strong bond.

"Great, now I'm a beginner welder," Su Ming said self-mockingly. "The kind who comes with his own welding machine, too."

Since the equipment had been transferred over already assembled, there wasn't actually much work to do. Su Ming spent most of his time reading the manuals and checking the functions of each individual unit.

As for White Bone, her task was no lighter. She needed to prepare fuel and water.