The Boiler Made to the Wrong Specifications

It took another day to refine the plan before the two began to physically modify the locomotive on the deck. As the latitude increased, floating ice had appeared on the sea. The wind outside the cabin became as sharp as a knife. Su Ming dismantled some of the cabins and built a huge work shed on the deck.

On Earth, Miao Xin did not return home after leaving the Da'an North Base. Instead, she went to a hardware and electrical machinery market in Shenyang and purchased a large number of electronic components needed for modernization in batches.

Wearing a silicone wig and a hooded down jacket, along with a mask and fogged-up glasses, Miao Xin defied the power of the Nether Sea and remained completely undetected by the salesperson. She successfully completed negotiations at the machine shop and placed an order for the parts needed to upgrade the Youth Civilization.

Once the custom parts were finished, Miao Xin rented a truck to load them and transport them to her rented warehouse, where Su Ming completed the inter-space teleportation.

There wasn't much residue, so she bought a shovel and buried it somewhere.

"It's almost Chinese New Year here," Miao Xin reminded him. "But the boss said if we're rushing to finish, they can keep some workers on duty until before the New Year. Of course, the processing fee will increase, and they'll require a deposit in advance."

Su Ming didn't say anything. If it could be solved with cash, it was a small matter. He could always visit a few more kind-hearted benefactors.

However, the cooling of logistics will cause many inconveniences to the movement of goods. During the assembly and trial run of the Youth Civilization, adjustments will be made continuously and orders will be placed constantly.

Therefore, we should still move forward with the timeline.

[Where's the boiler?] Almost a week has passed. Su Ming asked Miao Xin to inquire about the progress.

Miao Xin quickly replied, "[It's finished. The manufacturer has arranged a delivery truck, which will arrive tonight.]"

[good.]

Finally, they had reached this point, and Su Ming began to feel hopeful.

****

That evening, Miao Xin saw a truck covered in snow drive up and park at the designated spot.

In this ordinary small town, the streets were still bustling at seven o'clock in the evening. The driver got out of the car and went into a roadside restaurant to eat.

The vengeful spirit activated the Nether Sea and conducted a large-scale probe.

"No problem," she told Su Ming.

Miao Xin can now detect and pay attention to her fluctuations and perceive the malice in human nature, which makes her various "daily activities" much easier.

The escorts also jumped off the vehicle, stretched their legs, and exhaled white vapor.

"[Okay, go ahead.] "Su Ming said.

Miao Xin stepped forward and greeted the man, "Hello, I'm the recipient."

"Hello, Miss Jiang! I'm Kong Ruifeng." The other person took out a bag of documents from the purse he was carrying. "These are the relevant instruction manuals, and the USB drive contains the industrial control program code. There wasn't enough time to compile them into a booklet."

Having taken over control of the Little Spiky Head, Su Ming began to examine it closely. The newly manufactured boiler showed signs of being rushed, and it hadn't even been painted.

"The trial run has been completed; the steam pressure was 3 MPa and the steam temperature was 420 degrees Celsius," Kong Ruifeng said with some pride. "It's significantly higher than your initial requirements!"

Su Ming frowned upon hearing this. He placed his hand on the boiler and began matching materials for the All Things Teleportation technique. His expression immediately turned extremely grim.

He angrily threw the folder of documents he was holding at Kong Ruifeng, "Didn't I say! The boiler body must be made of carbon steel, carbon steel! Why is pearlitic steel still being used!"

In his requirement list, Su Ming emphasized that the main body of the boiler must be made of Q245R carbon steel, and some parts can be made of Q345R.

Kong Ruifeng was also stunned. "This pearlitic heat-resistant alloy is much better than carbon steel!"

Su Ming really wanted to kick him a few times. If he could use good materials, would he need to keep emphasizing it? Pearlitic heat-resistant alloy, could you dare to increase the molybdenum content any higher?!

The truck that had accompanied him on his journey through the other world, along with the metal materials it had transported, was almost completely used up. Where was he going to find more molybdenum now?

Su Ming, too lazy to waste any more words, turned and left. Kong Ruifeng panicked and immediately stopped him to explain, "We don't even have low-end materials like Q245R. Pearlitic heat-resistant steel is already the worst we can get."

Behind the rapid industrial transformation lies the frenzied advancement of materials science. Alloys with complex compositions have long permeated every corner of manufacturing, becoming commonplace for those in the field.

If you can buy something immediately in the market by paying money, its production level doesn't matter. It's like nobody cares about the fruit sold at a street vendor.

Every year, they quietly select and cultivate new varieties.

"Why didn't you report this to us!" Su Ming rebuked.

"Madam, this order of yours is really strange. The timeframe is extremely tight, and it doesn't specify the intended use," Kong Ruifeng hurriedly explained. "It's my fault for being presumptuous, thinking some leader was simply ignorant. I thought that using better materials secretly wouldn't cause any problems—I truly cannot understand why this is required! Please, give me a chance to rectify this!"

Su Ming was genuinely furious, but looking at Kong Ruifeng's tired face, he didn't want to say anything more. To come up with such a completely new boiler design in less than seven days, even if it was done by modifying existing equipment, must have been done day and night.

He considered it for a moment, then decided to wait another seven days?

It is now deep winter. In three months, the snow in the Northern Lands will begin to melt, followed by a muddy period. They must complete the prison break and leave decisively before then, no matter what.

In addition to travel time, time must be allocated for executing the plan, as well as leeway for contingencies.

So we can't wait!

He turned to Kong Ruifeng, "I'm giving you a new order, two months' delivery time, can you deliver?"

Kong Ruifeng was delighted upon hearing this, but upon seeing the request Su Ming presented, he suddenly froze, "A 50-megawatt steam turbine unit, 6 MPa steam pressure..."

470°C superheated steam temperature, condensate recovery, compatible with different types of solid fuels.

These requirements are nothing special, but the main body must be made of carbon steel, and these parameters push the limits of the material. There are a lot of problems to solve in the design alone, not to mention the subsequent construction and commissioning of the equipment.

"Remember, use Q245R, not pearlitic, not martensitic, and definitely not a nickel-based alloy," Su Ming said, enunciating each word clearly. "Can you do that?"

"Two months." Kong Ruifeng thought for a moment, then suddenly made up his mind, "Okay!"

"I look forward to seeing you again," Su Ming said.

He relinquished control of the Little Spiky Head and was about to leave when Miao Xin called out to him, "[Wait a moment.]"

[oh?]

"My father asked me to give you a message," Miao Xin said.

****

In the White Triangle workshop, Su Ming severed the connection, his expression shifting between anger and uncertainty.

"What's wrong?" Zijin asked.

"The plan has been disrupted," Su Ming explained about the boiler. "Of course, the prison break can still proceed. It's just that I'm severely hampered by the lack of materials! So many good things can't be used." As he spoke, he slammed his fist on the table in frustration.

"We haven't developed many uses for molybdenum here," said Zijin. "You're using too much; the amount produced by our few laboratories worldwide simply can't keep up."

In Su Ming's plan, after solving the manpower problem, he would start building a rare mineral supply chain and assembling the periodic table of elements in order to completely solve the messy material needs of modern industrial products.

But this is not the only problem.

"It's not just about collecting various elements," Su Ming said. "The material structures of the two worlds are too different. I possess atomic-level manipulation capabilities, but I'm powerless when there are too many. The more advanced the equipment, the more serious this problem becomes!"

Just like the collection at home, what you end up with are still minerals in a compound state. You still need Su Ming's Magic Power to break them down into free elements before they can participate in the construction of summoned creatures.

A moment of silence fell over the workspace.

Zijin put down the blueprints she was holding, walked to a white whiteboard standing against the wall, and used magic to erase the contents of it.

A light shone from her fingertips as she wrote a line of words.

"Model Import", "Material Matching", "Construction and Combination".

"What?" Su Ming asked, raising his eyes. This was the process he used to summon the device from Earth.

Zijin circled "Build Combination," explaining, "This is currently the stage that consumes the most Magic Power for you. Because you need to modify the materials..."

It consumed a lot of Magic Power.

Even without synthesizing new compounds, the microstructures of matter can vary greatly, not to mention the wide variety of crystals and various nano and macromolecular configurations.

"But actually," Zijin circled the other two points, "The order of matter extracted from Earth and transmitted to our world, that's what makes you truly irreplaceable!"

Su Ming was taken aback for a moment, then suddenly understood the scholar's meaning as if struck by lightning. "Let others synthesize the materials and share my workload!"

Alchemy also exists in other worlds. As long as the elements are gathered and a sample is provided, these people can use otherworldly methods to replicate materials that closely resemble the target being teleported to. For example, various alloys and semiconductor materials, thereby significantly reducing the Magic Power Su Ming consumes during the "construction and combination" stage.

"Yes, we'll establish a raw material supply chain here," Zijin replied, "Which will significantly improve efficiency and allow for a qualitative leap in the scale and quantity of transmission!"

The scene described by Zijin was so tempting, but "to acquire more new equipment, we need to build our own supply chain," Su Ming said. "Building a supply chain requires people and territory, and acquiring people and territory depends on transporting equipment from Earth."

"You mean an infinite loop?" Zijin raised an eyebrow.

"No." Su Ming shook his head.

He stepped forward and wrote down the three words "personnel," "territory," and "power," arranging them into a triangle.

"I made a mistake," Su Ming said. "I kept thinking of replicating the original dimensional portal to return to Earth. But the success of the Cui'an Sea Cliff was actually a fluke—to recreate that fluke would cost many times more!"

What conditions were clear at the time, and what were unclear? These needed to be found through experiments. How to determine the landing point of the teleportation portal, and how to stabilize the dimensional rift—unless Su Ming was willing to gamble his life on probability, he should simply follow the scientific research process.

"I'm following this resource planning," Zijin said. "This is my area of expertise."

"But I didn't realize that." Su Ming wrote "Portal" in the middle of the triangle. "I always have the mindset of taking shortcuts. But skipping necessary conditions and gambling on probability is a mistake."

Zijin scrutinized Su Ming for a moment, "Why are you acting so differently today?"

"I got scolded by Miao Xin's father," Su Ming said. "He criticized me, saying that if I continue with this mindset, I'll only achieve nothing. To achieve a goal at the level of dimensional exploration, one must be prepared to face the real difficulties. Otherwise, I might as well find a place in another world to stay and spend the rest of my life there."

"Sorry. It might sound like I'm kicking someone when they're down, but I think he's right," Zijin said, covering her mouth with a smile.

Su Ming rolled her eyes at her.

Zijin circled "personnel," adding, "We're working on that." Then she circled "territory" as well, "Brown Gold Island?"

"Brown Gold Island could be a production site," Su Ming said. "That place is indefensible. If it becomes heavily asset-heavy, it will restrict White Bone Fortress to anywhere."

After a moment's thought, Zijin said, "I have an idea. After rescuing them, we can go to the Polar City. I have a good relationship with the ice dragons and Feather Race there."

"A good relationship, that's really rare," Su Ming remarked.

Zijin rolled her eyes at him. Her hand paused on the "Power" option. "Build a power?"

Su Ming shook his head, "At least settle things with the enemies. We're reserved about the Star Empire, but do you think they'll let us go unless we tear them to Temple of Light?"

Zijin laughed, "Achieving this much is practically the same as establishing a power base."

Su Ming gave a wry smile. "Whether I can do it or not is one thing, but I have to abandon this short-sighted mentality of seeking quick success and instant benefits. Whatever goal I set, I must have a corresponding understanding of its implications."

"Furthermore, you knew perfectly well that I had misunderstood the concept of dimensional teleportation arrays." Su Ming turned to Zijin, somewhat angrily, "Why didn't you tell me!"

"Because you've always been on this path, increasing your strength, allocating resources, never deviating," Zijin said. "Actually, I think Miao Mu is being a bit nosy."

She gave Su Ming a playful look. "Choosing to come to the Northern Lands to provoke the Divine Might Prison; even though there was a problem with the boiler, you still stubbornly continued with the plan. Don't tell me you're unaware of the risks this trip will face—your sense of crisis is far superior to mine!"

Su Ming was silent for a moment. "And you, are you willing to do these things?" he asked. "Given your current situation, you should have other plans after escaping the pursuit, right?"

Su Ming has a goal of returning to Earth, but that's not essential for Zijin. The other world is vast; she'll definitely have somewhere to go.

Zijin was clearly in a good mood. She opened her arms and twirled around with a dance-like step. "Su Ming, I like research, I like traveling, I like novel foods, and I also like trampling my enemies underfoot."

"These have been the most comfortable days I've had lately!" She lifted her skirt with one hand, offering the back of her hand to Su Ming. Then she turned her palm up, "This is my answer."

"So, it was a mutual invitation?"

"If Hansite doesn't mind being buried on the road, I'm not afraid of any cost!"

Su Ming reached out and placed his hand in Zijin's palm. The girl took his hand in return and then pulled him toward the long table.

"Alright, let's continue calculating the configuration we just worked on."

"Hey, weren't you going to teach me to dance?" Su Ming said, displeased.

"You're overthinking it. I wouldn't do that."