A Bumpy Road Test

Su Ming simply modified the handlebar structure of locomotive number two, making it work in reverse. "Alright, let's start again!"

With this start, the two locomotives finally synchronized their directions. As the sound of wheels turning rang out, the tracks began to slowly roll, pressing the snow with a muffled thud. As the locomotives reversed, the carriages behind them were also pulled along. The space between them was compressed, and they bumped against each other.

"Pull out the steam," Su Ming reminded him.

Hansite stepped on the foot valve, and the condensate from the piston was immediately blown out along with the steam. Qiluo's Human Form was too small, so she had to jump off the chair to perform this operation.

"Alright, alright, just a few seconds is enough," Su Ming stopped her.

The rooftop monitor showed that more than twenty carriages were squeezed together and could no longer reverse. The locomotive came to a stop again with a thud.

Su Ming didn't care anymore; as a novice, he was perfectly justified.

"The throttle is too low." He quickly figured out the problem, but now it wouldn't reverse. "Let's start moving forward!"

Su Ming replaced the "Pre-Driving Inspection Checklist" on the control panel with a "Heavy Load Start Inspection Checklist." "What was the first step again?"

Oh, half-valve, push the handle forward to 50%.

The driver followed instructions, and the pistons of both locomotives operated simultaneously, causing the tracks to move forward.

"Increase the valves to three-quarters." Su Ming stared at the speedometer and video monitor. As the locomotive moved forward, one carriage after another was pulled tighter, and the speed gradually increased.

"If you think the cylinder sound is off, try purging it again," Su Ming said. "Condensation is most likely to occur during the start-up process." "What kind of sound is considered off?" Hansite asked.

"Ask about cylinders, not me." Su Ming rubbed his cheek helplessly. These things had been retired before he was born, how could he have actually heard of them?

As the first twenty-odd carriages were pulled tight, the following thirty-odd heavily loaded carriages were suddenly pulled up as well, causing the entire train to slow down abruptly, and everyone was pulled forward.

The car, which had been moving quite well, suddenly slowed down and almost came to a stop.

This time, without Su Ming's prompting, Hansite decisively reset the controller to zero. Unicorn, seeing the operation of the No. 1 motorcycle through the monitoring screen, immediately followed suit and cut off the power.

"The cylinder cutoff ratio is too low!" Su Ming lamented.

He genuinely felt that this thing was much harder to navigate than a ship. After all, you could do whatever you wanted at sea, since you were surrounded by water. Su Ming's early days as a novice sailor were spent recklessly and carelessly cruising around on the ocean.

The biggest difference is that a ship can move as long as the propeller is spinning. But for a heavy-haul train, the interplay between traction and resistance is much more complex.

Additional difficulty stems from the lack of tracks, requiring the engine to contend with immense static friction during startup. Despite modifications using modern technology and magic that at least doubled the steam locomotive's output power, it still couldn't directly pull the train.

That's why it's necessary to reverse first to press the carriages together, and then start moving forward, overcoming the static friction of each carriage one by one.

****

Su Ming composed himself, noted the new precautions on the reminder card, and prepared to start afresh.

[Su Ming, could you stop for a moment?] Zijin suddenly said.

[how?]

[Wait for me.]

Su Ming took off his headphones, rested his elbows on the control panel, and rubbed his brow bone with his eyes closed.

Zijin walked over from the driver's cab of locomotive number two. "Su Ming, are you alright?"

"I'm fine, what's wrong?"

Zijin gazed at him. "You should be more composed than you are now—you're being too impatient."

Su Ming was taken aback. He had indeed performed poorly during the test, making a series of mistakes.

He sighed, "I'm sorry, but there really isn't any time. Tomorrow is the Little New Year in my hometown, and most of the warehouses will be closed."

Logistics disruptions are increasingly interfering with parts processing.

"Then we should stop even more," Zijin insisted, "And rest for a bit!"

Su Ming, then sighed, "Alright." He picked up the microphone, pressed the switch, and announced, "Everyone, take a twenty-minute break."

Zijin breathed a sigh of relief. "Shall we go do some exercise?" she suggested.

"It's good to change things up," Su Ming nodded. "But you have to go easy on me."

"No problem. No need for offensive magic or high-level spells today, is that enough?"

"Don't say one thing and do another," Su Ming said with a wry smile. However, he didn't really suspect that Zijin was lying to him again. It was necessary to maintain his Magic Power level during today's test drive. Changing his mood was fine, but expending too much energy would be counterproductive.

The two entered the workshop and turned on the lights on the roof of the carriage. All the items inside were packed and not unfolded, and most of the space was empty.

"At that time, our workbench can be set up in a row—" Su Ming suddenly moved his back to meet Zijin's leg, who was also working.

The two engaged in close combat.

After being nourished by Magic Power, Su Ming's physical attributes improved rapidly, and he surpassed the girl in strength and speed. Ailisha's talent in physical combat was actually quite average.

Even with the added buffs, Su Ming was still completely outmatched. It's just that the scholar didn't use her spell power to bully him today, which put him at a disadvantage in the fight, and he only took a few relatively light hits.

Su Ming was extremely vigilant. He took the opportunity to cast an elemental shield on himself, and Zijin seized the opportunity to deploy a force field, forcing him back.

"We agreed not to use attack spells, why are you keeping your distance?" Su Ming said, secretly raising his hand, Thorn Long Whip had somehow circled behind Zijin suddenly whipped towards the girl.

The girl's figure suddenly vanished from the spot. Su Ming focused his attention and found that she had appeared beside him at an extremely fast speed. Su Ming raised his leg to strike, but saw her change position again at a speed far exceeding normal, and an elbow strike landed on his ribs.

This was a genuine physical attack. Su Ming's shield against magic had no effect whatsoever, and he immediately fell to the ground, clutching his side and curling up like a shrimp.

Zijin turned him over and began to treat him with her palm.

"Hey, how did you do that!" Su Ming asked, enduring the throbbing pain. He was referring to the two rapid advances just now, "That elbow strike of yours was really fierce!"

"My elbow hurts too." Zijin's lips curled into a smile.

Once Su Ming had recovered, he got up, and the two sat side by side against the wall of the carriage.

"So, did you find anything?"

"You used dark magic, but I didn't see any trace of casting," Su Ming replied.

"Correct!" Zijin rolled up her sleeves, revealing her right forearm, which was covered with many runes on her fair skin.

Inscriptions are tattooed onto the skin using alchemical materials; upon activation, the corresponding spell can be quickly generated. The advantages are speed and stealth.

The downside is that it's not flexible enough.

Su Ming pulled the girl's arm over for a closer look, and finally identified the pattern as a modified version of "Shadow Spider Silk." This spell can release a highly elastic energy beam, using the force of contraction to pull oneself toward the target, achieving the purpose of rapid maneuverability.

"This is a rogue-type skill," Zijin said. "I lowered the stamina requirement and increased the casting difficulty and performance, so it's now closer to dark magic."

Su Ming was quite envious; this was indeed a breakthrough ability that he desperately needed.

"It requires utilizing the light and shadow in the scene to conceal spells and movements." Zijin raised her hand to demonstrate, and a black net shot out, sticking to the carriage wall and leaving a scar. "It usually uses shadows to hide the point of attack of spells, avoiding being seen through. Masters can even conceal spider silk and their own movements, so it actually has a more widely known name: Shadow Jump!"

Su Mo suddenly remembered something, "Inscriptions can interfere with the operation of other spells, right?"

The scholar nodded; it was precisely this shortcoming that caused mages to rarely inscribe runes on their bodies. Under Su Ming's questioning gaze, she gathered Magic Power at the tip of her left finger and swept it across her right wrist, causing the tattoos to immediately disappear.

"I just drew it on temporarily, it wasn't engraved," the girl explained to Su Ming. "Shadow Jump uses a rune specific to the Rogue class, which I can't learn."

"Then how do I use it?" Su Ming asked, puzzled. He was a magic-based character; if he had to sacrifice other spells by inscribing spell runes...

It's not worth it at all.

"You're not a true dark mage," Zijin glanced at him. "Just because I can't learn it doesn't mean you can't. For Concept Element like space, the class barrier might not be more difficult than simulating dark elements."

"That's true."

Although the simulation of dark elements was achieved entirely through the "selfless" sacrifice of the Saint Rank mage Galio, Su Ming could try to explore the runes of a few other professions on his own if it were just a matter of a few other professions' runes.

"You can start by attaching temporary runes like I did, learn how to use them, and then try casting spells without runes," the scholar suggested.

At the same time, she handed over a pre-drawn rune paper. She placed the paper on Su Ming's arm, activated it with Magic Power, and soon Su Ming's arm was imprinted with Shadow Jump runes. "It's effective for about a week; reapply when it dissipates."

"Thank you!" Su Ming began to sense the patterns on his arm. Clearly, Zijin had put a lot of effort into helping him find suitable skills.

****

On its second attempt to drive, the Youth Civilization finally started, albeit with some difficulty.

Once the train started moving, it became much easier to control. The sliding friction on the snow surface is much smaller than static friction, and with speed, the snow would no longer trap the train. The entire train clattered along, speeding across the snowfield.

From the locomotive's front, large plumes of white smoke billowed out, and the tracks kicked up snow dust, which was then kicked up to both sides.

The train, which has undergone extensive renovations, is now entirely white, with any exposed metal areas covered by white paint. The ice field appears to have been cleaved open by something, with wide folds plowed into the smooth snow.

Su Mo instructed the two drivers to keep the vehicle speed at a slow pace of ten kilometers per hour to familiarize themselves with the coordination of the valves and the return handle, while he himself adjusted the boiler's workflow. Zijin was also constantly modifying the magic links and rewriting the magic array.

The sensors can measure the traction output of the two locomotives in real time, and the Unicorn always manages to be just a tiny bit higher than the Hansite.

"Great! If we keep traveling at this speed, we can reach the Dome Mountains in thirty days!" Qiluo exclaimed excitedly. "A month to travel across the ice plains, that's fantastic!"

"How come I remember a unicorn crying out that it wanted to leave the flock?" Su Ming said.

"You must have misheard!" the little girl pouted.

"Your Excellency Su Ming, we haven't touched the valves, but the speed is increasing," Hansite reported.

"It's normal, Ailisha and I are optimizing the system," Su Ming replied, assessing the system's operational status. "Almost there."

We're starting to gradually increase the speed!

Two hours later, the locomotive was able to reach a speed of 18 kilometers per hour with three-quarters of the valve open, which was also largely due to the flat terrain of the area.

During the road test, it was also discovered that the steering guide wheels of the front and rear locomotives were moving in opposite directions. Su Ming simply and directly reversed the control mechanism of locomotive number two, thus solving the problem.

However, the deflection torque of the guide wheel is insufficient, resulting in poor steering performance, necessitating a redesign of the steering system.

Coal consumption was faster than Su Ming had anticipated, so Younier had her skeleton servants carry out replenishment work, with the zombies constantly moving coal from the freight car to the locomotive's coal bunker.

She reported the situation to Su Ming.

Su Ming nodded and simultaneously sent a new instruction to Miao Xin.

"Are you adjusting well to doing these things?" he asked casually to Younier, who had been quite diligent during this time.

"Sure," Younier replied. "My work in the mines is even more demanding than this. I don't know anything about mechanics, but I've studied the basics of alchemy. It's just that I didn't continue because I don't have a talent for Psionic Power."

Even in other worlds, Psionic Power are a privilege possessed by less than 10% of people—and most of them are only at the entry-level talent level.

Limited room for development.

The abilities of those from other worlds are certainly mysterious, but they are destined to be possessed by only a small number of people.

****

As night fell, Su Ming turned on the searchlight on the front of the motorcycle. In the dim snowfield, the intense light from the searchlight was reflected by the snow, creating a large bright area ahead.

The terrain radar issued a warning: there was an uphill slope of 50% to 80% ahead, about five kilometers long. Su Ming quickly checked and found it to be a small undulation. The ground was relatively flat, but there was still not much vegetation.

"We can take the left side; the slope is much gentler," Hansite suggested, glancing at the front camera feed.

"No need." Su Ming decided not to avoid it. There were many steeper and longer slopes ahead. "We'll test it out; let's climb over it directly!"

He pulled out the ramp inspection form and switched the boiler to ramp preparation mode.

"Lower the valves," Su Ming said to Hansite and Qiluo Luo, "Start charging."

"Receive!"

Steam output decreased, and the train's speed dropped to fifteen kilometers per hour, then to ten kilometers per hour. Hansite and Unicorn simultaneously adjusted the levers, increasing cylinder stroke and reducing frequency to adapt to the train speed.

The automatic control system added fuel to the firebox and tidied the fire layer, causing the steam pressure to rise. Su Ming also manually added water once, and the energy reserves of the boiler system continued to increase.

Zijin entered the driver's cab of locomotive number one. "The magic circle's operation has been stabilized; we can leave it alone for now."

"Um."

The girl took out her binoculars and looked ahead. "There's still one kilometer of uphill ahead. We can almost pick up the pace. Hansite, can you get the speed up to over twenty kilometers per hour?"

"Miss Sacred Beast, let's go together!" Hansite replied.

"Ah~ Phew! No problem!"

The two men simultaneously increased the valve to three-quarters full and gradually released the handle, increasing the cylinder's operating frequency.

The speedometer quickly returned to 18, then 19, 20. The train swayed more, but it was still within an acceptable range, given its enormous weight.

"Steam valve at 90%!" Su Ming commanded, while simultaneously increasing the boiler's air and fire to the maximum.

The speedometer quickly surpassed 22, and the locomotive began to sway and twist. The front of the locomotive slowly lifted, and the Youth Civilization entered the uphill journey.

Night had fallen, Su Ming switched the monitoring camera on the vehicle to infrared mode, but the effect was not good. There was no obvious temperature difference between most of the carriages and the environment, and the hot smoke emitted from the locomotive's front caused a lot of interference.

Fortunately, there's also a low-light mode.

On the monitor screen, one carriage after another followed closely behind the locomotive, entering the climbing area one after another.

"Maintain direction! Push the handle forward to compensate for traction!" Zijin said, noticing that the sensor readings showed the vehicle's anti-traction force was rapidly increasing.

"Yes, don't worry about speed," Su Ming said.

Unlike internal combustion engines, which can be operated at high output simply by increasing the throttle, steam locomotives experience a drop in pressure inside the boiler when producing high steam output. Therefore, steam locomotives are destined to be unable to maintain their speed when encountering long slopes.

Everyone watched the locomotive with bated breath. As it climbed the hill, the speed decreased, and the temperature and pressure of the boiler dropped.

"Steam valve 100%!" Su Ming commanded, simultaneously stopping the boiler water supply to maintain steam pressure as much as possible.

However, the steam locomotive's power output continued to decline, and the sound of the pistons was no longer full. On the other side, the uphill slope was gradually coming to an end.

Su Ming was worried that if they couldn't get on, the entire train would have to slide back in reverse. The rear of the Youth Civilization didn't have turning capability, which was an oversight.

Fortunately, when the vehicle's speed dropped to 3 kilometers per hour, the Youth Civilization finally reached the top of the mountain! The view suddenly opened up, and the searchlights shone directly into the dark night sky. The faint light reflected off the ground multiple times, revealing the distant outline of the snow-covered plain.

"Yay!" Everyone breathed a sigh of relief and jumped up to celebrate.

The colossal machine, weighing 1,800 tons, was driven to the mountaintop. This powerful piece of equipment, imported from Earth, will redefine this world.

The concept of large-scale land mobility!

Su Ming was so excited that he slapped the control panel. His long and hard work had finally paid off. The success of the motorcycle meant that the Holy Mountain Divine Might Prison Project, which he had spearheaded, had taken a crucial step forward.

Zijin took off her headphones, faced Su Ming, and raised her hand with her five fingers spread. She thought it would be a high five, but Su Ming activated his rune, appeared in front of her in a flash, wrapped his arms around her waist, lifted her up, and spun her around vigorously.

"We did it!" he shouted.

"You learned Shadow Jump pretty quickly!" Zijin was a little angry, her long hair whipping around in a horizontal line as she spun. She pressed down on Su Ming's shoulder, raising her leg to deliver a shin kick, intending to distract him before following up with a sweeping elbow. But she suddenly stopped halfway through the movement, "I think I fell for your trick!"

Su Ming put her down and laughed happily, "Ha, you finally figured it out!"

Su Ming initially suggested that the safest word to unconditionally end a fight was "hug," whether verbal or physical. Considering that there might not be time to speak in certain situations, Zijin agreed.

But she hadn't anticipated that someone would hug her directly!

"Hmph!" Zijin tugged at her clothes, smoothing out the wrinkles.