Firefighting Weapons

The security level of Light Machinery Factory is very high. After conducting reconnaissance in ghost form in the early stages, Miao Mu believed that a gentle approach was not feasible, so she simply adopted a more forceful method.

The staff on duty in the monitoring room and security room were all knocked unconscious by Miao Xin's Resentment Power, then gagged and tied up, and the surveillance video system was powered off. Using this perfect, textbook method of infiltration, Miao Xin now has ample time to wait.

Instead, Zijin realized her suggestion was inappropriate. "[Miao Xin, aren't you in a dangerous place?]"

"Fortunately, I can see the ripples caused by human activity," Miao Xin explained to the scholar. "If there's any unusual activity, I can detect it immediately."

What kind of ripples?

Miao Xin described how interactions between people create ripples. Some are very small and disappear quickly, while others oscillate repeatedly, becoming entangled and coalescing.

Zijin asked curiously, "[What is this? This is the first time I've heard of it.]"

"[It must be my ability as a vengeful spirit,]" Miao Xin said. "[I only started seeing these after I cultivated the Resentment Mark, but these are somewhat different from the concept of Resentment Mark — Resentment Mark is much rarer and harder to detect in these ripples.]"

[Resentment Mark?] Zijin recalled for a moment, then quickly remembered that she had edited the book "In a Quiet Place." [I don't understand it either.]

[It's alright, my control over power is constantly improving.]

[The concept of power has many branches. Regardless of what this Resentment Mark is, if you can touch it, it means you have talent.] Zijin said, [So have confidence.]

[Understood.]

****

Su Ming was shaken awake two hours later. He reflexively looked to his side and found no baby, then remembered that the little Tuanzi was with Younier.

He looked at Zijin with some confusion.

"Miao Xin is looking for you; she needs to teleport," Zijin explained. "Otherwise, it will be dawn on her end."

Su Ming slapped his forehead; he had completely forgotten what he had arranged. He quickly got up and ran to wake Qiluo.

"What!" the unicorn complained, "Getting up early ruins the whole day!"

"I need to bring something from Earth," Su Ming said, "And I need you to share the mental strain."

"Hmph, ordering the wounded around for no reason—"

"I'll make you water chestnut cake later," Su Ming interrupted Qiluo.

The unicorn retracted its four hooves. "Horses' hooves!?"

"Please, you're a unicorn," Su Ming said, "But a water chestnut, the horse's hoof of a plant."

The unicorn sprang to her feet with a burst of energy. She proudly raised her neck. "Deal!"

The vacated coal carts had been converted into enclosed compartments, and zombies were moving materials from the warehouse. When Su Ming led Qiluo inside, Zijin had already checked the quantity of materials.

With the connection established, Su Ming activated the Summoning of All Things. Entire shelves in the machinery factory warehouse were emptied, and thousands of cylindrical objects were disintegrated into debris.

The clanging and clattering sounds penetrated the layers of walls, becoming somewhat muffled by the time they reached the dormitory area, but still waking many people.

Miao Xin had broken the locks on all the passageways beforehand, so there was still time. She went to the launch platform for the fire-fighting rockets and, together with Su Ming, completed the second teleportation.

With Qiluo sharing the burden after the two large-scale teleportations, Su Ming was relatively relaxed.

"[Go to the workshop's processing plant.]" Su Ming said. "[The custom-made fire extinguisher throwers should be ready for delivery soon.]"

"I'll handle it. See you later!" Miao Xin said.

[See you later.]

The connection was severed. Miao Xin looked around; ripples from human activity rippled back and forth outside the warehouse. Miao Xin easily found the gap in the perimeter fence, quickly ran out of the factory area through the security gate, and jumped over the wall in the thin morning light.

On the Youth Civilization, a somewhat tired Su Ming was instructing Bai Lou Skull to peel water chestnuts. He was too exhausted to do anything else right now.

Zijin took a bracelet off her wrist and put it on Su Ming, saying, "It accelerates the recovery of mental and Magic Power."

The bracelet was a translucent purple, with a warm yet slightly burning temperature and a strangely smooth texture. But what emanated from it was a refreshing power that greatly reduced Su Ming's headache.

He glanced at the girl. "Don't you need it?"

The scholar shook his head. "My mental strength is normal; whether my Magic Power recovers or not is irrelevant."

"Why?" Su Ming asked, puzzled.

"The injuries from yesterday's overload haven't healed yet. This body needs time to adapt to the increased Magic Power; it can't be rushed," Zijin explained.

"So you can't cast spells during this period?" Su Ming pondered. "For how long?"

"If you don't want any lasting effects, a week should be enough," Zijin replied.

Su Ming nodded, thankfully it wouldn't significantly impact the combat. He turned and pointed to the outer casings of the 122mm fire-fighting rockets that had just been transferred to the warehouse, "Can you prepare alchemical explosives? These need to be filled up."

Su Ming carried a large amount of alchemical explosives when he landed, but rockets consist of propellant and explosive, and their detonation velocity needs to be adjusted by mixing them in different proportions.

"It's possible, but I'm not familiar with explosives," the scholar said. "When they bombed Saint Lan Cathedral, the proportions were wrong, which is why they were left with only the main structure, allowing them to rebuild it."

Su Ming wasn't surprised at all that Zijin wouldn't just steal from the Heavenly Father of the Gospel. "You just need to control the zombies to get things done. Hansite knows all about these things."

As the mine's artillery commander, it was only natural that Hansite was an expert in explosives, because those who weren't would either be injured or killed.

Just like the Earth, there are plenty of amateur scientists who are well-versed in physics, but those who dare to dabble in chemistry are either geniuses or dead men.

Su Ming summoned Hansite and instructed him and Zijin to take the zombies to prepare and load the alchemical explosives. Then he turned to the unicorn beside him, who was drooling as it watched the skeleton stir water chestnut paste.

Water chestnut cake is a very easy food to make. Simply crush fresh water chestnuts, mix them with raw and cooked pastes, steam them, and let them cool. The whole process takes less than an hour, so simple that you can make it by commanding skeleton minions.

"Qiluo, you need to be on guard to prevent mages from flying over to scout or launch a sneak attack."

Although the Youth Civilization is equipped with radar, radar isn't a panacea. The unicorn has consistently demonstrated remarkable perception, but Qiluo felt it was unnecessary, "In this cold weather, won't they freeze to death!"

"Stay vigilant, or we won't be sitting here eating water chestnut cake, but the enemy will be eating unicorn hoof soup!"

Qiluo shuddered, her hooves twitching back. "You really are my hooves—if you want me to do this, you'll have to build me a panoramic glass room."

This request was reasonable and simple. Su Ming quickly built a circular glass canopy for her on the roof of the carriage.

The unicorn reluctantly headed towards its new post, but with each step it looked back at the skull heating the white liquid.

Su Ming forcefully pushed her out of the workroom and closed the door. "I'll call you as soon as it's done."

****

After seeing Qiluo off, Su Ming sat down and began to organize his tasks.

Firefighting rockets are products used for forest fire suppression. Replacing dry powder with explosives does indeed give them destructive power, but their guidance method is limited to GPS.

This is actually adapted to the needs of the current battlefield.

There is no such thing as GPS in this other world, but there are devices on Earth called GPS signal emulation devices that can simulate civilian signals emitted by satellites.

Normally used for production testing and system development, but Su Ming used it to guide "civilian firefighting" rockets for the same reason.

Of course, the rocket's navigation program also needs to be rewritten, since there is a big difference between a simulated base station and a satellite constellation. The relevant work has been entrusted to Millet Studio, and Su Ming only needs to wait for them to complete it before cooperating with the debugging.

Once completed, an alternative positioning system centered on the Youth Civilization can be built, enabling precision strikes by weapons.

The task he can begin now is preparing the fire extinguishing grenade launching system. The system is simple in principle, using high-pressure gas to launch 70mm fire extinguishing grenades. Su Ming had ordered the projectile body from the dwarfs' processing factory through Beianqi while he was still at sea, and picked it up on Brown Gold Island.

Its warhead has a unique structure; Su Ming and Zijin did not hand it over to the dwarves, but instead organized zombies and skeleton minions to load it themselves.

Su Ming turned on his computer, loaded the blueprints for the fire extinguishing grenade throwing device, and began planning the equipment layout in conjunction with the Youth Civilization's system. The high-pressure multi-stage air compressor relied on a steam boiler for power, and large-capacity air tanks, ammunition storage compartments, and a continuous ammunition supply system also needed to be arranged.

With a sufficient energy supply, the air catapult system can also perform quite well, achieving an initial velocity of 100 meters per second. This is sufficient for many applications.

Crucially, the pneumatic system's unique compatibility with the ammunition allowed Su Ming to use this special ammunition without worrying about manufacturing defects causing jams, barrel explosions, or other problems.

"Is there any task I need to perform?" Katharine had already gotten up. After tidying up the little Tuanzi, she came to find Su Ming.

"How are you feeling?" Su Ming asked while typing on the keyboard. "I'm injured, but I can work."

Su Ming thought for a moment, "I don't need your help here. Just focus on dealing with the battle. You make the overall decisions, and I'll handle the details during the battle."

"I've done all the analysis I could on the situation," Katharine, walking to the long table and sitting down. "What we lack most now is intelligence."

"Indeed." Su Ming nodded. "We know nothing about the enemy's numbers, or who their commander is."

Katharine suddenly had an idea, "How about capturing prisoners?"

Su Ming glanced at the sand table. At present, the only things whose locations he could pinpoint were the White Graupel Cavalry and the noble mage legion chasing behind him.

"You want to take advantage of them?" Su Ming was surprised. "Why not?" Katharine looked out the car window. The winter sun had fully risen, and the earth was beginning to awaken from the frost.

"The timing is perfect. Have Younier watch the Tuanzi for me." She walked to her coat, picked it up, and found it full of blood clots. "Also, lend me a white cloak."

****

An hour ago, at eight o'clock in the morning, the lazy winter sun had just peeked out.

A weary snowmobile squadron was moving across the snowfield. As a reconnaissance unit, they had been chasing their target tirelessly all night, following the strange snow tracks, but still hadn't caught a glimpse of them.

With clear skies and good visibility, the captain ordered the two mages to advance quickly. The rest of the group set up camp on the spot for a short rest.

Those who stayed behind could boil water and cook hot food, but the two mages could only accept the dry rations distributed by the captain and eat them as they flew. The temperature was very low, and they had to use Magic Power shields to protect themselves from the cold wind. After flying for an hour with great difficulty, the two exhausted mages finally saw a huge white object wriggling on the horizon in the direction where the snow tracks disappeared.

It took them another seven or eight minutes to get closer before they could see that it was a strange, elongated object. Its head was constantly spewing out huge plumes of white mist, and the faint sound of metal clanging could be heard in the wind.

"What exactly is that?" a mage asked his companion, who was equally puzzled.

They were still seven or eight kilometers away from their target, but the two dared not approach any closer. The unknown was terrifying, especially since they had been attacked by a long-range spell yesterday, leaving many of their comrades dead.

After discussing it, the two mages turned back. Since they had already spotted their target, fabricating a reason about encountering enemy fire and being forced to retreat would be enough to get them out of trouble.

The higher they flew, the colder the air became, so the two monks lowered their altitude. They returned along the tire tracks while reciting their testimonies to avoid giving themselves away during the report.

Suddenly, a burst of snowflakes erupted from the snowfield, and a figure leaped out of a snow cave. Katharine unfolded her magic book and unleashed four bursts of Solar Flame in one go.

The two mages hurriedly deployed their magical shields. One of them was unharmed, but the other's shield was pierced by four consecutive Solar Flame, which then pierced his chest, causing him to fall to the ground in the snow.

The mage who wasn't targeted for elimination didn't even have time to feel relieved. He was immediately entangled by binding spells and dragged to the ground. Subsequent spells arrived, Katharine his shield and sealing his Magic Power.

Katharine shook the snow off her white cloak, untied a roll of rope from her waist, and bound the mage tightly, gagging him as well.

She then walked to the other side of the snowdrift, lifted the tarpaulin, pulled out the snowmobile hidden inside, and then tied the prisoners to the back of the vehicle.

She started the snowmobile and followed the direction of the Youth Civilization.

****

It took half an hour for Katharine to catch up with the Youth Civilization. The mechanical doors of the carriages opened, extending out a loading and unloading platform. Katharine used her Levitation Spell to leap onto the platform, dragging the snowmobile with her.

Su Ming retrieved the platform, closed the carriage door, and shut out the biting cold wind.

Welcome back!

Katharine unfastened her thick cloak, shook off the snow, and handed it back to him, saying, "Thank you for the clothes."

Zijin glanced at the prisoners tied to the back seat of the carriage. The mage was ashen-faced and trembling like a leaf. Judging from his skin color and facial features, he was a typical Northern Lands.

"Predicting the enemy's moves, then hiding and ambushing—you really like playing this game." She pouted; that's how she and Su Ming fell for it during the naval battle.

"Why not use an effective method?"

The white skeleton walked over carrying a plate containing a cup of hot milk and a piece of water chestnut cake.

Katharine took the milk and drank half a cup. She took a bite of the pastry; it was chewy and refreshing, with a unique blend of water chestnut and sugar flavors. "Not bad!" she praised, finishing it in a few bites. "Is there any more?"

The unicorn suddenly rushed in, watching with resentment as Katharine swallowed the last bite. She angrily questioned everyone, "You all hid another piece!"

Su Ming responded to Katharine with a helpless look.

"Never mind," Katharine said.