Synthetic Aperture Radar

The mages who were originally following behind the hundred-man team scattered to the sides the moment they saw the White Bone Train rushing towards them, like a swarm of flies that had been disturbed. Su Ming switched the fire extinguishing projectiles to anti-air mode, raised the muzzles of the two projectiles, and the cone-shaped projectiles chased after the mages.

The shells pounded behind the mages, exploding in mid-air one after another. The mages' shields barely flickered before they lost their strength and fell from the sky.

Some were exceptionally agile and successfully dodged the barrage, while others reacted quickly, detonating shells aimed at them in mid-air. Besides these,

Most of the mages fell, their wings clipped, and collapsed in pools of frozen blood.

Ignoring any stragglers, the Youth Civilization continued its journey, its tracks never stopping, heading straight for the more distant convoy, relentlessly harvesting enemy resources along the way with shaped-charge armor-piercing projectiles.

A warning popped up on the tablet. Su Ming glanced at the numbers that had just turned yellow and were decreasing, and told Zijin, "The energy blast's ammunition belt is down to half."

"You're still lacking in skill!"

"I've maximized the capacity as much as I can!" Su Ming complained. "Who would load a 70mm ammunition belt with 1000 rounds?!"

The scholar smiled slightly.

"See you later?"

See you later.

****

As ammunition dwindled, Hansite reduced the train's speed until it came to a complete stop. By then, they had only reached about a third of the column, and large sections of the enemy lines remained unconquered. The vanguard soldiers, terrified by the sudden and rapid slaughter, abandoned their armor and fled in panic.

Further out, under the officers' orders, a small number of people maintained their ranks and formation. As the train fell silent, some of them began to have their own thoughts.

"The White Bone Train is out of ammunition!" an officer judged. "Charge and attack!" he ordered, even calling to his comrades who had just fled nearby.

The commander of the vanguard regiment was a prime target, having been overwhelmed by the barrage of attacks from the very beginning and rendered inactive. If he could turn the tide at this crucial moment, his future prospects would be limitless! The officer thought to himself, deciding to seek fortune in the face of danger.

The officer remained steadfast in his judgment: such destructive munitions could not be deployed in large quantities, nor could the energy to power such a massive train be inexhaustible.

But his passing colleagues looked at him as if he were an idiot, and continued running without stopping.

"Stupid donkey, don't they even consider what their combat rank is!" the man thought to himself, but didn't say it aloud. Someone going to hold off the enemy and buy him time to escape—that's a good thing!

A carriage in the middle of the Youth Civilization suddenly exploded. Purple protective bricks splattered in all directions, and amidst the swirling snow and dust, a tall figure stood up, stretched out, and grew larger and larger until the robust body of a skeletal dragon was revealed.

White Bone Mark, fully connected!

Power surged in like a tidal wave, and dark flames erupted from the bone dragon's eye sockets, spreading an unprecedented sense of fullness to every bone.

For the first time, Zijin synchronized the White Bone Mark without reservation. Ailisha's form did need time to recover, after all, the upgrade of the White Bone Mark put too much pressure on the human body.

But for the Bone Dragon Form, it's just right!

A dark, ghostly light swept across the surface of the bones, leaving behind a more solid, jade-like luster. Zijin spread her wings and slowly rose over the battlefield.

She looked down at the fleeing people below, then suddenly flapped her wings.

A ripple quickly spread, sweeping across the entire arena!

"Bone Dragon!" The officer suddenly realized what he had forgotten, dropped his weapon, and turned to run. But his movements became increasingly sluggish, as if he were sinking into quagmire.

Extremely wide-range Slow Spell!

The officer's heart sank to the bottom; the fear of death pierced his spine like an ice pick. The hunt for the bone dragon was about to begin, but there were still over three thousand people present. He tried to think of the bright side—if he had a bit of luck, perhaps he could escape?

After all, there's only one Bone Dragon!

But Zijin simply hovered quietly in the air, watching the fleeing ants below, showing no intention of taking action herself.

The officer dared not think too much; he simply struggled to move forward, trudging through the snow. He was far stronger than the ordinary soldiers; if he could be one step ahead of the others, he would have a chance to survive!

He heard terrified screams beside him, but at first he ignored them, focusing on moving forward. Until the sounds grew from sporadic to frequent and numerous...

Getting closer and closer.

The officer finally couldn't resist glancing back. The bone dragon was still hovering in place, idly trimming its bone claws. Behind him were a large number of his colleagues, trudging through the snow just like him.

The officer turned back and continued running, but suddenly realized something was wrong: why were his colleagues all clutching their weapons?

He looked behind him again and saw flesh peeling away from the gaps in the armor of these people, some of whose faces had exposed bare White Bone, and ghostly flames flickering in their empty eye sockets.

As they ran, several empty shells could no longer support their armor, collapsing with a "crash" to reveal the pale bones beneath.

Those weren't colleagues at all, but an army of the dead awakened by the enemy using the corpses of their colleagues!

The officer tripped and fell to the ground. His former colleague caught up with him and swung his sword down without hesitation.

****

Ten minutes later, hundreds of soldiers were slaughtered by the skeletons, and any sporadic resistance was quickly quelled. More and more corpses were spawned, joining the ranks of the undead.

But the enemy continued to spread out across the ice plains, and the battlefield expanded. Controlling a large number of undead was extremely taxing, and with the increasing distance, Zijin was also beginning to feel overwhelmed. As for the soldiers who had already fled far away, Zijin could only let them go.

She ended the pursuit and began gathering the skeleton warriors. Along the way, she continuously finished off those who were severely wounded but not yet dead, summoning them into skeletons to join her army.

After a final count, they found over a thousand skeleton warriors; about half of the enemies had escaped.

Zijin lowered the bone dragon back into the carriage and folded it up again. When she switched back to Ailisha form, she found herself wearing Su Ming's cloak.

The other person sat down next to her and offered her their shoulder to lean on.

Zijin straightened up. "Su Ming, I'm a little hungry."

Su Ming took a bag of cakes out of his pocket and handed it to the girl, then continued to manipulate the White Bone Mark. He changed the shape of the carriage to house the freshly baked skeleton warriors. A large number of torn clothes and armor were discarded and left on the snow.

A group of skeletons randomly grabbed a few prisoners and pushed them back onto the train.

Su Ming also noticed that, this time, no one surrendered. Many people gave up resistance in despair, simply facing death in fear.

Those prisoners were all knocked unconscious and imprisoned.

"Do you not have a culture of voluntary surrender here?" Su Ming asked, voicing his doubts.

"That's how it is in the Northern Lands," Zijin replied. "Laying down your weapons will only be seen as offering your neck for slaughter."

"There must be some hope, right?" Su Ming said. "You've already lost the battle, why not surrender and beg for survival?"

"Surrender and you won't kill them?" Zijin asked, puzzled. "It's bitterly cold here. No one will give prisoners food or warmth to spend the night. Ordinary soldiers are always killed outright."

Su Ming's eyes widened; he finally understood the reason. There was no Geneva Convention here, nor was there any concept of human rights for prisoners of war. No one cared about surrendering, so naturally no one surrendered.

"Understood." He shook his head.

Just when he thought he had learned a lot, the cruelty of the other world always reminded him that he was still far from enough. Accustomed to civilized daily life, he would always forget the true nature of war: all-out destruction!

****

Gospel and Hansite led the zombies off the vehicle and began repairing the damaged parts at the front of the locomotive, while others started loading ammunition for the fire extinguishing projectiles. The isolation bricks in the carriage carrying the bone dragon were also being rebuilt.

Younier led the child back into the carriage; the scene had frightened the little girl.

The skeleton minions were burning the supplies abandoned by the vanguard, mostly food and winter gear. Destroying these would eliminate the fleeing soldiers from any threat.

In the frigid snowfields, it was uncertain whether the weakened enemy could survive the night, let alone regroup. This was a decision Su Ming made himself; he abandoned judgments of right and wrong, and the entanglement of morality.

Individual compassion should not interfere with tactical objectives.

The remaining items were various combat equipment. Su Ming did not want to increase the carrying capacity of the Youth Civilization, so he destroyed most of them and only took some materials to replenish the material warehouse.

The scholar, chewing on his cake, looked at the battlefield of wounds ahead and suddenly felt a pang of emotion.

"Slaughtering a thousand people, it's that easy? I'm starting to get scared of that feeling," she said to Su Ming.

Su Ming glanced at the girl in surprise, "I thought I was the only one who was being dramatic."

"No matter how willful I was before, I knew there was a ceiling above my head." The scholar suddenly stretched his arms above his head and lay sprawled on the snow. "Now I find myself becoming that ceiling—power is truly tempting; no wonder some strong individuals lose their way because of it."

"Come on, my confidence in your character is stronger than my ability to return to Earth," Su Ming said.

Zijin lay in the snow, looking at the sky, continuing to munch on her cake. "Su Ming, this cake is so soft and crumbly, it's really delicious."

"Honey cake," Su Ming replied. He had made the most of the jar of honey he bought in Tuku Town. "I only dared to take it out because Qiluo isn't here."

"Could you make me some more later?"

"Good."

Half an hour later, the Youth Civilization completed maintenance and ammunition replenishment and returned to combat readiness.

Su Ming put away his tablet, stood up, and reached out to pull Zijin up from the snow. "Let's go, next stop."

"Um."

****

Far behind the Youth Civilization, Qiluo drove a snowmobile with Katharine on the back, quickly chasing after the train along the tracks left by the train.

To accommodate the weight of the unicorn, Su Ming further reinforced the front structure of the snowmobile and increased the area of the skis.

Suddenly she sensed something, immediately turned her head, and discovered that Katharine had just swallowed something.

"What are you eating?" the unicorn asked.

Katharine raised the glass in her hand. "I took a sip of water. What's wrong?"

Qiluo glanced at her suspiciously, then turned back to continue driving. A few seconds later, she suddenly turned around.

This time, Qiluo finally caught her red-handed; Katharine was actually eating a steamed bun?

"Is something the matter?" Katharine asked, holding up the steamed bun in her hand. "Are you hungry too? I'll get you one."

Qiluo shook her head, then suddenly sniffed, "Why does it smell sweet like honey?"

Katharine held up her water bottle. "I put some honey in the water."

Qiluo became uncertain; she wasn't very good with her sense of smell.

Katharine breathed a sigh of relief, took another small bite of the honey cake sandwiched between the steamed buns, and quietly swallowed it.

****

Three hours later, the Youth Civilization arrived at Peacock Gully, a place seventy kilometers west of the battle point of the Vanguard Regiment.

According to the prisoners' confessions, the approximate location of the second echelon should be further ahead.

After crossing the Middle Ridge Mountain Range and entering the second step of the ice field, the train's route becomes quite narrow. This is a significant disadvantage for the Youth Civilization, making it vulnerable to various ambushes.

Fortunately, Katharine's tactics completely deceived the enemy. In the recent skirmish, the vanguard was caught off guard and had no time to get into position, so they were basically wiped out.

Now that we've arrived at Peacock Gully, the terrain unfolds like a spreading tail feather, and the passable area suddenly widens.

This is why Su Ming rushed through; once inside this area, the train's mobility increases, making combat less restrictive.

"Strange, where is everyone?" Zijin looked around with her binoculars, but the path ahead was empty. She was actually quite hopeful, especially after hearing from the prisoners that Jimite might be in the second echelon.

The drone quickly took off and, after circling and reconnaissance, indeed spotted enemy forces on both sides. They were scattered in groups of several dozen men within a radius of seven or eight kilometers, appearing scattered and not at all like they intended to engage in battle.

Great, let's just lie down and give up!

"They're taking advantage of our inconvenient pursuit," Su Ming said. Apart from the road area a few kilometers wide in the middle, the terrain becomes more undulating and folded further out. The Youth Civilization can pass through, but its speed will be greatly reduced, and it will lose its impact force.

With over three thousand people so widely dispersed, mopping them up would be extremely inefficient. Moreover, in areas with poor terrain, the cumbersome trains might not be able to keep up with the running soldiers.

"Shall we go straight for their heavy infantry?" Zijin suggested.

The third echelon of the noble army, composed of heavy transport units, artillery, and a small number of guards, was about 100 kilometers ahead.

"This is a bit tricky. Katharine is still behind us, rushing this way," Su Ming said, frowning.

The camouflage mission at Red Fruit Slope has achieved its tactical objective, and Katharine and Unicorn are on their way to rendezvous. If the Youth Civilization advances, the second echelon of the noble army can easily regroup on the spot and intercept them.

If this group were to form a battle formation and meet the attack head-on, Su Ming and the scholar would be more than happy to accept it. The Youth Civilization had already hauled a truckload of Skull Warriors—more than enough!

This response was quite clever. It was a good method that the enemy came up with and executed in such a short time after clearly analyzing the situation.

But these clever tricks were no longer relevant, and Su Ming ordered them to continue advancing. The battle had reached its current stalemate, and the outcome was no longer in their hands.

Gospel maneuvered the white train, passing the enemy without a moment's hesitation, heading straight for the third echelon of the noble army. This spirit driver was becoming increasingly adept; having merged with the Thought Entity, its driving skills surpassed everyone else's, and it had also learned to choose the best route based on feedback from the terrain radar.

Su Ming was a little reluctant to part with it and decided that when the superconducting material was dismantled, he would definitely keep the Gospel intact.

****

After about four more hours, the Youth Civilization arrived at its designated location.

The train did not advance rashly. According to the pre-existing analysis, Jimite's response to the third echelon, besides dispersing the personnel and giving up like the second echelon, was more likely to be a do-or-die battle.

On one hand, the men could scatter, but the heavy weapons and artillery could not be moved. The noble army had lost its heavy weapons and supplies, so whether they won or lost the battle was no longer relevant.

In the hundreds of war games conducted by Su Ming and Katharine, the scenario included the current situation where the noble army organized its heavy infantry and artillery into a third echelon for rapid marching.

The second-tier strategy of avoiding battle is also one possible route in the simulation.

Therefore, there is no such thing as a foolproof plan; there is only full data coverage and an exhaustive search of all possibilities in the battlefield situation. Su Ming first witnessed this technology in Katharine.

Through interrogation of the prisoners, the third echelon consisted of a 3,000-strong transport unit, a 1,500-strong artillery unit, a 500-strong support unit, and a 1,000-strong guard unit, totaling 6,000 men and equipped with 140 artillery pieces.

Eight hours have passed since the engagement with the vanguard regiment began, and night has fallen. With such ample time, and with complete supplies and equipment, the third echelon has a wide range of tactics at its disposal.

For example, the most basic method is to lay landmines on roads.

Zijin released over a hundred soldiers, who advanced in a horizontal line—actually, they were clearing mines. In the cold wind of the night, the densely packed troops advanced, quickly reaching a kilometer away, but found nothing unusual.

The drone searched the vicinity twice, but found no target in the infrared field of view.

[Su Ming, if the skeleton goes any further, my control will drop significantly, and my energy reserves won't hold up either.] Zijin transmitted to Su Ming.

She had already switched to her Bone Dragon Form and was crouching on top of the motorcycle, not daring to venture forward rashly.

"I can sense something's wrong around here, but I can't pinpoint the exact location," Zijin continued.

This means the enemy used a technology that confuses perception.

Su Ming nodded. The enemy had long-range attack capabilities, including artillery. The Youth Civilization's movement was restricted, so the enemy chose to use stealth tactics to lie in wait.

They might be three kilometers ahead, or five kilometers ahead, or even further. They might be on the left, or on the right.

The camera's optical and infrared detection systems failed, and the drone was unable to locate the target.

During the wargaming simulation, Katharine foresaw the possibility of this scenario—using concealed forces to block Su Ming's advance route, waiting for the second echelon to encircle him from the opposite direction.

She hadn't prepared any countermeasures because Su Ming had told her that if this situation arose, she should leave it to him to handle.

Su Ming arrived at the mechanical carriage and first deployed the ground positioning base station, as the subsequent operations would rely on digital signal positioning.

This system was also completed by Millet Studio, including the complete hardware, software, and corresponding interfaces. Faced with Su Ming's endless and extremely specific requirements, Millet Studio was overwhelmed and had to seek a large number of external help and subcontractors.

But everything was completed smoothly because Su Ming paid out nearly a million yuan in compensation. As long as you have real money, there are plenty of people willing to work, even during the Spring Festival.

Shortly after, a large drone completed its self-check and took off. It traveled only about one kilometer before activating its onboard equipment.

SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar) for terrain scanning!

This time, it wasn't the miniature radar from the small drone in Turkmen City, but a much more professional radar pod.

The drone follows a long trajectory, moves at a constant speed, and releases coherent signals, which are then received and stored. Although its actual antenna size is small, through technical synthesis, it can simulate a huge antenna aperture effect equivalent to the flight path length, measured in kilometers, providing powerful resolution that overcomes the limitations of the physical size of the equipment.

This scanning method has high resolution, is not limited by lighting or weather conditions, and can penetrate the ground surface and vegetation.

Therefore, Su Ming never worried about the disguises of these noble armies from beginning to end. As a modern battlefield reconnaissance method from a technological perspective,

SAR is designed to detect camouflage!

The precision and speed of the pod system are two completely different concepts. In just about 15 minutes, Su Ming completed the initial scan of a radius of ten kilometers.

However, the battery power was also rapidly depleted, even after Su Ming had inscribed a heat-preserving array on the battery pack to maintain the battery's operating temperature.

After the drone returned to base, Su Ming retrieved the memory card. He imported the data from the card into the processing terminal and began the complex processing procedure.

After filtering, motion compensation, coherent combination, and various corrections, the final imaging result is displayed on the screen. The terrain within the range is sampled in great detail and presented as a high-precision 3D model.

This time, the anomalies in the area were immediately apparent. The locations of three suspected artillery positions were marked, along with a scattered array of foxholes and auxiliary positions. The enemy had cunningly not positioned themselves directly in front of the Youth Civilization's route, but rather three kilometers to the left of the road.

Zijin, having witnessed this scene through her Omniscient Vision, couldn't help but exclaim in admiration, "That's impressive! She saw everything on the other side!"

"Let me double-check it," Su Ming said.

He dispatched drones again to conduct high-resolution scans of the suspicious areas based on the data from the first scan.

The insulation array wasn't working properly during the flight. Su Ming adjusted the array engraved on the drone's bone-like body and replaced it with a slightly more powerful magic crystal.

After restarting, the low-temperature battery alarm disappeared, resolving the issue. The energy density of the magic crystal is far higher than that of the battery; Su Ming is considering researching the possibility of its direct conversion into electrical energy, which could significantly improve the performance of weight-sensitive devices.

However, it can only be used in special circumstances.

Ordinary magic crystals are disposable, while rechargeable magic crystals are expensive and require a mage to provide Magic Power. In comparison, the cost of regenerating batteries is almost negligible.

Even scholars would be humbled by a 1000KW generator that runs non-stop 24/7.