Green Bridge Hanging River

Su Ming glanced at Katharine, signaling her to speak. Katharine returned his gaze with a somewhat ambiguous look, a slight smile playing on her lips.

"Queen Katharine, would you like to leave with me first?" Dafulin asked. "His Majesty Xialike is very worried about your safety."

"No, there are important matters to discuss here," Katharine said bluntly, glancing at the guards behind Dafulin. "But everyone else needs to leave."

"If you wish to discuss this, you may move to my tent and dismiss my subordinates to speak in detail," Dafulin, her expression slightly cold. "But if it is this Mr. Graves, then I apologize."

Katharine had no choice but to pull Dafulin aside and whisper in her ear, "His real name is Su Ming!"

"Su Ming?" Dafulin didn't react at first. But the name was too special in this other world, and she quickly remembered where she had seen it before, and her eyes widened suddenly.

Su Ming's hair stood on end, and he unconsciously took half a step back.

Dafulin immediately turned around and unequivocally drove her guards away into the distance.

She then tidied her slightly disheveled hair, took a half step back with her right foot, and gracefully lifted her skirt to give a formal bow. "Good day! Great Scholar Bone King! Please forgive my earlier rudeness!"

"Ah, good day, Your Highness!" Su Ming was clearly startled by this change in attitude. He hadn't learned the etiquette of this other world, so he could only raise his hand and wave.

There's a scholar's "Rite of Knowledge" in this other world, which would suit him. However, he's never seen Zijin use it!

Dafulin suddenly realized something, "Katharine, Bone King and the Scholar Bay Owl aren't here to deal with you, they're here to rescue you? What exactly is your relationship?"

"Let's just call it a debtor-creditor relationship," Kaisa replied casually. "They used to owe me, but now I owe them."

Dafulin breathed a sigh of relief, her tense shoulders finally relaxing. These two powerful individuals were not on opposing sides—this was incredibly good news!

In recent days, the assassination attempt, the disappearance of the Empress, the suspected rebellion, and the attack by the Bay Owl had weighed heavily on her like dark clouds. But now, the gloom suddenly vanished, and she was overjoyed, almost unable to contain her smile.

"Your Highness Dafulin?" Katharine called softly when she saw the change in her expression.

"I'm fine." Dafulin forcefully suppressed the urge to let loose, maintaining the decorum expected of a royal princess. She looked around. "Where's Scholar Bay Owl himself, and where's the White Bone Train?" She noticed the broken tracks on the ground, her eyes lighting up. "It's nearby! You've hidden it!"

She looked at Su Ming eagerly, her gaze intense. "Great Scholar Bone King, may I have the honor of visiting the White Bone Fortress?"

Meanwhile, Price was discussing the battle plan to attack Jimite with Emilio when he saw that Dafulin's personal guard had already returned. He looked around but couldn't find the princess.

"Where is Her Highness the Princess?" he asked hurriedly.

The reply they received was that Princess Dafulin and Queen Katharine had a pleasant conversation and sent them back. The princess's exact words were that she would return in two hours and there was no need to worry.

Price quickly cast Eagle Eye on himself to look around, only to be horrified to find that the spot he had been in was now empty.

"It's all over!" He collapsed. This was terrible; not only had they failed to find the Empress of the Star Empire, but their own second princess had also perished!

****

At the hiding place of the Youth Civilization, Su Ming led the group down.

Upon seeing the giant, pure white train, Dafulin immediately went over to examine it closely, sometimes bending down to check the chassis structure, sometimes gently touching the outer walls of the carriages, and occasionally exclaiming in amazement.

"Is this what you mean by 'introductions are meaningless'?" Su Ming turned to Katharine, raising an eyebrow as he asked.

"Yeah, what's so great about your fangirls?" Katharine shrugged. "Don't you have any idea what your technology means to scholars in this world?" She sighed as she spoke. "Given Dafulin's obsession with knowledge, even a child could guess this reaction."

"... Alright then." Su Ming touched his nose.

After a brief and limited tour, the group arrived at the train's working carriage. Although they didn't understand the specific principles, witnessing these miraculous mechanical devices firsthand filled Dafulin with excitement. "These things can be achieved without magic!" her voice trembled with excitement. "This means so many possibilities! The development of All-Natural Alchemy is indeed the right approach!"

As Younier poured tea for everyone, she looked embarrassed. "I'm sorry, everyone, the tea and snacks I prepared... have all been eaten." She explained softly.

"You flatter me," Su Ming said. There was no need to guess who the culprit was; having lost a bite of the honey cake, coupled with eating steamed buns for two days and two nights, had clearly filled the beast with rage.

"No need to be so polite." Dafulin gracefully picked up her teacup. "Scholar Su Ming, please state your request."

"Our purpose here is to rescue the necromancer imprisoned in the Holy Mountain Divine Might Prison," Su Ming stated bluntly. "We hope you can help us conceal our whereabouts."

"I personally sympathize with these scholars and believe that most of them are innocent." Dafulin set down her teacup, sitting upright. "But as the acting governor of the Bubing Province of the Cold Mountain Royal Family, this matter—"

"Why not hear the terms of the deal first?" Su Ming said with a smile, "Acting Governor."

Dafulin paused slightly, then nodded gently. "Excuse me, please go ahead."

Although the Empress of the Stars herself was indebted for rescuing Katharine, the Cold Mountain Kingdom avoided a serious diplomatic crisis as a result, so the debt was still owed. Not to mention that the Cold Mountain Royal Family was undoubtedly the biggest beneficiary of Su Ming's group's defeat of the Northern Lands Lords' Alliance army with unclear intentions.

However, Dafulin planned to compensate for these things with money and supplies; she didn't want to get involved in complicated disputes. But it seemed that Su Ming had no intention of taking advantage of her kindness, and he was confident in the terms of the deal.

Since this was a formal transaction negotiation, Dafulin should have respected the other party's willingness to put forward specific conditions, which is why she apologized earlier.

****

Su Ming took the "Green Bamboo Slips and Cloud Scrolls" from Katharine, unfolded the terrain projection, and brought up a three-dimensional terrain map of the location of the Holy Mountain Divine Might Prison.

From where the Youth Civilization is now, there is a plateau side with an altitude of about 3,000 meters. But lying between the White Bone Train and the Holy Mountain Divine Might Prison is the main peak group of the Dome Mountains with an average altitude of about 4,500 meters.

The Dome Mountain Coal Mine is located at an altitude of about 3,300 meters inside the mountain range. Due to the obstruction of the mountain range, the coal mined there can only be transported south out of the snow mountain to supply the southern region of the Cold Mountain Kingdom. Although the Northern Lands side where Su Ming is currently located is closer in terms of horizontal distance, it has no chance to enjoy these resources.

Due to frequent avalanches, even the roads for transporting goods to the south are often disrupted.

As a geology Great Scholar and head of the kingdom's mining operations, Dafulin was naturally very familiar with these matters.

Su Ming didn't waste any words. He stretched out his hand and marked a nearly horizontal line from an altitude of three thousand meters on the snowy plain side, all the way to the bottom of the Dome Mountain coal mine. "I can dig a five-kilometer-long tunnel through the mountain for you."

He saw the look of shock on Princess Dafulin's face as he had hoped. Just as he was about to continue explaining, Princess Dafulin suddenly stood up and grabbed his hand, exclaiming, "Yes!"

Dafulin's hands gripped tightly, her whole body trembling, her lips pale with excitement. "Any price will do! Please complete this!"

****

A few minutes later, Dafulin finally calmed down with Katharine's comforting words.

She unfolded her academic tools, displaying a much more detailed topographical map of the Dome Mountains than before. She took a few deep breaths, then stood up and explained to Su Ming and Zijin:

"The southern Dome Mountains are influenced by the southwest monsoon, resulting in abundant rainfall." Dafulin's fingertip traced across the map. "This southern slope is also the source of the Dome River, with a large amount of water flowing down from the mountaintop every year. The Sang River on this Northern Lands also originates partly from seepage here."

Su Ming also knew this: when warm, humid air currents rise along the mountains, they will form a lot of precipitation on the windward slope.

Dafulin then incorporated an engineering diagram showing that many parts of the terrain had been modified and blocked, forming five sections of varying elevations.

"This is the ' Green Bridge Hanging River,' designed under the guidance of Master Newman," Dafulin explained. "By constructing dams and other methods, we can create five relatively gentle waterways of varying heights and lengths along the southern slope of the Dome Mountains, spanning approximately 1,000 kilometers. This will allow us to transport the produce of the Dome Mountains outwards via a combination of water and land transport."

As the diagram shows, the Green Bridge System is enormous, with numerous facilities enabling land transport between waterways. It not only connects coal mines but also links other mining areas within the mountain range. Utilizing the abundant water resources on the southern slope to construct a canal system for transporting goods is indeed a good solution.

According to Su Ming's understanding, this is the most massive land engineering project in the history of this other world. Its completion will definitely bring about a qualitative change in the transportation and logistics of this region. The large-scale, low-cost transportation of ore will improve the economic situation on the south side of the Cold Mountain Kingdom and lay the foundation for development.

If we were to equip these waterways with hydroelectric power stations and electrify the various mines— Su Ming shook his head; he had to break this bad habit.

However, Great Scholar Dafulin's title of scholar is well-deserved, given her ability and determination to advance such a large project. When Su Ming was reading the materials, he saw that she had obtained this rating before she was even thirty years old, and he thought that she was relying on her royal status.

Now it seems that Su Ming was being narrow-minded.

"We started planning this project three years ago. The passing of Master Newman almost brought it to a halt." A hint of nostalgia and regret flashed in Dafulin's eyes, "... The remaining members of our team eventually completed the design."

"Newman's death has nothing to do with you?" Zijin suddenly interjected.

"Of course, even if he's wanted because of his identity as a necromancer, we'll do everything we can to protect him." Dafulin said with a face full of regret, "The warrant for his arrest came too suddenly, and the high bounty offered by the Council of Cardinals caused chaos, with a large number of mercenaries frantically pouring into the Northern Lands. At that time, Master Newman was surveying on this side of the ice plains, and I sent Price with troops to protect him, but we were too late."

"So the White Graupel Cavalry weren't coming for us?" Zijin scratched her hair in frustration. Her friend's death was indirectly related to her.

Dafulin confirmed, "Their only mission is to protect Newman."

Su Ming seemed to be deep in thought, "Doesn't this scene look familiar to you? People who shouldn't be fighting are getting into a brawl, while the mission they were supposed to carry out has failed?"

Six months ago, the White Graupel Cavalry unexpectedly clashed with the White Bone Fortress, resulting in the death of Master Newman, who should have been protected. If Su Ming hadn't remained suspicious just now, the same scene might have played out again. The two sides that shouldn't have fought would have clashed a second time, allowing Jimite and his troops to escape.

Dafulin didn't quite understand what Su Ming was saying, so Katharine patted her, indicating that she would explain it to her later.

Dafulin nodded and continued, "Master Newman creatively used the model of the necromancy system to solve many problems in the Green Bridge Project. For example, the spine arch configuration—"

"Please skip these technical details," Zijin interrupted.

Dafulin, unsuspecting, interpreted it as her being asked to focus on the key points. She continued, "The flaw in the Green Bridge Hanging River project is that while the system is easy to transport materials from top to bottom, it's very difficult to transport them from bottom to top. If the plan operates smoothly, the Dome Mountains mining area will expand, requiring a large amount of construction materials, and its daily operations will also rely on the delivery of supplies."

The transportation cost across the 2000-meter elevation difference is very high. However, considering the profits brought by the huge ore output, it is not unacceptable. But Su Ming presented Dafulin with another tempting solution: a tunnel from the Northern Lands Plateau!

In this way, the Dome Mountains mining area can be continuously supplied with production materials and agricultural products from the vast Northern Lands, which will greatly reduce the need for reverse transportation in the Green Bridge Hanging River.

Moreover, the mineral resources can also benefit the Northern Lands, bringing this barren area, which occupies half of the kingdom's territory, into the benefit zone. The resulting vision and plans are truly wonderful!

"I apologize for the spectacle," Dafulin said. "Building a 'Sky Road' to improve transportation in the Dome Mountains has been a long-held aspiration of the Cold Mountain Kingdom. We need it."

"My request is that you help us conceal our whereabouts," Su Ming reiterated the condition. "The White Bone Fortress must reach the Sacred Mountain without being detected by the Divine Might Prison."

"How did you manage that?" Dafulin asked. "The Lords' Alliance is already Omniscience your existence. The news will spread everywhere in no time. There's no way to stop it."

****

Zijin suddenly turned her head. There was a sound outside the carriage. She saw something with her Omniscient Vision, and a smile appeared on her lips. "Excuse me!" she said lightly, getting up and walking out of the carriage, then disappearing in a flash.

Although Su Ming found it strange, he didn't pay much attention. "I have a plan. First, we'll pretend that we've fought a battle and both sides have suffered losses to varying degrees, and then leak this information out."