Cloud Arrow 1000

This is also why Su Ming has chosen the 122mm rocket launcher and the high-pressure air launcher. These systems have a larger tolerance for error and are much more compatible, which can barely be supported by the current logistical level of the other world.

For example, if a single rocket fails to fire, it will not affect the operation of the other launcher units. If the launcher encounters a dud, it will not prevent it from being ejected from the barrel and the next rocket from being fired.

This is a very important adaptive characteristic given the current low level of logistics in this other world.

In contrast, the rotary firing mechanism operates at high speed, cycling through feeding, loading, and ejection 17 times per second at the lowest rate of fire. If there is even one instance of misalignment between the mechanism and the ammunition, the system will jam and stop operating.

Xiao Cheng, however, felt it could continue. "We can use mechanized production," he said. "The formulation and loading of alchemical explosives, as well as the assembly of the warhead and cartridge case, can all be done using equipment."

"We're in the Northern Lands now," Su Ming said. "There are huge limitations, both in terms of venue and personnel."

"We can modify the production line design to simplify the requirements for space and operators!" Xiao Cheng said. "Industrial problems should be solved by industrial solutions; this is where we, the technical staff, can make a difference!"

"Then I'll leave it to you," Su Ming said with a smile. "However, I have one more request."

Ling Wen didn't mince words, "I can apply directly for ordinary ones, but others require approval from higher-ups."

"Cloud Arrow," Su Ming replied, "This shouldn't require any approval."

Ling Wen was somewhat bewildered; she didn't remember what kind of weapon it was. "What's Cloud Arrow?"

Xiao Cheng told her, "It's a geothermal bomb."

Ling Wen was so angry she laughed. "This thing doesn't need approval? Are you going to wage a world war in another world?!"

Xiao Cheng, however, asked Su Ming with a puzzled look, "Do you have any materials for thermobaric weapons, like ethylene oxide?"

"Of course not," Su Ming replied. "That's precisely the need I'm trying to address!"

****

On the Youth Civilization, Su Ming cut off contact. He got up from the recliner, stretched, and let out a long sigh of relief.

"Thank you for your hard work." On the other side of the long table in the workspace, Zijin also put away her books.

Su Ming has been working on Earth for quite some time. It's 5 a. m. in the other world now, and Zijin has been working until now as well.

"You're still awake?" Su Ming asked. "There's some good news from Earth."

"I already know, Miao Xin told me," Zijin said. "Congratulations!"

With Su Ming having taken over the Little Spiky Head, Miao Xin could only wander around in ghost mode and chat with Zijin.

"Then you should know that the motorcycles are about to be upgraded." Su Ming calculated, "The factory is still undergoing renovations, and teleportation is expected to begin within two days. The subsequent bone filling and magical enhancements will be ours."

"I'm really looking forward to it!" Zijin said. "Miao Xin said she didn't sense any lies, and she's quite happy about it."

"I didn't lie, but I probably didn't tell the whole truth," Su Ming said.

Ling Wen's team had been working hard to meet his needs, without mentioning anything else, clearly indicating that someone else would come to negotiate with him. However, Su Ming wasn't too worried now; Miao Xin's improved abilities gave him some confidence. In particular, Miss Wraith's wide-ranging perception of malice and danger was a stark contrast to her previous complete ignorance.

Without being in conflict with a powerful system, she can no longer be easily suppressed. If Miao Xin's "easily triggered" problem can also be resolved, the situation will be even better.

"We still need to continue strengthening Miao Xin," Zijin said. "Once the car is fixed, we'll head to Galio's stronghold."

"Hmm." Su Ming nodded. "Is it possible that Miao Xin's outburst was related to magic?" he asked.

At the Vietnam industrial park, Miao Xin lost control when she was near the ruins. Su Ming mistakenly believed that the blue electric arc triggered her memories of the moment before her death, thus setting everything in motion.

But in fact, judging from her experiences during this period, Miao Xin had a very strong sense of self-control; that was the only time she was dragged into the Abyss without any resistance.

Su Ming re-examined the situation and realized that he might have misunderstood Miao Xin's level of control, as well as the enemy's level of interference.

"Are you referring to the word "E"?" Zijin thought for a moment, "There is nothing similar in the current writing or runes of our world, but it can be searched in ancient writing."

This word "E" is different from the Arabic numerals. The human race in the Taiya plane and the human race on the earth are related at the node thousands of years ago, and the two sides have too many similarities in ancient culture. So it is obvious that what Su Ming saw was the ancient text of the earth, but it made him doubt the correlation with the world of Taiya.

"We should also search for information on the Plundering Clock," he added.

The huge pile of mysterious documents seized from the Plundering Clock must contain information that can answer many questions.

"We're overwhelmed with these matters." Zijin handed over a list. "This is a roster given by Princess Dafulin, containing a total of 123 necromancers. There were originally seven or eight more, but they were executed after being found guilty of serious crimes."

Su Ming opened it and found it was Younier's handwriting. He was a little puzzled at first, but he quickly realized that the communication tower had been repaired and Princess Dafulin had sent the message using magical communication.

The junior clerk had apparently taken on the role of copyist as well.

The roster recorded the crimes committed, but not because these people were necromancers; rather, it listed the various illegal cases they were involved in. Su Ming flipped through the pages, the records detailing each person's crimes and punishments. Sixty percent of them had criminal records, but the most common offense was assault, followed by stealing corpses.

Su Ming examined the case closely and found that the laws of this other world were very lenient towards such cases; as long as the amount wasn't too outrageous, paying money was sufficient. Therefore, it was more accurate to say that these people owed money rather than committing criminal offenses.

However, there were a few marked in red, and Su Ming felt that letting them live was a sign that the laws of this other world were too lenient.

"There are five or six people here who are quite knowledgeable about ancient scripts," Zijin, pointing to the few she had circled.

Su Ming glanced at the charges against these people: robbing grave goods.

Necromancers are very suitable for "archaeology" and are the mainstream profession for tomb raiders in other worlds. These people are really knowledgeable about ancient texts and symbols.

****

"Dafulin is very keen to finalize the tunnel extension deal, and she's agreed to provide us with more assistance." Zijin handed over another communication message. "She's implying that you can name a higher price."

"Dafulin is in a hurry," Su Ming said, frowning. "Something's not right."

Given Dafulin's abilities and qualities, she wouldn't possibly make such a mistake in negotiations. Given her position, she would certainly have had advisors to remind her.

"You suspect something's wrong?" Zijin pondered. "But we've been deceiving her all along."

The two had planned this whole affair with Princess Dafulin. Zijin had met Master Newman six months ago and naturally knew about the Green Bridge Hanging River. The route Su Ming drew for Dafulin was not the attack route he had actually planned. They had less than half a month allotted for digging the tunnel; they couldn't even complete a four-kilometer tunnel, let alone an eight-kilometer one.

Therefore, Su Ming actually chose a much shorter route, which was not a permanent tunnel, but only a route that could barely get him into the Dome Mountain coal mine to rescue people. The one shown in the negotiations was just a PowerPoint presentation to lure Dafulin into helping him.

Su Ming originally planned to confront Dafulin after the die was cast, offering additional compensation or agreeing to postpone tunnel excavation.

But the situation has changed now.

Su Ming said to Zijin, "The tunnel project might actually be feasible, and the attack plan against the Divine Might Prison based on it will need a complete upgrade—I'm still waiting for the calculation results."

****

Both of them were exhausted and went to rest soon.

Su Ming was woken up by his alarm clock at noon. He felt a little sleepy, but the modification of the new motorcycle at the factory was still underway, and he needed to keep up with it.

He yawned as he passed the mechanical compartment and saw Younier and Gospel watching a video on a tablet, fumbling around to clean carbon deposits from their snowmobile. Yesterday, Unicorn had complained to Su Ming that the snowmobile was becoming increasingly sluggish and lacked acceleration. Su Ming didn't have time to do it himself, so he downloaded a video tutorial on cleaning carbon deposits from gasoline engines and let them figure it out on their own.

"I hope they don't just keep pretending and end up with a whole bunch of extra parts," Su Ming thought to himself.

Stepping into the dining car, I found Hansite and Unicorn, two foodies, busily preparing lunch.

Su Ming glanced around and noticed that there were an unusually large number of dishes today, already filling half the table. "It's quite a feast."

"Tomorrow is the Winter Solstice Festival, and tonight is the Frostflame Festival." Zijin yawned as she walked in from behind. "In this world, it marks the beginning of the festival."

Su Ming sat down at the dining table and found that there were many more foods that were not in the warehouse, some of which he had never seen before.

"There's a fairly large village about twenty kilometers away," Younier explained. "That's where we went to trade."

The high-calorie food that Su Ming brought was very popular here, and both he and the local residents got what they needed.

"Su Ming!" The unicorn ran over. "I'm going to Bubing City later for the Frostflame Celebration!" As she spoke, she proudly showed off five invitations. "They're from Katharine! The Winter Solstice Festival Prayer Meeting hosted by the Temple of Light in the Northern Lands!"

"You, Children of the Moon, went to participate in the activities of the Church of Light?" Su Ming was very puzzled.

"The prayer meeting is over, and there will be a buffet," Hansite explained.

"Hehe!" Qiluo counted the invitations in her hand, tears of joy streaming down her face. "This event lasts for five days straight, I can eat five times! After I've eaten my fill, I'll come and chase after you guys!"

Su Ming finally understood why Qiluo had been listening to Katharine so much lately; she had been bribed.

Zijin looked at Qiluo with pity. "You can attend the prayer meeting repeatedly, but each person can only go to the buffet once. You can find it on the back of the invitation, at the bottom left corner."

Qiluo's eyes widened, and she hurriedly looked at the invitation. Sure enough, she found a line of inconspicuous small print in the place Zijin had mentioned. "The believers who attend the buffet will be given a ' Light Blessing Mark,' and believers who already have the mark should attend the banquet again next year."

It's called a blessing, but it's really just to prevent people from repeatedly indulging in prostitution and lavish meals!

"Is there any way to remove this brand?" Qiluo asked unwillingly.

"It used to be possible," Zijin said, spreading her hands. "But the Northern Lands Priests probably use New Divine Language and magic, which I don't understand, so I'm sorry."

Su Ming almost burst out laughing, but he desperately held it in. If Qiluo were allowed to eat five meals in Bubing City, who knows what trouble she would cause, so he couldn't let the secret slip.

Upon hearing Qiluo's words, Zijin's entire beast shattered.

In the end, with tears in her eyes, Qiluo gave the invitations to Hansite and Younier, and the three of them went to Bubing City to redeem the coupons. She also gave one to Su Ming and Zijin, but both of them refused.

"Aren't you going to go for a stroll there?" Su Ming asked Zijin. "It's a rare festival, it must be very lively."

"What about the safety of the White Bone Fortress?" Zijin asked.

Su Ming thought for a moment, "I'm here. You've set up so many barriers, and the train itself has defensive facilities. If anything happens, you can switch to the Bone Dragon."

Zijin thought for a moment, then shook her head. "Never mind."

After a hearty lunch, the three-person buffet team pushed the snowmobile out. They, along with Gospel, fiddled with it for a while longer before finally getting it running.

Younier had some basic alchemy knowledge, and Gospel was also an experienced driver; the group of mediocre workers finally managed to complete the first maintenance of the snowmobile, albeit with some stumbles and setbacks.

There wasn't enough room in the driver's cab, but luckily the truck bed was covered with a tarpaulin, so Hansite voluntarily settled in the back. The three of them drove off happily, and Zijin glanced at them before heading to the workshop.

Su Ming had already switched to control the Little Spiky Head and was reviewing the materials for the new motorcycle. When he finished a phase of work, he switched back to the other world and found Zijin holding a glass of milk, looking out the window.

Although she already knew that what Su Ming bought for her from the dwarves was actually baby milk, Zijin no longer cared about it.

"What's wrong?" Su Ming asked her.

Zijin snapped out of her reverie. "Sorry, I suddenly remembered things from all these years." She put down her cup. "It suddenly dawned on me how long it's been since I celebrated a holiday."

Su Ming was unaware of Zijin's life at the nunnery, but since twenty-seven years ago, when she was imprisoned in her Bone Dragon Form in the Plain of Despair, Zijin had indeed experienced a long and desolate period.

Su Ming belatedly realized that this experience had a great impact on Zijin, but she subconsciously avoided thinking about it and even concealed it.

"Regretting not going to Bubing City?" Su Ming sized up the girl. "You can still go now, right?"

"Just a little bit of sentimentality." Zijin picked up the book on the table. "The Doomsday Locomotive will start being transported tomorrow night. There's a lot of preparation work to do. Give me some tasks."

Su Ming copied a digital blueprint for Zijin, saying, "The locomotive's configuration has changed a lot, and the corresponding magic array needs to be redesigned."

Zijin picked up the mouse and began to examine it. "Wow, you even arranged a base for embedding magic crystals."

"It's faster to carry out these modifications over there," Su Ming explained.

Compared to the first locomotive modification, this time he moved a large amount of modification work forward. The Precision Machinery Heavy Industries has a large number of skilled workers and engineers, as well as specialized equipment, whose terrifying efficiency and precision are unmatched by anything in this other world.

"By the way, General Price sent men over this morning," Zijin said. "They pursued them to Black Territory, captured Jimite's troops, and although they routed the enemy, they suffered some losses."