Newman's Aesthetic

Su Ming thought about it and realized that Katharine's consideration was indeed reasonable. Due to the need for secrecy, very few members of the Temple of Light in the Northern Lands knew about their existence.

He nodded in agreement to Katharine's arrangement.

"Welcome aboard, both of you!" Su Ming turned to Jielusi and Ge'enda'er, "However, you must follow the instructions and not run around in the vehicle."

Ge'enda'er bowed slightly, his voice gentle yet firm, "As you wish!"

Jielusi also bowed.

The two began unloading their luggage from their mounts. Ge'enda'er carried only a simple wooden box, while Jielusi's luggage was quite substantial, even requiring an extra snow beast to carry it.

"If you need any help, just send them," Katharine added. "Even among the elite civilians, they are the best."

****

After exchanging pleasantries, Katharine gestured for Jielusi and Ge'enda'er to leave for the time being, and then entered the work compartment with Su Ming to begin discussing in detail the specific battle plan for the surprise attack on the Divine Might Prison.

Zijin refused to attend the meeting. In her words, the resources available to their side were now at the level of a medium-sized war, and the combination of the two foxes could not possibly lose, so there was no need to drag her along as the straight man.

"Things aren't that simple," Su Ming said helplessly. "The Divine Might Prison and the Sea of Divine Grace have a large number of elite combatants and also possess defensive advantages. Minimizing our own casualties, especially the deaths and injuries of the prisoners, will be extremely difficult."

"..." Zijin rolled her eyes at Su Ming.

The discussion lasted for half a day, and Su Ming and Katharine roughly finalized the basic framework. Katharine will be responsible for the next step of refining the tactics, while Su Ming needs to gather the keys required to implement the plan.

"I've already arranged an investigation into the Plundering Clock," Katharine added. "Once you arrive at the Dome Mountains, keep an eye out for these people."

Su Ming nodded. "If we have concrete information, we can also join the encirclement and suppression."

In the current strategy for conquering the Divine Might Prison, there is no need to use this group of people as expendable resources. On the contrary, if the actions of the Plundering Clock alert the enemy, it will have serious negative consequences and cause unpredictable changes in the situation.

More importantly, Su Ming absolutely did not want to be ambushed from behind by the Plundering Clock while he was fully engaged in dealing with the Divine Might Prison, or to face the risk of being outmaneuvered Mantis stalking the cicada.

To be on the safe side, it would be best to eliminate them completely beforehand!

****

After lunch, as Katharine was preparing to leave, she suddenly remembered something important.

"Give me a few cans of Dwarf Baby Formula." Her tone was tinged with helplessness. "Now, the little Tuanzi only recognizes this brand of formula; he cries and refuses to eat it if I switch to any other."

Su Ming couldn't help but burst into laughter.

Stepping out of the carriage, Katharine noticed Newman bustling about and exclaimed in surprise, "A halfling skeleton?" She quickly connected the dots and asked incredulously, "Master Newman?"

"Hey, Judge Katharine," Newman greeted, brandishing a torque wrench, "I heard you've become the mistress!"

"Yes," Katharine readily admitted, a playful smile playing on her lips. "I have plenty of resources. Shall I help you arrange a ghost marriage? So that Dafulin can finally give up."

"..." Newman paused, his words trailing off. These people were all quick-witted and sharp-tongued, showing no mercy to the old man.

Katharine turned to Su Ming, "With this guy around, you guys have no chance against Dafulin!"

Newman gave Katharine a resentful look, his bone claws fiddling nervously with the wrench. "There's nothing between us."

"During the Frostflame Festival, Little Dalin drank half a bottle of brandy," Katharine blurted out. "I had barely left the governor's mansion when my maid came to fetch a priest skilled in sobering up."

"It's normal to have a little drink during the holidays!" Newman retorted stubbornly.

Zijin grabbed the little skeleton and carried it back. "Focus on your work, don't slack off!" she said. "It won't hurt you to be gossiped about."

"Why do I feel like Ailisha has a grudge against him?" Su Ming asked Katharine, his gaze sweeping back and forth.

Katharine chuckled. "It would be strange if Ailisha was so kind to him." She explained, "The library at our old nunnery was built under Newman's supervision."

Su Ming calculated the time; Newman should have been quite young back then. "Is there a problem with the library?"

"The floor tiles near the entrance are all tilted seventeen degrees to the left," Katharine listed them off with great familiarity. "The reading room on the left has five windows on the south wall and six windows on the north wall, while the reading rooms of the same size on the right have seven and nine windows respectively."

"Where did Ba go?" Su Ming asked.

"Is this something about eight?!" Katharine exclaimed. "The stairs upstairs have twelve pillars on the left and fifteen on the right." She added, quite discontentedly, "And the shapes are different too—some are square, some are round, and some are even sesame-shaped!"

"Is Newman deliberately trying to drive OCD sufferers crazy?" Su Ming was both amused and exasperated.

"Ailisha often has to go to the library to look up information, and she's tormented by these designs almost every day," Katharine said. "Over time, she's accumulated a lot of resentment."

Su Ming was also somewhat speechless. "It's just some asymmetrical design. You can be more open-minded and accept different types of aesthetics. Ailisha doesn't need to keep harping on it."

Katharine gave Su Ming a meaningful look. "Don't advise others to be kind if you haven't experienced their suffering."

****

The skeleton servant brought over the milk powder, Su Ming calculated the cost. "Five cans of milk powder, ten gold coins!"

"It's offset," Katharine answered readily. "The four of you who caused a ruckus in the temple's kitchen the night before last only resulted in a dozen or so gold coins in damage; I'll waive the change."

"Making a scene in the kitchen?" Su Ming glanced at Qiluo, who was setting up her easel over there. It wasn't surprising that she would do something like this. "But only three of us from Frostflame Festival went!" he asked.

"Eh!" Katharine raised an eyebrow in confusion. "The report I received said: a green-haired little girl with incredible strength and an enormous appetite." She pointed at Qiluo, "A girl who keeps a small notebook recording how much she's eaten." This time she pointed at Younier, "And a seemingly respectable but lecherous old man; several of my female guards have bruises on their chests from his pinching."

Hansite. suddenly sneezed in the distance.

"Finally, there was a woman who was completely wrapped up, drank some fruit wine, and started running wild, treating the paladins maintaining order like bowling balls," Katharine continued her description.

Inside the shed, Zijin couldn't win the argument with Newman, so she angrily rolled him into a skull ball, making a cracking sound.

"It sounds a lot like Ailisha, but if she was drunk, it wouldn't be the kitchen that was demolished," Su Ming analyzed. "It makes no sense that your cathedral is still standing."

"... Is it possible that she didn't drink too much that night?"

"Impossible, she was with me the whole night," Su Ming said. "We didn't go to Bubing City at all."

Upon hearing this, Katharine let out a loud whistle, "Are you two on a date?"

"Is it strange that the two of us stayed on the train and then took a walk nearby?" Su Ming asked rhetorically.

"That's the Frostflame Festival Night!" Katharine spread her hands exaggeratedly. "In your world, don't you have the custom of choosing to spend important holidays with special people?"

Su Ming paused, "... No."

Katharine, too lazy to expose her, said, "Fine."

She nimbly leaped onto the lion-like beast. "See you in a while. I still need to organize suitable personnel for the battle."

"See you later!" Su Ming waved goodbye.

Suddenly, Jielusi screamed from inside the carriage. She grabbed a few clothes in a panic and chased after them, only to see Katharine and several riding beasts disappear into the distance.

****

Newman's involvement certainly accelerated the pace of the work. On the third day Winter Solstice Festival, the assembly and first phase of magical modifications of the Doomsday Train were completed, and it successfully passed its test run.

During this period, Su Ming also completed the transfer of two high-speed trains, and the test runs were also successful.

The system, which had been perfectly debugged in the Earth factory, could be started up almost immediately in the other world, saving them a lot of time.

The group was overjoyed, and Gospel happily began the test drive. This time, an electronic control screen was added to the cockpit, and Earth's engineers had replaced the language displayed in the system with an alien script, as requested by Su Ming.

The team reportedly rewrote it from the font pixel matrix, and in their own words, they never imagined they would be doing something like this.

However, Su Ming quickly discovered the problem: the system showed that all the parameters on the left and right sides of the Doomsday Locomotive were not in sync, and the Gospel also indicated that the motorbike was veering off course.

He immediately stopped the car to check and quickly discovered that Newman had adjusted all three tracks of the Doomsday Locomotive to an asymmetrical state, with the left track larger than the right!

To maintain track tension, all six tracks of the Doomsday Locomotive were designed with adjustable tension wheels. Newman adjusted the three tracks on the left to their maximum and the three on the right to their minimum. He even removed two sections of the right track and added them to the left.

So he ruined a perfectly good motorcycle, turning it into a "crippled" machine!

Su Ming grabbed Newman's skull, his teeth itching with anger, "Change it back right now!"

"Asymmetry is the most beautiful!" Newman insisted. "You simply don't understand appreciation. Whether it's a person or a machine, the fact that one side is larger than the other is a universal truth!"

There is no such universal truth!

****

Under Su Ming's insistence, Newman reluctantly readjusted the tracks back to a symmetrical state.

With the power system restored to balance, the train was finally able to run smoothly. After a series of detailed corrections, the final assembly and commissioning of the new locomotive was truly completed.

The team members began dismantling the makeshift sheds, making final preparations for their departure.

"What's the next route planned?" Zijin asked as she tidied up the tools and blueprints scattered on the long table.

"Let's follow the ancient riverbed first, pass through Returning Bird Bay, and then head to Compton Forest," Su Ming replied. "We need to refuel there."

"Can this motorcycle be used to burn wood now?" Zijin asked, somewhat surprised.

"That won't work." Su Ming shook his head.

Although the Doomsday Locomotive's boiler features a multi-fuel compatible design, greatly improving its fuel adaptability, it is not a panacea.

"The wood needs to be carbonized and then crushed into pellets before it can be used," he explained.

"Isn't this just making charcoal?" Zijin said. "I heard it involves digging a pit and then throwing wood in to smolder?"

"Yes, do you know this technique?" Su Ming asked.

Although he had prepared a tutorial on rudimentary carbon production methods, theoretical knowledge and practical operation are two completely different things.

Zijin shook her head, then turned to ask the listless Newman, "And you?"

"I can build earthen kilns," Newman replied listlessly. He'd been sullen ever since the tracks were forced to be symmetrical. "But I don't know how to fire them."

"There must be experienced charcoal makers in the villages near Compton Forest," Ge'enda'er suggested at the opportune moment. "We can ask them for help when we get there."

This method is good. The locals understand the soil conditions best, are familiar with the properties of the wood, and know how to process it to achieve the best results.

"How much charcoal do you need?" Newman picked up a pen and paper and began designing the earthen kiln.

Su Ming quickly estimated, "It will probably require around three hundred tons."

"So many!" Newman exclaimed in surprise. He turned his head, his gaze sweeping over the refurbished motorcycle. "This big guy can really eat!"

Qiluo peeked over from the other side, looking at the group with a puzzled expression.

"... I wasn't talking about you."

****

Su Ming decided to make some compromises. He said to Newman, "You can make the train's exterior paint asymmetrical."

Newman's soul fire instantly blazed brighter. "Can the searchlights and obstacle-clearing shovel be redesigned for an unconventional layout?"

Su Ming sighed and rubbed his forehead in exasperation. This master's aesthetic sense had probably been infected by the devil. But, as for equipment like searchlights and obstacle clearing shovels, asymmetrical doesn't matter, as long as it doesn't affect their functionality.

"As long as it doesn't interfere with functionality, you can adjust it!" Su Ming agreed.

"Alright!" Newman immediately perked up, and then seized the opportunity to make another request, "Give me your two sets of toys!"

"What toy?" Su Ming didn't react.

Newman turned and pointed to the corner of the shed, where two unassembled 100mm smoothbore gun parts were neatly arranged, their dark metal surfaces gleaming with a cold light.

This was just transmitted by him; he didn't expect Newman to notice it so quickly.

The story begins the day before yesterday. Ling Wen handed him a report yesterday, which analyzed that the weapon system of the Youth Civilization was significantly insufficient in power when facing higher-level targets from another world.

Su Ming unfolded the document, and the report analyzed Yexiya as an example. In the first engagement, the M110's 7.62mm rounds would not have been able to hit Yexiya at all if it weren't for Zijin and Xiwo's all-out attack breaking through the shield.

Later, under the cover of Zijin, Su Ming got close enough to fire, and the bullets hit the enemy, but didn't even break the skin.

The analysts in the report believe this is a disgrace to firearms!