Yinfei and the Picture Books

Just as the temple's higher-ups were furious but helpless, Elder Yinfei secretly met with the Pope. A top-secret agreement was reached: on the surface, Yinfei would follow Dragon King Gelie's orders and participate in the "capture" of Bay Owl. But in reality, she would look for an opportunity during the operation to create an accident and kill Bay Owl completely, eliminating any future threat!

The Temple of Light, on the other hand, had to provide enormous support throughout the entire process and then compensate Yinfei afterward.

It was because of this secret agreement and Yinfei's direct matchmaking that the tactic of spending huge sums of money to destructively transform the "Jade Sea and Tang Valley" into a "Dragon Carrier" was possible, and that the long pursuit of Bone King and Bay Owl that followed spanned thousands of miles of sea was possible.

However, fate continued to play tricks on them.

Shortly after leaving the waters of Brown Gold Island, the target, the "White Triangle," vanished completely into the vast ocean like a ghost. After a long and extensive search yielded no results, the Azure Sea Valley carrier battle group had no choice but to return to the Northern Continent's Temple of Light territory to rest and resupply at North Bright Port.

Yinfei and her elite Silver Dragon Guard also rested and awaited orders in Beiming Port.

It wasn't until half a month ago that the temple's intelligence network detected Bone King Su Ming's presence in the Northern Lands Grodno region once again. The fleet immediately prepared to launch another attack.

But just before his departure, Elder Yinfei suddenly left without warning and has not returned to this day.

****

Unable to extract any further useful information from Yin'er, Tai'ao'duo, filled with doubt, left the oppressively suffocating dragon's hold with his adjutant.

These Silver Dragon Guard only carry out orders to capture. But the Temple of Light cannot allow the Bay Owl to live!

Back on the upper deck, the biting sea breeze, carrying a salty, fishy smell, hit him, but it did nothing to dispel the gloom in his heart. He immediately summoned his adjutant and gave the order, "Investigate immediately! Find out if anyone happened to be present and witnessed anything before Elder Yinfei left!"

This matter had actually been investigated before, but to no avail. Nevertheless, the adjutant accepted the order and went to investigate again.

Fortunately, this time there was a breakthrough—a logistics staff member who had been slacking off and neglecting his post was caught. He was supposed to be preparing food for the dragon in the kitchen, but he had secretly slipped away to sunbathe on a nearby hillside.

The cook was soon brought before General Tai'ao'duo.

"General! I know I'm guilty!" The cook's voice trembled with fear.

"Tell me everything you saw!" Tai'ao'duo commanded.

The cook tried hard to recall the scene that day, "Before Yinfei left, she... seemed no different from usual. She took a newly arrived picture book, lay on the mountaintop, and flipped through it while basking in the sun—you know, General, Elder Yinfei has always been very interested in these kinds of picture books."

The sight of a massive Silver Dragon carefully picking up a tiny picture book, no bigger than her eyeball, with her enormous claws and flipping through it was indeed incredibly bizarre, even somewhat absurd.

But the dragon's preferences are not open to their judgment.

Yinfei used projection magic to magnify the contents of the book and project them into the air in front of her, thus enabling her to read.

While using Polymorph to temporarily transform into human form could solve the reading problem, it's not a good solution.

The greater the disparity in the transformation ratio, the more exponentially the Magic Power consumption increases; at the same time, there is an awkward problem: Yinfei's enormous mass will not disappear—even if it stands on solid rock, it will be instantly crushed to pieces.

If it were a normal surface, one would simply sink into it awkwardly.

Yinfei lazily flipped through the picture book. Suddenly, her movements froze. Her enormous vertical pupils stared intently at the projected image, as if lost in deep thought and shock!

Immediately afterward, Yinfei closed the book, briefly instructed Yin'er beside her, essentially telling him to take charge and continue the pursuit of Bay Owl. Then, she unfurled her enormous silver dragon wings, and with a sharp whistling sound tearing through the air, she soared straight into the sky, flying towards the northeastern horizon, quickly disappearing without a trace.

"What book was she looking at? Which picture book specifically?" Tai'ao'duo pressed, as this was the only remaining clue.

The cook's face showed panic. "My lord, I... I was too far away at the time! Yinfei Scarlet's projection technique projects the image directly in front of her own eyes; I couldn't see the content at all." He hurriedly added, "And when she left, she took the whole book with her!"

The adjutant recalled a piece of information he had obtained while questioning others and immediately added, "General! A guard who was on duty in the vicinity mentioned that he caught a glimpse of the book Yinfei was carrying from afar; the cover resembled the distinctive binding style of the Sang River Illustration Publishing House!"

"Sang River Illustration Publishing House..." Tai'ao'duo said, "Immediately find all the art books published by this publishing house!"

"All of them?!" The adjutant was taken aback and quickly explained, "General, this publishing house is quite large, and it publishes a large number of picture books."

"Then let's prioritize the most recently published ones!"

"Yes, General!"

****

Earth, Dodder Group work area, a tactical seminar is underway.

"The Jade Sea and Tang Valley must be destroyed! We can no longer allow it to interfere with our plans," Su Ming said.

This aircraft carrier, capable of carrying and deploying dragons, poses a constant threat to them, who currently lack air superiority.

Attacking the Temple of Light is secondary; Su Ming's current strategic goal of conquering the Stars and the sea will not be tolerated.

"The wire-guided torpedoes are ready," Dodder reported. "We've modified them with extended-range wire-guided torpedoes, achieving an effective range of 150 kilometers."

Employing the most traditional fiber-optic guidance method, the torpedo is remotely controlled by the launching ship, ensuring terminal correction capability in complex sea conditions.

"This range isn't enough," Su Ming pointed out. "Dragons can attack at a range of several hundred kilometers—can the range be increased further?"

"The weight of the optical fiber itself is not the limiting factor," a technical expert replied. "The main problem is that the greater the distance, the more environmental interference and unexpected factors there are, and the reliability drops sharply. Moreover, increasing the range requires more propellant, which will inevitably reduce the space available for the warhead's explosive charge."

The torpedoes that Jisu produced for Su Ming used compressed air and alcohol as propellants, which already took up a large portion of their volume. The target, the Jade Sea and Tang Valley, had a displacement of over 5,000 tons after its modification, and its hull was also fitted with powerful runic armor.

If the warhead's yield is insufficient, a fatal blow cannot be guaranteed.

After discussion, the torpedo's range was ultimately increased to 200 kilometers through limited modifications.

"That works." Su Ming accepted the plan. "I will arrange a launch platform to launch close to the target area."

"Simply destroying the aircraft carrier might not be thorough enough," a staff officer added. "The North Sea is dotted with numerous small islands. Even if the Jade Sea and Tang Valley sinks, those Silver Dragon, with their flying ability and endurance, can rely on these islands as temporary resupply points to participate in subsequent operations."

He presented the graphics, stating, "Based on the distribution density of the islands in the North Sea, the Silver Dragon, using the islands as springboards, can still cover 70% of the operational area in the North Sea."

"We should try to completely paralyze the fighting capabilities of these dragons," said Dodder.

"Of course I'd like to do that too!" Su Ming sighed in deep agreement. "If possible, unleash a few hundred anti-aircraft missiles and give these Silver Dragon a good 'welcome' with a metal storm!"

However, the reality was not so simple. Although Su Ming had supplied a batch of explosives, these explosives were unreliable as propellants. The ramjet engine solution, which used alcohol as fuel, was completely unsuitable for miniaturized missiles.

"On land, a solid propellant detonation would simply be a detonation. But this is on a ship, and the damage caused by such a detonation would be unacceptable," Su Ming emphasized.

Another key issue is that conventional explosive warheads have limited effectiveness against the Silver Dragon's tough scales and vigorous vitality; while alloy continuous rod warheads, although highly efficient at killing aerial targets, are not suitable for the current situation.

"Beating them up is fine, even breaking their bones is okay," Zijin said. She was listening to the meeting through Miao Xin's mental link, "But we can't kill them."

In order to resolve the conflict peacefully with the Dragon Race, we should not escalate the conflict.

Su Ming now knows that the dragon's goal is not to directly kill Zijin. However, the existence of these Silver Dragon is itself a major variable that will influence the course of the battle.

Therefore, Su Ming fully agreed to properly deal with these dragons.

"So our staff has devised a plan," said Dodder. "We need to first confirm the dragons' evolutionary lineage—for example, do they belong to the archosaurs?"

"Yes," Zijin quickly relayed through Miao Xin, "They are consistent within the broad classification framework."

"And how are they related to birds? For example, chicks?" Dodder continued to ask.

Zijin quickly summoned Stacy, and after discussing it, the two gave an affirmative answer, "There is a high degree of similarity in anatomical structure and physiological characteristics."

"Then," the Dodder shrugged, "Do you possess a virus that could pose a threat to the Silver Dragon?"

"Psoriasis virus," Zijin immediately answered, "We now have samples of this virus."

There aren't many types of viruses that can effectively threaten Silver Dragon, but they do exist, especially in areas where magical healing is ineffective, such as stubborn skin diseases.

"Psoriasis is the nemesis of Silver Dragon," Stacy added. "Once infected, it causes redness, swelling, and itching all over the body, and it can also cause the dragon scales to lose their magical defensive function. In severe cases, it can even cause large areas of the dragon scales to fall off."

"Um, Zijin," Su Ming said, "What do you intend to do with this?"

"What do you think? They were the ones who beat me up the most when I was a kid!" Zijin gritted her teeth. "But what's the point of me having just a tiny bit of frozen virus strain?"

Dodder clapped his hands excitedly, "Excellent! All the key elements are in place—it would be even better if a virologist could lead the implementation of this plan!"

Zijin clearly understood what she meant, but she was currently too busy to attend to everything. She pointed to Stacy: "In the field of virology, Stacy is more professional than I am."

"Then we can finally 'tame' these arrogant dragons!" Dodder smiled.