The Five Fangs

Su Ming took out his tablet, unfolded the screen, and launched the training program that the engineering team had specially written for learning torpedo operation.

"This is the simulator software," he pointed to the interface on the screen, "It includes tutorials and live-fire simulations. Time is of the essence; you need to master the basic operations as soon as possible, understand the underwater navigation characteristics of torpedoes, and target search. Specific tactical plans have been prepared in advance."

"No problem!" Beianqi immediately took the tablet, her eyes sparkling with an eager spirit of challenge.

Under Su Ming's guidance, she quickly got into the zone, her fingertips swiping across the screen as she immersed herself in learning and simulation training.

About half an hour later, the torpedo's fuel and warhead loading were completed.

Su Ming conducted functional tests: the thrusters started smoothly; the control surfaces at the tail of the torpedo rotated flexibly, and the control response was precise and rapid.

The dwarf cargo ship, the Ale, was already moored and ready next to the Pansy. Torpedoes were carefully hoisted onto the Ale's deck and secured.

With her tablet in hand, Beianqi nimbly leaped onto the deck of the Ale. Her gaze swept over the torpedo's black metal hull, noticing three square characters on it. Curious, she tilted her head to examine them, only to find she didn't recognize them; they were clearly characters from Su Ming's hometown.

"Mr. Su," Beianqi pointed to the words and asked with great interest, "Is this the name of this big guy?"

Su Ming rubbed his temples. If he had known the engineers at Fengshou would be so unrestrained, he should have chosen a more impressive name for himself.

"It's called a ' Fever-Reducing Suppository '," he said with a hint of helplessness.

"A ' Fever-Reducing Suppository '?" Beianqi whistled crisply. "Ha! A round thing that makes the enemy completely 'cool' down? That's a fitting name!"

"... Whatever you think is good is fine."

The two waved to each other across the ship's railing.

"Have a safe journey! Be careful!" Su Ming called out in a loud voice.

"Okay!" Beianqi found a spot, unfolded the tablet, and continued the simulation.

The massive mainsail and secondary sails of the Ale rose slowly to the powerful shouts of the dwarven sailors. Taking advantage of the sea breeze, the ship began to move, heading towards the area where it would rendezvous with the Five Fangs warship.

****

As night fell, the electrical team members switched on the power switches one by one, and the corridors, cabins, and work areas inside the ship were illuminated with a steady glow.

Thanks to the efforts of the electrical team, the lighting system for the main functional areas was finally installed.

After a quick and simple dinner, most of the group immediately returned to their nighttime work. Su Ming walked through a passageway still under construction and saw members of the assembly team digging into the bony structure of the bulkhead to install bundles of electrical wires and signal cables.

"Make sure the external line markings are done properly." Su Ming paused and instructed the team leader in charge of this section.

"Yes, Chairman!" The group leader immediately straightened up and replied.

Although the second batch of trainees absorbed by the Final Bone Mad Machines was large in number, their cohesion was forming at an astonishing speed.

They had suffered cruel torture in the Divine Might Prison, and it was Su Ming and his group who descended like divine soldiers, rescuing them from utter despair.

What was even more inspiring was the overwhelming firepower displayed at the time, followed by the massive steel train that traversed the entire Northern Lands in less than a week. In particular, the Pansy, a behemoth in this other world, which was gradually taking shape in their hands, instilled strong confidence in every member of the organization.

Moreover, the attacking enemy was the Temple of Light, which boosted everyone's enthusiasm for their work to an unprecedented level!

Su Ming returned to the command room, closed his eyes, and switched his view to Earth.

Fengshou had been waiting in the conference room for a long time.

"How's the progress on the anti-ship missile?" Su Ming asked directly.

The torpedo plan currently being implemented is the fastest possible response method: it does not require waiting for the Pansy to be completed, does not require Su Ming to personally operate it on the front line, and consumes the least amount of material resources.

The dwarven semi-submersible ship Five Fangs, which carried out the mission, was able to escape unscathed after the sneak attack, thanks to its excellent stealth capabilities.

However, when considering victory, one must first consider defeat. If the torpedo attack fails, "finishing blows" must be initiated immediately. Moreover, the enemy fleet is large and requires a variety of anti-ship methods.

"Everything's ready. Let's go check out the workshop," Fengshou suggested.

"OK."

"Due to limitations in 'materials'," Fengshou explained, his tone tinged with a hint of technical regret, "These missiles only have a warhead of 400 kilograms, enough to sink a warship of around 5,000 tons with a single shot."

Although supplies had been replenished, Su Ming's material reserves were not plentiful. He had more than enough common metals, but rare elements were limited.

Every time a portion of the missiles is diverted to missile manufacturing, it means that the subsequent upgrades of the "Pansy" will be delayed.

Unfortunately, once an anti-ship missile is launched on the vast ocean, it cannot be recovered regardless of whether it hits its target.

The two entered the brightly lit assembly workshop. There, they saw more than a dozen missiles that had been assembled and stood in an array on a special test rack.

"Four hundred kilograms is a bit of a stretch," Su Ming said, looking up at the missiles.

Possessing alchemical and magical enhancement technologies, coupled with the need to withstand close-quarters combat impacts, the standard combat capabilities of this other world are comparable to those of modern warships on Earth.

However, considering the actively activated shield and various magical defense mechanisms, this power is indeed somewhat insufficient.

****

The missile's slender gray casing was painted with striking lettering. Su Ming looked up and noticed that the naming had finally returned to normal:

Eagle Chicken-Plane Export Model, YJ-DE (Dimensional Eport).

Well, at least not so many were released.

"I've always been curious about something," Su Ming joked, "Since we're an 'export-oriented' company, are we eligible for export tax rebates?"

Fengshou was visibly taken aback upon hearing this. "Hmm, if a VAT invoice is issued, it should be possible to get a refund, right?"

Su Ming noticed that the missiles were numbered starting with "09", and eight positions on the display shelf were empty.

"Those few," Fengshou explained, "Have all been taken to undergo live-fire testing and design verification."

"Design validation?" Su Ming didn't really understand these things, and considering he was an outsider, he didn't delve into it further. He simply asked, "Approximately when can we expect the results?"

"It should be ready in a day," Fengshou replied, his tone carrying a subtle, almost imperceptible undertone. "We managed to acquire a decommissioned secondhand ship from South America to use as a target vessel. The seller was adamant about not selling, and the transaction was quite complicated; we only just finished the deal."

"Don't we have our own target ships?" Su Ming was even more puzzled.

"Indeed, there isn't one. Globally, this is the only one that meets our needs," Fengshou explained. "And to save time, our test ship has already been deployed there and will soon rendezvous with the target ship to begin testing!"

"Okay, I understand." Su Ming nodded.

****

Three hundred kilometers east of the Giant Horn Peninsula.

The dwarven semi-submersible heavy gunboat, Five Fangs, lay silently in its designated interception position, like a deep-sea behemoth.

After successfully receiving torpedoes and several large crates of food supplies from the Ale, it sailed all the way to this location.

It was the dead of night, the darkness was thick as ink, and the sea was so dark you couldn't see your hand in front of your face – the perfect opportunity to launch a surprise attack.

The Five Fangs shut down all its propulsion systems, and the massive hull slowly came to a stop on the inky black sea, then half-submerged to its maximum depth, striving to maintain absolute stability.

Beianqi turned on the tablet screen and carefully checked the operating procedures again.

"Step one: Power on!"

She turned on the power to the torpedoes. Soon, the tablet screen displayed that signals from two torpedoes had been detected and that they had automatically connected successfully.

The simulation interface that was originally in training mode has disappeared, and the system has officially switched to the actual combat operation mode.

"Fever Suppository No. 1 /No. 2: Self-test complete! System initialization program initiated!"

"Fever Suppository No. 1 /No. 2: Gyroscope zeroing complete, autonomous north-finding program initiated!"

Immediately afterward, a 15-minute countdown popped up, and the numbers started to jump.

Just as Beianqi put down her tablet and was about to get up, a white hoof curiously reached out towards her.

With lightning speed, she grabbed the hoof tightly!

"Don't touch them! The initialization of the Fever-Reducing Suppository requires absolute stillness!" Beianqi said anxiously.

This process theoretically needs to be carried out in a completely static location. However, due to battlefield conditions, it is already difficult to conduct at sea. Therefore, it is necessary to minimize ship sway and rely on extending the program's execution time to eliminate bullet errors.

"Tch, Su Ming's stuff is always so troublesome." Qiluo shook her hoof, which was being pinched, in dissatisfaction.

"And sister, what are you doing here?!" Beianqi asked in surprise, quickly recalling the scene when they set sail, and confirmed that she had not seen her there.

"Oh," Qiluo blinked her innocent big eyes, "I was so sleepy during the day, so I just found a place to sleep on the Ale, and when I woke up, I found myself here inexplicably."

Beianqi nodded subconsciously, but then suddenly realized, "Wait a minute! You were sleeping on the Ale, how did you end up on the Five Fangs?!"

"I don't know either!" Qiluo looked equally confused, and then let out a loud burp.

"No wonder one of the crates was unusually heavy when we were transferring supplies from the Ale!" Beianqi finally understood. "So that's what you hid inside—everything inside must have been eaten, sister?"

Qiluo casually turned her head to the side, pretending to admire the dark sea view. "At worst—I'll grow some vegetables and make it up to you."

The dwarf sailors who had been eavesdropping nearby all lit up upon hearing this. Fresh vegetables! On a sea where only salted fish and bean sprouts existed, they were practically a treasure!

Just imagining those emerald green leaves makes my mouth water uncontrollably.