Celestite Hydropower Station
Bowers, a member of the Temple of Light's Dark Side Operations Group who was previously arrested on the "Gold Coin Coachman," underwent a "thorough" interrogation, but failed to uncover any further valuable clues.
He had to refocus his attention on the Master Rank assassin.
Although the assassin committed suicide on the spot after his defeat in battle, for a necromancer, life and death are never absolute boundaries. The tricky part is that the assassin was branded with runes that shatter the soul, which were triggered upon death and destroyed his soul structure.
Jielusi, who was present at the time, reacted quickly, but busy treating Ruixiuli, she could only intervene briefly, leaving the assassin's soul as a pile of fragments instead of crushing it into powder.
Bowers used necromancy, painstakingly piecing together and gluing together the assassin's shattered soul fragments, barely managing to create a ghostly form. Unfortunately, this ghost was dazed, devoid of intelligence, and unable to communicate.
Taking advantage of the break brought by the heavy rain, Bowers convened a group of necromancers skilled in the realm of spirits for a consultation. Everyone used their unique abilities, trying various methods of repair and awakening, and finally managed to restore the ghost's basic instinctive perception. However, it was still far from being able to provide a confession.
A necromancer suggested an idea: infuse the "foolish" ghost with messages such as "mission accomplished" or "return quickly," and then follow it to see where it eventually drifts off to.
Bowers' eyes lit up, and he immediately put it into practice. Sure enough, under the infusion of his mind, the originally dazed ghost seemed to be triggered and actually regained a trace of "life," and began to drift unsteadily in a certain direction.
"I just don't know how far we'll have to chase them," the mage who had offered the advice remarked. He prepared to return to his cabin to continue playing cards with his colleagues.
Bowers replied, "It's alright, we'll pursue this to the end anyway."
"Wait, what about us?"
"We!" Bowers glared at him. "Hurry up and pack your bags."
Soon, Bowers dragged the grimacing mage along, following the ghost's figure, and together they stepped into the depths of the cold rain.
****
The heavy rain lasted for a day and a night.
After the storm, the dwarven cargo ship "Bronzebeard" finally sailed slowly into the calm harbor of Sapphire Port.
After completing its supply delivery mission on Shining Island, it headed to the Northern Lands Port to patiently wait for Newman and his party, who were stranded on Sacred Mountain due to dismantling their spoils. Now, the mission has finally been successfully completed.
The ship docked smoothly, and the large amount of precious alchemical materials dismantled from the Holy Mountain Divine Might Prison and the Sea of Divine Grace began to be unloaded. Apart from the key components of the "Antelope Horn" and the "Everwatching Obelisk," Newman and his men looted any valuable items that could be found and were easy to carry.
However, Su Ming's gaze swept across the deck of the Bronzebeard. The sailors, having withstood the fierce storm, appeared quite listless, and some even went directly to the newly built medical center in the port.
The sail on one of the masts was badly damaged, but fortunately, Sapphire Port can now provide this type of material and repair services.
Newman looked around at the port, which was already taking shape and was very well constructed, and began to nitpick what he considered unreasonable.
"Your berth layout is a bit too symmetrical," he commented, turning to Su Ming. "You must consider the berthing needs of vessels of different tonnages, as well as the actual utilization efficiency of the water surface space—"
Su Ming raised his hand, signaling him to stop the topic, and instead tossed him a flat schematic diagram.
Newman unfolded the blueprints and quickly grasped the overall layout. "You're planning to build a large dam on the White River?"
"Wait, why is the dam shaped like this?" he said, his voice filled with surprise.
"Oh, how strange," Su Ming teased, "You Nervous Swallow, you actually have moments when you think things are crooked?"
"I only pursue asymmetry when necessary!" Newman immediately retorted. "I would never be asymmetrical for the sake of being asymmetrical!"
"Heh." Su Ming scoffed lightly, "Then why did you cripple the tracks of my Doomsday Locomotive?"
"Didn't your technology team have a concept called 'static instability'?!" Newman forced an explanation, "I used that to improve steering maneuverability!"
"Stillness and instability doesn't refer to that at all!" Su Ming bluntly exposed.
As they talked, they walked to the door of the workshop. Pushing the door open, they were greeted by a scene of utter chaos. Scattered debris littered the floor, tables and chairs were overturned, and the walls were broken.
The large screen monitor hanging on the wall was particularly eye-catching, covered with large, spiderweb-like cracks.
Su Ming summoned several skeleton servants and ordered them to clean up the mess, while he walked straight to the damaged screen.
The light of "Summoning of All Things" flashed softly, and the large screen was instantly transformed, except that the serial number on the back had quietly changed to another set of numbers.
"What happened?" Newman looked around at the chaotic scene, bewildered and uncertain. "I heard there were assassins who broke in earlier—could the enemy have already attacked this place?"
"Oh, it's nothing serious." Su Ming pulled up the sofa, straightened the table, and replied casually, "It's just that a young lady wasn't playing the game properly. Then we got into a fight and forgot to clean up."
Since it wasn't a formal sparring session and the venue wasn't suitable, both of them only used the minimum amount of power. Although Zijin made the first move, Su Ming actually gained the upper hand once the fight started.
Su Ming is still puzzled. Compared to her ruthlessness and severity when she first arrived in the other world, Zijin's actions during training and combat now seem inexplicably gentle at times.
Therefore, this fight, which started with a verbal argument during a game, came suddenly and ended just as quickly. Regardless of the torrential rain outside, the two stopped fighting and ran outside to play together.
Zijin enthusiastically recounted to Su Ming the many things she remembered about Dragon Valley, took him for a stroll around, and even personally demonstrated how to play pranks on the little dragons. Afterward, she generously gave them sweet candies, making the little ones stop crying and start laughing.
Recalling these scenes, Su Ming's lips involuntarily curled into a slight smile.
"Hey hey hey?" Newman stretched out his tiny bone claws and waved them vigorously in front of Su Ming's eyes a few times. "Can you stop laughing like that? It's giving me the creeps."
Su Ming shook his head, pulling his thoughts back to reality. "I just happened to think of something interesting." He glanced at Newman. "But you, why do you find it creepy that people's natural expressions make you feel uneasy?"
"You smile just like Dafulin, and you look at me with the exact same eyes, don't you think?" Newman retorted irritably.
****
Su Ming unfolded his phone, connected it to the large screen on the wall, and then projected a detailed engineering drawing.
"The name has been officially decided: Celestite Hydroelectric Power Station," Su Ming explained, pointing to the blueprints. "The main dam will be constructed using an earth-rock dam structure."
It may seem counterintuitive, but from a technological standpoint, especially in the field of high dam engineering, earth-rock dams are the most widely used and common type of dam. In particular, in the homeland of Su Ming, thanks to its mature construction technology, earth-rock dams are the absolute mainstay in large-scale water conservancy projects.
Among ultra-high dams exceeding 250 meters, earth-rock dams account for a higher proportion. Thanks to the rapid development of engineering technology, the 300-meter mark has now been successfully broken through both theoretically and technically.
"An earth-core rockfill dam?" Newman's soul focused, carefully studying the details of the dam's cross-sectional structure. "Hmm—the construction principle has many similarities to some of our designs. However, your design and dimensions will require less than half the material!" His tone was full of concern. "I need to calculate carefully whether this design can really hold back such a high river."
"I suggest you don't waste your energy on this," Su Ming advised seriously. "When it comes to computing power, you can only bow down and admit defeat to Earth's supercomputer clusters."
The final optimized configuration, achieved through complex fluid mechanics and structural mechanics simulations, is far more sophisticated than any individual human could achieve. Moreover, any single member of the engineering team involved in this project has likely participated in more large-scale water conservancy projects than all the large dams in the entire history of this other world combined.
Su Ming didn't finish his sentence, fearing it would hurt Newman's pride. Su Ming would rather believe that Earth might be defeated in a potential future conflict than doubt that the madman would lose in terms of infrastructure technology.
Newman paused for a moment, then let out a long sigh—"I understand."
He continued examining the blueprints. "A hydroelectric power station?"
Su Ming swiped his finger, and the screen quickly switched to display the turbine unit design diagram. He explained the working principle concisely, "Water flow drives the turbine to rotate, which in turn drives the generator impeller to rotate, generating electricity."
"It works on the same principle as our Doomsday Train, using water instead of steam." Newman understood quickly. "How much electricity can this hydroelectric power station produce?"
"The designed elevation difference is 150 meters," Su Ming replied. "It will install four large generator sets with a total installed capacity of 1 million kilowatts. You can understand that, if it operates at half power, it's equivalent to providing power for more than 4,000 tons of coal per day."
"Damn it!" Newman cursed under his breath. In just one day, he had easily equaled the annual output of a small coal mine in another world.
Industrial monsters are indeed inhuman!
"These generator sets need to be embedded in a sturdy structure to operate stably, right?" He gestured for Su Ming to switch the view back to the overall layout diagram, and he quickly understood. "Oh! I get it! We'll dig a water diversion tunnel inside the side of the mountain, and embed the turbine generator sets directly into the rock strata. That way, when the earth-rock dam cuts off and raises the water level of the main river, the water flow will be forced to change course, flowing at high speed downstream through the side water diversion tunnel, driving the turbine generators inside to rotate and generate electricity!"
"That's right!" Su Ming nodded in confirmation. "In this way, we can avoid the need for large-scale concrete structure pouring."
Otherwise, if we want to build it, we'll have to wait for a large quantity of cement to arrive.
Although the cement from the other world met the basic requirements, its production capacity made him shake his head in disbelief. Not to mention, the entire process, from placing the order to its arrival at the port by sea, would take at least two months.
Fortunately, three months ago, Su Ming had taken precautions for the planned construction of the production base and placed a huge order for tens of thousands of tons of cement with the Dwarf Merchant Guild. After confirming the location in the Dragon Race Kingdom, he immediately arranged for the shipment to begin.
Besides the few cargo ships that have already arrived at the port, there are still more than twenty fully loaded transport ships on their way.
With the strategic plan pressing, Su Ming didn't want to wait a moment longer, so he could only strive for cost-effectiveness in the design.
"The entire project is divided into four main phases," he continued, elaborating on the construction blueprint. "The first phase focuses on completing the excavation of the water diversion and power generation tunnel, as well as the installation of the turbine generator units. The second phase involves constructing the primary earth-rock dam to close the main river channel. If these two steps are successfully completed, the Celestite Hydropower Station will be operational and generating electricity."
"You're really impatient," Newman said, his soul fire flickering as he looked at the blueprints. "But the amount of earthwork is still enormous. Even if we put all the Final Bone Mad Machines members on board—"
"The main construction team isn't them," Su Ming interrupted him. "A thousand dragons, is that enough?"
The "Chicken Dinner Internet Cafe" business continues to boom. The Sapphire store has expanded to 150 gaming machines, and a second store is under construction in the Ruby Base to accommodate even more "dragon" customers.
The number of dragons forced into labor due to abject poverty is increasing every day.
"A... a giant dragon?!" Newman's soulfire trembled violently as he exclaimed incredulously, "Those notoriously lazy bastards?!—Haven't you heard the proverb: the most industrious dragon in the world must be a bone dragon!"
"The dragon's side is a matter for Zijin and me to handle," Su Ming said. "You just need to tell me, how long will this project take to complete?"
"You guys are really amazing!" Newman praised, then calculated seriously for a moment, "Hmm..."
If the construction workforce is truly guaranteed, the first and second phases should be completed in about ten days!
Su Ming clapped his hands together forcefully. The progress was much faster than he had expected, which was undoubtedly a good thing.
"Of course, there are still many details to be adjusted in the plan," Newman added. "Magic, alchemy techniques, including necromancy modeling, can all be applied on a large scale to the engineering work to improve efficiency and quality."
"Alright." Su Ming looked around and saw that the skeleton servants had already cleaned the workshop. He spread a stack of printed detailed drawings on the table. "Come on, let's get started!"
****
While Su Ming and Newman were fully immersed in their work on the Celestite Water Conservancy Complex, on the other side of the Ruby Base, the second "Chicken Dinner Internet Cafe" run by Zijin officially opened. She also arranged for Stacy to be there, and built a comprehensive medical service center for both humans and dragons next to the internet cafe—of course, medical services for Dragon Race were charged.
On the one hand, this area will become the main activity center for members of the Final Bone Mad Machines for some time to come;
On the other hand, the dragons that come for treatment will also bring traffic to the internet cafe.
Stacy holds a high position and prestige among the Dragon Race, and no dragon would easily offend her. Therefore, when she intervenes to resolve frictions or disputes, the results are often surprisingly good.
As the localized supply chain gradually improved, the cost of providing food for the dragons was also rapidly optimized, and the catering department lowered its prices, attracting more dragons to accept this diet.
In terms of taste and hygiene, this is a world of difference from what they used to do, eating raw tubers!
As planned, the "Chicken Dinner Internet Cafe" has officially launched a membership points system. Apart from reserving a small number of seats for new customers who are trying it for the first time, most of the seats are given priority to those with points, and the higher the "VIP" level, the higher the priority.
This system immediately caused a huge uproar among the dragons, and discontent was high. Many shrewd and wealthy dragons could have lived comfortably for a long time thanks to their savings.
But with these new rules, they can't even get in line, which is forcing these "old folks" to do the work!
In response, Zijin's reply was quite simple. She firmly pressed all the dragons that were causing the most trouble and inciting the boycott into the ground, leaving only their heads and struggling claws sticking out, creating a remarkably "harmonious" scene.
****
The number of migrant workers from Longnan has climbed to three digits.
With a significant increase in the labor supply, Newman immediately started the construction of the Celestite Hydropower Station. On the vast construction site, the dragons displayed astonishing power. They either used powerful earth and rock magic or used their sharp claws to directly chisel and excavate huge water diversion tunnels, and then transported the huge amount of excavated earth and rock into slag trucks.
Incidentally, these massive slag trucks are also powered by the Giant Dragon.
In short, the entire construction site was extremely spectacular and awe-inspiring. Newman, the halfling skeleton, now loved to climb to the highest rock on the construction site and admire the dragons' taut, massive muscles undulating in the sunlight.
Su Ming organized a publicity team and erected a huge project display board in a prominent location near the construction site, showcasing the design plan, grand plan, specific scale, and many powerful functions of the Celestite Hydropower Station after its completion and commissioning in a comprehensive and detailed manner.
The surrounding mountain walls are covered with slogans such as "Building the valley, I share in the glory!", "Strive for the rise of the dragon!", and "Revitalize the Dragon Race, make the valley strong and the dragon rich!"
At the same time, Zijin mobilized the administrative power of the Dragon Court to cooperate, and many elders set an example by personally participating in the labor. In terms of propaganda, the dragons' behavior of earning computer points was solemnly defined as "dedicating to the future of the Dragon Race", and outstanding dragon workers were commended.
As more dragons joined the fray, expenses for paying wages and providing food began to rise rapidly.
Su Ming was initially worried about the cash flow. Although they had a lot of savings and had seized a large fortune in the Sacred Mountain battle, there were still many things to be done and the expenses would be considerable.
However, after carefully reviewing the accounts, Younier was surprised to find that after deducting all the wages paid to the dragon laborers, the "Chicken Dinner Internet Cafe" had actually made a huge profit of over 100,000 gold coins in such a short period of time!
Furthermore, it continues to maintain a considerable surplus in terms of turnover!
Su Ming was furious about this, and he angrily added another batch of new games, vowing to squeeze every last drop out of these dragons' pockets!
Although making money is tempting, he's even more craving the dragon's body!
****
On the dragon's side, despite having plenty of gold coins, they were denied access to the machines due to the membership system. Their discontent grew increasingly intense.
A group of dragons, unable to contain themselves, went to Dragon King Gelie to petition, strongly protesting the "Chicken Dinner Internet Cafe" business model, arguing that it should not link computer access to work points, as this was forcing them to work.
Moreover, not only does the fee double after three hours of use each day, but they also refuse service after six hours, severely impacting their experience.
Following the most direct tradition of the Dragon Race, Gelie shoved every single one of the protesters into the ground as a form of "appeasement."
Su Ming felt somewhat reluctant to accept this solution, and he suggested to Zijin that she should formulate and promulgate clear laws and regulations as soon as possible, which would lay the foundation for promoting the rule of law in the Dragon Race.
After some discussion, the Council of Elders formally passed and promulgated the new law, "Those who cause trouble shall be put to the ground."
Very good, they have taken a solid and distinctive step toward the goal of "governing Long by law".
However, Gelie also developed a strong interest in the construction site and came to the Tianqingshi construction site himself. Witnessing these dragons who used to lazily bask in the sun now sweating profusely and working hard, the Dragon King was so moved that he almost shed tears.
"Your Gelie Ge Lie, the application of hydropower can significantly reduce our dependence on combustion-based energy sources." Su Ming, riding on Gelie's broad dragon back, accompanied him on the inspection tour, explaining the project's advantages as he went. "This will have immeasurable long-term benefits for protecting the ecological environment of Dragon Valley."
"I don't understand that," Gelie's deep voice rang out, "But in terms of transportation, it constructed a sturdy passage connecting the east and west banks, making the upstream river channel smoother and greatly facilitating inland waterway shipping."
"That's right." Su Ming nodded. "The rise in water level also means that irrigation conditions on both sides of the upstream area will improve." He added, "Tens of thousands of square kilometers of land will benefit—of course, this requires the construction of a detailed network of irrigation ditches."
"This is the duty of the Dragon Court," Gelie replied.
"There's another benefit," Su Ming continued, "That is, through the reservoir's water storage and management, the flood situation in the lower reaches of the White River can be improved."
Upon hearing this, Gelie nodded his enormous head. "Thank you very much. I have decided to refund the land management fees you paid."
Su Ming didn't care about this, "Your Majesty needn't do this, lest you give others something to say. We also benefit quite a bit from this project."
"I have conditions attached." Gelie shook his head, revealing his true intentions, "I will give you an additional 500,000 gold coins, and the electricity will be yours, but this Celestite Dam must belong to the Dragon Race."
Su Ming quickly weighed the pros and cons: it wouldn't be a bad thing for Dragon Court to hold and manage such a huge asset; moreover, it was equivalent to receiving a cash injection of hundreds of thousands of gold coins, which could indeed alleviate Su Ming's financial pressure in the future.
"Deal!" Su Ming readily agreed.
"Also, those roads and such," Gelie's gaze swept over the newly constructed, twelve-meter-wide, smooth road Su Ming had built, "Please feel free to build them."
Dragons can fly, but the millions of alien people engaged in production on this land are highly dependent on the road network.
Before Su Ming arrived, Dragon Valley only had one main road running north to south that was in decent condition. The rest were production trails built spontaneously by humans, dwarves, or goblins, which lacked unified planning standards and varied greatly in quality.
"I've long envied the magnificent infrastructure projects in the homelands of other races, and I've always been incredibly envious," Gelie remarked. "Therefore, the Dragon Race should rightfully bear all the construction costs in this regard."
"Please allow me to be blunt," Su Ming asked directly, "Can the Dragon Race's current financial situation sustain this?"
While the dragons are largely self-sufficient in terms of food, Dragon Valley relies heavily on imports for essential goods such as daily necessities and alchemical materials.
"Isn't Zijin going to start reorganizing the management system for the population within her territory?" Gelie replied, "This will bring a significant increase in fiscal revenue to Dragon Valley."
Su Ming cautiously shook his head, "This takes time, and it requires a considerable investment in the early stages."
Gelie, however, seemed unconcerned. "That's not a big problem. We old dragons still have some savings we can use to cover the costs. In short," he said firmly, "We absolutely cannot let the least important factor like funding interfere with the construction process."
"----Understood!"
****
Soon, Gelie's inspection came to an end.
He was genuinely satisfied with the tremendous changes that had taken place in the area. The bustling scene at Sapphire Port, along with the supply chain and ecosystem spurred by "Chicken Dinner Internet Cafe," had quietly transformed the previously stagnant Dragon Race economic model.
Although Gelie didn't fully understand these changes, he could clearly sense that they were leading the Dragon Race towards a direction closer to human and dwarf societies.
"Your Gelie Ge Lie, there is one more thing I need to report to you." Su Ming led the Dragon King to the internet cafe and into a nest-like computer booth.
He connected his phone to the projector, and a newly obtained topographic map was displayed on the huge screen.
"Your Gelie Ge Lie, while organizing the survey data, I discovered a peculiar phenomenon," Su Ming said, pointing to the comparison map on the screen. "The actual terrain and boundaries of Dragon Valley that I measured differ significantly from the map data provided by you."
The surveying technology in this other world was not backward. Initially, Su Ming's actual measurement results differed from the map markings by about 2%.
The entry and exit points are distributed relatively randomly, within a reasonable range.
However, the situation changed when the surveying work progressed to the border area where it met the Gray Ridge goblins.
"Look this way." Su Ming circled a section of the screen with his finger. "According to the scale, the goblins' territory extends all the way to the foot of the mountains. But our on-site surveys show that their controlled area is much larger than what your map shows."
"You mean, the goblins are encroaching on our territory?" Gelie's voice deepened, his enormous dragon eyes fixed on the map on the screen.
Su Ming shook his head. "It was wrong from the start. The map deliberately made some key areas near the border appear abnormally small, while other areas were disproportionately enlarged." He pointed to a river dividing the land. "For example, here, the map uses this river as the boundary. The land on this side of the river, which belongs to Dragon Valley, is depicted on the map as almost three times larger than it actually is, creating the illusion of equal division between the two sides."
"Crack!" Several crisp sounds rang out, and a hard pebble under Gelie's feet shattered.
"There's something that confuses me," Su Ming said frankly. "As an aerial race, you should have had no trouble noticing this discrepancy when dividing your territories."
"This map was drawn a thousand years ago by the previous Dragon King and the Gray Ridge goblins, depicting the division of territory." Gelie sighed heavily, his tone filled with anger and resentment. "The specific details are lost to history, but there's no doubt that those cunning Gray Ridge greenskins were behind it all!"
"According to the map, the area of Dragon Valley should be 1.5 million square kilometers," Su Ming retrieved the calculation data, "But our actual survey results are only about 1.4 million square kilometers. Considering the offset of the boundary line, I believe that in terms of territorial division, we have been encroached upon by approximately 100,000 square kilometers."
"Hmph!" Gelie was furious, slamming his massive forepaws into the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust and rubble. "These audacious green-skinned trash! Thank you for investigating this matter, I'll—"
"Your Majesty, please calm down," Su Ming quickly advised. "Our trade with the goblins is currently very frequent, and a large amount of logistics relies on Green Thorn Port as a transit hub. I implore you to suspend your actions at least until the current peak of trade ends."
Gelie took a deep breath, suppressing his surging anger, his massive chest heaving. "Fine! I'll endure it for a few more days. Anyway," he stared at the occupied area on the map, his dragon eyes flashing with cold light, "Those lands, they can't escape!"
****
The Forest Dragon Race in the dragon workforce were specially organized and assigned to the newly established agricultural and forestry chemical industry department, mainly responsible for producing ethanol through bio-fermentation using plant raw materials.
Qiluo enthusiastically mingled with this large group of people, and her status was promoted to technical supervisor. Now, wherever she goes, she carries with her an inescapable smell of alcohol from fermented plants.
The paper mill project was also successfully launched. Su Ming used mature technologies from the other world for traditional processes such as dehydration, forming, and drying in paper production; however, he introduced equipment and advanced processes from Earth's technology side in the pulping stage.
The final paper produced was of exceptionally high quality, far exceeding the local standards of the other world.
Similarly, the production lines for ethanol separation and purification, as well as the synthesis units for ethylene oxide, which played a significant role in the Battle of Sacred Mountain, are also gradually entering the construction and commissioning phase.
With the resources at his disposal, Su Ming began working on the interdimensional teleportation of the equipment. He had already removed the "Spirit Wall Crystal Barrier".
As he adapted to the "Whispers of the Stars," his spiritual power was gradually becoming more refined, and its total amount was also increasing.