Obtaining Information from a Higher Dimension

When the four arrived at the Ruby Base, the Fate Manipulator Aideluzi was in a specially prepared medical room, adjusting and treating Beianqi's "Spinal Hub" alchemical implant.

The necromancer Pulilade served as his assistant and supervised the entire process. He and several other companions had been searching for Newman, who remained at the foot of the Sacred Mountain, after Su Ming left the Northern Lands, before they were able to join the Final Bone Mad Machines organization.

These necromancers were imprisoned and enslaved by the lords of the Northern Lands, and only found a chance to escape when those lords fell due to the attacks by Su Ming and Princess Dafulin.

Pulilade, who was also an expert in human alchemy, was chosen by the late Grand Puppeteer Bulenleifu and forced to serve him for a long time.

Upon seeing Su Ming, Zijin, and the others arrive, Pulilade immediately reported on Aideluzi's recent condition and progress in treatment.

"Aideluzi is very dedicated to her work," Pulilade stated cautiously. "Her treatment is also progressing steadily."

"Will there be any problems later?" Su Ming asked.

"Stacy and I have both thoroughly reviewed his procedures and protocols," Pulilade replied. "We have not found any signs of tampering."

Aideluzi quickly finished the treatment and was summoned to Su Ming and Zijin.

Faced with the presence of the two highest-ranking figures, the Fate Manipulator visibly tensed up. Fine beads of sweat appeared on his forehead as he quickly calculated in his mind that he shouldn't have reached the point of being "discarded after his usefulness is over."

"Our contract remains in effect." Su Ming cut to the chase, his tone calm but carrying an invisible pressure. "You healed Beianqi and left behind the core technology data of the Nirvana Project. Therefore, after our war with the Temple of Light is completely over, you can be free to leave."

The Fate Manipulator immediately bowed deeply, adopting a humble posture, "I will do my utmost to obey your command!"

"However, we're here today to ask you something else." Su Ming didn't mince words, staring intently at Aideluzi. "Forty-two years ago, in the Star Empire's capital City of Radiance, did you preside over the baptism ceremony for Princess Janet, who was just an infant at the time?"

Aideluzi's pupils contracted slightly for a moment, a change that did not escape Zijin's notice. She snorted coldly, her tone icy, "Looks like there really is something fishy going on! Are you going to be sensible and confess honestly, or do you want to suffer a bit before you speak?"

The Fate Manipulator hurriedly raised his hands, feigning innocence, "Lord Bay Owl, please calm down! I was only following orders; I had no choice!"

With a flick of Zijin wrist, the Thorn Long Whip that had been hanging at Su Ming's waist flew into her hand. She unfurled the whip, its tip gleaming with a dangerous, cold light. "Still spouting nonsense, huh?"

"Wait! I'll tell you!" Aideluzi dared not delay any longer and confessed quickly, "The night before the baptism, Princess Samanya secretly came to me with the baby who was to be baptized the next day, demanding that I permanently solidify the bloodline deception spell I cast on Janet!"

"The spell I cast on Janet was clearly set to dissipate on its own!" Zijin narrowed her eyes, a dangerous glint in them. "How did you manage to solidify it?"

"I used special alchemical materials to micro-carve the design onto the baby's skin, according to your spell," the Fate Manipulator hurriedly explained, "And then engraved the design into her life essence, thus solidifying the deception effect."

Su Ming couldn't help but cover her mouth and chuckle, but was glared at fiercely by Zijin - it's rare to see a scholar like her getting bogged down in a technical situation.

The situation is now very clear: the whole thing was a carefully orchestrated scam by Princess Samanya.

Janet is Samanya's biological daughter; Katharine was a tool she stole from elsewhere to deceive Zijin into acting. Samanya's purpose was to conceal Janet's clandestine lineage!

"So, I was fooled by these bastards!" Zijin realized the truth, and in her anger, she stomped her foot, causing the hard floor to shatter in a spiderweb pattern around her toes. "Neither Janet nor Katharine are Emperor Lorenzo's children!"

She was furious. "Princess Samanya, is it! I'll settle this score with you!"

At that time, Samanya deliberately wrapped Janet in rags, it was all an act for Zijin's benefit! Zijin had no idea that this was Samanya's real daughter!

"Don't be too angry." Su Ming reached out and patted Zijin's shoulder reassuringly. "The opponent was extremely cunning in this round, so your loss wasn't unjust." He thought for a moment, "If anyone's to blame, it's these court nobles; all they think about is that kind of sordid stuff in bed."

"They should all be castrated!" Zijin was still burning with rage, cursing through gritted teeth, "None of them do anything productive, all they do is mess around, and when trouble comes, they just engage in these filthy schemes!"

****

Su Ming turned to the trembling Fate Manipulator and asked the crucial question, "So, who exactly is Janet's biological father?"

"It's finally here!" Aideluzi thought to himself. He immediately shook his head vigorously, "This—I don't know."

Seeing Su Ming's grim expression, he quickly added, "But everything I did was personally arranged by Augustus!"

Su Ming and Zijin exchanged a shocked glance—could it be that Janet was actually Augustus's daughter?!

"So exciting—the Pope of the Temple of Light, and the Empress of the Star Empire," Su Ming murmured, a hint of amusement in his voice. "Very good, they both know how to have fun!"

But to be honest, this kind of thing is understandable. You know, in the Lighthouse Country, two presidents can sleep together. Miao Xin has been trying her best to persuade Su Ming to draw a doujinshi about Augustus and the Dwarf King, saying it would definitely have a market!

"That's all I know." Aideluzi wiped the cold sweat that kept seeping from his forehead. If the current Pope knew that this earth-shattering secret was leaked from him, he felt that he would definitely not live long.

"Anything else, I really know nothing about," he quickly replied.

Su Ming suddenly recalled the bard story "The Phantom of the Temple" about "Ailisha" and Katharine, in which a female character appeared, "The Pope's illegitimate daughter."

Indeed, even so-called "unofficial histories" are not entirely baseless.

Su Ming waved his hand, indicating that the Fate Manipulator could leave.

"So that means Katharine's heart isn't actually sick at all!" Zijin also came to understand many of the past issues.

Katharine's appearance was not accidental; she was a baby selected by the Pope's Dark Side Operations Group, whose features were highly similar to those of King Lorenzo and Empress Samanya.

This was to prevent the Zijin, the founder of otherworldly biological genetics, from recognizing any clues from its appearance.

To be on the safe side, they also silenced Katharine's family.

How could a baby selected through such painstaking effort possibly "coincidentally" suffer from a severe congenital heart disease?

"The symptoms Katharine exhibited at the time were most likely a disguise of a curse or spell," Su Ming analyzed, but then immediately contradicted himself, "No—it should have been extremely difficult to detect, like advanced human alchemy!"

It's not difficult to simulate the symptoms of Tetralogy of Fallot in an infant; the challenge lies in deceiving Zijin's perception. Even the White Peng healer Sebastian only discovered the truth after opening the chest.

The level of technology that can be achieved is probably only a handful in the entire other world!

Su Ming's gaze swept over the departing figure of the Fate Manipulator, and he already had a guess in his mind, but he remained seated.

"Let Katharine settle this matter herself; it's her blood debt," he said to Zijin.

"That's to be expected." The scholar sighed, covering her face with her hands, her voice filled with regret and self-reproach. "I was actually used by them, becoming an accomplice in harming Katharine! How shameful!"

"It's alright," Su Ming said softly, trying to calm her down. "The Pope's purpose in arranging this is definitely far more than just protecting his illegitimate daughter; they're probably using this opportunity to infiltrate the Empire." As he spoke, a sharp glint appeared in his eyes. "Now that we know the tricks of the trade, we can naturally demand our money back from them, with interest!"

Even with severe congenital heart disease, a baby can live for a period of time with proper care. But the ever-increasing magical techniques could make that baby "perfectly" die very quickly.

The mastermind behind this was so meticulously planned that Scholar Bay Owl would not waste their attention on a dead infant.

Unfortunately Chloe, the little Feather Race girl, used technology unfamiliar to humans to interfere, thus exposing the dark conspiracy.

"----Then it's up to you!" Zijin was still annoyed. She put down her hand, her face full of resentment. "Honestly, I rarely do good deeds to save someone, and this is the result of such a disgusting trick."

"But you did save Katharine, didn't you?" Su Ming said.

"Oh, right," Zijin thought of another crucial question, "Should we tell Katharine the truth about this now?"

Su Ming hesitated for a moment, then said, "Why don't we talk to her in person?"

"Wouldn't that mean we have to wait until we've dealt with the goblins and are free to deal with the Divine Covenant Faction?" Zijin asked, somewhat puzzled.

"Oh, no need to wait that long." Su Ming shook his head. "I've already summoned her. Fighting goblins in such a large-scale war," he said frankly, "Is something I'm not good at."

Su Ming's understanding of war theory is not bad, and he has a lot of historical experience to draw upon. However, when it comes to specific command on the otherworldly battlefield, involving intricate deployment details, he is probably not as good as a certain famous micro-management master!

Therefore, in situations like this, it's only natural to use professionals without hesitation!

"That's fine." Zijin nodded, then her tone lightened as she thought of something, "But since Katharine isn't related to the Stars Royal Family by blood, that's a good thing, it relieves me of my long-standing worries!"

Su Ming pondered for a moment, then frowned. "That doesn't seem so." He looked at Zijin. "There's something we need to confirm now!"

He picked up his phone and connected to the port. "Magelaili, come to the Ruby Base."

****

How to maximize the use of Janet's false identity as the eldest princess still requires careful consideration. However, for Su Ming, it is now necessary to more cautiously assess whether the Star Empire has officially intervened and is pushing for this conflict with the goblins.

Judging from the information from various sources, there is a possibility that the Pope deliberately arranged for Janet to blend in, mislead the public, and create the illusion that the Star Empire was involved.

However, to determine the truth of this matter, we cannot rely on speculation and conjecture; we need to rely on the intelligence organization in the Gray Ridge area to send back more concrete information.

In addition to utilizing the intelligence system of the Dwarf Kingdom, Su Ming is also actively building his own information network for the Final Bone Mad Machines.

At the same time, with the help of the Blue-Eyed Chamber of Commerce's information flow in the business world, the origins of the ships that transported strategic materials to the goblins could soon be traced.

Later that evening, Magelaili arrived at Su Ming's office.

Magelaili was born into a family in a port city and was very familiar with ships, shipping, and port operations from a young age. Therefore, Su Ming arranged for her to be stationed in Sapphire Port to be in charge of related affairs.

"How is your recovery from the injury you sustained last time?" Su Ming asked.

This necromancer's primary combat role is actually Shadow Druid, with a skill set leaning towards support. Previously, when she and Ruixiuli encountered agents from the Temple of Light, she could only trade blows to create opportunities for the latter to kill the assassins.

"Fortunately, the stab didn't hit any vital spots," she replied succinctly, then handed over a form. "This is the list of ambassadors from various countries currently gathered at the port, hoping to see the chairman."

Su Ming took the list and found that it contained representatives from more than a dozen countries or forces, with the Star Empire prominently listed at the very top.

"Xialike, as expected, won't be absent," Su Ming murmured.

"Should I continue to drag them along?" Magelaili asked.

"Of course," Su Ming nodded, "Just use some harmless products or techniques to get by; there's no need to take it too seriously."

"Do the envoys from the Star Empire also employ the same strategy?" Magelaili confirmed.

"Treat it the same way," Su Ming replied.

In fact, Xialike had already expressed his strong desire to contact Su Ming through Katharine on several occasions.

Even earlier, after Fernand's visit at sea, Xialike explicitly proposed a technology transaction as a condition for cooperation in his reply to Zijin.

However, Su Ming kept the other party waiting, which, strictly speaking, was indeed a bit of a breach of diplomatic etiquette.

Su Ming thought for a moment and decided that he still had to put on a show. He took out an alchemical letter and wrote a long string of DS-generated phrases, such as "The weather is fine," "The spring is bright," and "Wishing King Xialike good health"—all sorts of polite but meaningless words.

When it comes to hydrology, no one can beat AI!

Su Ming added only one sentence at the end of the letter, "Agreeing to allow our passage is a prerequisite for initiating negotiations." After that, he sealed the letter.

"Have the Star Empire's envoy take this letter back." Su Ming handed the letter to Magelaili.

"Okay!" Magelaili carefully put the letter away, then carried in a large box from outside. The box was engraved with a freezing magic circle that emitted a chilling aura, and white mist swirled around it.

"This is what you asked me to bring."

Su Ming was quite surprised. The item he had asked the other party to bring from the Pansy did indeed need to be frozen for preservation, but its volume should be very small.

"Is such a big box necessary?" he asked, puzzled.

"Oh." Magelaili patted the box and explained, "We caught a fine king salmon this morning, so we brought it along."

"----Thank you!"

After seeing Magelaili off, Su Ming opened the box. Inside, besides a large fish with a dark green back, were three small, sealed containers containing different samples on top.

One of the vials contained a dark red blood sample—the one Zijin had saved during the first rescue of Katharine. The other vial contained a mucous membrane swab—left over from the little Tuanzi's bloodline test.

Su Ming picked up the last sealed bag, inside which were a few strands of golden hair with a soft luster—a gift from Yise.

Jielusi walked in, looked at the box, and found that it indeed contained a huge king salmon, probably weighing more than ten kilograms. She casually cast a poison detection spell to confirm that the fish was safe and non-toxic.

But after thinking about it, she seemed to feel it wasn't safe enough, so she grabbed the remaining fragments of the fish's soul and began to try to communicate, "Has anyone done anything strange to your corpse? Like drugging or cursing you?"

Su Ming watched this scene speechlessly, "You're doing this—it's really affecting your appetite."

"Only people who are too full have this kind of problem," Jielusi replied. "But there's a problem; I don't know how to cook this kind of fish." She thought for a moment, the fragmented soul of the king salmon trembling in her hand. "Why don't we just ask the fish what it thinks tastes best?"

Ruixiuli, standing nearby, raised his hand, breaking the awkward conversation, "I do have some skill in slicing fish—let's make boiled fish fillets."

Jielusi's culinary ideas seemed to have been opened up as well. "What about the fish fillets? How about coating them in egg batter and frying them?"

Su Ming glanced at the enormous head of the king salmon in the box. "Steam the head," he said, then added after a moment's thought, "Find some chopped chili peppers, minced scallions, ginger, and garlic, sprinkle them on top, and cook it all together."

****

While Su Ming, Ruixiuli, and Jielusi were discussing how to poison the king salmon, Stacy also arrived at the office, holding the Newfoundland dog on a leash.

"I'll keep the tail." Stacy's eyes lit up when she saw the good quality king salmon. "He likes it." She untied the leash and gently patted the dog's head. "Go play outside for a while, wait for me to come out."

The Newfoundland understood, letting out a happy purr, and waddled off on all fours, soon running and frolicking in the small square outside.

Su Ming rubbed his eyes, feeling a little dizzy – he actually saw a vivid expression of "letting loose" on a dog's face.

"It must be from working too long and making my eyes blurry," Su Ming sighed inwardly.

He handed the three biological samples to Stacy, saying, "Detailed genetic sequencing analysis is needed."

Stacy nodded, opened the sample cooler she carried with her, and carefully placed the three containers inside.

"Zijin originally planned to determine whether the little Tuanzi was Xialike's child through genetic homozygosity," she explained to Su Ming. "But now that it's been discovered that there's no blood relation between Katharine and Xialike, this method is meaningless."

If two alleles on a chromosome are completely identical, they are called homozygous. Homozygosity refers to the proportion of homozygous individuals in an individual's genome.

The homozygosity of genes in a normal human individual is approximately 70%. If there is a close relationship among the parents, the homozygosity of the offspring will increase significantly.

Previously, while on the train, Zijin had conducted a preliminary bloodline analysis on the little Tuanzi, and the results showed that its homozygosity was consistent with that of normal individuals.

"I know, so we need to try a different approach," Su Ming said.

"So you want me to do detailed sequencing on them?" Stacy asked. "What method?"

"DNA phenotypic mapping," Su Ming replied. "By analyzing complete DNA sequences, we can make high-probability predictions about an individual's physical characteristics—such as hair color, eye color, and even the three-dimensional structure of their face. This way, we can determine who the biological father of Little Tuanzi and Yise really is!"

"But we don't have the genetic sequences of the little Tuanzi and Yise's father—" Stacy began, then immediately realized what she meant. She had been studying a vast amount of biological data in recent times and had gained an understanding of genetic technology. "You want to use the genetic data of Katharine and her two children to reverse-engineer the biological father's genetic profile!"

"That's exactly right." Su Ming nodded in affirmation.

The little Tuanzi and Yise each inherit half of their genes from their biological father. Through complex mathematical modeling, by subtracting the genetic contribution from Katharine, it is theoretically possible to piece together most of the father's genetic information.

Stacy frowned slightly. "Is such a massive amount of computation really feasible?"

The calculations involved are extremely complex, requiring not only a database of alien human gene samples as background data but also massive probabilistic analysis and pattern recognition. The final result is simply a huge probability matrix composed of possibilities.

The human genome contains a staggering 3 billion base pairs!

"I will load a professional bioinformatics model onto the Electricity-Swallowing Beast," Su Ming replied confidently. "We will use a computing power matrix to analyze this data, including subsequent DNA phenotypic characterization."

Now that we have enormous computing power, we have to put it to use! In Su Ming's view, problems that can be solved with computing power are no longer problems!

"Janet's biological samples will be sent over tomorrow," he added, "And they will be sequenced as well."

We need to get to the bottom of this.

"OK."

****

Under the cover of darkness, several cargo ships quietly arrived at Sapphire Port and immediately began unloading operations in the dark.

The strategic resource that Su Ming had been eagerly awaiting—oil—finally arrived at the port.

This batch of oil was painstakingly extracted by the Naga Clan from the shallow seabed. Beneath their territory lies an oil deposit with internal pressure. Once the rock strata are broken through, the crude oil will gush out on its own.

Su Ming was extremely envious of these offshore oil wells; in the world of technology, it was practically like God was feeding them to them.

Even so, the Naga Clan paid a heavy price for their work excavating hundreds of meters deep into the seabed and collecting the gushing crude oil. Many Naga workers were injured in the high-pressure gushing and complex environment, and the heavy metal impurities and toxic substances carried by the crude oil gushing also caused serious pollution to their waters.

But the Naga Queen, consumed by vengeance, has no time to spare. In her quest to avenge her son, she is frantically expanding her military and desperately needs a massive amount of funds.

The irony is thus created: the oil that the Naga Clan painstakingly extract from the seabed ends up in the hands of their enemy Su Ming. Su Ming, in turn, pays the Naga Queen to use the money to buy weapons to attack Su Ming himself.

The manager of the Blue-Eyed Chamber of Commerce was dumbfounded and amazed by this bizarre trade chain.

"This is the first batch, five thousand tons of crude oil," the manager respectfully reported to Su Ming regarding the unloading. "The Naga Clan subsequently signed an emergency contract with us for another ten thousand tons."

"Keep buying, as much as you can," Su Ming said. "But we must be careful with the shipping; we can't let the Naga Queen discover the true identity of the buyers—it's actually us."

"This... is very difficult." The shopkeeper looked troubled. "No matter how well the secrecy is maintained, the transportation of such a large quantity of special goods will inevitably leave some clues." He thought for a moment and added, "In fact, news of your sudden appearance of a large quantity of crude oil might leak out even before it does to us."

Unloading can be done overnight, but crude oil itself has a strong, pungent odor and is highly polluting. Leaks during loading and unloading, as well as residues on containers and at the dock, are difficult to remove.

Along the way, the transportation will inevitably leave behind a large number of traces that cannot be concealed.

"I also purchased some crude oil from the Dwarf Kingdom to cover my tracks; that should keep things in the dark for a while," Su Ming said, already prepared. "As for the future—" a cold glint flashed in his eyes, "... the Naga Clan, there will be no future for them!"

The shopkeeper didn't say much; he had already made his judgment. However, there was one thing he needed to remind him of.

"The Naga Clan have realized that traditional boarding tactics are ineffective against the Pansy," the shopkeeper told Su Ming. "Judging from the materials they've purchased through our guild, they're likely developing underwater attack arrays or some new type of magical weapon."

As he spoke, he handed over a detailed list of purchases collected so far.

Su Ming nodded, took the document, and handed it to his secretary for Newman to analyze. He wasn't overly worried about it; the technological world had a wide variety of underwater weapon systems.

Moreover, they also have a professional explorer on their side who is an expert in the sea and underwater!

****

The oil production line had already been built at the Ruby Base. As soon as the crude oil arrived, it was immediately used as raw material in the production process.

After basic fractionation to separate different fractions, and then through a complex catalytic reforming process, Su Ming finally obtained the key raw material he had been longing for—toluene. Subsequently, under strictly controlled conditions and multiple safety safeguards, toluene underwent a nitration reaction with concentrated nitric acid and concentrated sulfuric acid.

Finally, trinitrotoluene—TNT explosive—made its appearance in this other world!

With this, Su Ming has finally gathered the three core elements needed for the technological "stone-throwing" operation: propellant, detonator, and explosive.

Propellant provides a weapon with a stable, continuous, and controllable powerful thrust. Explosive, on the other hand, is a collection of violent energy and is the most conventional and destructive warhead charge.

The detonator, on the other hand, acts like a precision switch, providing a sensitive and reliable activation for relatively insensitive propellants and explosives.

In terms of personnel, with the successful arrival of the third batch of escaped necromancers and the continuous influx of new recruits from all over the world, the number of necromancers in the Final Bone Mad Machines has expanded to four thousand. Some of these members are not from the Dwarf Continent, but from the ends of the earth.

The brutal manhunt launched by the Temple of Light a year ago, which affected the entire other world, resulted in far more fugitives escaping than initially imagined. When disaster strikes, humanity will always demonstrate a tenacious will to survive and will never willingly be destroyed.

Their families, after being screened and background-checked, were also systematically absorbed and put into auxiliary industries and logistical support work on the periphery of the base, especially various intelligence fronts that were inconvenient for necromancers to carry out.

This finally allowed Su Ming to remove some of the necromancers from the production line.

"Gentlemen," Su Ming said coldly, addressing the specially selected group of members before him, "You were all handpicked from the production line. You're always the first to rush to eat after work, but the moment you get back on the production line, you're all scum who try to slack off!"

A member, whose work uniform hat was askew, raised his hand and said, "President, there are some tasks we just can't do; we just can't muster the energy."

"Alright." Su Ming didn't say much and directly gave the arrangement, "I've found you a new job—an observer."

"Observer? What's that?" Many members looked puzzled and whispered among themselves.

"Partner with a dragon." Su Ming stated succinctly, no longer beating around the bush, "Command the dragons to fight, cooperate with the dragons in battle, or fight yourself—it all depends on your individual skills and abilities!"

"Let's fight!" Many members' eyes lit up instantly, shouting excitedly, "You should have said so earlier! I like this!"

Me too! I'm good at fighting!

"If you don't do this job well, you'll all be moving stones with the dragon!" Su Ming yelled, then ordered, "Everyone get ready. We'll meet here in half an hour and set off!"

A group of people immediately cheered.

Su Ming pressed down with his palm, signaling everyone to be quiet. "Any information related to this operation must not be discussed with unrelated personnel. The ultimate purpose of this trip is not to be inquired about!"

"Yes!" The group responded in unison, quickly dispersed, and ran back to their dormitories to pack their luggage and equipment.

Zijin's communication came through, and her voice carried the sound of wind, "My more than one hundred war dragons have already assembled in the Central Court Dragon Valley and are ready to depart at any time."

"Let's meet up somewhere in the wild later," Su Ming replied. "Why is it a bit noisy over there?"

The Zijin skillfully twisted the Hyacinth's wings together, then kicked him hard on the head.

"Where's the noise coming from?" she asked, adjusting her headphones.

"Okay." Su Ming selectively ignored the familiar screams of a giant dragon in the background of the call.

"I'm leading the team to the Silver Moon Forest training grounds this time, and also to check on the training progress," Zijin said. "Today is the day the dragon representatives are formally negotiating with the goblins. You stay here, in case anything goes wrong."

"What could possibly go wrong?" Su Ming's lips curled into a cold smile, his tone surprisingly expectant. "I'd love for those goblins to pull something unexpected!"