Visitor Miao Xin (7,700 Words)
The following morning, Secretary Ainuobia reported to Su Ming that the Dwarf Kingdom's diplomatic department had proposed to relocate its office to the Dragon Race Clan from the Dragon Court to the vicinity of the Ruby Base.
Meanwhile, a dwarf security team is en route to strengthen security at the Red Ridge Mine.
"What about the representatives the dwarves previously sent to Dragon Court —uh, ambassadors or something?" Su Ming asked, rubbing his temples.
"He's been arrested," Ainuobia stated. "The investigation shows he's also suspected of espionage."
Su Ming was speechless for a moment. It turned out that this thorough investigation had also revealed numerous problems on the dwarves' side.
"I agree with the dwarves' proposal," Su Ming replied. "You are in charge of handling the specific details of the docking and resettlement. Just prepare a report for me afterwards."
"Clear!"
Many departments of the Final Bone Mad Machines were expanded.
Yesterday, ten administrative staff were added at once, and another twenty will be added gradually. Fortunately, mages are the most "educated" group in this other world, and the current scale of the Final Bone Mad Machines does not lack talent to handle various administrative tasks.
Su Ming gradually assigned tasks and distributed them among himself. After half a morning of arranging things, he finally finished and had a moment to rest.
He picked up a cup of hot tea, its aroma carrying the scent of flowers, and strolled to the window. Looking down, he saw that in the open space below, Jielusi was arranging for the security team members to conduct combat training.
A striking human-shaped target stands in the center of the field, representing the target that needs protection.
Jielusi invited members from other departments to take turns playing the role of attackers, and had them try to assassinate the victim using all sorts of methods.
The exercise went on for seven or eight rounds, and with the guards having the advantage in strength, they were only attacked by the "assassins" twice.
One of the failures occurred when a guardian dragon, while attempting to intercept the "assassin" with its breath, swept the target along with it!
Su Ming's hand holding the teacup trembled slightly. He seriously doubted that if these dragon teammates were to become incompetent, their damage output might be more terrifying than the assassins themselves!
On the training field, Jielusi's face was terribly gloomy. She announced on the spot that the giant dragon that had accidentally injured the "protected target" had been blacklisted from the Chicken Dinner Internet Cafe and banned from the internet for seven days.
Immediately, the dragon that had erred let out a desperate wail and shed tears of remorse.
The other dragons, seeing this, felt a pang of unease and became even more cautious.
****
Now that he had some free time, Su Ming decided to sort out the White Bone Mark that had become unrecognizable.
He closed his eyes, his consciousness sinking into the sea of his mind. With a slight thought, the White Bone Mark unfolded in his sea of consciousness, transforming into a vast Stars.
Outwards, the array of runes, purely for energy harvesting, still shines as brightly and neatly as a galaxy. This repetitive structure, relying on sheer quantity, has long been pushed to its limits by supercomputing.
Even the Zijin cannot be altered.
However, the core area of the mark, which originally had an elegant structure like a simple comet cluster, has become twisted and tangled, like a ball of yarn that has been kneaded by a naughty child.
This is the area most severely affected by the poisoning of Zijin!
Su Ming's consciousness carefully searched through the area, looking for any traces of the changes made last night. Strangely, after searching for a while, he found nothing.
Could it be that Zijin has changed her ways this time, and really behaved herself last night without making any more mistakes? Su Ming murmured to himself.
But even he himself didn't believe this idea. Su Ming took out his communicator and sent a message to Zijin, but only received an automatic reply, "This young lady is sleeping, please do not disturb."
Su Ming glanced out the window subconsciously, confirming that it was already 10:30 in the morning. It was quite rare for a scholar like Zijin, who had a regular schedule, to still be fast asleep.
He immediately connected to Zhimeng's communication system.
"Everything's fine!" Zhimeng's voice was a little languid. "She was fiddling with some rune incantation all night and didn't fall asleep until almost dawn."
"How do you know all this so clearly?" Su Ming asked curiously.
"I'm watching from outside the window right now," Zhimeng said in a low voice, "She's sleeping so soundly, like a little dragon in hibernation!"
Su Ming wanted to condemn this despicable act of spying, but then he heard a soft "click" sound from the other end. Immediately afterward, a live image popped up on the communication interface.
In the picture, Zijin lies on her side on a soft bed. Most of her face is buried in the fluffy down pillow, with only a small part of her peaceful sleeping face and a few strands of light brown hair scattered on the pillow. A smooth leg peeks out from under the thin blanket, the white instep naturally arching in a beautiful curve, gleaming softly in the sunlight filtering through the curtains.
****
Su Ming forcefully resisted the urge to Zhimeng Weaver to "take another picture." He even forwarded the sleeping face photo to Zijin.
Anyway, reporting him to Zhimeng wouldn't stop him from adding the photo to his favorites.
Although I don't understand why Zhimeng suddenly turned into a perverted dragon, I'll leave this kind of problem to Zijin to deal with herself.
Su Ming composed himself and folded and gathered the complex White Bone Mark in his sea of consciousness.
However, he still felt uneasy. With Zijin's abilities, she could have accomplished quite a lot in one night.
But the question is, what about the things she changed?
If Zijin didn't alter the White Bone Mark, then what exactly did she adjust?
Su Ming pondered intently, subconsciously scanning the other marks in his sea of consciousness. Suddenly, he abruptly stopped at a Vengeful Spirit Mark belonging to Miao Xin's vengeful spirit, which now displayed a lifeless, dark gray hue!
Everything related to otherworldly magical power, whether it be spells, magic circles, or anything else, is built upon a vast array of runic formulas. The Vengeful Spirit Mark is no exception; therefore, it can be unfolded, analyzed, and rewritten just like the White Bone Mark.
But Su Ming never even considered it—for example, would a normal person rewrite the control program of their own microwave oven?
The Vengeful Spirit Mark unusually quiet now—could it be that Zijin has set her sights on it? Su Ming felt a chill run down his spine.
He couldn't understand how Zijin could manipulate the Vengeful Spirit Mark, which was supposed to be the exclusive bridge connecting him and Miao Xin.
Su Ming quickly directed his thoughts towards the gray mark, attempting to activate the connection. The mark reacted immediately, trembling violently and emitting a burst of light as if it were being activated for the first time.
Then, once things calmed down and returned to normal, Su Ming immediately breathed a sigh of relief.
"[Miao Xin?]" he asked tentatively.
[Su Ming!!] The vengeful spirit's consciousness, like a flame whose fuse has been lit, instantly emitted a strong fluctuation. Immediately afterward, a torrent of emotions mixed with grievance and lingering fear eagerly surged into Su Ming's sea of consciousness, [Waaaaah----you finally remembered me!]
"[What happened?]" Su Ming asked hurriedly.
[It's Zijin!] Miao Xin immediately complained, her surging resentment almost tangible, [She lied to me, saying she just wanted me to unfold the mark and take a look, promising she wouldn't go in!]
As the other half of the Vengeful Spirit Mark, Miao Xin herself did indeed possess the authority to adjust it, and Su Ming did not seal it off. Although, according to common sense, vengeful spirits should not possess this level of intelligence.
However, Miao Xin is a far cry from "normal" by both Earth's and the standards of the Taya Plane!
"[And then?] "Su Ming pressed, "[Zijin can't touch this, right?]"
[She studied and pondered for a long time, and then, and then----] Miao Xin became a little hesitant, as if fiddling with her fingers, [and then she taught me how to revise it. Under her guidance, I only changed a tiny bit—really only a tiny bit!]
Excellent! Now even Miao Xin has been tricked into becoming the kind of person who would dare to tamper with one's core program at the slightest disagreement!
"[Then the mark crashed, and our connection was severed?]" Su Ming said angrily.
[----Um.]
[You're incredibly audacious!] Su Ming couldn't help but scold Miao Xin, [This time we were lucky enough to restart and restore things to normal, but what if we had completely broken down and permanently severed our connection?!]
After scolding Miao Xin, Su Ming calmed down and prepared to carefully examine the Vengeful Spirit Mark that had been "operated on." Zijin had been working on it all night, and he didn't believe the claim that it had only been "touched a little bit"!
[Did Zijin tell you?] Su Ming's tone softened slightly. [What was her purpose in modifying this?]
****
As Beianqi carried a basket full of ingredients into the office, preparing to prepare lunch, she immediately noticed Su Ming staring at a small skeleton mouse on his desk, his expression shifting, sometimes focused, sometimes furrowed.
"How long has he been like this?" Beianqi asked in a low voice to her secretary, Ainuobia, who was organizing documents nearby.
"About fifteen minutes." Ainuobia lowered her voice as well, a hint of helplessness on her face. "And, he seems to be no longer satisfied with just rats."
"Not satisfied with mice?" Beianqi raised an eyebrow in surprise. "Is he planning to target cats?"
"No," Ainuobia gently shook her head, "It's a pig."
Before she could finish speaking, a staff member walked in carrying a large bag of freshly cleaned pork bones, still exuding the aroma of fresh marrow. Beianqi stared at the stark white bones placed on the wide desk, momentarily speechless.
If you chop it up, it'll be great for making bone broth!
Su Ming tossed out a pile of valuable alchemical materials, pointed his finger in the air, and the pig bones on the table seemed to be drawn by invisible threads, clicking and fusing with the alchemical materials, quickly piecing together and standing upright, forming a complete pig-shaped skeleton in the blink of an eye.
Then, deep within those empty eye sockets, two faint blue, flickering soul flames suddenly ignited!
"Using a pig to Skeleton Summoning?" Beianqi couldn't help but mutter to herself, "Is it really necessary to be so wasteful--"
Even stranger, the Skeleton Pig kicked off with its hind legs and stood upright on the table like a human!
She "scanned" the office with her eyes burning with soul fire, and under the astonished gazes of Beianqi and the secretary, her jaw opened and closed as if she wanted to make a sound, but in the end she only managed to squeeze out a series of "humming" sounds.
[Su Ming! Quickly find me a medium that can speak normally!] Miao Xin said angrily.
"No." Su Ming refused decisively. "You can just keep humming like that, but you're not allowed to talk to anyone else."
That's right, the one controlling this pig skeleton right now is none other than Miao Xin, a vengeful spirit from faraway Earth!
Last night, after verifying her ability to be "summoned," a bold idea popped into Zijin's mind: Could Miao Xin also possess a similar ability?
She spent the entire night deciphering the rune code, not by imitating the Magic Power channels on the White Bone Mark as she did during the day, but by doing the opposite, attempting to imitate the unique "consciousness transfer and manipulation" function of the White Bone Mark on Miao Xin's Vengeful Spirit Mark.
The purpose was to allow Miao Xin to project her consciousness in some form and control the "summoned creatures" located in the Taya Plane!
[What is your current state on Earth?] Su Ming quickly asked the question he was most concerned about.
Miao Xin was moving her front hooves, getting used to the pig skeleton body. She sensed it; [I'm still fused with Little Spiky Head —I'll try switching back.]
[Um.]
With a thought from Miao Xin, the standing Skeleton Pig collapsed with a thud as if it had lost its support, turning back into a lifeless pile of bones.
Meanwhile, inside the Earth base, the soul fire in the Little Spiky Head's eye sockets suddenly blazed brightly. Miao Xin manipulated the skeleton to sit up, sensed it, and found that everything was normal, no different from before she left.
She turned to the technician next to her and asked, "Did something just happen?"
The technician immediately retrieved the data records and examined them carefully. "About five minutes ago, a weak spatial fluctuation was recorded, and the signal persisted until it disappeared ten seconds ago."
"Have you observed any unusual phenomena?" Miao Xin pressed.
The technician quickly notified the entire team to conduct a cross-check. A dozen minutes later, he replied to Miao Xin, "Based on the combined data from various sensors and real-time monitoring footage, within our technical understanding—aside from seeing you lying motionless for a while—we haven't found anything unusual."
Upon hearing this, Miao Xin was overjoyed. She nimbly sat up, took out her phone, and quickly dialed Jin Rongjia's number.
"Hey? Lao Jin!" As soon as the call connected, Miao Xin's voice was filled with barely suppressed pride, "I have some amazing news for you!"
Jin Rongjia was completely bewildered. "What good news?"
Miao Xin paused, then announced boastfully, "I can go play in another world now!"
"Ha?"
****
For reasons of secrecy, Su Ming resolutely did not grant Miao Xin the ability to speak in this "temporary body" in the other world, so as not to let irrelevant personnel in the base notice anything unusual.
Moreover, Miao Xin herself doesn't understand the language of this other world, so giving her a mouth wouldn't help.
Su Ming fitted the pig skeleton with a special microphone and bone conduction headphones, using the powerful computing power of the Electricity-Swallowing Beast to perform real-time voice translation of the received sounds.
In this way, she would be able to understand what the people around her in this other world were saying.
Su Ming was overjoyed to have a visitor from his hometown, even though the visitor was only a half-vengeful spirit.
He made the announcement in the senior management's communication group.
"Aha!" Zijin exclaimed with delight upon seeing the message, "I knew it would succeed!"
"Before conducting such a high-risk experiment next time," Su Ming complained, switching to Zijin 'Zijin private chat channel, "Couldn't you discuss it with me first?"
"There's no risk in this," Zijin explained. "I've already prepared a contingency plan—if something really goes wrong, I can just wake you up in the middle of the night. We can then change the Vengeful Spirit Mark back and restore everything to normal."
"But you should let me review it to ensure the plan is foolproof," Su Ming said seriously, "And with my permission."
Seeing Su Ming's attitude, Zijin's tone became serious as well, "Ah, I'm sorry."
She thought about it and realized that she had indeed acted on her own initiative.
"Actually, I—"
"Thank you so much, you've really been a great help this time," Su Ming said, with sincere gratitude.
Although the process was somewhat nerve-wracking, the result couldn't be better—this genius young scholar, with her amazing creativity, pioneered this new channel between the two worlds.
At the same time, Miao Xin herself is definitely an excellent asset. At the very least, all remote control tasks for drones can be handed over to her in the future.
In terms of flight control, Miao Xin is better than ten Su Ming combined!
Zijin reflected earnestly, "I'll be more careful next time and won't do it again!" She promised Su Ming, "Last night—I was too excited. The structures of the two marks are so different, and it took me so long to figure out a solution, I couldn't resist trying." She paused, twisting her fingers, "I'm sorry, you were sleeping at that time, I didn't want to—"
"Next time something like this happens, please just wake me up," Su Ming said.
"Mmm," Zijin responded softly.
****
Miao Xin quickly became familiar with the pig's body.
"Prepare a lavish dinner to welcome my fellow townsman," Su Ming said to Beianqi.
"[Welcome? Can I eat something?!]" Miao Xin questioned.
"Remember to go to the kitchen." Su Ming seemed not to hear and continued to tell Beianqi, "Get some of the fresh pork belly that was shaved off her body to braise."
Miao Xin's Skeleton Pig stomped its hooves in anger, letting out a threatening "Hmph--"
hum.
[---- Su Ming! Say that again and I'll really bite you!]
"Come on, I can use a magic shield," Su Ming replied.
Miao Xin's Nether Sea power on Earth was not projected along with her consciousness. Therefore, here, she is just an ordinary undead.
It's a bit of a pity, Su Ming was hoping to study this thing that had troubled him and Zijin for so long. The scholar was very curious about how it made Miao Xin completely different from the other vengeful spirits.
Miao Xin's sense of novelty was clearly overwhelming. She manipulated the skeleton pig to look around the office and even asked Su Ming to demonstrate his magic.
Su Ming didn't have time to fuss over it, so he opened the office door and let her go for a stroll by herself.
Thus, a Skeleton Pig created with advanced summoning magic charged through the Ruby Base with a dexterity and agility completely unlike that of a normal undead creature.
****
As the sun began to set in the afternoon, an official dispatched by the Dwarf Kingdom arrived at the Ruby Base, travel-worn. Receiving from the secretariat, he quickly finalized details regarding the establishment of a new office nearby, including the specific location and staffing.
Then, the dwarf official solemnly made a request.
Soon, Su Ming received a report from his secretary, Ainuobia.
"The Dwarf King Khadric Star Pickaxe has extended an invitation to a formal meeting with me?" he asked in surprise.
"It's probably for the aftermath of yesterday's assassination attempt," Ainuobia analyzed. "Would you like to accept the invitation?"
Su Ming pondered for a moment, then shook his head. "We need to hold an online meeting with senior management; there are matters to discuss."
With Ainuobia's help, Zijin, Katharine, Younier, and others quickly went online.
After outlining several team coordination tasks, Su Ming informed everyone about the invitation to a meeting with the Dwarf King.
"I suspect the dwarves have uncovered a major traitor within their ranks," Katharine concluded. "Otherwise, as the strongest kingdom in the Eastern Continent, they wouldn't have lowered themselves to initiate a meeting."
"It certainly seems like a proactive gesture of goodwill, a gesture of seeking a peaceful resolution to this crisis," Ainuobia added, representing the Secretariat. "Our analysis suggests that the Dwarf Kingdom should be prepared to make some substantial concessions on trade terms as compensation."
"But the problem is," Su Ming said, "That what they're willing to give, I can buy with money. What they're unwilling to sell, won't change much."
Currently, the dwarves impose strict export quotas on magical alchemical items of significant strategic value, such as magic crystals. The other side may increase these quotas as a result of this incident.
However, this slight increase is far from meeting Su Ming's needs. After all, the Final Bone Mad Machines will be facing a war against the powerful Divine Covenant Faction.
The current trading volume isn't even enough to fill a tooth gap!
"We might as well agree to the meeting now," Zijin suggested, "But postpone it as much as possible."
Su Ming pondered for a moment and agreed with the method, "That's true. What you can't get on the battlefield, you can't easily get at the negotiating table."
Beianqi was a little confused. "We... we're going to war with the dwarves?"
"No, we'll still fight the goblins," Su Ming replied. "We need to demonstrate dominant strength on this battlefield and acquire enough leverage to persuade the dwarves to change their stance."
Power is always the core element in interactions between forces.
****
Katharine gave a brief report on the situation at the East of the Ridge front, "Currently, only half of the main supply routes have been completed. However, with the sorting and gathering of supplies captured in the last operation, the supplies stockpiled at the plains front are sufficient to support a surprise attack."
"Have the supplies for the Pansy arrived?" Su Ming inquired.
Younier immediately responded, "Fuel and daily necessities supply progress is 100%, military supplies supply progress is 75%!"
Everything is almost ready, except for one Dongfeng: the final push.
Su Ming quickly made a few moves on the tablet and added Pulilade to the meeting.
"How is the replication of the 'Nirvana ' technology progressing?" he asked.
During this time, Pulilade had been painstakingly recreating the "Nirvana" based on the information provided by the Fate Manipulator. He had previously encountered a bottleneck in the crucial aspect of surgical precision.
"Progress—not as good as expected." He reported truthfully, his voice tinged with guilt, "Even with the technology you brought, the survival rate of the goblin prisoners who underwent the modification experiments was only about 50%."
Su Ming considered it for a moment. The low success rate was indeed a problem, but it wasn't insurmountable. If all else failed, King Nirenk had other brothers.
"Let's use it like this." Su Ming glanced at the electronic watch on his wrist. "The operation begins in three days. We'll eliminate the goblin problem completely within one battle!"
"Please wait a moment." Zhimeng, who had been quietly listening, suddenly spoke, her enormous dragon eyes gleaming with excitement. "Our impressive operation this time needs a grand name, right?"
"Do you have a good name?" Su Ming asked casually.
Zhimeng immediately said, "Summon Miss Dragon Goddess to descend!" How about that?
In the Thousand Illusions Lake office, Zijin helplessly raised her hand to cover half of her face. She wanted to stop them from speaking, but in the end, she didn't open her mouth.
Su Ming was somewhat puzzled; the name sounded strange. And it was just a blitzkrieg to deal with goblins, why use a title like "Dragon God"?
But as for the name, we don't need to worry too much about it.
"Alright." Su Ming stopped hesitating and ordered in a deep voice, "Everyone, immediately complete the final stage of preparations for the Dragon Goddess's descent! Report the progress of each department and any unexpected problems in real time within the combat group!"
"Understood!" The unified response echoed through the Dragon Valley, accompanied by electromagnetic waves.
****
Although the plan was to launch a general offensive two days later, on the morning of the following day, Katharine launched wave after wave of harassment attacks on several key logistical gathering points of the goblins.
Guided by the ghostly Rainbow Drone, the dragons always seem to be like falcons that have caught the scent of blood, precisely swooping down on the goblin's mountain of supplies or the rest camps of their convoys.
A deafening dragon roar tore through the sky, and the scorching, violent dragon breath poured down like divine punishment, burning everything in the target area—including stacks of grain, weapons, tents, vehicles, and even the goblins who couldn't escape—into scorched earth!
Dragons, massive and destructive aerial units, are best utilized through lightning strikes to maximize their power.
The accompanying necromancer observers were equally busy. After the dragon's rampage, the corpses left behind were summoned into skeleton warriors. They rummaged through the charred ruins, roughly tearing open the supply bags that had managed to survive, mixing them with the mud on the ground.
Even transport vehicle frames that were not completely destroyed were hacked and chopped down until they were reduced to unrecognizable scrap metal.
When the dragon carried the observer away, all that remained was deathly silence and utterly irreparable devastation.
The current Rainbow Drone swarm's flight style is vastly different from when Su Ming was in control. In the past, because he was busy with other matters, he would simply set up the task sequence and then entrust it to artificial intelligence.
Su Ming will only intervene briefly when a fault alarm is received or when there is a problem with takeoff or landing.
But now, with the addition of pilot Miao Xin, these mechanical birds seem to have been infused with a soul. They boldly skim close to the ground, their fuselages almost brushing against the goblin soldiers' helmets, getting a clear view of the enemy's defenses, troop movements, and even their panicked expressions.
Then, amidst a dense barrage of magical missiles and a whistling barrage of crossbow bolts, it nimbly evaded the attack and vanished.
With this top-notch operator, the front line under Katharine's command was instantly activated. Within just one day, the results astonished both sides: within a hundred kilometers of the front line, thirty percent of the goblin supply points were destroyed!
"Get me a 20mm machine gun!"
Miao Xin controlled the pig skeleton, who squatted in front of the drone's control panel, waving its strangely modified five-clawed pig hooves and "clattering" on the virtual keyboard as it made demands of Su Ming.
"Drones are for reconnaissance, what would we need machine guns for?" Su Ming replied, his voice tinged with confusion.
"It's so much easier to just shoot down isolated, lone soldiers myself!" Miao Xin explained.
"No way," Su Ming refused decisively. "This is a transcendent world. What if it's a powerful goblin disguised as someone alone, setting a trap to lure you down to a lower altitude before launching a surprise attack?"
"An ordinary strongman wouldn't be able to stop me!" Miao Xin's tone was full of confidence. "I'm not that idiot, the Electricity-Swallowing Beast, nor am I a newbie like you!"
Miao Xin bluntly labeled him a "rookie," and Su Ming had no choice but to accept it. It was said that even the flight instructors at the training base on Earth had become targets of her wanton "slaughter" in simulated air combat.
Su Ming sometimes even wondered if she was a vengeful spirit or actually a wind spirit.
"What if—you encounter an extraordinary, powerful individual?" he asked.
"It's just the loss of a drone, no big deal." Miao Xin was extremely surprised by Su Ming's stinginess. "They don't seem to care about it on Earth, it's not your money they're spending!"
"But that would mean losing my material!" Su Ming said irritably.
If we have to make a comparison, collecting materials here is far more troublesome than mass-producing drones on Earth. Many rare materials require painstaking smelting or procurement.
"Red Pig." A brief command from the frontline dispatcher suddenly popped up on the screen, "Execute a close reconnaissance mission against the goblin Pinghe City."
"Received, coming right away!" Miao Xin immediately dropped her argument with Su Ming and replied energetically.