Books and Choices

Ainuobia jogged across the corridor and handed Su Ming a communication array message she had just copied.

"An urgent secret communication has been received, from the Dwarf Kingdom!"

Su Ming took the document and unfolded it. It contained a detailed interrogation record of the dwarf traitor, Ailu, sent by the Holy Shepherd Wanshi in an official capacity.

He read it carefully and exclaimed, "Magic Power crystals... no matter where they are, they are the lifeline that affects the whole situation."

"Strategic resources have always been like that," Stacy, leaning against the control panel. "Why don't you imagine what would happen if we lost our coal and oil supplies right now?"

"That's true." Su Ming handed the report back to Ainuobia. "Take this and give it to Jielusi, have her begin the corresponding investigation. Then, please send a reply to the Dwarf Kingdom to express my gratitude."

"Okay!" Ainuobia replied and left.

Su Ming walked to the window, looking at the bustling scene at the base outside, and began to think.

The assassination plan by the Temple of Light, codenamed "Deboning," has been aborted due to the capture of the dwarven spy and King Star Pickaxe's last-minute change of the meeting location. All that remains is for our side to proceed step by step and implement all necessary security and defense measures.

But what exactly does the assault plan mentioned in the letter entail? Does the Temple of Light truly possess the capability to launch a powerful attack on the Final Bone Mad Machines base?

Su Ming suddenly remembered that he still had a high-ranking prisoner on his side.

"How is Nastaya?" He turned around and looked at Stacy.

Stacy operated the control panel on the monitoring system, entering her access password. A screen switched to display a view from the medical center: on a specially designed restraint bed, a woman was firmly secured, her limbs and torso wrapped in restraint straps.

Her face was expressionless, her empty eyes staring blankly at the ceiling, like a soulless shell, allowing the medical staff to treat her.

"Nastaya's vital signs have stabilized, and she's out of danger," Stacy explained. "But she... has absolutely no will to live. Under forced treatment, her bodily functions are recovering very slowly."

This Nastaya was the assassin captured alive by Su Ming during the Red Ridge Mine assassination operation. Her arms were blown off by a large-caliber weapon, causing massive blood loss. In addition, she inhaled a large amount of sulfur dioxide gas deep in the mine, making her injuries extremely serious.

Although the treatment during this period saved her life, she consistently displayed extremely strong resistance and was completely uncooperative with any interrogation. "Nastaya's soul is bound by the Deathsworn Shackles branded by the Divine Covenant Faction," Stacy's voice carried a hint of solemnity. "Give me a little more time, and I can dispel it." She looked at Su Ming, "Then we can use various methods to obtain information."

Su Ming nodded, his gaze sweeping over the lifeless face on the hospital bed on the screen. "We must find out who sent this assassin instructor!"

When Su Ming returned to the administrative center, members of the publishing house were pushing several large books inside.

It was indeed a "big book" in the literal sense, measuring a full 1.5 meters in length and nearly 1 meter in width, with pages filled with hard material, as thick as a bed board.

It was already late May, and the air was beginning to feel hot and dry; several members were sweating. Su Ming pushed open the office door, turned on the air conditioner, and immediately a refreshing breeze blew out.

Although there are cooling arrays in the other world, they are not as effective or stable as air conditioning. Moreover, electricity is practically free, while magic crystals are extremely expensive.

The publishing house staff brought in the sample books and showed them to Su Ming. The president wiped the sweat from his brow and began to report to Su Ming on recent developments. The ability of the Electricity-Swallowing Beast to translate Earth languages and the common language of the other world had now matured. With just one polishing by the translators, it could continuously produce high-quality translations.

Writers and illustrators on this side of the world are pouring out their works like a bottomless pit. This makes the publishing house staff wonder if their production capacity could exceed that of the entire world by more than ten times if the printing workshops weren't already operating at full capacity.

On the sales front, the results are even more impressive. These "cultural" products are spreading far faster than the primary chemical products promoted by Su Ming. "Currently, the fastest-growing sector in sales is Silver Moon Forest, which has surpassed the Dwarf Kingdom by 10%," the president reported to Su Ming.

"Those big-eyed, thick-browed fellows in Silver Moon Forest..." Su Ming lamented the decline of morality, "How's our ' Cultural Mudslide ' project going?"

These regular products are merely stepping stones to establish connections with booksellers and build sales networks. Su Ming's real purpose is to promote picture books that incorporate a lot of personal agendas into the stories, exposing the dirty secrets of the "Divine Covenant Faction," the ruling faction of the Temple of Light.

These products, shrouded in humor and vulgarity, will spread among the people like tenacious mold. Through continuous dissemination, they will subtly tear away the hypocritical cloak of holy light that the Divine Covenant Faction wear.

"Under the cover of bestsellers, sales of the 'Mudslide' series have been fully rolled out." The team leader's voice carried a barely perceptible hint of excitement. "Currently, this part of the profit already accounts for 35% of the publisher's total revenue!"

The book published by the Final Bone Mad Machines Publishing House has become a sensation in the other world with its novel story and neat and clear design. Distributors from all over the world are frantically urging for delivery, and as for where the goods are coming from, these shrewd distributors have tacitly chosen to turn a blind eye to the influx of gold coins.

"Wait a minute," Su Ming narrowed his eyes, "I remember emphasizing that the 'mudslide' series should be sold at a low profit margin, even if it means losing money?" He couldn't understand how they were making money.

"We were just following your instructions, Chairman," the team leader quickly explained. "But these stories are so captivating that, at the publisher's request, we released hardcover and deluxe editions—the profits from that alone are truly astonishing."

The hardcover and deluxe editions were clearly beyond the reach of ordinary people. Su Ming couldn't help but sigh; the wealthy people in this other world were truly willing to spend. Su Ming picked up the sample books they had brought in from the table. The materials and printing quality were a significant improvement over the initial "regular edition." He now felt like he was holding something from Earth.

"This is the hardcover edition," the publisher explained.

"And what's the deal with the deluxe version?" Su Ming asked.

"Oh, it's exactly the same as the hardcover edition, except they add the author's 'handwritten' signature on the title page, include a large color poster, and figurines of the male and female protagonists," the president replied. "Based on Red Pig's suggestion, we carved the wood into a shape, painted it with colored paint, and then branded it with a unique logo. Customers were actually willing to pay two gold coins to buy it!"

"The black market price is more than three times the original price." A group member couldn't help but interject, "Boss, should we increase our investment in this area and increase production?"

"No need, let's take it one step at a time." Su Ming waved his hand helplessly. "Let's first fill the market with the deluxe version, then release the limited edition, and later we can arrange an anniversary edition or something."

"The president is truly visionary!" the president exclaimed, beaming with joy. "This way, our profits can multiply several times over!"

Su Ming sighed inwardly. He didn't know much about business; he was just used to being exploited by this method back on Earth. He opened the publishing house's financial statements and sighed even more heavily after seeing the summarized data. Since arriving in this other world, he had worked hard all the way to finally establish this huge production base.

As a result, the combined export value of industrial products couldn't even keep up with the expansion speed of the "color industry".

However, Su Ming still saw some good news in the report: the sales of the large-sized "Dragon Book" far exceeded expectations. Such an expensive and huge book actually sold more than two thousand copies.

Being able to make money from dragons means that a group of dragons will have to come to Su Ming to work.

Su Ming was quite pleased with his sudden inspiration. He glanced at the giant books leaning against the wall. These picture books featured dragons as the main characters, and each one weighed at least seventy or eighty kilograms.

This size, for a dragon, is equivalent to the size of a comic book for a human.

But the text on the cover was unfamiliar and distorted. Su Ming initially thought it was dragon language, but upon closer inspection, he realized it wasn't.

"What kind of script is this?" Su Ming asked, pointing to the "large book".

"Half-human speech, huh?" the club president replied.

No wonder Su Ming didn't recognize it, but the answer only confused him more. "Why is a book specially made for dragons written in halfling script?" The publisher looked bewildered. "Wasn't this something you specifically ordered to be developed for the halfling market?"

"Wait!" Su Ming felt his mind was a bit confused. "When did I say it was for halflings?"

The company president was puzzled. "The main consumers of picture books featuring dragons are half-human characters. And this book size is very popular there. They contribute 90% of the sales."

Su Ming rubbed his temples with his eyes closed. He decided to give up on delving into the logic behind it, and he was too lazy to imagine what those short, half-humans would do with such a giant picture book.

After the work report concluded, the publishing house team was about to leave with the sample books when Zijin walked in.

With a flick of her slender fingers, she simultaneously cast Levitation Spell and Mage Hand spells, snatching the books of various sizes from their hands. Then, the scholar waved her hand, signaling them to leave the books behind and depart.

Su Ming looked at Zijin with a puzzled expression, only to see her walk straight to his desk and sit down. With a slight movement of her fingertips, a picture book with a sensual cover floated into her palm, and the girl began to flip through it as if no one else was around.

"What's wrong?" Su Ming couldn't help but ask.

Zijin simply shook her head slightly. "I'm just reading. You go about your business."

"See..." Su Ming was completely baffled, "Is there something wrong with the correction of the White Bone Mark?"

"No, the root of the problem has been found," Zijin replied, her gaze still fixed on the pages of the book. "I'll leave after I finish reading; you don't need to worry about me."

Su Ming had no choice but to turn back and begin dealing with matters concerning King Star Pickaxe's upcoming visit. But the rustling sound beside him was like tiny claws constantly scratching at his nerves.

"Miss," he finally put down his pen, rubbing his temples, "I really welcome you sitting here, but with a member of the opposite sex... 'appreciation' of this kind of reading material." He pondered his choice of words, "This scene and feeling are just too peculiar."

Zijin finally lifted her eyelids, glanced at Su Ming, her face still expressionless. She turned her gaze to the huge "Dragon Book" leaning against the wall beside her, casually stretched out one leg, and used her toe to kick a page of the heavy book over.

It was very hot, and she was only wearing a light-colored, thin cotton skirt, revealing her fair and slender legs. The girl's cheeks still had a faint blush from being kissed by the scorching sun outdoors, and a tiny bead of sweat was quietly sliding down her delicate jawline.

Su Ming could no longer contain himself and slammed the documents in his hand onto the table with a "bang".

He pressed the communication crystal on the corner of the table. "Ainuobia, postpone the meeting with the dwarf ambassador. All other visitors, unless it's an absolute emergency, should also be postponed!"

"OK."

After ending the call, Su Ming took a deep breath and turned to Zijin. "OK, I think we should have a serious talk." He looked at the girl. "Don't tell me you've just suddenly developed a strong interest in 'popular' literature."

Zijin finally shifted her gaze from the picture book in her hand that depicted ambiguous scenes, glanced at the huge dragon book spread out on the ground, and finally settled on Su Ming's face.

She remained silent for a moment.

"Okay." Zijin closed the burning-hot booklet. "Yes, I've run into some trouble."

Su Ming sat up straight, adopting a listening posture, and gestured for her to continue with her eyes.

For a rare moment, Zijin hesitated, fidgeting with the hem of her skirt before speaking softly, but her question was, "Su Ming, in your eyes... am I ultimately a human, or a dragon?"

This question caught Su Ming off guard, but he answered without hesitation, "Human."

This straightforwardness surprised Zijin. "Why? Don't you know my background and birth?"

At the very least, it should be a hybrid of dragon and human?

"I know," Su Ming admitted. He originally wanted to explain that since arriving in the other world, he had been facing Ailisha's form almost the entire time.

However, after thinking about it, he decided to be more honest. "It's me who prefers to see you this way."

Zijin struggled to process those words, her long eyelashes trembling slightly. "You mean, you'd rather I were human?"

"This is just my personal perspective," Su Ming said earnestly, "But no matter how I think about it, whether you're human or dragon, you're still Zijin, aren't you?"

Zijin fell silent, the only sound in the office the soft hum of the air conditioner. After a long while, she spoke again.

"The upgrade of the White Bone Mark was interrupted, and the responsibility lies with me." She recounted, her fingers unconsciously twisting together. "When the ritual reached the point where I needed to sever my spiritual connection with the Bone Dragon, I lost control. Hundreds of years of memories flooded my mind in that instant." Zijin stretched out her arm, gesturing in the air to form a shape two or three people wide. "Misaila said that when I first hatched, I was only this big, and then I grew bigger day by day." Her eyes reddened slightly, a thin layer of mist quietly spreading across them. "I remember fighting with other little dragon cubs in the forest, rolling around in mud, and going home all dirty. I remember leaving Dragon Valley, hiding in the cold mine, idly counting the mice running around; I also remember clumsily learning to catch fish in the sea, choking on the saltwater until I vomited..."

Her voice choked slightly, and she turned her head away a little.

Su Ming felt a pang in his heart. He reached out and gently stroked the top of the girl's head.

He completely ignored this matter. In his eyes, it might just be a dragon skeleton, but in Zijin's heart, it was the body where she had lived for a hundred years, carrying countless memories of her.

"I'm sorry," Su Ming said, his voice filled with remorse, "I didn't consider your feelings at all when I was carrying out this plan."

Zijin bent her legs and curled up in the large chair, her slender arms tightly wrapped around her knees, burying her face deep inside, only her slightly red ear tips showing.

"Su Ming, I've already tried." A muffled voice came from the embrace. "Even when I calm down, I still can't do it—am I holding you back?"

Su Ming had never seen Zijin so vulnerable.

The girl in the plain dress and barefoot before him had completely lost her usual confidence and carefree attitude. He almost reached out to pull her into his arms and comfort her.

Su Ming forcibly stopped what he was doing, took a deep breath, and got up to walk towards the refrigerator in the office.

A cold, white mist billowed out as the cabinet door opened. He took out a green coconut, opened it, and poured the coconut juice into a glass. Su Ming took a big gulp, using the coolness to suppress the turmoil in his heart, before sitting back down in front of the girl.

"Thank you," Zijin said softly, taking the other cup of coconut juice he offered.

Su Ming pondered for a moment, "We can continue to modify the framework of the White Bone Mark, reconstruct the system logic, and design a configuration that doesn't require peeling off the bone dragon." Zijin raised her head, her moist eyes looking at him with a hint of confusion, "You... shouldn't you encourage me to face this obstacle?" "Why?" Su Ming asked, puzzled.

"Because the current imprinting scheme is the most efficient way for the two of us to collaborate. As long as I can overcome this hurdle," Zijin's expression held the unwavering determination of a researcher, "We can achieve a qualitative leap!"

"Not all obstacles must be overcome, and there isn't just one path to advancement," Su Ming replied earnestly. "Zijin, your own integrity and stability are the highest priority. Forcibly severing your connection with the Bone Dragon might touch upon the soul level and cause unpredictable hidden dangers."

The girl in front of him was an extremely special being, half-dragon and half-human, a fact that Su Ming began to realize.

Zige looked at him for a while, and suddenly realized that Su Ming, who lacked common sense about other worlds, had fallen into another misunderstanding.

"Wait a moment." She raised her hand, gesturing for a pause. "I need to teach you a lesson first. My soul is not the dragon soul you imagine, nor is it a mixture of human and dragon souls."

"Ah?"

"Do you remember the Heron I mentioned?" Zijin asked.

"Of course, a leading scholar in the field of souls." Su Ming nodded. "You mentioned him; he proposed the Soul Capacity Limit Theory and the Soul Overload Hypothesis."

"The Heron also proposed and demonstrated the Theory of the Common Origin of Souls," Zijin added. "The souls of all intelligent beings are essentially of the same origin and consistent, a point that has been confirmed by numerous subsequent studies."

Su Ming was slightly stunned. After thinking for a while, he said, "Your very existence is the most powerful evidence for this assertion?" Zijin nodded.

Her birth was achieved through complex technological means, and the primordial power that nurtured her came from both humans and dragons, but this did not affect the purity of her soul.

"Whether it's my physical structure or the essence of my soul, I'm no different from a pure human." Zijin's voice calmed down. "I've also been trying to accept and acknowledge my identity as 'human,' and... I intend to continue."

"Continue?" Su Ming realized what he meant. "So you actually still intend to strip the bone dragon?"

"Of course!" Zijin's tone was very firm. "I just need some time... to say goodbye properly." She paused, her voice softening. "I was just confiding these conflicted feelings to you."

After Zijin finished speaking, she stood up, stretched languidly, and her taut body relaxed. "Saying all this out definitely makes me feel much better." The girl, so close to him, was completely uninhibited, her exquisite curves faintly visible beneath her thin skirt. Su Ming began to suspect that Zijin had actually come to torment him on purpose today.

"What? Aren't you happy to see me?" Zijin asked mischievously, noticing his gaze deliberately shifting away.

"... Of course not, you're very welcome!" Su Ming replied.

The cell phone on the table beeped with a short message. The screen lit up, displaying a text message from Ainuobia: The dwarven envoy has been temporarily received by Beianqi, but an elven trade representative has suddenly arrived, seemingly with important matters to discuss.

"Never mind, King Star Pickaxe is coming soon, I know you're incredibly busy here." Zijin finished her coconut juice in one gulp, put down her glass and picture book on the table, and got up to leave. "Me too, I have a ton of work piled up."

Su Ming's gaze swept over the large-format books on the table and floor, and he suddenly couldn't help but ask, "You were flipping through those books just now, were you trying to find out what your true inclinations are?"

Zijin glanced sideways at Su Ming, "Yes... you want to know the answer?"

"... I'm a little curious."

Zijin was quite generous. "I really like this book, * Incense Burning and Aphrodisiacs *, and I also like the one on the ground, * The Bone Dragon Operation Guide *." A meaningful smile played on her lips. "The art style of * The Silvie the Failed Nun * is also very appealing, it's just a pity..."

Su Ming immediately raised his hands in surrender, "For specific suggestions, please discuss them with Miao Xin."

Seeing his appearance, Zijin stopped in her tracks, which had already turned to leave. She bent back and spread out all the colorful books on the table with a "whoosh".

On the colorful cover, figures of various races, such as humans, dwarves, trolls, and orcs, are depicted in different poses.

"It's not enough for me to just say it." Zijin's expression was clearly teasing, obviously enjoying Su Ming's current awkwardness. "You also need to explain clearly what style you prefer?"

Su Ming glared at her helplessly, and Zijin glared back. Neither of them gave an inch, and time seemed to stand still.

Su Ming made a snap decision, suddenly reached out, and grabbed Zijin's slender wrist, which was resting on the pile of books.

"I choose this one!"

bookshelf