Welcoming the Guests

The Radiant Holy City, the New Saint Lan Cathedral.

Ambassador Emilio of the Cold Mountain Kingdom and his deputy Kalila (Yise) had been waiting in the reception room for more than half an hour, but Cardinal Chancellor Bulameike, whom they had arranged to meet, was still nowhere to be seen.

Emilio showed no impatience, calmly sipping the black tea served by the temple attendant and leisurely admiring the oil paintings on the wall. Yise also remained calm, simply listening intently, the ends of his hair gleaming softly in the dim light.

The door to the reception room opened, and Bulameike stepped in. After a few brief pleasantries, he took his seat in the main seat.

Emilio and Yise also sat down in the seats opposite them.

"The Star Sand Organization has formally requested my king to allow them to launch an attack on the Western Continent of the Noble Temple, in accordance with the ' Light Holy War Passage Clause 'Dawn Territory."

The Northern Lands Dawn Territory Northern Continent Jurisdiction of Light, and one must cross the treacherous Dome Mountains in between.

"What are your king's thoughts on this?" Bulameike inquired.

"Of course, we flatly refuse!" Emilio declared righteously. "The Star Sand are not a papal organization recognized by our country, and therefore are naturally not within the scope of the Holy War Treaty!"

Bulameike sighed. He had already guessed the other party's intentions before he came, and had already discussed the decision with the Pope.

He cut to the chase. "Please allow them passage through your country."

Rather than sending their own troops on a long and arduous campaign, the Temple of Light would naturally choose to wait in ambush and defeat the enemy at the opportune moment. No matter how powerful the Final Bone Mad Machines are on the front lines, their long supply lines behind them will be riddled with holes.

Emilio tried to feign surprise, but Bulameike had already raised his hand and pressed it down, his eyes sharp as he stared directly at him, saying, "Let's be frank, the Cold Mountain Kingdom probably wants us to clash with the Star Sand rebels, doesn't it?"

This was too direct, and Emilio couldn't pretend any longer, so he tacitly agreed without saying a word.

The Cold Mountain Kingdom will not engage in direct conflict with either Star Sand or the Temple of Light. Letting the two fight like snipe and clam, they will always reap the benefits.

Yise, standing to the side, narrowed his eyes slightly. The Cold Mountain Kingdom's "help" to Star Sand, turning a blind eye to their petty actions and even lending her the identity of a fake deputy envoy, was also because Su Ming had paid enough benefits.

The ships docked at Dawn Territory Port were actually unloading steam-powered rock-drilling equipment that the Cold Mountain Kingdom desperately needed, not the military equipment that the Temple of Light had assumed. For the Cold Mountain Kingdom, a country separated by multiple mountain ranges and rich in mineral resources, the importance of these devices that could excavate caves and mines at low cost was beyond doubt.

Similarly, the Cold Mountain Kingdom does not want the potential enemy Final Bone Mad Machines, to benefit too much or grow too quickly.

Su Ming and Katharine had already planned this out. Both Cold Mountain and the Star Empire believed that the Temple of Light's large population and vast territory would be enough to hold back Su Ming's forces.

No one believed that the combined Final Bone Mad Machines and the Star Sand Alliance, numbering less than ten thousand, could defeat the Temple of Light, which had a population of eighty million, in a short period of time. Even if the Temple of Light's side was full of pigs, they would still have to chip away at their blades.

Therefore, this time, Su Ming and Katharine took advantage of the mentality of the two major forces to try to achieve a decisive victory in one battle!

Emilio made no further attempt to conceal the fact that the Cold Mountain Kingdom would temporarily open the passages within the Northern Lands for this "holy war," and that Cold Mountain would not be responsible for any consequences arising therefrom.

The meeting ended quickly. Bulameike arranged for the waiters to see the guests off, while he himself left first. Recent preparations for war had kept the Cardinal Speaker very busy.

The two envoys from Cold Mountain walked out slowly and left the New Saint Lan Cathedral.

Yise felt a slight sense of regret, as the eavesdropping paintings drawn by Queen Ghostly Flower had an extremely short effective range in order to conceal magical fluctuations.

Once you leave the core area of the church, you lose that connection.

"How was the harvest?" Emilio asked in a low voice.

"There's a lot of useless information, but there's also some useful stuff," Yise replied casually. "I'll organize it when we get back."

"Um.

****

At the embassy of the Cold Mountain Kingdom, Yise met Yuya had also just returned from abroad.

The two immediately returned to their room and began to integrate the intelligence they had gathered.

Yise grabbed a strand of hair from her cheek, her fingertips gleaming faintly, and then wrote down what she had just overheard on a piece of paper.

"What are you doing?" Yuya asked, her face full of confusion.

"My hair is special; it can serve as a medium for recording information," Yise explained as he wrote. "I've engraved everything I overheard onto my hair."

Yuya's eyes widened. "This is a super convenient notebook!"

"It's more than just convenient," Yise said with a hint of pride. "This method is fast and discreet. I used it for exams at the academy, and I also use it to record spells and class notes."

Upon hearing this, Yuya's jealousy was almost palpable.

I want hair this good too!

Yise didn't mention was that her hair had another use—it could be used to inscribe tracking spells. She had tried to use this method to track Su Ming when they met in the Northern Lands, but the cunning Bay Owl saw through her trick.

The two joked around while working non-stop, and soon finished organizing the intelligence.

During this period, Yuya was responsible for collecting semi-public intelligence around the Holy City. Such large-scale operations as the two "Spear of Holy Radiance" Knight Orders being transferred to the Northern Continent Jurisdiction via the Star Empire's land route could not be concealed at all.

In addition, the Knights of the "Final Sin Edict" had long since left their permanent base, and the remaining main naval warships of the Temple of Light had also vanished without a trace.

"What I overheard corroborates these points: the Final Sin Edict ' and the warships should both be part of a task force called the ' Expeditionary Crusaders.'" Yise said after checking the unit designations against the Temple of Light's unit numbers, "Today we received a large number of orders and reports regarding this unit—it seems the Temple of Light is planning something big, and war is imminent!"

Yuya agreed, "Among the warships that disappeared this time were the two remaining magical warships of the Temple of Light. We need to find out exactly what kind of large-scale magical weapons they were equipped with."

Magic warships are the core combat force of a fleet, especially since this battle is against the Final Bone Mad Machines. Large-scale magical artifacts are currently the most effective equipment known to be able to counter them. From the perspective of the Temple of Light, they will definitely arm them with almost all their might.

From their own perspective, while the Pansy was not afraid, it was only one ship, and the ships that would encounter these warships were likely to be the Feather Race navy participating in the battle.

Yise flipped through the wiretapped records in his hand, his eyes lighting up. "An officer mentioned in the conversation that the commander of the magic warship Feimaina!"

Yuya vaguely remembered that this wasn't the person before. She checked the historical records and found that the person had indeed been changed.

"Your name is Feimaina, right?" She searched through the register of high-ranking personnel at the Temple of Light and quickly found her information. "She is an Grand Magus Mentor, skilled in wind and earth magic."

"It seems that the magical weapons carried by the magic warships are most likely of these two types," Yise said.

The two girls smiled at each other and gave each other a light high five.

****

When Su Ming received this almost name-by-name troop report, the drone also simultaneously reported that a suspicious fleet group had been detected 600 kilometers southwest of Brown Gold Island.

"These customers have finally come," he said with a sigh of relief.

If he doesn't come soon, he might start to doubt his own "charm," which would be embarrassing.

The enemy is currently too far away, and the information from the radar is rather vague, only able to determine that there are approximately sixty ships of various types. However, based on the reports from Yise and Yuya, it can be known that there are twenty-two main warships, as well as transport ships carrying ten thousand elite Holy Knights, and the rest should be supply and auxiliary vessels.

"Sending such a large force, they certainly think highly of us." Ainuobia planted a flag representing the enemy ship on the sand table, her tone tinged with worry. "President, can we win?"

Our main forces have all been deployed; neither the Bone Machine Battalion nor the elite War Dragon Legion are present.

However, Ainuobia actually had a lot of confidence in Su Ming. She believed the guild leader must already have special tactics to deal with the invading enemy. "We can't defeat this fleet," Su Ming retorted, "We didn't even bring anti-ship missiles this time."

The previous clash between the Blue Dragon and the goblin fleet on Snow Wing Island demonstrated that aerial creatures do not have an advantage against the large ranged weapons on warships. It was a case of one dragon breath attack followed by another ballista shot, resulting in mutual damage.

The incoming fleet of light is large in tonnage, numerous in number, and must be heavily armed. Two hundred dragons alone are not enough to suppress it.

"So, the plan is to let the enemy land on the island and fight using the facilities there?" Ainuobia guessed.

"We can't win on the island either," Newman interjected. "Although we have a large defensive array, the enemy has dozens of Magister and Grand Magus Mentor, so we won't have the upper hand."

"Ah!" Ainuobia exclaimed in astonishment, "What should we do then?"

"Don't overthink it. Go and call Ruixiuli and the others over. I need to assign tasks." Su Ming said, and began to draft the combat orders for each unit.

"Yes, Chairman!"

****

On the beach outside the office, Ruixiuli, Jielusi, Mo Yuan, and Yin'er were playing mahjong.

Ruixiuli was chasing a mahjong tile that was speeding through the bushes on the riverbank. Just as he was about to catch it, Yin'er blocked his way, "Trying to get an eight of bamboo? No way!"

"Wait a minute!" Ruixiuli said anxiously, pointing to Elder Black Dragon on the other side, "Mo Yuan is ready to win! He's about to draw the five of bamboo!"

Yin'er looked back and, sure enough, Mo Yuan had already plunged into the shallow sea, reaching out his claws to grab the five-tube object that had sunk to the bottom. Jielusi tried her best to stop him, but she was clearly no match for him.

He immediately unleashed a burst of dragon breath, blowing away the entangled Mo Yuan and Jielusi. Just as he turned his head, he saw that Ruixiuli had already seized the opportunity to pounce on the eight-headed creature.

Yin'er couldn't stop it in time, but Ruixiuli failed because a foot suddenly stepped out and trampled the fleeing domino into the sand.

"You've been fighting all morning, and it's all ended in a draw!" Ainuobia said. "Let's go, Su Ming needs to plan the battle."

"It's all because of your wind magic!" Mo Yuan complained, shaking off the water droplets as he climbed up from the beach. "It made the mahjong tiles run away so fast!"

"We need to change the wind next time," Yin'er muttered.

Over here, Su Ming had already made several deployments. "He ordered the intelligence team of Radiant Holy City to shift their focus to Janet. He also ordered Dawn Territory Northern Continent Jurisdiction, move supply points forward, and adopt an offensive posture."

The communications team quickly sent out the command.

Su Ming then turned to Newman, "Starting tomorrow, have our Sea Eagle Beast reconnaissance teams appear near the enemy fleet, and also get the nearby ships moving to create an appearance of panic."

"No problem," the halfling skeleton said confidently, "I guarantee I'll play myself."

Halflings possess a racial talent for escaping and hiding.

Su Ming looked at the sea chart. The Haijia Archipelago in the northeast were clearly not a peaceful place. The Light Fleet had been successfully lured here, and these sea creatures could now be sent home.

Or, to put it another way that people in this other world wouldn't understand: They're dead!

"Notify Silver Island to prepare the H-6 WZ for tonight's attack," Su Ming ordered. "I will go there personally."

"Clear!"

Before long, all the work arrangements were completed.

The four-person mahjong team (Dragon) discovered that they had nothing to do with it.

"What do you need us for?" Yin'er asked, grinning his big white teeth. "To bite or to stab people?"

"Help me devise an escape plan," Su Ming stated his specific request. "I need to be the last one to stagger away amidst the towering flames. Before I leave, I must cast one last, defiant glance back at the enemy commander!"

Jielusi's blood pressure immediately spiked. She stepped forward, glared at Su Ming, and said, "How dare you!"

****

Although the attack was scheduled for the evening, Su Ming actually set off for Silver Island in the afternoon, and even ate dinner on the dragon's back.

He was biting into the seaweed and shredded pork rice ball made by Jielusi, which was soft, sticky and fragrant. As Su Ming ate, he noticed that Ruixiuli next to him was holding a lunchbox, chewing slowly with a bitter face.

After this period of treatment, most of the scars on Ruixiuli's face have faded, revealing his original handsome appearance. The wind blew his hair, and he looked melancholy and pitiful.

Su Ming was puzzled. He glanced at Ruixiuli's lunchbox and realized that it was full of fish.

Jielusi has absolutely no idea how to cook fish; for her to cook fish for Ruixiuli is absolutely despicable!

Su Ming moved closer to Jielusi and asked in a low voice, "What did Ruixiuli do to offend you?"

"I haven't offended him," Jielusi said stiffly. "Stacy said he needs to eat more protein during his treatment!"

Su Ming turned to look at Ruixiuli, who had a bitter face, and then at Jielusi, who was gritting her teeth and gnawing on a rice ball beside her. He immediately had a guess in his mind.

"You like him?" Su Ming asked directly.

"Is it that hard to tell?" Jielusi asked rhetorically.

"Um—" Su Ming and suggested, "Perhaps you could be nicer to him?"

"I prepare food carefully every day and dress myself up meticulously—but he won't even glance at me!" Jielusi said angrily.

So all this time he'd been mooching off were the lovingly prepared bento boxes that Jielusi had made for Ruixiuli, Su Ming thought to himself.

"Well, there's nothing I can do to help with this," he said helplessly.

Su Ming was self-aware in this regard. If he had any skill, he wouldn't have waited until recently to confirm his relationship with Zi Jin.

"Good luck," Su Ming offered his free blessing, then picked up the remaining rice ball and traded it with Ruixiuli for a few fish, joining him in munching on this "high-quality protein."

Jielusi clutched the other rice ball she hadn't taken out of her backpack, her face turning even paler.

"They're all such scoundrels!" she thought angrily.

****

On Silver Island, the H-6 WZ were ready and quietly floating on the sea near the island, waiting for the order to strike like a lurking beast.

The island is not large, only a few square kilometers in area. A month ago, Su Ming ordered the construction of a breakwater, simple living facilities and a large warehouse here. The fuel and ammunition of the H-6 WZ were also transported here and stored one after another.

On one side of the island stands a tall radio communication tower, while on the other side is a makeshift runway where several Rainbow Drone are being prepared by ground crew. This time, they are equipped with sonar buoy systems, serving as the eyes of tonight's "fishing" operation.

"Drone ready!" the ground crew reported. "At five knots, it can take off at any time!"

A co-pilot operated the control panel of the H-6 WZ, and several drones took off one after another, quickly disappearing into the northern night.

Judging from the movements, they were fairly smooth.

"How's my apprentice doing?" Miao Xin nudged Su Ming with her skeletal elbow with a smug look.

During her time wandering around the base, she managed to discover several members with talent for flight control. In addition to assisting with the flight of the H-6 WZ, they were also able to control drones.

"Not bad." Su Ming praised, the team is becoming more and more complete. "When we form an air force squadron in the future, you'll be the commander."

"Don't give me that empty promise!" Miao Xin said discontentedly. "You should change out of this ugly pig skeleton outfit I'm wearing."

"A pig skeleton is two kilograms lighter than a human skeleton," Su Ming argued, "Which would reduce the aircraft's payload."

"Believe it or not, I can skim the H-6 WZ over the water and reduce its weight by 2 tons?"

The communications officer stepped forward to report, "Chairman, the long-distance wireless communication equipment has been successfully tested and debugged."

For long-distance communication, Su Ming chose the shortwave method, using the reflection of the ionosphere and the ground to allow radio waves to bypass the curved surface of the Planet Taiya, achieving long-distance communication of thousands or even tens of thousands of kilometers.

However, the ionosphere is less effective during the day, and it is only now, as night deepens, that we begin to enter the period of best communication quality.

Su Ming walked into the communications room, picked up the microphone, and made contact with Pansy on the other end.

"Hey hey hey!" Beianqi's complaining voice, mixed with the distinctive noise of a radio, came through. "President, have you forgotten about us? We're practically dried out of our skin!"

"You won't be bored in two more days," Su Ming promised. "I guarantee you'll be so busy you won't have a moment to spare, you'll be bursting with happiness."

"You said it yourself!" Beianqi said.

After a brief exchange of information about the ships and the battle situation, Su Ming hung up the communication.