Otherworld Bone Dragon Operation Guide

Chapter 122 Explosive Communication in the Real World

"I'm not a time traveler. The time traveler you saw is already dead." Su Ming simply stopped thinking about it. Anyway, the people on the other side were all elites. Even if he spoke incoherently, the intelligence analyst could easily understand him without him having to worry about organizing his thoughts.

"Galio was the creator of the wormhole. He arrived severely injured after the gas truck rear-ended a large truck—"

Ling Wen received a notification in her earpiece, her pupils dilated suddenly, and she looked up at the sky.

Su Ming also looked up and saw a tiny bright spot in the sky that was rapidly growing larger.

what is that?
Su Ming didn't react at first, but then he realized something: if you see something falling from the sky but can't see any trajectory, there's only one possibility!
Miao Xin merged instantly, and the ghostly flames in the little prickly boy's pupils suddenly blazed. The building was very tall, surrounded by hard concrete. But if he jumped to a nearby building and used the roll to cushion the impact—

Something flashed to her side, and Miao Xin instinctively dodged, but there was no sign of being attacked. She resumed her escape, accelerating from the start.

"No, don't jump!" Su Ming suddenly stopped him.

In the sky, the point of light had changed; some fragments on its sides broke off, causing the main body to deflect. Although it was only for a brief moment, a trajectory line was indeed created.

The little troublemaker stood on the rooftop, watching the incredibly fast fireball streak down from the sky, instantly piercing through the neighboring building and smashing through the basement.

Fourteen times the speed of sound, a space-based weapon!

Upon reaching the concrete base layer, the impact of the falling object suddenly stopped, and it exploded with a loud bang.

The shockwave swept through, blowing away the building's ground floor and sending debris flying onto surrounding structures. A large area of ​​the exterior walls centered on the blast point was instantly reduced to rubble, with extensive glass shattering simultaneously.

In the event of a high-speed impact, the resistive properties of solid ground, including the impacting object itself, become fluid. This causes the falling debris not to make a small hole and penetrate deep into the ground as one might expect, but rather to scatter in all directions like a puddle of soft mud.

When the impact is large, the ground can even bounce back like water, creating ripples. This is also why impact craters on Earth or the Moon are generally not very deep, and the bottoms are mostly horizontal.

The shockwave swept past, and even the little troublemaker in its fused state staggered back several steps before regaining its footing. From above, a portion of the entire park was riddled with craters in an instant.

The smoke and dust kicked up by the explosion only had time to spread then.

"Is this the terrifying power of a nation?!" Su Ming murmured. "You people are really... sigh..."

Amidst the deafening roar of the collapsing building, Su Ming turned around and looked at Ling Wen, who was lying on the ground with her head in her hands, trying to avoid the shockwave. He had no idea what to say, and could only sigh.

This woman was willing to use herself as bait, just to die with him.

He was filled with mixed emotions. If he weren't the one being opposed, and instead protected by the people of his hometown, he would probably be at peace knowing nothing about it.

****
"You bastards, is this how the CIA plays the game?!" The commander ripped open his collar, his anger reaching its peak.

The phone call just now was to inform you that a long, cylindrical "satellite component" weighing over a ton has suddenly derailed and is falling toward the operational area.

This brutal low-orbit reentry took less than ten minutes in total, with an even shorter window of detection. Moreover, the crash site was in Vietnam; the fact that they could connect the dots and relay the information here seconds in advance demonstrates the remarkable skill of the headquarters intelligence personnel!
But it was precisely in those precious few seconds that the laser interception system went all out at the last moment. Although somewhat inexplicable, the interception seemed to have some effect, and the target was missed.

At the scene, the rumbling of the collapsing building gradually subsided. The limited kill radius of the space-based weapon, which was not as advertised, also prevented the worst-case scenario.

Ling Wen struggled to her feet, trying to explain something to Su Ming. But her vision was blurry, her mind was filled with noise, and she couldn't speak at all.

Miao Xin jumped from the rooftop, then grabbed the decorative edge of the building, hanging several floors below. She then repeated the jump. Ling Wen struggled to the edge, only vaguely seeing the little thorn head rapidly shrinking.

Miao Xin landed quickly. A team member dressed as a worker rushed out from behind the outer cover, yelling at Su Ming, hoping he would stop.

Su Ming ignored her and carefully observed his surroundings. Miao Xin had already transformed into a hunting dog and was running at top speed.

【Go around towards the collapsed building!】

The collapsed wreckage can be used; the smoke and dust haven't cleared yet. Approaching the park's cordon from this side can shorten the distance and allow for a breakout when the opportunity arises!

Miao Xin approached the collapsed building. A crackling sound was brewing in a small hut next to it—the central power distribution room of the industrial park. Suddenly, an arc of light, dimming even the sunlight, flashed from it, followed by a massive fireball erupting into the sky!

Crack! Boom!

The 110 kV, 10000 kW transformer that supplies power to the entire industrial park exploded, multiple capacitor banks melted, and intense electromagnetic waves swept across the entire area!

A surge of blue lightning enveloped the little rascal, a sharp, zigzagging motion sending it flying. A tremor emanated from the vengeful spirit mark, severing Miao Xin's fusion with the little rascal.

[Miao Xin?] Su Ming was somewhat surprised; this kind of physical attack shouldn't have harmed Miao Xin!
But there was no response.

Su Ming quickly took control of the little troublemaker, fell to the ground, rolled a few times, and got up. He used his senses to search for Miao Xin, but couldn't find her around.

Su Ming looked up and saw that the vengeful spirit was floating in the air, huddled together.

"Miao Xin, we should go!" Su Ming called out again.

The sudden explosion disabled a large amount of electronic equipment. This was a huge advantage for Su Ming. If he didn't seize the opportunity to escape now, when would he?
But Miao Xin remained curled up in a ball, trembling. Su Ming forced a connection and finally sensed something—a series of terrified screams—

Don't kill me, don't kill me, don't kill me...

This is?

Su Ming suddenly realized that Miao Xin had been covered in this same blue light when she died a few months ago!

But things were even more cruel than that. As a ghost, she watched her body slowly rot, stink, and even crack open after summoning skeletons—

boom!
An object fell to the ground nearby; it was the plainclothes worker. As he chased after it, he was thrown into the air by the aftershocks of the explosion, his body riddled with shrapnel and blood.

Miao Xin's emotions suddenly exploded, an endless wind bursting forth all around, a pale light winding across the ground and spreading rapidly. The Vietnamese industrial park, which had just suffered a catastrophe, was once again burdened with a weight it should not have to bear.

Su Ming sensed something was wrong; the connection with the vengeful spirit was severed in an instant.

Not only that, the vengeful spirit imprint in his sea of ​​consciousness also began to tremble violently, on the verge of collapse, and even the little rascal's imprint began to crumble. Su Ming concentrated his mind, and countless runes gathered in his sea of ​​consciousness, attempting to repair them.

The moment they made contact, Su Ming encountered an extremely destructive force, as powerful as a physical storm. However, Su Ming also clearly felt the essence of his own power for the first time! Conceptual elements transcended ordinary elements, like stubborn rocks in a storm, gradually kneading the broken imprints together and forcibly aggregating them.

Su Ming once thought he would lose Miao Xin. But in the end, he sensed a faint pulse. Crossing the dark depths of the sea, Su Ming's consciousness recaptured Miao Xin's true feelings, and she responded with difficulty.

The two drew closer to each other little by little in the sea of ​​consciousness. Finally, Su Ming "held" Miao Xin's hand.

The spiritual storm dissipated around the two, and the spirit girl's form gradually calmed down. In the real world, in the Vietnamese industrial park, the storm subsided, and the deep, dark sea of ​​energy contracted, disappearing back into her spirit body.

So, is Miao Xin herself this dark, deep sea?
For the first time, Su Ming realized that this girl was indeed a vengeful spirit. Furthermore, the level of power she displayed was unlike anything Su Ming had ever heard of before!

The vengeful spirit's imprint in Su Ming's sea of ​​consciousness reformed, and when Su Ming reconnected, the ghost girl floated back to the ground.

Around her, a small patch of dark sea still surged, its light flashing on one side and disappearing on the other, rippling like waves.

The entire unfinished industrial park is in a mess. The glass that survived the first explosion has now disappeared along with the window frames. The exterior walls of the buildings are covered with deep corrosion marks, and everything looks like a faded scene after a nuclear war.

But another tenacious member of the action team emerged from behind the bunker, raising his hands and trying to approach.

The dark sea around Miao Xin deepened again, and her soul fire erupted. She suddenly merged with Little Spiky, who turned completely black, then took to the air, using the outer wall of the building for leverage, and then leaped away.

Wherever they landed, the walls turned to dust!

In just a few leaps, the troublemaker swiftly reached the outer perimeter. There were more members of the action team there, forming a defensive formation, and some weapons Su Ming didn't recognize were being activated. However, it seemed that due to the earlier electromagnetic shock, the equipment wasn't functioning smoothly.

Miao Xin's eyes were dark as she headed straight for them.

"Miao Xin, control your emotions!" Su Ming quickly said, "Don't do anything!"

"They...want to hurt me!" Miao Xin's reply was laced with ferocity. "Let's leave!" Su Ming declared forcefully. "I know you don't want to disappear like this, and I know you still have many things you cherish. Perhaps resurrection isn't possible, but I promise you, we can still continue our journey like this!"

Thinking about her experiences after death, the fire in Miao Xin's eyes flickered, but ultimately did not erupt again.

The dark sea beside him began to slowly shrink.

She finally regained some clarity, pushed off with her feet, turned away from the group of people in front of her, and ran towards the outer perimeter.

Buildings were left behind, and many vehicles began to give chase. Su Ming knew that the Red River was very close, so he pointed in a direction and told Miao Xin to run in that direction.

"I'm sorry about just now." Miao Xin, who had gradually recovered, took the initiative to apologize. "Although...although...when I saw the blood splattering, I really couldn't control myself."

Miao Xin was terrified by what had just happened, losing all reason and overwhelmed by endless darkness and destructive desires. If she hadn't returned with Su Ming's help, she didn't know where she would have ended up.

"Miao Xin, you need to manage your emotions and not trigger that power again," Su Ming said.

[Yes, I understand.]

****
Su Ming summoned Zi Jin and quickly recounted what had just happened.

"This vengeful spirit's power far exceeds our understanding." The scholar tapped the table lightly, pondering. "No matter how powerful the material, the upper limit for a vengeful spirit is only mid-level. Besides, Miao Xin is an Earth girl; she couldn't possibly have had a combat rank in her previous life."

"What exactly is Miao Xin's power level?" Su Ming asked. He was completely shocked and was still somewhat shaken.

“Su Ming, your magic power is already quite strong,” Zi Jin said. “Miao Xin belongs to you. To break free from your control, her power must far exceed yours. This is definitely not something a vengeful spirit should possess—but I find it difficult to judge exactly what level that power is.”

Su Ming changed the subject, "What would have been the consequences if that situation had really gotten out of control?"

“Miao Xin will lose her mind and kill indiscriminately, and in the end she will also be destroyed,” Zi Jin explained. “Although I don’t know much about it, this is the ‘normal’ use of vengeful spirits.”

"A one-time use, indiscriminate self-destruct weapon?" Su Ming nodded. "Understood."
-
On Earth's side, despite the pursuers, Miao Xin's psionic output had increased significantly during the recent anomaly. The little troublemaker moved more nimbly, and even with four wheels, it couldn't close the gap on Vietnam's poorly constructed roads.

She didn't even need to cut down the utility poles and block traffic.

Several armed helicopters covered with stickers of the Vietnamese golden star and red flag emerged from behind the building. They initially approached rapidly, but seemed to have suddenly received instructions to slow down and maintain their distance.

Su Ming judged that this was because the other side was wary of the destructive power that Miao Xin had just demonstrated.

Miao Xin quickly reached the water's edge and jumped in. She ran underwater, cleaning herself as she went. She discarded all electronic devices and anything that might leave a trace.

In the end, she left almost all the gold, which she crumpled into a ball and stuffed back into her bosom.

"Follow the Red River, head northwest," Su Ming instructed her.

Where are we going?

"Go back to China," Su Ming said. "Go see your family."

Although the situation is a complete mess, Miao Xin is actually the top priority.

Although the deeper details of the vengeful spirit are unclear, it is necessary to strengthen Miao Xin's understanding of the human aspect. The attachment to the world and the longing for loved ones may be the source of the resentment, but they are also the only thing that holds everything together.

A glint of light flashed in Miao Xin's eyes. "Thank you, Lord—"

Call me Su Ming, and stop acting cute.

[Where's the cuteness coming from...? Okay, Su Ming.]

"Yes, nice to meet you, Miss Miao Xin," Su Ming said.

"Is this a meeting between people who have never met before, separated by an unknown distance?" Miao Xin murmured, her demeanor noticeably more stable.

Su Ming glanced at the water behind him; there were constant movements. Some were probably speedboats, while others sank into the water with bubbles in them—he couldn't tell if they were sonar buoys or unmanned underwater vehicles.

A chill ran through him, and an inexplicable sense of loneliness enveloped him.

"Su Ming, there are drainage pipes," Miao Xin reminded them. There were several circular outlets in the water ahead, each over a meter in diameter. Judging by their design, they were likely connected to the municipal stormwater drainage system.

"Hmm. Let's dive in and get out of the river first," Su Ming said.

Miao Xin did as instructed, switched to hound mode, and crawled inside.

****
At the claims operations command center, everyone was extremely frustrated to learn that the target had been completely lost.

One person was seriously injured and two others were slightly injured, marking the second failure of the large-scale interception operation. Fortunately, apart from the three members of the vanguard team, the rest of the operation did not get close.

Otherwise, I don't know how many people would be receiving workers' compensation today.

"We finally managed to make contact with the time traveler," the commander said harshly. "CIA, you guys are something else!"

What he cannot have, he destroys without hesitation. Such ruthless and decisive action is truly befitting of the long-time ruler of Earth!
While cleaning up the mess, new orders came in from company headquarters.

"This task will be taken over by the company's internal affairs department; they will handle the order now," the commander announced to all personnel. "The IT department will complete the handover."

There was no punishment. The shame and resentment of failure, and the guilt of not completing the task, were the greatest punishment for all team members!

"Boss, what do we do?" one of the team members asked.

"Us?" The commander's eyes blazed with fury. "Of course, let's go get the compensation!"

　Space-based weapon specifications and data sources:
　　1. Speed.

　　After deceleration in the atmosphere, the speed reaches Mach 14 at the end of the spectrum, data sourced from a publicly available article by the Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences.

　　2. Interception and accuracy
　　The following contains spoilers.

　　The weapon was not intercepted by the laser; the laser cannot intercept it. In fact, it was the terminal thruster that performed the active trajectory change and impact point correction. Both sides will discover this in the next chapter.

　　The weapon's original target was the person hiding in the building next door who was actually plotting against Miao Xin.

　　3. Methods of penetration

　　When a high-speed object strikes a hard surface, it creates a horizontal splash rather than piercing the ground. Counterintuitively, but this is based on actual measurements; at high speeds, the response of a hard object becomes similar to that of liquid damping.

　　Space-based weapons are ineffective against underground fortifications.

　　See several published papers, such as "Ultra-high-speed long rod projectile XXX".

　　The paper presents penetration curves, showing that earth-penetrating weapons reach their optimal speed at Mach 1.5. Above Mach 3, the penetration type changes to fluid penetration, and the penetration depth decreases sharply. A 140kg space-based tungsten rod struck at Mach 13.6 produced a measured crater depth of 3 meters.

　　4. Power

　　The weapon, as described in the story, weighs 1 ton and carries a kinetic energy equivalent of 2.2 tons of TNT at 14 times the speed of sound.

　　According to data from the Russian FB3000, it has a total weight of 3 tons, a drop speed of Mach 1.2, and a TNT equivalent charge.

　　Actual testing showed that the FB3000 easily destroyed a concrete building, with a shockwave absolute lethal radius of 46 meters (excluding shrapnel and other effects).

　　Considering that the FB3000 is a professional destructive weapon with higher efficiency, this paper further weakens its power.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)