Otherworld Bone Dragon Operation Guide

Chapter 129 A Spy Infiltrating the Pirates

As the spell ended, Zi Jin swayed slightly, and Su Ming reached out to support her.

"what happened?"

“I’m still struggling to extend my domain right now,” Violet said, pressing her forehead. “But if I don’t suppress your ‘Silent Vision,’ you’ll see through the illusion immediately.”

Su Ming helped Zi Jin sit down in a chair, then rubbed his stomach beside her. The stab wound was fake, but the spasms caused by the pain spell were real.

How did you pull me into this illusion?

“This has no tactical significance.” Violet pointed to the magic crystal on Su Ming’s wrist. “I’ve been planning this lesson for a long time.”

"I'm sorry, it's kind of you to go to all this trouble to design these." Su Ming took off the bracelet and returned it to Zi Jin. "Although everything looks very similar, and it really hurts, I knew it was fake before you stabbed me."

“You come from a greenhouse country, and the worst you have are just a few scratches,” Violet explained to him. “I originally wanted you to experience what it feels like to be suddenly and severely injured in combat. There are opportunities in training, but in real combat, the slightest hesitation means death.”

“I understand,” Su Ming said. This is a world where swords fly at the slightest provocation; some experience is always better than ignorance. The girl had clearly gone to great lengths for him. “But why did you make me stab you too?”

"I just want to show you how I went through these things."

Su Ming paused, not quite understanding this line of thought, "Did your teacher train you like this?"

“It was one of my mothers, and it wasn’t a dream,” Violet replied. “I hate her cruelty, but it did help me.”

Su Ming remained silent for a long time. He poured himself a glass of water and slowly drank it down, sip by sip.

The essence of all adventure stories is slaughter and mountains of corpses. Violet has been through countless conflicts; her path is paved with blood.

He put down his water glass and turned to the violet, "I feel pretty ridiculous, I mean all my sentimentality."

Although he was preoccupied with other matters today, it was true that he was too lenient towards pirates and had a resistance to necromancy spells such as zombie conversion.

"I won't do it anymore."

Violet had recovered considerably. "Well, let's continue our discussion about the pirates."

“Uh, I mean what I understand,” Su Ming replied. “These are robbers; only knives and whips can make them obey!”

“I know we’re talking about something else.”

****
Zi Jin got up, put on her coat, buttoned it up, and covered her shoulders and chest. She led Su Ming to the cabin where the pirates were being held and stood among the prisoners.

The captured pirates awoke with a start and looked at the two men in fear.

Zi Jin took Su Ming's hand and initiated mental synchronization. But unlike usual, the scholar's mental power continued to expand until it was fully released. In the mental vision, Su Ming saw a large ball of light appear beside him. And his own light was huddled small and tiny to the side.

"It's not as big as I imagined," Su Ming said.

"You've progressed too quickly," Violet said. "Alright, clear your mind and let me come closer."

[What do you want to do?] Su Ming raised an eyebrow and saw Zi Jin's spiritual power suddenly wrap around him, even directly breaking through his sea of ​​consciousness.

Su Ming instinctively tried to resist, but his mental sea was pierced and torn to pieces. He felt a dense, tearing sensation, and a sweet taste rose in his throat; he knew he was injured.

Their mental domains became entangled, or rather, the scholar forcibly squeezed in. The feeling was extremely strange; not entirely unbearable, but extremely uncomfortable.

"Hey!" Su Ming was experiencing phantom pain all over his body. "Isn't this normal?"

He had reason to suspect that the scholars had just inflicted excruciating pain on him and deliberately stabbed him in a hallucination in order to forcibly raise his stress threshold.

"I apologize for acting first and informing you later. Giving you preparation only made things more complicated," Zi Jin said. "Our spiritual compatibility is very high; sooner or later we'll have to reach the point of attempting fusion." She warned, "Empty your mind and avoid excessive fluctuations, or we'll both get hurt."

"I feel like it's a one-sided invasion by you," Su Ming said.

"You're not mistaken. Alright, time's limited, so activate your 'Silent Vision'." Violet urged.

"Silent Vision" is a high-difficulty eye technique that Su Ming recently learned, which is extremely effective against illusions.

Su Ming calmed down and began to construct a mental circuit, but his mental body, which was in complete disarray due to the disturbance, was completely unresponsive.

"Teacher Zijin, aren't you being too difficult for me?" Su Ming said through gritted teeth.

"You can do it," Violet said. "Just forget about the present."

Should he forget about the present? Su Ming decided to think of something else.

Last night, as he took over his shift and began inspecting the entire ship, he unexpectedly bumped into the scholar in the warehouse, who was supposed to be going to bed. She was holding several raw potatoes, one dangling from her mouth, white juice dripping from the corner of her lips—

[Hey!] Zi Jin's sea of ​​consciousness rippled.

"Don't let things get too volatile, or we'll all get hurt," Su Ming said.

"Can you please stop recalling this?!" Violet said angrily. "That potato was really sweet; I loved eating it when I was a dragon! And why does your recollection of it feel a little strange?!"

"You have to promise me you won't eat raw potatoes again," Su Ming stated.

This is coercion!

I am the one who is coerced.

After a few seconds of stalemate, Violet said helplessly, "...Alright."

Su Ming smiled slightly. He focused his mind again and broadened his field of vision.

This time, there were no obstacles at all. The world around them suddenly froze, and countless pirates stood still in space.

Time did not stand still; the pirates were still active, albeit extremely slowly, leaving trails in the air and outlining various silhouettes.

Violet was also pulled in.

"Excellent!" the scholar exclaimed. "How long can it last?"

The perceived duration is about ten seconds, but the actual time is only one second.

"That's impressive, considering it's the most difficult eye technique," the girl replied. "However, in this state, my mental energy will support you, allowing it to last longer."

Su Ming sensed it; the power of the violet was also working together to dissect the world before him. The lines left by the movement were clearer than when he used it alone. He saw a mosquito approaching the pirate, its wings gliding along undulating curves, every detail clearly visible in the sluggish world.

The scholar was struck by the realization: "So this is what 'silent vision' looks like; this is the first time I've ever seen it."

"You haven't studied this?" Su Ming asked, puzzled.

I can't learn it.

"But I mastered it very easily." Su Ming was very surprised. He really did just flip through it casually and successfully used it in two or three hours—although the name was hard to understand, wasn't it just graphic layering and frame-by-frame decomposition?
"The rules of magic depend on the user's subconscious perception of the world," Violet explained. "Your subconscious believes the 'world' can be this way, so you can easily distort reality, but I can't."

Su Xiang recalled the field of study that Zi Jin had pursued: "Natural Rhythms," and gained some insight: "You've chosen 'Reason,' which requires following the trajectory of the world's operation?"

Violet's magical system does indeed lack spells that defy the rules. For example, she was able to use force fields smoothly only after studying mechanics and integrating this understanding into her worldview.

[Hmm. 'Natural Rhythms' can smooth over the distortions and rewritings of the rules by both sides, dragging the battle into a simple exchange of numerical values. This is the path I've chosen.]

"A battlefield-defined type of domain?" Su Ming murmured.

The two were standing beside a pirate lying on the ground. In the silent vision, the human pirate's lines, which should have been clear, became blurred and flickering.

[Illusion?] Su Ming looked at several flickering spots, concentrated around his ears and hands. The collar that should have been worn around his neck was actually on his tail.

"It's a very advanced illusion technique; it must be from the fox clan among the orcs," Violet replied. "It can even deceive my senses; this guy is no ordinary being."

How did you discover that he had a problem?

In the effect of the silent vision, their thinking was accelerated, and the two began to feel their brains overloaded.

Let's leave first.

【it is good. 】

Su Ming stopped the spell, and the frozen world resumed operation. The two left the cabin where the pirates were being held. "When we were preparing to set off this morning, the pirates were dragging their feet, so I whipped and severely punished several of them on the spot," Zi Jin began to recount the events of the day. "But during the search, two teams were still slacking off, so I had to punish them and send out new teams to search."

The two walked to the railing. The evening breeze was cool, and the waves shimmered under the moonlight.

"This is illogical. They're already prisoners; pirates should be looking for trouble and avoid danger. They shouldn't be courting death like this."

“So, someone must have instigated this. But no one confessed during my interrogation, which made me suspect that things weren’t so simple.” Violet unbuttoned her coat and stretched in the moonlight. “Luckily, your ‘Silent Vision’ is the bane of illusions, which saved me a lot of trouble.”

"What should we do with this orc?"

"I haven't figured it out yet. If he can deceive my senses, he must be a top-notch spy. We don't know his purpose, nor do we know how much he has done."

Su thought for a moment, "Let's not alert them yet. Let me plan this out. You go and rest first."

"Then it's up to you. Goodnight!"

"good night!"

****
Using his pupil technique, Su Ming observed the orc several more times.

He was very cautious and acted as if nothing was wrong, but he was always seizing every opportunity to secretly use suggestive techniques on other pirates. He could implant instructions to make them rebel in just a few words of conversation.

Su Ming realized with dismay that he was simply disrupting the White Triangle's investigation plan for the island.

Are you deliberately delaying our investigation?

Although somewhat inexplicable, the spies' actions disrupted the management of the prisoners and reduced the number of pirates available for use.

Su Ming marked the planned route of the White Triangle on the nautical chart. They would arrive at the Coral Four Islands tomorrow to conduct a search, and then continue their journey that night, arriving at Snail Island, 700 kilometers away, the day after tomorrow.

Judging from the actions of the Orc spies, tomorrow's search is destined to fail, and the White Triangle will be forced to stay here for another day.

Then a storm hit, which would delay the search for Snail Island by more than three days.

Su Ming circled around Snail Island.

The other islands are at least six days away. The orc spies' hasty actions suggest it's unlikely to be a long-term scheme.

Su Ming had a rough idea of ​​what to do: when the enemy didn't want them to do something, they should do it even more!
He tolerated the orc spies' activities all night. Around dawn, feeling extremely tired, he dozed off for a while.

I was woken up by a nightmare!
Su Ming got up from the recliner and found that the sun had already risen, and the two girls were already busy in the morning light.

"Good morning, you don't look well!" Violet glanced at him. "Are you sick? I followed your instructions in the log and didn't touch that orc."

"Good morning." Su Ming rubbed his face, his tone full of resentment. "I'm not sick, I just dreamt that I stabbed you again. I pierced your heart, blood gushing out uncontrollably—the scene was terrifyingly beautiful!"

"Sorry, I went a little too far last night."

"Let me ask you a question: what would happen if you were actually stabbed in the heart?"

Zijin thought for a moment, "There are no professional healers on the ship, so Elisa's form will be seriously injured and on the verge of death."

"Living, how long?" Su Ming asked, puzzled.

“I can seal Elisa’s body by switching to my bone dragon form,” Violet explained. “Of course, it’s just a delaying tactic. If she doesn’t receive treatment, then—” she spread her hands, “the life core is in Elisa’s body, so I will become a soulless bone dragon—maybe you can even program runes into my soul core!”

"Don't describe such terrible things to me!" Su Ming raised his hand in surrender.

The three of them went to the operations room, where Su Ming shared his thoughts with the two girls.

"Do you believe someone is directing the orc espionage operation?" Beanche asked.

“Yes. We’re not too far from the mainland of Ling Island right now,” Su Ming replied. “It’s not surprising that professional spies could communicate with their accomplices on the shore without our knowledge.”

After a moment's thought, Beaufort said, "That makes sense. Otherwise, it's too far-fetched for such a high-level spy to incite prisoners to engage in non-violent non-cooperation!"

The White Triangle's communication tower suddenly received a contact request from the dwarves. After receiving it, Beanche displayed the message to everyone.

"Lingdao Bing Shu has just appeared at Lingbei Port. After a brief encounter with Xingyu, she forcibly broke through the defenses and returned to Lingdao."

Violet calculated the distance using the nautical chart. "That makes sense. If this spy successfully buys us time, Yesia will be able to get here in time. Their zombie base really is over here!"

“That sounds great. Shall we raid her house before Yeshia gets back, and then disappear?” Beanie suggested.

“This is my plan,” Su Ming said. “We’ll arrive at the Coral Islands in half an hour. We’ll send out the pirates to search as planned.”

“Okay, Su Ming, you should go and rest,” Zi Jin said. “We’ll take care of the daytime.”

“You should also take turns resting. With Yesia gone, we don’t have to face Saint-level opponents, but we’ll inevitably face opponents one level below us,” Su Ming said. “Tonight, it looks like we’re in for a tough fight!”

"We will."

Beanche assembled four groups of pirates, fifteen men each, and she placed the orc spy among them. She then placed them on small boats and dispatched them to the four islands, ordering them to search until sunset. The White Triangle would then return to verify the search results.

The White Triangle then headed east to search for a smaller island nearby. Once out of sight of the Coral Four Islands, the White Triangle suddenly turned south, accelerating to full speed and heading straight for Snail Island, 500 kilometers away.

To prevent any unknown communication methods from leaking information, all the remaining pirates held in the ship's hold were drugged.

This was Su Ming's plan: to make the spies think everything was proceeding as normal, while in reality, they were launching a full-speed attack on Snail Island!

The White Triangle travels at around 30 knots, covering 500 kilometers in just over 9 hours, arriving at sunset.

Since the enemy is trying to stall for time, the White Triangle will do the opposite and give the enemy a big surprise!

****
At four o'clock in the afternoon, Su Ming got up and took over the work on the bridge. At this time, they were still about 100 kilometers away from Snail Island, which officially came into radar view.

"There's a port on this island, where an 800-ton transport ship is docked," Su Ming analyzed the radar data.

This tonnage is definitely top-tier in this area. After all, not every place has a high-standard seaport. It is more than enough to handle short-distance sea transport between Lingdao Island and Lingdao Island.

"We've found the right place!" Violet was quite happy. A ship meant people, meant supplies were flowing, which meant they'd most likely hit the bullseye!
"I'm going to prepare for battle." Beanie was equally excited as she left the cockpit.

Zijin took out the magic bracelet from last night and handed it to Su Ming.

"The Swiftness spell is still there, but I've removed the Illusion spell and replaced it with Flight," she explained. "It's faster than the Flight Crystal I gave you before."

"Okay." Su Ming took it and put it on.

Beanie removed the gun cover and safety devices from the MK71 heavy cannon, then went to the rear flight deck to pull out the mechanical puppets from the ship's hold for combat preparations.

Several zombies carried a box over. The spirit mechanic opened it and found a pair of longswords. Their once gleaming blades were now dull and lifeless, the edges a drab gray.

Beianqi flicked it lightly, the sound muffled. She pulled out a small knife, ready to test its quality.

"Don't cut it, it'll break easily." Su Ming walked over.

Upon hearing this, the girl pressed the small knife in her hand against the blade of the long sword. With barely any force, a deep gash appeared on the knife. Her eyes immediately blazed with fervor. "God, what a creation this is!"

“I modified the mantis’s weapon, replacing the base of the blade with tungsten-titanium-cobalt cemented carbide, and coating it with cubic boron nitride,” Su Ming explained. “This material is actually used in Earth’s industry to make high-hardness lathe tools, and it’s not suitable for making weapons.”

Cubic boron nitride has a hardness second only to diamond.

Beianqi used a knife to forcefully scratch the blade, but not only did it leave no mark, it also became slippery.

"Amazing!" she exclaimed.

"The blade is covered with a titanium carbide coating, which has a lower hardness but a lower coefficient of friction," Su Ming continued to explain. "So it's smoother than it looks, or rather, very smooth."

“Smooth, extremely hard, but brittle, right?” Beanie said.

"Yes, in actual combat, there's only one or two chances to strike."

"Understood!" Beanie carefully stored the two knives in the Mantis's spare knife slot. "I'll make good use of them if we encounter a strong enemy!"

(End of this chapter)