Otherworld Bone Dragon Operation Guide

Chapter 156 A Stumbling Road Test

Su Ming simply modified the handle structure of locomotive number two, making it work in reverse. "Alright, let's start again!"

With this start, the two locomotives finally synchronized their directions. A clanging sound rang out as the tracks began to slowly roll, pressing the snow with a muffled thud. As the locomotives reversed, the carriages behind them were also pulled along. The space between them was compressed, and they pressed together, one against the other.

"Purge the steam," Su Ming reminded him.

Hanster stepped on the foot valve, and the condensate from the piston was immediately blown out along with the steam. Kira's human form was too small, so she had to jump off the chair to perform this operation.

"Okay, okay, just a few seconds is enough," Su Ming stopped her.

According to the roof-mounted monitor, more than twenty carriages were squeezed together and could no longer reverse. With a loud bang, the locomotive jammed and stopped again.

Su Ming didn't care anymore; as a novice, he was perfectly justified.

"The throttle is too low." He quickly identified the problem, but now it wouldn't reverse. "Let's start moving forward first!"

Su Ming replaced the "Pre-Drive Checklist" on the console with the "Heavy Load Start Checklist." "The first step, what was it again? Oh, half the valve, push the handle forward to 50%."

The driver followed instructions, and the pistons of both locomotives operated simultaneously, causing the tracks to move forward.

"Increase the valves to three-quarters." Su Ming stared at the speedometer and video monitor. As the locomotive moved forward, one carriage after another was pulled tighter, and the speed gradually increased.

“If you think the cylinder sound is off, try bleed the steam again,” Su Ming said. “Condensation is most likely to occur during the start-up process.”

"What kind of sound is considered wrong?" Hansster asked.

"Ask about cylinders, not me." Su Ming rubbed his cheek helplessly. These things had been retired before he was born, how could he have actually heard of them?

As the first twenty-odd carriages were pulled tight, the following thirty-odd heavily loaded carriages were suddenly pulled up, causing the entire train to slow down abruptly, and everyone was pulled forward.

The car, which had been moving quite well, suddenly slowed down and almost came to a stop.

This time, without Su Ming's prompting, Hanster decisively reset the controller to zero. The Unicorn, seeing the operation of the No. 1 motorcycle on the monitor screen, immediately followed suit and cut off the power.

"The cylinder cutoff ratio is too low!" Su Ming lamented.

He genuinely felt that this thing was much harder to navigate than a ship. After all, you could do whatever you wanted at sea, since you were surrounded by water. Su Ming's early days as a novice sailor were spent recklessly and carelessly cruising around on the ocean.

The biggest difference is that a ship can move as long as the propeller is spinning. But for a heavy-haul train, the interplay between traction and resistance is much more complex.

Additional difficulty stemmed from the lack of tracks, requiring the engine to contend with immense static friction during startup. Despite modifications using modern technology and magic that at least doubled the steam locomotive's output power, it still couldn't directly pull the train.

That's why it's necessary to reverse first to press the carriages together, and then start moving forward, overcoming the static friction of each carriage one by one.

****
Su Ming composed himself, marked the new precautions on the reminder card, and prepared to start afresh.

"Su Ming, can you stop for a moment?" Zi Jin suddenly said.

【how? 】

Wait for me to come.

Su Ming took off his headphones, rested his elbows on the control panel, closed his eyes, and rubbed his brow bone.

Zijin walked over from the driver's cab of locomotive number two. "Su Ming, are you alright?"

"I'm fine, what's wrong?"

Violet gazed at him. "You should be more composed than you are now—you're being impatient."

Su Ming was taken aback. He had indeed performed poorly during the test and made a series of mistakes.

He sighed, "I'm sorry, but there really isn't any time left. Tomorrow is the Lunar New Year's Eve in my hometown, and most warehouses will be closed for the holiday. Logistics are disrupted, and the processing of parts is increasingly being interfered with."

“Then we should stop even more,” Violet insisted. “Let’s take a short rest!”

Su thought for a moment, then sighed, "Alright." He picked up the microphone, pressed the switch, and said, "Everyone, take a twenty-minute break."

Zijin breathed a sigh of relief. "Shall we go do some exercise?" she suggested.

It's good to change things up, Su Ming nodded, "You'd better go easy on me."

"No problem. No need for offensive magic or high-level spells today, is that enough?"

"Don't say one thing and do another," Su Ming said with a wry smile. However, he didn't really suspect that Zi Jin was lying to him again. It was necessary to maintain a certain level of magic power during today's test drive. Changing one's mood was fine, but expending too much energy would be counterproductive.

The two entered the workshop and turned on the lights on the ceiling of the carriage. All the items inside were packed and not unfolded, and most of the space was empty.

“At that time, our workbench can be placed in—” Su Ming suddenly kicked Zi Jin’s calf, who was also making a move.

The two engaged in close combat.

After being nourished by magic, Su Ming's physical attributes improved rapidly, and he had already surpassed the girl in strength and speed. Elisa's physical abilities, however, were rather ordinary.

Even with buff spells, Su Ming was still completely outmatched. It's just that the scholar didn't use her spell power to bully others today, which put her at a disadvantage in the fight, and she only took a few relatively light hits.

Su Ming was extremely vigilant. He took the opportunity to cast an elemental shield on himself, and Zi Jin seized the opportunity to deploy a force field, forcing him back.

"We agreed not to use attack spells, why are you keeping your distance?" Su Ming said, secretly raising his hand, and the thorny whip that had somehow circled behind Zi Jin suddenly whipped towards the girl.

The girl's figure suddenly vanished from her spot. Su Ming focused his attention and found that she had appeared beside him at an incredible speed. Su Ming raised his leg to kick, but saw her shift position again with far greater speed than normal, delivering an elbow strike to his ribs.

This was a genuine physical attack. Su Ming's shield against magic had no effect whatsoever, and he immediately fell to the ground, clutching his side and curling up like a shrimp.

Zijin turned him over and began to treat him by placing her palm on his hand.

"Hey, how did you do that?!" Su Ming asked, enduring the throbbing pain. He was referring to the two rapid advances just now. "That elbow strike of yours was really vicious!"

“My elbow hurts too.” Violet’s lips curled up.

Once Su Ming had recovered, he got up, and the two sat side by side against the wall of the carriage.

"So, did you find anything?"

“You used dark magic, but I didn’t see any trace of casting,” Su Ming replied.

"Correct!" Zi Jin rolled up her sleeves, revealing her right forearm, which was covered with many runes on her fair skin.

Inscriptions are tattooed onto the skin using alchemical materials, and upon activation, the corresponding spell can be quickly generated. The advantage is speed and stealth; the disadvantage is a lack of flexibility.

Su Ming pulled the girl's arm over for a closer look, finally recognizing the pattern as a modified version of 'Shadow Spider Silk'. This spell releases a highly elastic energy beam, using the force of contraction to pull oneself towards the target, achieving rapid maneuverability.

“This is a thief-type skill,” Violet said. “I lowered the stamina requirement and increased the casting difficulty and performance, so it is now closer to dark magic.”

Su Ming was quite envious, as this was indeed a breakthrough ability that he desperately needed.

"It requires utilizing the light and shadow in the scene to conceal spells and movements." Violet raised her hand to demonstrate, and a black net shot out, sticking to the carriage wall and leaving a scar. "It usually uses shadows to hide the point of force of spells, avoiding being seen through. Masters can even conceal spider silk and their own movements, so it actually has a more widely known name: Shadow Leap!"

Su Xiang suddenly remembered something, "Inscriptions can interfere with the operation of other spells, right?"

The scholar nodded; it was precisely this shortcoming that caused mages to rarely inscribe runes on their bodies. Under Su Ming's questioning gaze, she gathered magic at the tip of her left finger and swept it across her right wrist, instantly dispelling the tattoos.

"I just drew it on temporarily, it wasn't engraved," the girl explained to Su Ming. "Shadow Leap uses runes specific to the Rogue class, which I can't learn."

"Then how do I use it?" Su Ming asked, puzzled. He was a magic-based character, and it would be very uneconomical to inscribe spell runes at the cost of interfering with other spells.

“You’re not a real dark mage.” Violet glanced at him. “Just because I can’t learn it doesn’t mean you can’t. For a conceptual element like space, the professional barrier might not be as difficult as simulating the dark element.” “…That’s true.”

Although the simulation of dark elements was achieved entirely through the 'selfless' sacrifice of the Saint-rank mage Galio, Su Ming could try to explore the runes of a few other professions on his own if it were just a matter of a few other professions' runes.

“You can first attach a temporary rune like I did, learn how to use it, and then try casting spells without runes,” the scholar suggested, handing over a pre-drawn rune paper. She placed the paper on Su Ming’s arm and activated it with magic. Soon, a rune with leaping shadows was imprinted on Su Ming’s arm. “It will be effective for about a week. Reapply it when it dissipates.”

"Thank you!" Su Ming began to sense the patterns on his arm. Clearly, Zi Jin had put a lot of effort into helping him find suitable skills.

****
On its second attempt to drive, the Youth Civilization Bus finally started, albeit with some difficulty.

Once the train started moving, it became much easier to control. The sliding friction on the snow surface is much smaller than static friction, and with speed, the snow no longer kept the train stuck. The train clattered and rattled as it sped across the snowfield.

From the locomotive's front, large plumes of white smoke billowed out, and the tracks kicked up snow dust, which was then kicked up to both sides.

The train, which has undergone extensive renovations, is now entirely white, with any exposed metal areas covered by white paint. The ice field appears to have been cleaved open by something, wide folds plowed into the smooth snow.

Su Ming instructed the two drivers to keep the vehicle speed at a slow 10 kilometers per hour to familiarize themselves with the coordination of the valves and the return handle, while he himself adjusted the boiler's workflow. Zi Jin was also constantly revising the magic links and rewriting the magic array.

The sensors can measure the traction output of the two locomotives in real time, and the Unicorn always manages to be slightly higher than the Hanster.

"Great! If we keep traveling at this speed, we can reach the Dome Mountains in thirty days!" Qi Luo exclaimed excitedly. "A month to travel across the Ice Plains, that's fantastic!"

"How come I remember there was a unicorn that was yelling about leaving the group?" Su Ming said.

"You must have misheard!" the little girl pouted.

"Lord Su Ming, we haven't touched the valves, but the vehicle speed is increasing," Hanster reported.

"It's normal, Alyssa and I are optimizing the system," Su Ming replied, assessing the system's operational status. "It's almost there, let's start gradually increasing the speed!"

Two hours later, the locomotive was able to reach a speed of 18 kilometers per hour with three-quarters of the valve open, which was also largely due to the flat terrain of the area.

During the road test, it was also discovered that the steering guide wheels of the front and rear locomotives were moving in opposite directions. Su Ming simply and directly reversed the control mechanism of locomotive number two, thus solving the problem.

However, the deflection torque of the guide wheel is insufficient, resulting in poor steering performance, and the steering system needs to be redesigned.

Coal consumption was faster than Su Ming had anticipated, so Yunier ordered her skeleton servants to replenish the coal, with zombies constantly moving coal from the freight cars to the locomotive's coal bunker.

She reported the situation to Su Ming.

Su Ming nodded and sent a new instruction to Miao Xin at the same time.

"Are you getting used to doing these things?" he asked Yunier casually. The little girl had been quite diligent during this time.

“Sure,” Yunier replied. “My work in the mines was even more demanding than this. I don’t know anything about mechanics, but I did learn the basics of alchemy. It’s just that I didn’t continue because I didn’t have any psionic talent.”

Even in other worlds, psychic abilities are a privilege possessed by less than 10% of people—most of whom are only at the entry level with limited room for development.

The abilities of otherworldly beings are indeed mysterious, but they are destined to be possessed by only a small number of people.

****
As night fell, Su Ming turned on the searchlight on the front of the motorcycle. In the dim snowfield, the intense light from the searchlight was reflected by the snow, creating a large bright area ahead.

The terrain radar issued a warning: a 50% to 80% uphill slope appeared ahead, approximately five kilometers long. Su Ming quickly checked and found it to be a small undulation. The ground was relatively flat, but still sparsely vegetated.

“We can take the left side; the slope is much gentler,” Hanster suggested, glancing at the front camera feed.

"No need." Su Ming decided not to avoid it. There were many steeper and longer slopes ahead on the journey. "We need to test it out; let's just climb over it!"

He pulled out the ramp inspection form and switched the boiler to ramp preparation mode.

"Lower the valves," Su Ming said to Hanster and Qi Luo. "Start storing energy."

"Roger that!"

Steam output decreased, and the train's speed dropped to fifteen kilometers per hour, then to ten kilometers per hour. Hanster and Unicorn simultaneously adjusted the levers, increasing cylinder stroke and reducing frequency to adapt to the train speed.

The automatic control system added fuel to the firebox and tidied the fire layer, and the steam pressure began to rise. Su Ming also manually added water once, and the energy reserves of the boiler system continued to increase.

Zijin entered the driver's cab of locomotive number one. "The magic circle has been adjusted to operate smoothly, so we don't need to worry about it for now."

"Ah."

The girl took out her binoculars and looked ahead. "There's still one kilometer of uphill ahead. We can probably pick up the pace now. Hanster, can you get the speed up to over twenty kilometers per hour?"

“Miss Holy Beast, let’s go together!” Hanster replied.

"Phew! No problem!"

The two men simultaneously increased the valve to three-quarters full and gradually released the handle, increasing the cylinder's operating frequency.

The speedometer quickly returned to 18, then 19, 20. The train swayed more, but it was still within an acceptable range, given its enormous weight.

"Steam valve at 90%!" Su Ming commanded, while simultaneously increasing the boiler's air and fire to the maximum.

The speedometer quickly surpassed 22, and the locomotive began to sway and twist. The front of the locomotive slowly lifted, and the Youth Civilization Train entered the uphill journey.

Night had fallen, and Su Ming switched the monitoring camera on the vehicle to infrared mode, but the effect was not good. There was no obvious temperature difference between most of the carriages and the environment, and the hot smoke emitted from the locomotive's front caused a lot of interference.

Fortunately, there is also a low-light mode.

On the monitor screen, one carriage after another followed the locomotive, entering the climbing area one after another.

"Maintain direction! Push the handle forward to compensate for traction!" Zijin said, noticing that the vehicle's anti-traction force displayed by the sensors was rapidly increasing.

"Yes, don't worry about speed," Su Ming said.

Unlike internal combustion engines, which can be operated at high output simply by increasing the throttle, steam locomotives experience a drop in pressure within the boiler when producing high steam output. Therefore, steam locomotives are destined to lose speed on long inclines.

Everyone watched the locomotive's condition with bated breath. As it climbed the hill, its speed decreased, and the boiler's temperature and pressure dropped.

"Steam valve 100%!" Su Ming commanded, simultaneously stopping the boiler water supply to maintain steam pressure as much as possible.

But the steam locomotive's power output continued to decline, and the sound of the pistons was no longer full. On the other side, the uphill slope was gradually coming to an end.

Su Ming was worried that if they couldn't get on, the entire train would have to slide back in reverse. The rear of the Youth Civilization train lacked steering capability, which was an oversight.

Fortunately, when the vehicle's speed dropped to 3 kilometers per hour, the Youth Civilization Train finally reached the mountaintop! The view suddenly opened up, and the searchlight beam pierced the dark night sky. The faint light, reflected multiple times, illuminated the distant outline of the snow-covered plain.

"Yay!" Everyone breathed a sigh of relief and jumped up to celebrate.

The 1,800-ton behemoth drove up to the mountaintop. This powerful machine, imported from Earth, will redefine the concept of large-scale land mobility in this world!
Su Ming was so excited that he slapped the control panel. His long and arduous work had finally paid off. The success of the motorcycle meant that the Holy Mountain Divine Might Prison Project, which he had spearheaded, had taken a crucial step forward.

Zi Jin took off her headphones, faced Su Ming, and raised her hand with her five fingers spread. She thought it would be a high five, but Su Ming activated his rune, appeared in front of her in a flash, wrapped his arms around her waist, lifted her up, and spun her around vigorously.

"We did it!" he shouted.

"You learned Shadow Jump pretty quickly!" Violet said angrily, her long hair whipping around in a horizontal line as she spun. She pressed down on Su Ming's shoulder, raising her leg to deliver a shin kick, intending to distract him before following up with a sweeping elbow. But she suddenly stopped halfway through the movement. "I think I fell for your trick!"

Su Ming put her down and laughed happily, "Ha, you finally figured it out!"

Su Ming had initially suggested that the safest word to unconditionally end a fight was "hug," whether verbal or physical. Considering that there might not be time to speak in certain situations, Zi Jin agreed.

But she didn't expect that someone would hug her directly!
"Hmph!" Violet tugged at her clothes, smoothing out the wrinkles.

(End of this chapter)