Otherworld Bone Dragon Operation Guide

Chapter 227 Informal Meeting

The alarm clock on his wristwatch went off; it was a log message set by Su Ming, reminding him that the agreed-upon meeting time on Earth was approaching.

Su Ming used one eye to scan the area and found Miao Xin standing on the rooftop of a small building on a mountaintop.

Surrounded by rolling green hills, the lush forests gleamed with a verdant sheen under the sunlight, creating a tranquil and pleasant environment.

"Where is the meeting located?" Su Ming asked.

Miao Xin pointed to the mountainside, where a group of buildings was nestled among the trees, and a winding road stretched up from the foot of the mountain. Further away, there was a highway that passed through a tunnel on the side of the mountain.

This is clearly a mountainous area, sparsely populated, and surrounded by mountains and forests except for these buildings, offering a very open view.

"Miao Xin, don't you have any phobia of rooftops?" Su Ming asked.

"It's quite nice. I often enjoy the scenery like this when you're not around," Miao Xin replied.

Su Ming noticed that there was a semi-transparent spirit next to Miao Xin, which was emitting a very similar fluctuation to her.

Who is this?

"Its name is Xiao He," Miao Xin replied, patting Xiao He's head lightly. "I searched very hard to find this suitable spirit, and then, following the method in that book, I erased its original fluctuation characteristics and modified it to be mine."

During his visit to Galio's stronghold a few days ago, Su Ming passed on this method, which he had obtained from the "Spiritual Manual," to Miao Xin. After several days of repeated attempts, Miao Xin finally achieved results.

But Su Ming felt that something was not quite right. He carefully observed the spirit called Xiao He and quickly discovered the problem.

Wait, this Xiao He... isn't a human soul, is he?

"It's the soul of a hippopotamus," Miao Xin replied. "The human soul is always filled with all sorts of chaotic thoughts and fluctuations." She added with a hint of pride, "Since I couldn't find a suitable one, I tried a different approach and looked in the zoo. This hippopotamus was perfect; it didn't release its own fluctuations even once all day."

Since her control improved, Miao Xin rarely unconsciously emits energy fluctuations anymore. To perfectly impersonate her, the spirit acting as bait naturally needs to have as few distracting thoughts as possible.

Will it cooperate obediently?

[Xiao He has almost no independent consciousness,] Miao Xin reached out and gently touched the spirit, a ghostly blue flame flickering at her fingertips. [My negative energy can slow its dissipation, so it will instinctively obey my commands.]

【fine!】

"However, transforming it into this shape is quite a challenge." Miao Xin began explaining the limitations of this plan. "If it's not maintained continuously, it will start to collapse in an hour or two, gradually reverting to the original hippopotamus shape and wave-like characteristics."

"This duration is sufficient," Su Ming said. "Let's begin."

Miao Xin took out a pendant she had found somewhere and unleashed the power of the Nether Sea. Pale energy swirled in her palm, forming a miniature vortex.

"Spirit Binding Technique!"

The power of the Nether Sea enveloped Xiao He and was quickly engraved onto the gemstone of the pendant. The spirit-binding technique obtained from Galio's notes was also put to use.

Miao Xin shook the pendant, causing the spiritual flame to flicker and emanate energy fluctuations that shared the same origin as the Nether Sea. [How about it? Isn't this substitute perfect?]

"Excellent!" Su Ming nodded in satisfaction. "According to the plan, let's go to the conference room now!"

Miao Xin hummed a song as she left the rooftop.

****
Ten minutes later, the slightly rebellious girl, her appearance slightly altered, appeared in front of the building halfway up the mountain. Ling Wen was already waiting at the door and hurriedly came forward to greet her.

"Miss Qiu, this way please!" Ling Wen approached her, made a guiding gesture, and led her up the stairs.

Miao Xin and Ling Wen walked together through the spacious and bright lobby to the conference room on the first floor. Five attendees were already seated. Su Ming quickly glanced around; he didn't recognize anyone.

Miao Xin sat down opposite them, while Ling Wen sat down behind Miao Xin.

"Let me introduce myself." The person sitting on the far left spoke first, his voice steady and firm, "I am Jin Rongjia, the head of the internal affairs department."

Su Ming nodded.

"Time is limited." Jin Rongjia glanced at his watch. "For safety reasons, today's meeting will be limited to 30 minutes. The topic is technological collaboration, so let's make the most of our time."

The talks went straight to the point, without any unnecessary pleasantries or endless questions.

Miao Xin had already revealed a lot of information to Miao Mu, and Ling Wen had also asked them various questions in the past few days. As long as it didn't touch on core security secrets, Su Ming gave honest answers.

This information has already been compiled and distributed, so everyone can skip it.

Two meetings were scheduled for today. The first was a meeting and communication with the person in charge of providing support.

The woman next to Jin Rongjia then spoke up, "Ms. Qiu, I am the head of the newly established 'Dodder' group."

The other party did not introduce their name.

Ling Wen leaned closer to Miao Xin and said, "You can just call these people in charge by their code names."

“Hello, Miss Dodder!” Miao Xin greeted her in return. “Our team was formed urgently to provide ‘soft’ support. For example, we will be responsible for coordinating and promoting the ‘cultural torrent’ project for the Temple of Light.”

"What about the printing press?" Su Ming interjected.

"Connect all of them to me," the dodder seed replied crisply.

Su Ming nodded. Finding only one person for one matter would simplify the process on his side.

“We can develop contingency plans and provide strategic advice,” Dodder continued. “The information we’ve gathered about the otherworldly realms has been carefully compiled and archived by our analysts. However, to fully utilize our team’s capabilities, we still need to acquire more firsthand information.”

"Understood." Su Ming did indeed have some matters that required Dodder's assistance, but the first issue to address was the efficiency of information transmission. The current communication method was too slow, only suitable for assigning tasks, not for real-time strategic consultation.

The next speaker was a middle-aged man wearing glasses.

"I am the head of Jisu Studio," the man introduced himself, "mainly responsible for technical support."

"Thank you so much for your quick calculation of the bone mark. I am extremely grateful," Su Ming said sincerely.

Ling Wen's explanation made Su Ming realize that behind the seemingly simple project lay resources on a scale far exceeding what ordinary people could imagine. In fact, power rationing was implemented in parts of two cities to allow the supercomputing system to operate at full capacity.

“If we didn’t show some toughness, we wouldn’t deserve to be sitting here today.” Ji Su chuckled. “Mr. Su, although you conveyed through Ling Wen that you didn’t want us to conduct too much in-depth research on the little troublemaker, could you allow us to do some non-invasive scanning tests?”

As expected, Su Ming thought to himself.

Miao Xin, you handle this.

【OK! 】

Su Ming reduced the connection depth, handing over control of the troublesome child to Miao Xin.

He sighed softly, his thoughts drifting back to yesterday and his conversation with Miao Mu.

****
Twenty-four hours ago, by the river. Miao Xin and Miao Mu, wearing hats and scarves, each held a fishing rod.

The early spring sun shone on the river, creating shimmering ripples. Anglers like them were scattered in twos and threes along the riverbank, each maintaining a comfortable distance.

Miao Mu tossed more than a dozen spoonfuls of the stirred rice wine in one go, creating tiny ripples.

"Uncle Miao, will this baiting method just feed the fish too much?" Su Ming couldn't help but complain.

Finding Miao Mu wasn't difficult. In his final message, he left Miao Xin a clue only the father and daughter could understand, pointing to this small town. Upon arrival, Miao Xin activated her Netherworld Perception and quickly locked onto his mental fluctuations.

Su Ming controlled the little prickly boy to chat with Miao Mu, but Miao Xin ran off to the kindergarten to see her younger sister He Ran in ghost form.

He told Miao Mu about his current situation.

"How should I deal with this group of people?" Su Ming asked, wanting to know the answer.

He really had no experience in this area.

“The Rim of the Pacific is not an insurance company; it only cares about the accounts and has no liability,” Miao Mu said, gently tugging at the fishing line and bending the rod to cast the hook baited with bloodworms. After a graceful arc, the rig plunged into the water with a splash.

"It looks like this." Su Ming imitated him, but only cast out an empty fishing hook. The fishing line spun in the air before falling limply to the water's surface nearby.

Miao Mu, who was standing to the side, did not notice Su Ming's laziness. He pondered for a moment and said, "There are indeed many things to pay attention to when dealing with these people. But there is no need to be too nervous. Overall, my daughter's current state is beneficial."

Miao Xin is both unstable and incredibly powerful. As the most powerful landmine-type girl in history, anyone who tries to communicate with her must tread carefully.

This is a natural advantage for Su Ming's side.

“But the problem is also obvious.” Miao Mu found the right water depth, retrieved the hook, adjusted the fishing rig, and cast again. “It’s that your value is too great, attracting too much covetousness.”

“I cannot send items back from another world,” Su Ming said.

Extracting material "order" from the Earth side and recombining it using local materials on the other side relies on Su Ming's spatial power.

Miao Xin was merely an anchor point for extracting "order" in this process; the reverse process was impossible. Su Ming even suspected that this matter was inextricably linked to the "All-Encompassing Prism" on the little troublemaker.

As for Miao Xin herself, with the development of the power of the Nether Sea, she has been able to explore and use some spell-like techniques. However, it is clear that her power and spatial concepts are fundamentally different, and there is no possibility of transcending those boundaries.

“Your very existence is priceless,” Miao Mu said. “The little troublemakers represent entirely new areas to explore. Even the slightest discovery we make from you could lead to a major breakthrough.”

Su Ming sighed. He knew all too well. "So what should we do?"

“You’re dealing with both a tightly organized group and the individuals within it,” Miao Mu replied. “There’s a collective will, but also the interests and demands of different groups.” He paused. “So you need skills.”

"Appreciate further details!"

(End of this chapter)