Otherworld Bone Dragon Operation Guide

Chapter 288 The Contract of Eternal Night Town

“Oh, right.” Daphne suddenly remembered something and took out a beautifully bound parchment scroll from her file bag. “This is the Lord’s Contract of Evernight Town.”

Su Ming took the parchment scroll, which was carefully wrapped with ribbons and had gilded patterns on the edges. He unfolded it and found that it was a formal territory decree, already stamped with the jade seal of the King of Hanshan.

But when his gaze fell upon the contents of the accompanying marriage certificate, his brows immediately furrowed. "Only by marrying this... Viscount Genazio can I acquire ownership?"

“Currently, in name and law, Evernight Town belongs to Viscount Genazio,” Daphne explained helplessly. “Going through the formal process of stripping him of his title and re-granting the land is almost an impossible task. But if he gets married first—” she made a subtle gesture, “and then ‘unfortunately becomes widowed,’ the ownership of the land will naturally transfer.”

"So, we still have to kill this viscount?"

“It’s no longer needed.” Daphne took out another official document from the file bag, which was already stamped with an official seal. It was a fully completed death certificate, with Viscount Genazio’s name listed on it and the date marked as one month later.

“Viscount Genazio passed away a year ago, but we’ve been keeping the news under wraps and haven’t made it public,” she explained.

"Does it really need to be so complicated and troublesome?" Su Ming said unhappily.

Daphne quickly explained, "Even a king can't do whatever he wants in everything." Her tone was sincere. "Following traditional rules and finding loopholes can avoid a lot of trouble."

"Alright," Su Ming sighed.

Su Ming continued to carefully read the contract terms and suddenly discovered an additional condition: the woman in the marriage must be a nobleman recognized by the human nation and be able to provide bloodline certificates certified by an authoritative institution; otherwise, she would still be unable to inherit the territory.

"Is this another one of your so-called 'traditional rules' of Hanshan?" Su Ming raised his head.

“This is indeed necessary,” Catherine interjected at the right moment, coming to the princess’s rescue. “In any country, the right to inherit territory is only open to the noble class. A wife of commoner birth cannot inherit territory even if her husband dies.”

"The protection regulations for the aristocratic circle, I see..." Su Ming nodded thoughtfully.

He initiated a telepathic connection and told Zijin everything.

"Don't worry about it, this is all within my expectations." Violet's voice was calm, showing no surprise whatsoever. "Just accept the contract and agree."

Su Ming frowned again upon hearing this. Zi Jin said she had anticipated this outcome, so—

Are you planning to... sign this marriage contract?

"It wasn't me. I'm not a nobleman," Violet explained. "This is a trap I set. A name that will make King Cold Mountain regret his actions will appear on his engagement to Viscount Genazio."

"What kind of trap?" Su Ming asked curiously, but inexplicably felt a sense of relief.

"You'll find out soon enough!" Violet said, her cheerful laughter echoing through the mental link.

****
When lunchtime arrived, Su Ming chose to dine at the restaurant in Shen En Hai. This spacious, palatial restaurant was fully equipped, with its storage room filled with all kinds of high-quality ingredients and its cooking area fully equipped with all kinds of kitchen utensils.

The logistics team from the Bone Mad Machine moved over and prepared meals for the workers on site.

Out of respect for the food culture of this other world, Su Ming carefully selected a few identifiable ingredients: several yellowish-brown tuberous plants with skins as rough as old tree bark; several puji fungi with pale blue caps, emitting a faint fragrance of photinia flowers; and several pieces of bright green pork chops with distinct muscle texture, which looked, seemed, and possibly were very fresh.

He carried a gilded plate and found a seat at the long table.

Su Ming carefully tasted them all, and his brows finally relaxed. Although some of the seasonings had unfamiliar spiciness, they were all within an acceptable range, and some of the sauces even left him wanting more.

As the lunch break bell rang, members of various work groups poured into the cafeteria. Soon, a long queue formed at the food pick-up area. Upon seeing Su Ming also eating, the members respectfully bowed and greeted him.
"Good day, Chairman! Enjoy your meal!"

"Hello, President! You look great today!"

Su Ming noticed that not only was he being the center of attention, but he could also sense that the other members were somewhat reserved. The atmosphere was completely different from when they were at the Wind Shelter Valley camp.

"It seemed quite natural before," Su Ming asked Hanster, somewhat puzzled.

“Mr. Su, you didn’t kill hundreds of people with thermobaric bombs before, nor did you single-handedly fight the Fate Master and the Azure Sky Puppet Troupe, capture the Fate Master alive, or smash the Azure Sky Puppet Troupe into ice shards,” Hanster replied. “Now, everyone looks at you like a walking statue of a war god.”

"I see." Su Ming rubbed his chin. He felt the process was actually quite simple, at least the difficulty didn't match its appearance. However, he finally understood why Zi Jin didn't stay in the common area to eat.

She had just achieved a Saint-level pentakill, completely annihilating the Radiant Chanter and the Choir. To outsiders, this was an extremely terrifying thing.

Shen En Hai has a small restaurant for the use of the upper class. But when Su Ming pushed open the door, the scene in front of him was disgusting - various instruments of torture were placed on the exquisite carved dining table: dried bloodstains were still hanging on the rusty iron chains, several strangely shaped shackles were scattered on the ground, several pairs of handcuffs with barbs were nailed to the wall, and there was even an iron maiden covered with spikes in the corner.

Su Ming didn't want to dwell on the twisted tastes of those deceased "big shots," but the chilling dining environment completely extinguished his appetite. He shook his head slightly and turned to leave the eerie room.

****
Su Ming had no intention of disturbing everyone's meal, so he simply took his tray and moved to a watchtower near the outer wall.

The view from the top of the watchtower was extremely expansive. Su Ming leaned against the waist-high stone retaining wall, enjoying his lunch while admiring the distant scenery.

The weather was fine, and the bright sunshine felt warm on people.

The climate on the southern slope of the Qiongding Mountains is significantly milder than that on the frigid northern side. The mountains rise and fall gently, with soft lines, exuding a graceful and beautiful charm.

Below the snow line on this side, life thrives, with dark green pines and silvery-white birches growing intertwined, adorning this icy world with varying shades of green. Several unidentified birds hop among the trees, occasionally emitting clear calls, adding a touch of liveliness to the tranquil mountain scenery.

Suddenly, a moving figure entered Su Ming's line of sight. It was a slender female figure walking from the direction of the Divine Might Prison. Although she was still far away, her specially made boots were particularly conspicuous on the snow—they had protrusions at the front and back, and their shape was similar to snow boots on Earth.

"It should be a member of the Feathered Clan," Su Ming thought to himself, narrowing his eyes.

Currently, there are only two Winged Clan members here: Archbishop Stanton and his attendant. Therefore, this female Winged Clan member should be the one named Yuya.

Yuya was still dragging someone along as she continued walking towards the outermost area.

****
Su Ming swallowed the last bite of food and was about to step forward to ask when a voice came from behind him:
"Good afternoon, Lord Su!"

Turning around, the speaker was tall and slender, initially resembling a human, but upon closer inspection, the differences were obvious. His limbs were so thin they were almost fragile, and his shoulders were much narrower than a human's. His hair was more like feathers than strands.

What was particularly striking was his face—a high, arched nose that concealed his nostrils; no external ears, replaced by fine auditory hairs; and eyes with tubular structures like those of a raptor. These eyes had a narrow field of vision and could barely move, but possessed exceptional farsightedness and the ability to distinguish details.

Su Ming's gaze moved downwards, noticing that the other person was also wearing those signature custom-made boots.

“Archbishop Stanton?” Su Ming asked.

The other person bowed gracefully, "It is I."

"...You didn't look like this yesterday?" Su Ming asked, puzzled. He clearly remembered that Stanton, whom he had seen yesterday during the cleanup of the battlefield, looked almost identical to an ordinary human.

“For us winged creatures who live in human society, ‘makeup’ is an essential ‘etiquette’,” Stanton explained. “We must wear special clothes to adjust and conceal our body shape, cover our head feathers with wigs, and use makeup props to imitate human facial features.”

This reminded Su Xiang of Quasimodo, the winged mage under the command of the northern nobles, whom she encountered during the Battle of Peacock Valley. At the time, he looked no different from a human; now, thinking back, he had also been carefully "disguised."

"Is it really necessary to go this far?" Su Ming couldn't help but frown.

“We want to appear in the church, the aristocratic circles, and other so-called ‘high society’ places.” Stanton’s lips curled into a wry smile. “This is the ‘etiquette’ that our Feather Clan must abide by, otherwise it will be considered offensive and disrespectful.” He said, his tone becoming more relaxed. “But it’s much more comfortable to leave these places. Walking on the street in my true form, at most I’ll be surrounded by curious children—as long as I don’t go to those ‘high-class’ places.”

This explanation reminded Su Xiang of the winged hunters he and Frostflame Nightshade had encountered in the small village. At the time, he had thought the winged race was divided into different subspecies, but now he realized they were all the same race, just without any disguise.

As the two talked, Yuya had already dragged the figure a sufficient distance away. She released the rope in her hands and slammed the weak body heavily onto the snow.

Su Ming then noticed that the person who was released was also a woman, with her left arm severed at the shoulder, and the bandage wrapped around the wound was soaked with dark red blood.

She lay blankly on the snow, her unfocused eyes like those of a newborn animal. Only after confirming that she had regained her freedom did she shakily prop herself up and stagger away into the distance.

Her identity is also easy to confirm: Sabina, the warden of the Divine Prison.

(End of this chapter)