Otherworld Bone Dragon Operation Guide

Chapter 399 Hydropower Station

The road construction is progressing rapidly, which allows more manpower to be allocated to the construction of the ruby ​​base.

According to the detailed planning drawings provided by the Earth team, the pile foundation work for six factory buildings of varying heights, with a total area of ​​over 30,000 square meters, has been fully launched and construction is underway simultaneously.

Despite having nearly a thousand necromancers, the Bone Machines team is beginning to show signs of manpower shortages as multiple projects are being pursued simultaneously.

Another dwarven cargo ship arrived at Sapphire Harbor. Unlike before, this time the ship was not carrying ordinary cargo, but a complete dwarven mining team, as well as all sorts of otherworldly mining equipment.

Su Ming, accompanied by Bei Anqi, greeted them at the dock.

Soon, a group of sturdy, muscular dwarves stepped steadily onto the dock using the lowered gangplank.

"Welcome, Mr. Barak Stonefist!" Beanie greeted him with a warm smile, stepping forward to greet him.

“Oh, the little girl from the Green family has grown so much!” the dwarf with a thick beard, who was clearly the leader of the group, replied in a loud voice.

The two opened their arms and hugged each other.

Introduced by Bei Anqi, Su Ming stepped forward and shook hands with Shi Quan. The other's palm was rough and thick, feeling like holding a weathered stone, even causing Su Ming pain.

Beanie saw Su Ming put his hand, which had been squeezed until it turned white, behind his back and secretly shook it off. She leaned close to Su Ming's ear and whispered, "Stone Fist didn't use much force at all—this is just a normal handshake for dwarves to show friendliness."

“…Understood.”

Afterwards, Shi Quan arranged for the other team members to unload the mining equipment at the dock, while he followed Su Ming to the Red Ridge Mountains next to the Ruby Base.

When the group arrived near the crater, Shi Quan jumped down the slope without saying a word, sending a large number of rocks crashing down the slope.

He chose a spot, swung his pickaxe, and began digging, sending rock fragments flying. Soon, he unearthed a piece of ore with a unique odor. He tapped it with the tip of the pickaxe, and the ore shattered, revealing a bright yellow, translucent surface.

"This place is indeed rich in sulfur, and the purity is quite good," Shi Quan said with certainty after carefully examining the broken surface.

Su Ming nodded affirmatively, saying that professional matters should be handled by professionals, and he didn't need to do everything himself.

"But is the amount you need really so much that it requires a professional mining team like ours to excavate on a large scale?" Stone Fist asked, very puzzled.

In this other world, although sulfur has many uses, the byproducts obtained from processes such as pyrite smelting are sufficient to meet the demand.

“I’ll buy as much as you can dig up,” Su Ming said confidently. “We can sign a formal contract.”

He didn't explain much, since the scale of raw material consumption by the technology-driven industry was beyond the imagination of these otherworldly dwarves.

Upon hearing this, Shi Quan stopped dawdling. He quickly completed the preliminary survey of the mine and assessed the difficulty of mining.

Su Ming adopted a production contracting model: Shi Quan's mining team was fully responsible for all the manpower and material resources required for mining, and the final settlement was based on the quality and quantity of the delivered ore.

Both parties quickly signed the detailed terms and prices on the contract scroll, and Shi Quan turned around to lead his team to get busy.

“Our electric winches and similar equipment can greatly improve mining efficiency,” Beanie suggested to Su Ming. “Could you summon some and provide them with them?”

“A little later,” Su Ming replied. “We need to wait until the Ruby Base’s power system is built and running stably.” After a moment’s thought, he added, “At that time, these devices can be provided to the dwarves on a rental basis. The rental fees for the devices and the delivery of the ore will be calculated separately, with each accounted for separately.”

Beian nodded in understanding, "That's fine, this arrangement is very reasonable."

Su Ming looked up, his gaze fixed on the west. The Red Ridge Mountains were only about 150 kilometers away from the Dwarf Kingdom's territory as the crow flies, but the White River Canyon and the mountain range at the border stretched between them, making transportation extremely inconvenient.

As a crucial connecting hub, the Baihe River's port construction has yet to begin, hindering its transportation potential. Furthermore, a bridge spanning the Baihe Canyon must be built to enable low-cost interaction with resources on the other half of the Dragon Valley.

"We need more labor," Su Mingyue thought to himself, and couldn't help but sigh.

He turned to look at Rishiri standing to the side: "How are you feeling? Are you still able to handle it?"

Rishiri smiled. "No problem at all. It's much better than when I crawled out of the Divine Might Prison." He stood up from a nearby boulder. "Do whatever you want. I'll do my best to bury the Covenant Clan!"

Su Ming then looked at Jelusi, who was traveling with him.

“His health is fine, I’m keeping an eye on him,” Gerus replied confidently.

“Alright,” Su Ming turned around, “Let’s first check on the construction progress of the Ruby Base, and then go to the ‘PUBG Internet Cafe’ to see how those dragon ‘customers’ are doing!”

****
As he approached the internet cafe, Su Ming sensed a familiar presence. A slight smile played on his lips. "Zi Jin is back."

In the past few days, as the equipment has been installed one after another, the number of people coming to play games has surged, and the internet cafe has quickly reached full capacity.

Since the dragons lived in scattered locations and many had traveled from afar, Su Ming thoughtfully provided paid accommodation and catering services.

The accommodations are relatively basic, but thanks to the efforts of the logistics team, a variety of fast food options have been successfully made available.

Given the dragons' enormous appetites, even with costs kept as low as possible, a meal still starts at two gold coins. The dragons seem insensitive to the concept of money and are completely unconcerned about Su Ming's rule that the fee doubles after three hours of use.

Some dragons even go so far as to book the entire night, and when they're tired, they luxuriously sleep in their "private rooms" within their lair. At a base fee of 5 gold coins per hour, this amounts to over 200 gold coins a day!

Soon, some dragons' already meager gold reserves were depleted at an alarming rate, and they began to incur debts.

boom! boom!
Several magical explosions rang out in the air above the internet cafe.

Su Ming quickly floated into the air and, sure enough, saw Zi Jin's figure. The girl was majestic, while below, five giant dragons crashed to the ground in a sorry state.

Su Ming looked closely and saw that their wings were indeed tangled together.

"Disrupting order and causing trouble!" Violet's voice announced clearly, "A fine of fifty gold coins, do you all agree?"

The dragons nodded frantically, and only then did Violet release the restraints on their wings.

“According to the regulations, your outstanding game fees have reached the maximum allowable limit,” she continued. “You are prohibited from playing until you pay off your debts.”

The dragons looked at each other in bewilderment.

"Excuse me, where can I earn gold coins?" a dragon asked. "There are very few places willing to hire dragons."

Zijin coughed and pointed in the direction of the Ruby Base, "One hundred kilometers away is the Red Ridge Mountains. The human base there employs a large number of dragons to work."

The dragons were overjoyed to hear this; having a way out meant they would soon be able to return to that captivating and enchanting world.

One of the dragons eagerly asked Violet, "How much is the salary?"

“Ten gold coins a day,” Violet replied.

This caused an uproar not only among the dragons involved, but also among the surrounding giant dragons, who all expressed their dissatisfaction, saying, "It's too low!"

"Yeah, yeah, that's enough for two hours of playtime, and then we need to eat!"

Su Ming flew to Zi Jin's side and cast a megaphone spell. "Don't rush," he said, holding up his first finger. "First, if you successfully complete your work for the day and receive an excellent rating, you'll receive an extra 50% reward." He then held up his second finger. "Second, this is just the simplest basic excavation work. If you can learn and move into more technical positions, your base salary will increase in stages—fifteen, twenty, or even twenty-five gold coins per day—and this can be combined with the excellent rating reward." He paused briefly. "Furthermore, there's an extra bonus for working a full week without a break."

"Finally," Su Ming added, "you'll earn one point for every day you work diligently. The higher your points, the higher your priority for computer access, and you can also enjoy different levels of discounts, up to 40% off!"

After listening, the dragons considered the offer and found it quite attractive. Those dragons who were both in debt and fined were especially tempted. They whispered amongst themselves for a moment, then quickly flapped their wings and flew towards the Ruby Base.

Finally, the situation was turned around. Su Ming breathed a sigh of relief, but then he noticed that the girl beside him had also made the same gesture.

The two chuckled at each other.

****
“However, someone also needs to be stationed at the Ruby Base.” Su Ming’s tone revealed a hint of worry.

These dragons, if they're willing to work, would be an extremely powerful asset. But if they cause trouble, they could be a real nuisance.

“Don’t worry about that. I’ve already spoken with the elders in detail,” Violet told Su Ming. “They recognize this as an opportunity to push the dragon race to change and are willing to provide assistance. Elder Golden Dragon has already gone there; he will be responsible for maintaining order at the Ruby Base.”

Su Ming nodded, relieved. He looked around, "By the way, where's Elder Yin Er? I can't see him."

Yin Er is probably in charge of maintaining order in the internet cafe.

“Oh, didn’t you mention that ‘eggs for clearing the pass’ rumor a few days ago?” Violet explained, “Elder Silver Two thinks it’s very likely that someone or even a dragon deliberately sabotaged it. So, taking advantage of my visit, he personally went to investigate the clues.”

"Whoever it is, he's a clever fellow," Su Ming sighed.

After a while, several more dragons, addicted to the game and having racked up debts, came up to him, asking for work to pay off their bills. Su Ming thought for a moment and this time didn't send them to the Red Ridge Mountains. Instead, he assigned them to the road construction team to widen and reinforce the roads.

Su Ming summoned necromancers and erected a huge, eye-catching recruitment sign outside the internet cafe. The sign clearly stated the number of dragon laborers needed for each construction site, such as the Ruby Base and road construction, as well as the job type and corresponding daily wages.

Considering that the initial construction at the port has been completed, he added the task of dredging the Sapphire Port channel and clearing the harbor, sincerely recruiting dragons with good swimming skills to carry out the work, and providing them with an extra 3 gold coins as a daily sea-going subsidy, as well as a hot bath.

As per the pre-planned process, the "PUBG Internet Cafe" established a dedicated "Dragon Labor Department." This department is responsible for collecting and publishing employment information from various locations, allocating work locations and tasks reasonably based on the size and abilities of the dragons, and calculating and distributing wages based on the dragons' work performance feedback from various departments.

Meanwhile, Su Ming also deployed another "Dandelion" floating base station above the Ruby Base.

The heads of each engineering team are now equipped with portable communication devices, and landline phones have been installed at some key fixed locations. The members of the Bone-Bone Mad Machine are amazed by this "magical device" that can make clear calls over hundreds of kilometers. But Su Ming knows in his heart that the magical ability of these devices depends entirely on the coverage of the aerial base stations.

Communication can only extend to wherever base stations are deployed.

Just as Su Ming and Zi Jin were going over the details of the "dragon labor" work, Elder Yin Er's massive figure appeared. He wasn't empty-handed; he was holding a blue dragon that was noticeably thinner in his claws.

“Found it.” Yin Er said succinctly to Su Ming, “This is the culprit who spread the ‘giving away eggs’ rumor.”

As he spoke, he released his grip.

The skinny blue dragon confessed that he was extremely dissatisfied with the time limit set by Su Ming for the trial, but he was unwilling to pay gold coins to play. So he came up with the strategy of spreading rumors, trying to muddy the waters and see if he could take advantage of the chaos to get another chance for a "free trial".

"Heh, quite the clever fellow," Su Ming said, looking at the blue dragon with a playful tone.

Despite the感慨 (feelings of deep emotion), the necessary punishment was unavoidable. Zijin immediately announced his punishment: five days of mandatory labor as compensation for this disturbance.

Su Ming sized up the blue dragon's thin frame and decided that it wouldn't be efficient to use it for manual labor. After a moment's thought, he proposed an alternative, "How about this, you do the advertising and promotion for us. Tell the dragons in other areas of Dragon Valley about what you saw and heard at the internet cafe—those novel and fun gaming experiences. As long as you successfully attract fifty new customers, everything will be wiped clean—of course, you absolutely cannot use those 'free eggs' rumors to trick the dragons again!"

Upon hearing this, the blue dragon's eyes immediately lit up. "That's easy!" He then thought of a crucial problem, "But... how can I prove that I brought those new dragons?"

“Simple.” Su Ming was prepared. “I will give you a stack of trial vouchers. Each voucher allows a new user to enjoy a free half-hour trial. Anyone who comes to visit with one of these vouchers and then pays to use the machine afterwards will be considered as your referral.

Blue Dragon rolled his eyes, thought the method was feasible, and nodded in agreement: "Okay!"

Su Ming added an enticing condition: "After you reach the goal of fifty new customers, I will reward you with an extra gold coin for each new customer you successfully bring in who makes a payment."

At that moment, Blue Dragon's eyes lit up with excitement, and he replied without hesitation, "Deal!"

****
The internet cafe wasn't far from Sapphire Port. Seeing that things were initially stable, Violet and Su Ming returned to the Pansy. The massive, silver-white hull of the ship stood quietly in the bay, like a stable landmark.

In the past few days, Su Ming has sent two more Rainbow drones, forming a three-plane formation with the previous one. These propeller-driven aircraft have amazing endurance, capable of flying for more than thirty hours on a single mission.

Su Ming only needs to control them to take off and land once a day, and they can continue to perform their missions.

Thanks to the location beacons provided by the deployed Dandelion floating communication base stations, the Rainbow UAVs are able to strictly follow the preset routes for round-trip patrols and perform terrain mapping on other areas of Dragon Valley.

The synthetic aperture radars they carry are constantly transforming the landscape of the earth into digital models.

Furthermore, these aircraft can now perform missions during the day.

To avoid repeating past mistakes, the drones are prominently painted with the emblem of the Dragon Court beneath their wings, and Dragon King Ge Lie has even branded his unique aura onto the drones. Now, if spotted by the dragons, they will only be seen as alchemical creations dispatched by the Dragon Court to carry out important tasks.

The Cuscuta team also developed a core technology called "Dragon Recognition." This technology can accurately distinguish different individual dragons by capturing and analyzing the unique signal characteristics of the scales on the back of the dragon, and can record and statistically analyze these characteristics.

Relying on the massive amounts of data transmitted back by drones, the system has rapidly accumulated a sizable population database.

"Longkou census?" Zijin flipped through the data report, raising her eyebrows with a hint of confusion.

“In fact, the dragon race has a rather vague understanding of the exact number and distribution area of ​​its population,” Su Ming said, while checking the working status of the drone. “This survey will also be a systematic investigation of the dragons in the territory. Once the survey is completed, your Dragon Court will be able to establish a complete population archive based on this data.”

“I understand.” Violet sighed softly, rubbing her temples. “Managing such a scattered group of dragons is a real hassle. However—” A glint of light flashed in her eyes, “If more dandelion base stations could be deployed to improve the efficiency of information transmission across the dragon territories, the management difficulty should be significantly reduced.”

Su Ming slowly shook his head: "The core components of the Dandelion base station rely on a variety of rare elements, and reserves are limited. My initial plan is to deploy only ten nodes."

"Only ten floating spheres?" Violet asked in surprise. "Aren't you planning to cover the entire dragon territory?"

“This is the follow-up plan,” Su Ming confirmed. “The current focus is on completing the initial production of the base and the second phase of the Pansy’s renovation project.” He looked out the porthole at the sea that had begun to churn slightly. “We must prioritize dealing with the Covenant Faction.”

Zijin nodded, indicating that development should serve the strategic plan.

****
In the afternoon, the long-brewing storm finally swept through the harbor. Lead-gray clouds hung low, and a dense curtain of rain connected the sea and sky.

The construction site on land was also shrouded in torrential rain. Considering the intense work that the members of the Bone-Beast Crazed Machine had been doing for days, Su Ming ordered: construction to be suspended during the rain, and everyone to rest nearby.

Those who could return to the mothership boarded, and the once somewhat empty interior of the Pansy became bustling and warm. Footsteps and conversations mingled in the corridors.

With the main work suspended, the communication devices on Su Ming's body, which had previously been frequently receiving inquiries about the construction site, also fell silent. Zi Jin ended her call with Elder Long Ting's Dream Weaver and also had some rare free time.

"Shall we take the afternoon off too?" she asked Su Ming.

"Okay." Su Ming stretched, he was tired enough these past few days. He walked to the porthole and listened to the pattering of the raindrops.

“Oh, right,” Zi Jin suddenly remembered something, took out a small black USB drive from her bag and handed it to Su Ming, “I have arranged for people to scan all the books in the Dragon Clan Library, and the data is all here.”

Su Ming immediately accepted it. "Perfect timing! I'm about to launch my language parsing project too." He then gave a wry smile. "However, parsing a new language system requires enormous computing power. The planned wind and solar power arrays simply cannot support it. Moreover, the Ruby Base itself is a major power consumer."

In addition, the intermittent nature of wind and solar power is a major drawback. Therefore, all the demands point to one solution—building a thermal power plant.

But after careful consideration, Su Ming came up with a new idea: to build a hydroelectric power station!

According to mapping data transmitted by Rainbow UAVs, the Baihe River, which flows through the Red Ridge Mountains, has several natural drops in this canyon terrain. These turbulent sections severely hinder inland waterway transportation and greatly limit the tonnage of ships that can navigate through them.

Su Ming pulled up a 3D map, pausing his finger on a spot about twenty kilometers downstream of the Baihe River, which flows past the Red Ridge Mountains. "If we build a high dam here, a vast and gentle reservoir will form upstream. It will not only be a hydroelectric power station, but also a river port, and we won't need to build a bridge to cross the river!"

Zijin's eyes lit up. She had only thought of the enormous scale of the dam project, forgetting that it would also save a lot of money in other areas. The White River divided the Dragon Clan's territory in two, and a permanent bridge capable of transporting large quantities of goods was absolutely essential to build.

"While obtaining a stable and massive amount of electricity," Su Ming said excitedly, "it can increase the navigability of the inland waterways from the Dwarf Kingdom to the thousand-ton level and enable two-way passage for cargo ships within a certain range!"

"Interesting!" Violet exclaimed. The benefits it brings are a bit exaggerated.

“For a hydroelectric power station of the same scale, I only need to transport the core turbine generator unit from Earth,” Su Ming continued. “But building a thermal power station of the same scale requires transporting the boiler, steam turbine, huge pipeline system and other complete facilities, which is much more complex.”

Zi Jin's eyes lit up instantly. "The main dam of the hydroelectric power station was built using power from another world!" She grasped the key point. "This requires mobilizing a powerful construction team!"

She quickly mentally rehearsed the feasibility, "It would probably require the power of nearly a thousand dragons. Such a landmark project could become a reality in a relatively short time. Moreover, a water conservancy project of this scale—" A smile suddenly appeared on her lips, "doesn't it just so happen that we have a master who excels in this field?"

Su Ming also laughed and said, "Yes, Newman is already on the ship and is expected to arrive in the next few days!"

Zijin suddenly clapped her hands. "So we should wait until Newman arrives before we start worrying about this kind of thing together." She looked at Su Ming. "We agreed to have a holiday, but now we're discussing work again."

She rubbed her wrist. "How about we go to the training ground—"

"No!" Su Ming immediately shook his head and refused. "Want to play a game together?"

"Alright then." Violet wasn't disappointed, but then she raised her index finger. "Let's make this clear first, no Tetris!"

"That kitchen—"

"No!" Violet promptly refused.

She even reflexively activated her omniscient vision until she confirmed that Qiluo was lying in Bei Anqi's room, letting the girl gently comb her mane with a bone comb, before she quietly breathed a sigh of relief.

The unicorn squinted its eyes, its tail swaying contentedly, clearly enjoying itself.

A pang of sadness welled up in Bei Anqi's heart. She had been very busy lately, and as the temperature rose, Qiluo's fur was falling out in large quantities.

She was frustrated; she had missed out on so much, so much hair!
Su Ming rummaged through the computer program list, "If it's a two-player game... Hmm, there's one called 'Two-Player Game,' which looks pretty good."

Zijin picked up a controller and sat down on the sofa. "Okay! Don't lose to me."

“This is my first time playing this too,” Su Ming replied, pressing the mouse and projection options. “And this looks like a casual co-op game.”

The big screen lit up, and a heartwarming game loading screen appeared. Su Ming picked up another controller and began a rare moment of relaxation.

(End of this chapter)