Otherworld Bone Dragon Operation Guide

Chapter 57 A Chance Encounter on the Stars

After finishing, Su Ming walked out of the cargo hold and stretched.

Violet jumped to the top of the bridge tower and shouted, "Hey you on the other side, get on the lifeboat, I'm going to dismantle the ship!"

The supply ship captain panicked. "Scholar Chestnut Owl, we belong to the Blue-Eyed Merchant Guild and have been entrusted to deliver supplies."

"That's exactly what we're after," Su Ming guessed Zi Jin's thoughts. Whether Charles was telling the truth or not didn't matter; they just needed a target to provoke.

This is clearly a message to the Federation: I'm not happy about having to get supplies from the dwarves!
After all, if you act docile, these businessmen and politicians will devour you completely.

“There are still 200 tons of timber fuel on the supply list,” Violet replied. “Although it’s not exactly what I wanted, the ship’s hull is tolerable.”

"Can--"

Violet severed the mast with a single blade of light. "I wasn't consulting you!"

The captain immediately shut up, led the sailors to lower the lifeboats, and then boarded them.

"Hurry up, all of you! And you, don't you want your eyes anymore!" the captain roared in a low voice, and a young sailor quickly looked away from the violet.

"Don't look at her. That girl may be beautiful, but she's ruthless," an old sailor whispered to the young man. "A few days ago, she blew up the Fusang, leaving only the hull, and sheared the Youfu into a hull stick. She even captured the captain!"

Su Ming didn't pay attention at first, thinking that it was referring to Harding.

But after thinking about it, he felt something was wrong and shouted to the people on the supply ship, "Hey, you just said we captured the captain of the UFO?"

"Ah, it's all just rumors, just rumors!" the supply ship captain hurriedly explained. "Please don't take it to heart, sir. We're just hardworking guys, not very bright or clever—you gossipy fellows, shut up! Apologize to the sir right now!"

Su Ming raised his hand to indicate that it wasn't necessary. He turned to Zi Jin, who was looking up at the sky.

"【Violet!】" Su Ming transmitted the message.

Seeing that she couldn't get away with it, the girl shrugged. "Okay, I forgot!"

"You've made others hungry—" Su Ming counted on his fingers, "It's been seven days!"

He quickly took the two zombies and entered the cabin, where they found a person imprisoned on the lowest level. The person was wearing a Star Empire naval uniform and was lying motionless on the ground.

Su Ming walked over and turned him over. Sure enough, it was the captain he had seen on the UFO that night. His face was now ashen, his eyes were closed, and he exuded a strong, foul odor.

No wonder Charles always presented two documents when negotiating the ransom!

If it weren't for the slight rise and fall of the man's chest, Su Ming would have thought he was dead. He had the zombie carry him onto the deck and beckoned the supply ship's captain over, "Do you have a ship's doctor?"

The supply ship captain went forward to check on the situation and said, "There's still time. Give him some water and some rice porridge, and he'll recover."

Su Ming nodded, told the captain to treat the patient, and went to open the rice cooker to cook some porridge.

He then climbed to the top of the bridge and came to Zijin's side, watching the people below busy rescuing people.

"Tell me about it, Miss Chestnut Owl."

With outsiders present, Su Ming did not directly call Zi Jin by her real name.

"He hit one of my cannonballs! I let him go after that, but he still organized the sailors to fire on us," Violet said matter-of-factly. "Starving this guy a few meals is too lenient!"

“But you can’t let him starve for so long, what if he dies?” Su Ming said, “He’s a high-ranking military officer, after all.”

"I can go hungry for another day and barely survive," Violet replied. "Don't worry, I know my limits."

Below, the captain, who had just regained consciousness, overheard their conversation, twitched, and then fainted again. Violet didn't cause any further trouble. After being fed a bowl of thin porridge, the UFO captain's condition visibly improved. She then had the supply ship crew carry him aboard, and the group rowed away in their small boat with all their might.

The scholar cut the remaining Blue-Eyed Merchant Guild supply ship into pieces and threw them onto the deck, where the zombies skillfully disposed of them.

****
In the morning, the southeast wind arrived as expected. Su Ming checked the anemometer; it was about 17 knots.

Su Ming started the steam engine, and the propeller slowly began to turn, the humming sound beginning to permeate the entire ship.

"The soundproofing in the engine room needs to be improved." Su Ming noted down the tasks again.

After a detailed scan of the surroundings, Su Ming checked their position against the nautical chart. "Now we'll begin sailing due east. We'll enter the sea monster's territory in about 5 hours," he told Zi Jin.

The scholar glanced at the radar screen. "There are still ships around. Let's move further away before deploying the sails."

Su Ming said he understood.

"By the way, the Star Rain is nearby; radar can't see it, right?"

The Xingyu was dispatched two months ago to participate in the operation to subdue the sea monster, and it is currently in the central ocean area.

Violet shook her head. "The only UFO-type stealth armor was installed, and I destroyed it all." She explained, "The manufacturing of that thing was very complicated, so we won't have to worry about the enemy having cloaked units for at least a year."

"That's good."

Soon, an image of a large ship appeared on the radar, traveling from south to north at the optimal downwind angle.

Su Ming identified the shape of the ship and found it to be very similar to the UFO. "Looks like this is it."

"Let's go and say hello," Violet suggested. "If we openly greet them now, they'll be the ones panicking!"

"We don't need to fight it now, do we?" Su Ming asked, puzzled.

"That's precisely why we need to appear so confident, since we don't want to fight!" Violet said matter-of-factly.

"Only by not fearing war can war be stopped?"

"Yes, that's exactly right, I like that saying!"

Su Ming calculated the route and found that it was a slightly roundabout way, but not by much.

"What is the attack range of the Star Rain?" he asked Violet. "I think the UFO's main gun is quite powerful."

"170mm caliber, maximum range of 11 kilometers, both sisters are the same."

Su Ming assessed the wind direction and speed, feeling confident he could avoid entering the enemy's attack range. He increased his speed to 14 knots, turned southeast against the wind, and headed towards the path of the Star Rain.

"What is the rate of fire of the Star Rain's cannons?" Su Ming asked again.

“I’m not sure about that,” Violet replied. “I only know that it uses the latest breech-loading design, and its accuracy and rate of fire are top-of-the-line among active warships. If it’s daytime and we can see it, it’s very easy for it to hit us.” She showed an eager expression. “How about we try to take them out later?”

“No, we can’t take it down with just a ship right now.” Su Ming rejected the suggestion. “We also need weapons. This time we need to get some from Earth.”

"Oh? Earth has weapons to counter warships?" Violet was quite surprised.

Su Ming actually really wanted to get an anti-ship missile; it wouldn't even need to be hypersonic, and it would be enough to make Zi Jin swallow her words. But even if he could summon it, without satellite positioning, navigation, or guidance systems, it would be nothing more than a useless stick.

(End of this chapter)