Otherworld Bone Dragon Operation Guide

Chapter 23 (Chapters 23-24) - The Girl and the World-Destroying Level
"I'm just wondering, what kind of lineup will they send if they chase us again?"

“…That bastard!” White Bone gritted his teeth.

****
Based on prior predictions, the Temple of Light would launch a manhunt in the relevant sea areas after their escape. However, Su Ming was unsure whether the Temple of Light would remain so stubborn after the bishops witnessed an existence like the Bone Dragon.

After daybreak, Su Ming further reduced the speed to 12 knots. Every hour, he needed to calculate and mark the current position on the nautical chart. Su Ming suddenly realized that he lacked a set of nautical positioning tools, as well as an automatic gyroscope, a device that could record the course without the aid of satellite positioning.

But he dared not let the troublemaker handle it, since the entire steam-powered system was still running and required operation and even minor repairs from time to time. Until the return of the skeletons, he had to do all of this on his own.

Whenever he has a spare moment, he needs to take a nap.

Sixteen hours after the battle ended, Su Ming calculated that he had successfully shaken off the pursuit. Theoretically, the fastest enemy was still more than 50 nautical miles away.

The dragon legion never appeared from beginning to end. In retrospect, it was found that these winged flying beasts were more affected by the storm.

Under such harsh conditions, especially at night, while humans might obey commands, wild animals might not. They would either be unable to move or would have to spend a long time preparing.

At sea, the detection range of undead fluctuations is approximately 20 nautical miles, though the actual distance varies depending on sea conditions and the explorer's skill level. In the vast ocean, this is a distance where encounters are not easy.

Unless a large-scale, comprehensive investigation is conducted.

Considering his own endurance and the condition of the equipment, Su Ming decided to shut down the machine in three hours, take a nap under the cover of night, and turn it back on the next morning.

After sorting things out, he decided to have some instant noodles first.

Although he was very reluctant to touch it, Su Ming was really hungry. He walked to where the food was and reached into the cardboard box to find a box of instant noodles. When he pulled his hand out, he found that he had lifted the entire box along with it.

Su Ming quickly rummaged through the box and found that there was only one box left.

Su Ming recalled carefully that when he traveled through time, there was a whole box of sauerkraut flavored instant noodles, twelve boxes in total, and three other boxes of other brands and flavors, plus two packs of ham sausages and a few packs of spicy strips on the truck.

Su Ming counted on his fingers that he had eaten nine boxes of sausages in the past few days, about half of which he had eaten, and he hadn't paid attention to how many were left.

Su Ming searched everywhere and found that not only were the instant noodles gone, but a pack of ham sausages was also missing, several packs of fruit juice powder were gone, and all the spicy strips had disappeared.

The instant noodle boxes are made of foam, which can be used as material for summoning all things, so he kept them all. He went to the storage room and looked; there were thirteen empty boxes.

Su Ming was absolutely certain that he had never tried the flavor of one of the boxes of rattan pepper before. He hated it and had originally planned to save it for the last resort.

With the investigation completed, it's no longer a question of who the culprit is.

I didn't think about why, because verifying it was really simple. If it was taken by the skeleton, it means she also needs to eat—so she is a physical entity.

As for the physical world, the only place she could go on this ship was the well-ventilated and well-lit rune research room that had been built to her specifications.

Su Ming activated the White Bone Mark and opened the library door. Stacks of White Bone's books were piled up on the floor, clearly indicating there hadn't been time to organize them since the fortress was rebuilt. He walked through the storeroom and the alchemy lab, finding the same scene in both.

Arriving at the rune research lab, Su Ming took a deep breath and pushed open the door. Unsurprisingly, he saw Bai Gu wrapped in the blanket that had mysteriously disappeared two days ago, sleeping on the floor of the room, using a seat cushion taken from a new energy vehicle as a pillow.

Su Ming crouched down, and with the magical aura gone, he saw the girl's true face for the first time in its entirety.

The girl had soft, delicate features, and her face was so fair that even the fine veins could be seen through it. She didn't look like the people from the Western Continent that Su Ming had already met; instead, she seemed closer to the elves of this world, yet she clearly possessed a human touch.

Completely different from the impression of her lacking expression, the sleeping skeleton finally showed a touch of girlish tranquility. Her long, silky hair was not the cold purple he had always seen, but actually a soft tea-brown color. Because the surface was dyed, it could only be seen from the newly grown roots.

The girl slept soundly, completely unaware of Su Ming's approach and observation. He reached out and scraped a piece of fried pastry off the corner of her mouth. It felt soft and warm; it was indeed a solid piece.

So, was she sneaking a snack when the battle ended last night? Su Xiang wondered. He looked around and found an unopened box of instant noodles. Looking up, he saw a whole set of wet clothes hanging on the power cord in the room.

He had originally intended to use this wire to run a light bulb for lighting, but when he turned around he couldn't see it, and now he finally knows the culprit.

Apart from that, strangely, there were no other personal belongings in the skeleton's room.

Questions piled up in Su Ming's mind. The skeleton had a whole room full of books, and two small warehouses overflowing with alchemical tools and materials. Why wouldn't such a person have a single personal item?
But the girl's face, even in her sleep, showed an undeniable weariness—now was not the time to disturb her rest.

Su Ming's family wasn't well-off, and he had to do all sorts of chores since childhood. Even when he worked in the factory, he had to take care of himself. He pulled the skeleton's wet clothes and electrical wires off the wall and took them outside into the sun. Su Ming used the bones to make hangers, hanging them up one by one, smoothing out the wrinkles and flattening them.

Su Ming returned to the room, straightened the cushions, and tidied the blanket for the girl. Somewhat surprisingly, Bai Gu wasn't even wearing pajamas. He quietly covered Bai Gu's shoulders with the blanket.

This girl is shrouded in mystery!
Su Ming summoned a bone fragment, wrote a message on it, and told the white bone to come to him after it had rested, as he already knew that she was a physical being.

Su Ming returned to the engine room, listened to the operating sounds of the equipment, set an alarm, and then began to doze off.

****
When Su Ming opened his eyes, he was somewhat surprised to see the skeleton. She was pale and sitting opposite Su Ming, holding a cup of hot drink made with fruit juice.

She was already wearing her only dress.

Upon seeing him awake, Bai Gu greeted him in a hoarse voice, "Good afternoon!"

"You should go back to sleep." Su Ming sat up. "You look terrible."

"The aftereffects of overdrawing my magic," said the skeleton. "I'm used to it."

The girl tried to stand up, but suddenly her body swayed. Su Ming quickly reached out to support her, and the cup in her hand fell to the ground.

It was hot and soft to the touch. Su Ming helped Bai Gu sit back down, watching as sweat began to bead on her forehead.

"Are you... sick?"

Exhausted from fighting, constantly overdrawn, and then caught in the rain all night. The skeletons looked like a severe cold on Earth, or something worse.

Bone touched his cheek, which was flushed. "Indeed, it's not just a side effect of overexertion."

"Shall I take you back to your room?" Su Ming asked.

The skeleton didn't speak, and tried to stand up on its own, but failed.

Su Ming simply picked her up; she didn't seem too heavy. "So you're human?" he asked as he walked towards her room. "So far, I am." The girl tilted her head to look outside, reaching out to grab her collar.

"I see you're good with light-based magic," Su Ming asked. "Can you heal yourself?"

The skeleton shook its head. "This body can't accept light-based healing spells, so I don't like using them. It's easy to get sick, and getting sick is a real hassle!"

Su Ming went to Bai Gu's room and put her down.

"Besides magic, are there any other treatment methods, such as alchemy or potions?" Su Ming asked.

The skeleton shook its head again.

“All the methods of treating diseases in this world are based on the light element, otherwise how could the Temple of Light be so powerful?” she explained to Su Ming. “My soul is special. Magic can remove physical pain, but at the same time it will tear my soul apart.”

“Oh, right,” she added, “it’s a secret, otherwise I’d be in trouble if I encountered an enemy and they cast a healing spell.”

"Then, can you tell what kind of illness it is?" Su Ming asked.

“There is a way to find out.” White Bone reached out and activated a water-based spell to examine his body.

"Viral and bacterial infections." She sighed softly, then cast another spell, enveloping herself, and her face suddenly turned deathly pale!

On the skeleton's body, the runic aura turned multicolored, concentrating on the lungs, liver, respiratory tract, throat, and heart.

Su Ming didn't understand this technique, but that didn't stop him from guessing the result: "You've been infected with many kinds?"

"Why is this happening?" The girl's weak face was filled with deep confusion and bewilderment. "I've never been infected with so many at once before, and they're all unknown species... This virus in my lungs has strong photosensitivity—last time I was only infected with two types that weren't nearly as severe, and I almost died!"

"What will happen to you if this body dies?" Su Ming asked.

"The Bone Fortress still exists, and you can still control it, but my soul will dissipate." The Bone said, closing its eyes. "This time I am doomed, and from now on you will have to rely on yourself. Let me calm down; there are many things I need to tell you."

Su Ming clenched his fists and stepped forward.

"Don't come near me, it's contagious," the skeleton warned, its consciousness beginning to fade.

“I still have a way. Are our bodies that different?” Su Ming pressed down on the girl’s shoulders and shook her to help her regain some composure.

"They are of the same origin in terms of composition." The skeleton paused for a moment before answering, "Within my detection range, I cannot find any difference."

"Alright, don't worry and rest." Su Ming said, "I already know what happened. I infected you with these viruses. I have a way to save you."

"...So that's how it is, a microbial invasion from another world—I was careless."

Su Ming brought the Zhiyuan to a stop, letting it drift on the ocean. He found the medication the truck driver had brought with him: a small box of amoxicillin and ibuprofen.

These are certainly not enough, but they can alleviate the symptoms of skeletal lesions and slow the spread of infection.

Su Ming had read many time-travel novels and imagined all sorts of scenarios. But he never imagined that just a few days after arriving in this other world, he would be only one step away from the destruction of the world!
Su Ming himself is healthy, but he carries various viruses from Earth. These viruses are resisted by Su Ming's immune system and cannot make him sick; some even coexist with him.

But it's different for the humans in this world. The tiny speck on Su Ming's body is a completely new disease here, one that they have no resistance to, and it can easily bring about a plague.

Especially that photoresistant pneumonia virus in the lungs of the white bone, if my intuition is correct, it is that famous champion-level virus.

His only stroke of luck was that he stayed in the Bone Fortress the whole time, not going anywhere else or coming into contact with anyone other than the skeletons. Apart from going to the top of the tower twice, the skeletons wouldn't even open the windows for him in the main hall, citing safety as the reason.

Everyone in this world should build a shrine for the skeletons!

When Su Ming returned to the room with the medicine and water, the girl was already fast asleep. He shook her for a long time, but she wouldn't wake up, so he could only mash the medicine into a paste and force-feed it to her.

But unsurprisingly, it failed, and the girl was jolted awake by the manipulation.

The skeleton opened its eyes groggily, then tried to close them again.

This time, Su Ming seized the opportunity and stuffed the new powder into her mouth, finally managing to persuade her to swallow it.

Su Ming let out a breath, filled his thermos with warm water, and placed it beside the girl's pillow. He took out his phone and checked the time; it was 4 PM on Earth.

Alright, let's get started!
Connect to the little rascal, and an Earth-themed scene loads into view.

Everything in the basement was normal. There were no signs that anyone had been to the spot where the troublemaker had been, indicating that he had successfully evaded the police.

It's evening here, and it's not completely dark yet, so it's not a good time to go out. Especially since Su Ming could roughly guess that the wanted notices for him and the little troublemaker had already been issued to the local police station.

After all, he was treated like a sniper, so he should at least have some sense of propriety.

Su Ming had other clothes in his backpack, which he took out and changed into, along with his mask. He threw away his hat and replaced it with a scarf, and his sunglasses with non-prescription glasses. The glasses couldn't hide his skull-shaped eye sockets, but they were enough when it was dark and not too close, since wearing sunglasses in the evening would be too suspicious.

He wrapped the scarf around his head, pulled it down a bit to cover most of the little rascal's forehead, and then went out.

The place was remote and sparsely populated. He found his motorcycle, removed the license plate, and buried it somewhere.

By the standards of fugitives, he should be considered one of the harder ones to catch, right? Su Ming silently mocked himself.

First, he needed to find a place to access the internet, as this was the most convenient way to get information. He rode his bike slowly, scanning the surroundings with his vision. Soon, he saw the Wi-Fi password on the wall of a restaurant.

He parked his car behind the restaurant, then squatted by the roadside, engrossed in his phone, pretending to wait for someone.

He found the relevant news with almost no effort. The official press release stated that near the site of the natural gas transport vehicle explosion on the XX highway, police discovered a dismembered body; the deceased was identified as a 19-year-old woman named Miao.

The next paragraph states that Su Ming from XX Machinery Factory is a prime suspect in the crime. Anyone with information about his whereabouts should contact Officer XXXX. A reward of XXX yuan will be given for verified information.

(End of this chapter)