The Call of Earth

Kang De spent the next two days with Xiaoman.

Goods ordered from Taobao kept arriving. I gave the key to my old home to Grandpa Wang and asked him to help me move them in, since Kang De and Wang Xiaoman had already left the city.

They booked flights and hotels, flying directly to Gasa International Airport in Xishuangbanna Prefecture.

Xishuangbanna Prefecture is one of the eight autonomous prefectures in Yunnan. Located on the edge of the tropics, it boasts China's only tropical rainforest nature reserve and is home to more than a dozen ethnic minorities. With its exotic customs, pleasant temperature, and beautiful scenery, it has been a popular tourist destination since the indescribable era of educated youth sent to the countryside.

Of course, Kang De's main reason for coming here was not tourism.

Rather, it's because it's located on the border between China and Myanmar.

Even though Xie Liqian has connections everywhere, if he wants to resolve the arms issue locally within two days, he can only try to find a solution in Southeast Asia; there's no time to go to other places.

Myanmar is undoubtedly a very good choice.

Especially in Northern Myanmar.

Local forces and ethnic armed groups are numerous, and drug lords from all walks of life have also gathered here. The notorious mercenaries in northern Northern Myanmar are active here, undertaking various businesses. Using drugs to support the army and using the army to protect drugs is a constant theme in Northern Myanmar.

The influx of special goods from the Golden Triangle, conflicts between highly autonomous and powerful local governments and the central government, contradictions between autonomous ethnic minorities and the majority ethnic group... the roots of conflict and turmoil were sown as early as 1947 when Aung San, the father of Myanmar, signed the Panglong Agreement with various ethnic groups and regions.

Incidentally, everything else is fine, just know about it, but this so-called father of Myanmar, Aung San, served as a lackey for the Japan in his early years, giving the Japanese a complete intelligence advantage on the Myanmar battlefield, and may even have formed an army to directly cooperate with the Japanese army in combat.

In addition, the unclear authorization and strategic mismanagement of the high command of the Chinese, British and American armies, the United Kingdom's meddling mentality, their willingness to abandon Myanmar and wait for its future recapture rather than allow China to expand its influence in the region, and their withdrawal to India without notifying the China army, the Chiang Kai-shek government's appeasement of Britain and the United States and loss of command, the corruption and infighting among the Kuomintang's high command and even the sale of military assets, all contributed to a major defeat.

This led to the defeat of the China Expeditionary Force Yeren Mountain the Hukawng Valley, where more than 50,000 anti-Japanese soldiers died due to drug shortages, the spread of plague, and the treacherous terrain, rather than on the main battlefield. Even the Japan recorded that the entire Hukawng Valley was littered with bones, which shows how heavy the casualties were. It was a disgrace.

While Aung San may not be the mastermind, he is certainly one of the criminals.

It's worth spitting on before leaving.

Incidentally, this man, seeing the tide turning against him towards the end of the war, went and became a lackey of the United Kingdom. The Panglong Agreement mentioned earlier was signed during that period. In order to consolidate Myanmar into a unified whole and negotiate with the United Kingdom, Aung San granted local forces a high degree of autonomy. This is one of the reasons why Myanmar is still frequently at war. It's truly a case of justice prevailing and retribution being served.

Now, Kang De and Xiaoman have booked a day trip to the border. They can even hear faint, muffled booming cannons from the other side of the mountains and rivers. Meanwhile, on this side, elderly people are dancing in the square, and loud, high-pitched agricultural heavy metal music is blasting from the speakers. Some people are carrying vegetables, riding bicycles, and leisurely walking home.

Nobody took it seriously.

Xiaoman said softly, "That's wonderful."

Kang De nodded. "Indeed very good."

He did not go to Myanmar, nor did he witness firsthand the brutality and horror of modern battlefields. However, in another world, he personally faced war and saw the plight of the poor people who were displaced under the iron heel of the spirits, whose fates were not in their own hands, losing their loved ones, their homes, and even their lives.

Ordinary people without power live their lives in an orderly fashion: getting married, having children, working, paying taxes. Suddenly, war breaks out, and no one asks them if they want to experience it.

But here, in this country, the people here will never have to go through all that.

What are you thinking about?

Xiaoman waved her hand in front of his eyes. "You promised to play with me!"

Kang De smiled and said, "Hmm."

So for two whole days, they wandered around this exotic place aimlessly.

In fact, Kang De did know a little about this place.

Because one of my classmates in university was from Xishuangbanna, and since there was only one like him in the whole class, or even the whole grade, everyone respectfully called him Xishuangbanna Bro.

Xishuangbanna Bro said that they always carried guns to school from childhood, lived in wooden houses, and had to ride elephants to Kunming and then hitch a ride on a train to other places. They had three murder quotas a year, never kept cats or dogs as pets, only peacocks and monkeys, and never set off fireworks during festivals—it was considered shameful. You could buy three hand grenades for eighty yuan at the market, and if you bought ten or more, you would get a free rocket...

Of course, this is purely self-deprecating humor about the region.

People from Shaanxi wear sheepskin coats every day and stand on the hillside singing "The Loess Plateau"; people from Guizhou wash their feet with 30-year-old Moutai every day; coal mined in Shanxi smells of vinegar; the "Yu" in the Confucian Six Arts of a Gentleman, which originated in Shandong, refers to driving an excavator; Zhejiang like their sisters-in-law; Sichuan use extremely spicy masturbation devices; and the everyday language in Guangxi is "mountain songs"—these are all self-deprecating jokes from people in different provinces.

But people from the South really do ride cockroaches to school.

However, the real heroes of Xishuangbanna do drink ant soup, eat water centipedes, chew on flower spiders, suck raw blood jelly, enjoy simple beef stew, and have a very primitive flavor of raw meat. It is said that people from Guangdong eat everything, and people from Yunnan are not much different. In the class at Kang De University, the Xishuangbanna Bro was the only creature who could remain calm in front of his classmates from Guangdong - it was a kind of equality in the food chain.

In fact, Xishuangbanna Bro gets along very well with his classmates from Guangdong. They often eat together, and his classmates from Guangdong often introduce him to Fujianese people with smiles, to which the latter nods repeatedly.

I could have called him to come out for a get-together this time, but considering that Kang De was here to do something shady, and Xiaoman preferred some time alone with him, I decided against it.

See you back at school.

Xiaoman said this, then asked Kang De, "... Do you still go to school?"

Kang De also showed a troubled expression.

While the Time Lever can reverse the flow of time between two worlds, the cost is that the time anchors of the two worlds are getting closer. If it is only used for classes, the cost-effectiveness is too low. Kang De followed in his father's footsteps and became a civil engineer. To be honest, this major does not play a significant role in his current career in another world.

The biggest help was teaching him excellent drawing skills, which made it easier for him to draw those damn broken CAD diagrams to deconstruct the Element arrays of the enchantment even after he was transported to another world.

"I... I'm not entirely sure."

He said, "In terms of civil engineering, the knowledge I learned in four years of university... is actually not very useful. Whether I go to an engineering bureau or a railway bureau, I have to learn everything from scratch once I get there. There's a huge gap between textbooks and practice. Besides, this major hasn't helped me much. But I still need to learn. I might hire some private tutors to teach me other subjects in the future..."

They are currently enjoying a farm-style meal at the home of a local Dai family. The meal features a variety of dishes, including exotic dishes like ant soup recommended by Xishuangbanna Bro, as well as more conventional dishes such as lemongrass grilled fish, Dai-style pork belly, and bamboo rice. The table is laden with food.

You know what, after overcoming the psychological pressure, those weird dishes actually tasted pretty good. The most terrifying one, the fried flower spider, actually tasted like salted egg yolk.

Xiaoman took a slice of green mango, dipped it in the chili powder in the dish, took a bite, and savored the sweet, sour, salty, and spicy flavor. She squinted her eyes and asked, "You're dropping out of school?"

Kang De scratched his head. "I'm afraid of getting beaten up. I don't know how to tell my parents."

"Then let's not talk about it for now. There's still some time before school starts, let's think about it some more." She took another piece of green mango and handed it to Kang De, "Try it, it tastes pretty good."

Kang De dipped his finger in the sauce, took a bite, and then nodded.

They devoured the entire table of food, paid, and left, leaving the stunned owner Douyin a short video of himself looking at the empty dishes. The night market here stretches along the Lancang River, also known as the Mekong River, and is no different from other cities in China, except that there are many Dai-style snacks, very cheap tropical fruits, and many local specialties. We strolled around until late and bought a lot of things.

"Take some back, and I'll take the rest with me."

Hearing Kang De say that, Xiaoman laughed and said, "Then we should buy more and say they're gifts from me."

Kang De casually replied, "Okay."

I shopped until very late, filled several large bags, and then called a ride-hailing service back to the hotel.

The driver was a local, very talkative. Once we started chatting, he began to curse, cursing local, out-of-town, and foreign unscrupulous businessmen for making the place a mess, and also cursing all sorts of damned developers for building houses and speculating on real estate here. He said that as soon as Hainan implemented purchase restrictions, things started happening here, and overnight, the prices of many properties increased by half. Not only could locals not afford them, but they were also destroying various natural landscapes. The entire White Elephant Lake was drained, and golf courses were being built in other places. Who among the locals knows how to play golf? A bunch of bastards.

Kang De and Xiaoman looked at each other and smiled helplessly.

The Xishuangbanna Bro also used the same insults.

But it's just a rant after all.

Back at the Hilton Hotel, after carrying his bags to his room, Kang De took the enormous quantity of Dai-style kebabs to the insulated box in the White Mist Space Restaurant, where it was free of bacteria and easy to store. Then he went to Xiaoman's room, spoke with her for a while, and, seeing that it was almost time, prepared to leave.

Xiaoman looked at him and said softly, "I want to go too..."

Kang De shook his head with difficulty. "It's not very convenient."

He wants to pick up the goods himself in Myanmar.

The scenery there is beautiful and the natural landscape is wonderful, but it is also fraught with danger, after all, there is a war going on. Although it is not as dangerous as the neighboring country where everyone speaks Vietnam, it is still dangerous.

Kang De could easily leave even if he were hit by rockets, but if he took Xiaoman with him, he would be much more passive in case of danger, because Xiaoman cannot teleport through the White Mist World.

Upon hearing this, Xiaoman said with some regret, "Then forget it..."

Kang De pinched her cheek. "You should go to sleep first."

"Okay," Xiaoman replied. "Be careful, I'll contact you if anything happens."

Leaving a spatial anchor point in the room, Kang De went to the balcony. Under Xiaoman's gaze, his body gradually became transparent and eventually turned into nothingness, merging with the surrounding scenery.

The girl muttered, "There are quite a few variations..."

Using the Flying Thunder God Technique, Kang De flew through the night sky, easily crossing borders and entering Myanmar.

Although Xie Liqian closed an arms deal in just two days, he insisted that he dared not ship these weapons back to China. The seller in Myanmar was even less willing to do it. In fact, the other party almost hung up the phone immediately when he heard that a wealthy China man wanted to buy guns.

Thanks to Xie Liqian's reputation, credibility, and brand name as collateral, the deal was barely negotiated. The agreement was that the seller would send someone to transport the goods to a secluded valley and then leave, with the final payment to follow shortly afterward. After that, everything else was none of his business— Kang De would pick up the goods himself.

"It seems you weren't lying; you do indeed have friends all over the world and wield considerable influence."

Kang De was using a specially made phone, given to him by Xie Liqian. Myanmar had lifted its internet ban in recent years, allowing him to contact Xie Liqian through a non-existent means. He said, "You managed to close this kind of bizarre, nonsensical deal. You're truly something else."

Xie Liqian's response was calm, neither obsequious nor arrogant. He seemed to have resigned himself to his fate, or perhaps he was still enduring it, but none of that mattered. Kang De just wanted him to do his job obediently.

"You flatter me. I contacted him through two intermediaries. Although he would never dare to sell weapons to China, he can clear his name and the price is high, so why not? Besides, we're only buying some platoon weapons. Please forgive us, as time is very limited and this is all we could get."

Xie Liqian said, "As for these connections and methods, they're really nothing. When you reach a certain level of wealth, you'll come into contact with these things, especially when your business expands overseas. You'll inevitably have to connect with these forces that will do things for money. It's not just me; Wang Yongzhi is the same."

Kang De said calmly, "Are you testing something?"

Xie Liqian immediately replied, "No."

"Snort."

After hanging up the phone, Kang De opened Google Maps, confirmed his location, and then snapped his fingers.

The Humvee crashed down from the sky.

In a dazzling display of transformation and recombination, the Autobots revealed its form. It gazed at the quiet, dark surroundings, its purple eyes transforming into searchlights as it looked left and right.

Her tone was excited. "Is this my father's hometown?"

Kang De stood beside him, gazing into the distance, where he could vaguely see patches of brilliant lights, the dazzling glow of the night signifying the Flame of Civilization burning there.

Behind them lay darkness and stillness; looking far into the distance, no light could be seen.

"No, over there, that's my country."

Kang De stamped his foot. "And this is Myanmar... a neighbor, but it's also Earth."

"Earth... Ah, Earth, Father's homeland."

The Autobots turned to look at Kang De, its purple eyes scanning him up and down, and the mechanical trachea under its nose trembled as if it had observed something.

"Father, the odor you have picked up from somewhere else has become stronger. I suggest you wash yourself thoroughly before returning to the other world, so that Ms. Gorilla and Miss Leona won't smell it."

His tone carried a hint of mockery. "And consider how to bribe me to keep quiet."

Kang De narrowed his eyes and revealed a kind smile.

The Autobots immediately felt a chill and quickly said, "Just kidding."

He quickly sat up, looked around, then closed his eyes, took a deep breath, as if contemplating and feeling, and then murmured, "Strange..."

Kang De's smile turned into a sneer—"Keep acting, you keep acting."

"Father, this place is different from the other world, but... there are similarities, a very strange feeling, a... feeling of change," the Autobots murmured. "I feel that something, something buried deep, hidden, sealed away... something ancient... is calling to me from a very far place."

"Several vehicles of automatic weapons and ammunition, as well as high-explosive munitions, are calling you."

Kang De rolled his eyes and kicked it. "Time to get going, go get the goods."

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PS1: This chapter has 4,400 words. 4,000 words are paid content. The other 400 words are the section about Aung San mentioned in the previous chapter, which is free. I hesitated for a moment but decided to keep it. Although writing is a form of entertainment, since it was mentioned, I'll talk about it so that some friends who don't know about it can find out. That's all.