The First Plane War

Chapter 26: 1.26 First Plane War

Eastern Time-Space Crossing Department. After Wei Keng and the Bai Linglu Group's latest information was transmitted back, the "Minister" rank leaders who were still slightly worried about this accident completely changed their attitudes.

A High Minister who obtained the Plane Data commented to his colleagues on the adjacent front line, with a wry smile, "These two are a pair of oddities."

One of them didn't inform anyone. A small number of individuals died, but they didn't truly die. Their memories were stored, and ultimately their consciousness returned. All memories would be stored. The intention was to use this "shock" to urge the transmigrator to complete the mission diligently.

And the other one? He was indeed scared, then rejected all suggestions, and exaggerated the danger of everything in the unknown plane by tens of times.

Now, the people in the Time-Space Management Department could somewhat understand Bai Linglu's current thoughts: "Wei Keng, what are you afraid of? With the mode you've deployed, your abilities are indeed not inferior to a Minister rank. Moreover, you've already backed up the return channel system. You can completely go and fight some regional level threats in this world before returning, collecting data on this Plane Descent Mode, and perfecting your own Consciousness Growth System."

Now, in the Main World, it has been officially confirmed that the East and West are in the stage of the First Plane War.

The two sides are currently engaged in combat across nearly a thousand planes and 460,000 timelines. The number of transmigrators deployed by both sides has reached the tens of thousands!

The social mobilization system created by the four World Wars on Earth is now being applied to competition in plane exploration, which is truly something else. In some lower-danger plane regions, their historical lines are repeatedly explored, with precision down to the personality data of every small leader at the Mayor level of the plane world.

The two sides are deploying strategies on these repeatedly traversed planes. This Battle of Wits between transmigrators is something a "Civilian" rank like Wei Keng can hardly imagine.

"Civilian" ranks are not managed by a military law system. If there were a military law system, regardless of whether Bai Linglu violated regulations, Wei Keng, upon arriving at the plane, or even during the process of arrival, could not disobey the arrangements of the exploration mission.

In these hot war planes, both sides' factions capture and detain the transmigrators of the defeated side.

Detaining means seizing their Consciousness Nodes and forcibly holding them in a Space Bubble within the dimension.

Out of humanitarianism, although the confinement by the two major transmigrator groups does not completely erase the opponent's Consciousness Existence, it will definitely cause damage to the transmigrator's consciousness, thereby affecting future Number of Crossings and Professional Lifespan.

In every sense, this is a war.

Because it is a war, both sides' thinking has deviated from the state of a Peaceful Era. Oh, it's like not expecting your girlfriend to speak gently and reasonably with you when she has her Aunt Flow.

The Eastern Time-Space Administration Bureau has now mobilized everything it can. -- In a sense, Wei Keng is now considered "Military Personnel" rather than a "Civilian" before the war.

And regarding the importance of the plane Wei Keng is currently in, because too few people have explored it, its Time Flow Rate is relatively faster than many plane regions, thus possessing more Strategic Value.

First Plane War. The latest phenomenon discovered by transmigrators of the Minister rank on both sides is that the time flow rate of a Living Plane is faster than that of a Mature Plane, and this situation will change with Shuttle Activity.

In other words, after a large amount of shuttling activity at a certain point in time of a plane, opening up countless historical lines, it will reduce the plane's flow rate relative to the Main World.

For example, in the Shenzhou plane, before the World War, ten years of activity by transmigrators at a certain point in time in that plane was equivalent to one year on Earth. Now, after the proliferation of transmigrators in the Main World has created many timelines, it has decreased to 9.8:1.

This trend has made humanity realize a new standard for evaluating the Resourcefulness of a plane! This resource is the time flow rate. -- Only that which can decrease is a resource; that which remains unchanged, no matter how important, is not a resource.

According to the Time-Space Administration's assessment, if a plane's time flow rate drops to 3:1, then the value of that plane is very low.

The value of different planes lies in providing information.

If personnel dispatched from the Main World traverse, those transmigrators placed by the Main World's Gravity Well would need a year to obtain information from three years later on the other side. This wouldn't compensate for the immense investment in traversing.

Therefore, obtaining ten years of information from the other side in one year, or the transmigrator collecting a hundred years of information on the other side in one year on the Main World's side, would be considered high value.

Although this World War is still ongoing, both the East and West have realized that the resources of Adjacent Planes and Near Planes are limited! In the future, it will be necessary to develop Distant Planes and Different Planes, even if these planes have various dangerous obstructions.

As for the plane where Wei Keng has landed, the current time flow ratio compared to the Main World is an astonishing 678:1.

During this Plane War, across various timelines, in the urgent need for faster and better Information Enthalpy processing, the plane where Wei Keng landed is definitely a High-Value Mine.

Given insufficient information previously, this plane was highly dangerous, and Wei Keng might not have been able to land. The Time-Space Administration Bureau said nothing. But now, Wei Keng can clearly land here, yet he is still only "Civilian" level reserve force. So, currently, it's defaulted to "Bai Linglu's little tricks."

Of course, the Time-Space Administration Bureau still needs to conduct Ideological Work for transmigrators.

This time, this situation was given to Wei Keng's Younger Brother, Wei Qiang.

On the Shenzhou Plane, Wei Qiang is on Hetu's Time-Space Shuttle. A batch of supplies has been packed and is ready to be dematerialized in the Super-Time-Space Machine, which is essentially transmitting to the Adjacent Plane.

Because the Future Company on the adjacent timeline has started to get involved in major events, their own side must provide sufficient support to their transmigrators over there.

After transmitting the sixth wave of supplies, he received a New Message and frowned. Then, he lay down in the Time-Space Machine and entered the Time Rift, connecting to High Dimension for communication.

Oh, in just a few days, it's confirmed. His own Older Brother has unprecedentedly landed in a High-Risk Plane and is doing very well, even attracting the attention of the Main World's Time-Space Management Department. He breathed a sigh of relief, then couldn't help but laugh and cry.

Wei Qiang laughed and cursed, "He only shows his True Ability when pushed to the brink."

Having lived together for over ten years since childhood, Wei Qiang knows Wei Keng's Personality. From the fragmented information in this report, he understands that Wei Keng is approaching the Pandora Plane with the attitude of "cramming before an exam." His Older Brother isn't truly useless, but he just loves to 'Lazy in Nest.'

When discussing the relationship between the two brothers, it must be emphasized that the Main World is the True Realm of all worlds. Because time in the Main World is much slower compared to other planes.

After traversing more than ten or twenty times in different planes, one can still see their unchanging Relatives, which invisibly becomes an emotional Anchor.

Wei Keng and Wei Qiang's father had also planted seeds in other planes, but time there was too fast relative to the Main World. In a flash, the so-called brothers in that world had grown up like radishes, so they were never considered brothers. Furthermore, Wei Keng and Wei Qiang's descent into the planes was actually the foundation left by Wei Father and Wei Mother after they had explored and then chosen a new timeline to combine fertilized eggs, leaving it for the two of them.

Currently, among the over forty plane timelines left behind by their father that Wei Qiang is organizing, there are actually backups of Wei Keng's descent.

Wei Parents had already prepared the foundation for the Two Brothers to Explore Together in different planes. Wei Qiang also thought the same way, but he was more assertive and plunged headfirst into Plane Exploration, waiting for Wei Keng.

At this moment, the Chief Observer of the New War Zone that Wei Qiang has arrived at noticed Wei Qiang spacing out.

Li Ximeng: "Sergeant Wei, what troubles you?"

Wei Qiang: "Senior, my family has something going on right now."

Li Ximeng: "Your Older Brother has also joined the traversing. I heard he had an Accident and entered a High-Risk Plane. How is he doing now?" Her current authority is insufficient to inquire about Wei Keng's situation.

Wei Qiang: "My older brother is doing well. He's already settled in that plane and can complete all his tasks independently. It's just that he and his Observer aren't very compatible."

Li Ximeng: "Oh, not compatible? Is there a conflict?"

Wei Qiang: "No, it's just that their cooperation is very stiff. He has difficulty communicating with the Observer. But for now, he can manage."

Li Ximeng: "After the war is over and he switches planes, he can try cooperating with other Observers."

Pandora World, a new day dawned, 23 days after the ambush battle at Jian City. Due to the daily labor and the "Big Chorus," Wei Keng found himself falling into a rhythm while trying to get the captives into one. Now, the consciousness exchange between each of his selves was becoming more frequent. Almost every individual could directly communicate mentally with other individuals they contacted during work.

People from the outside world and Wei Keng were becoming more accustomed to this, while Wei Keng felt he was becoming increasingly strange.

At this time, merchant caravans from several human city-states had arrived, beginning commercial exchanges. Wei Keng bought a lot of Textiles and Grain (Jing Block).

Wei Keng had originally intended to trade for these goods with Gold Bars, but he discovered that the circulating currency here was "Steel Cents" and "Copper Coins," which were the one-dollar and fifty-cent coins from before the Great Cataclysm.

Fortunately, the merchants were not willing to "return empty-handed." They were interested in the extracted Salt Grains, and most of all, the Copper Bullets!

In the entire Southern Kingdom, three things were hard currency: Gold Bars, bullets, and Betel Nuts. Among these, bullets were the most sought after, and in Wei Keng's calculations, they had the highest added value, being twenty times more expensive than Copper Skin and Black Powder of the same weight!

It wasn't that the human world lacked relevant production equipment, but qualified production personnel were very few. And seemingly due to management issues, the production of Firearms and Ammunition was also very limited.

A merchant from another city trading with Wei Keng confided in him that Jian City had four Arms Workshops. The largest of these workshops produced no more than 100,000 bullets annually, which was barely enough to equip a portion of the city's armed personnel.

[Behind such an allocation method, the Upper Echelon was also divided into factions. Influential families and individuals would prioritize ensuring their loyal military forces received ample Ammunition Supply, while neglecting others. Wei Keng hadn't expected that even in this small county town, they would practice Mountain-Stronghold-ism regarding their armed forces.]

Only 100,000 bullets a year? Wei Keng didn't believe it, because his own Booty from the battle included 200,000 bullets. Wasn't that two years' worth of production from one Arms Workshop?

Furthermore, with Wei Keng's own bullet production efficiency, if raw materials were sufficient, he could produce millions of bullets a month. The system provided standardized molds, Forging Machines, and Lathe Polishers, and Wei Keng had implemented assembly-line operations. Gleaming bullets could be produced at a rapid pace.

Wei Keng accepted all business, but he was cautious about bullets, agreeing to only release 10,000 rounds per month. While doing business, he was also willing to discuss the Ransom Captives with Jian City. In Wei Keng's view, this misguided conflict should end sooner.

Through his conversations with the merchants, Wei Keng also gradually learned that within Jian City's City Wall Defense Line, there were about 50,000 people. Within the defensible range of a city-state, safety was relatively high, so some Secluded Natural Villages also had one to two thousand people gathered. These Satellite Settlements surrounding the city-state had complex Blood Relations with the city-state. Some were Collateral Branches of the city-state's Upper Echelon, who had been dispersed after failing in the Intra-city Struggles.

If these people were included, the system estimated the total population of the entire Guangnan Region to be over 1.2 million.

Wei Keng paid more attention to: intelligence suggesting Armored Convoys with Steam Tractors in the area, and the capability to produce 70mm Caliber Cannons.

Upon receiving this information, Wei Keng decided not to proactively engage with the human forces in this region for the time being. When the opposing force's numbers were hundreds of times greater than his own, the variables were considerable. War would create many uncertain factors.

And this current situation was quite good.

On the River Embankment, a Hydraulic Rotary Saw was in operation. The captives from a month ago were pushing large logs into a Hydraulic Sawmill for cutting. In the Pandora Era, Wood could not be used as building material, but it was very important as Modular Raw Materials.

Currently, Wei Keng feels a bit short on manpower.

At this moment, the Observer said, "Explorer, I have a new discovery. It might be helpful to you."

Wei Keng (collective): "Hmm, tell me about it."

At this time, Wei Keng was collectively working, so they were in a telepathic state. The conversation with Bai Linglu was currently being carried out by each individual unconsciously, as a whole with the Observer. In other words, Wei Keng had begun to achieve consciousness integration on their own.

Bai Linglu felt a little nervous facing such neat responses from Wei Keng. It was like a little girl facing the response of a surging ocean.

System: Your life radiation in this world has risen to a very high level. According to the characteristics of the early Pandora Era data, your stem cells can transform into a new body under certain technical conditions.

Wei Keng asked vigilantly, "Certain conditions? What conditions?"

System: "It requires a facility, not large, about twenty tons is enough. You can build a brick and tile dam first."

The system displayed the incubation pod facility of the 'Replication Center' and provided the growth speed of individuals in the culture dish under Wei Keng's strong life radiation, which could form a new body in about ten days.

After the new body is formed, the individual memories and thoughts of the Wei Keng participating in the life radiation will merge into it, along with consciousness.

[And during this process, because the newly born Wei Keng has complete past memories and thoughts, they will not realize their new birth immediately. Instead, they will think, "Huh? Did I come into this new individual?"]

This equipment would make Wei Keng immortal, but Wei Keng heard the hint of pay-to-win.

For the past few days, Wei Keng had been losing appetite after obtaining information from Jian City and many surrounding cities.

But that Observer, fearing that the world was not chaotic enough, proposed the "Pingji Strategy." Her excited tone perfectly matched a line from a Wuxia Novel: "First, eliminate Shaolin, then destroy Wudang."

Bai Linglu recently said, "You are very strong now, you should be bolder and have a bigger vision. Conquering the world is unrealistic, but taking over these fifty thousand square kilometers is feasible."

Wei Keng still politely refused Bai Linglu's proposal.

Wei Keng: "Self-replication, this is a bit monstrous. I'm leaving in a year, it's not needed, not needed."

Wei Keng (collective) returned their attention to the current work. In their telepathic communication, they were discussing how to cut wood more precisely.

During special circumstances like war, everything can be used to its fullest. If it cannot be used according to the rules, then bypass the rules and use it as much as possible. This is the level of manpower arrangement by leaders. As long as contradictions do not surface, if contradictions emerge here, the relevant parties will come forward to appeal. At least, they cannot come forward to appeal during this period.

Readers, please note that you have a God's Perspective.

In reality, most people have a single perspective. For example, many young people are pumped up and work overtime with great enthusiasm when they first start their jobs. Leaders will express great encouragement: 'This young man is capable, I've arranged well for you.' But how much of that was visible at the time? Later, they understood, it passed, and there was no more anger. So, take it easy now. At least the Time-Space Administration Bureau is not pushing the protagonist to death, and all rewards are still being recorded. Reality is crueler; leeks are harvested and then left aside without care.