Attention, Too Much

Chapter 27: 1.27 Attention, Too Much

In this world, there might be opponents so slow that you feel you have ample time. However, the development of everything else in the world will not wait for the conclusion of the matters your attention is focused on.

In the Pandora World, human city-states are merely in a state of decline from past glory. The foundation of their past industry and social civilization is too thick, but in substance, there have been no fundamental changes to adapt to this era.

Before Wei Keng's arrival, those truly adapted to this era were the gene colonies of this world.

The downstream region of Zhushui Jiao is the most fertile area. In the past hundred years, almost every decade, the gene species here would be rotated by the surrounding areas. Wei Keng's arrival and occupation can be considered a change. But this does not mean it will not face challenges from gene colonies in other regions.

On September 28th, while Wei Keng's main attention was still on how to communicate with the humans of this world, around Wei Keng, at least three gene colonies began their mutual life radiation.

Before the Pandora Era, gene species on Earth would normally differentiate. For example, the genes of ancient Chinese cats would later differentiate into Yang's Tiger, Siberian Tiger, South China Tiger, Bengal Tiger, Indochinese Tiger, North China Tiger, and XJ Tiger based on different regions.

After the Pandora Era arrived, this process accelerated. When a branch of a gene colony occupies a region, if the original mother branch of that gene colony is annihilated in species competition and loses its source of integration, regional conflicts will arise between the gene colony and the sibling branches that differentiated from the mother branch.

Of course, in the Pandora Era, gene colonies may differentiate or re-fuse!

When they sense stronger radiation from genes different from their own, this will happen.

Wei Keng had always been worried about the "union of surrounding human city-states." In reality, a union is occurring among the surrounding gene colonies.

In the small streams and rivers tens of kilometers around Wei Keng, the Tiger Shrimps have transformed repeatedly, finally becoming a unified category. The small herbivorous animals in the caves and the geckos crawling on the treetops have also begun to converge.

This area of sixty thousand square kilometers had an Apostle-level Super Colony land thirty years ago. After it eliminated the ultimate node of the region, a similar union of gene colonies appeared again in this area. Wei Keng did not notice this; his attention was still on the human areas.

Jian City, September is the production season. Black Iron Pipes in the factory areas emit clusters of black smoke. The dust on the nearby residential buildings has not been cleaned for decades. Here, except for a few bright windows, all the brick and tile walls are as black as a stove.

This is the appearance of a relatively advanced industrial city in the 1930s and 1940s. In that era, even women wearing bright Qipao Stockings had to walk through such a dull and dirty city.

In such a dull city, a few buildings remained clean. This was the city's administrative center, where the city's important figures were discussing the recent crisis.

Zeng Longmu: "This is our city's crisis."

No one in the meeting made a sound, implicitly accepting the City Lord's definition of the matter. But everyone present knew that rather than saying the city was in crisis, it was more like a crisis for the political group the City Lord belonged to.

Because the one who "rashly" and "thoughtlessly" dispatched military forces was the City Lord. If they were to accept peace talks after a defeat, it would lead to a severe crisis. Therefore, when contacting the Wei Keng Group again, Jian City had to maintain a strong stance. Then, they would resolve the issues, which included prisoners, trade, and a series of communication relationship problems.

For such high-level politicians, politics can involve crime, but it cannot involve mistakes. Crimes can be whitewashed, but a mistake will lead to a downfall from which there is no recovery.

Therefore, the Jian City internal council unanimously passed a decision to maintain a tough stance against the "Same-faced People" to the south.

This secret resolution was leaked to Wei Keng two days later by a merchant caravan that came to Wei Keng.

Continue fighting? Wei Keng was somewhat depressed.

This is a problem that troubles many warring parties in the world; they cannot end the war. They can only continue to dispatch large numbers of reconnaissance forces to the northeast to maintain surveillance on Jian City.

There's an accounting here: maintaining one reconnaissance personnel on the front line requires three people – one in reserve, one on standby, and one on duty. And for these three people on the front line, five people are needed in the rear to support their work. Although every Wei Keng is a jack-of-all-trades, and those on standby and in reserve also take on other duties, with one person doing the work of three, the impact is still there.

That evening, Wei Keng met with Zeng He and Fang Hong again and laid his cards on the table. He told them that no matter the outcome, they would be released in two months. However, the current situation between himself and Jian City was not just a matter of prisoners, but a deeper struggle.

Wei Keng: "Jian City continues to respond to me with military means, causing us to be in a stalemate in bilateral exchanges. This involves fundamental principles, so please consider it from multiple angles. When the people I deal with can always achieve their goals through force, will they use force again the next time they deal with me? Honestly, I'm not afraid of fighting, but I dislike it. Facing constant military vigilance in all directions makes me very tired. Therefore, I must show that 'I won't fall for this.'"

Fang Hong wanted to organize his thoughts to argue: "I think Jian City might not mean it that way."

Wei Keng: "Friend, I'm not arguing with you here. I'm just telling you my attitude towards your side. I am very serious about dealing with Jian City. This is a matter of yes or no. In the current situation, anything that could threaten me, I will deal with ruthlessly. In other words, I currently hope you will remain neutral. I don't want you to become an enemy I must open fire on because of some action you take, or even~"

Wei Keng looked at Zeng He beside him and revealed his sincere bottom line: "The lady can leave first."

Then he turned to Fang Hong: "You, who I continue to detain! You must not interfere while I deal with Jian City."

Zeng He: "There's no need to let me go, I'll stay with him."

The girl smiled charmingly at the stunned Fang Hong, then said seriously to Wei Keng, "You are much more straightforward than my uncle in explaining all this. Thank you. After this conflict is over, I hope we can still be friends."

Wei Keng: "Of course, it's best not to make enemies." He then silently added in his heart, "If real hatred arises, I will again resort to extremes, and that would be wrong again."

Bai Linglu: "Are you confident in their promise?" – The so-called promise here: Zeng He and Fang Hong will not make any small moves as prisoners when Jian City makes its move.

Wei Keng: "Of course, I'm not confident. I will still send people to watch them."

Bai Linglu: "Oh." – As an Observer, she had an obligation to remind Wei Keng of some risks.

Wei Keng continued: "The reason I said so much just now is because I hope to reduce the probability of 'having to pull the trigger on them.'"

Bai Linglu pondered. She now realized that her partner was investing a lot of attention in the human society of this plane, trying to avoid conflict as much as possible, rather than 'relying on his strength to provoke.'

In the process of transmigration, is this a strength or a weakness?

If Wei Keng were to answer this question, it might be: "My actions should be similar to the choices of ordinary people."

October. The coolness of autumn had not yet reached South China.

Meanwhile, Jian City began its "Bad Guy March."

Standing on a mountain eight kilometers outside Jian City, one could see the city. From the inside out, the gates of the three-layered Cement City Wall opened, and a column of smoke-spewing troops marched out.

Good heavens, there were six Diesel Armored Vehicles in the column. Of course, they weren't proper military armored vehicles; they were more like tractors with welded sheet metal, rumbling so loudly that you could hear them from a kilometer away. In this group, there were also over forty Horse Carriages, with a total of about five hundred people. Through the Telescope, Wei Keng saw that among their individual weapons, there seemed to be quite a few AK Series assault rifles.

If these weapons were well-maintained, their spread within a range of two hundred meters would still be dense. This meant that this group could suppress his squad's tactics with Burst Fire from two hundred meters away.

In the realm of thug brawls, a Da Hei Xing or a long spear makes no difference, as engagements are within twenty to thirty meters. However, on the battlefield, if one side can deliver precise continuous fire within two hundred to four hundred meters while the other cannot, the disadvantaged side will be unable to conduct tactical maneuvers. Any company attempting to raise their heads will be suppressed by firepower, and will then watch helplessly as the enemy outflanks them under the cover of fire.

The battle in the Himalayas in '62 was like that. The semi-automatic rifles obtained from the Soviet Union successfully suppressed the Sten submachine guns, remnants of British World War II supplies. The effective range of the Sten submachine gun was only a little over a hundred meters; beyond that, the bullets scattered too much to cause significant casualties. Now, Wei Keng's newly manufactured single-shot rifles, forged from rail steel, had a range of only two hundred meters due to substandard rifling and slow-moving black powder warheads. Their firepower was even inferior to the Sten submachine gun.

In this regard, Wei Keng couldn't help but sigh: "The foundation these city-states inherited from the Civilization Era is truly solid."

Seated in the armored vehicle at this moment was the city's old military strongman: Zeng Kaomu.

This white-bearded man was known throughout the city for his tough stubble and even tougher temper. He now led six mechanical war chariots and fifteen medium-sized (under seven hundred kilograms) mechanical war beasts. He was looking ahead, his head raised, propping himself up from above the armored vehicle's hatch.

Suddenly, he spotted a sign erected on the road ahead. The old man picked up his telescope and looked at the sign's contents: "Halt your advance. Armed conflict benefits neither side. Please return all issues to the negotiation table."

The old man tossed the telescope to an officer beside him and laughed heartily to his left and right, "I thought they were so tough. Turns out, as soon as my cannon vehicles came out, they chickened out, hahaha!" He then flicked his whip forward, "This old man has lived a life of military service, repeatedly seeking to die on the battlefield, alas."

With the old general's hearty demeanor, the other military personnel also chimed in with cheerful agreement, as if defeating the enemy was as easy as picking something up from their palm.

Under the direction of the old man's whip, the armored vehicle accelerated and crushed the sign that Wei Keng had specifically erected for them half an hour earlier.

Wei Keng's First Brigade, watching from the hilltop, exchanged telepathic communication, filled with confusion: "Can they not read?"

Then Wei Keng saw the old man spit on the tattered sign as the war chariot drove forward, confirming: "They probably can't read, they're just arrogant."

However, arrogance comes at a price.

This war was an unexpected overtime for Wei Keng. But Wei Keng and his men had contingency plans before the battle.

Wei Keng: "Our main force is equipped with micro submachine guns and is not suitable for frontal combat. If the enemy's will to fight is firm, it will be difficult for us to gain the upper hand in a firefight."

"The only way is to use sniper rifles to pick them off during their march, while utilizing any possible ambush positions along the route to harass them as much as possible. That is, shoot from all directions, not necessarily aiming for hits, but to disrupt their actions as much as possible. When they are in chaos, unleash a rapid volley of mortar fire, and then quickly disengage. This will cause their armored units and main force to separate, creating an opportunity to annihilate them."

The plan was set, yet Wei Keng remained worried, thinking: "Who can guarantee that the enemy doesn't have rifle grenades? If the enemy's will far exceeds my imagination, and they possess excellent combat skills, what if, upon encountering an ambush, they use rifle grenades to bombard the area of the sniper fire, lock onto our formation, and launch a counter-charge?"

"In that case, our harassment tactics at the ambush positions would turn into a limited encounter battle."

"So, the only heavy machine gun we have will be hidden and deployed on a high ground. Once the enemy organizes a charge, the heavy machine gun will open fire to provide cover. Of course, after the troops withdraw, we will remove the heavy machine gun mount and try our best to bring the machine gun back."

While Wei Keng and his men were discussing, Bai Linglu remained silent. She really wanted to eat sunflower seeds.

Returning to the present, twenty seconds after the sign was crushed, the armored vehicle drove forward another one hundred and fifty meters with impunity. Suddenly, it seemed to have struck a steel wire tied to a tree stump.

After a delay of about one second—

An explosion occurred by the roadside. A piece of metal, squeezed by the shaped charge, became a high-speed projectile and directly impacted the interior of the armored vehicle. With a bang, a large section of the vehicle's bottom, pieced together from civilian steel plates, was torn apart by the metal block, and the vehicle went dead.

This thing was very common on the roadsides of the Middle East in the 21st Century. American mercenaries, as Security Personnel, and the US-Equipped Army recruited by the puppet government of the region, were often enthusiastically treated to this.

And now, as the weaker party, Wei Keng definitely had to learn to make this dish to entertain guests.

Now was the perfect time to "serve the dish."

This explosion directly sent the white-bearded old man on his way. His entire body was ejected from the armored vehicle's hatch by the Impact Force, like a glob of fat squeezed from a pimple.

The Old General's upper body still had half a breath left, but his lower body had been pierced by the metal jet.

After the explosion, Wei Keng, who "looked at things with a developmental perspective," looked at the Chaos within the Ambush Circle and once again scrapped the previous plan.

The troops that had been aggressive just moments ago were now like ants whose nest had been disturbed. Forget about counterattacks at the company level; even at the squad level, they were gone.

This was it? The whole situation was like "a tree falling and the monkeys scattering," making Wei Keng feel like he could launch an attack.

Thus, the Wei Keng Collective simultaneously sent the "All-Out Attack" order through the system, using flag signaling and signal flares.

In the dimension, Bai Linglu's small hands, which were recording, moved again, and his mouth couldn't help but curl.