Test Teleportation

Chapter 5: 1.05 Test Transmission

At the Plane Shuttle Base, Wei Keng had to undergo sixteen training assessments, a necessary process before entering other planes.

Initially, Wei Keng was a little worried. As a special recruit, he might become a burden to the entire team. However, he later found that many of the cultural assessments requiring memorization and recall were not difficult.

The assessments were divided into two types based on their purpose!

The college entrance examination in the 21st Century was designed to be difficult. Due to intense competition, the assessment's goal was to eliminate a portion of the candidates. Therefore, on top of mastering basic knowledge, traps were set to test whether one's thinking was rigid or if they would fall for them. If there were no such traps, everyone would go to the capital to take the exam, and seventy to eighty percent would get into a top university. Wouldn't that be wonderful?

This type of assessment was clearly not like that. It simply set a passing line. Anyone who passed the line was accepted by the Time-Space Department! Han Xin's troops, the more the better.

On June 17th, there was a written exam on politics, economics, and scientific and technological common knowledge.

Starting from August 23rd, candidates would be randomly assigned to 21st Century factory smelting or chemical production scenarios for a social practice exam lasting fifteen days or one month.

Wei Keng, who described himself as having average abilities, completed the two rounds of courses thoroughly—ensuring he could pass with flying colors.

Wei Keng was also among the last batch of people to take the exam. Due to his thorough preparation, Wei Keng scored full marks on all his tests, making the tense period worthwhile.

After all assessments were completed, it was the last two days.

The instructor looked at the report Wei Keng submitted and said, "Hmm, very good. For this final period, take a break and visit the exhibition on the customs and culture of the target plane. Everyone else has already reported, and there's no one to accompany you for now. You have free rein for these two days."

The training center's reasoning was: The target plane corresponds to the latter half of the 20th century in the Main World. Its customs and culture are vastly different from contemporary times, and people from the present need to immerse themselves in the scenario to familiarize themselves. For example, queuing at a bank or using cash for consumption are things modern people haven't encountered.

Wei Keng felt it made sense. But for himself? It was probably just a formality.

Five hours later.

On a street flanked by near-ancient-style tall buildings, Wei Keng, with his backpack on, opened a smartphone that could be called an antique. He then opened the first-generation smart navigation program that emerged after the information revolution—Deplorable, uh, Gaode Maps.

On this road with no pedestrian walkways, he constantly had to dodge vehicles that didn't follow the rules from behind.

At this time, there were still some humanoid robots on the street simulating fashionable women of the 21st Century. Facing their inexplicable smiles, Wei Keng glanced at key areas and inwardly grumbled, "What are you smiling about?"

Wei Keng wasn't just wandering aimlessly on this simulated 20th-century city street.

Over the past few hours, Wei Keng's communicator on his arm had been assigned four guided tasks, which could be understood as a beginner's tutorial for the target plane.

Task 1: If you need to solve your lunch in the 20th century, how can you do so with the least amount of money?

He went to a supermarket and Wei Keng's backpack ended up with Instant Noodles and Ham Sausage. He also checked if there was any Shepherd's Purse in the flowerbeds. After confirming there wasn't, Wei Keng thought, "Tsk, the setup isn't realistic."

Task 2: When going out at night in the 20th century, please use one hundred yuan to purchase necessary items.

Wei Keng went to a Convenience Store and bought a flashlight. He then brought his ID card. He initially considered whether to buy a Fruit Knife but later felt it was a controlled item. A Pen tucked into his shirt pocket would suffice. Finally, he also chose a Pepper Spray.

Task 3: Find a place to live, using the cheapest method. Wei Keng touched his ID card and decided to go to an internet cafe. Right, he needed to buy toiletries at the supermarket and use the faucet in the restroom to wash up at three in the morning.

The sun had begun to set without him noticing. The city, built based on old photographs, evoked a sense of familiarity in Wei Keng.

The houses were all square, with white striped tiles pasted on them. Among the neon signs on the commercial buildings in the distance, a few characters were unlit.

Wei Keng couldn't help but slow his pace, his eyes a little hazy.

This natural and casual stroll ended abruptly when he turned into an alley and encountered a large dog in a narrow path.

Wei Keng looked at the snarling creature and grumbled to the electronic system on his arm, "Is this also part of the assessment?"

The system on his arm refused to answer. Wei Keng could only face this sudden combat encounter alone.

The dim yellow sunlight moved up the wall every second, and with each passing second, the alley grew darker. The shadows in the corners deepened, while the dog's bared white teeth remained striking.

Wei Keng watched the creature with its glossy fur approach step by step, his mind racing: "Encountering a creature, don't be afraid, don't panic, don't run. Running will only provoke its predatory instincts. As an adult human male, the correct approach should be—"

Wei Keng glanced at the street corner, slowly placed the food from the plastic bag gently at his feet, and then—

He suddenly darted to the fire escape window two meters away in the alley, swung the small hammer beside him, and smashed the glass. Amidst the shattering, he grabbed the fire axe with one hand.

With such a sudden move, the large dog immediately lunged.

Wei Keng cursed inwardly, "Damn it, a 21st-century dog would have run away seeing me with an axe. This one dares to charge? It must be rabid."

Wei Keng hefted the tool in his hand. As a young man, his blood surged, and his heart pounded.

The average height of an adult male today is 1.9 meters. In the past, humans might not have been able to defeat a leopard in the wild. But now, this is the peak of the terrifying bipedal ape's combat prowess over tens of thousands of years. Of course, humans generally don't rely on close combat now.

Facing the giant dog lunging at him, Wei Keng let out a loud shout to bolster his courage and swung the axe. Ugh, the dog retreated directly; he didn't hit it. But it was a temporary repulse.

Wei Keng quickly pulled out the pepper spray from the side pocket of his backpack.

Wei Keng had actually been mentally prepared for this sudden test. If the literary master was "never to suspect others with the worst intentions," then Wei Keng was always "a petty person judging a noble person." Wei Keng had precisely considered that the planners of this base might arrange for him to encounter muggers, police interrogations, fortune tellers, and various other situations, so he had specifically bought pepper spray, which was not illegal and quite effective.

When the giant dog lunged a second time, Wei Keng pressed the trigger button and closed his eyes.

The irritating capsaicin oil could instantly incapacitate medium to large animals. The prerequisite is that you wear goggles, otherwise, if you rub your eyes, you'll be crying tears of agony with a bear.

"Awooo, woo woo!!" The dog's mournful cries were incredibly pathetic!

These cries also provided Wei Keng, who had his eyes closed, with a directional judgment. As his eyes half-opened, without even looking carefully, he swung the fire axe and landed a solid blow on its hindquarters. Before its ferocity could erupt and it could turn back, another spray of pepper spray sent the dog reeling back. With both "chemical" and physical attacks, Wei Keng's ferocity surged, preparing to hack the creature all over the street.

Just then, a whistle blew, and the dog turned and fled.

Five minutes later.

A police helicopter arrived overhead. SWAT team members in mechanical protection lowered a pod containing a dog. Judging by the dog's proficiency in approaching the helicopter's pod, it was clearly a military dog.

The tester, holding a clipboard, marked a check on the final assessment item in front of Wei Keng.

Wei Keng: "For the final assessment, you're letting a dog bite me?"

Tester: "As a Shuttler, you not only need to master knowledge but also understand your adaptability in unexpected situations." The tester looked at Wei Keng: "You did very well. In your team, 14 people were eliminated."

With that, he turned on the projector and showed the test results of others.

This final assessment wasn't necessarily about setting a dog on someone; there were many methods in the 20th century.

Some involved a honey trap in a small apartment. A bionic female robot would simulate a woman, claim to be injured, and then ask for help. It would lead the tester to the apartment, where a group of thugs would ambush them, beat them up, rob them, and then try to steal their ID cards to make a video.

There was also snatch-and-grab by car. In that scenario, Wei Keng was supposed to be on a main road, but he instead darted into an alley, making it impossible to set up.

No one was eliminated in the cultural classes, but there was elimination in this area. So, what was the meaning of this final assessment? To let contemporary people understand the 'wickedness of human hearts' from the old era.

After watching, Wei Keng pointed at the dog on the helicopter and said to the assessor, "You are more dog than it is."

"Woof, woof."

The military dog, displeased at being pointed at, barked at Wei Keng again.

Wei Keng, afraid of being bitten, quickly retracted his hand.

The dog won.

When the assessment results for the new Shuttler reserve team came out, the information was sent to the Time-Space Administration Bureau's review department. Wei Keng's file remained on the desk for a while before finally being stamped and approved.

After fully graduating from the training base, Wei Keng arrived at the Gravity Well Facility.

Although he had seen it on video more than once, seeing it with his own eyes still filled him with awe! It was a marvel of this era.

The exterior was a horn-shaped tunnel, with the surface entrance being the largest, spanning two kilometers in diameter. The inner wall of this section of the tunnel was reinforced concrete, with gold foil laid to ensure optical properties.

From the surface, it gradually descended. The tunnel narrowed, shrinking to a pipe with a diameter of only one meter at about six kilometers underground. After descending for tens of kilometers, this passage reached the mantle, where its diameter was only one millimeter. After penetrating the mantle, the passage would further contract but would always align with the artificial singularity at the Earth's core.

From the surface, it looked like a golden horn entrance, magnificent and brilliant!

Now, at the entrance of this massive pit, six enormous steel bridges spanned the center, suspending a laboratory base with a diameter of four hundred meters.

Inside the laboratory base, Wei Keng lay in a protective capsule shaped like a metal shell casing, five meters high and weighing seven tons. As an observer for this cross-space trade, he was joined by 15 other newly promoted personnel, a total of eight men and eight women.

Captain Ke Feijia was the oldest, having shuttled to that plane three times already.

Ke Feijia also lay in his cockpit, giving final instructions to the others.

Ke Feijia: "Everyone here has passed the cross-plane assessment. I urge you all to remember the knowledge and key points. Don't get carried away, absolutely not, especially those brothers who received the 'impulsive' comment in the personality test during the final assessment. Don't think I'm nagging. Some physical rules in different planes are somewhat abnormal. The target plane we are heading to has extremely abnormal individuals."

As he spoke, Ke Feijia glanced meaningfully at Wei Keng's dialog box on the communication interface.

Meanwhile, inside Wei Keng's cockpit, among dozens of floating cameras, Wei Keng focused on the camera pointed at Ke Feijia and nodded solemnly.

The massive entrance to the surface tunnel, with a diameter of two kilometers, reflected a golden halo as the base, suspended from six intersecting gantry cranes, fully illuminated. Inside the base, the high-energy conversion of consciousness from personnel in the capsule pods had been completed.

Now, a laser beam shot into the tunnel.

The broadcast from the suspended base: "Telemetry of the core channel is normal, shuttle consciousness energy storage is normal, photon stability is normal, particle phase information analysis is normal, target plane response is normal..."

Light spots were emitted into the tunnel, consciousness heading towards the Earth's core, towards the target space-time~ Shuttle!

A batch of new forces from the Main World is advancing towards the vast, unknown plane space-time.

Traveler's Handbook: In Contemporary Space-Time Detection, planes with abundant Human Civilization Traces in the space-time near the Main World are temporarily classified into the following four categories: Adjacent Plane, Near Plane, Distant Plane, Different Plane.

Adjacent Plane: Has a shared segment of history, where history diverged for unknown reasons, leading to hindered development. Most technologies are also within the realm of understanding. Currently, no Adjacent Plane more advanced than the Main World has been discovered, seemingly indicating that humanity's current state is the end of history. Examples include a post-Cold War wasteland world, or a history where the Double S Party unified Europe and occupied Africa, while the New Continent led by the Free World confronted Asia and Oceania.

Near Plane: Still on Earth, but the divergence might have occurred in prehistory or the future. Physical laws have undergone significant changes. Although there are super technologies like Spaceships, they are based on specific physical rules, and their computing technology breakthroughs cannot match the Federation. Supernatural Phenomena that affect or directly relate to life often appear in these planes.

Different Plane: Not limited to Earth, with very peculiar physical laws. There exist super individuals like Divine Arrival, and mysterious influence mechanisms such as Mental Pollution and Curses. These planes are extremely dangerous. Scientists cannot even deduce the rationality of humans being born in these worlds. The only plausible hypothesis currently is that early Space-Time Vortexes caused these crossings, spreading Earth humans here and forming human settlements.

Distant Plane: This space-time region contains complex material environments like Celestial Bodies, continents, and Oceans, but no traces of human civilization have been found. Simultaneously, the Space-Time Exploration Department has confirmed that humans can naturally exist, reproduce, and evolve in these regions. Currently, these Distant Plane regions are the most numerous. Both Eastern and Western Space-Time Departments have sent Human Seeds to these areas. Due to the nature of Time-Space Flow, a seed planted today can be shuttled to a point in time a thousand years after the last node in that plane's distance in the next century.

Simply put, in these planes, the Main World directly constructs human civilization from Origin.