Chapter 288: No God To Protect, No Heaven To Bless
In the 2108th year of the Xian Han calendar, September 30th, inside the base, Xuan Chong began selecting equipment for himself and the accompanying task force.
As the armory gates opened, there were assault rifles with adjustable rates of fire, using lightweight plastic casings for ammunition; there were also diesel locomotives that could be delivered by airship, and so on. These equipment overall surpassed the current era by thirty years.
Not to mention anything else, just the gun barrel of the AK—with the current Xian Han’s majority of soldier factories’ metallurgy and processing levels—could not produce quality goods.
Undoubtedly, this was another product of the “Wei” series project controlled by the Lin Group side. That is, these individual soldier weapons were made by adding rare elements to smelting alloy steel regardless of cost, then secretly drawing industrial backbone operators to run high-precision machine tools obtained from the future for production.
Six hundred elite recruits from the northern garrison troops, after receiving their weapons, stood neatly on the drill ground and did not set off immediately.
A Dragon Group member came to the drill ground, opened the briefcase he carried, and inside the briefcase were densely packed chip-like objects.
As these chips were distributed to each person, everyone placed the “chip” on their forehead, and streams of data flashes flickered in these soldiers’ pupils, with memories of how to use these weapons implanted in each person’s mind.
Liu Yi explained to Xuan Chong: (This superpower technology) “This is ‘enlightenment’ technology. The implanted memories can preserve the enlightened personnel, maintaining proficient operation levels for this type of equipment within four months.”
Xuan Chong: “What about after four months?”
Liu Yi said indifferently: “If proficient operation is not achieved within four months, the memories will fade after four months.”
Half an hour later, the outer gate of the base airport opened, small vehicles and personnel drove to the standby area, waiting to board.
Eight Kunpeng transport airships with a payload of sixty tons took off from the Weihai Base. This chubby aircraft was the super aerial carrier for the current Xian Han’s rapid projection toward the Western Regions. In just three days, the airship fleet could deliver thousand-ton level military armaments to the Western Regions.
The military airship encountered a civilian flight on the air route while flying over the Great Wall.
From the bystander perspective of the slow passenger transport airship, passengers watched this fast-passing aircraft, crowding at the windows in surprise. Just like passengers on an airplane in a Hollywood movie seeing Iron Man flying past the porthole.
…No kin west of Yang Pass…
Meanwhile, as Xuan Chong had just taken off on this side, in Jianye, Liu Wang (Qilin Lord) learned that Xuan Chong had voluntarily taken the mission.
Qilin Lord: “Sigh, this child. Why so hasty?” The tone was clearly resentful.
Regarding this mission, he knew the inside story. This mission was relatively dangerous because it involved encountering an unknown alien invasion. Speaking of which, who knows why, as soon as humans developed to the Industrial Age, these alien monsters came.
The Yandu side had prepared eight Dragon Power Users to respond to such emergencies, with six from the Dragon Group, one from the Xuanwu Group, and Xuan Chong from the Lin Group who happened to be there and was selected for conscription.
Logically speaking, this emergency mission shouldn’t fall on Xuan Chong to lead the charge. Upon learning that Liu Haoxing was in the first wave, the Qilin Lord directly called the north for a video communication and asked right away: “Are the Dragon Group people recently worn out from acting freely and without restraint?”
This sentence carried a very impolite implication. The phrase “acting freely and without restraint” combined with dragon is derogatory. Because another phrase is “a bout of cloud and rain,” which implies, “a dragon when idle, but a soft-legged shrimp when there’s trouble.”
Of course, the Qilin Lord didn’t say it that way; if the northern Son of Heaven Liu Lu caught that meaning, it would be “overthinking it.”
Speaking of which, as fellow clan members, the Qilin Lord really wasn’t afraid of the Son of Heaven overthinking.
“Literary inquisition” this thing couldn’t sanction a rogue like the Qilin Lord who had weathered future storms. When the contemporary Son of Heaven was young and bantered with the Qilin Lord, he never won.
After the Qilin Lord’s barrage, the Son of Heaven put down his brush and gave a promise: “Leading the charge (Xuan Chong), no fault if defeated, and if victorious, it will be recorded as great merit.”
The Yandu Son of Heaven clearly couldn’t withstand the complaint from his younger brother in southern Jianye. Out of the big picture, he had to give this major promise for the junior (Xuan Chong).
On the Dragon Group side, when Liu Yi conscripted Xuan Chong, he casually arranged this “lead the charge mission.”
As for how his casual action drew in the bigwigs’ coordination—this few days he was busy to the point of frenzy and hadn’t thought that far. (Speaking of which, as Dragon Group Leader, among the Liu Clan relatives in Yandu, now most of the time he followed the rules, no need to be so cautious in actions.)
Due to Xuan Chong’s “unwilling to wait for leaders, demanding Dragon Group punctuality,” Liu Yi wanted to curb Xuan Chong’s unruly temperament, but didn’t expect Xuan Chong to really charge ahead aggressively with the mission, without any delay.
…Spring breeze still passes Jade Gate Pass…
In Jianye, the Qilin Lord walked into the “Heaven and Earth, Black and Yellow” “Heaven” area inside the base.
After a series of intelligent verification voices, rows of mechanical doors opened, and the Qilin Lord opened his equipment depot.
In equipment like mechanical coffins, groups of two-meter-tall “humanoid” mechanical creations lay within.
These were not low-level goods like “combat robots” or “biochemical tyrants.” Those two types weren’t worthy of storage in the Heaven area.
These over a hundred sets of power armor were “artificial mechanical muscle” powered combat suits from four hundred years later.
The power supply for this nano armor was a palm-sized metal box hanging at the lower back, which was a “carbon core battery.”
The “carbon core battery” sealed uranium and plutonium elements in a diamond structure, with the diamond arranged like transistors, immersed in a heavy water structure, ignited by laser excitation, then generating thermal energy converted through tungsten alloy steel structure into electrical energy.
Although the energy was one-time use, the energy density was two orders of magnitude higher than lithium batteries.
In the interstellar era four hundred years later, this thing was highly popularized; casually digging through some garbage heap on the moon could yield piles of scrapped ones.
Just like in Xuan Chong’s previous life, even third-world countries in Africa could use second-hand solar panels.
Technology is often like this, using mature process flows to turn the previous era’s god-like tech creations into cabbage prices.
The Qilin Lord now stockpiled over sixty thousand such batteries! Not a single one was self-produced by the Lin Group in this native spacetime; all were obtained by consuming the “both see future” superpower.
After all, in the future they were cabbage price; setting up a stall like “recycling old mobile phones” could net them in batches, much simpler than fishing for railways built by companies starting with “Zhong.”
As for these combat armors lying in the coffins, they belonged to future individual soldier armaments.
The mechanical muscles inside the mecha had forty times the power of human muscles; this was the core technology mastered by the Jianye Imperial Ancestral Temple research institute.
If the contemporary crime of “privately hoarding armor” existed, it indeed applied to the Qilin Lord, because this “armor” could really let an elite small team directly storm the palace to complete a coup.
The Qilin Lord looked at the jumping data on the operation screen inside the armor. These data markers were synchronized with certain true qi cultivators in the base.
Future technology’s “armor” and “warriors” were highly matched.
Just like driving a car, adjusting the seat so the eye level is neither too high nor low, and the feet just reach the clutch.
The conscripted martial dao cultivators in the Lin Group base entered the training ground in the “Yellow area” every day.
After the data on Lu Changfeng and these people was gathered, it was synchronized to the power armor in “Heaven District”. The human-armor separation was in two locations in the base with different confidentiality levels, lying separately.
The Qilin Lord was in the base, supervising the “armor assisting body” of fifty combatants, then mobilized them: “Raised you for a thousand days, the country needs you now.”
These team members with open face masks immediately picked up the alcohol on the table and drank it, all readily accepting the mission.
Although they entered the Lin Group and received training, and resources were spent on them; but as long as there is no merit, they still belong to the bad people. Only fighting for the country is the true identity leap.
In this way, a group of heavy alloy warriors assembled, received orders to rendezvous with Xuan Chong, and accept Xuan Chong’s leadership.
The Qilin Lord watched this batch of “Lin Group” internal guards go north, then helplessly said: Hopefully this kid doesn’t cause me too much trouble.
Liu Haoxing was too young, and being assigned to lead troops on the frontline, this was too sudden.
In Liu Wang’s view: Liu Haoxing was too reckless. He should at least decline a bit, consult with family; now it’s good, he straightforwardly picked a meat scouting mission.
In order not to let Liu Haoxing parachute into the military camp and become a substantive lone commander, thus a personal soldier team was quickly arranged.
…One thread, threading a thousand coins…
On the airship, Xuan Chong now switched the breathing cultivation method to “Swimming Dragon Merit”.
In the martial world, switching cultivation methods so frequently is a great taboo, because cultivation is hard to accumulate. But for Xuan Chong, whether true qi grows or not is meaningless, anyway he can replenish it with herb restoration liquid, what he wants is body data balance.
Body data balance will naturally decline with work and various “irregular” lifestyles. Now, using the cost of losing true qi to maintain body coordination without decline is worth it for Xuan Chong.
On the airship, most soldiers were tossed dizzy and disoriented, while Xuan Chong entered the stable thinking of one who is a general.
Xuan Chong was “reckless” when taking the mission, but meticulous in handling things after getting it.
“Reckless” means responsibility in heart, Xuan Chong’s logic: His identity in this plane received favors from the great country Xian Han, if the country has matters, he must take them on!
If he enjoys the group’s supplied benefits with peace of mind, but when encountering things immediately puts himself first, emphasizing how reasonable his “freedom” is, that is not a man’s heart.
Moreover, when Xuan Chong transmigrated, he was arranged a cheat by a school system. Out of trust in the school, the tasks he can take on are absolutely solvable.
…Waving the big flag…
“Where are we now?” Xuan Chong asked. After learning the airship passed through a series of areas, Xuan Chong turned on radio communication on the airplane, simultaneously brought out Liu Yi’s “support”, and began to vigorously deal with the garrison troops and local officials in various regions.
In the rear Dragon Group base, since sending Xuan Chong off, Liu Yi hasn’t had a moment’s rest.
Xuan Chong continuously reported to all departments he contacted along the way in the air. Required train stations to enter state, required warehouses to immediately cooperate with military control. The governors of various cities also immediately held mobilization meetings!
Xuan Chong was like a whip, whipping all the way, and the “whip” in hand was Liu Yi.
At headquarters, Liu Yi as the ultimate person in charge of the action. When phone bells rang incessantly one after another, in repeated communications, Liu Yi kept repeating: “Listen to him.” “Just listen to him.” “Okay, it’s to hold a meeting, no documents, but it’s the Son of Heaven’s highest order, if you have two heads, try it!”
Just put down the phone, another call, Liu Yi put down the phone to catch breath, cursing: “Damn it, really giving me trouble!” This sentence was obviously complaining about Xuan Chong.
Xuan Chong along the way whipped up all the departments he could provoke!
Speaking of this massive amount of confirmation information, it instantly crashed Liu Yi. The secretary beside asked: “Sir, should we give him (Xuan Chong) strict orders, prohibit contacting locals, and make him wait for our arrangements?”
Liu Yi with bloodshot eyes said: “Don’t play small tricks anymore! He is now protected by all gods, blessed by all heavens.”
“Protected by all gods, blessed by all heavens” comes from Journey to the West, which also exists in the Xian Han spacetime.
The little “office” of Tang Monk and his three disciples traveling west was actually a project focused on by the big shots of the three realms. During this project, if Tang Monk and disciples felt “which god not protecting”, “which land not cooperating”, these could be escalated to the level of the major case of “Jing River Dragon King deducting rain points”.
Using a modern example, here “Tang Monk and disciples fetching scriptures from West Heaven” is like “first astronaut to space station” “first manned moon landing” such super projects. Top-level attention, highest priority for all departments, all green lights along the way.
When astronauts, after training, wander around the project team and find discrepancies in work and rules, no matter how minor the violation. As long as those “few astronauts” escalate it, it’s a big deal.
Back to now, unknown things smashed down from outer heaven, communications with two divisions stationed in the western region cut off.
The Son of Heaven, the heavy ministers of the six departments of the imperial court! All staring tightly at the situation. Now Dragon, Tiger, Phoenix, Lin, Xuan five superpower groups all collectively assembled.
Liu Yi arranged a “leading the charge” difficult mission for Xuan Chong. But isn’t this mission also giving Xuan Chong the opportunity to ride the wind and travel ten thousand miles?
On the airship, Xuan Chong used the phased array torque network to scan the ground, bringing out all big and small problems to weigh.
And Xuan Chong has good math ability, can calculate that the railway line hasn’t implemented wartime control at all, where the subsequent troop mobilization support links will have issues, preemptively warning the responsible departments.
These problems were originally “internal matters” of the lower departments, normally superiors pointing them out wouldn’t work. But now, Xuan Chong is “protected by all gods, blessed by all heavens”! If pointed out and not changed! And if Liu Yi “supports”, when such situations arise later, dividing the blame is steady!
Liu Yi had seen that when Xuan Chong entered the Weihai Base, during standby, he left traces all the way.
Liu Yi as the connection between Dragon Group and Lin Group, also accepted responsibility for managing Xuan Chong. But even if he was one minute late for handover, it would be “recorded”. Then Xuan Chong’s little reports would go through the “Lin Group” official channels, directly to higher up (Son of Heaven).
The situation of one rank higher crushing to death doesn’t apply in “multi-party involvement, leadership emphasis”. Now the system is the greatest, the current system is the holy swords in Xuan Chong’s hand sweeping all sides.
…Lord and minister…
On the second day of marching, Liu Yi hadn’t slept at all, always maintaining communication with Xuan Chong. Xuan Chong along the way used the Dragon Group’s name for railway, governors, warehouses and various mobilizations.
So there were no lack of local officials wanting to confirm if Xuan Chong’s “qualifications” were sufficient.
Liu Yi had to confirm “definitely” to calls from various sides.
Once Liu Yi didn’t reply, the lower officials would dawdle, Xuan Chong would record the situation, directly as evidence of “Dragon Group inaction, irresponsibility” reported to all sides.
Xuan Chong’s these reports can kill people, at this moment, due to some officials responding late, they have already been taken down.
To some extent, Liu Yi this superior, facing Xuan Chong proactively docking those local officials, and local officials constantly requesting upward confirmation if Xuan Chong’s route situation dispatching is correct; Xuan Chong instead became the one issuing orders.
This is quite easy to understand. Historically Li Shimin was a subordinate, but in several military crises of Great Tang, Li Yuan couldn’t handle, Li Jiancheng couldn’t handle. And if these problems couldn’t be handled, it would be major consequences of “moving the capital”. So had to infinitely delegate highest authority to Li Shimin to handle each sector.
Finally Li Shimin became “Heavenly Strategy General-in-Chief, Grand Commandant, Chief Minister of the Department of State Affairs, Grand Minister of Works of Shaanxi East Circuit, Grand Minister of Works of Yizhou Circuit, Prefect of Yongzhou, Commander of Puzhou, Leading Great General of the Twelve Guards, Mid-Chief Minister, Pillar of State, Prince of Qin”
Every official position behind these titles of Li Shimin was established as merit after resolving a major crisis during the founding of the Great Tang.
And in Yandu, the Son of Heaven also paid attention to this situation.
In the palace, Liu Lu looked at the “Railway Line Information” marked by Xuan Chong on the map, then opened the Lin Group side’s communication. He asked Qilin Lord Liu Wang: This Liu Haoxing, the recorded Dragon Power attribute is “Kinetic Energy Control,” right?
Liu Wang: “Yes, awakened in 2103.”
Liu Lu: “So exactly which rank is it?”
Dragon Seeds have differences. Heaven and Earth, Black and Yellow, four stages. Liu Wang and Liu Lu’s two people’s Dragon Power ranks are both Heavenly Rank! They possess strategic efficacy.
One year ago, Xuan Chong’s snake skin positioning at sea gave the appearance of creating the “single ship myth” in tactics from then on.
And at this time, Xuan Chong’s “Kinetic Energy Control” could make the airship travel one thousand kilometers to the west, and within that one thousand kilometer range, the “heavy load data” of trains on the railway were reported clearly, even precisely to the load quantity in each carriage of the train. This belongs to strategic cheating!
This kind of cheat applied in war harms Heavenly Harmony and will encounter backlash. This spacetime has an idiom called “Seven Stars Hard to Continue,” and behind it is borrowing the east wind to control fire, finally taken back by heaven.
Returning to the present, at this time Xuan Chong’s torque was like a spider web, spreading the spider web over the railway line, and the big net now “spit out” and pulled was covering over a thousand kilometers of railway line.
Liu Wang now felt some surprise in his heart, but maintained his composure on his expression.
Liu Wang: “Previously during measurement it was Black Rank, mainly manifested in the warship’s internal torque structure, so the focus was on “torque” conduction efficiency, and the measurement emphasis had oversights, without focusing on sensitivity measurement. Possibly an “Earth Rank,” if confirmed, I’ll tell you.”
Liu Lu (Son of Heaven) gritted his teeth and insincerely praised that talents were emerging in large numbers.
…The Son of Heaven regretted for the first time…
Current Xian Han Dragon Power Users, Heavenly Rank only three people. Earth Rank fifteen people, for example Liu Yi is Earth Rank. Earth Rank is already mid-tier, and Dragon Group has now gathered ten among them.
Lin Group currently has only two Earth Ranks. Calculated by region, Xuan Chong should belong to the North’s Dragon Power Users. The “priest” of the social group he belongs to is connected to “Heaven and Earth, Black and Yellow” in the North.
Speaking of which, at that time Dragon Group was also very puzzled. Liu Haoxing is not a local of Hang Fu, without long-term priest to Thick Earth, and achieving “Heavenly Heart Resonance” bond with the planet’s center. How exactly did he awaken during the “Five Oceans Festival” process?
Now it seems, if it’s an “Earth Rank Dragon Seed” then it’s not strange. The “human habitation area” related to Earth Rank Dragon Seed, compared to the Black stage, is two orders of magnitude higher!
Due to the deep bond with the planet’s will, the selected Supernatural User, even if not staying in their birthplace, can still receive thick gifts.
Earth Rank Dragon Power awakening, the “State Altars” associated with Xuan Chong is not just that one place in Dongtu, but a small half of Xian Han!
And this situation was picked up by Lin Group. Liu Lu, who should have the Son of Heaven’s magnanimity, faced his younger brother from the Southern Region who took advantage and had that hidden smug look, feeling displeased in his heart.
