Steel torrents pioneering a different world

Chapter 218 An Octogenarian's Hope for Peace and Reward! Seeds of Doubt! (Please Subscribe)

Two flowers bloom, each showing its own beauty!
Attila, who acted on his own initiative, was unaware that an army was marching rapidly more than 200 kilometers away from them.

Looking much older and with his beard shaved, Bellagas gazed ahead with weary eyes.

"Bellegas, we need to rest. If we don't, the soldiers won't be able to hold on!"

"Damn Attila, damn bastard! If that bastard is caught, he'll be locked up in the dungeon, eating vegetarian food and drinking molten iron for the rest of his life!" Bellergas cursed, thinking that he was almost eighty years old and had long passed the peak of his cave-dwelling half-man life, but for the past month or so he had to travel like a forty-year-old.

This is so damn troublesome!

If it weren't for peace, for the Nottila Peace Medal, he really wouldn't have gone to such lengths, urging his trusted troops to hurry on their way.

"Belgard, perhaps Attila and his people haven't even reached human territory yet!"

"Rest for two hours, then continue on our way. We must stop them completely before they reach human territory. Those damned bastards! The adults ordered them to gather, not to attack the enemy! Those despicable creatures..."

Belgas felt a headache coming on when he thought about the desire from their council to establish peace with humanity, and about Attila's team, which had accepted the mission but chose to go its own way.

Almost all intelligent races have problems to some extent.

The cave-dwelling half-humans on the sacred star have always been known for their explosive temper, stubbornness, and belligerence.

In their view, this is not a disadvantage, but rather an advantage.

But the cave-dwelling half-humans also have something that makes many clans even more troublesome—clan infighting.

Clan infighting, power struggles, the desire for a voice, and the mockery of others. Or perhaps it's the eagerness to achieve great things, the cave-dwelling, semi-human clans refusing to submit to anyone.

In previous wars, there were often outrageous operations involving the separation of the brain and body.

Both the clan of Belialgas and the clan of Attila were members of the Noble Hammer, but their internal struggles never ceased.

As the saying goes, when my brother is down on his luck, I applaud him. What my brother can't do, I can do.

The commander of the cave-dwelling half-humans originally intended for Belegas to act as an envoy to coordinate the various tribes.

To everyone's surprise, Attila, who was serving as the deputy envoy, suddenly began a forced march and cut off all communication with them.

Bellergas was unaware that these guys had once again committed a similar impulsive act to his.
-

The elven prisoner camp, bathed in rare sunlight, became slightly more relaxed.

During the routine individual questioning sessions, most elves maintained their usual silence, in order to demonstrate their pitiful pride.

Tang Huanzhu originally thought that the team would be similar to before today.

But today, things are a little different.

"Tuk, duh."

Tang Huanzhu looked up and saw Annis standing at the door. This proud elf girl, who had almost been sacrificed by magic, was now standing outside in shackles, her eyes darting away, not daring to meet her gaze.

"Please come in!"

Tang Huanzhu put down the report in her hand and said in a calm tone.

After such a long period of contact and communication, the elves have come to understand quite a bit of human rules.

Knock on the door if you need to, and announce your presence before disturbing others. There are also other things to keep in mind, such as maintaining politeness.

Although many troublemakers caused quite a stir in the early stages, well...

The leakage of love taught them the lessons of being fairies.

Tang Huanzhu looked at the other person and felt that she was about to make some new breakthroughs.

Normally, it's the elves who initiate conversations; this is the first time the elves have shown any hesitation in front of humans.

Tang Huanzhu poured the other person a cup of hot tea and gently pushed it towards them.

"Your third farming group has been behaving very well lately. Has there been any violence in the prison, any gang bullying you, or anything else?"

"no!"

"Hmm, while working here, were any points deducted without cause? Were you threatened by other humans or your own kind to do anything that would dishonor the dignity of an elf?"

"nor!"

"Hmm, have some tea. Think about what you want to say!"

Following Tang Huanzhu's suggestion, Annies took a sip of tea, then took a deep breath, as if she had made a huge decision, and said, "I would like to ask you a question."

Tang Huanzhu raised an eyebrow with interest, signaling her to continue.

"What are the people...?" Annie asked, her cheeks flushing slightly, as if she were ashamed of her ignorance.

[It was all worth the effort we put into providing them with so many educational videos; it seems the seed of knowledge has been planted in their hearts!]

The smile on Tang Huanzhu's lips vanished in an instant.

Instead of throwing out those rigid definitions, she asked in return, "What do you think it is?"

“I…I don’t know.” Anise was a little discouraged. “You magical…television, you always say on television that it’s for the people! The television also says that the people are the creators of history and the masters of the country. I don’t understand, how is that possible?”

Her voice carried the elven people's stubborn insistence on order and hierarchy: "How can a group of individuals, like scattered sand, possibly decide the fate of a nation? That doesn't make sense. Only under the leadership of the Mother Goddess, and the priests and nobles, can the elves achieve lasting peace and stability!"

Tang Huanzhu leaned back slightly in her chair, placing one hand on the table to make herself feel relaxed.

Elves are very similar to humans, and even share similar body language, so some actions that humans use to indicate safety, no threat, and relaxation can also be shown to elves.

"We humans are not quite the same as you elves now. A long, long time ago, we also believed that nobles, kings, and gods controlled everything. We understand you!"

"But in your view, it is the gods and nobles who determine the direction of the kingdom, right?"

Annis nodded matter-of-factly: "Of course! The will of the Mother Goddess is the direction of the Forest Kingdom and the future of the Elf race."

"If it were several thousand years ago, well, probably during the Yin and Shang dynasties, your situation would be very similar to ours!"

“But things are different here in our country now.” Tang Huanzhu tapped the table lightly with her fingers and said in her own rhythm, “Countless ordinary humans like you and me, who eat and sleep, and experience joy, anger, sorrow and happiness, have come together to form society and a nation.”

"Their value and dedication to the kingdom are the greatest and most immense! They create wealth through labor, build their homes with their own hands, and their will ultimately determines the future of this country."

"And what about the rulers?"

Anise asked directly the question that had troubled her for a long time, a question that would even lead to a beating if mentioned within the Elf captives' clan.

Her voice rose a few decibels, carrying a clear, suppressed doubt and a peculiar longing.

"You always say these things on your magic television, you deliberately hide the true rulers within your human race! Who gave you the orders? Who's controlling everything behind the scenes? Don't tell me there's nothing!"

In her view, this must be a cunning lie by humans, a scam used to fool the lower classes.

Humans attempted to break down the psychological defenses of the noble elves by spreading rumors and creating all sorts of terrifying things.

Upon hearing this question, Tang Huanzhu smiled happily.

It wasn't a formulaic smile, nor was it a smile tinged with pity.

It's a heartfelt joy, like an old farmer seeing new shoots finally emerging from the ground.

Finally, a breakthrough seed has been planted deep within their hearts!

It's been several months.

From initial attacks, rejections, and various protests, to later numbness!

And now... proactive thinking.

These proud elves, utterly crushed by force, finally began to use their minds to examine a world different from their own, under the daily cultural shock.

They became curious.

I'm curious why human soldiers are so disciplined, and not prone to killing or lust.

They were curious why humans, despite being so weak and knowing little about magic, possessed a terrifying power that they couldn't comprehend.

This question is the key to breaking through that barrier.

"The ruler?" Tang Huanzhu's smile deepened. "That's a very good question. Excellent."

She glanced at the clock on the wall, slowly stood up, and poured herself and Anise another cup of jasmine tea.

"This issue cannot be explained in just a few words. Behind it lies a story written by humankind over thousands of years with blood and lives."

Tang Huanzhu pushed the water glass in front of Annies, sat down again, and his gaze became deep.

"Want to hear it? Some of our history, some stories you may never understand, but are incredibly intriguing. It can't be explained in a few words; it's a very long story!"

Annie looked at the cup in front of her, then looked up at Tang Huanzhu, her eyes filled with struggle and longing.

She knew that once she accepted it, her established worldview might be shaken.

However, she believed that she had unimaginable loyalty and countless feelings for the Mother Goddess and the priests.

She mentally prepared herself in a special way—"I just want to understand humanity, and then find an opportunity to try to fight back."

Moreover, her irrepressible curiosity made it difficult for her to control herself.

She nodded solemnly.

“Well, to make it easier for you to understand, I have to start from the beginning.” Tang Huanzhu pondered for a moment, “This story is a bit long, it will probably take… well, several nights to tell.”

Open and honest communication is an extremely difficult thing to do!
Even between husband and wife, there is a barrier between them, and they cannot feel each other's hearts.

Humans do not possess the magic to easily perceive elves. Although brain-computer interfaces can transmit vision, there is still a long way to go before true mind reading.

Fortunately, humans do not force elves to tell them a great deal about their kind.

The so-called troop deployment map, various points that could be breached, and sensitive information such as cities and populations were all left unasked by humanity.

Tang Huanzhu simply engaged in some empathetic communication with Annie.

Why are women so easily deceived by scumbags?
Why do so many women in Japan, even knowing that male escorts are lying to them, still willingly make the advances?

In short—he understands me!

The best way to open someone's heart is to empathize with them deeply.

The more humans learn about elves, the more they discover the strangeness and contradictions within the elves.

The Elven Mother Goddess is supreme, and priests, military nobles, and various other nobles seem to control the future of all elves, including birth, aging, sickness, death, reproduction, and growth.

Because of their wondrous and bizarre magic, the elves were unaware that they were being exploited and oppressed.

However, explaining these things to the elves now would easily trigger their reactions. There's an old human saying that goes, "Learning by doing is harder than climbing to heaven. But doing teaches, and it's done in one step!"
Humans are ultimately not the same race as elves. They are not like those capitalists from the West, nor are they like the inhumane cherry blossom people next door. They would not do anything that crosses the bottom line of human morality or turns back the clock of history.

Therefore, the key is to break through little by little, make the other party think, and subtly change everything.

This time, Tang Huanzhu didn't say much either. She simply and calmly recounted some stories from ancient times!
“A long, long time ago, we humans also had gods and we also had devout beliefs.”

Tang Huanzhu's voice was not loud, and the elven language he used was rather unskilled, but it carried a profound sense of history.

"Back then, the will of the gods was the law of our human tribe and the direction of our survival. But as time went by, those who spread the will of the gods gradually began to mix their own selfish desires into it."

"They exploited people's reverence for the gods, turning the laws of the gods into tools for controlling mortal tribes, and turning sacred faith into bargaining chips for power and profit."

Annie's breathing became noticeably rapid. She stared intently at Tang Huanzhu, her emerald eyes swirling with complex emotions.

She wanted to refute, to say that human gods are different from the Mother Goddess, to say that the priests of the elves are pure and selfless, but the words were blocked by an unprecedented thought.

Human gods are supreme, and so is the Mother Goddess!

What about the priests?
What about the consuls?
Thinking about how those old guys treated her memories, how they bullied her, and even called it honor and pride... This doubt, like a tiny ice needle, pierced her solid worldview.

She never imagined that the belief in the Mother Goddess could be exploited, or that the sacred could be corrupted.

But if you think about the Elf tribe carefully, it seems that for many years, it has always been the Great Prophet and the priests who have spoken and spread the Mother Goddess's instructions, right?
No, the sacred tree is the embodiment of the Mother Goddess. How could the Mother Goddess be controlled by the elf prophets and priests?

"You human gods are so weak! Our Mother Goddess is omnipotent, and she manifests herself using the Sacred Tree Network. The Mother Goddess's will cannot be distorted!"

"Oh, really?" Tang Huanzhu only said this one sentence, "Then your mother goddess is very powerful!"

Seeing Anise bite her lip, Tang Huanzhu knew she couldn't say anything more.

These things are too sensitive and have had a strong impact on Annie.

Eating too much of the history of humanity at once would easily make one feel bloated, so Tang Huanzhu gave a brief explanation, placed a hook, and left.

The seed has been planted; all that remains is to wait for it to take root and sprout.

After Tang Huanzhu left, Annies remained seated in her chair, the tea in front of her already cold.

Although her mind was not in turmoil, countless questions had arisen!
The idea that human gods could be used by mortals was unimaginable to the elves.

The Mother Goddess is supreme, and her will is transmitted through the Divine Speed ​​Network; it is absolute truth.

She recalled and examined the words and deeds of the priests in her tribe, the privileges of the nobles, and found that there were many contradictions in those seemingly self-evident arrangements!

She suddenly felt dizzy, as if the ground beneath her feet was cracking.

Meanwhile, Tang Huanzhu returned to her office with a smile, carrying the data she had gathered from her conversation with the elf.

She recounted in detail to team leader Gong Pengfei the topics of gods and religion that had captivated Anise's mindset during her interactions with the elves.

"Haha... Annies is starting to waver, but don't underestimate the threat of magic and the centuries-old, persistent magical brainwashing." Gong Pengfei was overjoyed.

"The team leader's concerns are good; after all, the other side is not of our kind!"

"Yes, so we must prioritize stability! Maintain the current pace, and the other party will take the initiative to communicate with us." Gong Pengfei pushed up his glasses, gesturing for her to continue, "You look like you want to say something but are hesitant, do you have any good ideas?"

"I was thinking, could we show the elven captives some footage of larger public trials... no, some of our historical exchange conferences?"

Tang Huanzhu corrected her word choice, her eyes flashing with thoughtful light.

“Some of our images can visually demonstrate how human societies deal with similar issues, how they build justice, and the power of ordinary people. This is more persuasive than our simple narratives.”

Gong Pengfei pondered for a moment, his fingers lightly tapping the table. He looked up at Tang Huanzhu, a barely perceptible smile playing on his lips.

"The suggestion is excellent! But we can't force it on them; instead, we need to guide them to think for themselves and make comparisons. Let them see with their own eyes how a society that doesn't have any so-called gods directly controlling it can still function in an orderly manner and even be more prosperous is built."

"Okay!" Tang Huanzhu replied with a smile, her next plan already clear in her mind.
-

Another world, a newly built area with a small spacetime portal.

Inside the temporary, large steel structure building, it has now been transformed into a giant transportation construction site, with constant roars and the clanging of metal.

The air was filled with the mixed smells of dirt, oil, and steel. Nearly a hundred staff members, dressed in uniform, worked like precisely rotating gears, each performing their duties and sweating profusely at their posts.

Oil pipelines, each over ten meters long, emerged steadily from the portal to the modern world, bathed in a dazzling azure light.

They seemed weightless, gliding lightly through the ripple-like barrier and landing on the receiving platform built by the humans of the other world.

The transport team on Earth worked seamlessly with the support personnel in the other world. The pre-adjusted flipping mechanism precisely gripped the pipe, and then the winch device lifted it and placed it steadily onto the waiting flatbed transport vehicle.

These steel behemoths will be transported to the oil centers of the far north, where excavators have dug out suitable pipelines, and specialized pipeline welders are working day and night to connect them into a massive transportation network that can continuously deliver oil.

Wearing an engineering protective helmet, Su Mingjin stood on an observation platform a short distance away, watching the bustling scene before her intently.

She could feel the ground trembling slightly beneath her feet; it was the feedback from the operation of heavy machinery.

Since the Small Time Gate was separated from the Large Time Gate and put into use, various tests in the modern world and the other world have been carried out simultaneously, and the results of each test have brought exciting surprises.

"President Su, the efficiency is undeniable, isn't it?"

Beside him, a technical lead grinned.

"Since we got the Time Gate, the speed at which we transport large items is like a rocket. In just a few days, more than 50 kilometers of oil have been transported from the Earth-customized oil pipeline. At this rate, the entire transportation mission will be completed within half a month!"

Su Mingjin nodded slightly, a smile appearing on her face, but her eyes still held a thoughtful look: "It is fast. But unfortunately, the time limit is still a bit small, and the overall transportation of large ship components cannot be done for the time being."

Her words were not a complaint, but a vision for greater efficiency.

At the beginning, the portal was very small, and adjustments and scheduling were needed for supplies and various transportation methods.

Now that the main portal has expanded and the time has cooled down to 22 hours, a smaller portal that can only transport inanimate objects has been added.

There’s a lot to be done!
"President Su, let's take it one step at a time," the technical director said with a smile. "The time portal technology is still being iterated. Perhaps after a while, we can expand it further! At that time, let alone ships, we can easily move an entire aircraft carrier over!" He half-jokingly envisioned.

Su Mingjin chuckled softly, her gaze sweeping over the busy workers in the distance, whose faces were filled with anticipation for the future and dedication to their work.

This is exactly what Tang Huanzhu had told the elf Anis about before—a powerful force formed by the convergence of countless ordinary people.

The laborers built everything here with their sweat and gradually transformed this alien world into a place for human habitation, and thus it became human territory since ancient times.

She withdrew her gaze, her tone becoming serious: "President Li said that the secrecy work on Earth is quite rigorous. We need to pay more attention to the oil storage and the construction of the closed-loop system in our alternate world. These small time portals are currently the main force for transporting oil, but in the future, their tactical and strategic uses will go far beyond this."

"Yes, Mr. Su, rest assured, we keep the think tank's analysis in mind." The technical director immediately responded, "We've already considered the possibility of rapid dismantling and adjustment for the oil pipelines we're building. In case we need to transport other materials in the future, or if we need to change our strategic deployment, we can respond quickly."

"Ok!"

Su Mingjin responded with satisfaction.

The importance of the time portal is self-evident.

The large space-time portal can transport almost anything and also has a powerful disinfection function, ensuring the ecological safety of both worlds, while the small space-time portal focuses on transporting non-living objects such as oil and steel alloys!

Even more astonishing is that scientists have long confirmed that both large and small spacetime gates possess atomic arrangements similar to degenerate matter, and combined with the special force field inherent in their spacetime gates, their robustness is beyond imagination.

After repeated tests, scientists confirmed that both the large and small spacetime gates are structurally exceptionally stable and can even be weighted according to human will.

With such indestructible properties, coupled with the enhancement of a special force field, it cannot be destroyed even by a direct bombardment from the most advanced weapons of truth in the human world.

This means that the hourly airlock is not only a means of transportation, but may also become a strategic weapon.

For example... designing a small opening as bait and dropping it into a key enemy area to lure the enemy closer.

Once the enemy steps into the trap, Earth can unleash terrifying firepower through this "decoy gate," delivering a "grand firework" to the enemy.

Or, at critical moments, humans could even use airplanes to drop time portals to certain strategic locations, through which Earth could then unleash a continuous barrage of various weapons for repeated bombing raids.

This is practically a mobile artillery deployment point, the ultimate manifestation of strategic deterrence.

But...

The only drawback is that the flexible control range of these time portals is currently limited to within ten kilometers of the main time portal.

Once this distance is exceeded, they will be shut off, directly losing their ability to transport goods.

Once you exceed ten kilometers, the urine stream stops splitting and turns into a high-tech alloy lump.

This makes any military strike that takes advantage of a momentary opening extremely risky, because if not handled properly, it could easily turn into a dangerous situation of "killing a thousand enemies while losing eight hundred of your own".

Su Mingjin took a deep breath and turned her gaze back to the pipes that were being transported away.

Ten kilometers... This distance is both a limitation and a challenge.

But human wisdom is never bound by distance. She believes that as research deepens, these small openings will eventually unleash a true potential far beyond imagination.

After inspecting the hourly transportation and finding everything to be normal, Su Mingjin, wearing a construction safety helmet, went to check on the transportation and the oil distribution center under construction.

Because of the newly added hourly window, the originally planned simple oil transportation route has been directly modified.

Oil extracted from the far north is not only refined at its source and transported to the area around the Time Gate, but also undergoes further refining. At the same time, some oil is diverted and flows underground into the modern world, where it becomes high-quality new oil from the Zhuhe Grassland New Oilfield.

It must be said that the quality of oil in this other world is really high. Not only is the extraction cost very low, but the refining cost is also very low.

Even with all the effort put in by Dongda University, the cost was still cheaper than getting it from the major player, Desert Dog.

If the oil industry weren't so crucial, both the alternate world and the modern world would need oil as their lifeblood! Any fluctuation in oil prices would trigger a terrifying chain reaction, and they would definitely lower oil prices immediately.

After the site inspection was completed, Su Mingjin returned to the command center, took off her safety helmet, and casually placed it on the corner of the table.

The hustle and bustle of the construction site contrasted sharply with the quietness inside the office.

She picked up her water glass, brewed herself a pot of tea, and poured herself a cup of warm water. Before she could even take a sip, there was a knock on the office door.

dong dong dong-

"Come in."

The door was pushed open, and assistant Liu Chang strode in, his face filled with barely suppressed excitement.

"President Su, the exploration team has made another major discovery."

"Oh?" Su Mingjin looked up, gesturing for him to continue.

Liu Chang placed a report on the screen in front of her and said, "You previously asked us to focus on the fact that the raw materials for the human body repair agent require a large number of giant octopuses... While the exploration team was surveying the hydrology, they also scanned the coastline to search for any possible underground river spaces..."

He paused, seemingly organizing his thoughts, before finally zooming in on a picture.

"The survey team did not find any more giant octopuses, but they discovered an astonishingly large placer gold deposit in the riverbed and along the banks of this inland river, containing a lot of the refined gold we need! According to preliminary estimates, if all of it is mined, it will be worth at least thousands of tons."

"Thousands of tons?" Su Mingjin put down her teacup, leaned forward slightly, and looked at the area marked in bright yellow on the screen. She couldn't help but laugh out loud. "Is gold in this other world free? The scattered gold and refined gold ore in the early stages! We dug up several thousand tons in the underground ruins before, and now we can just scoop up thousands more from the river. Is this place using gold as sand to pave roads?"

Liu Chang chuckled at this: "That's what the exploration team said too. They feel like mice that have fallen into a golden rice jar. Everyone says that this isn't some other world, it's clearly the Promised Land."

“The Promised Land…” Su Mingjin murmured the word, her fingertips tapping lightly on the table, but her gaze was fixed on the winding river on the map.

This river leads to Changhu Lake a few dozen kilometers away from the Time Gate. It stretches almost all the way west from the Devil's Sea in the east, except for a few intermittent obstacles. Although the river is currently limited in width and not yet navigable due to the terrain, it is far less than the Yangtze and Yellow Rivers on Earth, but it has great potential.

"I remember there was a complete navigation plan for this river, right? How big of a boat can it navigate once it's fully open?" she asked.

Liu Chang immediately pulled up the hydrological data: "Most sections of the river are navigable for 5,000-ton ships. We just need to blast and dredge some of the narrow sections. If we want to allow 10,000-ton ships to navigate, we'll need to adopt the contingency plan from our colleagues in the infrastructure department! Large-scale dredging will be necessary!"

Turning a river into a navigable waterway for ships of 10,000 tons—only the University of Tokyo could do that.

The title of "infrastructure maniac" isn't given lightly!

Su Mingjin's smile gradually faded, replaced by a deep contemplation.

"Let's not rush into the gold issue," she decided. "Whether it's the gold mines that have already started production or the several thousand tons we brought out from the ancient ruins, it's enough to support our operations for a long time. No amount of money can buy safe logistics channels."

Her finger followed the river on the map westward, eventually stopping at a vast body of water marked as highly dangerous.

"Devil's Sea".

After so much exploration, everyone knows that the sea area is full of unknowns and dangers, but it may also contain great treasures!
"This river is currently our only safe passage to the edge of the Devil's Sea." Su Mingjin's tone left no room for doubt. "Let's first completely open up multiple inland waterways. Once the transport fleets and armed warships can travel unimpeded from the Changhu base near the Time Gate to reach there, then we can consider mining gold in the future."

Logistics supply lines and transportation lines are always the lifelines of modern industry.

Especially in a perilous and unfamiliar world, the strategic value of an inland waterway that can safely transport troops and supplies at any time far exceeds that of thousands of tons of gold.

Even if a large amount of refined gold is found in the area where gold deposits were discovered, it doesn't matter.

"Understood!" Liu Chang replied immediately.

Su Mingjin glanced at the other things, such as the soldiers' training, and then gestured for Liu Chang to leave.

Once she was alone in the office, she leaned back in her chair, took a sip of her now-cold water, and then looked down at the latest news from the elven prisoner camp.

Once she confirmed that the elves over there had completely wavered in their resolve, a smile crept onto her lips.

(End of this chapter)