CHAPTER 870: CHAPTER 870: THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A BIG WIN AND A SMALL WIN

To the west of Poluo Sea, on the bridge of the cruiser "Harpoon."

A group of officers led by Li Minghui were standing in front of the control console, staring intently at the bright radar signal on the screen.

The Legion’s airship didn’t take any stealth measures, and in fact, they didn’t need to.

After all, such a big target floating in the sky, unless it’s too far or you’re too blind, you don’t even need radar; you can see it clearly with your own eyes.

"Four airships... Tsk, tsk, what a big move." The adjutant standing next to Li Minghui couldn’t help but twitch at the corners of his mouth as he stared at the circles of ripples on the screen.

The captain nearby couldn’t help but clench his fist and placed his hand on the console.

"This is too much; these guys just passed right over our faces!"

"...It would have been nice if the Haiya were still around."

"You’ve said that so many times, my ears are about to grow calluses."

Refloating and repairing a silent battleship costs no less than building a new one.

Currently, the South Sea Alliance cannot afford this high cost, and the representative council would not agree to this proposal that has no benefit for their citizens.

Actually, not to mention the representative council, Li Minghui himself felt there was no need to rebuild another Haiya.

With the advent of the new era, that thing is destined to be obsolete.

Just like the comparable "Iron Airship."

"It doesn’t matter."

Putting down his arms crossed in front of his chest, Li Minghui adjusted the officer hat atop his head and calmly continued.

"...Since the Academy said they would take action, let’s leave it to them."

...

At the same time, in another world.

[Battle Report Update: Akale County Great Victory!]

[Advancing Forces: Southern Legion’s 36th and 37th ten-thousand-man units, West Sail Port’s Air Force No.7.]

[Participating Troops: 24,000 combat personnel (excluding over 5,000 clone soldiers).]

[Combat Equipment: One Iron Airship, 104 Fire Crossbow self-propelled guns, 88 Conqueror Five tanks, 220 Beast wheeled armored personnel carriers, 45 Greyhound recon vehicles, a total of 500 armored troop carriers and supply trucks. 20 Dagger propeller planes, 2 Peidao jet fighters, numerous exoskeletons, and bullet-proof armor.]

——

[Defending Forces: Death Legion, Burning Corps, Goblin Corps; Poluo Country’s 3rd and 11th ten-thousand-man units; Jinjaron Harbor’s First Mechanized Division, Tiger Army Expeditionary Armor Group, Black Panther Army Expeditionary Armor Group, etc.]

[Participating Troops: 47,000 combat personnel]

[Combat Equipment: 120 Chimera armored vehicles, 99 Conqueror No.10 heavy tanks, 42 155mm artillery pieces, 20 88mm mortars, 5,000 exoskeletons and power armors, 3,000 transport livestock, 4,100 bicycles and human-powered tricycles. 2 Thunder fighter planes.]

——

[Battle Result: Defender Victory!]

[The Southern Legion’s 36th ten-thousand-man unit was completely wiped out! 6,710 combat personnel captured! Including Ten Thousand Leader Wolfe and seven Thousands of Leaders, dozens of Centurions.

The 37th ten-thousand-man unit retreated towards the Lion State! More than half of the armored units were lost, and the support squad was heavily damaged!

Captured 52 self-propelled guns, 27 armored cars, nearly 300 transport vehicles of various types, nearly 4,000 exoskeletons, and bullet-proof armor, 17,000 light weapons, millions of rounds of ammo of various calibers!

]

[Rating: S (Epic Victory!)]

On the "Wasteland OL" official forum, today was as lively as ever.

Ever since the new expansion pack "Southern Invasion" was launched, the official forum has been sporadically updating important battle reports.

Although not all players joined the volunteer ranks, because several well-known armies participated in the battle, most players were still quite keen on the progress of the situation.

Even though most players haven’t even been to that place called Poluo Province.

Quit smoking: "Brother Fang Chang is awesome!!!"

Tail: "Wow! So impressive! (•̀∀•́)"

Fang Chang: "Just a basic operation... Ahem, not bragging, this time was quite decent. Of course, mainly because everyone fought well. (adjusts glasses)"

Pick up trash 99 level: "6666!"

Difficult for the strong: "This bragging is full marks. (funny)"

Truth be told, this was indeed the most skillful battle they’ve fought recently.

It was also the most gratifying one.

Although they had previously achieved some local victories, it didn’t change the fact that the Legion’s front lines were advancing like a hot knife through butter, and the Poluo Country’s army was being one-sidedly beaten.

However, this time was different, their allies suddenly stood up for themselves.

Although the opposition was indeed a bit careless, being able to seize the opportunity and maximize the advantage was also their skill.

That being said, although Fang Chang didn’t brag in his words, he showed off in action, causing dissatisfaction among his close friends.

Edge Shoveling: "Damn! We are the main force, okay!"

Debt Giant Eye: "MMP! It’s too much! We’ve been fighting the hard battles, and you guys got all the glory! (angry)"

Night Ten: "Not all the glory is ours, right? We just captured a Ten Thousand Leader of the 36th ten-thousand-man unit, recruited 52 self-propelled guns, and incidentally crippled the 37th ten-thousand-man unit’s support team... Not too shabby. (funny)"

Debt Giant Eye: "@#%!"

Wild Wind: "This bragging is kind of bullying. (side-eye)"

Mole: "Something’s not right here; how come it feels like your Burning Corps is secretly taking cheap shots in the back all the time, and now you want to be the MVP! Where’s your conscience!"

Gnome King Riches: "Exactly! I stand with Big Eyes on this, too much!"

Elena: "Manual mickey."

Dinosaur Warrior: "Fight!! (excited)"

Since there were too many voices calling for justice, Fang Chang probably felt guilty himself and went silent, lurking underwater.

Only Night Ten was energetically waging verbal battles with many for the MVP title, arguing for over a hundred floors with about ten people.

As for the backseat drivers, they were watching the show, occasionally chiming in, stirring things up left and right.

Fortunately, the dog plan was "impartial," not swayed by who shouted the loudest.

After the battle score was settled, the Death Legion won the MVP of the entire battle by a narrow margin.

After all, they annihilated a division, although the division leader was captured by the Burning Corps, objectively speaking, it seemed more like a lucky gain.

As for the other division, the credit mainly went to the NPC troops.

Old White and Fang Chang had no objections to such a result either.

Rather, they quite wanted to give other armies some opportunities, lest they take all the benefits themselves, creating too much resentment and calls to "cut them down by a peg."

As the Top 0 army in the entire server, the alliance’s ace of aces, they didn’t really care about the score of one or two battles.

Especially Fang Chang himself.

Compared to the victory and rewards of one or two local battles, he could gain more from the overall win in the war.

Not just him, but the shareholders of Baiyue Corporation are all the same, including other life profession players who benefit indirectly.

The topic quickly shifted from the outcome of a battle to what happens after the entire war is won.

It’s a province with over a hundred million people.

And it can be foreseen that, with the end of the war, there will likely be a baby boom similar to the River Valley Province, with another explosive population growth.

These people need food, clothing, housing, education, hospitals, transportation, and transportation infrastructure, and more.

And they don’t just have needs; by meeting these needs, they will create wealth far beyond the needs themselves.

Especially since the local people are diligent and have good credit, as long as they have ambition, banks will be willing to lend them money to help them through tough times and share the rewards of growing the pie.

An ancient feudal empire will enter a new era.

They don’t even need to rely on external opportunities like the Mammoth Nation, because they themselves are the greatest opportunity on the Wasteland, not even inferior to the space elevator under construction.

The latter is a torch burning in the sky, and they will become the light on the earth.

Grasping these opportunities is easy.

Absek doesn’t even need to be very clever; he just needs to be a normal person.

Watching Brother Fang Chang talking from agriculture to infrastructure, and then from infrastructure to space migration, some players and backseat drivers were fascinated, as if a genuine plan was being drawn.

However, some people expressed skepticism with reason.

Thunder Mage Professor Yang: "I’m not trying to rain on your parade, but I just feel that you’re seeing things too optimistically."

Fang Chang: "Actually, it’s not just you who feel that way; I can’t deny I’ve felt that way more than once, but we can’t judge the development of objective matters based on intuition."

When they needed a strong leader to unite the fragmented Poluo people, they quickly got a Laxi.

Laxi was too forceful, skilled at fighting but lacking political acumen, so they quickly got someone like Absek, a balanced choice.

From this angle, they do seem a bit too fortunate.

However, sometimes he can’t help but think that this might be the choice of the Poluo people themselves.

There is such a force within them.

Although not strong, it will emerge when the time is right.

But as before, Thunder Mage Professor Yang again had a different opinion.

"It’s not just intuition; I think the idea of turning livestock into goods was fine in itself. It’s just that their internal divisions were too significant, and this time they happened to cross the critical balance point, leading to breakdown."

"You want to turn livestock directly into humans, skipping the intermediate steps; I think that’s as hard as turning stone into gold. Haha, of course, I’m just a backseat driver babbling, maybe there truly are miracles in the game. (Wry)

Fang Chang: "Tsk, sometimes you’re really annoying, could you have a bit of dream? (Side-eye)"

Thunder Mage Professor Yang: "I’m a realist and a pragmatist; from my view, stocks that can’t go short can’t keep rising, so you should get off before they collapse. As a finance person, you should get what I mean."

"Even if you create shadowless lamps and bring more good people to them, you can’t solve the hidden shadows within them. They are who they are. Everyone has their own limitations, their limitations and yours too."

After leaving such an ambiguous statement, the pompous Professor Yang vanished into the depths like Proud Brothers, unnoticed by others as usual.

After all, he has made such nonsense multiple times and never hit the mark.

As for Fang Chang, although he pondered for a while, ultimately didn’t take it much to heart.

In fact, he knew what Professor Yang mentioned, but it wasn’t important.

This war decides not only the fate of the Poluo but also the fate of the Weilante.

If the Southern Legion is defeated, the collapse of the Legion would be almost inevitable.

After all, they’ve actually longed for separation; the Eastern Legion might even wish for the Southern Legion’s defeat, only hindered by internal balance forces from taking action.

At that time, a wave of liberation movements will inevitably happen in the Southern Legion’s colonies.

The suppressed native forces will be unleashed as the Southern Legion weakens.

Yet, this might not be a bad thing for the Weilante people.

As long as their self-reckoning is thorough enough and they objectively recognize the duality in their and others’ histories, they have the opportunity to enter the new era.

Hence, even if, as Professor Yang said, the Alliance can’t bring all Poluo onto the ship heading for the new world, they can at least bring a part of the Weilante onto the ship.

It’s not a loss.

In other words, no matter what, their efforts will not be in vain.

As long as they can win.

Ultimately, it’s just a matter of winning big or small...

...

Since the Legion had a triumphant march through Lion State, Tiandu City has been fraught with unease.

Especially after hearing the tragedy of Lion City, the residents were terrified, fearing that the great fire would descend upon them next.

However, worrying remains futile; what’s meant to come will come, and life still has to go on.

And come to think of it, it’s really nothing to be afraid of. Though a major commissioner fled, the general leader hasn’t fled yet, so they really have nothing to fear.

And just in this stormy period, two great joyous events suddenly occurred.

One was the great victory in Akale County, and the other was the announcement of the big exam results.

Especially the latter.

For most ordinary survivors, it was a chance to change the fate of a family.

In some sense, the results of this exam were even more concerning to the locals than the victory in Akale County.

On the streets of Tiandu City.

A newsboy ran through the streets, shouting as he ran.

"Big news, big news! Great victory in Akale County! Tiandu City big exam results announced!"

Hearing the cry, people gathered around, pooled their money together, and bought a copy.

The new edition of Survivor’s Daily in Tiandu City wasn’t expensive, and they could afford it living in the city.

But since the exam was already finished, they were unwilling to spend extra money on ’useless’ matters.

The newsboy, being local, was accustomed to this, knowing he could sell at most one copy to a group, he quickly moved to the next street.

There were many people there, and as long as he was quick on his feet, he could always sell some.

"Alas! My son is not on the list!"

"What a loss, what a loss! I said that boy was destined for farming, wasted so much money."

"You can’t just buy blindly, what good are old newspapers? You should buy something useful!"

"But...what are useful books?"

"The current Kaba Committee Member used to work at the Royal Printing Factory, now the First Printing Factory in Tiandu. If you want to know what books he likes, can’t you ask the employees there?"

"Oh, if I had known earlier, why didn’t you tell me sooner!"

"I heard from my neighbor...that sneaky guy kept it to himself."

"Did his son pass the exam?"

"Pass my ass, does that spoiled kid deserve to make the list? I said his son definitely wouldn’t pass!"

A group of people chattered on and eventually realized that not a single one of them had someone make the list, feeling pained but somewhat comforted.

At least it wasn’t only their own children who didn’t make it; the kids from the neighboring families didn’t make it either.

Rumors quickly spread that the exam actually had nothing to do with commoners; the slots were predetermined, with officers’ children getting some, cultured people’s children getting some, and hardly any being left for the civilians.

This statement is both right and wrong.

Kaba Committee Member indeed did things quite fairly. He not only diligently and responsibly set up a question-setting committee and a grading committee but also implemented a "double-blind" rule, and required that no one leave the floating Heavenly Palace until the exam results were out.

Neither those marking the papers nor setting them could leave.

Under such circumstances, it was almost impossible to engage in favoritism or corruption, not even a chance to slip some money.

As for trying to bribe Kaba Committee Member himself, just forget it, he even dared to curse directly at Absek, you’re better off directly approaching Absek.

However, even if Kaba did ten thousand things to ensure fairness, he couldn’t overcome the mess left by the old empire; educational resources themselves are unequal.

In the entire Tiandu City, there are so few literate and numerate people, either former aristocrats and servants or some wealthy merchants doing business or clerks from accounting.

Their sons had received an education.

Even though the United Human language is easy to learn and arithmetic isn’t hard either, their starting line is unavoidably a step higher.

It’s not just civilian kids who can’t outdo them; even the children of those rough army officers can’t match up in exams.

After all, even Absek himself was once a "Grey Wolf" working at the docks, let alone other officers, some of whom were farmers or worked in carpentry and had never touched a book.

But even so, some civilian children were selected.

Especially in the preliminary selection, the proportion of civilian children getting selected is much higher than that for those above 16 years old for the undergraduate level.

These children are true geniuses, like the naturally mathematically sensitive Little Fish.

They have an extremely keen intuition for characters and numbers. What takes others hours to ponder, they might grasp in just a few minutes and even apply across different fields of interest.

With a little nurturing, they could easily become experts in a certain field, or even great talents.

The advantage of a large population lies precisely here.

In the hundred or so households on Bet Street, even with the help of the shelter, only one Little Fish was born.

Yet in Tiandu City with millions of people, the number of talented individuals is exponentially larger.

Maybe even Absek himself doesn’t realize what a huge gold mine he’s sitting on.

And this gold mine is what Fang Chang covets most.

The army treats them like an iron mine to be mined, which is simply a waste of resources!

Of course, talking about such far-off matters now is too early; local people are still immersed in the most primitive happiness for the time being.

After all, just passing the exam could change one’s fate, such a pie-dropping-from-the-sky kind of good thing is rare.

Occasionally, a cry of surprise would echo from the street, and someone might even faint from joy, causing a commotion among those around.

"Hahaha! We made it! My youngest son made it!" An elderly man wearing a short shirt was excitedly flushed with joy. At his age, having a youngest son suggests his family probably has at least four or five people.

And indeed so, his name was Varun, a neighbor living nearby. His elder son was already thirty-five or thirty-six and had a family, while his youngest son was only twelve, just old enough for the preparatory school admission.

When registering his youngest son, he didn’t have much hope, but unexpectedly, he passed.

It’s like the real Tuo Ri Shen Niu showed its miraculous power!

Those around him were struck with both envy and jealousy, but regardless of how they felt inside, they had to voice their congratulations.

"Congratulations, old sir, your son will be someone important in the future!"

"Sigh! When will our family have such good fortune?"

A man also in a short shirt sighed, only lamenting his own son’s lack of promise.

This was initially a mutter of self-pity, but it happened to be overheard by someone nearby, prompting a mocking laugh.

"You? Sir Rots at least lives in Tiandu, and his ancestors were quite prosperous. Does a mud-legged like you deserve government grain?"

The man’s face turned red upon hearing this, reaching out to grab the collar of the speaker.

"You! How am I undeserving?"

The man whose collar was grabbed also turned red, feeling he had lost face in public, thus shoved back hard.

"Are you damn well daring to fight me?! You idiot!"

"I %#@!!"

What started as a war of words quickly escalated to fists and kicks, the two neighbors were fighting over the trivial matter of "deserving or not."

The intensity of their punches seemed to channel the anger and regret for their own sons not making it.

Onlookers hurriedly pulled them apart, and even the excited elder among them stepped in to mediate.

"Hey, hey, what are you doing! Let go! Is there no law and order in your eyes?"

This righteous admonition didn’t exactly have any faults, though it was the dissenters who had the problem.

Nonetheless, the bystanders didn’t find anything amiss, instead applauded in agreement.

As they say, a tiger-like father can’t raise a dog-like son. If old Rots is so righteous today, surely little Rots will grow up to be an upright official too.

The two who were fighting did not dare act out more fiercely before the onlookers, and were quickly separated.

At this moment, the surrounding onlookers heartily applauded the elder’s righteous intervention.

A man wearing a shirt squeezed into the crowd, plastered a flattering smile on his face, praised old Rots for a while, and then impatiently spoke up to him.

"Old sir, move aside, how old is your son? Is he married? How many wives does he have—"

But before the man could finish, the old man pushed him away with annoyance.

"Go away! My son could do better!"

Had it been another time, he might have agreed, after all, this person didn’t seem to have a low status, and even agreeing to a future marriage for his son wouldn’t be a loss.

However, his neighbors praised him so highly, that he couldn’t help but think of himself as someone important.

Those nearby didn’t find anything wrong with this, but instead began to clap and vocally agree, creating quite the uproar.

Similar farcical scenes were playing out all over the city of Tiandu, adding a bit of levity to an otherwise serious atmosphere.

Watching those noisy fellows, Little Rots couldn’t help but feel scornful.

His father was the General Pickley, part of the "Tiger King" Duwata’s command.

Although Duwata was not as powerful as Commander Absek, he was still a significant figure in Tiandu.

As for that Kaba, he was merely a "committee member," which sounded too condescending as he was simply someone Absek was keeping on.

He couldn’t care less about this so-called major exam.

What does it matter if I don’t get in?

Even if I don’t get in, I’ll still be a ten thousand leader in the future!

Not only was his face filled with disdain, but the hangers-on beside him also showed the same disdainful expression in their eyes.

"...A bunch of lowly people, look how excited they are."

"Exactly!"

"It’s just higher scores, do they really think they can change their fate with that?"

"By the way, didn’t Brother Gale also take that exam?"

When the topic suddenly turned to him, Gale responded indifferently.

"Yeah, my dad signed me up for it, insisted that I take that exam, so I went."

The hangers-on exchanged glances.

Actually, they also went, and were also forced by their fathers to go for an extra path.

After all, their fathers were just thousands of leaders and really couldn’t guarantee they’d become thousands of leaders themselves in the future.

They just didn’t expect that the son of a ten thousand leader also had to take that big exam.

"So how did you find the questions?" One of the hangers-on couldn’t help asking.

Before he could finish, another eager to suck up chimed in.

"Isn’t it obvious! For our Brother Gale, those questions are just a breeze!"

"Exactly!"

Other followers also chimed in, sparing no flattery, showering Gale with praise and making him feel quite pleased.

Honestly speaking, the exam questions were somewhat difficult.

Even after a week of special training from a teacher hired by his father, he couldn’t answer many questions, so he just filled in random answers and handed the paper in.

But, having everyone flatter him, he had no way out now.

He’s got to keep up the act even if he didn’t want to, or how else would this "descendant of military generals" survive on this street in the future?

"...It was okay, not too hard. Anyway, I filled the paper."

For his father’s dignity and his own, he vaguely replied.

As soon as he said that, although he was a little unsure, he began to gain confidence.

Thinking about it.

After all, his father is Duwata’s confidant! Even Leader Absek needs to curry favor with him!

How dare a mere education committee member fail him!

The followers around him gasped when they heard their leader managed to fill such a difficult paper, looking even more admiring, clamoring to buy a newspaper to see where their leader ranked among the two hundred undergraduate names.

Gale was curious about his rank too, counting in his mind those competitors.

Absek’s a bachelor, no offspring.

Duwata’s youngest son should definitely be on there, I remember he’s seventeen.

And Committee Member Nigeli’s little nephew is also around eighteen, but his second wife’s stepson is only twelve, so even if he was testing, he’d be pre-college, different exam paper from undergraduate...

Counting, Gale thought being in the top ten wouldn’t be a problem.

With a clear understanding in his heart, Gale arrogantly instructed his lackeys to block a newsboy, then generously took out a hundred Poluo note and slapped it into the boy’s terrified hand.

"Keep the change, consider it a tip."

Not knowing why they behaved this way but as just a newsboy, he didn’t dare offend them.

Though there used to be ruthless old nobles at Tiandu, at least they’d keep face and wouldn’t personally hit or associate with poor folks.

These guys were different; their dads were men of Anush, they didn’t care about reputation and would beat people personally, and hard.

"Th-thank you, sir!"

After bowing and thanking, the newsboy pocketed the money and hurried off to the neighboring street, not daring to stay longer.

Feeling good, Gale didn’t bother with him, flauntingly shook the newspaper in his hand.

However, when he flipped to the exam admission list page, he was stunned.

His name was not on it.

Not only his name, but "Tiger King" Duwata’s youngest son, "Leopard King" Nigeli’s little nephew weren’t on it either. It was filled with names he hadn’t heard of...

Gale’s face gradually turned red, then ashen, like a furious bull.

How dare that old jerk!

The followers who were previously jubilant were now silent, nervously watching their leader, not daring to utter a single word.

They were sensible kids, afraid to implicate their own fathers and orphan themselves.

After a moment, Gale took a deep breath, suddenly calming down.

The list is on the newspaper, the whole city has seen it. Anger wouldn’t help, nor could it change anything.

That old guy’s ruthless!

Offending everyone he could offend in one go!

With a sneer, Gale crumpled the newspaper into a ball and tossed it onto the street.

"...Only idiots care about this crap exam."

Seeing their leader finally frame the exam in such terms, the followers breathed a sigh of relief.

Without the leader’s cue, they dared not even curse lest their spontaneous jab hit the wrong note.

However, they’d barely relaxed when their faces turned glum.

Only idiots care...

Does that mean those who took it are idiots?

Uh...

To mock or not to mock.

"Big brother’s right..."

"Ahem, the boss is correct!"

"Indeed... that thing’s what low people bother with... ultimately nothing important about it."

Some echoed vaguely, others awkwardly patched up the statement, but no one dared to point out its problem.

Gale didn’t care, nor did he pay any mind to these flatteries, just smirked coldly.

Just wait and see.

It’s not just him losing face, but everyone. If the list hadn’t been published, there might’ve been ways to mend it, but published meant no face given at all.

This issue’s big!