Ten thousand I am across the heavens

When a person wakes up to find themselves with a completely different identity, in a strange world, all sorts of associations will inevitably arise, especially the feeling that they are special.

This is understandable, especially in an era where the cultural and entertainment industry has gradually developed. While Ximo lags behind Donghai in terms of technological advancement, it is already quite modern, at least in the cultural and entertainment industry.

Therefore, literary works about time travel are commonplace. The general public is quite familiar with this concept. While they may not believe they could become the protagonist in these works and achieve great success, such fantasies are still frequent in their daily lives.

But now, when I wake up and find myself in a completely unfamiliar world, a feeling of being the protagonist arises spontaneously within me.

This self-confidence itself can actually change many things. Believing you're the protagonist isn't a good thing. But for most people, the confidence that comes from believing they are the protagonist can actually help them take a step they wouldn't normally dare to take; as long as they try, they have a chance of success. On the other hand, constantly denying yourself and never trying anything is destined for failure.

At this moment, tens of thousands of people have been thrown into an unfamiliar world. They themselves are unaware that it is virtual, nor do they know that everyone around them is in the same predicament. Therefore, they naturally assume that they are the only ones who have transmigrated and become the protagonists of a legendary story.

At this moment, an ordinary low-level worker in the Western Desert woke up to find himself in an ancient city. The slight power brought by the Gu worms on his body had long since disappeared, but Xu Duo didn't feel particularly uncomfortable. After all, his strength was already weak, so even if it was weakened further, it wouldn't make much difference.

The ancient city was bustling with people, not much different from the Western Desert city of decades ago. This unfamiliar environment made him think he had traveled back to ancient times. Looking at his coarse cloth clothes, his mind raced. Although he appeared to be dressed in rags and belonged to the lowest rungs of this world, he believed he definitely had the potential to be a protagonist.

"The Industrial Revolution hasn't happened here yet. Even if I can't use the Gu worms, I can still make firearms and machines," he thought to himself. He subconsciously ignored the potential difficulties along the way. It's normal to be ambitious but lack practical skills, but you have to try to find out where the problems lie.

Xu Duo inquired around and discovered that his current tattered clothes revealed him to be from the Beggars' Sect. This struck him as somewhat interesting; it turned out that the Beggars' Sect existed in this world too.

There are also beggar gangs in the Gu world, but these gangs on different continents have no real connection. It's simply because beggars are almost an inevitable group, so such an organization can develop anywhere. Furthermore, the existence of the beggar Gu, a special humane Gu worm, makes the profession of beggar not entirely without merit.

However, this continent did not seem to have any Gu worms. He learned that in the Beggars' Sect he belonged to, a few powerful members seemed to cultivate something called internal energy, and they practiced martial arts that were once common in the mortal world.

However, he was physically weak and the elders in the Beggars' Sect thought he was not suitable for martial arts, so it seemed he could only beg every day.

Penniless, he lacked even the initial capital to attempt building machinery, but his identity as a member of the Beggars' Sect wasn't entirely meaningless. This organization, spread across the entire continent, had one significant strength: its intelligence capabilities. It was able to clearly understand both major and minor events occurring on the continent.

He gradually heard about things in the martial arts world, such as a rising force called the Ming Cult that was fighting against the current imperial court.

And all the major sects have been angered by this force called Ming Cult, and seem to be preparing to launch a siege against it.

He had learned about the names of various masters in the martial arts world from within the Beggars' Sect, and heard them talk about how powerful those masters were.

Watching the other beggars around him enthusiastically describe the masters who could scale walls and leap across rooftops, he couldn't help but feel a surge of superiority. After all, compared to these people, he was perhaps truly more knowledgeable, even though he had once been just a machine operator on an assembly line. His experiences in the information age were far greater than those of this era.

The masters of the Gu world are on a completely different level from those of this world. Their so-called ability to scale walls and leap across rooftops is merely at the first or second stage of cultivation. Back when he was fixing screws, his boss, to speed up their work, casually gave them a few Gu worms, which amplified their abilities. They were already capable of almost scaling walls and leaping across rooftops. In his eyes, the masters of this world were nothing special.

Although Xu Duo was penniless and emaciated, he now possessed the ambition of a protagonist and was much bolder than usual. Conflicts do exist between gangs. Most of the time, they won't actually fight. But there are always times when conflicts arise.

He somehow acquired this audacity, and actually led a group of beggars, using ambushes and numerical superiority to resolve several conflicts. This earned him a small degree of recognition within the Beggars' Sect.

Once he managed to acquire even a small amount of real money, he naturally sought ways to make more. Although the laws of physics differed slightly in this world, some common sense from the past still applied. Even if he couldn't build a firearm, he could try making glass or doing other things. There were always some technologies beyond this era that could help him amass wealth. Step by step, relying on that initial bit of confidence, he truly earned his first pot of gold.

He quickly took over a blacksmith shop. Working with the local blacksmith, he researched and forged several muskets. Taking advantage of the blacksmith's shop, he also handcrafted a bizarre bicycle-like object. In this era, this was considered a treasure, a marvel. Selling it brought him a large profit, providing him with more funds and allowing him to amass even more weapons and equipment.

He even spent a fortune to have two revolvers made for self-defense. In an era where combat power was still largely confined to the world of martial arts novels, having these two guns in hand might be an exaggeration to say he could dominate the martial arts world, but he was already comparable to a top-tier master.

This made him even more disdainful of the petty squabbles of the martial world. After all, the martial world was just that—the martial world. When faced with the so-called henchmen of the imperial court, they could only scatter like birds and beasts. In his eyes, it was utterly beneath him. So he followed the example of the novels and movies he had read, and began recruiting soldiers. And he was indeed incredibly lucky. Both the plot and history just happened to unfold in a time of great chaos. The imperial court was busy dealing with rebellions erupting everywhere. His recruited troops seized this opportunity to capture a county town. With their superior firearms, they easily routed the soldiers of that era.

In chaotic times, no one would bother with him. Occupying a county gave him the capital to develop. Although he didn't know the exact path of technology on Earth, he could try them one by one.

If the mechs can't be built, it means the order of operations is wrong. If they can't be built, try rockets. If rockets still can't be mass-produced, then try high-precision rifles with long-range firepower.

Unable to manufacture drones, he tried building simpler gliders. Unable to use the Gu worms, he directly manufactured large quantities of steel. He then gathered all the blacksmiths in the surrounding area to research how to smelt iron more efficiently.

There's always a solution to a problem. If his own wisdom isn't enough, then he should gather everyone's wisdom to brainstorm.

Although he made many mistakes along the way, both technical and strategic, he managed to cobble together a flintlock musket far ahead of its time. This was because he didn't follow the traditional historical route; he developed it himself. After all, the people of the Gu realm didn't know about flintlock muskets. They had readily available Gu worms, so this kind of transitional weapon had never actually existed in this world.

Switching to this side, the ignition method of the flintlock muskets produced was also quite strange, more like a bolt-action rifle firing paper bullets, and the muzzle-loading method was not chosen. Because the guns he had seen were all breech-loading, he had never seen a type where the bullet was loaded from the front. Previously, they had to load the bullets from the front because back then blacksmiths could only forge things by hand, and it was simply impossible to manufacture anything very precise.

He has now opted for a breech-loading rifle. The barrel is made extremely thick at the end, achieving a seal that allows soldiers to fire without needing to stand in a line; they can be executed in a queue.

The result was an overwhelming victory. As for the legendary martial arts masters, they were virtually useless on the battlefield. In fact, it was difficult for them to make any significant impact, as the overall combat strength of this world was simply too low. Only the most exceptional masters could possibly dodge bullets, and even then, they couldn't dodge dense volleys of fire. Otherwise, the martial arts masters wouldn't have anything to fear; the imperial court's henchmen would be firing arrows at them.

Xu Duo wasn't entirely clear on the original cultural environment of this world either. In short, he fought several battles in the struggle for supremacy in the Central Plains without really understanding what was going on. Along the way, he made several mistakes and, due to his lack of popular support, was driven down to only a few county towns, nearly annihilated. He even had some of his technology learned by the enemy.

But ultimately, through trial and error, he learned a thing or two about how to organize an army and a court. With the help of the traditional gentry, he managed to turn the tide and finally achieved a narrow victory in the struggle for supremacy in the Central Plains, establishing a dynasty with a significantly smaller territory. When he ascended the throne, he was completely bewildered, never imagining that someone who had once worked as a screwdriver in a factory would one day reach such a position.

However, he was just one of the few among many cases to achieve ultimate victory; there were many others like him who were thrown into this world. Their starting points varied greatly. Some were lucky enough to be born into wealthy families, while others were unlucky enough to begin their lives in prison.

Many people, like him, saw themselves as the protagonist, but due to a lack of ability and luck, they couldn't ultimately ascend the throne like him, and instead met their unfortunate end halfway through.

However, these people will not actually die. They will have several chances to be resurrected. They will be thrown into different worldviews and made to struggle until it is proven that they are indeed useless, at which point they will be completely abandoned.

Lanno, being outside, couldn't see what was happening inside. He was currently busy setting up servers for the Mountain and River Republic and trying to connect the two servers. During this time, he also continued analyzing the Ghostly Demon Lord's killing move that enveloped the entire continent. More information gradually made him realize the process of different people being thrown into different worlds and being selected. Although he didn't know the specific rules of the selection, he had some general guesses.

"The rules for generating the world need to rely on the memories of those extraterrestrial demons for simulation, which seems to make sense. If we want to select people who are more adaptable to the environment in a relatively fair way, we need to ensure that everyone is unaware of the plot and faces an unfamiliar environment."

Creating a world entirely without any prior background is obviously much more difficult than creating a work with an established worldview. It would certainly require creating just as many different worldviews.

Using local literary works is almost certainly possible, as someone will definitely have read them, leading to an unfair situation. However, if literary works from the memories of extraterrestrial demons are used, the probability of someone having read them decreases significantly. No wonder so many extraterrestrial demons are specifically targeted for capture.

But what is this guy planning to do with all those variables he's selecting and cultivating? Even we haven't fully reached dimensional ascension yet. Recruiting reincarnators like those who travel through space and throwing them into different worlds is still difficult to do, and there are no clear benefits. The Ghostly Demon Lord is probably even further from that point. What is he planning to do with all these variables? It can't be a revolution, can it? The higher the level of the variable, the more suitable the environment it needs to survive. He has so many high-level variables in his hands. To maintain their vitality, he would need to establish a highly advanced and enlightened society. If he really did that, we would all be on the same side. But judging from this guy's past behavior, the reality is definitely a completely different story. So what exactly does he want to do?

Lanno was completely baffled by this, and in order to find out the answer, he planned to find the Ghost Demon Lord's true form himself. If he couldn't guess, he would beat him up in front of everyone and ask him directly. Even if the other party had hostages, it wouldn't stop Lanno from finding his true form and giving him a good beating.

[To be continued]

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