411: Hit you?

Six hours later, Expeditionary Force Command Room.

As the counter-offensive began, Yang Dian clearly saw that on the war situation map, the blue area representing the Expeditionary Force started expanding in all directions, continuously encroaching upon the red area controlled by the Machina.

The million-strong Lizardmen army, under the command of the Expeditionary Force soldiers, bloomed across the Eurasia continent like fireworks, causing the Machina to retreat steadily.

"The sheer number of people is truly too important."

Chen Ci held a spherical object nearly half a meter in diameter, and while using a magnetic field to guide a hundred steel balls, each one millimeter in diameter, through a spherical maze to train her control over the magnetic field, she looked at the war situation map and said:

"Before, when we had fewer people, even if we snatched an area from the Machina and destroyed all Machina equipment within that area, as soon as our people left, the Machina's war robots would immediately counterattack."

"Then the newly acquired territory would be retaken by the Machina, and the war would become a stalemate, back and forth, endlessly."

"But after the auxiliary legions joined the battlefield, the situation changed dramatically."

"We began to have enough manpower to control the actual control areas, digest the fruits of conquest, and transform them into strength to improve ourselves."

"At this rate, it won't be long before the Machina are driven out of the Eurasia continent by us."

Yang Dian rubbed his brow:

"O3 is still a bit disappointing."

"The speed of war weapon iteration is too slow."

"The speed of troop deployment from the armory also hasn't met our expectations."

"According to our calculations, it should have been able to adapt to the Martial Artist situation within 3 days, and then research 'anti-Martial Artist' weapons within 7 days, forcing Martial Artists to continuously improve their strength and optimize their combat methods, becoming a resource for Martial Artist evolution."

"Or it could have directly dispatched overwhelming war weapons, forming an oppressive force against the Expeditionary Force with an absolute numerical advantage."

"But it's already been over a month..."

As he spoke, Yang Dian shook his head again.

Evidently, O3 had disappointed him.

Chen Ci, resting her chin on the spherical object, smiled:

"If intelligent life also has a life cycle, then O3 should just be a babbling infant, with both its computing power and innovation ability still in their nascent stages."

"Didn't we monitor it setting up nuclear power plants and quantum supercomputing centers on the African continent?"

"Once the nuclear power plants and quantum supercomputing centers are built, and it has enough energy and computing power to support its full-power operation, it should gradually reach our expectations."

"Let's hope so," Yang Dian's sigh had just faded when Ya Zi, with a sword in his mouth, suddenly appeared beside him:

"Commander, Princess Artoria of England has sent a communication request and wishes to speak with you. Shall I connect it?"

Yang Dian couldn't help but feel a little surprised:

"Not even half of the three-month protection period has passed, why is she calling me already?"

"Being prepared for danger in times of peace, I suppose," Chen Ci tilted her head towards Yang Dian:

"She's not stupid; she knows that if she doesn't have your support in a little over a month, England will probably fall into war again."

"So she's calling you in advance to pledge her allegiance."

As she spoke, a teasing look appeared in her eyes again:

"Speaking of which, I heard that Princess of England is quite good-looking."

"And you, Commander, are old acquaintances."

"Commander, why don't you consider taking her in, and then using those people from England as cannon fodder?"

Yang Dian leaned back:

"Forget it."

"Humans are too complicated; they're not as useful as Lizardmen."

"And don't keep saying 'cannon fodder' and such; it wouldn't sound good if the members of the auxiliary legions heard it."

"Since we're fighting side by side, we are comrades."

As he spoke, he waved his hand at Ya Zi again:

"Don't connect Artoria's communication."

"Tell her that extending the ceasefire is not impossible, but she needs to exchange something for it..."

...Time quickly flowed by amidst the nationwide Martial Artist training in China and the nationwide resistance against the Machina abroad.

In a blink of an eye, another half a month passed.

Western Theater, secret military base.

Yang Dian looked at the illusory yet solid rhomboid mirror-gate before him, and the white-robed priestess on the other side, whose face was filled with anticipation, and couldn't help but let out a soft breath.

"It's finally formed."

Half a month ago, Yu Baiwei, through her second talent, connected with the survivors of the World of the Strange and guided them to perform sacrifices and prayers to open a spatial gate.

Half a month later, the spatial connection between the World of the Strange and Earth was finally partially anchored.

The external manifestation was that the rhomboid misty water vapor, like a cloud of fog, solidified into a tangible mirror-gate, reflecting the scene of the World of the Strange on the other side.

Next, the other side only needed to continue the sacrifices, offering the three lights of the sun, moon, and stars, to completely pinpoint the World of the Strange's location in the Universe through starlight and open the spatial passage.

Of course.

For Yang Dian, it wasn't that troublesome.

He flicked his finger to summon the Dimension Butterfly.

The next moment, the Dimension Butterfly appeared out of thin air in the center of the rhomboid mirror-gate and flapped its wings.

Then, under the horrified gaze of the fox-girl priestess on the other side, the entire spatial gate suddenly shattered.

With a gentle breeze, the mirror-gate broke into countless pieces.

The shattered mirror-gate gradually dematerialized under the sunlight, eventually disappearing.

Yu Baiwei glanced at Yang Dian and honestly spoke:

"The fox-person priestess asked us what happened, why the spatial gate suddenly collapsed, and if they still needed to continue the sacrifices."

Yang Dian rubbed the Dimension Butterfly, which had flown back and was resting on his fingertip:

"No need."

The Lingwen Clan's method of locking coordinates was still a bit backward.

Unlike the Dimension Butterfly, which could directly lock onto coordinates after obtaining some relevant information.

"Tell them that we will go to rescue them in as early as seven days, or as late as a month."

As he spoke, Yang Dian tapped his communication wristband twice:

"Ya Zi, notify the Expeditionary Force to withdraw."

"Plan their nearest assembly point and have them complete their assembly within an hour. An hour later, I will open the gate and bring them back to the country."

"Formulate a combat plan for the World of the Strange. In two days, I will open the spatial passage to the World of the Strange and launch a counter-invasion."

Chen Ci, standing beside Yang Dian, was momentarily stunned:

"Huh, didn't you say we wouldn't go to the World of the Strange until at least seven days later?"

Yang Dian cast a sidelong glance at Chen Ci:

"That was for others to hear."

"Who knows if the Ghost Heavenly Dao is watching those survivors? How could I possibly tell them the actual combat plan?"

"Warfare is the Dao of deception; do I still need to teach you this?"

"Go back and copy Sun Tzu's Art of War 10 times."

"Copy it by hand; no using your talent ability to control a pen to copy."

Chen Ci immediately pulled a long face:

"10 times, over sixty thousand characters."

"You might as well just beat me up."

Yang Dian's mouth twitched:

"Beat you?"

"You wish..."