Chapter Four: The Mysterious Plane

On the first half of that night, Wood felt as if he were caught between glaciers and roaring flames—now chilled to the bone, now burning hot. But as the night wore on, his sleep grew tranquil and deep; he did not dream at all. When dawn broke, he awoke feeling invigorated, stretching languidly and marveling at the satisfying crackle of his bones.

Though Gu Feng had said the T-virus injection would only cause a few hours of unconsciousness, Wood glanced at the clock and realized ten hours had already passed. With time to spare before work, he turned on his computer and summoned Little Dingdong.

“Check my current physical stats.”

“Analyzing agent’s physical condition… Baseline material plane agent: injected with safe-type T-virus, DNA evolution: constitution, strength, dexterity, mental power, body possesses immunity. Result… agent’s physical attributes remain extremely low; it is advised to improve physical fitness as soon as possible.”

“What—how can my stats still be low? They’re five times what they used to be, and far above an ordinary person’s. Little Dingdong, are you sure you’re not mistaken? And what is this immunity?”

“…No mistake. Physical fitness remains in the extremely low category. It is advised that Agent Amu improve his attributes without delay. Immunity: Resistant to bio-viral infection!”

“Five times… Five times stronger than a regular person…” Wood muttered in discontent.

Little Dingdong: “Plane system analysis… Baseline material plane’s carbon-based lifeforms do not undergo self-cultivation or awakening; overall fitness is extremely low compared to other planes.”

“So that’s how it is!” Wood breathed a sigh of relief. “With my stats, I must be the best on Earth… Hahaha, the strongest! Soon I’ll be wearing my underwear on the outside, saving beauties like a hero… Hahaha!” The thought made him laugh so hard his jaw nearly hit the floor.

“Not the strongest… merely equivalent to a special forces soldier…” Little Dingdong interjected mercilessly.

“Seriously? Fivefold improvement and I’m only at special forces level? My old stats must have been abysmal!” Wood was at a loss. “Looks like I still can’t get cocky.”

“…Cocky…what does that mean? Amu’s mental power far exceeds that of Earth’s lifeforms, with potential for telekinesis. The T-virus will continue strengthening you.”

“Telekinesis!?” Wood’s eyes lit up. “Like the heroine in Resident Evil? That’s not bad!”

Little Dingdong: “Telekinesis is one possible development path.”

“Oh! So there are other development paths? How do I unlock them?”

“Insufficient privileges… Please level up the system as soon as possible!”

“Ugh… Little Dingdong, you always let me down at crucial moments.” Wood grumbled.

“Let you down? Little Dingdong has no chains to drop.”

Wood pressed a palm to his forehead, speechless. “…Forget it, I can’t out-talk you!”

After tidying up, Wood left for work. As he stepped outside, he felt that something was off, but couldn’t put his finger on it. Only when he reached the shop did he realize what had changed.

“Hey! Wood, something’s different about you today!” said one of the two young men from yesterday.

“Yeah, Wood, you seem a bit off,” the other added suspiciously.

“My face isn’t embroidered or anything—what’s so odd?” Wood joked. The two exchanged puzzled glances, unable to articulate their sense of strangeness.

Hearing his employees’ chatter, the boss looked up and fixed Wood with a stare. Suddenly, he grabbed his teacup and hurled it at him. “Damn! You’re already tall enough—why are you wearing lifts to make me look bad?!”

Wood caught the cup midair, realization dawning. “That’s it! No wonder I felt different—the T-virus made me taller!”

Handing the cup back to the boss, Wood quickly sucked in his stomach and tried to look smaller, grinning. “Brother Wang, why’re you in so early today? Couldn’t sleep in a bit?”

“Sleep, my ass! We’re expecting an important guest today—everyone stay sharp! Wood, set out the special tea set and prep the finest Tieguanyin!”

With the boss’s orders, everyone busied themselves: boiling water, arranging the tea set, and retrieving the precious Tieguanyin from the display case. The staff were well-practiced in these rituals. Most antique enthusiasts were quite particular, so even the chubby boss, who knew little of tea, had prepared a premium tea set and leaves to entertain guests. In fact, this bit of showmanship worked wonders—customers from Hong Kong and Macau loved the experience, sipping tea as the boss regaled them with stories, and would often end up buying a piece or two.

Once everything was ready, the boss glanced at Wood. “Wood, take the day off!”

“Alright!!” Wood was all too happy to oblige, knowing the boss must have hooked a big spender and preferred Wood, who was never much help in such situations, to be out of the way.

“Perfect, I can go home and study the plane trading system some more!” Wood thought. “But first, let’s measure my height!”

The result… To his astonishment, he’d grown three centimeters overnight—he now stood at 1.78 meters.

Hurrying home, he opened the plane system and had Little Dingdong contact Baldy. “Hey, Big Brother, the T-virus is making me taller!”

“Of course!” Baldy replied matter-of-factly. “Didn’t you know? The growth is continuous!”

“What! Am I going to turn into a giant?” Wood exclaimed in alarm.

“Not exactly,” Baldy explained. “The T-virus fully excavates your body’s potential. Over the next month, you’ll reach 1.8 meters in height and gain 20 kilograms.”

“And there’s more…” At some point, Gu Feng had appeared, grinning wickedly. “Your abilities in that area will also improve dramatically—more stamina, more strength!”

Any man could understand what Gu Feng meant. “Well, that’s one piece of good news!” Wood managed a wry smile. “But how am I supposed to explain such a drastic change in one month to people around me, especially at work?”

“Work? What do you mean?” The two were puzzled.

“I mean my job!”

“Tch… Every plane agent is rich beyond measure, and you’re still working for someone else? Don’t you dare say you know me—such an embarrassment!”

Wood was exasperated. “Brothers, I just became a plane agent yesterday. You expect me to be fabulously wealthy already? Isn’t that a bit much?”

Gu Feng grew serious. “Brother, this is up to you. Every plane has its own unique resources. You need to use your abundant assets to trade for the rare resources of your own world. That way, you’ll soon be rolling in wealth. Work hard, and when you level up, come see me. I’ll send you a maid as a reward. Bye!” With that, the video feed cut off.

Baldy added, “Good luck, work hard, bye!” And his feed disappeared too.

“Hey! Why are you two running off so fast—” Wood called out, but both were already gone.

“Ugh, starting out in plane trading without mentors is tough,” Wood mused. Though he’d only known them a day, their easy camaraderie and advice had made him unconsciously reliant on them. But in the end, as Gu Feng had said, a man must rely on himself.

Lost in thought, Wood was startled when his computer screen flickered and a gray area began to swirl.

Little Dingdong: “Amu, there’s a communication request from a mysterious plane. Shall I connect?”

“Mysterious plane? Isn’t it just those four?” Amu asked.

Little Dingdong: “No, insufficient privileges to answer. Connect the call?”

After a moment’s thought, Amu replied, “Connect!”

With a flash, a metallic lump appeared on the screen. “Greetings, agent of the baseline material plane. I am Nanshan, agent of Star One from the Silicon-Based Plane.”

The sight of the metal head speaking startled Wood, but on closer inspection, it was a robot.

“A robot? Science fiction plane?” Amu wondered aloud. “Greetings, I am the agent from the baseline material plane. You can call me Wood.”

“Hello, Wood. I am not an agent from the science fiction plane, but from a higher-grade Silicon-Based Plane. Our form of life is entirely different from yours, and we rarely interact with other planes, so you may not know much about us…”

“Hold on—a silicon-based plane, I get it! You’re silicon-based lifeforms! Transformers, right? Where’s Optimus Prime? Megatron?”

“How did you know we’re Transformers? Optimus Prime and Megatron? Let me check!” Now it was the robot’s turn to be surprised. “That’s impossible. You’re using a basic plane trading system—you shouldn’t be able to contact us, let alone know the leaders of our two minor factions. I’ve never even heard of these two Transformers before!”

Wood gazed up to the heavens in silent disbelief. Had the creator of Transformers been influenced by the chaos of space-time information?

“Optimus Prime and Megatron are two gangsters who never get along, always fighting. But they’re just low-level Transformers, only capable of a single type of transformation—not really connected to us.”

Low-level… Wood felt his mind spinning.

“How do you know about the Silicon-Based Plane? Unless…” Nanshan speculated, “Has someone from the Silicon-Based Plane already contacted you? Star Two? Star Three?”

“Well, I…” Wood feigned embarrassment.

Nanshan interpreted his hesitation differently. “I get it, I get it—business ethics. I won’t pry further! What were they trading with you?”

“Well…” Wood hesitated, pretending to hold back. “I imagine their needs were similar to yours!” He had no idea, but it was worth a gamble.

He guessed right. The metallic Nanshan grew excited. “Meteoric iron! How much did they take? Brother Wood, you must trust Nanshan. My fairness and integrity are famous throughout the Silicon-Based Plane.” Checking the system, he added, “Brother Wood, you don’t know the Silicon-Based Plane, but those you’ve traded with aren’t honest at all. Look, you’re still at the lowest level—they couldn’t have given you anything good. Let me show my sincerity first!”

As he spoke, the item trading bar at the bottom of the screen flashed, and Little Dingdong announced mechanically:

“Silicon-Based Plane agent offers three mid-grade energy crystals as a gift. Accept?”