My Post-Apocalyptic Shelter Levels Up Infinitely!

by Stayrr

As disaster was about to strike, a group of survivors transmigrated into a desolated world and were challenged to a game of survival. From terrifying acid rains, to endless natural disasters, the heavens burn while the earth scorches, radiation is rampant, and nobody is spared from the dangers of this hellscape. The only way one survives is by building a shelter and slowly upgradin

13. 321

My Post-Apocalyptic Shelter Levels Up Infinitely! #Chapter 321 - Final Test! The Last Chance! - Read My Post-Apocalyptic Shelter Levels Up Infinitely! Chapter 321 - Final Test! The Last Chance! Online - All Page - Novel Next

Chapter 321: Final Test! The Last Chance!

The Divulgence of Heaven's Secret talisman was very strange. It clearly brought Su Mo's soul in, but when Su Mo's whole body stepped through the door of light, his body also mysteriously vanished from where it was.

As the area had been cordoned off, nobody dared to board the ship.

In the quiet bridge, as time passed a second at a time, when 32 minutes had passed after Su Mo had left, the phantom door of light once again lit up.

Appearing in the same place, Su Mo, expression dazed, sat back in the captain's seat.

While half an hour had passed in the real world, it had been three hours in the talisman simulation world.

If the second round of testing succeeded without issues, he would have made it out to sea or into the Great Canyon.

However, what stunned Su Mo was that this round of testing had also failed in a sense.

"I've gotten careless. I didn't survive this wave!"

Just a second ago, Su Mo had still been running about amid the fire, watching helplessly as the fire spread throughout the entire Hope One and struggling to save it.

The next second, as an explosion occurred somewhere on the ship, Su Mo was thrown by the force of the blast out straight into the ocean.

Fortunately, having already experienced the pain of having half his body fractured and paralyzed previously, when he was blasted into the air this time and lost the lower half of his body, Su Mo still managed to spit out the word "exit" before falling unconscious.

Then…

Alright, there was no 'then'.

When Su Mo opened his eyes once again, he had once again returned to the perfectly undamaged bridge in Hope One.

"Luckily, the Divulgence of Heaven's Secret talisman still has four hours of energy remaining. It can still support one final round of testing!"

The instant he returned to his senses, he did not linger over the terrifying feeling of losing the lower half of his body and immediately grabbed the talisman floating in the air. Only after examining it carefully did he feel relieved.

In the first test, Hope One was badly damaged by the natural disaster. Although he managed to go out to sea later on using the Charge ability, he did not manage to sail very far.

This caused Su Mo to completely forget about the problems he might encounter when sailing Hope One.

After modifying the second test, with the Ocean Wind's blessing and the Genesis ability, though Hope One still paid a price, it did not run into any obstacles when launching into the ocean. The OS completed the launching of Hope One into the water almost effortlessly, and successfully got Hope One up and running.

The dragon entering the sea disdained that the ocean was not deep enough, while the phoenix spreading its wings disdained that the sky was not high enough.

The damage-less entrance into the sea this time had Su Mo bubbling in excitement.

Although it was within the talisman simulation world, even if he would not actually die when something untoward happened, Su Mo did not relax his vigilance completely. He remained very nervous as he looked through the various data displays.

The readings were very normal!

No matter in which regard, Hope One seemed extremely normal. No matter how he sailed or turned it, it was like directing his own arm. There were no problems at all!

However, it was this stability that made Su Mo unable to focus on the possible other problems below Hope One's deck and allowed him to sail toward the Great Canyon without any hesitation.

The straight-line distance from the basin to the Great Canyon was 120 kilometers.

Based on the Hope One's usual speed, it would take around two hours to reach.

However, if the ship's maximum speed was maintained for the entire journey, it would only require an hour and twenty minutes.

In order to guarantee that more of the Divulgence of Heaven's Secret's energy could be retained for the final test, Su Mo naturally increased Hope One's sailing speed to its maximum, maintaining a superfast speed of 45 knots the entire way.

Hope One, which could travel just over 82 kilometers per hour, had a mobility that did not match its 80-meter length.

After sailing it for an hour, when he saw the map indicate that he was about to reach the Great Canyon, before Su Mo could feel the joy…

With a boom, something bad happened!

"It really is the engine that determines both success and failure!"

Thinking about the fire that broke out across the entire ship, sitting on the captain's seat, Su Mo shook his head.

Pressing on the switch to activate the hidden door to the engine room, and looking at the heavy steel plates gradually being pushed open, Su Mo quickly climbed down agilely.

In the real world, the engine room was still abnormally quiet.

The matter conversion engine in the center was in sleep mode, occasionally blinking with a light at a cadence similar to breathing, providing the cabin a little brightness.

Groping along the wall, once Su Mo pressed the switch with a hand, the lights came on!

At the same time, Su Mo could once again see the engine's entire appearance.

"If it weren't for my genius design, perhaps this shortcoming of Hope One would have been temporarily hidden, and I would have been caught off-guard afterward."

"Finding it out now is still fine. At least I discovered the problem!"

Tapping the large screen beside the engine, Su Mo examined one of the biggest flaws when the engine was running in a corner like that…

Heat!

Previously, no matter what materials he put in, when the engine was not running at full capacity, the heat would be re-absorbed and converted into energy by the engine.

Hence, when standing in the engine room, Su Mo could not sense any heat at all and naturally forgot about the need for this vital cooling function.

The matter conversion engine's heat dissipation operated in two ways. The first was the energy recovery system, and the other was to take the energy from the items put inside for cooling!

When the heat readings were too high, the engine would automatically allocate some of the energy output to the built-in cooling system; using the cooling system to resolve the heat dissipation problem.

It was these two super-cooling technologies that had not yet been developed on Earth that allowed the entire engine to run at its peak state and last a full hour in a fully enclosed room!

However, though this cooling could guarantee that the engine could keep running, the heat that it discharged was real.

The engine room was constructed using three-meter thick steel plates, and Su Mo had personally used the system to seal off the seams and joints, ensuring that there were no problems in the engine room and also that the heat emitted had nowhere to go.

As time passed, the engine room turned into…

A pressure cooker!

Special steel plates were different from the pressure cooker's ceramic material. Its thermal conductivity reached 46.1!

Once the temperature increased, though the thickness was shocking, it was still transmitted elsewhere.

Despite other places being ignited by this heat, Su Mo—who had not been able to investigate the real cause—had still been driving at full speed because of the matter conversion engine's amazing heat resistance.

The cause behind it was the same as a pressure cooker explosion. It was not unfamiliar to him.

After commanding the robot workers to put out the fire in the storage compartments, he observed the strange heat that was still being emitted.

Just as Su Mo walked out of the bridge and was about to go downstairs to check and fix things, the pressure in the pressure cooker could finally no longer be suppressed…

Boom…

"Luckily I noticed this issue while testing, otherwise, in the future, Hope One would be turned into a heap of trash metal!"

Reading the display to compare the two heat dissipation mechanisms with some lingering fear, after seeing the data on heat dissipation efficiency and memorizing it, he went back up the stairs.

On the Destroyer's blueprint design, there was a chimney designated as cooling equipment.

However, previously, in order to construct the escape mechanism, along with the fact that the matter conversion machine did not require fuel, Su Mo ignored the cooling issue.

After he called the shots and chopped off the chimney, though the consequences were terrible, things were fortunately still in the testing stage. There was totally a chance to salvage the situation.

"In this round's testing, although there are some flaws in resisting the torrential rain, I'll definitely be able to achieve the goal of coming out unscathed next time."

"As for going out to sea, there's no need to modify much anymore. This time was already great—there were no problems at all!"

"As for the most important cooling aspect, it's too difficult to raise a chimney all the way out of the engine room now, so I'll create a built-in chimney like the Type-055 Destroyer for heat dissipation!"

Right before he reached the Great Canyon, he was flung into the air and even had his lower half blasted to pieces.

It was just after eight o'clock, and Su Mo's temper and pent-up anger swelled as he looked over the wasteland's night sky!

"Tonight, no matter what, I need to do another test. I need to at least see how the foreign race in the canyon will ambush me."

"Otherwise all my plans will have to be delayed."

"I don't believe that in the talisman simulation world, without the system or the game, I really won't be able to sail this ship!"

Slamming the bridge door shut, Su Mo stomped down the stairs and then jogged back to the shelter.

He did not go down to disturb the four little ones who were studying, as well as Connie who was resting, but went along the second-floor passageway before turning and squeezing into the warehouse.

Trade… he had to trade a lot!

Regardless of whether it was fireproof construction techniques from Earth or fire prevention layouts that would fit Hope One, he had to spend the money!

He did not have the corresponding facilities or the corresponding reserves. It was impossible to fetch water to put out fires like the people from ancient times!

Despite being angry, Su Mo did not lose his rationality while purchasing what he needed. He started carefully comparing the prices.

In the trading market at the moment, because the fire extinguishers could not be divided in half, Disaster Points were required for the courier fees when trading.

On the eve of migration, Disaster Points were extremely precious, which made the price of fire extinguishers cheap. It could even be called:

Pitifully cheap!

Aside from the earlier stages when people had just transmigrated here and used these things as weapons, now that things had arrived at this stage, fire extinguishers had naturally lost their function as weapons and could only be sold based on their original function.

Memorizing the price, Su Mo did not hesitate any longer. He waved his hand and started buying them in batches.

Regardless of whether it was a foam fire extinguisher, a dry powder fire extinguisher, or a carbon dioxide fire extinguisher, as long as the price was within the average range, Su Mo bought them all.

He paid a total of 60 Disaster Points for these purchases, and now 27 different types of fire extinguishers had appeared on the ground.

He did not stop there. With the fire extinguishers settled, Su Mo eyed the most important coating panels for the fireproof interlayers.

Inserting this type of panel into fire-prone locations could effectively prevent the fire from spreading and give him the chance to respond before things got out of hand.

After making a plan and noticing that places like the storage compartments and dorms needed it, because this item did not require courier fees, Su Mo only stopped purchasing when it could no longer fit into the warehouse.

Driving Earth Tiger, he moved the materials over to the shipyard. When these purchased items were loaded onto the ship, the time was 9.30 pm in the wasteland.

He did not choose to manually install them. After glancing through Hope One's properties panel using the system, with the materials on hand, the installation would only cost him 1800 survival points.

The fireproof interlayers were automatically merged into their respective locations. A hidden chimney appeared from the engine room.

The fire extinguishers were also evenly distributed along the ship's walls. He could easily grab one to extinguish any fires.

Hope One's steel plate structure was also adjusted by the system to make them even more resilient!

"Not bad, not bad. Even if I got the robot workers to do this, it would have taken four to five days."

"Looking at the system's efficiency, these points were really worth spending!"

Su Mo expressed these thoughts as looked at the newly-refurbished Hope One. Upon returning to the bridge this time, Su Mo did not rush to enter the final round of testing.

He closed his eyes to rest. Sitting on the captain's seat, Su Mo reviewed the past two tests in detail as well as all of the details of the operation.

From resisting the natural disaster to the process of going to sea, and then to sailing out in the ocean.

Every instance of success, every consequence of operational failure; all of it happened all over again in Su Mo's mind in first-person perspective.

All was quiet in the bridge after the door was closed as, due to the watertight design, no noise could travel in.

After 10 minutes, Su Mo still had his eyes closed.

Half an hour later, it was as if Su Mo was asleep.

However, just as it reached 11 o'clock, Su Mo abruptly opened his eyes and then stood up like a sharp sword released from its sheath.

He activated the talisman.

Looking at the door of light that once again appeared, Su Mo knew that this time…

The foreign races would definitely not escape!

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Chapter 322: Eighteen Layers of Defenses, An Injury-free Tribulation!

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

With just one step, two worlds were reversed.

After undergoing the first two experiences, the moment Su Mo entered into the door of light, he focused and summoned the system as he gazed at the figure hidden in the darkness.

The first time Su Mo saw the creature sitting in the darkness, it looked like a humanoid creature. It was not very tall and was around 170cm in height based on how it sat.

The second time he saw it, Su Mo was prepared, so he was able to make out what the humanoid creature was wearing.

It looked a little rugged, a little fierce and, at the same time, had hair like… the scene kids from the youth subculture from the mid-2000s.

The way it dressed certainly looked like nothing from Earth. Instead, it dressed like it had come out of a science fiction movie.

This time, Su Mo began his observation as soon as he entered. It was true that under the glowing light of the system, Su Mo was able to see more things.

'A pocket watch?'

'Does it actually have a watch on its shoe?'

He was at an angle where he could only see the side of the shoe. On the humanoid figure's ankle, he could see a vintage-looking pocketwatch bolted onto the shoe, gently swinging along with the figure as it moved.

"Dang. I guess the upper-class wear their watches on their feet. Does that make me a plebeian?"

At that moment, Su Mo wished the system's green light was stronger so it could fully illuminate the entire space. He wished he could see more of what was on the spiritual being.

While he was struggling to stay conscious in that plane, Su Mo suddenly realized that his sense of smell seemed to have returned!

Before that, Su Mo could only use his ears to hear the sound of the waves within this mysterious world and use his consciousness to see how that world looked like with the help of the system.

However, at that moment, when Su Mo really wanted to see more of the details, a fishy and salty sea breeze suddenly entered his nostrils.

He could hear the sound of the sea and smell it too!

It seemed that it was not because his senses were gone, but that they had been forcibly stripped away by something.

Just as Su Mo was having that thought, the mysterious figure on the other side also seemed to have recognized Su Mo. As Su Mo struggled to stay conscious and tried to see if he could gain more control over his body…

In an instant, a bright light lit up before his eyes once again.

He was once again in Hope One's bridge and, from the porthole, Su Mo could once again see the red moon hanging high in the sky.

"Aww, man. If only I could struggle harder, then perhaps I could've regained more control."

"If I can get up, I'll be able to finally make proper contact with the mysterious figure…"

After sitting on the captain's seat and trying to ingrain the memory of how the vintage-looking pocket watch that he had just glimpsed looked like, Su Mo smacked his lips and stood up.

Compared to how nervous he felt when he had entered the first two times, Su Mo, who was already familiar with the disaster, was completely relaxed this time.

After opening the mechanism and going down the stairs to the engine room, where a cooling chimney had now been added, Su Mo poured in a liter of psychic energy water to start the engine. After powering up the entire ship, Su Mo went back to the bow and slowly lowered the large anchor that held the ship in place.

After doing everything, Su Mo looked up at the sky that seemed to be brewing with rage. He returned to the bridge and began to operatel the OS.

Twelve minutes and thirty-four seconds.

That was the time left after Su Mo had completed all of the preparatory work.

The first time, it was new. The second time, he was starting to get the hang of things. By the third time, he had mastered everything.

After many hands-on sessions, Su Mo's knowledge and mastery of the ship's operations that he learned in his dreams from the memory transmission had finally been transformed into actual ability.

If someone was to judge Su Mo's skills back on Earth now, his skills would qualify him for at least the second mate position!

After he softly tapped on the left button on the bridge and instructed the robot worker to bring up the three bottles of Maotais stored in the storage compartment, Su Mo remained calm and composed as he put his feet up on the bridge and opened up the game panel.

The three most important features of chat, trading, and creation, were still locked.

There were still no changes in the introductions for all three of the disaster predictions either.

After he tapped into the vehicle interface, the legendary Hope One was still as dazzling as before and, on the new skill bar at the bottom, the progress bar was already at 30%, signaling that it could be used at any time.

Ten minutes and twenty-two seconds.

When the faithful robot worker brought over the three bottles of Maotais and two small bags of peanuts, Su Mo opened up a bottle and placed the top of the bottle onto his lips.

In reality, these three bottles of Maotai were only found by the villagers of Hope Village after scavenging for a long time.

Before a brewing production line was restored, such good liquor would rarely be found in treasure chests, and it was almost as if every bottle drank would result in one bottle being lost forever.

He had two sips of liquor and a few peanuts.

After he chugged down a bottle, Su Mo was already twenty percent drunk, but that did not stop him from opening up the next two bottles.

No one would ever understand the excruciating pain of having half of your body fractured in an instant, or how horrifying it was to have the lower half of your body destroyed by a explosion.

Su Mo was afraid, but his stubbornness would never allow him to ever admit that he was afraid.

That was why he would rather down these three bottles of good stuff that people would have usually saved to brace himself for tonight!

"After drinking this liquor, I guess I'll also be like Wu Song fighting the tiger. Let me have a good fight with these foreign races."

Walking out the door and watching the countdown timer signal that there were three minutes left, after taking the last sip of Maotai, Su Mo was 50% drunk and staggered back into the bridge and closed the watertight door.

In the OS, thanks to the secondary design upgrade, a disaster alert had popped up displaying a timer accurate down to the millisecond.

The fire-control radar was also on full scanning mode as it quickly transmitted all the environmental data within a one kilometer radius of Hope One.

As Su Mo looked at the radar map and saw how much Iron Rock Mountain had transformed, Su Mo smiled and used his last moments to look at it with curiosity.

"It seems that the talisman actually simulated it realistically. Chen Shen, you're not bad at all."

"But compared to the second test session, there are some subtle differences. I guess the future is never set in stone!"

The future was ever-changing and was always going to be interesting.

As he looked at the last ten seconds remaining, Su Mo gradually looked away and his smile also gradually turned into a small, unnoticeable smirk.

3…

2…

1…

The familiar countdown announcement began to echo continuously through the game panel. Finally, the last sound ended at t-minus 1.

The familiar darkness was back!

In the next second, under Su Mo's control, the eight spotlights on the ship switched on in sync, illuminating the deck once again.

An invisible breeze began to pick up in strength around the perimeter of Hope One as time slowly passed by.

Pitter-patter…

Whoosh…

The familiar drizzle fell but, as Su Mo sat within the bridge, his eyes never left the screen displaying the cameras' video feed of the ground.

At one minute and 23 seconds, the moment water began to seep out from the ground, Su Mo's expression instantly froze and the breeze surrounding Hope One suddenly intensified.

If the wind speed had been around 10km/h before, the moment the sea of water appeared, it shot up to…

50km/h!

Living up to its name, it was a moderate gale; a level seven on the Beaufort scale!

The blessing of the Ocean Wind seemed to shroud Hope One in an air of mystery.

Su Mo had experimented with the blessing previously and it had lasted 22 minutes and 40 seconds under the assault of the level seven moderate gale before its power was exhausted!

Although the range was only within a hundred-meter radius of Hope One, compared to the blessing of his shelter, it was undoubtedly much stronger.

Moreover, as Su Mo controlled it using his consciousness, this gale did not blow at random.

Rather, it began to swirl in a clockwise motion around Hope One and, in just a few breaths, a sizable high-pressure area was formed.

All the raindrops falling from the sky were sucked inward due to the high atmospheric pressure and flew toward Hope One like bullets, making crackling noises.

Looking at the already blurry porthole, Su Mo was not anxious and moved both hands animatedly.

While his left hand continued to rotate clockwise, his right hand moved slowly in the opposite direction; in the counterclockwise direction.

He was doing two things at once!

Those were not just simple hand movements, but movements that drove his thoughts to manipulate the extraordinary ability of the Ocean Wind.

The wind did not think, but as the one who controlled it, Su Mo provided it a sense of direction!

Compared to the second test, this time, his use of the magic of the outside world came more quickly and naturally.

In just four breaths, the sound of the rain that had sounded like popcorn when hitting the porthole began to slow, and had completely been brought to a halt in ten breaths of time.

If someone had been sitting alongside him in the bridge at that moment, they would have seen a scene on the fire-control radar scan that matched the weather forecast on television for…

A typhoon!

With the Hope One at its center, the wind was spinning clockwise just fifty meters away, creating a strong high-pressure system that was pushing the outside water pressure toward the center.

However, within those fifty meters, just past the guardrails of Hope One, the invisible winds were also rotating at an equally high speed in a counter-clockwise direction, creating a low-pressure system.

The two different directions of rotation caused the air in the 50-meter zone to rotate and generate centrifugal force, which was counterbalanced by the centripetal force of the wind blowing in toward the center.

Combined with the lowered air pressure and increased temperature, the typhoon became the first line of defense for Hope One, isolating it from all the rain.

Was that all?

Nope!

Based on his previous experience, the eye of the typhoon defense could only keep the rain out for 14 minutes and 50 seconds.

It was the remaining 20 seconds that were crucial to see if Hope One would survive the disaster and emerge victorious!

After the fourteenth minute had passed, he formed another wall of wind with his mind, as well as a wall of water alongside it.

From controlling two things at once to four things at once, it wasn't Su Mo's strong mental capacity that allowed him to achieve such inhuman levels of control, but rather the glowing thing on his finger…

The Mind Ring!

Even though he could not use the game or the system, he had no problems using the ring as it was his own item with its own properties.

After using the magical ring to maintain his control over the two winds blowing in different directions, he controlled a third gust of wind along and formed a wall of water as a defense measure above the fire-control radar.

The wall of water was not that large. It was only two square meters in size but it was sufficient to cover the fire-control radar underneath and ensure that it would not be destroyed by the torrential rain.

As for the rest of Hope One, since he had the Genesis ability ready, Su Mo did not have to worry too much and just did his best to maintain the wall of water.

During the second test round, he ran out of power after creating the twelfth wall of water.

However, this time, the tipsiness brought on by the Maotai had gone to his head and, without realizing it, Su Mo realized he had formed the fifteenth wall of water.

However, by now the clock had reached 52 seconds, and there was no room for Su Mo to continue being distracted.

More and more water was breaking through the typhoon barrier, hitting the deck with pitter and patter noises.

Under the command of the ship's OS, the drainage system throughout the ship started pumping, channeling all the water on deck off the ship.

A familiar feeling of buoyancy arose and Hope One started to sway just like how it did previously.

Su Mo knew that this was the final prelude before the fifteenth minute, as well as the moment when the final wave was going to come at him.

Sixteen layers!

Seventeen layers!

…

Eighteen layers!

Large beads of sweat formed on Su Mo's forehead, rolling down and hitting the bridge's instrument panel, making dripping noises.

Human potential was endless and, in these final moments, Su Mo had completely squeezed out every bit of his mental capacity and created the eighteen walls of water to protect the fire-control radar.

The moment the eighteenth layer took shape, the fifteenth minute was up!

It was no longer just regular rain anymore! It poured down like a waterfall!

From thousands of meters high in the sky, it poured down, drowning everything with terrifying force.

The typhoon barrier was completely destroyed by the waterfall-like torrent of rain, coming to an end.

It was like the roar of Zeus, raging to break through the barriers he had set up.

In just one second, the frenzied waterfall-like torrent of rain had inflicted damage on Hope One that surpassed that of the previous fifteen minutes!

At 15 minutes and 2 seconds, the wall of water defense was down to…

17 layers!

At 15 minutes and 5 seconds, the wall of water defense was down to 12 layers!

At 15 minutes and 7 seconds, the wall of water defense was down to 5 layers!

…

At 15 minutes and 9 seconds, the wall of water defense was down to… 3 layers!

The spectacular wall of water was down to three layers at the last second, but that also marked the end of the waterfall-like torrent of rain.

As the last three layers remained, the rainstorm was just like any other ordinary rainstorm, sprinkling raindrops all over the radar with a slight whirring sound.

As he listened to the celebratory whirring sound and looked at the game panel to see that Hope One had only suffered a mere 24% durability loss…

Standing in the bridge, Su Mo's face was ablaze and he started laughing uncontrollably.

I guess that was what they meant when they said that all sufferings had their reward, and Su Mo had finally passed through the level with just a nick to show for it!

This wave of destruction turned out to be two blessings for him instead!

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Chapter 323: Unveil The Fog, The Aliens' Actual Position!

During the first testing phase, the fire-control radar was crushed to bits, the deck riddled with holes, and the storage compartments turned into swimming pools. The ship's durability was at a measly 30% at the end of it all.

For the second test, the fire-control radar and the ship still sustained damage, but there was still 84% durability remaining after the on-site repairs were done.

This time around, the fire-control radar was fine and the ship was not even damaged; the ship's durability indicating a shiny 100% figure after the on-site repairs were done.

Su Mo was sitting in the captain' seat, laughing away like a child. No one would ever know what he had been through, or what kind of pressure he was put under.

Only Su Mo knew that the efforts he had put in these couple of weeks…

Was worth it!

As the Genesis ability was activated, the damaged portions of the ship's deck seemed to come alive and recover. In just one minute, all the repairs were done.

Su Mo stared at the green-colored 100% indicator. The more he looked at it, the happier he was.

"Well, compared to having broken bones and amputated legs, this is pretty much the best result I can achieve!"

"I refuse to believe that I can't get this ship to the Great Canyon with 100% durability!"

In his excitement, Su Mo's intoxication dissipated through his sweat after the 15-minute ordeal.

At that moment, Su Mo sat in the captain's quarters as he welcomed the start of his new life as captain of the ship.

[Identification complete. Welcome, Captain Su Mo]

[Destroyer system activated, operational control take-over initiated. Preparing for automatic launching sequence.]

[Please do not operate the ship while it's being launched. Failing to do so will result in a conflict of data and a failure in the launch.]

[Fire-control radar navigation system pairing complete. Water levels are insufficient, awaiting subsequent data sets…]

…

[Launching protocol ready. Data synchronization complete. Activating the slideway. Anchor raised. Activating real-time image analysis…]

[Slideway activation complete, Data synchronization complete. Activating rear fenders…]

[Ship angle adjustment complete. Ship launch speed adjustment complete. Launching ship now, please do not operate the ship's controls.]

As Su Mo stared at the green lines popping out on the screen, as the creator of this system, it felt as if he was controlling the ship himself.

Modifying the system all by himself ensured that it would always follow his own methods and instructions.

In terms of operating the ship, the system also carried out the procedures in a steady yet rapid manner, just like its captain.

Clunk…

Clunk…

Given his previous experience in launching the ship into the water, Su Mo was very patient this time around. He was also calm, not at all worried about the ship failing to get into the water.

The autopilot system differed a lot from human manual control; the best thing about it was how stably it controlled the ship!

If the data and OS were accurate, it would produce the same result without any mistakes even when running it over the ten thousand times…

Success!

Su Mo sat in his seat and fastened his seatbelt. He felt Hope One hurtle backward and then bounce back up. Before he could get up to check on everything, the messages had already been displayed on the screen.

[Hope One launch complete. The current water level is 5.36 meters. The depth of the ship in the water is currently 3.63 meters. Portside height is currently 16.89 meters. Starboard side height is currently 17.45 meters.]

[Hope One's alignment check is complete: no errors found. Automatic launch system is relinquishing control. Thank you for using the OS.]

…

[Captain Su Mo, the autopilot system has been successfully connected to Hope One. Shall we depart toward the designated destination…]

Hope One had an roll stabilization system. As the ship floated on the water, Su Mo would not feel any rocking onboard unless it was on rough waters.

Yes, no rocking at all.

It became obvious when Su Mo took off the seatbelt and stood up!

He could see the bow of the ship rock back and forth from the movement of the water.

However, he could not feel anything at all onboard the ship. It felt as if his feet were floating in the air, not touching the deck at all. It was miraculous.

"No! Hold position!"

After turning off the autopilot system, Su Mo was not in a rush to depart just yet. Based on his previous experience and his last conducted test, he began to conduct an structural integrity diagnosis on the entire ship.

He brought four robot workers with him and they checked the ship from the main deck to the living quarters, and then to the storage compartments…

As they descended lower and lower, Su Mo examined every hazardous part that could possibly malfunction.

As he recorded Hope One's condition in the captain's diary, he noticed the first entry he wrote in that book.

"17th February, third test, Captain Su Mo's log."

"Watertight structural integrity, check. Fire safety, check. Temperature control, check. Electrical transmission, check…"

Every single aspect was thoroughly checked by both the human and his robot workers. After that, Su Mo made sure that the engine room's heat dissipated adequately, and then went back to the storage compartments.

When all that was done, there was one more thing left to check…

Weapons!

"There are only three hours left on the Divulgence of Heaven's Secret talisman. It's more than enough to enter the Great Canyon and traverse at least half it's length."

"But if I get involved in combat, I won't be able to exit just like that. I only have one more try at testing this out, so I'll have to fight no matter what!"

Currently, Hope One had four upgraded combat agents, which meant that they could cover all four directions of the ship.

Besides, Hope One also had a hundred thousand rounds of machine gun ammunition onboard, so Su Mo was not worried about the foreign races trying to board Hope One for the time being.

However, since he was up against the foreign races, he did discount the possibility of the situation devolving into a close-quarters battle.

Otherwise, if he somehow ran into a foreign race creature with some sort of "decapitation" ability, that would mean trouble.

Su Mo put on the armor that he had prepared earlier and took out the three-pointed two-edged sword from his storage space.

Su Mo heard a humming sound as his electric boots connected with the steel plate beneath his feet. He strode back to the bridge.

On the screen, the OS was completely connected and synchronized with Hope One.

The fire-control radar continuously swept the surrounding area and created a map display. Such brazen scanning and transmission of data would have easily been detected by enemy sensors had this been done on Earth.

However, in this wasteland, it was nothing more than an exciting experiment.

Within these two kilometers, it was as if the ship possessed the eye of God. Even the terrain underwater could not escape the scanning and imaging of the radar.

With this data on hand, the OS could analyze the directions and trajectory of the journey to ensure safe and smooth passage.

After some tweaking, and making sure that all the devices were in their best condition, Su Mo sat in his chair, took a deep breath, and exhaled slowly.

"OS, initiate autopilot system, activate the engine at full power, maintain maximum cruising speed."

"Destination…"

"The Great Canyon!"

This OS was different from the AI most people had access to; it was bought directly from a government source and its response rate was very quick.

The moment Su Mo issued his commands, the screen displayed the OS's response almost immediately.

[Commands accepted, destination confirmed, autopilot initiating in…]

[3…2…1…]

The engine revved up and kicked into action the moment the countdown ended, but the ship's initial speed was limited by its weight and size.

Hope One was soon stably speeding across the waters.

The ship required a whole minute to accelerate. It continued to do so up to a speed of 45 knots to ensure a comfortable ride for the people inside, wherein they would only feel a slight sway onbaord the vessel.

Through the porthole, Su Mo could see the scenery around him passing by quickly. In just half a minute, Iron Rock Mountain had already become a distant shadow.

"My goodness, travelling at 45 knots is amazing!"

When driving an Earth Tiger, Su Mo could only maintain a speed of 60 yards per second, but now that he was driving an 80-meter long ship, he could reach a speed of 80 yards per second.

That euphoric feeling could never be felt by anyone who was driving a car!

Of course, it was also a "luxurious" feeling and experience that most captains dreamt of having!

The OS display on the dashboard issued another reminder according to the logic protocol that Su Mo set for it after three minutes. It took its time observing and calculating the balance of the ship.

[Autopilot activation complete, ETA 1 hour and 19 minutes.]

[Roll stabilization system activated, ship balance currently at 92.30%.]

[Captain Su Mo, please put on your earphones, the OS will send you data in real-time. We hope you have a pleasant journey!]

Right after that, a small cover slowly opened, revealing a pair of earphones underneath.

That pair of earphones were a high-end pair of Bluetooth earphones bought from the trading market; its properties were even graded "Excellent".

As long as it was used within an 80-meter radius of the transmission source, it could clearly receive all notifications and messages even when separated by the metal barriers around the ship.

Su Mo lightly picked up the earphones and placed one earphone securely in his left ear. He then released his safety belt and stood up.

Through that tiny earphone, Su Mo could receive real-time notifications in one-minute intervals. It could also communicate with the OS to alter Hope One's piloting mode.

If some intruder managed to get on board Hope One and attempted to wrest control of the vessel using the dashboard on the bridge, they would be in for a nasty surprise because of this feature.

Su Mo held the three-pointed two-edged sword in his hands and looked at the ETA. He then slowly walked out of the watertight door and shut it behind him.

"Both humans and foreign races can still barely save themselves and survive this disaster thanks to the information provided by the game panel…"

"These poor, ordinary mutant creatures, however…"

Thanks to the army of the foreign races, there were no mutant creatures within at least a two hundred kilometer radius of the basin.

As Su Mo observed the enormous trees filled with mud and floating on the water, some of the seawater was black in color. It was at that moment, he realized…

How terrible it would be for those who were lucky enough not to be crushed by the waterfall, but drowned in the end.

"In the face of disaster, humans are the same as these mutant creatures."

"If we don't develop fast enough, we would also suffer the same fate one day."

Su Mo sat at the bow of the ship beside the golden-red flag. The look in his eyes was sharp as a blade as he stared calmly at the seawater beaten back by the ship.

In the dark of the night, Hope One was like a gigantic monster, charging forward through the ocean.

With its legendary status, the defensive properties of the steel plates were astounding. Even if they were met with an obstacle, they would be undamaged and unscratched.

The spotlight was like the eye of the monster, controlled by the system, and coupled with the system's image analysis, it sent a real-time image of the surroundings.

Under such a terrifying speed, time passed rather quickly as well!

Before Su Mo could properly enjoy the "speeding" feeling of the destroyer, he was informed through his earpiece that they were approaching the Great Canyon.

This time, the engine room had a heat-dissipating system installed, so its current temperature was 72 degrees. There was no need to worry about a fire at all.

Hope One's cruising was at its best condition, it could switch to offensive mode at any time.

"The location Pei Shao gave us is completely under water, but it's not a big problem. The ocean can obscure our vision, but it cannot evade the radar's detection!"

Su Mo listened to the information given to him via the earpiece. He knew that they were just one kilometer away from the entrance of the Great Canyon.

Su Mo got to his feet and stepped on his trident. He then held the handle of the machine gun in his hands, calmly looking in the direction ahead of him.

The aliens had two ambush spots. One of them was at the entrance, and another was located 72 kilometers inside of the canyon.

Based on the radar's detection, there were no aliens at the mouth of the canyon so far, but Su Mo did not let his guard down, always ready to open fire!

Honk…

Honk…

The system activated Hope One's siren, blaring the horn throughout the entire Great Canyon.

It was a taunt, when Su Mo noticed no movement inside the canyon, he gave the command to drive Hope One directly inside.

Five kilometers in.

Hope One passed the entrance of the first ambush point, but it did not scan any enemies around it.

Thirty-one kilometers in.

Hope One exited the first ambush point, still, there was nothing to be seen.

Fifty-four kilometers in.

Hope One drove through the entrance of the second ambush point, but no movements so far.

Sixty… sixty-five… seventy…

Su Mo watched as Hope One exited the second ambush point out into the sea.

Still, the canyon remained peaceful as ever, there was no response from the radar at all. Su Mo frowned as he stood at the bow of the ship.

The aliens might fool Pei Shao, Zhong Qingshu, and the naked eye, even himself, but they could never get past the radar undetected, they can't hide from the future!

From start to finish, it seemed like there were no aliens hiding in wait, nor was there any resistance to stop Hope One from entering the battlefield. The ship sailed through smoothly which was very much different from what Su Mo had expected. That made him feel like the aliens were not stopping him but hoping that Hope One would journey through faster and smoother!

"If they're not here to stop me, where did the twenty-thousand aliens go, then…"

Su Mo broke into a cold sweat as his skin had goosebumps.

He commanded for the ship to stop in its tracks. Su Mo sat down as his mind raced, thinking backward to reach an inference as to what was going on.

He thought about when he caught wind of the twenty-thousand aliens and the reports from the intelligence team.

Because he had Connie as his spy, plus he had first-hand information and Zhong Qingshu's analysis, Su Mo had come to a conclusion and never thought about,

The possibility of where the aliens would be if not the Great Canyon!

"If the aliens didn't want to stop me from going out to sea into the battlefield, they must have other methods and objectives to hurt me and damage my morale."

"If that's the case, which is more important to me right now?"

Since he travelled from the future, there were only two possibilities given his situation right now. If the answer is not "A", then the real answer would be obvious!

From boarding Hope One, defending against the disaster, and then smoothly going out to sea, Su Mo tried to recall everything every single detail, much like a tape rewind.

"The marshlands, Great Canyon, Hope Village, underground?"

"Damn, the aliens have a mastermind behind them. I was never their target!"

"Then, their target should be…"

"The underground shelter!!"

At that moment, Su Mo shuddered and stood up immediately when he thought about the Underground Shelter!

All of the information, questions and the unknown suddenly had their answers revealed in this very moment!

"They want to cut me off from increasing my powers and prevent me from ever developing the shelter!"

"They have analyzed my behavior and powers from the start, they knew that I would accomplish the objective to move the shelter and not modify it!"

"That means, the aliens can move the entire shelter after I left. It was a completely safe and easy move for them!"

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Chapter 324: They Don't Know They're About To Die!

After using information analyzed from the current future he was in to confirm the intentions of the foreign races…

Su Mo saluted whoever concocted this "perfect" plan, even if it was his enemy.

Such a meticulous plan with technically no loopholes could never come have originated from the foreign races who did not have an IQ score above a hundred.

If that plan had not come from human spies, then it must have come from…

The higher echelons!

"I never thought that these sly foxes would already have their eyes on me even before I informed everyone else about the disaster."

"Taller trees often fall first, don't they?"

"It seems like I've overestimated their bottom line!"

Su Mo shook his head and stared at the empty Great Canyon with wistful eyes. He gave the exit command and was brought out of the simulation world by a ray of light.

After he discovered the foreign races' intentions, staying in the simulation world any longer would simply waste his time. It was meaningless.

Since their target was the Underground Shelter's core, they did not have to rush to destroy it right now.

They could wait a day or two, perhaps even three to five days, until Su Mo was long gone before they made their move.

Given these circumstances, even if Su Mo equipped Hope Village in preparation for this attack, they would still not be able to hold off a twenty-thousand strong army of foreign races all at once.

At that point in time, all the villagers would die, the village would be destroyed, and the Underground shelter would be in ruins. The shelter core also would also be broken and lose any potential for further growth and development.

Even if Su Mo knew about all this, the mastermind would not have to panic either.

That was because Su Mo only had two choices available to him.

The first choice was to reformat the core and bring it away with him, but that would mean losing all of his previously acquired advantages and starting from scratch.

The second choice was to remain in the area and wait for a foreign race to stumble into his territory and then obtain the permission to teleport his shelter from killing them.

Unfortunately, no matter how long Su Mo waited, no foreign race creatures would pass by because of the orders given by the Five Royal Clans.

"Did they think they could force me to reformat my shelter and run away just based on these twenty-thousand foreign race creatures?"

Su Mo watched as the wasteland appeared before him as he put the Divulgence of Heaven's Secret talisman away. He then walked out of the bridge and walked up the stairs to the captain's quarters.

This was the highest point on the ship aside from the fire-control radar.

From the room, one could see the peaceful wasteland being illuminated by the moonlight, as well as Iron Rock Mountain in the distance.

Before the disaster, the wasteland was just like Earth, full of life and its people lived their lives free of worry.

Su Mo plucked a bottle of psychic energy water from the air and slowly sipped it while ruminating on the entire situation that he was presented with.

The person who concocted this plan had thought of every single possibility. They even considered that Su Mo might have a spy on his side and that he was able to find out everything about the foreign races' plan.

Su Mo even believed that the twenty-thousand foreign race creatures that threatened to keep him in place…

Were not located around the area, nor did they band together!

They might have been split into small groups, circling around the area five hundred, a thousand, or maybe even 1500 kilometers away.

Before the disaster, these cowardly foreign races were in fear of the God Slayer. Even if the Five Royal Clans forced them against their will, they would not have even dared to think about going near his territory.

It would only be before the disaster struck, perhaps a day or two, that they would receive news about his departure and then cockily head toward the basin.

They would then lie in wait, waiting for the signal to gather.

Such strict discipline could only be maintained and coordinated through the chat channels. Even if one or two foreign races went rogue, their plan will not be jeopardized in any way.

That was unless Su Mo could intercept information as to where they were. That way, he could aim missiles to bombard their location at a moment's notice.

Otherwise, the foreign races would always be able to shift their positions and there was no way to eradicate them!

This was the apparently perfect plan, and even Su Mo nodded in approval after working out the logic inside his head.

"Looking at it from another perspective, even if I tried to plot against myself, I wouldn't even be able to dream up such a plan."

"These people have put in some real effort!"

Su Mo could not help but be delighted the moment he thought about a large group of hundreds of people, sitting around a table and discussing how to plot against him all day and all night.

"No wonder I see more and more messages about my impending death in the foreign races' chat channels recently."

"In the humans' chat channels, the higher echelons are also holding their tongues as they watch me gain so much authority and have so many citizens idolize me."

"So to these people who already knew what was going to happen, I'm just a dead man walking!"

"Nobody would deliberately spite a dead man walking, and no one would want to bear the possible rage of that man in the end!"

"So I'm just a clown to all of you?"

Su Mo gripped the steel panels as he stared at the flag at the bow of the boat that shimmered gold and red.

Su Mo had a dreamy look in his eyes. It seemed as if he was able to see past the wasteland and gaze at the faces of the men who pitied and mocked him at the same time.

Their pity at the fact that the Almighty Su of humankind was about to fall and their mocking of the Almighty Su for not knowing his place.

At the same time, they were afraid of Almighty Su's rage; afraid that he would lash out at them if they showed themselves; afraid that he would bring them down with him.

They did not think that their act of cowardice made them look like clowns. Instead, they thought of themselves as the saviors of mankind.

They wanted the "light", which was Su Mo, to sink into the ocean, never to illuminate the sky again.

However…

They…

Knew nothing at all!

They did not know that, as long as Su Mo kept his mouth shut, there would be no twenty-thousand foreign races, and no scheming against each other. After four days, that night would be the night of their demise.

They did not know that, if Su Mo self-destructed, all men, foreign races, and the wasteland alike, would be completely erased. Everything would revert back to chaos.

They knew not of…

These ordinary people who only had a piece of bread to eat, and a sip of clean water to drink.

These ordinary people who would starve themselves to protect and shelter their children from harm.

These ordinary people who toiled under the scorching, 35-degree heat just to rebuild their homes.

These ordinary people who begged and groveled in the chat channels all day just to obtain what little information they could about building boats and ships.

You, us, them.

What did these people really want?

They cared only about their own benefits, they cared only about results, they cared only about themselves, they cared only about their so-called…

Future of humankind!

"Darkness has descended upon us, but the light of dawn seems so far away. I can't help everyone hold on until dawn comes."

"As for those greedy beasts who lurk in the dark."

"They are waiting for me to grow weak and then try to tear me down, but I will let none of them escape this time!"

Su Mo stood in the captain's quarters as the cold wasteland wind blew against his face. Despite that, he could feel his blood boiling within him.

In life, one does not have to be honest; one does not have to be kind either, but one must have a conscience and live a happy life.

In Su Mo's next battle, he will go on such a rampage that heads would roll; a rampage that would wash the land with the blood of the foreign races; a rampage that would make the fishes cower in fear…

If not, he would not feel good. He would not relent. He would not be satisfied!

"Dad, mom, I'm sure that both of you will support my decisions!"

Su Mo gazed at the stars in the sky and reminisced about his father. He would hold his belly after finishing his dinner and say, "The call to battle must be answered."

Mama Su would then retort, "You're fifty years old already, old man. You would only be a huge burden going into battle." Papa Su then said, "If I can't go, my son will. If my son can't go, my grandson will. They will achieve glory."

Su Mo could not help but smile at the thought of that scene.

"Humans make infinite amounts of decisions throughout their lifetime."

"But I believe that the decision that I'm going to make today, I will never regret it at any point in my life!"

Su Mo walked down the stairs onto the main deck and closed the doors. By the time his feet connected with the floor, he had regained his composure.

No anxiety, no rage, no panic.

As Su Mo walked back to the Underground Shelter, he pieced together a plan in his mind.

He turned the winch and the gate swung open. He descended the shelter and informed everyone that he did not wish to be disturbed. He felt his brain working faster and faster.

Su Mo sat at the table, turned off the notifications from the game panel, took out a pen and paper, and started to write down his first point.

One. The location of the twenty-thousand foreign race creatures.

It was February 17th and the time was eleven o'clock. The date of the disaster would be February 22nd, and it would begin early in the morning.

Time left: four days.

The foreign races who were tasked with attacking the basin should still be in small groups currently, having not banded together just yet. The worst that could happen was a defector among their ranks, but even that would not affect their plans significantly.

However, there was still a flaw in this meticulous plan.

To avoid any kind of risk, the aliens might start to gather the small groups together two days before the disaster, approaching the basin in the hopes of preserving their fighting strength and siege capabilities for when the disaster struck.

After the disaster abated, they would disperse once more and wait for the signal to gather together again.

Thus, the best times to investigate would be between the day after tomorrow and the day of the disaster.

As long as he put in the time to search for the foreign races in a certain direction, he would be able to find some clues at the very least!

Obtaining the locations of the foreign races was not a tough task either. A small trick would be enough to reveal the exact locations of all the foreign races.

"I need two stable, high-frequency wave stations. The ones that can transmit up to thousands of kilometers!"

"I also need to upgrade the old phone so that it can detect the positions of foreign races within a 300-kilometer radius!"

"I need a passcode. A passcode specially used to transmit my messages."

Su Mo stared at the contents of the paper under the light. After he found everything he needed on the trading market, he stretched his back and stood up.

No one was ever prepared for an assassin and no one could fight against their future selves.

In the ever-changing future, Su Mo had gotten everything that he needed.

There was still a bar and a half of energy left on the Divulgence of Heaven's Secret talisman.

An hour and a half was simply not enough time for Su Mo to enter the simulation world, get through the disaster, and sail to the Great Canyon.

However, tweaking the high-frequency wave stations and intercepting a short message only required two minutes of his time.

Su Mo had 90 minutes, so he could repeat that process at least 30 times. He used the basin as the center point. As for the aliens in the 30 different directions around him…

This was their unlucky day!

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Chapter 325: The Truth, Just Within The Cannon's Firing Range!

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

"Pei Shao, can I trust you?"

Life is a stage.

Within every actor, lies the ambition to become the director of that stage.

It was dusk at the time and Pei Shao had been summoned to the Underground Shelter. He was the first person from the entire Hope Village to be summoned to the shelter, so he was panicking!

Huge beads of sweat dripped audibly from his forehead onto the floor.

It was not because of the hot weather, but rather because Su Mo had a loaded rifle with its safety off beside him. That shocked him!

"Lea-leader, I guarantee you, no, I swear to God, I swear upon the Pei family's name that I, Pei Shao never betrayed you, ever."

"As for the mission of tracking the foreign races, I swear on my life that if I ever slacked off or ever betrayed you in any way, you can take my life as you wish!"

"I'm innocent!"

"These stupid foreign races have hidden themselves really deeply. I'll bring my men over and flush them out of their holes tomorrow, no, I'll do it today itself!"

The brow of the forty-year old man furrowed with anxiety, and the anguished expression on his face looked like it had come straight out of a television show, like a tortured rebel unwilling to divulge his secrets.

Su Mo sat at the head seat, tapping his fingers on the body of the rifle. He was not anxious, instead, he asked calmly,

"Pei Shao, since you have put it like that, I shall believe you for now. I'm going to tell you something, and if you want to back out as the intelligence team leader, I shall respect your decision."

"I'm going to give you a mission. This mission concerns the entire village, you and I, and the rest of humankind. There is a high chance that you will die if you go. This mission will be very arduous and many people will misunderstand you…"

"Will you accept? Will you understand?"

"Take note, however, that I'm not testing you, nor am I threatening you. I just need an honest answer from you."

Pei Shao had prior experience as an intelligence agent. Aside from the intelligent Zhong Qingshu, no one else in the village could gather information like he did.

"I don't understand, but I will accept this mission!"

Su Mo expected a different answer. Pei Shao's response was crisp and direct, so direct that it even stunned Oreo that was hidden in the dark, to which she nodded her head after.

Pei Shao was not lying.

Oreo could smell unique scents, so she knew that Pei Shao was truthfully willing!

"Very good, go on!"

"I accept this mission because I'm one of your soldiers and a soldier's duty is to obey commands. I don't have the right to reject the tasks that you have assigned to me."

"What I don't understand is why you only gave me such a difficult task after so long. I don't understand why you would shoulder every single burden on your own, but let us develop under your wing. This is Doomsday, and this is the wasteland. We're not flowers in a greenhouse, we are warriors who can fight alongside you!"

Pei Shao stood up straight and exclaimed.

His voice was powerful, his posture upright, his gaze forward, and the expression on his face was full of unyielding determination.

He was telling Su Mo that he could be trusted!

Before Oreo could nod, Su Mo felt the "power" from deep down inside Pei Shao's heart. He stood up and patted Pei Shao on the shoulder.

At the same time, Su Mo picked up the rifle on the table, put the safety back on, and handed it to Pei Shao.

Su Mo's actions were so decisive that Pei Shao did not know how to react.

This man had a story behind him but, at this moment, Su Mo had no interest in his story.

He knew that Pei Shao was his intelligence team leader, and he was the first person that Su Mo considered as his right-hand man.

He had ambition, emotional intelligence, and he was smart too, which was the same kind of person he was!

Sometimes, a rifle can mean very little and, other times, it could mean a lot.

When there were only three handguns throughout the entire Hope Village, that rifle represented Su Mo's complete trust and appreciation for a person.

Pei Shao understood the moment he saw Su Mo hand the rifle over to him. He ceremoniously took the rifle and held it in his hands as a soldier would.

"Hope Village soldier, Pei Shao, reporting for duty!"

"Very good, very good!"

Su Mo patted Pei Shao's shoulders heavily. He then waved his arms after he realized that he had another person he could trust and use. He then proceeded to walk over to the workbench.

Pei Shao did not hesitate either. He quickly followed Su Mo after storing the rifle in his storage space.

Inside the workspace, light illuminated the entire room. The huge overhead light shone as bright as daylight.

Pei Shao followed Su Mo into the shelter. Being the first person to enter the shelter, he curiously looked around the place, but his gaze stopped at the equipment on the table.

"Leader, this is…"

Su Mo smiled, "Yes, these are two shortwave tactical portable radio transceiver units, model number PRC-2090, which are equipped with a fully automatic antenna tuner. This allows for the deployment of a full range of tactical and static antennas. I think that you should be familiar with this!

Pei Shao nodded, "I am very much familiar with it. I have been eyeing this thing even while I was back on Earth, but I never got the chance to get my hands on it. This Australian product sure is good stuff. With just a USB mount, its signal can reach up to 2000 kilometers without a problem. In fact, this thing is so easy to use that it can easily push other radio transceivers off the market. Leader, how did you manage to get something like this?"

Pei Shao's eyes seemed to glimmer with excitement, like a kid obtaining a new toy, and he wanted to play with it right there and then.

Su Mo smiled back, "With chat channels available, who's going to use radio transceivers instead? There are still plenty of humans alive right now, so even though this thing is quite rare, you can still find it if you search hard enough. I even managed to get you the USB mount for it!"

Su Mo then patted the machine that was covered by a black cloth before revealing it. Pei Shao's eyes widened and his mouth gaped at the sight.

He was absolutely dumbfounded.

Pei Shao hesitated for a moment and then gritted his teeth, "Leader, you mentioned that the chat channels have completely replaced this thing, so there is no need for us to waste money on such a machine. We can spend some points to add friends on the channel, and we can get those points back really easily simply by killing some foreign races during the disaster. I don't see the point of buying this thing. Even if it's cheap, it's not that worth it, right?"

Su Mo shook his head, "That's not the problem. Have you ever thought about what would happen if the chat channels suddenly stopped functioning?"

"Huh?"

This time, Pei Shao was really confused but, after a few seconds, he suddenly realized what Su Mo was trying to tell him. He exclaimed:

"Leader, are the chat channels going to disappear? Is that why we're going to use this thing to communicate?"

Su Mo nodded, "You could say so. The chat channels might still be usable, but the village might experience some problems on the receiving end, so you might not be able to contact us via the chat channels, which is why we have to rely on this thing to keep in touch."

"Besides, the mission that I'm going to give you is very simple. Come and sit down here for a while and I'll explain everything to you!"

Su Mo beckoned the solemn Pei Shao to sit on his left. He then took out the upgraded old phone, demonstrated its functions and properties, and then handed it over to Pei Shao. He then began to describe the plan he had previously written on the paper.

"You have until tomorrow to get everything ready. You can use the tools here freely if you want to modify Earth Tiger. Get some food ready, fuel, weapons, ammo, the radio transceivers, emergency supplies…"

"Tomorrow morning, I will announce the disaster on World Channel, and you'll bring some men that you trust along with you. Remember, it's alright to have fewer people with you, as long as they are completely loyal."

"I need you to scout out a position north of the shelter and use this old phone to scan and record the foreign races' positions that you've scouted."

"Remember, do not come back before the disaster strikes. You have to monitor all of the foreign races' activities and movements from that direction onward. Record their locations and gathering spots, and then use the code to contact and transmit the information to me at 11.30 pm on the 21st."

"After you've done that, don't be afraid to leave Earth Tiger behind. Just make sure that you're safe and I'll come and get you later on!"

The mission sounded a little complicated, but it was not very hard to execute.

After Pei Shao listened to Su Mo's instructions, he then replied, "Leader, will scouting in one direction be enough? What if there are foreign races in other directions? We will only be scouting within those 300 kilometers. Given Earth Tiger's speed, we can cover a total of 1500 to 2000 kilometers if we do it non-stop from the 19th to the 21st. That's not a huge area at all!"

Su Mo knew that Pei Shao would have a question like that for him, so he calmly replied:

"Don't worry, just do as I say. Plus, I have a whole lot more instructions for you over the next few days. I hope that you won't have doubts in your mind. You have to treat every single command that I give you with equal importance."

"This time, the fate of Hope Village and the basin rests in your hands!"

The radio transceivers were like heirlooms, being passed from father to son, from major to captain, from veteran to recruit.

It was not just the item that was being passed down; it also signified the passing down of the responsibility that came with it.

When Pei Shao saw Su Mo solemnly handing the radio transceivers over to him, he nodded intensely with a determined look on his face.

"Go, do not tell anyone about our conversation tonight."

"Get ready early, rest early, and prepare yourself mentally. This will be a tough battle, and we cannot afford any mistakes!"

"Yes, Leader Su!"

Su Mo escorted Pei Shao out of the shelter under the cover of the night. After parting ways, Su Mo then returned to the workstation on the third floor.

Oreo heard their entire conversation.

Even though she did not have any divine powers, her ability to discern things had significantly improved.

If Oreo channeled her abilities without any external disturbance, she could easily tell if a person was telling the truth or not.

From the beginning to the end, no matter what words Pei Shao had uttered, Oreo nodded at every single sentence he said. That meant that Su Mo had made a good choice.

Su Mo caressed Oreo's head, threw her an energy fruit, and then looked at the paper in front of him. He did not rest. Instead, he continued writing the next line.

Two: Weapons to fight against the foreign races.

The weaponry development level of the shelter remained at explosive packs, light machine guns, and rifles.

These weapons were all quite useful against humans and other ground troops.

However, if they were to be employed in a naval battle, they would be rather useless. After all, the foreign races could hide underwater and escape.

That was the reason Hope One needed a weapon with an area-of-effect ability to increase its firepower before the shelter was leveled up to the fifth level and before RPGs and rockets were developed.

This weapon would only have to fulfill two criteria:

Its ammunition had to be cheap, so that it could be used liberally on the foreign races.

It had to have considerable firepower and area-of-effect; and its firepower should be able to be adjusted according to the situation.

If these criteria could be met, given Hope One's firepower and speed, going up against the foreign races would be like shooting fish in a barrel.

"The weapon must be able to be mounted onto a ship and has to fulfill both criteria. It's not that easy nor that hard to obtain a weapon like that."

"We joked around that Hope One's main deck was similar to that of a battlecruiser, and now that actually seems true!"

"If only I could get my hands on a 300mm caliber cannon, the foreign races would be toast!"

Su Mo then sketched out a "cannon" on the paper and smiled at it.

It was said that dignity depended on whose sword was sharper.

However, truth depended on whose cannon shot further.

If you wanted to strike fear into the hearts of others, you had to pound them with your fists; make them feel pain, make them cry, and make them remember!

If Su Mo wanted to intimidate the foreign races and human spies, he would have to strike at them with a cannon!

With that in mind, Su Mo focused his thoughts and the system's prize draw page slowly appeared before him, enveloping the entire workspace around him.

Manufacturing a cannon was expensive, and the technology was difficult to develop.. However, what if Su Mo could obtain a cannon from the prize draw, regardless of the cost?

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Chapter 326: Crazy Draws, The Call of Hope One!

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Cards filled the sky, and Hope One glimmered golden-red and illuminated the entire sky with the color of a rising sun.

Su Mo stared at the cards that had the same design. After he had flipped over four cards in a row, and noticing that all their properties were still trash, he stopped and sat on the ground.

Historically, naval weapons have always been more powerful and destructive than those of ground forces.

During the war, while Napoleon was praising the power of 12-pound cannons, ships were already equipped with 24 and 36-pound cannons.

The same could be said about the howitzer.

Naval forces were better equipped (longer range, better firepower), had faster reload times (automatic loading), better mobility (the top speed of a ship is faster than a car), better defense (ground cannons do not have armor plating). Aside from that, ships could mount 203, 406, and 460 monster caliber cannons.

After thinking about the kind of weapons Hope One would need, Su Mo was eyeing the chance to obtain a cannon from the prize draw with much anticipation.

"I really need something weapon-related right now."

"Any area-of-effect weapons would do, but it would be better if it is a modern weapon, then I can prepare the matching ammunition required."

"If it's some mystical weapon instead, then I'll have to see if it has enough firepower to sustain throughout an entire battle!"

When going against the foreign races who were scattered in various locations, a cannon would be more effective than a Dongfeng missile.

The system gave Su Mo a free card draw this time. He could choose to draw any card from the entire card pool.

Besides, the system's reward was really different from the game's. It wanted to give a gift to its user.

If Su Mo chose to spend another 1000 points to draw again, the previous cards would not disappear. Instead, they would be placed into a reserve area.

For example, since Su Mo had a free draw, if he spent 5000 points, he would have six cards to choose from.

At that time, if he decided not to draw any more cards, he could choose one card from the six as a reward.

Of course, he could also choose not to pick any of those cards. He could simply choose to lose 5000 points, exit the system panel and then choose the 50,000 points reward option instead to minimize his losses.

"No matter what I end up getting, with the addition of the free draw chance, I'll have at least six options to choose from, so I'll just?see how it goes."

"By then, if the rewards are too poor or my luck is simply not good today, I'll just have to choose the 50000 points reward option after exiting the system panel."

The first draw was free, and because Su Mo knew that he still had additional chances, he was not anxious. He simply sat on the ground and stared blankly ahead, praying for a good draw.

All of a sudden, Hope One suddenly disappeared midair and was replaced by golden-red cards which danced and flew around Su Mo.

There were tens of thousands of cards flying through the air in the space in front of him each second.

Su Mo casually extended his hand and picked out one of the cards floating in the air.

After the card was picked, the other cards slowed down and Hope One reappeared once more, just like the last time.

"Let's see what kind of good stuff I've obtained from this first draw."

Su Mo was filled with anticipation. He slowly peeked at the corner of the card like he did when he drew the DF-17 card previously.

"Hm? Not bad, there is a picture of an ocean!"

He could see something that looked like a wave on the corner of the card. Su Mo could at least confirm that the ship he had drawn was a one that was meant to sail on an ocean and not in a river or stream.

Besides, to sail the oceans, ships had to fulfil a bare minimum criteria at the very least, so Su Mo did not hesitate any further and flipped the entire card over.

A streak of light flashed in front of him and the card's properties panel popped out in front of Su Mo.

[Strong fishing boat]

[Description: A fishing boat with considerable tonnage. It has high fishing power and good refrigeration capabilities.]

[Additional properties: You may choose either one of the properties below to add on to your ship's existing properties]

[Strong fishing net: Every three days, the net can be activated to directly draw in water-dwelling creatures within a 500-meter radius into the net itself. (Please note that the fishing net will require 15 natural days to repair after usage of this ability.)]

[Cold storage: After choosing this option, a cold storage area will be created on the boat. Everything stored within this area will expire at a 50% slower rate.]

[Comment: Three years of feasting with just three days of storage!]

"Hey, these properties are quite good. It has a radius of 500 meters, and the net can repair itself after it's damaged."

"It's a shame that I'm after weapons this time around!"

Truth be told, this ship's properties would be considered god-tier to a normal person in terms of gathering resources.

You would only need to find the right spot on the ocean, cast the net, and rake in tons of fish just like that.

Besides sustaining life, any extra fish could be used to trade for other resources, so it could be considered to be a minor resource exploit.

Su Mo had a lot of resources, but he was quite desperate for weapons right now, so he was feeling somewhat anxious.

He shook his head as he stared at the card in front of him. He could not help but set it aside and continue drawing more cards.

The cards danced in the air as 1000 points were spent, hoping that a miracle would appear among any one of them.

This time, Su Mo did not randomly pick a card. Instead, he thought of a very specific position from which he had managed to draw the DF-17 card. He slowly extended his hand and, when his hand was close to a card, he suddenly snatched it out of the air.

The card seemed to want to slip out of Su Mo's fingers, but he gripped it tightly.

"Good god. This draw is equal to wasting a day's work, so please give me something worthwhile!"

Su Mo did not flip the card over slowly from the top-right corner this time around. Instead, he chose the bottom left corner of the card and slowly flipped it over.

"This looks good, very good. There's still a picture of the ocean!"

"Gosh, it's steel, so it's a modern ship!"

Before this, Su Mo was mentally prepared to fail to obtain a modern naval ship.

After all, the prize pool of the system was way too extensive, so anything related to boats might be included, including paper boats.

However, Su Mo noticed that he received a modern ship on his second draw, so he could not help but feel as if fate was on his side.

"Thankfully I didn't choose the option to gain fifty thousand points. This ship looks pretty good!"

After flipping the entire card over, Su Mo stared at the picture on the card and was startled. He then immediately looked over to the card's properties panel.

[USS Fletcher]

[Description: Also known as the king of anti-aircraft ships during the Second World War, it is equipped with 40mm Bofors guns and Oerlikons 20mm cannons as standard anti-aircraft weapons. It can fire a dense barrage of shells at close to mid-range, destroying enemy aircraft and ensuring total control of the skies. Aside from that, the 127mm MK-12 dual-purpose autocannons are used as the ship's main weapon, while also being able to fire anti-aircraft shells. Together with the 40mm and 20mm cannons, it forms a three-layer anti-aircraft defense system].

[Additional properties: You may choose either one of these properties below to add on to your ship's existing properties]

40mm gun 20mm cannon set: Comes with the ammo blueprint.

Dual-purpose 127mm MK-12 autocannons: Comes with a cannon maintenance manual.

[Comments: Are you hoping to rely on it to sail across the oceans?]

"As expected of one of the first, most groundbreaking, destroyers built by America!"

Su Mo stroked his chin as he stared at its properties and thought hard.

In the late 1930s, America designed this ship and it quickly became the most popular type of destroyer during World War II. In just two years, 175 units of the USS Fletcher were built!

The number of ships produced alone was a testament to how reliable it was.

With two MK-12 127mm autocannons, the destroyer could fire shells through two barrels. It was electrically powered, semi-automatic, and could fire at a rate of 24-30 rounds per minute. Besides, it was also equipped with an automatic time-fuze setter, which could automatically set the fuze before the shell was loaded into the barrel, and its firepower was not to be trifled with.

If Hope One was equipped with even just one of these, it would be more than enough to raise the destroyer's firepower by a notch!

"It's a real shame. This MK-12 autocannon is primarily used as an anti-aircraft weapon, so it's not very practical in battles against other sea vessels."

"Besides, choosing the most famous anti-aircraft gun throughout World War II is better than choosing this one!"

Su Mo managed to obtain a ship and a cannon. However, the options that he had right now were not very ideal when it came to Hope One.

The MK-12 autocannons required 5 people to operate. This was not a problem as Su Mo could always use the robot workers.

However, if one compared the MK-12 to other cannons from the same era, it was not particularly powerful in terms of firepower, firing rate, or reliability!

"Should I keep drawing cards? Or should I save the survival points and use them to upgrade the MK-12?"

If the MK-12 had appeared as his final card draw, Su Mo would definitely have not hesitated to grab it. However, since it was only his second card draw, Su Mo had to think things through.

Should he minimize his losses or risk it and draw the remaining cards?

After a moment of hesitation, Su Mo noticed that he still had twenty-three thousand survival points. He then looked at Hope One floating in mid-air, glimmering with golden-red light.

For some reason, Su Mo had a feeling that Hope One was speaking to him.

It was telling him that there was a card within the prize pool that suited his needs, and that it was going to appear very soon!

The ship was talking to him.

In retrospect, it might have been his own greed talking to him.

However, after some internal discourse, he felt that this was not just some meaningless rush of emotions. Su Mo then took a deep breath and spoke softly.

"System, continue drawing cards!"

The USS Fletcher card was set aside next to the fishing boat card.

Su Mo stared at the flurry of cards in the air, gazed at the position in which he obtained the DF-17 card previously, and then flashed out three times.

Su Mo felt nothing with the first card.

The second card felt the same, 2000 points down the drain!

Even as he drew the third card, that feeling had not come to him just yet.

The survival points reading on the bottom right corner displayed the 3000 deducted survival points.

He looked at the flying cards once again, feeling Hope One's magnetic summons. Su Mo gritted his teeth and flashed out once more…

Fourth card! Nothing!

Fifth card! Nothing!

That was the limit Su Mo had set for himself. His survival points plunged to a mere eighteen thousand points. Six thousand points were lost just like that.

Gambler's greed had turned Su Mo's eyes bloodshot and red.

Six thousand points. One week's worth of points vanished in just a few seconds.

That was a huge loss to a small group like his.

However…

The feeling that Hope One gave Su Mo still hung in the air. In fact, Hope One's call seemed to be growing louder and louder!

It was as if that particular card was about to appear the very next second.

"Screw it. Since this draw is about Hope One, then I'll just follow my gut and use up all the points. Even then, I won't regret it!"

He gritted his teeth and stared at the endless stream of cards. Su Mo extended his hand into the air…

The sixth card, nothing!

Seventh, nothing!

The eighth… ninth… tenth…

Wait, what is this feeling!

There were only thirteen thousand points left. Just when Su Mo randomly picked that card and was about to go for another, the feeling changed all of a sudden!

The tenth card suddenly glimmered rays of gold as it was drawn out from the sea of cards.

Even the prize draw page stopped all of a sudden, and the cards stood motionless in mid-air.

As for Hope One, it suddenly burst out from the void and manifested in front of him.

One ship, one card.

It seemed like there was an invisible chain linking the both of them together; the light around them even pulsed at the same rate.

It felt like that card had come from the same place as Hope One did; as if they were brothers.

"Damn, eleven thousand points left. Am I this lucky?"

He had a strong feeling of anticipation for what was about to take place at that moment.

Su Mo gazed at the twelve cards that he had drawn; only the last card was glimmering. Su Mo could not help but feel astonished.

Eleven thousand points. That was a lot of points to have gambled. Su Mo could feel cold sweat forming on his back even though he was still within the system.

"No more, no more gambling!"

After repeatedly making sure that the whole thing was not fake, Su Mo sat heavily on the floor as if all the energy had been drained from his body.

The rush of emotions from gambling left him with a euphoric feeling.

However, who knew what kind of consequences he would have had to bear if he had lost all of his survival points and received nothing!

Su Mo did not flip the card over slowly. Instead, he took two long breaths and, feeling his heart about to jump out of his chest, Su Mo then flipped over the entire card.

A familiar feeling.

A familiar combination.

Even though Su Mo was seeing this card for the very first time, in his dreams, it was not the first time he piloted one of these.

From its cannons to its missiles.

From its anti-aircraft prowess to its seaborne defenses.

The destroyer was not at all unfamiliar to him, and the ship was of the highest level among all the destroyers in the game…

First-class destroyer!

Chapter 327: The Annihilator, Fire Rate of 140 per minute!

Su Mo looked at the card and its properties. He then waved his arm and exited the prize draw page.

Even though the entire process proceeded somewhat disastrously, after he got what he came for, he was left with a very satisfying feeling.

From the start, many weird images of different destroyers kept flashing in Su Mo's mind ever since Hope One called out to him.

Su Mo saw magic ships like those from the movies, warships from World War II, ships that weighed tens of thousands of tons, and even spaceships flying through space. Su Mo had imagined everything there was possible.

Hope One actually needed… some very powerful weapons right now!

Hope One managed to get its legendary status due to various contributing factors during its construction process. However, its firepower was lacking, given that it had nothing but its ramming capabilities and a few small-caliber guns mounted on it.

It seemed that Hope One knew this and recognized its lack of firepower, which was why it summoned forth this destroyer.

Since they were the same kind of warship, any kind of weapon could be chosen from the first-class destroyer. As such, Su Mo did not hesitate and chose…

The main cannon!

The cannons of first-class destroyers were 130mm cannons, just like the 055 battlecruiser and 1144's Peter the Great.

However, the difference was, since the weapon had additional properties, this main cannon had a firing rate of…

140 rounds per minute!

As for its other stats, this cannon lived up to its name of "The Annihilator".

[Total weight: 41 tonnes (excluding ammo), barrel length: 70 caliber, ammo weight: 32 kilograms.]

[Highest firing angle: -20/85, tilting rate: 20/s, rotating angle: 360.]

[Muzzle Velocity: 1250m/sec, effective range: 34.5 km.]

[Furthest range: 41.5 km.]

Its -20 firing angle ensured that the enemy would still be within firing range even if they tried to hide underwater.

With an effective range of almost 35 km, it meant that even a speedboat would not be able to escape its sights.

This cannon made up for the firepower that Hope One would lack prior the addition of the vertical missile launching system. It did not matter that the ammunition…

Was super expensive!

"Using the system to produce its ammunition would require 800 points per round."

"And even if I wanted to produce it manually, I would have to upgrade the laser manufacturing machine first."

"But that's not a huge problem. I can cast the exterior of the shells in the furnace, and mix RDX and TNT to create the gunpowder!"

"After deciding on the cannon, Su Mo did not spend too much time worrying about the ammunition."

TNT was a very stable explosive that would not explode within the shell even if something went wrong.

Its manufacturing process was quite simple even. Anyone could make TNT using the facilities of a high school lab as long as they knew the entire process and the precise methodology.

Besides, with Tundra Shelter's technical support, it would not be a problem at all.

It was getting late, and after that grueling ordeal, Su Mo was exhausted even if he had obtained the reward he desired.

There might be hundreds of his enemies plotting against him right now. Perhaps a few shelters banding together even.

Su Mo had to go up against so many enemies, and he wanted to score a beautiful victory, so one could imagine the amount of pressure weighing on Su Mo's shoulders.

Su Mo looked at the paper in front of him, drew something on it, and excitedly jotted down the final point.

Three: To discover the true identities of his enemies!

Since Su Mo had the locations of the foreign races and his newfound weapons on hand, destroying their army was no longer just a pipe dream.

However, destroying these people and ruining their plans to attack him would only lower the foreign races' morale and make the Five Royal Clans a temporary laughing stock.

Doing so would not affect the masterminds behind this grand scheme very much. Instead, it would increase their wariness and encourage them to devise a more cunning plan to deal with him.

As for this matter, since Su Mo's enemies were already making their move, he decided to have no further, as he wrote:

"The spies who are working with the foreign races have a clear intention. They know that killing me will be very tough, which is why they are using these twenty thousand foreign race creatures to attack me and prevent me from developing."

"However, they never imagined that I would be able to find a way out of this situation, and a brilliant way out at that."

"Besides, since these human spies can work with the foreign races, surely they are aware of each others' identities, otherwise, they would not dare risk an attack like this with twenty thousand troops on the line."

"That's why I have to throw out some red herrings into the mix during the mission this time. It's likely that Clark will lead this group of foreign races. I have to capture every single one of these bastards and find out who these good-for-nothings behind the scenes are!"

With every line he wrote, Su Mo used his logic to create a hypothesis, and devised a plan that was very easy for him, but hopeless for others, to execute.

Su Mo folded up his notes and placed them in the deepest corner of the storage space. He then stood up and walked back over to the bedroom.

He lay on the bed and opened up the world channel. After looking at the sparse and detached conversations on screen, he then drifted off to sleep.

Everything Su Mo needed to prepare for the upcoming disaster was within his grasp.

Compared to the previous disasters, Su Mo was sufficiently prepared for this one. He had prepared for this event more than anyone else would or could.

The only thing left to do was to wait for the disaster to strike and, after ten days, meet up with his sister. Su Mo had the confidence and ability to turn this entire stupid situation on its head!

WIth that in mind. Su Mo woke up the next day at 8 o'clock in the morning. He received the daily announcement prompts, looked at his remaining fifteen thousand survival points, and sat up.

He carried out his morning routine, washed up, and ate the breakfast the cooks prepared.

Su Mo then walked outside and examined the new cannon, "The Annihilator", and then quickly walked over to the shelter with the ammunition blueprint in hand.

It was not hard to create the ammunition of the cannon manually.

Making the shell casings for the cannon did not require any specific technology either; as long as they were within the measurement parameters provided, they would work just fine.

Su Mo switched on the generator and fired up the furnace that had not been used in the past two days. He then activated the creation interface.

After three minutes, and using up 40 units of raw materials, the first cannon shell casing was created.

Su Mo opened up the system and made sure that the ammunition he created fulfilled the specifications on the blueprint design. He then walked over to the workstation to work on the most important component of the ammunition.

TNT and RDX!

Regarding these infamous explosive substances, trinitrotoluene and C4, Su Mo had struck a deal with the Tundra Shelter last night.

For something like this that did not require much technical skill, Su Mo obtained a complete manual of how to make these two substances, plus two samples of the substances.

The technology of humans was slowly returning. Other than the lone wolves and ordinary people, manufacturing substances like these posed no challenge for most organizations!

Thus, Su Mo was not surprised to receive the samples. Instead, he immediately got straight down to figuring out how to mass-produce these substances.

With the help of the LCD TV's error correction function, the first batch of TNT in the Underground Shelter was created at 2 o'clock in the afternoon!

At 3.20 pm, the first batch of RDX was also produced, stored perfectly in a container.

At 4.00 pm, based on the specifications provided on the ammunition blueprint, the first cannon shell for "The Annihilator" was born!

On this momentous moment, Su Mo simply smiled. After etching the "01" serial number on the casing, he then began to teach the robot workers the production process.

There were only three days remaining until the disaster. Since he was unsure about how intense the battle would be, given the firing rate of the main cannon, it would need over 1500 rounds stockpiled for sustained usage.

Su Mo might not be able to produce that many rounds himself even if he worked day and night at it.

However, with the robot workers' help, things became so much easier.

After going over the process with the robot workers three times, the robot workers that had already been upgraded twice had already figured out how to produce the gunpowder.

The other robot workers that were upgraded once had also learnt to produce the ammunition as well.

Were it not for the furnace's limitations, which meant that it could only produce 20 rounds per hour, which amounted to 500 rounds per day…

The robot workers might have been able to produce 1000 rounds every day!

Meanwhile, Pei Shao came over and drove Earth Tiger away and modified its chassis to make it more suited for off-road driving.

To traverse 1500 kilometers in that kind of terrain would pose a challenge for both the driver and the vehicle alike.

To prevent any accidents from happening, Su Mo also helped as well and made some adjustments to Earth Tiger while the ammunition was loaded onto the ship.

In the meantime, Chen Shen came over to see what was going on and gave his report on Hope Village's progress on their construction of defensive structures to resist the disaster.

So far, the village managed to develop a type of rubber-like substance, which they temporarily named absorbent gum.

When the substance endured forceful impact, it would be damaged. However, any object protected by it would be completely unharmed.

The most important thing was that this substance was very easy to create.

To produce it, one would only need to add some solvent to the sap of the white sap tree, which was a tree native to the wasteland, and mix them together.

Both components would create a strong chemical reaction and expand very quickly, similar to the chemical reaction between cola and mentos. One portion of the materials could produce up to ten to twenty times of the final product; the absorbent gum.

This progress report piqued Su Mo's interest, so he decided to test out the substance himself.

As it turned out, it was quite effective at doing its job.

One or two layers of the gum would not hold up against the torrent of rain, but twenty to thirty layers of the substance would likely do the trick.

Besides, Chen Shen already had his target market in mind the moment he started developing this substance.

Small and medium-sized shelters!

As for the lone wolves who wanted to reformat their own shelters into raft shelters, they surely would not purchase the gum to defend against the upcoming disaster.

It did not matter to them anyway. All they needed to do was to hide under a rock that was strong enough to withstand the rain. They could also hide underground and prepare measures to survive the fifteen-minute rainstorm.

However, those who lived in small and medium-sized shelters, and had invested many resources into constructing their boats, would find it impossible to build a boathouse that could survive the rainstorm in just three days!

Thus, the affordable absorbent gum would be very tempting to such people.

As long as they could corner this market, Hope Village would be well-fed and would not have to worry about how the market developed subsequently.

"Not bad, a very clear thought process. Since everything has been decided, we can go ahead and purchase the required raw materials."

With the wave of his hand, Chen Shen bought every single required material available and the entire Hope Village got to work.

At this point in time, there was plenty of the sap available on the trading market.

However, despite purchasing 70% of the available stock on offer, their mass acquisition did not garner much attention. After all, many of Hope One's villagers' accounts were used to buy them in piecemeal amounts.

There would be a few people who would mention it on the world channel. Even so, their comments would be quickly drowned out by the other incoming comments.

Hope Village already possessed 70% of the available stock, but they did not plan to give up on the remaining 30% just yet. Under Chen Shen's command, Hope Village slowly bought up the remaining tree sap.

Even when it was time for dinner, no one left their posts. The villagers kept an eye on the purchasing time limit and continued buying up the tree sap while absent-mindedly eating their dinner.

The purchasing frenzy stopped at around ten o'clock at night, when no more tree sap was available on the trading market.

By then, if anyone noticed, it would have been too late anyway.

Hope Village had already bought enough of the stock that it did not have to worry about anyone else trying to monopolize the market.

"Big Brother Su, let's mass-produce the gum throughout the night. That way, we can ensure a continuous supply for tomorrow morning's sales proceedings. I estimate that we will only need half a day to recoup our capital. We have enough materials to produce the gum for three days straight. That means that our profits will be fifteen to twenty times our invested capital."

Chen Shen's eyes seemed to glimmer as he described the prospects. Compared to the outrageous prices of other black market traders from before, Hope Village really made out like a bandit this time.

Of course, Chen Shen knew very well that it was 100% because of Su Mo's information that they were able to pull something like this off!

"Very well. By nine o'clock tomorrow morning, I will announce the details of the disaster as scheduled, and you guys can just keep producing and selling the gum."

Pei Shao could not help but nod as he saw the "happy" looks on the faces of the leadership team.

Su Mo simply smiled and walked back to the shelter as he thought about how tomorrow's events would play out.

On the second floor, the four little ones were still studying diligently. Connie did not slack off either as she continued her studies while recovering.

Su Mo decided not to disturb them, so he continued down to the third floor and lay down on his little bed.

Sometimes, time passed ever so slowly in the wasteland. So much could happen in the span of just one day.

Other times, time passed so quickly before anyone could properly prepare anything.

On the top-right corner of the game panel, there were only three days left on the countdown timer for the impending disaster.

Doomsday Calendar Month 2, Day 19.

This was not a very special date to most people.

To Su Mo, however, this day would commemorate the "milestone"!

"Tomorrow. Tomorrow is the day of the main act."

"I have prepared for so long. It's time for the seeds that I've sown to bloom!"

After half a month of laying low and not typing a word in the world channel; spending each day in isolation like an ascetic monk, Su Mo looked up at the ceiling and felt the damp blanket against his skin, staring at the dusty cup beside his bed.

It was at that moment that Su Mo knew that the tough times were about to come to an end!

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Chapter 328: Sailing Battleship, Wasteland's New Class

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

The night of Doomsday Calendar Month 2 Day 18, just before daybreak of the next day.

At this point in time, everyone witnessed the same warning signs that had previously occurred seven days prior to the arrival of the blizzard disaster.

After Su Mo fell into a deep sleep, a thunderstorm soon arrived.

Boom!

Boom!

It sounded like the thunder's angry roars were heralding the arrival of a natural disaster. Every flash of lightning across the sky illuminated the darkness below.

No one wanted to die!

No one had given up hope in this new world!

At this crucial juncture, over 90% of the large gatherings of humans were making their final efforts in preparation to face the disaster.

Even the lone wolves were trying all kinds of ways to hoard supplies in preparation for heading out to sea.

On Iron Rock Mountain, a series of temporary awnings were erected to provide shelter from the raging wind outside and a stable working environment for the busy villagers.

Pots of hot soup to drive away the cold were also delivered by the cooks to the villagers.

At this stage, more than 80% of Hope Village's food resources had been taken out and exchanged with various tools.

Thirty people oversaw the manufacturing process, forty people were in charge of compression, forty were in charge of packaging, and finally another twenty were responsible for sealing and storing them in the warehouse.

Given that the villagers had no need to indulge themselves in shipbuilding efforts, the efficient allocation of personnel allowed them to keep work tasks simple, and allow for a productive and fulfilling night of work.

All the villagers sitting under the awnings obviously knew they had chosen a risky strategy…

However, one thing that reassured the villagers was that…

This major investment strategy was approved by Su Mo!

The leadership might muddle things up, make mistakes or misjudgments but, as for Almighty Su, that would never be the case!

Listening to the sound of the rain falling beside them, they were full of expectations for how many items they would be able to obtain by selling the absorbent gum.

Similarly, on this wasteland that was about to be baptized by the disaster, it was not only the villagers of Hope Village who were full of expectations.

As one turned their gaze toward a particular mossy plain, there was a shelter several times larger than Hope Village, brightly lit during the thunderstorm.

Unlike the frenzied work going on in other places, as lightning flashed across the night sky, it could be clearly seen from the faces of the busy people in this shelter that…

They were excited!

They were wearing raincoats, holding umbrellas, and their steps were brisk. It seemed like there was a fire burning in their hearts!

Although the rain was pouring outside, it still did not stop them from walking out of the shelter. After identifying the direction and forming a large group, they started moving forward like an army of ants.

A hundred meters.

Two hundred meters.

Five hundred meters!

More and more people walked out of the shelter and joined the group. Everytime a bolt of lightning illuminated the darkness, a "snapshot" of that vast group was captured.

Gradually, in less than half an hour, the villagers arrived at the end of that straight path from the village, after trudging through the muddy and slippery ground.

As they turned right after about 300 meters along the end of that path, a small hill appeared in everyone's sights.

The hill was not small and looked to be a bit bigger than the Underground Shelter.

Its length spanned over two hundred meters but, because of its height—which was only about 20 meters—and because it was too long, it looked far less majestic.

It could be seen from a distance that this hill had no defined peak at its center. It resembled a volcanic crater and rain was accumulating within it.

However, it was such a hill like this that had everyone in the group holding their breaths in anticipation.

"Everybody, get in line. Don't get worked up. The test hasn't started yet…"

"Hey, hey, Lu Xin, I'm talking about you! Scrape the mud off your feet. As for the others, scrape the mud off your feet before heading in. For those suffering from conditions, put a plastic bag over your feet before going in."

On the side of the small hill was a small door that would allow three people to enter and exit when opened.

Currently, four guards with rifles were standing beside the door and shouting at the incoming crowd, yet the crowd still remained cooperative.

Those with less mud on their feet washed them while scraping the mud off. As for those who had more mud on their feet, they simply took off their shoes, put them in the storage place, and walked in barefoot.

Everyone was filled with excitement. It was as if they were on Earth and a 50% discount promotion bargain at the supermarket had just started. The entrance was crowded with people in the blink of an eye.

They took out the wooden boards that recorded their identities for the guards to verify and stored it away again after. More and more people entered the passage.

Surprisingly, there were no noises heard even though a large number of people had entered the hill. It was as if everyone had been muted.

It was not rules or threats that kept them silent, but rather something in the hill that they saw as they walked through the deep passage…

The ship!

Everyone who entered and saw the ship seemed to be possessed. They numbly walked over to an empty space and sat down quietly.

The ship was the only thing that existed in their eyes at the moment!

This was the ship that would take them to the shore of hope. It was also their only hope to survive on the wasteland's ocean.

This was the big guy that was constructed thanks to the accumulation of everyone's resources, and precious treasure that they had been dreaming about for countless nights.

If Su Mo was there at this moment, he would surely exclaim as well!

"Awesome job, Tundra Shelter!"

Twenty days ago, it could be seen clearly from Su Chan's video call that, after Tundra Shelter had separated from Ying Tianlong, its strength had declined terribly.

Not only were there only around 20 houses left, but even the population had also dropped sharply by half to less than 300 people.

Given such a decline, even if Tundra Shelter was an official shelter, it was destined to slowly descend into ruins.

In the face of the ocean disaster, there would be no miracles. They would be like the other shelters, where they could either choose to depend on a larger shelter or split up and have everyone go their own ways!

However, the situation had now changed!

It had only been half a month since then, but not only did the village size increase by an additional 40 to 50 more houses, even the population had risen to an outrageous number of…

780 people!

Although women and teenagers with lower combat strength accounted for most of these people, measured by population alone, Tundra Shelter would surely qualify as a medium-to-large shelter!

Moreover, the ship that stood there was also ample evidence of their strength.

Unlike Hope One, the ship used by the Tundra Shelter for migration was a wooden sailing ship.

Of course, it was not that the people from the Tundra Shelter did not want to use steel to build the ship, nor was it that they did not have the relevant technology to do so, but rather that they were limited by the materials required and manufacturing speed!

Without steel plates provided by a furnace that worked endlessly for 24 hours a day, the simplified construction process provided by a modular shipyard, and the super-powerful work efficiency of robot workers…

It would be impossible for them to achieve a miracle like "Hope One".

Therefore, in the beginning, 99% of the shelters basically set their sights on constructing a wooden sailing ship.

Historically speaking, Huaxia's shipbuilding industry only began to fall behind globally in recent times.

In ancient times, Huaxia's shipbuilding industry had always been at the world's forefront.

Not to mention that, when Zheng He made his voyage to the west, his massive fleet comprised Huaxian treasure ships that sailed the Grand Canal during Emperor Yang's reign in the Sui Dynasty. From top to bottom, these huge vessels had four decks and 160 cabins.

Some countries might not be able to build such a huge ship even in today's modern world.

With the experiences from their ancestors, the strengths and weaknesses of different countries were clearly brought into play during this race for survival.

Based on the number of people, those shelters with less than 300 people would be referred to as small-scale shelters.

Those with 300 to 500 people were regarded as semi-medium-scale shelters.

Those with 500 to 700 people were classified as medium-scale shelters, while those?with 700 people and above were considered large-scale shelters.

There were only three days left until the advent of the disaster. In the first round of this survival competition, shipbuilding, it was very clear who the winners and losers were.

Those small-scale shelters that lacked resource accumulations would form the bottom bracket of competitors.

These kinds of shelters did not have sufficient leaders to form a cohesive group. The villagers who lived in these shelters were unwilling to trust their leadership and contribute materials to create a collective material warehouse for the village.

Naturally, all these villagers could only reformat their shelter cores into rafts for migration.

There were many such people within the wasteland, accounting for probably 20% of the total population. Busybodies jokingly dubbed such people the "submit to the will of heaven" class.

They could only rely on luck and surrender their lives to the raft beneath them, which could capsize at any time.

Going up from this level, it was the most talked-about level in the World Channel…

The large junk level!

Large junks were also called "square stern ships". The ship was square in front and behind, with a wide deck, deep hull, low freeboard and stern.

It had a shallow draft, which made up for the shortcomings of the large amount of?resistance generated by its shape. In addition, because of its large hull, it could be equipped with more masts and sails, which allowed it to sail against the current.

In addition, its cabins were watertight and the ship itself would not capsize easily, which made it an obvious choice for small and medium-scale shelters who had some accumulated resources at hand.

During the Ming Dynasty, the ship used by Zheng He during his voyages to the west was a type of large junk. This type of ship was well-known in Huaxia and the craftsmanship method was more widespread.

Currently, apart from the 20% from the "submitting to the will of heaven" level, the remaining 65% of the population chose to build this type of ship. The only differences between them lay in the materials used and the size of the ships!

Those that could be built over 30 meters in length were called golden sand ships. Those over 20 meters were called silver sand ships, and those further below were collectively called copper sand ships.

If this kind of ship was successfully constructed, they would not have to "submit to the will of heaven" and would become capable of surviving the ocean disaster and hopefully reaching the New World.

Going up from the large junk level, there came a level of ships that could only be seen when medium and large shelters showed off…

Ship of the lines!

From 1637 to 1850, during this chaotic maritime era, and before the invention of steam engines, ships of the line were the masters of the ocean.

It was an eternally classic scene where such battleships with hundreds of naval guns moved gracefully, and the two opposing sides lined up neatly and engaged in battles against each other.

Despite its many shortcomings, the ship of the line was the dominant naval vessel during the 17th to 19th centuries, and the fact that its prowess remained unchallenged for over two centuries was evidence of its power.

It was the crystallization of human ingenuity at the time. It was also the source of confidence that humans within these large-scale shelters had in daring to intervene in the great battle of the foreign races this time.

Thirty years to build an army, fifty years to build an air force, and one hundred years to build a navy. This classic saying came from the era of ships of the line!

Saying that it would take a hundred years to build a navy was not an exaggeration. It would take at least a hundred years for a tree to grow into a board or beam that could be used to make a ship.

The building of a 74-gun battleship required a harvest of more than 2000 Eagle Country oak trees planted a hundred years earlier. Besides, it could not be constructed from wood that had been left to rot in forests and mountains.

It had to be constructed with high-quality wood that had been specially planted in private forest estates.

The oaks must not be planted together too densely either. A dense environment would cause the oak trees to grow in a manner that would force them to compete for sunlight, and such wood would not be well-proportioned.

At that time, it was claimed that whoever owned the forest owned the fleet.

Similarly, in this wasteland, some resources might be unavailable or scarce.

However, this kind of tree that was used to make ships of the line was not rare; it was even considered abundant!

Therefore, this provided the perfect prerequisite for the manufacturing of ships of the line.

Provided that one had enough resources, were willing to use disaster points to dry the wood and prepare the materials, and had enough people in the shelter to work on construction…

Then this would definitely be the ship of choice without a doubt!

Since, at present, this was the strongest ship on the wasteland!

Ever!

Tundra Shelter's chosen ship this time was a super ship of the line built out of wood.

This ship had a total deck length of 61 meters, a keel that was 49 meters long, a width of 14.7 meters, a depth of 23.17 meters, a draft of 6.8 meters, and drainage capacity of up to 1500 tons.

Thanks to the abundance of wood, and even the help of the game, Tundra Shelter used almost all their resources and piled it together to create such a monster!

Of course, Tundra Shelter managed to create such a monster not because it was an official shelter, nor because it had once occupied one of the top ten spots in the disaster rankings.

It was also not because Tundra Shelter stumbled upon some lucky occurrences and received great things from treasure chests, but…

It was because of that man who stood behind Tundra Shelter!

It was him!

He made it happen!

Chapter 329: Tundra, the Almighty Su's Strategy Plan!

"Leader, our battleship is currently undergoing testing and the results so far are excellent. There's no issue with the waterproofing layer!"

About thirty people stood on a high platform that all the villagers in the hill could not see. At the forefront was Lu Yongyi, the leader of Tundra Shelter.

There were 140 people in Hope Village and 10 in the leadership team, including Su Mo.

As for Tundra Shelter, because it was an official shelter, it was easier for them to manage, so they only required 30 people as part of the leadership team.

Listening to Shen Ke's report, although there was visible restraint on Lu Yongyi's face, he still unconsciously showed a hint of a smile.

Looking at Huaxia's 171 registered official shelters and 1786 affiliated well-guarded shelters, The Tundra, which was being tested in the middle of the hill, could be placed in the top 20 without a doubt!

Within the ranks of the entire wasteland, it could be considered to be within the top 50 positions!

At first glance, Tundra Shelter's ranking was very low but, considering the combat strengths of current naval vessels were calculated based on ship data, such a result was reasonable.

After all, there was no qualitative difference between a 60-meter long ship and a 80-meter long ship, and it was the build quality and firepower of the ships that truly mattered.

It was very likely that the 150th ranked ship could also mount a sneak attack and drag the top ten ships down from their rankings!

Of course, The Tundra was not confined to meaningless things like rankings. Its greatest achievement was still:

Unity!

Their sense of unity was incredible. Four days ago, when the Tundra Shelter received a call for help, the rescue expedition won their battle perfectly, and around 200 new refugees were integrated into Tundra Shelter's community.

Lu Yongyi's smile became even more evident at the thought of all this.

At the same time, he was reminded of the true reason why Tundra Shelter was able to take such a large leap forward…

Wait a second!

The smile on Lu Yongyi's face immediately faded and transformed into a hint of anxiousness when he thought of the man who was always smiling in the video calls and was seemingly harmless. However, that person always ended up shaking the world with his words.

"By the way, Shen Ke, I remember that Su Mo requested to trade an explosives formula with us last night, and I asked San Shi to work together with you. Did you send the information over today?"

"D*mn, I was too busy today. How could I have forgotten about this?"

She smacked her head. Even though Lu Yongyi was watching, she could not help but let a foul word escape from her mouth.

He eagerly asked about the deal with Su Mo all of a sudden while the ship was getting tested.

Lu Yongyi's "vaguely serious" words did not surprise the leadership team standing behind. On the contrary, it worried them.

This situation would have looked weird to outsiders, but to the "old hands" in Tundra Shelter, it seemed like the most natural thing.

Yes, the ship was not as important as Su Mo!

The ship could be rebuilt if it was destroyed, and they could travel on rafts instead, but if Su Mo was gone, there would not be another him!

From the initial transactions to the provision of seeds for the welfare disaster, and then "generous" weaponry support that followed, no one dared to imagine how the villagers in Tundra Shelter would fare were it not for Su Mo's support.

No one dared to imagine what would have happened to the almost 800 people here had it not been for the iron and steel weapons that were used in the frenzied assault on the nearly 1000 foreign races during the rescue expedition's battle four days ago..

The relaxed atmosphere suddenly turned serious because of one sentence. Feeling great tension in the air, Shen Ke quickly responded, "It's sent. I sent it early in the morning. Here is the detailed record. The total cost for San Shi to obtain the information was…"

Shen Ke pulled out a small bound copy of the information from the storage space.

Turning to the last page, it detailed the entire process of the trade for the TNT and C4 formulas that Su Mo sent over to Tundra Shelter before going to bed last night.

From the first sentence to the process of collecting information, to the cost and final transaction, Shen Ke kept a record of everything.

After nervously reading the entire record, as Lu Yongyi loosened up his body, the people behind him also let out relieved breaths.

"Great! This matter has been conducted excellently!"

"We must respond to all the transaction needs on Su Mo's side as soon as possible next time, and we must ensure that the transactions can proceed smoothly at all costs!"

Handing back the book and looking at Shen Ke's dark face, Lu Yongyi applauded her while showing a sense of relief.

No one knew better than him how much loss Tundra Shelter would suffer if they were no longer considered Su Mo's first choice when it came to trading.

The responsibility of carrying the lives of hundreds of people was too heavy of a burden for Lu Yongyi to shoulder alone without the help of his good friend.

Had it not been for Su Mo's support in solving the food and safety issues, let alone building The Tundra, it was even uncertain whether the hundreds of people below would survive.

"By the way, how's it going regarding the matter that I asked you to investigate? Our Tundra Shelter has received many great favors. We must not be ungrateful villains!"

Looking at The Tundra below that was rapidly being tested, Lu Yongyi's words took a sharp turn and his face suddenly showed a trace of determination.

He was one of the insiders of humankind's big plan this time and, at the same time, he knew exactly how incredible the benefits would be if the decisive battle plan was successful this time.

However, compared to a particular thing that had been weighing down on his heart, the big plan…

…was not important!

Lu Yongyi stared at Shen Ke. The others behind also moved two steps forward and directed their gazes at her.

Now the center of attention, Shen Ke ruffled her short hair and shook her head slowly.

"Leader, I know full well how important this matter is. We've received too many favors from Almighty Su ever since the establishment of our shelter. Not to mention you, even we and the villagers below speak of Almighty Su's greatness all day, but you also said that we should ask tactfully about this matter to avoid tainting Almighty Su's reputation, so I vaguely asked him seven or eight times throughout this period. However, whenever I broached the topic, he kept shaking his head and told me that I didn't have to worry about this…"

"…it's not that you don't know what Almighty Su's character is like. Unless I make it clear by telling him that, from the outset of The Tundra's design, we reserved 200 seats for him and that, if he didn't build a ship, he could wait for us on the spot to pick him up using The Tundra…"

"…otherwise, given his current position, he would never accept our kindness."

With hurried breaths, Shen Ke spoke non-stop, and it could be seen how depressed she was after her seven or eight times communications with Su Mo.

Shipbuilding was difficult; as difficult as ascending to the heavens.

Sailing a ship was difficult; as difficult as flying out into the universe.

This was the current consensus that everyone from Earth had come to.

It was easy to build a simple ship or boat; with only the size of the ship posing any difficulty.

However, sailing a ship well could be said to be the most difficult thing to do for most ordinary people who had never seen or traveled the seas in their entire life.

Generally speaking, operating a large junk required at least 18 crew members who were trained and familiar with the ship's workings.

Only in this way would the ship set sail smoothly!

If they wanted to steer the ship well and be combat effective at sea, a 30-meter large junk would require a total of 40 crew members!

It sounded exaggerated, but the numbers required would be even greater if the junk was replaced with a ship of the line instead.

Such large naval battleships had to essentially maintain the ability to fight 24/7.

This was not because of the large number of naval battles, but rather because of the uncertain sea climate.

Without the assistance of a computer, a 24-hour watch was required to operate this wooden battleship safely and efficiently.

Otherwise, if there was one careless mistake, and if the ship had problems, the repair works would be extremely difficult to pull off without mechanical assistance and a place to dock.

This was the case with The Tundra. The entire ship needed 220 crew members to sail it perfectly in shifts.

After relying on many days of daily intensive training and education, these 220 crew members barely reached the minimum standard.

As such, everyone, including Tundra Shelter that had traded dozens of times with Su Mo, also believed that…

Even if humankind's strongest representative, Almighty Su, could build a large ship with his resources and abilities, he could not sail it!

No matter how strong one's combat strength was, could one still sail a large ship on the seas alone?

What about logistics, maintenance, piloting, and firepower?

These were big problems that could not be solved in reality!

At this time, Su Chan, who was mixed in with the crowd below, also felt a trace of anxiousness after seeing the majesty of The Tundra.

At first, Su Chan did not panic when faced with the ocean disaster. Instead, she felt very fortunate that it would be easier to rendezvous with her brother, Su Mo, on the sea.

However, as the situation gradually took a turn for the worse, after seeing the Tundra and hearing other people's remarks…

Su Chan panicked!

Dude, didn't they agree on raft survival? How come there was a battleship dozens of feet long?

Was not this f*cking cheating?

How could mortals like my brother come to get me when something like the "battle of the gods" was happening?

Su Chan's familiarity with Su Mo made her instantly think of how he would look by the time he arrived to pick her up on a raft!

On one side, there would be a ship of the line that was tens of meters long, and on the other there would be a raft floating on the water that could sink at any time…

Fine…

The scene was so beautiful she could hardly imagine it!

In naval battles like this, Su Mo's role was more like a totem to humans, rather than the main force in the war against the foreign races!

"Shen Ke, as I told you, don't be tactful. In my opinion, Su Mo's not one to act coyly. Maybe the results would be better if you just told him directly."

"Wang Teng, are you dumb? It's better that you keep such words to yourself and not utter them. Almighty Su isn't someone vulgar like you. Sometimes reputation isn't important, but sometimes it is. What if Almighty Su gets angry and stops trading with us? I'd like to see how you'll handle that."

"What if we invited Almighty Su to fight the foreign races? Since we'll meet each other by then, and when he sees how The Tundra is more powerful, everyone can join forces. Almighty Su could provide the firepower, and we could provide the ship. Together we can fight off a huge number of foreign races at once."

"Eh? This works! Everyone's destination is the New World anyway—there's no conflict in this!"

"Nah, it's not that feasible. You can be smarter and say how the people in our shelter greatly adore Almighty Su and, now that the disaster is approaching, we want to reunite with him and journey to the New World together. This way, everyone could look after one another and even help more Huaxians to survive!"

Before Lu Yongyi could speak, the leadership team behind him started quarreling with each other, hoping to replace Shen Ke and talk with Su Mo on their own.

Seeing this lively scene, Lu Yongyi did not call for it to stop, but instead smiled and said, "It seems that all of you are pretty free. Alright, everyone shall come up with a plan. Once you're done with it, pass it to Shen Ke immediately. We'll have a meeting after that, and the plan that receives the highest votes will be chosen!"

"Got it, we'll do it according to what our leader says!"

"Great idea!"

Everyone immediately stopped making noise after Lu Yongyi stated his terms. They sat on the ground one by one, frowned, and muttered while taking out pen and paper to draft their own…

"Su Mo Strategy Plan!"

From thinking of ways to communicate with Su Mo to better preserve his reputation, to ways of negotiating meetings and details, and then finally on how to join forces in attacking the foreign races.

Shen Ke did not dare think about these things, but the veterans in the leadership team were having a blast. They laughed while writing, giving free rein to their imaginations.

Of course, the ordinary people sitting under the high platform knew nothing about this outlandish scene of people writing at intense speeds.

In the Underground Shelter far away, Su Mo, who was struggling with martial arts practice could not possibly know of it either.

Thanks to yesterday's thunderstorm, Su Mo's sleep did not last the entire night, despite his excellent sleeping conditions.

He did not sleep well due to the thunder that sounded from time to time.

After waking up, he even wore the combat uniform and went for a stroll on Hope One at four o'clock in the morning.

After inspecting the drainage and waterproofing facilities and finding no problems with them, he then returned to the shelter with peace of mind and continued sleeping.

However, the biggest reason why Su Mo could get up and exercise just after six o'clock in the morning was not the thunderstorm…

It was the itch that had appeared inside his body since five o'clock in the morning!

Over the past few days, he had frequently entered and exited the talisman simulation world. Su Mo was unsure if it was simply an illusion, or that his physical fitness was in fact moving up the ranks in an abnormal way again.

It had only taken him two months to go from having the strength of a weak office worker who could not even tie a chicken down, to the current him who could bench press 180kg 8rm and powerlift a maximum of 220kg.

(TN: A repetition maximum (RM) is the most weight you can lift for a defined number of exercise movements.)

Early in the morning when he felt his body itch to the point where he could no longer stand it, Su Mo got up for a test and was shocked to find out that his limit had risen from 220kg to 235kg!

At this time, as he realized the 250kg strength requirement required to upgrade the shelter to level five was close at hand, Su Mo became excited and started practicing.

From six o'clock in the morning, Su Mo trained for one and a half hours in the spacious gym before stopping.

Unfortunately, his physical fitness seemed to rise the fastest when he did not care about it.

When he paid more attention to it, it acted like a snail that lay motionless on the ground.

While sweating, Su Mo took a pitiful glance at the shelter promotion conditions, which was just two points short of the 50 required by the game.

"I hope my physical fitness will take a leap forward before I head out to sea. At that point, I wouldn't have to worry about having no time to work out any longer!"

"Sigh, I'm still short of time!"

So far, due to time constraints, Su Mo had not put too much effort into examining the source of the inexplicable increase in his physical fitness.

After all, apart from the fact that his daily appetite was a little bit larger now, the fact of the matter was that the change was still a positive one no matter how he perceived it. There was no need to panic at all!

After wiping off the sweat, changing into a set of dry clothes, and having a hearty breakfast with the four little ones, the survival points from Month 2 Day 19 arrived on time, earning him a full 2000 points.

Seeing that the survival points total that had been originally lost due to the lucky prize draw had recovered to 17,000 points again, Su Mo put on the fully-waterproof combat uniform and walked out in satisfaction.

At around eight o'clock, the thunderstorm still had not passed. The road in front of the shelter was fine, though it was a little slippery and muddy.

However, there were already large areas in which water had accumulated that could be seen from a distance.

Su Mo knew that this was a chance given by the game for everyone to test out their ships.

However, it was not good news for the intelligence team that had to trudge over 1500 kilometers through the harsh wasteland terrain!

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Chapter 330: Butterfly Effect, Intrepid Channel 001!

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

During the thunderstorm, Su Mo stood in position for more than ten minutes.

Halfway through, Su Mo even climbed to the top of the hill of the Underground Shelter and looked into the distance.

However, it was a pity that the thunderstorm still showed no signs of stopping throughout those ten minutes. Lightning flashed through the sky, disappearing in an instant over the horizon.

"There was no water on the ground in the talisman simulation world. This means that this rain won't last longer than a day…"

"…but Pei Shao's departure time can't be postponed. Otherwise, the expedition team wouldn't be able to cover the 1500 kilometers distance before the disaster strikes."

Su Mo felt a little worried as he stared at the torrential rain falling from the sky and the puddles of water that were accumulating on the ground.

To find these foreign races lurking around in the basin area, the four-step plan made the night before was very clear and concise.

First, direct Pei Shao to set off toward the twelve o'clock direction from the basin area.

Second, enter the talisman simulation world and communicate with Pei Shao on the radio station three days later and receive all the location data of these foreign races and record them in the form of a map.

Third, return to the main world and inform Pei Shao, who may have only been traveling for five minutes, to change direction and continue investigating along the one o'clock direction instead.

Step four, repeat the previous steps until Pei Shao finishes exploring the 1500 kilometers surrounding the basin area in every direction.

At that time, after completing these four steps and drawing up a map, Su Mo could easily sail Hope One to these locations when the ocean disaster struck and give these foreign races, that had ill intentions for the basin area, a big surprise.

However, this method was not one which allowed them to just sit back and relax. Instead, there was a fatal problem that had to be addressed.

Although Pei Shao might have only set off for five minutes, Su Mo would already be able to enter the talisman's simulation and receive all the information regarding this particular direction in the future.

However, the entire premise for this hinged on the fact that Pei Shao had to arrive within those three days without any accidents!

If Pei Shao encountered a fatal accident along the way, or stumbled upon any problems in the process of collecting information…

Su Mo would not be able to receive any information at all in the talisman simulation world three days later.

"Fortunately, Earth Tiger's chassis was upgraded yesterday…"

"…I only need to spend some survival points to fix the minor bugs we encountered previously and, in passing, upgrade the wheelbase to ensure the stability of the vehicle…"

"…as for further upgrades…we'll save that for later!"

Currently, the rate of Earth Tiger's upgrades had completely failed to keep up with the rate that natural disasters were developing.

Perhaps after heading to the New World, Earth Tiger could receive a new lease on life but, at this point, Su Mo decided to accumulate more survival points as an emergency measure.

From the 2000 points that were gained today, 1200 points were spent, and some existing materials were added into the mix.

Earth Tiger became a little wider; its originally narrow body became thicker and had its tire grip increased.

Such an upgrade was completely sufficient for a "classic" car like this.

It also came as somewhat of a big surprise to the intelligence team!

The garage gate was raised to its highest angle and the upgraded Earth Tiger was parked inside. He closed the garage gate again, opened his friends' list, and sent a message to Pei Shao asking him to pick up the car and prepare for departure.

After all this was done, he instructed the four little ones not to disturb him at all costs and, walking briskly, Su Mo then returned to the third floor of the shelter.

The huge clock hanging in the living room of the gym indicated that the time in the wasteland was 8:35 in the morning.

It was the final twenty-five minutes before he was set to announce the disaster information at nine o'clock.

As he arrived on the third floor, the feeling of his blood rushing and heart rapidly beating, that had disappeared for many days, came back again and Su Mo could not help but grin.

Su Mo took out a new rag, wet it, slowly walked toward the workbench, and started cleaning.

Su Mo had created hundreds of tools on this workbench, not only in exchange for countless resources in the shelter, but also for the most important blueprint design of Hope One.

It was also on this workbench that Su Mo created all kinds of explosives, which resulted in the acquisition of hundreds of treasure chests that helped him during the most difficult stages of the shelter's development!

It was this workbench that witnessed the vigorous development of the Underground Shelter, along with the countless beats of sweat rolling down from Su Mo's head.

This workbench was also the one that witnessed Su Mo tireless efforts and his sleepless nights!

This small table carried too many of Su Mo's memories and had been with him for over half a month!

The great things in life usually began from small beginnings.

Su Mo earnestly cleaned off the oil, floating ash, and debris on the table with each wiping motion.

After repeatedly cleaning it, the workbench began to regain the luster it once had.

As the table slowly revealed its former glory, Su Mo, who seemed unremarkable at first, suddenly burst forth an aura that seemed like a double-edged sword was being unsheathed.

No pain, no gain!

From the end of the welfare disaster to the present dormant state, although the myths about Almighty Su were still being discussed in the chat channels, only Su Mo knew that…

His sword that had been silent for too long was finally about to be unsheathed!

He became focused, opened the game panel, and clicked on the chat function. Before entering the World Channel to announce the serious news, Su Mo first clicked into the Regional Channel that he had not entered for a long time.

When the last welfare disaster ended, Ocean Version 2.0 was updated and the number of people in the Regional Channel were reallocated accordingly. The total number of people inside currently totaled 9235.

In other words, of the current players in the Regional Channel, everyone else except for the first batch of old timers were considered neighbors.

Even the villagers of Hope Village had joined this Regional Channel!

"Huh, there are still 912 of those old timers from the second wave remaining!"

"It seemed that humans' adaptability rate was very high and, as things progress, more people should be able to survive in the future."

After two secret trading realm opportunities and the provision of seeds during the welfare disaster allowed even these old timers, even if they did not have extra resource accumulation to make a fortune, to do better than others.

In the upper right corner of the channel there were some new features, so Su Mo clicked on them with interest.

[Current channel participants: 9235 people]

[Current channel combat strength: 35814]

[Current channel: 001. Ranking among humankind: 1]

"Dude, there's even a channel ranking now, and channel 001 turns out to be ranked number one."

"I contributed 35,000 points alone. If I were to be excluded, the combat strength rating of 814 could still rank within the top 50 in the wasteland!"

Looking at the information behind each person's name, Su Mo could not help but be happy as he opened the Regional Channel's chat panel, as he glanced at the first message at the top.

Dude, those acquaintances of his were still there even though he had not seen them for a long time!

[Liang Jian: Where's the brother from yesterday's tutorial on making women willingly gift you a large ship? Are you still here? I have my knives sharpened and am ready to serve you some meat if you come over to my shelter!]

[Liang Jian: By the way, I'm making an advertisement. The location of the Spark Unicorn Shelter is XXXX. There are currently 86 people here, but there are still 40 seats available on our silver sand ship. Each seat is now being sold at a discount. You only need 200kg of supplies to join the shelter and become family. This is definitely a steal! If you want to join, come and chat with me privately. This is on a first-come, first-served basis!]

[Cai Junfeng: F*ck, that idiot in charge of the supplies in our shelter drank some wine and fell asleep too soundly last night, causing all the wood that was dried under the sun to become wet. Freaking unlucky. Is there a brother here who has a lot of wood on hand? We are willing to buy it at a premium of 15% above the market price, as long as it is dried or baked using disaster points!]

[Na Wenxing: Awesome, I thought Lu Bu was already invincible, but I didn't expect anyone to be braver than him. He totally deserves to be commander-in-chief!]

[Sun Xian: Hey, Feng, you said your shelter already has about 20 people, including kids and adults. Why are you guys still building a large junk? Listen to me, don't be fooled by those black-hearted people who sell wood on the trading market. You need to sail the boat once it's built, and you can't do it with 20 or 30 people. Do you think you're really playing a game where you could just control it with WASD as soon as you get on? Do you think you could just press "shift" to drift or press "ctrl" to activate nitro?]

[Sun Xian: I'm showing you a clear path here. Stop making large junks. Take advantage of the fact that the price of tires on the market now is low, buy dozens of them and reformat your core. Turn it into a raft, and then attach the tires to the raft using knots—the raft's buoyancy will surely be top-notch. I assure you that even if your raft overturns, you can still smoothly float to the New World using these tires!]

[Gao Wen: Sun Xian, you old dog, stop the bullsh*t. What did you tell us about hiding from the blizzard in a "coffin" last time? If it wasn't for Almighty Su ending the disaster ahead of time, I would've already been killed by your great invention, yet you still want to deceive us and make us surrender to our fate? Could it be because you have a load of old tires in your hands?]

[Rebecca: I can testify that Old Dog Sun does have tires on hand. This is treacherous!]

[Sun Xian: Hey, hey! Don't slander people's innocence for no reason! Listen to me, what if Almighty Su ends up ending the ocean disaster in advance for us? Won't we be spending money on shipbuilding for nothing? We might as well buy some tires!]

[Rong Taotao: True, but then again, ever since I joined in after the last update, I've never seen Almighty Su speak!]

[Ren Chong: Young man, you're still too young and simple. Almighty Su has countless opportunities. He doesn't have the time to come up here and brag like us every day. However, every time the Almighty Su comes up here to say something, something huge is bound to happen. It's better that he doesn't come out, otherwise, you and I should be worried about our lives!]

[Star Palace Flower: What a pity. I'm still waiting for Almighty Su to come out and say something so I can ask him if I can join his shelter~]

…

The discussion topics on the Regional Channel did not even go past five comments before the topic of Su Mo was brought up once again.

This feeling was a familiar one, which made Sumo laugh uncontrollably.

Although the number of people on the Regional Channel was currently surging, this was due to the butterfly effect caused by the two previous secret realm trading opportunities, which brought these "old timers" some great early benefits in terms of resources and supplies.

As expected, the development meant that these people were currently in their heyday.

Liang Jian, who had a bright mind, had now become the leader of Spark Unicorn Shelter; with more than 80 people under him and even a large junk that could accommodate more than 100 people.

Cai Junfeng, who was previously still asking if he could recycle his own waste, seemed like he had plenty of resources on hand judging from his offer to purchase resources at a premium price.

Even Sun Xian, that poor halfwit who needed to live in a "coffin", was now living a life reselling old tires and making a fortune.

Unknowingly, with the early assistance of Su Mo, these people successfully moved forward and had become leaders in the wasteland.

Seeing others influenced by him and living better, Su Mo could not help but feel some kind of…

Inexplicable happiness!

After he continued observing the conversations for a while, and seeing all the different versions of the legends of Almighty Su, Su Mo held back his smile and started writing down his first message in over a month.

[Su Mo: Hello, we're three days away from the disaster. How's the preparation going for everyone?]

An ordinary statement, that was just like chatting with an elderly person, appeared. Su Mo commented simply, but for the Regional Channel…

Boom!

It was like dropping a cannonball on the surface of a calm lake.

It exploded!

The Regional Channel that was originally slow-paced and relaxed suddenly erupted with messages after two to three seconds of silence after his message was sent.

Whether it was the lurkers or those who were actively chatting, everyone was blown away by this short sentence, despite the fact that its number of words could be read in a single glance!

At this time, for the people who were not scrolling through the Regional Channel, their game panels also exploded as they received many private messages.

What? Almighty Su appeared?

F*ck, and he was on our channel?

Oh, God, he greeted us?

These three questions caused those who were sleeping and resting, those working in a hurry, those eating, and even those in a meeting, to enter the chat channel.

The message frequency of the Regional Channel of forty or fifty comments per minute suddenly skyrocketed to as many as thousands of comments per minute!

There were no limits on the number of comments and their frequency, as shocked emojis, welcome emojis, and rose emojis littered the screen. It was like a rising tide rushing into the Regional Channel.

Without the intervention of the game panel to manage the scrolling speed, it was impossible for one to see what was being said every second.

After looking at it for a while and realizing that it was too difficult for him to distinguish everyone's messages on the screen with his naked eye, Su Mo closed the Regional Channel in tears of laughter.

Yes, although he was not living with them, his legend would still be passed on forever, right?

Compared to Su Mo's prestige in the World Channel, these people were a bit more fanatical.

Su Mo was even sure that if he posted a message about recruiting crew members in the Regional Chat, many of them would start packing up their supplies and immediately start heading over to Hope Village.

This was Almighty Su's appeal!

It was also the real reason why these trashy fish lurking at the bottom of the well conspired!

They were afraid that Almighty Su's appeal would become stronger and that everyone would put their faith in him instead of them in the wasteland!

However, after closing the Regional Channel panel, Su Mo was not complacent because of his widespread appeal.

With a touch of seriousness, Su Mo's facial expression turned calm again as he entered the World Channel!

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My Post-Apocalyptic Shelter Levels Up Infinitely! #Chapter 331 - Breakdown Time! The Whole World Is Shaken! - Read My Post-Apocalyptic Shelter Levels Up Infinitely! Chapter 331 - Breakdown Time! The Whole World Is Shaken! Online - All Page - Novel Next

Chapter 331: Breakdown Time! The Whole World Is Shaken!

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Acid rain, snowstorms, and plants growing out of control.

Currently, the first group of humans to transmigrate into the wasteland had survived three disasters in total.

Correspondingly, the number of allowed messages for all the original "pioneers" had increased three times as well.

Due to the storm last night and the incoming disaster, even though it was the time of the morning with the least people around, the message speed in the World Channel was not sluggish. Many people were talking about the situation with the rainstorm in various areas.

There were still three days before the disaster. Those who were supposed to build ships had basically reached the end of their testing phase. Those without ships had also reached the critical moment of that final struggle.

However, the more moments like this occurred, the more the World Channel's activity reflected the current nature of the upcoming 'chaos'.

Su Mo did not say anything. With twenty minutes still to nine o'clock, he calmed himself and carefully observed the current state of public opinion in the wasteland.

"Is there anyone near XX? Let's attack those brutes at the duckBB Shelter together. I saw them colluding with foreign races last night. They're about to become a family already!"

"F*ck, this shelter's not dead yet? Previously, my brother's shelter was tricked by these animals into opening their doors. In the end, they wound up with an infiltrator who collaborated with the foreign races behind the scenes. I don't believe that up until now, officials still haven't taken action against a shelter like that?"

"Officials? Have you had too much to drink? You think the officials are still in a mood to care about this? Everyone is waiting to board their ships and go out to sea. Where would they find the time! But let's not get distracted. Those who collude with foreign races should die first!"

"Ocean Salvage Shelter, 32.5-meter?sand ship1, 18 robot warriors, 46 certified seamen, location XXX. Currently, there are still 12 spots. One ticket costs 3 tons of supplies. If you're smart, come on board. If you're poor, don't add me as a friend. I'm here to survive, not to do charity!"

"You're just a sand ship, but you're coming here and repeating the same thing day after day—what are you making such a fuss about? The Red Sea Shelter has a 49-meter ship of the line, and it's only got 122 spots left. You don't need to have supplies or be great at combat. As long as you're good at swimming and know how to maintain ships, we'll recruit you without any other condition. Food and accommodation will be provided. Core members will also get a family position. If you want the spot, just add me as your friend right away."

"Oh, by the way, we are not going to the new continent. We are going to fight the foreign races. If you want to board the ship and piggyback off of our hard work, stay behind. Don't make us deal with you later on!"

"Four hundred-year-old oak, only fifty more of them left in stock. After this, they'll be out of stock permanently. Those who still need wood, quickly go to the market and grab them!"

"The Shelter of the Holy Light is recruiting capable fighters. The requirements are that they bring two months' worth of rations and that they possess a strong physique. It's best if they have basic firearms training. Once they pass the review, they will be given firearms once they become part of the Shelter. When the time comes for ocean battles, the spoils of war will be divided at 82%!"

"Are there any raft brothers who want to be companions? My position is XX. If there are any, you can contact us directly. Let's go to the new continent together!"

"You up there, don't let me catch you, you idiot. Where's your raft? How many times have I seen you trying to fish for victims these few days? You're still at it? Do you really think we're blind?"

"At a time like this, do you still believe in cooperation and trusting others? If you dare to let others in today, they'll throw you to the wolves tomorrow. Be more careful. This isn't Earth or a peaceful era. This is a wasteland! A wasteland that will swallow people whole!"

"Huaxian Three Catties Shelter, XX location, 44.5-meter ship of the line. Currently, there are 85 places left. Any Huaxians who are still nearby, hurry over. We don't need you to pay for all kinds of supplies, nor do we need you to have any skills. As long as you are Huaxian, upright in character, willing to contribute, and willing to work, you can join us for free. If you're within 50 kilometers of our location, we can even escort you over for free!"

"D*mn, I'm so jealous of the Huaxians!"

"…"

Wave after wave of information flashed before Su Mo's eyes. The situation reflected therein made Su Mo frown.

If the situation in the wasteland could still maintain this delicate balance before the deadly thunderstorm—then after tonight, when everyone realized that the disaster was not a joke or a playground game, but an actual approaching event…

They would… become crazed!

After one night, all kinds of peculiar comments that he had not seen before popped up like mushrooms after the rain. It was extremely jarring.

Even though Su Mo came on the channel every two days to take a look, he had never seen such a crazy scenario!

Killing and plundering treasure (boats), colluding with foreign races, fishing for victims and enforcing the law, fighting against each other, taking advantage of the situation to commit crimes…

All sorts of dirty tactics that they would use in secret but not openly talk about were popping up everywhere.

Not only that, they did not care what anyone else thought!

This situation was much worse than when everyone had first transmigrated here.

Now, it was as if they had truly reached doomsday. Everyone had completely lost their scruples, and their primal natures were reasserting themselves.

"There's no order. The rules impressed on everyone's hearts have already begun to rapidly collapse in these two months.

"Everyone no longer believes in the country, or that other organizations can save them.

"No benefits, no abilities, no resources—in this wasteland, ordinary people are useless. They're entities that are worth less than even a piece of oak. Other than family, no one will care if you're alive or dead tomorrow!

"The battle for the survival of the fittest has finally begun!"

As line by line of words clearly delineated the true form of the wasteland at present, Su Mo felt a chill running through his entire body even though he was wearing a combat uniform and sitting in the warm third floor underground.

Lawlessness emerged far too quickly!

It had come at least four to five months earlier than expected!

Now that he had figured out the current situation, Su Mo realized that the real threat to humanity in this ocean disaster was not that they had to cross the ocean!

Instead…

It had brought forward the prologue to chaos at a terrifying speed!

Amid such chaos, the base instincts in everyone's hearts were unleashed with no restraints!

If one wanted to go to the new continent, there was no time to slowly accumulate resources or farm.

To survive, one had to covertly attack other people and obtain their supplies.

If not, they would be the ones dying!

Was this ruthless?

This was extremely ruthless!

It was so ruthless that on Earth, it would definitely cause countless people to stand up in fierce criticism!

This, however…

This was doomsday, the true wasteland!

The humility, courtesy, and mutual trust housed within the genes of civilized humans had rapidly been eliminated in two months under this wave of extreme pressure.

In its place was now survival of the fittest!

From now on, the mutual trust and banding together when people first came to the wasteland would vanish forever.

No one would foolishly believe any longer that the other party was a good person. No one would allow these strangers to watch their backs either!

Even at sea, if two rafts met, there would not be another outcome!

This collapse of order pertained to the entire human race and was inevitable. No one could stop it. Even the "Almighty Su" that everyone spoke of was…

Entirely powerless!

No country came forward to take the stage; no strong military force came out to give instructions.

Before going to the new continent, Su Mo could imagine just how chaotic it would be on the sea this time.

Fortunately, the proportion of Huaxians among all these crazed people was far smaller.

The unique spirit of unity that Huaxians possessed enabled everyone to quickly band together in the early stages of the discussion among the uncomprehending people of other countries.

Now, many Huaxian shelters had already perfectly displayed the advantage of having a united front.

Women and children could contribute to the development of the shelters by learning crafts, thus sharing the burden of the shelter's development.

As for the men, they could also use the points accumulated by the women and children to obtain even more excellent equipment so they could increase their combat abilities and wholeheartedly focus their energy on fighting.

The division of labor was clear. Those who fought outside had attachments, while those who worked within had aspirations. Everyone was hopeful and looked forward to a beautiful tomorrow!

Of course, apart from these things, there was also the Almighty Su.

With the sense of honor brought about by Almighty Su's powerful abilities, so far, all the Huaxians were still full of confidence in regards to returning home.

This was an advantage unique to Huaxia, and also a marvel that other countries could never replicate.

"It seems I've been too optimistic about the situation in the wasteland because of Hope Village.

"This is still good, though. The more crazed they become, the faster they'll come to their senses. That's not a bad thing.

"All I can say is… it's far too sudden!"

Su Mo rubbed his stubble. He was not very moved by these humans who were crazed enough to collude with foreign races.

In the wasteland, if one chose to give up on themselves, no one would have even half a reason for saving them.

Not everyone was a god, neither were they all saints.

At the very least, Su Mo already intended to kill these individuals!

He decided not to continue browsing. When he realized that there were only three minutes left before nine, he used his mind to close the game panel and closed his eyes as well to refresh his spirit.

At the same time, he took out a speech he had prepared the night before and placed it in front of him.

As far as this speech was concerned, Su Mo did not want to spout too much nonsense, nor did he want to do anything rash to influence the future within the Divulgence of Heaven's Secret.

Nine o'clock game notifications were the most important ones after all!

[Su Mo: Hello, all survivors living in the wasteland. I am Su Mo, a survivor like you. Today, which is three days away from the disaster, I am very happy to be able to meet everyone again on the chat channel. Of course, my hope is that it would be even better if I did not need to meet you today, but I have no choice. I have received a very important message, one that concerns the survival of our human race. After much consideration, I have decided to share this message for free with everyone living in the wasteland. Right now, I will wait for five minutes before sharing this information. You can immediately inform your intimates and family, your friends, and the people around you. I will only say this once, so whether you can survive this disaster or not will depend on all of you!]

The limit of a single message was 300 words.

However, any speech that exceeded 100 words would be considered a long speech by the game.

Short messages did not have any spam or advertisement verification procedures, but long messages did. Furthermore, these were very strict!

If someone posted a long message and it was verified by the game as spam, it would automatically be blocked. Even if they posted it again, no one would see it.

This method was countless times more ruthless than muting.

It was this method that had resulted in almost no one daring to send such a long message in the chat.

Therefore, as soon as Su Mo's message appeared, before anyone could clearly identify who the sender was and what he said, it had already caused a first round of commotion.

At a time like this, why would some fool be posting a long advertisement? How silly!

With this thought in mind, everyone gloatingly glanced at the sender. However, the minute they did so…

Everything exploded!

The No. 1 name—the same gold color as the Emperor's—and two extremely familiar Chinese characters…

To the countless people in the wasteland who dreamed of being the Almighty Su, this scenario…

Was altogether too explosive!

Just like when the previous chat interface froze, and everyone's comments did not scroll down, the chat interface this time behaved in the same manner without significant intervention from the game…

Everything blew up completely!

No new messages could appear in the chat interface. The last sentence in everyone's chat was Su Mo's message!

The language was very straightforward. To enable people from other countries to understand his message after it was machine translated, Su Mo did not use any obscure idioms from Huaxia. Instead, he tried his best to express his meaning.

However, it was precisely because of this that the entire wasteland was shaken!

In the regional chat, after Su Mo spoke, everyone started causing a commotion and looking at him like he was some sort of deity.

This time, the entire wasteland truly exploded into action!

It did not matter where one was, what they were doing, or even if they had the time!

At this moment, everyone…

Entered the World Channel!

As for Su Mo, the instigator of it all, he had already quickly compiled a second speech.

In this message, using the 300-word limit, Su Mo described every minute of the rainstorm's fall volume in simple data language.

Even though ordinary people might not be able to understand the data, Su Mo believed that under this sort of volatile circumstances, some expert would soon come out to interpret it.

Then, all the ordinary people would clearly understand what kind of disaster they were about to face after three days. At the same time, they would also have some preliminary understanding of how to survive this disaster.

Five minutes later, seeing that there was still no reaction from the World Channel, Su Mo paused and tried to send his message again.

It sent very smoothly, without a hitch!

Wow!

While other people's messages could not be sent, they saw Su Mo's message appearing again.

This kind of privilege instantly drew envy from other people.

When they perused the information given in the message, they were completely dumbfounded!

What?

A rainstorm with a flow that exceeded 3000mm in 14 minutes?

Fifteen minutes later, they would still need to deal with a sudden, unreasonable rainfall that would last for 10 seconds?

Unable to speak, everyone could only express their shock through the Regional Channel and ask what the data represented in private messages.

However, there was one thing in common—no one chose to question the authenticity of the matter.

Yes, no one!

Even the large official shelters did not have the slightest bit of doubt!

The reason was simple.

At present, everyone knew that the ocean disaster was coming; they also knew that the sea level would rise. But until now, except for Su Mo and the management level of Hope village, no one knew how this seawater would show up.

Before Su Mo's announcement, almost every day and every moment, people were speculating about how the ocean would come!

From torrential rain like the days of Noah's ark to an overwhelming flood, and then to water rising on land…

Humans had a rich imagination, but no one had ever dared to think about the fact that…

In this disaster, there could be such a terrifying waterfall of torrential rain, or that there could be such a 'mindless' disaster that so completely disregarded human lives.

"Ship storage, hurry up. If you don't repair the ship's storage, you'll die!"

"F*ck, our ship is unprotected. We're doomed!"

"Ah, f*ck, this bloody wasteland. I really want to give you two punches!"

"Is this a disaster that carbon-based life can think up?"

"…"

After waiting for more than ten minutes and seeing the information that emerged on the World Channel the moment it finally resumed…

Su Mo nodded and did not use his last chance to speak.

The effect of his speech this time had already achieved his expectations perfectly.

In the next three days, be it humans or foreign races, they would still have time to prepare.

If they dealt with it appropriately, they would have a chance to 'survive'.

Furthermore, as the instigator, in the next three days, there was only one final thing left that was weighing on Su Mo.

"Pei Shao, let's go!"

"Head 12 o'clock in the direction of the basin. Before I give the order, don't return no matter what happens!"

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Chapter 332: Absolute Collapse, The Last Straw That Broke The Camel's Back!

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

In the wasteland, because of luck, many people had managed to avoid the ruthlessness of the early stages. In fact, because they had obtained certain items, they had even become rich over a short period of time.

However, at this point, out of all these daring pioneers, Su Mo was the only one left who had been able to display his talents and bravery in the two previous disasters.

Just like an evergreen tree, after announcing the details of the disaster in such a high-profile manner, Su Mo once again used a method that no one had expected…

He announced his return!

After informing Pei Shao to set out, he pulled up the chat box that he used to communicate with Shen Ke and replied to Shen Ke in more detail. After that, Su Mo stood up and stretched.

In the World Channel, even though twenty minutes had passed since Su Mo sent out the information about the disaster, the arguments about this impending event had not yet ceased.

The lone wolves were discussing how to use facilities to avoid the disaster, while everyone else was collectively debating on how to use existing tools to fight it, as well as how to protect their ships. It was an endless stream of opinions.

While browsing, Su Mo even saw an advertisement from Hope Village.

But there was one central point of discussion that did not change from start to finish.

This matter was real!

What Su Mo said was true!

A disaster would really come in this manner!

"It seems I've truly underestimated my influence.

"It's no wonder these people are targeting me. If this trend does continue and a few more disasters occur, I'll still be able to maintain my position as number one. My authority to speak might well reach a frightening level too.

"When that time comes, not only will my status surpass everyone else's—even reaching the same level as the game itself is something entirely possible!"

Su Mo shook his head and looked at the immaculately clean workbench as well as the robot worker who was still hurriedly making artillery shells. He felt slightly emotional as he strode toward the second floor.

As of now, there was only one variable left.

He had to ensure that the foreign races would not call off this attack!

In the timeline of the future, without sufficient information, Su Mo was not sure if these dim-witted foreign races would still come to covertly attack the basin as they had planned.

Therefore, what was necessary now was to draw attention to this matter of the foreign races.

Su Mo already had a plan in mind for this step.

"Connie, come with me. Today there's something I need your help with!"

Connie was startled when Su Mo called her. However, she quickly stood up and followed him.

Holding an umbrella with the extremely deferential and respectful Connie following, Su Mo pushed open the door of the underground shelter. Man and lioness walked out together, one following behind the other.

Su Mo did not say anything, and Connie did not ask.

After becoming part of Oreo's clan, Connie had very deliberately transferred her status to a lower one.

Compared to the villagers, Connie—who had the Inherited Memories of her race and had studied in her clan for more than ten years—clearly knew how to make her superiors happy and more comfortable.

Maintaining this tacit understanding, one leaving deeper tracks and the other shallower ones, man and lioness quickly went down the muddy road, arriving at the massive beast-like Hope One.

Su Mo turned the key and opened the cockpit door.

He motioned for Connie—whose face was filled with curiosity—to come in with him. He connected the engine and threw the power switch. Once he saw that the power had resumed, Su Mo sat down grandly in the main pilot's seat.

"You should know what I want you to do today, right?"

Connie immediately nodded. "I know, but Su… Master, don't worry. From the moment I joined Oreo's clan, there was no turning back for me. You can rest assured about me. Right now, the chat channel of the foreign faces is in complete chaos. As long as we add on a little more information, I guarantee that there won't be any problems!"

"Oh? It's already chaotic?"

After rapping on the steel table and hearing Connie's sincere greeting of "Master", Su Mo smiled.

The first time when he had linked to Connie's core, Su Mo had discovered only then from the foreign races' chat channel that Clark had asked all foreign races crossing the border to stop.

The other foreign races had not said much either. They had merely treated it as a form of protection extended by the Five Royal Clans.

However, after these few days of being dormant, under Clark's publicizing, this temporary pause was slowly changing in nature!

Ever since twelve days ago, when Clark officially announced that he had a plan to deal with Old Devil Su and kill him…

All the foreign races had begun celebrating wildly!

Of course, even though all of the other races were 'celebrating' at the beginning, everyone knew that this was only superficial flattery, the kind that was done routinely.

There were even quite a few foreign races who praised Clarke volubly on the chat channel, before switching to private messages and cursing him instead.

The reason was very simple.

Even though the Five Royal Clans were powerful, they were not as powerful as Old Devil Su. They did not have the power to kill a god.

To kill off Old Devil Su, all the foreign races knew that there had to be at least several deities on their side. They might very well have to attack all at the same time too.

As for relying on the five Royal Clans to do it themselves?

What a joke!

However, no one could have imagined that as time went on, under daily congratulations from all the foreign races, something which everyone had assumed was a joke at the beginning…

Had gradually become a reality at a preposterous speed!

Yes, even the Five Royal Clans—who had formulated the plan and had been encouraged by the humans to try it out—had not expected this at the start.

Hypothetically speaking, if one pulled up the World Channel to look at the chat and see what had happened today, one would realize that the previous topics of conversation about the wasteland were gone.

Topics about the foreign races and humans were also gone. Even the gossip about foreign races that everyone was most interested in was gone.

Overnight, only one thing remained on the entire screen…

Old Devil Su was going to die. Old Devil Su was just about finished. The foreign races were going to slaughter the strongest person in the human race, and the plan of the Five Royal Clans was going to succeed.

On the first day, one could look at these people like they were idiots and think they were merely bragging.

The next day, one could still do the same!

What about the third, fourth, and fifth days, however?

Every day, once anyone pulled up the World Channel, everybody else would be talking about this topic.

Every time they wanted to discuss other things, after a few sentences, they would resume talking about Old Devil Su.

Could anyone withstand the pressure under such circumstances?

The end results were very obvious. Even foreign races with an intelligence of merely 250 could not handle it. They succumbed to the pressure…

In only four days!

From the fifth day onward, less than 1% of the foreign races with weak willpower began thinking.

Was Old Devil Su really done for?

Why was everyone talking about this!?

It seemed like there really was an invincible plan to send Old Devil Su to his death!

The inception of such a thought was like a pyramid scheme. Once the floodgates were open, it would swiftly spread to all the foreign races at an unimaginable speed, poisoning everyone's minds!

It took two days for the foreign races to get from 1% to 10%!

However, to get from 10% to 99%, the foreign races only needed…

One single morning!

In addition, Su Mo had also been extremely "cooperative" by lying low for a long time.

Gradually, when Clark of the Cursed Tiger clan put on a show once more and spoke up, vowing to get rid of Old Devil Su…

This time, everyone believed him!

Within a few days, the morale of the foreign races increased significantly.

A peculiar equation was also disseminated openly by the "highly intelligent ones" of the foreign races!

Old Devil Su slaying gods = Old Devil Su was a god!

Crushing Old Devil Su underfoot = crushing a god underfoot = one was more powerful than a god = one was a god among gods!

With this "sense of inflated importance", some of the foreign races who had not dared to speak up previously and whose strength rating was below 1, also started popping up and chiming in with the stampeding army in the chat.

The first line of their private messages changed from a greeting to this phrase.

Did you crush him today?

Of course, the more outrageously inflated this bubble became, the more miserable they would be after it burst!

After the addition of the language chip and learning some elegant Huaxian phrases, Connie had gradually become proficient in some lame jokes.

Upon hearing Su Mo's question, she replied without hesitation.

"Yes, Master. As long as you link to my core, you'll be able to see this magnificent scene. It's simply spectacular!"

Seeing the satisfied look on Connie the lioness' face, Su Mo's smile did not diminish. He chose to initiate the link.

A pale green panel glowed, and the sanctuary connection was triggered.

After seeing that his own panel had been completely converted to Connie's foreign race panel, Su Mo clicked and joined the World Channel.

As anticipated, the atmosphere here…

Was very lively!

[Flower Bird-Capturing Moon Dog: F*ck, do any of you have connections to any humans? Quickly help verify if this is genuine or not! My informant rushed over and told me that the human god, the Almighty Su, has surfaced again. Not only that, this time, he said that an ocean disaster is coming. We are going to encounter a waterfall-like rainstorm that will fall from the sky, and it will last for ten seconds. Is this true? Isn't Old Devil Su about to die?]

[Snow-piercing Ice Fox: It can't be. How would Old Devil Su know where the calamity is coming from? Isn't he just an ordinary human? Our deities didn't even warn us. What merits or skills does he have to know what future disasters are? Is he trying to deceive us all??]

[Dark Shadow Nine Grass Pig: Snow-piercing Ice Fox, you better shut your big mouth. You're the one who makes the biggest fuss every day—you don't believe in this, you don't believe in that. If you have the guts, go and ask Old Devil Su. Damn it, he's someone who has slaughtered a god. Don't tell me your god warned you about this—your useless deities are just cannon fodder for Old Devil Su. Stop barking up a storm every day and get lost!]

[Snow-piercing Ice Fox: You're the f*cking dog, you and your sniveling mouth. Didn't you say yesterday that you were going to take Old Demon Su's hand and use it as an appetizer for wine? Why are you afraid of him now? I think you're a coward who's easily swayed. Get lost, don't let me catch you at sea, you punk!]

[Morning Flame Orange Gecko: Stop yelling, all of you. Old Devil Su definitely isn't lying. Besides, this matter isn't beneficial to him. Can you pig brains actually start thinking a little more every day? Hurry up and find someone to verify this. If this is true, we'll have to flee.]

[Purple Cloud Giant Carnivorous Rat: It's probably not fake news. According to the intelligence sent by our rat clan scouts, the Crimson Moon Shelter and the Dawn Sword Shelter have already started showing signs of activity. Based on that, the news is probably genuine. Moreover, just like what the old lizard said, this matter doesn't benefit Old Devil Su at all. If he could announce something like that, it's because of his so-called 'savior' of mankind complex acting up, so it's very likely true!]

[Bone Eroding Great Python: The Crimson Moon and Dawn Sword Shelters are both large shelters with more than 5,000 people. If they're starting to stir, then this matter is serious. It's fortunate we didn't kill off Su Mo in advance. Otherwise, we would all be in trouble now!]

[Snow Soaring Bear: Where are the Royal Clans? The Five Royal Clans usually take so many resources from us and so many advantageous positions. Why are they still pretending they're dead now? Why isn't Su Mo dead yet? Didn't you all say that he's finished? Are you toying with me?]

[Crystal Dragon: Hey coward, watch what you're saying. Don't let me see it a second time. We didn't say that Old Devil Su is dead. The Cursed Tigers have already gone to inquire about the news. Don't be anxious, everyone. When the time comes, whether it's real or fake news, we already have so many advantages. There's no reason for us to lose out to the humans!]

[Snow Soaring Bear: Oh? You're even trying to threaten me, are you now? Didn't that fool Clark say that you guys already have a thorough plan to get rid of Old Devil Su? Why isn't he dead yet? The way I see it, all of you conspired with Old Devil Su to set us up, then use us as your tools, didn't you?]

[Crystal Dragon: F*ck, eat whatever rubbish you want, but don't simply spout rubbish. I think there's something wrong with your ursine brain. What do you mean we're conspiring with Old Devil Su—you're actually spreading such rumors here? Do you want to die?]

[Snow Soaring Bear: Let's settle this then. I'm your daddy. If you don't like it, come over here. You useless dragon and Clark are really compatible—both of you have pig brains.]

[Primordial Pig: Snow Soaring Bear, clean up your language. We'll settle this matter. Don't make a fuss for now.]

[Snow Soaring Bear: I just mentioned pig brains, and sure enough, this pig thinks it's directed at him. Stop bullshitting. Get Clark to come and fight me!]

[…]

Chaos!

The entire foreign race chat channel was in utter chaos!

However good the situation had been a few days ago, currently—after things had suddenly blown up in reverse—it was now equally chaotic!

Two hours ago, all the foreign races were still talking about how to slaughter mankind like humans harvesting chives, and how to show off their skills on the ocean.

However, after 9:30, all the foreign races were like cats on a hot tin roof—completely frantic!

The "Old Devil Su" whom they were already talking about as if he were dead had miraculously popped up again and even given them a piece of information that threatened their very lives.

This feeling of uncertainty cast a shadow over the hearts of every single foreign race.

The first thing to bear the brunt of this was the World Channel, which was now in a full-blown argument.

Crystal Dragon possessed a strength rating of 9.6 points, which was 0.4 points higher than Cursed Tiger's 9.2 points. It was a very powerful being.

Snow Soaring Bear had 10.8 points, which was 1.2 points higher than Crystal Dragon. This was the strongest being Su Mo had ever seen among all the foreign races.

Even though judging such matters required taking into account the different innate talents of each race, Snow Soaring Bear certainly had the qualifications to challenge the Five Royal Clans.

Right now, every word he said was like a knife stabbing into the hearts of the Five Royal Clans, making them feel extremely uncomfortable.

At the same time, a rhythm gradually began surfacing in the world chat.

Oh yes, did they not say that they had killed Su Mo?

Why was he still alive and well?

If he had not come out to warn everyone, they would have been pounded to death by the rainstorm!

The Five Royal Clans were utter trash!

In the channel, this 'ally', Snow Soaring Bear, was like a harridan cursing the whole street in his online altercations. He was not at a disadvantage even when he was up against more than a few people.

Su Mo turned around and looked at Connie.

Connie, who had been watching the World Channel with him, gave a knowing smile.

"Master, do you need me to add a bit of fuel to the fire?" Connie tilted her head and asked in the cutest manner when she caught Su Mo's glance.

She spoke in the most adorable fashion, her expression likewise while talking about betraying the foreign races.

Compared to the Connie of more than ten days ago, her manner was much more unrestrained now after her promotion and salary increase.

However, this tactic made Su Mo laugh out loud as he sat in his chair.

"Do I even need to say it? Go ahead!"

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Chapter 333: Everyone's Together! The Last Piece of the Puzzle Before Heading Out to Sea!

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

When Connie saw that Su Mo was laughing because of her, his amusement was infectious enough to bring a mischievous smile to her face as she swiftly started up the ship.

As Su Mo sat in the cabin, a flare of light suddenly flashed through his mind, and a stream of information strung together from the future and the present popped up in an instant.

Theoretically, the current frantic scene in the foreign races' chat merely epitomized their state of mind and their collapse of morale.

It was similar to an end of a pyramid scheme when the leader was caught, but their underlings refused to believe the truth and continued to defend it.

However stupid or idiotic the other foreign races were, they could still see the true picture emerging beneath the bursting bubbles of all the revelry through the fight between Crystal Dragon and Snow Soaring Bear…

Su Mo was not dead.

Old Devil Su, the human who had the power to slay gods… had not died!

On the contrary, Old Devil Su was still alive and well.

This time, the Five Royal Clans had been telling everyone that he was dead for close to ten days now, so when the news about Old Devil Su's death was suddenly turned on its head, it had resulted in all hell completely breaking loose.

For the Five Royal Clans at the center of the storm, this could be considered an extremely serious…

Crisis of confidence!

If this was not resolved properly, it would be a heavy blow to any future plans implemented by the Five Royal Clans!

People would criticize them for declaring so confidently that Old Devil Su would die—but in fact, he had not died at all, which could mean that their plans about unscrupulously slaughtering humanity and bringing about the end of mankind might very well not happen either!

Although no one had raised the question yet, Su Mo believed that as long as one of the foreign races brought it up, if the Five Royal Clans were still undeterred and still wanted to continue with their plan…

There was only one last option open to them…

They would be forced to take desperate action!

They would actually have to carry out their plan!

Furthermore, it also had to be done in an exemplary, spectacular manner!

They had to show everyone that what they said was not a lie—that they had come up with a plan, and were able to carry it out!

Even if it ultimately failed and Old Devil Su did not die, the Five Royal Clans could still save their honor in the end, and their plans could still go on if there was a big enough payoff.

"The future is truly marvelous with infinite possibilities. Initially, I thought that the foreign races initiated an attack this time because they were provoked by some people and were full of anger and hatred.

"Now, though, from the looks of it…

"The attack this time was because of my abilities, which forced them to come for me!

"How interesting! How very interesting indeed!"

Having thought out the logic to this point, Su Mo had come very close to the truth of the entire matter as far as the general scheme of things was concerned—from the start of it until the present!

From the very beginning, it was the higher echelon spies among the humans who had been working together with the Five Royal Clans at first.

However, after they realized Su Mo's influence was increasing, those higher echelon spies felt threatened and tentatively proposed a plan to the Five Royal Clans.

Of course, initially, these spies probably never thought that they would have to execute the plan; they were merely testing the waters. Whether it would work or not was another matter. As long as they could inconvenience Su Mo somewhat, it would be of no great consequence even if the plan failed.

After all, who could guarantee that Su Mo would not also possess other incredible skills alongside his god-slaying ones?

Once they were given the plan, the Five Royal Clans probably did not even think twice about the consequences before making up their minds that this was feasible!

Whether it could be done or not, it was still worth a try.

After all, it seemed very feasible judging from the plan!

If it worked, the payoff would be shockingly terrifying!

There would be fame (for killing mankind's strongest human being) and fortune (for finding the secrets hidden on Su Mo's body)!

Therefore, this plan had been passed down by the Five Royal Clans. Once the group of foreign races near the basin received the message, they began preparing themselves for battle.

However, that was precisely the problem!

If the Five Royal Clans were the ones implementing the plan, they could absolutely have informed all the foreign races after the plan had succeeded in order to achieve both fame and fortune.

However, now that the plan had been disclosed to dozens of nearby alien races, both great and small, in the basin, it would not be possible to keep it a secret any longer.

Taking advantage of the situation, speculation was already rife at this juncture.

Clark had no choice but to come out and admit that it was his plan. Furthermore, his greed and desire to obtain the most glory out of it…

Had led him to unintentionally trumpet a classic sentiment to everyone…

"Old Devil Su must die!"

This was the phrase that had pushed the whole matter to a climax, sending the Five Royal Clans into a hell that they could never return from!

Furthermore, when things had come to this point, probably everyone—including Su Mo, who had just connected to Connie's core at the time—would not have realized…

The whole thing had been completely out of anyone's control from the very beginning.

That was how matters had intensified and developed into what they were at present.

Of course, even though these were all individual coincidences, so many coincidences mixed up together made the outcome inevitable.

Now, all that was needed was for Connie to go in according to plan and mess with the Five Royal Clans' state of mind again, and this wave of assault from the foreign races was going to happen—no matter what!

"Nice, I'd like to see how many treasure chests twenty thousand foreign races have!"

As Su Mo looked at Connie happily being active in the World Channel, he also came back to his senses, having thought everything through. Hurriedly, he pulled up the panel again to connect to her.

After joining the Oreo clan and becoming a God's Sacrifice, Connie had been given a chance to change her name because she had rebelled against her own clan.

Instead of rushing to the World Channel to see how Connie would perform, Su Mo first switched to the properties panel and looked at her current status.

[Current World Handle: Golden Lion King – Connie (real name has been automatically hidden)]

[Current Strength Rating: 3.2]

[Current Race: Oreo clan]

"Just being a Saintess actually raised Connie's 0.003 strength rating all the way to 3.2! That's crazy!

"But this golden lion avatar, on top of her handle…

"Yes, this is good. This wave of anti-foreign race and pro-human sentiment is a brilliant idea!"

Now that Connie's current strength rating had reached 3 points and above, she qualified for a longer name.

Su Mo nodded, repressing the exclamation at the tip of his tongue.

He quickly went to the chat panel and immediately saw Golden Lion King engaged in an online altercation against nine others!

[Golden Lion King: Seriously, all of you are being stubborn, attacking Snow Soaring Bear like that, and being reluctant to admit he's right. It's that loser Crystal Dragon, all bark and no bite. I've got nothing more to say to you. How can you guys even listen to this kind of bullsh*t? Do you think he'll actually kill Old Devil Su? From what I can tell, the Five Royal Clans are just lying to us, and if they're not going to kill Old Devil Su, I'm not going to go along with their plans!]

[Snow Soaring Bear: Lion King's right. The Five Royal Clans are just a bunch of rubbish who are fishing for fame through any unscrupulous means. They don't know anything, but they still try to order everyone around. What a bunch of losers!]

[Crystal Dragon: Lion King, are you trying to get yourself killed? You think you're something with just 3.2 strength?]

[Golden Lion King: Yup, that's exactly what I want. What's it to you? What about Old Devil Su? From what I know, he's still alive and well. Just because you guys say that someone's dead, they're dead? All right, if you say so, I'm f*cking dead then!]

[Golden Lion King: Oh yeah, even that pig can be part of the Five Royal Clans. I'll be frank—if I ever catch you at sea, I'll skin you so that I can take a good look at what's inside your pig brain!]

[...]

Facing the Crystal Dragon and the Primordial Pig in the World Channel, the Golden Lion King displayed what it meant to be arrogant and carefree!

No one knew where she had found that sort of boldness.

As Su Mo stood across from Connie and saw how she behaved facing down the Five Royal Clans, he remembered how fearful she looked when she mentioned them ten days ago or so.

The smile on Su Mo's lips widened!

After encouraging Connie to continue, Su Mo used his mind to disconnect and did not check the panel again.

The truth was, at this point, even without Connie's help, the attack from the foreign races was like a car that had lost its brakes—it had no way of stopping now that it was flying at 120 yards per second!

If anyone tried to stop the car now, the car would be wrecked, and everyone in it would die!

Instead, if they kept driving until they ran out of gas, they might at least have a chance of survival!

"But... will there be a chance of survival?"

Su Mo stepped out of the cockpit and looked at the rain that had subsided considerably, as well as at the faintly discernible rainbow on the edge of the horizon. He smiled and climbed up to the fourth floor where the radar was situated.

After considering the obstructions and the topography, he had placed the antennas for the shortwave radio station up there.

The radio station was located in the captain's quarters on the third floor.

Based on appearances alone, the PRC-2090 Barrett Tactical HF Radio System was a military shortwave radio system that looked a little like an old CD player from the 80s.

Since it was an excellent tactical shortwave radio system from the 21st century, Su Mo had no hesitation in buying it even though it was 50% more expensive than other radio systems.

There was only one reason for this…

It was extremely easy to operate!

Ridiculous as it sounded, it was the truth!

Before the transmigration, ever since the golden age of shortwave radio stations in the 90s, amateur radio had become a very strictly regulated hobby.

Ordinary people who wanted to use a wireless radio station for communication had to be fully certified, and operators had to go through examinations to get their licenses.

This had led to an increase in unseen difficulties for people to enter the world of wireless radio.

Slowly, with the popularity of mobile phones, even taxi drivers switched from using their UV walkie-talkies to using WeChat instead.

Essentially, based on current developments, wireless radio would probably be truly phased out in another ten years.

"Let me see. This is the communication channel, and Chen Shen and I agreed on 14 MHz, so all I need to do is press this…"

After adjusting the antenna position and climbing down three levels, Su Mo sat on the bed, which was currently still a hard piece of board. After putting on his headphones, he patiently began tuning into the radio station.

Tuning into a radio station to communicate with other people required a lot of patience.

This was especially so when receiving messages. If someone were the type to freak out when they could not hear the other person, then amateur radio was not a suitable pastime for them.

Fortunately, Su Mo was a calm enough person by now. After following the instructions in the complimentary manual that the seller had provided, bit by bit, as he fiddled with the knobs, he began to hear voices in his headphones clearly.

"Wei He, there are 30 kilometers to go until it's your turn to drive. Hurry up and rest for a while so you'll have enough energy to drive!"

This was Pei Shao speaking. His voice was very solemn and steady, and he gave off a serious, yet warm feeling when giving orders.

"I'm fine, Team Leader. Now that Earth Tiger is bigger, I feel energized just lying here. Even if you ask me to drive three or five hundred kilometers, I won't feel tired, hehe!"

That was Wei He speaking to Pei Shao. His voice harbored a type of youthful excitement, and one could tell that he was very satisfied with the upgraded Earth Tiger.

Earth Tiger was still within a hundred kilometers of the basin, and because both radio stations were of the same brand, their voices were very clear.

After flattering Pei Shao, Wei He's praises of Su Mo resounded in the car, so Su Mo quickly turned off the radio station with no regrets.

"I doubt even father knows that all my subordinates are now my fans.

"This isn't a bad thing, though. Modern people who have just transmigrated certainly won't accept dictatorship. I'll let them get used to it so it'll be easier for them to adjust later on!"

After putting the adjusted radio system in place and glancing out the window, Su Mo went back down the stairs to the first floor.

Connie had finished her self-declared "war on outsiders" at that point and was crouching by the doorway, very pleased with herself, as she watched the Five Royal Clans raging around in anger.

When she saw Su Mo coming down, she immediately stood up and reported happily.

"Master, I've made excellent progress. Those two idiots, Crystal Dragon and Primordial Pig, are so utterly furious with me right now they're going crazy. If it wasn't for the upcoming ocean disaster, I'm sure they would have come all the way across the map to hunt me down. Everything is done, and now everyone is clamoring for just one thing—either the Five Royal Clans announce their plans, or they have to make sure you're dead!

"Since they definitely can't announce their plans, I'm guessing it won't be long before Clark starts making his move.

"When that happens, we just have to seize our chance, then we'll be able to wipe them out in one fell swoop!"

When Su Mo saw how excited Connie was, even though he already knew what was going to happen, he did not dampen her enthusiasm but deliberately pretended to be surprised and nodded.

"Thank you for all your hard work. Oh yes, don't call me master from now on. You can just call me Chief like everyone else instead!"

"Oh, but…"

"There's no need for you to be so formal. After so long, haven't you noticed that I'm very nice to be around?" Su Mo patted Connie's shoulder. When he saw her surprised expression at being shown such favor, Su Mo let out a laugh and did not continue comforting her.

"All right, you can go back now. I've still got work to do here. You can learn more from Oreo, and I'll give you a job when we're on board."

"Yes, Chief! I promise I'll do the job well!"

Su Mo watched how quickly Connie fell into her role as she strode off excitedly. She then waved animatedly at him before trotting off into the misty rain once she had gotten off the ship...

As Su Mo stood on Hope One's deck, he gained a new perception of his power of influence.

Although he was gaining more loyal followers, this also meant that the responsibility he would need to bear would also increase.

Even so, Su Mo had to admit that the feeling of being in control of other people's lives felt good. It was a thrill that he had never experienced when life was normal!

"Okay, I should just forget about this for now. Everyone will do whatever they need to. All I have to do is take care of my own corner.

"Now, it's time to go in and get some information about the location!"

After closing the cockpit door and going the stairs up to the captain's quarters, Su Mo looked at the radio system in front of him. He grasped at the air, and the Divulgence of Heaven's Secret wafted out.

Su Mo took out a stopwatch with a countdown function. After setting a 22-second countdown, a familiar impact accompanied by a door of light appeared again as his mind stirred.

Su Mo pressed the button to start the countdown and tossed the stopwatch onto the bed before he took a step through the door of light.

In an instant, the only sound left in the captain's quarters was the sound of the second hand counting down.

21...

13…

7…

Now that he had multiple experiences with entering the door, this time, Su Mo's experience was spot on!

As the time drew nearer and nearer, once the second hand pointed to 1, a door of light opened right on time, and Su Mo was back in the captain's quarters once again, a beaming smile on his face.

"It worked! I've finally managed to collect the last piece of the puzzle before we head out to sea!"

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Chapter 334: Have A Sniff, What Is That Aroma?

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

It was three forty in the afternoon. The skies above the basin were clear after the rain.

There was no trace at all of the furious thunderstorm that had raged the entire night.

The storm had gone on for more than ten hours, which had not only resulted in a terrifying 700ml of rainfall but also caused the appearance of two rainbows over the basin—one pale and one more vivid.

If one were to stand at a distance and look at the basin this very moment, they would see two streams of smoke billowing into the air from the kitchen chimneys on the silvery-gray Iron Rock Mountain—which the rain had now washed clean of all dust—and intersecting with the two rainbows.

It was so calm and peaceful.

It looked like a small secluded fishing village. Under Su Mo's protection, there were no conflicts and no harassment by foreign races. Even though Hope Village did not have very many people, it could rank as one of the top places in the wasteland in terms of unity and cohesion!

Of course, today was a day worthy of celebration, so the village was much more lively.

The two members of the militia standing on the mountain path guarding the entrance to the mountain surveyed the distance with great care, snatching moments of rest in between. Occasionally, they exchanged a few words.

The sentry on the left was named Su Yuan. He had the same surname as Su Mo and had also previously been a fitness instructor, which was why he had been fortunate enough to be singled out from the rest of the militia and picked for this duty.

The sentry on the right was Chen Kai, Chen Shen's cousin. He was also a muscled individual, and his strength was extraordinary.

With these two guarding the mountain entrance, the management felt at ease. In fact, even the villagers would joke about it, saying that these two were the threshold guardians of Hope Village!

However, these two guardians seem to be a little absent-minded today.

"Hey, young Kai, hurry and pull up your game panel—see if your brother has sent you a message. I'm so anxious right now. Quick, ask him how much we've already sold!"

As Su Yuan spoke, his face expressed his nervousness, and he swallowed twice to help calm his inner agitation.

He was anxious!

It was the kind of anxiousness that could not be faked!

When Chen Kai heard himself being addressed, he glanced at his surroundings to make sure there were no suspicious figures in sight before shaking his head resignedly.

"Brother Yuan, chill out. Look at you now—you can't even hold your spear properly. I don't want to harp on it, but it's been less than two hours since we changed shifts for sentry duty, and this is already the fourth time you've asked me that. What, are you afraid that what the Shelter Leader ordered can't be sold and that we're messing this up?

"Don't worry. I guarantee that when you go up later, they'll give you a figure that you'll be satisfied with!"

As Chen Shen's cousin, Chen Kai was privy to more information, so he was more calm and collected. At least his grip on his spear was very stable, and he betrayed no trace of anxiety at all.

What Chen Kai did not know was that the calmer he was, the more anxious the man standing across from him became.

This time, the amount the village had spent to buy the sap of the white sap tree was considered outrageous even for a large shelter!

Like rubber trees, the white sap tree could be seen abundantly throughout the wasteland.

This was why anyone who wished to purchase all the stock on the market before anyone else was aware it was for sale had to use a huge amount of resources to exchange for it.

Even after the last harvest, relying solely on every single villager's taxes to buy the sap was definitely not enough.

That was when the "crowdfunding" began!

As the person who initiated the event, Su Mo had decided to set an example by purchasing 50% of the quota.

As for the other 50%, 8% was covered by the villagers' taxes while the remaining 34% was covered by the villagers' savings.

Of course, every villagers' harvest from before the welfare disaster was different, so their individual contribution of supplies was different as well.

The more radical ones took out 80% of their savings with just enough supplies left for three months. This was to prevent them from starving just in case something went wrong with the campaign.

The more rational ones left themselves half a year's supply and contributed the remaining 70% to the village. That was the safest choice.

However, apart from these two kinds of individuals, there was no lack of those who were more extreme.

Su Yuan was one of those people!

At that moment, Su Yuan's hand shook even more when he heard Chen Kai's consoling words. Despite the pleasantly cool weather, his forehead was thickly beaded with tiny drops of sweat.

"Young Kai, it's not that I'm trying to hoodwink you or anything, but most of the people gave 70%, and those who wanted to give more contributed 80%. Do you know how much I contributed? I gave 95%! I'm only left with half a month's supply of food; the rest I gave to the campaign. If this falls apart, I'm back to square one!

"It's not that I don't believe in the Shelter Leader. We all saw the public notice board—he undertook to purchase 50%, and that's no small amount. However, you know that I almost starved to death before. If the Shelter Leader hadn't forcibly stopped the blizzard and you hadn't saved me out there from the cold, I might have died on the streets there and then a month ago. I wouldn't have been able to see my village prosper or stand beside you in this devouring hell of a wasteland and talk about our harvests."

Su Yuan's voice was tearful as he spoke.

Not all the people who lived in Hope Village had led good lives!

Su Yuan aside, more than 60% of the villagers had almost lost their lives before they were lucky enough to become part of this village.

Chen Kai pursed his lips as he looked over this man who initially had frostbite all over his entire body, yet still steadfastly continued to work without shedding a single tear—and who was now in this situation.

He then said gently, "Brother Yuan, I'm aware of everything that you've told me. To be honest, if it were not for our Shelter Leader, I would still be working in the saltpeter mine. You didn't know, did you—when that devil Kento Maeda forced us to work, we would only receive potatoes that were smaller than our fists even after working the entire day?

"In the civilized era, those were the kinds of potatoes that people wouldn't pick off the ground even if they were thrown there. At that time, though, every time I slept, I kept thinking about when I would be able to eat two or even three of those very potatoes. I was so hungry. We worked so hard in the mines but were only given so little to eat. If our Shelter Leader hadn't saved us, I would still be in that place. In the end though…

"When I saw Leader Su blast the doors open in his suit of armor and go on a rampage, haha, what a thrill that was, now that I think back on it!

"At that time, all of us were standing above. When we saw Leader Su kill those kobolds, that was absolutely thrilling. Those brigands had oppressed us for so long, and we finally had our chance to fight back. We relied on that drive and somehow found the strength to rush down and join our Shelter Leader in the fight—but do you know what happened after that?"

Chen Kai paused at this point, and Su Yuan's interest was piqued. Even though his expression was worried, he still asked Chen Kai, "What happened? Hurry up and tell me, don't leave me hanging!"

Chen Kai did not drag out the suspense but nodded and continued, "Hehe, I knew you wouldn't be able to guess. This is my cousin's dirty little secret. Normally he won't allow me to tell anyone, so don't you dare spread it around!

"At that time, we had been starving for so many days that when we had rushed down to engage in intense combat, everyone's blood sugar was so low we all collapsed onto the ground. My cousin Chen Shen was in such a brain fog he somehow got it into his head that our Shelter Leader was a general that had transmigrated from the past to rescue us. Not only that, he was silly enough to think that our Shelter Leader was Lu Bu from the Three Kingdoms. Chen Shen even asked us to kowtow to Leader Su to see if this "General Lu Bu" would take us in!

"As for the rest of the people, they were starved and in shock, so they had no choice but to do so. Do you know what was I thinking, though, when we asked General Lu Bu to save us?"

Su Yuan raised his brows. "You were thinking that you could finally enjoy a good life under our Shelter Leader's rule?"

"Oh no, no, no, nothing so profound. Just imagine, if you were about to die of cold and starvation, would you even think of something like that?"

Chen Kai shook his head. "At that point, I was wondering if this General Lu Bu could spare us some food from the supplies that had been seized from the camp after he saw us fighting alongside him and kneeling in front of him like that. I didn't want much either; I just wanted two potatoes. It's the truth—even if he wanted me to die there and then, I would die happy if he gave me two potatoes to eat.

"Right at that moment though, our Shelter Leader… sigh, he truly is a good man!

"Supplies were so scarce then, but our Shelter Leader still wanted us to hunt for all the food that we could eat—then he cooked everything up in a huge pot on the campgrounds. He didn't take a single potato; he let us put everything into that pot to eat.

"I ate two and a half potatoes during that meal. In fact, the potatoes were the size of my fists. I ate so fast that I almost bit my tongue off, and that's the truth. At that moment, I felt that I had never eaten a tastier potato in my life. I even drank two bowls of the broth used to boil the potatoes."

Chen Kai paused, then continued, "I know you might not believe me when I say it now, but before Leader Su left, not only did he point out the location of Candlelight Village, but he even left me a stack of pancakes. From that time on, after seeing those pancakes, I was thinking that if Leader Su were to take me in, as long as he gave me something to eat, I would even give my life for him.

"I might look as steady as an old hand, but this time, I actually donated 95% as well. In fact, my cousin contributed even more. He only has one week's worth of food left for himself. He contributed the rest!"

Chen Kai felt a little out of breath after saying so much, but from his expression, one could see the passion and love he had for this village, as well as…

His loyalty to Su Mo!

"I'm telling you, Brother Yuan, even if we're just sentries guarding the entrance right now, you know very well that our village will increase in size under our Shelter Leader. We might even be able to go back to how things were on Earth. When that time comes, there'll definitely be people who are even more accomplished. If we want to maintain our current position and improve our status, we'll need to come up with more ideas and contribute more—not panic like this.

"You wanted to know how the exchange went, right? We don't need to know the numbers—you just need to smell the aroma!"

Chen Kai pointed to the peak of the mountain. As smoke wafted down toward them in the breeze, he smiled. No words were necessary; the meaning was clear.

"Aroma?"

Standing across from Chen Kai, Su Yuan did not get angry even though he appeared to have been chided by way of instruction. Instead, he nodded, agreeing wholeheartedly with Chen Kai's point of view, then began to sniff the air in earnest.

The first second, his face betrayed a puzzled expression.

A second later, this confusion turned into surprised delight.

However, by the third second, he suddenly seemed to experience an epiphany and began nodding vigorously.

The aroma wafting down from the mountains was not unfamiliar to them. It was the mingled smell of beef and carrots after they had been wrapped into little packets and placed into a steamer to cook.

The village had cooked this delicacy in celebration once, after seizing resources from the villainous Zeus Shelter.

Back then, the aroma was so appetizing that everyone was unable to focus on their work. It was only after everyone had eaten the food that had been portioned out to them at dinner that things went back to normal.

As a person who had experienced starvation before and was afraid to go through it again, this aroma was firmly embedded in Su Yuan's memory!

However, on an ordinary day like this when he smelled this aroma once more—this aroma that signified "celebration"—and noticed that Chen Kai's expression was very relaxed, Chen Kai felt like a fool. He silently went back to his position and did not say anything else.

Chen Kai nodded calmly when he saw Su Yuan's demeanor.

However, just when he was about to resume speaking, his sharp eyes caught sight of a black dot appearing on the horizon.

"Su Yuan, nine o'clock!

"Be ready to transmit the signal at any moment!"

Without any guns, the two militiamen's responsibility upon encountering an unknown enemy was more like sounding the alarm. All they had to do was transmit the news up the mountain.

However, as the black dot drew increasingly closer, both of them slowly relaxed.

Even if the car seemed a little more "prosperous" than before, they could still identify it as Su Mo's Earth Tiger.

Furthermore, after the vehicle was parked, the group who descended from the car was very familiar to them.

It was the intelligence team that came and went like a shadow every day.

Su Yuan thought over the fact that Chen Kai had told him to use his brains more. When he noticed a dejected Pei Shao trudging along in front of the group with goodness knows what thoughts running through his brain, a trace of a smile appeared on his face.

At the same time, he went forward to greet them with a meaningful smile. "Team Leader Pei, you're back from your mission! You must have worked very hard!"

When Pei Shao heard someone call his name, he nodded in a preoccupied manner but did not stop walking. "Oh, the mission's complete, thank you for asking!"

Since Pei Shao had a lot of things on his mind as he spoke and the surface of the path was slick, he tripped and fell. As it so happened, he tumbled into Su Yuan's arms.

The next instant, however, when Pei Shao looked up and was about to thank him, he noticed Su Yuan looking at him with a doting smile.

Pei Shao, "???"

Su Yuan, "Team Leader Pei, I know that you're eager to find the answer, but don't worry. Take a careful sniff; can you smell something in the air?"

Su Yuan sounded like a riddler. His expression was warm and gentle, but he sounded a little obtuse at the same time.

When Pei Shao heard Su Yuan speaking to him in a tone that carried a hint of an order, he involuntarily began sniffing.

Huh?

There was the fishy smell of mud after the rain.

However, there was a fresh scent in the air as well.

The smell of exhaust from Earth Tiger still lingered on their bodies…

Wait… the smell after the rain?

Pei Shao suddenly remembered that more than six hours ago, under Su Mo's orders, Earth Tiger had circled within 100 kilometers of the nearby basin from start to finish, in 12 different directions.

Pei Shao then thought about the abruptness of the intelligence team moving out, the smell, and the weather around them…

He suddenly realized Su Mo's true purpose in having them set out on this very day and in such awful surroundings.

'So Leader Su wanted to stir things up and see if the foreign races would reveal themselves. Not only that, to prevent spies from infiltrating the base, he lured me out there as well.

'Damn it, Pei Shao, if even a guard could see through the ruse, how could you be so stupid—you're the intelligence team leader!'

Pei Shao suddenly felt a surge of excitement within him after "figuring out" what Su Mo was really thinking. He then stood up, disengaging from Su Yuan's arms.

His face bore a solemn look after that.

"Brother Su Yuan, are you interested in joining the intelligence team? We really need someone with observation skills like yours!"

"Huh? Oh no, Team Leader Pei. Every position has its own purpose. The information team is vital—the same goes for sentries like us!"

Even though Su Yuan was deeply aware that he himself was a hypocrite, he was startled by Pei Shao's demeanor.

However, Su Yuan's modesty made Pei Shao nod yet again.

With the appreciation of one wise man for another, Pei Shao did not pursue the matter further. Somewhat moved, he patted Su Yuan on the shoulder. Leading the intelligence team, he vanished up the mountain path.

"Young Kai, your Brother Su's done quite well this time!"

As he stared at the dumbfounded Chen Kai, Su Yuan waved his hand in a self-satisfied manner.

However, what met him was Chen Kai's stern shout.

"Stop spouting any more rubbish! Leader Su is coming!"

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Chapter 335: New Blessings! Final Preparation

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

"Good day, Leader Su!"

"Thank you for your hard work! Isn't it cold, standing here?"

"Not at all, sir. We serve the community and stand guard for the village—we won't ever feel cold doing that!"

Su Mo nodded in satisfaction as he looked at the two militiamen standing at attention in front of him. He then clapped them both on their shoulders.

One could easily tell if a village was doing well merely by looking at the sentries.

At the very beginning, the militiamen guarding the village were as scrawny as monkeys. Circumstances in the village had progressed to where the two sentries were now beefy and barrel-chested. Based on this alone, one could tell how well Hope Village's development was going.

In fact, the villagers had already allocated funds to pave the entirety of Iron Rock Mountain, including all the roads, with cement.

Several massive drainage pipes traveled down the mountain's contours like massive dragons grasping at stone pillars. It was quite a spectacular sight.

The extra metal plates remaining from Hope One's construction had been used to fortify the exterior of the mountain. They looked like armor plates and were very impressive.

With defensive measures like this, as long as another layer of absorbent gum could be applied, Su Mo believed that this time, the torrential storm…

Would not affect Hope Village in the least!

Su Mo stood at the foot of Iron Rock Mountain and scrutinized it in its entirety, feeling somewhat moved.?Before he went up, he asked his usual question.

"Did anything happen today?"

Although Su Mo asked this every day whenever he went up the mountain, he did not expect that the two militiamen would answer him. To his surprise, the militiaman on the left replied, smiling.

"Leader Su, just take a sniff of that aroma, and you'll know!"

Su Mo, "???"

Aroma?

Following the militiaman's words, Su Mo sniffed the air.

Su Mo was different from the other villagers. With the boost from the psychic energy water and the Mountain and Sea Painting Scroll, his sense of smell was now far more acute than that of an ordinary person.

How this manifested in reality was that, within the same parameters, Su Mo would be able to smell even more subtle layers of aroma and scent.

Inhale…

Analyze…

After his brain processed the information, Su Mo came up with the following conclusion.

The strongest scents were the earthy smell of soil, the stink of the militiamen's feet, and the reek of sweat. Next was the smell of rice from the top of the mountain as well as the faint scorched smell from the chemical reactions during the process of making absorbent gum.

Wait…

After analyzing all these different scents, an odd smell suddenly wafted to Su Mo's nostrils.

The smell was very faint to the point of being barely perceptible. It practically blended in with the freshness in the air.

However, as far as Su Mo was concerned, after he took another sniff, his brain came up with another match…

The scent of blessing???

When Su Mo subjectively differentiated what he was smelling again, he caught the trace of a scent similar to that of when he had obtained the Lion God's Sculpture and the Rat God's Feather.

Even though Su Mo had experienced many difficulties by now, he could not help becoming excited.

'This young rascal, Chen Shen, has brought me a big surprise!'

Even with the system upgrade, this might just be a normal blessing to ordinary people. However, in Su Mo's hands, he could use reversion to turn it into a formidable weapon.

One of the tasks Su Mo had set for when he was at sea was to collect as many blessings as possible.

However, he had not expected that he would be able to obtain a blessing first, even before he had set sail. This was certainly a pleasant surprise!

"Not bad—not bad at all. I'm very satisfied. How considerate!"

Su Mo nodded happily when he thought about how Chen Shen had concealed this from him, intending to use this method to surprise him. He went up the mountain immediately.

His pace was noticeably quicker than when he had first shown up.

"You've got to be kidding me, man. What was that all about?"

Chen Kai saw the knowing smile on Su Yuan's face and glanced at Su Mo's silhouette. A small hint of comprehension dawned.

Suddenly, it was as if he understood…

Why his cousin Chen Shen always said that those who were able to join Hope Village were extremely lucky people!

…

Su Mo was unaware of what the militiamen behind him were thinking at that point. With quick steps, he covered Iron Rock Mountain's 40-plus meters all the way up to its peak.

The awning that had been used as protection against the storm had been taken down after the rain stopped.

With Iron Rock Mountain's efficient drainage system, not much stagnant water remained on the highest part of the mountain.

Aside from some villagers on shift who were now resting, there were almost a hundred villagers busily working on the platforms on the peak and the lower part of the mountain.

When they saw Su Mo coming, the villagers gave him a respectful glance, then went on with their work.

Su Mo was extremely satisfied even with this small bit of "progress".

Pei Shao's exploration had netted the coordinates of the gathering place for all the foreign races, which took care of the last important matter before they set sail.

Su Mo had also discovered that the young rascal, Chen Shen, had prepared a foreign race blessing to surprise him.

He mused for a moment and then stood on the platform. He did not bother to contain the joy he felt and immediately shouted, "Excellent—everyone's efficiency is fantastic. Today's meal is my treat—tonight we'll have a continuous flow of dishes, and everyone will be able to eat meat to their heart's content!

"Keep up the good work. We will definitely have supplies; we'll also certainly have land. Whatever others have, we will have as well. We'll also have what others don't have!"

This was merely a simple, encouraging speech!

However, the response to it was quite extraordinary!

After the three bombshells had dropped—Su Mo's guarantee, a continuous flow of dishes, and all the meat they could eat—everyone went wild with delight, and their work efficiency also went up another notch.

Su Mo nodded. With an indulgent smile on his face, he walked toward the back of the mountain, which was also where the village's meeting room was located.

On his way there, Su Mo passed two warehouses that housed the absorbent gum and took a look inside.

As expected, there was not much stock left. All the gum was immediately packaged after production and put up for sale.

With the approaching disaster, Hope Village had no trouble at all obtaining a market for their product.

"From the looks of things, the lone wolves are going to suffer even more in the future!

"In the wasteland, groups are the only way to increase an individual's advantage in information. For example, if I were still on my own today and my information was poor, I might not be able to gain a lot of supplies!"

Su Mo glanced at the meeting room at the very end of his line of sight. The whole management team was bent over the table, managing accounts, counting stock, and putting products up for sale.

After noticing that even Zhong Qingshu was a part of this, Su Mo nodded and did not disturb them.

As the biggest shareholder of the entire absorbent gum operation, Su Mo could take half the profits no matter how much the village made in revenue.

Even though these supplies did not seem useful before everyone set sail, they could immediately be converted into capital for infrastructure as soon as they reached the New World!

If the time came when everyone in the New World was experiencing a food shortage, having food in hand was equivalent to…

Everyone in the world working for him!

After experiencing so many setbacks, Su Mo knew very well how much profit he would make this time around.

He thought about it as he walked.

After following his original path back to the top of the mountain, Su Mo seated himself in the adequately lighted cave. Taking advantage of everyone being busy, he began a round of organizing information.

At present, all the necessary preparations that had to be made before he embarked on his voyage were essentially complete!

Today was the 19th, and more than half the day was already gone. Tomorrow—the 20th—would be one day, and the day after tomorrow, the 21st, would be another day. In the early hours of the morning on the 21st, the ocean disaster would strike as foretold!

Su Mo had arranged a very clear schedule for the remaining two and a half days.

19th.

[First Task: Contact Shen Ke]

Since I chose to lie low, I repeatedly turned down Shen Ke's hints at joining forces. Now that I have made my intentions clear, there is no need for any further concealment. Ideally, we can discuss plans to meet at sea as soon as possible.

As for assistance to Tundra Shelter, we must give them some of the absorbent gum. If not, it would be disastrous if their ship sank.

Time spent: 1 hour

20th.

[First Task: Prepare the ship]

Select some of the villagers to load the remaining resources onto Hope One and seal the warehouse inside at the same time.

Time spent: 8-12 hours

[Second Task: Hope Village's second general meeting (voyage meeting)]

For the sake of complete secrecy and mobility before setting out to sea, all the villagers must wait on Iron Rock Mountain for the time being, so it is essential to stir up a wave of morale. This is to ensure that the villagers ensconced on Iron Rock Mountain will be emboldened so that when we return for them, there will not be too many setbacks.

In this meeting, we must decide on what weapons to leave behind. We can also officially hand over management authority with all the villagers as witnesses, and treat it as a trump card for the villagers in this disaster.

The lifeboat blueprints obtained previously have not been used yet, so we can actually make some of them when we get back. When the time comes, we can load some of the lifeboats onto Hope One and leave a few for the villagers to use.

Time spent: 2 hours

21st.

[First Task: Inspection]

A final inspection of every single one of Hope One's functions to ensure that there will not be problems when the ship goes into the sea, and during the voyage.

Time spent: 4 hours

[Second Task: Shifting supplies from the shelter]

Apart from the psychic energy water well that cannot be taken away, the furnace, workstation, production machines, and the motor-pumped oil well, everything else must be packed and loaded onto the ship. This is so we can be prepared for any dangerous situations that might occur, and also to drastically reduce any losses that might be incurred if anything happens to the shelter.

Time spent: 2 hours

[Third Task: Final inspection and upgrade for the Underground Shelter before setting sail]

At present, the stone-constructed shelter is still sturdy. However, excellent-quality pickaxes are gradually becoming the trend, and stone walls with materials that are below 5 cannot guarantee safety. It would be very easy for a "thieving cur" with a pickaxe to use special attributes to bore through the wall and damage the remaining structures, so this must be prevented.

An upgrade is absolutely necessary. As for the direction of the upgrade, we can choose to use reinforced concrete. We can also opt to encase the exterior of the shelter in a layer of steel plates.

Time spent: 1 hour

[Fourth Task: Inspection and upgrade of all items needed for the voyage]

Make a final inventory of all items brought along for the journey and upgrade the ones that will be used. However, at least ten thousand points must be set aside for emergency use in the future.

Time spent: 1 hour

As Su Mo figured things out, he slowly fleshed out his plans to completion, setting them down eloquently on paper.

Su Mo recorded every single thing task on paper to the best of his ability so that he would not forget any important matters.

However, after writing everything out, there was some space left on the bottom of the paper. Su Mo then wrote down…

[Voyage Task: Pick Su Chan up]

Time spent…

Ten days!

On the pre-disaster wasteland, time passed very slowly. Every day, every hour, and every second, Su Mo wanted to rip every single moment in half so he could spend the extra time.

However, once the ocean disaster came and Hope One set sail, time would truly start to fly by!

Each day, Hope One could travel a thousand kilometers or so if it maintained normal cruising speed.

It would only be ten days at most before brother and sister could both be…

Reunited in the wasteland!

When Su Mo thought about bringing his younger sister onto Hope One, nothing in the wasteland had the power to hold him back! He then put away all the papers on which he had recorded his plans.

Su Mo looked at the darkening skies outside. After extinguishing the lights, he strode out with a sense of excitement.

"Hey, Big Brother Su, you've finished with your work?"

Chen Shen noticed Su Mo coming out and hurried over to greet him, practically grinning from ear to ear.

"Oh my, it looks as if the sales profits weren't bad at all, my intrepid villager leader!"

Chen Shen could not figure out the hidden message in Su Mo's playful words.

However, when he noticed the smile on Su Mo's face, he found it hard to control his own expression. Grinning, he continued.

"Big Brother Su, this round we've really struck it rich. As of now, we've used 69% of our raw materials, but we have no more stock left. Every time we put products up for sale, everything was snapped up by these buyers in just a matter of seconds. Although now there are people who have discovered this business we're running, the profits we've raked in are more than enough!

"This time! Everyone in the village… is truly going to be rich!"

In front of everyone else, Chen Shen still had to maintain his image as a stern village leader, but with Su Mo, he was just as innocent as a university student.

Chen Shen took out a notebook and calculated the numbers, explaining as they walked along.

He calculated the cost of the most basic raw materials, then detailed the initial sales of the product right up until it had become a best-selling item, and the graph curve after the item had gone out of stock.

After Chen Shen's calculations, a number appeared on the notebook that would drive any businessman wild.

897%

This was merely the profit that Hope Village had gathered from this operation in the span of just three days.

If they excluded the 10% of raw materials that they needed to retain for themselves, and if they could convert the remaining 21% of raw materials into absorbent gum and sell it, then their profits would reach a number that had never been achieved before…

989%!

"Tenfold—this is a full tenfold profit, and that's even after the game collected 50% of the delivery fees. If we can avoid the taxes, we might even profit 20 or 25 times over!

"Besides, even if others are already starting to replicate our absorbent gum, we were the first ones to stock up all the raw materials on the market. The only thing they can do is to buy when the opportunity presents itself, and that amount is entirely insufficient to threaten our position."

Chen Shen's expression was wildly enthusiastic as he went on and on, keeping his head low.?From what he said, anyone would be able to tell what a frightening amount of profit Hope Village had made this round.

"Oh? Is there anything else besides this?"

Chen Shen was stunned when he heard Su Mo's question and saw the playful expression on his Shelter Leader's face. After he realized what was going on, he made a wry, resigned face and replied, "Big Brother Su, it seems I can't hide this from you after all!

"Everyone wanted to wait until the last day to give it to you as a gift for your voyage.. I never expected you to pick up on it, though!"

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Chapter 336: New Bug! Twenty-Three Thousand Four Hundred!

The blessing had a very peculiar flavor.

Most people who had not been in contact with a blessing for long would be entirely unable to differentiate this faint trace of flavor.

However, to someone like Su Mo—who had possessed blessings very early on—that aroma was so intense on the peak of Iron Rock Mountain, it was no less fragrant than a beef bun.

Furthermore, the aroma persistently wafted through the air, so it was impossible not to notice it.

"A gift before I set sail?

"I really appreciate it, but I seem to recall that this can't be used as an item for exchange on the market, right?"

Su Mo could not help asking curiously as he and Chen Shen continued walking.

Previously, everyone had very few good items on hand, so it was difficult to estimate what the limit for exchanges on the market was.

However, ever since the Secret Trading Realm had opened the last time, Su Mo had known that any blueprint above rare-level could not be circulated on the market.

Apart from raw materials, the same rule applied to all equipment above rare-level that had list properties.

Of course, the equipment thus described encompassed a wide range of items.

Regardless of whether it was a lighter, an iron hoe, an iron shovel, or shoes, pants, and goggles…

As long as an item was rare-level, it could not be listed on the market for sale. The only way it could be traded was in person or in the Secret Trading Realm.

Mystical blessed objects were also included in that list. Not only that, the limits imposed on such items were even stricter. It did not matter what level the item was. From the moment it was obtained, there would be a line within the item properties that read—cannot be traded!

This property alone completely rendered any method of trading blessings null and void.

As for Su Mo's question, Chen Shen had already guessed he would ask, and had clearly sorted out what his answer would be.

His pace slowed and he rubbed his head. "Big Brother Su, I knew you would ask me this question. Even though this thing was quite rare in the past, we're slowly beginning to integrate with the foreign races, and there were also some considerably impoverished foreign races who were willing to sell their blessings to us. Although the asking price is quite expensive, as long as it's something valuable, it's not going to be a problem at all in a market with hundreds of millions of people."

When Su Mo heard this, he stopped in his tracks and exclaimed in astonishment, "Oh? I've never seen something like this on the market, and I do take time every day to look around!"

Su Mo was not lying when he said this.

Every day, he would look through the market during mealtimes, just like how people during the civilized era would swipe through Douyin and Weibo on their phones as if those were side dishes while they were eating.

Given that he had so much in the way of supplies, Su Mo knew that if he stored those grains in the warehouse for half a year or even a year, he would not gain any benefits from them.

Only by converting these foods into resources as soon as possible, and then converting those resources into strength, would they be able to have fivefold, even tenfold gains in the future!

It was the same as gambling with the villagers' resources this time. Only items circulating in the market could be called goods and only then would they have their own value.

That was why Su Mo would browse the market with the intent of finding some hidden treasure or making a killing off some item. However, after every meal, he would retreat in disappointment.

It was different from the past when people initially did not know the value of their goods. Now, however, people would not put up any valuable materials or items for trade even if they were running low on food or weapons.

Su Mo had been able to obtain a large amount of plant culture medium the moment he came to the wasteland, but even after two months, he had not yet been offered something of equal value.

That was why he became immensely interested when he suddenly heard that Chen Shen could obtain a blessing on the market.

"No, Big Brother Su. This item still can't be traded on the market. As long as an item gains a blessing as one of its properties, it will immediately be locked.

"However, aside from this, there is also another type of exception. We can put an item up for trade first, then, after it has passed the market's inspection and the buyer has obtained the item, we can then ask the foreign races to quickly enchant it.

"As long as the foreign races can complete the enchantment within half an hour of the item being inspected and the buyer cancels the trade, the item will then be listed again on the market. We can then choose to remove the item from the listing, and it will come back to us infused with a blessing."

"Oh? We can actually do that?"

Su Mo was taken aback. As he looked at Chen Shen's sincere expression, he was stunned.

"However, this trading method also has its disadvantages. The first is that the foreign races only have half an hour to bless the item. Furthermore, the foreign races that trade with us are weak, so asking them to complete the blessing within that time is very difficult. There is a very high possibility of failure. The worst thing is that they will not refund the money even if they fail. As a result, even those who can afford the item won't gamble on such luck, and those who can't afford it don't know that this method exists.

"Plus, even if the blessing is successful, the blessing infused into the item is so weak, it's essentially for show, not for actual use. Even if we use it on the shelter, we can only consider it as something that's better than nothing, so…

"This is basically a status symbol. It's almost like collecting antiques. The more types of blessing you collect, the more it reflects your status and position! At that time, we were thinking of switching to another item if the enchantment failed three times. We never expected that it would succeed on the second try!"

Chen Shen seemed to be afraid that Su Mo would be angry with him for paying a hefty price for a crafted item that could only be displayed and had no practical use.

Therefore, he rattled off the last sentence rapidly, fearing that he would draw bitter criticism from Su Mo if he said it slowly.

However, the strange thing was, just as Chen Shen flinched and prepared to be chastised…

He noticed Su Mo—who was behind him—displaying a hint of delight on his face.

'Eh? Big Brother Su isn't angry?

'My goodness, Big Brother Su seems extremely happy!'

Chen Shen thought back on the last few days when the village had held a meeting to discuss what to buy for their Shelter Leader as a send-off gift for his voyage.

He had decided to go against everyone's suggestions, choosing instead to purchase this decorative item infused with a blessing. Inwardly, Chen Shen gave himself a thumbs-up for a job well done!

"This isn't bad at all—I like this item very much. You can pass it to me tonight.

"Oh yes, that's right—if this item is effective, we should continue buying these things. You can use my supplies for the purchases!"

When Su Mo considered the fact that there were other individuals in the human race as smart as himself and that they could exploit a bug like this, he immediately felt very happy.

Everyone hated bugs, but if they found one that they could exploit, they would not let the chance slip by, would they now?

The item inspection function had existed since the very beginning.

However, after attempting to use it once, Su Mo had completely forgotten about it.

Each item could only be inspected for half an hour. Furthermore, one could look but not touch. If one touched the item, the trade amount would be immediately deducted from their account.

For a practical person like Su Mo, this was of little interest.

However, he had never expected that other people would manage to find a loophole like this in the system.

"Oh yes. While we're at sea, if Connie has time on her hands, she can sell some of her blessings to offset her household expenses.

"That way, she can not only improve her blessing abilities, but she can also increase the Golden Lion King's reputation!"

Su Mo mentally began calculating as he followed Chen Shen over to where the feast was being held.

Compared to the weaker foreign clans, even though Connie's powers were not fully developed, her blessings would fetch quite a high price because she was a Saintess.

In fact, this was something to capitalize on in the future—it was the equivalent of having a never-ending gold mine!

Chen Shen could not understand why a mischievous smile occasionally appeared from time to time on Su Mo's face. As Connie—who was still sitting in the Underground Shelter and studying hard—gave a mighty sneeze, the two men had already arrived at the mountainside where the feast was being held.

Since Su Mo had given his word, and the villagers had made such a profit today, the feast went on from six in the evening until midnight.

During these hours, anyone who was hungry could come and eat at any time!

Other than the rule that no one was allowed to take away any of the food, there were beef buns enough for everyone, and the meat soup was sufficient to fill everyone's stomachs!

Right now, however, since most of the tasks assigned to everyone had not been completed yet, the only people eating there were the militia who had come off their shifts and the intelligence team that had returned from their mission.

After making some arrangements, Chen Shen grabbed two buns and went back to get the blessed item, eating as he went. Pei Shao, on the other hand, enthusiastically took two portions of braised pork shoulder and sat down.

"Shelter Leader, what's the situation now?"

When Pei Shao asked this, he had not yet wiped off the grease on his face from gnawing on the pork shoulder bone, but his enthusiastic expression was evident at a glance.

"Our intelligence gathering this time was very successful. Good work!

"The tasks on this end are still the ones that I assigned to you previously, but you shouldn't need to head out for the most recent ones!"

Su Mo accepted one portion of the pork shoulder. Without standing on ceremony, he bit into it and spoke at the same time.

Pei Shao was truly extremely capable. In scouting out the 12 directions with the basin as the central point, he had not made any errors at all.

The information that Pei Shao had gathered indicated that, prior to the disaster, a total of 23,400 foreign races were already positioned around the basin in ambush.

These foreign races were split into three main divisions and positioned at 8 to 12 o'clock around the basin to avoid the route that "the human god Almighty Su" might take.

This direction happened to be where the carp lake was. Following this route, even if they were not able to get to the New World, they would also not be able to get to the center of the battlefield. As far as the foreign races were concerned, this could be considered the safest assembly point.

The three divisions of the foreign races were distributed very evenly throughout this fan-shaped assembly area.

The first group consisted of strength-type foreign races. There were 14200 of them in total and they had excellent equipment and logistics. Most likely they would be the main attacking force of this surprise attack.

The second group was made up of insect species with various special abilities—3680 in total.

Throughout this mission, Pei Shao had tried his best several times to gauge the abilities of this division, but to no avail. However, it was obvious that these insects were the "special forces team" of the attacking force that responded to any situations that were out of the ordinary.

The third group was a massive hodgepodge of all the remaining foreign races. There were all kinds of foreign races in this division, including birds that flew. Their numbers fluctuated between 5,500 to 6,000 individuals.

Right now, before the disaster, the first group was the closest to the basin—only 330 kilometers away.

The furthest group was the mixed division; they were fully 690 kilometers away.

As for the insect species, they were just 100 kilometers behind the first group.

All this important information was what the intelligence team had obtained while putting their lives on the line.

In the timelines of the future, Su Mo would always praise Pei Shao and his team highly over the radio for their work. Besides that, he also solemnly promised that as long as they remained loyal to him, he would take care of them for life.

However, on the wasteland currently, Su Mo smiled as he looked at an anxious Pei Shao who was now passing him a dish of condiments.

"Don't fret. This mission is not as simple as it seems. You need to have more confidence in the work that you're doing. This time I'm very satisfied—don't belittle yourself. Keep up the good work. When the village expands and develops in the future, this will still be your job!"

Su Mo dipped a large piece of meat into the condiments and gave Pei Shao a thumbs up.

Pei Shao finally felt relieved after Su Mo commended him in this manner.

His hands stopped shaking.

His face was no longer furrowed!

"I understand, Leader Su. You made the right move, conducting the mission in this manner. Secrecy is of the utmost importance in intelligence work.

"Sometimes our ignorance can actually lead to the best results."

Su Mo, "???"

Given Pei Shao's fervently enthusiastic expression and the randomness that his brain had generated, Su Mo did not explain any further and shifted his attention back to the pork shoulder in front of him.

Back in the civilized era, this pork shoulder might well be regarded as a piece of "Masterchef" level cookery. The cooks in the village had braised the meat until it was so tender, it was falling off the bone.

When one took a mouthful, the meat was lean but not dry, marbled with fat but not greasy. The pork rind was soft, and the sauce was aromatic and flavorful.

When eaten together with the condiments and onions, every bite was filled with the aroma and texture of the meat. It was so delicious that everyone's mouth watered continuously.

At the same time, Su Mo noticed Chen Shen had returned with the blessed item. He then gestured with his hand and put the item in his storage space.

He then grabbed Chen Shen, Pei Shao, and Zhong Qingshu, who had just come over.

The four of them sat around a table, eating and drinking. It was a perfect sight to behold!

That meal started at six o'clock and went all the way until eight.

The villagers who had just gotten off work felt their appetites being stimulated when they saw Su Mo eating so heartily halfway through.

There were no tables left for them to sit at, but that was fine. Several dozen of them each took a portion of pork shoulder, squatted on the ground, and ate until their mouths were all greasy.

Not only that, each of them was given a bottle of beer. The scene somewhat resembled a large group of people eating by roadside stalls.

"Alright, that's enough beer for me today. We'll discuss further tomorrow at the meeting.

"Oreo and the others haven't had dinner yet. I think they haven't eaten for half a day already; I need to hurry back right away!"

Su Mo suddenly remembered the "young guardians" starving inside the shelter, so he waved away an invitation from several of the management team members to open another crate of beer.

He picked up the meat he packed earlier, rubbed his stomach, and strolled down the mountain path.

The cold night air blew over Su Mo and made him shiver. Because of that, his initial 60% intoxication rapidly decreased.

When he was still around 30% intoxicated, he paused. Slowly rocking from side to side, he indulged in this hard-earned peaceful moment.

In the wasteland, where there were humans, there was hope.

Where there were supplies, there was a future.

Even if Hope Village only had a little over one hundred inhabitants, Su Mo experienced an endless reverie as he stood at the foot of the mountain, staring at the brightly-lit mountain peak for a moment.

"In the future, this basin will be my very own independent kingdom in the wasteland. No one is allowed to interfere!

"Hope Village, Hope Town, Hope City…

"Human civilization will take root and flourish in this land sooner or later!"

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Chapter 337: The Humans' Plan of Attack!

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

"You guys must be hungry, right? Eat up. Don't you guys know how to go over to the village and grab something to eat if you're hungry?"

"Stop looking so tired, or I'll feel very guilty!"

Su Mo went straight to the second floor of the shelter, sat in front of the dinner table, and stared at the four little ones who were wolfing down the meal. He then shifted his gaze toward Connie, who was trying to control herself, but could not. In the end, she ate unrestrainedly like the others.

Su Mo lay on the sofa next to the table and stared at them with an amused expression on his face.

"Moore, Moore wants to become a qualified captain! No, Moore wants to become the most powerful captain! Awooo!"

Even though he had a mouth full of food, Moore would not forget to utter his catchphrase, which in turn attracted Oreo's scorn.

Connie nodded profusely as well, afraid that Su Mo might think of her as a "bad student" if she responded any slower.

With the five of them eating like that, Su Mo noticed that there might not be enough meat, so he waved his arm and requested the cook to bring over more meat for them.

As a reward, Su Mo poured them a cup of psychic-energy water each before heading to the third floor.

He sat at the workbench and poured himself a glass of psychic-energy water. He opened the game panel and began to browse through the chat channels.

As the day wore on, everyone had become more anxious and helpless after receiving the information regarding the disaster in the morning.

At this point, the "crazy" and "panicked" chatter had died down somewhat, and the chat channels were now mostly filled with rational comments and discussions on how to handle the disaster.

"Chen Shen is quite good at doing business. That was quite an impressive haul he made. There are even people praising him in the chat."

"If Chen Shen doesn't have what it takes to become a supervisor, then I might just make him a trade director!"

Su Mo nodded in satisfaction whenever he saw a few lines of praise in the World Channel appear.

Even during times like this where everyone desperately needed the absorbent gum to get through the disaster, and even as the sole distributor of this particular substance, Chen Shen did not announce himself as Almighty Su's commander nor did he boast left and right.

In the morning, when the market opened and free samples were given out, Chen Shen did not forget his origins and the tough life the people on this wasteland faced.

Sacrifice everything to get maximum profit? （）

Maintain and develop current advantage? （）

Such a desirable product would be sold out in just a matter of seconds regardless of how many were in stock.

If it was someone else who was selling the absorbent gum, not raising the price by 100%-150% would have been an act of kindness.

However, what Chen Shen was doing now was an exception!

Hope Village did mark up the price, but after calculating the cost of the raw materials, concoction of the chemical agents and solvents needed for the reaction, labor costs, site costs and other expenses, it was only a 10%-15% increase.

Besides, after Hope Village sold 80% of the stock they had, Chen Shen unleashed his secret move:

He released the recipe to the public!

From how to make the chemical agents and solvents, the ratio of sap-to-solvent, and how to collect the product after the chemical reaction had taken place, as well as all the precautionary steps, everything was included in the manual.

With Chen Shen releasing the recipe to the public, it was only natural that he would receive praise from the people.

Hope Chamber of Commerce, these four simple words were imprinted on the minds of many people across the wasteland.

Besides this, the following actions of the official shelters and some of the larger Huaxia shelters allowed Huaxians across the wasteland to feel an unprecedented sense of warmth and kindness.

Since white sap trees across the wasteland were not scarce, and one could easily find many suitable, healthy trees on the wasteland, all the official shelters devoted themselves to the collection of the white sap.

By tomorrow, the amount of sap collected would be ten times more.

At that point, every Huaxian could make an official application and acquire a sufficient amount of absorbent gum to make preparations for the disaster.

It was immediately obvious to Su Mo how expensive such actions would be to the official shelters.

However…

The official shelters still went ahead with it!

As a result, they received a slew of jealous comments from those from other countries. Beyond that, they strengthened the power of unity between the Huaxian people!

"Natural disasters are ruthless, yet these people are suddenly showing compassion. It's about time to figure out what these people's intentions are."

"If these victims are going to be sacrificed, then I will stop them no matter what!"

Su Mo brooded over that thought as he tapped his fingers against the side of the table. He then opened the friends list and tapped on Shen Ke's profile picture.

Su Mo turned off the workbench's overhead light and switched on the table lamp, before making the final video call before the disaster would strike.

Du…

Du… bzzt bzzt…

The familiar beeping noises rang in his ear. After going through the initial stage, the working relationship between Tundra Shelter, and Shen Ke, with him was now in its…

Honeymoon phase!

Even though Su Mo did not fancy making video calls, he was also not completely against the idea right now, as he waited for Shen Ke to pick up his call.

Just like old times, the call connected just after the fourth beep.

Su Mo could see Shen Ke with her shirt soaked in white sap as she stood under a tree. She was cutting the bark of the tree with a blade, as the tree released white sap from the opening into a wooden bucket.

Besides, there were many searchlights shining around her.

Su Mo noticed that she was busy, so they quickly greeted each other and Su Mo told her to continue doing whatever she was doing. Meanwhile, he dragged his view left and right and took a look around the place.

From Shen Ke's position, Su Mo looked around in a complete circle and immediately recognized the moss-covered plains.

There were also many white sap trees in the area. Su Mo estimated that there were more than a thousand trees just by looking around.

Of course, such a thriving forest was a rare sight around the basin area, yet across the plains…

"Whoa, you have quite a lot of people over at Tundra Shelter. Do you have enough resources to accommodate all of them?"

After Shen Ke finished tapping her tree, handing her bucket to a nearby worker for transport, she got up. It was only then that Su Mo could see how many people were working in the forest.

Compared to the amount of people in Hope Village, the amount of people at Tundra Shelter was a grand sight to behold.

With every area the searchlight illuminated, one could see people crawling near a white sap tree, cutting the bark and collecting the sap. There was over a kilometer-long line of people at work.

Beside them stood a second long line of soldiers, standing 10 meters apart from each other, clad in armor and holding spears to provide protection for the workers.

Shen Ke walked over to a ridge and sighed, "There was another group of 40 people who joined us yesterday, so there are now over eight-hundred people in Tundra Shelter!"

"As for the resources, we still have enough for now. Everyone's stocking up on food supplies right now, so three to five months' worth of resources should not be a problem."

Even Su Mo, who had unwavering confidence in Tundra Shelter, was shocked at that moment.

"More than eight hundred people, can your ship fit that many people?"

Shen Ke scratched her head, "Yes, it can. In fact, we can even fit a hundred more. What, is Almighty Su going to join us as well?"

Su Mo noticed Shen Ke hinting at him, in fact, this time's hint was far more obvious than the last.

This time, Su Mo simply smiled, unlike previously, where he would pick his words carefully and laugh it off.

"Alright then, since you're inviting me, I'll join you guys then!"

"I knew… huh?" Shen Ke thought that Su Mo was going to make up some excuse as usual, but she then realized that something was off and was shocked by his response.

After that, she widened her eyes and there was surprise on her face.

"Really? Are you actually coming? If you are, I'll tell the Shelter Leader and we'll retain some spots for you. 100 of them, no, we can still give you and your people 120 seats at least. We can also allocate some space for the resources that you're bringing with you."

"Heck, if you're going to join us, we might even make you captain of the ship!"

Shen Ke walked as she spoke to Su Mo. She stomped her feet when she saw the smile on his face getting wider and wider. She then continued.

"How about that? Please consider it, Su Mo. Our Shelter Leader has admired you for a long time. If you're going to join us, he said those words."

"He can even give up his position to you. At that point, you will be the Tundra Shelter's leader and you can use any of the official channels we have!"

After Su Mo heard what Shen Ke said, he wanted to reply with, "You think so highly of me, allowing me to manage such a huge shelter."

However, before he spoke, he thought about the chaos he stirred up across the wasteland today and waved his hand.

"Don't. I'm not kidding this time. I can join you guys. After all, I'm interested in this project of yours."

"However, I will be using my ship to get to you guys, and we'll meet up somewhere. You don't have to come pick me up!"

Shen Ke was somewhat disheartened when she heard the first half of the sentence, but was delighted again when she heard the second half.

"Su Mo, you really have a ship? You didn't even tell me what you've been up to recently. How many people are following you on your voyage this time?"

Su Mo grinned, "Not much. Along with my pets, there are going to be six of us in total. That should be enough!"

Shen Ke was confused, "Huh?"

She thought that Su Mo was joking again.

What can six people do? Forget about a large ship, they wouldn't even be able?to operate a small sand ship. He must be joking.

After that, Shen Ke thought about Su Mo's trades with the official shelters, so she recomposed herself and asked curiously,

"Eh? Is your ship a modern one? A ship that's fast and has good firepower?"

Shen Ke was about to say speedboat or sail ship, but she then considered her Shelter Leader's reminder about being tactful and changed what she was going to say.

A fast ship = small ship.

Good firepower = subtle praise.

Su Mo thought about Hope One's top speed of 45 miles an hour and its hundred-round per minute Annihilator cannon, and then nodded.

Hope One was fast, and it had good firepower, so there was nothing wrong with his response!

"Don't worry about me, everything's good here. You'll see what I mean by then. By the way, calling you to discuss meeting up is one thing, but there's also something else that I want to talk about too. What's this about some plan of attack? I was so busy that I didn't get the chance to find out what it was."

"Time's also running out anyway, so I was thinking, if there's anything that we can make money off of, I'll go over and have a look at it. Otherwise, I won't get another chance at these kinds of opportunities next time!"

After getting to know each other better, they seemed like very good friends.

As for his attitude toward Shen Ke, Su Mo acted less arrogant around her now.

After listening to his question, Shen Ke nodded and then shook her head, "How about this, after my Shelter Leader receives the plan in detail, we'll definitely give it to you if you want. I'll go and request it right now, I'll send it to you after I receive it."

Su Mo, "Alright, no rush, though. Just send it to me by tonight. After that,?you can send me your coordinates. When the tides rise, I'll meet up with you all very soon."

He suppressed his desire to ask Shen Ke to take a look around and see if his sister was among the workers.

After they set a time and date for their meet-up, the call ended.

"It seems like my estimation of Tundra Shelter's potential was wrong!"

"In fact, those official shelters should be quite strong this time."

"Besides, why do I have a feeling that the Huaxia officials are being quite nice to me?"

After every conversation, Su Mo would slowly dissect the conversation to extract any information from it. That was his forté, and was something he liked to do as well.

Shen Ken mentioned that he could use any official channel as he liked, and he could tell from the expression on her face that…

She was not joking!

The official organizations were very willing to do anything to assure their safety, in fact, they were willing to go to such extremes to invite an insignificant individual like him to join them.

If they displayed such an attitude, the message behind that attitude was very much worth appreciating.

"If that's the case, the Huaxia official shelters aren't participants in the humans' plan of attack?"

Su Mo tapped his fingers against the table, and opened up the diary in his private message channel to analyze things.

Meanwhile, Shen Ke was also quick on her feet.?She forwarded Su Mo the humans' plan of attack that the Huaxian official organization had sent her.

Its introduction section already included his grave warning to all humans, so it was obvious that it was an unedited version of the plan.

Su Mo set his diary aside and flipped through the pages of the plan. He then started browsing through a plan that just might decide the fate of forty billion people.

After a while, the expression on Su Mo's face was a solemn one. After he looked through the plan that was 8500 words long, he then closed the game panel and shifted his focus.

He flipped to a blank page and wrote:

[First Stage: Reaching the battlefield]

[Second Stage: Splitting the battlefield]

[Third Stage: Fighting each enemy separately]

[Fourth Stage: Turning the tables]

These four overarching stages covered and expressed the complicated plans that Su Mo had in mind.

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Chapter 338: 338 Analyze, Three-Point Inference

Under the dim light, Su Mo sat at the workbench furiously writing away at his notes.

The humans' plan of attack was as he expected. It did not involve the participation of hundreds of countries, nor were only the Big Five qualified to join.

(T/N: Refers to the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, which are China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States.)

The only qualification required to receive the actual contents of the plan was to have sufficient power.

It was one thing to say one had a large military force on Earth, with a sizable arsenal to arm and equip them. Even if orders for fifth-generation aircrafts were en route and the country would possess excellent firepower in the event of a war…

Alright then, whether such boasts were true or fake, we can turn a blind eye.

However, there was one condition…

You had to have enough power on this wasteland!

If your shelter was below the set standard, then it would be very unfortunate, but you would not be invited to participate in the plan for the moment, nor would you be informed about the plan either.

If you still wanted to participate in the plan, then you would have to pick a "big shot" to join.

Those were the default rules set by the higher echelons at the moment. Even the Huaxia official organization did not protest these rules and had agreed to them.

Of course, there was a reason why this particular set of rules existed.

It was because of the distribution of humans across the wasteland!

There were 197 countries across Earth, and there were 4 types of people; black, white, brown, and yellow-skinned people.

Given the randomized nature of the game's transmigration, it was impossible that the people in one's surroundings would be from the same country, much less be of the same skin color or speak the same language.

Thus, the translation feature that the game provided united people, regardless of country, skin color or language.

To ensure everyone's survival!

This time, all the official organizations, with the Big Five leading them, did something that no one expected.

To diminish and eliminate the concept of "countries", they were going to replace that concept with "shelters" and popularize it!

It seemed quite unthinkable at first but, in retrospect, it was an inevitable development in the wasteland. It was also the most correct choice that humans could make when faced with this natural disaster.

Of course, if this disaster could be stopped, or if everyone were given a second chance, countries might still rise up again in the future.

However, given the current situation, even "Huaxia" might be a forgotten concept in just one or two years.

In journeying across the wasteland, survivors' utmost priority would be getting a shelter of their own.

As for their own brethren, such ties would have to be relegated in priority for the moment. It was similar to being more friendly to someone with a similar skin tone while on a trip overseas; there would still be a layer of cautiousness beneath the outward expression of friendliness.

"For now, each shelter has four criteria to fulfill in order to join the humans' plan of attack."

"First, a shelter must have 500 inhabitants, with at least 100 of them armed with weapons or defensive equipment."

"Second, if a shelter has experienced battle, it must have achieved more than 500 kills in a single victory or more than 200 kills across the span of two victories."

"Third, the ship that the shelter possesses must be assessed and be up to the set standard. It must be able to accommodate more than 1000 people, must have more than 3 modern-day cannons, more than 50 modern thermal weapons, and sufficient ammunition for a battle involving more than 1000 people."

"Fourth, it must be endorsed by an official organization."

These criteria were so harsh!

From the number of people and resources, to naval firepower and accreditation.

These strict rules could easily filter out 99.99% of shelters, and the remaining 0.01%, given the current situation in the wasteland, would not number more than 50!

In other words, this was the "privilege" that only the humans' best of the best could enjoy.

The true intelligence of mankind could be seen through a plan like this. Even if Su Mo knew the game's true purpose and its secrets, he still gave these people a thumbs up.

The plan was simple and its intentions were clear-cut.

After Su Mo carefully filled in the gaps between the points, read it a few times over, and made sure there were no errors, Su Mo decided not to decipher the convoluted contents of the plan by himself.

He simply opened up the game panel and sent a private invitation over to Zhong Qingshu.

…

After a short period of waiting.

As the third person ever who visited his self-built shelter, when Su Mo opened the metal gate, Zhong Qingshu was like a curious baby, looking here and there.

However, as they progressed along the path to the second floor, and then down to the hall on the third floor, that sense of curiosity turned into surprise.

"What's wrong? Are you curious?" Zhong Qingshu still smelled of alcohol. Su Mo thought for a while, but he did not grab a drink. Instead, he put on the kettle, boiled some hot water, and handed her a glass of it.

"Thank you."

After taking the glass of hot water, Zhong Qingshu looked a little bashful as she replied with a red tinge on her face.

"I'm not curious. Rather, I'm surprised! Who would have thought that the most powerful person on the wasteland, Almighty Su, would still be living in such a shabby place."

"Don't you know that there were people on the World Channel talking about how grand your "palace" was?"

Su Mo knew that Zhong Qingshu was not insulting him, but she was not lying to him either.

A month ago, the third floor of this super shelter would have made everyone green with envy. It was strong, robust, and equipped with rooms built for different purposes.

However, at this moment, the walls were still unpainted, and the floor was covered in dust despite the wind sweeping across its surface every day. The only furniture was a large clock in the gym and a sofa that had been stained with oil from his rushed meals.

These were truly things that the typical disaster victim wished for but, compared to larger shelters, there was quite an obvious difference.

Even if Su Mo did another live stream from within the shelter and cooked a hotpot for himself, it would not garner that much admiration and envy from most people like last time.

Even if Su Mo outfitted the rooms appropriately, the shelter would still have "fallen behind".

However, that did not change the love and passion that Su Mo had for this shelter when he looked at it.

Su Mo lightly shook his head and smiled.

"Stop teasing me already. You know very well how busy I've been this month. When we head to the New World, I will surely make this shelter the most luxurious, grand, and amazing one ever."

"I'll also make the shelter a sacred place that everyone will admire. At that point, I want everyone's lifelong goal to be to enter my shelter, or even just catch a glimpse of it. I want them to be in awe."

"However, we haven't reached the stage where I can stably develop the shelter yet. Hurry up, there's more work to be done!"

Zhong Qingshu's eyes seemed to light up after hearing Su Mo's inspiring words, as if imagining how grand, strong, and developed their shelter would be in the future.

However, when Su Mo took out the notes containing the humans' plan of attack, the expression in her eyes regained their "sharp" look. She even suppressed the smile on her face.

"This is?"

"This is the humans' plan of attack for the naval battle I told you about. It was written by the higher echelons."

Even if Su Mo mentioned nothing about the humans' plan of attack, Zhong Qingshu would have had an inkling of what was going on just by reading the World Channel.

Those who participated in this plan were none other than the humans in super shelters.

Even Dragon Flag, Crimson Moon, Daybreaker Sword, and Polar Bear shelters, that housed more than 5000 people, were among the participants in the plan.

However, the World Channel did not provide any clues as to what the plan actually was.

A normal person would only guess that this plan was only to be participated by the elites. Just like their experience on Earth, it was an impossible task for them.

At this moment, who would have known that such a simple book would contain such important information.

Zhong Qingshu was stunned.

After that, her expression turned stern once more as she stood up and took the notebook from Su Mo.

Su Mo did not rush her while she was reading it. He walked over to the table by the workstation, pinched a handful of green tea, and threw it into his cup.

The boiling water soon brought out the fragrance of the tea.

Accompanied by the slightly bitter yet light aroma of the tea, Su Mo sat on the other chair in the living room and waited patiently.

Different people would fidget differently when analyzing a problem. For Su Mo, he would tap on the surface of the table because that tapping sound facilitated his thought process.

Zhong Qingshu, on the other hand, would have to grip something. She would hold onto something until her fingers turned pale in order to focus on her thoughts.

After a while, Zhong Qingshu noticed that it was nearing ten o'clock. She frowned, looked up, and sighed, "Su Mo, this must be the simplified version you made, right? I need to see the details of the original version. I need more information!"

Su Mo nodded, "Alright, as long as you don't share it with anyone else. I'll send it directly over to your game panel."

This time, Zhong Qingshu read even faster; she only took five minutes. She used the information that she already had, looked through the plan twice, and then paused.

"The entire ocean would be split into 12 different battlefronts. The ships from the large shelters will enable the humans to move between battlefronts and attack on different fronts."

"Those who have won their battles in their respective areas will then help out those who are struggling in other areas, hopefully scoring victories in each area one by one. Finally, all humans will gather together and push back both the terrestrial and marine foreign races."

"However, the plan did not indicate why areas 1, 5, and 12 are so confident about winning their battles…"

Su Mo noticed that Zhong Qingshu had the same questions he had, so he picked up his glass and lightly sipped on the hot tea.

"This is why the plan was circulated around with no fear at all. There was utter confidence in winning those battles, so even if the entire thing looked stupid, the foreign races would have no choice but to fight."

"After all, if areas 1, 5, and 12 fail, then 80% of the humans on the sea would be walking into a deathtrap, straight into the arms of the foreign races, and will likely be slaughtered!"

"This is a gamble between humans and the foreign races. We're betting that we can beat them, and they're betting that we can't."

Zhong Qingshu, "It's too risky. Polar Bear Shelter is in area 5, so it's basically located at the heart of the battlefield. If they were the ones who devised this crazy plan to fight the foreign races, then the foreign races would surely know that if they win their battle against the humans in area 5, then neither area 1 nor 12 would be able to adapt to salvage the situation. At that time, even if the humans win, they would suffer heavy losses. Besides, even if everything proceeds according to plan, at least 40% of the participating humans would be sacrificed for sure!"

Su Mo nodded, "Yes, so we have a clear point to go on now."

Su Mo was still good at analyzing motives and purpose.

In terms of motive, since there would be another battle against the foreign races, and a battle was inevitable, why not pick a comfortable time and place to do so?

As for purpose, the final goal of the humans in starting this war was to get a huge bounty of treasure chests, open them, and develop and improve their levels of technology to rise up and turn the tables on the foreign races and the game.

On the other hand, Zhong Qingshu was good at taking perspectives and drawing conclusions.

There might be an overlap in opinions when two people were thinking about the same problem but, somehow, there would also be some complementary results from such a discussion.

"Let's assume that we can score victories in those three areas and assist the other areas that are struggling, then who would be the one undertaking the lowest risk?"

"Twelve, no, I mean the people in area 12. They are located near a shallow area of the sea, so it would be easy for them to move onto land. After all, it was better to live to fight another day."

Zhong Qingshu asked, "Then who would be undertaking the greatest amount of risk?"

"Those in area 1. If they lose their battle, they would have a hard time retreating, unless they have no desire of heading to the New World…"

Zhong Qingshu nodded, "Just assume that you're someone from area 1. Under what circumstances would you be willing to fight this battle when, using this strategy, you would be undertaking the largest amount of risk?"

What kind of situation could that be?

Zhong Qingshu's point was quite interesting, and that made Su Mo sit up and think about it deeply.

In other words, area 1 possessed the greatest risk. Even if the humans had the confidence to win their battle, they would have to be wary of those in areas 5 and 12 running away.

Since such a decision was made, there were only three possibilities.

Area one was bait. The humans' primary firepower would not be concentrated there, or that area would simply be used to lure the foreign races' troops over so other areas could prepare to escape.

Area one had a foolproof plan to ensure that they and the other areas could all escape, so they had no reason to panic at all.

Area one was the safest place. Either that or the foreign races dared not attack that place for some reason, so even if it was abandoned, they would have no problem with that.

Wait… if that was the case…

After Su Mo thought about those three possibilities and remembered that time he had used the Mountain and Sea Painting Scroll in the Ruins of Time, he jumped up and looked at the layout of the wasteland. There was a strong sense of possibility that arose from within Su Mo's heart.

…

1.04 am in the morning.

After Su Mo watched Zhong Qingshu's silhouette disappear into the darkness, he returned to the shelter with thoughts racing through his head.

He got so much out of this night.

He would only need to go on the voyage and verify something, after which he would receive the answer he was looking for.

Of course, it was not due to their intelligence that the both of them had come up with such inferences. These things aside, surely the person who came up with this plan easily surpassed both of them from the standpoint of intelligence and strategy.

However, given his extensive knowledge of the game and the wasteland, and given that there was no way to achieve victory through conventional means, Su Mo decided to narrow the scope of possible options.

After Su Mo used the information he had and worked backward, he felt that this cheap method worked every time.

"The route that Tundra Shelter would take leads them to area 4 while my route would lead me into area 10."

"Charting our meet-up route from there, I would have to alter my sailing course by 34 degrees. However, if I don't want to go through area 5, I will have to make a detour, but that's not a big problem."

After Su Mo responded to Shen Ke's messages, he took a look at his list of tasks and noticed that one of them had already been completed, and with extraordinary results too.

Su Mo returned to his bed satisfied and slept soundly.

Another day had passed, and only two days remained till the advent of the disaster!

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Chapter 339: A Small Step for the Leader, A Big Step for the Villagers

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

The moon set and the sun rose.

As Su Mo's bedtime gradually got earlier every night, he woke up earlier each day as well.

His body, which was on the verge of being classified as abnormal, did not need more time to recover from fatigue. Just after seven o'clock in the morning, Su Mo immediately opened his bright piercing eyes and shot up.

"Huh? Why'd she come over and sleep near me today?"

Seeing Oreo, who had not been by his bedside since he upgraded the shelter to a three-level shelter, laying down beside him affectionately, Su Mo felt gratified, and hugged and petted her for a while.

As the days went by, after becoming the most powerful person in the wasteland, apart from gaining increased supplies and better equipment, Su Mo's quality of life had been somewhat stagnant, as Zhong Qingshu said. He did not have the luxury to sleep in, relax or enjoy some entertainment.

He was like a tight, tense bowstring. This would be fine if things stayed the same, but it would result in a terrifying backlash if he was stretched too far.

Oreo was wise and aware of this. Expressing a human-like sense of worry, she howled as she lay at his bedside.

Su Mo found the scene somewhat distressing, yet funny.

However, in the end, Su Mo still shook his head and nodded.

"Hang in there. Once I pick up my sister, I'll bring you all to the New World…"

"…Even if the flood situation is horrible, I should probably keep my head down for a year or two. Otherwise, if I push things forward too much, sooner or later the rest of humankind won't be able to keep up!"

"During that period, I can spare more time doing what I want, and I'll be qualified to talk about true stability!"

He patted Oreo on the head and walked along the bedside. After sweeping away the confusion in his heart, Su Mo pulled himself together, stood up, and started washing up.

After yesterday's accomplishments, today's breakfast tasted particularly sumptuous.

A bowl of pita bread soaked in lamb soup, three herbal eggs, two crispy baked biscuits, one fresh cucumber, and finally a little Northeast miso.

It seemed that the cook also knew that this was the fourth last meal that Su Mo would be able to eat in Hope Village before he left.

Hence at the bottom of the bowl of pita, Su Mo saw an omelet that was cooked in a heart shape.

Everyone had their own way of expressing feelings.

This was an unconventional farewell from the cooks of Hope Village.

This was their little act of "love" for their leader who spread his wings to protect them.

During breakfast, as he was watching the four little ones gobbling up their food, Su Mo opened up the game panel and started browsing the World Channel and trading market as usual.

The Regional Channel was more like a group huddle, with people banding together, while the World Channel had become a place of teaching and instruction to survive the upcoming disaster.

Things were much calmer on the chat channels today, with fewer "crazy" comments appearing from time to time.

Within a single day, a second method to resist the upcoming disaster, apart from the absorbent gum, appeared on the World Channel.

This building was called a Safe House and was constructed by using ingenious structures and by adding a type of hardened wood from the wasteland.

This type of building, while not being particularly resistant to other forms of damage, seemed to perform uniquely well when it came to absorbing the impact from kinetic energy.

When matched with the absorbent gum, the two methods complemented each other. If there was a lone wolf that could afford both, he would be able to safely survive the first fifteen minutes of torrential rain when the disaster struck.

The medium-to-large shelters would blaze a new trail when it came to protecting their ships; they would come up with several different methods.

There were those who mobilized everyone to dig and pile up soil, who became known as the earthwork bunch.

Some tried to change their destiny by digging pits, who then became known as the sinking bunch.

Some made pulleys and wheels to move and hide their boats under naturally-formed structures obstacles; these became known as the runaway bunch.

These variable schools of thought represented some differences in human thinking on the wasteland.

However, there was no doubt that this was a good thing, as it indicated an active effort among human beings to prepare for the disaster!

As for the words of gratitude that came up on the chat channels from time to time, Su Mo did not choose to skim over them, but instead carefully read everyone's thanks and admiration toward "Almighty Su".

Standing up for the right thing truly provided great results.

If there were about 800,000 to 1.5 million people among Su Mo's fanbase yesterday then, after a day, this number had definitely exceeded 4 million, and was still increasing continuously.

In the chat channels of the foreign races, they were all repeatedly stating that Old Devil Su would be dead; attempting to brainwash the masses so that the rest of the foreign races would also throw in their lot with them.

These kinds of repetitive words that were constantly copied and pasted, while seemingly stupid at first, would not only make Su Mo's original fans more convinced, but also develop even more devout "believers".

After he was done browsing through the World Channel, Su Mo quickly browsed through the trading market as he dipped the last piece of cucumber into the miso.

At present, the price of basic materials had dropped once again as everyone was planning to migrate and no one had room for such materials. As such the materials market was relatively inactive.

However, the prices of some rare earth elements had gradually dropped over the past two days, reaching a price range that could be reasonably purchased.

These things would not take up much space. After sending Chen Shen a message to alert him to the purchase opportunity, he wrapped up his breakfast by opening up the daily system announcements.

A lot of things were achieved yesterday. Revealing information about the disaster to all humankind earned him a whole 3000 points, and Hope Village earning a ten-fold profit earned him 2500 points.

In addition to the miscellaneous gains, seeing that his survival points balance had returned to 24000 points, sitting at his workbench, Su Mo took out the "gift" that he received from Chen Shen yesterday that he had yet to examine in detail.

It was a stone about the size of a fist, with the overall appearance of a cylinder. However, the stone's grain and texture were somewhat familiar to Su Mo. He roughly guessed that Chen Shen had picked it up near Iron Rock Mountain due to its pleasing shape.

Unlike the Lion God sculpture that he previously obtained, the blessing on this stone did not look particularly powerful. Apart from making the stone a little shinier, it did not seem to exude any other magical phenomenon.

However, thanks to the system's ability to upgrade things, Su Mo paid this no mind. He directly summoned the system and scanned the stone for its properties.

As the shining green light appeared, a brief properties panel appeared.

[Lizard Blessing Stone (Normal)]

[Description: The lizard people conducted the sacrificial ritual to "Morry Wendell" to personally bless the stone and instill it with the power of the blessing. The stone cannot carry too much energy due to its material, so the blessing carried is extremely weak. If the stone is not used and not refilled with power, after 365 natural days, it will lose its blessing entirely and revert to being an ordinary stone.]

[Restrictions: Not tradable]

[Functions]

[Divine Power: Blessing (Shattering the blessing stone in the core shelter or large vehicle will permanently infuse a level 0 supernatural Lizard God's blessing into the shelter or vehicle.)]

[Blessing properties: (Level 0) Immortality (Every natural day, the blessing's bearer will have their durability restored by 0.01%. This durability restoration extends to the materialization of external parts.)]

[Comment: A friendly reminder, there have been many lizard people who have tried to cut off a certain part of themselves, wanting to increase its length using their extraordinary abilities. However, without exception, they have all failed. Will you be the next warrior?]

"Hey, durability restoration. Not bad. This is a pretty practical blessing."

Unlike the mermaid clan's water ability and lion clan's wind ability, this so-called immortality ability was passive.

Although it seemed that this ability was quite "useless" and was of no use to the shelter, Su Mo's keen perception sensed some potential in this blessing.

The Underground Shelter currently only had three floors, with a total area of no more than a thousand square meters, so 0.01% was a very small percentage.

However, if it could be continuously upgraded to 1-5%, and the Underground Shelter had its number of floors increased by dozens of floors more and its area increased to hundreds of thousands of square meters…

At that point, the rate of daily durability recovery would offer outstanding value. Minor damage would no longer require manpower and materials to repair but, instead, it would recover automatically within one or two days.

However, right now, Su Mo was planning to use this thing that carried a level 0 blessing on Hope One.

If the blessing could be upgraded, it would complement Hope One's Genesis ability and become another trump card of Hope One.

"Today's remaining tasks are the loading of materials and calling for the meeting. I can take it easy regarding the loading of materials. I just have to notify the villagers to transport them onto the ship…"

"…as for this meeting, the number of lifeboats and weapons to be allocated has to be calculated carefully!"

He took out the blueprint design of the excellent-quality lifeboat he had acquired from his first entry into the secret trading realm.

After using the blueprint, not only did the design details emerge on the game panel, but a memory transmission was sent over as well.

At this point, manufacturing excellent-quality items was no longer a problem for Su Mo.

After studying the design of the lifeboat and finding that the materials required were all available on the trading market, Su Mo did not delay a single second and went straight to the warehouse to pick up the materials to trade.

A total of 400kg of food was sufficient to purchase enough materials to manufacture four lifeboats.

After informing Hong Kangcheng, the materials supervisor, that he could load the materials onto Hope One according to the original plan, Su Mo started the manufacturing process without any distractions as he sat at the workbench.

It had been a long time. After coming into possession of the robot workers, Su Mo realized that it had been ages since he applied himself seriously in the creation of an item.

After completing the manufacturing of the first lifeboat, and seeing the marginally distorted wiring, Su Mo returned to the LCD TV again and began reviewing the errors in his manufacturing process seriously.

Adhering to the spirit of craftsmanship, Su Mo manufactured the remaining three lifeboats beautifully. It took more than four hours. In the blink of an eye, it was already noon, and the four uninflated lifeboats on the ground filled Su Mo's heart with a sense of fulfillment.

He then put them into his storage space and arrived at the safety warehouse where his ammunition was stored.

This time, Su Mo did not hesitate regarding the amount of ammunition and firearms that was to be provided to Hope Village, choosing to provide them with ample supply.

20 machine guns, 100,000 rounds of ammo.

30 rifles, 100,000 rounds of ammo.

60 handguns, 50,000 rounds of ammo.

10 packs of one-kilogram explosives, 8 packs of 3-kilogram explosives, 5 packs of 5-kilogram explosives, and 2 packs of 15-kilogram explosives.

These guns could be reclaimed when they arrived at the New World but, during his absence, although there was no plan to turn Hope Village into an armed fortress, lacking these would hinder the management of Chen Shen and the others.

Considering that the current level of firearms training the villagers had was basically zero, leaving behind these guns and ammunition would allow those few retired veterans to train and familiarize the others with the weapons in preparation for future battles.

When they reached the New World and needed to fight, the villagers could quickly come together and form a strong combat force!

In the wasteland, to ordinary people, a single trip could result in an "eternal farewell".

It was said that it was hard to leave one's homeland. Even though the basin area had only been his home for two months, Su Mo still felt a sense of loss as he was sorting through these things.

With a slightly heavy heart, he counted all the materials and placed them in Earth Tiger's storage space in the garage.

As he drove Earth Tiger, Su Mo began to look around the territory for the last time before setting off.

After exiting the Underground Shelter's gate, the several barren source energy fruit trees had been chopped down by Su Mo; all that remained near the gate were their stumps.

After yesterday's violent rainstorm, the weeds in the entire basin area were green. If one did not take the terrain into account, the scene looked as spectacular as the grasslands.

Relying on his excellent eyesight, Su Mo could see Hope Village in the distance. Currently, the villagers were walking in groups of three or five, back and forth between Iron Rock Mountain and Hope One.

With the convenience of the storage space, everyone could easily chat while carrying supplies at the same time and, due to the number of people involved, the supplies being brought onboard at once were quite a lot.

Scanning the surroundings as he drove Earth Tiger toward Hope One, Su Mo nodded in satisfaction as he looked at the storage compartments that were filled of basic living supplies.

These supplies would only be kept aside if left on Iron Rock Mountain, but they could be used in case of emergencies if they were stored aboard Hope One.

Adhering to the principle that one would not panic as long as one had food, Su Mo loaded 40% of Hope Village's harvest from the trade onboard.

Apart from hard currencies such as wheat and flour, Hong Kangcheng and the others also thoughtfully converted a small portion of the supplies into other things.

Corn, rice, beef, lamb, fish and shrimp, fruits, snacks, beverages, beer, liquor…

Flashlights, laser pointers, Swiss army knives, complete sets of kitchen utensils, complete sets of bath equipment, various gadgets…

All the good things that countless wasteland survivors had obtained from the treasure chests were all taken onboard and placed in various locations within the storage compartments.

Even some frozen goods; as long as the matter conversion engine was turned on a day later, the temperature of the freezer area in the storage compartment would drop to negative five degrees, which would increase the shelf life of the stored food.

There wasn't much to enjoy on the wasteland but, in the eyes of the villagers, Su Mo was fully qualified to enjoy what little there was.

Moreover, as they were familiar with Su Mo's temperament, they were not afraid that Su Mo would become a leader who only knew how to enjoy himself.

After recognizing Hong Kangcheng's personal efforts with a wave of his hand, Su Mo got off the ship and, as the villagers watched, drove Earth Tiger and veered off toward the Deep-sea Shelter.

Things still looked to be in ruins here.

The crumbling dirt had obscured the shelter below, and bits of grass had grown out tenaciously from where the second floor was split off.

If one was not familiar with the location and did not take a closer look, they would not be able to find out that there was also something hidden here that no one in the wasteland managed to achieve thus far…

A level 5 shelter!

After getting off Earth Tiger, Su Mo slowly walked up the hill. Finding the place where Magoo was buried by memory, Su Mo sat down and took out a bottle of Maotai.

There were only four bottles of Maotai on the ship. Even Su Mo would only enjoy this luxury in the talisman simulation world.

However, sitting here, Su Mo opened it without a care and poured out the entire bottle above the Deep-Sea Shelter.

"Big Brother Magoo, the wasteland's ocean disaster is coming. It's best for Little Brother Su Mo to take one step ahead this time to discover what other wonders this wasteland has to offer…"

"…oh right, I found one of the bases of your expedition army. If there is an opportunity this time, I'll go over and help you see where your group of people ended up going…"

"…don't worry. I'm much stronger than everyone else, I'll come back safely for sure…"

"…when the migration happens, I'll relocate your shelter too. Haha. At that time, little brother is going to take you to this New World for you to have a good look at it!"

While talking to himself, the bottle of Maotai was eventually emptied.

Watered by such expensive liquor, the grass below swayed with the breeze, seemingly nodding, as if representing Magoo in his response to Su Mo to not worry and move forward boldly.

Su Mo smiled. He kept the bottle back in the storage space and, after taking out a shovel and repairing some possible leaks on the first floor of the Deep-Sea Shelter, Su Mo drove Earth Tiger and continued forward.

The saltpeter mine, where he fought a battle that allowed him to develop firearms and gunpowder…

The lion clan's base camp that had been burnt and reduced to ruins, where he obtained his first blessing…

The ruins of the kobold castle, where he once used the DF-17 missile to slay the god…

The ruins of the old Candlelight Shelter, where a lot of resources had been collected during the welfare disaster…

These places that bore his memories of the wasteland and had witnessed the growth of the legendary "Almighty Su" were revisited by Su Mo this afternoon.

It seemed like a goodbye this time, though it was more like Su Mo was telling himself:

A new journey was about to begin anew!

At 6 o'clock in the afternoon, after a walk to the spot where Oreo once lay on his belly on the ground as she waited in excitement for the explosive packs to ignite, killing hundreds of the kobolds, Su Mo returned to Earth Tiger again and drove it back to the foot of Iron Rock Mountain.

On this ordinary and unremarkable day, an arched doorway was raised at the foot of Iron Rock Mountain and draped with some celebratory red lanterns.

On the way up the mountain, there were gaudy things hanging along the mountain road. It could be seen briefly that these light strips had been randomly bought from the trading market and somehow made the mountain look extremely "lively".

On the platform at the top of the mountain, four high-powered lights illuminated the upper half of the mountain as if it was still daylight.

He drove the vehicle to the foot of the mountain, parked it, and walked over to the entrance. Su Mo saw the words on the banners that were hung on the arched doorway.

"Although heading out to sea this time is only a small step for the shelter leader to conquer the wasteland,"

"But it is a huge step toward the happiness of everyone in Hope Village!"

"Be invincible!"

Chapter 340: Unhappy? Fight! Dissatisfied? Fight! Don't Surrender…Just Fight!

Even though the couplet was less than perfectly formed, the festive words that had a slight tinge of playfulness still had Su Mo's heart pounding silently as he stood under the arch.

All good banquets had to come to an end.

No one wanted to leave, and no one wanted to bid farewell either. Su Mo knew that this was because the villagers did not want to make today and tomorrow's atmosphere too sad.

They wanted to let themselves go without worry and make their penultimate night in the basin area a little happier.

As for the villagers' regards…

Su Mo received it!

"Greetings, Chief!"

Seeing the two militia members standing under the arch salute as they greeted him with frantic enthusiasm, Su Mo smiled and nodded.

Stepping through the arch, Su Mo walked steadily upward as the militia members watched him in admiration.

The hill that usually required a four-to-five-minute walk to the top seemed to take much longer as Su Mo walked slowly along the path, as if wanting to forever etch this scene into his mind.

He touched the rough walls that were excavated and measured every large platform that had been hewn open with his feet.

Su Mo felt a sense of relief seeing these subtle changes.

Everything was gradually getting better and developing in a healthy direction. Since migrating here, it seemed that everyone had been rushing forward under the pressure of the general trend.

But when it was carefully looked at and pondered upon…

Everyone's unwillingness to compromise on their destiny under the threat of the natural disasters was evident!

"Brother Su, you're here. The villagers are in position and the venue is ready too. Shall we?"

Iron Rock Mountain's overall shape was that of a cone. Although there was a platform on it that Su Mo had specially formed during its creation process, it was still a little too small to accommodate hundreds of people.

Hence today's venue was arranged on a dedicated platform that was excavated halfway up the rear of Iron Rock Mountain.

On normal days, it could be used as a training ground or as a place to hold village meetings.

When there was war, it could be converted into a sniper platform to prevent the possibility of a "flanking assault" from enemies.

"Alright, let's go!"

"Oh, right, get someone to drive Earth Tiger up. I parked it at the foot of the mountain. There are weapons in the trunk that I want to leave with the village. Get someone trustworthy!"

He patted Chen Shen on the shoulder. Seeing how he was still unable to hide the trace of parting sadness on face, Su Mo smiled and strode forward.

No one wanted to bring along any negative emotions today.

In the same way, Su Mo was also willing to put all his emotions aside and show his best self to the villagers and these subordinates who were waiting for him on this "Solitary Hill"!

Down the mountain path and following the lanterns, the descent this time was much faster.

Soon after, as he turned a corner, the view in front of him lit up.

Two lanterns hung high like the sun, lighting up the platform below.

All the villagers sat in rows using their handmade small wooden folding stools. Although there were some whispers circulating, it made this place feel less cold and added character to it on this cloudless night in the wasteland.

In the civilized world, Su Mo was the standard loner and a "drifter" in the big city.

In a big city like Mystic City, like any other ordinary people, Su Mo rejected all pointless social interactions and spent most of his time locked up in his room or doing things he enjoyed according to his own plans.

However, after going through a month of true "loneliness" after arriving at the wasteland, Su Mo loved being "popular".

At the very least, when he saw the 145 people in Hope Village all sitting here and waiting for him, the smile on his face got wider.

There was a stage erected about one meter above the platform in front of all the villagers. The "carpet" on the stage was the same red cloth that hung on the handrails during Hope One's ribbon-cutting ceremony.

There was a row of handmade tables and chairs on the stage.

Su Mo saw an identity tag with his name on it at the center of the table.

"That's right. Though Hope Village is now rich, I hope that this wealth is used for everyone to live a plentiful life and isn't splurged on fancy things…"

"…the treasure chest rewards will eventually run out one day. Each of these modern items that can be obtained are precious, so don't waste them."

Chen Shen, who was at the side, nodded immediately. "Yes, Brother Su, I understand. Don't worry about it!"

Su Mo did not like extravagance. Not only did Chen Shen know this, but everyone within the shelter's leadership team knew this too.

However, at the same time, they also knew that Su Mo was not a pedantic person.

Just like the lightbulb strips that were gradually accumulated from the trading market today, Su Mo would not have opinions on them but would instead be very happy.

He looked at Pei Shao, Hong Kangcheng, Chen Yi, Qi Qin, who were waiting on the right side of the stage, and then at the crowd that had gathered in front, which was beginning to quiet down for his sake. Su Mo took a deep breath, stepped forward, and walked toward the stage along the designated path.

Step by step, Su Mo walked very steadily.

Everyone's gazes, including that of the leadership team, remained glued to him.

Of course, everyone dared not look directly at Su Mo's face this time, or make eye contact with him, but this did not prevent them from focusing on his steps.

At this moment, looking at the red festive stage before him, memories of the civilized era in Su Mo's mind began to blur together with the scene in the wasteland in front of him.

Unlike his sister, Su Chan, Su Mo had spent the first eighteen years of his life living in the ancient capital, Chang'an, before entering university.

Here, apart from occasionally winning awards for "My Presidential Dad" and receiving the "Excellent All-rounder Student" certificate on stage, Su Mo had very few chances to step on the red carpet.

Most of the time, including during his university graduation ceremony, Su Mo would sit in the auditorium like any other ordinary person and watch the outstanding students come on stage to express themselves.

But today…

As the real "star of the night", he stepped onto the stage unrestrained and sat in the centermost seat. Su Mo saw expressions brimming with expectations, tension, and anxiety on the villagers' faces below.

If this had happened back then, Su Mo would have chosen to remove the stage immediately and try to be on the same level as the villagers so that they did not have to look up at him.

On Earth, all human beings were created equal and human rights were prioritized above all else.

In the wasteland, he was unwilling to "obviously" run a dictatorship, and was even less willing to convey the message that their life and death were within his grasp.

Now, however…

After realizing that only by displaying such a tough posture would the villagers be rest assured, Su Mo "changed".

As Su Mo sat down, the rest of the leadership team also began taking the stage in an orderly manner. They sat evenly on Su Mo's right and left sides, and the atmosphere at the assembly suddenly felt heavier.

"Today is Month 2 Day 22 of the Doomsday Wasteland Calendar, I am honored to be here to announce that…"

"Hope Village's second general assembly has officially begun!"

As Chen Shen's voice fell, loud applause began to erupt from the audience, and it could be heard that the villagers' hearts were not calm.

"Today is the 53rd day since we humans arrived on the wasteland from Earth, from Huaxia, from every corner of every city…"

"…I know that each of you may have had different identities in the past, including chefs, white-collar employees, workers, and students, but I believe that everyone should have accepted their new identity now…"

"…as a part of Hope Village, at this moment, I invite all of you to applaud yourselves again; applaud the shelter and applaud your Chief!"

Clap, clap, clap…

There was another round of applause, but this time it was much louder than before, as all the villagers' emotions were roused by Chen Shen's words.

"Now let us invite our supplies and resources supervisor, Hong Kangcheng, to give us his periodic report!"

Today, with everyone in the leadership team having honed their skills and abilities, the once extremely naive man, Hong Kangcheng, had transformed so greatly that he was undeterred when picking up a microphone.

Although he took out a piece of white paper on which his speech text was written compared to other people's unwritten speeches, no one thought it was strange considering those were supply reports.

"Hello, everyone, I'm Hong Kangcheng. I'm happy to be here with all of you today, and with our Chief, to provide a periodic report…"

"…I believe that through the changes in our daily lives, everyone can also feel the changes that our supply reserves have undergone during these two months!"

"Yes, from the beginning when we were eating tree barks, digging up roots, eating soil, to what we have now, as we eat big, white steamed buns, small, pickled vegetables, and some meat from time to time. This is the result of all of us working hard with our bare hands and the fruit of our sweat and tears. It is a brilliant achievement made possible under the leadership of our Chief…"

"…let me first talk about what everyone is most concerned about, which is our number one expenditure among all the necessities—food. After our miraculous operation one day ago, the supplies we stockpiled now are enough to last us three years and seven months for all 145 people here on this wasteland…!"

As soon as Hong Kangcheng spoke those words, there was dead silence at first, but then there was an uproar.

Sitting in their seats, many people were trembling with excitement and could not contain themselves.

More people even felt weak at their knees and fell from their stools on the spot, making the entire scene somewhat chaotic.

This scene was as if you had worked hard earning a living, but your father suddenly called you over and said, "Son, we've made a fortune and earned 50 million bucks".

Considering the need to build a base and purchase other things to continue improving their level of strength, these materials were not actually enough to last that long. Instead, one and a half years should be a more accurate estimate.

However, at this moment, it did not affect the "excitement" that arose from the bottom of their hearts!

Then, on other aspects of the supplies and resources, Hong Kangcheng gave a detailed briefing not only to the villagers, but also to Su Mo who was sitting at the center listening.

With the help of a script, Hong Kangcheng spoke for a whole ten minutes. After he stopped, Chen Shen handed the microphone to Qi Qin to report on the training of the militia.

Hope Village currently had a total of 18 official militia members and 22 reserve members.

The official militia members did not need to do regular work every day; only needing to guard Iron Rock Mountain and regularly patrol the area to detect and weed out any possible dangers near the basin area.

The reserve militia members were given a day of rest weekly, during which they were trained, groomed, and given combat drills.

Of course, these reserve militia members not only did not complain about having to use their own rest time to train, but were even rather enthusiastic.

No one understood the importance of power in the doomsday wasteland better than them.

And no one knew better than them how hard such opportunities would be to come by.

In terms of weapons, Hope Village now had a total of four handguns, 80 rounds of ammunition, 50 sharp standard iron spears, 30 standard machetes, five standard crossbows, and several self-made traps.

Although it was incomparable to those of the larger shelters, it was not a problem for them to fight a battle against less than 200 foreign races if they wanted to!

As for the disaster resistance facilities that all the villagers were most concerned about, they were neither concealed nor hidden after Hope Village had reaped its fortune.

As long as the three-level safehouse on the top of the mountain was fitted with the absorbent gum and quickly erected tomorrow, with everyone hiding in their own caves, and relying on the four thick drainage pipes, they could face the rainstorm without being in danger!

After speaking on the disaster resistance facilities, Qi Qin ended his remarks. The rest of the leadership team then took the microphone one by one under Chen Shen's coordination.

The systematic order of reporting covered every aspect of Hope Village's operations, leaving no details unreported.

Listening to the reports of these people, Su Mo was just like any other ordinary villager as he sat in the middle. At times he frowned, and at times he smiled.

However, over the past twenty or so days, compared to the days of Candlelight Village, Hope Village's current overall strength level had increased by at least a hundred times!

Seeing that everyone had finished their speeches, the villagers below turned somewhat noisy with whispers again.

Before Chen Shen could introduce him, Su Mo immediately took over the microphone, indicating with his hands in the air as the audience quietened down again.

"I believe everyone is tired after listening to those reports for more than an hour, right? You guys may have even covered what I, the Chief, had to say!"

Su Mo was in a decent mood. The villagers below and the leadership team next to him were relieved, and they laughed together.

"Since everyone's speaking skills managed to reach new heights, I won't try to make a fool of myself. Bring the stuff up!"

Speeches were only useful when they were not strong enough and needed to stir up public sentiment using one's words.

Su Mo knew that the excitement threshold of the villagers had been brought to a very high level by the previous leadership team members who spoke before him.

However, looking at the five militia members waiting in the shadows behind the stage, who already had their sleeves rolled up and were ready for the task, Su Mo was very confident about bringing everyone's emotions to even greater heights.

As his voice fell, the militia members began to take their places and, as they waved their hands in the air, steel weapons exuding cold light began to appear on the stage.

Twenty Type-80 machine guns were lumped together like a pyramid, with their muzzles aimed at all the villagers.

Thirty M-1 Rifles and sixty K-1 handguns, like the toy figures in a small shop in Yiwu, were placed directly on the ground.

Boxes after boxes of bullets appeared in neat rows, making the stage creak under their weight.

Two uninflated lifeboats were placed on top of the bullet boxes, attracting everyone's undivided attention.

As if there was some sort of magical power at work, the noise that was heard from before gradually faded away, and was replaced by the slight whine of the cool evening breeze of the wasteland.

Everyone held their breaths and looked at the steel weapons on stage that symbolized "death" and "rebirth".

Although it had been long known that Su Mo would leave weapons behind for the defense of the village, and they were willing to wait with hope and anticipation before the dust settled, their hearts were still inevitably anxious.

Now, the promise had been fulfilled in a much more outstanding way than they thought!

"These things will be left behind with the village after I leave. As for the condition for using them, there is only one…"

"…unhappy? Fight. Dissatisfied? Fight. Don't surrender, just fight…"

"Whoever dares to violate our interests, and whoever dares to provoke our position, I hope you will use these weapons to teach them who's the f*cking boss!"

His vulgar language and lack of elaborate rhetoric caused an uproar.

Seeing how the people below were about to get fired up again, Su Mo once again indicated for them to quiet down.

"I hereby announce that, starting from the early hours of this morning, everyone will be released from their production work and will spend their first long holiday on this wasteland before I return to pick everyone up again…"

"…during this time, apart from the necessary security operations, I have only one request for you…"

"Learn!"

"Learn how to improve your combat skills and strengthen yourselves. Learn how to develop and improve the level of technology we have. Learn how to restore the glory of us human beings from Earth on this wasteland, and how to better develop our shelters in this wasteland…"

"I hope that when I come back to pick you all up, I will see a brand-new Hope Village and an evolved version of everyone!"

After announcing this, Su Mo stood up suddenly and walked straight to the side of the stage, and headed down.

He did not want to sit there and enjoy the cheering.

He wanted to give these villagers a space to release their inner excitement.

Behind him, apart from Chen Shen who reacted in time and followed behind him quickly, everyone else sat motionless in their seats, absorbing the waves of information that Su Mo had just bombarded them with.

He walked all the way to the top of the mountain.

When Su Mo finally returned to where he had been, the platform used for meetings finally began to burst into cheers of jubilation.

…

"I can sleep in tomorrow!"

"Ho ho."

"I can finally spend some time renovating my cave tomorrow!"

"Tomorrow morning I'll pay out-of-pocket and get myself some brand-new bedding…"

"Hehe, I realized that there are many different types of plants in the wasteland. I'm going to try to learn pharmaceutics!"

"Well, in that case, I'm gonna give it a go too! I've always wanted to analyze why these equipment items have magical attributes since the beginning!"

"Thank you, Chief…!"

"Almighty Su is awesome…!"

"…"