Chapter 254: Preview! New Type of Shelter!
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
“Well, every human has gained some privileges this time because of the welfare disaster.”
“With these privileges, I think they will at least be able to defend themselves from the foreign races.”
It was only one o’clock in the morning. There were still more than ten hours remaining until the privileges would be issued, so Su Mo could not examine the details just yet.
The new market trading rules flashed on the screen, beckoning people to check them out.
Su Mo tapped on the b.u.t.ton. A light flashed, and the new market rules popped up.
[Record]: The new market trading rules will be updated following the new version of the game.
[Record]: Each transaction requires a certain number of Disaster Points (Old).
[Record]: For each transaction, the player can choose to pay a certain amount of tax (a percentage of the amount of resources being traded) or choose to use Disaster Points as a replacement (New).
Doc.u.mented in the new trading rules were also the tax rates for all sorts of resources.
For example, when one was trading food, if the amount was below one hundred kilograms, the person could either choose to pay 50 Disaster Points or pay tax. The tax rate would be 50%, which meant that the traded food would be reduced by half.
If the amount was above one hundred kilograms, the tax rate would begin to decrease, with each additional hundred kilograms corresponding to a 1% reduction in the tax rate. The minimum tax rate would be 30%.
As for supplies with a grade, the player would have to pay with items of the same grade.
For example, when trading an excellent-quality item, the player must pay tax with another excellent-quality item or 100 Disaster Points.
“Points are really becoming more and more important. Without them, it’s hard to move around the wasteland!”
Su Mo sighed softly. He exited the trading market and tapped on the number of Disaster Points issued this time, feeling slightly excited.
Due to the conflict between the two disasters last time, the amount of Disaster Points that he should have earned during the blizzard disaster had been affected by the descent of the giant G.o.d disaster.
When Su Mo examined it later, he found that he had only earned 3000 points.
After using them for many purposes, he only had 2012 Disaster Points remaining. This was far from enough if he wanted to upgrade his shelter and use his blueprint designs.
This time, after surviving the welfare disaster and acc.u.mulating a stash of flour weighing several hundred thousand catties, the Disaster Points awarded to him were…
10,000 points!
These points were issued without any issue, and were added to the points column immediately after Su Mo checked and clicked to confirm receipt.
“These points are exactly what I need! I need 1000 points to upgrade my shelter to Lvl 3, plus one to two thousand points for Lvl 4. I also need about a thousand points to study the blueprint designs. After all that, I will still have more than enough left!”
As he had expected this small wave of fortune, Su Mo quickly calmed down. Next, he checked the other functions that came with the update.
It was the preview of the Ocean stage, which would be the main event in this series of disasters.
Su Mo clicked on the play b.u.t.ton. With music playing in the background, a flurry of images began to flash before Su Mo’s eyes.
At the same time, a standard mechanical narration voice, speaking fluent Mandarin, explained the rules.
The preview was long, lasting about half an hour from start to end.
Su Mo sat on the sofa. In order to not miss anything, he drank a large gla.s.s of psychic energy water to keep his mind alert. He took out a pen and some paper and wrote things down as he listened. Then he played the video once more.
This time, he skipped some of the irrelevant narrative parts and focused on a few important rules, playing them repeatedly to ensure he got it right.
Once he had condensed the information, a clear and concise explanation of the rules was jotted down.
Displayed on the sheet of paper in front of Su Mo was all the key information from the video.
After a while, Su Mo’s face became slightly grave!
“If only humans can watch this new preview, then things aren’t too bad.”
“But if all creatures on this wasteland can learn about this information through other channels, then we will have a problem on our hands!”
The trailer was long and full of nonsense. Coupled with all sorts of pointless special effects, it was like an American blockbuster.
Overall, the ultimate goal was to portray the revival of the G.o.d of the Ocean extravagantly.
Su Mo spread out the paper and looked at the words he had written on it as he had listened to the video. He read silently while thinking about the deeper message conveyed by these rules.
“Rumor has it that the G.o.ds were in control of the laws of the land before the land fell into disrepair (doubtful).”
“This persisted until one day, an inexplicable power invaded. The G.o.ds fought to exhaustion. Many were killed and wounded. Many others were forced into sleep. In short, all of them were beaten!”
“As time pa.s.sed, more and more sleeping G.o.ds awakened, wanting to regain their authority over the land. (What is the purpose? What is the meaning?)”
“The G.o.d of the Ocean is the first deity to awaken. All creatures that persist in surviving in the wasteland will be rewarded (punished?) by the G.o.d of the Ocean.”
“Achieving the mission conditions will give you a chance to become the G.o.d of the Ocean’s, who will soon be revived, divine amba.s.sador (What’s the significance?).”
Those five sentences were a complete summary of all the information conveyed in the first 20 minutes of the special effects blockbuster.
Su Mo made a more detailed list of the rules that were narrated in the ten minutes after.
“Rule 1: All creatures who kill a creature of another race within the ocean will be awarded 5 Disaster Points, with a daily maximum cap of 100 points.”
“Rule 2: Before the revival of the G.o.d of the Ocean, the average Disaster Points obtained by all the races will be calculated. The race with the highest average will be favored by the G.o.d of the Ocean and receive privileges related to the ocean to a certain extent.”
“Rule 3: The races will have to fight for ascension to the new continent. If one exterminates a race completely, or kills more than half a million people belonging to another race, the person will be able to teleport his or her shelter, and the five-kilometer radius surrounding it, once. After selecting the radius, the shelter can be directly teleported to the new continent and the shelter’s topological terrain will be recreated in the new continent.”
The three rules encouraged people to kill. If one wanted to acc.u.mulate more points, then they would have to kill and rob.
If one wanted to arrive at the new continent first, then they would have to kill more.
Su Mo could not figure out the reason behind the game’s malicious intentions, but those three rules would certainly set off a b.l.o.o.d.y storm at sea.
There were rules about killing, and so naturally there were also rules about protection. The game would also provide a.s.sistance.
If the flood disaster had taken place, then everyone’s “home base” would not have been preserved. However, with the version update, all races would be able to enjoy some degree of preferential treatment.
For humans, the preferential treatment was broken down into three aspects.
“First, all shelter cores that have been placed down can be materialized. Cores that are materialized can be taken away and placed down again somewhere else. However, the previous progress will be reduced to zero, including the shelter’s level and the blessings. It was equivalent to a factory reset. However, they would not be cla.s.sified as the main shelter (The distance between original location and new location of materialized cores is not limited).”
“Second, not only could the materialized core be placed down as a wooden house or an underground shelter, but they could also be turned into a third, completely different form of shelter… A raft! As long as the core is placed in the middle of the ocean, it can be instantly upgraded into a 3*3 raft.”
“Third, after this version is completely installed, marine equipment will be added to the creation interface. After creating modules of the corresponding equipment, the raft-style shelter can be upgraded with a certain number of Disaster Points.”
The preferential treatment focused on the core issues that all humankind was concerned about. It also gave some of the weaker people some hope that they could survive.
The previous shelter cores would be restored to factory settings after materialization. After the ocean emerged, they could be turned into rafts. The humans could use them to sail to the new continent.
As long as they could create a miraculous module, the raft could also be upgraded with Disaster Points.
As to what exactly it could be upgraded to, and how many points were needed, that would have to wait till after the actual installation of the update.
“If it didn’t focus so much on killing others, it would really have become a survival race for all creatures.”
“If humans receive such preferential treatment, I’m sure that the other creatures have received something similar as well. As long as you can keep killing, and possess resources and points, you can keep upgrading your shelter core, upgrade your raft, travel to the new continent and survive!”
Su Mo’s feelings were mixed when watching the video, but after jotting everything down and reading it all over again, he could discover hints of the game’s true motives.
Of course, with the World Channel, everyone would eventually learn about it after a short time, as long as someone figured it out.
However…
So what?
Without enough strength, one could only sink and swim, and be led around by the rules of the game. They could only travel to the new continent or die!
“I definitely can’t remove my shelter core. I’ve put so much thought into it and invested so many resources into its development. It’s too irrational for me to give it up like that.”
“And there’s also my iron ore mountain here, the oil below it, and the geothermal energy resource. I can’t abandon these resources, so…”
“I must obtain the teleportation rights written in Rule 3!”
“If I manage to acc.u.mulate more chances, I’ll also transfer that abandoned satellite base to the new continent!”
A murderous determination flashed in his eyes. The foreign races that others feared with their lives were only experience packs in Su Mo’s eyes with his current level of strength.
Aside from the unknown marine foreign races, he did not need to worry about any of the foreign races so far.
After the next disaster at sea was over, he would be able to reach the disaster count required to upgrade the shelter to Lvl 5, and then he would be able to learn the blueprints required to make medium-sized machine tools and equipment.
When he acquired more advanced machines, hundreds of RPGs would emerge on board his s.h.i.+p. They could fire at single points individually, but having many of them combined meant a thorough range of coverage!
“I’m gonna overhaul my plan. First thing tomorrow morning, I’ll put my all into making the steel plates. I’ll transfer everyone from the Candlelight Shelter over here and have them help me dig for ore.”
“I don’t need to grind all the wheat into flour for the time being. At most, I’ll only need to grind an amount sufficient for six months. As for vegetables, I’ll turn them all into convenient dried vegetables or pickle them.”
“I’ll store the rest of the wheat in the Underground Shelter and the rest can wait until I transfer over to the new continent.”
“I must start work immediately! I must move immediately!”
“I must make a Destroyer st.u.r.dy enough for me to cross the sea by just relying on these tools!”
Su Mo slammed his palm onto the sofa beside him. Although the hands on the clock already pointed to two o’clock late at night, Su Mo was not sleepy at all. He felt a constant flow of energy and blood run through his body.
The shelter upgrade would not have to wait!
Tonight, he would upgrade the shelter two levels in a row and learn the complete blueprint design of the shelter!