Chapter 265: Hope Village, Era 2.0!
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
“Oh my, dear Leader Chen, everyone is waiting for you!”
Qi Qin stood up immediately when he saw Chen Shen running over, making light of the matter and helping to extricate Chen Shen from the situation at the same time.
Under the current circ.u.mstances, Chen Shen had committed the cardinal sin of being late. If Su Mo were a bad-tempered person, he could easily kick up a fuss on the spot.
However, once he had come up to them, Chen Shen did not beg pardon for his mistake as expected. Instead, he was shouting with joy.
“Old Qin, you can’t blame me today, am I not waiting for the others too!”
As he spoke, Chen Shen strode forward. Ignoring everyone else’s reactions, he bent down by Su Mo’s ear and began to whisper.
Chen Shen had a deep voice, and he lowered it even further on purpose so that only the two of them could hear. The others had no idea what he had discovered.
However, based on his facial expression as he was whispering to Su Mo, the others barely needed to think to tell that it was good news.
As to how important the matter was, they could only try to guess from Su Mo’s calm, unruffled expression.
In the time it took for three to five breaths, Su Mo’s furrowed brows relaxed with a trace of delight. Only then did Qi Qin finally relax and sit down.
Good gracious, this fellow Chen Shen had done something meritorious again!
After around 20 or 30 seconds, when Su Mo realized the atmosphere was getting tense, he quickly reached out and patted Chen Shen’s back.
“Let’s eat dinner. This matter can’t be rushed, we need to plan long-term!”
“Alright, Brother Su, I’ll give a military order on your behalf. Ten days, no, five days—I’ll take her down in five days!”
After Chen Shen received confirmation, he sat right down beside Su Mo in the seat that had been reserved for him.
Everyone else had already seated themselves, and no one did anything untoward. As Su Mo picked up the first white steamed bun and held it up, a round of cheers erupted…
Dinner had begun!
Woohoohoo!
This was the same as when a communal hotpot was served in the countryside. Apart from Su Mo, there were seven other people sharing the same table. The other tables all had the standard fifteen people.
Every person took a steamed bun. Once the basket was empty, the cooks would serve up another round of buns on the table.
After the dishes were finished, a new round of prepared dishes was served. By mixing in the gravy from the previous dishes, the taste was even better.
When sitting together and eating with a group of people, it did not matter if it was just a plain and simple meal—the food tasted even better with company!
Su Mo’s appet.i.te had been stimulated. He ate five buns and drank two bowls of Chinese cabbage and tofu soup until his stomach was as round as a ball. Then he finally stopped eating.
As for Moore, who was seated in the crowd, he had consumed an entire pot of soup all by himself from the beginning of dinner until now. His appet.i.te was frightening.
The mountain peak was festive and full of hubbub, with sparks of fire soaring into the heavens.
Sitting on the top of the mountain with militia guarding the road leading up, the refugees had absolutely nothing to worry about. They were not uneasy at night like when they had been living in Candlelight Village.
The one regret was that there was not enough liquor for everyone during this joyous first celebration in their new home. All everyone had was just a sip of sake.
The management team had been waiting until everyone had almost finished eating. After getting Su Mo’s glance of approval, Wu Feiguang stood up.
“Ahem, ahem. Please settle down, everyone. Today is our first day here after our move. We ought to throw a housewarming party!
“Think about how much effort was put in for one bowl of porridge and one meal, and how hard it was to weave one piece of fabric!
“It’s been a month since we all came to this strange wasteland world, and everyone’s life has changed drastically.
“In the very beginning, we lived precariously until we built our own village, and now we’ve come to this terrace on a natural moat!
“We began by digging for roots and cutting tree bark, then harvesting wheat and bran, and today we have white steamed buns and Chinese cabbage and tofu soup.
“I’m sure everyone here knows who brought us all these things!”
After going through a period of “crash course training”, Wu Feiguang had completely absorbed some of Su Mo’s skills from his first speech.
All these words must have been brewing for a long time within his heart and now flowed extraordinarily smoothly out of his mouth as he spoke.
The people below were influenced by his speech. One by one, they raised one arm in the air and shouted loudly, “It’s the Almighty Su. We’re able to live such a good life because we’ve followed the Almighty Su.”
“Without the Almighty Su, we’d probably have starved to death. I’m following the Almighty Su my entire life!”
“Long live the Almighty Su!”
When there were fewer people, everyone felt awkward saying those “embarra.s.sing” words, but when there were many people mingled into one big crowd, every one of them expressed their sentiments vociferously.
Wu Feiguang looked down at the lively crowd, then looked at Su Mo, who nodded slightly. With absolute a.s.surance, Wu Feiguang continued shouting.
“Previously, we were villagers of Candlelight Village. Now, under the leaders.h.i.+p of the Almighty Su, we’ll pursue a better future.
“I’d like to announce that the inaugural village a.s.sembly on Iron Rock Mountain officially begins now!”
Applause! Applause!
Right after he said that, thunderous applause erupted from below. Everyone looked toward Su Mo with s.h.i.+ning eyes.
Previously Su Mo was merely external aid, disa.s.sociated with Candlelight Village, and kept at arms’ length.
However, now that they had relocated here, it seemed as if everyone had acknowledged Su Mo’s leaders.h.i.+p and decided to follow him for the rest of their lives.
These two things held completely different meanings.
After having honed his skills extensively as far as this sort of scenario went, Su Mo did not experience stage fright at all. He immediately stood up.
Looking around and seeing the respect on every person’s face, he nodded and began speaking.
“Chief of security, report the number of people here now!”
Pow!
Qi Qin, who was sitting up straight, stood up instantly and began reporting in a loud voice.
“Yes sir!
“During the present relocation of Candlelight Village, we have had 0 injured and 0 deaths. The total number of people relocated was over 137 individuals.
“Out of this number, we have 1 infant, 12 children, 48 men, 77 women, all healthy with no injuries.
“Report complete!”
Qi Qin gave a proper military salute and sat down after Su Mo nodded in approval.
“Leader in charge of supplies, report on the current amount of supplies!”
The person in charge of the supplies, Hong Kangcheng, followed suit and stood up to report the count of various types of supplies.
The next position was a newly created one—the chief of the intelligence unit—and was headed by Pei Shao. He would be in charge of making a reconnaissance of the terrain surrounding the shelter and reporting on the progress of the construction.
All of them were ex-servicemen. Not only could they carry out orders swiftly and resolutely, but even their reports were guaranteed to be clear and succinct.
The initial applause and cheering of the ordinary folk below had evolved into shock. After everyone had made their reports, it became…
Pride!
They had all been partic.i.p.ants in these outcomes. Before the reports, even if they had held out a trace of hope, they had never expected the end results to be so unbelievable.
This time around, everyone in the shelter had ama.s.sed sufficient rations to last for at least a year.
Even if there were no harvests the following year, everyone could survive with all those supplies.
“Silence!”
Qi Qin stood up and bellowed when the crowd began to grow noisy once more, and they quieted down again.
“I’m very gratified to hear all your reports. Everyone’s effort and hard work all this time hasn’t gone unnoticed.
“From modern life… until the present…”
For the last stage of his “ascent to the throne”, Su Mo tried his best to give a detailed roadmap for development based on the current shelter plans.
Not only that, in terms of the plans for the upcoming disaster, he provided specific implementation approaches as well.
Everyone had been mentally prepared for a dictators.h.i.+p due to Su Mo clearly explaining every law and every rule, as well as the fact that all of them were now in this apocalyptic wasteland.
When they realized things were not as strict as they had previously expected, they voted unusually fast. Twelve laws and eighteen decrees were pa.s.sed.
Of all these laws and decrees, Su Mo only emphasized that there was to be no killing among the various shelters, as well as no fighting and stealing.
As for the other rules, most of them were based on the regulations and restrictions for community development.
For meritorious performances, which was what everyone was most concerned about, Su Mo also made a promise.
The smallest merits would be rewarded with supplies, while the biggest ones would be rewarded by being allowed to stay in the Underground Shelter. As long as all the conditions were fulfilled, the rewards would be released the same day itself!
As the atmosphere reached a high point after he said this, Su Mo stopped talking about the rules and began his final encouragement.
“From the Candlelight Shelter all the way to this terrace on top of a mountain—this is our first relocation, but not our final destination.
“I declare that Candlelight Village 1.0 has officially ended. Hope Village 2.0 is now launched.
“From today onward, everyone here is part of Hope Village and will officially be under my care!”
Su Mo raised his arm high into the air, shouting out the name of Hope Village. For a while, shouts of hope began to swell.
Again and again, victorious shouts rose from the terrace to the heavens and dispersed in the darkness of the low-lying land.
“The credit for the shelter’s excellent results is not mine alone. It is everyone’s achievement.
“So, right now at this moment, I’m inviting everyone to pick up your wine-drinking bowls in front of you. Let’s celebrate and drink to our setting foot into the new 2.0 era!”
What the Huaxians paid particular attention to was talking business over dinner.
The atmosphere rose another notch when watered-down wine was served. When the Hope Village signboard that had been carved earlier was hung up, the revelries officially started.
Of course, after half an hour of celebration, when the night construction crew began working again, everyone hurriedly returned to their positions.
With torches for illumination and their familiarity with the place in the daytime, as well as the cool night breezes and their enthusiasm after a full meal, everyone’s work efficiency was much faster compared to the daytime hours.
As an instructor, Su Mo was dedicated as well, rectifying and controlling various major aspects of the construction.
At last, before 11 o’clock, several large caves that could accommodate people for the first night had been hurriedly chiseled out.
As for more detailed work on the caves and the platform, they could slowly carve that in over the next few days.
“I’ll go back first. If there’s any problems here, just send a message to me at any time.
“Keep in mind, think twice before you do anything.”
Regardless of whether it was on the management side or in other aspects, Chen Shen was a surprisingly quick learner.
Standing on the edge of the cliff after giving instructions to Chen Shen, Su Mo felt satisfied as he looked at the bright young man.
After briefing Chen Shen on all the matters that needed attention, Su Mo leisurely wandered back to the shelter with Moore and Oreo.
As expected, it had not been that hard to loosen the lioness’ tongue!
After Chen Shen had “interrogated” the lioness using mockery and barbed words, even though she still refused to surrender, she had inadvertently let fall some important information under skillful baiting.
The foreign races had their own chat channel!
It was just like the channels that humans had, except for the market and creation panels. The foreign races could actually see the same game panel, and they could communicate with each other and learn things as well!
This included the lioness being able to speak human language—she had managed to fulfill some sort of requirement to learn that skill.
After Chen Shen told Su Mo of this important discovery, both of them immediately had the same thought.
There was a traitor within their ranks!