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 cla.s.sified 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 was.h.i.+ng 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 cuc.u.mber, 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 s.h.i.+ps; 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 grat.i.tude 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 ma.s.ses so that the rest of the foreign races would also throw in their lot with them.
These kinds of repet.i.tive 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 cuc.u.mber 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 s.p.a.ce. 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 G.o.d sculpture that he previously obtained, the blessing on this stone did not look particularly powerful. Apart from making the stone a little s.h.i.+nier, 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 s.h.i.+ning 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 G.o.d’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?]
1
“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 pa.s.sive.
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 s.h.i.+p…”
“…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 craftsmans.h.i.+p, 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 s.p.a.ce 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 s.p.a.ce 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 gra.s.slands.
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 s.p.a.ce, 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 s.h.i.+p 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 gra.s.s 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 s.h.i.+p. 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 gra.s.s 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 s.p.a.ce 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 G.o.d…
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!”