Chapter 351 - Premiere! Oscar Night!
In Hong Kong movies on Earth, it was quite common to see gangsters all wearing masks when they were committing crimes.
Su Mo had once thought that these people put on masks only to cover their faces so it would be easier to carry out their operations.
Now, however, after putting on this Simba the Lion King costume, as more and more "audacious" tactics and schemes surged out of his brain, he finally came to a realization.
One would still be oneself—a human—before putting on things like masks and costumes.
Under the constraints of morality and rules, one had to suppress the animal nature in one"s heart.
However, after putting on this costume, everything changed!
The darkness and violence in one"s heart would be stirred up by this disguise that appeared to be separated from oneself by merely a layer of "skin"!
The base desires concealed within one"s inner "animal" would burst out with unbridled recklessness like c.o.ke with Mentos added to it!
"In Pei Shao"s previous explorations…
"The perimeter of each foreign race"s activity is within 80 kilometers of the a.s.sembly point. Roar, even after the ocean disaster, all the foreign races are still maintaining this good "habit" it seems!"
The voice alteration device built into the cosplay outfit worked in a very peculiar fas.h.i.+on—it would randomly convert a meaningless syllable into a roar to enhance the realistic effect.
After getting used to the roar that emerged from time to time, Su Mo"s heart calmed slightly, and he quickly began to plot how the whole scheme would be carried out.
The radar map on the screen showed that the nearest scout from the third group of foreign races was 27 kilometers away from Hope One.
Su Mo was not sure if these foolish foreign races would be able to see the fireworks if they were released from this location, so he had to wait.
Until four o"clock when evening came.
Until the moment when fireworks began bursting into the air over the ocean!
Until this display signaling "death" could be seen even if they were dozens of kilometers away!
Before that, however…
"Chief Mate Moore, Second Officer Oreo, Third Officer Connie, roar, roar, please come to the war room quickly. I have a mission for you three!"
Picking up the small square box on the steering panel which could connect to the loudspeaker, Su Mo pressed the b.u.t.ton and gave the order in a low growl.
At the same time, all the combat agents and general mechanics who were charging their power on the lowest deck also received the same orders from the OS. They filed neatly up to the deck through the stairs on the ground floor and lined up to wait for their orders.
There were no humans on Hope One, which was both an advantage and a disadvantage!
The bad thing was that if a battle started before the vertical missile launcher system was utilized, Hope One"s face-to-face covering fire would not be as good as a deck full of people with machine guns in their hands.
However, this disadvantage was more than offset by the advantages in comparison.
No humans meant that there would not be a strain on resources to support hundreds of people, and there was no need to worry about any defectors exposing Hope One.
Mechanics and agents would carry out Su Mo"s orders unconditionally. Furthermore, because of their machine programming, they would be more reliable and efficient than humans when there was sufficient power.
In terms of firepower, Moore"s heavy artillery coverage could also make up for Hope One"s lack of lethal damage ability.
On top of that, with Oreo"s scouting and Connie"s "foreign race" disguise", no matter how one looked at it, Hope One could be considered a "hexagonal s.h.i.+p"!
All they needed was a suitable position to fight. With Hope One"s speed, these invading foreign races would fully experience the might of human tactics!
"Chief… Something"s not right, the roar just now seemed like..."
Connie arrived the fastest out of the group of three.
Because of her running movements, from Su Mo"s viewpoint, Connie looked as if she were almost rolling and crawling as she rushed up—she had obviously been somewhat startled.
However, the next second, when Connie charged around the corner and was about to climb the stairs to the war room, she suddenly saw someone sitting inside…
A male lion?
? ? ?
In an instant, Connie felt herself growing "wet".
This was not an animal estrus response, but the fear reaction that a lower-ranked female lion in a pride would naturally experience when facing a powerful male lion.
"His" eyes were full of aggression and tyranny.
As "he" sat there, even though he did not move, it seemed as if he would pounce on her any time the next moment and "devour" her!
The lion man sitting inside was so powerful that Connie"s entire body involuntarily retreated, trying to defend herself against the coercive force of his domineering manner.
This kind of coercion only existed among animals, and it was a "domination" that was simply incomprehensible to humans!
Yet, in the end, as a humanoid creature, Connie still resisted this wave of aggression. After considering that she also had Su Mo as her support, she gave a tentative roar.
"Roar?"
Connie"s original intention with this roar was to summon Su Mo, who was in the war room on the second floor, as well as the two who were about to arrive.
However, what she did not expect was that the powerful lion man opposite actually replied in kind.
Roar!
Su Mo"s roar was obviously louder than Connie"s.
Although he did not know what his involuntary roar meant, Su Mo nodded with satisfaction when he saw Connie"s bewildered expression and the trace of diffidence and fear on her face.
If even Connie could not rapidly discover that he was in disguise when in such close proximity, it would be even more impossible for the fools watching the live broadcast to find out just from the host"s camera.
After verifying this, Su Mo was in an extremely good mood. He reached up with his furry paw and took off the formidable headpiece he wore, revealing his utterly harmless, grinning face.
"It"s me, this is my new equipment. It"s not bad at all, right!"
When he donned the headpiece, Su Mo"s entire demeanor was that of a predator in the lion clan, fearless in the face of death.
After taking off the headpiece, however, Su Mo"s smile was warm like a spring breeze. Even though they were of different races, Connie could sense traces of his "allure".
"My goodness, is this for real?"
Connie looked at Su Mo"s face and then at the headpiece in his hand.
She was stunned for a moment!
Following that, upon seeing Oreo hurrying over from behind her and scrutinizing her with amus.e.m.e.nt, Connie took two steps back on the spot, her face flushed.
Oops.
She had been caught out.
When she recalled how Su Mo had looked at her with such an aggressive stare in his lion disguise, and how she had been "dominated" with his unabashed roar…
Connie felt gooseb.u.mps all over her body, followed by an inexplicable trace of secret pleasure.
However, before she could continue to think about it, Su Mo, who had been sitting in the chair, stood immediately and headed up to the second floor, holding the headpiece.
"Of course it"s for real! Alright, come to the war room, all of you. I"ve arranged matters for this afternoon; everyone must make sure that there are absolutely no mistakes!"
Ignoring the peculiar expression on Connie"s face and noticing that Moore had also arrived on the scene, Su Mo immediately led all three of them to the open-air conference room.
Unlike the first meeting of Hope One"s leaders.h.i.+p onboard from before, mechanics and agents were neatly lined up on the main deck.
In the open-air war room, Su Mo settled onto the main seat as a matter of course, took out a map, and began giving instructions.
"Come and take a look. This is our current position, and these are the positions of the three groups of foreign races. What we have to do is very simple—attract the attention of the ones from the nearest point and let them pa.s.s the message to the other two points that are further away.
"After that, we continue luring this group and sail all the way to this position. Then, when the three groups of foreign races converge, we"ll net them all in one fell swoop!"
Although all the animals present had superior IQs when compared with their peers, they were not humans, so Su Mo still excluded any professional terminology while speaking and did not beat around the bush.
After using the most straightforward language to describe the most straightforward plan, Su Mo felt more confident after seeing the three nodding their heads, and began arranging tasks.
"Oreo, I have a disguise for this operation, but you don"t have a suitable outfit to wear.
"Considering that you might have been exposed during our last operation in the kobold castle, this time you"ll be responsible for being on guard below the main deck. Remember not to go on the main deck until I notify you."
He took out a walkie talkie and tied it around Oreo"s neck, then continued giving instructions after Oreo nodded.
"Moore, once our plan is successful, you will be our most critical point of artillery fire—but before the plan is launched, you cannot open fire recklessly while sitting in the main gun turret. Before I give the order to fire, even if the enemy is on our deck, you cannot open fire, understood?"
"Master, Chief Mate Moore understands and will definitely fulfill his mission!"
"Very well! I"ll send enough mechanics to help you complete the auxiliary work. You only need to stay in the main gun turret and fire with complete peace of mind.
"You don"t have to worry about the rest of the work, leave it to me and Connie!"
Taking out another walkie talkie and handing it to Moore, Su Mo watched both dog and bear acknowledge their orders and leave the war room. His gaze became solemn when he turned to Connie.
"Connie, whether or not our plan today will succeed hinges entirely on your performance!
"I have only one task for you. You just need to convince these foreign races that this s.h.i.+p is the one that you have gone through so much to get out of the ruins. It"s yours—no, it"s ours! It signals the imminent resurgence of the Lion Clan to become the most effective weapon of the Five Royal Clans!
"As long as you can do this convincingly, you can play the rest as you like, and I"ll work with you the entire way to complete our scheme!
"By the way, if someone asks about the firepower of our s.h.i.+p, you just need to keep quiet and skip this topic!"
After watching Connie nod solemnly, showing that she was fully prepared, Su Mo did not rest but gave all the mechanics and agents orders to conceal themselves. He then headed straight to the bow of the s.h.i.+p and pulled down Hope One"s flag.
This golden-red flag with the word Hope on the front and the word Su on the back was too conspicuous and was the most likely thing to be noticed on Hope One.
He hid the flag under the deck and took out a piece of yellow cloth. After directing Connie, a crooked battle flag was hung up again.
On it was written the following.
Lion King One!
The workmans.h.i.+p of the yellow cloth was extremely coa.r.s.e, and Connie"s handwriting was so sloppy it was irritating to read. The flag was attached to a broken wooden pole.
There was a clear contrast between the sloppy flag and Hope One"s steel body.
Yet, this kind of contrast was exactly what Su Mo wanted most to see!
It was already 3.30 pm. Taking advantage of the remaining time after donning the lion man headpiece again, Su Mo carefully checked once more for anything that could betray Hope One.
Given that in the plan, this s.h.i.+p was a human relic that Connie had managed to obtain, Su Mo did not cover all the exposed devices that had human words on them.
If one entered this area without knowing the actual circ.u.mstances, they might not know it was a mixture of the real and the sham.
After calculating and finding that the probability of being seen through was basically negligible, Su Mo returned to the bridge with confidence and began to prepare.
At 3:55 in the afternoon, the sun in the wasteland had already dipped past the center of the heavens and was slowly starting to descend in the faraway horizon.
The golden light slanted down onto the ocean, not only turning its color a breathtaking, brilliant blue but also giving a solemn "opening curtain" to the upcoming drama!
At 3.57, Su Mo pulled up his game panel on time. After connecting to Connie"s core and looking at the foreign race panel which was the same color as the sunlight outside, Su Mo gently clicked on the World Channel.
After awakening the caste conflict between ordinary foreign races and the five Royal Clans, this grand scene was far more exaggerated than Su Mo could ever have imagined…
Dozens of times more!
[Whistling Wind Heroic Sandalwood Gorilla: The time approaches, dear comrades—it"s going to be 4 o"clock in three minutes, do you think the Golden Lion King will appear? Last night, the confrontation between the Lion King and the Thunder Monkey King made my blood boil to watch, and I haven"t slept all night. I didn"t expect that we ordinary foreign races would have such brave warriors standing up to say something! ]
[Phecda"s White Battle Python: Big gorilla, what are you talking about? I bet 500 catties of meat based on the Golden Lion King"s character that he won"t be a coward. Last night, he vowed to beat up the Thunder Monkey King"s face—wait, I mean all the faces of the Five Royal Clans, how could he possibly be cowardly?]
[Cloud Boat Prostrate b.u.t.terfly: Hey man, the Thunder Monkey King isn"t active in the live broadcast now. Just wait for the Golden Lion King to start the live broadcast, then go watch it. This time, whether he shows up or not, he"s really offended all Five Royal Clans. If he meets them at sea, it"ll definitely bode ill for him.]
[Benevolent Wind Forgotten Frost Crane: Comrades, spam the comments screen with the word "Protection" to protect the best Golden Lion King in the world. The Five Royal Clans are nothing. Only the Golden Lion King is our hope and our only chance to suppress Old Devil Su! ]
[Cursed Tiger: All of you want to die, right? You really have a nerve, provoking the Five Royal Clans. Do you also want to follow the Golden Lion King into my stomach to repent? ]
[Snow Soaring Bear: Oh, the Cursed Tiger is anxious, huh? I"m right here waiting for you. I"m definitely on the Golden Lion King"s side, what can you do to me? Eat me?]
[...]
Seeing Snow Soaring Bear popping up again and "fighting" with Cursed Tiger, after glancing at the 3:59 in the upper right corner, Su Mo slowed down. He exhaled a long breath and clicked into the Disaster Resistance Channel.
He then used sanctuary to connect to the core. Except for being unable to use the chat function or send information, Su Mo had the authority to be a "subst.i.tute" in terms of using Connie"s other functions.
Watching as the familiar prompt for the lists sounded, Su Mo did not choose to reject all of them this time but clicked OK for all items except the firepower list.
Defense first, 100 points!
Speed first, 100 points!
s.p.a.ce first, 100 points!
Also the most hated comfort first, 100 points!
Four firsts, a full score of 400 points that completely beat the Thunder Monkey King"s 330 points—Su Mo had successfully obtained the requirements for the grand t.i.tle of first place in this live broadcast!
"Connie, it"s time to start our plan!"
He pressed the headset in his ear. After hearing Connie"s obedient grunt of acknowledgment, Su Mo did not directly join the live broadcast stream but quietly waited outside the viewer interface with a trace of amus.e.m.e.nt.
During the first second of the broadcast, the popularity of the Golden Lion King"s stream was 8300.
Five seconds into the broadcast, 95080…
Fifteen seconds… 168500!
Thirty seconds, popularity… 663560!
"In all likelihood, before Connie met me, she would never have dreamed that her live broadcast stream would become the most popular one among the foreign races.
"It only took 30 seconds!
"Such a vast audience—my best actor, your acting skills must be on point, roar!"
Su Mo listened to Connie"s voice coming from the headset, watching the fools who had regarded the "Golden Lion King" as the "new foreign race star" and "the last hope of ordinary foreign races" push the live broadcast stream"s popularity to 95 million.
Under his mask, with practically uncontrollable manic laughter, Su Mo gently clicked on the live broadcast screen and joined in immediately!