Chapter 385: Dire Situation, A Glimmer of Hope at a Dead End
Doomsday Calendar Month 3, Day 5. Wasteland time 3.02 am. The third day since the tsunami struck.
On the first night after Su Mo returned to Hope One from the t.i.tle promotion mission in the group ruins, he…
Suffered from insomnia again!
After Hope One was upgraded, its “comfortable” special ability ensured that 95% of the s.h.i.+p’s pitching and rolling was negated, despite the ocean raging outside.
However, when Su Mo lay in bed, the thought of the tsunami disaster that was about to completely erupt soon occupied his mind. His sleepiness disappeared and all sorts of ideas filled his mind, one after the other.
The group ruins had closed four hours ago. His sister was also teleported back to Tundra One.
The good thing was that Tundra One had now a.s.sembled twenty large s.h.i.+ps and also gathered close to one hundred and fifty smaller sand s.h.i.+ps into its fleet.
Even without the firepower of the weapons provided to them by Su Mo, their current strength meant that Tundra One could still rank within the top 50 despite the current situation on the wasteland!
Smaller foreign clans had no way of acting against a fleet of s.h.i.+ps owned by humans, and neither did they have the courage to provoke them.
Even foreign clans with many members would have to first consider the possible casualties before engaging in battle, weighing the possible gains against the potential aftermath of the battle.
Lu Yongyi was very smart. He made it so that “worthless”, which was usually used as a derogatory term, was a.s.sociated with the Tundra One and its accompanying fleet.
Therefore, even if the fleet had encountered and confronted several foreign clans on multiple occasions, they were resolved perfectly thanks to his ingenious planning, and no foreign clans wanted to risk fighting them over such meager potential gains.
However, this temporary peaceful situation would not last indefinitely, but was rather just the calm before the storm. It was not just Su Mo who knew that, but also Lu Yongyi and even everyone in the fleet.
According to the magnitude of the tsunami on the final day, and the current situation of the humans at sea, all other s.h.i.+ps aside from the rafts would likely successfully weather through this disaster. However, the cost of doing so was that…
Their s.h.i.+ps would suffer damage!
While sailing on this vast ocean, a damaged s.h.i.+p was equivalent to a death sentence!
There was no chance for them to repair their s.h.i.+ps during this disaster!
After the human fleet was damaged, these marine foreign races lurking underwater would surge to the surface like sharks chasing the scent of blood.
Even if the humans were tenacious, it was impossible for them to safely arrive at the New World while being madly pursued and attacked.
According to the current sailing speed of Hope One after its upgrade, it would reach the Tundra Fleet right before dawn on the 9th.
This was around the start of the seventh day of the disaster.
As long as no accidents occurred midway, Hope One could protect this fleet that comprised thousands of people.
Compared to the vast ocean of the wasteland, Hope One was only a single s.h.i.+p. To depend on its power alone…
Was far from enough!
It was no exaggeration to say that even Hope One would take years to traverse the entire ocean.
At that time, those marine foreign races would no longer be afraid of Almighty Su and the powerful Hope One.
Even if Su Mo was optimistic in his calculations, the number of humans who would successfully arrive at the New World safely would definitely not exceed…
A hundred million!
While the thoughts in his mind became more and more chaotic, and the sounds of the tsunami pounding outside got louder and louder, Su Mo turned on his side in bed and then opened the game panel.
[Record: Congratulations to the player “Su Mo”. We have detected that the degree of your s.h.i.+p’s completion has exceeded 50%. The related ranking and calculation of points have been automatically unlocked.]
[Record: Congratulations, to the player “Su Mo”. We have detected that your s.h.i.+p’s disaster resistance properties are currently ranked first in the world. Do you want to publicize the ranking data and, at the same time, have your s.h.i.+p broadcasted on the live broadcast page?]
[Record: Please note that the live broadcast will not display the interior of the s.h.i.+p. The broadcast will only display your s.h.i.+p’s exterior, so that other players can observe your surrounding situation!]
[Record: If you are on the rankings for more than 24 hours, or if the number of viewers reaches 100 million, so long as you survive the disaster, you will obtain a Random Survival Airdrop*1]
[Record: If you are on the rankings for more than 48 hours, or if the number of viewers reaches 500 million, so long as you survive the disaster, you will obtain a Wood-grade Survival Airdrop*1]
[Record: …]
[Record: Start broadcasting?]
This was the second time the notification prompt had popped up, informing him that he was currently ranked first in the world.
Hope One’s 50% degree of completion rating was difficult to achieve but, in a sense, it was also a foregone conclusion.
Once the Eternal Flame Lamp was installed, the entire s.h.i.+p was just one final step away from reaching the 50% mark.
Eight hours earlier, after the medium-sized machine tool had been completed and placed in Su Mo’s workroom on the second floor of the deck, the progress bar shot up by another 6%, reaching a total of 52%, fulfilling the requirements to begin the live broadcast!
Su Mo had chosen “No” then, and would still choose “No” now!
After all the prompts faded away, Su Mo tapped into the chat channels again, and he began to take a closer look at the current situation in other locations on the Wasteland ocean.
After the tsunami struck, everyone could no longer keep to their dawn to dusk sleep schedules.
They relied on the thirty-minute interval between each disaster wave. At one moment, everyone could be desperately weathering the tsunami waves with difficulty and, the very next second, they could be drowsily falling asleep on the deck.
They would sleep for half an hour, and then the tsunami waves would return, jolting them awake to continue their disaster resistance efforts.
Under such immense pressure, tens of thousands of people directly chose to commit suicide even before the first day had pa.s.sed. They no longer could bear the pain brought about by simply living on this wasteland.
For those who survived the first day, thanks to the attributes of the G.o.d of the Ocean t.i.tles, everyone finally began to adapt to the situation and get their bearings.
This situation persisted until today, which was the beginning of the third day of the disaster. When Su Mo browsed through the World Channel, there were not many complaints. Instead, everyone was intensely discussing how they could survive this disaster.
“Guys, I just caught this kind of fish in the sea. It’s very useful! Uh, I can’t post a picture in chat, so I’ll give everyone a brief description. You guys should hurry up and take advantage of the rest periods to look for it in the sea beneath your s.h.i.+ps. See if you can find it.”
“The head of this fish looks a bit like a catfish’s. It’s flat, long, and there’s a lump of round meat hanging off its tail. Its scales are triangular. They don’t bite, and they’re really quite friendly to humans. They’ll even try to burrow into your arms. As long as you find this fish, grab a bucket, put the fish inside, and fill the bucket with fresh water.”
“Yes, that’s right, fresh water! This fish can also survive in fresh water! The fresh water that it has been soaked in will have a certain healing effect. You can recover your stamina and heal injuries by drinking it. The longer the water is in contact with the fish, the better the healing effect. It is simply marvelous!”
“D*mn, bro, you’re amazing! I’ll look for it immediately after this tsunami wave cycle ends!”
“At XX position. Does anyone wanna group with us? We already have five large s.h.i.+ps here, eighteen sand s.h.i.+ps, and hundreds of rafts. Anyone who wants to sail together with us just shoot me a DM!”
“We’re determined to stay and endure. Our location is x.x.x. Anyone nearby this location can come over to take refuge. We have enough room here to accommodate you. Let’s just wait until the tsunami disaster is over before we continue sailing!”
“Brothers, beware the Four Seas Fleet! The world is already in a terrible state now, yet these animals are still deceiving other people! My friend just went over to them, and they devoured his group completely! My friend died, and his s.h.i.+p is lost. Why would people still want to kill each other even in this situation? I can’t figure it out!”
“No way, this Four Seas Fleet just sent me an invitation message, but I was still hesitating! They’re so f*cking disgusting!”
“I recommend that everyone prioritize our officially-formed fleets. Although these fleets may not take care of you fully, you can rest a.s.sured that you’ll be much safer compared to joining these unofficial fleets!”
“Alas, we don’t know where Almighty Su has gone to. I hope that he can end this tsunami disaster!”
“Speaking of the tsunami disaster… I don’t know which b*stard triggered it. Don’t ever let me catch you, or I will hang you up and give you a good beating!”
“…”
When the tsunami waves struck, there were not many comments occupying the screen.
Those who could spare the time to chat were either from the larger fleets, or were in shallow areas where the ocean’s movements were rather minimal.
From the comments of these people, Su Mo would see calls for Almighty Su quite often.
The various religions on Earth developed the most rapidly during times of chaos and war. The biggest reason for this was…
Need!
They needed to believe in something. They needed “Almighty Su”!
They needed someone who could and would stand up for them; someone who could give them “hope” to survive!
“For all humankind, the current tsunami disaster has resulted in a hopeless situation. There is no time or opportunity for humans to think about how they can fight back!”
“And to solve this deadlock, the only way forward for humans is…”
“The war between the three races!”
Su Mo rapped on the railing beside his bed. Listening to the thumping sound, Su Mo’s mind moved faster than before.
After evaluating this seemingly hopeless situation, Su Mo, as well as the leaders of the official shelters, realized that the only chance of survival lay within the origin of this entire situation.
According to the difficulty grades of disasters, the grade of this disaster was approximately Wood-grade, which was not terrible.
If there were to be an actual war between the three races, that war would probably be cla.s.sified as a disaster above Wood-grade; potentially above Iron-grade as well. It would result in chaos for all creatures on the wasteland.
However, Su Mo recalled the time when he had forcefully ended the blizzard disaster. He knew that it would be difficult to fulfill this condition!
The basis of the War between the Three Races was battle.
The desire to go to war had to be kindled among more than 80% of the human race. They had to fully embrace the mentality of “kill or be killed”. They had to actively engage in war against the foreign clans to fight for their lives!
On the side of the foreign clans, they had to have a “reason”, or a “point of contention” that would necessitate a battle against the humans.
The process of fulfilling those conditions might not seem to be complicated, but after some thought, Su Mo realized that…
It would be extremely difficult!