Ship launching was both a ceremony and a challenge at the same time.
Putting aside the various dockside trials that would be conducted on modern warships, even common fisherman boats would undergo a series of tests before entering the water.
From the leak test to the inclining test, and even the test for the operating system’s bugs—there would be a technical specialist who would conduct the test and make the necessary modifications.
These tests were very important. If the vessel failed even one test, it was entirely possible for it to fall apart when encountering a situation that exceeded the tested parameters.
However, it was truly unfortunate it was not possible, given the wasteland’s situation, to conduct any of these tests!
Setting aside the dockside trials for Su Mo’s 80-meter destroyer, even if it was a small rowboat just a few meters long, there was still no body of water for him to conduct the sea trials.
When the ocean emerged, everyone would only have one chance. If they did not succeed, they would have lost that chance.
Of course, to regular people, it would not be a big issue if the boat they made sank so long as they reformatted the shelter core; they could still try to cross the ocean to the new world by using the core to make a raft.
To Su Mo, however, if the destroyer sank… Putting aside all the materials and effort he would have wasted, just considering the time spent, he simply could not allow it to fail!
Still, it was fortunate that despite the Divulgence of Heaven’s Secret talisman taking such a long time to recover, it had recovered to its peak state two days ago, and he could utilize it anytime to simulate the disaster.
Moreover, because Su Mo was becoming more and more famous throughout the wasteland—even becoming very famous among the foreign races—his level of influence in the wasteland world was soaring by the day.
Aside from the two levels of authority he had previously unlocked, the third was also displayed now.
Gathering his concentration, the system’s appraisal light automatically showed the complete properties of the Divulgence of Heaven’s Secret he brought back.
[Divulgence of Heaven’s Secret (One and Only)]
[Description: A mysterious talisman. Only after discovering the special activation method can one discover its secrets.]
[Current holder: Su Mo (bound)]
[Function: Currently unlocked the first, second and third levels of authority.]
[First level of authority: The Divulgence of Heaven’s Secret has the power to break through the shackles of knowledge. Based on the current disaster and direction of development of the wasteland world, it can predict the events of the next disaster. The accuracy of the prediction depends on the level of influence that the player has on the world. (Current influence: 3.946%)]
[Second level of authority: If a situation occurs that would interfere with the judgment of the Divulgence of Heaven’s Secret while it is predicting a disaster, it will automatically erupt with all of its energy, pulling the player into the prediction of the disaster event and conducting an on-site simulation. The intensity and timespan of the simulation depends on the influence that the player has on the world.]
[Third level of authority: Once its energy is fully-charged, the player can enter the Divulgence of Heaven’s Secret’s simulation world and choose to exit at will before receiving any fatal injuries within it. The remaining energy value will be retained (the energy value will not be restored before the remaining energy is used up).]
[Energy acquisition: The source of the Divulgence of Heaven’s Secret’s energy comes from the influence that the holder has on the world. The greater the influence, the greater the speed of its energy recovery and size of its energy reserve. On the other hand, when the player dies, the Divulgence of Heaven’s Secret will automatically burst and change its holder.]
[Current energy: 9/9]
Compared to how entering it once would use up all the energy, even when the energy reserves were full, things have become a lot more convenient after the third level of authority was unlocked.
“If one portion of energy can allow free exploration for an hour, it would probably be better to explore three hours at a time, divided into three sessions in total.”
“The sea trials, weapon status tests, and combat maneuvering tests all have to be carried out simultaneously.”
“If there’s a chance, I have to find out the data on the ship’s limit as well!”
He had three chances to test. Each was very precious.
Given the remaining seven days in the wasteland if, for one test, it took one day to conduct the tests and sort out the improvement plan, and then another day to modify the ship according to the improvement plan, then he would ideally require a total of six days for the three test sessions.
Once this process was completed, if there were no other surprises, then there would only be a day left to make the final preparations.
Compared to the small wooden boats the others were constructing, for the destroyer, time was already very…
Tight!
Waving his hand to place the Divulgence of Heaven’s Secret talisman back into the storage space, Su Mo stood up and strode over to the armory.
Ribbon-cutting ceremonies on Earth were mostly for show.
However, in the wasteland, it was something that attracted the attention of the villagers, and was something that could greatly increase their collective sense of belonging and pride.
Hence, when Chen Shen asked about it, Su Mo agreed to this request without second thought.
At 8.40 in the morning, wasteland time…
After Su Mo had put on his combat uniform and armor, he opened the shelter doors while holding the spear and arrived in front of the shipyard, where all the villagers had gathered around, curiously evaluating the giant object in front of them.
As of today, after the destroyer’s structure had been completely assembled according to the blueprint design, it had entered the final stages of construction.
Regardless of whether it was the command room above the deck, the layout of the rooms below, or the hold, all of it had been completed within these few days.
Even some of the general furnishings had been installed thanks to the robot workers’ “dedication”.
Aside from a few important rooms—such as the main captain’s room, the main energy room, and the bridge—which were still empty awaiting Su Mo’s personal touch, even if all the villagers were moved in now, there would be no problem at all!
In terms of appearance, under Su Mo’s modification, based on the idea of creating the thickest sheet of “armor” to withstand the most vicious assault, the Tier 3 destroyer had completely departed from the traditional destroyer’s “shadow”.
Equipped with a special steel plate that was half a meter thick, the overall elegant and streamlined shape of the traditional destroyer had completely disappeared and had been replaced by the stable structure of a battleship!
Moreover, in terms of height, because he was afraid that the enemies below could use special abilities to climb up onto the ship, Su Mo had altered the height of the ship to the maximum allowable within the blueprint design…
21 meters!
It had to be said that, using the current Tier 3 destroyer’s length of 80 meters to calculate the ratio, the actual height of the ship should have stood at around 16 meters, under reasonable circumstances.
After it entered the water, that height would be reduced to 11 to 13 meters above sea level.
However, now that Su Mo had increased its height by a full five meters, the difference between the ship and the destroyer could clearly be seen from its structure.
Of course, if a cannon with a caliber of several hundred millimeters could be installed on the main deck, once the ship sailed out, calling it a battleship would not be an exaggeration at all!
A distance away, when he saw Su Mo walk out, Chen Shen—who had been waiting at the entrance of the Underground Shelter—strode over joyfully as he shouted.
“Brother Su, today is a great day for our Hope Village. Everyone is here; not a single person is missing.”
“The moment all the villagers heard they were to attend the ribbon-cutting ceremony, many people couldn’t sleep last night just waiting for this.”
The celebration’s ribbon-cutting was going to happen at 9am.
At this moment, on the destroyer, a wooden staircase that had been hastily built was already mounted on the deck.
On the staircase rails, a celebratory red ribbon had been hung, giving off a festive feel.
At the very front of the stairs, there was an arch that was painted red.
The arch was not large. It was just enough to fit two people walking through it side-by-side, but now, because of the ribbon-cutting ceremony, a red ribbon like a finishing line hung horizontally across it.
The standards of the entire ceremony were, in this wasteland, already considered to be extravagant.
“Sigh, I say, Chen Shen. Has the excitement gone to your head? So much red cloth—you’ve wasted this much on decorating?”
Glancing at the red cloth hanging on the staircase as well as the eye-catching red on the destroyer’s railing, Su Mo’s gaze sharpened, and there was not a bit of happiness in his tone.
Though he was met with this expression, Chen Shen was not frantic. He took a few steps over to Su Mo’s side, then continued speaking.
“Brother Su, it isn’t that we’re wasting money. This red cloth was a steal on the trading market. We didn’t spend much money on it.”
“Yesterday, everyone was clamoring about washing clothes. Only after washing did we realize we didn’t have any clothes to wear, so I thought about it.”
“Why don’t we go onto the trading market and buy some red cloth? Once the celebration is over, we can take the cloth down and give everyone in the village a change of clothes. Two birds with one stone!”
Rubbing his head and unable to see Su Mo’s expression beneath his mask, Chen Shen laughed awkwardly.
Of course Su Mo would have asked about such an obvious “extravagance”. Hence, before he arrived, Chen Shen had already prepared these words in advance.
However, he was still worried about whether or not his explanation would be accepted.
For other leaders, on a day like this, they definitely would not blame him.
But for Su Mo, who did not follow the script at all…
Turning his head and seeing the slight worry in Chen Shen’s gaze, Su Mo pulled down his mask and smiled helplessly.
“Just this once. Next time you do something wasteful like this, I’ll deduct the cost directly from your portion!”
To say that everybody lacked clothing… With the current incredible probability of clothes appearing in treasure chests, as well as the low price of the clothes, buying them directly from the trading market would definitely have been much cheaper than this red cloth.
This little speech of Chen Shen’s might have been able to fool others, but it definitely could not fool Su Mo who went to check out the trading market every day.
“Next time, next time definitely!”
Seeing Su Mo’s knowing smile, Chen Shen’s expression relaxed and his nervousness disappeared.
“Brother Su, it’s about time now. Shall we begin?”
“Okay! Let’s get this done. I have to run tests on the ship a few times. Time is of the essence!”
Patting Chen Shen’s shoulder as if to confirm the commencement of the ribbon-cutting ceremony, the two of them walked toward the destroyer.
The place the ribbon-cutting ceremony was being held was around 800 meters away from the Underground Shelter.
Because he had arrived at 8 in the morning, the ceremony had not officially started yet either.
It was casual. Upon seeing the villagers’ high spirits, the leadership did not make the villagers line up in silence either.
As such, the villagers were a little scattered and chattered, extremely excited.
“F*ck me, the ship Almighty Su built is so big. When I saw it from Iron Rock Mountain, it didn’t seem that big, but looking at it from here, I’m dizzy just looking at it.”
“I heard that traveling on the ocean is rocky. Won’t we be dizzy standing on such a large ship?”
“Dizzy? If you get dizzy on such a large ship, then would you not be even dizzier if it was a small wooden raft instead?”
“My goodness, I’ve never even been on a ship throughout this lifetime, even on Earth. I never thought that I’d still have the chance to travel on a warship upon arriving at this wasteland!”
“When the ocean emerges and Almighty Su sails this warship, our Hope Village can become famous too!”
80 meters long, 21 meters tall…
Only when one stood in front of a ferocious metal monstrosity like this could one feel how small humans truly were.
Behind the crowd who came to watch the ceremony, Connie the Lioness also stood along with the two remaining lion people.
Unlike the villagers’ excitement, to foreign races, a “steel beast” like this was a serious transcendental problem.
Putting aside the two regular lion people, even Connie, who was part of the Council, was a little dazed.
When they had chosen to join Su Mo previously, it had just been on impulse.
Over these past few days, Connie had thought about it numerous times as well, and would sometimes even felt a little regretful.
Having their core bound by Su Mo meant they had their chariot fully chained to his.
If Su Mo was strong, the lion people could still rise one day.
If Su Mo suddenly died, the lion people would follow him to the grave.
With this kind of psychological pressure, Connie could not sleep well and was often startled from nightmares.
Today, however, when she saw the two lion people next to her shouting in excitement and praising themselves for their foresight, Connie suddenly felt as if she had been overly anxious.
Old Devil Su was so strong—once he sails his ship on the ocean, he could send everyone to the new world. What was she worrying about?
‘I really am… worrying unnecessarily!’
Still, before Connie could open her mouth to scold the lion people beside her and tell them to calm down so that they did not look as if they had been stuck at the bottom of a well, a commotion started up among the crowd at the front.
“Almighty Su is here!”
“The leader is here! Quiet!”
“Hurry up and line up, the ceremony is about to start!”
