Dressed in silvery gray armor, and a combat uniform lined with pure black, Su Mo held a spear in hand.
The villagers had not seen Su Mo in full combat attire more than a few times. Suddenly seeing it now instantly caused a commotion.
His handsome face paired with this outfit—if he could get himself a white horse, he would be a living doomsday-version of “Zhao Zilong”.
This appearance not only made all the female villagers in Hope Villager drool, but it even made a few male villagers who had dreams of being a hero feel their blood start pumping.
All of them had once been young!
All of them had once harbored childish high school dreams of superiority!
This uniform of a general on the battlefield would definitely be the focus of the crowd even in a cosplay exhibition on Earth, let alone the wasteland.
“Ahem ahem, hurry up and assemble!”
“It’s not like it’s your first day seeing the leader! Why are you all acting so foolishly?”
After a pause, upon noticing that everyone was still stunned silly after Su Mo had walked up close to a hundred meters, Qi Qin coughed twice and banged the gong he had in his hand helplessly.
It was amazing. Other shelter leaders relied on martial prowess and tricks.
However, in Hope Village, Qi Qin believed that, even if Su Mo lost his strength, he could still sit steadily on the precious throne of leader of the shelter without issue at all.
He was truly terrifyingly impressive!
Luckily, although the shouting did not work, the physical reactions the gong brought about were still useful.
With three clear clangs of the gong, everyone finally came back to their senses and—under the guidance of their team leaders—found their positions, standing in groups.
After nearly two months of training, compared to the crooked lines they had in the beginning, their current formation was really reminiscent of troops standing before inspection.
Facing everyone’s worshipful gaze, after walking around the crowd, Su Mo came to the arch at the very front of the crowd.
Taking note of the time, after making a few subtle signals, a speaker was brought out, and Chen Shen received the microphone that had already been connected to it long ago.
“Ahem, ahem. It is currently Month 2 Day 6 of the doomsday calendar, 8.15am.”
“There are still five minutes before our destroyer’s ribbon-cutting ceremony. I think, at this moment, everyone is already finding it hard to suppress their excitement.”
Clap clap clap clap! The applause was thunderous!
“Moving from the plains to the basin, from the previously precarious days to the present days of never having to worry about food or clothing, it was this destroyer that has witnessed the transformation and development of our Hope Village.”
“As the head of our Hope Village, often before I fall asleep at night, I would think about how things would have been if the one we followed now was not our Leader Su Mo, not the Almighty Su in everyone’s hearts…”
“Of just how helpless we would be during this ocean disaster we are about to face!”
“How panicked would we be when facing thousands of kobolds!”
“But fortunately, luck was on our side. Almighty Su was willing to take us in. It was Almighty Su who gave us this platform, and…”
An unscripted speech!
Ever since Su Mo had given his first speech, all of the Hope Village leaders would go home and practice at night, polishing their speeches in preparation.
Highlighting the little things for the bigger picture, standing on the stage, Chen Shen used the last five minutes to slowly provide a complete summary of Hope Village—from its establishment, to how they had migrated now as well as all the changes it had undergone.
All the villagers’ expressions below were led along by Chen Shen’s speech, occasionally lamenting the difficulties of the past, and then occasionally applauding the progress of the current village development.
Standing aside, Su Mo listened to Chen Shen’s emotionally-rich speech with interest as well.
As Chen Shen had said, all of the current villagers in Hope Village were “lucky” people.
If not for Su Mo, even in the best-case scenario where everyone had enough food and did not worry about safety, when the ocean disaster’s arrival loomed, everybody would also have to worry about how to get to the new world.
How could they be like they were now—wearing clean clothes after eating breakfast, standing steadily in front of the destroyer as they attended a ribbon-cutting ceremony.
Chen Shen had prepared very well. Not just regarding the content of his speech, but also in regards to the timing of it as well.
Seeing that it was just about to reach 9 o’clock, Chen Shen’s speech took a turn, and his tone started becoming energetic.
“Even just the littlest bit of food and clothing were hard-won. We should always be aware of the difficulties we faced in order to obtain these materials and cherish them in turn.”
“Living in Hope Village, our hearts carry hope. Under Almighty Su’s protection, we must always remember Almighty Su’s grace.”
“Now, it’s nearly 9 o’clock. I declare…”
“Hope Village’s first major event—the destroyer’s ribbon-cutting ceremony—has officially started!”
Bang bang bang bang bang bang!
After Chen Shen spoke, Wu Feiguang—who had been hopping around since long ago—instantly lit up the firecrackers from the stairs.
As the firecrackers sounded explosively, along with the familiar smell of gunpowder, everyone was in a trance. It was like they had returned to Earth again.
Peace and harmony!
There was no need to fear the present nor be lost about the future.
As the firecrackers sounded, the celebration ceremony also entered its climax.
Walking up, under everyone’s watchful gaze, Chen Shen solemnly handed the microphone over, passing the speaking rights to Su Mo.
Wow!
Without any prior signal, the moment they saw Su Mo pick up the microphone, applause loud enough to drown out the firecrackers rang out.
Furthermore, after a few seconds of adjustment, when the frequency of everyone’s clapping aligned and the sound was so in sync that it increased everyone’s sense of awe even more.
At this moment, under the blue sky, above the emerald-green basin.
Looking at the villagers who were so moved that they could not handle it anymore, Su Mo took up the microphone. The words he had prepared were lost, and so was the heart-moving speech.
Just like in the movie Iron Man, when Tony had prepared many words before the press conference. When he saw the crowd below, only one sentence was left—I am Iron Man.
In a situation like this, there was no need for words to fan the feelings anymore, and there was no need for extra steps to set off the atmosphere.
He only had to pick up the scissors, and that would be the climax!
He tossed the microphone straight to the side.
When the dull sound of the microphone crashing onto the floor rang out, with his face covered by the mask, Su Mo took the scissors straight from Chen Shen’s hands amid everyone’s shocked expressions, he then made a historic cut into the ribbon!
This one cut sliced away the fog covering everyone’s futures!
This one cut also sliced open a historic new chapter in the wasteland!
This one cut was a sign that humans had officially returned to the steel age in the wasteland, and was the prelude to Hope One becoming the hero of the wasteland ocean!
After the ribbon fell, Qi Qin and Chen Shen at the side quickly reacted to Su Mo’s actions.
Without hesitation, the red ribbon had been cut by Su Mo.
The ribbon-cutting ceremony had really become just a ribbon-cutting ceremony!
As Chen Shen waved his hand, a wooden sign flew out, landing firmly in their grasp.
There were elegantly-written Huaxian words on the wooden sign. Taking a closer look, it was the destroyer’s new name that had been prepared long ago!
Barrier Class, Type 03-Destroyer!
Hope One!
On the bright red plaque, the large words were written in gold.
Under the brilliant sunlight of the bright sky, the plaque seemed to be shining, attracting everyone’s gazes.
With steel as the foundation and hope as the bugle, on the sea, this ship was not just the villagers’ hope—it was the embodiment of humans’ greatest combat strength.
In the future, sailing on this Hope One, Su Mo not only wanted to give his little sister hope, but he also wanted to bring fellow ordinary humans who were about to drown in the whirlpool…
Hope!
Taking the plaque solemnly, after he straightened his waist and hung the plaque on the arch, Su Mo stepped off the platform.
“The ribbon-cutting ceremony has ended. Everyone, get on board! We’ll have lunch on the ship!”
Whoosh!
Thunderous applause and cheers resounded again. Standing on the stage, seeing that the three lion people at the back were cheering too, Su Mo nodded, and then walked to the arch.
The red cloth covered the stair rails. Looking at the stairs that led directly to the top of the deck, before everyone’s eyes…
Su Mo took a historic step forward!
Thud…
Thud…
Thud…
With every step, the sound of his boots meeting the wood rumbled.
The stairs were made from solid wood. With the support of the scaffolding, there would be no problem at all even if more than ten people went up at once.
Following Su Mo, all of the leaders started climbing up the stairs in an orderly fashion, slowly walking up to the destroyer’s deck that was 21 meters high.
While in the ocean, because of the draft, the ship’s height would go down to 16 meters above sea level.
However, on land, with the scaffolding holding it in place, Hope One reached a full 21 meters in height; as tall as a seven-story building on Earth.
As they walked up using the wooden stairs in an open-air environment like this, they were able to see the destroyer’s extremely sturdy craftsmanship even more clearly as they walked steadily upward.
There were many places where the hull had been welded together, but apart from the important seams, the other welds were nearly invisible, as if these steel plates had originally been one.
As for the large seam in the middle that connected the whole ship, it was like a sharp sword had run through the front to the end, and it exuded the artistic beauty of steel.
Before they had even seen what the deck looked like, everyone was already full of anticipation for what the warship’s interior would look like.
When the final person stepped onto the wooden staircase, Su Mo, who was at the very front, had already stepped onto Hope One’s main deck.
