Chapter 306: Hope One Turned Orange!
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The wasteland did not have the conditions required to provide a physical test environment for Hope One. Regarding the system’s debugging testing, Su Mo chose the extremely cautious triple test.
Cutting out all the entertainment systems and only installing an autopilot system, with the current computer’s configuration, in the continuous load testing, even if the load percentage often went above 60%, overall, the performance line still presented a healthy arc on the graph.
Compared with this arc, the concurrency testing arc on the other side was also not too bad. During the enemy encounter simulation, Hope One could make timely course adjustments to avoid obstacles.
As for the most important simulation for the number of extreme steering errors, it remained at a steady “0”.
After he recorded all the simulation data changes in his notebook, Su Mo immediately stopped waiting and turned off the power, dismantling the entire computer.
He had busied himself for more than ten days waiting for this moment.
However, when he actually put the computer into the storage space, as he stared at the empty computer desk, Su Mo could not help feeling a sense of anxiety.
In others’ eyes, he was an almighty super soldier. No matter whether it was gun usage or wilderness survival, he was adept at them all.
However, only Su Mo himself knew…
The first time he sailed a ship would be on this 80-meter-long, elegant Hope One!
“If I went back to Earth and said that the first ship I ever sailed in my life was a destroyer, I’m afraid even my old dad would think I was a braggart!”
Thinking about how the most amazing thing Papa Su did in his life was touching a tank and helicopter—and he would even often brag about it at the dinner table—yet now Su Mo was about to set sail on a destroyer, this strange experience made Su Mo smile, and the uneasiness in his heart dissipated significantly too.
Going up to the second floor, the cooks had already sent his meal over.
However, strangely, the four little ones did not choose to rush to eat today. Instead, they continued sitting beneath the turned-on lights to read the manuals Su Mo wrote.
As they were going out to sea soon, it was not just Su Mo who felt a sense of urgency.
To Moore and Oreo, the assignments weighing on their shoulders were also very heavy.
Choosing not to disrupt the four little ones’ studies, after Su Mo took out the portion for himself from the container, he sat on the already dusty dinner table and silently ate his final dinner before “going out to sea”.
Su Mo did not eat much of this meal. With two cabbage tofu buns, a few pieces of beef, and a bowl of rice porridge, he already felt that his stomach had almost reached its capacity.
Su Mo knew that this was the inevitable result of one’s stomach twisting when one became nervous.
However, when he returned the container to its original spot, Su Mo’s eyes did not waver any longer and were now shining brightly as if displaying the words “Go Forth Bravely” in capital letters.
‘What’s there to be afraid of? If I can’t sail it today, even if I have to fix it with survival points, I still have to somehow sail this ship out to sea.”
‘If I don’t have enough survival points, I’ll take a risk and lure these foreign races out. I don’t believe that the living can be suffocated by the dead.’
Quietly giving himself a couple sentences of encouragement, after he once again confirmed that the things he had to bring up into the ship for testing were all in the storage space, Su Mo closed the shelter’s gate and strode out.
In the Shifting Skies and Still Earth Model, the wasteland nights would normally arrive later, but once it reached 6.30pm today, the horizon started darkening.
The spotlights that would usually turn on at this point did not emit light anymore after the ship’s construction was completed.
Seeing Su Mo coming from a distance, Chen Shen—who had been waiting—quickly went up to greet him and gave him a brief report on the supplies’ loading status.
The first batch of supplies loaded onto the ship contained pretty much no valuable items.
There was just some food, namely the cabbage that the Hope Village cooks pickled over these few days so that it would not go bad when stored in the warehouse.
“Good, not bad. What our Hope Village needs are strict rules and regulations as well as this kind of efficiency.”
After affirming Chen Shen’s leadership as well as the villagers’ efficiency, Su Mo’s words did not stop as he continued:
“Tonight, I have one more very important assignment to give you!”
“Say it, Brother Su!”
“From seven o’clock, everywhere within two kilometers of Hope One is under martial law. Without my orders, nobody can enter this perimeter.”
“Dispatch the militia. It’s not a drill this time—what I need is martial law enforced!”
Seeing Su Mo’s stern face and hearing his tone laced with killing intent, Chen Shen did not immediately accept and get to work as he usually did.
Instead, his expression changed as if he had thought of something…
“Brother Su, could it be that tonight…”
“That’s right. Tonight is the most important moment for our Hope Village. I don’t want anyone to disturb me!”
The moment he heard that it was indeed as he was thinking, Chen Shen, who had already prepared for this for more than ten days, did not waste any more time.
After a standard salute, Chen Shen pulled out his gun from the storage space. His movements quickened as he ran toward the village.
Hope One was going to be tested!
This was something that was of utmost importance to not just Su Mo—it was an important matter that was related to the survival of more than a hundred people in Hope Village.
In these past few days, while the villagers worked as usual, they would not speak of this.
However, when it was time to sleep at night, they often thought about it so much that it was hard to fall asleep.
Including the leaders, everyone was afraid that Hope One would encounter some difficulties and problems, wasting the tens of days of preparation beforehand.
Even Chen Shen, who had made countless testing plans in his head, could not help feeling a sense of excitement and giddiness when he heard Su Mo’s words.
He knew what drastic changes would take place for humans in the upcoming ocean disaster if the testing succeeded.
Even more so, he knew what kind of great future awaited them by following Su Mo if Su Mo could construct even this kind of destroyer.
“Brother Su… you must succeed!”
Even as he ran till his chest felt like it was about to burst, and despite his entire body shuddering from the lack of oxygen, Chen Shen did not halt his steps.
He knew Su Mo definitely would…
Succeed!
…
Su Mo was unaware of what the others were thinking as he sat at the head of the ship and watched the sun set over the horizon. He opened the door to the bridge and sat inside without hesitation.
At the moment, Hope One had still not been connected to electricity. It had to be connected to the matter conversion engine before it could supply power endlessly.
After bringing out a robot worker and instructing it to illuminate the surroundings, he set up and assembled the computer, and then pressed the button to access the engine room.
Whir…
Whoosh!
As the iron plate slowly retracted to reveal the passageway, he glanced at the main brake switch and, after ensuring that it was locked in position, Su Mo descended the metal stairs to the engine room.
At present, the water suction pipe was currently unusable as the ocean had not yet emerged.
If he wanted the engine to provide energy to activate the ship, he would have to manually input resources into it.
After thinking about it, Su Mo took out a 50L container of diesel and poured it down the inlet.
After closing the inlet, he tried pressing the start button on the matter conversion engine.
Sure enough, a panel that looked like it had come from the same technology era as other modules slowly unfolded from the side of the engine.
“Compared to the motor-pumped oil well’s panel, the matter conversion engine’s panel is a full five times its size. It can be compared to a 30-inch television. Not bad, not bad.”
With the idea that bigger was better, upon seeing the panel’s size, Su Mo was secretly a little delighted.
However, when he saw the data shown on it, Su Mo’s delight transformed into deep worry at once.
50L of diesel could start this engine and get it running but, unfortunately, it could only maintain the engine’s operations for 1 minute and 20 seconds before this bit of diesel was depleted.
At present, while he still could not see just how much power it could provide, this rate of depletion meant that the engine’s rate of consumption was like a bottomless pit.
If not for its ability to convert water into energy, relying on just diesel, even if Su Mo sold off everything, he would not be able to gather enough resources for a voyage out to sea.
“It seems that diesel shouldn’t be used. Should I try putting something else in?”
Closing the panel, he opened the inlet again. Staring at the various random things placed in the storage space, Su Mo started testing them out.
Iron. One kilo was put in. 1.8 seconds, pass!
Copper. 2.2 seconds, pass!
Wood. 0.9 seconds, pass!
Plastic. 1.1 seconds, pass!
Wheat. 0.3 seconds, pass!
…
Water, 0.65 seconds!
…
After trying out more than ten things with a kilogram as the basis, copper seemed to be the most energy efficient resource. One kilogram of copper could operate the engine for 2.2 seconds.
However, this bit of time was just like dousing a burning car with a cup of water.
“Amazing. In other words, 1000 units of copper can only run the engine for 30-plus minutes. This is a bit too much, isn’t it?”
Seeing each item’s data, Su Mo kept shaking his head and crossed out everything other than the water.
For water’s energy conversion ratio, 0.65 was enough!
The medium-sized pump installed on Hope One could pump 65 tons in one hour, which came up to around 1080 kilograms in one minute.
Deriving things further, 18kg of water could be pumped in one second, which could sustain the engine’s operations for 11.7 seconds, which was completely sufficient.
Of course, there was still another killer trump card in Su Mo’s hands at the moment.
Once again closing the panel, after opening the inlet this time, Su Mo did not add any other random stuff.
Instead, he took out the current most valuable resource in the Underground Shelter…
Psychic energy water!
This mysterious water that was full of psychic energy had gained even more mystical abilities after receiving a second upgrade.
Even if he did not test it, it would definitely be No 1!
Still, though his heart ached, he still had to test it.
After pouring one liter into the inlet and covering it with the cap, when he opened the panel this time, the measurement unit displayed on the panel had changed drastically.
The various materials he added in previously used seconds as the unit of measurement to calculate the increase in operation time.
This time however, strikingly, on the panel’s statistical data display, Su Mo saw hours!
Moreover, the number in front of the hour was not small either—it was a full 1.8!
“One liter of psychic energy water can run the engine for 1.8 hours. I only need to provide 13 liters of psychic energy water for a day’s use.
“Although it’s not just a little bit stronger than the other materials, this is still not as worthwhile as using water!”
Once he got on the ship, the psychic energy water well could not be brought along with him. This meant every use of one liter would reduce his reserves of this unreplenishable strategic resource by one liter.
Su Mo was not wasteful enough to use this precious strategic resource as fuel. Aside from urgent situations, he would still use water 99% of the time.
“Still, since it will supply power for quite a while now, I can start the testing immediately.”
Pressing the start button on the panel, he heard the matter conversion engine gradually start to make a clanging sound.
Su Mo no longer hesitated and quickly returned to the first-floor bridge.
Starting up the matter conversion engine required three minutes. After three minutes, the entire ship would be fully-powered and ready-to-go.
When that time came, Su Mo only had to flip the main switch, and the entire ship would be electrically-powered.
This destroyer that had been constructed using over 100-thousand units of various resources would shine with its own light in front of everyone!
One minute…
Two minutes…
Sitting at the bridge, he watched the clock count down and heard the clanging sounds in the passageway below get louder and louder. For some reason, Su Mo’s heartbeat slowly calmed down.
“90 thousand units of iron, 30 thousand units of copper, high-strength steel plates that the modular furnace produced, four robot workers that labored tirelessly, and the modular shipyard operating around the clock.
“From the beginning, it was I who witnessed its birth, and it was I who witnessed its fall!”
“This ship has consumed too much of my blood, sweat, and tears. There’s no justification or reason for it to fail.”
“Hope One, rise up for me!”
As he waited quietly and listened to the clanging sounds from the engine room finally quiet down, Su Mo’s closed eyes abruptly opened, shining with an extremely confident light.
His upper arm moved his forearm, and his forearm moved his hand. The moment his palm touched the switch, Su Mo used his strength, and the “switch” symbolizing the birth of “Hope One” was finally turned on!
Boom!
It was like thunder rumbling in the air.
At this moment, after the switch was flipped, not only was the ship shaking, but the entire sky seemed to tremble!
The small basin seemed to have taken on a burden it should not have.
The scaffolding supporting Hope One also started making indescribable creaking noises, as if they would collapse at any moment.
The sunset on the horizon was long gone. Amidst this pitch-black night, it was as if Hope One had come to life, shaking non-stop on the ground!
This scene instantly stunned the hundred or so villagers under the night sky!
They raised their torches with gleaming eyes.
They knew that tonight…
It could only succeed! It could not fail!
However, in the next second, as the earth quaked, they suddenly realized that the dark sky had brightened out of the blue.
They turned around curiously…
Then a scene that all the villagers would never forget was seared into their minds like a branding iron…
Hope One was shining!
Like a large beast, Hope One was pressed to the ground and was bursting forth with a deep purple light!
“Quick, look! What’s that?”
The deep purple light was not piercing, but the villagers facing the ship were shocked to notice…
Where the flag propped up on the bow of Hope One, dots of orange light were gathering.
Compared to the purple, the orange was very weak, so weak that it was as if it would be extinguished at any time.
However, in the next second, before more villagers could take a closer look—as if it had received some sort of assistance, the orange light…
Turned Hope One orange!
