Chapter 314: Savior or Leader?
Chen Shen, Pei Shao, Zhong Qingshu, Wu Feiguang, Qi Qin, Hong Kangcheng, Chen Yi…
As Hope Village developed faster and faster, there were already eight members in the leadership team, including Su Mo.
Everyone sat inside the meeting room; the atmosphere seemed almost as if they were holding a big meeting in some huge multinational company.
However, it was obvious that everyone was excited!
The completion of the legendary Hope One and the successful testing of the ship were achievements that would have sent the team over the moon if they weren’t already so familiar with Su Mo’s previous heroics.
“Ahem, silence everyone!”
Once everyone was seated, Su Mo and Zhong Qingshu said nothing. Instead, Chen Shen stood up and rapped on the metal board.
At that moment, the sound of heavy breathing in the room seemed to stop as everyone else held their breaths, creating an atmosphere of pin-drop silence.
Everyone sat properly, shifting their gazes to their leader, Su Mo.
“I called you here today because I have both good news and bad news!”
“I see that you’re all quite excited, so I’ll hold onto the good news for now. Bad news first!”
Everyone in the room had been living on the Doomsday wasteland for the past two months. After giving it some thought, in terms of the details, Su Mo decided that there was no reason to hide it from them.
He had to tell everyone everything about the impending disaster!
Regardless of what the higher-ups were thinking, these normal citizens were “living under a rock”!
Whether on Earth or on the wasteland, all they ever wanted was to…
Survive!
Besides, Su Mo did not want this piece of news to be announced by the shelter. He wanted to do it himself!
This was why there was no reason to hide the facts from them.
“Kangcheng, how much resources can we allocate to building defenses for the village!”
The moment he said those words, Su Mo noticed the smile on the other person’s face turn rigid.
Building defenses?
What did he mean by that?
Everyone was sharp, so they all suddenly realized what his words meant the moment he said them. They were no longer as happy as before.
“Leader, even if I say we don’t have many resources to build the village defenses, we will still have to get the defenses done even if it means cutting down on food!”
“Even if I go out and tell everyone and take their food so that we can build the defenses, I think they’ll be willing to do so!”
Despite Hong Kangcheng being almost 50 years old, he had the ferocity and drive that surpassed even the younger people.
He had control over all the resources. Su Mo trusted him, and the villagers also trusted him.
Su Mo saw Hong Kangcheng stand up and announce that with much respect, so he nodded affirmatively back at him, signaling for him to sit down.
“Since we have enough resources, I’ll be straightforward with this then!”
“The ocean disaster that comes in six days is not as easy as we thought it would be. If we don’t handle it correctly, most of us will be wiped out一”
“When the disaster strikes, we will have to go up against a rainstorm that lasts about fifteen minutes. Within those fifteen minutes, there will be at least 1500 millimeters of rainfall.”
“But that’s not important. After the fifteen minutes is over, we’ll have to go through 10 seconds of torrential rain that will crash down on us like a waterfall. The impact of this wave of torrential rain is terrifying. Without the proper defenses, we will be crushed into pulp the moment the water hits us..”
Clunk!
Knock knock!
The moment he said those words, everyone stood up in horror apart from Zhong Qingshu.
They stared at each other, and everyone could see the terrified look on each other’s faces!
On Earth, 250 millimeters of water within 24 hours was already classified as a disaster, signaling everyone to be prepared for it.
If the water was ever predicted to be more than 400 millimeters in depth, they would not be able to escape even if they left the area immediately!
Now they were up against 1500 millimeters of water within 15 minutes, in addition to the crushing rainfall that had the force equivalent to a thousand-meter waterfall.
How…
How could they hold this off?
“Lea-leader, are we really… going up against this disaster right now?”
Qi Qin gulped as despair showed on his face. Su Mo did not hesitate and nodded affirmatively.
Naturally, no one dared doubt anything Su Mo said, given his long-standing reputation on the wasteland. Instead, they began to consider his words and think about what would happen next.
Just thinking about it, if Su Mo had not told them about this, then the villagers who lived on Iron Rock Mountain would be…
Completely wiped out!
Yes, against such a disaster, no one would be able to survive without the proper preparations!
“What are you guys worried about, the sky is not falling down on us just yet. Sit down!”
“Since Big Brother Su called us here, he surely has a way to resolve this issue!”
Once Chen Shen noticed that everyone was shaking uncontrollably, he roared at them and they sat down without question.
However, there was a trace of fear in his eyes as well.
He was a university student, so he knew very well how much force a thousand-meter high waterfall could exert!
While he reassured the others that Su Mo had a plan, he was also consoling himself at the same time.
“Don’t worry, didn’t Almighty Su say that he had some good news too!”
Zhong Qingshu, who sat in the corner, spoke up when she noticed everyone focusing so much on the need to construct the defenses.
Her words were much more effective compared to Chen Shen’s attempt.
When they heard her words, they waited with anticipation; the expression on their faces “begging” for it.
As Su Mo noticed the look on everyone’s faces and the cunning expression on Zhong Qingshu’s face, he shook his head and stood up.
“The rainstorm might be scary, but we have six days to prepare for what’s to come.”
“However, do you think the bad news that I told you is bad in its entirety?”
He glanced across the room and noticed that Chen Shen was the first person to react. He mused over Su Mo’s words. Su Mo was not in a rush, so he stood near the window and gazed into the distance.
He could not blame the others for having such pessimistic thoughts.
After all, it was natural for them to think that way given their current predicament.
In the morning, they might have been thinking about what to eat for lunch and what other useful things to build.
At night, they were instead forced to think about how to go up against such a horrible disaster while still making the most of the situation.
They needed some time to recompose themselves.
Of course, whoever could do so the fastest would be destined to survive longer in the wasteland and climb up the ranks within Hope Village quicker.
“There’s money to be made in information, however, 99 percent of the time, you won’t earn a lot of money or reputation simply by selling information.”
“If that’s the case, what would happen if we announced this news to everyone else for free?”
Everyone muttered to themselves while Chen Shen sat in his seat, when suddenly, an idea popped into his head.
At the same time, he realized what Su Mo meant by “good news”.
“Big Brother Su was never worried about how we would get through this disaster. He has absolute confidence that we will.”
“He was thinking about… development!”
“Grabbing every opportunity to develop is the best way to survive on the wasteland!”
Selling information for money was the dumbest idea ever. If anything went wrong, the number of people on the wasteland would be greatly reduced, and would in turn drastically impact their future income.
However…
Hope Village had the advantage of possessing this piece of information, so they could use the information in a different way to generate income from it.
That income would come from…
“Defenses!”
“We can study and sell defensive structures and equipment!”
“With this disaster, Hope Village’s resources will skyrocket to another level!”
Before Chen Shen could say anything, Pei Shao, the head of intelligence, stood up and roared, interrupting everyone else’s train of thought.
As he had been collecting more and more information throughout these days, Pei Shao, as the head of intelligence, knew just how much space humans had in their houses!
From lone wolf to small, medium, and large-sized shelters.
These people were weak, so it would be very difficult for them to construct suitable structures strong enough to get through the disaster.
The “resources” they had on hand were quite plenty. If Hope Village capitalized on this opportunity, they would be the first on the market once word of this gets out.
They might just be able to obtain an unimaginable amount of resources!
After the initial scare, everyone began to look lively after Pei Shao’s enlightenment; opening their eyes and changing their perspectives.
They discussed among themselves about the defensive structures, sale of materials, and how to make a name for themselves.
The answers to those questions quickly formed during that brainstorming session.
After listening to them for a while, Su Mo realized that Hope Village would be able to think of ways to figure this out and that they did not need him around, so he smiled and brought Zhong Qingshu out of the meeting room with him.
They walked along a pipeline beside the shipyard, climbed onto the bottom part of it, and sat down.
Above them were the stars in the sky.
Underneath them was a vast expanse of land.
The wasteland wind blew dust and sand along with it into the distance.
Who knew that this peaceful scenery would transform into a living hell six days later.
“So you’ve made up your mind?”
“In this wasteland, everyone can tolerate heroes. They tolerate the idea of heroes saving the day and whatnot. Hell, they might even support and encourage you, putting you on a pedestal and worshiping you as they would a god.”
“However, if you want to go beyond that to become a leader, to have authority, the people won’t allow that to happen…”
He pointed at the land to the side. Even though Zhong Qingshu did not say anything, it was clear what he meant by that.
Su Mo was getting more and more popular!
Su Mo initially had a few hundred thousand people behind him, which had expanded to tens of millions of people. One could even say that he had the largest “fanbase” throughout the entire wasteland.
Up to this day, there were no authorities that stepped up to stop them.
It was not like they did not know about this, nor did they lack the ability to do so. It’s just that they…
They needed Su Mo, the hero!
“What do you think the best outcome would be if we announced this news and went to the new world?”
Su Mo looked back, but did not give her an answer outright. Instead, he asked her a question of his own; a question for the ages.
Making the announcement to the people of wasteland was easy. Just one text message would do the job.
As for reminding Hope Village about what was to come, they simply wanted the villagers to obtain more resources for themselves and develop faster.
However, was it just as simple as announcing the news?
Would the higher echelons of society, who were willing to sacrifice most of humankind just to wipe out the foreign races and get tons of treasures so that they could rapidly develop, even tolerate a “savior” who was a figure of authority?
For example, if Su Mo correctly predicted this disaster which led to many people surviving, surely his reputation would skyrocket throughout the wasteland. As a result, everything that Su Mo said would be very convincing and persuasive.
Then…
If Su Mo said, “Humans cannot band together, but have to live on their own in order to survive?”
If the official organizations’ plan was foiled by the distribution of this information, would they even stand for this?
“You have the choice of passing the message to the official shelters and allow them to inform the people themselves.”
“But it would be of no use. If you tell them the information, then you would already considered a ticking time bomb. They would worry that, one day, you would destroy humankind’s plan.”
“You don’t have to think of them that badly, actually…”
“They’re already doing that, aren’t they?” Su Mo waved at her. He noticed her hesitation, so he might as well interrupt her to get his point across.
“Let’s go to the new world and we’ll split it among ourselves.”
“You’ll take a piece of land, and I’ll take another. Isn’t it just like a real-time strategy game?”
“This is not some stupid novel. It won’t be that easy once everyone starts fighting each other for their own benefit!”
“Besides, ordinary people would not be concerned about the grand scheme of things. Instead, what they needed was…”
“Someone who could lead them and teach them how to survive!”
