Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
“Pei Shao, can I trust you?”
Life is a stage.
Within every actor, lies the ambition to become the director of that stage.
It was dusk at the time and Pei Shao had been summoned to the Underground Shelter. He was the first person from the entire Hope Village to be summoned to the shelter, so he was panicking!
Huge beads of sweat dripped audibly from his forehead onto the floor.
It was not because of the hot weather, but rather because Su Mo had a loaded rifle with its safety off beside him. That shocked him!
“Lea-leader, I guarantee you, no, I swear to God, I swear upon the Pei family’s name that I, Pei Shao never betrayed you, ever.”
“As for the mission of tracking the foreign races, I swear on my life that if I ever slacked off or ever betrayed you in any way, you can take my life as you wish!”
“I’m innocent!”
“These stupid foreign races have hidden themselves really deeply. I’ll bring my men over and flush them out of their holes tomorrow, no, I’ll do it today itself!”
The brow of the forty-year old man furrowed with anxiety, and the anguished expression on his face looked like it had come straight out of a television show, like a tortured rebel unwilling to divulge his secrets.
Su Mo sat at the head seat, tapping his fingers on the body of the rifle. He was not anxious, instead, he asked calmly,
“Pei Shao, since you have put it like that, I shall believe you for now. I’m going to tell you something, and if you want to back out as the intelligence team leader, I shall respect your decision.”
“I’m going to give you a mission. This mission concerns the entire village, you and I, and the rest of humankind. There is a high chance that you will die if you go. This mission will be very arduous and many people will misunderstand you…”
“Will you accept? Will you understand?”
“Take note, however, that I’m not testing you, nor am I threatening you. I just need an honest answer from you.”
Pei Shao had prior experience as an intelligence agent. Aside from the intelligent Zhong Qingshu, no one else in the village could gather information like he did.
“I don’t understand, but I will accept this mission!”
Su Mo expected a different answer. Pei Shao’s response was crisp and direct, so direct that it even stunned Oreo that was hidden in the dark, to which she nodded her head after.
Pei Shao was not lying.
Oreo could smell unique scents, so she knew that Pei Shao was truthfully willing!
“Very good, go on!”
“I accept this mission because I’m one of your soldiers and a soldier’s duty is to obey commands. I don’t have the right to reject the tasks that you have assigned to me.”
“What I don’t understand is why you only gave me such a difficult task after so long. I don’t understand why you would shoulder every single burden on your own, but let us develop under your wing. This is Doomsday, and this is the wasteland. We’re not flowers in a greenhouse, we are warriors who can fight alongside you!”
Pei Shao stood up straight and exclaimed.
His voice was powerful, his posture upright, his gaze forward, and the expression on his face was full of unyielding determination.
He was telling Su Mo that he could be trusted!
Before Oreo could nod, Su Mo felt the “power” from deep down inside Pei Shao’s heart. He stood up and patted Pei Shao on the shoulder.
At the same time, Su Mo picked up the rifle on the table, put the safety back on, and handed it to Pei Shao.
Su Mo’s actions were so decisive that Pei Shao did not know how to react.
This man had a story behind him but, at this moment, Su Mo had no interest in his story.
He knew that Pei Shao was his intelligence team leader, and he was the first person that Su Mo considered as his right-hand man.
He had ambition, emotional intelligence, and he was smart too, which was the same kind of person he was!
Sometimes, a rifle can mean very little and, other times, it could mean a lot.
When there were only three handguns throughout the entire Hope Village, that rifle represented Su Mo’s complete trust and appreciation for a person.
Pei Shao understood the moment he saw Su Mo hand the rifle over to him. He ceremoniously took the rifle and held it in his hands as a soldier would.
“Hope Village soldier, Pei Shao, reporting for duty!”
“Very good, very good!”
Su Mo patted Pei Shao’s shoulders heavily. He then waved his arms after he realized that he had another person he could trust and use. He then proceeded to walk over to the workbench.
Pei Shao did not hesitate either. He quickly followed Su Mo after storing the rifle in his storage space.
Inside the workspace, light illuminated the entire room. The huge overhead light shone as bright as daylight.
Pei Shao followed Su Mo into the shelter. Being the first person to enter the shelter, he curiously looked around the place, but his gaze stopped at the equipment on the table.
“Leader, this is…”
Su Mo smiled, “Yes, these are two shortwave tactical portable radio transceiver units, model number PRC-2090, which are equipped with a fully automatic antenna tuner. This allows for the deployment of a full range of tactical and static antennas. I think that you should be familiar with this!
Pei Shao nodded, “I am very much familiar with it. I have been eyeing this thing even while I was back on Earth, but I never got the chance to get my hands on it. This Australian product sure is good stuff. With just a USB mount, its signal can reach up to 2000 kilometers without a problem. In fact, this thing is so easy to use that it can easily push other radio transceivers off the market. Leader, how did you manage to get something like this?”
Pei Shao’s eyes seemed to glimmer with excitement, like a kid obtaining a new toy, and he wanted to play with it right there and then.
Su Mo smiled back, “With chat channels available, who’s going to use radio transceivers instead? There are still plenty of humans alive right now, so even though this thing is quite rare, you can still find it if you search hard enough. I even managed to get you the USB mount for it!”
Su Mo then patted the machine that was covered by a black cloth before revealing it. Pei Shao’s eyes widened and his mouth gaped at the sight.
He was absolutely dumbfounded.
Pei Shao hesitated for a moment and then gritted his teeth, “Leader, you mentioned that the chat channels have completely replaced this thing, so there is no need for us to waste money on such a machine. We can spend some points to add friends on the channel, and we can get those points back really easily simply by killing some foreign races during the disaster. I don’t see the point of buying this thing. Even if it’s cheap, it’s not that worth it, right?”
Su Mo shook his head, “That’s not the problem. Have you ever thought about what would happen if the chat channels suddenly stopped functioning?”
“Huh?”
This time, Pei Shao was really confused but, after a few seconds, he suddenly realized what Su Mo was trying to tell him. He exclaimed:
“Leader, are the chat channels going to disappear? Is that why we’re going to use this thing to communicate?”
Su Mo nodded, “You could say so. The chat channels might still be usable, but the village might experience some problems on the receiving end, so you might not be able to contact us via the chat channels, which is why we have to rely on this thing to keep in touch.”
“Besides, the mission that I’m going to give you is very simple. Come and sit down here for a while and I’ll explain everything to you!”
Su Mo beckoned the solemn Pei Shao to sit on his left. He then took out the upgraded old phone, demonstrated its functions and properties, and then handed it over to Pei Shao. He then began to describe the plan he had previously written on the paper.
“You have until tomorrow to get everything ready. You can use the tools here freely if you want to modify Earth Tiger. Get some food ready, fuel, weapons, ammo, the radio transceivers, emergency supplies…”
“Tomorrow morning, I will announce the disaster on World Channel, and you’ll bring some men that you trust along with you. Remember, it’s alright to have fewer people with you, as long as they are completely loyal.”
“I need you to scout out a position north of the shelter and use this old phone to scan and record the foreign races’ positions that you’ve scouted.”
“Remember, do not come back before the disaster strikes. You have to monitor all of the foreign races’ activities and movements from that direction onward. Record their locations and gathering spots, and then use the code to contact and transmit the information to me at 11.30 pm on the 21st.”
“After you’ve done that, don’t be afraid to leave Earth Tiger behind. Just make sure that you’re safe and I’ll come and get you later on!”
The mission sounded a little complicated, but it was not very hard to execute.
After Pei Shao listened to Su Mo’s instructions, he then replied, “Leader, will scouting in one direction be enough? What if there are foreign races in other directions? We will only be scouting within those 300 kilometers. Given Earth Tiger’s speed, we can cover a total of 1500 to 2000 kilometers if we do it non-stop from the 19th to the 21st. That’s not a huge area at all!”
Su Mo knew that Pei Shao would have a question like that for him, so he calmly replied:
“Don’t worry, just do as I say. Plus, I have a whole lot more instructions for you over the next few days. I hope that you won’t have doubts in your mind. You have to treat every single command that I give you with equal importance.”
“This time, the fate of Hope Village and the basin rests in your hands!”
The radio transceivers were like heirlooms, being passed from father to son, from major to captain, from veteran to recruit.
It was not just the item that was being passed down; it also signified the passing down of the responsibility that came with it.
When Pei Shao saw Su Mo solemnly handing the radio transceivers over to him, he nodded intensely with a determined look on his face.
“Go, do not tell anyone about our conversation tonight.”
“Get ready early, rest early, and prepare yourself mentally. This will be a tough battle, and we cannot afford any mistakes!”
“Yes, Leader Su!”
Su Mo escorted Pei Shao out of the shelter under the cover of the night. After parting ways, Su Mo then returned to the workstation on the third floor.
Oreo heard their entire conversation.
Even though she did not have any divine powers, her ability to discern things had significantly improved.
If Oreo channeled her abilities without any external disturbance, she could easily tell if a person was telling the truth or not.
From the beginning to the end, no matter what words Pei Shao had uttered, Oreo nodded at every single sentence he said. That meant that Su Mo had made a good choice.
Su Mo caressed Oreo’s head, threw her an energy fruit, and then looked at the paper in front of him. He did not rest. Instead, he continued writing the next line.
Two: Weapons to fight against the foreign races.
The weaponry development level of the shelter remained at explosive packs, light machine guns, and rifles.
These weapons were all quite useful against humans and other ground troops.
However, if they were to be employed in a naval battle, they would be rather useless. After all, the foreign races could hide underwater and escape.
That was the reason Hope One needed a weapon with an area-of-effect ability to increase its firepower before the shelter was leveled up to the fifth level and before RPGs and rockets were developed.
This weapon would only have to fulfill two criteria:
Its ammunition had to be cheap, so that it could be used liberally on the foreign races.
It had to have considerable firepower and area-of-effect; and its firepower should be able to be adjusted according to the situation.
If these criteria could be met, given Hope One’s firepower and speed, going up against the foreign races would be like shooting fish in a barrel.
“The weapon must be able to be mounted onto a ship and has to fulfill both criteria. It’s not that easy nor that hard to obtain a weapon like that.”
“We joked around that Hope One’s main deck was similar to that of a battlecruiser, and now that actually seems true!”
“If only I could get my hands on a 300mm caliber cannon, the foreign races would be toast!”
Su Mo then sketched out a “cannon” on the paper and smiled at it.
It was said that dignity depended on whose sword was sharper.
However, truth depended on whose cannon shot further.
If you wanted to strike fear into the hearts of others, you had to pound them with your fists; make them feel pain, make them cry, and make them remember!
If Su Mo wanted to intimidate the foreign races and human spies, he would have to strike at them with a cannon!
With that in mind, Su Mo focused his thoughts and the system’s prize draw page slowly appeared before him, enveloping the entire workspace around him.
Manufacturing a cannon was expensive, and the technology was difficult to develop.. However, what if Su Mo could obtain a cannon from the prize draw, regardless of the cost?
