“Leader, our battleship is currently undergoing testing and the results so far are excellent. There’s no issue with the waterproofing layer!”
About thirty people stood on a high platform that all the villagers in the hill could not see. At the forefront was Lu Yongyi, the leader of Tundra Shelter.
There were 140 people in Hope Village and 10 in the leadership team, including Su Mo.
As for Tundra Shelter, because it was an official shelter, it was easier for them to manage, so they only required 30 people as part of the leadership team.
Listening to Shen Ke’s report, although there was visible restraint on Lu Yongyi’s face, he still unconsciously showed a hint of a smile.
Looking at Huaxia’s 171 registered official shelters and 1786 affiliated well-guarded shelters, The Tundra, which was being tested in the middle of the hill, could be placed in the top 20 without a doubt!
Within the ranks of the entire wasteland, it could be considered to be within the top 50 positions!
At first glance, Tundra Shelter’s ranking was very low but, considering the combat strengths of current naval vessels were calculated based on ship data, such a result was reasonable.
After all, there was no qualitative difference between a 60-meter long ship and a 80-meter long ship, and it was the build quality and firepower of the ships that truly mattered.
It was very likely that the 150th ranked ship could also mount a sneak attack and drag the top ten ships down from their rankings!
Of course, The Tundra was not confined to meaningless things like rankings. Its greatest achievement was still:
Unity!
Their sense of unity was incredible. Four days ago, when the Tundra Shelter received a call for help, the rescue expedition won their battle perfectly, and around 200 new refugees were integrated into Tundra Shelter’s community.
Lu Yongyi’s smile became even more evident at the thought of all this.
At the same time, he was reminded of the true reason why Tundra Shelter was able to take such a large leap forward…
Wait a second!
The smile on Lu Yongyi’s face immediately faded and transformed into a hint of anxiousness when he thought of the man who was always smiling in the video calls and was seemingly harmless. However, that person always ended up shaking the world with his words.
“By the way, Shen Ke, I remember that Su Mo requested to trade an explosives formula with us last night, and I asked San Shi to work together with you. Did you send the information over today?”
“D*mn, I was too busy today. How could I have forgotten about this?”
She smacked her head. Even though Lu Yongyi was watching, she could not help but let a foul word escape from her mouth.
He eagerly asked about the deal with Su Mo all of a sudden while the ship was getting tested.
Lu Yongyi’s “vaguely serious” words did not surprise the leadership team standing behind. On the contrary, it worried them.
This situation would have looked weird to outsiders, but to the “old hands” in Tundra Shelter, it seemed like the most natural thing.
Yes, the ship was not as important as Su Mo!
The ship could be rebuilt if it was destroyed, and they could travel on rafts instead, but if Su Mo was gone, there would not be another him!
From the initial transactions to the provision of seeds for the welfare disaster, and then “generous” weaponry support that followed, no one dared to imagine how the villagers in Tundra Shelter would fare were it not for Su Mo’s support.
No one dared to imagine what would have happened to the almost 800 people here had it not been for the iron and steel weapons that were used in the frenzied assault on the nearly 1000 foreign races during the rescue expedition’s battle four days ago..
The relaxed atmosphere suddenly turned serious because of one sentence. Feeling great tension in the air, Shen Ke quickly responded, “It’s sent. I sent it early in the morning. Here is the detailed record. The total cost for San Shi to obtain the information was…”
Shen Ke pulled out a small bound copy of the information from the storage space.
Turning to the last page, it detailed the entire process of the trade for the TNT and C4 formulas that Su Mo sent over to Tundra Shelter before going to bed last night.
From the first sentence to the process of collecting information, to the cost and final transaction, Shen Ke kept a record of everything.
After nervously reading the entire record, as Lu Yongyi loosened up his body, the people behind him also let out relieved breaths.
“Great! This matter has been conducted excellently!”
“We must respond to all the transaction needs on Su Mo’s side as soon as possible next time, and we must ensure that the transactions can proceed smoothly at all costs!”
Handing back the book and looking at Shen Ke’s dark face, Lu Yongyi applauded her while showing a sense of relief.
No one knew better than him how much loss Tundra Shelter would suffer if they were no longer considered Su Mo’s first choice when it came to trading.
The responsibility of carrying the lives of hundreds of people was too heavy of a burden for Lu Yongyi to shoulder alone without the help of his good friend.
Had it not been for Su Mo’s support in solving the food and safety issues, let alone building The Tundra, it was even uncertain whether the hundreds of people below would survive.
“By the way, how’s it going regarding the matter that I asked you to investigate? Our Tundra Shelter has received many great favors. We must not be ungrateful villains!”
Looking at The Tundra below that was rapidly being tested, Lu Yongyi’s words took a sharp turn and his face suddenly showed a trace of determination.
He was one of the insiders of humankind’s big plan this time and, at the same time, he knew exactly how incredible the benefits would be if the decisive battle plan was successful this time.
However, compared to a particular thing that had been weighing down on his heart, the big plan…
…was not important!
Lu Yongyi stared at Shen Ke. The others behind also moved two steps forward and directed their gazes at her.
Now the center of attention, Shen Ke ruffled her short hair and shook her head slowly.
“Leader, I know full well how important this matter is. We’ve received too many favors from Almighty Su ever since the establishment of our shelter. Not to mention you, even we and the villagers below speak of Almighty Su’s greatness all day, but you also said that we should ask tactfully about this matter to avoid tainting Almighty Su’s reputation, so I vaguely asked him seven or eight times throughout this period. However, whenever I broached the topic, he kept shaking his head and told me that I didn’t have to worry about this…”
“…it’s not that you don’t know what Almighty Su’s character is like. Unless I make it clear by telling him that, from the outset of The Tundra’s design, we reserved 200 seats for him and that, if he didn’t build a ship, he could wait for us on the spot to pick him up using The Tundra…”
“…otherwise, given his current position, he would never accept our kindness.”
With hurried breaths, Shen Ke spoke non-stop, and it could be seen how depressed she was after her seven or eight times communications with Su Mo.
Shipbuilding was difficult; as difficult as ascending to the heavens.
Sailing a ship was difficult; as difficult as flying out into the universe.
This was the current consensus that everyone from Earth had come to.
It was easy to build a simple ship or boat; with only the size of the ship posing any difficulty.
However, sailing a ship well could be said to be the most difficult thing to do for most ordinary people who had never seen or traveled the seas in their entire life.
Generally speaking, operating a large junk required at least 18 crew members who were trained and familiar with the ship’s workings.
Only in this way would the ship set sail smoothly!
If they wanted to steer the ship well and be combat effective at sea, a 30-meter large junk would require a total of 40 crew members!
It sounded exaggerated, but the numbers required would be even greater if the junk was replaced with a ship of the line instead.
Such large naval battleships had to essentially maintain the ability to fight 24/7.
This was not because of the large number of naval battles, but rather because of the uncertain sea climate.
Without the assistance of a computer, a 24-hour watch was required to operate this wooden battleship safely and efficiently.
Otherwise, if there was one careless mistake, and if the ship had problems, the repair works would be extremely difficult to pull off without mechanical assistance and a place to dock.
This was the case with The Tundra. The entire ship needed 220 crew members to sail it perfectly in shifts.
After relying on many days of daily intensive training and education, these 220 crew members barely reached the minimum standard.
As such, everyone, including Tundra Shelter that had traded dozens of times with Su Mo, also believed that…
Even if humankind’s strongest representative, Almighty Su, could build a large ship with his resources and abilities, he could not sail it!
No matter how strong one’s combat strength was, could one still sail a large ship on the seas alone?
What about logistics, maintenance, piloting, and firepower?
These were big problems that could not be solved in reality!
At this time, Su Chan, who was mixed in with the crowd below, also felt a trace of anxiousness after seeing the majesty of The Tundra.
At first, Su Chan did not panic when faced with the ocean disaster. Instead, she felt very fortunate that it would be easier to rendezvous with her brother, Su Mo, on the sea.
However, as the situation gradually took a turn for the worse, after seeing the Tundra and hearing other people’s remarks…
Su Chan panicked!
Dude, didn’t they agree on raft survival? How come there was a battleship dozens of feet long?
Was not this f*cking cheating?
How could mortals like my brother come to get me when something like the “battle of the gods” was happening?
Su Chan’s familiarity with Su Mo made her instantly think of how he would look by the time he arrived to pick her up on a raft!
On one side, there would be a ship of the line that was tens of meters long, and on the other there would be a raft floating on the water that could sink at any time…
Fine…
The scene was so beautiful she could hardly imagine it!
In naval battles like this, Su Mo’s role was more like a totem to humans, rather than the main force in the war against the foreign races!
“Shen Ke, as I told you, don’t be tactful. In my opinion, Su Mo’s not one to act coyly. Maybe the results would be better if you just told him directly.”
“Wang Teng, are you dumb? It’s better that you keep such words to yourself and not utter them. Almighty Su isn’t someone vulgar like you. Sometimes reputation isn’t important, but sometimes it is. What if Almighty Su gets angry and stops trading with us? I’d like to see how you’ll handle that.”
“What if we invited Almighty Su to fight the foreign races? Since we’ll meet each other by then, and when he sees how The Tundra is more powerful, everyone can join forces. Almighty Su could provide the firepower, and we could provide the ship. Together we can fight off a huge number of foreign races at once.”
“Eh? This works! Everyone’s destination is the New World anyway—there’s no conflict in this!”
“Nah, it’s not that feasible. You can be smarter and say how the people in our shelter greatly adore Almighty Su and, now that the disaster is approaching, we want to reunite with him and journey to the New World together. This way, everyone could look after one another and even help more Huaxians to survive!”
Before Lu Yongyi could speak, the leadership team behind him started quarreling with each other, hoping to replace Shen Ke and talk with Su Mo on their own.
Seeing this lively scene, Lu Yongyi did not call for it to stop, but instead smiled and said, “It seems that all of you are pretty free. Alright, everyone shall come up with a plan. Once you’re done with it, pass it to Shen Ke immediately. We’ll have a meeting after that, and the plan that receives the highest votes will be chosen!”
“Got it, we’ll do it according to what our leader says!”
“Great idea!”
Everyone immediately stopped making noise after Lu Yongyi stated his terms. They sat on the ground one by one, frowned, and muttered while taking out pen and paper to draft their own…
“Su Mo Strategy Plan!”
From thinking of ways to communicate with Su Mo to better preserve his reputation, to ways of negotiating meetings and details, and then finally on how to join forces in attacking the foreign races.
Shen Ke did not dare think about these things, but the veterans in the leadership team were having a blast. They laughed while writing, giving free rein to their imaginations.
Of course, the ordinary people sitting under the high platform knew nothing about this outlandish scene of people writing at intense speeds.
In the Underground Shelter far away, Su Mo, who was struggling with martial arts practice could not possibly know of it either.
Thanks to yesterday’s thunderstorm, Su Mo’s sleep did not last the entire night, despite his excellent sleeping conditions.
He did not sleep well due to the thunder that sounded from time to time.
After waking up, he even wore the combat uniform and went for a stroll on Hope One at four o’clock in the morning.
After inspecting the drainage and waterproofing facilities and finding no problems with them, he then returned to the shelter with peace of mind and continued sleeping.
However, the biggest reason why Su Mo could get up and exercise just after six o’clock in the morning was not the thunderstorm…
It was the itch that had appeared inside his body since five o’clock in the morning!
Over the past few days, he had frequently entered and exited the talisman simulation world. Su Mo was unsure if it was simply an illusion, or that his physical fitness was in fact moving up the ranks in an abnormal way again.
It had only taken him two months to go from having the strength of a weak office worker who could not even tie a chicken down, to the current him who could bench press 180kg 8rm and powerlift a maximum of 220kg.
(TN: A repetition maximum (RM) is the most weight you can lift for a defined number of exercise movements.)
Early in the morning when he felt his body itch to the point where he could no longer stand it, Su Mo got up for a test and was shocked to find out that his limit had risen from 220kg to 235kg!
At this time, as he realized the 250kg strength requirement required to upgrade the shelter to level five was close at hand, Su Mo became excited and started practicing.
From six o’clock in the morning, Su Mo trained for one and a half hours in the spacious gym before stopping.
Unfortunately, his physical fitness seemed to rise the fastest when he did not care about it.
When he paid more attention to it, it acted like a snail that lay motionless on the ground.
While sweating, Su Mo took a pitiful glance at the shelter promotion conditions, which was just two points short of the 50 required by the game.
“I hope my physical fitness will take a leap forward before I head out to sea. At that point, I wouldn’t have to worry about having no time to work out any longer!”
“Sigh, I’m still short of time!”
So far, due to time constraints, Su Mo had not put too much effort into examining the source of the inexplicable increase in his physical fitness.
After all, apart from the fact that his daily appetite was a little bit larger now, the fact of the matter was that the change was still a positive one no matter how he perceived it. There was no need to panic at all!
After wiping off the sweat, changing into a set of dry clothes, and having a hearty breakfast with the four little ones, the survival points from Month 2 Day 19 arrived on time, earning him a full 2000 points.
Seeing that the survival points total that had been originally lost due to the lucky prize draw had recovered to 17,000 points again, Su Mo put on the fully-waterproof combat uniform and walked out in satisfaction.
At around eight o’clock, the thunderstorm still had not passed. The road in front of the shelter was fine, though it was a little slippery and muddy.
However, there were already large areas in which water had accumulated that could be seen from a distance.
Su Mo knew that this was a chance given by the game for everyone to test out their ships.
However, it was not good news for the intelligence team that had to trudge over 1500 kilometers through the harsh wasteland terrain!
