Under the dim light, Su Mo sat at the workbench furiously writing away at his notes.
The humans’ plan of attack was as he expected. It did not involve the participation of hundreds of countries, nor were only the Big Five qualified to join.
(T/N: Refers to the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, which are China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States.)
The only qualification required to receive the actual contents of the plan was to have sufficient power.
It was one thing to say one had a large military force on Earth, with a sizable arsenal to arm and equip them. Even if orders for fifth-generation aircrafts were en route and the country would possess excellent firepower in the event of a war…
Alright then, whether such boasts were true or fake, we can turn a blind eye.
However, there was one condition…
You had to have enough power on this wasteland!
If your shelter was below the set standard, then it would be very unfortunate, but you would not be invited to participate in the plan for the moment, nor would you be informed about the plan either.
If you still wanted to participate in the plan, then you would have to pick a “big shot” to join.
Those were the default rules set by the higher echelons at the moment. Even the Huaxia official organization did not protest these rules and had agreed to them.
Of course, there was a reason why this particular set of rules existed.
It was because of the distribution of humans across the wasteland!
There were 197 countries across Earth, and there were 4 types of people; black, white, brown, and yellow-skinned people.
Given the randomized nature of the game’s transmigration, it was impossible that the people in one’s surroundings would be from the same country, much less be of the same skin color or speak the same language.
Thus, the translation feature that the game provided united people, regardless of country, skin color or language.
To ensure everyone’s survival!
This time, all the official organizations, with the Big Five leading them, did something that no one expected.
To diminish and eliminate the concept of “countries”, they were going to replace that concept with “shelters” and popularize it!
It seemed quite unthinkable at first but, in retrospect, it was an inevitable development in the wasteland. It was also the most correct choice that humans could make when faced with this natural disaster.
Of course, if this disaster could be stopped, or if everyone were given a second chance, countries might still rise up again in the future.
However, given the current situation, even “Huaxia” might be a forgotten concept in just one or two years.
In journeying across the wasteland, survivors’ utmost priority would be getting a shelter of their own.
As for their own brethren, such ties would have to be relegated in priority for the moment. It was similar to being more friendly to someone with a similar skin tone while on a trip overseas; there would still be a layer of cautiousness beneath the outward expression of friendliness.
“For now, each shelter has four criteria to fulfill in order to join the humans’ plan of attack.”
“First, a shelter must have 500 inhabitants, with at least 100 of them armed with weapons or defensive equipment.”
“Second, if a shelter has experienced battle, it must have achieved more than 500 kills in a single victory or more than 200 kills across the span of two victories.”
“Third, the ship that the shelter possesses must be assessed and be up to the set standard. It must be able to accommodate more than 1000 people, must have more than 3 modern-day cannons, more than 50 modern thermal weapons, and sufficient ammunition for a battle involving more than 1000 people.”
“Fourth, it must be endorsed by an official organization.”
These criteria were so harsh!
From the number of people and resources, to naval firepower and accreditation.
These strict rules could easily filter out 99.99% of shelters, and the remaining 0.01%, given the current situation in the wasteland, would not number more than 50!
In other words, this was the “privilege” that only the humans’ best of the best could enjoy.
The true intelligence of mankind could be seen through a plan like this. Even if Su Mo knew the game’s true purpose and its secrets, he still gave these people a thumbs up.
The plan was simple and its intentions were clear-cut.
After Su Mo carefully filled in the gaps between the points, read it a few times over, and made sure there were no errors, Su Mo decided not to decipher the convoluted contents of the plan by himself.
He simply opened up the game panel and sent a private invitation over to Zhong Qingshu.
…
After a short period of waiting.
As the third person ever who visited his self-built shelter, when Su Mo opened the metal gate, Zhong Qingshu was like a curious baby, looking here and there.
However, as they progressed along the path to the second floor, and then down to the hall on the third floor, that sense of curiosity turned into surprise.
“What’s wrong? Are you curious?” Zhong Qingshu still smelled of alcohol. Su Mo thought for a while, but he did not grab a drink. Instead, he put on the kettle, boiled some hot water, and handed her a glass of it.
“Thank you.”
After taking the glass of hot water, Zhong Qingshu looked a little bashful as she replied with a red tinge on her face.
“I’m not curious. Rather, I’m surprised! Who would have thought that the most powerful person on the wasteland, Almighty Su, would still be living in such a shabby place.”
“Don’t you know that there were people on the World Channel talking about how grand your “palace” was?”
Su Mo knew that Zhong Qingshu was not insulting him, but she was not lying to him either.
A month ago, the third floor of this super shelter would have made everyone green with envy. It was strong, robust, and equipped with rooms built for different purposes.
However, at this moment, the walls were still unpainted, and the floor was covered in dust despite the wind sweeping across its surface every day. The only furniture was a large clock in the gym and a sofa that had been stained with oil from his rushed meals.
These were truly things that the typical disaster victim wished for but, compared to larger shelters, there was quite an obvious difference.
Even if Su Mo did another live stream from within the shelter and cooked a hotpot for himself, it would not garner that much admiration and envy from most people like last time.
Even if Su Mo outfitted the rooms appropriately, the shelter would still have “fallen behind”.
However, that did not change the love and passion that Su Mo had for this shelter when he looked at it.
Su Mo lightly shook his head and smiled.
“Stop teasing me already. You know very well how busy I’ve been this month. When we head to the New World, I will surely make this shelter the most luxurious, grand, and amazing one ever.”
“I’ll also make the shelter a sacred place that everyone will admire. At that point, I want everyone’s lifelong goal to be to enter my shelter, or even just catch a glimpse of it. I want them to be in awe.”
“However, we haven’t reached the stage where I can stably develop the shelter yet. Hurry up, there’s more work to be done!”
Zhong Qingshu’s eyes seemed to light up after hearing Su Mo’s inspiring words, as if imagining how grand, strong, and developed their shelter would be in the future.
However, when Su Mo took out the notes containing the humans’ plan of attack, the expression in her eyes regained their “sharp” look. She even suppressed the smile on her face.
“This is?”
“This is the humans’ plan of attack for the naval battle I told you about. It was written by the higher echelons.”
Even if Su Mo mentioned nothing about the humans’ plan of attack, Zhong Qingshu would have had an inkling of what was going on just by reading the World Channel.
Those who participated in this plan were none other than the humans in super shelters.
Even Dragon Flag, Crimson Moon, Daybreaker Sword, and Polar Bear shelters, that housed more than 5000 people, were among the participants in the plan.
However, the World Channel did not provide any clues as to what the plan actually was.
A normal person would only guess that this plan was only to be participated by the elites. Just like their experience on Earth, it was an impossible task for them.
At this moment, who would have known that such a simple book would contain such important information.
Zhong Qingshu was stunned.
After that, her expression turned stern once more as she stood up and took the notebook from Su Mo.
Su Mo did not rush her while she was reading it. He walked over to the table by the workstation, pinched a handful of green tea, and threw it into his cup.
The boiling water soon brought out the fragrance of the tea.
Accompanied by the slightly bitter yet light aroma of the tea, Su Mo sat on the other chair in the living room and waited patiently.
Different people would fidget differently when analyzing a problem. For Su Mo, he would tap on the surface of the table because that tapping sound facilitated his thought process.
Zhong Qingshu, on the other hand, would have to grip something. She would hold onto something until her fingers turned pale in order to focus on her thoughts.
After a while, Zhong Qingshu noticed that it was nearing ten o’clock. She frowned, looked up, and sighed, “Su Mo, this must be the simplified version you made, right? I need to see the details of the original version. I need more information!”
Su Mo nodded, “Alright, as long as you don’t share it with anyone else. I’ll send it directly over to your game panel.”
This time, Zhong Qingshu read even faster; she only took five minutes. She used the information that she already had, looked through the plan twice, and then paused.
“The entire ocean would be split into 12 different battlefronts. The ships from the large shelters will enable the humans to move between battlefronts and attack on different fronts.”
“Those who have won their battles in their respective areas will then help out those who are struggling in other areas, hopefully scoring victories in each area one by one. Finally, all humans will gather together and push back both the terrestrial and marine foreign races.”
“However, the plan did not indicate why areas 1, 5, and 12 are so confident about winning their battles…”
Su Mo noticed that Zhong Qingshu had the same questions he had, so he picked up his glass and lightly sipped on the hot tea.
“This is why the plan was circulated around with no fear at all. There was utter confidence in winning those battles, so even if the entire thing looked stupid, the foreign races would have no choice but to fight.”
“After all, if areas 1, 5, and 12 fail, then 80% of the humans on the sea would be walking into a deathtrap, straight into the arms of the foreign races, and will likely be slaughtered!”
“This is a gamble between humans and the foreign races. We’re betting that we can beat them, and they’re betting that we can’t.”
Zhong Qingshu, “It’s too risky. Polar Bear Shelter is in area 5, so it’s basically located at the heart of the battlefield. If they were the ones who devised this crazy plan to fight the foreign races, then the foreign races would surely know that if they win their battle against the humans in area 5, then neither area 1 nor 12 would be able to adapt to salvage the situation. At that time, even if the humans win, they would suffer heavy losses. Besides, even if everything proceeds according to plan, at least 40% of the participating humans would be sacrificed for sure!”
Su Mo nodded, “Yes, so we have a clear point to go on now.”
Su Mo was still good at analyzing motives and purpose.
In terms of motive, since there would be another battle against the foreign races, and a battle was inevitable, why not pick a comfortable time and place to do so?
As for purpose, the final goal of the humans in starting this war was to get a huge bounty of treasure chests, open them, and develop and improve their levels of technology to rise up and turn the tables on the foreign races and the game.
On the other hand, Zhong Qingshu was good at taking perspectives and drawing conclusions.
There might be an overlap in opinions when two people were thinking about the same problem but, somehow, there would also be some complementary results from such a discussion.
“Let’s assume that we can score victories in those three areas and assist the other areas that are struggling, then who would be the one undertaking the lowest risk?”
“Twelve, no, I mean the people in area 12. They are located near a shallow area of the sea, so it would be easy for them to move onto land. After all, it was better to live to fight another day.”
Zhong Qingshu asked, “Then who would be undertaking the greatest amount of risk?”
“Those in area 1. If they lose their battle, they would have a hard time retreating, unless they have no desire of heading to the New World…”
Zhong Qingshu nodded, “Just assume that you’re someone from area 1. Under what circumstances would you be willing to fight this battle when, using this strategy, you would be undertaking the largest amount of risk?”
What kind of situation could that be?
Zhong Qingshu’s point was quite interesting, and that made Su Mo sit up and think about it deeply.
In other words, area 1 possessed the greatest risk. Even if the humans had the confidence to win their battle, they would have to be wary of those in areas 5 and 12 running away.
Since such a decision was made, there were only three possibilities.
Area one was bait. The humans’ primary firepower would not be concentrated there, or that area would simply be used to lure the foreign races’ troops over so other areas could prepare to escape.
Area one had a foolproof plan to ensure that they and the other areas could all escape, so they had no reason to panic at all.
Area one was the safest place. Either that or the foreign races dared not attack that place for some reason, so even if it was abandoned, they would have no problem with that.
Wait… if that was the case…
After Su Mo thought about those three possibilities and remembered that time he had used the Mountain and Sea Painting Scroll in the Ruins of Time, he jumped up and looked at the layout of the wasteland. There was a strong sense of possibility that arose from within Su Mo’s heart.
…
1.04 am in the morning.
After Su Mo watched Zhong Qingshu’s silhouette disappear into the darkness, he returned to the shelter with thoughts racing through his head.
He got so much out of this night.
He would only need to go on the voyage and verify something, after which he would receive the answer he was looking for.
Of course, it was not due to their intelligence that the both of them had come up with such inferences. These things aside, surely the person who came up with this plan easily surpassed both of them from the standpoint of intelligence and strategy.
However, given his extensive knowledge of the game and the wasteland, and given that there was no way to achieve victory through conventional means, Su Mo decided to narrow the scope of possible options.
After Su Mo used the information he had and worked backward, he felt that this cheap method worked every time.
“The route that Tundra Shelter would take leads them to area 4 while my route would lead me into area 10.”
“Charting our meet-up route from there, I would have to alter my sailing course by 34 degrees. However, if I don’t want to go through area 5, I will have to make a detour, but that’s not a big problem.”
After Su Mo responded to Shen Ke’s messages, he took a look at his list of tasks and noticed that one of them had already been completed, and with extraordinary results too.
Su Mo returned to his bed satisfied and slept soundly.
Another day had passed, and only two days remained till the advent of the disaster!
