Chapter 348: Cannon Fire! The Path of Humans!
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Hope One had succeeded in breaking through the rare-quality limitations of the blueprint because of the modular shipyard and many supporting items.
However, at its current sub-legendary-quality, Hope One still did not have an advantage when going up against a rare-quality warship.
The disparity might even be big enough that Hope One would be blasted to smithereens without having had the chance to get anywhere near its opponent.
Levels had never been representative of true combat power!
Even though the Heavenly Dog Pseudo God was a nuclear bomb grade deity-level monster, it had still succumbed to the power of a rare-quality Dongfeng missile and perished in regret.
The biggest boon that tech weapons brought to humans was something frequently mentioned in fantasy stories…
Challenging those who were higher level than oneself!
“Throughout the three-dimensional universe, no, throughout the entire wasteland, the rules that one can control and manipulate are limited. It’s just like shares; they can only be held under one person’s name.
“Just like the immortals in the Huaxian myths—the thirty-six Heavenly Generals of the Heavenly Court and the seventy-two Earth Demons, all of whom banded together to fight evil—these positions are fixed, once someone ascends to them, the rest cannot do anything but watch.
“So, if the human race wants to change its fate in the future and not be controlled by others, as far as ordinary humans are concerned, technology is still the best weapon!”
As Su Mo walked toward the main gun turret housing the Annihilator, despite having stayed up all night, his thoughts had gone to some “off-topic matters” right after he had finished eating when his thoughts were most active.
Fantasy and traditional mythology on Earth often had only one main character who would ascend to immortality and promote his friends and companions as well.
However, very few novels—practically none, even—would write about the ordinary, low-caste nobodies from which the protagonist had started.
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Nonetheless, one could not blame authors for not writing about these things. Instead, the problem lay in how the authors brought up this mode of cultivation and its entire logic, including the conception of the character’s worldview.
In cultivation stories that easily spanned more than ten thousand years, why would ordinary commoners and cultivators with very low abilities still be condemned to a backward agricultural age after so long—to be born, to cultivate, and to die just like robots?
One could try to imagine—if human civilization developed continuously for ten thousand years uninterrupted, would they still remain on one planet and continue farming?
This sort of confined thinking caused these conceptualized worlds to be extremely unrealistic. It was better not to nitpick. If one really were to go online to do research, they would experience a sense that something was off, a “false reality”.
However, there was one point that these stories conveyed with extreme accuracy.
Every clan and individual who wanted to develop would ultimately embark on the path of plunder and robbery.
If mankind truly wanted stability and to be in control of their destiny, rather than randomly transmigrated and destroyed by a game like this, they would still ultimately go the way of “invading to better oneself”.
“Someday, if I could lead the entire human race to invade the lands of the foreign races—rush into the home of all these masterminds behind the scene and target a human “gun barrel” right at their doors, that would really be very interesting indeed.
“However, I don’t know if I’ll actually be able to witness the grand scene on that day with the several decades I have left!”
Su Mo pushed open the armory door and looked at the floor that was piled high with ammunition, apart from what was in the warehouse. The pressure he felt suddenly lifted, and he began laughing heartily.
Ultimately, mankind’s fear stemmed from the unknown and insufficient firepower.
If the human race could possess space weapons and planetary skills when going up against the wasteland and the foreign races right now—or perhaps even the mystical dual vector foil from the famous novel, The Three-Body Problem, or other such fourth-dimensional technology—there was no need to even talk about the Five Royal Clans. Even the game itself would be like a nude dancer with entirely no secrets to speak of.
As one of mankind’s current leading powerhouses, Su Mo suddenly had a realization about his future path, almost as if he had experienced an epiphany.
He had to come up with a plan to save everyone（×）
He had to stimulate human civilization and develop potential（√）
Essentially speaking, protecting everyone’s lives and safety was merely “saving them” in the narrowest sense of the word.
Although this way of saving them could solve everyone’s current predicament, it would not benefit mankind’s actual future at all.
The foreign races were a scourge, a malignant tumor that had to be further controlled.
The disasters, on the other hand, were not. For the present moment, at least, they were considered “benign” to some extent.
Through the disasters, humans could rapidly complete the survival of the fittest and force their own potential to burst forth.
In the early stages, these kinds of “wounds” brought immense suffering that was very hard for mankind to bear.
However, once they had weathered through, human civilization would be like a “flame” covered up by ashes; it would certainly burn even more intensely than before!
As the person who would uncover the ashes, Su Mo’s task was very simple.
He had to charge forward!
He had to help mankind see the path ahead!
He had to utterly break open the prison that confined all of mankind’s thoughts and cognition!
He had to enable people like Sun Xian—ordinary people on Earth who would have initially continued being typical—to grow continuously under pressure and let the sparks of thought and creativity blossom!
Only by doing this would mankind truly be able to make this genuine, smallest of “sacrifices” in exchange for a bright “future”.
Su Mo felt a wave of gratitude overcome him as he picked up the ammunition scattered on the floor.
The transformation of human thought was not something that would only manifest at a specific time or date.
It was just like great figures in history—some were “enlightened” when they were fifty or sixty years old, and some already were aware of their “innate nature” when they were only ten years of age.
In just two short months, they could go from knowing absolutely nothing to knowing everything.
This might just have been the main reason why the mysterious system had chosen him!
Su Mo manually inserted ammunition into the loading tray of the Annihilator. When he looked at the operation panel that popped up in front of him, he felt delighted, and his work quickened slightly as well.
He tapped buttons in the proper order and watched as a large lock icon slowly appeared. Once it had unlocked, Su Mo began focusing his attention.
The Annihilator had two firing modes.
The first was controlled by a smart system. However, in this respect, he had obtained the Annihilator too late.
Furthermore, there had not been enough time to create a fire control system for the cannon, so other than being able to transmit target coordinates, the OS was basically unable to affect the Annihilator at all.
The second mode was what Su Mo was doing right now—firing manually.
The OS would first send the location of the target to the cannon’s operating system. After obtaining the coordinates, the operator sitting in the gun room would have to manually aim at the targeted coordinates.
In the process, if there were any changes to the coordinates, then the gunner would have to make adjustments as quickly as possible.
Of course, an excellent gunner might be able to assess the situation in advance, but as far as Moore was concerned, Su Mo only required one thing of him.
To be able to shoot wherever he was directed to shoot!
After the coordinates and location had been calibrated, a red button cover would pop open to the right of the operation platform.
A safety button would rise in this area. Once it was pressed, the firing button on the handle would connect in real-time to the firing system.
Just like in a video game, pressing the button once would fire one round.
Pressing and holding onto the button would continuously fire rounds up to 140 rounds per minute from this cannon!
“OS, do a radar sweep within 50 kilometers and search for an obstacle that can be fired at.
“Make sure that there are absolutely no signs of life in its vicinity!”
After giving a string of commands through his Bluetooth earphones, Su Mo waited patiently.
In the meantime, Moore and Connie arrived at the gun room after cleaning up the breakfast utensils. They sat behind Su Mo obediently and stared at the operation panel.
For the lightning bear clan, the logic behind operating this weapon was not hard to understand.
Furthermore, with the psychic energy water’s aid in unlocking his intelligence, what Moore lacked was merely actual combat experience, just like Su Mo.
Five minutes.
Ten minutes.
Seconds and minutes ticked by until the fourteenth minute when the OS dutifully transmitted a set of coordinates.
Meanwhile, the Annihilator’s system panel also received a corresponding map, as well as information on the location of the target.
“Moore, watch carefully. Use this to calibrate the horizontal coordinate, and use this to adjust the vertical coordinate. For direction, use this button!”
After learning the entire process in his dreams through memory transmission, Su Mo had already fired more than a hundred rounds on this cannon.
Currently, after obtaining the coordinates, this was a routine he performed with ease; there was nothing unfamiliar about it at all.
However, there were some differences when it came to operating the cannon in the wasteland.
Specifically, it was the effect of the artillery shells!
The main cannon on this Level 1 destroyer used a 32-kilogram shell with a blast radius of approximately 150 meters.
However, Su Mo had used the workstation to manually pack the gunpowder and had manually cast the shell casings with the forge.
Even if the contents of the shell weighed 32 kilograms together with the casing, it was mixed in with TnT that had been infused with psychic energy water, so its explosive power had already been increased by more than 50%!
Using the incremental change of the blast radius for calculation, the maximum range of the shell’s explosive power might be around 300 meters. One would know the true meaning of “fear” once the round was fired!
As he watched Moore nodding his head, Su Mo’s heart dropped slightly. He pressed the safety button with his left hand while gripping the handle with his right.
In response, a retractable lens dropped down in front of the operation panel. By putting one’s eye to it, one would be able to see the view of the outside world that the OS transmitted.
Right now, at around seven-thirty in the wasteland, the sea had already turned a shimmering blue.
Together with clear skies and calm weather, it was a great day to practice shooting!
At the same time, guided by the OS’s enlarged screen simulation, Su Mo could vaguely make out today’s target—a small hill 3.5 kilometers away from them.
Of course, if one considered that the water had already risen to 14.2 meters above sea level, this small hill was actually quite sizeable on land.
“Moore, pay attention and watch how I operate this!
“Connie, get ready. I’m going to fire!”
Su Mo bellowed his instructions. After hearing the sound of the Annihilator locking onto his target, he swiftly pressed down with his finger, just like how he had fired the Dongfeng Missile back in the day.
The next second, the force of a powerful recoil suddenly sent the entire ship lurching back!
Even the comfort properties of the ship lost some of their functions at this moment. Su Mo could feel a trace of a jolt from the sea as he sat in his seat.
The larger the caliber of a cannon, the more terrifying the recoil would be. The ship would need to have sufficient tonnage to withstand such a kickback and achieve a precise accuracy rate.
Even though on Earth there was no lack of classic works about “small ships with large cannons”, a 130mm main cannon like this would usually be installed on a 150-meter destroyer. Only tonnage like this coupled with the corresponding muzzle brake system would be able to suppress the recoil.
“Not bad. Thankfully Hope One is a sub-legendary-quality ship with entries and strong foundational properties. Besides, even though my ship is only 80 meters long, its tonnage is not small at all!”
Su Mo stared at the image transmitted back by the OS and saw a sudden flare erupting from the hill in the distance. Even if the gun room was extremely soundproof and basically no explosion could be heard, Su Mo could imagine the immense power of this shell!
“OS, turn and go to this position. I want to see how the firepower is!”
Excited, Su Mo beckoned Connie to follow him—she was still covering her ears, waiting for him to “fire”. He then quickly went back up to the main deck.
The sky was azure, and the sea was a deep blue.
The moment he got to the main deck, Su Mo could smell the obvious scent of gun smoke as the sea breeze blew toward him!
As Hope One continued cruising swiftly through the waters, the hill that had been the recipient of the explosion was already very near and within sight!
“Shit, the damage is just utterly outrageous!”
With RDX as the primer, the moment it connected with its target to the second it exploded, the approximately 15 pounds of TnT force contained within the artillery shell detonated completely!
The hill that had been visible on the screen before was now gone!
In its place was nothing but blazing flames that even the ocean could not extinguish.
The explosion radius had more than exceeded expectations. Based on just a rough estimation, Su Mo calculated that the explosion had a terrifying 350-meter radius!
He sucked in his breath sharply.
Seeing the blazing flames that were billowing black smoke, Connie rubbed her eyes and drew a deep breath before Su Mo could make a detailed scrutiny of the actual damage dealt to the hill.
“Lea-Leader…
“That round… the explosive power of the shell is so frightening—its power… its energy power level has already exceeded 15!
“Not only that, I just need to lightly press the button to fire it…
“It’s far too enjoyable, shooting this!”
Connie stuttered because she was still in shock, but the energy power level she spoke of piqued Su Mo’s interest.
“Energy power level? You lions can also sense how powerful these weapons are?”
