Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
So what were their original goals?
For Su Mo, he had already set out the objectives of his journey before he even set off.
First of all, he would pick up his sister.
Secondly, he would gather a group of capable scholars specializing in scientific research, or people with special talents, and bring them to the New World to develop his territory’s science and technology.
Thirdly, he would find the God of the Ocean and get rid of the time bomb on this wasteland.
Aside from these three, nothing else was part of his original goal, whether it was to completely destroy 20 thousand troops of the foreign races, or entering the so-called group ruins to explore the basics of science and technology development.
Instead, they were emergencies!
If he were to evaluate things according to this train of thought, he could judge their true intentions even if he could not get his hands on the foreign races’ plan.
For the ordinary foreign races, their original goals were even simpler.
Once they entered the wasteland, they only had one goal, which was to slowly expand their search radius and scope, according to the requirements of their clans, to look for the God-transcending item and bring it back.
According to Connie’s previous explanation, the ordinary foreign races entering the wasteland were those with the lowest potential and the lowest strength levels in the clan.
To put it bluntly, these people were more likely sent here to make up a shortfall in the number of people.
Counting on these people to go over to the dangerous wasteland to search for the precious authority was equivalent to people with millions in their bank accounts expecting to make a fortune by spending a few bucks to buy a lottery ticket while passing by a lottery shop.
It was just a matter of luck and, frankly speaking, those people did not care if those they sent over died. They also did not care whether those few bucks were wasted or not.
If so, what about the Five Royal Clans?
What were their original goals?
After writing this line of words in the notebook, the clutter in Su Mo’s mind suddenly turned clear. Furthermore, the ideas that were generated from his previous erroneous line of thinking disappeared.
Instead, they were replaced by a truth that was almost tangible enough to touch.
“For the Royal Clans, they have to dispatch a lot of elite members with extremely high potential each time. If their target was authority then, according to their strength levels, their outlook would basically be the same as those ordinary foreign races. It would be a waste of time and they would only be able to depend on luck.”
“However, the ordinary foreign races would only lose some insignificant people if they failed, but the Royal Clan would lose some people with the power to influence the clan. Over time, when one faction rises, another will fall.”
“So… Is the original goal of the Royal Clan not the wasteland authority after all?”
The rustling sound of the gel pen gliding across the white paper was almost inaudible under the sound of the waves.
However, as more and more words appeared on the paper, a sudden clap of thunder seemed to roar in Su Mo’s heart, bringing him to a sudden realization.
If one compared the clans behind all the foreign races to investors, and the weak and numerous human beings to the “market”, then the clan members they sent over to the wasteland would be considered the counters they invested in.
To the ordinary foreign races, they invested very little anyway, so even if they lost everything beyond their stop-loss orders, they would suffer any major consequences.
However, for major players like the Royal Clans, if they lost those counters or if their counters did not make them enough “money” in the market, it would be equivalent to suffering a huge loss.
At this time, according to the human “market patterns” of the wasteland, there had only been three disasters so far. Yet, all human beings had abundant supplies and also possessed Almighty Su, who was so overpowered that he could slaughter gods.
For these investors, this “market pattern” was equivalent to a continuously declining “stock market”, which meant that their investments were giving fewer and fewer returns, while at the same time the investment risks were constantly increasing.
Therefore, it was the same as trading stocks.
When the market declined, or when the market might even be completely up-ended, the individual small retail investors only needed to discard their positions directly without hesitation, while waiting for the next opportunity to enter a short position.
However, large-scale investors would need to consider how to recover as much of their investment capital as possible before the market collapsed in order to ensure that they would not end up like the retail investors themselves.
So, at what point did the “market” begin to show signs of “bearishness”?
On the paper, Su Mo wrote down again…
After the welfare disaster!
During the welfare disaster, human beings relied on the trading market. After obtaining seeds of excellent grades and planting them, almost everyone survived the disaster and their overall strength increased rapidly.
There was no shortage of food and water, which meant that humans had more time to adapt and explore the wasteland. At the same time, they developed and strengthened their shelters so that they became more powerful!
As a result, human beings finally had the time and space to go up against those foreign races who had yet to develop their strength levels!
From this moment on, while the ordinary retail investors might not have reacted, the clans behind the Five Royal Clans were acutely aware of the changing situation of the “market” and were preparing to escape the “calamity”!
Common knowledge dictated that, before the major players fled, they would get the retail investors to take over their positions in the market and bear all the risks in their place.
As such, by chance, after the ocean disaster was announced, an escape plan jointly formulated by the Five Royal Clans finally made its appearance on the wasteland!
This plan was none other than…
The Marine Hunting Plan!
After Su Mo finally thought things through, Su Mo’s previous question about why the Royal Clans were not worried that their plan would be exposed, and why they were unafraid that this plan would become known to the foreign marine races, or even to the human beings, was finally answered.
“It turns out that the target of the Five Royal Clans has always been the humans!”
“Even the current target of these foreign marine races is also the humans!”
“After all, whether they are major players, or retail investors, which idiot would say no to money?”
Looking at the logical and extremely clear conclusion written on the paper, Su Mo slammed his hands on the desk and stood up in joy.
The things that had not made sense before, the things that he could not comprehend previously, and the problems that he had encountered, were all eventually linked together by this huge chain at this moment.
Compared to the plan that the traitorous humans and the wasteland Royal Clans came up with to hunt down Old Devil Su, this Marine Hunting Plan could be said to have truly achieved a “closed-loop” setting to a certain degree.
This “closed-loop” plan was so perfect that, even if the person knew about it, they would still be forced to jump in headfirst.
“When I first learned about this plan, because the foreign races couldn’t gather up the humans, and their inability to keep constant track of the humans’ coordinates, I made an error in my initial judgment. I mistakenly thought that their target was not the humans at all.”
“Plus Connie’s follow-up explanation stating that humans were not the target of foreign races, and that son of a b*tch Clark’s vivid acting skills, further confirmed my erroneous judgment.”
It seemed like Su Mo was talking to himself while self-reflecting on his previous actions and line of thinking, but it also seemed like he was constantly improving and expanding upon this chain of logic.
Su Mo’s eyes lost focus as he stood motionless in front of his desk but, in his mind, his consciousness continued to construct images and thoughts that constantly flashed through his mind.
“During the first stage, the Royal Clans want all the ordinary foreign races to escort humankind and let all the human beings go out to sea successfully. This move was to ensure that the market does not fluctuate. After all, the profits of the retail investors are also equivalent to their loss!”
“Following that, I’m guessing that they might be the ones who instigated this tsunami disaster that seemed to appear out of nowhere!”
“They took advantage of the information gaps and lack of communication, as well as the knowledge they obtained while exploring the wasteland, to forcibly initiate the tsunami disaster, causing humans to automatically assemble into large groups and reveal their position on the World Channel. They directly and forcibly made up for their inability to track down the humans that would otherwise not assemble together!”
“During the second stage, when humans assembled together to resist the tsunami disaster, their ships would be damaged by the waves and move slowly thanks to the large and varied ship composition of their fleets. When the foreign marine races were ready to come up and feed on the humans, the Five Royal Clans would request all the ordinary foreign terrestrial races to delay the attacking foreign marine races in order to summon their deities to descend and inflict serious damage on the foreign marine races below. As for remaining humans, they would be left to these ordinary foreign races to enjoy.”
“During the first stage, they emphasized the humans and, during the second stage, they also emphasized the humans. Plus, they emphasized that these ordinary foreign races should not harm or hinder the humans, and that if they wanted to fight, they should target foreign marine races! I didn’t even think of this before!”
“As for the third stage, Clark kept me on tenterhooks. At that time, I was still guessing that they were going to attack the God of the Ocean but, now, it seems that they are really being rather greedy!”
After thinking about all these points, even Su Mo himself could not help but praise the plan concocted by the old guys behind the Five Royal Clans.
In the absence of any variables, the implementation of this plan was equivalent to going all out and making a fortune.
And after destroying their enemies, members of the Royal Clans who stayed on the wasteland would also be better positioned to search for the wasteland authority. This could be regarded as killing two birds with one stone!
As for the foreign marine races in this scenario, it was indeed the same as his previous prediction. They would be responsible for playing the role of the idiots and getting played by others.
However, they could not be blamed. In the end, after being forced to emerge early and perform a task that was beyond their capabilities, they would only be left with seven days.
Thanks to the marine hunting plan, the ordinary terrestrial foreign races would naturally regard them as enemies within those seven days and would not reveal any valuable information to them.
Human beings had temporarily been united due to the impending disaster, so no one would join forces with beings with ill intentions like the foreign marine races.
Once their two sources of information were cut off, the foreign marine races would have to face the current situation using only their past knowledge and experience of coming to the wasteland…
This behavior was equivalent to becoming an accomplice to your own kidnapping!
“So what I have to do now is to force the ordinary foreign races in this plan to take action before eight o’clock on the seventh day. I’ll make them launch an attack on the humans at this time, thus starting the war of the three races and ending the horrifying tsunami on the final day.”
“At that time, the Five Royal Clans would not be able to wait for the tsunami to end to start the fight. After all, if they begin late, it would mean that the profits would all be devoured by the retail investors!”
“Also, isn’t it an easy job to start a fight with the ordinary foreign races?”
He was thinking of this critical moment, when the image of the Golden Lion King in the eyes of the terrestrial foreign races suddenly transformed into Old Devil Su of the human race. Everyone would be stunned and have an emotional breakdown.
Standing in the captain’s quarters, Su Mo could not hold back his laughter.
This laughter was unbridled and full of endless pride.
Even the sound of the tsunami outside could not cover up the relaxed happy laughter that echoed from inside.
However, before Su Mo’s laughter ended, the OS that had been ordered to carry out the scanning promptly issued a notification alert.
[Captain Su Mo, a large number of biological reactions have been detected 67 degrees north, and 197 kilometers away from Hope One. The system is matching and analyzing these reactions based on the gathered biological model database, please wait a moment…]
[Matching and analysis successful. The probability of it being a battle between foreign terrestrial races and humans is 17%, the probability of it being a battle between foreign terrestrial races and foreign marine races is 64%, and the probability of it being a battle between the three races is 19%.]
[Do you want to alter Hope One’s route to avoid these biological life forms?]
“Huh? The OS detected a biological reaction so quickly?”
“No need to avoid it. Head to this battlefield at full speed and stop 30 kilometers away from the battlefield!”
“Moore, go get ready in the main gun turret now. From now on, I will make all the foreign races feel the terror and destruction inflicted by Hope One!”
He had abandoned his ‘good habit’ of being cautious. He had previously feared being exposed, and had wanted to play the role of a hidden variable.
Staring at the vast ocean outside, Su Mo’s easygoing atmosphere gradually faded away, which was replaced with…
The iron-clad determination that had kickstarted the revolution while leading millions of creatures to fight in the group ruins!
While he was in this state, Su Mo’s eyes seemed to penetrate the distance, past the space barrier of the wasteland, to glare at the old farts who were standing behind the Five Royal Clans.
They were laughing. They were laughing about how perfect their plan was. They were laughing about how smart they were and how they would make a handsome profit and without losing money!
However, what they did not know was that, on the sea of the wasteland, there was someone who was already eyeing their heads.
“Closed-loop? I love breaking closed-loops the most!”
“Deities? I love crushing deities!”
