Chapter 309 - The First Sea Trial, Captain Su Mo!
Chapter 309: The First Sea Trial, Captain Su Mo!
Whoosh!
Whoosh!
Crash… Whoosh!
Compared to the previous time, where Su Mo had been knocked out and had entered into the talisman simulation world unknowingly, this time, as he stepped into the glowing door, Su Mo was shocked to find…
Even though he had not passed out, other than retaining his sense of hearing, which could hear the waves crashing into the reef, all his other senses seemed to have been stifled by some mysterious force.
Su Mo’s mind transmitted signals ordering his eyelids to open, but the weight on his eyelids felt like a mountain was weighing down on them, and they did not budge one bit.
Startled, Su Mo tried raising his arms as well, but his consciousness instead informed him that he seemed to have no arms.
???
If this was an RPG game, three question marks were sure to be floating above Su Mo’s head at the moment.
Also, the thing that was more unbearable than this scary ‘feeling’ was that he clearly felt something scanning him, examining him as if it was looking for something.
Su Mo really wanted to open his mouth to protest but, once again, his consciousness informed him that he did not seem to have a mouth, so Su Mo could only shift his focus helplessly elsewhere.
He tried to summon the game panel but, as he had expected, there was no response. It appeared that he was even closer to ‘dying’ than when he had entered the ruins.
Fortunately, when he tried to call upon the system, the system panel did not fail him as it popped open.
The system panel materialized directly within Su Mo’s mind since, under the current circumstances, he was unable to open his eyes. The system panel emitted a fluorescent green light, illuminating the darkness around him.
“Thankfully, the system panel seems to be working as usual, and there are no danger warnings. This likely means that the situation I’m in is within controllable limits and should be fairly safe!”
“The question is, what is this thing that is scanning me looking for?”
Thanks to the fluorescent green light, Su Mo could barely see what was before him in the darkness. It was a shadow.
It was this shadow that was scrutinizing him, and it was the one responsible for Su Mo’s feeling of being scanned.
Since he could not examine it in detail, after he made sure over and over again that this shadow did not mean any harm, Su Mo relaxed temporarily as he waited patiently for the scanning process to end.
Whoosh!
Whoosh!
The sound of crashing waves was like a lullaby to him, as the sound echoed at a constant beat and tempo.
Since the scanning process was taking far too long, Su Mo gradually drifted off to sleep after once again making sure that he was not in danger.
The scanning eyes seem to also detect the change in Su Mo. After a few more glares, it had also calmed down, and everything was quiet again.
…
Su Mo had only slept about four hours a day for the past ten or so days.
This time, since he did not have anyone around to disturb him, and since he did not have to worry about oversleeping, Su Mo rested comfortably.
It was so comfortable that, before Su Mo was rudely awakened, he did not have any dreams while sleeping.
“Warning, warning, warning! Current entry time countdown 08.59.59!”
“All living beings within 100 km of the Host have been forcefully ejected. Any living beings outside said perimeter will not be affected.”
“When the Host is not in combat, the Host can opt to exit at any time to preserve the remaining time.”
…
“Warning!”
…
The loud warning that repeated itself three times managed to wake Su Mo up, even though he was still fast asleep just a second ago.
However, following this emotionless voice, all the senses that had been lost previously were now all back!
His hands were around, and his legs as well. Su Mo opened his eyes, took breaths, and the ability to move his body had finally been returned to him!
Also, when his line of sight finally cleared up, Su Mo found himself back on Hope One.
Even the position where he laid down, and the position he had entered the glowing door, remained the same!
Still, there were still some clear differences in the environment.
The moon that had been above him in the main world was pure and bright, untainted. The moon that was currently hanging above his head was an eerie scarlet, making everything its light touched tinged with a trace of a ‘bloody scent’.
“Sigh! The last time I came here, I entered this place and passed out. This time, even though I didn’t pass out, I slept through the entry process!”
“What a joke!”
He could not find out the secret behind the talisman simulation world despite having entered it twice.
Fortunately, this time, the talisman did not play dead like the last time. After it showed a warning of its own accord, Su Mo managed to capture some information.
“Firstly, all living beings within 100 km of me will be blocked off. Since it did specify that it only applies to living beings, everything that’s alive should be included in this clause.”
“Secondly, I have to be in a non-combat state to exit the simulation. As such, I have to be really careful when I visit the Grand Canyon, otherwise, if I’m caught by the foreign race creatures, I’ll have to waste a few hours there.”
“Thirdly, the time which I’ve entered the talisman simulation world should be similar to the last time, which is only about half an hour until the disaster strikes!”
After patting the dust off his body, Su Mo yanked himself up by grabbing onto the guardrails beside him.
Su Mo did not waste any more time after analyzing the few notifications. He directed his focus on something else as he stood up excitedly.
The scarlet crescent moon was here, meaning that the disaster was not very far away.
This time, the talisman was still in a flawless state as it had just initiated its mission, which was to bring its user here.
It was also the same as last time. After three minutes, the game panel that was locked finally came back online. With a beep, it popped out.
On the top right-hand corner, it was exactly as Su Mo had predicted it to be. These were the final moments before the ocean disaster struck.
[Countdown to the next disaster event: 00:26:35]
[Disaster Event: Awakening of the God of the Ocean.]
[Current sea level: 18m]
“The sea level is at 18m. Currently, the drainage capacity for Hope One should be around 3000 tons with a 3.5 m draft.”
“However, considering the fact that the source of the disaster is still unknown, I’ll need time to come up with a perfect strategy for it!”
Closing the game panel, Su Mo grew anxious as he looked at the countdown timer. He had less than half an hour to prepare, so he took large strides towards the bridge on the first floor.
No matter whether it’s a small boat weighing a few tons or a large ship weighing a few thousand tons, both would rely heavily on ‘luck’ and ‘skills’ in order to successfully be able to go out to sea.
That’s right, sometimes, ‘luck’ played a bigger role than ‘skills’ when it came to a ship entering the water.
A small boat weighing a few tens of tons would flip upside down, and a large ship weighing a few thousand tons would topple over sideways. It was not an uncommon occurrence for boats to sink as soon as they entered the sea.
Su Mo was extremely clear on what the military methods for warships to enter the water were since he had conducted some information exchanges with the Tundra Shelter.
There were two main methods a warship could enter the sea, which were further categorized into five different options.
Of these two methods, the one with a lower risk, the dock method, was eliminated since its corresponding components and structures were extremely difficult to construct, and the wasteland’s surroundings could not accommodate it. What was left for Su Mo was the slipway method.
The slipway method was categorized into three different options.
The first option was the same one that Hope One was using, which was to reverse into the water.
The warship was constructed on the dock with the stern facing the sea.
When the water level was high enough, at the right angle, the fenders would open.
Then, the ship would be able to slide down slowly along the slope that was built prior to that. This option would produce a large amount of buoyant force and could prevent the rudder, propeller, and other components from being broken in the process of sliding the ship down.
The second option was the “side glide”. This was riskier than the reverse option.
The warship was built on the dock, and a short sideways slope was built on the ships’ side. Then, a force on the other side would be exerted onto the ship.
Due to the nature of gravity, the warship would glide along the slope into the water and would rely on the hull’s buoyancy to correct its position automatically after entering the water.
This way would easily cause damage to the shape of the hull and also the above-mentioned components. This was why this option demanded an extremely high level of quality when it came to the design and workmanship of the warship, and this option was usually favored for use on smaller warships.
The last way was the ‘swinging’ option. Since it did not have any prerequisites, it was completely disregarded by Su Mo.
Of the three options, Su Mo had chosen the ‘reverse’ options because it presented the least risks.
Despite that it was not totally risk-free.
If the water from wasteland’s ocean disaster would not come the same way as the flood previously, which was by the water coming in from afar, but instead water would rise up from the ground, elevating the sea level, then under the factor of constant buoyancy, the ‘reverse way’ would lose its advantage and cause the entire boat to be stuck at the shore, and it would eventually… Topple over!
“According to the calculation models, I need to wait for the sea level to reach 3m before I can turn the lever on for the ship to tilt, and wait until the sea level is 5m to activate the sloped slipway.”
“Before all these could happen, the water in the hull should not exceed 2m, or the sliding angle of the ship will likely cause more problems.”
“If there were any mistakes that occurred, the propelling strength of Hope One would mean that being stuck on the shore would not be a huge problem, but toppling over would be!”
In the talisman simulation world, Hope One had already been simulated, but the generator slot was still empty.
As Su Mo quickly made his way to the engine room through a secret passageway from the bridge, he took out a liter of psychic energy water and poured it into the generator. After all these steps, Su Mo was left with 20 minutes till the disaster.
In these twenty minutes, Su Mo needed to get the following done:
He needed to first turn on the main switch and activate the autopilot system. He also needed to turn on the fire-control radar to examine the scanning data, activate the operating system to manage the data from the various ship devices, check the other switches around the entire ship, close off the passageways that led downward from the main deck, as well as 37 other major and minor things to do.
If he had to do it alone, it would have been impossible for Su Mo to finish every single task, even if he was ten times more efficient.
Fortunately, the four robot workers that were fixing the ship were not considered living beings, and they provided significant assistance to Su Mo.
After entrusting the ship-related tasks to the robotic workers, Su Mo made his way to the third floor and turned on the fire-control radar of Hope One.
After five seconds of waiting, the radar started to beep slowly. Then, Su Mo went back to the first floor and turned on the system to receive data from the radars.
It was Su Mo’s first time starting up the entire ship, and even though Su Mo’s actions seemed a little awkward and lacked finesse, he had the form down, and it made him look like a trained captain!
The training and information did not come from the system, but rather from the transmission of knowledge when he used the destroyer’s blueprint design, as well as his intimate knowledge of Hope One’s construction and design.
Based on this knowledge, Su Mo fiddled around with the controls, turned on all the switches, and watched the program he so painstakingly coded to come to life.
In the program he coded, Su Mo was daring enough to include the majestic name of the ‘Huaxian Water God’, a name derived from a favorite word of the Huaxians, which was ‘auspicious’.
The image depicted in the operating system was from the famed fairytale of a demigod knocking down a mountain that, in actuality, was a pillar that propped up the skies!
“Operating system Water God has successfully launched. The transmission of data from the radar has been successfully received!”
“Transmission of data completed. Model analysis activated, connecting with the launching protocol…”
“Hope One 3D model structure building is successful!”
“Hope One model structure building within a 500m perimeter is successful!”
“Slide launching switch checked. Sloped slipway activation switch checked.”
…
“Hope One: all power-related switches checked…”
“Hope One: all machinery-related switches checked.”
“Error report 351. Robot number two, please take note. Robot number two, please head to the drainage room on the third floor to check the switch!”
“Error report 669. Robot number four, please take note. Robot number four, please bring tools to the right-wing obstacle detecting radar to fix the ossies.”
…
This was the first time Su Mo was activating the operating system fully on Hope One and he certainly did not expect so many error reports to pop up even before he went out to sea.
These problems did not occur while they had undergone their previous simulated tests.
When it came to the actual activation, devices, signals and data overlapped with each other since they were interconnected, which caused problems to occur.
Su Mo looked at the remaining sixteen minutes on the clock and ordered the four robots to finish what they needed to do. Su Mo, who was initially sitting in the bridge, was forced to exit to help them with the repairs and fixes as well.
Fortunately, the problems that arose were minor problems. Also, the robots worked pretty quickly.
By the time Su Mo rectified some errors on the deck and returned to the bridge, the other robots were already done with their fixes as well.
“Four minutes left. Phew… Fortunately, everything was still completed within the timeframe!”
“We can’t wait anymore. Restart the checking process, quickly!”
“Water God operating system relaunching tests…”
After receiving a flurry of inputs from Su Mo’s fingers on the keyboard, the operating system activated the final round of checks.
Three minutes left: Checking progress at 23%, no errors as of now.
Two minutes left: Checking progress at 69%, the green indicator lights are all still on.
One minute left: Checking progress at 92%, still no error reports as of now!
22 seconds…
When Su Mo saw that all the green lights were illuminated, and that the Water God operating system had successfully transitioned into its launching protocol, he did not wait any longer and scrambled out of the bridge.
Time was of the essence but, fortunately, Hope One was built on firm foundations. At the very last minute, the program was launched!
In the last twenty seconds, Su Mo quickly made his way to the bow, and the fourth disaster on the wasteland finally…
Kicked off with a bang!