Chapter 424 - Marsh Land Cornerstone, The Prelude to Soaring!
Chapter 424: Marsh Land Cornerstone, The Prelude to Soaring!
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The dinner celebration did not take too much of Su Mo’s time.
Even if he stood in front of hundreds of thousands of people, and even if he tuned his sound system on to the loudest setting, the people in the raft ferries behind could only hear the gist of what he was saying.
Su Mo usually did not care about such meaningless things, even if he knew that to a certain extent it made him seem like a lone ranger.
However, he firmly believed that after the prize-giving ceremony, these surviving refugees would be eternally grateful to him!
This was why, from the start of the dinner celebration till the end, he only showed up once to wave at everyone else from a distance before disappearing off the deck.
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The survivors felt a little regretful, but they thought it was fairly reasonable.
Quickly, the lively atmosphere gradually livened up.
The combined sounds of singing, the sizzling of the grilled meat, and the lapping sound of the waves onto the shore could be heard.
Amidst the noise, what they did not realize was that a few of their peers were secretly slipping away with excitement on their faces. When they finally noticed it, they realized that the crew recruitment for Hope One had finally, in some way, ended.
“Leader Su, the investigation into the $-ranked talents is complete. From their background checks to technical knowledge exams, no problems were found.”
“They have already all packed their things and brought their families along. Do we send them.”
It was clear from the background noise of Zhang Long’s voice message from the game panel that he was in a crowded place.
These carefully selected survivors had all gathered on Tundra One.
As the hundred thousand ‘chosen ones’, they had gotten things ready the moment they were told that they had passed the crew recruitment.
Bits and bobs? Immediately discarded!
Only important things were kept in the storage space.
They believed that once they boarded this ship, they would have to say their goodbyes to these little tools forever.
They believed very strongly that what the Almighty Su saw in them was definitely a special talent that made them stand out in a common crowd, even though those skills might have seemed useless in the wasteland.
“Err… The crew cabin hasn’t been renovated yet. It’s all just bare floors inside, no bunks or beds yet. Why not ask them to come tomorrow instead?”
The crew cabin that had been partitioned out was huge, but it was bare and empty like a semi-finished room with nothing in it, which was vastly different from Hope One’s grand exterior.
‘When Su Mo thought about people excitedly rushing in only to be disappointed when they saw that there was nothing inside, he scratched the back of his head and replied uncertainly, “Leader, this is really a blind spot of yours. These people, they’d be elated even if you’d simply assigned them a small space
on the Hope One. They would wake themselves up laughing every morning even if they had to sleep on the deck!”
“Give me a moment, I’ll ask, and I’ll let you know, Leader!”
Zhang Long’s cheeky voice rang out, and soon, his voice message boomed with a loud voice.
“The Hope One’s not done with renovation yet. If you go today, you’ll only be able to sleep on the floor. Is anyone unwilling? Raise your hands so I can count you all!”
Woosh!
‘The noisy background noise suddenly fell into a dead silence, it was almost like the other party had hung up the phone by how quickly the noise quieted itself.
However, after two to three seconds, muffled voices that said things that made Su Mo facepalm and smile could be heard.
“Brother Zhang, are you looking down on me, your bro? Sleep on the floor? Even if you asked me to sleep in the toilet, I’d gladly do so!”
“Sleep on the floor? If you want me to sleep on top of him, I’d do it!”
“For f*ck’s sake, Peng Wenshan, your fetish is f*cking scary! Leave me alone!” 7
“Brother Zhang, don’t torture us no more, please! You know clearly that since we’re standing here, we’d have no ways and no thoughts of returning anymore!”
“Yeah, Brother Zhang, could you please help us beg the Almighty Su to let us in? We lie on the floor every day on this raft too anyway!”
After about twenty to thirty seconds of people teasing and goofing about, Zhang Long’s voice rang once more. “See, Leader? You heard them, right? They really could not wait any longer!”
“Fine then, get someone to get them on board. I’ll get the door open for you!”
Everyone’s days down at their valleys were times to be reminiscenced on now.
Meanwhile, the scary two months of fumbling about and trying to survive in the wasteland were days these people would like to forever forget!
It would not even have to be part of a dream. Even if it was a flash of a memory in the brightness of the day, it could scare them so much they would begin to tremble.
Now that they had gotten the permission to board Hope One, as they looked at its pitch-black entrance, they could not help but tear in excitement.
They removed their dirty clothes like they were waving goodbye to their past and throwing it away with all their might behind them with no lingering thoughts or hesitation at all in their eyes.
‘Then, they changed into new clothes they had gotten from the marketplace, hugged each other tightly, and after lamenting about their feelings, they followed the instructions given to them and boarded the ship in an orderly fashion.
With each and every step up the rope ladder, their backs straightened a little more. By the time they arrived on the deck of Hope One, they were like excited, energetic soldiers with fierce vigor.
One minute ago, they had still been wandering survivors of the wasteland with no place they could call home.
One minute later, they had become the subordinates of the Almighty Su, basking in the envious gazes of millions of people.
‘The change in identity evoked a change in mentality. It may have seemed like a silent change, but it was evident in each of them.
After a while, after all 27 of the S-ranked talents had boarded, they followed Liu Neng up through the floors.
This was different from previous ships. This was a real modern warship with metal everywhere. How exciting!
With every thudding step taken, one could hear the sound of the metal clanging against another piece of metal.
The corridor was also calmingly long. It required walking for two minutes straight before one’s view changed, and the warehouse on the second level could be seen.
No one dared to let their eyes roam. They were all focused and quiet as they looked straight ahead, their attention as unwavering as a meditating monk as they followed Liu Neng.
‘They were not truly part of the crew yet. They knew that their final test was waiting for them.
“Pay attention, everyone! You’re about to meet Leader Su soon, so lift your heads up high!”
‘As Liu Neng roared, they ascended one more flight of stairs. They all arrived at the level below the Hope One’s main deck.
From where they stood, they could see Su Mo at the other side of the tunnel right away.
He looked different from the strict examiner they imagined him to be. At that moment, instead of maintaining a poker face, Su Mo greeted them with a reassuring smile, spreading peace to anyone who saw it!
“You’re all here. You guys look great!”
The Su Mo now was different from the Su Mo in the live stream, without an ounce of the authoritative and powerful aura.
Within the crews’ line of sight, Liu Neng took a step forward and said, “Leader, this is the first batch on board for now. These are the S-ranked talents, 27 of them in total. Do you wanna test them out?”
Upon hearing the word ‘test’, everyone else swallowed their saliva nervously.
However, things went differently from what they expected. After hearing what Liu Neng said, Su Mo’s smile did not lessen. Instead, he replied kindly, “No need. They’ve all toiled all day, so they must be tired now.”
“Right now, the disaster is arriving a little too quickly, and Hope One has only installed its weapons and defense mechanism so far. We haven’t installed our entertainment or relaxation areas yet, so in the next few days, I will provide you guys with enough materials to build those and get to work, so you can
plan out what type of living environment and recreational area you want and make it yourself. For tonight, just make do. Any problems?”
‘As soon as Su Mo finished speaking, he looked at the flabbergasted bunch before him and burst into laughter. He did not say anything else.
“Shen Ke, you’re in charge of arranging their dorm. Write all the information you learn in a form and pass it to me.”
“Got it!”
After a few comforting words, Su Mo delegated the dorm assignment job to Shen Ke.
Under everyone’s awe-filled gazes, he stepped down the stairway and gradually disappeared down to the first floor.
‘Once he was gone, the atmosphere of the crew floor instantly relaxed, and the noise of discussion rang out immediately.
“F*ck! Leader Su is so young, he… He looks younger than I did when I attended high school, okay?! This is too much!”
“Leader Su’s smile melted me, completely melted me!”
“Quickly, dorm room assignment time! You’re all here melting, so I’ll go pick a good spot!”
“Sh*t, now you’ve reminded me, this ship is really steady! Why don’t I feel even the slightest bit of shakiness?”
“Oh f*ck, I’ve just realized that too! Since we’ve gotten on this boat, it feels like we were back on land! What sorcery is this?”
“Right now, I think it’s some type of application of stress. The specific matrix should be..”
“Stress is like a hammer. I think it’s clearly the equilibrium of the buoyancy’s resistance! When the repulsive forces on the side start working.”
“You’re all wrong! Firstly, your model is built on the rules of earth, but clearly, there’s been a lot of changes on the wasteland. For example, don’t you feel like the interaction of mechanics here on wasteland is sometimes strong and sometimes weak? I’ll give you an example.”
The social circle of these nerds was usually boring and dull.
‘When the first person began to make an educated guess on why the Hope One was so comfortable, one after another subjective judgment would start to chime in.
Even though Liu Neng knew in his heart that these people only wanted to showcase themselves to distinguish their place amongst themselves, after listening for a while, he could not help but feel…
F*ck! It was clearly in English, and he could understand every word, but why did all their sentences come together in a mush that he could not comprehend?
Liu Neng did not know that Su Mo was currently enjoying the sea breeze while exercising and having an epiphany.
In the modern days on Earth, due to certain circumstances, he could not major in physics in university.
However, in the library in his university, he had managed to self-study some miscellaneous subjects and had gotten to learn quite a fair bit of foundational knowledge of the sciences through comprehension and analogy-studying.
Even though this knowledge may not have come from a proper faculty, what astonished him was that…
He understood everything the people on the lower deck were saying, even their implied messages!
‘sigh, who says that these nerds have low EQ? One by one… All of them are brilliant!
‘Well, it makes sense. To be able to survive till now, from another point of view, they’re not just great in science. They have to be great in other ways too.
Tl really have to rely on these people if I’m to understand what really goes on in this world!”
Su Mo knew that these people were deliberately saying smart-sounding things so he could hear them, so as he switched off his earpiece to stop the voice surveillance, he gripped the railing tightly and let out a long sigh. Then, he excitedly balled his hands up into fists.
These people would be the first batch of the research troupe he planned to build!
In the future, amazing things would be birthed from their hands, and with their help, the shelters would no longer be limited to just a few hundred square feet.
The marshland, under their transformation, would become the most coveted holy ground in this wasteland world!