An Invitation from the Research Institute

There was a vast difference in combat power between nuclear-powered aircraft carriers and conventionally powered ones.

Because nuclear-powered carriers used nuclear reactors as their power source, they could operate at high speeds indefinitely and had more powerful propulsion.

They could carry more ammunition and equipment!

They had greater combat capability and endurance.

An ordinary aircraft carrier was already like a cheat in this world. Bringing out nuclear-powered carriers would leave no challenger a path to survival.

But this was a rather large leap, and Lin Ye wasn't entirely certain it would work.

As a researcher, Lin Ye had studied nuclear-powered carrier technology extensively over the years, but whether the Creation System would accept it remained to be seen.

"I'll give it a try. It's all a simulation by the Firmament anyway, so there's nothing to lose."

Lin Ye began supplying the Creation Space's program with all the relevant technological principles behind nuclear-powered aircraft carriers.

About a minute later, the outline of a nuclear-powered carrier slowly began to emerge. Construction had begun on Eagle Sauce Country's first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, the Nimitz!

That meant it had passed the Firmament's review again.

The enormous vessel, hundreds of meters long, suddenly appeared on the sea. Even Lin, watching from a god's-eye view, couldn't help feeling somewhat awed.

"Excellent!"

Lin Ye let out a long breath.

It seemed the Firmament was far more receptive to technological principles than he had imagined. As long as the principles were correct, the Firmament could create them.

In that case, Lin Ye was confident he could reproduce all kinds of cutting-edge military equipment from his previous life in his dungeons!

With the weapons problem solved, all that remained for the Raging Waves dungeon was filling in details and fine-tuning its mechanics.

On the military front, if Raging Waves were to be at its peak, it should actually have complete naval, land, and air forces.

But for now, Lin Ye didn't intend to devote much more effort to the air force and army. This navy alone, led by nuclear-powered aircraft carriers, was enough to make this world suffer.

Those eleven nuclear-powered carriers carried nearly a thousand fighter jets, capable of bombing any corner of Earth Online. They were the undisputed rulers of the seas!

What made Raging Waves terrifying wasn't just its weapons, but even more so the many forms of Eagle Sauce's hegemony!

Under the pressure of its carrier groups, Eagle Sauce could dump its products, crops, and arms in any country in the world, creating local economic monopolies.

Eagle Sauce controlled oil, which meant it could indirectly create an energy monopoly.

At the same time, Eagle Sauce controlled the world's media mouthpieces, giving it control over public opinion and allowing it to indirectly shape everyone's universal values!

That was the true core of the Raging Waves dungeon, the foundation that could support a dungeon of such enormous scope!

To reflect that hegemony in the dungeon, he would have to describe the country of Eagle Sauce in greater detail.

Naturally, that was no obstacle for Lin Ye either. He fed all the glorious deeds of Eagle Sauce Country from his previous life directly to the Firmament.

In truth, Lin Ye had never had a good impression of Eagle Sauce Country in his previous life. His institute had also been locked in an arms research and development race with Eagle Sauce.

But times had changed. In this world, there was no Dragon Country and no Eagle Sauce.

The Eagle Sauce now on Earth Online was merely Lin Ye's personal creation.

Lin Ye continued transmitting information to the system. Fortunately, the Firmament raised no alarms.

That meant all the information was considered plausible.

He took another look at the Creation Space's backend.

The simulated development of Eagle Sauce Country's various forms of hegemony and the construction of all its military equipment would take about five hours.

Lin Ye had nothing to do in the meantime, so he left the Creation Space.

The virtual world before his eyes shattered like a mosaic, and he returned to reality.

He had spent most of the day in the Creation Space without noticing, and now he felt as though he might faint from hunger.

He went downstairs and bought a fragrant serving of pork knuckle rice to fill his stomach.

There was only one currency in this world: points.

People exchanged points for everything they needed, from food and clothing to housing and transportation.

Those with plenty of points were naturally the nobles and wealthy of this world.

As he understood it, this world also had organizations like banks that could advance points to low-level challengers. In return, those at the bottom had to devote their labor to the wealthy.

A serving of pork knuckle rice cost only 0.05 points. With 130 points in reserve, Lin Ye could easily eat for a month on a single point.

An lv1 challenger counted as fairly well-off in this world.

Lin Ye was shoveling down his rice when a tall woman dressed in camouflage suddenly sat down across from him.

The woman didn't speak right away.

Instead, she lit a cigarette and began smoking without a word.

Lin Ye studied her. She appeared to be in her twenties and wore her hair in a crisp, short cut. With yellow skin and black eyes, she was of Great Xia descent, just like him.

Most striking was a faint knife scar on the left side of her forehead, which lent her otherwise rather attractive face an added touch of fierce masculinity.

Lin Ye lowered his head and continued eating, paying the woman no mind.

Although there was no concept of nations in this world, there was still some conflict between different races.

Different races had also spontaneously formed military organizations. Unlike those in his previous life, however, they didn't engage in direct combat. Their main task was to research applications for technologies found in dungeons, so it was more a matter of fighting battles on paper.

The woman's camouflage made it obvious she was with the military, and Lin Ye had no desire to get involved with her.

Lin Ye said nothing, but the woman spoke in a low, deep voice.

"Hello. Are you Mr. Lin Ye?"

"Were you... the commander who led the first clear of the Battle of the Imperial Sea?"

Lin Ye nodded and continued sucking meat off his pork knuckle.

At this point, Lin Ye hadn't wanted to draw attention to himself, but because of the Firmament's public nature, news of his performance in the dungeon had already spread throughout the world.

It was only natural that he would be recognized.

"Hello, Mr. Lin Ye. I'm Zhao Jianyu, a department head at the Great Xia people's First Dungeon Technology Research Institute. I'm also assistant to Ding Chang, the institute's director."

"You met Mr. Ding Chang in the Imperial Sea dungeon."

At that, Lin Ye remembered.

Ding Chang was the Great Xia lv2 big shot who had handed his warship over to Lin Ye in the Imperial Sea dungeon.

His words, "Great Xia people don't lie to Great Xia people," had left a deep impression on Lin Ye.

If not for Ding Chang, Lin Ye couldn't have commanded so smoothly in the Battle of the Imperial Sea dungeon.

After that introduction, Lin Ye knew where the woman came from.

"Hello, Miss Zhao. Please thank Mr. Ding for the trust he placed in me in the dungeon."

Zhao Jianyu brushed back her hair, the corners of her mouth lifting slightly. She then took out a document and one of her business cards and held them out to Lin Ye.

"Take a look. This is some information about our institute. Our main research direction right now is the docking of aircraft and ships..."

"Mr. Ding said you're talented and hopes you'll join our institute."

Lin Ye glanced at the document and saw that the institute's main research direction was essentially a prototype aircraft carrier...

That was largely consistent with Lin Ye's assessment of this era, since aircraft carriers had first appeared during the S1 period in his previous life.

"Mr. Lin, you seem a little hesitant?" Zhao Jianyu glanced at Lin Ye, who still hadn't spoken.

"Please thank Mr. Ding Chang for his kindness. I'll have to go back and give the invitation some thought."

With that, Lin Ye stood, tucked both the document and Zhao Jianyu's business card into his pocket, and prepared to leave.

"No problem." Zhao Jianyu smiled. "But I'd like to offer you a friendly word of advice, Mr. Lin."

"You've only just started challenging dungeons, haven't you? There are probably many rules you don't understand."

"Joining the institute would be a great help to your survival."

In this world, the research institutes of the various ethnic groups could be considered the most important organizations. Within them, people could exchange all kinds of technological principles and use them to improve their dungeon creation.

The institutes also had large reserves of points, making them a kind of small "get-out-of-death-free card."

Once someone joined an institute, their life outside and survival inside dungeons were both secured.

It was a stroke of good fortune that countless people wouldn't even dare dream of!

And yet this Lin Ye actually wanted to think it over?!

Lin Ye said no more on the matter. Instead, he left her with a few words before departing.

"Oh, right, Miss Zhao. Since you're with an official organization, you should have considerable influence in the Great Xia settlement. I hope you can help me pass something on as widely as possible."

"Soon, I'll release my first dungeon. I'll do my best not to draw my compatriots into it."

"But if any of our Great Xia compatriots happen to be randomly selected by the Firmament... I hope they'll admit defeat and leave the dungeon of their own accord."

"That will keep the losses to a minimum."

Ding Chang had helped Lin Ye before, and now Lin Ye was willing to give something back to his compatriots.

Once the Raging Waves dungeon came out, Lin Ye was certain that this world's challengers would have no chance of clearing it.

Moreover, under Lin Ye's settings, the further they progressed through the dungeon, the more points they would lose upon failure.

Seen that way, surrendering as soon as they entered the dungeon was definitely the best choice...

This was a cruel world. Lin Ye couldn't concern himself with the lives of too many people.

That was all he could do to help his compatriots.

With that, Lin Ye paid the bill, turned, and left.

He left Zhao Jianyu sitting there alone.

Zhao Jianyu watched Lin Ye walk away, a helpless smile appearing on her lips.

"What a shame..."

"He must have only just come of age. He doesn't understand how cruel this world is at all."

On Azure Star, it was difficult to survive without an organization to rely on.

It was already absurd enough that Lin Ye hadn't immediately accepted the olive branch she had offered.

She hadn't expected him to go so far as to boast that everyone who entered his dungeon should leave of their own accord.

"Do you know how many people would see a Newcomer dungeon like yours as prey for earning points?"

Muttering to herself, Zhao Jianyu gently crushed out the cigarette butt with her fingers.

She had seen far, far too many young people like Lin Ye.

With a little talent, they got carried away and thought they were dungeon-designing geniuses, one in ten thousand.

In the end, without exception, reality gave them all a brutal beating.

Dungeon design actually carried greater risks than those faced by ordinary challengers.

Every time a dungeon was cleared, points were deducted from its Dungeon Designer.

Some young Dungeon Designers set their sights too high.

Their very first creations were speedrun straight away, causing their points to rapidly fall to zero. In the end, their joy turned to sorrow.

In this world, even geniuses needed to be cautious.