A Ship's Soul Added, a One-Man Battle

Accustomed to Earth's systems that are ostensibly rewards but are actually designed to trick people into spending money, Su Mo was delighted by this system's reward method and immediately clicked the redirect button.

Thump! A dull sound came from behind. Unlike the blinding light that would burst out when the Heaven Stealing Secret Talisman was used for a transition, the system's interface transition was obviously much more advanced.

In Su Mo's sight, the bedroom gradually disappeared, replaced by a scene exactly the same as the one during the Creation Lottery.

However, amidst the flurry of cards, Su Mo spotted the Hope at the very top center! Radiating a golden-red light, the Hope was depicted as a miniature model on this page, looking incredibly lifelike and realistic.

Furthermore, as the light on the Hope breathes, the cards below are also being rapidly filtered, with all cards tinged with light remaining and all cards unrelated to light being discarded.

In just three to five seconds, all that remained in sight were the colored cards.

"Let me see what rewards I can get from the Hope ship."

Before the lottery is activated, Su Mo can freely draw any of the cards and check their attributes.

With a casual attitude, Su Mo picked up a card at random and glanced at it indifferently.

"This design is just so-so, a wooden sailboat, all mysterious and mysterious, it's just... Holy crap!"

"Is this... the Flying Dutchman?"

The card is unremarkable, with a picture of an 18th-century wooden sailboat printed on it. At first glance, it seems unremarkable.

But anyone who has seen the Pirates of the Caribbean movies will be astonished upon seeing the following narrative text.

Although the sailboat in the movie looks frail, its ability to walk underwater and connect with dead creatures is simply unbeatable.

This card corresponds to the diving capabilities of the Dutchman.

"If I just print the card on the Hope, the Hope can move freely in water up to 100 meters deep?"

"Those living inside will not be affected in any way; it's just like sailing a boat on land, as if walking on flat ground!"

"There's such a freakish ability?"

Shocked, Soma released his grip and watched the card return to the deck and disappear as it spun. Undeterred, Su Mo drew another card.

"The Moby Dick? That name sounds familiar, but what is it?"

Looking at the large ship with its slightly anime-style design, Su Mo fixed his gaze on it.

"Immense power, capable of directly magnifying my Hope tenfold?"

"Damn, ten times??? Does that mean the Hope will become an 800-meter ship?"

Upon seeing that the card's source was a One Piece anime at the bottom, Su Mo silently released his grip and put it back.

"If this is the rule for this draw, then wouldn't that mean..."

He scooped up four or five cards in one go, ignoring the images, and Su Mo gaze went straight to the text description at the bottom.

"The Terror Cruiser possesses the ability to rewind time; it can rewind once every three natural days, restoring the supplies to the level of the day before."

"Noah's Ark possesses the ability to never sink; even if it shatters into pieces, it will float on the sea forever."

"The Black Pearl is portable; once ashore, the ship can be packed into a bottle and taken away."

"The Yamato Battleship, upon use, will immediately grant you one 18.1-inch (460mm) main gun, and it is perfectly matched to the Hope."

"Luxury Cruise Ship offer a complete refurbishment upon use, significantly enhancing the ship's prestige."

Five cards in a row, some fantasy-themed and some sci-fi-themed.

Some are geared towards practical combat, some towards mobility, and some towards comfort.

To ensure that these were not big prizes deliberately released by the system, after choosing to return the cards, Su Mo took dozens more and began to examine them carefully one by one.

Without examining the origin or design of each card, Su Mo only chose to observe and judge the benefits that its attributes would bring to the Hope.

As the base number grew, the fervor in Su Mo's eyes gradually subsided.

Instead, there was a strong sense of "interest"! "So this is what the system meant by 'related creations'!"

"On this lottery page, you can draw various ships, extract their best capabilities, and add them to the Hope."

"The more powerful the ship I draw, the stronger the abilities I can attach to it."

"And it only costs 1000 points to reroll once, until I'm satisfied!"

Putting the last card with the handmade folded paper boat printed on it back in his hand, Su Mo waved his hand and did not immediately choose to draw a prize, but temporarily exited the interface.

I got up, washed up, and picked up the breakfast brought by the cook from Hope Village.

Sitting at the table, watching Su Mo eat listlessly while lost in thought, the four little ones and Connie also noticed Su Mo's unusual behavior.

However, led by Oreo, no one dared to interrupt Su Mo's contemplation.

The ten-minute meal was unusually quiet, except for the sounds of chewing and Moore's occasional uncontrollable snoring.

After finishing the meal, he left the mess to Connie, the new recruit, to clean up.

Back at his workbench, Su Mo's mindset had returned to its usual calm state.

Taking out a new notebook, a pen, and turning to a new page, Su Mo began to carefully analyze the pros and cons of the three choices.

"First of all, the all-category creation option, which is a gamble, can be ruled out immediately. For me right now, 50,000 Survival Points are too precious. If I gamble badly, it would mean I've lost an opportunity to improve my strength."

"Of the remaining options, only 50,000 points and the corresponding Hope Ship lottery remain."

After ruling out all types of creations, Su Mo's spirits lifted, and he began to calculate how much of a power boost 50,000 points could bring.

In terms of direct upgrades, 50,000 points can completely upgrade the Automatic Driving System.

It can also completely upgrade the Fire Control Radar on the Hope, bringing it to a level of sophistication similar to that before the time travel.

It can even be upgraded to completely seal all the external seams of the Hope, transforming it into a one-piece die design to enhance its defense capabilities.

In terms of upgrading the Technology Tree, it would be possible to advance the weapon Technology Tree to the era of small and medium caliber autocannons, or to develop small caliber main guns.

"Based on this calculation, 50,000 points can roughly increase my strength by 30%. If it doesn't reach that value, then using points is more worthwhile!"

With a voyage imminent, the only things that can enhance our strength are weapons and the accessories attached to the ship.

The third free chance to win a prize isn't a delicious meal, but rather the key to opening Pandora's box.

No one can resist the temptation of winning the grand prize with just one more shot, not even Su Mo!

It's quite possible that, in a moment of irrationality, not only could you not draw anything good, but you might also lose all your Survival Points.

However, there are exceptions to this rule.

"No rush, we'll finish the second closed beta test tonight and then try our luck with the lottery tomorrow."

"If we drive to the Great Canyon and the alien race's methods are beyond my ability to handle, then I'll take a gamble."

"If we can resolve this, and we don't get a 30% or more increase in strength within five chances, then we should decisively stop!"

Standing up, Su Mo put the notebook filled with calculation formulas and text into his Storage Space and strode out.

In the low-lying area at dawn, on the fifth day before the impending disaster, a sense of urgency arose.

Last night, after studying the excavation area and depth, I explained the plan to Chen Shen before going to bed.

Early this morning, the experienced excavator operator in Hope Village had already started working.

Looking at the large crater that had been dug at the stern of the Hope, Su Mo was quite satisfied.

In the end times, having some capable subordinates is much better than doing everything yourself.

Until energy technology and fully automated robotic production lines are fully mastered, population will always be the greatest resource and productive force.

The reason why we didn't choose to use 50,000 points to climb the Technology Tree before is precisely this.

On this voyage, Su Mo not only planned to collect some defeated alien races to use as "guinea pigs" for research.

Su Mo also didn't want to fall behind in talent acquisition!

Use Survival Points to advance your Technology Tree; this is especially helpful if it involves unknown scientific fields.

But it would be too uneconomical to use it to advance a weapons chain that is already somewhat mature on Earth.

Therefore, Su Mo would rather save his current Survival Points than waste them here.

Standing on the high ground, after directing the villagers to dig for a while, Su Mo stepped to the bow of the ship to watch Connie, the newly appointed God's Priest the Oreo Clan, perform her first grand blessing.

Connie's joining Oreo's Familia after being kicked out of the Lionmen Clan caused no ripples.

This is not only because Oreo is a god with only a divine title but no divine power, but also because Connie's strength is so weak that adding a minor character like her would not attract any attention.

Even though she was second only to one person—well, only second only to one person—she was still God's Priest.

Before you have enough Disaster Points to improve your strength and develop more abilities...

She is no different now than she was last night.

After watching for a while and realizing that this blessing was just singing and dancing around the boat with absolutely nothing to learn, Su Mo shook his head and went to Iron Stone Mountain to listen to Hope Village's progress in developing "energy-absorbing facilities".

The pavilion on the Iron Stone Mountain platform was urgently demolished last night.

Furthermore, the villagers have already begun secondary processing on the mountainside.

The steel plates left over from the shipbuilding were also approved by Chen Shen from the Resource Warehouse and used to reinforce some weak points.

The previously shelved drainage system was also put into operation overnight, with three drainage channels leading directly to the bottom of the rocky mountain.

All the villagers were busy, quickly completing the tasks assigned to them under the leadership of the team leader.

No one could have imagined that in just half a month, this Iron Stone Mountain, which was casually shaped, would turn into this state.

Despite having to constantly receive the villagers' "stares," Su Mo didn't find it annoying.

He enjoyed the subtle changes within his territory.

From the development of Underground Shelter to the gradual formation of the Hope, and then to Iron Stone Mountain becoming a fortress.

Su Mo could sense that "life" had re-emerged in this depression! Compared to the deathly stillness before the disaster, this feeling gave Su Mo a strange sense that "I am not fighting alone."

After following the mountain road, which had been hardened with cement, to its end, Su Mo saw a dozen or so people having a heated discussion in the village's main meeting room.

These people are all high achievers in the shelter; they are all college graduates.

Although they still have a limited understanding of science and technology, they have developed a scientific mindset and, adhering to the idea that "three cobblers are better than one Zhuge Liang," they are quite capable.

After looking at them for a while, Su Mo noticed that there were already several finished products on the table. He didn't go in to disturb them, but silently walked down Iron Stone Mountain in another direction.

Based on his experience, this was Su Mo's first time acting as a "leader".

However, thanks to the small experiences that Su Ba had gained over decades of experience in the business world, Su Mo managed the village quite well.

Of course, this kind of business model is the kind that cannot be replicated.

"Hopefully the second test will be better, at least give me some hope of catching the alien race!"

Everyone was working hard, and Su Mo returned to the Hope, turned on the power, and continued to fix the problems on the ship.

The error exposed during the previous test took half a day to fix, Su Mo chose to fix it himself.

Of course, all that time wasn't wasted. After successfully seizing the main point of conflict, Su Mo took it down in just twenty minutes.

It was a one-time solution! In the remaining half day, apart from going down to guide the workers on the digging route once, Su Mo devoted all his attention to optimizing the system.

The current Gonggong logic is too rigid. When multiple requirements conflict, it is easy to run at full performance and cause lag.

Moreover, apart from fully automated ship takeover, Gonggong cannot serve as an auxiliary system to assist Su Mo in semi-automatic work.

These problems all urgently need to be solved.

Fortunately, with the main body completed, adding new functions was not difficult. After receiving Connie's blessing, Su Mo also completed the design of the semi-automatic auxiliary system.

Stepping out of the driver's seat, I watched the sun, which had hung in the sky all day, set again, and night fell once more.

After giving her blessings, Connie, who was exhausted, was taken to the shelter to rest. Su Mo picked up the still-warm food bowl and quickly ate his dinner.

It was still three ounces of beef, two steamed buns, and a small dish of side dishes.

With the last bite of beef, he finished the MaLanShan ErGuoTou that Chen Shen had sent him last time.

Feeling increasingly agitated, Su Mo did not choose to rest, but instead stepped directly out of the shelter.

The embers of a long night, this one-man battle.

Another night in the wasteland, with a cool breeze blowing...

Here we go!