The Director's Small Step, the Villagers' Giant Leap

The moon sets and the sun rises.

As Su Mo went to bed earlier and earlier, he also woke up earlier and earlier.

His body, which had already begun to change, didn't need much time to recover from its fatigue. Just after seven o'clock, Su Mo opened his bright eyes and sat up.

"Hey, why are you sleeping here today!"

Seeing Oreo, who hadn't been here for a long time since the shelter was upgraded to three levels, lying affectionately beside him, Su Mo felt gratified and picked Oreo up and put him on the bed, stroking him for a while.

As the days went by, after becoming the strongest human in the wasteland, in addition to having more and more resources and better and better equipment.

Just as Zhong Qingshu said, Su Mo's own quality of life has been stagnant. He simply doesn't have time to sleep in or do anything to relax or have fun.

It's like a taut string; if it doesn't break, it's fine, but if it does, it will have a terrifying backlash.

Oreo, clearly aware of this, lay on the bed whimpering with human-like concern.

Seeing this, Su Mo felt both sorry for him and amused.

In the end, however, Su Mo shook his head and then nodded.

"Let's wait a little longer. Once I pick up my sister, I'll take you all to the New Continent."

"Even if there are raging floods outside, I need to lie low for a year or two before making any moves. Otherwise, if I'm the only one pushing forward, the rest of humanity won't be able to hold on sooner or later!"

"By then, I will be able to free up more time to do what I love, and I will be qualified to talk about true stability!"

Patting Oreo's head, Su Mo, having cleared his mind of confusion, stood up and began to wash up.

Riding on the wave of yesterday's success, breakfast today was as plentiful as ever.

A bowl of savory Lamb Paomo, three tea eggs, two crispy baked Clay Oven Rolls, a fresh Water Cucumber, and finally a touch of Northeast Soybean Paste.

It seemed the cook also knew that this was the fourth to last meal Su Mo would have from Hope Village before he left.

So at the bottom of the paomo bowl, Su Mo saw a perfectly shaped heart-shaped fried egg.

Everyone has their own way of expressing their feelings.

This is a unique way for the cooks in Hope Village to say goodbye.

This is their way of showing their love for spreading their wings and protecting them, a small token of their affection.

During breakfast, listening to the snoring of the four little ones, Su Mo also logged onto the Game Panel and browsed the chat channels and market as usual.

Area Channel are more about teamwork, while the World Channel has become a platform for disaster relief education.

And because of the day's silence, today's "crazy critics" were much calmer than yesterday. At least when observing everyone's comments, such people only appeared sporadically.

In just one day, the World Channel's teaching also led to the creation of a second type of disaster relief facility besides Energy Absorption Gel.

This facility, named the Safe House, is constructed using an ingenious building structure and hardened timber from the wasteland.

This type of building may not be very effective at resisting other types of damage, but it is exceptionally effective at resisting kinetic energy impacts.

Combined with Energy Absorption Gel, the two facilities complement each other. If a lone wolf can afford both, he will be able to safely survive the first fifteen minutes of the wasteland disaster.

Medium and large-sized shelters have also devised several unique methods to protect their own vessels.

There was a practice where everyone was mobilized to dig and pile up soil, which was called "Earth Piling Stream".

Some people change their fate by digging pits, and these are known as the Sinking Stream.

Some even built pulleys to carry their boats to hide under obstacles, a practice known as the Escape Stream."

The different schools of thought represent the differences that arise when sparks of human thought are ignited in the wasteland.

Undoubtedly, this is a good sign, a positive energy of humanity actively resisting disaster! As for the words of gratitude that occasionally arose during the chat, Su Mo did not choose to skip them, but carefully read everyone's admiration for "Su God".

The effect of "Bright Sword" was excellent.

If the number of people supporting Su Supporter yesterday was around 8-15 million, then after a day of fermentation, that number has definitely exceeded 40 million, and it is still climbing steadily.

Just like in the alien chat panel, all the alien races regularly boast about the death of Su Old Devil, creating a brainwashing effect that causes even the most determined alien races to fall into the trap.

This kind of repetitive, copy-and-paste style of speech may seem stupid and silly for a day or two, but in the long run, it can not only strengthen the existing Su Supporter, but also develop more and more devout "believers".

After finishing the chat channel and almost finishing his meal, Su Mo quickly browsed the market again while having the last cucumber dipped in soybean paste as a side dish.

Basic material prices have already fallen again, but at this point in time, everyone is relocating, and there's nowhere to store these materials once they're in hand, so Material Depot are relatively low.

However, the prices of some rare earth elements have been gradually declining in the past two days, reaching a price range where they can be purchased.

This thing doesn't take up much space. After sending a message to Chen Shen, asking him to keep an eye out for it, breakfast ended and the daily report arrived.

We accomplished a lot yesterday. We were rewarded with 3,000 points for re-emerging our swords in front of all humanity, Hope Village achieved a tenfold return, which also earned us 2,500 points.

With all the miscellaneous gains, and seeing that his Survival Points had returned to 24,000, Su Mo sat down at his workbench and took out the "gift for going to sea" that he had brought back yesterday but hadn't had a chance to look at yet.

The stone was about the size of a fist and was cylindrical in shape. However, Su Mo was familiar with its texture and pattern. After a quick thought, he could guess that Chen Shen had just picked up a stone with a pleasing shape near Iron Stone Mountain.

Unlike the second Lion-Man Wind sculpture I received, the blessing on this stone looks very faint. Apart from giving the stone a little luster, it doesn't seem to have much of a mystical quality.

However, relying on the system upgrade, Su Mo didn't care and directly called on the system in his mind to scan the attributes of the stone.

As a shimmering green light emanated, a brief attribute panel appeared with each breath.

[Lizardman Blessing Stone (Common)]

[Description: A stone personally blessed and imbued with the Blessing Power by the lizardman priest "Mori Wendell". Due to its material and the duration of the blessing, the stone cannot hold much energy, so the blessing it carries is extremely weak. If it is not used and its power is not re-infused, the blessed stone will lose its power after 365 natural days and return to its ordinary state.]

[Restriction]: Not tradable [Function]: Divinity - Benediction: In a core shelter or large vehicle, shattering a Blessing Stone will permanently add the level 0 Extraordinary Lizard God Blessing to it.

[Blessing Attribute]: Lv0. Undying (The blessing vessel will recover 0.01% durability every natural day. This durability recovery can affect the external appearance.) [Evaluation]: Friendly reminder, many lizardmen have tried to cut off a part of themselves in an attempt to increase their length through supernatural abilities, but without exception, they all failed. Will you be the next warrior?

"Huh, durability restored? Not bad, not bad. This is a useful blessing."

Unlike the Mermaid's Water and the Lion Man's Wind, this so-called immortality ability is a passive skill.

Although this ability seems incredibly "stupid" now and is completely useless to the shelter, Su Mo's keen senses detected the potential of this blessing.

The current Underground Shelter only have three floors and a total area of less than a thousand square meters, which is very small, accounting for only 0.01%.

But what if we could keep upgrading it to 1%, 5%, and then expand the shelter to dozens of floors, hundreds of thousands of square meters?

At that time, the amount of recovery per day will be an astonishing figure. Localized damage will no longer require manpower and materials for repair; after just two days, it will be restored to its original state.

However, for now, Su Mo still plans to use this blessing, which carries a level 0 rating, on the Hope.

If it can be upgraded to its ancestral form once, combined with the Hope's new abilities, it might become another trump card for the Hope.

"Today's tasks are loading supplies onto the ship and convening the meeting. Don't worry about the supplies; we just need to notify the villagers to move them in one go."

"As for this meeting, the number of lifeboats and the allocated weapons need to be carefully calculated!"

He pulled out the high-quality lifeboat blueprints he had acquired during his first entry into the Trading Realm.

After a period of kneading and shattering, not only did a matching item appear in the Game Panel's crafting section, but a memory of handcrafting was also simultaneously transmitted over.

Today, with Su Mo's manufacturing standards, producing high-quality items is no longer a problem.

After thoroughly researching the lifeboat manufacturing process and discovering that all the necessary materials were available on the market, Su Mo didn't hesitate and went straight to the warehouse to retrieve the supplies and begin purchasing.

With just 400 kg of food, enough materials were gathered to make four lifeboats.

After informing Hong Kangcheng, the materials manager, that the materials could be moved according to the original plan, Su Mo sat down at his workbench and began manufacturing with complete focus.

It's a long story. After acquiring the mechanical tool, Su Mo hadn't experienced the feeling of seriously creating something for a long time.

As the first lifeboat was freshly made, after glancing at the slightly crooked wiring, Su Mo returned to the LCD TV and began to study diligently.

Upholding the spirit of craftsmanship, Su Mo made the last three lifeboats extremely well, even though it took more than four hours and noon had passed in the blink of an eye.

But the four uninflated lifeboats on the ground filled Su Mo with an extremely satisfying sense of accomplishment.

Store it in the Storage Space and proceed to the secure warehouse where the ammunition is kept.

This time, when it came to deciding how much ammunition to leave for Hope Village, Su Mo didn't hesitate much and simply set the maximum amount.

Machine guns, 20 units; ammunition, 100,000 rounds.

30 rifles, 100,000 rounds of ammunition.

60 pistols, 50,000 rounds of ammunition.

Explosive Pack are sold in packs of 10 (1 kg), 8 (3 kg), 5 (5 kg), and 2 (15 kg).

These guns can be recycled in the New Continent, but in the time that follows, although there is no intention to make Hope Village a place where everyone owns guns, it will create difficulties for Chen Shen and others in managing the village.

However, considering that the villagers' current level of proficiency in using Thermal Weapon is basically zero, leaving these guns and bullets behind allows a few retired veterans to familiarize everyone with the weapons they will be using in future battles.

When we go to the New Continent and need to fight, we can quickly gather a considerable fighting force! In the wasteland, a trip might be "farewell forever" for an ordinary person.

It is said that one's homeland is hard to leave. Although he had only lived in this low-lying area for two months, Su Mo still felt a sense of "making arrangements for his last affairs" while sorting through these things.

With a slightly heavy heart, I inventoried all the supplies and placed them in the Tiger Space in the garage.

Driving the upgraded Earth Tiger, Su Mo began a final territorial survey before setting off.

Once outside the Underground Shelter, the trunks of the several Source Energy Fruit Tree that had lost their fruit had already been cut off by Su Mo and preserved in the base. Only the tree stumps remained, standing alone on the ground at the entrance.

After yesterday's rain, the weeds in the entire depression are lush and green, and ignoring the influence of the terrain, it looks as spectacular as a grassland.

From a distance, thanks to his excellent eyesight, Su Mo could see the villagers of Hope Village walking in small groups between Iron Stone Mountain and Hope Ship.

With convenient Storage Space, everyone can easily chat while moving supplies, and because of the number of people, they can bring a considerable amount of supplies at once.

After driving the Earth Tiger to the Hope, Su Mo looked around and saw that the Living Supplies Warehouse. He nodded in satisfaction.

These supplies would just sit idle on Iron Stone Mountain, but putting them on the Hope Ship would be a good backup plan.

Adhering to the principle that having grain in hand means having peace of mind, this time, 40% of Hope Village's harvest in the trade was loaded onto Su Mo's ship.

Besides hard currencies like wheat and flour, Hong Kangcheng and his team thoughtfully converted a small portion of the supplies into other items.

Corn, rice, beef, mutton, fish, shrimp, fruit, snacks, beverages, beer, liquor, flashlights, laser pointers, Swiss Army knives, complete sets of kitchen utensils, complete sets of bathing utensils, and various small tools—countless goodies that wasteland survivors had opened from treasure chests—were all brought onto the ship and placed in various places in the warehouse.

Even for items that need to be frozen, once the psionic engine is turned on after one day, the temperature in the warehouse's freezer compartment can quickly drop to minus five degrees Celsius, which can greatly delay the spoilage of the food stored here.

There is no enjoyment in the wasteland, but in the eyes of the villagers, Su Mo is fully entitled to enjoyment.

And because they knew Su Mo's nature well, they were not afraid that Su Mo would become a leader who only knew how to indulge in pleasure.

After acknowledging Hong Kangcheng's "individual" performance, Su Mo disembarked from the boat amidst the villagers' admiring gazes, and drove his Di Hu to the Deep Sea Shelter.

The place remains dilapidated.

The collapsed loess has buried the shelter below, and patches of green grass have stubbornly sprouted from the spot where the second floor was previously torn apart.

If you didn't know the location and look closely, no one would have been able to find it.

Hidden here is a Level 5 shelter that no one in the wasteland has yet been able to reach!

After descending from the ground, Su Mo slowly walked up the hillside along the protrusion beside him. Following the place where Ma Gu was buried in his memory, Su Mo sat down and took out a bottle of Maotai.

There are four bottles of Maotai on the entire ship. Even Su Mo can only indulge in it in the Talisman Paper World.

But sitting there, Su Mo opened the bottle without a care and poured the entire bottle of water over the Deep Sea Shelter.

"Brother Ma Gu, the wasteland ocean is coming. Your younger brother Su Mo, can only go ahead this time to see more of the wonders of this wasteland world."

"By the way, I did find one of your Expeditionary Force's bases. If I have the chance this time, I'll go and help you see where your group ended up."

"Don't worry, I'm much stronger than everyone else, I'll definitely come back safely."

"When we migrate, your shelter will be moved with me, haha, then your little brother will take you to see this New Continent!"

He muttered to himself as he finished a bottle of Maotai.

Irrigated by such expensive liquor, the grass below swayed its body and nodded in the breeze, as if Ma Gu was responding to Su Mo not to worry and to boldly move forward.

With a smile, Su Mo put the bottle back into his Storage Space. After taking out a shovel and repairing some leaky areas on the top floor of the remaining Deep Sea Shelter, he drove the Earth Tiger and continued forward.

The Saltpeter Mine, where a great battle once took place and advanced the Technology Tree to the firearms stage, yielded the first blessing; the Lionman camp, burned to the ground and reduced to ruins; the Kobold Castle ruins, where the East Wind God-Slaying technique boosted combat power; and the old Candlelight Village ruins, where the first year had passed and a large amount of resources had been harvested. These places, each carrying memories of the past and witnessing the legendary growth of "Su God," were all revisited by Su Mo on this afternoon.

This time, it felt like saying goodbye, but more like Su Mo telling himself: A new journey is about to begin!

At 6 PM, after visiting the last place and the spot where Oreo had once lay on the ground, excitedly waiting for the Explosive Pack to detonate and kill hundreds of kobolds.

Su Mo rode the Earth Tiger again and drove it back to the Iron Stone Mountain.

On this ordinary day, an archway has been erected at the Iron Stone Mountain, adorned with festive red lanterns.

Further up the Mountain Road, there were also colorful light strips hanging everywhere, clearly bought piecemeal from the market, illuminating the mountainside in a very "lively" way.

On the platform at the top of the mountain, four high-powered spotlights have already started working, illuminating the upper part of the mountain as if it were daytime.

After parking the car at the foot of the mountain, Su Mo walked to the entrance of the Mountain Road and saw a banner hanging on the archway. "First line: This voyage is just a small step for the director in conquering the wasteland!"

The second line reads, "But it is a giant step towards happiness for all the villagers of Hope Village!"

Horizontal inscription: Invincible!