Setting Out, Dreams of a New Continent

As Su Mo returned to the wasteland in the Return Capsule.

Unlike his previous busy schedule, he is now enjoying some leisure time.

On Iron Stone Mountain, more than two hundred villagers are waiting for him to help protect the base from outsiders.

On the Hope, thousands of talented people are helping him design the plan for the low-lying area and its future development path.

Even inside the Return Capsule, Lü Kuan was busy, using the remaining instruments to analyze the properties of the materials from before.

Gradually, Su Mo was no longer alone.

Under his command are thousands of mouths waiting to be fed, and thousands of powerful "creative" hands.

These people can do many things for you.

But the one thing these people can't replace is... overall planning! Considering that we'll be facing a complex and ever-changing situation soon after arriving in the New Continent.

Taking advantage of this time, Su Mo took out paper and pen, leaned against the wall, and began to think things through.

"After this battle, the human population in the wasteland has been reduced by half, which is a huge loss. But the alien race is not much better off. They have been given inhibitors, and they will basically be wiped out in three months."

"This situation was unexpected by the game developers, but it is precisely this drastic loss of numbers that has crossed the red line of the rules. The game must now immediately implement production-increasing measures to ensure a gradual increase in the number of wasteland creatures, rather than continuing to implement production-reducing (disaster) measures to exert pressure."

Will the game enable increased production?

Su Mo listed three options in the notebook.

First, increase production

Second, production cuts

Third, dragging is the only one of the three paths that can be taken in the game; under the rules, there are no other options.

"Let's keep things separate. The rewards for humans are what they deserve after overcoming the production reduction disaster, so they don't fall under the category of increased production measures in the game."

"So his current behavior is probably just stalling!"

What is he dragging out?

Like peeling back the layers of a cocoon.

By now, Su Mo's thinking had gradually become fixed, and he had developed his own unique way of thinking about problems.

This method incorporates the essence of many people's wisdom, plus the added benefit of mental clarity brought about by physical fitness.

Soon, Su Mo figured out the purpose of the game.

"The game is probably designed to give all creatures a buffer period, allowing those who haven't gone to the New Continent to go quickly, and those who don't want to go to evacuate quickly, completely dividing the game into two war zones. This is to ensure the control of the next production reduction disaster and to ensure that the disaster's magnitude is not too alarming."

"However, since the game still wants to bring disaster, it will inevitably have to manipulate the rules to increase the number of creatures in the wasteland."

This theory is easy to understand.

For example, the current biomass in the wasteland is 10.

When the number of organisms drops to 4, according to the rules, the game can no longer implement production reduction measures and must increase production.

The rules will only be relaxed again if the number of organisms returns from 4 to 7, or even 8.

At this point, the game can use its privileges to implement production reduction measures.

This process is repeated repeatedly to keep the number of organisms within a certain baseline.

This is a near-perfect setup.

But as I said before, it's too difficult to set up rules without any loopholes.

Even though the game's creators may have surpassed human imagination in terms of their dimensions, they still haven't made a qualitative leap in their mindset.

For example, it's very easy to find a loophole in the current rule.

Simply deploy!

"To continue triggering production reduction measures, or even more powerful ones, the game must bring the number of creatures back to 13, or even 15."

"Besides increasing production, as long as enough alien creatures enter the wasteland to fill this gap, we can also achieve our goal!"

"No, wait a minute. I see now, no wonder the game launched this Real Survival Version, it was to weaken me!"

"The alien races are terrified of me now. If my abilities aren't restricted to some extent, even if more aliens enter, they'll just be cannon fodder in my hands."

Currently, this will continue as long as the game does not impose further restrictions.

With the machine tools in Su Mo's possession and the Hope as a foundation, shells could be produced continuously for constant bombardment.

For these alien races that haven't been developing for very long, if the game lets in powerful ones, they could carry out Decapitation Operation against the Hope.

Then the balance he wanted to see would be completely broken.

However, if they don't release him, Su Mo himself will become the one who disrupts the balance, causing the wasteland to fall into a situation where one side is strong and the other is weak.

In this situation, naturally, the game developer came up with the best and simplest solution.

Bilateral weakening, bilateral strengthening.

The alien races, having lost their previous accumulations and territories, had to start from scratch, but gained an increase in numbers.

Su Mo lost its previous technological weapons and its greatest threat to the alien race, but gained thousands of talents and an initial advantage.

The two are thus balanced.

By fixing the loophole where the alien gods would occasionally probe and break the rules, the balance was miraculously restored! It was truly a brilliant plan! "In that case, the Hope's advancement to Legendary status would actually become a hindrance. The game will definitely add terrifying usage conditions to the real version, making me hesitate to even attempt it."

"I hadn't thought of that before, but it's not a big problem!"

"When we get to the New Continent, the Hope won't have much room to maneuver on land anyway; aside from its weapons, its other attributes will be basically useless."

They won the naval battle.

The Hope's final reliance was limited to transportation.

As long as everyone can be safely transported to the new mainland, whether the ship can continue to be used will not affect the overall situation as it does now.

Between choices and trade-offs.

Su Mo did not let any of his personal emotions get involved.

When circumstances dictate otherwise, even if he argues and quarrels, the game will not change the fact that the game "confiscates" the prize.

On the contrary, because of the Hope's weakening, they might be able to squeeze out another wave of freebies from the game.

Su Mo had thought this choice of interests very clearly.

At the same time, to a certain extent, it does not mean that he will suffer a huge loss.

"When the time comes, we must carefully plan the location of our territory; at the very least, we can't afford to be caught in a situation where we're attacked from both sides early on."

"We must carefully study the placement of the territory and its subsequent development."

Time flew by as we sketched and drew.

Throughout the process, the casual conversation with Jiang Chu was quickly transformed into Su Mo's reserve of knowledge and put into writing.

With this knowledge.

Su Mo was confident.

Even if he arrived on Xinda Road penniless, he could still walk ahead of everyone else.

That's his boldness.

It is also the powerful confidence that comes from thousands of years of human technological development!

High in the sky, the Return Capsule was dazzling, like a shooting star streaking across the heavens.

But as it broke through the last thirty kilometers of atmosphere, the Return Capsule became less conspicuous.

As a faint blue light rose from the surface of the cabin, the flames inside were suppressed and forcibly concealed.

Although this would quickly deplete the energy in the Return Capsule, at this moment, Su Mo wanted to keep a low profile!

[Warn!]

[Warn!]

[Warn!]

[Unknown presence detected. Host information being checked. Should we cover it up? This cover-up will cost 960 Survival Points!]

[Unknown presence detected. Scanning the host's inventory. Do you wish to conceal this? This concealment will cost 6285 Survival Points!]

Three warnings sounded simultaneously.

Two notifications that needed to be covered also popped up at the same time.

Upon seeing the terrifying notification that the second item would cost over six thousand points, Su Mo immediately became alarmed and chose to conceal it.

He made the right bet!

The game just hasn't given up!

After the Youneng Shuttle Rocket took off, the game didn't leave, but patiently waited there for the Return Capsule to come down.

If the instruments inside the cabin were still there, Su Mo's current inventory of only 12,000 points would not be enough.

At that time, a terrifying conflict will inevitably erupt between the game and the game!

Fortunately, we still have enough Survival Points!

Whew. Take a few deep breaths! Watching a green light rise from his body, sweep across all objects, and finally pass through Oreo and Lü Kuan before returning safely.

Su Mo was relieved.

Then, facing the Golden Light that began to emanate from below the Return Capsule, Su Mo gently waved to Lü Kuan, signaling him not to be afraid.

Calmness is contagious.

His composure quickly made Lü Kuan relax, and the mechanical hand that was tightly gripping him slowly loosened.

Golden Light's inspection speed is not slow.

After failing to find any problems on the first pass, it quickly disappeared.

But just as the cabin was only 20 kilometers below, Lü Kuan was about to relax and speak...

The Golden Light cunningly returned, scanning again at an even more meticulous pace, attempting to find any clues that could lead to a conviction.

This scene gave Lü Kuan quite a fright, causing his brain to twitch in his Brain Box.

After a while.

After checking three times, Golden Light returned empty-handed and officially announced his departure.

At this moment, after Su Mo stood up, Lü Kuan belatedly realized what was happening and jumped up as well.

"Thank goodness we threw those things away!"

"I have no idea what this Golden Light is. I tried to probe it with Scanning Gun, but I couldn't detect any energy reaction or any change in curvature. Apart from being able to see it with our eyes, it's like it doesn't exist. It's really damn weird."

He wiped away non-existent sweat from his forehead.

When describing the form of the Golden Light, Lü Kuan's eyes still held undisguised fear, but his tone carried a hint of excitement at surviving a calamity.

During his long period of slumber, in just two days, Su Mo had provided him with sufficient stimulation, resulting in an excessive secretion of Dopamine.

This thrill of walking on the edge of life and death has made Lü Kuan feel completely "younger".

In other words, before meeting Su Mo, Lü Kuan might have had about a 30% chance of contemplating suicide and about a 40% chance of sinking into depravity.

But after meeting Su Mo and experiencing so much, his thinking has completely changed.

He wanted to live! And live longer! To create more value! "It's okay, there will be many more opportunities for face-to-face contact like this in the future, so I just need to get used to it now!"

"Huh? There's more?"

Seeing the robot make a pained expression, Su Mo could no longer contain his joy and burst into laughter.

After a long pause, he stopped smiling, sat back down in his chair, and said seriously.

"Alright, let's prepare for landing. Choose a location!"

"About 200 kilometers east of the base!"

"After the Golden Light finishes its inspection, we must take all these things back intact. Be careful not to damage the captain's Captain's Cabin; the computing tools inside are extremely valuable!"

Lü Kuan nodded excitedly. "Alright, this is my specialty, so you'd better watch out!"

Lü Kuan's confidence was not unfounded.

His knowledge of StarCraft, at only 11%, is enough to make him so "arrogant".

The next moment, at an altitude of one kilometer above the ground, the Return Capsule's propulsion began to change, and the wings began to contract.

A recoil force effectively counteracted the gravitational pull of the descent, allowing the entire cabin to slowly and smoothly descend onto the sea surface.

Splash! It was like a pebble falling into a river.

As the Return Capsule re-emerged, and the Sun Chaser approached leisurely in sight.

Through the glass, Su Mo looked up at the sky with an uncontrollable smile.

He admitted it.

This is since crossing the wasteland.

In his eyes, this was the brightest wasteland night sky ever! Thank you so much for the monthly tickets, donations, and subscriptions! There will be a promotional event and fan titles next month, thank you all for your support! (bowing repeatedly)