April 1st, 8:40 a.m.: The Cruelty of the True Version

April 1st, 8:40 AM.

Knock knock knock! "Come in!"

With a squeak.

The door to the captain's Captain's Cabin of the Hope was opened from the outside in.

Su Mo was revealed, sitting at his desk, exuding a scholarly air.

At that moment, he was flipping through a book, browsing the knowledge within.

As Su Mo continued to browse, the more wisdom emanated from him.

Even a casual glance from him can reveal boundless clarity.

But unlike ordinary scientific researchers, Su Mo could turn pages much faster.

Even a page filled with dense text would hardly last more than a few dozen seconds in his hands.

Judging from this talent...

Su Mo was indeed a genius among men, one in a million, a great man who would remain in human history as long as he embarked on the right path.

But standing at the door, looking around, Su Deben shook his head, his heart filled with countless emotions.

Freak!

No.

Monster!

"Huh? Uncle Su, are we all here?"

Turning around, Su Mo put down the book, a flash of wisdom crossing his eyes before he returned to normal.

At least from the outside, he is just a little clearer than the average person.

"Ah, oh!"

"Su Mo, everyone has basically gathered and is now lining up. Shall we go out now?"

"Good!"

He stood up, pushed the book containing top-level biological knowledge to the far end of the desk, and tucked a piece of white paper covered in writing inside into his pocket.

Su Mo closed the stool, nodded, and followed the robot, which had already turned around, striding out.

A moment later, a man and a plane arrived at the very front of the deck.

Here, without standing on a high place, you can have a general view of the more than a thousand people gathered behind you, and you can see the expression on each person's face.

Unlike seven days ago, the villagers' spirit and demeanor have changed dramatically.

Su Mo smiled and nodded repeatedly.

"At ease! Attention! Right dress! Front dress! At ease!"

"Reporting to the Chief Instructor, the Hope Village has assembled. 1405 people were expected, and 1405 people are present. Requesting instructions!"

After being trained, Chen Shen also developed the demeanor of a tough soldier during these seven days.

Hearing his powerful voice, Su Deben, who was controlling the robot, slowly stepped forward, raised his voice, and boomed, "I hereby announce that the seven-day training program in Hope Village has now come to a successful conclusion!"

"The effectiveness of this training program far exceeded our predictions by 50%, reaching an unprecedented 320%."

"Every villager achieved transformative results during these seven days, and every individual cultivated the seeds of an iron will during these seven days."

"As your Chief Instructor, I am very pleased to see this change."

It sounded like muffled thunder.

With a robotic body, Su Deben doesn't need a microphone to speak, but his voice can be clearly heard by everyone.

Hearing these praises, all the villagers wore a slight smile.

Some growth requires affirmation from others to be perceived.

But some growth only requires experience, only pain, and you can clearly feel the terrifying gains after the tearing and healing.

These seven days.

It started with climbing the snow-capped mountain on the first day.

The journey: The second day of braving the sea of fire.

The third day of the long-distance cross-country run.

The fourth day of the arena battle.

Building the house on the fifth day.

The sixth day of storming the enemy camp.

Until the last day, a small skirmish.

Based on the time ratio, all the villagers spent a total of 260 hours training inside.

During this period of time, everyone, both physically and mentally, underwent a complete baptism.

Previously, they might have simply been survivors who had experienced the apocalypse, gained self-awareness, and struggled to survive.

But now, they have transformed into trained warriors with unwavering willpower.

The whole nation is a soldier!

This configuration, which only existed in the imagination, has suddenly appeared in the world in such a way!

"Reporting to the director, the first phase of survival training in Hope Village has been successfully completed. Requesting inspection!"

In the wasteland.

Keep everything simple.

Even in this summary meeting, Su Deben maintained his minimalist style, speaking for less than two minutes before handing over the speaking rights.

Facing the robot and the gazes of thousands of people below, Su Mo gently picked up the microphone beside him.

"Great, everyone, thank you for your hard work!"

Whoosh! Even though Su Deben had praised them for two minutes and the villagers below hadn't reacted at all, they suddenly started a commotion because of just one sentence.

However, most people's expressions were quite similar.

I feel unworthy of this!

Being recognized by someone strong is something to be very proud of.

Especially someone like Su Mo, the strongest among humans, would be overjoyed.

However, considering Su Mo's "monster" behavior over the past few days.

No one could laugh, and there was a very obvious sense of awkwardness.

On the first day, Su Mo climbed the 10,000-meter snow mountain, and the best result among the group was 4,689 meters.

The next day, Su Mo traversed a 10-kilometer fiery route, with the best result achieved by the group being 5.15 kilometers.

On the third day, Su Mo walked for thirty-six hours without sleep, completing an astonishing 515 kilometers. The best result among the group was 268 kilometers.

On the fourth day, Su Mo stood there alone and, relying on his skills and tactics, completed a super Relay Battle of one against sixty-five. Li Hu, the strongest among them, could only manage one against thirteen.

On the fifth day, Su Mo single-handedly built a complete house by hand in just eighteen hours, complete with several facilities to resist external enemies, making it incredibly defensive.

The villager who was the first to build his house took 25 hours, but his defenses were only one-third of those of Su Mo's house.

On the sixth day, Su Mo single-handedly stormed into an enemy camp of 300 men, and after several rounds, he slaughtered them all.

On the seventh day, what was supposed to be an encounter battle between the enemy and the enemy was turned into an offensive battle by Su Mo.

During these seven days, Su Mo revived zero times.

Each time he attempted a challenge, he successfully passed it with only one life, a feat that left the watching villagers in disbelief.

However, when watching the replay, these villagers could only watch it while kneeling on the ground.

Wisdom, strength, courage, boldness, skill.

If it weren't for the naked eye, no one would believe that someone could perfectly blend them together.

But as it turns out, Su Mo's ability to become the world's first person to do so was not due to luck.

All Su Deben knew was that the villagers had changed extremely quickly in those seven days.

But he didn't know that these seven days were also a process of transformation for Su Mo, like a butterfly emerging from its cocoon.

"Don't underestimate yourself. You should be comparing yourselves to other survivors, not to me."

"The person you should surpass is yourself from yesterday. As long as you can see your progress, then all the effort and pain of today is worthwhile."

"Think of the agony you endured, trembling with pain between life and death, the pain that felt like your soul was leaving your body; think of the arduous journey you took to constantly surpass and perfect yourselves in the face of the impossible."

"Being able to stand here represents only one thing."

"You must tell yourselves, I succeeded!"

Su Mo was fully aware of what the villagers below were thinking.

He understood that if he didn't enlighten these people, he would remain a nightmare in everyone's hearts, a mountain that no one dared to tread.

To be clear, these people will still experience some depression in the short term.

But after a while, once they realize it, they will naturally return to normal.

However, this is just a hypothetical scenario.

Just like now, after Su Mo finished speaking, he was surprised to find that more than 80 percent of the people actually smiled.

Using his hearing, he even caught the key words being whispered among the people in the front row.

The director is strong, and so are the subordinates! The director is amazing, I had a great night.

Some people chase after others, while others do the work.

Director, you're a god forever!

???

"Cough cough cough!"

He couldn't hear what these people were saying, but after catching the last sentence, Su Mo coughed a few times.

Immediately, silence returned to the area below.

"With eight hours remaining until our landing on the New Continent, I hereby announce the allocation of the first batch of S-Class Talents slots."

The winners are: Chen Shen, Peng Wenshan, Xia Nianzhen, Jiang Hou, Li Peng, Li Hu, Li Hu Chen Kai!

Each time a name was called.

A gasp of surprise and envious applause could be heard from below.

The person whose name was called stood tall and proud, their face glowing with a rosy light.

As for who gets the S-level spot, it was no longer a suspense after the fourth day.

Their performance was outstanding among everyone.

Whether in terms of willpower, physical strength, or intelligence, they all demonstrate exceptional abilities.

Others felt little envy towards these people; instead, they held them in endless admiration.

"Securing an S-rank spot doesn't mean you can rest easy, and being below others doesn't mean you have no chance to advance."

"Although this S-class selection has ended, the next round will begin in three months."

"I look forward to your performance then!"

After putting down the microphone, Su Mo did not continue chatting, but instead led the applause.

In an instant, thunderous applause erupted over the sea.

A moment later, after the applause subsided.

After handing over the task of announcing the A, B, and Tier C talents to Chen Shen, Su Mo chose to leave the meeting temporarily and act as a figurehead.

Back in the Captain's Cabin, I drew the curtains in front of the porthole.

Once again, Su Mo carefully took out the white paper that had been placed in his chest, pulled over the book, placed it inside, and began to read.

All the villagers need to think about is what to eat today, what to train for tomorrow, and how to strive forward the day after tomorrow.

But as the leader, Su Mo had many things to consider.

The paper in front of him now records all the changes that have occurred since the game was updated to the real version.

" On March 27th, the game update was completed, and the real-world survival content was officially announced."

"As previously announced, chatting, crafting, and trading have all been banned and permanently locked down. It's unclear when they will reopen."

"Other functions, such as identification, vehicle, and detection, have also been subject to a wide variety of restrictions."

"But the most serious weakening is still the charging for Storage Space."

"While the current Storage Space still retains its previous convenience, each time it is opened, it consumes 10 Disaster Points. This means that if we continue the habit of opening it dozens of times a day, we will spend hundreds of Disaster Points just on this aspect every day!"

"In other aspects, for all items produced in the game, there will be no usage fees for items below the Excellent level, but for items above Excellent..."

"Excellent grade, each use lasts three hours, costing 500 Disaster Points."

"Rare grade, each use lasts one hour, costing 2000 Disaster Points."

"Epic level, each use lasts 30 minutes, costs 50,000 Disaster Points."

"As for the version update rewards for everyone, they're not very generous, just a single Iron Treasure Chest."

He repeatedly reviewed the summarized details, his knuckles tapping on the table.

Su Mo's gaze was deep and his mind was filled with thoughts.

Currently, there are only three hours left before the Hope is promoted to Legendary class. Once midnight passes, the entire ship will be directly promoted to Legendary-Class.

There are only nine hours left until everyone votes for disaster.

If the vote is successful, the next disaster will begin precisely in fifteen days!