Chapter Summaries

Su Mo questioned why Pei Shao’s intelligence team had found no trace of the foreign-race army reportedly gathering near the depression. After reviewing their extensive searches, Zhong Qingshu concluded that the area’s unnatural silence confirmed something was wrong and began to suggest the enemy’s numbers had been misjudged.

• Pei Shao showed Su Mo a detailed map of the team’s searches across the area within two hundred kilometers and reported finding no foreign races or signs of ordinary wildlife.
• Su Mo recalled learning from Clark, while disguised as Female Lion Man Connie, that more than twenty thousand foreign-race members planned to attack and that three races had strength ratings above 1.
• Su Mo considered the Great Rift Valley and a southern underground cavern as likely hiding places, but Pei Shao’s team had searched both without finding the enemy.
• Zhong Qingshu rejected the idea that the threat was fabricated, pointing to the disappearance of all biological activity near the depression as evidence of an abnormality.
• Zhong Qingshu said she believed the enemy had already hidden nearby and suggested their numbers might have been misjudged.

Su Mo and Zhong Qingshu deduced that the infiltrating aliens were not planning to attack Hope Village but were ordered to stop Su Mo from traveling through the Great Canyon. Su Mo announced he would lure them out before the disaster, leaving Zhong Qingshu puzzled about his plan.

• Zhong Qingshu challenged the assumption that the alien force’s numbers and location were the key to understanding its plans.
• Su Mo deduced that the Five Great Royal Clans wanted the aliens to stop him from reaching the center of the battlefield, not kill him or attack Hope Village.
• Zhong Qingshu explained that the aliens were positioned to block the Great Canyon, the only route through which Hope Village could sail out.
• Su Mo realized he could reveal the infiltrating aliens by traveling through the canyon, but Zhong Qingshu warned that a direct battle could cost villagers’ lives.
• Su Mo said he would find the alien force’s location before the disaster and make his move in front of both aliens and humans, then adjourned the meeting.

Su Mo prepared Hope to reach the Great Canyon and expose the concealed aliens, then installed and bound the Material Conversion Engine in the ship’s Engine Room. He planned to finish connecting the system that night and test Hope’s power.

• Su Mo explained to Pei Shao and Zhong Qingshu that Hope could reach the aliens’ likely ambush site in the Great Canyon within the available simulations, then sent them away.
• Su Mo descended into Hope’s Engine Room and prepared the reserved space and pipes for the Material Conversion Engine.
• Su Mo installed the Civilian Type II—Full Material Conversion Engine and confirmed its binding to Hope.
• The engine transformed and expanded to fill much of the Engine Room, boosting Su Mo’s confidence in its power.
• Su Mo connected the engine’s pipes and decided to install the remaining system that night before testing Hope.

Su Mo completed the Hope’s automatic driving system and tested it in the Talisman Paper World, preparing for the ship’s first live trial. With the simulations passed and supplies being loaded, he planned to test the ship that night.

• Su Mo modified the Hope’s driving system to combine camera analysis, radar data, and the Mechanical Engineer’s judgments, then completed the code without errors.
• Su Mo assigned Moore combat and engineering duties, Oreo reconnaissance and hull inspections, and Big and Little Spark care of the ship’s crops; he decided to leave the villagers behind during the voyage.
• Chen Shen arranged for villagers to load the first batch of supplies, while Su Mo bought additional materials for the Hope and future settlement.
• Su Mo ran three simulations of the completed system in the Talisman Paper World, and all three passed.
• Su Mo announced that he would begin the Hope’s live test with Heaven Stealing Secret that night.

Su Mo powered up Hope for its first test, after cautiously preparing the ship and securing the area around it. The destroyer shuddered and began glowing purple before its light turned orange, leaving Su Mo and Hope Village facing the vessel’s startling activation.

• Su Mo tested Hope’s Automatic Driving System, confirmed it performed without errors, then dismantled the host and stored it for installation aboard the ship.
• Su Mo ate his last meal before the voyage, while Moore, Oreo, and the four little ones studied his manual.
• Su Mo ordered Chen Shen to impose armed martial law within two kilometers of Hope and keep everyone away until further orders.
• Su Mo installed the host, tested the Matter Conversion Engine with different materials, and found that Psionic Water could fuel it for 1.8 hours per liter.
• Su Mo started the engine, waited for it to become ready, and pulled the main power switch to energize Hope.
• Hope trembled and blazed with deep-purple light as the villagers watched, then its glow turned orange.

Su Mo completed the Hope, and the Game Panel upgraded it from a Rare-Class destroyer to a Sub-Legendary vehicle, making him the first living being on the Wasteland to build one. He bound the ship as Hope in the new Vehicles function and prepared to inspect its attributes.

• The villagers and administrators watched the Hope’s orange glow turn gold, while the administrators reacted with shock.
• Su Mo waited through a barrage of Game Panel notifications after completing the ship and confirmed the Hope had not malfunctioned.
• The Game Panel announced that Su Mo had built the first Sub-Legendary vehicle on the Wasteland, awarding him titles and a high-tier draw opportunity.
• Su Mo celebrated the achievement, relieved that the Hope had fulfilled the effort and pressure he had endured while building it.
• Su Mo opened the Vehicles function, bound the Level Three Destroyer, and named it Hope.
• Su Mo looked forward to viewing the Hope’s attributes and hoped it would be powerful enough to defeat the Ocean God.

Su Mo examined Hope’s seven powerful abilities and planned upgrades to compensate for its weak firepower. He then upgraded four agents and opened a portal to test whether Hope could reach the sea.

• Su Mo reviewed Hope’s seven abilities, including its stored durability recovery, wave-enhanced speed, and fleet-wide bonus.
• Su Mo identified Hope’s lack of firepower as its main weakness and planned to upgrade its weapons and unlock missiles.
• Su Mo installed four machine guns and spent 1,440 Survival Points upgrading agents, assigning them to guard the ship’s bow, stern, port, and starboard.
• Su Mo told Chen Shen to maintain heightened security, activated Heaven Stealing Secret, and opened a portal on Hope’s deck.
• Su Mo entered the portal to begin testing whether Hope could reach the sea.

Su Mo returned to the Talisman Paper World shortly before the “Ocean God” disaster and prepared the Hope for launch as the red moon appeared. After the Gong Gong System finished its final inspection, Su Mo rushed toward the bow just as the disaster erupted.

• Su Mo woke on the Hope after being scanned in the darkness, learned that he had nine hours in the world, and saw that nearby living creatures had been expelled.
• Su Mo checked the countdown to the “Ocean God” disaster and assessed the risks of launching the Hope stern-first as the water level rose.
• Su Mo activated the Hope with Psionic Water and assigned the ship’s mechanical workers to complete maintenance and startup tasks.
• Su Mo operated the Gong Gong System, fixed the remaining startup errors with help from the mechanical workers, and began the final launch inspection.
• The Gong Gong System entered takeover mode, and Su Mo rushed to the bow as the fourth disaster erupted.

Su Mo tested how the fourth disaster, Ocean God's Awakening, would affect the Hope, discovering that torrential rain and falling marine debris would devastate the ship before the rising water could carry it to sea. The rain stopped after its most violent ten-second barrage, leaving Su Mo battered aboard a badly damaged Hope.

• Su Mo realized the ocean might arrive as catastrophic rainfall as well as water rising from the ground, and rushed to the Hope's cockpit to protect its systems.
• He ordered Gong Gong to monitor the Hope and analyze the disaster, learning that the rain would intensify every three seconds and peak at the fifteenth minute while groundwater seepage raised the sea level.
• As rain and marine debris battered the ship, the Fire Control Radar collapsed, the cameras failed, and water flooded the cockpit until the Hope lost power.
• Su Mo stayed aboard through the waterfall-like bombardment as the Hope's durability plunged, the Captain's Cabin collapsed, and rising water began to lift the ship.
• At fifteen minutes and eleven seconds, the rain finally stopped after its last powerful impact.

After the catastrophic Ocean Downpour wrecked the Hope, Su Mo inspected the damage and improvised repairs in the simulation. With power restored and the water rising, he prepared to launch the battered ship and continue his tests.

• The Ocean Downpour stopped abruptly after fifteen minutes, leaving Su Mo battered and the Hope severely damaged.
• Su Mo found holes punched through the decks, ruined supplies, and a smashed Fire Control Radar, then devised a ship hangar as protection against future downpours.
• As the water rose, Su Mo checked the undamaged Engine Room and confirmed the Material Conversion Engine and pump-fed water supply still worked.
• Su Mo found repair materials in the Damage Control Storage and temporarily repaired the Hope's power cables, restoring the energy network and three floodlights.
• Su Mo restarted the monitor, assessed the ship with its remaining Obstacle Avoidance Radars, and ordered Gonggong to start the sliding track when the water reached 4.14 meters on the left.

Su Mo launched Hope into the sea by combining careful buoyancy calculations, manual controls, and the ship’s special flag ability. Hope raced west before stopping, leaving Su Mo badly injured but satisfied that the launch, speed, and damage tests had succeeded.

• Su Mo watched Hope’s buoyancy data and manually took control when Gonggong’s rails rose too slowly.
• Su Mo lowered the rear barrier and triggered explosives to collapse the scaffolding, sending Hope tilting into the sea at a dangerous angle.
• Su Mo drove the engines at maximum power, using the propellers to correct Hope’s tilt and buy eighteen seconds.
• Su Mo activated Hope’s golden-red flag ability, which pushed the ship forward and launched it free of the scaffolding.
• Hope raced nine kilometers west at up to 55 knots, while Su Mo was thrown around and suffered a broken right leg and paralysis across most of his body.
• Su Mo confirmed the tests were complete and shouted for the Talisman Paper World to let him exit.

After escaping the Talisman Paper World, Su Mo identified seven urgent improvements for the Hope and realized the coming Waterfall Rainstorm could devastate Hope Village and humanity. He told Zhong Qingshu about the disaster and called the village’s management personnel to a meeting to prepare.

• Su Mo returned from the Talisman Paper World to find the Hope and its damaged parts fully restored, and he suspected Heaven Stealing Secret involved Authority Power.
• Su Mo considered using a villager stationed beyond the talisman’s hundred-kilometer range to learn future events, but set the idea aside because it was too risky and he lacked strength.
• Su Mo listed six improvements for the Hope and added a seventh: Hope Village needed defenses against flooding through the hollowed-out Iron Stone Mountain.
• Su Mo discovered that his inspection and departure had taken forty-seven minutes in the real world, far longer than he expected, and resolved to use caution in future talisman trips.
• Su Mo met Chen Shen and Zhong Qingshu, announced a meeting for the village’s management personnel, and explained the coming Waterfall Rainstorm to Zhong Qingshu on the way to the shipyard.

Su Mo warned Hope Village’s management that the coming Ocean Descent Disaster would bring a devastating rainstorm and deadly reef rocks, then steered them toward turning their advance warning into resources by selling defensive measures. He and Zhong Qingshu discussed the political consequences of Su Mo becoming more than a celebrated hero, and he concluded that ordinary people needed someone who could lead them to survive.

• Su Mo told Hope Village’s management that the disaster in six days would bring 1,500 millimeters of rain in fifteen minutes and deadly reef rocks, and Hong Kangcheng confirmed the village could spare supplies for defenses.
• Chen Shen and Zhong Qingshu calmed the frightened managers, while Su Mo urged them to consider how the warning could become an opportunity for development.
• Pei Shao proposed researching and selling Defense Facilities, and the managers began planning how to profit from demand for disaster protection.
• Su Mo and Zhong Qingshu left the conference room and discussed the risks of publicly releasing the information and Su Mo gaining an independent political voice.
• Su Mo rejected the idea of simply settling territories on the New Continent and said ordinary people needed someone who could lead them to survive.

Su Mo prepared Hope Village to profit from the coming disaster and sought an unconventional way to protect Hope from the first waterfall impact. Over a late-night barbecue, Connie revealed that the Lion Man race had sent her to the wasteland deliberately and began explaining what the aliens sought: a Godhood Item.

• Su Mo told Zhong Qingshu he wanted to break from Earth’s old rules, keep Hope Village united under his leadership, and reject sacrificing humanity to bargain with the Land Alien Race.
• Chen Shen and Hope Village’s management began planning how to mass-produce disaster-resistant tools, while Su Mo set the next Hope trial for the following night.
• Su Mo went to Iron Stone Mountain and invited Connie to a midnight barbecue, hoping to talk with her about her past and the alien races’ goals.
• Connie told Su Mo that lion people chosen for the wasteland had been unwilling exiles, but she had come by choice because of her status as the Lion Man race’s youngest priest.
• Connie told Su Mo that the aliens were searching for a Godhood Item.

Su Mo learned that the alien races sought an elusive Godhood Item and that their powers came from the game and depended on their clans’ investment. He persuaded Connie to help him pursue the Ocean God, then discovered Oreo might hold another way to increase her power.

• Connie told Su Mo that every alien race searched for the Godhood Item, though none knew its form, and explained that her lion-people race had declined after failing to find it.
• Su Mo revealed that he planned to seek the Ocean God, and Connie warned him that the Five Great Royal Clans would destroy them.
• Su Mo pressed Connie to bless the Hope Ship and join his campaign, promising she could help restore the lion-people race and become a new Lion God.
• Connie explained that the game granted alien powers, while clans increased their strength by investing in those who proved their value; she also recounted the disaster that killed 170,000 lion-people, including her parents.
• When Su Mo asked whether there was another way to increase her power, Connie said the method lay with his Oreo.

Su Mo learned why Connie had been abandoned by the Lion People and agreed to let her join Oreo’s race, hoping to use her influence and other races’ abilities to advance his plans. He revealed the coming Waterfall Rainstorm disaster to Connie and left her with a lesson about using science to survive it.

• Connie explained that the Lion People had cut her off and that joining Oreo’s race would let her keep her points and gain strength as a God's Priest.
• Connie offered to recruit members of other races, build a loyal army, and help Su Mo gather Godhood Items in exchange for enough power to discover why the Lion God’s great battle had taken her parents.
• Connie said she would kill the Lion God if he refused to reveal the truth, and Su Mo accepted her Certificate of Allegiance.
• Su Mo led Connie toward the Underground Shelter and explained the approaching Waterfall Rainstorm and his plan to use Blessing Power against it.
• Connie doubted she could survive the disaster, so Su Mo told her that science—not anything else—was what they should revere and pointed to the calm eye of a typhoon.

Su Mo welcomed Connie into the Underground Shelter and privately planned to use the Hope’s rebirth mechanic to prepare for the coming Waterfall Rainstorm, while considering how to defeat and retain the foreign-race army. The next morning, the system granted him Level One Permission and a choice of milestone rewards, leaving him weighing guaranteed Survival Points against Creation Lottery options.

• Su Mo showed Connie the Underground Shelter and its wind system, then left her to meet Oreo, Moore, Big and Little Spark.
• Su Mo reasoned that the Hope could recover durability by accumulating rebirth progress in a large bathtub, and began designing a way to keep the storm’s damage below its recovery.
• Su Mo decided he wanted to capture the twenty-thousand-strong foreign-race army to build a fearsome reputation that could help him subjugate more races.
• At eight in the morning, Su Mo opened the daily report and received 5,132 Survival Points, bringing his total to 33,362.
• The system announced that Su Mo had passed its Level One Permission review and offered him 50,000 Survival Points, a full-category Creation Lottery draw, or a Hope-matched draw with unlimited paid rerolls; Su Mo began examining the third option.

Su Mo examined a Hope-related lottery that could add abilities from other ships, then decided to postpone drawing until after the second test. As night fell, he prepared to test the Hope again while Hope Village continued strengthening its defenses and research.

• Su Mo inspected lottery cards that offered ship abilities such as underwater travel, enlargement, time reversal, and powerful weapons, then exited without drawing.
• Su Mo compared the lottery with spending fifty thousand Survival Points on upgrades and decided to draw only after seeing how the second test went.
• Su Mo directed excavation beneath the Hope, watched Connie lead a blessing, and observed Hope Village reinforce Iron Stone Mountain and research an energy-absorbing facility.
• Su Mo repaired the Hope and improved Gonggong by designing a semi-automatic auxiliary system.
• After dinner, Su Mo left the Underground Shelter at night to begin the second test.

Su Mo upgraded the Hope’s blessing by improving Connie’s status, fusing it with the Underground Shelter’s merfolk blessing to create the four-star Sea Wind attribute. He then prepared to enter the Talisman Paper World for the second test, leaving the Hope behind with new wind- and water-control abilities.

• Su Mo checked the Hope’s blessing options and chose to raise Connie’s status to Oreo Clan God's Priest, fusing the blessing with the Underground Shelter’s merfolk abilities.
• The upgrade transformed Gale into Sea Wind, granting Su Mo water control, wind control, and an aura that attracted marine creatures while he was aboard the Hope above sea level.
• Su Mo considered the system’s question about whether the God of Sea Wind weakened the Ocean God or the Wind God, and recorded his suspicions about the gods and the Main God.
• Su Mo returned to the cockpit, prepared the Shan Hai Painting and Psionic Water, and entered the Light Gate to begin the second test in the Talisman Paper World.

Su Mo discovered that the Hope’s sealed Engine Room had overheated during the second test, causing an explosion near the Great Canyon, and returned to improve the ship before trying again. After installing fireproofing and a chimney system, he prepared for a third test, determined to evade the foreign race’s ambush.

• Su Mo returned from the Talisman Paper World after the Hope’s Engine Room overheated and exploded, ending his second test near the Great Canyon.
• Su Mo examined the All-Matter Engine and realized that removing the chimney had trapped expelled heat inside the sealed Engine Room.
• Su Mo bought fire extinguishers and Coating Boards, then used the system to install fireproofing and a concealed chimney on the Hope.
• Su Mo reviewed the failures and successes of his previous tests before preparing to enter the Light Gate again.
• At eleven o’clock, Su Mo opened his eyes and resolved to evade the impact and confront the foreign race’s ambush.