Chapter 337: The Humans’ Plan of Attack!
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
“You guys must be hungry, right? Eat up. Don’t you guys know how to go over to the village and grab something to eat if you’re hungry?”
“Stop looking so tired, or I’ll feel very guilty!”
Su Mo went straight to the second floor of the shelter, sat in front of the dinner table, and stared at the four little ones who were wolfing down the meal. He then s.h.i.+fted his gaze toward Connie, who was trying to control herself, but could not. In the end, she ate unrestrainedly like the others.
Su Mo lay on the sofa next to the table and stared at them with an amused expression on his face.
“Moore, Moore wants to become a qualified captain! No, Moore wants to become the most powerful captain! Awooo!”
Even though he had a mouth full of food, Moore would not forget to utter his catchphrase, which in turn attracted Oreo’s scorn.
Connie nodded profusely as well, afraid that Su Mo might think of her as a “bad student” if she responded any slower.
With the five of them eating like that, Su Mo noticed that there might not be enough meat, so he waved his arm and requested the cook to bring over more meat for them.
As a reward, Su Mo poured them a cup of psychic-energy water each before heading to the third floor.
He sat at the workbench and poured himself a gla.s.s of psychic-energy water. He opened the game panel and began to browse through the chat channels.
As the day wore on, everyone had become more anxious and helpless after receiving the information regarding the disaster in the morning.
At this point, the “crazy” and “panicked” chatter had died down somewhat, and the chat channels were now mostly filled with rational comments and discussions on how to handle the disaster.
“Chen Shen is quite good at doing business. That was quite an impressive haul he made. There are even people praising him in the chat.”
“If Chen Shen doesn’t have what it takes to become a supervisor, then I might just make him a trade director!”
Su Mo nodded in satisfaction whenever he saw a few lines of praise in the World Channel appear.
Even during times like this where everyone desperately needed the absorbent gum to get through the disaster, and even as the sole distributor of this particular substance, Chen Shen did not announce himself as Almighty Su’s commander nor did he boast left and right.
In the morning, when the market opened and free samples were given out, Chen Shen did not forget his origins and the tough life the people on this wasteland faced.
Sacrifice everything to get maximum profit? （×）
Maintain and develop current advantage? （√）
Such a desirable product would be sold out in just a matter of seconds regardless of how many were in stock.
If it was someone else who was selling the absorbent gum, not raising the price by 100%-150% would have been an act of kindness.
However, what Chen Shen was doing now was an exception!
Hope Village did mark up the price, but after calculating the cost of the raw materials, concoction of the chemical agents and solvents needed for the reaction, labor costs, site costs and other expenses, it was only a 10%-15% increase.
Besides, after Hope Village sold 80% of the stock they had, Chen Shen unleashed his secret move:
He released the recipe to the public!
From how to make the chemical agents and solvents, the ratio of sap-to-solvent, and how to collect the product after the chemical reaction had taken place, as well as all the precautionary steps, everything was included in the manual.
With Chen Shen releasing the recipe to the public, it was only natural that he would receive praise from the people.
Hope Chamber of Commerce, these four simple words were imprinted on the minds of many people across the wasteland.
Besides this, the following actions of the official shelters and some of the larger Huaxia shelters allowed Huaxians across the wasteland to feel an unprecedented sense of warmth and kindness.
Since white sap trees across the wasteland were not scarce, and one could easily find many suitable, healthy trees on the wasteland, all the official shelters devoted themselves to the collection of the white sap.
By tomorrow, the amount of sap collected would be ten times more.
At that point, every Huaxian could make an official application and acquire a sufficient amount of absorbent gum to make preparations for the disaster.
It was immediately obvious to Su Mo how expensive such actions would be to the official shelters.
However…
The official shelters still went ahead with it!
As a result, they received a slew of jealous comments from those from other countries. Beyond that, they strengthened the power of unity between the Huaxian people!
“Natural disasters are ruthless, yet these people are suddenly showing compa.s.sion. It’s about time to figure out what these people’s intentions are.”
“If these victims are going to be sacrificed, then I will stop them no matter what!”
Su Mo brooded over that thought as he tapped his fingers against the side of the table. He then opened the friends list and tapped on Shen Ke’s profile picture.
Su Mo turned off the workbench’s overhead light and switched on the table lamp, before making the final video call before the disaster would strike.
Du…
Du… bzzt bzzt…
The familiar beeping noises rang in his ear. After going through the initial stage, the working relations.h.i.+p between Tundra Shelter, and Shen Ke, with him was now in its…
Honeymoon phase!
Even though Su Mo did not fancy making video calls, he was also not completely against the idea right now, as he waited for Shen Ke to pick up his call.
Just like old times, the call connected just after the fourth beep.
Su Mo could see Shen Ke with her s.h.i.+rt soaked in white sap as she stood under a tree. She was cutting the bark of the tree with a blade, as the tree released white sap from the opening into a wooden bucket.
Besides, there were many searchlights s.h.i.+ning around her.
Su Mo noticed that she was busy, so they quickly greeted each other and Su Mo told her to continue doing whatever she was doing. Meanwhile, he dragged his view left and right and took a look around the place.
From Shen Ke’s position, Su Mo looked around in a complete circle and immediately recognized the moss-covered plains.
There were also many white sap trees in the area. Su Mo estimated that there were more than a thousand trees just by looking around.
Of course, such a thriving forest was a rare sight around the basin area, yet across the plains…
“Whoa, you have quite a lot of people over at Tundra Shelter. Do you have enough resources to accommodate all of them?”
After Shen Ke finished tapping her tree, handing her bucket to a nearby worker for transport, she got up. It was only then that Su Mo could see how many people were working in the forest.
Compared to the amount of people in Hope Village, the amount of people at Tundra Shelter was a grand sight to behold.
With every area the searchlight illuminated, one could see people crawling near a white sap tree, cutting the bark and collecting the sap. There was over a kilometer-long line of people at work.
Beside them stood a second long line of soldiers, standing 10 meters apart from each other, clad in armor and holding spears to provide protection for the workers.
Shen Ke walked over to a ridge and sighed, “There was another group of 40 people who joined us yesterday, so there are now over eight-hundred people in Tundra Shelter!”
“As for the resources, we still have enough for now. Everyone’s stocking up on food supplies right now, so three to five months’ worth of resources should not be a problem.”
Even Su Mo, who had unwavering confidence in Tundra Shelter, was shocked at that moment.
“More than eight hundred people, can your s.h.i.+p fit that many people?”
Shen Ke scratched her head, “Yes, it can. In fact, we can even fit a hundred more. What, is Almighty Su going to join us as well?”
Su Mo noticed Shen Ke hinting at him, in fact, this time’s hint was far more obvious than the last.
This time, Su Mo simply smiled, unlike previously, where he would pick his words carefully and laugh it off.
“Alright then, since you’re inviting me, I’ll join you guys then!”
“I knew… huh?” Shen Ke thought that Su Mo was going to make up some excuse as usual, but she then realized that something was off and was shocked by his response.
After that, she widened her eyes and there was surprise on her face.
“Really? Are you actually coming? If you are, I’ll tell the Shelter Leader and we’ll retain some spots for you. 100 of them, no, we can still give you and your people 120 seats at least. We can also allocate some s.p.a.ce for the resources that you’re bringing with you.”
“Heck, if you’re going to join us, we might even make you captain of the s.h.i.+p!”
Shen Ke walked as she spoke to Su Mo. She stomped her feet when she saw the smile on his face getting wider and wider. She then continued.
“How about that? Please consider it, Su Mo. Our Shelter Leader has admired you for a long time. If you’re going to join us, he said those words.”
“He can even give up his position to you. At that point, you will be the Tundra Shelter’s leader and you can use any of the official channels we have!”
After Su Mo heard what Shen Ke said, he wanted to reply with, “You think so highly of me, allowing me to manage such a huge shelter.”
However, before he spoke, he thought about the chaos he stirred up across the wasteland today and waved his hand.
“Don’t. I’m not kidding this time. I can join you guys. After all, I’m interested in this project of yours.”
“However, I will be using my s.h.i.+p to get to you guys, and we’ll meet up somewhere. You don’t have to come pick me up!”
Shen Ke was somewhat disheartened when she heard the first half of the sentence, but was delighted again when she heard the second half.
“Su Mo, you really have a s.h.i.+p? You didn’t even tell me what you’ve been up to recently. How many people are following you on your voyage this time?”
Su Mo grinned, “Not much. Along with my pets, there are going to be six of us in total. That should be enough!”
Shen Ke was confused, “Huh?”
She thought that Su Mo was joking again.
What can six people do? Forget about a large s.h.i.+p, they wouldn’t even be able to operate a small sand s.h.i.+p. He must be joking.
After that, Shen Ke thought about Su Mo’s trades with the official shelters, so she recomposed herself and asked curiously,
“Eh? Is your s.h.i.+p a modern one? A s.h.i.+p that’s fast and has good firepower?”
Shen Ke was about to say speedboat or sail s.h.i.+p, but she then considered her Shelter Leader’s reminder about being tactful and changed what she was going to say.
A fast s.h.i.+p = small s.h.i.+p.
Good firepower = subtle praise.
Su Mo thought about Hope One’s top speed of 45 miles an hour and its hundred-round per minute Annihilator cannon, and then nodded.
Hope One was fast, and it had good firepower, so there was nothing wrong with his response!
“Don’t worry about me, everything’s good here. You’ll see what I mean by then. By the way, calling you to discuss meeting up is one thing, but there’s also something else that I want to talk about too. What’s this about some plan of attack? I was so busy that I didn’t get the chance to find out what it was.”
“Time’s also running out anyway, so I was thinking, if there’s anything that we can make money off of, I’ll go over and have a look at it. Otherwise, I won’t get another chance at these kinds of opportunities next time!”
After getting to know each other better, they seemed like very good friends.
As for his att.i.tude toward Shen Ke, Su Mo acted less arrogant around her now.
After listening to his question, Shen Ke nodded and then shook her head, “How about this, after my Shelter Leader receives the plan in detail, we’ll definitely give it to you if you want. I’ll go and request it right now, I’ll send it to you after I receive it.”
Su Mo, “Alright, no rush, though. Just send it to me by tonight. After that, you can send me your coordinates. When the tides rise, I’ll meet up with you all very soon.”
He suppressed his desire to ask Shen Ke to take a look around and see if his sister was among the workers.
After they set a time and date for their meet-up, the call ended.
“It seems like my estimation of Tundra Shelter’s potential was wrong!”
“In fact, those official shelters should be quite strong this time.”
“Besides, why do I have a feeling that the Huaxia officials are being quite nice to me?”
After every conversation, Su Mo would slowly dissect the conversation to extract any information from it. That was his forté, and was something he liked to do as well.
Shen Ken mentioned that he could use any official channel as he liked, and he could tell from the expression on her face that…
She was not joking!
The official organizations were very willing to do anything to a.s.sure their safety, in fact, they were willing to go to such extremes to invite an insignificant individual like him to join them.
If they displayed such an att.i.tude, the message behind that att.i.tude was very much worth appreciating.
“If that’s the case, the Huaxia official shelters aren’t partic.i.p.ants in the humans’ plan of attack?”
Su Mo tapped his fingers against the table, and opened up the diary in his private message channel to a.n.a.lyze things.
Meanwhile, Shen Ke was also quick on her feet. She forwarded Su Mo the humans’ plan of attack that the Huaxian official organization had sent her.
Its introduction section already included his grave warning to all humans, so it was obvious that it was an unedited version of the plan.
Su Mo set his diary aside and flipped through the pages of the plan. He then started browsing through a plan that just might decide the fate of forty billion people.
After a while, the expression on Su Mo’s face was a solemn one. After he looked through the plan that was 8500 words long, he then closed the game panel and s.h.i.+fted his focus.
He flipped to a blank page and wrote:
[First Stage: Reaching the battlefield]
[Second Stage: Splitting the battlefield]
[Third Stage: Fighting each enemy separately]
[Fourth Stage: Turning the tables]
These four overarching stages covered and expressed the complicated plans that Su Mo had in mind.