Chapter 344: First Place Among the Foreign Clans: The Clipper
About three days ago, Connie had talked about the overview of the foreign races’ first two live broadcasts while they were eating.
At that time, Connie had used only three words to describe the rules for the foreign clans who competed to make it to the top of the charts in the disaster resistance live broadcasts.
“Weird as h.e.l.l!”
During the first acid rain live broadcast, unlike how unequal the humans’ strength was, the foreign races competed for the top ten ranks on the basis of whoever had the most s.p.a.ce and area for their shelters’ territory.
Due to the compet.i.tion, the foreign races all displayed how powerful they were at that time.
The kobolds used their giant castle and the lion clan used the giant trees in their respective territories because they were all trying to get into the top ten ranks of the live broadcast.
In the end, by the time the second blizzard disaster arrived, the conditions for the foreign clans’ live broadcast compet.i.tion underwent a few more changes. That time, it was not about the area or temperature. Instead, it turned out to be something that no one could have imagined…
It was their number of kills!
As long as they were in the blizzard, it did not matter if they killed a human, another foreign clan member, or even one of their own. All kills counted toward their kill count.
At that time, the white-robed kobold shot into the top ten ranks of the live broadcast by killing his own kind and managed to attract over 95% of the foreign clans to watch the kobolds’ live broadcast!
From that battle, the nickname Old Devil Su started spreading throughout the foreign clans.
After watching the game panel’s top-ranking notifications for the third disaster, a smile appeared on Su Mo’s lips as a response to Connie’s look of disbelief.
“Why do I feel like this game is prejudiced against the foreign clans?!”
“While such ranking criteria would be perfectly normal for the humans, competing in s.h.i.+pbuilding would just make things difficult for the foreign clans!”
Humans have hundreds and thousands of years of s.h.i.+pbuilding history handed down to them without any gaps in between. Clearly, it would not be difficult for humans to replicate a decent s.h.i.+p.
However, for the foreign clans who had lived on land for generations, there were barely 0.1% of their memories related to s.h.i.+ps, whether it was from their own knowledge or that of their inherited memories.
As a result, the first thing most of them thought of when they learned about the rules of the ocean disaster was not to build a boat, but to learn how to swim instead!
They would be able to use the raft to rest and sleep, but when it came down to moving, they would swim in the sea while dragging the raft along with them.
They even thought about stealing the humans’ s.h.i.+ps after killing them to sail to the New World.
However, the rules of the game forced all of the foreign race clans to find decent s.h.i.+ps quickly.
Otherwise, it would be hard for them to make it into the top 30 and obtain their rewards during this ocean disaster. It seemed like the longer this went on, the more it would feel like a battle against the G.o.ds.
“However, if the rules are like that, it’ll be super easy for us to lure the foreign races’ army that are preparing to ambush the basin area.”
“Just turn on the live broadcast and let all the foreign clans know that the Golden Lion King is alone on a big s.h.i.+p. Tell them that just by owning this big s.h.i.+p, they can immediately enter the live broadcast ranks and obtain the reward.”
“Holy c.r.a.p! With Connie’s potty mouth on the foreign races’ chat channel that’s getting worse by the day, coupled with the ranking requirements of this ocean disaster, I’m sure that the foreign clans will take the bait out of hatred!”
Since Connie was inside Hope One, she could get to the top of the ranking list and start a live broadcast.
When Su Mo realized the feasibility of this unexpected plan which he could never have imagined before, he immediately stood up excitedly and started pacing around the captain’s quarters.
In his previous plan, there were two aspects that were illogical.
The first point was how did Old Devil Su get from the basin area, which was 500km away, and end up in the same direction they were supposed to head to in the span of a single night?
The second point was that they would suspect that it was Old Devil Su’s plan to lure them there and there was no way that they would simply walk right into his trap!
If he did not sort out those two illogical points, and those darned Cursed Tigers told any of the human spies, it would turn out to be a big problem within minutes.
However, if the plan switched to Connie being the main character of the plan, it would be a completely different story!
It would send the message that foreign races could build a s.h.i.+p, and that the Lion people of the Oreo G.o.d clan were just this good!
It was like saying, ‘Who cares if it doesn’t make sense to you? Maybe you’ll believe it when I smash this s.h.i.+p into your face!’
“Holy c.r.a.p! It seems like taking Connie under my wing was the best thing I’ve ever done in preparation for this ocean disaster!”
“Let’s see what kind of lousy s.h.i.+ps these other foreign races have built!”
Having figured out the whole plan and realizing that there were no loopholes, Su Mo was in a good mood and tapped into the disaster resistance live broadcast page and chat channel.
Just like the last time, the live broadcast page had ten more spots, bringing the total the live broadcast streams to 30, which made the page look less empty.
At the bottom of each live broadcast stream, the game panel also thoughtfully indicated the number of viewers that stream currently had.
The top-ranked live broadcast was the Thunder Monkey clan, which was one of the Five Royal Clans, which had a total of 137500 viewers.
In second place was the last of the Five Royal Clans, the Shaoxing Dog clan, sitting tight at 84600 viewers.
At first glance, the number of viewers was in complete contrast to the number of people watching on the human disaster resistance page.
However, if one considered that, for every race on the wasteland, only the clan leader had a shelter core, the numbers made much more sense.
Without looking any longer at the other monsters and freaks’ live broadcasts at the bottom of the page, Su Mo went straight into the Thunder Monkey clan’s live broadcast stream.
As a dim light flashed before his eyes, the game panel began to slowly disappear, and the same viewer interface for the human disaster resistance live broadcast stream revealed itself.
From Su Mo’s point of view, all he could currently see was the sky but, after fiddling with the camera perspective, Su Mo finally saw the panorama of the dark body of water.
Since the observation range was 5km, it was ten times shorter than before.
When he switched his viewpoint, he saw a thin black fog wall blocking his view beyond the 5km perimeter.
In addition, that black fog wall moved in tandem with the Thunder Monkeys’ s.h.i.+ps as they traveled along the water.
It seemed that it was there to make sure that the live broadcast stream would not be exploited!
Rather than immediately switching to the host’s view, Su Mo curiously surveyed the surrounding scenery while scanning the current rankings on the leaderboard located on the right side of his peripheral vision.
There were six leaderboards in total for the foreign clans.
Firepower, Defense, Speed, Comfort, Number of People, and Size.
Each of these six leaderboards awarded 100 points and, in the leaderboard prompt, Hope One had gotten first place in all five categories except for Number of People, allowing him to achieve an excellent score of 500 points.
Currency, the Thunder Monkey clan was not far behind. They were first in three of the leaderboards, namely the ones for Firepower, Defense, and Speed, as well as being eighth for Comfort and tenth for Size, giving them a total score of 330 points, undoubtedly placing them at the top among the foreign clans.
After a quick survey and noticing that the Cursed Tiger clan, the Primordial Pig clan, and the Crystal Dragon clan were also watching the live broadcast, Su Mo shook his head gently and continued scrolling down.
As the lowest-profile race among the royal family clans, the s.h.i.+p that was moving swiftly along the sea was also extremely low-profile in nature.
The whole s.h.i.+p was gray and black, like a ghost in the night. It was traveling at a speed of at least 10 knots, if not a little faster!
The boat was thin and long with a bow that was shaped like a rhinoceros horn, which made it for the s.h.i.+p to cut through the waves.
The s.h.i.+p’s stern was rounded, its design transitioning and gradually from the graceful bow that was raised up high in front.
With its low freeboard and small superstructure, in addition to the long, sharp, curved scissor-shaped bowsprit, the s.h.i.+p allowed the Thunder Monkeys to cut through the waves in those deep waters.
Su Mo was very much acquainted with this type of s.h.i.+p. Actually, he knew it like the back of his hand.
It was the main transport s.h.i.+p for opium back then.
The clipper!
The design of this s.h.i.+p vastly improved s.h.i.+p stability and also allowed sailors to make full use of the sails, with the s.h.i.+p’s deck barely being above the surface of the water. Even the underwater shape of the vessel’s hull was designed to have the least amount of water resistance to increase its speed. It was said to be the fastest type of sailing vessel.
Su Mo was amazed that the Thunder Monkeys actually possessed such naval technology and had built such an advanced sailing boat, so he quickly switched to the host view.
The very next second, after looking clearly at the screen in front of him, Su Mo’s surprise quickly faded and his face instantly turned gloomy.
The Thunder Monkey king stood in the center of the screen. He was not very tall, standing at about 1.3m in height.
He looked a bit like a chimpanzee on Earth and, apart from a little bit of silvery fur in the center of his head, he looked just like an immature ape.
In his eyes, Su Mo could see a sliver of intelligence that was different from the other foreign races. Although he could not be compared to the elites of the human race, he was probably smarter than the average human!
At that moment, standing on the s.h.i.+p’s bow and watching countless members of different foreign races enter the live broadcast stream every second, the Thunder Monkey king had a smile on his face and he could not stop smacking his lips together.
“h.e.l.lo everyone! Once again, we welcome all our friends from the other foreign clans to the Thunder Monkey clan’s live broadcast stream. What you can see right now is our clan’s most powerful wars.h.i.+p…”
“The Thunderbolt!”
“This s.h.i.+p is the result of the Thunder Monkey clan’s efforts and dedication. I’m sure that you guys can see how well the Thunderbolt is sailing on the sea, so I welcome all our friends from the other foreign clans to come over and team up with us. Our coordinates are…”
To be honest, the Thunder Monkey king seemed to be a pretty good businessman, but there was another simple reason behind Su Mo’s grim look.
From the bow of the s.h.i.+p, Su Mo saw that there were not only regular Thunder Monkeys at work on the s.h.i.+p, but also many humans among them!
The people there were all skinny and malnourished, and it was obvious that they had not had a full meal in the past two months.
They did not share the same status as the other human collaborators, like the human spies. Perhaps it would be more apt to describe them with a term that was rarely used anymore on Earth…
Slaves!
Yes, every human in sight was working like a slave, threatened with the whip by the Thunder Monkey overseeing them.
Besides that, heavy chains were also wrapped around their hands and feet.
It was as if those shackles had made every human lose their souls as they worked numbly on the s.h.i.+p like walking corpses.
They did not even look up when the Thunder Monkey king’s loud voice blared out in front of them.
“Okay, so my Nine-Clawed Thousand-Year-Old Green Chicken friend here has asked why there are humans on our s.h.i.+p. Oh, what a good question!”
“Let me ask you a question instead. How much does it cost to hire a chicken from your clan each day?”
“Okay, so hiring a chicken would mean that we would have to feed them 10 catties of meat per day, provide them three meals a day, and even protect their safety. Otherwise, we’d need to compensate 500 catties of meat when a hired worker dies.”
“Of course, I know this doesn’t seem like much because, if they’re strong fighters or have other special talents, it can even be a bargain, but has anyone thought about how much it would cost to hire a human worker instead?”
“Very smart. I see that some of our friends in the comments section have already guessed the right answer.”
“All we need to do is give these humans, who are as numerous as ants, half a catty of food each day. Only half a catty, my friends! Just for that little food, you get a very good laborer, but what’s even more important is that we don’t have to worry about whether these humans will be dead or alive, healthy or sick, tomorrow.”
“All you have to do is throw them some of your leftovers every day and let them work. And if they die, you can just throw them away! Hahaha, they are the perfect tools!”
When the Thunder Monkey king talked about how useful humans were, he became energetic and spoke in a torrent of words about the rapid progress in productivity that the Thunder Monkeys had achieved during this time by using human workers.
From ordinary tools to cultivating land, to growing crops and even using the humans’ trading markets to acquire meat.
These methods, that many ordinary foreign clans were unaware of, were successfully discovered and used by the Thunder Monkeys, who had a higher intelligence quotient than most foreign races.
Even the blueprint for the clipper, along with its construction, were thanks to the efforts of those human slaves.
“I’m telling all of you now that after we successfully implement our plan this time, we can kill these humans, but not all of them. We can keep a group of them and let them continue to work for us so that not only will our chances of surviving the disaster become higher, but it’ll also free up more time for us to do other things.”
After speaking continuously for more than half an hour, the Thunder Monkey king stopped talking after concluding his speech. Since his mouth was dry, he picked up a fruit next to him and started to nibble on it.
At the same time, under his earnest and tireless advice, everyone in the comments section were in agreement because all the foreign clans suddenly realized the benefits of such an arrangement, so they flooded him with words of grat.i.tude.
Many of them even began to raise their opinions, saying that it would be better for them to replace the meat they used for trading currency with humans, with the prices being determined based on the size and health of the humans.
As soon as someone brought that up, dozens of foreign clans immediately echoed their agreement, and when the Thunder Monkey king saw it, he nodded his head approvingly as well.
“They say that there is strength in numbers, right? I’m so glad that you guys brought this up because we didn’t think about using humans as trading goods. Thank you guys so much.”
When he said that, the Thunder Monkey king’s face was very serious, but there was also just the slightest hint of a smirk on his face.
However, no one knew that the foreign clan that had just suggested the idea of treating humans as trading goods was actually just a race affiliated with the Thunder Monkey clan.
Aside from that, no one knew that the other foreign clans that were clamoring to agree to the idea were actually spammers secretly solicited and paid for by the Thunder Monkeys!
However, the Thunder Monkeys seemed to have figured out that the ordinary foreign clans with IQs of less than 80 would perceive the idea to be rather good.
All they needed to do was plant a seed in their heads and slowly brainwash them. Eventually, when they arrived at the New World, the Thunder Monkeys would be able to dominate the slave market and cement their position because of their first-mover advantage.
If there were still human survivors left, the Thunder Monkeys could also secretly contact the survivors and resell the humans back to them, making a huge profit for themselves.
However, the ordinary foreign clan would not have thought that far. To them, the Thunder Monkey king, who was the first one to come up with the idea, and who was ranked first in this third disaster, was a genius beyond comparison.
However, before the Thunder Monkey king could continue and lead the conversation in the direction he wanted, an eye-catching comment popped up in the comments section that was full of positive comments.
It was not a long comment, in fact, it comprised only three words, and was a colloquial saying among the Huaxians.
The comment made the Thunder Monkey king furious.
“Oh? It seems that the Golden Lion King here seems to have a different opinion.. Let’s see what he has to say!”