Chapter 437: Leaving, Renewal, Freedom!
Translator: EndlessFantasy TranslationEditor: EndlessFantasy Translation
“Pointer range exceeded?”
“This is the first time this kind of notification appeared!”
Su Mo tried to key in Zhong Qingshu’s information once again, only to find that the Pointer gave the same response. Su Mo felt a little assured in his heart, but he had many questions as well.
If one used this item to find humans that had not arrived at the wasteland, the reason for failure would be displayed as unknown.
Also, according to the coverage range of the Pointer, even if it was up to tens of thousands of kilometers away, nothing would be hidden and it would still be within the Pointer’s surveillance range.
For it to show that she was out of range
Su Mo thought of the Mountain and Sea Painting Scroll card and the time he had used it. He was able to get a glimpse of all 10 continents in just one glance. Su Mo remained in deep thought as he made his way back to the captain’s quarters.
If things continued like this, even without the game panel’s chat function, he could also use the Pointer to constantly check on Zhong Qingshu’s safety.
However, if he wanted to find her, using this rare-quality Pointer was obviously insufficient.
If that was the case, there were only two paths for Su Mo to take.
‘The first was to wait for Zhong Qingshu to return from the place she was at by herself, and the Pointer would naturally be able to find her when that happened.
The second was to find a higher quality item; one that could scour greater distances. That way, he would eventually be able to find her as well.
‘These two options might be different, but they had one thing in common, which was that he had to wait!
“This time, those that have arrived are 52 and 16 years old and, if ‘m not mistaken, Zhong Qingshu should have left in search of her elders.”
“Also, for her to be so far away now should not pose such a huge problem. She has entered the ruins of time before, so she should be pretty knowledgeable about the way the game works!”
After reaching such a conclusion, Su Mo clenched his fists a little.
In this world, he cared for many people but, in some sense, not many as well.
Zhong Qingshu was definitely one of those he cared about.
If she was alive, he would want to see her in person. If she was dead, he would want to see her corpse. No matter what, he would not sit back and watch Zhong Qingshu disappear without a trace.
However, from what he could make of the situation, Su Mo did not put in too much effort or energy in worrying about a problem that he had no solution to.
After willing the Magic Carpet to transform into the size of a small bed, he spread it out and laid on it.
Su Mo did not know whether it was due to its properties, or due to its original soft and comfortable material, but Su Mo was able to quickly calm his mind and fell into a deep sleep.
Anight passed without a word.
As the sun rose over the horizon on the 12th day of the third month of the Doomsday calendar, a new day had come.
This was the day that was fated to be recorded in the history of the wasteland.
6.30 am in the morning, 5.5 hours before the game version update.
Early in the morning, Su Mo, who had gotten a good night’s rest thanks to the properties of the Magic Carpet, climbed out of bed refreshed.
‘The Magic Carpet’s special powers provided magical buff, allowing its user to gain a 20% enhancement of all physical attributes, and increased recovery speed of the user’s stamina and mental energy by 30%, as long as the user laid on it for an hour a day.
‘These enhancements were a few times more significant for Su Mo than for an ordinary person since he had stats that had surpassed the physical and mental limits of humans.
After stretching lazily, Su Mo summoned the lion clan’s wind ability to blow the tepid air inside the captain’s quarters away.
Holding onto the side of the bed, Su Mo got up and made his way slowly to the only place in the captain’s quarters where he could see the outside world—the porthole.
After pulling the curtains aside, Su Mo’s enhanced eyesight could spot the survivors of the Tundra fleet moving about.
At this time in the morning, they were already eating their breakfast. They had obviously gotten up at 4 am or 5 am, ready to make an early start to the day.
‘Without modern-day conveniences and transportation, and given the absence of distractions from entertainment devices, humans returned to their habit of working as the sun rose, and resting as the sun set.
Su Mo sat quietly by the window and watched the peaceful and serene scenes below unfold with amusement.
At 6.50 am, he had finally washed up. Then he went down the stairs onto the main deck and started the workout routine that he had not done in a while.
Gradually, as the clock struck 7 in the morning, Hope One and its crew members woke up from their slumber as well.
‘They first lined up to wash up, and then, habitually, they came to the main deck to take in some fresh air.
‘When they saw Su Mo working out with his three-pointed two-edged sword, their faces were awe-struck, but their eyes were filled with unadulterated excitement.
Good men indeed belonged on the battlefield!
On this wasteland that has emphasized combat power, other than guns and modem weaponry, the strength of the human itself could not be overlooked.
‘When the majority of the factors were similar, the teams led by weak leaders and strong leaders would be vastly different in terms of morale and style.
If this were to be reflected in the general attributes in the game, it would be called.
Leadership talent!
Alas, the game at the current stage had not unlocked this feature yet, and it also did not encourage the players to pursue the path of leadership.
Su Mo ignored the staring eyes of everyone around him and practiced his moves until he was sweating buckets, seemingly emitting steam from his pores. After he stored his three-pointed two-edged sword away, he exhaled a long breath of impure air.
“Get ready, we will leave today. If you have anything you wanna tell your brothers below, quickly do so now.”
“Understood!”
Yesterday, all the crew members had received news that they would depart to the New World today.
‘When they heard Su Mo’s words at that moment, they were not surprised. They quickly took their places and, before the game panel ceased to function for the version update, they bade their final goodbyes.
After a shower, and after eating breakfast, Tundra One’s anchor was finally raised slowly from the depths of the ocean at around 8 am.
Su Mo paused, opened the game panel, and sent out a few messages.
“Lwish you a safe journey everyone. For ourselves, for tomorrow, for humankind…”
“Live long and live well!”
‘These messages were not sent out in private chats, but were directly sent out to the Regional Channel.
As if they had discussed it together before, no one added anything below these messages.
‘When everyone saw these messages, they nodded, gave thanks in their hearts, and ran towards their designated spots once more.
“Su Mo, I don’t know when we’ll see each other again after this goodbye. For us, for you, for tomorrow…”
“You’ve gotta live long and live well as well!”
Solemnly, Lu Yongyi was the one that stood out to respond to Su Mo’s message.
After sending out his message, the fleet started its voyage.
As Tundra One steered their ship away and went to the forefront of most of the ships, boats and raft ferries, the entire team worked intricately like clockwork and started assembling themselves into a formation.
Within 300km, Hope fleet would be able to enjoy a 60% attribute bonus from Hope One, and their speed would be able to be maintained at a terrifying 27 knots!
This was also why, in less than 5 minutes, an arrow-shaped fleet could already be seen gradually starting to form on the ocean.
“Su Mo, we’ll make a move now. Goodbye!”
With a loudhailer, Lu Yongyi’s voice was faint as it had come from somewhere upfront.
As his voice faded away, a series of roars could be heard from the raft ferries as well.
“Almighty Su, thank you!”
“Almighty Su, we will always remember you!”
“Almighty Su, you’re humankind’s savior forever and always!”
No one would want to display sorrow in the last moments before parting ways.
Their cheeky shouts eventually turned into echoes as their speed increased gradually.
‘As they sailed forward, the speed of the fleet leaving became faster and faster.
Visually, the fleet that left had become like a small dot that was slowly disappearing over the horizon.
Su Mo stood at the bow of Hope One until he could no longer see the departing fleet, after which he reeled in the sentimental expression and emotions on his face and replaced it with resoluteness.
‘As he walked down from the bow and marched towards the bridge, Su Mo plopped down onto the captain’s seat.
It was almost as if the OS had detected his presence there as it issued a timely notification prompt.
[Captain Su Mo, should we proceed with raising the anchor, setting the coordinates to 0,0 and commencing our full speed return?]
Over the many days, relying on the Defense Master’s surveillance capabilities and the OS’ auto-mapping system, the map that was empty in the beginning had now been filled up by about 30%. This was a significant improvement.
By using this map and the calculations of the OS, the current ocean region was now clearly displayed on the screen.
“No rush. Let’s stay here for now.”
“When the game begins its version update, we’ll decide on our next destination.”
Canceling the OS’ auto-pilot command, Su Mo did not sit idly inside the bridge and watch the final three hours go by.
First, he opened the game panel and sent a few more messages to Zhong Qingshu.
‘These messages included the approximate time at which Hope One would arrive at Iron Rock Mountain, and the time they would head to the New World. He annotated everything precisely.
If Zhong Qingshu were to return from that very far place and was able to receive these messages, she would be able to follow the clues and find them.
After sending out the messages, Su Mo spent another half an hour going on a shopping spree on the trading market.
‘As the market was on the verge of shutting down, the trades that were taking place there were no longer as subdued as before. At this point in time, it experienced an unexpected small frenzy of buying and selling.
All types of items, whether useful ones or useless ones, were all piling up on the trading market.
Even though there were people who demanded a high price for their items, there were also valuable items with fairly low and reasonable prices.
For example, the PS5 that had just been newly launched on Earth could be traded for just a set of toiletries (toothbrush, towel, toothpaste, and wash basin).
An HD projector that was worth tens of thousands of yuan on Earth could be traded for a mere pair of glasses with 300 power.
Su Mo did not forgo any of these items that had a certain technological value. After a round of shopping, both parties had a satisfying trade.
After all these things were done, it was about 10 am.
Su Mo went down to the crew cabin after the morale-shaking parting, and played the role of a friendly captain as he visited each crew member at their dorms.
From the physics talents’ dorms to the architecture talents’ dorms, Su Mo was elated when he saw all their unconventional yet brilliant interior cabin structures.
In these people, Su Mo could see a shining difference between them and the ordinary survivors at Hope Village.
Three months had not diminished the creativity of these people, and the harsh wasteland environment did not cause them to discard the knowledge they had honed back on Earth.
The three months that had passed smoothened their edges, but also allowed them to find their own footing in this world. It was a win-win situation!
On the spot, Su Mo announced a rewards plan.
From now, until the next 20 days, Su Mo required them to come up with a solution to a problem.
The theme of the problem would be ‘how to transform the basin area into a location that was easy to defend and hard to attack’.
This transformation problem welcomed all kinds of ideas. It was just like playing Minecraft, and the best ideas would be implemented. There were no limits to the difficulty of the method of transformation.
Su Mo was not stingy with the rewards for solving this problem.
With a wave of his hand, he issued the terms for the resource rewards in front of everyone.
First place would get 6 months of abundant food supplies for one person!
Second place would get 5 months!
Following that progression, the top 5 would all receive handsome rewards.
This rewards system completely ignited the passion of these crew members.
All of them howled in excitement as they rushed back to their dorms, preparing themselves to start work as soon as the basin area’s general topography was ready and released to them.
Su Mo asked Zhang Long and the rest to get the topographical map from the OS and looked at the time. Before he knew it, there were only some tens of minutes remaining before the commencement of the game version update.
After strolling around, Su Mo went back to the captain’s quarters.
‘The game was like an invisible net, even though it provided immense convenience to humans, it was also like a surveillance camera, watching their every movement.
Su Mo, who was usually calm, could not help but feel excited, almost as if he could finally escape the cage that held him captive; returning to a time where he had the ultimate freedom.
[Record]: All players should be informed that the game will commence with the version update immediately. Estimated duration of the version update: 336 hours (14 days).
[Record]: This version update involves too many elements, so all players will receive their update rewards after this period.
[Record]: Countdown to version update. 5… 4… 3… 2…1.
Whoosh.
It was as if the heavens and earth had gone silent for a few minutes, and the waves on the ocean stopped moving for a while.
However, in the end, with a shudder, everything returned to normal again.
Su Mo opened the game panel, but what greeted Su Mo was an offline black screen and, other than the storage space, the other functions were unusable.
He tried to tap on them, but there was no response.
“Good, this is what I’ve been waiting for!”
After making sure that the game had gone into hibernation, Su Mo felt like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders.
Acard floated out from the item column as Su Mo willed it.
This card might look like an ordinary card but, if one would look carefully, they would see blue energy swirling within it. What an amazing sight!
This was.
The Oracle Experience Card of the God of the Ocean!
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