Chapter 328: Sailing Battleship, Wasteland’s New Class

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

The night of Doomsday Calendar Month 2 Day 18, just before daybreak of the next day.

At this point in time, everyone witnessed the same warning signs that had previously occurred seven days prior to the arrival of the blizzard disaster.

After Su Mo fell into a deep sleep, a thunderstorm soon arrived.

Boom!

Boom!

It sounded like the thunder’s angry roars were heralding the arrival of a natural disaster. Every flash of lightning across the sky illuminated the darkness below.

No one wanted to die!

No one had given up hope in this new world!

At this crucial juncture, over 90% of the large gatherings of humans were making their final efforts in preparation to face the disaster.

Even the lone wolves were trying all kinds of ways to hoard supplies in preparation for heading out to sea.

On Iron Rock Mountain, a series of temporary awnings were erected to provide shelter from the raging wind outside and a stable working environment for the busy villagers.

Pots of hot soup to drive away the cold were also delivered by the cooks to the villagers.

At this stage, more than 80% of Hope Village’s food resources had been taken out and exchanged with various tools.

Thirty people oversaw the manufacturing process, forty people were in charge of compression, forty were in charge of packaging, and finally another twenty were responsible for sealing and storing them in the warehouse.

Given that the villagers had no need to indulge themselves in shipbuilding efforts, the efficient allocation of personnel allowed them to keep work tasks simple, and allow for a productive and fulfilling night of work.

All the villagers sitting under the awnings obviously knew they had chosen a risky strategy…

However, one thing that reassured the villagers was that…

This major investment strategy was approved by Su Mo!

The leadership might muddle things up, make mistakes or misjudgments but, as for Almighty Su, that would never be the case!

Listening to the sound of the rain falling beside them, they were full of expectations for how many items they would be able to obtain by selling the absorbent gum.

Similarly, on this wasteland that was about to be baptized by the disaster, it was not only the villagers of Hope Village who were full of expectations.

As one turned their gaze toward a particular mossy plain, there was a shelter several times larger than Hope Village, brightly lit during the thunderstorm.

Unlike the frenzied work going on in other places, as lightning flashed across the night sky, it could be clearly seen from the faces of the busy people in this shelter that…

They were excited!

They were wearing raincoats, holding umbrellas, and their steps were brisk. It seemed like there was a fire burning in their hearts!

Although the rain was pouring outside, it still did not stop them from walking out of the shelter. After identifying the direction and forming a large group, they started moving forward like an army of ants.

A hundred meters.

Two hundred meters.

Five hundred meters!

More and more people walked out of the shelter and joined the group. Everytime a bolt of lightning illuminated the darkness, a “snapshot” of that vast group was captured.

Gradually, in less than half an hour, the villagers arrived at the end of that straight path from the village, after trudging through the muddy and slippery ground.

As they turned right after about 300 meters along the end of that path, a small hill appeared in everyone’s sights.

The hill was not small and looked to be a bit bigger than the Underground Shelter.

Its length spanned over two hundred meters but, because of its height—which was only about 20 meters—and because it was too long, it looked far less majestic.

It could be seen from a distance that this hill had no defined peak at its center. It resembled a volcanic crater and rain was accumulating within it.

However, it was such a hill like this that had everyone in the group holding their breaths in anticipation.

“Everybody, get in line. Don’t get worked up. The test hasn’t started yet…”

“Hey, hey, Lu Xin, I’m talking about you! Scrape the mud off your feet. As for the others, scrape the mud off your feet before heading in. For those suffering from conditions, put a plastic bag over your feet before going in.”

On the side of the small hill was a small door that would allow three people to enter and exit when opened.

Currently, four guards with rifles were standing beside the door and shouting at the incoming crowd, yet the crowd still remained cooperative.

Those with less mud on their feet washed them while scraping the mud off. As for those who had more mud on their feet, they simply took off their shoes, put them in the storage place, and walked in barefoot.

Everyone was filled with excitement. It was as if they were on Earth and a 50% discount promotion bargain at the supermarket had just started. The entrance was crowded with people in the blink of an eye.

They took out the wooden boards that recorded their identities for the guards to verify and stored it away again after. More and more people entered the passage.

Surprisingly, there were no noises heard even though a large number of people had entered the hill. It was as if everyone had been muted.

It was not rules or threats that kept them silent, but rather something in the hill that they saw as they walked through the deep passage…

The ship!

Everyone who entered and saw the ship seemed to be possessed. They numbly walked over to an empty space and sat down quietly.

The ship was the only thing that existed in their eyes at the moment!

This was the ship that would take them to the shore of hope. It was also their only hope to survive on the wasteland’s ocean.

This was the big guy that was constructed thanks to the accumulation of everyone’s resources, and precious treasure that they had been dreaming about for countless nights.

If Su Mo was there at this moment, he would surely exclaim as well!

“Awesome job, Tundra Shelter!”

Twenty days ago, it could be seen clearly from Su Chan’s video call that, after Tundra Shelter had separated from Ying Tianlong, its strength had declined terribly.

Not only were there only around 20 houses left, but even the population had also dropped sharply by half to less than 300 people.

Given such a decline, even if Tundra Shelter was an official shelter, it was destined to slowly descend into ruins.

In the face of the ocean disaster, there would be no miracles. They would be like the other shelters, where they could either choose to depend on a larger shelter or split up and have everyone go their own ways!

However, the situation had now changed!

It had only been half a month since then, but not only did the village size increase by an additional 40 to 50 more houses, even the population had risen to an outrageous number of…

780 people!

Although women and teenagers with lower combat strength accounted for most of these people, measured by population alone, Tundra Shelter would surely qualify as a medium-to-large shelter!

Moreover, the ship that stood there was also ample evidence of their strength.

Unlike Hope One, the ship used by the Tundra Shelter for migration was a wooden sailing ship.

Of course, it was not that the people from the Tundra Shelter did not want to use steel to build the ship, nor was it that they did not have the relevant technology to do so, but rather that they were limited by the materials required and manufacturing speed!

Without steel plates provided by a furnace that worked endlessly for 24 hours a day, the simplified construction process provided by a modular shipyard, and the super-powerful work efficiency of robot workers…

It would be impossible for them to achieve a miracle like “Hope One”.

Therefore, in the beginning, 99% of the shelters basically set their sights on constructing a wooden sailing ship.

Historically speaking, Huaxia’s shipbuilding industry only began to fall behind globally in recent times.

In ancient times, Huaxia’s shipbuilding industry had always been at the world’s forefront.

Not to mention that, when Zheng He made his voyage to the west, his massive fleet comprised Huaxian treasure ships that sailed the Grand Canal during Emperor Yang’s reign in the Sui Dynasty. From top to bottom, these huge vessels had four decks and 160 cabins.

Some countries might not be able to build such a huge ship even in today’s modern world.

With the experiences from their ancestors, the strengths and weaknesses of different countries were clearly brought into play during this race for survival.

Based on the number of people, those shelters with less than 300 people would be referred to as small-scale shelters.

Those with 300 to 500 people were regarded as semi-medium-scale shelters.

Those with 500 to 700 people were classified as medium-scale shelters, while those with 700 people and above were considered large-scale shelters.

There were only three days left until the advent of the disaster. In the first round of this survival competition, shipbuilding, it was very clear who the winners and losers were.

Those small-scale shelters that lacked resource accumulations would form the bottom bracket of competitors.

These kinds of shelters did not have sufficient leaders to form a cohesive group. The villagers who lived in these shelters were unwilling to trust their leadership and contribute materials to create a collective material warehouse for the village.

Naturally, all these villagers could only reformat their shelter cores into rafts for migration.

There were many such people within the wasteland, accounting for probably 20% of the total population. Busybodies jokingly dubbed such people the “submit to the will of heaven” class.

They could only rely on luck and surrender their lives to the raft beneath them, which could capsize at any time.

Going up from this level, it was the most talked-about level in the World Channel…

The large junk level!

Large junks were also called “square stern ships”. The ship was square in front and behind, with a wide deck, deep hull, low freeboard and stern.

It had a shallow draft, which made up for the shortcomings of the large amount of resistance generated by its shape. In addition, because of its large hull, it could be equipped with more masts and sails, which allowed it to sail against the current.

In addition, its cabins were watertight and the ship itself would not capsize easily, which made it an obvious choice for small and medium-scale shelters who had some accumulated resources at hand.

During the Ming Dynasty, the ship used by Zheng He during his voyages to the west was a type of large junk. This type of ship was well-known in Huaxia and the craftsmanship method was more widespread.

Currently, apart from the 20% from the “submitting to the will of heaven” level, the remaining 65% of the population chose to build this type of ship. The only differences between them lay in the materials used and the size of the ships!

Those that could be built over 30 meters in length were called golden sand ships. Those over 20 meters were called silver sand ships, and those further below were collectively called copper sand ships.

If this kind of ship was successfully constructed, they would not have to “submit to the will of heaven” and would become capable of surviving the ocean disaster and hopefully reaching the New World.

Going up from the large junk level, there came a level of ships that could only be seen when medium and large shelters showed off…

Ship of the lines!

From 1637 to 1850, during this chaotic maritime era, and before the invention of steam engines, ships of the line were the masters of the ocean.

It was an eternally classic scene where such battleships with hundreds of naval guns moved gracefully, and the two opposing sides lined up neatly and engaged in battles against each other.

Despite its many shortcomings, the ship of the line was the dominant naval vessel during the 17th to 19th centuries, and the fact that its prowess remained unchallenged for over two centuries was evidence of its power.

It was the crystallization of human ingenuity at the time. It was also the source of confidence that humans within these large-scale shelters had in daring to intervene in the great battle of the foreign races this time.

Thirty years to build an army, fifty years to build an air force, and one hundred years to build a navy. This classic saying came from the era of ships of the line!

Saying that it would take a hundred years to build a navy was not an exaggeration. It would take at least a hundred years for a tree to grow into a board or beam that could be used to make a ship.

The building of a 74-gun battleship required a harvest of more than 2000 Eagle Country oak trees planted a hundred years earlier. Besides, it could not be constructed from wood that had been left to rot in forests and mountains.

It had to be constructed with high-quality wood that had been specially planted in private forest estates.

The oaks must not be planted together too densely either. A dense environment would cause the oak trees to grow in a manner that would force them to compete for sunlight, and such wood would not be well-proportioned.

At that time, it was claimed that whoever owned the forest owned the fleet.

Similarly, in this wasteland, some resources might be unavailable or scarce.

However, this kind of tree that was used to make ships of the line was not rare; it was even considered abundant!

Therefore, this provided the perfect prerequisite for the manufacturing of ships of the line.

Provided that one had enough resources, were willing to use disaster points to dry the wood and prepare the materials, and had enough people in the shelter to work on construction…

Then this would definitely be the ship of choice without a doubt!

Since, at present, this was the strongest ship on the wasteland!

Ever!

Tundra Shelter’s chosen ship this time was a super ship of the line built out of wood.

This ship had a total deck length of 61 meters, a keel that was 49 meters long, a width of 14.7 meters, a depth of 23.17 meters, a draft of 6.8 meters, and drainage capacity of up to 1500 tons.

Thanks to the abundance of wood, and even the help of the game, Tundra Shelter used almost all their resources and piled it together to create such a monster!

Of course, Tundra Shelter managed to create such a monster not because it was an official shelter, nor because it had once occupied one of the top ten spots in the disaster rankings.

It was also not because Tundra Shelter stumbled upon some lucky occurrences and received great things from treasure chests, but…

It was because of that man who stood behind Tundra Shelter!

It was him!

He made it happen!

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