Chapter 326: The Valley Where Storms Converge (Patreon)

Chapter 326: The Valley Where Storms Converge

"Wait, something's wrong."

"They're moving too fast—"

The middle-aged Scavenger Hunter had no time to react.

With a violent crash, the tavern door was forced open.

Several drones armed with cold, mechanical weaponry flew inside.

Through their external speakers, they announced their takeover of the premises.

The Scavenger Hunters inside exchanged glances.

No one spoke.

Yet in each of their hearts, they realized—

The shelter was about to face something major.

Half an hour later.

The same Scavenger Hunters who had been chatting idly in the tavern now obediently arrived at the shelter's topmost level.

They lined up to receive tools, prepared to follow the invaders' orders for labor.

There, they unexpectedly spotted a few disheveled former high-ranking shelter officials, seemingly treated no differently from ordinary laborers.

"Why isn't the director here?"

"Seems he was killed for resisting."

After quietly gathering information from those who arrived earlier, the Scavenger Hunters became even more compliant.

Whatever orders the invaders' robots gave, they followed without question.

Including travel time, the entire process took just over ten minutes.

The largest shelter in Su Wu's designated temporary storage zone—the Bluebird Shelter—had fallen.

Without giving its residents any time to adjust or adapt, the Artificial Intelligence immediately set them to work, repurposing local resources to modify the shelter.

The goal was to clear as much space as possible for the incoming transport fleet.

Meanwhile, between the Bluebird Shelter's surface and the coastal mountain range, the first batch of over a hundred Ice Lake-class Transport Ships, fully loaded with supplies, stretched across the snowy plains in a line spanning more than ten kilometers.

Slowly, they advanced toward the Bluebird Shelter.

Along the way, small groups of robots—sometimes just a few, sometimes dozens—would occasionally break off from the convoy.

Armed with various tools, they worked to repair and widen the path for the transport ships.

Given the current scale of the Ice Lake-class Transport Ship fleet, maximizing their transport efficiency on this sixty-kilometer route would require widening the road to at least seventy meters—equivalent to over twenty parallel lanes.

"Estimated deployment: 400,000 robots."

"Total construction time: 13 hours and 20 minutes."

"Barely acceptable."

After glancing at the construction report submitted by the Artificial Intelligence, Su Wu let his gaze linger on the ever-lengthening convoy before turning back to the mountains.

Inside the mountain range, the large-scale power plants and massive wireless power transmission systems continued operating normally.

With a staggering output of 50 million kilowatts, they consumed over 10,000 tons of fuel every hour.

Given such substantial returns, Su Wu had no intention of dismantling them unless absolutely necessary.

Time passed swiftly in the midst of busy activity. Seven or eight hours later, the main force of the massive Ice Lake-class Transport Ship fleet gradually arrived at the coastal mountain range's storage zone.

The storage area spanned a vast expanse, consisting of one large valley and thirteen smaller mountain hollows.

It housed a total of 11,700 medium and large warehouses.

Even with over 4,000 Ice Lake-class Transport Ships pouring in simultaneously, the area didn't feel crowded at all.

However, despite the ample space,

with part of the mechanical corps dispatched to widen the roads,

the lack of sufficient loading and unloading workers

meant the overall efficiency of loading supplies wasn't particularly high.

On average,

only two or three transport ships could be fully loaded per minute.

That translated to roughly 1.4 million tons of supplies transported per hour.

Fortunately, this was only temporary.

As the road construction teams gradually returned to the coastal mountains aboard the returning transport ships,

the loading speed began to noticeably increase.

Eventually, it reached a transport capacity of nearly 2 million tons per hour.

By the 27th hour of the transport fleet's arrival in the mountains,

the branch cyclone from Zhenhai City

finally made landfall near the coastal shelter.

At this time,

even during the day,

the sky over the mountains not far from the coastal shelter

grew completely dark.

Howling winds swept past the large wireless power transmission device atop the highest peak in the mountains,

causing its base tower

to tremble unsteadily from time to time.

Some indicator lights on the tower also began flickering erratically.

"The wind is still intensifying."

"Continuing like this would be extremely dangerous."

"Better to know when to stop."

Looking at the holographic map,

where the magnified power transmission tower showed yellow stress warnings in many areas,

Su Wu knew that the safest initial period had come to an end.

After a few taps on the control panel,

he cut off the power transmission from the coastal mountains.

A few seconds later,

the bright light at the tip of the power transmission tower—which had stood atop the coastal mountains, operating continuously for days and nights—

began to dim slowly.

The already gloomy sky

grew even darker.

At the same time,

the large power station in the valley

also shut down all its equipment in sync,

entering the dismantling and packing process.

These power generation units were relatively expensive.

Once packed, they would be prioritized for transport.

By the 34th hour,

accompanied by a deep rumbling,

a weak section of the mountain at the edge of the range reached its breaking point under the assault of the supersonic storm.

The entire slope collapsed from top to bottom,

creating a long, narrow breach in the otherwise nearly perfect circular enclosure of the valley where the temporary warehouses were located.

The storm, carrying an aura of destruction,

poured in through the gap

and slammed into an Ice Lake-class Transport Ship that had just been fully loaded and was preparing to depart.

The gale, carrying energy no less formidable than a tidal wave,

acted like an unstoppable force,

pushing the massive hull of the transport ship bit by bit off its original trajectory

and slowly pressing it against a giant warehouse behind it.

A few minutes later,

when the two collided,

it didn’t take long

for the warehouse’s walls to first show dense cracks

before shattering completely in an instant.

Countless debris, along with large quantities of supplies from inside the warehouse,

were swept up by the wind before they could even hit the ground.

The Ice Lake-class Transport Ship on the other end of the collision

didn’t fare any better.

Its hull, after all, was only made of a thin layer of cheap low-temperature metal.

Under the immense impact of the collision,

the entire ship began to twist violently in mere moments.

Then, as the twisted metal hull pressed against the engines and the massive solid-state battery storage compartments, a series of minor explosions inevitably erupted within the ship's interior.

This delivered the final fatal blow to the already teetering transport vessel.

With the outer transport ships and temporary warehouses no longer providing cover, deeper within the valley, more warehouses began to be engulfed in the chaotic and violent air currents.

"We can't let this continue," Su Wu muttered. "We must find a way to seal the breach."

He wasn't overly concerned about the loss of one or two transport ships and warehouses. However, he couldn't ignore the drastic drop in overall loading efficiency if the entire valley were thrown into chaos by the external storm.

Without much hesitation, he immediately directed several other transport ships, also laden with supplies, to charge toward the breach torn open by the storm.

A little over ten minutes later, with the combined efforts of several ten-thousand-ton-class transport ships, the relatively small breach at the edge of the mountainous area was temporarily sealed. The battered valley regained a brief moment of calm.

But this respite was destined to be short-lived. The hulls of the Ice Lake-class Transport Ships had never been designed with defense in mind. Even with their weight exceeding ten thousand tons due to the cargo, their structural fragility couldn't withstand the onslaught.

Within mere seconds of facing the storm head-on, the two outermost Ice Lake-class Transport Ships showed signs of imminent disintegration.

Left with no choice, Su Wu mobilized most of the Spider Robots in the valley, gathering the remaining Rapid-setting Cement and directing them to pour it at the breach in an attempt to quickly erect a wall to fend off the storm.

The Rapid-setting Cement's three-minute curing time proved crucial in this critical moment. Soon, before the leading Ice Lake-class Transport Ships could be torn apart by the supersonic winds, a 1-meter-thick, 20-meter-high wall was erected, firmly sealing the breach.

"A 20-meter wall is still too low," Su Wu mused. "We need to raise it to at least 50 meters. But that can be done gradually."

Building upon the existing wall wouldn't be too difficult—just a matter of time and patience. This task also wouldn't require too many robots, so most of those temporarily deployed to the breach could return to loading supplies.

By the 36th hour, the Rapid-setting Cement wall spanning the valley breach had withstood the fierce winds without issue. However, in the higher, unprotected areas, the relentless violent air currents had begun eroding the elevated terrain around the valley, occasionally triggering landslides or collapses, making the valley's environment increasingly unsafe.

At the 40th hour—BOOM! A thunderous quake shook the ground as billions of tons of earth cascaded down from above, burying several temporary warehouses in the valley. Thousands of robots of various models working inside were instantly destroyed.

Su Wu watched the scene calmly through the holographic map, showing no reaction to the devastating loss. After all, transporting supplies out of the mountainous region was already like snatching food from a tiger's mouth. Managing to operate safely for 40 hours was already a significant gain.

"There are still approximately 30 million tons of general supplies and 60 million tons of fuel remaining."

"We didn't have time to evacuate them."

"Hold on a little longer if possible."

At this moment.

Although the loss of some robots.

Had significantly reduced the overall workforce in the valley.

The loading and transportation operations had become more aggressive.

For example, to shorten the distance during transport.

Multiple walls around a massive warehouse could be breached.

Creating different exit points for shipments.

The actual evacuation speed wasn't slow.

In fact, it had slightly exceeded the initial rate, reaching 2.4 million tons per hour.

By the 52nd hour.

When only a few million tons of general supplies and fuel remained unevacuated in the coastal mountain area.

Multiple simultaneous landslides occurred.

The long-contained storm outside the mountains.

Finally found new breaches.

Roaring into the valley with accumulated force.

It destroyed numerous temporary warehouses in succession.

"It's time to leave."

Recognizing the situation was beyond salvage.

Su Wu didn't hesitate.

He decisively ordered the remaining 2,000+ Ice Lake-class Transport Ships in the valley to evacuate.

As his command took effect.

All robots still working in the temporary warehouses.

Immediately abandoned the general resources and fuel being loaded.

They began boarding the nearest transport ships in an orderly manner.

And retreated northward from the mountains.

The evacuation process wasn't smooth.

Due to the chaotic and violent air currents in the valley.

Coupled with debris from massive landslides being swept into the air.

Accelerating to terrifying speeds.

Many robots encountered accidents during boarding.

And even those who successfully entered the transport ships.

Weren't completely safe.

Occasionally, some ships were unlucky enough to be struck by intact rocks weighing tens or hundreds of tons.

Losing power instantly.

Some lightly loaded transport ships with less weight.

Unluckily entered areas where storm currents converged.

Colliding uncontrollably with the mountains.

In the end.

Only over 1,400 Ice Lake-class Transport Ships successfully escaped the valley now transformed into a storm vortex.

As the last convoy set out toward the Bluebird Shelter in the north.

Su Wu, still at his farmhouse in Jianghe City far away.

Received the final tally of losses and gains from this operation.

"Total losses: over 700 Ice Lake-class Transport Ships."

"More than 300,000 robots of various models."

"Evacuated: 94 million tons of general supplies."

"Plus one 50-million-kilowatt power plant equipment set and a large-scale wireless power transmission system."

"Remaining: 7-8 million tons of general supplies and over 60 million tons of fuel."

"Couldn't be evacuated in time."

"Based on final pre-evacuation projections."

"All temporary warehouses should have been destroyed by now."

"Post-disaster recovery of these materials is virtually impossible."

This outcome.

Wasn't the best possible.

But not far from it.

Nearly 100 million tons of general supplies essentially represented most of Zhenhai City's assets.

Controlling them.

Would not only cover all losses from this operation.

The surplus would significantly strengthen the farmhouse's capabilities.

It was a pity that they couldn't salvage over 60 million tons of fuel.

This left Su Wu feeling somewhat regretful.

"Next, we'll need to figure out how to transport them back to the farmhouse."

Putting down the inventory list,

he turned his gaze back to the map of the Eastern Continent.

Su Wu observed the branch cyclones that had already made landfall near the coastal refuge,

and the geological active zones extending their tendrils to within less than 10 kilometers of the coastline.

He knew the upcoming operations

probably wouldn't be too easy either.

(End of chapter)