Chapter 327: The Silent Cataclysm (Patreon)

Chapter 327: The Silent Cataclysm

Reopening the geological reconnaissance data from the Eden Satellite, Su Wu studied it for a while.

Eventually, he selected a transport route that was most likely outside the main disaster zone.

He tentatively set the relocation endpoint at Steel City, located 200 kilometers north of the farmhouse.

As a former megacity, Steel City had ample space to accommodate over a hundred million tons of supplies.

Moreover, its location was ideal—closer to the Bluebird Shelter yet far from areas likely to be affected by the disaster.

It was a perfect temporary refuge.

However, reaching Steel City via the new route would require traversing 1,400 kilometers—nearly double the distance from the Coastal Shelter to the farmhouse.

This was a true long-distance journey.

"At the speed of the Ice Lake-class Transport Ships," Su Wu mused, "the round trip would take about a week. A bit too long, but still far better than facing supersonic storms and active seismic zones."

Once the relocation route was finalized, Su Wu pondered further.

He then organized the newly produced Merchant Trains, along with some that had just returned from transporting people in Xiao Jiang Province, into a dedicated group.

A total of 100 convoys were assembled and dispatched to the Bluebird Shelter.

These Merchant Trains were specifically tasked with evacuating the population.

Given their scale, they could easily load and transport all the people in the Bluebird Shelter region in a single trip—even with some supplies to spare.

Though Su Wu's initial intention in occupying the Bluebird Shelter had been to use it as a temporary storage hub, now that it was under his control, he couldn't simply abandon its residents.

At the very least, he had to ensure their survival.

"Additionally, the 2,000 newly produced Ice Lake-class Transport Ships from the past two days can follow the Merchant Trains," Su Wu decided.

"Combined with the existing 3,000-plus ships there, a single trip should be enough to transport more than half of the supplies to Steel City."

The terrifying productivity of the farmhouse was on full display.

Just as the coastal mountains had lost 700 Ice Lake-class Transport Ships, the farmhouse had already produced three times that number in replacements.

The combined fleet of old and new transport ships now had the capacity to move over 50 million tons of supplies in one go—equivalent to the entire Eastern Continent's daily railway freight volume before the apocalypse.

Even more frightening was the fact that, for Su Wu and the farmhouse, this was only the beginning.

Each passing day would see their transport capacity grow by millions of tons.

Soon enough, it would surpass the combined global pre-apocalyptic transport capacity across land, sea, and air.

In the following days, thousands of Ice Lake-class Transport Ships began their long journey to Steel City along the newly charted route, departing from the coastal Bluebird Shelter.

Meanwhile, the branch cyclone that had made landfall near the Coastal Shelter moved inland along the Kuan Jiang River Basin, as predicted by the Eden Satellite's analysis.

Wherever it passed, mountain ranges were eroded layer by layer, while ice and snow from the frozen ground were swept into the sky, darkening the already dim heavens.

It was hard to tell whether it was noon or night anymore.

The only silver lining was that, for now, only the peripheral cyclones had begun penetrating inland.

The geological active zone that Su Wu feared most had, upon reaching the coastline's edge, ultimately failed to advance further.

May 11th.

A rural courtyard.

"The coastal shelter is finished."

Standing before the holographic projection on the metal platform, Su Wu watched as the isolated image of the coastal shelter was slowly torn apart by an unstoppable force.

Once again, he felt the destructive power of the geological active zone.

Although all equipment had long been removed from this shelter, leaving it an empty shell, its thick concrete walls remained intact.

In terms of defensive capabilities and structural integrity, it was no different from other inhabited underground shelters.

Yet even so, after just a few hours within the geological active zone, it could no longer hold together, completely sliding into the abyss of disintegration.

Switching the holographic projection back to the Eastern Continent map, one could now see that the entire coastal shelter and its surrounding 20-kilometer radius were painted in deep and light red.

This represented the range of the geological active zone's devastation.

While its effects on land were relatively contained, the red zones extending hundreds of kilometers along the coastline from the coastal shelter's location in shallow waters had grown into a horrifying behemoth.

Almost all undersea shelters within that range were destroyed without exception.

The estimated death toll ranged between 30 to 70 million.

Since most shelters lacked external reconnaissance capabilities, their communication equipment—responsible for connecting to Su Wu's satellite network—was usually the first to be destroyed by violent seismic activity once caught in the geological active zone.

Thus, their disappearance often went unnoticed, causing no ripple in the outside world.

"Tens of millions died without a sound."

"Once again proving that in this apocalyptic era,"

"sheer numbers alone mean nothing."

"They bring no additional safety."

Su Wu fell silent.

This silent catastrophe had caught him somewhat unprepared.

The Eden Satellite's detection methods couldn't fully predict the direction of the geological active zone's spread, leading him to misjudge the situation.

He had focused evacuation efforts on Xiao Jiang Province, which was easier to access and had already been negotiated, despite not being in immediate danger.

Meanwhile, the undersea shelters were completely overlooked.

Had he mobilized all resources for emergency evacuations, those tens of millions might have survived.

"Also, looking back,"

"every past operation was restrained out of consideration for the Federation, the Eastern Continent's capital, and even those megacities."

"Now it seems,"

"these tens of millions of deaths are the price of that restraint."

"Too much hesitation."

Silently mourning those who now rested beneath the sea, Su Wu stood alone in quiet contemplation for a long time.

From that day onward, his approach to Eastern Continent shelter operations began to subtly shift.

Becoming more aggressive.

May 12th.

The cumulative number of Ice Lake-class Transport Ships had reached 9,000.

Su Wu had allocated all resources to transportation tasks involving ordinary supplies stored at the Bluebird Shelter and its surrounding areas.

At this moment.

The first batch of Ice Lake-class Transport Ships, fully loaded with supplies and departing from the Bluebird Shelter,

had been on the road for six full days.

They were still one to two hundred kilometers away from their destination, Steel City.

Based on their current speed,

by the time they arrived in Steel City,

there would be no need for them to return for a second trip.

The newly produced Ice Lake-class Transport Ships following behind would transport all the relocated supplies from the coastal mountainous regions

to Steel City in a single run.

On the route between Jianghe City and Xiao Jiang Province,

with ample resource supplies,

the continuously expanding fleet of Merchant Trains, now numbering 600,

began their third round of population transportation.

In the first two rounds, they had already brought 20 million new residents to the Farmhouse Compound.

Considering the ongoing expansion of the Merchant Train fleet,

this third round was expected to relocate over 13 million people in one go.

"Once the transportation of supplies and populations from these two locations is complete,"

"these two routes will not be abandoned."

"They will become the main transportation arteries of the Eastern Continent,"

"starting from the coastal areas and Xiao Jiang Province, respectively, and gradually absorbing surrounding shelters in batches, from far to near."

"Continuing to bring their resources back to the Farmhouse Compound."

This plan

was essentially a high-efficiency, sweeping-style resource collection operation.

Apart from the supercities, no shelter along the way would be overlooked,

maximizing the use of already established routes to gather as many resources as possible.

As for whether this would escalate tensions with the supercities or even provoke a joint counterattack,

such considerations were no longer within Su Wu's scope of concern.

Meanwhile,

to handle the anticipated influx of increasing resources,

Su Wu constructed a second Super Factory

on the 13th underground floor of the Farmhouse Compound's aquarium.

The construction of this factory would take seven days in total.

Once completed,

it was expected to double the production capacity of Ice Lake-class Transport Ships,

reaching a daily output of 2,000 vessels.

Additionally, it would reserve extra production capacity for the upcoming mass production of seventh-generation fighter jets.

May 13th.

A branch cyclone that had made landfall from the coastal shelters

gradually approached the Farmhouse Compound along the Kuan Jiang River Basin.

In the areas it ravaged,

all mines suffered severe damage.

Mine entrances collapsed, and all surface structures, including Vacuum Transport Pipelines, along with other mining-related facilities,

were mostly destroyed.

Production plummeted to its lowest point in a short time.

In the afternoon,

supersonic-speed air currents swept past the towering outer walls of the Farmhouse Compound,

officially transforming the surface area into a storm-ridden wasteland.

From this moment onward,

not only the smaller Azure Sky-Class Transport Drones

but even Sixth-Generation Fighter Jets

could no longer take off or land normally at the Farmhouse Compound's airfield.

Their destinations had to be temporarily switched to Steel City.

"The large-scale wireless power transmission facility built in the mountains about 20 to 30 kilometers to the north,"

"has already been dismantled on-site and stored in a mountain shelter."

"The ordinary nuclear power plant outside the Farmhouse Compound,"

"to prevent accidents,"

"has also been temporarily shut down."

"Currently, all power demands of the Farmhouse Compound can only be met by existing reserves and the newly constructed large conventional nuclear power plant on the underground 13th floor."

The conventional nuclear plant outside the Farmhouse Compound was originally just an abandoned civilian shelter.

Its main structure lies only six to seven meters below the surface.

At such shallow depth,

it might not remain fully secure against supersonic storms capable of stripping away entire mountain layers.

Better to shut it down entirely for peace of mind.

In contrast, the new nuclear plant built inside the Farmhouse Compound

has performed exceptionally well.

Single-handedly, it has steadily taken over the power demands of daily life, industrial production, and the Plantation for the shelter's population of over 100 million.

After inspecting the various facilities outside the shelter

and confirming they remained unaffected by the storm—

even the dozen or so vacuum transport channels, typically the weakest links,

showed no signs of damage—

Su Wu turned his attention inward.

At most, the accelerated debris ejected from these channels would be swept into the sky mid-flight,

swirling hundreds or even thousands of meters high,

darkening the heavens and further polluting the air.

Nearly half a month had passed since the final battle with the Amethyst Crystal Entity.

Liu Qianqian's reverse-engineering studies on their remnants

had yielded significant breakthroughs.

Among them, laser beam weapons had been fully decoded,

allowing three derivative series—Laser Cutters, Light Anti-Air Lasers, and the main combat Laser Beam Main Cannon—

to enter mass production.

"Laser Cutters can assist in ore extraction and underground excavation."

"Light Anti-Air Lasers can easily neutralize small to medium drones and intercept most missile and Rocket Propelled Grenade attacks."

"They're suitable for equipping standard Spider Robots, Merchant Trains, and Ice Lake-class Transport Ships."

"The Laser Beam Main Cannon's firepower falls between standard and large Electromagnetic Railguns."

"It performs slightly weaker than Biological Battleships."

"Each shot also consumes massive amounts of power."

"Only Pioneer-class Land Destroyers or larger land battleships—and the Farmhouse Compound—can support its use."

"Other units, including Sixth-Generation Fighter Jets, cannot mount this beam cannon."

For Su Wu,

the cannon's raw power wasn't the priority—meeting baseline effectiveness sufficed.

The key advantage was its lack of pre-charging:

once locked onto a target, it could fire instantly, striking near-instantaneously.

This would compensate for his long-range combat weaknesses.

In future clashes with Amethyst Crystal Biological Battleships,

he wouldn't need to fight so desperately—

instead, he could methodically eliminate them.

Beyond laser weapons,

Liu Qianqian had also reverse-engineered a semi-functional prototype of the Biological Battleship's engine.

Though riddled with flaws and unable to activate properly,

its underlying principles gave Su Wu a flash of inspiration.

Drawing parallels,

the final theoretical hurdle for the Seventh-Generation Fighter Jet—the Pulse Detonation Engine—

was now fully designed and ready for production.

And with the Super Factory's manufacturing capacity,

any complete blueprint could swiftly become reality.

Even if the seventh-generation fighter to be produced is far larger in size than the sixth-generation model—

almost qualifying as an aerial fortress or even an airborne carrier—

it won't take much longer.

At most, a little over 20 hours until the finished product is ready.

"Tomorrow."

"Tomorrow, we can conduct live combat tests on the seventh-generation fighter."

"The surface storms."

"They'll serve as a perfect natural testing ground."

(End of Chapter)