In the small farmhouse courtyard, underground control center.
"13915 effective hidden wishes have been established."
"Remove the duplicates in the addresses."
"A total of 9712 shelters have been marked as anti-human camps."
A holographic map covering the entire Eastern Continent, under the Eden Satellite Network, unfolded.
Nearly ten thousand red dots came into view.
Su Wu had set up a hidden mechanism in the game, allowing those who were monitored and enslaved to have a chance to call for help through wishes.
This was merely a casual operation he had performed without much thought.
Yet unexpectedly,
the final feedback was so shocking.
The darkness and cruelty of the apocalypse.
With such a massive data statistic, Su Wu saw its full scope for the first time.
"Lost the constraints of order."
"Humanity itself is the greatest natural disaster."
Su Wu gazed at the dense cluster of red dots, unable to suppress a sigh.
However, unlike when he was an ordinary person, feeling powerless and furious,
now he had the ability to completely change these things he found intolerable.
It was just that the process in between might take a little time.
He turned off the holographic projection map.
On the metal platform, a steel behemoth resembling a warship began to materialize.
After days of continuous research and improvement,
burning through tens of thousands of Spirituality, overcoming at least ten thousand technical challenges,
the first Pioneer-class Land Destroyer
was finally shaped and produced.
It boasted dimensions that truly rivaled naval warships.
12 meters wide, 60 meters long.
Internally, it integrated numerous technologies that surpassed the current era.
It was even more powerful and versatile than the base vehicle Su Wu had upgraded with a large amount of Survival Points.
With a total weight of 5500 tons,
it ensured ample ammunition storage and vast modification space.
No matter where it moved, it could erect an indestructible fortress at any time and place.
Carefully examining the projected steel behemoth,
Su Wu felt as if he were admiring a piece of work that had crossed over from fantasy into reality.
Almost every detail inside was brimming with a sci-fi aura.
And more crucially,
its production and manufacturing were entirely led by Su Wu himself.
No Survival Points had been used for modifications.
This also meant that,
as long as he had sufficient resources,
he could use the Super Factory to increase its numbers without limit.
This was the true technological power in Su Wu's own hands.
"No issues with maintenance."
"Just in time for an outing."
"I'll drive it over, and consider it a first test."
He instructed the Artificial Intelligence to command robots to replenish ammunition and install various supplies.
Su Wu's gaze shifted back to his system panel.
In the daily task bar,
he saw the blue task that had refreshed again.
According to the ratings of white for ordinary, green for rare, and blue for elite,
this task
could be said to be the highest level task he had received since returning to Jianghe City in the base vehicle.
And its actual difficulty
had become nearly nonexistent due to the emergence of the Pioneer-class Land Destroyer.
[Witness the blooming of the Underworld Flower.]
[Task Objective: Go to the Qinling Mountains near Lengji Town, in the area of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, to record the process of new species being born for the first time.]
[Task countdown: 3 hours 17 minutes.]
[Task duration: 12 hours.]
The task summary did not mention the rewards for completing the task.
This meant that the final reward was uncertain.
It would need to be evaluated based on Su Wu's overall performance in the task before a result could be determined.
However, based on the blue task's level,
the general reward range was calculated to be between 100 to 1000 Survival Points.
Even if the performance during the process was poor,
as long as the task was completed, it would roughly guarantee the capital to manufacture another Miniature Mech.
And now, with more than three hours until the task began,
considering that Lengji Town was also within the administrative map of Jianghe City,
only a little over 50 kilometers from the farmhouse courtyard,
there was still ample time.
Su Wu did not need to rush.
He could wait until the Pioneer-class Land Destroyer was fully prepared
and then set off in the best condition.
However, the mention of new species in the task objective, along with earthquakes and magma, cast a shadow over Su Wu's heart.
Geographically speaking,
Jianghe City, located in the heart of the continent, had almost no volcanoes nearby.
Looking back through history, the last volcanic activity occurred 140 million years ago.
Now, the system task suddenly informed Su Wu
that after a gap of over 100 million years,
magma would again surge near Jianghe City.
That feeling was almost akin to witnessing the resurrection of dinosaurs.
"What kind of intensity would an earthquake capable of bringing magma to the surface have?"
After pondering for a moment,
Su Wu could no longer contain the immense unease in his heart.
Without waiting for the task to truly commence,
he ordered all production tasks in Jianghe City to be suspended.
The convoy that was transferring on the surface
also stopped approaching Jianghe City, halting in the nearby Subsidiary Shelter.
"We've done all we can."
"Now, it's just a matter of luck."
Su Wu felt somewhat helpless but was not overly pessimistic.
The current farmhouse courtyard had already become a massive structure, 7 kilometers in diameter, built with Rapid-setting Cement.
Even if it encountered a super earthquake like the last one,
unless it was unfortunate enough to be right in the core area of the quake,
it wouldn't suffer too much damage.
Half an hour passed,
as if it were just a moment.
In the now quiet farmhouse courtyard,
Su Wu piloted the Miniature Mech onto the snow-covered surface.
He boarded the fully prepared Pioneer-class Land Destroyer.
In the command room on the fourth floor of the ship,
Su Wu took his seat in the commander's chair.
Surrounding screens, along with a small holographic projection platform in front of him, began to light up simultaneously.
"Destination, Qinling Mountains."
Using the control panel,
he set the route for advancement.
The Pioneer-class Land Destroyer trembled slightly.
Then it began to move forward.
At the same time,
the platform in front of Su Wu projected the entire destroyer's image,
showing its current operational status in detail.
Su Wu gazed at the projection for a while, noticing that all its components were operating exceptionally smoothly.
Meanwhile, in the actual driving process,
its speed was not at all slower than that of the Icebound-class Land Battleship.
Obstacles along the route ahead
could not hinder it in the slightest.
They were either easily crushed or pushed aside, or directly crushed beneath the vehicle.
"The off-road capability of the destroyer has been further enhanced."
Su Wu understood.
This was the result of the more powerful engine, sturdier body, and the Anti-gravity Array working together on the Pioneer-class Land Destroyer.
Moreover, the Anti-gravity Array was not even operating at full power at the moment.
If it were pushed to its limits,
this fully loaded Pioneer-class Land Destroyer, weighing seven to eight thousand tons,
could easily traverse ice surfaces or some high-quality concrete bridges.
After more than two hours,
having passed through a small town with a few remaining building ruins,
Su Wu entered the range of the Qinling Mountains.
The mountain roads were only two lanes wide.
Many sections were close to the mountains on one side, while the other side dropped directly into cliffs.
The massive body of the Pioneer-class Land Destroyer, traveling on such mountain roads,
would inevitably have part of it hanging over the edge of the road.
Occasionally, during sharp turns,
even a large portion of the vehicle would find no support.
At this moment,
the auxiliary propulsion engines installed all over the destroyer would ignite and stabilize the vehicle's center of gravity.
Until it found a new support position.
With the assistance of the Anti-gravity Array and dozens of auxiliary propulsion engines,
Su Wu steadily passed through the outskirts of the Qinling Mountains and entered the mountainous interior.
However, he had not yet found a suitable docking location within the designated task area
when he felt a distinct tremor beneath his feet.
The earthquake mentioned in the task had arrived.
"Warning, earthquake waves detected."
"Magnitude intensity: 5.7, 8."
Increasingly intense warnings
appeared on the radar alert screen beside Su Wu.
Su Wu adjusted the projection platform in front of him, switching it to reconnaissance mode.
A holographic 3D map with a radius of 1.5 kilometers centered on the Pioneer-class Land Destroyer began to materialize.
This was an instant map built from real-time data scanned by various reconnaissance devices on the destroyer.
On this map,
Su Wu could clearly see
that the epicenter of this earthquake was directly beneath his current position.
And as time passed,
more intense geological activity began to rise gradually from deep underground.
In just half a minute,
some surrounding mountains could no longer withstand the violent tremors.
They began to collapse in large sections.
In an instant, countless boulders, mixed with soil and shattered ice and snow,
rolled down from above.
Boom!
At one moment,
a rock with a diameter of over 10 meters fell from above.
After a brief acceleration,
its mass of over a thousand tons crashed down onto the Pioneer-class Land Destroyer.
Then, rebounding from the impact, it was pushed a short distance away,
continuing to roll off into the distance.
"Ship body damaged by 1.7%."
"Minor gas leak detected indoors."
"Emergency repair procedures have been automatically initiated."
Several lines of prompts popped up on one of the screens in front of Su Wu.
He glanced at them without concern.
Turning his attention back to the external situation displayed on the projection platform.
The impact he had just endured,
if it had been any other vehicle,
even the Icebound-class Land Battleship would likely have sustained serious damage.
But for the Pioneer-class Land Destroyer, it posed almost no threat.
The onboard repair robots were more than capable of restoring the slightly damaged parts to their original state within just a few minutes.
Outside,
after enduring the most violent tremors,
a pitch-black crack of unknown depth quietly appeared about 400 meters away from the Pioneer-class Land Destroyer.
Then, this crack gradually widened,
as if an invisible giant inside was forcefully prying it open.
On either side of the crack, the rock fragments that were originally only a few meters apart
began to pull away from each other during this upheaval.
In the end, they were even separated by nearly a hundred meters.
And in between them was a crack that had expanded into a deep canyon.
Su Wu released a reconnaissance drone,
lowering its altitude along the crack.
Through the drone's camera, he could see
that the entire crack was narrow at the top and wide at the bottom.
The lower it went, the more spacious the space became.
When the reconnaissance drone descended below a few kilometers,
he could even see that a vast plain had already formed below.
However, that plain was not truly flat land.
Instead, it was a broken earth, uneven and releasing wisps of sulfur gas and gray smoke.
"The surrounding temperature has already risen above zero degrees."
Su Wu noted the position of the reconnaissance drone.
The temperature had gradually risen from minus fifty or sixty degrees at the surface to above zero.
But this did not mean the environment here was good.
On the contrary, if someone appeared here without protection,
they would soon show signs of suffocation and poisoning.
If it had to be described, this place was like a legendary volcanic land brewing demons.
Not allowing the drone to descend any further,
Su Wu operated the reconnaissance drone to maintain an altitude of two to three hundred meters.
At cruising speed, he scanned this newly formed canyon.
After more than ten minutes,
the ground began to tremble again.
The rugged plain below continued to tear apart.
Then,
a streak of orange-yellow light appeared in the drone's camera.
It slowly expanded,
revealing its true form.
It was a flowing river of lava.
From its bright, almost dazzling color, it was clear that its temperature was at least 1600 degrees, or even higher.
It seemed to have erupted from deep underground in an extremely short time.
"Fortunately."
Seeing the lava surging in the canyon, Su Wu quietly breathed a sigh of relief.
The heavy stone that had been hanging over his heart due to the task prompt finally fell.
It seemed that a stronger earthquake was unlikely to occur again.
For Jianghe City and the farmhouse courtyard, just a few dozen kilometers away,
this meant they had gained another precious period for development.
In the following hours,
the situation in the canyon did not change much.
Taking advantage of this time, Su Wu handled some disaster relief tasks for Jianghe City.
In the previous earthquake,
although the epicenter was in the Qinling Mountains, it had reached a maximum magnitude of 8.
Even after being diluted over several dozen kilometers,
it still possessed strong destructive power.
Even within the urban area, a large official shelter that had once been numbered in the single digits was more than half destroyed by the earthquake.
Fortunately,
most of the people inside had already relocated to the farmhouse courtyard.
In the end, the earthquake only caused losses to a dozen plantations and some less important supplies.
Casualties among personnel were minimal.
"This counts as a blessing in disguise."
"The decision to concentrate resources to build a super shelter back then
now seems to have been quite correct."
(End of Chapter)