Safe City Ch.183

Chapter 183: Six Levels

The 3,522 passphrases were ones Cheng Qisheng had relayed to the believers one by one.

Each sentence represented a once-in-a-generation genius who had lived on Moon Silk Star four hundred years ago.

She really did sigh as she recited them.

If only Blue Sea Safe City had arrived on Moon Silk Star four hundred years ago.

But Cheng Qisheng also knew that such a thing was unlikely to have happened.

Even with Moon Silk Star’s level of technology, creating an apocalypse that could erupt on a massive scale without actually crippling the Moon Silk people, all while fooling the Safe City Rules, was no easy feat.

The ancestors of Moon Silk Star had spent nearly a thousand years setting up this entire plan.

For the sake of it, they had been willing to leave their hope to future generations rather than to themselves.

Unfortunately, despite calculating every possible contingency, they had still lost by one move.

Cheng Qisheng pulled her thoughts back and looked toward the wide-open hatch at the top of the weapons depot.

She had thought that once the passphrases were correct, there would be some other means of access.

For example, perhaps some unknown method would be used to verify the identity of the person entering, or perhaps an advanced AI would appear and give them a few questions to answer.

But there was nothing of the sort.

Once the hatch opened, the entire weapons depot was completely open to whoever stood before it.

Then again, it made sense. Who could possibly memorize 3,522 passphrases, especially when they were nothing but completely unrelated words?

The only person capable of reciting every single one without missing a single phrase had to be a successor involved in this plan.

Cheng Qisheng suspected there were probably other passphrases as well. Perhaps entering the Group A passphrase would put the weapons depot into a kill-everything-in-sight attack mode, while entering the Group B passphrase would make the weapons depot self-destruct or something.

—At least, that’s what she would have done.

Clearly, Old Tagu had given the correct passphrases.

Once the weapons depot’s top hatch opened, the lights below came on at the same time. Inside the spacious chamber, all kinds of crates and large weapons were arranged in neat rows. All anyone had to do was stand in front of one, and they could simply take it away.

“My God…”

Every member of the Lots of Meat Team stared down at the countless rows of neatly arranged Moon Silk weapons below, stretching so far that they couldn’t see the end. Their eyes were practically popping out of their heads.

How was this any different from placing a long, sharp wooden spear or a plump, savage wild boar in front of the Blue Sea people back in the primitive era?!

Even the God who had been summoned was currently in a state of shock.

Cheng Qisheng had known all along that a weapons depot designated by Moon Silk’s local science and technology institute as a last-resort arsenal to save the day when the apocalypse arrived would contain an absolutely enormous quantity of weapons.

But she hadn’t expected there to be this many.

So many. Far, far too many.

Even if the weapons inside each of these huge crates were merely the most common portable individual weapons on Moon Silk Star—such as Fusion-Forging Assault Rifles, Pulse Shock Pistols, and Cryogenic Energy-Beam Sprayers—Blue Sea had still struck it rich!

Filthy rich!

She watched as the believers first tossed down a rock the size of a human head to test the area. Only after confirming that there were no hidden mechanisms did they carefully lower themselves down using the ropes.

Lan Yecai gripped one of the weapons excitedly, and after landing, she kept looking around in all directions.

The weapons depot was packed with layers upon layers of crates. The interior had a clear height of roughly thirty meters, while its length stretched so far that the end was nowhere in sight. Soft lighting illuminated every corner.

The atmosphere looked remarkably similar to the horror escape rooms Blue Sea used to set up back when Dark Star was still around.

Lan Yecai’s imagination immediately ran wild.

“If this were a movie, then the moment we landed, some monster should have jumped out and attacked us.”

Kula, slowly descending along another rope, tensed instinctively when he heard that.

Then he saw the excited, expectant expression on his captain’s face.

Kula immediately relaxed.

‘Oh, right. What was there to be afraid of?’

‘Even if a monster showed up, they could just kill it.’

All sixteen people soon reached the ground. Although this gigantic warehouse didn’t look as though it intended to suddenly produce a monster or launch some sort of attack from above…

But while the people of Blue Sea loved weapons and loved going all-out, that didn’t mean they would blindly charge into unknown situations.

So they still split up into teams.

The sixteen people divided themselves into four groups. Three groups were responsible for providing cover for the final group, while the last group was tasked with cataloging the types and quantities of weapons.

Technically, they didn’t need to inspect them at all. Their God had already instructed nearby Blue Sea residents to hurry toward the Saen Dead Zone. They could simply guard the entrance above and wait for the main force to arrive before moving out with the larger group.

But with so many weapons right there in front of them, who could possibly resist?!

Cheng Qisheng certainly could. But if her believers couldn’t, she didn’t mind following their perspective and taking a good look at what Blue Sea Safe City had gained this time.

It wasn’t particularly difficult, either, because the research institute had thoughtfully painted lines on the floor. The quantity of weapons and equipment in each section had been written in Moon Silk script on the ground at the front.

One major reason Lan Yecai had been able to volunteer as a team leader and venture all over the place exploring beyond Broken River was that she had quickly learned Moon Silk. She lowered her head and read the Moon Silk characters marked on the floor.

No wonder this enormous weapons depot had been built so high. Moon Silk Star truly lived up to its reputation as a planet with both a huge population and abundant resources.

The vast area they had descended into was actually nothing more than a dedicated storage space for portable weapons.

“Acid Mist Sprayers, thirteen million units.”

“Electromagnetic Paralysis Rifles, thirteen point three million units.”

“Pulse Shock Guns…”

“Body-Rending Rounds…”

“Gravity-Point Detonation Grenades, five million units.”

“Close-Combat Cutting and Disassembly Rods, forty million units.”

Lan Yecai hurried forward, reading the Moon Silk characters on the floor as she went. The more she read, the more excited she became.

It was already immediately obvious what determined the quantities in which the weapons had been stockpiled.

The more powerful and expensive a weapon was to manufacture, the fewer units there were.

Weapons that were relatively inexpensive to produce and consequently not quite as powerful were stored in much larger quantities.

Among these portable individual weapons, the most powerful should be the Gravity-Point Detonation Grenades.

—But every Blue Sea person present had their eyes glued to the crates upon crates of Close-Combat Cutting and Disassembly Rods.

Close-combat weapons like these weren’t popular on Moon Silk Star nowadays. After all, engaging in close combat meant facing a mutant beast at point-blank range.

Even New Humans with relatively high combat power would only resort to close-quarters fighting against mutant beasts when they had no ranged weapon at hand or when something unexpected happened and they had no other choice.

But close-quarters combat was precisely what the people of Blue Sea excelled at.

It was only because everyone on Moon Silk Star fought with high-tech weapons that they had been forced to make some slight adjustments to their own fighting style.

In fact, Old Eighth was already extremely lethal with firearms. If Cheng Qisheng were to score him out of a hundred, she would absolutely give him ninety-nine.

But if Old Eighth fought at close range, his score could shoot straight up to one hundred and eighty.

Lan Yecai stepped forward to read the description of the Close-Combat Cutting and Disassembly Rod.

It looked like an ordinary matte-finished alloy club—heavy, solid, and completely unremarkable.

But according to the description, there was actually an energy ring around the front end of the club. Once activated, it would generate a semitransparent force field.

When the wielder swung it in an attack, any steel, stone, or other material touched by the force field would instantly disintegrate as its molecular bonds were broken apart.

If it struck a living creature, it would cut through the target’s flesh like a blade. Given enough time, it could even bore holes through bone.

It was practically a weapon chosen by fate for the people of Blue Sea!

Lan Yecai’s eyes sparkled. She placed her left hand over her heart and prayed earnestly and devoutly:

“My God, can we each take one first?”

Cheng Qisheng had some impression of this girl, Lan Yecai.

Strictly speaking, she had a fairly strong impression of most of the Blue Sea children who had been excessively mischievous when they were young and had nearly gotten themselves killed several times.

In her memories, the last time Lan Yecai had looked at someone with such sparkling, pleading eyes seemed to have been when she was five years old. She had stood in the pool and begged her parents to let her keep a crocodile as a pet.

And now, all this child wanted was a stick.

And these sticks had only been found thanks to the Lots of Meat Team’s efforts.

So of course she was getting one!

Cheng Qisheng delivered the divine oracle, and all sixteen people immediately became excited.

“Gratitude to Our God!”

For them, getting what they wanted was already wonderful enough. Having their God willingly fulfill their request made it twice as delightful.

‘Our God loves me!’

Kula happily accepted a Close-Combat Cutting and Disassembly Rod as well. As one of the more recent additions to Blue Sea, he wasn’t actually very skilled at close-quarters combat.

But that’s just how people were. When all their companions thought something was an absolutely amazing, invincible treasure, Kula naturally began to see it through the same rose-tinted glasses.

Following their example, he first examined the rod carefully from top to bottom before neatly securing it to the gun holster at the back of his waist.

It fit perfectly!

Lan Yecai announced to her teammates:

“The name ‘Close-Combat Cutting and Disassembly Rod’ is way too awkward. Why don’t we give it a new name?”

Her teammates clearly felt the same way. Blue Sea people generally didn’t like cumbersome names very much. After all, whenever they challenged each other to a fight, they would exchange threats—and sometimes they would even have their weapons talk some trash on their behalf.

The length of a weapon’s name was therefore quite important.

Everyone began offering suggestions.

“How about ‘Strongman Stick’?”

“Can we shorten it to ‘Battle Stick’?”

“I think we can just call it a ‘Spear’!”

“No, that won’t work. If we call this a spear, what are we supposed to call actual spears?”

“We could shorten it to ‘Construct Stick.’”

Lan Yecai: “Wait. Anything but ‘Construct Stick.’”

In the Blue Sea language, the words for “construct” and “dog” were homophones.

She could hardly imagine herself one day facing an enemy, slowly drawing the rod from behind her waist with a fierce look in her eyes, and threatening them:

“Come and behold my Dog Stick.”

That would be far too embarrassing for their God!

“Battle Stick, then. Let’s just call it Battle Stick.”

Watching her believers each wear a stick at the back of their waist, happily discussing what to call it, Cheng Qisheng’s mood improved again.

She had originally been unable to suppress her regret over the more than three thousand researchers after seeing all these weapons, but that regret was fading once more.

—Fine. Once they brought these sticks back to Blue Sea, she would simply tell the Blue Sea government that from now on, they were to be called Battle Sticks.

After the Lots of Meat Team settled on the name, they continued exploring.

Only after leaving the portable weapons section did they discover that the weapons depot was shaped roughly like a long vertical shaft.

There was more space below. They only needed to sit on one of the Moon Silk light elevators, which functioned much like an ordinary elevator but was larger and more stable, to descend to the next level.

The Moon Silk characters on the light elevator stated that this underground weapons depot had a total of six levels.

This once again proved that the Moon Silk research institute hadn’t lacked the ability to place the weapons depot deeper underground. Rather, they had taken the excavation abilities of future generations into consideration and deliberately placed it only ten meters beneath the surface.

Six levels!

A single level had already been this enormous, yielding such a staggering number of portable weapons for Blue Sea.

And there were still five more levels below.

Even Cheng Qisheng could no longer sit still.

She watched as her believers descended level by level.

The first level contained a vast quantity of portable weapons, including both firearms and melee weapons. Even the melee weapons had been manufactured using Moon Silk technology, making them extraordinarily sharp and durable.

The second level stored various types of complete launchers, along with several tens of millions of rounds of ammunition.

The third level contained various types of vehicle-mounted cannons designed for squad-level operations and requiring multiple people to operate. Naturally, it also held all kinds of military vehicles. The weapons and vehicles were fewer in number, numbering only a few hundred thousand in total, but their enormous size was more than enough to fill the entire level of the weapons depot.

The fourth level contained arrays of Disturbance Grenades capable of causing localized ground ruptures, with a fairly large attack radius. There were roughly tens of thousands of these arrays.

The fifth level contained various types of missiles, numbering a little over five thousand in total.

When she saw this, Cheng Qisheng let out a long, heavy breath.

She had truly underestimated the technological prowess of Moon Silk Star’s research institutes at their peak, when they were still enjoying a honeymoon period with the various major powers and governments.

Taken together, all these things were worth enough to rival the three hundred million nuclear crystals she had prepared.

And there was still another level below.

This time, Blue Sea Safe City had truly struck an absurdly rich haul.

The Lots of Meat Team continued descending, eager to see what was on the sixth level.

Cheng Qisheng had already vaguely guessed what it might contain.

She beckoned Aether over, closed her eyes and pondered for several seconds before slowly opening them again.

“Aether, tell the Blue Sea government that in this world, we should bring as many Moon Silk people with us as we possibly can.”

After experiencing the previous worlds, especially Dazzling Star, Blue Sea had actually reached the point where it no longer lacked population.

—Well, technically, it had never lacked people in the first place.

Blue Sea was now in a position where it could either accept new residents or not. Either way was fine.

Originally, Cheng Qisheng’s plan had been to take things one step at a time. Believers and capable individuals definitely had to be brought over. As for ordinary civilians, if they were people from Broken River, they could be brought over as well.

But Blue Sea had never considered scouring the enormous Moon Silk Star and bringing its native inhabitants back to the Safe City from all across the planet.

After all, that would be extremely difficult and troublesome, and they weren’t lacking residents to begin with.

But now, Cheng Qisheng had received a generous gift from the ancestors of this planet.

And she knew all too well that this once-brilliant planet, now reduced to a wasteland, would eventually be swallowed by the Great Annihilation.