Chapter 724.4: The Flame That Spreads

Those people... His forefathers. They were probably nothing more than the winners of a test conducted two centuries ago.

There were many ways to win. Some followed the rules while some broke them. Others cheated entirely.

Being an elite was not some permanent pass guaranteeing survival. The outside world had existed for 200 years. The situation had changed countless times. That was why, after emerging from the shelters, they didn't always outperform the wastelanders. And because of that, they subconsciously began tying authority to bloodline.

"Many of us got it wrong. A shelter isn't a nation. It isn't a political organization. It's closer to a special disaster-response institution, like the police or firefighters. It's just that its unique role granted it extraordinary privileges."

"For example, in that era, the right to survive was incredibly scarce. As a result, their children came to believe their parents were one-in-a-million elites. And that they themselves were elites too. They thought that if they spoke the way their parents did, ordinary people would admire them. The truth is, even back then, that's not how things worked."

Sisi looked at him in surprise. "The fact that you've thought this deeply about it is honestly unexpected."

When she first met him, he had seemed more like a potential supporter of the Enlightenment Society.

Could one trip to Dawn City really change someone that much?

Meeting her surprised gaze, Chen Jianhong looked a little embarrassed. He scratched the back of his head and laughed. "Honestly... I was inspired by a wastelander."

"Who?"

"Bore."

Sisi froze, then she remembered who that was and burst out laughing.

Tail's eyes sparkled. "Oh! The one written by Spielberg, right?"

Finding a fellow fan in such an unexpected place, Chen Jianhong's eyes immediately lit up. "Haha! So you've read it too!"

Tail scratched her head sheepishly. "Uh, not really. Our Roro Boat was still floating around at sea back then."

Someone had reposted it on the forums.

However, books from the game world just felt different when read inside the game, like The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.

People could compile all the books into text files, but reading them in real life just wasn't the same.

"Come to think of it, we haven't been home in a long time." Sesame Paste sighed. The mention of home caused a strange look of nostalgia to appear on her face.

Although Dawn City's ramen shops had already opened branches in French Fry Harbor, they hadn't visited the original ramen restaurant on North Street in ages.

Chen Jianhong blinked. He didn't really understand that kind of nostalgia. After all, the airship from French Fry Harbor to Dawn City only took two days. However, he soon remembered that the route had only opened two months ago.

Perhaps they simply hadn't had time to go back yet.

"Well... That's really a shame."

...

Passing through the shelter corridors, the group eventually reached a gigantic freight elevator that carried them deep into the shelter's interior.

According to regulations established by the first administrator, only holders of administrator authority could enter the area.

The space was enormous, roughly the size of four football fields. Standing on the maintenance catwalk near the ceiling and looking down, they saw rows of neatly arranged machinery occupying the warehouse floor. Some of it had already been repaired.

For example, the Dragon Cavalry exoframes. There were over 100 units piled in one corner of the warehouse, even more than the stockpile the New Alliance had discovered in Boulder Town’s armory.

And that wasn't all. Gauss rifles, energy weapons, and various other infantry equipment had been repaired and neatly stored on shelves.

However, the truly astonishing sight stood in the center of the warehouse. There was a metallic rail structure as long as two high-speed rail carriages. Or rather, it was a cannon barrel. Without question, it was a railgun taken directly from a starship!

What’s more, there were four of them!

As for the other strange devices nearby, they were probably starship reactors or anti-gravity systems. Those were impressive enough on their own.

The moment Tail imagined the Roro Boat finally flying through the sky, she clenched her fists in excitement. Even her eyes seemed to turn into dollar signs. "Giao! Sisi, we hit the jackpot!"

Sisi slapped her forehead and sighed, "Tail, wake up. These aren't rewards, they're quest items."

Roshan was so shocked her jaw nearly dropped over the railing. For a while, she couldn't even speak.

Sesame Paste looked equally astonished, though she wasn't nearly as dramatic.

Seeing everyone's reaction, Chen Jianhong couldn't help smiling proudly. "A century ago, while we were still inside the shelter, we modified the ammunition for these railguns so they could be used within the atmosphere."

"Forget anti-ship combat. This thing can launch a 500 kilogram projectile into low orbit."

500 kilograms?!

Roshan immediately cried out, "Holy crap! Half a ton of launch capacity?! Doesn't that mean you could launch satellites with this thing?!"

Whether satellites could even operate in orbit anymore was another question. She had heard space was filled with astronomical amounts of debris. Even Ideal City's experts couldn't solve that problem.

Sisi wiped cold sweat from her forehead as she spoke. "Launching satellites probably isn't realistic. Electronic components that can survive 32 megajoules of muzzle energy don't exist in reality."

Generally speaking, even gun-launched missiles could only withstand around that amount. What’s more, the weapon's muzzle energy clearly wasn't measured in mere megajoules. After all, the New Alliance's domestically produced Model 60 railgun already generated 60 megajoules, roughly triple the energy of conventional naval guns from the real world.

The railgun in the storage was probably at least 30 times stronger!

The upper limit was anyone's guess.

Still, considering that wasteland semiconductors were different from real-world materials, she chose not to speak too definitively.

Watching the stunned residents of Shelter 404, Chen Jianhong continued proudly, "When we originally considered the Army our hypothetical enemy, we thought about using terminal-deceleration missiles against airships protected by directional shields. But later we realized they might install point-defense systems against slow-moving targets, so we came up with another idea."

"We just needed to mount these railguns on a warship large enough to carry them. Even without phase cannons helping break the shields, the sheer kinetic energy of the projectiles could overload them."

"In theory, three hits would be enough to bring down a standard Army airship. As for whether they had other tricks up their sleeves, we don't know. As long as they understood we weren't easy prey, that was enough."

Sisi couldn't help sighing. "That's already an absurd level of firepower. If Chalas gets his hands on these weapons, he might genuinely have a chance to dominate the entire sea."

Just as Chen Jianhong had said, their enemies weren't completely without hope. Both sides were waiting for the right moment.

"Dominate the sea? Hahahaha!" Chen Jianhong laughed and his gaze drifted toward the relics salvaged from the starship.

His eyes narrowed slightly. "... If that’s all, his ambitions are far too small. Following your administrator back into the sea of stars... Wouldn't that scenery be far more exciting than ruling a little pond?"

To be honest, whether it was Mengo before or Chalas now, their vision was simply too limited. Even their dreams felt cramped. A Federation centered around the survivors of the Southern Seas? The Human Federation’s frontier once stretched five light-years away.

Compared to that, the words spoken by that man sounded far better. His promises tasted better too.

Whether they were wastelanders focused on the present or bluecoats dreaming of returning to the Prosperity Era, everyone could find something appealing in his vision.

They weren't returning to the Prosperity Era, they were going to create an even greater era starting from now.

It was no wonder Sun Yuechi had stayed in Dawn City and refused to come back...

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