Chapter 150: Sins Under the Moonlight
In the player community, the activity to solicit designs for cosmic battleships received an enthusiastic response.
Various blueprints, concepts, and even fictional space naval warfare tactics emerged in large numbers, some of which were clearly highly professional at first glance.
Among these mature suggestions with obvious professional backgrounds, there were not only ideas for the cosmic battleship itself but also system control concepts for how to build the battleship.
The most important part was to first build a dry dock in orbit, then launch low-cost, reusable rockets to transport the materials for building the battleship to the dry dock, where the final assembly and outfitting would be completed.
This seemingly added a step of building launch rockets and rocket launch sites, but in reality, it would save tons of time for the space shipbuilding industry.
The Cangyuan Engineers felt this deeply.
Previously, when they built fighters in space, due to weightlessness, they could work underneath the fuselage, float above it, or work on the side of the fuselage, providing many working surfaces.
This meant that at the same time, many workers could work on the same product, building it together in a circle.
Efficiency was naturally high.
Furthermore, an engine weighing over a ton could be pushed around by one person, without requiring any lifting equipment.
After the industrial vessel landed, working while floating was out of the question; gravity wouldn't allow it; even working on the side of the fuselage would require setting up a scaffold beforehand, and then people climbing onto it to stand.
Compared to a weightless environment, work efficiency actually decreased.
If this was the case for producing simple space fighters, it was even more so for massive battleships.
Building spacecraft on the ground would save the step of using launch rockets, but it would also require the prior construction of ground support structures and large gantry cranes.
The pros and cons were clear at a glance.
It was a good suggestion!
Lu Yuan finalized the plan to build a space dry dock and then, under the name of Navigator, continued to solicit proposals from community users.
But he did not guide the beta players in the game to pay too much attention to these matters.
Currently, they had more important tasks.
Lu Yuan called Cao Yuan via video and learned that over 90 power armors were now available for use.
The 'Liver King' players in the third echelon had begun to receive this long-dreamed-of equipment, and the first one to get his hands on it was the office slacker king, Ran Ge.
Combat personnel had begun adaptive training; team coordination in dungeons was just a small appetizer, while simulated combat drills between players were the main course of training, and players also greatly enjoyed this format, ensuring at least an hour and a half of simulated combat daily.
Ammunition reserves were also complete.
“Find some time, call Xian Yu, and let's discuss the attack plan,” Lu Yuan finally said to Cao Yuan.
“I think the time is almost right in Oasis City.”
Late at night, Fili was still following his captain to confiscate special medicine.
They burst into citizens' homes, beat the young people who refused to hand over the medicine, then snatched the medicine from the hands of crying, pleading parents, and left a few harsh words.
Every time Fili stepped over someone else's threshold, he would feel his own sin deepen a little.
“You all did very well,” the captain turned and said to him and the other guards in the team.
“Those who sell and buy medicine are all Cangyuan spies, not worthy of sympathy. Once this matter settles down, the City Lord will surely reward us handsomely!”
Yes, the captain was very satisfied, and the City Lord was also very satisfied, but was that enough?
His colleagues did not cheer.
At this moment, even if they covered their ears, they would surely hear the sobs and curses coming from the streets and alleys throughout the city.
Among them, there seemed to be shouted slogans, and a few responses to those slogans.
The City Lord seemed not to care much about this; he was not afraid of ordinary citizens without guns, only relentlessly confiscating the life-saving medicine bought by the citizens.
The once respected city guards had, in just a few days, become objects of disdain.
No, should the phrase “become” be used?
All along, in the eyes of the citizens, we were just the City Lord's lackeys, weren't we—they just didn't dare to say it, did they—
Respected my ass—
“Does making everyone satisfied mean you're doing the right thing?”
“Are they really satisfied?”
These two sentences resurfaced in Fili's mind.
A friend from the past always brought up these two sentences.
He used to be Fili's middle school classmate, and he typically liked to say “treasonous” things, claiming that the City Lord was the biggest bandit in the Desert, and that the citizens of Oasis City should have lived better lives, but the City Lord and nobles deliberately maintained a standard of living where most people merely didn't starve, to make their rule simpler.
The 16-year-old Fili didn't understand these words, but he knew these words shouldn't be spoken carelessly; speaking such words was very dangerous.
But the other person just wouldn't listen.
He didn't understand why his friend was so persistent; that guy was very smart, had excellent grades, and if he could graduate smoothly in the future, he would definitely become an Engineer, or even possibly become a factory owner with his intelligence.
At that time, Fili thought, if he didn't pass the city guard selection in the future, it wouldn't matter; he would just start a career with his friend.
He often advised his friend to be careful with his words, and if he really couldn't hold it in, to only say them at home and at school, but never outside.
Other classmates also advised him, and Cheng Lei was among them.
But his friend always said that it was his duty as a citizen, that someone had to say these words, so why couldn't it be him.
Fili thought his friend's persistence would ultimately prevent him from graduating smoothly, lead him to not find a job, and not become a high-paying Engineer.
But facts proved that he greatly underestimated the malice of this city.
One evening during the last semester of high school, his friend's body was found by the reservoir.
Fili was called by his classmates and saw his friend lying by the shore, eyes open, face whiter than the moon.
The investigating constable loudly announced the conclusion on the spot, saying that his friend had secretly climbed over the barbed wire, entered the ecological restricted zone,
illegally walked along the lakeside, accidentally slipped into the water, and drowned because he couldn't swim.
“That kid truly deserved it!”
Those people didn't even bother to fake wetting his friend's pants and shoes.
They seemed to deliberately leave obvious flaws, deliberately wanted the onlookers to see that it was a murder, and deliberately wanted to instill fear of the City Lord deep within everyone's hearts.
In a trance, Fili snapped out of his memories, because he saw the streetscape ahead becoming increasingly familiar.
Wait a minute—
This direction, could it be!?
This was the road to his own home.
“Fili—” The captain's tone was still languid, “We interviewed neighbors and reviewed clinic medical records, and it was actually very easy to determine who had cancer and who was most likely to have bought Cangyuan's evil medicine.”
“It seems your old man isn't as loyal to the City Lord as rumored!”
He grinned, deliberately turning his head, seemingly to enjoy Fili's expression at that moment.
“How about it? Your own family's matter, you handle it yourself?”
Fili walked blankly through his own doorway, his mind a blank.
The moment father and son met eyes, the father understood what was about to happen and how much trouble he had caused his son.
“I'm sorry, Officer!” The father scurried to the captain, “This medicine—I bought it in a moment of confusion. It's to be confiscated now, right? Please take it. Really! I bought it behind Fili's back, it has nothing to do with him! I promise!”
Fili turned around, looking helplessly at his superior.
“Captain, my father, his illness—”