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Chapter 303 - Chapter 303: The Undersea Tunnel

Jianghe City.

Farmhouse Shelter, Underground Control Center.

Su Wu disconnected from the remote consciousness link and stood up, walking over to the metal platform.

He switched the projection above to the structural topographical map of the Zhenhai City underground shelter.

The data for this map.

Came from the official database of Zhenhai City, which he had just taken over.

Because it retained the complete construction design blueprints from the beginning.

Its level of detail was not much inferior to the Farmhouse Shelter that Su Wu had personally built inch by inch.

From the map.

The entire Zhenhai City underground shelter looked like an irregular, massive underground city.

The farthest ends were nearly 17 kilometers apart.

The overall space was even slightly larger than the Farmhouse Shelter, which currently housed 70 million people.

"A great place."

"Unfortunately, it's about to face destruction."

Su Wu felt a bit regretful but not overly concerned.

Because its only advantage was its spaciousness.

The most critical main structure and defenses were far inferior to the Farmhouse Shelter, which had been reinforced with rapid-setting cement and Survival Points.

The gap between the two was almost an entire era apart.

A thatched hut that couldn't guarantee safety and might collapse in a storm at any moment.

No matter how spacious it was built.

From a survival perspective, it couldn't compare to a small concrete hut that barely provided shelter.

Extending his finger, Su Wu slid it across the holographic map.

Occasionally zooming in or out on certain areas.

He focused intently, entering a busy work mode.

Quickly browsing the real-time status of all important facilities on the map.

Taking over the management of the Zhenhai Shelter from the Zhenhai City authorities.

This seemingly simple statement.

Hidden behind it was an astonishingly large and complex handover process that could drive anyone to despair.

Even with the immense computational power of Artificial Intelligence.

It would be difficult to sort out every single matter in a short time.

For this reason, Su Wu had even assembled a staff team of over ten thousand people in the remote control center on the second underground level of the Farmhouse Shelter.

Specifically tasked with coordinating with the management of Zhenhai City.

To speed up the handover process.

After spending a full half hour.

Su Wu barely managed to gain a rough understanding of the actual situation in Zhenhai City.

Overall.

Despite trying to overestimate beforehand.

Zhenhai City's resources were still far richer than Su Wu had anticipated.

Its vast internal space, larger than the Farmhouse Shelter.

Almost one-third of the area was filled with various massive stockpiles of supplies.

Not to mention anything else, just the basic metal raw material of steel alone amounted to 150 million tons.

Fuel, coal, and other power generation materials also reached the level of hundreds of millions of tons.

Other various rare resources were also measured in millions or tens of millions of tons.

Compared to Zhenhai City, even Steel City, which was once a super city known for its abundant resources, seemed as shabby as a slum, completely incomparable.

"No wonder the Eastern Capital so easily gave up on Steel City back then."

"Letting it be occupied by gangs and local forces."

"Turns out they had already stripped most of the resources from there."

Faced with this astronomical inventory of resources.

While refreshing his understanding of the supercity, Su Wu also gained some insights.

He had previously thought that the abundant steel city legacy was merely a few pounds of scrap metal left behind after others had moved away.

The real bulk had already been thoroughly exploited.

However, although the inventory of materials in Zhenhai City was exceptionally large, less than half of it was under official jurisdiction.

The other half belonged to private property.

From the family behind Ping Yuhan, the council chairman, to the ordinary wealthy residents, everyone held some materials in their hands.

These materials couldn't be confiscated outright.

Not to mention the exemption quotas Su Wu had previously granted to Ping Yuhan, allowing the retention of private property.

Just for the sake of a smooth transition of power and as a propaganda example, it was necessary to let the original elites of Zhenhai City retain a considerable amount of wealth.

"Exemptions are easy to handle."

"The quotas given initially had certain upper limits."

"The total mass cannot exceed 5,000 tons, and the total value cannot exceed 1 billion universal currencies before the apocalypse."

"Plus, high transportation fees can be charged."

"Not much can actually be taken away."

"The key is the remaining larger number of elite groups and civilian groups."

After sorting out the relationships, Su Wu, feeling a headache, decided to leave these tedious tasks to the staff on the second underground level to handle.

He himself only set a basic bottom line.

"Those materials."

"Although they can't be forcibly confiscated."

"But in this special period when the city is on the verge of collapse, ultimately levying a 95% asset tax shouldn't be a big problem."

"The rest is up to the staff's discretion."

Having determined the issue of material ownership, the next step was to consider how to transfer them.

Zhenhai City had a population of 38 million and billions of tons of materials.

Su Wu wanted to take it all.

With the limited tools he currently had, he couldn't simply rely on air and land transportation.

He needed to find another way.

After scanning the structural map of Zhenhai City's shelters for a while, Su Wu finally focused his gaze on several exit points that had already been submerged by seawater.

The shallow sea area where Zhenhai City was located had an average depth of about 50 meters.

The thickness of the ice layer on top was between 7 to 8 meters.

Below was still liquid seawater.

Compared to moving on the ice layer or chiseling through the ice, building a tunnel for transporting materials in the seawater, which remained around zero degrees with minimal undercurrents, was undoubtedly much easier and safer.

"Rapid-setting cement only takes three minutes to solidify."

"A thickness of 2 to 3 millimeters is enough to withstand the water pressure at 50 meters depth and a certain level of seismic activity."

"It's entirely feasible to build a tunnel underwater."

"Then tracks can be laid inside the tunnel, and subway trains can be used for transportation."

As Su Wu pondered, he directly simulated calculations on the holographic map.

Eventually, he found that this approach was indeed viable.

Currently, Zhenhai City had over 7,000 subway trains preserved.

If everything could be fully utilized.

A single trip could transport over 20 million people.

With two trips, all the residents of Zhenhai City could be transported to the coast.

As for the transportation of supplies.

Since the subway trains were not designed specifically for transporting supplies.

The transport capacity of a single train is only about 500 tons.

In one trip, it can transport a maximum of over 3 million tons of supplies.

However, due to the extremely high speed of the trains, they can reach up to 75 kilometers per hour in the undisturbed undersea tunnel.

The actual efficiency of transferring supplies is also quite high. They can fully serve as the primary means of transportation.

"Let's proceed with this plan."

Confirming that there were no theoretical issues.

Su Wu immediately turned it into an action plan.

Distributing it to the Artificial Intelligence, the advisory group, and the management of Zhenhai City.

Then, just half a minute later.

Under the leadership of the Artificial Intelligence.

The entire Zhenhai City began to operate around this plan.

In every residential area, a large number of residents were informed to pack their personal belongings and head to designated squares and office halls.

They would receive queue numbers and undergo security checks there.

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Then, those who meet the standards would be led to several temporarily constructed stations.

Waiting to board the subway trains.

A total of hundreds of thousands of workers and retired soldiers were organized.

Some opened the long-abandoned shelter warehouses.

To inspect and awaken the trains that had been dormant for over half a year.

And incidentally transport the rail components from the warehouses in batches.

Some went to the 7 shelter exits that had already been submerged by seawater.

To dismantle the nearby original equipment and walls, and establish large temporary train stations and logistics transfer warehouses.

And some were re-deployed into factories.

To cut metal raw materials into more rail components as much as possible.

Zhenhai City is over a hundred kilometers away from the nearest coastline.

With just the stock of rail components.

Building a two-way loop track for a round trip is already quite challenging.

Not to mention laying more tracks.

But fortunately, this is only for temporary use.

The quality requirements are not high.

The difficulty of production has significantly decreased.

It is estimated that even without Su Wu's support, the production capacity of Zhenhai City's factories alone.

Is sufficient to produce the necessary number of rail components.

While Zhenhai City is busy.

Su Wu's farmhouse is not idle either.

Thousands of robots began packing a small Rapid-setting Cement production line.

To be transported to Zhenhai City by the first batch of 20 Twin-Winged Helicopters.

This production line will produce Rapid-setting Cement on-site, providing building materials for the tunnel to be constructed soon.

At the same time, most of the aircraft, as well as all the merchant trains.

Will also return to the farmhouse after completing their current transportation tasks.

Then join in the work of transferring the population and supplies of Zhenhai City.

"According to speed calculations."

"When the first batch of Twin-Winged Helicopters arrives in Zhenhai City."

"It should coincide with the time when the branch cyclone in the ocean moves over Zhenhai City."

"The expected wind force at that time will reach level 15 to 17."

"With the performance of sixth-generation fighter jets, it's estimated they won't be able to achieve vertical takeoff and landing in such conditions."

"The Twin-Winged Helicopters might fare slightly better, but there's still considerable risk."

"After this delivery of the Rapid-setting Cement production line, we can't let them approach Zhenhai City from the air anymore."

"At most, they'll have to land once they reach the vicinity of the coastline."

Su Wu's gaze lingered on the ruins of a communication signal tower near the former coastline.

In that area, there happened to be a large Subsidiary Shelter he had abandoned.

He planned to renovate it thoroughly.

It would serve as the terminal station for the undersea tunnel connecting to Zhenhai City.

Temporarily housing the population and supplies transferred from there.

"Time is running out."

"How many people can escape and how much supplies can be retrieved."

"Will all depend on luck."

"Let's hope Zhenhai City's luck is slightly better."

Three hours after Su Wu took control of Zhenhai City.

As the Twin-Winged Helicopters successfully delivered the Rapid-setting Cement production line to the Zhenhai City Shelter and began their return journey with the first batch of high-ranking officials' families.

A branch cyclone from the most powerful storm source on the planet.

Finally began to slowly approach the surface of Zhenhai City.

Through the monitors installed on the ice layer.

Su Wu could clearly see a massive funnel-shaped cloud, seemingly covering half the sky.

Moving at a speed visible to the naked eye.

The violent storm.

Tore apart layer after layer of snow, hardened like rock in the -70°C cold.

Shattering them into countless fine ice fragments, swept into the sky.

Occasionally, large chunks of glacier debris caught in the storm.

Would crash into the ground at extremely high speeds.

Creating massive gaps in the ice layer formed over the ocean.

Minutes after the cyclone arrived.

Su Wu even saw a 100-meter-tall building.

Unluckily struck head-on by a piece of debris.

The entire building, as if hit by a high-yield aerial bomb.

Had several floors in the middle completely crushed.

With part of its critical support at the waist destroyed.

The building couldn't hold out for long in the increasingly fierce storm.

After swaying precariously for a few minutes.

It collapsed with a thunderous crash.

The immense kinetic energy from its fall.

Directly pierced through the nearby ice layer, exposing the unfrozen seawater beneath.

In this dangerously brutal environment.

The Twin-Winged Helicopter fleet, which had just taken off from the Zhenhai City Shelter, inevitably encountered strong resistance.

The aircraft shook more violently with each impact from the intense air currents.

Seeming on the verge of losing control and crashing at any moment.

Some of the young women inside the helicopter cabins.

Couldn't help but cling tightly to each other, sobbing in fear.

Having lived privileged lives since childhood, this was their first time facing such terrifying natural fury.

And the first time they felt death so close.

But at this moment, no one could protect them anymore.

They could only leave it to fate.

"The wind has reached level 16."

"But the helicopter fleet should still be able to reach the coastal area before the storm intensifies to level 17."

"Consider it a narrow escape."

Su Wu glanced at the Twin-Winged Helicopter fleet above Zhenhai City.

Based on the data above, it was deduced that they posed no significant threat.

So, he stopped paying attention.

For him, only the value of the twenty Twin-Winged Helicopters themselves was worth a second glance.

As for the passengers inside, no matter how prestigious their status might be in Zhenhai City, in Su Wu's eyes, they were no different from ordinary people.

Whether they lived or died made little difference to him.

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