"That was just for the show’s effect!" Brother Pickle said, "There are plenty of people criticizing He Xingzhou, it’s not just me!"
"Don’t they know they’re making up lies? It’s all for the money!"
"At this moment, there’s no way to run, we can only wait for someone to rescue us! By then, this work certificate will be our lifeline!"
Hearing him say this, the whole family sprang into action, "Hurry and help your brother-in-law find it!"
"We won’t sleep tonight until we find it!"
The family turned the house upside down, but still couldn’t find it.
Then, Brother Pickle’s wife suddenly remembered, "Last time I tidied up, I think I tossed it into the basement!"
"To the basement!" The family searched the basement from day to night, exhausted and nearly giving up.
At that moment, the brother-in-law suddenly shouted, "Brother-in-law, is this it?"
He was holding a certificate, which opened to reveal Brother Pickle’s photo and a statement: "Super High-Speed Rail Project, Railway Worker Work Certificate. Specially issued to Brother Pickle; this certificate permits him to come home to work on the high-speed rail—Signed, He Xingzhou."
"Yes, yes, yes! That’s it!" Upon seeing the certificate, Brother Pickle exclaimed with joy, "Finally found it! Haha, with this certificate, we still have a chance to survive! Someone like He Xingzhou won’t go back on his word, right?"
The relatives quickly said, "If your family is safe, don’t forget us poor relatives!"
Like him, Brother Field Mouse also found this certificate at this time. He specifically instructed his wife, "Sew this work certificate into my clothes, absolutely don’t lose it!"
His wife worriedly asked, "With so many Zerg, will they really come?"
"They will!" Brother Field Mouse, now clear-headed, said, "What I said on the show was made up; their strength is actually very strong. Haven’t you noticed? Right now, worldwide, only He Xingzhou and his team can resist the Zerg invasion!"
"This is their territory, related to their safety, so they will definitely come!"
"Then why did you say so many bad things about them on the show, you..." His wife was a bit worried.
Brother Field Mouse gritted his teeth and said, "I’ve changed my tune years ago! If it comes to it, I’ll help them build the underwater tunnel!"
"Damn it, they ran too fast!" Here, someone else was filled with regret.
*Leaving here was as hard as reaching the sky. On one side, the Zerg blocked the sea and air routes, while on the other, the original escape destinations were also being ravaged by the Zerg, leaving no room for outsiders!*
"Hurry up and buy some red cloth to weave flags at home! You can’t even buy them on the streets anymore!"
A family, three generations, dozens of people, gathered together.
The oldest person, Liang Huaixin, sat on the main seat, while the children and grandchildren knelt below, filling the room.
Liang Huaixin looked at these descendants and snorted coldly, "Unfilial kids, why are you kneeling before me now? Weren’t you going to break ties with me?"
When Liang Huaixin was very young, he followed his father to this place by boat, started a family, and had become a large local clan.
Because of the memories in his bones, Liang Huaixin had always been nostalgic for his hometown and maintained a close relationship with them.
For this reason, a few unfilial grandchildren once declared they would cut ties with the family and never see each other again, but now, they were all kneeling here.
"Grandfather, it was because we were young and foolish!" Someone murmured, "Now we know we were wrong!"
"Hmph!" Liang Huaixin snorted again, saying, "Don’t think I don’t know your sneaky thoughts!"
"You’re only pleading with me now because the Zerg are coming and you want to save your own skins, hoping to find a way out through me!"
"Grandfather! We were trying to survive back then too!" Someone kowtowed, "And we swear, everyone was just talking, but never did anything that was blatantly wrong or hurt anyone!"
"The ones who really did bad things have already left!"
"Yes, Grandfather! You’ve seen these things with your own eyes!" Everyone pleaded.
Seeing them there, Liang Huaixin sighed and said, "Lucky for you, you indeed haven’t done anything cruel or unjust; otherwise, I’d have driven you out today!"
Hearing this, everyone knew Liang Huaixin still cared about kinship.
Someone asked, "Grandfather, do you think they will help drive away these Zerg?"
Everyone looked eagerly at Liang Huaixin, hoping for a positive answer, as they knew Liang Huaixin always kept in touch with the homeland and surely had inside information.
Liang Huaixin scoffed, "Of course, soon the fleet will come and clear the Zerg!"
"Really? Are we saved then?" Everyone’s hopes flared.
"Not so fast!" Liang Huaixin stood up, tapping the ground with his cane, and said, "You unworthy descendants think you can just bluff your way through this? No way!"
He said, "Everywhere is chaotic now, and there are some ill-intentioned people."
"You’ve lived here for over half your lives, you have some connections. Get them organized! Maintain order, and do something useful, understood?"
"Understood, Grandfather, we’ll go right away!" The descendants promptly started to act.
Seeing this, Liang Huaixin sighed deeply, looking towards the sky, and thought to himself, *"How many years has it been, finally waiting for this day!"*
By the coast of Rong City, He Xingzhou stood beside the iron fortress, looking at the underwater tunnel station ahead.
The underwater tunnel had been pre-explored for oceanic geology, mostly constructed using the shield tunnel method, digging tunnels underground and using structures to support the tunnels, progressing gradually.
Because they also had to face Zerg attacks and prevent the Zerg from digging through the tunnel, the underwater tunnel had a double tunnel design, with an outer protective layer that could close off and isolate seawater and Zerg in segments, preventing damage in one area from affecting others.
"If it weren’t for the Zerg, we could have completed the underwater tunnel in a year!" Liu Tianhu stood beside him, saying.
"It’s almost time." He Xingzhou replied, "Let’s bring the equipment to test the waters first; it’ll be put to use soon!"
Behind them, the electromagnetic floating freight carriage of the super high-speed rail branch line slowly stopped, carrying a Mecha and a deep-water warship.
The deep-water warship was designed to resemble the marine creature Manta, modified from the Flood Dragon Deep Diving Device, so it was called the Flood Dragon Deep-Water Warship.
Not very large, the version being tested now was a two-seater, with unmanned, single-seater, and multi-seater versions also available.
This small deep-water warship functioned like a carrier-based aircraft group, except its battlefield was underwater!
Beside the Flood Dragon Deep-Water Warship was a Mecha over six meters tall, painted deep blue, looking like a standing shark, with "fins" designed to reduce water resistance.
"Thunder Shark Deep Sea Mecha!" He Xingzhou admired his masterpiece. With experience in manufacturing land Mechas and Deep Diving Devices, the development of deep-sea Mechas was much faster.
"It looks amazing!" Liu Tianhu also admired the Deep Sea Mecha. As a man and a soldier, who wouldn’t want to operate such a Mecha?
He Xingzhou said, "Its Mecha shell is made of pressure-resistant nanometer ceramics and special alloys, capable of withstanding oceanic depths of ten thousand meters! At full speed, it matches the speed of underwater missiles! It can also operate on land and perform short-range low-altitude flights!"
"As for the weapons, besides underwater bullets and torpedoes, I’ve added an underwater laser emitter and an arc generator!"
The arc generator was more useful underwater than an electromagnetic gun!
"It commands electricity! That’s why it’s called Thunder Shark!"
"Now I’m tempted to get up there and try it out!" Liu Tianhu laughed.
"We haven’t officially tested it, so let’s start with a remote operation test!" He Xingzhou said, activating Thunder Shark’s remote control mode, having it fly to the sea.
Meanwhile, Liu Tianhu also had the Flood Dragon Deep-Water Warship sent to the sea for a water trial.