Chapter 1409 Urban Planning

After confirming that the Ark would land on Aerym, Hao Ren and Lawrence discussed the details of the process. They ultimately decided to open the Ark's dome after landing – this was a transformation function inherent to the ship itself. When the dome opened, the enclosed oval-shaped shelter city would unfold into a flat continent. Only in this state could the life support systems of the ship's city and the group of main power furnaces at the end of the ship be truly and completely shut down and overhauled.

These ships had only been barely repaired in the previous "piecemeal repairs" because they couldn't be shut down. The replaced components had accumulated unimaginable hidden dangers and chronic illnesses. In fact, the frequent gravity imbalances and other malfunctions that occurred later on the Throne Ark were caused by this accumulated wear and tear. Therefore, opening the Ark's dome would be an indispensable part of the entire repair plan, and it was inevitable that the residents of the Ark city would see the real world outside.

However, the social impact that this would have on the entire Ark civilization would also be obvious:

The Ark residents would see a real horizon, they would see the open sky, and they would see their 'world' transforming into a flat continent, which would be a huge shock to their worldview. Hao Ren vividly remembered what happened when the Aerym elves first arrived at their new home: a large number of elves suffered from sky phobia because they saw the boundless sky for the first time, even those learned mages and technicians were no exception. The Aerym elves, who still had some knowledge, were already like this, let alone the Ark residents: for generations, they had been facing a closed cabin of one hundred kilometers, and even regarded it as the entire world.

While Hao Ren and Lawrence were discussing these matters, Lily was busy rushing her manuscript, so she was startled when she heard that they were preparing to open the Ark's outer shell. The husky was a bit simple-minded, but she wasn't stupid. In terms of professional knowledge, she was even one of the top members of the team, a true military advisor. Therefore, she immediately questioned: "Won't this cause large-scale social unrest? How will the people in the Ark perceive this phenomenon?!"

"I had already prepared for this day when you left, but I didn't expect it to come so soon," Lawrence said slowly. "I slightly modified the legends about the world and the 'Giant Turtle', describing the Giant Turtle as a magical artifact that can be opened, and the Erdos Sea outside will eventually calm down. When the Erdos Sea calms down, God will open the Giant Turtle and let the world see His truly great creation. I also described the concepts of the sky and the earth as much as possible... although the latter had little effect."

"Do you think such public opinion preparation is enough?" Lily looked at Lawrence suspiciously. It wasn't that she didn't believe in the old man's efforts, she mainly didn't believe in the Ark residents' ability to understand...

"Ignorance is an obstacle to social progress, but it is a good medicine for social stability," Lawrence sighed softly. "I should be glad that they are ignorant now, so they can easily use myths and legends to explain all problems. Even if the world is turned upside down, as long as a god appears and tells them that all of this is normal, the entire society can continue to operate stably."

Hao Ren nodded in agreement: "Moreover, Lawrence still maintains great authority in the Ark society. He is qualified to explain the changes in the entire 'world', and if the 'world' really changes according to his description, his authority will be further consolidated, continuing for hundreds of years – this, in the long run, is equivalent to laying a solid foundation for the Ark society."

"Short-term chaos is inevitable, as long as this chaos doesn't become so serious that it gets out of control," Lawrence said, looking at Vivian and Lily, "So I still need your help. If the Icefire Goddess personally 'unveils the heavens and earth', the people's panic will be minimized."

Vivian hadn't even spoken yet when Lily jumped up happily: "I'll go, I'll go! This sounds so interesting!"

Hao Ren couldn't help but glance at the husky: the last time it was the same situation, she was jumping and shouting like crazy when she heard there was fun to be had, but when there were too many people, she would immediately shrink back. It seemed that this girl was planning to do it again today...

However, Hao Ren didn't stop her. If Lily was willing, then let her go. It was rare for this husky to have a positive effect. He nodded slightly to Vivian and Lily: "Then you two go back to the Ark with Lawrence, make a big commotion, prepare some large-scale light and shadow effects in advance, so that everyone in the Ark realizes that big news is about to happen. Then Nolan will wait for your signal, and as soon as the signal arrives, open the dome of the shelter."

Then he turned to Nolan: "Also, how is the transformation mechanism of the shelter itself?"

"The transformation mechanism is operating normally, the gravity generator has been re-allocated, and during the process of opening the outer shell, I will manually control the entire process to ensure a seamless transition between the gravity field inside the ship and the gravity field of Aerym," Nolan nodded slightly. "In addition, I have cut off all energy pipelines in the Throne Ark except for the shelter. Now all the energy is turned to the ship's city, and it will definitely succeed."

Hao Ren hummed, looking at Vivian, Lily, and Lawrence: "Then you guys act. Vivian, it's mainly up to you."

Vivian smiled: "Don't worry, I have a lot of experience in this area – I watched those old monsters establish their sects during the age of mythology."

The three left the bridge and went inside the Throne Ark, and at this moment, outside the ship, the wind and waves caused by the fleet's landing had gradually weakened. This unnatural storm came and went faster, and the heavy rain almost stopped within ten minutes. Carterina stood beside the holographic projection showing the outside scenery, staring blankly at her home planet's ocean, wondering what she was thinking, while Hao Ren and Nolan were趴 (pa - leaning over) on the console studying the Ark fleet's next engineering plan.

According to the plan, Hao Ren was preparing to repair all twelve giant ships. Considering that the sirens' lease period for the Ark civilization was at least two hundred years, there was no need to rush to let them take off after repairing these ships. In these two centuries of long time, the twelve ships should be effectively used.

Through structural analysis of each Ark, Nolan had completely understood the working mechanisms and life support system structures of these relatively primitive ships, and had reverse-engineered a set of blueprint libraries. Hao Ren hoped to use these blueprints to allow engineering drones and autonomous machines to modify these giant ships to a certain extent, connect them into an island chain, and rebuild the cities on each ship to allow the Ark civilization to restore its population and social mechanisms. Moreover, the twelve giant floating cities greatly enhanced the Ark civilization's survival ability, and the expanded range of activities also helped the people in the ships rebuild their worldview.

A ring-shaped floating city group, connected by sturdy alloy bridges and shaped like a wheel, gradually took shape on the planning map. Nolan pointed at the holographic sand table with her finger, setting up towers and floating ports between the floating cities, calculating and saying: "They will live here for two hundred years, and then they may go directly to another ecological planet, so they must adapt to life on the planet – activities outside the shelter, collecting resources from nature, and surviving independently from the ship's supply, these must establish a concept. According to the current recovery speed of Aerym's marine ecology, about a century later, tens of thousands of people in this sea area can make a living by fishing. In addition, I also found technical data on marine aquaculture and seawater planting in the Ark database, and these things can also be established."

Nolan said, looking up: "As long as it is used properly, survival on an ocean planet is not difficult, but it is difficult to accumulate mineral resources."

"You have quite a lot of knowledge in this area," Hao Ren looked at Nolan with a slight surprise, "There are these in the ship's database?"

"Many of my thousands of years of 'dreams' are about doomsday survival," Nolan smiled. "One of the most memorable dreams was on a planet that had turned into an ocean, where the surviving humans maintained civilization by relying on giant aircraft carrier cities, and I used to be the operator of such an aircraft carrier city. Although they are all dreams, the accumulated experience can also be applied in the real world."

Hao Ren was stunned and expressed admiration: "Amazing."

At this time, Carterina, not far away, suddenly called out: "Hao Ren, can you come here for a moment?"

Hao Ren went over curiously: "What's wrong?"

Carterina pointed to an area of the sea far away from the fleet, and saw that the sea area was glowing with a slight green color.

"Can we go take a look over there?"

(Correcting an error in the previous chapter, sailing to the jump window outside "one light-hour" instead of "one light-year"... I'm used to typing the word light-year and accidentally pressed it =. =)