Long-term salvation

Patting Nikki's head, Rhodes walked towards the hangar. At this moment, there were not many people inside the body of this steel behemoth, but thanks to the powerful automation system, it was still able to slowly sneak in the ocean, but forget about fighting.

After passing through the three-layer airtight hatch, Rhodes could see the straight and wide main passage bulkhead, which was different from the compact layout unique to other submarines.

Above the passage, there are densely arranged cable bundles wrapped in light blue insulating sleeves. Every five meters, there is an explosion-proof lamp embedded in the honeycomb steel ceiling. The faint cold white halo does not completely illuminate the passage, and still leaves many shadows.

Just as he passed by a shadow, Rhodes raised his eyebrows, stepped back, and went into the shadow.

He pressed the wrists of those two slender arms with his right hand, then kissed them a little roughly, and a faint gasp was heard.

After pressing Nayako against the wall and giving her a good kiss, and then nearly getting killed, Rhode used his fingers to curl up her long silver fur and said unhappily:

"Let me guess, you must have taken Abigail somewhere?"

"Well... how can I possibly lock up someone who can open the door?" Nyako's ahoge hair escaped from Rhode's fingers and swayed across his face. "Also, I have a piece of advice for you. You'd better be mentally prepared—exercise well and stay healthy—that's it."

Tsk, this woman is really skilled at being a hooligan.

After tapping the smooth forehead with his hand, Rhodes continued walking towards the hangar, ignoring the way Nyako smiled and put her arm around him, even wrapping her hair around him.

After walking a few steps, Nayako put away the smile on her face and said seriously:

"Rod, there are cracks in the other world on the seabed of this planet, and there are more than one."

“…Are you sure?”

"Yes."

Nayako nodded. She hadn't spent all this time holed up in Hill Manor drawing erotic pictures of Rhode and herself. Instead, she'd been traveling extensively on Atlas's private jets and cruise ships. Her expression, though serious, was tinged with a hint of helplessness.

"My guess is that there are many small, 'naturally' generated cracks in the other world, and things have escaped from them... and then been crushed into pulp by the deep sea pressure."

"???"

"Isn't this perfectly normal?" Nayako spread her hands, her alopecia curving into a rather provocative arc. "How many creatures in this world can survive in a trench thousands of meters deep? Not to mention those creatures that escaped from the cracks in the other world. The moment they escaped from the other world and came into contact with the seawater, the internal and external pressures were completely different. The supernatural has finally been punished by nature. The other world is just as cruel to its creations."

"The existence of randomness is consistent with the chaotic nature of the inner world. Wait, doesn't that mean that those who can emerge from those cracks are all extremely powerful monsters or monsters with even more bizarre characteristics?!"

"Yeah, it's very likely," Nayako shrugged. "Mother Earth has already protected you from many disasters. That's good enough. What else do you want from a bicycle?"

"That's not good news," Rhode said, facepalming helplessly. He then thought of something more important. "Let's not talk about the monsters escaping from the deep sea cracks. If humans... humans performed a sacrificial ceremony on a ship, then the cracks would likely give rise to otherworldly creatures related to water, like oceans and rivers, right?"

"Yeah, humans will always do this kind of thing, it's just a matter of time... maybe even the president of a country will do it himself, right? Rhodes, you know that."

Hearing Rhodes' words, Nayako narrowed her eyes slightly, and her shadow twisted like a living thing and drilled into the former's shadow.

"Are you giving up on saving this civilization? Becoming the husband of our Nyarlathotep clan will bring you great benefits!"

"What are you thinking?!" Rhodes grabbed Nayako's cheek in annoyance and rubbed it a little harder. "Besides, aren't you afraid that Abigail will rush in and snatch me away?"

"Meow... Hehehe, I do have some confidence in this. But after all, we are relatives, so I will generously give her Sunday."

"That's almost enough!"

But Nayako obviously didn't want to let Rhode go so easily. She pounced on him from behind, hanging on his back and twisting her body:

"Also, I have other things to say!"

"What's going on?" Rhode sighed, wrapping his arms around the girl's thighs and lifting her restless, perky buttocks. "Let me make it clear in advance, don't expect me to join you in this mischief. It's going to be a big deal in a month."

"Of course not, I'm a good boy!"

After secretly mocking Abigail, Nayako put her arms around Rhode's neck, put her lips close to his ear, and whispered softly:

"In the house of R'lyeh, the long-sleeping Cthulhu awaits your dreams."

"..."

"I've noticed traces of that fat guy's followers on this planet, but I need some souvenirs to get there... You'd better take some time out to go on an adventure with that 'legendary investigator' Mr. Randolph Carter. You might find some unexpected gains."

"……I will think about it."

Chapter 295: Irons's Exclamation

When Irons saw the black behemoth below him from the SH-60 Seahawk helicopter—especially the three electromagnetic cannons, one large and two small, pointing toward the helicopter—his heart stopped for half a second.

However, when he saw Rhodes standing by the periscope, his heart quickly returned to normal and began to beat faster due to anger.

The helicopter approached cautiously, and Irons refused to allow his bodyguards to accompany him.

"You didn't tell me you'd be gone this long!" Irons shouted in the strong wind whipped up by the helicopter's rotors. He grabbed Rhodes's outstretched hand and stood on the solid metal body. "How big is this thing? I estimated it's almost 500 meters long!"

"495 meters, displacement of 810,000 tons! Let's go in and talk!" Rhodes had to respond loudly. He lowered his body slightly to resist the strong wind, but the helicopter quickly moved away from the Alicorn, leaving only a little sea breeze still lingering there.

"Wait...let me take another look at her."

Irons's eyes followed the slowly descending electromagnetic cannon, and seeing the electromagnetic catapult rails and flame shields still on the deck, he felt a little more emotional:

"A few days ago, I bought the recently decommissioned battleship USS New Jersey. I plan to slowly build a fleet, and then combine it with the TDD-1 'Son of Danu' that is currently being renovated, forming a pairing of one bright and one dark... But now, you have brought us an even greater surprise."

The Titan Lord was carefully examining the Alicorn beneath his feet, and based on his previous experience as a technical developer and engineer, he wondered when Atlas Corporation would be able to build such a behemoth.

At this moment, sunlight beat directly down on the submarine's silencing tiles, the black coating shedding fine droplets of water like the sweating skin of a giant beast. Floating seaweed began to gather around the hull, its sacs of Sargassum undulating in the waves. Occasionally, bits of human waste were carried by the current to the steel hull, refracting iridescent light in the sunlight like liquid gems.

Ains looked at the scenery in front of him and asked subconsciously:

"This giant submarine is carrying weapons of mass destruction, right?"

"Ah yes...wait, what do you want to do?!"

Facing Rhode's horrified gaze, Ains was so angry that he slapped him on the back of the head and said angrily:

"I'm just wondering how I'm going to clean up after you, little bastard, use nuclear weapons! You don't really think you can run rampant on Earth with these things in your possession, do you?! If you use them, the entire Security Council will regard you as a potential enemy!"

"Ahem, don't be angry."

Rhode quickly calmed Irons down—he really had to rely on Irons for political operations in the future—and as he led him into the Alicorn, he explained:

"There are no nuclear weapons or nuclear shells inside. There are only two vacuum implosion bombs."

These two items, from Red Alert 3, are Soviet superweapons in the game, and are Rhode's rewards for completing missions. It seems the system's "Base Construction Mission" might even feature "superweapons" in the future... For now, however, Rhode still needs to use his otherworldly contamination points to replenish the Alicorn's various resources, forcing him to use them cautiously for a long time to come.

"What is that? It sounds really good… Oops."

"To put it simply, the warhead creates an artificial singularity upon explosion, swallowing up any targets within its kill radius. You can think of it as creating a miniature black hole."

Irons: "..."

After taking a deep breath, Irons stopped, and the heels of his leather shoes made a crisp sound on the metal stairs. After a few seconds of silence, he pulled Rhodes over and said in a low voice:

"Atlas Corporation has secretly built some centrifuges in Africa to enrich uranium. If we can't do that, we can just seal up those two vacuum implosion bombs and use nuclear weapons instead."

Hearing this, Rhodes said with a smile:

"It's not that dangerous, okay? If not, I'll give you one to study."

"Okay, that's it," Irons nodded quickly, his expression regaining its composure. "When this submarine gets close to Africa, I'll have our most loyal Atlas employees come and hand it over to you."

Rhodes: “…”

You planned this the second you fucking heard that word, right?!

Wait, what did you just say? Atlas Corporation is actually working on a nuclear bomb?!

Ignoring Rhode's bunny-like gaze, Irons, feeling much happier, walked downstairs and soon saw Michael, Larry Falk (Pixy) and the girls waiting to welcome him.

Two mass-produced Nikkis stood on both sides of the crowd, holding up a banner that read "Welcome the Chief for your guidance." Two others followed behind them, holding up portraits of Rod and Irons' upper bodies... Although they were simple pencil drawings, they were quite well-drawn.

"I heard Rod explain your situation over the satellite phone. Thank you for your hard work."

Irons, with a slight twitch on his face, adjusted his attitude and stepped forward to shake hands with Michael and Pixy. The three of them immediately showed a mutual admiration for each other and a subtle dislike for Rhodes in their eyes.

"No, it's nothing. You must be having a hard time, too," Larry felt the most. When he was teaching Rod how to fly a fighter plane, he was mostly annoyed by the latter's strange ideas that popped up from time to time. "We don't need anything. We just need to keep flying the fighter plane."

"Yes, please give me more guidance in the future. I don't know any technology, so I can only be a flight instructor." Michael nodded, and his words were more expectant.

"These two are both top-notch ace pilots. They will have many opportunities to demonstrate their abilities in the future."

Ignoring the looks of the three "elders", Rhode shamelessly continued his introduction:

"I brought all that information, prototypes, experimental aircraft, and stuff like that, including the Su-47. The whole hangar is packed to the brim. I don't know what materials they're using, but I'll leave it to Atlas and Aperture Technologies to tinker with when the time comes."

"...I'm actually more interested in the civilian technology you've acquired. The technological development in our world is truly distorted," Irons sighed, reaching out to take the silver briefcase from Little Red Riding Hood. He opened it, examined it, and then closed it again. "I'll give it to the researchers. I can't say for the rest, but civilian projects like this are easy to advance, and the funds can be recouped quickly."

"Another thing," Rhodes said calmly, suppressing his smile. He patted the briefcase in Irons's hand and said, "The orbital elevator—design information, operating data, and so on—are all in here. We can build this thing in southern Somalia."

Hearing the word "orbital elevator", Ains was startled, then slowly said:

"That would take many, many years, and it wouldn't be something that the Army Without Borders, Atlas Corporation, or any other organization could build... It would require the power of the entire world."

"There will be this opportunity."

After hearing the reply, Irons said nothing more. He simply put the suitcase away solemnly and walked towards the interior of the Alicorn under Rhode's guidance. However, as they walked, Irons noticed something was amiss. He turned his head sharply, pointed at Helen and the mass-produced Nikkis beside him, and asked seriously:

"What's wrong with them?"

"Um... my imperial guards, there will be more of them in the future."

Rhodes sighed, but these words made the mass-produced Nikkis smile brightly. They puffed out their chests, some big and some small, looking very proud.

"...After you get off the ship, come with me for a physical examination. I'll have the best health doctor give you a list of precautions, and I'll have Dr. Peng collect some health supplements from Aurora."

"Can you talk about something useful? Like the current situation of the Army Without Borders, the world situation, etc., instead of worrying about whether I will die from this kind of thing?"

Rhode complained with his dead eyes. He reached out and patted the blushing Nikki's head, signaling her to take everyone to the bridge.

"That's exactly what I meant." Irons nodded slowly. "I also have some news about the Ibris organization. Intelligence shows that these lunatics are trading with the Soviet troops stationed in Ukraine."

"Are they going to engage in a large-scale battle?" Rhode raised his eyebrows slightly. "That's a good thing. It's better to jump out than to stay in the gutter."

"I hope so... Come on, let's find a place to sit down and talk it over."

Chapter 296: Conversation in the Restaurant (3K)

After showing Irons around the Alicorn, Rhodes brought him to the restaurant to rest and chat.

However, Pxiy and Michael didn't join in. They sat further away, carefully reading the history of the world. Mika and Little Red Riding Hood were whispering explanations nearby, occasionally correcting the nonsense of Abigail and Nayako, two people who were eager to cause chaos.

Sitting in this restaurant, which was brighter than the main passage or other cabins, Irons slowly used a fork to separate the stewed fish on the plate in front of him, picked out the fish bones and put them aside, sprinkled some pepper on it, and then slowly began to eat it.

Rhodes did the same. He stirred the fish soup in front of him with a spoon. Onion rings were floating in the milky white soup, and some slender rosemary leaves were swirling in the soup, weaving the aroma of pine needles into the faint hot air - Bai Zi's cooking skills were even better than he had imagined, but Rhodes had no appetite to eat at this time.

Looking up at the old man in front of him, Rhode put down the spoon in his hand, took a sip of the milk tea brought by Bai Zi, and asked with a little curiosity:

"How have those projects progressed in the five months I've been away?"

"is acceptable."

Irons took out a little more fish and put it on the plate to eat. The rich flavor of fresh ocean fish and the excellent cooking skills blended together, making his face more satisfied... It was hard to tell whether he was talking about the fish or the research projects:

"You don't need to worry about engineering projects around the world. The only problem is that there's no secret dock for this behemoth. You'd better be able to solve it yourself," Irons said, raising an eyebrow at Rhodes, "using some magic or something."

Hearing this, Rhode simply shrugged. Based on the system's side quests, he speculated that the system had already prepared an anchorage and maintenance base for the Alicorn. The only question was how to distribute it.

After Irons finished briefly talking about the construction projects, Rod thought for a few seconds and then put these things behind him... These civil engineers are much more professional than himself, so he will go and see them in person when he has time in the future.

Thinking of this, Rhodes began to ask about things that were more relevant to him:

"How's the experiment going in the other world? Let's not talk about the portal for now. That thing is too dangerous. Let me go and see it myself."

Irons said nothing, but took out an envelope from his jacket pocket and poured out a few sheets of paper from it - on them were written the otherworldly research projects being conducted in different research institutes. When Rod finished reading, Irons took the paper back, snatched Rod's lighter, lit it, and threw it on the ground.

In the orange flames that licked the paper quickly, Irons watched silently until the former was completely turned into charcoal. Then he picked up the cup full of water on the table and poured it down, letting the black stains slowly spread along the floor.

"Just keep going at this pace. Don't be impatient, and don't hesitate," Rhode recalled what he had just seen. "The containment, elimination, and subsequent handling of the creatures from the other world, the differentiation of disaster levels, the investigation of ancient ruins, the interpretation and application of various documents, the training of soldiers... Oh, and how is the development of exoskeletons and other advanced vehicles going?"

These words actually made Bai Zi's ears prick up, and even made the mass-produced Nikkis next to him more curious - for them, if they could improve their strength and speed, or have the help of jet packs and special vehicles, they would definitely be more at ease in battle.

Noticing the expressions of the girls next to him, Rhode smiled inwardly:

Elite troops directly under Rhodes, such as the Imperial Guard, Mobile Task Force, and the Knights of the Covenant, must have better customized equipment to face more powerful and strange enemies.

After hearing Rhode's question, Ains didn't respond immediately. Instead, he reached out and broke open the long bread on the plate next to him. After carefully examining the bread from this "other world," he ate and said,

"The first generation of mass-produced mechanical exoskeletons has been deployed to frontline troops of the Army Without Borders and some GOC personnel. While there are still many issues, they do have extraordinary potential. Soldiers wearing these exoskeletons could even arm wrestle brown bears with their bare hands, or give petite women the strength to fight against sturdy adult men. This requires special customization to fit their body types."

“How long will it take for full adoption?”

"The main issues right now are battery life and stability in extreme environments. The first generation of exoskeletons uses hydrogen fuel cells for power, which still has significant limitations. A better one would take about... two years? Then, in another three or four years, you'd be able to see this thing around the world." Note ①

As Irons spoke, he looked up at Rhodes, stuffed another piece of bread into his mouth, and continued: