Chapter 254: Southeast Super City Cluster

A crisp bell rang out at this moment.

The Artificial Intelligence reminded Su Wu that there were 5 minutes left until an important meeting.

Su Wu walked back to the control console and sat down.

He logged into a massive forum marked as Southeast Alliance.

A few days ago, the proposal from Changming City received the agreement of other members.

After Su Wu officially became a new member of the Southeast Alliance and completed a series of related authority verifications, he obtained a main account with management privileges in this forum.

This is a basic entitlement that every formal member of the Southeast Alliance receives.

The main account can invite up to 1,000 sub-accounts into the forum and assign browsing and posting permissions for any section.

This is not an exaggeration.

Except for Su Wu, who found it a bit overwhelming, every other main account represented a super city with a population of tens of millions.

One thousand sub-accounts are allocated to various important departments of the super city.

It can only be said that it is just enough.

The operation of the entire Southeast Alliance forum mainly relies on these sub-accounts.

They update the conditions of their respective cities, the policies issued, the various goods produced and needed, and even the gossip from the streets in real-time across various sections.

Then they communicate with departments from other cities to discuss potential collaborations.

After casually scanning the forum, Su Wu did not waste much time.

He quickly found an entrance in the pinned general affairs section of the alliance that required very high permissions to enter.

He clicked to enter.

Then he put on a pair of VR glasses, also gifted from Changming City.

After a brief moment of darkness and light, Su Wu found himself inside a grand palace, sitting at a round table.

Besides him, there were five other chairs around the table.

Two people were already seated.

Like Su Wu, they were projected here in a manner similar to holographic projection.

Su Wu recognized one of them as Song Hong, the speaker of Changming City, who had communicated with him privately a few times.

Noticing Su Wu's gaze, Song Hong turned his head and gave a slight nod in greeting.

This conference hall, resembling a palace, was actually a real building provided by Song Hong, located in an underground shelter in Changming City.

However, to show respect to the other members, Song Hong chose to attend the meeting in projection form rather than in person.

Outside the round table, there were six independent sections for the audience.

Each section corresponded to the direction of a person at the round table, representing their respective factions.

Compared to the few leaders who arrived late at the round table, the audience was already mostly filled.

Each of them could be considered a significant figure in their respective super cities, someone whom countless ordinary people could only look up to.

They were likely the true elites that many would never have the chance to interact with in their lifetime.

Yet here, they needed to apply for speaking rights, and most of the time could only serve as background spectators.

Of course, the audience referred to here did not include Su Wu's side.

Under the system managed by Su Wu's Artificial Intelligence, those attending with him were all true tools, with little special rights or status.

A few minutes later, as the last governor of a super city arrived at the round table, the meeting officially began.

This time, the rotating chairperson for the meeting was Ping Yuhan, the speaker of Zhenhai City.

Zhenhai City is located on the eastern coast of Dongzhou.

It was once the second-largest city in the entire Dongzhou region.

However, following the global tsunami that occurred before the apocalypse, the entire urban area of Zhenhai City was submerged below sea level.

Only some higher terrain remained, turning into islands in the ocean.

Moreover, just before the tsunami struck, many high-ranking government officials and wealthy individuals desperately mobilized all their resources to transfer the city's assets inland.

As a result, Zhenhai City's overall strength was significantly reduced.

Despite this, it still counted as one of the top superpowers within the Southeast Alliance.

The first agenda item of the meeting was related to Su Wu.

"After examination and confirmation by all members, we recognize Jianghe City as the sixth official partner of the Southeast Alliance."

"Jianghe City possesses High-Yield Rice Seeds."

"The alliance plans to procure rice seeds worth 10 tons of gold from Jianghe City within the next week."

"Then, according to demand ratios, distribute them to the other five cities."

This was an agreement that had already been reached privately.

Su Wu would exchange rice seeds for gold and silver with other cities, promising that this trade could continue in the future at a stable price.

Because Su Wu designated gold and silver as fixed exchange items in the trade, it also prompted other super cities in the Southeast Alliance to place greater importance on these two precious metals.

In places where Su Wu was not looking, they quietly began to increase their efforts to acquire related materials from the civilian sector and surrounding shelters, changing the fates of tens of thousands of ordinary people.

After the rice seeds, the next item was a video presentation of the Twin-Winged Helicopter, which Su Wu had just manufactured not long ago.

Compared to the rice seeds, the fact that he had managed to replicate the Twin-Winged Helicopter, one of the world's top technological creations, without the original design blueprints was even more eye-catching.

It also more directly showcased Su Wu's scientific research capabilities.

However, due to Su Wu's high asking price, whether purchasing directly with gold and silver or exchanging with three times the manufacturing cost in corresponding raw materials, the cost for a super city was a bit too high.

After careful consideration, Su Wu ultimately received orders for only three units: one from Changming City and two from Zhenhai City.

They all tacitly chose to pay with corresponding raw materials in exchange.

After concluding the agenda related to Su Wu, the meeting moved on to the routine affairs of the Southeast Alliance.

But calling it routine, given the scale of the alliance, these matters were still monumental events from a personal perspective.

They affected the fates of countless families.

Through this, Su Wu also glimpsed a broader and more authentic world.

In the vast area south of his communication signal tower's coverage, noticeable earthquakes occurred almost daily.

In the past month, there had been three earthquakes exceeding a magnitude of 7.

Meanwhile, in space, as the visible light intensity from the sun diminished, the intensity of certain rays began to surge, causing frequent malfunctions in satellites on orbit and reducing the available communication resources.

"Recently, we have noticed that the number of The Truth Heresy cultists roaming in Fuhai Province has exceeded 100,000."

"They have had a significant impact on regional stability—"

Su Wu silently listened to Ping Yuhan's speech, using his fingers to operate a virtual screen in his field of vision to browse more detailed related information.

In the apocalypse, order had collapsed in many places, and chaos had been reborn.

The more desperate the environment, the easier it was for some monsters and demons to breed.

The Truth Heresy was a typical example.

Moreover, the actual influence of the Truth Heresy extended far beyond Fuhai Province.

It was spread throughout Southeast regions.

Basically, there were cultists from the Truth Heresy lurking around every super city in the Southeast Alliance.

This was also the reason it could be brought to such a significant occasion as the alliance meeting for discussion.

In the narrow strip of land covered by Su Wu's communication signal tower, there were indeed cultists from the Truth Heresy.

However, because their focus was temporarily on Fuhai Province, the scale at Su Wu's location was not large, and they had not caused any significant disturbances.

"The task of eradicating the Truth Heresy has been assigned to Shuitian City."

"They are responsible for destroying the cult's headquarters and all strongholds with over 500 people within three days."

After discussing the Truth Heresy, a lean old man who had remained silent since the meeting began slowly took on the task.

He was Chai Zeyang, the head of the shelter in Shuitian City, and also the governor of Fuhai Province, holding the highest official position among those present.

However, with the supply routes to the federal center nearly severed, the regular military forces of the entire federation began to withdraw and concentrate in places like North America, the equatorial region, and the Dongzhou Plateau.

The power of the governor had gradually become nominal.

The only force Chai Zeyang could truly command was that of Shuitian City.

He had some power over other areas in the province, but it was somewhat limited.

Nevertheless, as the controller of a super city with a population of 40 million, the armed forces he could mobilize were still enough to make anyone tremble.

Let alone the Truth Heresy; even other factions within the Southeast Alliance, also super cities, might not be able to truly stop him.

"Next agenda item."

"An Unknown Virus has appeared in Gangkai City of Changhui Province, with a mortality rate of 100%."

"According to current intelligence, it has been confirmed that the entire population of 670,000 in Gangkai City has died."

Seeing someone take on the task, Ping Yuhan wasted no time and immediately moved on to the next topic.

Everyone's time was exceptionally precious, and there was no need to waste it on meaningless formalities.

At the same time, everyone's status was equivalent.

As long as someone was willing to take over, there was no need for him to question their confidence or whether there would be any mistakes.

Even in the worst-case scenario, the super city's foundation would be sufficient to cover any shortcomings.

Compared to the Truth Heresy, the Unknown Virus issue was evidently more troublesome.

Even the leaders of several super cities, who stood alongside Su Wu, could not help but look serious.

Su Wu checked the limited virus information in the alliance's database.

The more he looked, the more familiar it seemed.

It wasn't until he saw a photo in the intelligence that showed traces of the Snow Wind Mercenary Group's fleet that he finally confirmed.

This should be the Rola Virus that had spread from Jianghe City.

Turning his gaze, Su Wu seized the opportunity during a pause in Ping Yuhan's speech to interject.

"I'll take responsibility for this matter."

"Recently, we also had a similar virus outbreak."

"They should originate from the same source."

Su Wu's words immediately attracted many gazes.

There were some doubts, but not many.

More were curious and scrutinizing.

Even Ping Yuhan paused for a moment, unable to help but ask for further details.

"Have you developed a vaccine?"

"That's right," Su Wu confirmed.

"We in Zhenhai City need to purchase a batch of vaccines."

Ping Yuhan immediately stated.

After his words, several other cities also expressed the need to stockpile a batch.

Even for super cities, researching a vaccine for a brand-new virus was quite a daunting task.

With a ready reference available, regardless of the reasons, they would certainly try to obtain it just in case.

After the virus incident, there were no more significant matters that required discussion among all city leaders.

The remaining small matters could be handled by those in the audience.

So, after nodding to each other, the figures at the round table gradually faded and disappeared.

Leaving the rest of the people in the hall to continue with the next meeting, which was not as important.

After exiting the alliance conference room, Su Wu found that the intelligence department from Zhenhai City had already sent the latest reconnaissance information from the virus outbreak location in Gangkai City to facilitate his prompt action.

Su Wu opened and reviewed the intelligence.

Comparing it with what he had seen in the meeting, the distance of the virus spread had increased by about ten kilometers, and it had also wiped out five or six unfortunate shelters along the way.

"This spread is quite fast."

Su Wu raised his eyebrows.

Yet he understood that time was precious.

He did not delay.

He promptly canceled the cargo transport task for the Twin-Winged Helicopter, which had just returned to the farmhouse and was waiting for repairs.

Instead, he directed it to carry a large batch of drones, Spider Robots, disinfection equipment, and a small amount of vaccines and detection devices.

They would head to Gangkai City from the air.

Gangkai City was not far from Jianghe City.

The straight-line distance was only two to three hundred kilometers.

At the speed of the Twin-Winged Helicopter, it took only about half an hour to reach the destination.

It landed in a square at the center of Gangkai City.

The sealed door at the tail of the Twin-Winged Helicopter slowly descended and opened.

A large number of metal boxes slid down the ramp built along the door to the ground.

Then they opened automatically, releasing the Spider Robots and Combat Drones stored inside.

Next, two accompanying humanoid service robots equipped the Spider Robots and drones with disinfection spotlights and detection equipment.

"Connection status with the temporary ground communication node is good."

"Signal transmission is stable."

"Rola Virus detected."

"Starting disinfection procedure."

Once the installation was complete, there was no need to delve into the nearby underground shelters for investigation.

The Artificial Intelligence had already detected the virus components in the moisture present in the air, which matched exactly with the records in the database.

The corresponding strong light illumination was immediately activated on the Spider Robots.

They entered disinfection mode on the spot.

Today, I learned that last month, I missed full attendance by 54 characters, resulting in nearly half of my manuscript fee being deducted. My mindset almost broke. I'll try to update earlier tomorrow. Sigh.

(End of Chapter)