Chapter 227: Coastal Traffic Incident

The technologies and items related to the Phoenix‑class Fire Spirit are as follows;

Fusion engine, jump engine, a relay that uses the principle generated by jumping through Rift Space to communicate via Rift Space, electromagnetic railguns, etc.

Cataclysm‑class tactical nuclear bomb.

Nova‑class strategic nuclear bomb.

Heberlong‑class strategic transport system.

UNSC Marine Corps, snipers, HellParatrooper, Cyclops, Sparta Red Team and other individual soldier equipment.

Ground and aerial vehicles include the Cormorant transport vessel, Shortsword bomber, Scorpion main battle tank, Elephant‑class ground mobile base, etc.

"Worth the price."

After hearing the system's words in his mind, Sui Bian internally gave the above assessment.

Exchanging for the Fire Spirit requires 54,000 points, which is 4,500 cheaper than the Griffin, and the technology the Fire Spirit includes is by no means inferior to the Griffin; each has its own merits.

As for why the Fire Spirit is "cheap" yet "very worthwhile," Sui Bian speculates it is directly linked to the Fire Spirit's combat performance.

It should be noted that the Fire Spirit was a nearly century‑old colonist ship retrofitted into a Phoenix‑class support vessel to match aircraft carriers, making it a "mid‑career" warship.

The Fire Spirit, once a 2,600‑meter class colonist ship, possesses massive transport capacity and even an independent manufacturing workshop to produce and assemble vehicles and equipment for combat units.

Such an "old, battered" warship performs far more elegantly than most new UNSC warships in Halo, and even if it doesn't win, it can retreat unscathed.

"."

Reining in his thoughts that had drifted too far, Sui Bian lightly raised his left hand, projecting a holographic screen in front of him to better browse these technologies.

Among all the technologies, the one that impressed Sui Bian the most was the jump engine.

In his previous life when he was still in high school, he had read an official novel "The Korr Protocol" and vaguely recalled that it mentioned a group of rebels who somehow installed a jump engine inside an asteroid to serve as a "warship".

Whenever Sui Bian thinks of this, he cannot help but praise humanity's endless imagination under the most extreme conditions.

Regarding nuclear technology.

The Cataclysm‑class tactical nuclear bomb has a yield of thirty million tons, whereas the Nova‑class strategic nuclear bomb is composed of nine warheads encased in a lithium trisilicate shell, and during the explosion the warheads are compressed, causing the power to increase by exponential multiples.

The equipment of ground combat personnel holds almost no further research value for Umbrella.

Because twelve years ago Sui Bian exchanged for the Thor Hammer Mark VI powered armor, while the Sparta Red Team is equipped with the Mark IV.

The same applies to vehicles.

After all, Umbrella has fully assimilated the vehicle technology brought by the Griffin, yet it is not entirely useless; at least it can enrich Umbrella's armaments department's options.

Moreover, setting aside the Mark IV, its individual soldier equipment and ground vehicles can be upgraded and refined by Umbrella, then sold to the UNSC to boost the overall strength of UNSC combat forces.

Combined with the Rift Space communication relay and a planetary environment modification device worth 19,500 points, this is enough for Umbrella and the UEG to accelerate off‑world colonization activities.

However, Sui Bian believes they should pause first, fully digest all this technology before discussing off‑world colonization projects.

Moreover, the planetary environment modification device has many constraints: it must be a planet with sufficient mass and atmosphere, and the most limiting factor is humanity's current 7.5 billion population, so there is no need to step beyond home for now.

A brief glance.

Sui Bian dispersed the holographic display, kept his hands behind his back, continued to overlook Raccoon City, and ordered:

"White Queen, inform the engineering department within the Earth‑Moon range to shift their current focus to expanding the scale of Luna Base, especially the shipyard."

"Understood," White Queen replied indifferently.

As the words fell, the office returned to silence.

Outside, the street below remained bustling.

Among the crowd were people who had just left a tavern, faces weary as if they had just finished a shift, heading toward the nearest aerial monorail station to catch a ride home.

There were also fathers clad in plastic‑textured sci‑fi battle armor, looking like devoted fans of a certain game, holding the hand of similarly dressed sons as they walked through a commercial street crowded with model shops.

And a mother dressed in completely ordinary clothes, with a sleepy expression, trailed behind the father and son.

Everyone gathered here has their own preferences and families, each striving for their own goals, completely unaware that society as a whole is about to enter the next rapid development phase.

———————

…

Afternoon.

The scorching heat and blinding sun still cannot stop people in various swimsuits from gathering on the city's southernmost beach to sunbathe or play in the azure sea.

Above the beach.

Several small patrol airboats painted red and white, belonging to the beach rescue team, glide slowly overhead.

Along the street and road north of the beach, many tourists in short‑sleeved shirts and shorts are also present.

The din of voices is so loud it even drowns out the passing vehicles.

When an older‑styled black sedan with a noticeably roaring engine passes by, the people on the street cast odd glances toward its driver.

In contrast, a young driver with a spiked mohawk and pink‑bordered five‑star sunglasses ignores others' opinions.

"Boom~! Boom!"

And he more brazenly floors the accelerator, speeding through traffic.

He hits a red light and is forced to stop and wait.

The mohawked driver rolls down the window, and the instant the light turns green, extends both hands, flashing an "international friendly" gesture to the crowd.

A few muscular men in the crowd react first, angry and ready to confront him, but the mohawked driver immediately drives forward, leaving the muscular men and that wave of people far behind.

However, before the driver gets far, a police patrol airboat with flashing red‑blue lights, only slightly larger than an SUV, appears directly above the old sedan.

At the same time, a police warning comes through:

"Driver with citizen ID ending in 3566, please pull over immediately, stop now!"

??!!

The mohawked driver, clearly not expecting his actions to attract police, hurriedly parks the car on the roadside in a fluster.

The police airboat lands not far behind the sedan and opens its side bays.

Only two people in black uniforms, wearing simple mechanical exoskeletons and armor, with helmets bearing holographic displays, stepped out of the cabin as police officers.

The police officers approached the sedan; one stopped to stand guard, while the other walked to the driver's seat and shouted:

"Driver, get out!"

Upon hearing this, the explosive-haired driver finally opened the car door and got out, his expression no longer arrogant as before, his lips trembling slightly as he said:

"Officer… is giving the middle finger now illegal?"

"Take it easy, kid." The officer, seeing the explosive-haired driver about to cry, immediately changed his earlier stern attitude and said:

"If giving the middle finger were illegal, prisons would already be overcrowded; it's because of your vehicle's problems, plus reckless driving."

(End of chapter)