Armed Train in the Apocalypse-Chapter 341 - 237: Supercomputer

Hu Shuo put this interesting matter to paper.

Although such things may have happened many times in history, this was happening right now, at this moment, witnessed by him personally.

"Crew Chief Hu."

A hoarse yet steady voice came through.

Hu Shuo capped his pen, hearing a crisp click, and then clipped it in the pocket of his chest.

Looking up, he saw Iron Old Man striding over. Compared to the day before yesterday, the old man’s figure seemed much more upright, accompanied by a fifteen or sixteen-year-old boy, sleeves rolled up, eyes clear.

The two of them looked like a grandfather-grandson pair.

The boy was Xiaodong, who had garnered Su Huan’s attention and was viewed as nearly one of their own by those on the train.

Furthermore, his awakened ability was as a "Power Supplier," making even Hu Shuo pay some attention.

"So early in the morning, does Master Tieshan have good news to share with me?"

Hu Shuo flashed a business-like smile.

Iron Old Man went straight to the point, handing over a cloth bag, which emitted a soft sound of stones clinking.

Opening it, there were about five thousand ordinary Pan-energy Crystals.

"The quantity is off."

Hu Shuo frowned.

The size of each grade of Pan-energy Crystal doesn’t vary much, so with his experience in handling them, there’s no chance of a misjudgment.

Next to him, Xiaodong got anxious, "Impossible, every single one was collected by me personally, not a single one is missing."

Iron Old Man glanced at Hu Shuo and quietly slipped a Tier One Pan-energy Crystal into Hu Shuo’s hand.

This wasn’t extracted yesterday, but was part of the reserve collected before the refuge.

Iron Old Man asked meaningfully.

"All of yesterday’s extracted Pan-energy Crystals are here. Do you want to count them again?"

Hu Shuo blinked, turned his hand to reveal the Tier One Pan-energy Crystal, and helplessly put it into the bag.

"That’s not what I meant."

Iron Old Man looked puzzled.

Hu Shuo asked, "How long did you guys work yesterday?"

Xiaodong replied, "Yesterday, everyone worked until midnight before going to sleep, and we got up again at six this morning."

"That’s too little." Hu Shuo shook his head.

"You’re all Evolvers now, so don’t hold yourselves to the regular human schedule, and as time passes, the more Pan-energy escapes from Mutant Beasts, the fewer crystals you’ll be able to collect."

Iron Old Man suddenly realized, so it wasn’t about taking a bribe.

But soon, he felt a headache coming.

Everyone was used to their original routine; even if their bodies could handle it, mentally, they couldn’t accept overtime.

It would require quite a bit of persuasion.

"By the way, how’s the sorting of the hardware equipment in the Information Technology Park going?"

Hu Shuo asked.

"Follow me."

Iron Old Man led the way, and they came to one of the buildings, right around the tenth floor, with not many signs of residential modification, looking like an abandoned machine room.

The equipment in the room was covered with rainproof cloths.

Iron Old Man said, "I don’t know what these devices are for, but I thought they’d be needed when rebuilding, so I had them covered. If they weren’t so heavy, I would have wanted to move them upstairs."

"Is this all there is?"

"If you don’t count the ones submerged in water, this is all there is."

Hu Shuo whispered a few words to the people accompanying him, and the latter left, soon returning with several hardware experts who had stayed on the train, including one wearing glasses.

Each rainproof cover was lifted, and a group of experts conducted a detailed inspection for half an hour.

Glasses exclaimed joyfully, "This is a supercomputer!"

Hu Shuo took out a notebook and recorded, "Can it achieve the target?"

"More than enough, but we’re missing data storage equipment. Are there any other components?"

Iron Old Man looked to a young man behind him, who was still wearing the uniform of the Information Technology Park.

The young man shook his head, "The data center at the Information Technology Park handled a lot of tasks and is quite large, so it’s not here."

Glasses adjusted his spectacles, "Indeed, a supercomputer wouldn’t just be left idle. With the computing power of this supercomputer, even placing the storage equipment inside the building would make cooling a challenge. Is your data center outside, in the water?"

"It’s not downstairs, not even in Guan Chong."

"Huh?"

Everyone was stunned.

Hu Shuo felt a slight sense of foreboding.

"Then where is it?"

"Jingchao Lake."

...

"Why put the equipment in the lake?" Su Huan looked at Glasses in confusion.

The latter explained, "This is indeed a real technical solution, and it’s been in use by various countries for over a decade. Some large Internet companies submerge their data centers in oceans or lakes, mainly for high cooling efficiency, convenient heat dissipation, and a much lower failure rate than on land."

"It’s gradually becoming a mainstream cooling method. Initially, we thought the Information Technology Park housed a small data center, but it turns out there’s a supercomputer inside, so the supporting storage equipment is indeed large..."

Su Huan squinted slightly, "So you’re saying, if I want complete equipment, I not only have to take this supercomputer but also go to that Jingchao Lake to retrieve the equipment in there?"

Glasses nodded, "It depends on the requirements of the director and Professor Ma. If it’s just to use a portion of the computing power, we can cobble together a small data cabinet with the existing equipment."

Su Huan waved to cut him off.

"I’m worried the flood might damage the data center, and I’d be going there in vain."

"There’s no need to worry; the design took such issues into account. The data centers have titanium alloy shells with laser welding, can withstand level 16 typhoons, and the outer shell is made of material that prevents biological attachment. Moreover, the underwater environment naturally isolates seismic waves, so even if those on land are damaged, the ones underwater won’t be."