Chapter 362 Hidden Dragon in the Abyss

"Dr. Sen, it's been a while."

Sen Shangzhe, who was in the middle of discussing the design plans, whipped his head around. An excited expression appeared on his face. "Mr. Chairman! It is a great honor to see you again."

Li Qingye smiled and said, "I hope I'm not interrupting?"

Sen Shangzhe shook his head. "Not at all. I was just dissatisfied with a few details and asked them to refine them once more."

Li Qingye looked at the hull in the construction pool. "Is this the *Qianlong*?"

"Yes, Mr. Chairman," Sen Shangzhe replied immediately.

This vessel was the core of the Abyss Project.

Considering that nuclear explosions couldn't reach targets in the deep sea, especially those in the abyssal zone, Li Qingye had requested the design of a super-large submarine capable of diving to a depth of 5,000 meters.

Thus, the *Qianlong* was born.

The model has a submerged displacement of 200,000 tons and is equipped with four thorium-based molten salt reactors, generating 200 megawatts of power.

Its diving depth is 5,000 meters, with a crush depth of 6,200 meters. Its normal underwater cruising speed is 14 knots, with a maximum speed of 24 knots.

It has a crew of 1,273 and can accommodate 2,400 passengers, or 24,000 passengers in emergency stasis.

The interior is equipped with an emergency life support system, simulated surface environment modules, a seabed resource collection system, a water filtration system, a food synthesis system, and a massive database.

The *Qianlong* can remain submerged for months at a time without needing to surface at all.

Furthermore, the *Qianlong* can rest directly on the ocean floor and activate its mimetic algae camouflage system, disguising itself as a reef or seamount.

Sen Shangzhe explained, "Because we have numerous undersea monitoring nodes in the Pacific and Ceylon Oceans, the probability of being detected by America is very low. Therefore, I only designed it with four torpedo tubes."

"Mm, the *Qianlong* wasn't created for combat. A self-defense capability is sufficient."

Sen Shangzhe added, "However, the torpedo tubes can also launch missiles, but that requires surfacing to a position near the water's surface."

Li Qingye didn't pay much mind to this.

As a doomsday submarine, the *Qianlong*'s only real priority was to ensure its own survival. Everything else was secondary.

Compared to other projects, the Abyss Project had the smallest investment, but it also offered the highest cost-effectiveness.

After all, compared to a fixed base, a submarine can move continuously. Moreover, a Homo sapiens submarine can dive to depths of five to six thousand meters, something other powers would find difficult to achieve.

Currently, the nuclear submarines of the major world powers can only dive to around 800 meters, with a maximum depth of about 1,200 meters.

Therefore, their associated weaponry is also specifically developed for zones above 1,200 meters deep. Once a target exceeds that depth, their torpedoes, mines, and missiles become useless.

Not to mention an "ocean black hole" like the *Qianlong*, which can dive to depths of five to six thousand meters.

At that depth, it is even safer than being in low-Earth orbit.

After all, satellites in low-Earth orbit still have to worry about things like Laser Cannons and anti-satellite nuclear pulse bombs.

But in the deep sea, Laser Cannons and Electromagnetic Cannons are completely ineffective. Torpedoes, mines, and missiles are helpless against the terrifying water pressure.

While humanity's current research submersibles can reach depths of around 10,000 meters, these vessels not only require special designs but are also extremely expensive and painfully slow.

If one wanted to make a torpedo that could dive to five or six thousand meters, it wouldn't be impossible. But the production cost would be too high, and its destructive power would be very weak. No power would bother researching such an ultra-deep torpedo.

The *Qianlong*, on the other hand, incorporates many new technologies from the Homo Sapiens Company. Its anti-sonar detection capabilities have been pushed to the absolute limit, making it incredibly difficult to detect via sonar.

Torpedoes and missiles need to lock onto a target's precise location.

If an enemy can't even find the *Qianlong*'s specific location, how could they possibly attack it? They can't just rely on a sixth sense, can they?

Therefore, the Abyss Project, with the *Qianlong* at its core, is the most secure of all.

Its only drawback is the small number of passengers the submarine can accommodate. Even with passengers in stasis, the maximum is only 24,000 people.

The entire Abyss Project calls for the construction of six *Qianlong*-class submarines, which can preserve a maximum of 150,000 people.

While 150,000 people is enough to restart human civilization, it's a pitifully small number compared to the Homo Sapiens Company's current eight hundred million employees.

But reality is just that cruel.

If that day ever comes, the six *Qianlong* submarines will be the seeds of the Homo Sapiens Company's civilization. They will not participate in any war; they will simply lie silent at the bottom of the sea.

Li Qingye hoped the *Qianlong* submarines would never have to be used, but some things were beyond his control.

He spoke with Sen Shangzhe for a while longer, who meticulously described the various technologies used on the *Qianlong*, as well as some of its special design features.

Li Qingye listened very attentively, interjecting with questions from time to time.

As a native of East Japan, Sen Shangzhe possessed an innate sense of crisis—a racial characteristic instilled by East Japan's natural and social environments.

He incorporated this sense of crisis into the design of the *Qianlong*.

For example, how should they respond if the Homo Sapiens Company were defeated? Many New Human employees believed the company could never fail, but Sen Shangzhe had assumed that very possibility.

The *Qianlong*'s design took this possibility into account.

It was designed with various special modules that could simulate life on the surface, allowing survivors to live long-term on the seabed.

It was also equipped with a seabed mining system. By utilizing seabed minerals and the small-parts synthesis bay inside the *Qianlong*, they could rebuild the Homo Sapiens Company's industrial base.

A single *Qianlong* submarine could even construct an entire undersea base within a seamount.

At Sen Shangzhe's special request, the *Qianlong* was also fitted with a nuclear fuel storage bay. The fuel inside could be used to quickly manufacture twenty 50-megawatt-class nuclear fission reactors or be converted into four 50-kiloton atomic bombs.

As long as a single *Qianlong* survived, the Homo Sapiens Company would not perish.

After listening to Sen Shangzhe's presentation, Li Qingye began to think about how to manage the *Qianlong* submarines.

'The *Qianlong* obviously can't be assigned to the Defense Department; it's not purely a warship. It also requires dedicated supply ports, which must be kept highly secret to ensure they aren't discovered by other major powers.'

'These secret supply ports could also serve as leave areas, allowing the crew to return to the surface for rest and recuperation periodically.'

'Furthermore, the staff at these secret ports should be organized by family units. In an emergency, these people could use life-support pods to be forced into stasis, stored in the *Qianlong*'s passenger bay, and then be rapidly evacuated to the deep sea along with the sub.'

After some thought, Li Qingye decided to establish a Crisis Response Office within the Internal Affairs Division to be specifically responsible for managing the *Qianlong* submarines.

The various "staircase cities" would also be transferred to the Internal Affairs Division for unified management.

With the exception of the Gui Palace Project, which was managed by the Space Division, all other emergency and refuge facilities would be managed centrally by the Internal Affairs Division.

Since the New Human employees were extremely unified, there was no need to create internal checks and balances like other powers did. Dispersing the management of so many projects would only increase administrative costs and make it difficult to integrate resources.

Moreover, in an emergency, decentralized management would only lead to everyone fending for themselves, causing unnecessary trouble and even potentially sparking internal division.

Therefore, Li Qingye planned to bundle these projects together and hand them over to the Internal Affairs Division to manage.