Chapter 70: Hunt
Under the rolling of the hard titanium alloy crawler wheels, thick moon dust was kicked up everywhere. From a high-altitude view, ten small black dots distinct from the moon’s gray surface were rapidly advancing toward the same area, the same goal.
They were like hounds executing a hunt command.
The people in the command base were the hunters, and the anomalous factor hidden in this special area of the Lunar Mare Tranquillitatis was the ultimate target of this hunt battle.
Catching this “prey” was the most important goal of this life’s reincarnation.
Although on the surface there were only ten small lunar rovers, with a total mass not even as heavy as a truck, they really weren’t much.
But everyone in the command base knew full well that these ten lunar rovers, not even as heavy as a truck, came at the cost of more than two hundred giant rockets representing the nation’s most advanced technology and massive industrial strength, full mobilization under extreme organizational capacity, hearts that threw themselves into the fray without regard for life or death for the national mission and the continuation of civilization, the full will of an entire vast nation and over a billion population!
At this moment, everyone’s eyes were focused on that large screen.
That screen was now divided into fourteen small images, each corresponding to a lunar rover’s camera or a lunar satellite’s detection data.
The 20 crawler wheels carrying all the hopes of the entire nation and all of human civilization were still rolling forward, the tracks pressed behind them clearly visible, extending all the way into the desolate and dead depths of the moon’s land.
The area “surrounded” by the lunar rovers was gradually shrinking, now left with only a roughly circular area with a radius of about 9 kilometers.
That “anomaly” must be hidden within this circle.
Subconsciously clenching his fists, Jiang Yang stared intently at these images, not daring to relax for a moment.
Thus, the data change on the screen was instantly spotted by Jiang Yang.
The number representing signal strength for lunar rover No. 12 suddenly jumped.
He turned to Professor Li Jiaming and saw Professor Li Jiaming instantly look up, reporting loudly: “Lunar rover No. 12 has unstable signal, suspected to be interfered with. I have ordered lunar rover No. 12 to halt its advance!”
In the image, the footage from lunar rover No. 12’s camera showed stuttering, distortion, and snowflakes, and it was already quite severe.
It stopped quietly there like a hound that had received its master’s command, waiting for the next instruction to arrive.
In the control room, the gazes of numerous staff turned to different targets.
Military personnel looked to Gu Changshan, scientific research personnel to Lu Zhaoming, administrative managers to Sun Changhe, and the staff directly responsible for this lunar detection plan to Li Jiaming.
Gu Changshan, Lu Zhaoming, Sun Changhe, and Li Jiaming, including Zhou Yu who had always stood by Jiang Yang playing the role of secretary, all turned their gazes to Jiang Yang.
At this moment, facing this unknown situation beyond current scientific levels, the only one qualified to make the decision was Jiang Yang, who had experienced multiple life-and-death situations and understood this apocalypse the deepest through cycle after cycle, feeling it the most profoundly!
Jiang Yang’s brain raced.
“Can you determine the type of interference?”
Professor Li Jiaming and the on-site operators quickly tapped on the keyboards, carefully examining the data on the screen, and made a judgment in less than 30 seconds.
“Cannot determine the interference type. But from the interference pattern, we preliminarily judge it to be highly similar to the factor that previously caused the lunar rover suit to lose contact with Earth.”
Jiang Yang knew that the previous loss of contact between the lunar rover suit and Earth had happened in an instant, as if some nonexistent factor suddenly appeared to cause it.
But this was very likely because the lunar rover suit’s descent speed was too fast, making the “buffer” time too short, creating this situation resembling instant loss of contact.
And now, the lunar rovers approaching the anomaly zone from the ground were moving at less than one meter per second.
So now, the lunar rover had very likely reached the boundary between the anomaly zone and the normal area.
We had very likely probed the boundary of the anomaly zone!
Ordering the lunar rover inward would very likely cause it to lose contact like before. Retreating would allow continued contact and further detection of the moon.
Countless thoughts flashed through his mind in an instant, and Jiang Yang instantly made his decision.
Although the situation was probably as he inferred, it hadn’t been practically proven yet. Since that was the case, sacrificing one lunar rover to 100% confirm his idea was worth it.
Jiang Yang decisively ordered: “Continue advancing!”
“Yes.”
An instruction was sent, and Jiang Yang immediately saw from that distorted and stuttering image that lunar rover No. 12’s crawler wheels began operating again under internal power supply, carrying the lunar rover with a total mass of about several hundred kilograms forward.
This time, it only advanced a dozen meters before the image completely disappeared.
Just as Jiang Yang had judged, it lost contact with Earth.
At this moment, even in normal non-emergency situations costing about 7 billion, and at least 30 billion in this emergency, one lunar rover, along with the effort and struggle of countless people behind it, was completely reduced to ashes.
And through the act of burning at least 30 billion in wealth, as well as countless people’s effort and struggle, Jiang Yang verified his previous guess.
This was indeed the boundary of the anomaly zone; inside the anomaly zone existed some unknown signal interference that would cut off communication upon entry.
At the same time, another thing could be verified.
Jiang Yang looked up at the image of a lunar survey satellite conveniently positioned near the airspace above the anomaly zone.
The image with 0.12-meter resolution clearly captured the figure of the lunar rover on the lunar surface that had lost contact with Earth, itself over two meters long.
It sat quietly on the moon’s desolate and dead land, like a lifeless corpse, with no movement.
Its crawler wheels did not continue operating, the camera lens did not continue scanning left and right, some indicator lights on it no longer flashed, some equipment that should have been retracted was not, and some equipment that should have been deployed was not released.
And according to the previous preset program, even if it lost contact with Earth, it should have continued advancing under the control of the autonomous navigation system.
So…
Within the anomaly zone coverage, not only would communication be severely interfered with to the point of interruption, but electronic equipment would also very likely stop operating!
Monthly ticket already over 4000, owed chapters increased to 6, noted!
