Chapter 117: Congratulations From 200 Million Kilometers Away
“Look! What is that? Oh my god, come out quickly, something big has happened!”
Outside Spitz Company’s Mars Base, an astronaut wearing a thick pressure suit looked stunned, even stammering a bit.
Soon, several astronauts who had landed on Mars with him rushed out one after another.
On this planet 200 million kilometers from Earth, any anomalous phenomenon required them to be extremely cautious.
“What’s going on?”
The lead astronaut looked around and saw nothing unusual, utterly puzzled.
“There! It’s gone!”
Following his finger toward the sky, these astronauts couldn’t help but feel a bit fearful.
But the sky seemed to always have that same grayish atmosphere, without the slightest change.
“Damn it, Land, have you lost your mind or something! There’s nothing there.”
The lead one, Neto, the captain of this Mars Project mission team, growled. Land’s sudden outburst had scared them all half to death.
“Boss, let’s go back. Land is probably missing his unborn child.”
A mocking voice from a female astronaut came from the side.
At this moment, it should be the time when the Mars space station was passing directly overhead.
“No, no. I really just saw an ultra-high-speed aircraft. It quickly flew over our heads.”
Land came back to his senses, but looking at the empty, dim sky, there was a hint of uncertainty in his tone.
Could it really have been his imagination?
He steadied himself and looked carefully again.
“It’s coming, it’s coming again!”
In his line of sight, that streamlined aircraft appeared again, this time much slower than before.
Everyone couldn’t help but look in the direction of Land’s finger, and this time they all saw it.
In the Space Hub office, Fan Ren gazed at the large screen in front of him.
On it, seven or eight astronauts’ heads were encased in helmets, so their expressions couldn’t be seen.
But they were probably all scared silly by now.
Unfortunately, this flying boat had no vertical landing capability, so after a few circles to slow down, it maneuvered to hover at the lowest speed above their heads.
“B-Boss, there really are aliens!!!”
Land’s trembling voice came through the built-in microphone to the ears of the astronauts on site, instantly feeling like a chilling wind swept over them through their pressure suits, making them all shiver too.
This scene was too eerie.
“Everyone, don’t panic. It probably means no harm; it’s just observing us. Make sure not to make any moves that could provoke it.”
As expected of the captain—though Neto was panicking hard himself, he restrained his fear and tried to stay calm as he issued orders to the team members.
This streamlined aircraft in the sky not only had super high speed of dozens of Mach, but it had appeared in the sky above Mars, billions of kilometers away.
This was absolutely not technology humanity could possess.
While they all stood frozen, not daring to move a muscle, the belly of the flying boat slowly opened, and then an unidentified object dropped toward them.
Witnessing this, everyone was terrified out of their wits.
We’re doomed!
It’s dropping bombs!!!
After doing this, the flying boat no longer hovered and immediately accelerated in a straight line, vanishing into the horizon in the blink of an eye.
Lia, the only female here, collapsed directly onto the ground. In her mind, these trailblazers with heavy responsibilities were done for today.
The object dropped by the flying boat landed in front of these astronauts but did not explode as they had imagined.
“I-It’s a box!”
Neto finally lost control; his voice began to tremble too.
But he then felt a sigh of relief—at least they were still alive.
“Land, go check it out.”
“Boss, m-my legs are weak. You guys go.”
“Useless trash who only has strength for women.”
Neto cursed bitterly, glanced at the team members around, and saw not one dared to step forward, which made him even angrier.
A bunch of useless trash.
He cursed inwardly, steadied himself, took a few deep breaths to calm his nerves, and slowly walked toward the black box ahead.
Neto’s steps were not fast; the 20-meter distance took him nearly a minute to slowly approach the black box.
His movements were very slow as he carefully observed the box but couldn’t see anything particularly unusual.
“Captain, no, keep your distance from it?”
Land’s voice suddenly rang out, startling him so much he almost jumped.
“Damn it, Land, shut your stinking mouth! If there’s really a problem, none of us can escape. Remember, this is Mars, 200 million kilometers from our Blue Star! Even the fastest rescue would take a year to arrive!”
Neto’s roared words were not just at Land but also to bolster his own courage.
Everyone fell silent upon hearing this.
This sudden incident directly shattered the joy they had felt not long ago as the first astronauts in human aerospace history to land on Mars.
This was a planet no human had ever set foot on, and an area where no biological activity signals had ever been detected.
After saying that, Neto no longer hesitated, squatted down directly, and picked up the box.
Very light, not heavy, and it could be opened.
He paused for a moment, having already thought it through—there was nothing left to fear now—and without hesitation, he pried the lid open forcefully along the seam.
He didn’t throw away the lid in his hand; inside the box’s base, a folded white A4 paper lay quietly.
Bang!
Neto vaguely felt something was off, grabbed the A4 paper out, and tossed the lid and base aside onto the sandy ground without a care.
His hand trembled a bit, but not from fear.
“Welcome to Mars. Congratulations—you have Xinghai Technology’s Fan Ren’s blessings from 200 million kilometers away.”
“FK!”
Two weeks later.
Blue Star, Xinghai Aerospace Base workshop.
Fan Ren, Li Jiandong, Liu Shengzhan, and vehicle designers from various departments of the Ministry of Industry had gathered here.
Today’s scene couldn’t exactly be called a meeting.
Because behind them, that 20-meter-long, 10-meter-wide streamlined flying boat had been completely disassembled and pitifully inspected inside and out by this group.
Just three days ago, the flying boat that had successfully returned was dismantled upon arrival at the Space Hub and transported back to the ground workshop in segments.
Immediately after, Li Jiandong and Liu Shengzhan, upon hearing the news, led a group of Great Xia’s top vehicle scientists here.
For this flying boat, a master craftsman in the crowd responsible for fighter jet design in the aviation field gave this evaluation.
How to put it? The aerodynamic layout had no technical content; it was purely the engine’s massive thrust.
Fan Ren could only give an awkward laugh at this.
After all, for this thing’s airframe layout, he had used the airplane exterior design from a comic book he once picked up.
It was pretty cool-looking!
At this moment, the master craftsman scratched his beard, his face full of confusion.
This thing could fly to Mars’ atmosphere for a spin and then return in 10 days?
He even wondered if it was because he was getting old and had some dementia, causing him to mishear.
But the engine on the large support frame nearby, one he had never seen before, left him without the confidence to refute.
Xinghai Technology’s latest research and development: an engine that directly converts nuclear fusion reaction energy into dynamic ion ejection for thrust.
This was too advanced.
