Chapter 116: So-so
Time quietly passed by.
In the Control Hall, Jiang Yang saw one spaceship after another landing from the vast deep space about ten kilometers away from that Passage Entrance, and one astronaut after another exiting the cabin wearing spacesuits, while also watching crates of supplies and replenishment landing beside them.
The astronauts completed the collection of supplies and equipment at the fastest speed, and without resting, they changed into mechanical spacesuits, dragging one heavy board cart after another, and proceeded on foot toward that Passage Entrance.
After they entered the anomaly zone, communications were cut off.
Jiang Yang knew that from this moment on, they could no longer actively contact them.
The only way left to obtain their information was through direct visual observation via the Lunar Satellite’s optical lens.
The figures of the 13 astronauts cast long shadows under the setting sun. At this moment, they not only needed to drag those heavy board carts but also occasionally turn the handles on their spacesuits to provide some motivation for the flow of temperature control liquid inside the spacesuits.
This was a very physically demanding activity. But Jiang Yang knew that for the astronauts, this was the most insignificant obstacle.
Looking at the time, Jiang Yang saw that it was now 2 a.m. on the tenth day of the cycle.
There were still 22 hours left until the apocalypse’s final arrival.
Suppressing the heaviness in his heart, Jiang Yang turned his attention back to the footage captured by the Lunar Satellite.
The astronauts trudged arduously through the moon dust, taking more than two hours to reach the Passage Entrance.
A miniature version of a minibus, even smaller than the common “old man’s joy” on Earth, was quickly assembled and placed at the Passage Entrance.
Behind it was a radiator trailing like a tail, with the same working mechanism as the full-scale minibus.
The Lunar Satellite clearly captured an astronaut entering it, then the remaining astronauts took out superconducting material and carefully covered the entire vehicle with it, sparing nothing except the radiator behind—not even the wheels.
Afterward, under the premise that the astronaut inside could not see any external situation, it began to move forward.
Jiang Yang knew that the astronauts were conducting testing according to the plan.
The first test was whether the superconducting material they had hypothesized could really resist the suspected negative matter field filling this place.
If the test result was that it could not resist, then the Salvation Plan would lose its foundation, the ending of this life would be destined for annihilation, and they wouldn’t need to struggle anymore—just wait for death.
Jiang Yang would then carry this intelligence to the next life and continue searching for other possible methods.
If the test result was that it could resist, then they would proceed to collect data on the superconducting material’s resistance to the negative matter field to prepare for subsequent formal operations.
Under the satellite lens, that miniature minibus disappeared, while the astronauts remaining outside the Passage did not wait for the result and began the second task.
The full-scale minibus was disassembled into several hundred modules, and assembling them—especially now while wearing mechanical spacesuits and unable to communicate—would obviously be an extremely complex, difficult, and time-consuming task.
Assembling after waiting for the result would be too late.
In the Control Hall, people watched the astronauts busily working in the lens while silently waiting for the test result of that miniature minibus.
According to the original plan, it would stop at 4100 meters deep in the Passage and then return.
A mechanical counter would display the distance traveled to the astronaut, and a mechanical structure could also change the direction of the astronaut’s effort, making the wheels reverse and ultimately exit the Passage.
And at its travel speed, if all went smoothly, for a total distance of 8200 meters, that astronaut would return within 5 hours.
Time slipped away bit by bit.
It was now late at night, but Jiang Yang felt no sleepiness at all.
Like Jiang Yang, the people waiting in the Control Hall—whether the elder in his seventies or eighties or the young people in their twenties—all had their spirits taut, showing no trace of fatigue.
In this situation, the hour hand quietly pointed to 10 a.m.
There were still 14 hours until the apocalypse’s arrival, and 20 minutes until the scheduled return of the miniature minibus.
But it did not make Jiang Yang wait until the last moment.
Under the satellite lens, it appeared at the cave entrance completely without warning.
The long-waiting astronauts immediately stood up and gathered around. They opened the hatch, and the astronaut from before walked out unscathed.
Jiang Yang’s heart instantly lifted, with a faint trace of expectation surging.
The structure of the minibus could be divided into two parts: one was the body covered with superconducting material, and the other was the radiator not covered with superconducting material.
The radiator’s temperature was too high; even covering it with superconducting material would cause quench.
So, there were three possibilities at this moment.
First, both the body and the radiator suffered corrosion.
In that case, it would prove that the superconducting material did not have the ability to resist the influence of that suspected negative matter field, and the Salvation Plan would fail.
Second, neither the body nor the radiator suffered corrosion.
In that case, it would mean that this miniature minibus had not traveled into the scope of influence of the negative matter field, and the test would fail.
Only the third possibility— the body unscathed but the radiator corroded—could truly prove that this minibus had indeed traveled into the scope of influence of the negative matter field but had substantially resisted its influence, making it necessary to continue the Salvation Plan.
Of course, theoretically there was a fourth possibility: the body corroded but the radiator unscathed, but that was beyond the scope of discussion.
So…
What would the final result be?
In the Control Hall, the hundreds of officials, scientists, engineers, and others waiting for the result all fell silent, even seemingly lightening their breathing deliberately.
The satellite lens captured the astronauts circling this miniature minibus for a long time, finally beginning to write on the previously brought foldable drawing board.
“Both the body and radiator show signs of corrosion.”
Seeing this line, Jiang Yang’s heart sank instantly.
The astronauts did not finish writing.
The second line soon appeared.
“But the body has lighter corrosion, the radiator heavier.”
Jiang Yang’s pupils narrowed instantly.
Superconducting material would also be affected by the negative matter field, but lighter than ordinary material?
This result was neither the best nor the worst.
But in this case, the situation became more complicated.
On the drawing board, the third line appeared.
“We decide to continue executing the mission according to the original plan.”
The full-scale minibus was still being assembled and finally completed assembly and testing around 7 p.m.
That hydrogen bomb had already been loaded into the vehicle. Except for one astronaut, the remaining 12 astronauts also entered the vehicle.
The vehicle slowly advanced and disappeared from the lens.
Jiang Yang knew that they could no longer obtain any information about them.
