“63.6s! More than a minute!”
“Hyperspace! Hyperspace! We opened the hyperspace channel!”
“Hahahaha! I knew it! How could there be a problem with Academician Lu’s theory!”
“God Lu is awesome!!!”
Cheers, whistles, and applause flooded Lu Zhou’s ears.
Lu Zhou was still immersed in joy. He was hugged by Luo Wenxuan, who firmly grabbed his shoulders with both hands, shaking him back and forth with excitement.
“Do you realize what just happened! You just changed the history of physics! And the history of aerospace! No, and the history of civilization!”
“Yeah.”
“After all that, your only response is ‘yeah’?” Luo Wenxuan almost went crazy. He said, “If you weren’t a guy, I would kiss you!”
Lu Zhou: “…?”
“Get your stun gun ready.”
Wang Peng sighed and spoke.
Luo Wenxuan looked at him and moved to the side.
“No, I’m good… I didn’t think before I spoke.”
Lu Zhou signaled Wang Peng to stand down. Lu Zhou sniffed gently and looked at the large screen nearby. He looked at the cheering researchers and engineers and said, “I want to think about all this for a while, give me a day… No, two days, two days should be enough.”
After hearing this, Luo Wenxuan suddenly opened his eyes and said, “Two days?! You can’t disappear for that long! You are the main character for the celebration tonight! We will pop champagne bottles and spray the bubbles everywhere. Everyone will cheer your name, and—”
“if you can, record the celebration and send it to me.” Lu Zhou reached out his hand and pinched his own eyebrows. He said, “I have something to deal with… It’s regarding research. Wang Peng, can you drive the car to the front entrance?”
“Okay.”
Wang Peng nodded and walked to the door.
The system kept reminding him that there was a huge reward waiting for him to collect. Even though he was interested in sharing the joy of the victory with his colleagues, he would much rather experience the world of level 10 in physics.
He had waited for this day for too long.
He didn’t want to wait a single second longer.
As for the celebration…
He had plenty of opportunities to celebrate in the future.
After staring at the big screen, Lu Zhou looked at Luo Wenxuan.
“Let the Messenger prepare for the next step.
“… You’re in charge now.”
Lu Zhou gave Director Li a wave. He then reached out and patted Luo Wenxuan on the shoulder. After that, he turned and walked toward the door of the command center.
Suddenly, he made eye contact with Edward Witten.
The old man gave him a nod and a thumbs up.
Lu Zhou responded with a bright smile as he walked away.
…
Tens of millions of kilometers away.
In the deep starry space, the titanium alloy frame and shell could no longer withstand the increasing energy.
Liu Biao, who was sitting in the passenger’s seat, looked at the explosion hundreds of kilometers away. He suddenly sighed and said, “I’m guessing they’re already opening champagne bottles.”
“It seems like it…” Xu Zhenghong looked at the radiation value detected on the gamma counter. He replied casually, “Just now, the ground command center sent a message. The experiment was a success.”
“How much did this thing cost?”
Although Liu Biao didn’t understand physics, the ion thruster told him that just the two clocks with small electric propulsion engines would have cost a lot of money.
Xu Zhenghong: “I don’t know, but apparently, it’s in the billions range.”
“… That’s not bad.”
When Liu Biao realized that this was a one-time experiment, he went silent.
After a long while, he spoke emotionally.
“Physicists are still the richest.”
Nearby, the Z particle clock that completed its mission was swallowed by the energy.
It was scattered in the boundless deep space, into sparks of “flames”. It was slowly being pulled into the dust by the gravity of Mars.
After recording all this through a high-power optical camera, Xu Zhenghong finally stopped filming.
“The shooting is complete.”
After reconnecting the life support system to his spacesuit, Liu Biao moved his shoulders and spoke.
“What’s next?”
“… Go over and see if there is anything that can be recovered.” Xu Zhenghong checked the mission instructions from the ground command center. He then reached out and turned on the tail engine switch. He said, “If possible, collect the remains of the Z particle clock and bring back samples.”
The remaining tasks were not difficult.
The damaged Z particle clock did not explode violently. Most of the wreckage were together. Under the force of solar wind and Mars gravity, it moved toward Mars under a stable trajectory.
Xu Zhenghong carefully approached the edge of the wreckage. He controlled the Starlight and released the maintenance robot from the cargo hold.
A robot about a meter tall, with a robotic arm around two meters long, was attached to a thick carbon nano-cable. Using the push of nitrogen gas, it floated toward the nearest piece of debris, which was about 0.25 m in diameter.
Liquid nitrogen sprayed out from the spray gun. The fragment emitting a hot white light cooled down, returning to its original metallic glow.
“Package received.”
Xu Zhenghong had a grin on his face. He continued to move the joystick in his hand. He manipulated the robot and proceeded to collect four more samples in the same manner.
After seeing that there was almost no propellant left, he parked the robot in the cargo hold before closing the cargo hold door.
“Five samples should be enough.”
He raised his right hand and pressed on his helmet. He switched to the ground command center channel.
“This is Messenger. The sample recovery has been completed. We don’t have much fuel left. We might miss the best window for the return flight. Requesting permission to return.”
After more than four minutes of waiting, an answer was heard.
“This is the ground command center. The return request has been approved. Thank you for your work. We have prepared a banquet for you.”
“Roger that.”
Xu Zhenghong turned off the communication channel. He made a gesture to Liu Hong, who began the return procedure with him.
The five engines fired at the same time, giving off a blue glow.
Xu Zhenghong glanced at the fiery red planet. He suddenly had a strange thought.
He realized that in the near future, he might have the opportunity to come here again. He might even set foot on this red planet.
He wondered what his next Martian mission would be…
