Translator: _Min_ Editor: Rainystars
Under Jiang Chen’s eager gaze, Lin Linshivered, and her tone quieted down.
“What, what do you want?”
“Is there any way to replicate this kind of hadron material?” Jiang Chen asked eagerly.
Lin Lin thought, and then she shook her head furiously.
“It’s very difficult, almost impossible.”
“Is it more difficult than antimatter?” Jiang Chen frowned.
“Antimatter has a theoretical basis since the last century. The theory has matured since the middle of the century and it’s even possible to start large-scale preparation. It is because of the lack of breakthrough in magnetic confinement technology and the restrictions from the Science Ethics Committee that prevented the breakthrough of the last critical step.”
Lin Lin shook her head with a bitter smile. “But before the war, the so-called hadron material was still something that only existed in science fiction, let alone the theoretical foundation. We don’t understand anything about it.”
“Not possible?” Jiang Chen asked reluctantly.
“It’s not that it is impossible…” Lin Lin touched her chin and looked at the black sphere in the middle of the lab. “I can give it a try, but I can’t guarantee I’ll succeed. Why are you suddenly interested in this?” Even if we can barely make some hadron material, without large-scale production, it won’t be useful.”
“Can’t achieve large-scale production?” Jiang Chen sighed. “We can’t even understand its production conditions?”
This time Lin Lin was confused.
Then, she looked at Jiang Chen with skepticism. “Do you want to use hadron material to build a warship?”
“That’s not a good idea?”
When she heard Jiang Chen’s “naive” question, Lin Lin sighed.
“Think about it carefully. How did the pilot you sent enter the UFO and take the sphere out of it?”
Jiang Chen’s eyebrows furrowed, recalling the pilot named Liu Qingpeng and what he described.
“There was a fracture on the outer shell of the UFO that resembled the collision of a meteorite. He is from…”
Halfway through the sentence, Jiang Chen already realized as his expression turned awkward.
Right, since the meteorite cracked the outer shell of the UFO, then without a doubt the UFO was definitely not made out of hadron material.
Even the “higher civilization” that have mastered the hadron material for many years couldn’t achieve mass production of such material. How could Earth that didn’t even understand the theory achieve the impossible?
As soon as he heard that there was no way for mass production, Jiang Chen’s interest immediately decreased. He sighed.
“Do your best. Your research direction should still be on antimatter and portals.”
Although very reluctant, Jiang Chen rationally knew that if this hadron material took too much of NAC’s energy, it would not be worth it.
As for the black sphere, he planned to leave it here. He thought that even if he brought it back to the modern world, the scientists would be clueless about what to do and ultimately eat dust in the lab. Perhaps Lin Lin and her sisters could come up with a theory with leaving the sphere leaving it here.
…
“You don’t have to be so pessimistic. Perhaps there are more secrets in this black sphere compared to the hadron material. After all, this is a relic of higher civilization. A civilization much more advanced than Harmony. An item made with hadron material shouldn’t just be an ornament…”
With a rare comforting tone, Lin Lin comforted Jiang Chen. Then she took a tablet and clicked on it. Soon, the platform in which the black sphere was placed on slowly sank and was taken into the lab warehouse.
“Stop looking, let’s go.”
She patted Jiang Chen’s back and then walked to the elevator…
Seventy kilometers east of the Mars colony, a rover was parked on this endless sand dune.
The weather was surprisingly nice, and the surface temperature was also above zero.
In a heavy spacesuit, Wang Qiang took the captain and the engineer to Mine 071, the place where he found something intriguing last time. In front of the captian, Wang Qiang once again measured the three sets of waveforms to prove his discovery.
Wang Qiang said seriously as he pointed at the image on the tablet.
“The depth of about five kilometers, the thickness of about 100 meters of the formation, I dare to conclude that there must be something buried inside.”
“Iron ore?” Taking a glance at the waveforms on the tablet, Askim frowned.
As the colony’s engineer, his responsibility involved equipment maintenance and colony expansion. It is fair to say he knew nothing about mining. The few staggering waveforms didn’t look odd to him.
However, Hong Zewei standing next to him realized the unusual nature. As the captain of the colonial ship and the interim executive of the colony, it is fair to say he is the most knowledgeable person in the entire colony. Because of work needs, he understood a little bit of all aspects. Even if he is not a master of everything, he must at least understand.
He is a layman, but he learned how to interpret seismic data. When he saw the waveforms that were distorted by incredible magnitude, his expression changed drastically.
“It can’t be an iron ore. It can’t be any rock formation or deposit.” Wang Qiang shook his head and explained to Askim.
Askim started to grin.
“Not any deposit? What could it be? An alien grave?”
Wang Qiang closed his mouth and did not speak.
Captain Hong Zewei spoke up.
“Maybe… it’s really the Alien’s Mausoleum.”
Askim looked at the captain as if he saw a ghost. His expression looked extremely strange.
“Alien? Hong, are you sure you are not kidding?”
When these colonists set off, the X2 bacterial incident had not happened yet, and the Outer Space Security Summit did not even exist. Aliens were still strange or whimsical to them.
Of course, if Mars could access the Internet, they perhaps won’t be surprised by the word alien. Now, countries were all having a difficult time dealing with the concept of extraterrestrial civilization. The governments were busy calming public opinion and discussing countermeasures as they also have not received any news from Mars.
“Joking. Maybe it is not a mausoleum, but the city of the aliens,” Hong Zewei glanced at him and joked. “Have you seen Starship Troopers? Maybe those bugs live underneath us and are going to crawl out to bite us now.”
“Fu*k! Don’t scare me.” Askim shivered and looked underneath his feet.
“How do you feel about drilling a hole? Can you do it?” Wang Qiang asked Askim.
“Aha, you must be asking if it is possible to make a hole five kilometers deep? I have to tell you regretfully that there is no such equipment in the colony. Even if there is, don’t even think about it!” Askim shook his head rapidly, using a warning tone, “Listen, I don’t want to die with you! Unless the command center sends soldiers to ensure our safety, don’t expect me to do this stupid thing for you.”
“You shouldn’t have scared him him.” Wang Qiang looked at Hong Zewei and forced a smile.
“Who knew he would take it seriously?” The captain made a helpless expression. “Not to mention what he said is justified. There are no decent weapons in the colony. If the danger is below, we can’t even resist.”
Originally Hong Zewei was only joking, but this time he has began to think about his own statement. In case the creatures are hiding under the ground, no one can guarantee that there is no such possibility! Mars is more like the Earth than Earth four billion years ago.
When Columbus first set foot on the American continent, he didn’t think there were people on the continent until they met the indigenous people with feathers on their heads.
After all, twenty lives are in his hands.
“What do we do now?” Wang Qiang looked at the captain and asked, “Just leave it here?”
“Let’s go back to the colonial chamber. I will pass the message to the command center and request drilling equipment on the next colonization ship, and then ask if we can request a few soldiers. Fu*k, I scared myself too.”
