Moon Palace.
A silver-white starship slowly docked in the port.
Xie Tian looked at the looming outline of the city getting closer and closer outside the porthole. There was a look of fascination in his eyes.
“This is the first time I have come to the moon. I heard that nuclear physics and particle physics research here are very famous. I wanted to come here a long time ago, but I haven’t found the time.”
Standing next to him, Jia Siyuan smiled and said, “What a coincidence, me too.”
Both of them were researchers from East Asia Energy, and they were relatively basic-level ones.
The two would probably devote their entire youth to scientific research and then wait until the age of 40 or 50, depending on their situation, to get to manage a small research team.
East Asia Energy’s welfare benefits were the best among energy companies in the world, but at the same time, it was also well known for how narrow its promotion channel was.
But just a few days ago, the situation turned around.
Since Lu Zhou laid off all the researchers in the electromagnet research institute, the lives of those who did practical research had been much better than before.
Although in Xie Tian’s opinion, being sent to the moon still felt a bit like an “exile”, it was a nominal promotion and salary increase. In any case, staying in this relatively free environment was better than staying on the ground, under the control of those corrupt seniors.
Also, as long as achievements were made, they could be transferred back to Earth.
After all, anyone with a discerning eye could see that Academician Lu was on the side of honest people like them. In particular, Tang Yunge, who worked on the front line, was directly promoted to the position of No. 1 in the laboratory. Almost all low-level scientific research workers saw the hope of getting ahead.
Thinking of this, Xie Tian also secretly made up his mind. He must do something earth-shattering in this barren land.
The starship stopped.
With the fixed cantilever attached to the hull, the gangway of the space station slowly connected.
Carrying the suitcase and walking off the starship, the group arrived at the gate of the shuttle between the Moon Palace.
However, just as they were preparing to land on the moon, these researchers and engineers from East Asia Energy discovered that the road ahead was blocked by a group of people.
“… What are those people doing?”
Xie Tian looked at the few representatives of the masses who were separated from the crowd and walking towards him, Xie Tian, carrying a suitcase in his hands, had a strange expression on his face.
Jia Siyuan, who was standing next to him, also had a strange expression on his face.
“Maybe to celebrate our arrival?”
Obviously, this was false.
Besides the obvious unkind expressions on the faces of those people, the holographic windows on their heads, and the slogans in prominent positions, they didn’t look like they were welcoming them.
At this time, the few representatives of the masses walked in front of their group.
Xie Tian, who was standing in the forefront of the research team, vaguely felt a little bit of trouble.
When the man opened his mouth, the air between the two parties instantly solidified to the freezing point.
“Get out of Guanghan City! You are not welcome here, let alone your technology.”
“I—”
As soon as Xie Tian wanted to explain something, the man shoved his chest, causing Xie Tian to nearly fall. Jia Siyuan was instantly furious. He wanted to take a step forward, but he was surrounded.
The scene was extremely chaotic. Fortunately, the security team from the space station arrived in time and barely managed to control the situation, stopping it from evolving into a physical conflict.
However, the crowd continued to shout.
“F*ck off!”
“Get out of here!”
“You are not welcome here!”
“…”
Escorted by the security team, they left the scene in a hurry. Xie Tian, Jia Siyuan, and other East Asia Energy researchers all had weird looks in their eyes.
Those people wanted to burn them alive.
This is crazy!
…
The customs rest area of the Moon Palace.
Holding a bag of drinking hot water in his hand, Xie Tian still had an expression of horror on his face.
At this moment, the alloy door next to him suddenly opened. Accompanied by a security officer, a man in formal clothes walked into the rest area and walked in their direction.
“Everyone, I’m sorry, I’m Mayor Ye’s secretary,” the man continued with an obvious apologetic expression. “Mayor Ye should have come here in person. But he is now working hard to deal with this trouble right now, so I am here to welcome you all.
“I’m really sorry! In order to prevent the conflict from intensifying, we can’t let you off the ship immediately, but we promise to resolve it as soon as possible… Can you give us some time?”
“Of course, but I need to know what is going on here?” Xie Tian said angrily, staring at the mayor’s secretary. “We prepared for a week, but we were treated like this! You need time, no problem. But please give me a reason.”
The secretary said with a wry smile, “We need some time to convince the people… I’m really sorry.”
He bowed deeply, leaving behind a bewildered crowd. After the secretary told the staff of the space station nearby to treat them nicely, he turned around and left in a hurry.
However, Xie Tian could clearly feel that the staff of the space station weren’t particularly friendly.
The obvious hostility made everyone sitting here shudder.
…
Seeing that this problem didn’t seem to be solved in a short time, the group of people finally chose to return to the ship.
They had already reached the shore, but they couldn’t get off the boat. Everyone’s mood was very depressed, as if the raging fire in their hearts was poured with the cold water of reality.
Jia Siyuan looked at the moon close at hand outside the porthole, he whispered, “Strange, what happened there? How did we… become enemies of the people all at once? I thought they would welcome us like heroes.”
After all, when East Asia Energy promoted nuclear fusion technology on Earth, the local people were happy to see electricity costs drop.
Although he had not experienced that period of history, the stories could be found in historical materials.
“… I don’t know.”
Xie Tian smiled bitterly and shook his head; his eyes filled with confusion.
Intuition told him that things were probably more complicated than he thought.
The Moon Palace space station had not approved them to use the network. Other than getting in touch with the headquarters of East Asia Energy through the communication equipment on the ship, there was no way to receive information from the outside world.
“… Hypothetically speaking,” Xie Tian broke the silence in the cabin after thinking for a long time and continued, “it is very likely that something serious happened during the day after we set off from the Tianzhou. The accident ruined the trust of the residents of Guanghan City.”
Jia Siyuan frowned and said, “But what could happen in one day?”
Xie Tian shook his head.
The door of the cabin suddenly opened. A crew member walked in from the pilot area.
“We just contacted the ground headquarters, we may be in trouble.”
Xie Tian suddenly raised his head to look over. He was about to ask, but Jia Siyuan, who was sitting next to him, asked first, “What happened—”
Before he could finish, the man continued to say with a solemn expression on his face, “They are protesting.
“They are protesting against us.
“Or rather, the second-generation of controllable fusion engineering.”
Jia Siyuan couldn’t help but speak.
“Why? We are clearly helping them solve the energy problem!”
“But they don’t think so.” Looking at the moon out of the porthole with a complicated expression, he sighed and said, “Everything has to start with a paper.”
