After hanging up the call, Bai Yixuan reached out and pressed a few buttons on the control panel in front of him, then leaned back in his chair again.

The holographic interface on the console changed silently.

[Starship entering orbit...]

A slight feeling of deceleration followed.

Under the control of the onboard computers, the ten Ray starships simultaneously initiated the orbit insertion procedure.

Bai Yixuan gazed quietly at the slowly "flowing" bands of color on the surface of Jupiter, which were the massive, enduring storms on the planet.

He closed his eyes and mentally reviewed all the steps of the data collection project.

The team's internal communication channel was also completely silent.

Each starship pilot was silently recalling the next operational steps in their own way.

Although Zero can remotely monitor and control all subsequent operations, none of the drivers present want such a situation to occur.

The reason is simple: it's still a matter of computing power.

Currently, Zero has ample computing power, enough to control a large number of Ray starships for helium-3 collection projects without pilots, but that is based on the premise that a large number of factories are shut down.

Once the helium-3 extraction project is successfully completed, while mining helium-3 on a large scale, humanity will inevitably begin building starships on a massive scale once again.

By then, without a breakthrough in photonic computer technology, almost all computing resources will be allocated to various factories.

At that time, none of their actions will be backed by Zero!

A mistake could result in minor losses or even the destruction of the aircraft and loss of life!

Therefore, they must cherish this one and only opportunity to "SL" (save/load).

(SL stands for Save/Load, which means saving and loading files.)

"Ding-dong."

As a soft beep sounded in the cockpit, the holographic interface on the control panel changed slightly once again.

The ray has entered its orbit.

[Driver, please begin collecting Helium-3]

The white highlighted text flashed before the eyes of all drivers.

Bai Yixuan reached out and activated the long-range communication device.

"Mars Command Center, the ray has successfully entered orbit."

"Mars received. Begin collecting Helium-3 immediately. Repeat: Begin collecting Helium-3 immediately."

The moment Lü Yongchang's voice came, the pilots in the ten Ray starships immediately became serious.

Bai Yixuan adjusted his posture, reached out and grasped the control lever beside him, preparing to release the collection tubes inside the starship.

"Hong Fan, help me adjust the angle."

He said in a deep voice.

"Received!" Hong Fan replied meticulously, reaching out to input several data points into the onboard computer.

...

The camera pans outwards.

Ten unassuming starships float silently above Jupiter's orbit.

A slender tube slowly extended from the bottom of the starship.

The entire conduit is 100,000 kilometers long.

Inside the duct, a septum appears every 10,000 kilometers.

There are special suction and filtration devices at the partition.

To reduce weight and facilitate folding and carrying, the catheter is made of a single layer of carbon nanotube material.

Although the walls of the duct are extremely thin, simulations show that it is strong enough to withstand the ravages of Jupiter's upper atmosphere.

Even so, in order to accommodate this 100,000-kilometer-long conduit and carry enough helium-3, the Ray starship reached an astonishing size of tens of thousands of meters.

This is also the largest starship in human history.

Even the flagship of human civilization, the Earth, is like a child in its presence.

Compared to a starship, it's more like a small base floating in Jupiter's orbit.

Under normal circumstances, it will no longer move and will remain permanently in Jupiter's orbit.

Its mission is simple: to extract helium-3 from Jupiter's interior and then compress and store it in the spacecraft's cabin.

As for transportation, there are naturally specialized transport ships to carry these helium-3.

As for the reason...

These big guys are just too cumbersome.

Even with enough fusion reactors and Hall thrusters, its acceleration capability is ridiculously weak.

It took a full three months just to get from Mars to Jupiter!

With the latest Xuan Nu II, in forward mode 4, it would only take 20-25 days to complete this journey.

This also meant that humanity could not take these starships with them to Proxima Centauri.

The ducts at the bottom of the starships slowly extended, and alarms sounded one after another from inside the cockpits of the ten starships.

"Beep! Operation error. This operation will cause abnormal catheter descent speed. Please be careful!"

"Beep! Incorrect operation. This operation may cause an abnormal catheter tilt angle. Please be careful!"

"..."

Amidst Zero's repeated alarms and reminders, the starship pilot in the cockpit, sweating profusely, corrected his erroneous actions.

Meanwhile, the ducts at the bottom of the ray steadfastly extend towards Jupiter's atmosphere.

It was like a few tiny mosquitoes slowly extending their piercing-sucking mouthparts toward their target.

...

A few days later.

Mars Command Center.

An atmosphere of anxiety filled the hall.

Every researcher's face was etched with exhaustion and anxiety.

Everyone stared intently at the holographic image in front of them.

The progress of the "intubation" is updated in real time.

The numbers jumped up and down little by little.

Every beat tugs at the fragile nerves of all researchers.

The moment the progress bar reached 100%, Lü Yongchang couldn't help but hold his breath!

"Calling Mars Command Center..."

Bai Yixuan's call came through the long-distance communication device again.

Lu Yongchang quickly reached out, grabbed the microphone on the table, and interrupted Bai Yixuan's voice.

"Mars received, please speak!"

"..." Heavy, rapid breathing came from the speaker.

"Professor, we succeeded!"

"All ten Ray starships have been successfully intubated!" Bai Yixuan's voice was a mixture of exhaustion and excitement.

Lü Yongchang let out a long sigh of relief.

Successful intubation means that the entire project is 80% complete.

"Congratulations." Suppressing his excitement, Lü Yongchang gave the order again, "Begin extracting Helium-3."

...

Jupiter's orbit.

Bai Yixuan stared with bloodshot eyes, his hands trembling slightly as he pressed the extraction button.

...

"Report!"

"All units are operating normally, and the extraction work is proceeding as planned!"

"Successfully extracted Jupiter's atmosphere!"

"Helium-3 has been successfully isolated."

"..."

Reports came one after another in the command hall.

"Helium-3 detected, being stored!"

As the final report was delivered, cheers and applause instantly resounded throughout the entire command hall!

Lu Yongchang turned and exchanged a glance with the councilor; both of them simultaneously revealed long-lost smiles.

With the energy crisis resolved, human civilization is once again moving forward!