Chapter 97 Don't Let Us Go Back
Qi An heard that before the apocalypse, China was one of the most powerful countries on Earth, with thousands of fighter jets and millions of missiles of various types.
But at that time, humans had never seen a fallen insect.
Pollution is a process, and those selected to participate in space missions must be people of unwavering will.
The crew of the "Nine Heavens" must have reported the situation to the ground after being contaminated and before it completely changed.
When a ship full of fallen insects lands, the ground must be prepared.
But there are three Ash Priests! What kind of preparation is needed to suppress them?
She looked at Xu Zhuoxing, seemingly nervous, her tentacles curling up behind her, and asked hesitantly, "Back then, was it you who stopped the other two Ash Priests? And you weren't devoured by their consciousness?!"
Qi An felt that her guess was pretty accurate; she was just worried that Xu Zhuoxing's condition was really the same as his.
But to his surprise, Xu Zhuoxing chuckled and shook his head, "No way, in my condition at that time, how could I possibly stop the two of them?"
In just a few minutes, Qi An was stunned for the fourth time.
[An'an, the 'Nine Heavens' spacecraft's return capsule never landed on Earth; it was intercepted outside the atmosphere.]
Qi An: "Huh?"
[The secret file records...] Tan Fu had a photographic memory; she replicated the contents of the secret file without a single mistake:
The 'Jiutian' spacecraft is tasked with scientific research and needs to collect geological samples within a designated area.
Midway through the return journey, Commander Xu Zhuoxing reported the abnormalities of the specimen and the team members to the ground control center.
Anomalous mineral specimen: YR-BR-07, a hexagonal pyramidal amethyst-like mineral specimen, found at the bottom of a meteorite crater.
The mineral has a perfectly symmetrical shape and intricate internal patterns visible to the naked eye, suggesting it may not be a natural mineral.
The YR-BR-07 specimen is assessed as having extremely high research value and is likely the biggest gain from this lunar exploration mission!
At 3:10 AM on February 25, 2035 (China Standard Time), specimen YR-BR-07, along with 44 other specimens collected during this mission, was packaged, numbered, and placed into the spacecraft's specimen repository.
At 7:00 AM on February 26, the "Jiutian" lunar mission was completed and it was ready to return to Earth.
At 10:00 AM on February 26, the "Jiutian" spacecraft began its return journey.
At 8:00 AM on February 27, Yao Yingfa, a planetary geologist and member of the 'Jiutian' spacecraft crew, was granted permission to conduct preliminary research on the YR-BR-07 specimen.
Yao Yingfa strictly adhered to the regulations of the ground center, and did not cut or damage the minerals in any way. He only weighed and measured them, observed them with a high-powered magnifying glass, and used X-ray scanning imaging.
Upon hearing this, Qi An sensed that something was wrong.
Sure enough, Tan Fu's tone seemed even colder:
At 8 PM on February 27, Xu Zhuoxing reported the abnormal pollution situation to the ground command center for the first time.
He mentioned that team member Yao Yingfa had developed serious mental and physical problems.
Yao Yingfa's pupils were dilated, and his entire body was oozing fluid.
Neither the team doctor, Jian Ming, nor the spaceship's AI could find any known disease that corresponded to these symptoms.
Jian Ming suspects that the YR-BR-07 specimen contains some unknown radioactive material, and that Yao Yingfa's condition is a mutation!
Xu Zhuoxing and his team member Qiu Yunmeng have repackaged the YR-BR-07 specimen and isolated Yao Yingfa in the infirmary, with Jian Ming continuing to monitor his condition.
At 2:00 AM on February 28th, Xu Zhuoxing gave a second report, this time with harsher wording!
Xu Zhuoxing mentioned that Yao Yingfa's condition had worsened, with unidentified growths of flesh appearing on his body and he becoming aggressive.
Yao Yingfa's illness seems to be contagious, and all the crew members have developed similar symptoms.
At 6:00 AM on February 28, the ground control center continuously inquired about the crew's status from the "Jiutian" vessel, but communications were cut off!
The communication was clearly forcibly cut off by the spaceship. Before it was cut off, Commander Xu Zhuoxing shouted:
This might not be radiation, or a virus, but rather a form of information infection!
Don't make us go back to Earth!
These were the last words of the crew members of the 'Nine Heavens'.
Qi An stared blankly at the man with short, gray hair and a slight smile.
Should we not let them go back to Earth?
At 5 PM on February 28th, the 'Jiutian' spacecraft entered near-Earth orbit.
At 18:30, the 'Jiutian' spacecraft will initiate derailment braking and will soon separate from the return capsule.
The 'Leigong' orbital defense satellite fired a high-power laser beam at the 'Jiutian' satellite!
The braking system of the 'Jiutian' spacecraft was severely damaged, and the separation process was interrupted.
Two Kuafu-49 land-based long-range interceptor missiles were launched from two different theaters and hit the 'Jiutian' spacecraft one after the other.
Minutes later, a small 'meteor shower' was observed on the ground, presumably from spacecraft components dispersing into the atmosphere.
Qi An relaxed his breath, feeling that the country before the apocalypse was truly powerful and decisive!
But then she asked, "It's not just the spaceship components, is it? Qiu Yunmeng isn't dead!"
"You mean the stuff that fell into the atmosphere after the spaceship was blown up?"
Xu Zhuoxing was already a hundred meters away from Qi An. He couldn't hear Tan Fu speaking, but he could obviously guess that someone was telling Qi An the story from back then.
He seemed to sigh, then said, "Since we knew the spaceship would be intercepted, we naturally made preparations."
Yunmeng removed the insulation materials from the spacesuit and return capsule and made a simple escape pod.
When the spaceship exploded, we weren't even inside; we had entered the atmosphere much earlier.
Unfortunately, the atmosphere was a death trap. Jian Ming's three levels of protection weren't enough; even with protective gear, he couldn't withstand the 2000-degree heat and was burned to a crisp in the latter half of the mission.
Earth's natural defenses are still much stronger.
Upon hearing this, Qi An became wary, flew backward a short distance, and asked in a cold voice:
"You escaped with them, are you still a fallen insect?"
"Of course." Xu Zhuoxing observed Qi An's grave expression for a moment before slowly smiling:
"But I understand what you mean. In terms of consciousness and stance, I am fifty-fifty."
"What do you mean by 'half and half'?" Qi An was already surrounded by several layers of drones and had received notification that the laser cannon was fully charged. She asked in a cold voice.
Xu Zhuoxing's face suddenly changed, transforming into an alien shape, but then immediately reverted to its original form.
It seemed as if a cold, gleaming bone blade had sprouted from his palm, but it only grew to the length of a finger before retracting.
Qi An had lost count of how many times he had been stunned.
In that instant, she seemed to see a seawall burst open before her eyes, and a terrifying aura of pollution roared out from the man!
But the "seawall" was quickly closed again, and the polluted tsunami was blocked back behind the seawall.
She asked with surprise and doubt, "You are in a state of fighting against the will of pollution, mostly normal, but occasionally losing yourself?"
The dark mist in Xu Zhuoxing's eyes dissipated, and he smiled and said, "Not only strong, but also very smart."
Qi An was a bit smarter than he thought, and asked, "Back then, you did try to stop Qiu Yunmeng, didn't you?"
She recalled Tan Fu saying something when he was scolding Li Heng: "Can you really say for sure which side the more advanced Wisps will be on?"
How dare Tan Fu make such a judgment? And how did he realize so early on that she might be a worm?
Did humans actually witness the battle between Ash Priests back then?
Tan Furu's AI-like voice rang out again at the opportune moment:
The hypothesis that the 'meteors' were all spaceship wreckage was quickly overturned, as reconnaissance satellites captured blurry images of humanoid creatures half-encased in flames.
The humanoid creature had wings and the ability to fly, but its wings were damaged, causing it to fall to the ground.
One of the creatures crashed at one of the landing sites of the return capsule, as calculated from the ground.
Fighter jets and ground troops have been deployed near the landing site.
The first humanoid creature stabilized itself at an altitude of approximately 2,000 meters. Aerial reconnaissance revealed that its severely damaged wings had miraculously recovered during the descent!
Two 'Skylark' air-to-air missiles were launched from the fighter jet, but the enemy was moving too fast and it was difficult to lock on.
The unmanned wingman of the first fighter jet formation was hit by something and exploded in mid-air! This was followed by the second wingman, then the manned fighter jet...
Two pilots from the first fighter jet squadron were killed.
Command released a large number of drones, but a second humanoid creature appeared and destroyed the drones on a massive scale!
The ground troops had only launched a few air-to-air missiles and hadn't even had time to engage in close-range combat when the mutated humans appeared!
At 10 PM on February 28, the General Staff convened a seminar on combating mutants.
The meeting reviewed and summarized the proceedings, revising previous assessments of this external crisis and elevating it for the first time to the level of a matter of national and human survival!
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