Circle after circle, lights illuminate the road; cluster after cluster, clouds obscure the secrets of the sky; the red mountains and the green sea, the crescent moon, the steel mountains; the nine heavens, the silver thread, the skin of the lone sail. —Anonymous, "Scenic Spots of Shenzhou" published in 2071
One hundred days flew by like a fleeting whirlwind. After dozens of rounds of permutation and combination training, random team formation, and specialized training, the remaining 21 trainees arrived at the fateful day. It was May 20, 2056. They spent half a day admiring the underwater scenery from the spherical viewing cabin in the first area of the East China Sea Station before learning of their upcoming launch mission.
When Jiang Ling recalled this incident later, she realized that they seemed to have arranged the scene as a title-awarding ceremony.
"salute!"
"The ceremony is over!"
"Chu Feixing!"
"arrive!"
"Congratulations on your promotion to the rank of major general. Tomorrow you will become the cockpit commander of the Pangu, and the railgun on the bow will also be under your control. You will be invited to speak on stage later. Think about what you are going to say first." An elderly man in a meticulously groomed military uniform smiled and pinned a winged double-star military rank with a ribbon on his chest. Then, another person who was traveling with him took a red tray handed to him and presented it to the newly promoted general with both hands.
There were two things on the tray, one was the certificate corresponding to the military rank, and the other was the gun issued by the state to every general.
"Gu Shenzhou!"
"arrive!"
"Congratulations on your promotion to Brigadier General. I heard you're an Awakener? You have plenty of experience, but be sure to take good care of the young man next to you!" The old man exchanged a few words with him, his eyes tinged with envy. They were both at the age of knowing one's destiny and hearing one's ears, but one had already grayed, while the other was still striving for progress. His entourage also held out a tray, fully stocked with everything.
Following Gu Shenzhou were equipment engineer Sun Haoran, construction engineer Yu Lei, unmanned systems engineer Wang Yu, political commissar and physician Song Jianying, and astrophysicist Jiang Xuanji. They had all been awarded the rank of brigadier general, and it was rumored that if the mission went smoothly, they could be promoted again upon their triumphant return.
The ceremony did not last too long. Apart from the government representative of Donghai Station, the party representative and the captain of the task force who gave speeches, the others only took a few group photos at the end.
After that, the seven astronauts were taken out by a group of people, and the remaining prospective astronauts drew lots to decide the candidates for the backup plan.
Jiang Ling was naturally not among them. She was not selected from the beginning. It was the will of the higher-ups that made her complete all the training. It had nothing to do with her grades or her choice.
There were four people drawn in the on-site lottery, and Jiang Ling only knew two of them. One was Tang Wanzhou, who had just secretly pledged his life to Political Commissar Song two days ago, and the other was the wealthy man Qian Lai, whom he had only recently met.
This guy had once suffered a setback for inadvertently flaunting his wealth, so he didn't stand out during the early and middle stages of his training. According to him, his family had always been a supplier of food synthesizers to Country Z, meeting the demand for complete machine parts in most cities across the country at a half-price discount. In other words, they didn't make money from Country Z.
The Qian family's young master was twenty-seven, the youngest of the group. Logically, he had no reason to volunteer for such a high-risk mission, but he felt he was helping the family forge a new path. Aside from the potential for anxiety among his family and friends, there was nothing wrong with it. After all, each family member had their own strengths, and he, on the other hand, had a stubborn, unyielding streak—someone he didn't know where he'd picked it up from.
The four "lucky ones" followed several high-ranking military personnel into the elevator and left. The remaining ten people exchanged a few words with each other and then went to where they wanted to go.
Of course, they couldn't be allowed to leave Donghai Station, but now that they no longer had training tasks, everyone felt something was wrong with their bodies and didn't seem to be relaxing at all.
Jiang Ling returned to where her dream began. She found an empty corner at the junction of the seventh and ninth districts, dug out two boxes of 8.5-proof Stout from the "system", and then sat on the railing, drinking them intermittently.
This used to be the place where trainees checked in. Even after two years, many traces of that time are still left on the ground. The lines on the road that have a certain regularity and intertwine with each other are like people’s daily connections. Unless you walk along each route yourself, you have no idea which road is passable.
There was a public toilet not far from here. Jiang Ling still remembered that on the day of registration, some people had a fight because they had to pee urgently. She smiled silently and then drank half a bottle of wine.
It is estimated that there will be many people like her drinking alone tonight, but unfortunately they can only have a taste of it - this kind of carcinogen is rarely provided on the site, and there will definitely be severe punishment if they drink too much.
Unless no one saw it, or everyone was silenced.
"Wow, this drink is pretty good, and the packaging is in a foreign language? Where did you get it?"
A familiar voice reached Jiang Ling's ears at an inopportune moment, and she immediately turned her head to look at the uninvited guy. He was hiding in a dark place, wearing a well-washed suit of a warehouse manager from District 7, and playing with a bottle of freshly stolen vanilla-flavored dark beer in his hand.
Jiang Ling raised an eyebrow and said, "Chen Bufan? Are you the only one here?"
As soon as she finished speaking, two unidentified people carrying controlled sharp weapons appeared from the corner.
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