The capital city.
Within the first ring road.
The councilor frowned and looked at Lü Yongchang in front of him: "You mean... those three astronauts want to join Xia Kingdom?"
Lü Yongchang nodded slightly and added, "Furthermore, they proactively provided various data about the Mars capsule."
“Even…” Lu Yongchang’s expression turned strange, “They even found the black box.”
Speaker of Parliament: "???"
The councilor reached out and gently rubbed his temples: "Wait... this is quite a lot of information."
After a brief moment of thought, the Speaker of Parliament frowned and said, "You mean... they used NASA's Mars module data as a pledge of allegiance?"
Lü Yongchang shrugged: "That's roughly the idea."
"Although it sounds a bit unbelievable, upon closer examination, it makes perfect sense."
"After all, they can't go back to the United States anymore."
"In the US archives, they are practically dead."
The councilor gave Lü Yongchang a deep look, but instead of offering his own opinion, he asked Lü Yongchang, "What is your opinion?"
"I?"
Lu Yongchang paused for a moment, then replied without hesitation, "Of course, we'll take them in."
"Talents of this caliber are of great help to the future of Xia Kingdom."
“But what if they are spies?” the Speaker of Parliament said meaningfully. “There have been many such cases throughout history!”
Upon hearing the councilor's reminder, Lu Yongchang's lips curled up slightly.
"Speaker, don't forget that with Zero around, even spies can't cause any trouble."
Representative Li was taken aback for a moment, then clapped his hands and laughed loudly, "Not bad, not bad!"
"This person is getting old, and their memory is declining."
"With Zero's help, we caught quite a few spies a while ago, and you've already forgotten about it..."
At this point, Councilor Li abruptly changed the subject: "Yongchang, remember, whether now or in the future, you must think about issues comprehensively."
"Only in this way can we lead the Xia Kingdom to long-term development!"
Lu Yongchang felt a slight tremor in his heart.
These words...
He didn't dare to think too much about it and just nodded slightly.
"Speaker, please don't worry."
"By the way, how is the mission of Xuan Nu II going?" The councilor reached out and took off his glasses, pinched his brow, and his wrinkled face was full of fatigue.
"There's no progress yet." A hint of helplessness flashed across Lü Yongchang's face. "This is very much a matter of luck, there's no use in rushing it."
"What about those American astronauts?" the congressman asked worriedly.
"Won't this reveal our research on Mars?"
Lü Yongchang shrugged: "Let them see. After all, they're doing this research themselves."
"Trying to cover things up only makes people more suspicious."
The councilor pondered for a moment, then slowly nodded.
"That's all we can do."
...
Mars.
Crater ZHZ72.
"Wanyi...remember to check this sample..."
Hong Fan, with a few uneven steps, delivered a drilling sample to Xia Wanyi, who was standing next to the cabin.
Like Hong Fan, Xia Wanyi's face was also etched with exhaustion.
She stared blankly at the flashing red light on the testing instrument, mechanically cleaned up the previous sample, then mechanically processed the sample that Hong Fan had just brought and placed it on the testing instrument.
"Beep beep beep!"
A different kind of reminder sounded.
As the prompt sounded, the indicator light also began to flash green.
Xia Wanyi abruptly stopped what she was about to do to clean.
She cautiously glanced at the monitor next to her.
"Fungal sample detected!"
A simple line of Chinese characters filled her eyes with excitement.
"team leader!"
"Found it! We found it!"
Xia Wanyi's voice came through the team's radio.
At this moment, Bai Yixuan and Hong Fan were preparing to move the drilling rig to the next drilling point.
Upon hearing this slightly hoarse shout, the two of them froze in place.
With trembling hands, Bai Yixuan slowly placed the drilling machine on the dusty ground, then suddenly straightened up and ran quickly towards the direction of Xuan Nu No. 2.
...
Upon seeing the flashing green indicator light, Bai Yixuan couldn't help but hold his breath, afraid that a sudden exhale would blow away the fungal sample, which was still nowhere to be found.
But he soon realized that this was completely unnecessary worry.
Not to mention that the helmet covering his head perfectly blocked his breath, even the dark brown object a few centimeters long on the detector couldn't be blown away in a single breath.
The reddish Martian soil was interspersed with large amounts of shimmering white objects.
Those are blocks of ice beneath the Utopia Plain.
In addition to crimson and pearly white, the samples on the detector contained scattered dark brown objects.
Because of the contrast in color, these dark brown objects stand out particularly well.
Bai Yixuan subconsciously glanced at the text on the testing device.
"Fungi?"
He said in a low voice, "It's a fungus?"
As he spoke, he reached out and gently picked up a dark brown object, examining it closely through his helmet.
The fungus is completely curled up, with layers of wrinkles on its surface, and its severe dehydration can be seen even with the naked eye.
"Be careful!" Xia Wanyi said with concern. "This is a real alien creature, and our bodies don't have any antibodies against it!"
Upon hearing the reminder, Bai Yixuan's expression became slightly more serious: "Don't worry, I know what I'm doing."
"Before entering the Xuan Nu No. 2 room, everyone must undergo a thorough disinfection!"
As he spoke, Bai Yixuan turned and walked toward the drilling hole from earlier.
"Where are you going?" Xia Wanyi asked instinctively.
Bai Yixuan didn't turn around, but said softly on the radio channel, "These samples are definitely not enough at the moment."
"Hong Fan and I will conduct several more drilling operations in this area to try and find more samples!"
...
Earth.
It's 1:25 AM in Xia Kingdom.
Lu Yongchang remained seated at his desk, quietly flipping through books.
Because drilling on Mars is not progressing well, he has now skipped hibernation technology and begun to study space elevator technology, which is on par with it in the system.
If you want to completely leave a planet, a space elevator is undoubtedly an essential technology.
Whether it's transporting supplies over large distances or building a so-called spaceport, a stable space elevator is a prerequisite.
The most important factor limiting space elevators is the issue of material strength.
"Ring ring!"
A piercing landline ring interrupted his train of thought.
"Hello?"
He reached for the landline phone beside him and asked softly, "What's going on?"
Upon hearing the voice coming from the landline microphone, Lü Yongchang's expression changed slightly.
"really?!"
"Have them collect enough samples and return immediately!"
"Oh, and remember to mark that area!"
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