242: Chapter 242 The Duo

The truth was that Chu Ge had overthought things; there was no spot for him in the space capsule on the first day.

The same applied to the second, third, and fourth days.

Later, Chu Ge realized that they hadn't prepared a place for him to stay here at all.

“Commander Wang, I don't need a private room. I can just stay in a space capsule with Captain Wang and the others. I love living in collective dorms like that; it's very lively.”

“It has nothing to do with a private room.”

Commander Wang's face stiffened as he blurted out those few words, unwilling to say anything extra.

A few days later,

“Commander Wang, now Captain Gong and I are traveling back and forth between the underground cavity and this place every day. What is this? A daily commute?”

“If General Chu feels it's a waste of time, you can take a carrier-based aircraft. That’s faster.”

“...”

After this tug-of-war lasted for nearly a month, Chu Ge finally gave up.

Captain Wang, Old Huang, and the others were already permanently stationed at the starship ruins. Only Chu Ge still had to commute punctually every day.

On their eighth day of exploring the ruins, Old Huang and his team finally found a strange device next to a fragment of the bionic system.

Chu Ge studied it for a long time and felt it might be the missing 'enzyme' system of the jump system he had been longing for.

However, Chu Ge and Old Huang studied it for a day without getting anywhere.

Chu Ge guessed they must be using the wrong method to open it, so they started over from the beginning.

After countless failures, Old Huang decided to let Chu Ge bear the brunt of the successive disappointments alone while he went back to continue exploring the starship ruins.

This process couldn't be rushed. After another failure, Chu Ge decided to set it aside for a while; he needed to reorganize his thoughts.

...

Day 35 of the lunar landing,

Chu Ge walked out of Old Huang’s experimental module, which had recently become his personal laboratory.

Old Huang and Yan Tianhao had 'abandoned the old for the new,' choosing to stay over at the starship ruins.

As Chu Ge walked, he thought about the experiment he had just conducted, and before he knew it, he arrived at the Flight Control Center.

“How does General Chu have the time to visit the Flight Control Center today? Just to be clear, don't mention staying at the starship ruins.”

“The carrier-based aircraft are almost rusting away; it's a good time to put them to use. General Chu, feel free to use them as you wish.”

Commander Wang thought Chu Ge was here again to talk about camping at the starship ruins.

“I haven't been over there for several days. I've left everything there to Old Huang.”

As Chu Ge spoke, he looked out at the Lunar Base. It was now covered by a cluster of white buildings, and the construction site was already very, very far from the aerospace carrier.

Chu Ge looked for a long time but couldn't see them at all.

“The Lunar Base is about half finished, isn't it?” Chu Ge remarked, looking at the 'greenhouses' outside.

The Lunar Base was composed of single-story buildings with different functions. If you took one out and placed it alone, it really did look a bit like a 'greenhouse'.

Hexagonal 'greenhouses'.

However, these hexagonal buildings all had raised circular domes made of the same transparent material as the laboratory partitions.

The transparency allowed for better use of light, while various smart systems were installed in the space under the raised domes.

From the center of each hexagonal building, a corridor-like structure extended outward in a cross shape to connect to the adjacent buildings.

The entire building complex was formed this way, with one structure embracing another to create a continuous expanse.

“Almost. 46%, to be precise.”

“In another month, the aerospace carrier will return home for a temporary refit. I think we can just about finish by then.”

Chu Ge flipped through the fleet logs. The area currently under construction was the industrial zone.

Currently, the only thing planned for the industrial zone was a complete production line for Helium-3; nothing else had been planned yet.

The industrial zone here was quite different from those on Earth. The intelligent management of the 'Tianzhi' central system simplified all production processes.

Correspondingly, the production equipment was also highly integrated, intelligent, and modular.

The main frames of the workshops were up, but more time was spent on debugging equipment and grid-connected operations. This process could take several months.

The industrial zone was led by the Ministry of Science and Technology. Chu Ge rarely participated, so he wasn't very familiar with the specific situation.

“Commander Wang, shall we go take a look at the Tianzhi Control Center?”

Chu Ge looked at the tallest building not far away, his heart stirred.

“Um, does this count as us walking on the Moon together?”

“I don't think so. We're just transferring from the Flight Control Center to the Tianzhi Control Center; we're still inside the facility.”

Chu Ge looked at Commander Wang and blinked. Commander Wang understood instantly.

The two of them shamelessly walked out together.

Leaving the aerospace carrier, Chu Ge and Commander Wang walked along a main road toward the nearest 'greenhouse'.

Passing by a massive lamp post, Chu Ge stopped.

“I didn't realize how thick this lamp post was from the aerospace carrier. Why does it look like this now that I'm down here?”

Chu Ge asked, looking at the lamp post in front of him, which had a radius of over a meter.

“The aerospace carrier is so high up; everything looks tiny from there. Don't those engineering vehicles look like toys? In fact, their wheels are twice your height.”

Chu Ge turned to look at the aerospace carrier—a wall that required a 90-degree upward gaze—and then nodded.

“Don't underestimate this lamp post. There isn't another one like it in the whole country. The technology used in the lamp posts of this Lunar Base is also top-tier.”

“Oh?”

The lamp post wasn't designed by Chu Ge, so he was actually quite interested.

“Setting aside the materials and lighting components, let's just talk about the battery: a Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator.”

“Who else in Huaxia do you think has this kind of thing?”

When Commander Wang put it that way, Chu Ge instantly felt that the lamp post before him had become high-end and sophisticated.

The group arrived in front of a white building. The titanium alloy frame structure of the base building was incredibly white.

Commander Wang stepped forward and entered a string of passwords, and the door slid open to both sides.

Chu Ge and the others walked inside.

Commander Wang pressed a button on the side. The airlock began to adjust the pressure, and a wave of white gas rushed toward them.

Chu Ge didn't move an inch. This was commonplace to him, nothing to be surprised about.

After the airlock was a changing room.

“The central control room is already operational. Most of the people there are installation and debugging engineers; no base personnel have moved in yet.”

Commander Wang introduced the situation to Chu Ge while taking off his protective suit. Chu Ge had been focusing all his attention on the starship ruins lately.

The Lunar Base side had been left to Commander Wang.

After changing clothes, they entered the main hall of the control center.

Although 'Tianzhi' was a high-level artificial intelligence system, the central computer room was still equipped with many control terminals.

Its own data also needed to be monitored by humans.

“Commander Wang, General Chu, Captain Gong Liang, hello. Welcome to the Tianzhi Control Center...”

A crisp, humanoid female voice spoke.

“Apologies, I intended to continue introducing the functions of this center, but the kunpeng has sent an emergency call. Shall I connect?”

Before Chu Ge and the others could react, 'Tianzhi' directly changed its tone, as if there was something important.

“Connect it,” Commander Wang said.

“Reporting to Commander Wang and General Chu: the aerospace carrier's defense system has detected a satellite flying toward the base.”

“The satellite was launched a week ago and has now entered orbit. According to calculations, it is in a polar orbit and will soon be over the Lunar Base.”

It was Captain Wu.

“Didn't General Chu say this place is a restricted zone? Slice them as they come. Arrange for the Soul Blade...”

“No, Commander Wang. I don't plan on slicing watermelons this time. On the contrary, I plan to pretend I don't see it.”

Chu Ge said to Commander Wang with a smile. Commander Wang looked at Chu Ge with a face full of suspicion.

He couldn't figure out what Chu Ge was up to this time.