119: Dome City (3.6K, please support!)

The lunar orbital space station, the docking hatch closed silently behind them.

Ahead lay the final leg of the journey to the "Tycho Dome" city on the lunar surface.

It was a sturdy ferry, resembling a silver beetle.

"Please follow me, passengers for Tycho, board here."

A staff member in a gray uniform guided the crowd.

Stepping into the ferry's hatch, the interior space was far more spacious than it appeared from the outside.

Outside the porthole was the massive ring structure of the lunar orbital space station.

"Ferry 0031 is about to depart, please fasten your seatbelts."

"Estimated travel time: 35 minutes."

A slight vibration occurred as the ferry detached from the space station's fixed arm. The moment it entered the open airspace, an irrepressible gasp of astonishment rose within the cabin.

Jiang Feng thought he had seen enough novelties for one day, but he had underestimated the situation.

Before his eyes was no longer the deep cosmic background, but a school of fish made of steel behemoths, blotting out the sky.

Huge starships were densely suspended in orbit around the Moon.

Nearby were "small sampans" over a hundred meters long with sharp lines.

Further away were large transport ships hundreds of meters long; beneath their heavy armor, artificial suns were burning.

And further still, set against the silver arc of the Moon, dozens of interstellar freighters, like floating mountains, cast suffocating shadows with their massive bodies. Even the smallest was nearly eight thousand meters long.

They could easily transport hundreds of millions of tons of cargo or hundreds of thousands of people.

The largest one, shining with the logo of the "Orbis Client Cooperative", was fully thirty kilometers long.

"My god..." Lin Xiaoxue did not provide commentary this time, only murmuring to herself.

Jiang Feng looked down at his wristband, and the information that popped up made him take a deep breath.

["Great Highlight", 31,154 meters long, 1,146 meters in diameter, proudly produced by the "Sivara" Shipyard.]

[Dry weight 34.1 billion tons, total payload 142 billion tons.]

[Undertakes bulk cargo transport tasks such as asteroid fragments, water ice, and mineral resources.]

[Undertakes interstellar colonial transport tasks.]

[Undertakes interstellar slave/interstellar refugee transport tasks.]

[Great Highlight, your most loyal partner, please visit the official webpage for details...]

Jiang Feng briefly logged onto the official website and realized that this ship was just one link in the logistics network built by the Orbis Client Cooperative in the interstellar space. Within this logistics network, there were actually hundreds of ships of the same level.

With such a level of resource mobilization and integration capability, the Terran Union could not even hope to catch up; no wonder they were doing so miserably.

As a universal enterprise mainly engaged in media, the Orbis Client Cooperative had always adhered to the principle of "customer first."

If a customer had no demand, they would find ways to create demand for the customer.

If a customer was not loyal to the brand, they would find ways to make the customer loyal to the brand.

The Obis People were incredibly charming and quite approachable, always playing the role of "Mr. Nice Guy" in the interstellar situation.

This won them huge prestige and also made these aliens the most popular in a league of their own.

Jiang Feng closed the light screen, unsure of what to think, and looked out the window.

No ship dared to approach the anchorage of those behemoths, including these ferries; they all detoured under the guidance of drones.

Lin Xiaoxue was constantly checking something on her wristband, looking puzzled, thinking to herself.

'The gaps between these ships are large, and they aren't moving at all. Why, despite this, does the ferry not pass through? Why take a long detour? Isn't this a waste of time?'

Jiang Feng sighed softly, seeing through her question, and explained.

"The gravitational disturbance from these ships is too strong."

"Although the gravitational field generated by their own mass is weak, these big guys are all equipped with large, or even super-large, Gravity Regulation Array. Artificial gravitational fields and their own gravitational fields pull at each other, turning this airspace into a boiling pot of porridge."

"Most ship-borne gravity regulators have very low refresh rates and simply cannot cope with such dense gravitational field changes."

"Once careless, you would be like being trapped in stormy seawater, tossed and turned by the waves."

"At high speeds, one collision equals one firework."

He said gently to Lin Xiaoxue, pointing to the small dots that were shuttling between the gaps of the giant ships, flickering densely like fireflies.

"So, everyone has to rely on these guiding drones; they are responsible for maintaining the order of the flight path. Otherwise, everyone would be unable to move an inch."

"Besides, those large ships don't want to be disturbed by small ships. Although nothing will happen, who would like the gravity in their spaceship to be high one moment and low the next? That might even burn out the Gravity Regulation Array."

Lin Xiaoxue then showed a look of sudden realization and said worshipfully.

"Brother-in-law, you know so much."

"Preparing to enter the Tycho Dome city spaceport."

"Lunar gravity is approximately 0.165 times that of Earth's gravity. In a low-gravity environment, the strength and sense of balance for actions like walking, jumping, and turning are completely different from those on Earth. It is extremely easy to fall or bump into things due to excessive force."

"Please pay attention to adapting, passengers."

The broadcast reminded them thoughtfully.

After a slight vibration and a dull rubbing sound, the ferry settled steadily into the berth of the dome spaceport.

The moment they left the ferry and entered the airlock, the sensation in their bodies suddenly became strange, as if what they were stepping on was not a solid floor, but an ultra-high-rebound thickened mattress.

Jiang Feng subconsciously adjusted his center of gravity, only to feel his steps become exceptionally light.

Beside him, Lin Xiaoyu also gave a soft "ah", her body swaying slightly before she stood firm.

Lin Xiaomeng and Lin Xiaoxue, however, did not adapt so quickly, stumbling left and right. Just to stand still, they jumped up several times.

Although they knew that the force of standing normally was enough to give them the reaction force to jump up.

But the brain is different from a computer; it cannot calibrate nerves in a short time to balance muscle output.

Seeing Lin Xiaomeng about to stumble and hit the soft cushion on the side wall of the passage.

Jiang Feng rushed out in a stride and grabbed her wrist.

No one noticed that tiny specks of silver sand were gently flickering in his palm, then immediately disappeared beneath Lin Xiaomeng's skin.

"Wow! I get it, I get it!"

Lin Xiaomeng's feet returned to the ground, and with Jiang Feng's help, she stood straight. Suddenly, her head felt clear, and she no longer felt the sensation of being off-balance; instead, she experienced a kind of unrestrained freedom.

"Wahahaha!" Lin Xiaomeng screamed in surprise, trying to jump in place. Her body immediately floated upward like a feather, easily leaping over a height she couldn't usually reach, before slowly falling back down.

Seeing this, Lin Xiaoxue gritted her teeth and tried, refusing to admit defeat.

Unfortunately, her attempt ended with being pulled by Lin Xiaoyu; if she hadn't been pulled, she would have hit the wall!

"Hahaha, I'm a genius!" Lin Xiaomeng put her hands on her hips, shouting arrogantly.

A moment later, she held Lin Xiaoxue and began to teach her little by little how to keep her balance.

"Brother Feng, is it that hard?" Lin Xiaoyu leaned against Jiang Feng and asked in a low voice.

"Well, some people's cerebellum or inner ear vestibular development has problems; that should be why it's so hard to adapt."

Jiang Feng pondered for a moment, thought about it, and simply reached out to grab Lin Xiaoxue: "I'll hold you, let's go first."

"Brother-in-law, I, I feel much better, let me try one more time!"

Lin Xiaoxue pursed her lips and looked at Jiang Feng expectantly. Jiang Feng's heart softened, and he let go of her hand.

Lin Xiaoxue tremblingly tried to take a step. She swayed a little but stabilized her center of gravity. She jumped lightly and landed steadily. Lin Xiaomeng, who was beside her, clapped and laughed.

"I told you, it's not that hard, you just need to adapt!"

Lin Xiaoxue took a deep breath and couldn't help but try to jump again. This time she jumped higher, but her landing was completely steady, and she was laughed at and supported by Lin Xiaoyu.

"Alright, stop messing around, be careful!"

Lin Xiaoyu couldn't help but remind them, but she herself couldn't help but try to tiptoe, feeling that wonderful sense of weightlessness.

'This is actually quite fun.'

She turned her head to look at Jiang Feng, her face blushing, not knowing what she had thought of.

The airport passage was spacious and bright, with clear signs.

Along the way, one could see many people walking with light steps; some even used the low gravity to glide or jump, feeling relaxed and comfortable.

On both sides of the passage, there were silver-white self-service kiosks at intervals.

Above them were eye-catching glowing characters: "Public Gravity Regulation Vest Rental".

"Need to experience Earth gravity?"

"Rent anytime, return anytime, convenient and fast!"

"Starting price 299 earth federation coin, discounts available for renewal..."

The kiosk's holographic projection sensed their approach and automatically played the promotional message, displaying a thin, form-fitting silver vest.

"Have you all adapted? Do you need to rent one?"

Jiang Feng looked at Lin Xiaomeng and Lin Xiaoxue, who were having fun, and asked indifferently.

"No need, brother-in-law!" Lin Xiaoxue floated by.

"Woohoo..." Lin Xiaomeng flew by.

Jiang Feng shook his head helplessly, feeling like he was bringing along two big children.

However, he was very sure that they only showed this youthful side in front of him and Lin Xiaoyu; if they were in front of others, who knew how headache-inducing they would be.

They followed the signs, passed through the passenger corridor, and what appeared ahead was the hub elevator leading to the interior of the dome city.

Hundreds of huge elevator cars, each capable of holding hundreds of people at a time.

They rose and fell steadily and quickly to meet the transfer needs of the huge flow of people.

The elevator door opened again, and the scene before them suddenly opened up.

The noisy human voices, the soft broadcast prompts, and a unique atmosphere belonging to the underground city rushed toward them.

They were in a huge underground space, unimaginably large.

The high dome was not rock, but an artificial canopy emitting soft white light, simulating the blue sky and white clouds of Earth.

Supporting the dome were a large number of artistic pillars, of unknown material, looking like high-temperature sintered reinforced rock.

The surface of the pillars was covered with climbing plants, and in many places, there were man-made waterfalls cascading down.

Jiang Feng looked around and found that the entire city was not entirely excavated, but ingeniously relied on and expanded the natural lava tube network beneath the lunar surface.

The huge cave walls were evaporated by laser drills and condensed into smooth, obsidian-like surfaces, becoming natural traffic corridors.

Countless buildings, like small tubers under potato plants, were attached to each other in a well-arranged manner.

They were even suspended from high central platforms using huge pillars.

"This place is really prosperous..." Lin Xiaoyu couldn't help but exclaim.

Everything before her eyes far exceeded her imagination of the Moon.

"Too cool!"

Lin Xiaoxue's eyes were shining.

She looked at the suspended building structures and the maglev trams speeding by on the tracks below.

"Relying on lava tubes saved a huge amount of excavation costs, and the planning of the central space can also form good natural convection..."

"Genius design!"

"Little Handsome, scan the environment and plan the optimal path to the 'Guan Chao Bay' hotel."

Jiang Feng was a bit tired; he was too lazy to check himself, so he simply left it all to Little Handsome.

"Understood."

Little Handsome's electronic eye flashed: "Optimal path: go forward 150 meters, take the T-7 line rail tram, pass three stations, arrive at the 'Heart of the Moon Sea' hub station, and you can transfer to the hotel's exclusive shuttle."

"The shuttle reservation has been completed, you can depart at any time."