590: Chapter 589 Arrival in the Asteroid Belt! The Luan Bird's Latest Discovery!

Half an hour later.

Space Force Base Command Center.

The technicians' fingers tapped rapidly on their keyboards.

Lines of data, like cascading waterfalls, scrolled rapidly across the main screen.

To prevent interception by the Trisolarans, the communication signals transmitted back by the Luan Bird were encrypted using the Chinese military's highest-level quantum protocol, making the decryption process extremely tedious.

"How much longer?"

General Yun Feijie's voice was filled with anxiety.

"Reporting, the data volume for this urgent telegram is massive; the decoding is expected to take another 10 minutes!"

"Faster!"

"Yes!"

Time ticked away, and every second felt as long as a century.

Eight minutes later.

"Beep!"

With a soft sound, the decoding was successful.

Everyone's eyes were locked onto the holographic screen.

"This!..."

The moment they saw the content of the telegram, the entire command center fell into a deathly silence.

Lin Mo's pupils also constricted sharply.

...

A few days earlier.

Hundreds of millions of kilometers away from Earth, between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.

It was a ring of death spanning the void.

Millions of asteroids and meteorites formed a massive "galaxy" orbiting the Sun, eternally colliding and shattering under the tug of gravity.

Under the influence of the Sun's gravity, they orbited eternally in a way that was both chaotic and governed by certain laws.

This was also the most dangerous region in the Solar System.

The Asteroid Belt.

Here, high-frequency celestial collisions occurred constantly. Each collision erupted with terrifying energy comparable to hydrogen bombs, hurling countless fragments at extreme speeds in all directions and forming barrages of death.

Furthermore, there was cosmic radiation, gravity traps, extreme temperature differences... All kinds of extreme environments made this place a forbidden zone for life.

However, on the outskirts of this realm of death, a starship with a pitch-black hull and a silhouette as majestic as a mountain was floating silently.

It was the Luan Bird aerospace carrier, carrying the hopes of China.

After months of dull and long interstellar travel, they finally arrived at this "treasure land" composed of countless meteorites.

At this moment, inside the spacious and bright bridge of the Luan Bird, the atmosphere was somewhat heavy.

The second captain, Captain Zhou Yi, frowned deeply, staring fixedly at the constantly changing three-dimensional tactical star map on the main screen.

Around him, dozens of officers and technicians in Space Force uniforms were busy working at their respective stations.

"Reporting, Captain!"

"Our ship has arrived at the scheduled coordinates in the Asteroid Belt on June 1st, Earth time!"

"Reporting, Captain!" "Our ship has successfully rendezvoused with the 11th, 12th, and 13th Squadrons of the Xuan-Nu Fighter Jet currently performing missions in this area!"

"Reporting, Captain!" "The 10th Squadron of the Xuan-Nu Fighter Jet is establishing communication; they are expected to arrive at the rendezvous point in five hours..."

Captain Zhou Yi did not take his eyes off the star map and asked in a deep voice, "What is the status of the personnel and fighter jets of the rendezvoused squadrons?"

The communications officer said in a low voice.

"Reporting, Captain... there have been some issues."

"While conducting exploration missions, the three squadrons encountered multiple high-energy particle streams and small meteorite impacts. One of the Xuan-Nu Fighter Jets was severely damaged."

"When five Space Force soldiers were performing emergency repairs outside the cabin of that fighter jet, they were hit by a wave of micro-meteorite debris..."

"Three suffered minor injuries, and two were severely injured. The two severely injured personnel... remain in a deep coma in the medical bay."