Break out of the courtyard

An agreement has still not been reached on control of space-based weapon systems in Earth orbit and defense systems at the Moon Palace base.

The authorities in the capital dared not use force against Zhang Heping!

Because last month, Zhang Heping proved through a real-world cyber attack and defense exercise that he could regain control at any time!
If force is used, let alone whether Zhang Heping will immigrate abroad, just consider the subsequent upgrades of the space-based weapon system, don't expect Zhang Heping to help!
Therefore, after the news that the naval weapon would be tested on the far side of Mars reached the capital, Yang Lao secretly led a group of people to Shenzhen.

The observation stations at the Martian north pole and the Great Plains took five days to build. In order not to waste the engineering robots and Mars rovers, we need to wait for them to exert their remaining strength and carry out some scientific research tasks before the space-based weapons in Mars orbit will be officially test-fired.

Taking advantage of this lull, Zhang Heping had the rocket launch site send another batch of packages to the moon to improve the unmanned factory at the Moon Palace base.

In addition, he also took the time to arrange the 8th Nobel Peace Prize award ceremony.

Because Zhang Heping did not have time to go north, he did not agree to hold this year's awards ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in the capital, but instead held it in the indoor gymnasium of the Shenzhen World Advanced Technology Research Institute!
According to Zhang Heping, this was also a chance to test the security work of the Nanshan Guard Brigade, so as not to let their guard down.

Because of the helium-3 controlled nuclear fusion power plant and gravity system, the World Advanced Technology Research Institute has become a key target for infiltration by almost all foreign intelligence agencies.

Therefore, many people oppose holding the Nobel Peace Prize award ceremony at the World Academy of Advanced Technology.

But Zhang Heping's reasoning was simple: as long as there are teachers and students in the institute, and people come and go, it is impossible to prevent the infiltration of external intelligence agencies and keep everything inside the institute secret.

After visiting the Dapeng Peninsula, Mr. Yang and his entourage arrived at the World Advanced Technology Research Institute.

"The awards ceremony is being held inside the institute. Are you under a lot of pressure?" After passing through security at the institute's gate, Elder Yang asked the welcoming staff casually.

The brigade commander, Chu, standing nearby, smiled and said, "Please rest assured, leader, we are confident in ensuring security here!"

"It's good to have confidence!" Old Yang said seriously, "But I've heard that you have many training programs, and quite a few guards have been eliminated!"

Commander Chu put away his smile, frowned and thought for a moment before cautiously replying, "The institute has provided us with some new equipment, and many veterans are unable to adapt to the new training methods, so they have voluntarily applied for transfers."

Old Yang seemed to suddenly become interested, "What kind of new equipment is there? Could you tell us about it?"

Commander Chu glanced at Elder Hua and Elder Li, not noticing anything amiss, then nodded slightly and said, "Because there's a lot of new equipment, verbal explanations are a bit vague. I'll call a squad of guards over first to demonstrate some standard equipment."

After speaking, Brigade Commander Chu raised his left hand, touched his left earlobe, and then said to the air, "Which squads are training in the camp right now?"

A barely audible voice sounded in Commander Chu's left ear. After about five or six seconds, Commander Chu said again, "Get the Night Owl Squad to my location within three minutes!"

Seeing the puzzled look on Yang Lao's group, Commander Chu explained simply, "We have a miniature communication device implanted in our left ear, which is also a new type of equipment."

Yang Lao and his group did not notice anything unusual about Commander Chu's left ear, so someone stepped forward to take a closer look. They even reached out and touched it, and then confirmed that there was a small hard object in Commander Chu's left earlobe.

In that brief moment of inspection, the Night Owl Squad, summoned by Brigade Commander Chu, flew down from the military camp on South Mountain, then flew close to the ground in the courtyard, quickly arriving at the gate and standing in two rows.

"Report!" The Night Owl Squad leader stood at attention and shouted, "The Night Owl Squad should have 22 members present, and 22 members are present. Please give instructions!"

"Please look, leaders!" Commander Chu pointed to two rows of guards and said, "The individual armor they are wearing not only has bulletproof capabilities, but can also support 30 minutes of near-ground flight."

While Mr. Yang and his group were marveling at the new equipment of the Nanshan Guard Brigade at the gate of the courtyard, Zhang Heping was with his three sons in the underground base, checking on the production of the unmanned 3D printing plant at the Moon Palace Base.

As the unmanned 3D printing plant produced a black connecting rod and successfully attached it to the arm of an engineering robot, excited applause immediately erupted in the laboratory.

"We did it! We did it!" a young male assistant exclaimed excitedly. "With this unmanned 3D printing factory, most of the parts no longer need to be transported from Earth!"

One veteran expert said with satisfaction, "With this printing plant, I feel that I will live to see the completion of the Guanghan Palace base!"

Someone nearby added, "It's a pity that chip factories and rubber factories can't be sent to the moon yet, otherwise engineering robots could be produced there!"

"Soon!" Zhang Long laughed. "Once the fifth phase of the food supply project is completed, we will be able to grow rice, rubber trees, and other crops on the moon, which will further improve the industrial chain of the Guanghan Palace base!"

"The construction of the next five unmanned 3D printing plants is now in your hands!" Zhang Heping said, then bid farewell and left the laboratory to return to the courtyard to see Yang Lao and the others.

After arriving in Shenzhen, Yang and his group did not immediately seek out Zhang Heping. Instead, they went to Dapeng Peninsula to learn about relevant space technologies before finally visiting the World Advanced Technology Research Institute.

They had previously suffered from a lack of technical knowledge, thinking that domestic experts and professors, having learned Zhang Heping's advanced technology, could control him. However, Zhang Heping proved them wrong with a single cyber attack and defense battle lasting less than 15 minutes.

When Zhang Heping rushed back to the hospital, Elder Hua and Elder Li were leading Elder Yang and his group in the lecture hall, fighting against veteran players organized by Zhang Bing in the virtual dream world of "The Korean War: Fighting While Talking".

To this end, Zhang Heping went to the institute's laboratories again to answer some questions from experts and professors.

It wasn't until dinnertime that the virtual dream world in the lecture hall forced players to log off, and Yang Lao and his group had no choice but to leave with Zhang Bing and the others.

"It's only 5:40 pm, why can't we use the brain-computer interface?" An elderly man in a white short-sleeved shirt and green military pants said indignantly, clearly not having had enough fun yet!

Secretary Chen explained with a smile, "This is the offline meal time set by Consultant Zhang. If we don't force people to go offline, Uncle Zhang and these veterans won't go home for dinner."

"Haha! I don't want to eat right now, I want to keep going into the virtual dream world to fight the Americans!" another old man in green military pants laughed.

After listening to Commander Chu's report, Elder Hua smiled and approached the crowd. "Advisor Zhang just returned. Seeing that we were using the brain-computer interface, he didn't come to disturb us."

"He's hosting a banquet at the Peace Hotel and invites everyone to come!"

"Comrade Zhang Bing, would you like to go to the restaurant together?" Old Yang was trying to win them over, wanting to invite Zhang Heping's father along, while the other veterans were just there incidentally.

Old Zhang hurriedly waved his hand, "You're discussing important matters, we can't get a word in edgewise, and we'd have to be careful not to let it slip later, so we won't go!"

The other veterans were somewhat tempted, but after hearing what Zhang Bing said, they realized it was inappropriate.

After seeing Zhang Bing walk away, Elder Yang and the others followed Elder Hua and Elder Li into the car and went to the Peace Hotel diagonally across the street. Once the car stopped outside the Peace Hotel, Elder Hua and the others got out and pointed to the road outside the hospital, calmly saying, "Four years ago, Advisor Zhang was injured here by a car bomb orchestrated by Japanese and American spies!"

"The situation was just like the incendiary bomb we encountered in the virtual dream!"

"Old Hua!" An elderly man with rolled-up shirt sleeves and wearing green military trousers said in a deep voice, "We haven't forgotten this matter!"

Elder Hua was unaware of the purpose of Elder Yang and his group's visit, so he wanted to use this incident to remind them to be mindful of their words.

“You weren’t there at the time, so you don’t understand how we, the people who experienced it, felt!” Old Hua looked at the road, as if lost in memories. “Back then, Consultant Zhang’s entire body was burned to a crisp!”

Even though he was so badly injured, he didn't... sigh!

Hua Lao didn't finish his sentence, leaving a large gap for Yang Lao and his group to fill in the blanks themselves.

Zhang Heping waited at the restaurant for about half an hour, replying to some emails on his mobile phone, before seeing Elder Yang and the others arrive.

After a brief introduction, Zhang Heping learned that most of the people who came with Elder Yang this time were from the military.

Since Elder Yang and the others did not state their purpose, Zhang Heping did not ask any further questions, but simply answered some inquiries.

After seeing Zhang Heping look at his watch three times, Hua Lao told Zhang Heping to go back to his project, which allowed Zhang Heping to leave.

After Zhang Heping left the restaurant, Elder Yang casually asked, "I heard that Dean Zhang has been very busy lately?"

"It's not just him who's busy!" Old Hua said seriously, "The experts, professors, and assistants in the institute have all been very busy lately. Many times, the guards have to urge them to eat before they'll put down their work!"

Elder Yang nodded and said, "They really worked hard to advance to the second phase of the Guanghan Palace base project in such a short time!"

Because it was a public place, Elder Yang didn't mention the upgrade of the space-based weapon system, but everyone present knew that this hard work also included those space-based weapons!
"You haven't experienced the virtual learning dream yet. I'll take you there later to feel the research atmosphere, and then you'll understand why they're so busy!" Professor Hua said, a smile appearing on his face. "Vice Dean Qian and Vice Dean Deng often go there to read!"

"Old Hua's words are a bit too much for us ordinary soldiers!" An old man in green military trousers picked up his wine glass and said self-deprecatingly, "Letting us fight in a virtual dream world is fine, but reading books is going to kill us!"

"You don't have to read the books!" Old Li laughed. "Go in and see all the strange and wonderful products they've come up with!"

Elder Yang nodded slightly. "We'll go take a look later, and then visit the underground base tomorrow to learn about our current research achievements."

Mr. Hua agreed to the task and then served as a guide for more than half a month.

Although he guessed that Elder Yang and the others had come for control of the space-based weapon system, since Elder Yang and the others hadn't mentioned it, he, like Zhang Heping, didn't ask.

Time has flown by, and it's already July 7th...

Before the 8th Nobel Peace Prize award ceremony had even ended, Zhang Heping reappeared at the Dapeng Peninsula Satellite Monitoring Center, accompanied by Hua Lao, Yang Lao, and others.

On this day, the scientific community's attention was focused on the Nobel Peace Prize award ceremony, the pre-ceremony exchanges, and Zhang Heping's vision for the future of science and technology!
Who would have thought that on such a busy day, Zhang Heping would actually preside over a test launch of a space-based weapon in Mars orbit under cover of darkness!

"The first divine spear was successfully launched!"

An excited male voice rang out, but the satellite monitoring center remained completely silent, as the large screen was completely black, as if it were not powered on.

However, everyone present knew that this darkness was the night on the far side of Mars, where satellites and space-based weapons in Mars orbit could not see the light, and Earth, tens of millions of kilometers away, could not see this side either.

A few minutes later, a clear female voice rang out, "Monitoring station 1 on the Great Plains reported a magnitude 11 tremor, monitoring station 2 reported a magnitude 11 tremor, monitoring station 3 reported a magnitude 10 tremor, and monitoring station 4..."

Zhang Heping calmly announced, "Divine Spear Space-Based Kinetic Weapon, activate rapid-fire mode and attack coordinates 2 to 6!"

"Combustion mode switching command issued! Coordinate command issued! Attack command issued!" The excited male voice rang out again; it was a young man in his twenties.

The satellite monitoring center remained silent for a few more minutes before the female voice relayed the information from Mars: "Great Plains Monitoring Station 1 is out of contact, Monitoring Station 2 is out of contact, Monitoring Station 3 is out of contact, Monitoring Station 4..."

"Monitoring station No. 19 reported a magnitude 18 tremor, and monitoring station No. 20 reported a magnitude 17 tremor."

"It's a success!" someone said, barely suppressing their excitement, in a low voice. "The tremors were so strong even at the edges; the Martian plains must have been shattered by the spear!"

One of the veteran experts couldn't help but ask, "Professor Zhang, are we still going to attack the Great Plains?"

Zhang Heping calmly said, "Pulse Particle Accelerator Cannon and Divine Spear Space-Based Kinetic Weapon, activate combined attack mode and attack coordinate point 1!"

"Combo mode switch command issued! Coordinate command issued! Combo command issued!" The excited young man typed out the commands one by one with incredibly steady hands.

After a few more minutes of delay, a red light suddenly appeared in the middle of the large screen.

Immediately afterwards, a clear female voice reported the monitoring data sent from Mars: "Monitoring stations 1 through 15 on the Great Plains have lost contact; monitoring station 16 reported a magnitude 12 tremor; monitoring station 17 reported a magnitude 11 tremor..."

"The Mars 1 probe has detected signs of magma activity at coordinates 1 on the Great Plains of Mars. It is not yet possible to determine whether it has breached the Earth's crust!"

"The test launch on the Martian plains is complete!" Zhang Heping said calmly. "Let's begin the test launch on the Martian north pole!"

As Zhang Heping issued the order, everyone saw the image on the large screen change, and they could vaguely see white land, which looked like ice and snow!

Unlike the destructive attack on the Martian plains, Zhang Heping's order to the Martian north pole only involved the test firing of six Divine Spear space-based kinetic energy weapons, without activating the pulse particle acceleration cannon.

Even so, the shattered white patch of ground greatly shocked Elder Hua, Elder Yang, and the others… (End of Chapter)