I have to get lucky right away.

Chapter 707 The Scientific Research Maniac's Great Fortune (Part Twenty-One)

With a barely perceptible, satisfying click—like a clasp fitting perfectly—a deflated sound followed. The anchor was still observing the barracks and facilities on the hull projection screen, which had previously looked like toys but now revealed their true size, when the crew's announcement came over the loudspeaker:
"Landing complete. Welcome aboard the 'Luan Bird' platform. Please disembark in an orderly manner..."

The announcer's voice remained calm and gentle, but the cabin was somewhat quiet. Apart from the experts whose mouths were covered, everyone waited for the next development.

However, the high-altitude cold-weather suits or even spacesuits they had imagined did not appear. The Y-40 simply opened its hatch in a blatant manner, amidst pairs of eyes that were even filled with a hint of fear.

The sound of the gangway being lowered went unnoticed; all they wanted to know was how they could withstand the... well, the cold, at an altitude of 18,000 meters.
The anchor stared wide-eyed, took two deep breaths, and found that it wasn't cold at all; in fact, it felt a little warm.
Looking at the open deck illuminated by various indicator lights, the anchor glanced at the drone flying smoothly beside him and suddenly had a feeling that "those foreigners might not be telling the truth, right? Is this really just a set built on the ground?"

After all, based on his experience of nine years of compulsory education, he knew that there shouldn't be such a temperature in an open-air environment at high altitudes!
Seeing the ground staff appear at the bottom of the gangway and direct passengers to exit the cabin, the anchor finally took a step.

Stepping onto the deck of the Luan Bird Platform, the first thing he did was not to vent his emotions to the audience or the passing passengers, but to turn around and look at the Y-40 they were on.

The enormous aircraft was now "obediently" tucked away at the edge of the deck, with its nose and half of its wing even sticking out of the deck, as if afraid of taking up any more space.

Those sturdy landing gears, which normally inspire a sense of unwavering reliability, now looked both adorable and incongruous. To put it somewhat disrespectfully... the streamer felt they resembled an overly plump bird standing on its thin legs in the far corner of the birdcage. They even looked a little aggrieved!
"Pfft..." This stark contrast made the streamer burst out laughing. The eeriness and tension he felt during the landing vanished instantly. As he shared this joke with the audience, the live stream immediately turned into a scene of utter madness.

Ignoring the audience who were laughing themselves silly, the anchor took a deep breath of the warm air that, despite being 18,000 meters above sea level, didn't feel thin, and looked around.

It was dusk, and golden streaks of light lingered on the horizon, while a deeper blue slowly permeated the sky. Despite being hundreds of meters above the ground, there wasn't a trace of biting wind on the deck.

The air was soft and fresh, and the temperature was just right, as if he were in a huge indoor plaza equipped with a top-of-the-line environmental control system. He noticed the soldiers standing guard not far away; their uniforms were crisp, and their skin looked normal, showing no signs of exposure to the strong ultraviolet radiation and harsh air currents at high altitudes.

"This doesn't look like a phoenix at all! I'd think calling it the Heavenly Palace would be more appropriate!!"

"There's nothing we can do; the name 'Tiangong' has already been taken by the space station."

"Luan Bird: When I gather my thousands of compatriots, I will surely accomplish the great feat of unity and reclaim the name of the Heavenly Palace!"

Listening to the audience's banter, the host joined the crowd. After the initial novelty wore off, a strange sense of everyday life began to permeate the air.

If it weren't for the boundless deep sky above, the pale sea of ​​clouds below, and the arc-shaped outline of the Earth in the distance, the anchor would almost forget that he was 18,000 meters in the air.

Guided by a friendly-looking ground staff member in casual clothes, the passengers began their tour of the deck area.

"Dear tourists, we are now in the top-floor living and support area of ​​the 'Luan Bird' platform." The ground staff's voice was clear and loud, sounding just like a professional tour guide:
"As you can see, this area includes crew dormitories, a recreation area, a physical training center, and a viewing platform. The Starry Night concert will be held in the central plaza area, which also serves as a drill ground for the troops." "How will the ship's supplies be handled? Will they be transported by land?" A foreign expert, who had finally regained some composure, asked this sensitive, yet not so sensitive, question in slightly accented Chinese.

If it were an ordinary viewer asking, it would basically be out of curiosity and concern. But when these foreigners ask, it's clear they are assessing the aerospace platform's endurance, operation, logistics, and many other issues.

However, the tour guide didn't mince words when faced with this question, and calmly replied:

"The platform adopts a multi-layered composite structure and has an independent ecological cultivation module. The vegetable factory and poultry breeding workshop inside the ship can basically meet the basic diet of 4,000 people. In addition, the ship is equipped with the latest carbon dioxide to synthesize starch technology, which can independently sustain the life needs of 10,000 people for a long time in extreme environments. The plant factory and breeding workshop are also included in our tour program, and we will go there afterward."

The foreign delegation looked on incredulously at the answer, while the Chinese tourists had an expression that said, "This is more like my own boat."

Upon hearing that one could tour such logistical equipment, one expert immediately pressed his advantage, saying:

"What about the propulsion system? And the technology to protect the open deck from high-altitude airflow? This should be a warship, right? Where are the weapon modules?"

Upon hearing the expert's question, the ground guide, who had been all smiles, became slightly serious and said in a somewhat cold tone, "I'm sorry, the power, storage, and combat modules are located on the lower level and are not open to the public at the moment."

Upon hearing this, the Chinese tourists let out a series of understanding "Oh~" sounds. Although they were a little disappointed, they quickly let it go.

"It's already a miracle that they even came up here to take a look!"

"Exactly, it's like a tourist trip. We can just visit the 'attractions,' but we won't go to the classified and important places and cause trouble for the country."

"This environment, this view, living here is like living in paradise!"

The tourists immediately started whispering amongst themselves, and anyone who didn't know better would have thought they were deliberately using their loud voices to drown out the foreigners!

However, the anchor also felt it was a bit outrageous. It wasn't that not being able to visit was outrageous, but being able to walk around on the deck was outrageous.

The equipment at Rabbit's house could be used like this; he even suspected that it was "too outdated to be worth showing off"!

The problem is, this is a space carrier! It's a technology unique to the entire planet, how could it be outdated?!
However, what the host didn't know was that this was indeed outdated technology. As an experimental ship, the Luan Bird No. 1's hull was actually built temporarily. At the time of the Spring Festival, it might have been cutting-edge equipment, but after more than half a year of development, Dongda University has gradually become more proficient in the virtual god technology. Apart from the force field protection and lightweight modules maintained by the virtual god concept, the rest are already at the level of "too primitive, just for casual visits"!
(End of this chapter)