Those who face the wall, but are in the Nascent Soul stage.

Chapter 102 Earth-Moon Spaceship
Crisis Era 20 (2027)

Low Earth Orbit
China Space City (formerly China Space Station)

Near the No. 2 space dock 'anchor' experimental port.

Humanity's first "satellite-class" spacecraft is about to complete its maiden test flight. Similar to the naming conventions for "stellar-class" and "planetary-class" spacecraft, "satellite-class" spacecraft, as the name suggests, can freely navigate within a 40-kilometer radius of the Earth-Moon orbit.

In other words, this is a lunar spaceship.

Strictly speaking, it was also the first spacecraft ever built by mankind. Although it was only about the size of a destroyer and was not equipped with any weapon systems, its appearance was of epoch-making significance.

It marked the beginning of humankind's free travel in space.

The Kunlun-1 lunar spacecraft is powered by a first-generation controlled nuclear fusion engine and is equipped with two propulsion systems: a still immature propellantless radiation propulsion system and a propellant propulsion system.

The former can barely provide the "Kunlun-1" with weak propulsion for space travel, with a maximum speed of no more than 80 kilometers per second. Due to the weak radiated thrust, it takes a long time to control its acceleration and deceleration.

The second propulsion system on board is a traditional propellant propulsion system. Thanks to the passing of the old spacecraft, this propellant propulsion system exists only as a backup power source for the spacecraft and as an auxiliary power source for takeoff and landing on the lunar surface, rather than as the main power source for the spacecraft.

In fact, on the "Kunlun-1" verification spacecraft, it was discovered that spacecraft propelled by working propellant are subject to great limitations when traveling in space. Without resupply, it is almost impossible for a spacecraft propelled by working propellant to even reach Jupiter's orbit.

Fortunately, although propellantless radiation-driven engines are difficult to develop, they were eventually created thanks to the determined efforts of the scientific community.

"To be honest, I never thought I would be able to ride on a human spaceship in my lifetime," Chang Weisi said with emotion as he sat in the "Kunlun-1" and looked at the moon receding into the distance.

Just now, "Kunlun-1" completed a lunar orbit and is now returning to the spaceport.

There were other people on the spaceship, such as that famous physicist.

"Sir, this is just the first step for humanity in its journey into space," Ding Yi said with a smile.

Ding Yi and Chang Weisi met at the beginning of the Crisis Era because of their shared interest in the frontiers of science, and they are now old friends.

"I'll be retiring next year. Although I really want to see the second step of human progress, it's probably impossible." Chang Weisi, who is 62 years old, has some gray hair, but he looks very energetic.

"You could work for another ten years without any problem."

"Forget it, let the later ones take their place. Being able to ride on the first spaceship is enough for me, I have no regrets."

"General Chang, have you ever considered hibernation? Go and see the future," a familiar voice said.

Chang Weisi and Ding Yi turned their heads at the same time, and the other passengers on the Kunlun-1 lunar spaceship also turned their heads. They saw Luo Qing.

There has always been a strange and uncanny legend surrounding near-Earth orbit:

Luo Qing will randomly spawn in any spacecraft.

Now it seems the legend was true.

"Hey, Wallfacer, didn't you go to fight the Trisolarans? You're back?" Ding Yi teased.

Luo Qing blushed slightly, but he wasn't about to get angry over such a joke.

"Cough, you know the Wallfacer Hines, right? His device is a bit weird, like something that controls minds. I made sure the device worked to cooperate with the experiment, and then... and then I flew away."

Luo Qing came up with many excuses to save face, but when the time came, he simply spoke frankly and honestly.

Ding Yi was one of Luo Qing's few friends, after all.

Unlike Ding Yi, Chang Weisi simply saluted Luo Qing and then invited him to sit next to him, without needing to wear a seatbelt.

Unlike spaceplanes, spacecraft that enter constant-speed cruise mode are the smoothest means of transportation in human history, bar none.

"Professor Luo, it's been a long time. I heard from my colleagues in the U.S. Space Force that you flew to Jupiter three days ago?"

"That's right, I had a brain fart at the time," Luo Qing admitted frankly.

"PDC hasn't announced this yet, and the public is unaware. But I know how far Jupiter is from here, and I can roughly calculate whether your speed has reached..."

"1% of the speed of light," Luo Qing admitted.

"Wow, did you feel anything? Like time slowing down or something?" Ding Yi asked before Chang Weisi could. "No." Luo Qing shook his head and said, "I can't even feel myself flying. The universe is so quiet, I can't even see a small meteorite. Luckily, I happened to encounter Jupiter, otherwise, if I flew for ten or fifteen days, I might not be able to find the location of Earth. There isn't even a frame of reference in space."

"Your reckless foray into the depths of the solar system was already very risky. Next time, remember to bring an electromagnetic communication device to use as a navigation and telephone."

Luo Qing nodded with a wry smile.

Chang Weisi asked from the side, "Professor Luo, I am speaking only on my own behalf, not on behalf of the Space Force. I would like to ask, has your strength undergone a major breakthrough, or have you always possessed this power and were simply hiding it in the early stages?"

"A major breakthrough," Luo Qing acknowledged.

“I remember you said 13 years ago that there was no spiritual energy in this world for you to cultivate with…”

"That's why I can't figure it out either." Luo Qing reached into his chest and pulled out a small, golden figure, leaving Chang Weisi and Ding Yi stunned.

The nascent soul rolled its eyes at the two of them, only to be stuffed back into Luo Qing's hands.

"Look, I'm just a Nascent Soul cultivator. In my hometown, I'd be the kind of person who's just about to go out and gain experience. In remote areas, I could be an elder or a guest minister... Heaven knows why I'm stuck at the Nascent Soul stage."

Luo Qing resignedly said, "Also, I really didn't know my strength had changed so much... I didn't really cultivate during those eight years of seclusion. If my previous combat power was at the city-destroying level, now it's probably at the surface level."

Luo Qing pointed to the moon in the distance: "If I go all out, I can probably cut a hole in the moon."

Even the mature and steady Chang Weisi couldn't help but twitch his lips upon hearing those words.

Ding Yi excitedly asked, "Is there a pattern to your strength growth? If we can find the pattern, then things will be much easier!"

Luo Qing thought about it carefully.

Under the influence of that machine, his cognition seemed to have been altered, and he began to believe that the experimental propositions he had set were real. As a result, he genuinely believed that he was a Mahayana cultivator, a sect leader, and a human emperor. He naturally assumed that he should have the true strength of a Mahayana cultivator.

Driven by this obsessive spirit, Luo Qing's speed steadily increased, quickly surpassing what he considered his maximum escape speed. Unbeknownst to him, he had reached a terrifying speed of 1% of the speed of light, and foolishly flew for three days and three nights, arriving at Jupiter's orbit...

After Luo Qing actively erased the influence of that strange device, the sense of loss from the drop in his status made him feel bad for a long time.

However, the increase in his own strength did not seem to disappear, but rather strangely remained at the current level.

Luo Qing was absolutely certain that, in terms of sheer spiritual power and speed, even a Tribulation Transcending stage expert was no match. In his previous life, he had never seen a Tribulation Transcending stage expert whose spiritual power could cover even half of the Nine Provinces. As a ruler of a dynasty with top-tier combat power and an average Tribulation Transcending stage, he could at most sense the dynasty under his rule through his spiritual power.

Of course, Luo Qing did not rule out the possibility that this was due to the suppression from the Nine Provinces plane.

In this world, the vacuum of space offers no suppression, which may have forced his power to expand.

As for his combat strength... due to the long period of peace in Kyushu, he had never witnessed a true battle between Nascent Soul stage experts. That Nascent Soul demon cultivator who suddenly appeared from some unknown corner was the strongest enemy he had ever heard of or faced since he began cultivating immortality.

But Luo Qing is now very confident that even if his supernatural abilities and techniques are slightly inferior, he may still be able to fight against a Nascent Soul cultivator.

Faced with Ding Yi's question, Luo Qing could only reply, "There's no pattern to it; it just inexplicably turned out this way."

After listening, Ding Yi looked at Luo Qing with a suspicious expression.

"Professor Luo, I have a feeling that you have your own set of independent world rules, as if you are not affected by our material universe. Are you going to be able to travel faster than the speed of light in the end?"

"Who knows?" Luo Qing said, his face dark and sullen.

"If you ever get to travel faster than light, you must take me with you. If there's no problem with general relativity, then I want to see if time travel even exists. If it does, I'll definitely go back and beat up that old man Einstein, and ask him properly if he actually came up with the grand unified formula for the four fundamental forces." Ding Yi grasped Luo Qing's hand, as if he were now clinging to a powerful figure.

"Definitely, definitely," Luo Qing replied perfunctorily.

Compared to Ding Yi, who was lost in fantasy, Chang Weisi's considerations were much more realistic, and his questions were very straightforward.

"Professor Luo, are you now confident in dealing with the Trisolaran fleet?"

"Of course!" Luo Qing clenched his fist. "I'm at the same speed as the Trisolaran fleet. As long as I can catch up, I'll definitely be able to kill them."

"Phew." Chang Weisi let out a long sigh of relief. He suddenly wanted to retire immediately.

All three chapters are complete! No missed updates today!
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(End of this chapter)