Industrial Cthulhu doesn't believe in the end times.

Chapter 10 We Discovered Ice
380,000 kilometers away, at the south pole of the moon, in the Shackleton crater.

A massive lander descended, stirring up a cloud of lunar dust. The hatch slowly opened, and three figures clad in heavy spacesuits stepped onto this desolate land.

"I'm out of the cabin and feeling fine."

Ge Hongbo tried his best to keep his voice steady, but how could he not be excited?
The bright white jade plate is right beneath my feet. The long-cherished wish of the Eastern people for five thousand years has finally been fulfilled!

The bright moon that once shone on the windowsills of the Qin people and overlooked the splendor of the Han and Tang dynasties has now finally left its mark on the people of the East.

He subconsciously looked up, but obviously could not see that blue planet.

The landing site for this lunar mission is located in Antarctica. Due to tidal locking, the blue planet will never be visible from here. In the lunar sky, the blue planet will always be in a fixed position, only swaying slightly.

Deng Ming, his teammate who had also set off on the lunar surface, patted him on the shoulder, set up the live streaming equipment, and after the three of them displayed the flag together, they began to explore the surrounding area according to the pre-arranged plan.

"Let's go to the first target point."

Ge Hongbo skillfully operated the lunar rover, which was no easy task, as the bulky spacesuit brought enormous pressure. Meanwhile, on the distant Earth, people in the ground command center were thrilled and excited by the news of their successful spacewalk.

"Success!!!"

A burst of enthusiastic applause erupted in the vast command hall. Although the entire plan was only half completed, and the astronauts' work on the lunar surface and return to Earth remained formidable challenges, the fact that Easterners had truly set foot on the moon for the first time was already a cause for celebration for everyone present.

The commander-in-chief in charge of the lunar landing program took off his glasses, quietly wiped away a tear from the corner of his eye, and cleared his throat: "Alright, don't get too excited. We still have many tasks ahead of us. All departments should quickly verify the situation with each other. At this critical juncture, we cannot afford any accidents!"

The hall quickly quieted down. The commander-in-chief turned to look at He Ping, who had been guarding the place, and felt something was off. Although He Ping's expression also showed joy, it was also filled with deep-seated worry.

"Director He? What happened?"

"No, it's nothing. How long will the astronaut's first extravehicular activity last?"

"In an hour, they will return to the landing module to check the lunar dust erosion. Is there a problem?"

"No problem. I do have some other things to verify, which are unrelated to the moon landing program. You can continue your work as usual. Just don't change the exploration process on that side because of my question."

Finally, he added, "If anything unexpected happens in the middle, act according to your own normal judgment."

The commander-in-chief was a little puzzled, but after being repeatedly instructed by the other party, he agreed.

Fortunately, everything went smoothly as expected. Before the moon landing, the command center had prepared more than 500 emergency plans to prevent accidents, but none of them were used throughout the entire process.

The Moon's perpetual night region is not entirely polar night; there are also some higher terrains that receive direct sunlight for extended periods and are known as 'perpetual day peaks'.

The landing site is located in the polar night zone of the basin, with the aim of searching for possible solid water ice in the lunar polar region to lay the foundation for the future establishment of a lunar base. However, there is no sunlight in the polar night, so a few people need to drive the lunar rover to a place with sunlight to set up solar power equipment to provide energy for the automated equipment that will work there for a long time.

The landing site location was carefully selected, making the mission relatively easy.

"Solar power station number one is in place. We will now begin our return to the landing site and check the damage to our spacesuits."

Ge Hongbo is the team leader of this lunar landing mission. He issued instructions to his two teammates through the team's internal communication and received a reply that everything was normal.

This relieved him. The environment on the moon was not clean. Most of the area was covered with dust several meters thick. These micron- or even nano-sized particles were not affected by weathering and had extremely sharp edges, making them easy to cut or penetrate spacesuits.

By this time, all three of them were covered in dirt. After all, there's no liquid water on the moon, and the thick lunar dust on its surface is extremely dry. Repeated exposure to sunlight and cosmic radiation has resulted in a high level of electrical charge—meaning it's static electricity, and quite a lot of it. When the moon passes through Earth's magnetic field, this static electricity can be so strong that it can even create lunar dust storms, which were once mistaken for the moon's atmosphere.

"Return to the landing module, clean off the lunar dust, and prepare for the next mission!"

The three climbed onto the lunar rover and began their return journey.

It has to be said that sending a few people up to the moon to operate is more convenient than using automated equipment worth billions. No wonder the United States was so eager to develop manned lunar missions back then—the value of this technology may not actually be higher than that of the Soviet Union's automation.

The distance that a manned lunar rover can cover in ten minutes is a distance that an unmanned vehicle could never reach in a lifetime, even after the crew had spent a considerable amount of time at the boundary between polar day and polar night.

After all, the temperature difference between these two regions can reach several hundred degrees Celsius.

Upon entering the polar night zone, Ge Hongbo heard Wang Ping express some regret.

"It's a pity I didn't find Yuebing when I came here."

"Yes, but that's normal. Most of the lunar ice is estimated to be buried underground. We'll take some drilling tools and take some samples later. That will greatly increase our chances of finding anything."

"On the way back, you can also pay close attention to the route we are taking."

The lights lit by humans pierced the darkness that had lingered in the lunar poles for billions of years, and a bright white shadow suddenly flashed in Wang Ping's peripheral vision.

"Look over there! What's that!"

Ge Hongbo immediately slammed on the brakes: "What is that?"

"I don't know, just a white shadow."

Deng Ming joked, "Maybe we really will see aliens, and we'll have a third kind of contact soon."

"Be serious, there's a live broadcast." Ge Hongbo jokingly scolded him, turned on the lighting equipment on his spacesuit, and prepared to get out of the car.

Since it was their first time setting foot on the moon, the plan was never perfect, and the three had some autonomy in their actions.

If they had followed the conservative approach, the three could have gone exactly as planned and ignored everything outside of it. However, since ASEAN had spent billions of dollars to send them to the moon, the three naturally hoped to bring back as much as possible.

Even if there might be some dangers involved.

"I'll go check on things; you two stay here."

Ge Hongbo got out of the car and walked in the direction Wang Ping pointed out. At this time, the light illuminated the white shadow that the other party had mentioned earlier. It was an exposed rock fault, the cause of which was unknown. Perhaps it was due to a moonquake or a meteorite impact.

Upon first glance, Ge Hongbo had a guess. He carefully avoided some sharp rocks on the lunar surface. Fortunately, although the spacesuit was bulky, it was far more advanced than those used during the Apollo moon landings decades ago, and no accidents occurred along the way.

Ge Hongbo gently tapped the rock with his tool, his tone much calmer than he had expected.

"Ice, we've discovered ice on the moon."

(End of this chapter)