Reborn Before the Apocalypse: My Backing is the Nation

Chapter 177 Myriad Stars
Night slowly fell. Inside the launch base, Jiang Yang looked up and saw many stars in the sky that he had never seen before.

They are tiny, dimly lit, and so numerous that they are impossible to count. Furthermore, they move extremely fast and their positions relative to each other are not fixed.

Perhaps just minutes ago, they had assembled into the shape of a mountain peak, and the next moment they turned into a horse and a zither.

These countless stars constantly change in the vast starry sky, outlining countless magnificent colors and patterns, allowing people to feel the mystery and vastness just by looking at them.

Jiang Yang knew that those were not actually stars, but rather standard supply boxes floating in space, autonomously converging on various space stations under the control of ground bases.

They reflect the sun's rays and enter people's eyes, forming the myriad stars that people see.

"20 tons of supplies..."

Looking at the stars, Jiang Yang sighed inwardly.

He knew that the total mass of supplies and personnel to be transported to the moon was 26 tons.

At this moment, 20 tons of supplies have been delivered to Earth's near-Earth orbit.

It seemed like most of it was done, but Jiang Yang knew that it was actually less than a quarter of the way through.

Because there is a significant amount of loss during the transport of supplies from Earth's low Earth orbit to the Moon. On average, out of every four tons of supplies in low Earth orbit, only about one ton will actually reach the Moon.

This means that at least 80 tons of supplies still need to be transported to low Earth orbit, and the scene of "a thousand arrows being launched simultaneously" will need to continue for some time.

Turning his gaze away from the sky and back to the interior of the launch site, Jiang Yang looked at the World Government staff member beside him.

How is the deep well exploration project progressing?

The staff member bowed respectfully and reported, "Detectors have been placed in thousands of deep wells around the world, and the debugging and networking have been completed. Detection has officially begun."

Jiang Yang nodded, then asked, "What about the Mantle Project?"

"Progress is also going very smoothly. According to the engineering team, both research and development and subsequent production are progressing faster than previously estimated."

Furthermore, the subsequent drilling missions also proceeded smoothly.

The engineering team estimates that we will be able to drill more than 10 deep wells reaching the Earth's mantle before the end of the world.

Jiang Yang nodded silently.

He knew that although the Mantle Project consumed far fewer resources and manpower than the Moon City Project, it was still something that required the World Government to organize and mobilize to get things moving.

It's not that the Mantle Project is small, but rather that the Lunar City Project is so enormous that it makes the Mantle Project seem small in comparison.

At this moment, in the human world, at least tens of millions of people, hundreds of trillions of dollars, and mountains and seas of resources are flowing because of the execution of the Mantle Project.

but……

Jiang Yang already knew that when the apocalypse came, not only would a large number of devices be damaged, but the outbreak of electromagnetic storms would also cut off all communications for up to 20 seconds.

Even if we make many preparations in this life and do everything possible to increase the detection time of those mantle probes and the communication time between the Earth and the Moon, data transmission can only reach 30 seconds, which is already the limit.

In other words, the entire Mantle Project, with its countless people and vast resources, was all for these 30 seconds.

Jiang Yang raised his head and looked out at the boundless night outside the launch site.

On the distant road, the lights of one heavy truck after another converged, like a giant dragon of light, winding and spiraling without end.

Ah……

Leaving aside the fact that the elaborate Mantle Project can only achieve 30 seconds of effective observation, even with the even more costly Luna Project, are we really confident that it can achieve long-term observation?

No.

Everything is unknown. They don't even know if their struggle in this life has any meaning or even the slightest purpose.

But it still comes down to the same thing.

It's not that we persist because there is hope, but rather, we persist so that there will be hope.

Composing himself, he looked at Zhou Yu beside him.

"It's almost time."

Zhou Yu nodded and stood up, taking Jiang Yang's hand, and walked with Sun Changhe, Gu Changshan and others towards the preparation room next door.

After changing into their intravehicular activity suits, the 100 hibernators, guided by staff, headed towards the launch tower in batches.

The time has come for us to head to the moon.

"Countdown, 3, 2, 1, 0... Ignition!"

In view, the first rocket carrying four hibernators and one astronaut, a total of five people, rose into the sky.

As expected, the launch was successful.

At another launch pad, the rocket also completed the filling of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen, and then successfully ignited.

The number of people waiting to launch in the preparation room dwindled until it was finally Jiang Yang and Zhou Yu's turn.

With the same crew of four hibernating individuals and one astronaut, the rocket launched once again.

"The Flying Eagle II rocket is very reliable; on average, there's only one accident out of about ten thousand launches..."

A thought flashed through their minds, and then an immense overload pressure struck, slamming them all hard onto the floor.

At this moment, Jiang Yang could not see anything outside the spaceship, nor could he receive any information from the outside world.

But he knew that at the same moment, hundreds or thousands of rockets were still being launched simultaneously on Earth.

The rocket he was on had now become one of the thousands of arrows being fired at once.

A few minutes later, Jiang Yang suddenly felt his body become lighter and began to slowly float upwards.

Zhou Yu and the other two found this somewhat novel, but Jiang Yang was already used to it.

The astronaut on board began receiving commands from the ground and then maneuvered the spacecraft toward the designated space station.

Jiang Yang was finally allowed to remove his restraints and look at the scenery outside the window.

Then he truly saw the real appearance of those countless constantly changing and moving stars that he had seen from the ground.

One supply crate after another, one spaceship after another, all converged forward, propelled by their own small thrusters.

The earth below remained a clear blue, with specks of light constantly rising and converging into their own ranks.

He knew that, in the eyes of his compatriots on the ground, his spaceship had become just an ordinary star.

After successfully docking with the Earth-6 space station, Jiang Yang saw the familiar astronaut again.

Inside the weightless transfer cabin, Zhuo Fangting, the resolute-looking astronaut, solemnly saluted Jiang Yang, Zhou Yu, Gu Changshan, and Sun Changhe.

"The spacecraft heading to the moon is ready."

Next, I will be in charge of escorting you to the moon.

(End of this chapter)