Reborn Before the Apocalypse: My Backing is the Nation

Chapter 63 Let me go
Led by Sun Changhe, Gu Changshan, Chen Yusheng, Lu Zhaoming, Jiang Yang and others arrived at another hall.

In the hall stood a dozen or so men with short, cropped hair, resolute expressions, and an aura as unshakeable as mountains.

On either side of them were four more screens, each showing a similar hall with a dozen or so men sitting in it.

Upon seeing Sun Changhe enter, more than sixty men from five different locations stood up and saluted simultaneously.

After returning the greeting, Sun Changhe stood on the podium in front of him.

He remained silent, and so did the others.

After quietly looking around, Sun Changhe finally spoke: "Comrades, you should all be aware of the doomsday cycle."

Now, there is a task that may determine the future of our entire country, and even our entire civilization, that you need to carry out.

This mission cannot even be described as a matter of life and death. Because every one of us knew that if we carried it out, we would die; there was no possibility of survival.

The mission is... to travel by rocket to an orbit 70 kilometers above Earth. In this way, if our efforts to fight the apocalypse in this life ultimately fail, you can sacrifice your own lives to provide us with crucial apocalyptic intelligence in the next life.

Although the apocalypse leads to a cycle, theoretically we will still be alive and well in our next life, but...

We are just ordinary people. We don't have the ability to cycle through life; we can't carry our memories and emotions into the next life. For us at this moment, death is real and undeniable.

Sun Changhe spoke slowly in a deep voice. Everyone at the scene and on the four screens corresponding to the other four launch sites listened silently.

"The first thing that could cause death is a rocket."

He looked out the window at the giant rocket that had already stood in front of the launch pad and said, "To date, we have conducted a total of 266 launches, of which 19 were successful, with a success rate of only 7.14%."

Because of the extremely tight timeframe and the fact that my country currently lacks experience in manufacturing manned high-thrust rockets, this launch will also utilize these rockets. These rockets do not possess escape mechanisms.

If the launch fails, the astronauts on board will die.

Even if the launch is successful, the manned spacecraft will not have the ability to return, and we will not have the possibility of launching a second long-range high-thrust rocket and carrying out a rescue operation in the short term.

After the supplies and energy in the manned spacecraft are exhausted, the astronauts will also die.

Sun Changhe made no attempt to conceal anything, explaining the risks of this mission in a simple and straightforward manner.

Zhang Jian sat in the astronaut formation, listening quietly to Sun Changhe's story.

He already knew about these things. Not only him, but all his comrades who participated in the emergency training also knew.

This time, it was simply confirmed by Sun Changhe once again.

He glanced down almost imperceptibly and saw that the wound on his left hand finger that had appeared a few days ago had completely healed, leaving only a faint mark that was barely noticeable unless you looked closely.

He cut himself.

The purpose was simple: to squeeze out the blood.

The purpose of squeezing out the blood is simple: to replace the ink pad.

Several days earlier, after learning the purpose of this mission, he wrote a letter of request to fight, volunteering to carry out this certain death mission. To show his determination, he pressed his fingerprint with blood instead of ink on top of his signature on the letter of request.

Afterwards, in order to avoid putting psychological pressure on his teammates, he did not publicly hand over the letter of request to the instructor, but instead handed it over privately when no one else was around.

The instructor did not give a clear answer, but he did not refuse either.

Zhang Jian then knew that he was most likely to be the first astronaut to carry out this mission. Clearly, since the mission only required a successful launch on the first attempt, the first astronaut to perform the mission had the highest chance of death.

The lower the ranking, the lower the chance of death. This is because if there is one successful launch before you, everyone else will not need to carry out this mission.

"If someone has to sacrifice themselves, then let it be me."

He gently stroked the slightly uneven surface of his fingertips, a result of the wound healing, and thought to himself.

On the podium, Sun Changhe's gaze, filled with emotion and solemnity, once again swept over the resolute faces of the students.

He placed his briefcase on the table and took out a large stack of papers from it.

The papers were all different; some were A4 paper, some were draft paper, some were envelopes, and some were already crumpled.

Zhang Jian glanced at it, and his pupils suddenly contracted.

Among that large stack of papers, he saw the letter of request to join the fight that he had given to his instructor, bearing his bloody fingerprint.

He clearly remembered what the letter of request to join the fight looked like, and he could not have mistaken it.

His own letter of request to join the fight was mixed in with so many other papers, so what about the rest...?

He glanced at his companions instinctively and saw that they were also looking at each other.

Sun Changhe said in a deep voice: "62 reserve astronauts, 62 letters of request to join the fight, are all here."

Zhang Jian was suddenly shaken.

My comrades had all submitted their applications to join the fight! But how come I had no idea?
You, you...

Sun Changhe stepped forward and came to the side of the podium, his aged face full of solemnity: "Comrades, on behalf of the country and the people, I would like to express my respect to you."

He slowly raised his arm and gave a solemn salute.

Beside him, Gu Changshan, Chen Yusheng, and everyone else, including Jiang Yang and Zhou Yu, all raised their arms and solemnly saluted the dozen or so astronauts present and all the astronauts on the four screens.

At this moment, a strange emotion arose in Jiang Yang's heart, and a voice like thunder from the heavens roared uncontrollably in his mind.

"This is our country, this is our people, this is our soldiers!"
With such a country, such people, and such warriors, what kind of apocalypse could defeat us?

Without realizing it, he felt some liquid sliding down his face; it was cool and salty.

Time seemed to stand still at that moment. After a long while, Sun Changhe lowered his arm and stood in front of the podium again.

"But... I'm sorry, I can't grant any of your requests to fight right now."

We have organization, discipline, and rules and regulations.

These disciplines must be observed, especially when the country faces significant dangers and challenges.

After careful discussion at the Doomsday Project Command, we decided to determine the mission order based on the completion rate of the previous phase of emergency training, combined with the astronauts' comprehensive scores in terms of physical fitness, psychological qualities, and professional skills.

"Tong Zheng, step forward!"

(End of this chapter)