Courtyard House: Primordial Chaos Pearl

In the early morning in Jiuquan, the wind howled like a knife across the Gobi Desert. The launch tower stood majestically against the gray-blue sky, the Long March rocket pure white, with the words "China Manned Space Program" printed in bright red on its body, and next to it in smaller print: International Asteroid Resupply Station (Phase I).

Inside the command and control center, the screen wall was divided into countless windows: rocket status, telemetry and control links, meteorological data, and payload health. Lin Dong, wearing a dark blue work uniform, stood in the back row of the viewing area, deliberately leaving his seat for representatives from various countries and the media. He didn't want to be in the spotlight—for him, what truly mattered was the "Red Star" sleeping inside the rocket's fairing.

He Yushui stood beside him, her palms slightly sweaty: "Where's Xiangyang?"

"He's at the data desk." Lin Dong gestured with his chin. "He's with Engineer Chen's team doing the final inspection of the lighthouse system."

Lin Xiangyang, dressed in a small-sized work uniform, sat among a row of engineers, his eyes fixed on the screen. On the terminal in front of him, the Lighthouse Autonomous System V2.0 was performing its final self-check: positioning beacon, emergency oxygen source, valve repair procedure, energy consumption classification response... Every item was showing green.

"Lighthouse self-check passed." Lin Xiangyang pressed the confirmation button, his voice clear yet carrying a maturity beyond his years.

Engineer Chen glanced at him and nodded: "Very good. Remember, the launch is just the beginning; the real test is in Bennu."

As the launch time drew closer, the atmosphere in the viewing area was as tense as a taut bowstring. UAE representative Karim clasped his hands together and muttered something under his breath; ESA representative Michel kept checking his watch, his expression restrained yet unable to conceal his excitement.

"Get ready in 10 minutes," the dispatcher's voice came over the loudspeaker.

"One minute to prepare."

"One minute to prepare."

As the countdown entered its final ten seconds, the entire launch site seemed to be silenced.

「10、9、8、7、6、5、4、3、2、1—— 点火！」

Flames erupted from the bottom of the rocket, illuminating the sky over the Gobi Desert. The deafening roar sent shivers down one's spine as the rocket slowly rose, climbing faster and faster until it pierced through the clouds and became a dazzling star.

Applause and cheers erupted in the viewing area. Lin Dong, however, did not cheer. He simply watched the trail of flame disappear into the horizon, feeling a gentle push in his heart—from the courtyard house to here, from an improved harvester to an asteroid supply station, he had actually made this path a success.

"It will go smoothly," He Yushui said softly.

Lin Dong nodded: "Yes."

Over the next few days, the tracking and control center entered "tracking relay" mode. The rocket completed interstage separation, orbit insertion, and payload separation, and the modular modules of the resupply station were released one by one into their designated orbits. Subsequently, the orbit transfer engines ignited, and the entire convoy began to slowly glide towards Bennu.

Six months later.

On the screen of the Deep Space Tracking and Control Center, the image of Bennu was clearly displayed for the first time: a dark asteroid with a surface covered with craters and loose debris, like a lump of iron that had been repeatedly hammered.

"Target acquired successfully, distance to Bennu 100 km." "Relative speed stable, preparing for flyby mapping." "Lighthouse system activated, entering standby mode."

Lin Xiangyang sat at the data desk again, but this time, he was no longer an "intern," but one of the main maintainers of the Lighthouse system. He stared at the data stream on the screen, his fingers lightly tapping on the keyboard, as if he were talking to a machine in the distance.

"Flight survey complete, landing site candidate area confirmed." Engineer Chen's voice echoed in the control center. "Initiate landing sequence."

The resupply station's landing module separated from Red Star-130 in turn, drifting towards Bennu like two leaves. The asteroid's low gravity made the landing seem "unrealistically slow," but every second was fraught with risk: debris, slopes, bounces, tumbles... Any accident could cause the mission to fail.

"Landing module descent rate normal, 500 meters from the surface." "Red Star-130 attitude stable, preparing to release anchoring device."

Lin Dong's heart began to race. He knew the most dangerous moment had arrived.

The moment the landing capsule touched down, the buffer engine emitted a pale blue flame, the capsule shuddered slightly, and landed steadily on the rubble. Almost simultaneously, the Red Star-130's mechanical claws gripped the ground, and the anchoring devices deployed, like steel needles piercing the loose layer of gravel.

"Landing successful!" "Anchoring successful!" "Lighthouse beacon established, link normal!"

Thunderous applause erupted in the control center. Lin Dong finally smiled, looking at He Yushui. Their eyes met in the air—in that instant, all the sleepless nights, arguments, and pressure found their answer.

Over the next few days, the supply depot began to be deployed.

The modular cabin unfolds like building blocks: an ecology cabin, a resource processing cabin, a 3D printing cabin, an energy storage cabin, and a maintenance cabin. Red Star-130 moves back and forth on the asteroid's surface, its mining arm drilling for water ice, the resource processing cabin splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen, and interstellar rice slowly growing under red LED lights in the ecology cabin.

The most crucial verification is the "closed loop".

When the first batch of crop straw is fed into the microbial decomposition module and converted into nutrient solution; when the oxygen generated by electrolysis enters the ecological chamber to sustain the respiration of the crops and experimental mice; when the 3D printing chamber prints a valve part using extracted metal and completes the replacement, a green prompt appears on the screen:

[Closed-loop verification passed] [Supply station enters autonomous operation mode]

Michelle breathed a long sigh of relief: "This is a milestone in the history of human deep space exploration."

Karim's eyes welled up with tears: "We really did it—we're self-sufficient in deep space."

Lin Dong, however, turned his gaze to the status page of the Lighthouse system. It displayed:

Energy consumption priority: Level 1 (Survival level) Stable

Resource reserves: Water, oxygen, and fuel are all above the safety line.

Positioning beacon: Continuous transmission

Autonomous response: Normal

He suddenly remembered the sentence Lin Xiangyang had written in the code:

"A lighthouse is not meant to illuminate the darkness, but to keep anyone from getting lost in the darkness."

And now, the lighthouse is truly lit up on Bennu.

That evening, the telemetry and control center held a brief celebration. Lin Dong didn't drink much; he went outside and looked up at the starry sky. The night in the Gobi Desert was as clear as a pane of glass, with countless stars that seemed almost within reach.

He Yushui came out and gently took his arm: "What are you thinking about?"

Lin Dong was silent for a while, then said, "I was thinking... if I hadn't obtained the Chaos Pearl back then, would I still be in the courtyard, fighting for a meal, a bed, and justice?"

He Yushui smiled: "But you got it. And you used it where it was most needed—to help more people live a better life."

Lin Dong nodded, suddenly feeling very at ease.

He knew that Bennu was just the first step.

Next, we will see large-scale agriculture at the Mars base, the industrialization of asteroid mining, the true implementation of the Global Interstellar Agriculture Alliance, and more young people like Lin Xiangyang turning their gaze to the stars.

And on that road leading to the stars, the hum of Red Star agricultural machinery will never cease.