Reborn in 2011, I am the chief designer of aerospace.

International roaming charges are very expensive, so Song Xingye simply kept it brief.

"Hey, Lao Qin? This is Hoshino. Do you know where I am right now? I'm speaking Shanghai dialect!"

(You know where I am, right? I speak Shanghai dialect.)

He knew very well that his phone was being closely monitored by the Russians, and to avoid unnecessary trouble, he decided not to reveal his hand.

Song Xingye started chatting with Qin Rui directly in their local dialect.

Qin Rui was quite quick-witted and immediately realized, "Oh, it's Hoshino? What's up?"

(How are you doing over there? Is anything wrong?)

"I have something I want to ask you. What did you write for your graduation thesis? It was specifically about developing a solution for when a Mars rover malfunctions!"

(How's your graduation thesis coming along? It's about the Mars rover malfunction. Do you need my help with the solution?)

Qin Rui, lying in his dormitory in the doctoral building at Jiaotong University, was stunned.

Hoshino knows this better than anyone: he works in aerospace electronics and finished his thesis during the summer vacation. His research direction is artificial intelligence.

Why did the "Mars rover malfunction issue" suddenly appear?

He immediately nodded repeatedly, indicating that he had indeed encountered a major problem with the paper and urgently needed his roommate's help.

So next, Song Xingye quickly went through the "thesis ideas" with Qin Rui in the Shanghai dialect, explaining the current predicament and conjectures.

Throughout the entire discussion, not a single word was mentioned about the Russian; it seemed as if the two were simply discussing a problem with a Mars rover.

I made the call for about 10 minutes, and then the mobile carrier sent me a text message to remind me to pay. In just that short time, 200 yuan of roaming fees had already been deducted!

"It's so dark..."

It was too expensive, so Song Xingye had no choice but to quickly wrap things up.

He asked Qin Rui to chat on QQ and also offered to top up his phone credit by 200 yuan.

After hanging up the phone, Song Xingye sat on his bed in the dormitory, reviewing the conversation that had just taken place.

I thought there was no way the Russians could find an excuse to make trouble.

Soon, a QQ notification sound rang out.

Qin Rui is online.

Song Xingye quickly created a group chat named "Graduation Thesis Task Force" and invited Qin Rui to join.

He rested his chin on his hand and pondered for a moment, feeling that Qin Rui alone was not enough.

We need to call in more people for this.

So I pulled in a few more reliable friends.

Chang Jian from Beijing Institute of Technology, Cao Que from Birmingham, and the two beauties Jiang Mian and Zhao Yuehe, as well as Chen Xin, a junior from the Department of Mathematics...

Finally, there's Wang Han from the Space Force's Tracking and Control Department.

The eight people in the group looked at each other, some knowing each other and some not, and for a moment they all tacitly kept silent.

Song Xingye tagged "@Qin Rui" in the group chat and sent a message.

"Do you remember what Professor Yu taught us during our research confidentiality training class?"

@Qin Rui: "Of course I remember. They showed us security awareness videos every day. I remember they even made some kind of code word list back then?"

@Song Xingye: "That's right, go find your old notes and share them with everyone. Remember to send them privately, not in the group chat."

@Qin Rui: "OK, coming right away!"

@Chang Jian: "Hoshino, what's going on? Why did you suddenly create a group chat? What's this all about?"

@Song Xingye: "Let Lao Qin explain the specifics to you privately. Remember, this group... is currently completely transparent, and many people are watching... you can figure it out yourselves."

After sending that message, Song Xingye said nothing more.

He made up his mind to find another way to rescue Firefly No. 1.

The problem is basically pinpointed to the Russians.

It was either the second stage of the Zenit-2SB rocket or the Phobos probe.

Since that arrogant old man Sergei wouldn't listen to advice, he could only plan for the worst-case scenario.

There are two bad situations—

① If the Zenit-2SB experiences a Level 2 malfunction, it will repeat the three options presented during the simulated launch hall assessment at the Starry Sky Summer Camp: ignore the malfunction and continue flying, choose to self-destruct, or separate the probe prematurely.

②If the Phobos probe malfunctions, it may either fail to enter the Mars transfer orbit or its critical electronic equipment may fail.

He alone could not deduce so many variables at the same time.

Apart from Wang Han, this group of friends, though young and inexperienced, are obedient, intelligent, and have unconditional trust in him.

This is the only card he can play right now.

Soon, Qin Rui privately explained the whole story in another clone group chat.

At the same time, everyone also received a copy of the code word list.

A missing probe is called a missing nephew, a ground station is called a local police station, deep space is called outer space, uplink commands are called sending messages, and telemetry signals are called replies...

This was a little game that Teacher Yu played during a scientific research confidentiality education class, and I never expected it to come in handy one day.

The graduation thesis task force was bustling with activity.

The eight people were discussing a seemingly ordinary topic in a secretive manner.

@Chang Jian: "I heard your 'little nephew' isn't in good health. What if he gets carsick on the way?"

@Cao Que: "I'm not worried about motion sickness, I'm worried that he won't let his family know he's safe when he gets to another place, then the police station won't be able to find him."

@Wang Han: "Don't worry, I'm keeping an eye on the 'train tickets' all the time. As long as he's willing to 'make a call,' I can reserve his seat."

Sometimes, if you cover it up well, it's like discussing a lost child. But sometimes, you let it slip, and then the conversation drifts back to the so-called thesis topic.

Under the cover of these tedious conversations, they made bold predictions and contingency plans for several possible scenarios involving Firefly 1.

Although Song Xingye believed that the Russians must have a backup plan, they were actually anticipating the worst-case scenario.

Over the next three or four days, as the launch window approached, the test team's daily work gradually decreased.

Song Xingye spent more and more time chatting on QQ, almost always on his phone or computer.

This unusual behavior attracted Li Fengxian's attention.

"Little Song, what are you doing?" Li Fengxian came over, looking concerned.

"You haven't said a word these past few days, just playing on the computer all day. Did Sergei yell at you and you're having a mental breakdown?"

Song Xingye hid the chat window on his computer, looked up with a chuckle, and said, "With Sergei's lousy skills, does he even think he can break my defenses? I didn't take him seriously at all; I was busy stealing vegetables."

Li Fengxian glanced at the screen and, sure enough, it was the QQ Farm game interface for stealing vegetables.

"This crappy game is long overrated, right? It was quite popular a couple of years ago, people would set alarms to sneak out in the middle of the night to play it... I didn't expect you to be playing it now?" Li Fengxian curled his lip.

"I was busy writing my thesis before, so now I have a break and can relax a bit," Song Xingye casually made up.

Li Fengxian sighed and said, "You, stop being so gloomy. You were so diligent and enthusiastic when you first came here. Now you're always pretending to be melancholy and profound, and you don't participate in the team's evening activities. You're making all those naive girls in the team swoon. Can't you leave some room for the single guys in our team?"

Song Xingye looked up. "Is it my fault that I'm handsome?"

"Little Song, how come I never noticed you had this pretentious habit before?" Li Fengxian said with great distress.

Song Xingye was silent for two seconds, "...Actually, I participated in group entertainment a couple of days ago. I won more than ten rounds of cards in a row, and everyone kicked me out of the game and wouldn't let me play anymore. I can't dance ballroom dance, so I can only secretly grow vegetables on QQ Farm."

"Damn! That makes you even more pretentious!"

Li Fengxian said seriously, "You need to control yourself. You're handsome but you're still so pretentious... Besides, playing cards is for relaxation and entertainment, don't you understand? You're so good at counting cards every hand, how are you going to compete with others? Is 'The Brain' just a platform for you to bully people who can't count cards?"

"I feel really happy, especially when I win..."

Song Xingye managed to talk Li Fengxian away.