Countdown: Humanity's struggle to survive against yesterday

The formation of the Junior Astronaut Class was not something that could be done overnight.

Also known as the "Enlightenment Project"!

The main members of the Enlightenment Project are active and reserve astronauts, as well as many middle-aged scientists, with young astronauts making up only a small portion.

This plan is just as important as yesterday's survival plan. It also considers three main directions: "protecting the continuity of life, preserving the underlying code of civilization, and buying time to break the world's regression." The aim is to take advantage of the current time window to send a large number of people into space ahead of schedule, so that humanity can have a new research environment.

The Border Time Alliance once presented a report at an internal meeting, which stated: "If a large number of people cannot be sent into space within this year, as the world regresses every day, the difficulty of subsequent human spaceflight will become even greater, to the point that even with science and technology, there will be no realistic conditions."

Jiang Ning will stay in the space city for a week, waiting for the group of teenagers to be selected. Only those who pass the selection will be qualified to be called teenager astronauts.

To everyone's surprise, Jiang Yuan was eliminated in the first round.

In the first round of basic physical comprehensive tests, Jiang Yuan was found to have a grade 2 heart murmur.

A heart murmur is not a disease in itself, but rather an abnormal sound that can be detected with a stethoscope when there is an abnormality in the blood flow within the heart or blood vessels.

A grade 2 heart murmur is not a big problem for an adult.

However, when a rocket launches into the air and experiences high overload, the blood throughout the body is pulled by gravity, and the heart has to pump blood at an excessive intensity. Hearts with murmurs already have valve defects, and under high overload, they are very likely to experience worsened valvular regurgitation, arrhythmia, chest tightness, fainting, or even sudden heart failure.

This means that minor heart problems that are not a problem on Earth can easily trigger arrhythmias and angina in space.

"Brother, how could I have a heart defect?"

"Great news!"

"How could this be a good thing?"

Jiang Yuan looked enviously at his good buddy Yang Haoran, whom he had only met two days ago, who was undergoing a vestibular function rotation test. Upon hearing this, he turned to look at Jiang Ning, not understanding what was so good about what he was talking about.

Jiang Ning leaned on the second-floor railing, not looking at Jiang Yuan, and simply smiled, saying, "This means your heart will only get better and better in the future."

"What do you mean?"

"Look, if they can't even react to this, how could they possibly be chosen as astronauts!"

Having a younger brother to bully made Jiang Ning feel very good.

"Tch~" Jiang Yuan turned his head away unconvinced, then quickly looked at Jiang Ning, "Brother! You didn't mean to prevent me from succeeding, did you pull some strings behind the scenes? Your body is perfectly fine, how could my heart have any flaws?"

"Okay~"

Jiang Ning raised a finger and shook it, gritting his teeth as he said, "If you're bad, then practice more. Even if your physical fitness is up to par, you're still a noob when it comes to the psychological and mental selection."

"Uh~"

This direct exposure of his shortcomings made Jiang Yuan blush.

One of the tests over the past few days included a trial in a small, dark, enclosed room.

Even though Jiang Yuan failed the physical fitness test, he participated because of Jiang Ning, but his performance was extremely embarrassing.

This small, dark room requires you to be alone for 24 hours.

Jiang Yuan only lasted for 10 hours before he began to show signs of collapse.

Fortunately, it was just a trial and the results were not announced. This led the other participants to believe that he was unable to pass the selection for the Junior Astronaut due to a heart murmur, and that he was saving face.

Otherwise, Jiang Yuan couldn't believe how his other new partners would secretly gossip about him.

"Brother, brother, don't go! Ask the boss again, let me try again..."

"I won't ask; I can't afford to lose face..."

……

"Come on, get your hands off now, let's go..."

In Sanmiao Village, at the entrance of Fumin Supermarket, a group of young people were playing Pai Gow, led by Sun Fumin.

They were no longer betting money, but rather drinks and beer.

A large table, clearly divided into four sections, with a group of people standing behind each section. On the table, instead of money, there are glasses of Sprite, Coke, or beer.

A group of young people were having a lively time, clearly having adapted to the disaster, and finding new ways to have fun in the village every day.

"Fumin, tell us more about your experiences during this time! Did the country really invent a time machine? Otherwise, how could you have disappeared for so long...?"

Sun Fumin had one foot on a stool, a cigarette dangling from his lips, and was half-closing his eyes while playing cards. When he heard someone in the crowd ask a question, he laughed and glanced over.

"I can't tell you, I can't tell you, it's a state secret. I will definitely tell my fellow villagers when I can."

"Hey, just give us a heads-up! Who would care about something like this backwater?"

"That's hard to say..." Sun Fumin slammed his hand on the table. "A total sprint! Drink up, drink up! Don't worry about not having enough, I have dozens of cases of beer in my warehouse!"

As everyone was drinking, Sun Fumin exhaled a puff of smoke and shouted, "Do you guys know why the power grid has been fluctuating lately?"

"Why?" Sun Lingmin sat on the Heavenly Gate, rubbing his bloated stomach, and asked curiously.

Sun Fumin smiled mysteriously, leaned forward, and lowered his voice, saying, "There are foreign hackers attacking our country. Think about it, 'Apple' and 'NPC' are AIs on par with Luo Shu. Maybe someone's phone has been hacked right now. If I reveal state secrets, wouldn't that be treason?"

"Is that so? My dear nephew Fumin, tell us exactly how a hacker war is fought..."

The plump auntie sat on the threshold, holding a glass of Sprite, which was quite a rare sight. She really couldn't drink anymore. When she saw Sun Fumin's mysterious look, she quickly and discreetly put down the glass.

"Hey~ finish drinking first, finish drinking first, I'll talk after you finish..." Sun Fumin saw that the plump woman was trying to renege on her promise, so he quickly pointed at her and said, "Drink up, don't even think about running away. I just downed a whole bottle of Coke, I'm so full..."

Jiang Hua rode his tricycle past the door and saw this lively scene. His relaxed face couldn't help but tremble slightly.

"This is actually quite good!"

Jiang Hua couldn't help but think that since it wasn't their village's turn to be on duty on the main road today, everyone in the village was free.

In the past, the village would be lively with just a few mahjong tables, but that liveliness felt more like an emptiness. Now, although there is still emptiness, the people in the village are closer together because they no longer have petty conflicts of interest.

When Jiang Hua arrived at the vegetable garden, he saw Li Xiuyun turning over the soil at the edge of the field with a small hoe.

Upon getting closer, Jiang Hua exclaimed with a smile, "Darling, I knew you'd be here!"

Upon hearing the first three words, Li Xiuyun blushed and turned to glare at Jiang Hua.

"You old lewd man, what are you saying! Aren't you ashamed?"

"We'll become young again, won't we...?"

Jiang Hua laughed loudly as he jumped off the tricycle, bouncing around like a young man: "Look, I feel like I'm back to normal..."

"Pah, say that again and I'll hit you..." Li Xiuyun's cheeks flushed red as she pretended to raise her small hoe.

Jiang Hua smiled warmly, no longer teasing Li Xiuyun, but instead sat nimbly beside her, grabbing a handful of soil: "What should we plant?"

Li Xiuyun put down her hoe and sat down next to her husband.

The sunset casts its glow, behind me lies my own vegetable garden, in front of me is a drainage ditch, and in the distance are vast fields of wheat seedlings that have just reached my ankles.

"I don't know, but tomorrow will be back to yesterday!"

"Then why plant it?"

Li Xiuyun turned to look at Jiang Hua, her gaze gentle: "Just be happy while you're planting!"