Great, we're doomed now!

Humanity has never stopped moving forward!

We will rekindle our childhood dreams, heading towards the ocean of stars and radiance, and venturing into the mysterious and vast universe!

On April 13, the Space Development Agency was officially established.

-

Ye Shou was not present at such an important occasion; instead, he watched the entire event via live stream.

School has just started, and he is now a proud senior high school student, still in the same class as Chika, Ruri, and Asuna, and unsurprisingly, he continues to take a long leave of absence and skip classes.

I don't know when it started, but he stopped going to school altogether; he's still a student in name only.

But there's not much to say about that. For him, school was just a place to clock in and kill time, a place to relax occasionally, and he never intended to learn anything there.

Now that everything, including TPC, Earth Defense Force, and Space Development Agency, is on track, he will shift most of his energy here, putting aside both the school and the company for the time being—although he hadn't really cared much about them to begin with.

It's worth mentioning that there are more and more people like him.

The widespread application of full-dive technology will not only revolutionize the gaming industry, but will also have a greater impact on the education sector.

Many schools are now gradually opening up "virtual campuses," where students only need to come to school for half a day in the morning or afternoon to participate in group activities and physical education classes, while the rest of the time can be spent at home, replacing traditional teaching methods.

This change was too rapid, which aroused dissatisfaction among many "education experts," who kept speaking out in the news media, trying to guide public opinion and force the government to implement lockdown and control measures.

Using fully immersive technology, students can acquire knowledge more efficiently and conveniently, freeing up more time for entertainment and social activities. Parents also don't need to worry about losing supervision, as the AI ​​assistant records "prohibited activities" to ensure their healthy physical and mental development.

(Actually, the supervision mechanism is not perfect enough. Some loopholes can be exploited, while others are too strict. But to be honest, traditional teaching methods are not much better either.)

—This is not beneficial to "educators" at all.

They keenly observed that if this trend continues, the field of education will gradually evolve towards complete rationalization, scientification, and standardization, eliminating subjective factors such as "quality education," "philosophy and values," and "fine traditions."

In the future, this part will be jointly borne by many factors such as family education, social relations, and the real environment, while the voice of experts will be reduced to a minimum.

This is essentially tantamount to uprooting them, hence the constant opposition.

We have inherited a cultural heritage spanning thousands of years. How can we lose fine traditions like "senior and junior" and "dogeza" (a deep bowing gesture) that demonstrate bonds and responsibilities? There are many similar comments.

But their protests are pointless!

What are they compared to what even the boards of directors of many prestigious schools can't do?

After all, the forces driving this change behind the scenes are so powerful that the entire Japanese political world cannot defy them!

Especially after the battle in Brazil, as long as they weren't really looking to kill them, these people were generally quite friendly and willing to cooperate—clearly, neither TPC nor the Kuze Group had gone to that extreme.

"I didn't expect that Mars would be the first target. I thought we would build a lunar base first and use it as a springboard."

"Both are being carried out simultaneously. The lunar base is only suitable for the current outpost or defense system, and there is no need to make it too large. But Mars is to be built as a second home planet, and there will be a large-scale migration there in the future, so the initial investment certainly cannot be small-scale."

"Time flies... It feels like our world is a real-time strategy game. Before you know it, many new changes will occur. I can hardly keep up."

"This is not something that TPC's most promising young talents should say."

A familiar voice suddenly broke the silence, startling the four people chatting and drinking coffee in the atrium corridor. They turned around to see someone they all recognized.

The appearance of that face made everyone subconsciously relax. Masaki Keigo was the first to greet him: "So early today? That's not like you... Hmm, don't you usually have a beautiful woman by your side? Why are you all alone?"

"Don't talk about me like Don Juan (the libertine in Spanish opera)."

Ye Shouyi, dressed in casual clothes, looked out of place inside TPC, which was full of staff, but no one found his presence strange; everyone took it for granted.

"I made an appointment with Professor Yao to meet in the Third District—by the way, what are you two discussing?"

"It's nothing, I'm just feeling grateful to be living in this era, where I can witness so many groundbreaking inventions."

Masaki, Horii, Sanada Ryosuke, and Tango Yuji—these four people have different personalities and work in different departments. They can only say they know each other but don't have any special relationship. Yet, they were able to get together and chat in a harmonious atmosphere, which surprised Ye Shou.

But then he thought about it again and understood:

The TPC Far East base is under construction, and a large number of resources and talents have been concentrated here, just waiting for the base to be completed before officially moving in. These four people are no exception - so the old headquarters now seems particularly crowded.

They were about the same age, belonged to the same generation, and happened to all know Ye Shou, so they naturally gathered together.

Horii and Sanada Ryosuke are classmates and close friends, while Masaki and Tango unexpectedly find common ground in their research areas.

"Are you talking about the Space Development Agency?"

"Yes."

Horii couldn't hide his excitement: "The thought that we can live on Mars in our lifetime makes me want to thank my mom for the good fortune of being born in this era, so that I can witness everything with my own eyes."

"It's more than just witnessing; you will all be involved in it in the future," Ye Shou said, seemingly encouraging him.

"Really?"

"Of course, I promise."

Ye Shouzheng said solemnly, "I will never allow such outstanding talents as you to be wasted or left idle. I will definitely squeeze every last drop out of you for this cause... to make you give full play to your talents to the greatest extent."

"Oh dear, we still have many unfinished projects on hand, and even if we wanted to step up our efforts, TPC doesn't have the extra funds—"

"Money is not the problem; one must have dreams."

"Thank you so much!"

Horii excitedly grasped Ye Shou's hand, shaking it up and down repeatedly: "I knew you were technically skilled!"

...After parting ways with the research team of four, Ye Shou headed to the third district while pondering his next plan.

In fact, although Horii and his group were TPC's elites, they could not access all classified information. Apart from Masaki, none of the four knew the true progress of the "Mars Project".

The world believes that the Space Development Agency was established to launch this project, but in reality, it is a "coordinating body" that exists to keep a series of ongoing projects running.

As early as the first return from the Ironblood instance, planetary terraforming technology had already entered TPC's reserve database and had been secretly reverse-engineered to combine it with the basic technology of the main world, turning it into native technology.

From satellites, space stations, and spacecraft to atmospheric improvement, magnetic field adjustment, soil optimization, and closed ecosystems, breakthroughs have been achieved one after another. The conditions were already in place; all that was missing was the integration of global resources for large-scale production.

Now that the last obstacle is gone, Mars colonization has been put on the agenda, and the pace will be frighteningly fast, without having to wait until "my lifetime".

Given the uncertain future of the main world, Ye Shou was prepared to give it another push—

"Professor Yao, it's been a long time."

"...Has it been a long time?"

Yao Nezu's eyes were slightly blank: Why does it feel like Ye Shou always says this?

They actually meet quite frequently!

"Please don't mind, come with me."

Ye Shou led Dr. Yawei into the Third District, which was filled with cranes and construction vehicles, just like a large port, and took a small car to the core area.

Yao Nezu kept turning his head, watching the scene receding on both sides, a relieved smile appearing on his long, thin face:

The 15-meter-tall humanoid mechs were repaired and put on standby in their respective positions. The logistics department was making final adjustments, and after the prefabrication system was activated, they could be sent to defense bases in various locations to serve as the main force of the "Aerospace Machine" troops.

Although his dream was a "spaceship," he was, after all, a native Japanese, and he couldn't contain his excitement when he saw these steel giants.

Besides mechs, there are also peculiar fighter jets with biplane-shaped wings that curve forward. These are ancient fighter jets that were recently "reinvented" and are currently in the experimental stage, with a limited number available.

New powered armor, mobile engineers, support drones... This is a massive weapons development center where all sorts of sci-fi creations far beyond the imagination of ordinary people come to life. Even seasoned scientists are amazed when they come here.

For example, Yao Nezu, this wasn't his first time here, but he always gained something new each time, and was fortunate enough to be inspired with a lot of ideas that he could apply to his "Arcdis".

"You still haven't said what it is?"

Upon arrival at the destination, there was a wide and flat airport. The ceiling in front of us was arched, creating a huge opening that looked like a seashell. Humans in it felt as small as if they were floating.

In this excessively large area, there was a huge object covered by countless extra-long floral tarpaulins. Its specific appearance could not be seen, but it could be judged from its outline to be a long and narrow shape.

"The initial phase of the Mars mission requires building enough launch vehicles to create the first footholds on the Earth's surface... Everything is difficult at the beginning, and this step alone will take a lot of time, but I can't wait."

Ye Shou held out his hand: "This is a small gift I've prepared to give to all of humanity."

"What do you mean?"

It's all so colorful and has a strong sense of cheapness...

—Yao Nezu glanced at it and found it hard to connect it with Ye Shouping's usual image.

"Stay tuned... Ruri, you can put it down now."

Ye Shou spoke into the walkie-talkie, and immediately a hum of numerous motors began to circulate. One by one, the floral tarpaulins were untied and rolled up by the machines, receding like the tide to reveal a nano-coating that exuded a metallic texture. Graceful arcs outlined a magnificent silhouette in the space, drawing everyone's attention.

——Yatsuo Nezu held his breath.

No, he forgot how to breathe!

It was as if his fantasy had become reality. The scene he had depicted countless times in his dreams appeared before him at this moment with the enormous mass of tens of millions of tons of steel, mercilessly crushing his heart!

"This is...this is! This!"

Yao Nezu's eyes widened, almost speechless: "This is... a spaceship with long-distance travel capabilities? This, how... ah, this is unbelievable."

“This was a gift from a friend. I don’t have any other use for it right now, and it would be a shame to just leave it there to gather dust.”

Ye Shou smiled slightly: "It is named [Solomon Temple]".

"Sparashi!" Yato Nezu squeezed his eyes shut and couldn't help but shed tears, which startled Ye Shou a little.

He underestimated the destructive power of spaceships to these scientists. If the Eight-Tails was like this, imagine what would happen if it were the more sentimental Professor Agasa...

Ye Shou nodded in satisfaction and looked with great interest at the [Temple of Solomon], which had a religious style. Because it was a spaceship, its aerodynamic shape was not taken into consideration, so many unreasonable decorations were added to its surface.

'Let's remove these things from the end... Let's prevent people from seeing any more poems or writings praising my name.'

Just as Ye Shou was thinking this, a small commotion suddenly broke out among the surrounding crowd, and it seemed to have nothing to do with the temple.

"A shooting star? At that height, it looks like it's going to crash into Tokyo Bay."

what?

Upon hearing Bawei's words, Ye Shou immediately looked up. His gaze passed over the majestic and solemn warship and he saw a fiery meteor with a long tail dividing the daytime sky in two.

From this angle, the background of the warship is divided by the firelight, as if foreshadowing something.

Unlike the people around him who were only slightly surprised, Ye Shou's expression turned cold, and something seemed to rise in his eyes.

That very evening, he received a call from the TPC Extraterrestrial Research Institute and received some news that wasn't entirely unexpected:

The meteorite that fell during the day had an artificial outer shell, and its interior appeared to contain some kind of material.

"...Lord Ye Shou?"

The maid brought over some black tea, but Ye Shou wasn't sitting behind his desk. Instead, he was standing by the window gazing at the bright moonlight.