Great, we're doomed now!

-

Lunar base, third launch port.

The massive circular gate slid open slowly, revealing a streamlined white spaceship quietly resting on the launch rail.

It is longer than the previous prototype, with a pair of foldable auxiliary wings on both sides of the fuselage. This is not for the purpose of conforming to "aerodynamics", but to install the engine and energy department. It must be built like this.

The massive Magnum engine at the rear, somewhat abrupt and disrupting the harmony of the overall design, now gleams with a faint blue light.

This is the seventeenth test flight of the Magus propulsion system, and also the most important test flight at this stage.

Objective: After activating Magus Power, the mission will accelerate for approximately twenty minutes to reach one-tenth the speed of light, traverse hundreds of millions of kilometers within forty minutes, arrive at Mars orbit to drop a fixed beacon, and then return in conventional mode.

Kazuma Asuka was standing next to the boarding stairs of the spaceship. He was wearing an orange anti-G suit, with his helmet tucked under his arm. His gaze calmly swept over every inch of the spaceship's hull, and he nodded slightly.

The Magus power system itself is relatively stable, and the machine itself has sufficient strength, so even if the predetermined goal is not achieved, there will be no safety issues.

After all, it's not easy to "crash" or "hit a mountain" in space, as long as the machine doesn't fall apart.

"Daddy will soon be the first human to land on Mars!"

He pulled a small photograph from his inner pocket—a picture of him, his wife, and their young son, Shin Asuka. The edges of the photograph were worn, clearly indicating that it had been handled repeatedly.

This is his little "ritual." As an ace pilot, he firmly believes that it can bring him good luck, and he asks the two people in the photo to cheer him on every time he takes off.

He carefully put the photo back, then picked up the communicator and connected to the dedicated line on Earth.

"It's me." His voice carried a hint of gentleness through the airwaves.

"Yima!" His wife's voice came immediately, filled with concern and anxiety, "Are we leaving yet?"

"Yes, we're going into the cabin soon. If this mission goes smoothly, we should be able to return in time for Shin's birthday." Kazuma Asuka smiled. "I promised to go back and celebrate with him, and I will this time."

"After all, you're a man of your word. Shin is really looking forward to eating cake with the 'Martian,' so don't go back on your promise, okay?"

Yumi paused, then said solemnly, "Be very careful."

"Don't worry, I'm an ace pilot! You know the newly formed Victory Team? That Shinjo is just a kid compared to me." Kazuma Asuka said casually, "Tell Shin that Dad will catch up with 'Hikari' soon, faster than anything he's ever seen, and he definitely won't be late."

Hehe~

After the call ended, Asuka put away his communicator, the gentleness on his face quickly fading, and he reverted to being the calm and professional test pilot he always was.

He took a deep breath, steadily climbed the gangway, entered the spacecraft's cockpit, checked that all the instrument readings were normal, skillfully fastened his seatbelt, put on his helmet, and connected to the internal channel.

"Test pilot Kazuma Asuka, ready."

"Received, Flying Bird Team Member. Initiating final system self-check."

"Navigation system, normal."

"Power system, standby."

"Life support system, normal."

"Magnus power core, preheating complete, status stable."

A series of calm reports rang out on the channel. Dr. Yao and many project team members were all in front of the large screen in the command center, staring intently at the situation.

"All systems have been checked and no abnormalities were found," Asuka Kazuma reported in the final report.

"Launch permitted."

"clear."

The securing device at the bottom of the spacecraft loosened, and Asuka pushed the control stick, igniting the auxiliary engine with a low roar. The white spacecraft smoothly glided out of the lunar base along the guide rail and entered the dark outer space.

"Successfully detached, begin the first phase of acceleration."

The conventional thrusters at the tail of the spacecraft spewed out incandescent white flames, and the speed began to steadily increase.

It first orbited the Earth-Moon system to verify its propulsion and fine-tune its system parameters. Then, as the orbital radius increased, the lunar base gradually shrank outside the porthole, and the entire satellite became a gray sphere.

Now, he has completely distanced himself from the human world.

"System stable, preparing to start Magus Power." Kazuma Asuka's voice remained calm, but a sharp glint appeared in his eyes as he reached out and pressed a special red button on the control panel.

Then the metal plate slides, revealing a hidden handle on the control panel, marked with different parameters like a clock face.

"Activation permitted... Asuka, good luck!" Dr. Yao's voice was a little tense.

"receive."

Asuka Kazuma slowly turned the hidden handle.

Om-!

The huge ring engine at the tail of the spaceship suddenly lit up with an incredibly dazzling blue light, as if a miniature star was being born inside!

"Megatronics... Ugh!"

The spaceship's speed changed dramatically in an instant!

The starry sky outside the porthole was no longer a slowly moving backdrop, but suddenly stretched and distorted, transforming into countless streamlined, colorful ribbons of light.

Conventional observation equipment failed almost instantly. From the outside, the spacecraft seemed to disappear into space, while from the inside, it entered a tunnel made of light. However, this tunnel was very thin, like a thin veil of mist, which isolated the prototype and made the external scenery blurry and difficult to capture.

10%……30%……45%……100%!

One-tenth the speed of light!

This threshold, which had been calculated countless times in theory, was now truly achieved by the spaceship he was piloting!

Kazuma Asuka could feel his body being pressed against the seat by a gentle yet irresistible force—the human body should not be able to withstand this speed, but the force field generator offset most of the overload.

Kazuma Asuka now feels no fear, only an almost boiling passion, completely immersed in the excitement of constantly breaking through "history"!

He will, like Gagarin and Amsterdam, leave his own mark on the history of human civilization.

Following the pre-programmed procedure, the spacecraft's autopilot system precisely corrected its course, and the previously insurmountable distance was being rapidly reduced at a breathtaking speed.

"Connect to Mars orbit, begin deceleration." Kazuma Asuka's calm voice rang out again.

As the Megas reduced its power output, the spaceship broke away from that dreamlike high-speed state, and an orange-red planet gradually became clearer and larger in the field of vision.

The spacecraft circled Mars for half a time, selected the designated coordinates, opened the belly hatch, and a beacon flashing its signal lights descended, passing through the thin atmosphere and being steadily dropped into a basin on the Martian surface.

"Beacon deployment successful, signal reception is good."

A moment later, the Earth command center confirmed using quantum communication technology: "It is indeed our beacon. It reached one-tenth the speed of light for eighteen minutes just now, and the peak speed in the middle exceeded expectations."

"Mission accomplished," Asuka Kazuma reported succinctly, a smile finally creeping onto his lips.

We've arrived on Mars!

The command center erupted in cheers and applause!

Dr. Yao clenched his fists excitedly, too happy to speak, and didn't know how to react when someone pulled him to clap.

Meanwhile, Ye Shou, who was watching the live stream at the Jiushi Manor, was in a great mood and had already begun to plan how to equip [Bayeri].

Although it is now the Holy Sword of Light, it still possesses the characteristics of a mechanical creation. If the ion thruster were replaced with Magus-powered propulsion, its performance would definitely be improved significantly, and perhaps even the attributes of the "Holy Sword" would be affected.

—In an instant, everyone from Earth to Mars was all smiles.

After a brief pause, Asuka Kazuma's spacecraft adjusted its attitude and initiated the return-to-home procedure.

"Begin returning to base. Switch to autopilot mode. We expect to arrive in the Earth-Moon system in six hours." Asuka Kazuma relaxed and took out the photo again.

Thank you for always bringing me good luck!

hum!

Magus Power restarted, the spacecraft accelerated again, and soon left Mars orbit, heading towards its distant blue home.

For the next half hour, the spaceship sailed steadily through the silent universe, and everything went very smoothly.

However, just as they had traveled a tenth of the way back, a dazzling and mysterious light, inexplicable by any existing theory, appeared out of nowhere from deep space to the side of the spacecraft!

No one detected it beforehand, and the bird didn't have a chance to react. It was so fast that it exceeded the limits of radar warning, as if it didn't belong to this spacetime dimension at all.

"Wh-what is this?!"

Kazuma Asuka only saw the outside of the porthole being engulfed by a pure, intense light. Then, all the instrument screens in the cockpit flickered wildly, but as the pure white light seeped into the cabin from the outside, the piercing alarm stopped abruptly, replaced by an eerie silence.

……

"What's going on? What happened on your end? Flying Bird team, please respond!" came an anxious shout from the command center's communication channel.

But there was no response.

On the radar screen, the dot representing the Magus prototype neither exploded nor deviated from its trajectory the instant it came into contact with that mysterious beam of light. Instead, it disappeared completely and cleanly, as if erased by an eraser.

There was no signal, no energy waveform, nothing at all... as if the spaceship, along with its test pilot Kazuma Asuka, had never existed in the world.

Inside the command center, a deathly silence replaced the previous cheers. Dr. Yamata's smile froze, slowly fading and turning deathly pale.

Inside the Kuze mansion, Ye Shou suddenly stood up, revealing a fierce look in the maid's worried gaze:

This is not a mechanical island!

"Notify Masaki Keigo to go to TPC headquarters for duty and to handle any dangerous situations promptly."

……I?

I'm going to go into space and see what that thing really is!

Chapter 286: Ultraman - I Think the Sword Can Work! (8.5K Two-in-One)

"The results aren't out yet? What, the equipment malfunctioned?"

In the command center, Dr. Yao was staring at the main screen, a fine layer of sweat beading on his forehead.

My fingers flew across the console, bringing up another set of data interfaces.

"No...this can't be..."

A young researcher nearby looked up, his face pale: "Doctor, the signals from the three observation satellites in geostationary orbit... have all been lost!"

It wasn't a malfunction, it was a computer virus... We've lost control.

"Where is the lunar base?" Ya-Tails' voice was a little tense.

They urgently need to confirm the current status of "Asuka Kazuma" and the location of the Magus prototype. It is precisely at this time that they need to use these expensive probe satellites, so why were they invaded by a virus at this time?

"We just received a report that the deep space exploration array at the lunar base, which is facing Mars orbit, has also gone offline at the same time. The system log shows 'Unknown risk, continued operation requires the highest level of authorization'."

"Virus? Authorization?"