The winter in the Northern Hemisphere came a little earlier this year.
It was not yet winter, but the wind in Jinling was already filled with a biting chill.
Sun Lieyang looked at his wife standing in front of him and the little baby in her arms. A trace of reluctance flashed in his eyes, but he still took a deep breath of the cold air and made up his mind.
"I'm going."
The woman stared into his eyes. Her lake-like eyes seemed to have a lot to say, but in the end, she only said one sentence.
"Remember to miss me."
"Don't be so sad."
Sun Lieyang gently pushed aside the bangs on her forehead that were blown by the wind, as if he wanted to engrave this face in his memory. He stared at his wife with a smile on his face and tried to make his tone sound as relaxed as possible.
"It's not like I won't come back. And I feel that in ten years at most, we will go to the Moon as easily as taking a high-speed train back to our hometown. When the time comes, you come up to see me, or I go down to see you, it's all the same. "
Looking at the little baby in the woman's arms, Sun Lieyang stretched out his index finger to tease him and showed him a warm smile.
Perhaps infected by the warm smile, the little baby stopped crying, giggled, and stretched out his hand, trying to grab his father's index finger.
"Be good, baby, wait for me to come back."
He gently held the child's hand and continued to speak in a fascinated tone.
"When that time comes, your father will be able to tell you a story that will make your classmates envious."
The woman bit her lip. There was a hint of sadness in her eyes as she looked at him.
"Really … Do you have to go now?"
"I have no choice, someone has to go." Sun Lieyang gently let go of the child's hand. He looked at his wife and said with a smile, "My junior brother is getting married next year, and he has a 25-year-old junior sister. If I don't stand up, am I supposed to let the two of them go?"
Some things had to be done.
There were only a few research institutes in the country that were doing second-generation controllable fusion, and their research team could be said to be the backbone of this field. Although so far it was only some preparatory work, and it was still far from unlocking the energy treasure house on the Moon, if no one took this first step, there would be no one in the future.
"… I heard it's very cold there. Remember to wear more clothes when you go up."
"Don't worry, I will take care of myself."
After kissing his wife and the child in her arms goodbye, Sun Lieyang threw the backpack that was half the height of a person on his back. He resisted the urge to look back and walked toward the SUV parked outside the dormitory.
The first batch of pioneers to go to Guanghan Special Economic Zone had a total of 50 people.
As pioneers of the future, they would board a dedicated spacecraft specially prepared for them at the second launch base and head to the Magpie Bridge waiting in the synchronous orbit.
Looking at Sun Lieyang, who was the last to get on the bus, Tao Muye looked at him inquiringly.
"You even have a child?"
Sun Lieyang grinned, and a stream of white mist drifted out of his nostrils.
"What? It doesn't look like it? "
"It really doesn't look like it."
"What about you? You've been studying for a few years now, haven't you found a girlfriend? "
"I'm a celibate."
"This is the first time I've heard someone describe a single dog in such a refreshing way … But I'm a little curious, your research institute doesn't lack people, right? Why did they send an older, unmarried young man? "
It was reasonable for Tao Muye to have such questions.
Although the Archdruid no longer taught PhD students, there were still a lot of people in his research institute. Agricultural research was different from controllable fusion. The latter was a new discipline, while the former had been developed for decades. If there was a choice, there was no reason to send an only child who hadn't even gotten married yet.
"I signed up myself."
Unlike Professor Sun, he had spent a lot of effort in order to get this spot.
"You signed up yourself?" Sun Lieyang looked at him blankly and said, "Why?"
"Didn't Academician Lu say it?" Tao Muye smiled faintly. He glanced at the scenery outside the window and the autumn leaves blowing down from the sycamore trees. "This is a necessary expedition."
"For the future of civilization."
"Don't you think it's a very romantic thing?"
…
The last vehicle arrived at the second launch site.
The luggage and passengers were divided into two groups. Under the command of the on-site staff, they boarded the giant bird-shaped aerospaceplane step by step.
Thirty minutes later, they were about to go to the Moon more than 300,000 kilometers away, where they would build a new home.
Although the road ahead was full of uncertainty and confusion, none of them, who were sitting in the life support device, showed fear in their eyes.
Just as that man had said, this was a necessary expedition.
At this moment, all of them who were sitting here had a great and glorious mission on their shoulders.
They weren't just going to the Moon.
They were going to the future of human civilization.
The wide engine ejected a blue arc of light. Propelled by the high-speed plasma jet, the aerospaceplane began to slowly move forward into the sky.
The relatives standing on the ground waved goodbye to the people in the distance until the arc of light disappeared in the corner of the sky, drawing everyone's gazes into the distance …
On the other hand, in the Star Sky Technology Building less than 50 kilometers away from the second launch site, the general manager of the aerospace project department sent the launch briefing from the command center to the CEO's office. He briefly reported the current launch situation.
"Chang 'e has smoothly passed through the stratosphere and is switching to vertical flight mode to change course. It is expected to reach the predetermined orbit in two hours."
Chen Yushan took the report and glanced at it. She nodded.
"Just leave the report with me. You can go now."
"Okay, CEO Chen."
The man nodded, turned around, and left the office, closing the door behind him.
After carefully reading the report in her hand, Chen Yushan thought for a moment and summarized the situation into a more concise report. She sent it to Lu Zhou through the internal office system of Star Sky Technology.
Even though she wasn't there to command, she knew very well how important this launch plan was to Lu Zhou.
Presumably, after hearing this good news, he should be in a very good mood.
Her thoughts drifted tens of thousands of kilometers away.
Chen Yushan stretched her sore arms and stood up from her office chair. She walked to the floor-to-ceiling window with a coffee cup in her hand.
She looked at the sunset outside the floor-to-ceiling window and felt a little melancholy in her heart.
Even though she hadn't seen him for only a few days, she felt like a long time had passed.
"If only I could come back earlier."
Chen Yushan suddenly felt like the face reflected in the floor-to-ceiling window was a bit unfamiliar.
She felt like this kind of willful words from a little girl was a bit inconsistent with her image as a strong woman.
"… Looks like I'll have to work harder."
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