CHAPTER 219: CHAPTER 217 INTIMIDATION

Despite just returning from space, Zhang Chengguang’s limbs were in a state of weakness, even walking required gritting his teeth to persevere, but he still dismantled the data storage units from the return module as quickly as possible.

In Zhang Chengguang’s eyes, the data storage units were more important than himself or even the other two astronauts combined. They contained all the observational data of the Blue Star that they gathered from the Tiangong Space Station over the past six months.

After the initial mission failed, they were unable to return to the Blue Star, so they controlled the spacecraft to the Tiangong Space Station, which served as their support base.

The Tiangong Space Station was stocked with a large amount of fuel and supplies prepared for this mission, and although most of the fuel had been injected into the three spacecraft en route to the meteor, there was still plenty of supply.

Upon arriving at the Tiangong Space Station, they tried to use the station’s communication equipment to contact the Blue Star and indeed once established contact with the command center, conducting meteorological and other data observations on the Blue Star as per the command center’s requests to provide data support for scientists to analyze the impact of the meteor strike.

However, as the meteor fell and dust completely shrouded the entire Blue Star, their communications were severely disrupted, making it nearly impossible to maintain contact with the ground.

In the following months, although they continuously tried to restore communication with the ground, the results were minimal, only sporadically receiving faint signals from the ground, mostly chaotic civilian radio signals.

As for the communication with the command center, it remained unrecovered.

After a few months, they gradually exhausted the supplies aboard the Tiangong Space Station, and with no alternatives, they decided to take the risk to use the return module to get back to the Blue Star.

This was almost a gamble with everything on the line because they had only one return module. Once they started the return, there was no second chance if it failed.

And for them, a failed landing would mean only death.

The three astronauts did not care about their lives; they had prepared to sacrifice for the country before setting out on the mission.

But the vast amount of valuable data they collected from the Tiangong Space Station, they were determined to deliver to the country at all costs, which was far more important than their own lives.

So they risked choosing a landing site along the densely populated Yangtze River area, instead of the sparsely populated traditional landing sites in the northern desert.

This was partly to facilitate rescue after landing, and partly in consideration that if the landing failed, the wreckage would fall in this region, and as long as someone discovered the return module, the tightly protected data storage units inside would also be found.

Thus, even if they sacrificed, this precious data could still make its way back to the Blue Star’s surface and be delivered to scientists.

However, they seemed to have good luck, as during the landing, although the return module’s shell was continuously bombarded by debris and dust, making it nearly unrecognizable, it was not damaged and successfully returned them to the surface of the Blue Star.

Yet, the situation on the ground was worse than they expected; if they hadn’t run into Chen Xin, who luckily rescued them, the three weakened astronauts would have struggled to find shelter in the freezing, sub-zero temperatures.

After all, even trained astronauts, after spending more than half a year in zero gravity, couldn’t endure a long trek on the surface, wearing a twenty-pound space suit, immediately after returning.

Not to mention, they had to face ill-intentioned survivors in the wind and snow and darkness to deliver the data storage units to the country.

Fortunately, they were indeed lucky to meet Chen Xin, someone capable of helping them and without malice.

Zhang Chengguang quickly dismantled the data storage units. Although the design originally considered easy assembly and disassembly, to protect the data storage units themselves, they were still very securely mounted, and there was more than one to disassemble.

Zhang Chengguang’s hands were a bit weak; in a zero-gravity environment, everything was easy, and his body had long adapted to such an environment after half a year, making things feel strenuous suddenly returning to a gravity environment.

But this wasn’t the time to dwell on such things; he needed to dismantle the several data storage units as quickly as possible.

Zhang Chengguang moved swiftly. He had said ten minutes, but it took just over five to have only the last two left to dismantle. At his pace, he would have it all done in three more minutes.

At this moment, however, Zhang Chengguang also heard the sound of car engines getting closer.

This made Zhang Chengguang anxious, but not panicked. He chambered the pistol beside him and continued dismantling the data storage units in a race against time.

Chen Xin and the remaining two astronauts in the car were equally anxious. They saw those four cars that had already come within sight range even earlier than Zhang Chengguang.

These cars made no intention of hiding themselves. The headlights pierced through the night, shining directly over, arrogantly without the slightest attempt at concealment.

Chen Xin gritted his teeth. These four cars posed no threat to him. His car was armored, even the window glass was bulletproof, and there was a heavy machine gun mounted on the roof. If Chen Xin wished, he could take them out in no time.

However, the presence of the three astronauts made him wary of exposing his heavy machine gun. If it were just a handgun or similar weapon, Chen Xin believed the three astronauts wouldn’t delve too deeply, but a heavy machine gun was a completely different matter. Even in this post-apocalyptic world, it wasn’t something an ordinary person could just mount on their vehicle.

Yet if push came to shove, Chen Xin wouldn’t hesitate to risk exposure for such a trivial matter. Four menacing vehicles and three astronauts weren’t enough for him to throw himself away just for secrecy.

"I’ll go down to help Old Zhang!" One astronaut stood up, wanting to get off, but Chen Xin stopped him.

"It’s minus forty degrees outside. Going out like this is suicide!" Chen Xin’s tone was anything but polite, and another astronaut cooperated by holding back the one who wanted to get off.

Minus forty degrees is an extreme cold that the human body simply cannot withstand. Without adequate protection, it would only take a dozen minutes to get frostbite, and half an hour to freeze to death.

That’s why Chen Xin gave his protective suit to Zhang Chengguang, stopping the astronauts from getting off.

As for the spacesuit the astronauts wore earlier, while it provided excellent protection and weighed just over 20 pounds, it took over ten minutes to put on, which was entirely too late.

Under such circumstances, Chen Xin thought for a moment and started his car, positioning it sideways between the incoming vehicles and the return module, forming a barrier with the car body to buy time for Zhang Chengguang.

However, Chen Xin did not turn off the engine; he merely stopped the car. Simultaneously, he handed the communicator hanging from the dashboard to the astronaut beside him and said, "This can be used to shout outside. Just say something, anything, to scare them!"

The astronaut immediately understood Chen Xin’s intention, quickly grabbed the communicator, and started shouting outside, while Chen Xin cranked up the volume of the external speaker to the maximum.

"Vehicles ahead, stop immediately! Vehicles ahead, stop immediately! This is the Yan Country Aerospace Bureau, conducting a classified mission! No one is allowed to approach! Stop immediately, or we will use force to drive you away!" Although only Chen Xin and two astronauts were on the vehicle, the astronaut still solemnly played the Aerospace Bureau’s card.

For ordinary people, the Aerospace Bureau and classified missions were names enough to scare them off some misguided ideas. Even in today’s post-apocalyptic world, the Flame Country’s national institutions still held considerable deterrence.

Sure enough, under the blaring loudspeaker, the four initially aggressive cars all slammed on the brakes in unison and stopped on the snowy ground, several hundred meters away from Chen Xin’s vehicle.

Evidently, the deterrence worked.

The four stopped cars seemed hesitant. If they recklessly rushed forward, Chen Xin would have no choice but to pull up the heavy machine gun on the roof and blow them away one by one.

But now they stopped, saving both themselves and preventing Chen Xin from revealing the heavy machine gun.

However, no one knew how long this deterrence would last. Perhaps these people would take desperate measures in the next moment, or perhaps the name of the Yan Country Aerospace Bureau would scare them away, but Chen Xin and the three astronauts only needed a few minutes’ delay.

Seeing that the four vehicles merely stopped and did not retreat, Chen Xin gestured to the astronaut beside him to continue shouting, while also launching a second drone to approach the four cars with two drones, posing a threatening stance.

Chen Xin had no idea who these people were, but his maneuver evidently intimidated them, making them afraid to act rashly.

Meanwhile, on the other side, Zhang Chengguang also heard the noise. He swiftly dismantled the last data storage, packed up the tools, and clutched six data storage devices in his arms, ready to take them away, but their weight was cumbersome.

This made Zhang Chengguang suddenly anxious. He almost without hesitation took off his protective suit, wrapped the six storage devices in it, and crawled out of the return module with the protective suit in his arms.

The cold instantly enveloped him, and Zhang Chengguang felt a piercing chill, but it did not impede his movements. He dashed to the front of Chen Xin’s car, and Chen Xin, who had been watching, opened the car door as Zhang Chengguang rushed over.

The two astronauts standing at the door quickly reached out and pulled Zhang Chengguang onto the car when they saw him rushing over.

As soon as Zhang Chengguang got on, Chen Xin quickly closed the car door and, regardless of the reaction of the four vehicles, immediately floored the gas pedal, swiftly driving away from there.