Chapter 112: Wishing You Success!
The next day, 3:30 PM li xing time,
Which was 8:30 PM Friday, Earth time.
Players who had been eagerly waiting finished dinner, went to the restroom in advance, and collectively logged in.
Their characters, after getting ample sleep and rest, sat up from their sleep pods with a whoosh.
A new journey was about to begin.
“Beep!!!”
At 3:45 PM, a “traditional” naval whistle, symbolizing Earth’s ancient customs, echoed through every cabin and corridor of the industrial ship.
“Attention all personnel participating in the ‘Sun Eclipse’ operation, attention all personnel participating in the ‘Sun Eclipse’ operation! Proceed to the conference room immediately for a mission briefing!”
“This is not a drill!”
As one of the seven most important Pilots in the operation, Chang Kong put on his anti-G flight suit, held his Pilot helmet, and sat in the middle of the first row.
Ah, this won't do.—My nose is starting to itch—
He had imagined this scene countless times in his mind since he was six years old.
Chang Kong loved aviation, loved flying.
But in reality, he was naturally nearsighted and couldn't even pass the first round of Pilot selection.
He turned his head to look at the people from Loulan and found that they seemed to be similar to himself, with their hands clasped across their chests, their eyes flashing with sharp killing intent, ready to go all out at any moment.
“Good afternoon, everyone!”
Caoyuan, wearing a sharp-angled sniper-type power armor, walked up to the briefing stand with powerful strides and opened the holographic projection behind him.
“In 45 minutes, the ‘Sun Eclipse’ operation will begin! Five light space fighters from the First Air Group will provide escort,
And a spaceplane will transport 24 power armored assault team members to execute the mission of armed seizure of the Helium-3 mine.”
Now, after a round of voting in the player community, the light fighters and the spaceplane each had a code name.
The light fighters were named “Shrike,” taking the meaning of being small but fierce; the spaceplane was named “night heron.”
“During the raid, our infrared signal will be hidden in the solar radiation, and the estimated distance of detection by Apollo will not exceed 30 kilometers, which is less than the effective range of the fighter's laser main cannon. Therefore, theoretically, we have the advantage of firing first.”
He flipped the briefing PPT to the next page.
“This is the mine map drawn based on the confessions of prisoners of war. As shown, the Air Group first needs to ensure the destruction of the enemy's hangar and anti-aircraft missiles, and the second batch of targets are radar and communication antennas.
“After destroying the above targets, the escort formation will maintain a circular orbit above the mine to ensure air superiority and provide reconnaissance vision. After that, the assault team will land.”
Continue to flip the page.
“This is the floor plan of the facility's interior. I believe everyone has already memorized it. If you haven't memorized it, remember to keep it in a location where you can easily access it.”
“The primary task of the ground assault team is to ensure the safety of the finished Helium-3 warehouse, to prevent the enemy from destroying it in a fit of rage,
After that is to annihilate the Apollo Soldiers and complete the overall occupation of the facility. In addition—””
Caoyuan pointed to a corner of the map.
“According to the prisoners of war, this area is the dormitory for the mine technicians. These people were not Apollo employees before, they were tricked from a space city called ‘New Hope,’ and some of them are Engineers.”
“So they are civilians?” someone asked.
“It can only be said that there is a possibility, after all, you can't fully believe what Apollo says.” Caoyuan said, “In short, be cautious when attacking that area, and try to call out for surrender first.”
At 4:15 PM li xing time, the operation officially began.
The ceiling of the industrial ship's hangar slid open to both sides, revealing the vast Star Sea outside.
Five “Shrikes” successively activated the small attitude thrusters located at the nose and the tips of the heat sinks, ascending vertically and entering space slowly and gracefully.
The interns from Red Iron Town gathered in the restaurant, crowding around the portholes, staring intently, watching these fighters gradually change into a neat wedge-shaped escort formation.
It was incredibly beautiful, like a dream. Did we really assemble that with our own hands?
At this moment, their feelings could no longer be simply described as pride, it was almost sacred.
The spaceplane followed closely.
“Hoo....—”
Chang Kong, who was serving as the lead aircraft, was equally excited. He took a deep breath, trying his best to keep his voice from trembling, “Cave calling control tower, requesting takeoff.”
This was a communication that would be recorded in the development history of Cangyuan Enterprise! It represented the beginning of the first space battle!
The former universe giant enterprise was once again deploying its forces in the Star Sea today!
“Control tower received, you can take off.”
Inside the bridge, Nan Guo de Xue sat next to Lu Yuan in the Navigator seat, turned her head to look at the fighter formation outside the window, and gave a thumbs up.
“Wishing you success!”
“Cave received! Wait for our good news!”
Six space vehicles simultaneously activated their main engines, rapidly lowering their orbit from an altitude of 35,300 kilometers, accelerating continuously with the help of Li Star's gravity.
150 minutes later, the formation changed orbit again, sweeping past at high speed from 300 kilometers above Li Star.
At this time, the pale white Moon rapidly rose from Li Star's pale yellow-green horizon, its surface illuminated brightly by the sunlight from behind.
The destination was almost within reach.
Previously, most of the assault team members would log off by forced sleep to brag and post on the player community, but they still had to switch back to see this scene.
“Ah~~ This scene is worth a poem.” The Male God sighed.
There was silence on the public channel for five or six seconds.
“Well, recite it then.”
“Although I studied literature, I, uh, have no culture—”
“Useless!”
The formation continued to accelerate, finally reaching a speed of 15.5 kilometers per second, exceeding the second cosmic velocity of this star system, and began to glide under the effect of inertia.
Now, nothing could stop it from flying towards the enemy. The subsequent flight process was fully automated, and players could log off to watch videos or play other side games, waiting until 9 AM Earth time the next morning.
There was no need to worry about a boring journey.
Of course, at any given time, at least one player would remain online on duty.
This way, if there was a sudden situation, this person could also log off and immediately send messages to everyone in reality.
To win the campaign event, the players had already added each other's contact information and created more than one group. Some from the same city were said to have met in person.
On the Moon mine, 22-year-old Anton was yawning, his eyes slightly unfocused as he stared at the photoelectric detection screen in front of him.
So sleepy—
As for Lao Yu next to him, he was already dozing off.
The two of them had driven the mine cart for 10 hours today, but were still scheduled for extra overtime.
How miserable.
Recalling half a year ago, Anton, Lao Yu, and their group finally scraped together enough money to buy a second-hand freighter, left “New Hope,”
Excitedly passed through the Jump Point, and embarked on their dream treasure hunt.
What happened afterward... sigh, let's not talk about it.
Reality was not an adventure novel, and he was not an all-powerful protagonist.
“How are the monitoring conditions? Don't be lazy! Don't you know that the Minister came to this star system a few days ago and raised the alert level?”
An Apollo Overseer walked over with his hands behind his back.
“Don't sleep, don't sleep!” Anton quickly elbowed Lao Yu awake.
“Sorry, sir!”
“Stop talking nonsense, answer the question!”
“Uh, reporting—everything is fine, nothing abnormal, it's just that the sun side is really a bit confusing.””
“What do you mean confusing? Haven't we provided you with the most advanced equipment?”
Lao Yu, who had just been woken up, rubbed his eyes calmly and looked at the screen Anton was in charge of.
His pupils contracted. He picked up Anton's mouse, brought up more observation data, quickly browsed it, and then closed it.
Anton: “The telescope shows a new sunspot appeared today, and this sunspot—””
Before he finished speaking, Lao Yu kicked Anton under the table.
“What about the sunspot?” the Overseer pressed, “Is there a risk of a solar flare eruption recently?”
“Ah—. No, I mean, its position on the solar photosphere is very coordinated, and it's dark enough! The shape is also beautiful! It's truly wonderful!”
The Overseer's eyebrows twitched rapidly.
“You idiot! How dare you make fun of me!?”
Slap!
A big slap landed on his face.
“You two, your shift is extended by one hour today. Let's see if you learn your lesson next time!”
After the Overseer left, Anton covered half of his face and lowered his voice.
“Engineer Yu, what exactly do you want to do? You made me get slapped for nothing!”
Lao Yu turned back and took a few more glances in the direction the Overseer had left.
“Are you stupid? Can't you tell that's not a sunspot?”
“It's not?”
“Of course not! That's a Sun Eclipse space vehicle!”
Anton brought up the data and studied it carefully, finding that what Lao Yu said seemed to be correct.
“If it's not, then just say so. Why did you kick me? I thought I said something wrong—”
“Why don't you understand?” Lao Yu forcefully poked Anton's forehead. “They are deliberately hiding in the solar radiation! They are sneaking up. How could Apollo's own people take this kind of stealth trajectory!”
When it was put in plain language, Anton finally understood.
“You mean, that's a hostile company?”
“What else?”
“Which one?”
“How would I know!”
“But are we just going to pretend we didn't see it and ignore it? What if—what if the other party is worse than Apollo and kills us all?”
“Working as a laborer here for a lifetime is no different from dying early!”
“Engineer Yu, think carefully, even if the other party is not worse than Apollo, they might not be able to take this place! With what I just said and that reaction, it will definitely be noticed afterward that we knew and didn't report it, and then we'll be miserable!”
“Can't you be less timid! Let's gamble, I haven't given up on my treasure hunting dream yet”