Chapter 1003

「Slurp—slurp」

Bursts of wolfish, tiger-like eating sounds rose and fell.

The tempting aroma accompanied the hot pot steam, spreading through the air.

Inside the shelter whose door had been blown open, everyone was shoving food into their mouths while staring at Lin An with fiery eyes.

The moment Lin An's identity was revealed, everything ceased to be a problem.

Except for a few High Level officials in the capital who knew what was going on with Lin An, to outsiders he Lin An was the face of Huaxia. That level of authority was no less than those big shots who often appear on TV.

Especially Zeng Hongtian, who had originally been holding his neck stiff and defiant, upon realizing the medal was genuine and that the young man before him was the renowned Lin An, for a moment, overwhelmed with emotion, he almost burst into tears.

Don't look at how stubbornly he refused at first; he only agreed to join the official side.

But in reality, no one wanted him, and the authorities didn't exactly welcome them; basically nobody cared whether they lived or died.

The reason is simple: after the apocalypse, many local militaries and governments suffered huge impacts, and their original ranks were continually replaced by former ordinary people.

Many official forces, while nominally belonging to a Military Region or some locality, were actually just wearing a skin.

Thus, with their lifetime of learning having no use and being in a remote location, nobody paid them any attention.

Don't think there are still some supplies here, even extremely precious fuel.

But after the apocalypse, any journey over a hundred kilometers is fraught with danger for any Awakened One.

Want to transport supplies back and forth from the satellite base? You'd likely run into Mutants delivering vegetables halfway.

Seeing Zeng Hongtian stubbornly refusing to eat and instead pulling Lin An to talk, Lin An couldn't help but feel helpless.

"General Lin An, I knew the authorities hadn't abandoned us...!"

"You say, is it that the country needs something?"

"As long as I can do it, I'll do it even if I have to risk my bones!"

Seeing Zeng Hongtian clutching him and not letting go, Lin An could only helplessly give a light reassurance:

"You will later join Long An."

"As for what you'll do, it's probably to launch satellites."

As soon as the words left his mouth, Zeng Hongtian froze stiff, and even the other survivors who had been eating stared at Lin An as if they had misheard.

"Sat... satellite!?"

Stammering, without waiting for Zeng Hongtian to speak, a nearby researcher, in confusion, wiped his hands on his long-unwashed white lab coat and exclaimed:

"You want to launch a satellite!?"

"That's right."

Lin An gave a casual nod, looking at the astonished crowd, and wasn't surprised either.

After all, launching a satellite after the apocalypse does sound like a fantasy.

He dropped his instant noodles; as the former head of the launch department, the middle-aged man's face instantly showed a struggle, revealing a troubled expression:

;"General Lin An, I'm afraid I'll disappoint you. You... think too highly of us."

His face flushed with shame.

The middle-aged researcher pointed upward, giving a bitter laugh:

"Never mind launching a satellite, that high-precision task—if that rocket just ignites without exploding, that's already good."

"Don't you know? All the precision instruments... no, even those that aren't very precise are almost completely broken."

"Look at us—we still follow wartime standards; all our equipment controllers are anti-electromagnetic-interference."

"But even so, under spiritual energy pollution, the broken are broken, the unusable are unusable; otherwise we wouldn't be in such a dire state."

On the other side, Zeng Hongtian, who had just claimed he could do anything, blushed and likewise chimed in:

"Yeah, General Lin An..."

"You might think launching rockets before the apocalypse was easy, but in reality this has always been extremely high-end and complex."

"Never mind spiritual energy interference; even if a single heat shield on the rocket fails, the whole rocket must be scrapped."

Having said that, everyone wore bitter expressions, many with worried faces, fearing that if Lin An heard this news he would just abandon them.

Although they hadn't had much contact with the outside world, just from the chat channels they could see how brutal survival outside was.

In the apocalypse, we don't support the useless.

Looking at Lin An lost in thought, Zeng Hongtian glanced at a colleague, afraid he sounded useless, and hastily added:

"General Lin An, like this... actually we can still help manufacture artillery and missiles and such!"

"Look at that guy crouching on the ground—he's familiar with ballistics! Another is a fuel expert, and there's someone versed in meteorology!"

"We're useful, really useful!"

Although they said that, their hearts remained uneasy.

Having sensed Zeng Hongtian's self-doubt about being useless, Lin An merely pondered briefly and then asked:

"Satellite can't be launched—what are the main problems?"

"Is it insufficient launch fuel, or lack of instrument calibration?"

Lin An naturally knows that launching rockets at this stage is no less than a fantasy, but since Chu An has this plan, he also trusts Chu An.

He asked this purely out of curiosity.

A few seconds later, seeing that Lin An seemed unwilling to give up on launching the satellite, Zeng Hongtian's voice came out a little hoarse:

"Both, or rather there are hundreds of problems..."

"Have you seen the rocket on the launch pad inside the base? That one was actually fueled up 24 hours before the apocalypse broke out."

"But after such a long time, we seriously suspect the fuel inside has leaked and the outer protective layer has failed."

"To repair it would be no less than rebuilding half a rocket."

"Moreover, you know that for a rocket to reach the sky, no angle can be off; without instruments and electronic control calibration, who knows where this thing will end up..."

A few minutes later, after listening to the questions raised by everyone present, Lin An's eyes flickered.

The problems were indeed excessive to the point that just listening to them was enough to make one want to give up.

However, the main problem among them is that spiritual energy interference causes various components and instruments to malfunction.

Unlike what everyone imagined—that he would give up—amidst the uneasy gazes of the crowd, Lin An keenly grasped the key problem:

"So, the key problem lies in the electronic controls, right?"

"If this problem can be solved, the other problems aren't a big deal, are they?"

"I think..."

His eyes flickering, Lin An recalled the electronic equipment usable within Long An—vacuum tubes... a specialized electronic component system developed for a nuclear war backdrop.

"Would replacing the current technology with vacuum tubes work? Even without computer assistance in the last century, satellites could still be launched successfully."

"Can we recreate it?"

Seeing Lin An unwilling to give up, Zeng Hongtian gave a bitter smile, nodded, then shook his head.

"Lord Lin An, theoretically it's possible. But the rocket would have to be made much larger."

"But the main problem is, we don't know how... our country has hardly developed vacuum tube technology at all, after all, that stuff has long been eliminated..."

After a moment, he gritted his teeth and, somewhat dejectedly, spoke of a possible solution.

"Unless..."

He pondered deeply:

"Unless we go to Soviet Russia! In the 1970s, Soviet Russia heavily developed this technology! They even built computers using purely mechanical gears and vacuum tubes! If there's any way to make the rocket operate normally, perhaps obtaining their technology could achieve it."

Lin An nodded slightly after hearing this, his brow twitching.

"Soviet War Zone?"

"If there is a way to launch the rocket, the best approach would be to combine vacuum tube technology with spiritual energy technology."

"But for some reason, he suddenly felt that many clues actually converged on Soviet Russia."

Vacuum tubes, the Military Region that disappeared while heading to Longjiang, the Red Tower disaster, the Death God Set...

Under his strong sixth sense, he always felt that these things, though seemingly unrelated, actually seemed to have some kind of internal connection.

Just as he hesitated about whether to change his upcoming plans.

Zeng Hongtian, who had originally mentioned Soviet Russia, suddenly slapped his forehead:

"Oh, right!"

"Lord Lin An! I remember the question you asked earlier!"

"You weren't asking what happened with our meteorite fragment, were you?"

"At that time, the fragment pierced the body of a child who had come to visit the space exhibition, and then many strange things happened!"

"Afterward, the military here directly took that child and disappeared!"

"Huh?!"

"Fragments, child?"

Lin An's eyes narrowed, and he suddenly realized something in his intuition:

"A child!? Boy or girl?"

"Was he holding anything in his hand?!"

Seeing Lin An suddenly question him, Zeng Hongtian, who had just recalled this, thought for a moment and then hurriedly replied:

"Yes!"

"It was a little boy holding an astronaut model! At that time, the fragment completely pierced his chest!"