Chapter 390 - 382: Huge Waves_1

Edo Mansion.

In a secluded part of the city, a second-floor balcony door was half open, and if someone happened to pass by directly underneath, they could hear curses and the sound of collisions coming from above.

Four men, who appeared to be just over fifty years old, were kneeling disheveled on the tatami mats, surrounded by scattered bottles of liquor.

One of them picked up a grilled bird from the table, took a small bite, then gulped down half a bottle of sake with ferocity.

"Bang!"

He slammed his hand down on the table, and then a voice full of resentment filled the room:

"Insects, all insects! All bowing to the US cattle!"

"Gentlemen, look at them. Despite countless street speeches, when have they ever truly listened to the voice of the people? How could such insects govern the country well?"

He raised his hand feebly, shook it a few times, and pointed out the window.

"Space is so grand, so wonderful, yet in their eyes, it’s nothing more than a public relations project to appease the citizens. They even collaborated with the Indians and invested billions of dollars, it’s a crime against the people!"

The other three finally came to their senses and nodded, with Yamamoto Ikki being the best drinker and still able to grumble. The others were already in a state of drunken stupor.

Yamamoto Ikki looked at his drinking pals with a tinge of sadness. He was getting on in years and was nothing but a low-tier salaryman. How could he possibly revitalize the country?

Meanwhile, Parliament member Nakayama Juji was one of the few sober and benevolent people who constantly had the people’s interests at heart. He was always trying to broker aerospace cooperation with the other side of the sea, but unfortunately, with enemies in Nagatacho, his efforts were always thwarted.

The alcohol slowly hit Yamamoto Ikki and his vision blurred. He accidentally fell onto the remote control, and the TV suddenly turned on with the sound erupting:

"...Kyoto TV Station brings you this coverage... breaking news... Storm’s nuclear-powered spacecraft is flying to the Moon..."

Barely catching a few key words, Yamamoto Ikki strained to open his eyes and then saw images of the Storm and the rolling news on the screen.

As the information trickled into his brain, his drunken stupor was quickly replaced by shock, and he stared incredulously at the female host, wondering if he was hallucinating from the drink.

He shook his head vigorously and checked his phone; the cover videos on YouTube were all about Storm’s striking spacecraft.

Minutes later, a half-naked man suddenly appeared on the street, screaming and dancing, yelling something.

The nearby patrol officers hurried over, only to hear him pointing excitedly at the sky, repeatedly shouting:

"The yellow race is heading to the Moon, Asians are heading to the Moon!"

...

"Welcome to the evening news..."

Zhou Qingfeng walked in the door and immediately heard the voice from the TV, then nonchalantly tossed his schoolbag onto the table and flopped onto the couch.

His grandfather wasn’t there but had probably just stepped out, likely to buy some groceries.

After lying down for a few minutes, Zhou Qingfeng reached for the remote to change the channel. There wasn’t much worth watching in terms of cartoons at this time, but it certainly beat watching the Central News.

"...On this special day, our nation’s space exploration has taken another significant step forward..."

Space exploration? This was worth listening to, Zhou Qingfeng lifted his finger from the button.

"At 10:38 this morning, the Storm spacecraft separated from the space station to conduct a planned flight test. By around four in the afternoon, it entered the Earth-Moon transfer orbit, getting ready to test its long-distance flying capability with the Moon as its target.

It is reported that Storm is carrying enough supplies for seven astronauts to live for more than 20 days, and it has been granted stronger radiation protection to cope with the high-energy radiation in the Moon’s orbit.

This will be our country’s first manned exploration mission to the Moon and will also be the world’s fastest Moon exploration mission to date. The Central Television Station will conduct a live broadcast of Storm’s flight from 5 am to 9 am tomorrow morning.

Next is a statement from Aerospace Development Committee member Zhao Zong during an interview with the media..."

Zhou Qingfeng: "!"

No wonder the teachers seemed odd today, ending class without dragging on and letting them go to the playground to kick soccer balls for two hours. He couldn’t believe he had missed such a big event!

He rushed to his room, turned on his computer, and logged into the forum with practiced ease. The front page was all about Storm with even shareable links everywhere.

Clicking on it brought him to New Yuan’s official website, which now featured a "Live Mission" section. In the center were several striking lines of text:

"Distance from Storm to the Moon: 319,000 kilometers

Time until the live broadcast starts: 9 hours 33 minutes

Current speed: 12.74 kilometers/second"

Beneath the text was a progress bar with reduced images of Earth and the Moon at each end. A small point at the left end of the bar blinked at a steady rate and slowly crawled toward the right end with each breath.

The words "Acceleration Phase" and "Cruising Phase" turned gray, while "Deceleration Phase" was highlighted.

The background of the page was a space painting, but with a scroll of the mouse wheel, it revealed the seven Storm astronauts’ group photo on the ground, and behind them, the mission badge emblazoned with the words "Skylight No. 1 Manned Lunar Mission" on a blue backdrop.

Clearly, this was a photo taken secretly before departure, only revealed now.

"So cheeky!"