Chapter 580 - 568: Covert Helper

Yu Ziming gently pressed his palm against the surface of the rocket, and a chill immediately filled his palm and fingers, but it wasn’t bone-chilling, more like the cold storage section of a fridge.

He retracted a finger and licked a drop of water that clung to it, surprisingly pure.

"01, report your observations."

There was a burst of static over the radio for a few seconds, then Academician She’s voice came through from the command center.

"Report to Commander, visual conditions are good, temperature is above freezing point, no icing observed, no fuel leaks detected, end of report!"

"Command Center understands, Group 1, prepare for the second round of re-inspection, all personnel to evacuate in 35 minutes!"

"Understood!"

Academician She set down the communicator and continued to focus on the monitors divided into densely packed areas.

Each screen’s bottom right corner was ticking off the time, it was now 03:44 Beijing time, with 136 minutes to launch.

The Qiongzhou Command Center initially started as a simple rented factory space for Xinyuan’s convenience, but later the Space Agency also found that setting up a command post nearby was more convenient than remote control from Beijing. Subsequently, they remodeled the place, taking advantage of hindsight to build a larger and equally functional facility.

Besides these two, only New Far Base has a comprehensive manned/unmanned command center, with Beijing and Qiongzhou Command Centers being used more frequently most of the time.

Now, the large hall was filled with workers in blue and black-and-white uniforms, the latter being fewer in number, which were Xinyuan Company’s work clothes.

The thousands of people completely packed the expansive hall, with still more walking around at any given moment; Claire had only seen such a scene in broadcasts of the lunar missions from decades earlier.

Her meeting with Academician She was brief, mainly because the latter was extremely busy; Claire understood this and, after exchanging a few words, was guided to the reception area next to the command center.

The reception area gathered official observers from various countries, with a selection of live streams also being broadcast there. However, security didn’t stop them from squeezing behind the back door of the command center to peek through—leaving a small gap was acceptable.

In 1969, when Apollo 11 landed on the moon, Claire was still training at the Naval Flight School and then went on to serve in Annan in the following years.

At 23, his most vivid memory was watching the countless NACA staff on a 14-inch color CRT monitor; but later, as technology advanced and the need for personnel decreased significantly, there was no longer a need for so many people, except for the monster CZ-18, which still had a frightening demand.

Academician She was eight years his senior and during that era was probably still on the Gobi Desert grunting while researching how to increase missile range, following the technical path, unlike Claire, who only later became an astronaut and transferred to work at NACA.

However, Claire’s feeling now was that this place was recreating the former glory of NACA, not by replicating their success, but by presenting once again the brave spirit toward the cosmos to the world.

Many people at NACA used to think that their Chinese counterparts were too focused on "practicality," but now, such views seemed outdated.

"hallooooo, Mr. Boden."

Borisov was delighted to catch the former NACA Director here, but the latter clearly was not too pleased to be found "spying" and nodded before retreating toward the reception room.

But Borisov was not willing to let him go so easily and quickly stepped forward to follow him.

Now it could barely be considered a gathering of the leaders of the three space authorities; how could he be so aloof!

...

"Phew... the air down here is really heavy and damp."

"Watch your step... don’t be so hasty."

"Got it, Captain."

Although he was admonishing others, Yu Ziming himself was actually taking deep, laborious breaths.

The air pressure at negative one hundred and eighty meters was indeed greater, and the moisture from the seawater was also accumulating there; one wouldn’t feel it while descending rhythmically, but the difference was very noticeable upon reaching the sea surface.

It was now 4:39 a.m., and aside from the four crane ships, all other vessels had already withdrawn. The crane ships were also in the process of detaching the steel cables tethering the launch box from the ship, clearly preparing to evacuate as well.

Waiting for the two diver teams were two 022 missile boats, catamarans capable of speeding across the water at 50 knots (92 kilometers per hour), perfectly suited for any potential emergency situation.

Although the lights were still on at the distant dock, 80% of the personnel had already evacuated, and the remaining few would quickly depart within 50 minutes. It was clear that the launch time was not delayed.

After more than two hours of patrolling under high illumination and pressure, Yu Ziming was utterly exhausted. Just as he was pulled into the cabin by friendly forces and was thinking of resting for a while, a sailor pulled him up and seated him on a chair.

"Lieutenant, please hold onto the armrests on both sides. We’re about to carry out a mission."

"What mission?"

"There are others who aren’t afraid to die trying to approach by boat. Tell me, why won’t they listen? Our instructor said that a rocket launch is like a twenty-thousand-ton nuclear bomb explosion. Those little boats will flip several times and everyone on board will be gone.

We are about to go and drive them away, so you better hold on tight."

"..."

Yu Ziming of course knew all this. Because the coast guard’s large ships were somewhat inconvenient for intercepting small boats, the navy had directly deployed 50 022 missile boats to this area to chase away those foolhardy tourists risking their lives.

Because this was a temporary deployment, these 022s were still equipped with missiles; 50 boats carried a total of 300 Eagle Strike-83 missiles. Even an aircraft carrier fleet would have to go around them, creating a huge intercept range with considerable flexibility.

Within a few minutes, the missile boat, merrily carrying the diver who had just been fished out, began to accelerate, cutting through an elegant arc before quickly raising a towering spray of water, charging straight towards a small white dot in the distance.

The remaining four work boats also quickly ditched all their steel cables, which naturally dangled and fell into the water. The other end connected to the launch box was now completely free of any restraints from the surroundings and began to bob up and down gently, secured only by the anchor cable at the very bottom.

The four boats split into two teams and accelerated away in opposite directions. They were expected to reach the safety zone 10 kilometers away in 25 minutes, although in reality the security perimeter was only 3 kilometers. This distance was further marked with a large number of buoys for observation and signal transmission.

However, this did not mean that the command center was completely in the dark about the launch area. Only a very few people knew that underneath the sea, a group of "people" were still busy at work.

Those were the latest "Warrior One" submersible suits, boasting thick, semi-rigid shells. Fearlessly embracing the submersibles, they had been waiting down there for a week, covertly solving numerous big problems for humanity.

Their mission would continue until the moment of launch, which also meant that they would directly face the chaotic currents that followed. How many would survive afterward was an unknown.

Inside the command center, Academician She held up his left wrist, comparing the time on his watch with that on the screen. When the hand pointed to 5:10 a.m., he issued the command:

"Begin flooding, twenty-nine thousand tons of water, activate Gate A, and the rest of the gates stand by!"