Reborn Before the Apocalypse: My Backing is the Nation

Chapter 64 Feeling Good (2-in-1 Chapter)

On the second screen on the left, a man with a similar short haircut and a resolute expression immediately stood up and saluted Sun Changhe across the screen: "Astronaut No. 24, Tong Zheng, reporting to you!"

Sun Changhe's voice was full of seriousness: "The Doomsday Project Command has decided that you will be the first to carry out a space mission!"

"Yes!"

At this moment, even the astronauts, whose discipline was ingrained in their bones and whose will was as strong as steel, showed a slight restlessness.

"Commander! I request to take Comrade Tong Zheng's place as the first to carry out the mission, I..."

"Chief!"

Dozens of different voices rang out at the same time.

Sun Changhe's words were stern and solemn: "Pay attention to discipline!"

Almost simultaneously, all the astronauts instinctively straightened up in their seats and answered, "Yes!"

No one dared to utter a single word, no one dared to question the decision made at that moment.

On the screen, the astronaut named Tong Zheng stood straight, as firm as a pine tree.

He raised his arm, maintaining a salute, first facing his companions, then the base's logistics and research personnel, then the screen, facing Sun Changhe, and then turned around, maintaining a marching posture as he walked out of the conference hall.

In front of Jiang Yang, the image on another screen suddenly switched and focused on Tong Zheng.

He quickly arrived at the launch pad building by shuttle bus. There, a conical spacecraft, wider at one end and narrower at the other, with a total length of just over five meters, had already been loaded into the payload bay of the Tormentor II rocket.

The spacecraft contained only a few essential scientific research devices, such as radiometers and physiological monitoring equipment. Apart from that, it only had life support facilities, temperature control equipment, food, water and oxygen reserves, and communication antennas.

It has been simplified to the extreme. It can basically be regarded as a rudimentary iron shell that can sustain human survival in space for a short period of time.

If the launch is successful, Tong Zheng will spend the last few days before the apocalypse inside this metal shell, and then either die in the apocalypse, or... die in the cold and darkness when energy and resources are exhausted.

After putting on his intravehicular activity suit, Tong Zheng lay down at the bottom of the cone-shaped spacecraft and methodically connected various monitoring devices to himself.

His arm was extremely steady and precise, like an embroiderer carefully embroidering in a peaceful environment.

His expression showed no sign of tension, or even any emotion, as if he were not on a mission that would result in certain death, but rather on a spring outing.

In less than half an hour, everything was ready.

Fuel loading is now complete. Small amounts of cryogenic fuel are leaking from the bottom of the rocket, creating patches of mist around it.

"Reporting, sir, rocket number 267 is ready and requests launch!"

Sun Changhe uttered those two words in a deep voice: "Launch!"

"Yes! Countdown, 10, 9... 1, 0, ignition!"

A fiery plume of flame once again shot out from the rocket's tail and was clearly transmitted to the conference room where Jiang Yang was located via an unmanned camera.

Also transmitted were video feeds from inside the spacecraft.

Tong Zheng lay quietly at the bottom of the spaceship, motionless, as if he were resting. He seemed to have no regard for the 800-ton fuel beneath him, which, if it exploded, would be equivalent to more than 2000 tons of TNT.

After the launch pad separation was completed, the giant rocket, weighing over 1000 tons, began to slowly ascend into the air.

At this moment, countless gazes converged on Rocket and Tong Zheng. At this moment, countless hearts leaped into their throats.

Jiang Yang saw that Zhou Yu, whose eyes were still red and swollen, had forgotten to wipe away her tears. She was staring intently at the screen, her fingers gripping the hem of her clothes so tightly that her knuckles turned white.

He noticed that Professor Chen Yusheng, a leading figure in China's aerospace industry and the chief person in charge of the rocket launch program, was trembling slightly.

In the entire doomsday plan, Professor Chen Yusheng was the one who carried out the specific tasks. These nearly 300 rockets can be seen as being manufactured by the forces he personally organized.

He also noticed that Gu Changshan, who was usually inscrutable, had a tense expression, and that Sun Changhe looked more solemn than ever before.

The rocket soared higher and higher, gradually becoming a point of light in the sky. Inside the spacecraft, Tong Zheng remained serene.

But suddenly, he frowned slightly and sniffed the air.

The immense overload pressure made his speech difficult, but still clear: "Deep Space One reporting, I smell something burning, but I can't determine the source at the moment..."

Before he could finish speaking, several piercing alarms blared simultaneously. The next moment, the somber voice of the ground commander rang out: "Reporting to Commander-in-Chief, sixth diverter malfunction, separator malfunction, engine number three malfunction..."

Jiang Yang's heart sank instantly.

He knew that none of these malfunctions could be eliminated now that the rocket had already been launched.

So……

Tong Zheng's expression was calm yet tinged with solemnity, and his voice remained steady: "Comrades, for the country and the people!"

The next moment, the screen suddenly disappeared.

Jiang Yang looked up and saw a huge, blazing fireball appear in the sky once again.

Professor Chen Yusheng swayed slightly and leaned against the wall to barely stand.

The meeting room was completely silent.

The astronauts remained seated solemnly.

Sun Changhe glanced at the document in his hand, then looked up after a moment: "Li Hui, step forward!"

"Astronaut Li Hui, number 16, reporting for duty!"

In the conference room where Jiang Yang was, a man with a similar short haircut stood up.

"The Doomsday Project Command has decided that you will be the second to carry out the space mission!"

"Yes!"

He strode confidently to the door, saluted everyone in the meeting room, and then turned and left.

A moment later, in the live broadcast, Jiang Yang saw him appear in the same cone-shaped spaceship as before.

"emission!"

Jiang Yang closed his eyes, silently offering his blessings. Then Sun Changhe's voice rang out again: "Zhao Jianguo, step forward!"

"Yes!"

"Qian Liang, step forward!"

"Yes!"

"Wei Han, step forward!"

"Yes!"

……

One rocket after another roared into the sky, never to return;
Similarly, one astronaut after another stepped forward, taking firm steps without hesitation, and marched to the launch pad, never to return.

Professor Chen Yusheng was now completely slumped in the corner, his eyes lifeless and his expression numb.

"Zhang Jian, step forward!"

"Yes!"

Gently stroking the almost imperceptible bumps on his fingertips, Zhang Jian resolutely stood up and, like his comrades who had rushed to the battlefield without hesitation, headed to the launch site without a second thought.

His image also appeared on the screen.

Professor Chen Yusheng suddenly got up and knelt down in front of the huge rocket on the screen with a thud, repeatedly slamming his head against the ground.

I beg you, I beg you!

Please, just this once! I'm begging you! I'll kowtow to you!

……

On the large screen, Zhang Jian remained calm. Following the pre-set procedure, he methodically connected various cables and pipes to his spacesuit, then operated the various buttons and devices inside the spacecraft one by one. Amidst a hazy white mist, the enormous rocket stood silently, pointing straight to the sky.

In the solemn atmosphere of the conference hall, only Professor Chen Yusheng's voice, which sounded like a crow cawing at night, echoed, accompanied by the thud of his head hitting the ground.

No one helped him up, and no one comforted him.

It wasn't that people resented him and treated him coldly, but rather... everyone present had the urge to pray to some unseen being.

Amidst these sounds, the commanding voice of the on-site commander rang out: "Prepare for launch, countdown... 3, 2, 1, 0! Ignition!"

Chen Yusheng's body suddenly stiffened, and he stood there motionless and silent, as if afraid that any slight movement of his might trigger something bad from the unseen world.

As before, blazing flames erupted from the tail of the rocket, propelling the massive rocket body, weighing over 1000 tons, slowly into the air.

The rumbling sound was deafening, then gradually subsided.

Clearly, the rocket has risen to a certain altitude.

Then came a long silence. Until Sun Changhe's voice rang out again: "Li Chengyu, step forward!"

"Yes!"

Another astronaut stepped forward, saluted, and walked out.

Professor Chen Yusheng, who was kneeling on the ground, suddenly went limp. His strong body, which clearly showed that he paid great attention to exercise and was no less than that of a young man, was now lying on the ground like a puddle of mud.

Jiang Yang's gaze remained fixed on the large screen.

He saw the rocket launch rapidly again, quickly disappearing into the clouds.

However, images and signals from aerial cameras and the rocket's own cameras continued to come in, allowing people to clearly see its current state.

It rose to a height of several thousand meters.

Jiang Yang's heart began to race again.

This altitude is the most dangerous. A significant number of previous rockets exploded and disintegrated at this altitude.

Following the rocket's camera, Jiang Yang saw the land below rapidly shrink, gradually revealing clouds and a blue sea, and the Earth finally took on a spherical shape.

"Third-stage rocket separation!"

In the footage, the explosive bolts connecting the third-stage rocket body, which had run out of fuel and become a burden, to the second-stage rocket suddenly detonated, and a burst of fire flashed and disappeared.

The next moment, the third-stage rocket, which occupied half the length of the entire rocket body, separated from the upper stage and began to fall under the influence of Earth's gravity.

"Second stage rocket ignition!"

A burst of intense heat suddenly erupted from the rocket body, which had been shortened by half, taking over the former's task and propelling the remaining rocket section upwards with its surging power.

"Second stage rocket separation!"

"Jet the fairing!"

……

After a series of instructions were given, the conference hall fell silent. At that moment, Jiang Yang could even clearly hear his own heartbeat.

bang bang bang bang bang...

Jumping faster than ever before.

He even felt as if some unknown entity was choking him, making it difficult to breathe.

Then a voice suddenly rang out: "Successfully entered the designated orbit!"
Launch... a success!

call--

The invisible force that had been gripping Jiang Yang's throat vanished abruptly. Air surged into his lungs like a tidal wave.

He gasped for breath, only then realizing that he was covered in cold sweat.

It's a success! It's finally a success...

He turned his head with some difficulty and looked at Professor Chen Yusheng, who was slumped on the ground. He saw him struggle to get up, kneel on the ground again, and burst into tears like a child.

At this moment, Jiang Yang felt no urge to laugh. He too felt an urge to cry.

"Earth, Earth, this is Deep Space 16. I am feeling well."

In the footage, astronaut Li Chengyu is already suspended in the weightless spacecraft.

His expression remained calm, as if what he had just experienced was merely a trivial matter.

Jiang Yang glanced at the data displaying his heart rate and saw that it was 59 beats per minute.

And this number, from the moment he entered the cabin, the rocket was launched, until it successfully entered orbit, a total of more than ten minutes, seems to have never fluctuated by more than 10%.

"Earth received. Please perform the following checks and await further instructions."

"Deep Space 16 received."

……

Following the crowd to the outside of the launch site, Jiang Yang saw three huge rockets still standing around the launch site, pointing straight to the sky.

He knew that at that moment, there were a total of nine rockets at the five launch sites.

The launch mission has been completed, and these nine rockets can be temporarily stored away; there's no need to take any more risks.

After a few hours of rest, Jiang Yang returned to the command center.

In just a few hours, the spaceship that had been launched into space had already circled the Earth five times.

During its more than 20-kilometer voyage, it also completed the necessary orbital adjustments and is ready to proceed to the next step.

"Ignite the engine!"

The next moment, in space, the tail of the cone-shaped spaceship once again emitted a blazing fire, propelling it to increase its speed once more.

A few minutes later, the engine shut off.

In just a few minutes, it has completely changed its orbit around the Earth.

Its apogee extends to 70 kilometers away, perpendicular to the line connecting the Earth and the Moon.

Over the next few days, it will slowly fly there, and then restart propulsion at the apogee. In this way, its orbit will be adjusted into an approximately circular orbit with the Earth at its center and a radius of 70 kilometers.

This number is approximately 100 times the radius of the Earth.

If those high-energy neutrinos from the moon were aimed at Earth, then the spacecraft would almost certainly have dodged them.

In the vast sky, Li Chengyu slowly traveled towards deep space aboard this small spaceship.

The matter at the launch site is now resolved, and there are still over 100 hours until the end of the world.

"Let's go."

After calling out to Zhou Yu, the group boarded the helicopter and headed towards Doomsday Base 7.

Gazing at the undulating mountains below, a thought silently arose in Jiang Yang's mind.

"We have done everything we could in this lifetime. Now let's just wait for the outcome..."

Zhou Yu suddenly spoke up, his voice filled with anger.

"Jiang Yang, look, news of our rocket launch failures has spread online. Those despicable foreign devils dare to say such things about us."

Jiang Yang took the phone and glanced at it, then chuckled to himself.

　To maintain the continuity of the storyline, today's two chapters have been combined into one and posted together. There won't be any more tonight.

　　In addition, the author noticed that the monthly votes have already exceeded 3000, and the number of chapters owed has been increased to 4. This has been noted, so readers can rest assured.
　　
　
(End of this chapter)