“What’s the situation in the Mars colony?” Jiang Chen asked Kelvin as they sat down in the first-class cabin.
“SS Origin has departed six days ago and will reach Mar’s orbit at this time tomorrow at the latest. By then, our new weapons and reinforcements will also arrive on Mars, which should help us gain a certain advantage,” Kelvin replied.
On the way to the Kuiper Belt, SS Origin would use Mars’ gravity to adjust its direction, and at the same time test SS Origin’s orbital docking performance.
Because it was on the way, Celestial Trade attached Future Military’s newly designed weapons and equipment suitable for the Mars environment to the external warehouse on SS Origin. Once the ship entered the orbit, it would drop it down to the surface.
“Where are the specimens?” Jiang Chen asked, “How long will it take to return to Celestial City?”
“The first batch of specimens were loaded onto the rocket last week and will arrive at the latest the day after tomorrow… shall we notify our allies?” Kelvin responded.
After Jiang Chen contemplated for a while, he said, “Once the specimens have arrived, let’s keep this information confidential for the time being. I will select some scientists from Future Biology to form a Corruptor research project group, and then discuss whether to disclose the information to our allies.”
Kelvin nodded. “Okay, then I’ll make the necessary adjustments.”
The express train quickly arrived at its destination.
After the train made a full stop, the two went to Project 071 Department at the Space Command Center together.
It was a coincidence that just before the two men stepped through the command room, Kelvin’s assistant passed a document into his hand.
Kelvin glanced over the file and started to frown.
A moment later, Kelvin put away the file, looked at Jiang Chen, and smiled wearily, “One bad news, one good news, which one do you want to hear first?”
“…let’s start with the bad news.”
“The bad news is that our colony on Mars was under siege by bugs,” Kelvin replied.
Jiang Chen’s eyebrows twitched intensively when he heard this.
“… what about the good news?”
There was a smile on Kelvin’s face, “The good news is that we have prepared the wall in advance. With the support of TS Expedition, our army blocked the bug’s assault.”
Jiang Chen slowly let out a long breath of air, looked at the holographic screen directly in front of the command room.
On the satellite image sent from the TS Expedition, the sand outside the colony was stained an unhealthy dark green by the blood and saliva of Corruptors. Broken limbs were scattered everywhere. However, the situation of the soldiers on the wall was not optimistic either as many people’s equipment was damaged by the corrosive acid.
The bugs already managed to scale the wall and collide with Celestial Marines. Fortunately, the Corruptor’s close combat capabilities were nowhere near that of the Devil Worms. While the battle was dangerous, Celestial Trade managed to win because of their defensive fortifications and the support of the TS Expedition.
After examining the casualty assessment on the screen, Jiang Chen was silent for a while before he suddenly spoke out.
“Don’t you find it strange?”
Kelvin hesitated for a moment, then followed up.
“You mean…”
“Every time we make progress at Mine 071, the troubles just seem to be after us,” Jiang Chen said while he looked at Kelvin. “It’s as if we have a pair of eyes watching us,”
“Watching us?” Kelvin gave a slight nod, and then laughed, “Do you mean, the trouble we encountered is because of someone?”
Jiang Chen didn’t answer. Instead, he folded his arms in front of his chest, stared into the holographic screen, and no longer spoke.
He suddenly realized a possibility …
But he was not sure yet.
He could only verify his guess the next time he returned to the apocalypse.
…
Outside the Mars colony, the billowing dust rolled up almost a thousand meters above the ground and formed a sand wall that covered the sky outside the colony.
Just five minutes ago, dozens of mass bombs dropped from the sky and flattened the dune outside the colony. It created a crater of several meters wide in the desert. Three high-explosive missiles blasted inside the tunnel five kilometers underground and successfully curtailed the attack of the Corruptors.
Taking advantage of this momentary gap, the Celestial Marines fighting on the wall successfully repelled the Corruptors that already scaled onto the wall.
Zhang Hai stood behind cover and looked at the swarms that were starting to retreat. He breathed a sigh of relief and lowered his rifle.
The soldiers withdrew from the wall, medics walked around the battle scene, and researchers in protective suits were escorted by the rover to recover specimens. If casualties and wasted ammunition were not considered, in a sense, this attack was a harvest for Celestial Trade. For at least a year, they would no longer struggle to fulfill the items on the sampling list from the command center.
Zhang Hai reported the team’s casualties to his superior, and then followed the others in the direction of the colony.
After he returned inside, he passed through the buffer cabin and tucked his equipment into a storage cabinet. He took a can of coffee from the vending machine, walked to a bench in the central square, and sat down. Lunchtime had passed, but he didn’t feel the slightest hunger.
He took a sip of the hot coffee. Then he leaned back against the bench with his eyes closed in an attempt to relax his tense nerves.
At this moment, someone came to him and sat down.
Zhang Hai raised one eyelid and saw that the man sitting next to him was Wang Qiang, so he closed his eyes again.
“It’s over?” Wang Qiang opened the canned drink in his hand as he asked casually.
“It’s over for now,” Zhang Hai self-mockingly said and then glanced at Wang Qiang sitting next to him. “Who knows when the next wave will be, and who knows when this will be over… right, how are things going on your side? ”
“You also saw that the base of operation near Mine 071 has been lost. What progress can be made?” Wang Qiang had a bitter smile and shook his head, “Let’s not talk about this. By the way… Koenig. How is he now? ”
“His wound was severely infected, and his entire right arm is gone … probably only Coro City Hospital can cure his injury, but you know, we can’t go anywhere now. We will arrange him to rest in the hibernation chamber until when flights become available next year.”
At this moment, a soldier came over and stood in front of Zhang Hai, then saluted.
“Are you Captain Zhang Hai?”
“What’s wrong?” He looked at the soldier standing in front of him and put his canned coffee on the bench.
“The ship captain is looking for you. Please go to the institute as soon as possible.”
After Zhang Hai took a second to process this information, he noticed that he had forgotten to take out his wrist-mounted computer from the locker. The ship captain probably could not reach him, so he sent someone to look for him.
“I’ll be right there.” Zhang Hai said to the soldier as he picked up his coffee from the bench.
Squatting behind the potted plants in the square, Jenny held her breath nervously and did not dare to breathe loudly.
She had no intention of eavesdropping but just happened to pass by here.
However, after she saw the two sit on the bench, somehow, she made the hotheaded decision to squat down and hid behind the potted plants, and she seemed to have heard some useful information.
A soldier had walked over and stood beside the bench. He seemed to have said something to one of them.
Then the two men sitting on the bench got up together and left the square.
Jenny waited for a while before she nervously peeked her head out from behind the plant. Then she looked at the empty bench.
She slowly slid down against the potted plants and with one hand on her pounding chest, she finally let out a long breath.
Mine 071? The Base of Operation? Progress?
Her experience in journalism not only made her nosy but also gave her intuition for news. For example, right now, her intuition was telling her that Mine 071 was definitely not just as an iron ore mine.
Who would build a military base exclusively to protect a mine?
I have to find a way to get the news back to Earth…
I can’t tell Brace, that coward will definitely stop me!
She stood up from where she was hiding.
She patted her jeans and looked around. When she found no one was around, she pretended that nothing had happened, and quickly walked back to her room.