Scholar’s Advanced Technological System

Hundreds of thousands of kilometres away in lunar orbit.

Not far from the Moon Palace Space Station, a six-sided prism-shaped silver-white device was thrown from the cargo compartment of the Magpie Bridge and fell towards the surface of the Moon.

As early as a few months ago, the Jinling Institute of Advanced Studies launched a project within the United Nations on the research and development of the moon's surface automation mining equipment.

Today, the project has made some progress. This 300 million RMB device, called the "Pioneer", is one of the results of the project's research and is primarily responsible for the initial mining of titanium-rich moon rocks.

If the device is deployed successfully and is able to work successfully. As a next step, the Moon Orbit Construction Committee will consider the continued deployment of an automated vacuum self-consuming arc smelter on the lunar surface to process the extracted titanium ore into titanium ingots or even titanium alloys to fill the structural material requirements of part of the Moon Palace Phase II project and the Moon Research Facility.

Silver-white prism-shaped equipment slowly approached the lunar surface due to the traction of the moon's gravity and inertia.

And as it gets closer and closer to the Moon, the two crew members stationed on the Moon Palace and the pilots on the Magpie Bridge also tense their faces unexpectedly.

“Impact countdown… 5, 4, 3, 2, 1… landing successful! ”

“Expand the mounting bracket! ”

At the moment when the silver-white prism came into contact with the moon, the dust of the grey moon burst into the sky under the impact of mining equipment.

The fixing scaffold on the side of the device quickly opened and, like four hooks, was nailed to the moon rock beneath the foot.

The two Lunar Palace staff members who had not dared to loosen their eyes on the screen for a moment had finally relieved themselves and returned to their mission immediately after simply celebrating each other by clapping their hands.

“This is the Lunar Palace. The Lunar Automated Mining Equipment Experimental Type has been successfully landed. Request instructions for the next step. ”

“This is the Ground Command Centre. Congratulations on completing your mission. Please check the deployment of the Moon Automated Mining Equipment and, if you confirm no abnormalities, start the next test subject in 10 minutes. ”

“Copy that.”

All testing items were skillfully completed and staff on the Lunar Palace pressed the button to start the device as soon as it was determined that the device had been successfully deployed.

Almost at the same time the button was pressed, the signal lights at the top of the automatic mining unit flashed slightly, as if they were responding to the call of the Lunar Palace, moving like a giant beast crawling on the moon.

The alloy plate at the bottom opens slowly, then the big drill bit protrudes from it and is nailed to the moon soil.

As the drill bit begins to rotate and pushes down, the titanium-containing lunar rock that stands in front is quickly cut into countless pieces. After treatment through a spiral shaped crushed mine pipeline, it emerges from the discharge port on the side of the device.

Until the accompanying smelting unit is deployed, the entire outlet of the automatic mining unit will be connected to the smelting unit through a special pipeline and transported into the smelting furnace under the crawler to achieve full automation production.

But now, the titanium lunar rock that was mined can only be piled here, so it is not necessary to keep it open after confirming that the device can operate successfully.

“The device was activated successfully and is in good working condition. ”

“Make it stop. ”

“Copy that.”

As the drill bit slowly stops and enters the belly of the mining device, the fragmented ore no longer bursts out of the discharge port.

Due to the low gravity of the moon, however, the flying dust of the moon is slow to settle.

Standing next to the starboard window of the moon palace cabin, looking far away at the dusty moon, Johnson opened his mouth and filled his face with shock.

“God… what are the Chinese doing to the Moon? ”

Nobody answered him.

Because Jones stood next to him, the expression on his face wasn't much calmer at the moment.

All she saw was the Chinese throwing something off the spacecraft, and rolling lunar dust covered the sky as if it had been hit by a missile.

“Are they… testing weapons on the moon? ”

He remained silent for a while until, as the station moved slowly, the moon-dust-covered "worksite” disappeared into his sight, and he spoke like a spoken to himself.

“… I hope not. ”

Theoretically impossible, the peaceful development and use of outer space resources was a consensus among nations, with experts from all over the world on board and countless other astronomical observatories on Earth pointing the camera this way.

If the Chinese are going to test their weapons on the moon, they must be crazy.

Johnson was more willing to believe what they were planning to build on the surface of the Moon, just like the planting unit they deployed a while ago.

Looking at the captain next to him, Jones asked in a somewhat worried tone: "Speaking of which... when can we go home? ”

Johnson shook his head: “I don't know. ”

“What about Tevye? I can't even see him lately. ”

Johnson was silent for a while and continued.

“Something may be going on over there. ”

“I hear... he seems to be infected with a terrible Mars virus. Are we also...” Thinking of something terrible, Jones's face is pale.

Looking at his teammates, Johnson whispered comfort even though he was upset.

“Rest assured that the world's leading biologists, whether Tevy or us, will eventually be safe here. ”

That's what he said, but there's nothing in his heart.

Previously, he had a brief conversation with NASA when he reported peace to the North American public through the communications device of the Lunar Palace.

Fortunately, the Chinese had not prevented him from knowing the truth, and in his communication with the NASA director, he had basically learned a rough idea of what was going on.

Simply put, they host an extremely resilient Mars bacterium that can have an unpredictable impact on the Earth's ecosystem. So they were temporarily isolated from the station, and after some time they were transferred to a research facility on the surface of the moon for placement.

As for what their end result would be, and if this bacteria proved to be unbeatable, even the world's top biologists couldn't help themselves, what would they end up with? Johnson doesn't even dare think deep.

Perhaps the best solution would be for the three of them to sacrifice their lives on their own initiative, and even he could feel implicitly that Director Carson had so implied himself when he spoke to him.

However, life is only one thing for anyone, no matter what the glory is behind it, how easy it is to give up on your own initiative?

At this point, the hatch door of the living compartment suddenly opened.

The Chinese researcher who had previously examined them, accompanied by two astronauts, drifted into the living compartment and stood in front of them.

Johnson was subconsciously nervous, but quickly relaxed and asked.

“What's the matter? Have you made progress? ”

When asked, Johnson had reported no hope. After all, only a few days had passed since the arrival of international experts on the Moon Palace. It was too difficult to find a solution in such a short period of time.

However, Zhao Shuxuan's words were unexpected.

“A little bit. ”

Looking at Johnson with a surprise on his face, Zhao Shuxuan paused for a moment and continued in a serious tone, “In order to test our side of the conjecture, I need you to cooperate with us in some experiments. ”