Chapter 1070: Chapter 828: Descent At this moment, on the Moon, amidst the vast expanse of space, as the orbits converge, the Mitra and Liberty Goddess space stations meet once again in this desolate void after six months.
Even when closest, they are over two hundred kilometers apart.
As their armor opened and gradually moved closer, everyone’s expressions turned excited, as if welcoming a war.
Indeed, it was a war, no mistake...
When the scene from the opposite cabin window projected before Huai Shi, he was utterly stunned.
Hundreds of burly men, their faces painted, hair either tied or shaved, baring their upper bodies adorned with countless fierce body paintings and hair.
Holding mop sticks or spears and battle axes temporarily made from steel, their eyes wide with fury, led by the foreman at the front, they roared angrily at the Romans on the opposite space station.
The telecommunications signals from space delivered that thunderous sound without any reservation.
The leader at the forefront even held a live, squawking chicken, which he chopped up on the spot, smearing blood on his face as he loudly demonstrated against the Romans across.
Immediately, the Roman infantry’s hundred-person phalanx began to demonstrate back, returning the display.
They shouted "Rome and Caesar!" in unison.
Then, they proudly raised their voices to sing military songs.
For a moment, voices echoed between the two sides’ communications.
A distance of two hundred kilometers apart, the staff of the two research and observation space stations greeted the long-awaited travelers.
Until three brief minutes passed in an instant.
The stations crossed each other on the orbit.
In the final moments, the foremen waved goodbye, arranging a reunion in six months.
Then, the once mighty soldiers began busily cleaning up the garbage and stuff dropped in the cabin.
Huai Shi stared dumbfounded the entire time, sipping on the empty watermelon jelly in his mouth.
"Please pardon us; during long periods of travel in space, it’s rare to see outsiders. Sometimes, when we encounter something, everyone gets overly excited."
The foreman removed his helmet and proudly explained to Huai Shi, "But those Americans lost again! How can their cosplay compare to our real thing? This year’s Space Warrior Cup is surely ours on the Mitra!"
"Amazing, you even have competitions!"
"Yeah, it’s initiated by the Egypt Bastet Space Station, an annual event, with the Current Circumstances Spaceflight Council awarding prizes. It’s truly an honor for every astronaut!"
Isn’t it a bit excessive to have a trophy for space role-playing?
Huai Shi could only offer a round of applause in admiration.
You’re the ones who know how to have fun.
But not knowing how to have fun is not an option...
In a place where everyone’s term is generally one year, sharing cramped quarters with twenty people, where queuing is required for using the toilet and shower water is reused, if you don’t know how to have fun, you’ll be driven mad facing a heap of instruments and data every day.
It’s nothing more than finding joy amidst hardship.
No soft drinks, no privacy, not even any adult content; with hundreds of people living in an iron box, amidst endless work and data handling, even the most homebound otaku wouldn’t tolerate it.
Pioneering in Hell would be a bit better than this job.
At least you can go outside.
Going outside here, once you run out of oxygen, it’s instant death.
The void of the universe is overwhelmingly vast; even traversing between the Earth and Moon system is lengthy enough to numb one. By comparison, everyone is merely an ant curled up inside a box.
The melancholic mood didn’t last long.
Just as the space station was about to turn past the dark side of the moon, in the external projection, everyone saw, at the end of the lunar surface, something rise—a slender light beam, like a sharp iron needle piercing from the inside out, breaking through the Moon’s crust, pointing toward Current Circumstances.
"What’s that?"
Huai Shi scratched his head, peering: "Fireworks? A Moon festival?"
"That’s a secondary emergency alert, sir—" The foreman’s expression turned serious: "Something may have gone wrong at the prison, warning everyone to beware of escapees."
"Escape?"
Huai Shi was stunned for a long time, finding it difficult to imagine.
In such a place, buried under the lunar surface, where one would suffocate if oxygen supply is cut, someone managed to escape? This isn’t anywhere you can just snag a protective suit and run.
Leaving aside the layers of internal defense, the harsh external conditions alone would be enough to drive all escapees to despair.
A thousand kilometers of uninhabited territory could trap any escapee.
Hypothermia, death; suffocation, death; starvation, death...
And the nearest supply station is 2,100 kilometers away. Mathematicians have precisely calculated monthly supplies, down to every starch and screw.
Since the construction of the lunar prison, four Fifth Stage Sublimators have served time there, along with countless scholars and alchemists, even some creators and great grandmasters among them.
No one has been able to leave.
Among the exceptions, no one has seen their release day.
"Mr. Huai Shi, I’m afraid your journey is going to be impacted."