493: Chapter 473 Manual Mining

The orion astronaut's body recovered faster than his thoughts; his mind was lagging, but his hand had already reached up to rub his eyes to confirm if he was hallucinating.

It wasn't until his gloved right hand struck his helmet that he finally woke up and realized he hadn't lost consciousness or fallen into a dream, but was standing in reality—his spacesuit was still firmly on his body.

So, I really did see a human standing all alone on... the silvery-white desert of the Moon?

As everyone knows.

As one of the countless celestial bodies in the universe, the Moon, due to its own characteristics, lacks an atmosphere to shield life. The entire surface of the planet is subjected to direct radiation of various rays at all times, which not only destroys all forms of life but also makes it difficult for the seeds of life to survive.

However, in the captain's field of vision, a thin figure with white hair was standing on the sandy soil.

White hair?

The captain recalled the Huaxia supernatural videos he had seen: "Mr. Xu from Mountain Gate?"

The crew members finally regained control of their limbs. A female crew member moved her fingers to relieve her seemingly frozen consciousness while whispering, "It's definitely Mr. Xu!"

Although they hadn't seen his face yet, judging by the back of his head, his hairstyle, and the fact that he wasn't wearing any protective equipment, there was no other possibility besides Mr. Xu.

Then a new confusion flooded their brains: why was Mr. Xu here?

Uh, should I go over and say hello?

I heard that Mountain Gate and Mr. Gao are on opposing sides. If I go, will Mr. Gao be angry?

If I don't go, what if Immortal Xu is unhappy?

The captain stood in terror at the edge of a cliff; there was no way left or right. Stepping forward meant falling into a bottomless valley, while a man-eating tiger slowly approached from behind. It seemed he couldn't survive, and he only had to choose between two ways of dying.

In the end, he still walked toward Immortal Xu—perhaps jumping into the valley would lead to a plunge into a pool of water; that's how Huaxia martial arts novels were written.

His soles left a long row of footprints on the coarse sand. After approaching Immortal Xu from behind, the captain, who was prepared to say hello, didn't speak for a long time.

How do you say "hello" in Huaxia's language... again?

The female crew member seemed to sense the captain's dilemma and whispered a reminder: "I think Mr. Xu should be able to understand English."

A male crew member shook his head in disagreement: "I've seriously studied Huaxia culture. Their ancient people defined us as... as barbarians, a very uncouth group. I don't think Mr. Xu would learn the language of barbarians."

"Then what should we do? Just stand here like idiots?"

"I suggest... hey, look." The male crew member pointed toward the nearby Huaxia lunar base with some surprise. The two looked over to see the base's automatic door sliding upward, and two people in the same style of spacesuits walked out, quickly arriving before them.

One of them spoke in English: "Gentlemen from America, don't worry about Immortal Xu. Just go about your work."

"Is... is that so?" The captain's tense nerves relaxed. After confirming with him again, he led his two crew members back to the ship and began moving metal crates filled with supplies outside.

The two Huaxia people here looked at each other and communicated in low voices through their communicators.

"What should we do? Since we're already here, wouldn't it be too impolite not to say something?"

"Uh, the Base Commander said Immortal Xu would take the initiative to find us if he needed anything. It makes sense. Immortal Xu is probably here for his own business; would we be disturbing him if we greeted him?"

The two had suddenly seen Immortal Xu outside the window a few days ago. After their pupils dilated in shock, they immediately reported to the person in charge of the base, asking if they should go out to meet him.

The person in charge thought it over and decided to act cautiously and stay put.

Just as the researcher had said, according to Immortal Xu's straightforward style, if he really had a need, he would definitely take the initiative to walk into the base and give them orders. Since Immortal Xu didn't come looking for them, he must have his own plan.

However, the colleague thought that since the two of them were already in front of him, returning to the base without saying a word would be somewhat offensive to Immortal Xu.

He was now extremely conflicted, to a degree no less than coming home after working overtime and eating instant noodles to satisfy his hunger—one pack was only enough to be seventy percent full, but two packs were too much and would leave leftovers, leading to waste.

Fortunately, the Base Commander's communication arrived just in time.

"Stop overthinking and come back."

"Base Commander, we're just going back like—"

"The xuan niao ship has arrived. The Director of the Special Investigation Bureau said Immortal Xu wouldn't get angry over such a small matter. Just come back."

Hearing this, the two breathed a sigh of relief and turned back toward the base.

As they returned, the flat top of the base slid open to both sides, and the xuan niao ship landed vertically.

When they arrived at the landing area, the Director, Zhao Qi, and Yue Ruo had already stepped off the ship. After the Director and the Base Commander smiled and shook hands, they began to chat. The former asked about the base's regulations, while the latter inquired about Immortal Xu and their mission objectives on the Moon.

Zhao Qi and Yue Ruo looked around, their eyes filled with novelty, like rural teenagers arriving in a big city for the first time. Everything they saw made them marvel.

Half an hour later, the cargo crates were unloaded and neatly stacked in a corner, waiting for specialized personnel to categorize and store them later.

The xuan niao ship's hatch closed, and it flew out from the sliding ceiling exit, heading toward the dark space.

The three of them were the only passengers on this flight. It wasn't hard to see that the people chosen to stay behind at the Su City Base on Blue Star were Ye Ming and Lin Miao.

This wasn't the Director's order; they had used a traditional method of fair competition—drawing lots.

It had to be said that although this game was old-fashioned, it was indeed useful.

The one who drew the "stay behind" slip was Ye Ming. After Lin Miao saw his slip, she secretly went to the Director and requested him to order her to stay in Su City as well.

After finishing his pleasantries with the Base Commander, the Director scanned the surroundings and asked, "Didn't you say mining had already begun? How's the output?"

The Base Commander said with a bitter face, "Don't even mention it. You have no idea how much trouble it is.

Mining on the Moon is different from Blue Star. The experience we accumulated before doesn't help at all."

"Really?" The Director wasn't involved in the relevant industry and had never looked into it. Seeing him complain, he was quite surprised.

"Isn't it though?

Sigh, you haven't eaten yet, have you? Come on, let's go to the cafeteria and talk while we eat." The Base Commander turned and led the three out of the landing area, walking along the corridor toward the cafeteria. "Opening a mine starts with surveying the mining area, and only then can construction begin, right?

Well, we ran into trouble at this very first step.

The Moon is just too different from back home in every aspect, like..."

The Base Commander poured out his grievances while the Director listened intently, nodding in agreement from time to time as they walked into the cafeteria and sat down.

After ordering their food, the Director smiled and said to him, "This time, I've brought you some good news."

"Oh?" The Base Commander, sitting opposite him, leaned forward with a look of anticipation. "What good news?"

"You should already know that Immortal Xu has come to the Moon."

"Hah, don't even mention it. A few days ago, two researchers happened to look out from the observation gallery and saw Immortal Xu standing outside at a glance. It gave them quite a scare."

Zhao Qi was stunned. "Immortal Xu isn't a stranger. What's there to be scared of?"

"That's easy for you to say." The Base Commander scratched his head and said somewhat awkwardly, "But... you don't do aerospace, so you don't quite understand our logic.

Yes, the people of Huaxia and even the entire human race on Blue Star know that Immortal Xu can fly into the sky with his physical body. If he can stay in the sky, the lunar surface naturally doesn't count for much.

The problem is that knowing is one thing, but witnessing it with your own eyes is another matter entirely."

The Base Commander felt that the difference was probably like personally summiting Mount Everest versus watching a video of someone else's ascent.

Admittedly, the video completely recorded the entire climbing process, whether it was the blizzards encountered on the way, the steep rock walls that were almost vertical, or the snow that was knee-deep.

After watching it, one had roughly experienced the climber's journey.

But it was still different after all.

Only by touching the blizzard with your own skin can you clearly perceive its indescribable coldness. Without climbing a steep rock wall yourself, you will never know how much strength your legs must exert to conquer it. Through a screen, viewers can never feel the terror of looking down and seeing no ground, only a void.

Therefore, hearing that Immortal Xu could stand in the sky with his physical body and witnessing it are two completely different levels of impact; the gap is enormous.

The Director couldn't hear the emotions in the Base Commander's heart, but he had had similar experiences: "No need to say more, I understand."

After saying that, he continued with the previous topic to prevent the Base Commander from deviating again, saying straightforwardly, "Immortal Xu plans to help you with the mining."

"Really?!" The shock on the Base Commander's face was even greater than before, mixed with wild joy. But after the joy, he showed hesitation. "Immortal Xu helping with the mining... having his venerable self do this kind of rough work, isn't it a bit inappropriate?"

Yue Ruo wave your hand: "Immortal Xu is very broad-minded, and besides, this was Immortal Xu's own suggestion."

The Base Commander was very pragmatic. Once his concerns were cleared, he immediately asked, "Then when will it start?"

"Let's eat first." The Director glanced at the staff member walking over with a food tray and explained, "Fellow Daoist Ye told me before we came that this matter cannot be rushed.

Immortal Xu needs to consider a thorough plan to try and balance safety and the convenience of extraction.

Once it's ready, Immortal Xu will contact us."

"That's good, that's good. Come, let's eat."

The base had been established for half a year, and the mining, which was one of its primary goals, had seen no progress. As the person in charge, the Base Commander was so worried he lost sleep every night, and delicious food tasted like wax. Now that it was finally resolved, his appetite suddenly opened up, and he happily asked for two more bowls of rice.

The Director had eaten a few compressed biscuits on the xuan niao ship and wasn't very hungry. He tasted a few bites of the braised pork and started chatting again.

"When the xuan niao ship was landing, I saw America's orion not far from the base. What's their deal?"

"What else could it be? They're just being neighbors."

"Neighbors?" The Director put down his wooden chopsticks and rubbed his chin with interest. "Like in the movies, dismantling our base while no one's around?

Immortal Xu is here; they wouldn't have the guts. Hmm... what could be the reason..."

The Base Commander swallowed a mouthful of rice and seemed to choke a bit. He picked up his soup bowl, tilted his head back to finish it, and said while panting, "It's not that complicated. I reckon they just saw us settling down here and thought there must be some treasure, so they wanted to get a piece of the action."

Zhao Qi, who was buried in his food, raised his head and used the tip of his tongue to curl a grain of rice from the corner of his mouth into his mouth: "Is there something wrong with them?

The base has been built for half a year. If there really were treasure, it would be too late for them to come now."

"It's just a guess."

After the four of them finished their meal, the Base Commander intended to lead them to the dormitory, but the Director waved his hand in refusal. "Do you have a spare spacesuit? I want to go see Immortal Xu."

"Is there something up?"

"It's not an urgent matter. I just want to ask roughly how many days he plans to stay on the Moon so I can make arrangements in advance for the Special Investigation Bureau."

The Base Commander had never had close contact with Immortal Xu. Hearing the Director say this, he immediately decided to go along.

"There are plenty." After saying that, he led the three toward the warehouse area.