251: Chapter 246 A New Space Journey (The Finale)

Two days later, the spacecraft successfully returned to Earth.

After the quarantine period ended, Cao Xiao and He Yueyou returned to Huanghe City and began their happy married life.

Despite the joy of being a newlywed, Cao Xiao, who had returned to work at the group, couldn't feel happy at all.

Sitting in his luxurious office on the top floor of the Yuexiao Group, Cao Xiao watched the ever-increasing wealth in the company's accounts and felt a sense of loneliness for a moment.

Cao Xiao, who deeply loved geology and was used to dealing with ores in the wild, began to grow somewhat weary of his current life as a CEO.

Just as Cao Xiao was staring out the window lost in thought, his secretary knocked and entered.

"Mr. Cao, someone is here to see you," the secretary said softly, looking at Cao Xiao's back.

"For matters regarding company operations, have them speak with Vice President Hao," Cao Xiao said indifferently.

The secretary paused and continued softly, "The visitor calls himself Xiahou. He says he's an old friend of yours and would like to chat with you in person..."

Hearing the name "Xiahou," Cao Xiao was stunned for a moment.

"Where is he now?" Cao Xiao turned around excitedly and asked the secretary.

"He's waiting in the company's reception room," the secretary replied.

Upon hearing this, Cao Xiao quickly walked to his desk, turned on the computer screen, and pulled up the surveillance feed for the reception room.

"It really is him. I knew he would come looking for me again," Cao Xiao said excitedly as he looked at Xiahou Anbang's figure on the screen.

Cao Xiao knew that Xiahou Anbang wouldn't appear easily. Now that he had suddenly come to visit, there must be something important.

"What could it be? Could it be that they want me to return to the Supervision Department?" Cao Xiao wondered to himself.

After thinking for a moment, Cao Xiao said to the secretary, "Quickly, invite him up."

"Yes, Mr. Cao."

A few minutes later, the secretary brought Xiahou Anbang to Cao Xiao's office.

"Brother Xiahou, it's so good to see you again. Do you have some good news for me? Has the higher-up decided to reinstate my position in the Supervision Department?" Cao Xiao stepped forward and spoke excitedly to Xiahou Anbang.

Xiahou Anbang gave Cao Xiao a mysterious smile and said, "It is indeed good news, but it's not about you returning to the Supervision Department."

Hearing that it wasn't about returning to the Supervision Department, Cao Xiao said with a hint of disappointment, "Sigh, besides that, what other good news could there be?"

"Brother Cao, listen to me finish before you start grumbling," Xiahou Anbang continued with a smile.

Cao Xiao led Xiahou Anbang to the seating area in the office. The secretary brought a cup of tea for Xiahou Anbang and then closed the door as she left.

"The Supervision Department has decided to launch a secret plan. After much consideration, the higher-ups decided that you are the most suitable person to execute it," Xiahou Anbang said.

"What plan? I'm no longer on the staff of the Supervision Department. How can I execute a secret plan?" Cao Xiao asked, somewhat puzzled.

"It's precisely because you no longer have a military background that you are the right person for this plan," Xiahou Anbang said.

"What plan is it exactly? Please, just tell me," Cao Xiao said, becoming a bit anxious.

"The Supervision Department has obtained secret intelligence that the U.S. has officially authorized SpaceX to commercially develop lunar minerals. SpaceX will announce this news soon. Furthermore, we've learned that SpaceX has begun secretly building a fleet of large aerospace cargo ships for round trips between Earth and the moon. Our country has fallen behind in this regard," Xiahou Anbang said. "You know, many rare elements on the moon can not only support industrial construction but also be used to manufacture extremely powerful weapons. This poses a significant challenge to our country's overall industrial competitiveness and national security."

"Does the country want me to infiltrate the U.S. and sabotage their plan?" Cao Xiao asked with an excited look.

It seemed Cao Xiao still held a grudge about the U.S. sending a special operations team from their intelligence department to assassinate him in the hospital.

"You've watched too many 007 movies," Xiahou Anbang said with a laugh. "If you really went to the U.S. to cause such massive destruction, wouldn't that trigger a nuclear war?"

"Then what about them sending people to our country to cause trouble? Are we just going to let it go?" Cao Xiao said indignantly.

"You know the U.S. has always been used to being a bully, but we are different. We are a peace-loving nation. We cannot do shameless things like the U.S. If there's to be competition, we can compete fairly in the open. This is consistent with China's international image as a land of ceremony and propriety," Xiahou Anbang said.

"Then what secret plan does the country want me to execute?" Cao Xiao asked, puzzled.

"The country wants to secretly support you in establishing a company that can rival and compete with SpaceX," Xiahou Anbang said.

"I thought the country had forgotten about me long ago," Cao Xiao said.

"How could that be? The country would never forget a talent as outstanding as you. Only for particularly major tasks will the country call upon you," Xiahou Anbang continued.

"But I only know how to mine; I don't know how to build rockets or spacecraft," Cao Xiao said. "Why did the country choose me to execute this plan?"

"Your Yuexiao Group is now one of the top three private enterprises in the country. The other two are internet companies and aren't suited for this. Moreover, you operate a mineral business and have a high-tech manufacturing enterprise that produces large-scale equipment and has supplied components to domestic aerospace companies. And most importantly," Xiahou Anbang said with a smile, "your space wedding with Miss He was so stunning. It's perfectly logical for you to execute this plan, and it comes with its own traffic and advertising effect."

"I'm still a bit unsure," Cao Xiao said cautiously, even though he was already incredibly excited inside.

"Don't worry, the country will secretly provide you with support in terms of funding and technology," Xiahou Anbang said.

"Funding isn't much of an issue, but for technology, I really do need some support from the state," Cao Xiao said, though he didn't think so in his heart.

After all, with the industrial mother machine and the intellectual brain, what could Cao Xiao not build? He didn't lack the state's technology at all.

"I have one more question," Cao Xiao said.

"Go ahead," Xiahou Anbang said.

"Wouldn't it be more appropriate for the national aerospace department to execute this plan? Why me? Just because I had a wedding in space?" Cao Xiao asked.

"You know that our country's state-owned aerospace departments all have various ties to the military. The U.S. would surely use public opinion to pressure us internationally, claiming we are militarizing space. In that case, it would be quite unfavorable for our country's development of the moon," Xiahou Anbang explained. "You have already left the Supervision Department and have a sincere heart of patriotism, making you our ideal candidate."

"Then there's no problem. I accept the mission," Cao Xiao said.

"Alright, someone will follow up with you regarding the procedures for establishing the company and subsequent technology transfer issues," Xiahou Anbang said.

...

One year later.

Yuexiao Space Technology Company had grown to scale and become the only enterprise in the world capable of rivaling SpaceX.

The giant space cargo ship "yuexiao-1," with a capacity of ten thousand tons, had completed its assembly mission in low Earth orbit and would soon adjust its orbit to head for the moon.

This time, "yuexiao-1" was not flying empty; it was loaded with over nine thousand tons of various equipment and supplies for establishing lunar mining operations.

Compared to the Earth-Moon round-trip spacecraft of the U.S. company SpaceX, which could only carry one thousand tons of cargo per trip, "yuexiao-1" was simply too advanced.

"I don't know how they did it," U.S. scientists and media exclaimed.

Of course, Cao Xiao was the biggest contributor to all this; his industrial mother machine and intellectual brain had finally been put to great use.

As the first captain of "yuexiao-1," Cao Xiao would execute the first flight mission.

After a period of flight, "yuexiao-1" successfully entered lunar orbit.

After entering lunar orbit, Cao Xiao and several other engineers boarded the "mining rabbit-1" lunar lander, preparing to land on the moon.

Sitting inside "mining rabbit-1," Cao Xiao looked at the moon just outside the pressure-resistant glass porthole and said excitedly, "Big lunar mineral baby, here I come."

"mining rabbit-1" successfully landed in a mineral-rich area on the lunar surface.

Wearing his extravehicular suit, Cao Xiao opened the hatch of "mining rabbit-1," about to step onto the resource-rich moon.

Despite wearing a heavy lunar spacesuit, Cao Xiao couldn't suppress his inner excitement, so much so that when he jumped from the hatch ladder, his movement was a bit too large.

The moon's gravity is only one-sixth of Earth's. Therefore, when Cao Xiao excitedly jumped down from the landing craft, he jumped a full three or four meters before floating down onto the soft lunar soil, kicking up a significant amount of lunar dust.

"Haha, my small step today will be a giant leap for the development of China's mining industry."

Before he could even steady himself on the soft lunar soil, Cao Xiao eagerly opened his industrial mother machine system.

Then, he quickly used the system to scan the ore resources in the open area before him.

The industrial mother machine soon produced results. Just the small area beneath Cao Xiao's feet contained tens of millions of tons of iron oxide, which would be fantastic news for the domestic shortage of iron ore.

Compared to iron ore on Earth, the iron oxide on the lunar surface is not only massive in reserves but also easier to extract. In this way, the country's development toward a higher stage of industrialization would have a continuous supply of industrial blood.

Additionally, according to the scan from the industrial mother machine, this area was also rich in Helium-3 resources, which were exactly the raw materials urgently needed for China's vigorous development of clean nuclear power.

Furthermore, deep within the lunar soil here, there were also rich deposits of uranium, potassium, magnesium, titanium, aluminum, and other important resources.

"The moon is simply a giant treasure trove of resources. If only I could have come here sooner," Cao Xiao sighed excitedly after seeing the prospecting analysis report from the industrial mother machine.

Subsequently, Cao Xiao and his teammates established a temporary camp in this area.

Once the camp was set up, they had to quickly report the coordinates and situation to the headquarters on Earth. Then, more lunar spacecraft would be launched.

Subsequently, more equipment and personnel would be continuously sent here.

Cao Xiao believed that soon, a modern mining base would be established in the area where they were currently located.

By completing lunar mining and promoting the development of human industrial civilization to a higher level, and then using the resources of the moon, humanity could venture into deeper space.

Now, Cao Xiao and the others had taken the most difficult and greatest step.

The Chinese people, who missed the Age of Discovery, have now reached the forefront of humanity in the Great Space Age.

As a space miner who personally participated in and witnessed this great moment, tears instantly filled Cao Xiao's spacesuit oxygen mask.

Cao Xiao looked up with moist eyes at the vast universe. Billions of stars appeared exceptionally magnificent and brilliant through the refraction of his tearful eyes.

At this point, the curtain rose on a super mining dream belonging to Cao Xiao's generation.

(The End)