Poised to Strike

If only the base had transport shuttles. They could have dismantled their engines for power generation directly. Unfortunately, the shuttles were too large to fit into the lower levels of the base, so they had all been destroyed in the disaster.

"Then let the Engineering Department draft a plan. Once its feasibility has been verified, start immediately. One thing must be stressed: absolute safety must be ensured." Seeing that everyone found the plan feasible and that there was no better alternative, Yue Yuan made the decision.

This was no time to hesitate.

He emphasized safety because nuclear power was genuinely dangerous. The slightest problem could doom the entire base.

The group discussed one issue after another, holding the meeting from eight in the morning until eight at night before settling all the current priorities.

This was not a waste of time. As the saying went, sharpening the knife did not delay chopping wood. Charging ahead without plans or proposals would be the real waste of time.

Although the disaster had come suddenly, Callisto Base was not a disorganized mob.

The former leadership had not been useless either. Coupled with Yue Yuan's decisive actions during this extraordinary time and his firm grasp on authority, the base had avoided any major unrest.

Against this backdrop, the base issued a temporary public welfare ordinance. Food and all kinds of daily necessities were now subject to purchase restrictions.

Yes, purchase restrictions.

Callisto's still relatively stable social structure meant that its previous currency system had not collapsed for the time being, and this miniature government naturally retained its effectiveness.

The currency was electronic.

Callisto Base had never possessed the authority to issue currency, of course, but it did have a banking system. Everyone living at Callisto Base had records at this branch.

Thus, although the mainframe was offline, this system could temporarily shoulder the responsibility.

Time slowly passed as the survivors struggled to stay alive.

Under the coordinated efforts of various departments, functional equipment was powered up again. Starch, fruit, vegetables, oil, salt, and other daily necessities resumed production, while other scientific research equipment was temporarily put into dormancy.

The rapid recovery of production capacity gave the survivors hope.

The surviving humans gradually recovered in the deeply buried base. Under the guidance of the Propaganda Department, their grief over the Sun's destruction and their fallen compatriots transformed into an obsession with revenge and the drive to survive.

When ten thousand people drew their bows and fired as one, no target could escape.

When humanity united and advanced toward a shared goal, it could often unleash astonishing strength. Especially when most of these people had grown up steeped in excellent historical and cultural traditions.

Under such circumstances, the people living underground like moles were brimming with enthusiasm, merely waiting for the base leadership to announce that they would begin digging upward.

Yue Yuan was very satisfied with their state of mind. As long as they kept that fire burning inside them, they could endure no matter how difficult things became.

The days passed one by one.

The machines of the Underground Base started up again, motors roared once more, and people returned to production work.

The radiation generators also progressed steadily from design to assembly, slowly becoming reality from blueprints to physical machines, making ample preparations for the base's future energy transition.

Many scientific projects were temporarily suspended, and research equipment was temporarily shut down. There were many projects of this kind, including various chemical experiments, materials research, studies on medications for space-related calcium loss, biological space receptor experiments, research into various carrier enzyme catalysts, propulsion engineering research, and more.

The Electric Force freed up this way was used to guarantee people's daily needs.

Life underground was dull, but precisely because it was dull, everyone held back a breath, waiting to vent it when they returned to the surface and accomplish something great.

Yet among so many people, there were always exceptions.

Ma Dongzhen was one of them. He had originally been an ordinary rich second-generation heir, living in comfort and wanting for nothing. After inheriting the family business, girls surrounded him wherever he went, but he had no interest in any of them.

It was not that he liked men; he was simply devoted in love.

Back in his junior year, he had fallen for a girl named Xu Yanshi and become deeply infatuated with her. However, Xu Yanshi barely paid him any attention, even after he revealed that he was very wealthy.

Ma Dongzhen thought she was special, a girl worthy of his sincere love. That year, both he and Xu Yanshi graduated. Xu Yanshi was admitted to graduate school, while he returned to help with the family business.

Such a separation in reality should have been enough to make his admiration fade away, but Ma Dongzhen did not give up. He continued pursuing her, and eventually, his unrelenting pursuit moved Xu Yanshi, who was about to graduate from her master's program.

In his excitement, Ma Dongzhen decided to give Xu Yanshi a surprise at her graduation ceremony—a Space Rose. He knew Xu Yanshi loved all kinds of unusual flora and fauna and aspired to become a great Biodiversity Research scholar, so he intended to play to her interests and give her a special gift that could express his love.

For this, he spared no expense, finding someone to cultivate a rose capable of growing in a vacuum. However, the cultivation gardens of the Space Base were not places where anyone could grow whatever they wanted. Still, driven by money, Ma Dongzhen eventually found a way through. A researcher at the Callisto Orbital Laboratory agreed to help him.

But because Callisto Base strictly controlled incoming and outgoing express cargo, privately altering an experimental planting project could very likely result in dismissal if discovered. To reduce the risk, the researcher demanded that Ma Dongzhen collect it personally. The researcher would only take it out of the laboratory for him; everything else had to be handled by Ma Dongzhen himself.

Getting his hands on it was good enough. Empowered by love, Ma Dongzhen naturally agreed without hesitation, then set out for Callisto under the pretext of trade negotiations. Unexpectedly, disaster struck not long after he arrived at Callisto Base.

After this upheaval, Ma Dongzhen lost everything. Having graduated years ago and nearly returned all his knowledge to his teachers, he had no idea what he could do here. Fortunately, Callisto still used its original financial system, so he was not yet penniless. But since he had never intended to stay long, he had not opened an account here. Once the cash on him ran out, he truly had nothing left.

Having always lived a pampered life, he suddenly found himself lost in life.

He stared blankly at the people moving through the base, his expression numb. The watered-down Lao Cunzhang liquor in his hand was his final spiritual support.

He twisted open the bottle cap and took two more gulps, yet could not bear to finish it.

"Did you hear? The Mechanical Company under the Engineering Department is hiring. They say it's to prepare for returning to the surface." The somewhat dazed Ma Dongzhen heard someone say this.

Hiring? What did that have to do with me?

Ma Dongzhen had no interest at all, but the conversation continued drifting into his ears.

"They're looking for senior technicians, remote machinery operators, senior repairmen, that kind of thing. What does it have to do with an idle bum like you who only knows how to live off your family?"

"Listen to yourself. Am I an idle bum? I'm poised to strike, understand? I'm just in the buildup phase!"

"What can you do, then? You can't operate engineering robots, and you definitely can't repair machinery. There isn't even anywhere for you to sell your labor by hauling bricks. Do you think this is the beginning of the last century? You had guts coming to Callisto without any real skills, and insanely good luck too, having a sucker brother like me."

"Who says there's no brick-hauling work? Look, what's this?"

"Remote sensing equipment installation technician? Oh, this is for laying wired fiber-optic cables. Once we return to the surface, we really will need to lay all kinds of communication lines again, but it won't require much manpower."

"I'm not talking about that. This one over here—mechanical repair apprentice. Apprentice! No experience required. I figure the base will definitely reform in the future. Don't be fooled by the fact that they're still using the old system now; things will definitely change later. Think about it: there are so few people in the base. Do you think they'll tolerate someone with no value?"

"So you want to make yourself more valuable before that happens?"

"Pao Ge truly knows me! As the saying goes, wherever there are people, there's a world of intrigue. Rather than be passive later, I might as well work hard now."

"That's the spirit. Now that's my good brother."