Listening to the voice from the command center in his earpiece, the rocket began to accelerate gradually.
At the same time, Zhao Yunlei felt the pressure on his body slowly increasing.
However, this pressure was somewhat less than what he usually endured during training, so he felt that he was in good condition and did not feel uncomfortable.
But as the rocket rapidly ascended and reached an altitude of thirty or forty kilometers, Zhao Yunlei suddenly felt the rocket and spacecraft shaking violently.
The resulting resonant frequency waves made Zhao Yunlei frown involuntarily.
At that moment, he felt as though his internal organs were about to shatter, while the frequency resonance continued in a curving motion.
The sensation brought wave after wave of pain. Fortunately, as an astronaut trained by the empire, he received a certain quota of Longevity Elixir every year, so his physique was not weak.
For now, he could grit his teeth and endure the pain and pressure coursing through his body.
According to scientific research, the human body was extremely sensitive to frequencies below ten hertz. Resonance at such frequencies caused the internal organs to resonate as well, producing immense pain.
Of course, this resonance was not the main issue.
The main issue was that this resonance would layer an extremely powerful burden onto the body's internal organs.
As the seconds passed, the pain crashed over him in wave after wave. Those brief few seconds felt to him like years.
At that moment, Zhao Yunlei clenched his teeth tightly, veins bulging from his neck, while his eyes were suffused with bloodshot streaks.
The only things left in his mind were his love for the empire and the promise he had made to the Imperial Sovereign before departing—the mission to complete this glorious task.
The intense pain and unyielding will kept him exceptionally clear-headed.
Time passed: one second, two seconds, three seconds... thirty-two seconds, thirty-three seconds.
After the pain had continued for thirty-three seconds, Zhao Yunlei, whose head had already grown somewhat dizzy, suddenly felt a wave of relief—an unprecedented lightness.
It was like suddenly setting down an object weighing a thousand jun after carrying it for a long time.
Those thirty-three seconds of death had nearly made him think that he was about to die.
After the rocket steadied and passed through the atmosphere, its fairing was jettisoned. In an instant, a dazzling ray of sunlight shone in from outside.
The piercing sunlight made Zhao Yunlei blink.
Yan Chen Aerospace Command Center.
Seeing Zhao Yunlei's face suddenly freeze on the screen, everyone in the command center held their breath.
Zhao Yunlei's signal had suddenly been cut off just now, and the command center immediately knew that something had gone wrong during the flight. Everyone's hearts tightened.
After all, tens of millions of ordinary citizens were watching this mission.
At that moment, people around the world watched the live broadcast on their televisions. They, too, held their breath and silently prayed for Zhao Yunlei.
At the same time, at the Aerospace Department's research center.
Zhao Yunlei's sudden loss of contact left countless scientists involved in the mission extremely anxious.
For a time, the research center's staff sprang into frantic action.
After those thirty-three seconds of death passed, the signal reconnected. When Zhao Yunlei blinked on the frozen screen, the entire world erupted.
"He just blinked! He blinked! He's still alive, still alive..."
"That's wonderful..."
Yan Chen Aerospace Command Center was equally caught up in an uproar.
Immediately afterward, everyone heard Zhao Yunlei's voice.
"Zhao Yunlei of Soaring Dragon One reporting to ground command. The rocket's fairing has opened normally."
"Good!!"
Zhao Yunlei's voice was like a clear spring, soothing the worries in everyone's hearts.
After the spacecraft broke out of Yanhuang Star's atmosphere, Zhao Yunlei, seated in the cockpit, saw a beautiful azure arc through the cabin.
The beauty of that arc surpassed everything in the world, in Zhao Yunlei's eyes. It was number one.
At that moment, Zhao Yunlei saw specks of dust drifting outside through the porthole. He controlled his floating body and moved closer, lying against the porthole as he gazed into the dark, profound depths of outer space.
An immense sense of emptiness and loneliness surged into his heart.
In this vast universe, humanity was far too small. Yanhuang Star was far too small as well, tiny as a speck of dust.
Watching the specks of dust slowly drift past him, he saw that some looked like grains of rice, while the larger ones were about the size of fingernails.
This made him realize that space was not actually as clean as everyone imagined.
Zhao Yunlei's next task was to orbit Yanhuang Star for three days.
As the spacecraft orbited Yanhuang Star and passed over the capital, Chang'an, Zhao Yunlei could not help widening his eyes as he looked toward the ground.
Before coming, he had imagined what he might be able to see with the naked eye from space. He had thought about it again and again.
He had imagined that he would be able to see majestic Mount Tai, the sprawling Taihang Mountains, the Great Wall winding like a dragon for ten thousand li, and the magnificent, flower-filled city of Chang'an.
However, the truth was that even after opening his eyes as wide as possible, he still could not see any of the things he had hoped to see.
From his position, he could only make out the general outlines of the various continents and some of the provinces on them.
He felt somewhat disappointed at not finding the things he had wanted to see.
"Knock, knock... knock... knock, knock..."
During the spacecraft's eighth orbit, Zhao Yunlei, who was recording flight data, suddenly heard a series of knocks. He could not help freezing for a moment.
He stopped what he was doing and focused his mind, listening carefully for the sound he had just heard.
However, as though the sound had merely been an illusion, it did not appear again.
As time passed, the spacecraft reached the side turned away from the sunlight.
The knocking sound came again. This time, Zhao Yunlei immediately shot toward the porthole. He pressed himself against it and looked outside.
However, there was only cold, silent darkness outside. Aside from that, there was nothing else.
"Knock, knock, knock... knock, knock, knock..."
The sound came again. This time, it was somewhat more rapid, but after ringing for only a few seconds, it vanished.
Remembering the sound from before, Zhao Yunlei's brows drew tightly together. He struggled to recall it, but he could not describe it accurately, which left him deeply troubled.
"Zhao Yunlei, what happened on your end?!"
Zhao Yunlei's movements had immediately caught the attention of the ground command center.
"Reporting to command, I just heard a knocking sound from the spacecraft. It sounded as though something outside was hitting the spacecraft, but I didn't detect or see anything there."
"Something is knocking on the spacecraft from outside?!"
Zhao Yunlei's words were like a stone tossed into still water, sending up enormous waves.
"Zhao Yunlei, can you describe the sound you just heard?"
The ground commander quickly asked the question, while the specialists beside him began recording.
This was the Yanhuang Empire's first manned mission into space. No one knew what might happen in space.
The butterfly effect triggered by the protagonist had arrived. A new civilization meant both opportunity and crisis.
Before you continue