The Daylight Project, The Beginning of the Sea of Stars

Yanhuang Calendar, Year 245.

Ye Chen, who was handling state affairs in the palace, suddenly heard Yuan Lan's report.

"Your Majesty, news has come from the Imperial Academy of Sciences. The Daylight Project is nearing completion and will be ready for testing next month."

Hearing this, Ye Chen set down what he was holding, a faint smile spreading across his face.

The completion of the Daylight Project marked the Yanhuang Empire's official entry into the Nuclear Energy Era—a milestone of extraordinary significance.

Although the Yanhuang Empire now had no enemies left on the entire Yanhuang Star (Blue Star), the Daylight Project still had to proceed.

After all, this weapon was the most powerful in the Homeworld Civilization's arsenal. At the very least, before the Yanhuang Empire set foot among the stars, such a weapon was absolutely indispensable.

Because it was the most fundamental guarantee of the empire's security.

One month passed quickly.

In the empire's largest desert region, where yellow sand filled the sky, a massive research base stood.

Ye Chen's figure descended from the sky. Here, people had already been waiting for him for some time.

"We pay homage to the Emperor. May the Emperor live ten thousand years."

"Rise, my ministers."

"Thank you, Your Majesty."

After arriving, Ye Chen followed the crowd into the base. The others changed into protective suits before heading to the test detonation zone.

As for Ye Chen, he had no need for such things.

Once at the test zone, Ye Chen stood in midair, looking down at the massive device below. He could clearly sense the terrifying energy and threat it contained.

But it was only a minor threat. With his current strength, as long as he wasn't standing at the epicenter of the explosion, the peripheral shockwaves and radiation alone couldn't kill him.

"Begin."

He spoke directly into the communicator on his person.

The person in charge of the control center below, upon hearing Ye Chen's command, didn't hesitate and pressed the button without a second thought.

As for Ye Chen's safety outside, he had no concerns whatsoever. In his heart, Ye Chen was an omnipotent deity.

As the controller was pressed, Ye Chen saw a sun appear in the sky. The blinding light sent a sharp sting through his eyes.

Fortunately, this stinging sensation was only a minor discomfort to him.

Immediately after, he saw the ground tremble. Layer upon layer of visible energy shockwaves spread wildly.

Wherever they passed, everything was destroyed, reduced to nothing. The once calm desert instantly erupted into a sandstorm.

Just a few seconds later, Ye Chen felt a powerful wave of heat rush toward him. Even standing thousands of meters in the air, he could still feel its scorching intensity.

Waving his hand to deflect the incoming heat, Ye Chen calmly watched the giant mushroom cloud rising in the distance.

The next day, the Imperial Daily ran extensive coverage of the event.

As a result, countless citizens across the empire's major cities buzzed with discussion.

Among the populace, two opposing factions gradually emerged. One believed there was no need to manufacture such a terrifying weapon.

In their view, the world was now unified, the people lived in peace, and with the entire Yanhuang Star home to only the Yanhuang Empire, there would never be another war.

Thus, spending such vast resources to build and research this kind of horrific weapon was completely unnecessary.

The other faction held the opposite opinion. They argued that although the empire had unified Yanhuang Star, it would inevitably venture into the stars in the future—and no one knew what dangers lurked out there.

Therefore, not only should such terrifying weapons be built, but more resources should be invested to research even more powerful ones.

Only this would secure the empire's foundation. Only this would ensure that, even if the empire encountered civilizations among the stars, it would not be left without the strength to fight.

The core value of this war-favoring faction was: "Peace lies only within the range of cannons."

In summary, they were a group suffering from firepower deficiency phobia, mixed with enthusiasts who loved exploring alien civilizations.

They adored the stars, longed to prove that other civilizations existed among them, yet simultaneously harbored an inexplicable fear of the beautiful cosmos.

As the era progressed, especially to the Yanhuang Empire's current stage, war had vanished, people's lives had improved, and in their leisure time, citizens let their imaginations roam, exploring the stars.

This phenomenon was an inevitable trend for any civilization reaching a certain level of development.

This matter was also collected by subordinates and submitted to Ye Chen.

After reading the submitted content, Ye Chen shook his head in exasperation. "Are all these people so idle? Some are even arguing over this, and a few have come to blows over it.

It seems I need to speed up research on the Internet. After all, the Internet world is vast—let them argue all they want. At least, separated by a network cable, they can't actually fight."

Then, after a moment's thought, Ye Chen instructed Yuan Lan to have the propaganda department guide public opinion on this matter.

With the completion of the Daylight Project, Ye Chen turned his attention to the empire's aerospace technology sector.

Aerospace technology—before the war began, the Aerospace Department had conducted some research, but due to subsequent war preparations, its development had been somewhat slow.

Now that the war was over, with vast resources converging, the pace of development had accelerated rapidly.

In just a few years, many satellites had been launched, but there had not been a single manned spaceflight.

Yanhuang Calendar, Year 250.

On this day, the Empire's first manned spaceflight was set for a test launch.

And on this day, the Yanchen Aerospace Base gathered a crowd of people, with journalists arriving from every continent.

After all, this was the Empire's first manned spaceflight.

A moment worthy of being etched into history.

Yanchen Aerospace Launch Center.

"Hello everyone, I am Xu Xin, host of Tianxuan Television Station, and I am now standing at the Yanchen Aerospace Launch Site."

"From my position, you can see the 'Tenglong-1' manned rocket in the distance. Soon, we will witness Tenglong-1 roar like a dragon, carrying our aerospace hero Zhao Yunlei into the beautiful, deep starry sky..."

"Listen, the countdown has already begun at the Yanchen Aerospace Site. Let us count down together and witness this moment in history."

"10, 9, 8... 3, 2, 1!!"

"Ignition!!"

"Boom!!!"

"I can already feel the intense tremors in the ground beneath me."

"Look, the Tenglong-1 manned rocket, under the immense thrust of its boosters, is slowly charging into space, taking the first step of the Yanhuang Empire toward the sea of stars..."

Xu Xin watched the manned rocket slowly ascending in the distance, tears brimming in her eyes, and spoke passionately and loudly to the countless viewers in front of their televisions.

At that moment.

The giant dragon soared, its roar shaking the land all around.

The first manned spaceflight in the history of the Yanhuang Empire, like a massive white dragon, burst through the thick atmosphere amid dragon-like roars, charging into the pitch-black void of space.

Inside the Tenglong-1 manned spacecraft.

Zhao Yunlei quietly listened to the countdown coming through his headset. As the seconds ticked by, he couldn't help but take a deep breath to calm himself.

His entire body was tensed with all his strength, muscles clenched, like a piece of iron compressed to its limit.

This was the Empire's first manned spaceflight, and also the most dangerous one.

Even though he had long been mentally prepared for sacrifice, he still felt a bit of nervousness in his heart at this moment.

As the countdown ended, at exactly nine in the morning, the rocket ignited, and instantly a deafening roar erupted from its tail.

In that instant, hundreds of tons of high-energy fuel inside the rocket began to burn.

Then, eight rocket engines started spewing blazing flames.

At the same time, the flames from the rocket instantly vaporized thousands of tons of water beneath the launch pad into steam.

Now, the manned rocket had set off.

The slow ascent of the manned rocket left Zhao Yunlei, seated in the cockpit, feeling no discomfort at all.

In fact, he found it even more "stable" than riding an elevator.

He hadn't expected the pressure inside the rocket to be so much lighter than what he had imagined during training, which immediately made him feel much more relaxed, and his tense muscles slowly loosened.

"Escape tower separation..."

"Booster separation..."