The 30th Day Countdown

Chapter 1: The 30th Day Countdown

July, Xia Kingdom, Donghua City.

The sun was scorching, and there wasn't a breath of wind, making sweat roll down people's bodies in beads.

Two young men were discussing something at the foot of the mountain.

"Since we're already here, we have to go up and take a look."

The other man quickly refused, "It's too tiring. If it weren't for this damn mission, I'd rather stay home and enjoy the air conditioning!"

"Then... I'm going up by myself!"

Sunlight filtered through the dense layers of branches and leaves, casting coin-sized spots of light across the ground.

Beneath his feet was real, solid earth—heavy and firm—so he didn't have to worry about the mountain collapsing no matter how much he jumped around. The oxygen his lungs inhaled was an original product of plant photosynthesis.

Mother Earth is still the best!

When Zhang Yuan reached the peak of the mountain, it was exactly 6:00 PM.

He sat on a rock, panting, and wiped the sweat from his forehead.

Few people were as crazy as him, climbing a high mountain just to watch a sunset, especially during this sweltering season.

The sun set slowly, the clouds on the horizon turning a fiery red. A few birds flew past, chirping freely and leisurely.

These were beautiful sights that didn't exist in space.

"Only... 30 days left?"

Zhang Yuan sighed, opened the memo on his phone, and checked off the item: "Witness a sunset with your own eyes."

The screen displayed the words "Completed" in large characters.

Zhang Yuan couldn't quite figure out if he was on vacation or carrying out a mission issued by his superiors.

This strange memo contained many trivial tasks, such as "eat a gourmet meal," "climb a high mountain," "get caught in a light rain," "witness a sunset," "run a marathon," and so on.

It was a messy list, containing almost everything.

The memo was designed for them one-on-one by the medical artificial intelligence "Green Elf" after collecting their personal data.

In the words of the experts and professors: "Letting them leave without any regrets can reduce the probability of psychological illnesses occurring during the journey!"

Well, to put it plainly.

Zhang Yuan had no terminal illnesses, no suicidal tendencies, and certainly no desire to "run away with his sister-in-law after owing a hundred million."

The so-called "leaving" meant leaving Earth, leaving the solar system, boarding the Earth Era starship, and heading to the planet Gliese 581g, 20.3 light-years away, to carry out interstellar colonization!

20.3 light-years!

Anyone with even a little knowledge of space knew that this number was a true astronomical figure.

It was a long, long road; the ship would travel at seven-thousandths of the speed of light, and the entire journey would take approximately... 3,000 years!

Humanity had been preparing for this deep-space colonization for far too long. The star-class ship Earth Era, along with 500,000 carefully selected volunteers from all walks of life, would shoulder the responsibility of restarting civilization on Gliese 581g.

That said, no matter how thorough the preparations were, a three-thousand-year interstellar journey was an expedition humanity had never attempted before. No one could guarantee the success rate.

Therefore, in the spirit of humanitarian concern, almost all volunteers were given a long vacation after completing their space skills training to experience their final days on Earth...

For these reasons, Zhang Yuan was enjoying this final month of vacation.

"Three thousand years... what will Earth civilization have developed into by then?"

"It must be very, very powerful..."

"Maybe later spaceships will even catch up to our first colony ship!"

Zhang Yuan took a long breath, imagining the bright future of humanity. The thought that they were about to become the pioneers of history filled his heart with ambition.

The sun gradually dipped below the horizon...

Just as he was descending the mountain, a tall young man with wheat-colored skin, wiping sweat from his face, ran over quickly.

His name was Li Zhendong, and like Zhang Yuan, he was one of the astronauts about to leave the solar system.

Li Zhendong's heat tolerance wasn't as good as Zhang Yuan's; even without climbing the mountain, he was drenched in sweat as if he'd been fished out of water.

He fanned his face with his hand while complaining, "I told you, you can see the sunset from the foot of the mountain, but you insisted on climbing up. What kind of bullshit memo is this? Can we not do it? It's hard enough to get a vacation, and we have to deal with this stuff. Isn't watching the sunset something old people do?"

Zhang Yuan was also hot as hell. He shook his head, "Alright, alright, let's just do what we can. Things that feel annoying or troublesome now might become beautiful memories later."

He turned his gaze toward the horizon filled with fiery clouds, "...After all, unless we are reincarnated, it seems there is no other way to return to the solar system. This is a one-way ticket; there is no regret medicine."

Having said that, Zhang Yuan took a breath, "Alright, this one is successfully completed. Let me see what the next memo item is..."

With a tap of his finger, he saw the next item on the memo was...

"Find a girl you like and become a real man!"

What?

Zhang Yuan's heart skipped a beat, and he cursed the AI that created the memo for having a screw loose!

What kind of psychological counseling was this? He only had one month left of his vacation; what kind of romance could he have?

Below the text was a line of small print provided by the Green Elf, explaining the reason for creating this memo: "Women are a man's best teacher and the spiritual pillar deep within his soul. Deep space voyages are lonely and solitary. Mr. Zhang Yuan, in view of the fact that you have not yet..."

He didn't have time to read it carefully and hurriedly tapped the screen with his finger again, trying to flip to the next entry.

Unexpectedly, Li Zhendong had sharp eyes; he caught those few words on Zhang Yuan's phone as if he had discovered a new continent.

"Wahahaha! Zhang Yuan, you're actually still an old virgin? You've never been in a relationship?"

"How embarrassing, how truly embarrassing!"

His cheerful laughter even caused passersby to turn their heads repeatedly.

The artificial intelligence Green Elf, as a medical AI that had been developed for over fifty years, had served billions of people, possessed extremely high analytical precision, and maintained a 61.69% approval rating.

Well, this approval rating, when placed within the demanding medical system, was actually not considered low at all.

Since Zhang Yuan's memo stated "become a real man," then he must still be an old virgin; there was no escaping that!

"Shut up, shut up right now!" Zhang Yuan's face burned, and he felt somewhat embarrassed.

Many college students had already lost count of how many times they had been in relationships.

Someone like Zhang Yuan, who had already lived for 23 years but was still a ** person, was easily assumed to have a series of physiological problems that were difficult to put into words.

"I've already been in n relationships, okay?" Li Zhendong boasted while laughing out loud.

He extended his fingers one by one, waving them blatantly in front of Zhang Yuan as if to demonstrate the number of times he had picked up girls.

Seeing Li Zhendong's "you're not good enough" expression, Zhang Yuan couldn't help but bite the bullet and retort, "What are you thinking? I also dated someone in high school!"

He pulled up a photo from a long, long time ago on his phone. "Look, take a look, this is my partner from high school. Isn't she sweet and cute?"

Li Zhendong took a look, and it really was a photo of Zhang Yuan and a girl, the two of them snuggled together intimately, smiling happily in front of the camera.

"The girl is decent enough... she isn't your biological sister, is she?"

Zhang Yuan said irritably, "Give me a break, where would I get a biological sister from?"

"And then?"

"...We broke up after graduation. It was just for various reasons."

"How boring."

Li Zhendong seemed to have thought of something. "If you really have some unspeakable illness, you need to get it treated as soon as possible. Once we're on the spaceship, there will only be a few lousy artificial intelligence doctors, not so many experts in treating infertility!"

"Get lost, I'm perfectly fine!" Zhang Yuan kicked out, but Li Zhendong dodged it nimbly.

"I've got things to do, I'm leaving."

Zhang Yuan walked quickly to an electric car and climbed inside.

The electric car's left turn signal flashed, and it slowly started up.

"Bye!"

Watching this white car drive away, Li Zhendong let out a long sigh of relief.

He licked his lips, narrowed his eyes, and looked left and right, acting like a thief.

He cautiously opened his own memo.

His body shuddered violently!

He saw a few large characters written on the memo: "Find a girl you like and become a real man!"

Li Zhendong muttered, "Damn it, this is truly... an artificial idiot!"

(New book, new atmosphere. After months of preparation, the outline is finally mostly done. This book might feel a bit like a scholar-themed novel in the beginning, but it is actually a true interstellar story.)

(If you have votes, feel free to cast them. Thank you, everyone!)

(Is anyone going to invest in this new book? I can't possibly fail to pass the signing stage, right...)