Who Cares

Vandenberg Air Force Base, a desolate expanse of yellow sand.

The return capsule crashed down with a roar!

Sand and dust billowed into the air as the enormous white parachute drifted down.

The spherical return capsule, dangling beneath its parachute, had a steel-gray exterior like stainless steel, now covered in scorched wrinkles left by its high-speed passage through the atmosphere. Only the outer ablative layer had burned away; the interior remained perfectly intact.

The long-awaiting crowd erupted. Reporters and staff swarmed forward, camera flashes flickering in a continuous blaze as shouts rose from every direction.

Of the astronauts who had set out for Mars, only two returned.

After that long journey and endless waiting, they had finally come home!

After a long wait, the hatch finally opened. The staff swiftly pulled the two astronauts out and rushed them into ambulances, moving as though they had rehearsed it thousands of times beforehand.

The reporters did not even manage to capture much footage of the astronauts. There were simply too many staff members, blocking everything completely.

NASA explained publicly that the two astronauts were in very weak physical condition after returning from space and could not accept interviews. They needed immediate treatment and time to readjust. Once they had recovered, NASA would let the two astronauts appear before the public.

With NASA's explanation, everyone believed it without question.

Netizens left their blessings beneath the news reports, eagerly awaiting the day the two astronauts would appear on camera.

No one knew that a massive disaster was already brewing.

The May Day holiday.

Many companies had gone on break, but workers in the phone industry were desperately rushing to meet deadlines.

Chrysanthemum Factory's new phone model was set to launch in just over ten days, but its inventory was still insufficient. To push