Build a Space Shuttle?

Such a decisive answer?

Lin Xu was stunned.

He didn't know whether Jiang Xingye was joking. Honestly, with that mouth of hers, it would have been perfectly normal for her to casually crack a joke in a situation like this.

But Jiang Xingye's expression carried such natural sincerity.

How was anyone supposed to tell whether she meant it or not?

He cleared his throat and asked,

"Why? You answered without even thinking about it?"

"What was there to think about? You asked me that, so shouldn't I give you some face?"

Jiang Xingye set down the skewer in her hand and said solemnly,

"Big sis is going to give you a workplace lesson today."

"Look, you threw a choice at me, so the choice itself was what mattered most."

"Whatever apocalypse, whatever messy prerequisites—none of that mattered."

"What mattered was just one question: Who would I choose?"

"No matter who I answered, it would reveal something real about me in interpersonal relationships. Obviously, that wasn't what I wanted."

"So if I answered that I'd choose you, nothing could go wrong."

"If you kept asking why I chose you, I could just flatter you a little and laugh it off."

"Handling it that way was much better than letting someone bait out my true thoughts, right?"

"...Right."

Lin Xu sighed.

That was true enough, but the problem was, in that world, you really did choose me.

When he received Jiang Xingye's message, there had only been fifteen seconds left before the apocalypse. That meant she couldn't have had much time to react after discovering the signs.

In such a short time, she had to find his location and mobilize so much equipment to send him a message. Theoretically, he couldn't have been the last person she notified, could he?

It made more sense if he had been the only one.

But why?

Perhaps Jiang Xingye didn't know yet, or perhaps she simply didn't want to say.

Either way, he clearly wouldn't get an answer from her.

Lin Xu didn't press the issue. After a simple late-night meal with Jiang Xingye, they headed home.

When they entered the elevator and were about to part ways, Jiang Xingye suddenly asked,

"So you called me out just to ask that one question?"

"Uh..."

How was he supposed to answer that?

Lin Xu scratched his head and said,

"Actually, I had other questions, but they don't seem necessary anymore."

"What, some girl asked you that question and you didn't know how to answer, so you came to me looking for one?"

Damn, her imagination really was something else.

Lin Xu cleared his throat and said,

"More or less."

"A girl asked you, right?"

Jiang Xingye pressed on.

"...Yes."

In an instant, a gleam of gossip flashed in Jiang Xingye's eyes.

"So you were using me as your strategist? What, you don't have any other female friends? But honestly, if she could ask you that question, she must be deeply in love with you."

"How you answer will determine where your relationship goes from here, so think carefully before you respond."

"My approach is for the workplace. It has nothing to do with your situation."

"So what should I say, then?"

Lin Xu simply went along with Jiang Xingye's story. As long as he could smooth things over, the matter would be behind him.

"What you say isn't actually important... In this kind of situation, you should think about what answer she wants to hear."

"If you want things to develop further, then answer her properly."

"If you don't... then don't give her hope."

"Got it. Then I'll just copy your script word for word."

Lin Xu looked completely serious, but Jiang Xingye rolled her eyes at him.

"Are you stupid?!"

"The only answer a girl who asks that question wants to hear is, 'I'll save you.'"

"So as long as you give that answer, none of the explanations afterward matter."

"If you're not interested in her, you'd better not say you'll save her."

"I see..."

Lin Xu nodded thoughtfully.

But then he felt that something was off.

Didn't I just ask you the exact same question?

Then by that logic, why did you answer me that way?

Tch. Working a job had apparently cost me even my human rights. She didn't even treat me like a normal member of the opposite sex...

The elevator reached the sixth floor, and Jiang Xingye waved goodbye.

"Get to the company early tomorrow! I'll put your name forward in a bit. We're having an early meeting tomorrow."

"Got it, got it..."

Lin Xu answered perfunctorily. Only when he looked down did he realize he was still holding her cup.

"Hey, your cup..."

The elevator doors slowly closed.

Forget it. He would bring it to the office for her tomorrow.

Back at his apartment, Lin Xu flopped onto his bed and immediately fell asleep.

This time, he did not enter Bracelet World for another adventure.

The next day.

In the company meeting room.

Amid the heated discussion, Lin Xu, a lowly nobody, boredly typed code on his computer.

The project finance officer sitting beside him didn't know how to code and probably assumed he was working. In reality, he was writing Snake.

The others who had just joined the project team were discussing the project's prospects, plans, and ideas. Lin Xu listened on and off, his mind split between the meeting and the matters concerning the bracelet.

Could this thing be some kind of advanced holographic gaming device?

The kind that could sense real-world information and generate game content in real time?

Thinking about it that way, the technology didn't seem impossible.

After all, even phones listened in on conversations and pushed targeted ads. If he thought bigger, real-time simulation didn't sound that difficult either...

Maybe he should take it apart and have a look someday?

No, better not...

Lin Xu's thoughts gradually drifted away. Just then, he suddenly heard someone call his name.

"Lin Xu, why don't you tell us what you think?"

Lin Xu looked up. The speaker was Chen Yan, the leader of the new project team.

Chen Yan looked at him expectantly and said,

"I heard the idea of space tourism was proposed by you, and the boss really approved of it."

"So? Do you have any more specific ideas?"

Lin Xu spread his hands.

"...I do, but if you ask me to explain right now, I don't even know where to begin."

He was telling the truth. After all, he had read the documents on Star Traveler One, and he did have a rough idea in his head.

But turning that idea into something concrete that could actually be discussed was not so simple.

"That's fine. Today is just an initial project briefing, not a formal project proposal meeting. Say whatever comes to mind."

"For example, everyone was just talking about spacecraft design. Do you have any good ideas about that?"

"This..."

Lin Xu pondered for a moment.

"All I can say is that directly applying the vertical takeoff and landing cargo rocket design to commercial crewed spacecraft won't work."

"If we want to do space tourism, we need to focus on user experience."

"And rocket-style spacecraft offer the worst possible user experience."

"By comparison, a space shuttle approach would be more suitable."

"A space shuttle?"

The moment Lin Xu finished speaking, the meeting room erupted.

"How could we possibly use a space shuttle approach? Forget the cost—just the technical difficulty alone is far beyond what we can touch."

"Millions of components, a complicated launch system, incredibly difficult maintenance... Wasn't this thing already proven unworkable by history and phased out?"

"Exactly! Look at the Russians. They went through all that trouble to build Buran, and it was scrapped after just one unmanned test flight."

"Even the government doesn't build space shuttles anymore. It's a technological trap. Bringing it up now is a bit too fanciful, isn't it?"

"Seriously... I don't agree with that proposal."

Like a stone dropped into water, Lin Xu instantly became the common target of everyone's opposition.

Even Jiang Xingye, who had always been on his side, looked at him with some confusion.

Lin Xu completely understood their reaction.

A space shuttle? What kind of ancient relic was that?

Generally speaking, anyone still singing the praises of space shuttles in 2025 was either some pundit whose software version had never been updated, or a space opera enthusiast.

But since Lin Xu had brought it up, he certainly wasn't just talking nonsense.

His basis was simple.

Star Traveler One was a space shuttle.

So he cleared his throat and said,

"In fact, nearly all the disadvantages and flaws of space shuttles were caused by the limitations of their era."

"Let's not talk about anything else. Are 2.5 million parts really that outrageous? Fifty years ago, sure. But now, metal 3D printing is already quite mature. As long as they aren't critical load-bearing parts, isn't manufacturing them through 3D printing incredibly simple?"

"Also, the claim that costs must remain high is a false premise. Back then, American space shuttles were expensive partly because of technical difficulty and the challenge of manufacturing components, but the biggest reason was the cascading corruption caused by layer upon layer of subcontracting—that isn't exactly a secret anymore, is it?"

"In the current environment, we could absolutely have most components manufactured through competitive subcontracting..."

"That's impossible."

Before Lin Xu could finish, Chen Yan interrupted him.

"There aren't many domestic manufacturers capable of producing aerospace-grade components to begin with. How are you supposed to run bids?"

"Who says there aren't many?"

Lin Xu shrugged.

"If you insist on using space-grade components, then of course there aren't."

"But what if you use industrial-grade components? Isn't that what SpaceX is doing right now?"

"A space-grade control system costs 140 million yuan, and a single chip costs 5 million yuan. The Dragon spacecraft directly uses Intel x86 processors, and the complete chip set for its main control system costs less than four thousand dollars. Doesn't that make the point clearly enough?"

Chen Yan was left speechless.

He felt there was something wrong with Lin Xu's argument, but at the same time...

He couldn't refute it?

Ridiculous.

Were newcomers this capable now?

You worked in flight control, yet you understood overall architecture design so clearly?

Chen Yan cleared his throat and asked,

"You understand this stuff too?"

Lin Xu smiled.

"A little."

"...A little, huh."

Chen Yan clapped his hands and said,

"Since you brought it up, why not have Lin Xu take charge of this part?"

"Just talking is too abstract. If we want to build a space shuttle... shouldn't we at least produce a preliminary technical plan?"

"Lin Xu, why don't you give it a try?"

After he said that, everyone in the meeting room looked at Lin Xu with faint amusement in their eyes.

Any idiot could see that Chen Yan was digging a hole for him.

No, what did I do to offend you?

Weren't you the one who asked me to speak?

A surge of inexplicable anger rose in Lin Xu's heart. Just as he was about to snap, Jiang Xingye, who was sitting nearby, suddenly spoke up.

"Manager Chen, isn't this job a little inappropriate for Lin Xu?"

"His specialty is flight control. No matter what, overall design work shouldn't fall on his shoulders."

"His FTE is already at 1.5. He works an average of twelve hours a day, and you still want to pile more work on him?"

"That FTE 1.5 came from the previous project... This is a new project."

"It's always good for young people to get more practice. Besides, we're not asking him to actually design a full proposal. We just want him to organize the ideas systematically and put together something in writing..."

"But he can't work for free, can he?"

Jiang Xingye cut Chen Yan off, leaving him completely stunned with a single sentence.

In front of everyone, he was somewhat embarrassed. Even the way he looked at Jiang Xingye changed.

But Jiang Xingye wasn't intimidated in the slightest. Although Chen Yan was two grades above her, her position as flight control team lead wasn't directly under Chen Yan's project team. She belonged directly to the Group platform.

Getting me onto your project was already doing you a favor. The Group had been generous enough to assign me to you, and the first thing you did was try to push my people around?

Not happening!

"...You really do protect your own."

Chen Yan spread his hands helplessly.

"Then I'll make you a promise. As long as the work gets done, I'll lock in and submit your bonus request in advance."

Chen Yan spoke with complete confidence, because he knew Lin Xu definitely wouldn't dare take this job.

Seriously, you were a rookie who'd only graduated a little over a year ago. What made you think you could handle this?

Just stick to flight control. And you dared to contradict me in front of all these people?

If I came at you, you'd just have to take it.

He looked at Lin Xu cheerfully, a blade hidden behind his smile.

Jiang Xingye frowned tightly, about to argue further, when Lin Xu answered without hesitation:

"Sure. I'll challenge myself and give it a try."

"I guarantee I won't let President Chen down."

His two sentences rang with conviction, and everyone in the meeting room was stunned.

Wait, you were really going to do it?

"Excellent! A newborn calf isn't afraid of tigers. You've got guts!"

Chen Yan applauded.

"Then I'll leave it to Student Lin Xu. Keep it up, work hard!"

All eyes turned to Lin Xu. He sat down without changing expression, and a message from Jiang Xingye immediately popped up on his screen.

Jiang Xingye 003876:

[Have you lost your mind? You're jumping into a pit like this??]

Lin Xu 004267:

[Don't panic. I have my own plan.]

Jiang Xingye 003876:

[Plan my ass. Do you think overall design is that easy?]

[What, do you think this is a game where you press E and the whole thing builds itself?]

[If you really had that ability, you could just be chief engineer. Why the hell would you still be doing flight control?]

Jiang Xingye was clearly panicking too. She had confronted Chen Yan head-on precisely to keep Lin Xu from stepping into this trap, but in the blink of an eye, Lin Xu had dived straight into it himself.

What the hell was he doing?

But Lin Xu wasn't worried at all.

He typed leisurely:

[The wise have their own tricks. You've earned merit protecting me, so when the bonus comes through, I'll give you ten thousand.]

Jiang Xingye 003876:

[No, bro, what are you planning to do? What, hack NASA and steal their stuff?]

Lin Xu 004267:

[Not that. I just happen to know a few foreign friends who work at NASA...]

After sending the message, Lin Xu stopped responding to Jiang Xingye.

He gently stroked the unremarkable wristband on his hand.

I can't get NASA's information.

But Skyvault Technology?

Isn't that completely transparent?

Heh.

I don't know what's going on with the apocalypse, and for now, I can't solve it either.

But a design proposal?

The things inside the wristband can't be brought out, but even if I have to memorize it by force, I can recite it to within eighty or ninety percent accuracy.

You want it, right?

Fine. Have it!