Ignition! Liftoff!

"5"

"4"

"3"

"2"

"1"

"Ignition!"

The circulating Liquid Lithium churned within the invisible reactor.

As dense streams of bubbles were injected, energy closest to the origin of this stellar system was released from those unseen atomic nuclei. The solid Xenon in the propellant chamber was ionized by immense heat into high-temperature plasma radiating light and heat the instant it entered the ionization chamber, then was steadily fed into the engine nozzles under magnetic confinement...

As if in an instant, pale blue arcs lit up behind the space shuttle, pushing its massive body forward...

Forward!

Keep going forward!

Its speed increased faster and faster. Gradually, its tires left the runway, the landing gear retracted into its bay, and the nose lifted slightly.

Trailing that brilliant blue arc and carrying humanity's yearning for space, the silver hull vanished deep into the clouds, heading toward that vast blue sky...

Watching it depart, the technicians standing beside the runway cheered, tossing their safety helmets into the air and venting the excitement in their hearts.

At the same time, cheers also erupted inside the ground command center less than five hundred meters from the runway.

Listening to the deafening cheers, Hou Guang, who had completed the ignition countdown, took a deep breath and slowly removed his headset. While no one was paying attention, he gently wiped the corner of his eye with his sleeve.

How many years had it been?

His dream had finally become reality.

At last, he had not let down his teacher's painstaking efforts...

Those designs once considered useless had finally been reborn from the flames in a new body.

Outside the launch center.

The soldiers guarding the launch center had also seen that blue arc vanish into the clouds.

Though their duties did not permit them to display their excitement