Lu Zhou swore that this was absolutely the most spectacular fireworks display he had ever seen.
Of course, it was also the most expensive one.
One drop pod after another descended from the sky like meteors tearing through the cold night. The vaporized surface coating caused by friction and the airwaves blasted out by the buffer engines wove together into umbrella-shaped arcs of fire as they bore down on the ground at supersonic speed.
Standing beside a military jeep, Lu Zhou watched the descending drop pods through binoculars, and a look of astonishment gradually filled his eyes.
Only after a long while did he lower the binoculars and murmur in amazement.
"...You actually built this thing?"
As a hostage in this counterterrorism exercise codenamed "mission," Lu Zhou's current position could be said to be the best viewing seat in the entire operation.
Precisely because of that, the shock he felt was especially direct and intense.
He remembered when the Auspicious had just completed its maiden flight and had tested the still-experimental Lightning Escape Pod system on its return journey.
At the time, Lu Zhou and Director Li's group had gone to the Gurbantunggut Desert to select a site for the Spark Plan. The moment Director Li saw the Lightning Escape Pod, he could not take his eyes off it and immediately asked whether it could be used by the military.
Considering the cost, Lu Zhou had not given an optimistic assessment. He had merely told him that it was essentially a space return capsule equipped with an active propulsion system. If they could accept the staggering cost, there was no harm in giving it a try.
After saying that, even Lu Zhou himself had mostly forgotten about it. He had never expected Director Li not only to take it to