Jinling Institute for Advanced Study.

Standing at the door of the dean's office, Chen Yunhai took a deep breath, straightened his collar, and reached out and knocked lightly on the door.

Soon, after hearing a "please come in" from inside the house, he pushed open the door and walked in, and said respectfully.

"You're looking for me?"

"Well, there's something wrong," stopping the pen in his hand, Lu Zhou smiled from looking at Chen Yunhai who was standing at the door, then stood up, made a gesture to the sofa and said, "Don't be so polite, please take a seat." ”

After taking a seat on the sofa, Chen Yunhai nodded his gratitude to the secretary who poured the tea for him, then sat up straight on the sofa and began to look at the scratch papers stacked on the coffee table.

I saw that there were some difficult calculations and symbols drawn on those scratch papers, and next to these calculation steps, there were curves that looked like they were drawn with a ruler.

After looking at it for a long time, he didn't see any doorway, and just when Chen Yunhai was about to give up, Lu Zhou came over with a cup of coffee and sat down opposite him.

"Some personal interests, please don't take them to heart," as he spoke, Lu Zhou swept aside the scratch paper on the coffee table, then took out a stack of documents that still carried the temperature of the printer's oil, put them on the coffee table and gently pushed them in front of him, "About 2 hours ago, we cracked the signal sent from Mars to Earth, I believe you will definitely be interested." ”

As soon as he heard this, Chen Yunhai's expression suddenly became serious, and he picked up the document from the coffee table and quickly scanned it.

When he saw those three dazzling characters, his reaction was almost the same as Lu Zhou's, he was slightly stunned and then frowned.

“SOS……？”

Lu Zhou nodded.

"Yes, combined with what is happening on Mars at the moment, it shouldn't be that there is a problem with our cracking work, and New Virginia may indeed be experiencing a little trouble."

After a pause, Lu Zhou continued.

"It could be an opportunity for us."

The moment he heard the word opportunity, Chen Yunhai's eyes moved slightly, and many thoughts flashed in his head for a moment, but half a minute later, he still shook his head.

"I know what you mean, but I'm afraid it's hard...... From the White House's point of view, the Americans would rather kill them all than agree to our involvement in this matter. ”

If China is allowed to take over the rescue work, it will not only damage the national prestige of the United States, but also bring a series of uncontrollable risks such as technology leakage.

While this statement may not be humanitarian, spaceflight itself is a risky affair, and the death of a few astronauts is not enough to affect the big picture.

From the perspective of the overall situation, if the rescue work cannot be carried out, it is better to let the three astronauts die like this than to let Huaguo intervene in this matter.

At most, prepare a funeral for them afterwards.

Space-X's stock price may take a heavy hit after that, but Project Ares won't just fall as a result. Their researchers will learn from this failure and set the stage for the next success......

"I know," Lu Zhou nodded and continued, putting down the coffee cup in his hand, "In theory, it is unlikely that NASA's spacecraft will spend hundreds of millions of dollars to make a trip to Mars for just three astronauts...... And it was in the absence of certainty that the rescue would be successful. It would be more in the interest of the US authorities to announce the deaths of the three astronauts after the 'accident'. ”

"That's right." Chen Yunhai nodded, "So I'm afraid this opportunity will be difficult to use." ”

"Not necessarily," Lu Zhou shook his head and said with a smile, "If we let the Americans know, what if the three astronauts can still be saved?" ”

Chen Yunhai's pupils shrank slightly, and his eyebrows raised a trace of interest: "You mean ......?"

"That's right, leak the news from our side," Lu Zhou nodded and continued, "If you can't save it, that's no way, but if you can save it, you can't save it......"

"Then it wasn't an accident, it was a murder!"

……

United States.

NASA Headquarters.

In the Ares Project Ground Command Center, the staff are busy working at their respective posts.

Standing in the command center, Director Carson was quickly reporting the current situation to the gloomy president.

"It has been confirmed that the dust storm on Mars is a global climate event that is expected to take at least five months to stop, and our colonists are facing—"

Interrupting Director Carson strongly, the president said in a tired tone with a hint of anger, "I don't care if they're in a sandstorm or whatever, I just want to know one thing now, where is your plan?" ”

Director Carson was silent for a moment, then spoke in a heavy tone.

"Sir...... Although I hate to say that, to be honest, there is little hope. Even if we launch a BFR rocket now and go to Mars through an unconventional transfer orbit, it will take at least three months to reach Martian orbit. ”

PRESIDENT: "Will our colonists last three months?" ”

Director Carson hesitated for a moment, then said in a difficult tone.

"There is only a 50% chance of ...... Again, they make some conscious self-help words. ”

"We can't let them know just yet," interrupted Director Carson, and the president said flatly, "Tell them that we're doing our best to rescue them so they don't have to worry!" ”

"But our rockets ......"

Facing the president's gloomy gaze, Director Carson, who instantly understood what the president meant, opened his mouth, swallowed the second half of the sentence stiffly, and nodded with difficulty.

“…… I know. ”

It is more important for them to "keep their mouths shut" than to bring the three astronauts back alive. And the premise for them to shut up is to convince them that NASA is doing its best to rescue them.

If they know that there is no chance of survival, and the BFS spacecraft equipped with high-power telecommunication equipment floating in Martian orbit is still working......

It would be a disaster for NASA.

Just then, footsteps could be heard in the corridor outside the command center.

Soon, the secretary of the White House office appeared behind the two men.

"Mr. ......"

After hearing this, the president turned around, looked at the tall and thin man, and asked with a frown.

"What's wrong?"

Swallowing a mouthful of spit, the secretary continued in a heavy tone.

"The news has been leaked."

The president was slightly stunned for a moment, and subconsciously asked.

"What's the news?"

"News about the colony of New Virginia......" said cautiously, taking a stacked newspaper from the file bag he was carrying, the secretary unfolding it and handing it to the president, "...... See for yourself. ”

The newspaper is the Overseas Edition of Renren Daily.

Taking the newspaper from the secretary's hand, the president squinted.

However, as soon as he looked at the newspaper, his heart pounded.

I saw that on the front page of the newspaper, a line of eye-catching capital letters was printed.

[Mars has encountered a once-in-a-century abnormal climate, global sandstorms cover the world, and "New Virginia" may be in unprecedented danger! 】

WTF？！

。 m.