Fifteen hours later, the spacecraft docked in the Dreadful spaceport in orbit above Mars.

Xin Lin disembarked and saw Mars 10,000 kilometers away from the spaceport.

Dry, desolate, cold, that's the first impression of Mars, and the occasional red dust storm, which is the iron oxide brought up by the flow of the thin atmosphere.

Who would have thought that such a desolate red planet would be inhabited by seven billion human beings!

Mars' atmosphere is very thin, less than one percent of Earth's, and its oxygen levels are extremely low, making it uninhabitable. In the early days of the Federation's interstellar expansion, it urgently needed a large number of immigrants to relieve the population pressure on the earth, and limited by the speed of interstellar travel and planetary modification technology at that time, Mars became the first colony of mankind.

Over the past few hundred years, the Federation has excavated more than 200 huge caves under the surface of Mars, each of which is inhabited by tens of millions of people, the largest cave is nearly 300 kilometers in diameter, and the population exceeds 300 million, which is no less than a super metropolis on Earth!

With such a large population, in order to meet people's travel needs, there are four spaceports in orbit above Mars.

The spaceport where Xin Lin is located was originally a satellite of Mars, Phobos.

A thousand years ago, Phobos was one of the smallest moons in the solar system, only 27 kilometers long, 22 kilometers wide and 18 kilometers high, shaped like a potato, and the shortest distance between any moon in the solar system and its host star, only 6,000 kilometers from the surface of Mars, making it an excellent natural spaceport.

Based on the body of Phobos, the Federation has been modified several times, and now it has expanded to a huge 120-kilometer-long fusiform object, while raising its orbit to nearly 10,000 kilometers, reducing its speed of motion, which can orbit Mars three times a day, but now it makes exactly two revolutions a day.

Both of Mars' moons have been converted into spaceports, and Phobos' original size is half that of Phobos, 23,500 kilometers away, and only a palm-sized shape can be seen with the naked eye. It serves as a garrison port for the local Martian garrison and does not provide interstellar transportation services and trade activities for citizens.

Of course, few people now call them Phobos and Deimos, and according to the myths of the Earth Age, they have been given new names - the Spaceport of Fear and the Spaceport of Panic, respectively.

Xin Lin got on the landing plane and left the Dread Spaceport.

The lander flew through space at several times the speed of sound, and soon approached Mars, through the porthole, when the largest mountain in the solar system, Mount Olympus, could be seen. Its base is six hundred kilometers wide and more than twenty-seven kilometers high, like a huge shield clasped to the surface of the earth, surrounded by countless craters.

There are dozens of cities on the surface of Mars, and like the cities on Europa, they rely on artificial force fields to maintain air and temperature and block solar radiation, like a large bubble over the desolate land.

The maximum number of inhabitants in such cities is 10 million, and the overall number is far less than that of steel caves underground.

Xin Lone's home was in the Nine Steel Cave, flying over Mount Olympus, and the landing plane came to the entrance of the Nine Steel Cave. Located in the famous Mariner Canyon on Mars, this entrance is a tunnel built on a tall cliff face, more than 100 meters in diameter, with a very bright interior that extends downward at a great angle.

The landing plane slows down and flies into the tunnel, following it deep into the ground.

A few minutes later, the landing plane's angle flattened and shot out of the tunnel, revealing a huge cavern with no end in sight.

This cave located dozens of kilometers deep underground has no darkness inside, and is always brightly lit, allowing people to see the endless steel jungle in the cave, skyscrapers more than a kilometer high rising from the ground, and a large number of flowers and trees between the buildings, full of greenery, looking almost the same as a city on earth.

Looking up, the sky above the bustling city is not blue sky and white clouds, but a huge hemispherical dome, the highest point about ten kilometers above the ground.

Looking into the distance, a curved curved line can be faintly seen at the end of the line of sight.

It's this peculiar skyline that reminds people that this is the interior of Mars, not above the surface.

Looking back, here is the edge of the steel grotto, a huge wall several kilometers high appears in front of you, like a vertical cliff, with many similar tunnel openings on the wall, which from a distance looks like a huge beehive, and those landing planes or airships that come in and out are like busy worker bees.

The landing plane traveled through the steel grotto, and in less than 20 minutes, it landed near Xin Lone's home.

Xin Lin walked down and took a deep breath, a familiar smell welling up in his heart.

"That's the breath of the steel grotto."

The steel cave is always the most suitable 20°C, neither cold nor hot, the atmospheric system is operating all the time, no matter where you are in the steel cave, you can breathe fresh air, and there is a wisp of breeze blowing from nowhere, there is no feeling of stuffiness.

Xin Lone's home is on the middle floor of the building, with an area of nearly 200 square meters, which is not luxurious, but it is very spacious and comfortable for a family of three.

After a few minutes of walking, I reached the door, and the door opened automatically with a tick.

"Welcome home, Mr. Xinshan! It's been 336 days since you last came home. ”

As soon as Xin Lin entered the door, he heard a familiar voice sounding, this is the intelligent system at home, he doesn't know how many times he has heard it since he was a child, he always felt tired before, but now he feels very kind.

"336 days, it's been almost a year since I went to school on Earth after the last New Year, time flies so fast."

Xin sighed, and the telepathy swept at home, knowing that his parents were not at home, and he should still be in the company.

Because the sun is not visible in the steel grotto, the day and night can only be distinguished by adjusting the light and darkness, and the work and rest time is synchronized with the North American region of the earth, which is more than two o'clock in the afternoon, and there are still a few hours before the end of work.

Returning to his long-lost bedroom, Xin Lin put down his backpack and looked around the room, everything was the same as in his memory, without any change.

Sitting down on the bed, Xin Lone's whole body relaxed, and his heart felt peaceful.

This is his home, the home where he grew up and lived for fifteen years, and he has too many memories here.

Originally, he planned to rest at home for a few minutes and wait for his parents to come back from work, but he took a spaceship for more than ten hours, but he was not tired at all, so he decided to go to his parents' company to find them.

Going out to get on the flying car, Xin Lin didn't call his parents to tell him that he was back, and he planned to surprise them.

Ten minutes later, the car enters the central area of the steel grotto, which is more than 100 square kilometers and is home to most of the shops, schools and service centers of various industries. On the periphery of the steel cave are suburbs, where various light industrial factories, food breeding bases, and energy stations have been established.

The closer you get to the center of the cave, the denser the traffic becomes, and the higher the number of floors of the building, and there are even super buildings more than 3,000 meters high in the most central area!

As far as the eye can see, hundreds of square kilometers are metropolises full of modern atmosphere.

Xin Lone's flying car shuttles by the towering skyscrapers, and all kinds of flying cars in the sky come and go, converging into an endless stream of traffic, which is extremely spectacular and lively.

"The No. 9 Steel Cave is one of the most economically developed steel caves on Mars, with a population of more than 100 million, and it feels much more crowded than Strait City."

Xin Lin enjoyed the bustling scene in the steel cave all the way, and soon, the flying car landed in the middle of a nearly 1,000-meter-high building.

This is the center of the entire steel grotto, under the dome, huge screen advertisements are flashing everywhere, dense high-rise buildings occupy almost half of the space, and the traffic is constantly flowing and turbulent.

"Here we are." Xin Lin got out of the car and found his parents' company with ease, he had been here many times before.

This is the 225th floor of the building, which is very large and has a wide sidewalk, and it is difficult to perceive that you are at an altitude of more than 700 meters if you do not stand on the side of the protective fence and look down.

Facing the landing pad is the logistics company that the parents have been operating for many years, the scale is not large, occupying about one-fifth of the area of this floor, and the words "Spark Logistics" are written on the door.

Xin Lin walked into the door and saw at a glance the person he was familiar with and had a headache.

"Welcome, what do you need to help...... A young woman greeted her with a smile on her face, and when she saw Xin Lone's appearance, she couldn't help but be surprised: "Hey, Xin Lone, you have come back from Earth!" ”

"Yes, Sister Chi, it's been a long time." Xin Lin greeted with a smile, "How are you doing?" ”

The handsome woman in front of her is only three years older than Xin Lone, who just graduated from college a few years ago and was recruited into the logistics company of the Xin family to be responsible for the company's reception front desk. Because Xin Lin had been to the company several times before, she recognized Xin Lian, after all, he was the son of the company's boss, and it was difficult for her to forget it.

Sister Chi said coquettishly: "I've said it many times, don't call me Sister Chi, it sounds too old-fashioned, my name is Huiyun, otherwise it's okay to call Xiaochi!" ”

"Okay, Koike." Xin Lin smiled helplessly, he could feel that this beauty had a vague meaning to herself, and occasionally took the initiative to chat with herself on the Internet, but he could only pretend not to understand, change the topic and ask, "Are my parents in the company?" ”

Chi Huiyun looked at Xin Lonely, and always felt that he seemed to be different, but he couldn't say that there was any change, and his delicate brows furrowed, and he didn't answer immediately.

"Is there a problem, or is my parents not there?" Xin Lonely was a little strange, why did the other party get up in a daze.

Chi Huiyun finally came back to her senses, a little embarrassed, and quickly explained: "The boss and the boss lady are here, and they are in the office." Saying that, she looked Xin Lin up and down curiously, and couldn't help asking: "Xin Lone, I haven't seen you for a year, you seem to have changed, but it looks the same as last year, it's really strange......

Xin Lin couldn't help laughing, and secretly said that your feeling is quite accurate, but he said: "No, I'm still me, what's changed?" ”

"Don't hide it, there must be a problem." Chi Huiyun snorted softly, "Sooner or later, I'll find out." ”

"Let's not talk about it for now, let's talk about it later." Xin Lin suddenly felt that a woman's intuition was sometimes really accurate, and walked towards the company.

There are less than 100 employees of Xinghuo Logistics, most of whom are engaged in transportation work outside, and there are less than ten clerks in the company.

Xin Lin walked outside his father's office and knocked on the door, and a familiar voice came from inside: "Come in." ”

He pushed the door and entered, and saw his father Xin Yu sitting behind a large desk, looking intently at the screen on the table. And his mother, Zhou Haiman, sat on the other side of the desk, her head down, as if she was working on some paper.

The two of them were too attentive and didn't notice who the person who came in, until more than ten seconds later, Xin Yu felt a little strange, and when he raised his head, he saw Xin Xiao smiling at him.

"Silence!"

Xin Yu stood up in surprise, his eyes full of incredulity, "Aren't you still on Europa, when will you go back to Mars?" Zhou Haiman hurriedly turned around when he heard this, and when he saw Xin Lone, his face was also full of surprise, and he shouted loudly: "Son! ”

"Hey, Dad, Mom, I'm back." Xin Yu stepped forward and hugged his mother gently, and then hugged his father tightly, Xin Yu patted him on the shoulder and said with a smile: "Good boy, don't say a word in advance when you come back." ”

Zhou Haiman poured a drink and said happily: "That's it, you suddenly came to the company and scared us." That being said, the joy on her face could not be hidden.

"I'm a surprise for you, otherwise you'd have run to the spaceport to pick me up, what a hassle." Xin Lin took a sip of his drink and sat down on the soft sofa, so that he couldn't help but hum comfortably.

"It's not to meet you early, it's annoying to pick you up, it's really ......" Zhou Haiman complained, and said with concern: "Have you had lunch?" ”

"I've eaten on the ship, and I'm not hungry at all." Xin Lin was moved in her heart, every time she went home, her mother was most concerned about whether she was full of food, whether she was hungry or not, after so many years, it has not changed.

Xin Yu sat down again, looked at his only son kindly, and asked, "Can you stay for a long time when you come back this time?" You've graduated from college, so you don't have to rush to Earth. ”

"Well, I won't leave for the time being, and I'm definitely going to spend the New Year with you." Xin Lin replied with a smile.

The husband and wife have not seen their son for almost a year, and they are very happy, and the family of three chatted for a long time in the office.

They are especially concerned about Xin Lone's cultivation situation, as well as the process of Xin Lone's participation in the Star Cup Martial Arts Tournament on Europa, although they have watched the video of the game many times on the Internet, but they still feel very enjoyable to hear Xin Lone personally tell about the competition process.

In addition to the amazement, the husband and wife are more relieved that their son's dream has finally come true and become a powerful Force warrior!

Listening to Xin Lone's words, Xin Yu and Zhou Haiman pondered in their minds, and gradually, the more they thought about it, the more shocked they became.

They finally understood that maybe their son would become the most terrifying cultivation genius in the history of the Federation, and even the high-ranking Martial Saint was not so far away!