"The failure of the Falcon-9 recovery is the greatest shame in the history of NASA!"

"The transfer of interests has been confirmed, the potential of rocket recovery technology has been falsified, and Musk's death is suspected of infighting."

"Nelson is by no means innocent, or suspected of buying murder!"

"There is a major problem in the system, why can Chang'e-5 successfully land on the moon, but Artemis cannot?"

Chen Nian could never have imagined that the mysterious organization that had not been detected until now would actually attack in such a short period of time and with such a high frequency.

first killed Musk in public, and then ruined the recovery plan of the Falcon-9.

The intent is so obvious that it's hard to believe.

There is no doubt that they want to put an end to rocket recovery, which is a possible future development of technology, to break SpaceX apart, or to make NASA lose all prestige and have to find other collaborators.

But who is this collaborator?

Other commercial rocket companies? Other institutes? Still is. Chinese?

Chen Nian didn't know.

——

In fact, he didn't even know how it happened.

In his memory, the Falcon series rockets did experience the incident of crashing directly after the recovery failure, but there was absolutely no problem of "all the locking devices failed" as stated in the accident report.

At most, one or several locking points fail to lock due to positioning problems during landing, and dumping and explosion due to platform instability.

Obviously, there must be something wrong with this incident, and it must be the result of sabotage, but the question is, how did they do it?

"How do you think they did it?"

Chen Nian asked at Li Xiang.

Now Li Xiang is already the backbone of the intelligence department, although he has not really experienced many "actual combat confrontations", but the number of files and cases he has read is definitely far ahead.

This can be seen from the examples of battles he usually said when he had nothing to do with himself.

Let him share his opinion, in fact, it can be regarded as a reliable reference.

"There are many ways to do it"

Li Xiang's brows furrowed slightly, and then he continued:

"The easiest thing is to buy off the internal operators and destroy the system directly from the bottom."

"This method is the most stable and reliable, but the security is the lowest in the later stage-—— you see, SpaceX and NASA have launched a joint review, if there is really an internal ghost, it will not be long before it will be found out."

"So I don't think it's very likely that they'll adopt this option."

Hearing his words, Chen Nian nodded slightly and said approvingly:

"Yes, I think too."

"All the actions of this organization highlight a hidden nature."

"It's impossible for them to expose their hole cards at will, and they can't leave clues that can be traced."

"That's right, so they must have done it themselves, they must have completed this operation alone with a completely isolated system and a completely independent unit, and they must completely cut off the connection with this unit after the operation."

"Then all means of long-range communication, all equipment and routes of action that have the potential to leave a record will be abandoned, that is, they will have to have someone personally approach the barge and personally complete the destruction."

"Is this possible?"

Chen Nian frowned and asked.

"It's not as difficult as you think, do you know where the biggest flaw in this recycling is?"

"In order to demonstrate the flexibility of the so-called sea landing, they did not pre-select the landing site, but drew an approximate range based on the natural landing point after the rocket returns."

"And this range, neither in the LZ-4, nor in the Vandenberg base."

"To put it bluntly, it's not a zone of military control. It's too easy to get close. ”

"Even if you're strong enough, you can jump into the sea from Cape Aguero and swim all the way to the landing site, which is a relatively safe option, because although there are surface forces patrolling, you just have to swim at night."

"Radar and sonar can't detect you, all you need is a big enough lung."

"Or a couple of sets of diving equipment that have been laid out in the sea in advance."

Chen Nian added.

"Yes, that's it. This is a basic idea, but of course, they can also use other solutions. ”

"For example, the hidden mechanism set up during the transformation of the barge, the Trojan horse implanted in the control system. But in general, all of these solutions face the same problem. ”

"Intelligence."

Chen Nian spoke again.

"Yes, you have mastered the essence of our department, and if you feel tired of technology one day, you can even jump ship and come over to play."

"Well, let's get down to business, no matter how you attack, intelligence is the most important thing."

"The attacker must determine the time and place of the falcon's landing, as well as the perimeter defenses."

"When I said that the land site is not in the zone of military control, it does not mean that there are no military forces patrolling the area."

"It is extremely difficult to avoid them perfectly, and at the same time leave no clues when evacuating-—— even if it is a 'self-destructive' evacuation."

"An organization that can do this. Not much, really. ”

Speaking of this, Li Xiang couldn't help but sigh.

He was involved in the investigation of the Lasracquela incident throughout the process, from the initial confidence, to the confusion later, and now, he has almost begun to doubt himself.

Could it really be us?

So neatly completed an attack, leaving no clues, no space for pursuit, and not even the obvious beneficiary except Huaxia could be found.

Coupled with the attack on Musk and the explosion of the Falcon-9, it is difficult for intelligence officers like him who have been in contact with the inside story not to think about it.

But on the other hand, he clearly knew that these things had nothing to do with Huaxia.

Because of Chen Nian's relationship, his authority is actually many levels higher than that of other intelligence officers - this was originally to ensure Chen Nian's safety to the greatest extent, but now, knowing too much makes him overwhelmed.

Looking at Li Xiang's expression, Chen Nian breathed a sigh of relief.

"So, everything complicated will point to the simplest result."

"What simple result?"

Li Xiang asked.

"We are facing a strong opponent."

It sounds like a nonsense, but it's powerful."

Li Xiang laughed.

"That's right, this must be a strong opponent, and he may even be a combination of several strong opponents."

"However, he must not go beyond the scope of 'reality', he is different from you after all."

"Give us a little more time, and we'll find them out."

Pescadero State Beach.

"The mission is over - fortunately, all the beacons sank to the bottom of the sea as planned, the sea depth near LZ-4 is close to 1200 meters, and our beacons are less than 60 centimeters in diameter, and they have no way to salvage them."

"If nothing else, this matter will be completely covered up and eventually become an unsolved case."

"Well, it's not an open case, it's a 'natural and inevitable problem with vertical recycling systems,' just like our plan."

A dark-skinned man with his upper body bare is lying on a beach lounger, while a man in a floral shirt is lying next to him.

"Jace, good job."

"Still, I thought you'd say, 'Lucky to survive' or something."

"How is that possible? With such careful planning, such a long time of preparation, and such accurate information, do I have a chance of dying unexpectedly? ”

"The only variable is that the destruction of the backup power does not meet the planned requirements, resulting in the failure of the mission."

"Anyway, this time it went well-—— what about you? Paul? ”

"Me?"

The man in the flower shirt took a sip of the whiskey in his glass, and then replied:

"Nothing special, I've already found the dead ghosts, but I doubt they'll be able to find out this far."

"Don't take it lightly, JSOC stepped in, you know what that means."

Paul snorted, and said helplessly:

"That's where I'm unlucky, maybe we should find someone to get the old man before we act."

"Stuffing two women in his bed, taking some pictures of him going to Lo Island, or accusing him of abusing JSOC to retaliate against legal organizations in the Middle East, we really ignored that."

"It's not us, it's you, Paul."

Jace said solemnly.

"Well, it's me, of course, I admit it was my negligence, but the whole plan was made and executed by me alone, and it's normal to have a little omission."

"After all, I'm completely prepared to sacrifice for the sake of the organization."

"But now, it doesn't seem to be necessary."

"It doesn't have to be the best."

Looking at Paul's indifferent expression, Jace also sighed.

The two were silent for a long time before Jace finally spoke:

"I know that John's thing is hitting you hard, but. That's not why you're looking for death. ”

"Now, we have a common ideal, a common goal, and it may not be many years before this ideal is realized."

"You're one of my few friends, and my closest comrade-in-arms, and I don't want you to die before that day comes."

Hearing Jace's words, Paul nodded solemnly.

"Don't worry, I'm not stupid."

"Besides, it's been 10 years now, and I'm not that brainless high school student anymore, what are you worried about me?"

"Now you're brainless. Uh, a brainless Ph.D. in economics? Probably. ”

At this, Jace himself laughed.

But after laughing, he regained his countenance, and said to Paul in a stern tone:

"Listen, you have serious self-destructive tendencies, and I'm not kidding you."

"Ever since John's death, you've been trying to destroy yourself, including elective economics, and that's just one of the ways you can destroy yourself."

"A lot of people don't know this, not even your mother, but I'm not going to be fooled."

"I can't persuade you to do anything, but you can't go far with something too heavy on your back, which doesn't match our philosophy."

Paul took a deep breath and let out a sickly moan of pain and relief in his throat.

"Jace, who didn't let go so easily, at least you didn't go and collect your father's body yourself."

"Do you know that scene? Well, his corpses were stacked on top of the others, and his head shattered to the ground. ”

"I tried to restore it, but at the time a very funny thought popped into my head-—— would I put someone else's brain into my father's skull?"

"Well, maybe that doesn't exist, but there have been times when I woke up in the middle of the night and couldn't help but want to dig up the grave and sift through his ashes."

"Is this probably some kind of obsessive-compulsive disorder? Forget it, let's not talk about this. ”

The topic was too heavy for Jace to continue talking about, but it seemed that this was another question that the two of them could never avoid?

That's right, they're all orphans of that storm.

A man-made, terrible, and absolutely avoidable storm.

Jace sighed as well.

"Anyway, it's almost over."

"We've all done what we have to do, and the next thing we can't do anymore."

"It's time to disappear altogether—how's that, is there a place to go?"

Paul pondered for a moment, then replied:

"Not sure, but maybe I'll go to the Middle East?"

"The Middle East? Why go to that kind of place? ”

Jace was a little surprised, then continued:

"At least go to East Asia, maybe China or Southeast Asia is a good choice?"

"Faster in the Middle East."

Paul spoke briefly.

"Maybe Africa is faster?"

"If you say that, maybe the moon is faster."

Paul had a smile on his face and his natural sense of humor.

"Okay, okay, I can't talk about you."

"But I can give you a piece of information-—— Mr. 0 wants us to go to Africa, Seychelles, or Mauritius."

"He's going to put a resort hotel for us, well, the kind with a small stake."

"It was a nice auditorium, right close to the African continent, and at the same time being able to follow him."

"I'll think about it."

Paul said earnestly.

He is not perfunctory, but carefully weighing future options.

"I heard that the scenery is very good. Uh, but I've had enough of the sea. ”

Jace smiled self-deprecatingly, then looked into Paul's eyes and said seriously:

"If you go to the Middle East, then I'll go with you."

"Pick a country?"

"Qatar, of course."

"Deal!"

The two looked at each other and smiled and high-fived each other.

"Alright, the plan is set, maybe it's time for us to put the finishing touches on it."

"I chartered a yacht as a 'journalist.'"

"I'm going to take pictures near the landing platform and check all the beacons for self-destruction by the way - do you want to come along?"

"Of course."

Paul stood up without hesitation, and the two of them walked together towards the hotel behind them.

They were already far from the LZ-4 landing zone, but it wasn't long before they reappeared on the surface of the sea in a completely reasonable capacity

(End of chapter)