Another Ship Bound for the Moon

The situation was chaotic and severe; Azure did not dare slacken in the slightest. However, when they finally released an official communiqué stating that this was an extremely vital expedition of profound significance to the entire future of humankind, and asked everyone to wait patiently for good news, the public, already awash in distrust, began to ask: "Where are you going? Wasn't Mars already won? Footage of the victory has already been sent back. Pray tell, where are you staking virtually all the airships and elite combat power this time, and for what?" "Don't tell us you're going to reinforce Mars. Before the Martian expedition, you said yourselves that the only reason retired veterans were recalled for that battle was that Azure lacked the capability for large-scale interplanetary warfare, and that those people went knowing full well there was no coming back..." "And don't say it's classified." "The real secret is that you've abandoned your pledge to defend Blue Star to the death, left us ordinary humans behind, and started running away." Left with no alternative, Azure released snippets of footage showing core top leadership meeting to discuss the matter. The public said, "That's pre-recorded." Azure held another meeting, this time broadcast live, and deliberately connected with several journalists during the session. The public said, "This could also be pre-recorded." "Video links can be pre-recorded, too. Who knows what's going on with those reporters? Unless you connect with me live, let me ask the questions, and make the Speaker do a few gestures on demand." "What? Connect with you and do tricks on your command? Who do you think you are? And who's to say you aren't a plant they arranged from the start?!" "Actually, they could just be broadcasting live from aboard an airship." "Right!" "..." If this continued, the authorities would become a laughingstock. As a last resort, Azure held an in-person assembly on the plaza outside its headquarters before tens of thousands of people. At the gathering, Speaker Kemore took the stage alongside the entire core leadership to reassure the public. This time, their sincerity was beyond question. Seeing Azure's top leadership appear in full force, the crowd finally fell silent and pondered for a moment... perhaps about ten seconds. "Then the military elites knew we couldn't keep fighting, seized the ships, and ran off first!" "Yeah, and abandoned you guys too." "Exactly! It makes sense they didn't bring you along. At a time like this, what good are so-called leaders who can't even fight? You're just dead weight!" "..." "Wait, no! Maybe you lot are just the last batch to leave! Doesn't every Azure base still have some ships left?" "That's definitely it! Once the fleet that left ahead charts the path and finds the way, you'll step off this stage, turn around, and board the ships!" "Yes, yes, yes, that's it! Keep an eye on them, don't let them escape!" "..." Azure's spokesperson pleaded in exasperation, "Then look at Stream Vanguard—have they moved? There's been no movement whatsoever at Stream Vanguard's base!" The crowd shouted, "Exactly! You didn't just betray us—you betrayed Major Qing too!" "You abandoned his troops as well!" "Major Qing and the retired veterans are still fighting their hearts out on Mars, yet you ran away!" "Did something actually happen to Major Qing on Mars?" "..." "Besides, there's another possibility: Stream Vanguard has its own ships. They can leave whenever they want!" "Right!" Azure: "..." Though the truth seemed straightforward from their perspective and many of the accusations were laughable, under such extraordinary circumstances and emotional volatility, convincing the public without laying out hard evidence was simply impossible. Worse yet, the authorities' repeated clarifications not only failed to resolve anything, but swiftly backfired: public attention gradually coalesced around the remaining source energy airships on Blue Star. Remaining ships meant there were still ways to escape. In the eyes of many, these were nothing less than the final tickets aboard a doomsday ark. Consequently, some who considered themselves of sufficient social standing, wealth, or power began scheming by any means necessary to secure tickets, growing suspicious that relatives, friends, or colleagues had tickets and were keeping it secret; meanwhile, the vast majority, knowing full well that they stood no chance through any official allocation, chose in their desperation to storm and plunder, attempting to seize the remaining airships... Overnight, nearly every Azure base across the globe came under assault. Left with no other recourse, Azure's top leadership and the Council of Elders had to convene another emergency meeting. In the end, they concluded that hostile internal forces on Blue Star had already dissolved, and the direct invasion forces of the Great Spikes outside had nearly vanished entirely... The threat posed by making the skeletal remains' information public was minimal. Ultimately, the Council passed by majority vote to disclose everything... except the precise location: the Moon. From the historical records concerning the skeletal remains, to Azure's fruitless years of scouring mountains and seas, to the discovery on Mars, the eerie recording from Miwang, Xin Yaoqiao's desperate decoding, and the directives issued for Azure's expedition... All of this was made public, item by item, accompanied by supporting evidence and documentation. At last, the massive worldwide chaos was brought under control. The vast majority of the public chose to believe—or provisionally believe—and turned to looking forward with hope to a brighter future for humanity. Yet through this ordeal, seeds of doubt and genes of disorder had been sown. Those devoid of source energy martial power could no longer derive a full sense of security from Azure or anyone else. And the atrocities committed during the turmoil continued to produce ripple effects and consequences; the anti-human factions that had emerged to stir up trouble and recruit followers during the madness did not quiet down either... Thus, propelled by an interplay of inevitable and coincidental factors, humanity suddenly found itself placed at a turning point of change. By this point, the success or failure of the lunar expedition could not simply be dismissed if nothing was found with a casual "what a pity" or "the information must have been incorrect." For humanity and Blue Star, whether the coming era would be one of glorious inspiration or one of lost unity, fractured order, and utter chaos would, in all likelihood, hinge entirely on the outcome of Operation Nostalgia. ………… On the very day Azure finally calmed the public, on Blue Star, in Antarctica, a modified small source energy airship rose silently from beneath the ocean waters. In truth, Nikola—now a tri-consciousness entity—scarcely remembered much of anything, even though it had once personally gathered the skeletal remains and sent them away. Nikola's mind was a muddled haze. It considered itself neither Great Spike nor human, existing daily in a manic frenzy. It firmly believed that it was about to become the creator of an entirely new sapient species—a god. And the first subject beneath it in this new sapient species would be that source energy life-form named Shen Yixiu. "The remains are mine after all... What I create is destined to be supreme." Beneath the night sky, the small airship broke through the atmosphere and sped off. Destination: the Moon. "Thank you for the tip. Jie-jie-jie..." In the cockpit, the blonde beauty Alice let out a sinister, ghastly laugh. Seated in the back row, Young Master Shiheng watched with an expression of utter helplessness... *Sigh, I don't want to live anymore. There's no way to go on living like this.* ………… Throughout this chaos that swept across virtually the entire globe, perhaps only one place remained completely unshaken in the face of all the arguments and suspicions. This place was called Fenglong'ao. The villagers here saw it every day: Han Qingyu's parents were at home, hadn't left, and were eating and sleeping as usual. That proved there was nothing to the rumors. They had watched Qingzi grow up; what a filial boy he was. If there were any truth to the rumors, even if the sky fell, he would definitely come to pick up his parents. And even if he were trapped on Mars and truly couldn't make it, Stream Vanguard under his command would certainly come to do it for him. As for whether Han's parents might sneak away on a ship that arrived at the last minute as rumors claimed, some uneasy villagers had asked directly on day one. When the Han couple said there was no such thing, they believed it, because decades of experience told them that this family was trustworthy. "You know, this Azure Speaker fellow is an idiot too. For something like this, couldn't they just have Qingzi come out and say a few words? If Qingzi said it, maybe not everyone would believe it, but a whole lot of people would." The old village chief puffed on his long bamboo pipe, looking so exasperated and annoyed that he wished he could fly to Azure Headquarters himself to take over as Speaker. "Aye, that's true," the surrounding villagers chimed in. As their murmurs of agreement trailed off, their voices gradually softened, and many began to worry. "Could something... have happened to Qingzi?"