Chapter 227
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Chapter 227: Lessons from the Masters
One hundred fifty kilometers?
A brief silence filled the communicator’s other end.
Before this, the last valuable message Hope City had received from the outside world was a warning about the fog sent back by Zhang Tong’s team twenty years ago.
According to their estimates at that time, the team’s signal disappeared when they were no more than seventy kilometers away from Hope City.
This meant that regardless of the final outcome of Fresnel’s team, their exploration efforts had already become a new milestone.
After a few seconds, as if calming his emotions, the elderly voice on the other side surprisingly did not rush to inquire further, but instead spoke with a hint of concern:
"Are you all okay?"
"We’re fine; for now, there are no casualties."
"Good, that’s good."
Fresnel heard Zhou Zhuo’s relieved sigh, and the elder continued:
"Check the time."
Fresnel glanced at Wang Xiao, who skillfully reported the time from the small screen on his armor:
"Year 52 of the New Era, October 15th, 21:33."
"The time is correct. If your current situation is relatively safe, you can report some information."
"Understood."
Fresnel cleared his throat. Although the communicator lacked video capability, the corners of his mouth began to rise:
"We found something that resembles the wreckage of Hope City’s rocket. We are now using the undamaged communicator inside that wreckage to contact headquarters."
This was even more significant news. For someone like Zhou Zhuo, the rocket launch from twenty years ago was not a secret.
Many people at the research institutes had participated in that project, and at that time, he was just a researcher accumulating scientific achievements, not involved in this area of study.
When he heard about it for the second time, the rocket had completely gone missing.
Since then, everyone seemed to have tacitly accepted that this event had not occurred; the relevant research team was disbanded and scattered to other groups, and the broadcasts no longer mentioned this event, as if it had just been Zhou Zhuo’s illusion.
But he knew that this event was not false; it had indeed happened. After becoming the Deputy Director of the research institute, he had tried to revive the manufacturing plan for the rocket or other launchers but had been repeatedly rejected by higher authorities, citing the usual excuse of resource scarcity.
Now, the wreckage from twenty years ago had appeared, and if they could recover it, it would undoubtedly be a good thing for advancing the plan…
Thinking about this, Zhou Zhuo felt today was a rare day of good fortune for him, and he quickly asked:
"Can you bring the wreckage back?"
Hearing the question, Fresnel’s eyelid twitched, and he involuntarily turned to look at the massive structure just a few meters behind them.
Although the enormous object was covered in bite marks and had a noticeable bend in the middle, even if they replaced all five of them with Wang Xiao, it would still be difficult to take it away today…
The entire rocket was made of some unknown material; except for a hidden damaged area on the central body, there were no signs of destruction elsewhere.
After the slender Puppet Master crawled into the damaged area to take a look, he also concluded that they had come up empty-handed; there might have been something inside before, but it certainly wasn’t there now.
After a moment of thought, Fresnel awkwardly said:
"Uh, maybe we can’t…"
He hesitated, using his limited vocabulary to briefly explain why they could not recover it.
Zhou Zhuo then realized that his judgment had been slightly flawed; the integrity of the rocket exceeded his expectations, and he immediately began to think of another plan.
At that moment, in the command center, the profiles of the five members of the Fresnel team appeared on the big screen. Zhou Zhuo studied them closely and soon found what he needed.
"Superpowered individual ‘Twin Clock’, superpowered individual ‘Beacon’, you both have some fundamentals in this area. From now on, you’ll follow my instructions. I need you to bring back the storage device from that wreckage if it really is still intact."
"Received."
The two, who had been inspecting the relevant components, quickly agreed, and Zhou Zhuo began to give remote commands.
Things did not go as smoothly as the old director had imagined. Although Beacon and Shi Jin had some foundational knowledge, it was only basic. The lack of video functionality in the communicator completely taught Zhou Zhuo a lesson about the saying, "there’s always someone better."
Perhaps due to long-term interactions with someone like Ji Yongxing, Zhou Zhuo had remembered that human intelligence had significantly improved.
However, it was only today that he learned the truth was different; those who could enter the research institutes and who appeared before him daily were already the elite among humans, while these people outside resembled unmanaged weeds.
Now, the knowledge accumulation of these two "weeds" completely astonished the old director.
The intermittent communication, combined with two poor students who did not understand human speech and an elderly man with a warm demeanor, created an impressive scene that night.
Until late at night, under the guidance of a master teaching two students, the two obedient poor students finally retrieved several palm-sized hard drives from the old rocket.
They carefully placed the device into the sample box, and everyone finally completed their short-term task.
Zhou Zhuo reluctantly ended the communication, as if bidding a fond farewell to a long-distance lover.
There was no choice; this device consumed a lot of power and could only operate this long thanks to Wang Xiao’s special Energy Battery. Even if a regular team had disassembled it, they would have found it impossible to use.
Before ending the call, Zhou Zhuo officially issued instructions to the Fresnel team on behalf of the command center.
Their findings were too valuable, and they could begin their journey back early tomorrow morning.
"Finally, I can sleep!"
Beacon stretched and mumbled. She had not touched the corresponding tools in a long time, which made her feel as if she had returned to her pre-awakening youth.
Just then, a barely visible flash entered her eyes.
Beacon was very sensitive to such light; her drowsiness disappeared in an instant. After all, this was outside Hope City, and no matter how tired she was, it was challenging to sleep peacefully, especially since something felt amiss.
"What’s wrong?"
Shi Jin, also somewhat fatigued, asked.
"It seems there’s something over there."
Beacon looked at Fresnel:
"Should we investigate?"
"Alright, make your mark. Shi Jin, go check it out; everyone else, stay alert."
The atmosphere in the team instantly became serious. Under Beacon’s guidance, Shi Jin activated her ability and dashed toward the distance.
After some time spent familiarizing herself and training, Shi Jin was now able to activate her ability multiple times, and the intervals between activations were decreasing as her stamina increased.
Following Beacon’s directions, she moved forward through the sparse trees and quickly spotted a piece of specially made glass shard.
It was that thing reflecting light!
