13 I’ll Tell Your Mom!

Zhang Yuan took out his phone, opened the self-service car application, and entered his destination through voice recording.

"Destination, Donghai City. Estimated distance of 412km."

"Looking for a car, please kindly hold on…"

A radar-like image spun.

There were 10 people car sharing for that intercity bus and each of them only had to pay less than 60 yuan for the ride, which was very cost-effective.

Soon, it arrived at a high-altitude rail for traveling between cities, traveling at a speed of 400km/h. It was a speed impossible for normal humans to control so the distance between each vehicle had to be strictly maintained using an automated driving system.

There was an idiot in the past who wanted to flaunt his driving skills before his partner and switched to manual driving in a non-emergency situation. The result was… well, evidently it was a disaster. The car crashed into a railing at 400km/h, and not a single organ in his body was left intact.

On the other end, the railings made of carbon nanotubes were completely undamaged in the collision. That single incident caused the safety of high-altitude rails to be widely spread.

Zhang Yuan alighted the bus one hour later and took the subway before arriving at his destination.

"Wow, you're so punctual. Not even arriving half a minute earlier, huh?" Li Zhendong opened the door for him, and his sarcastic tone eked out.

"I fell asleep in a massage shop and was late…"

"Tsk, that's a very good location for a sexual encounter!" Li Zhendong revealed a beastly expression as he said that. After he had stayed in the space city for quite some time, his entire body seemed like dry firewood that would be immediately ignited the moment he encountered the opposite sex.

Zhang Yuan said in an irritated tone, "Please, they are all aunties. How could there possibly be any sexual encounters? Are your tastes so terrible… Also, can you stop discussing these topics whenever we meet…?"

"Zhang Yuan!" Li Zhendong's expression suddenly turned serious as if he were about to announce something big.

"What's up?" Zhang Yuan felt his back turn cold.

Li Zhendong looked excited as he waved his phone and danced. "I started chatting with this girl a few days ago and perhaps something special can happen between us… Take a look at her photo, she's pretty good-looking."

"Is that so?"

He took a look at Li Zhendong's mobile phone and the girl's profile picture was a rather cute girl with pouty lips and fair, tender skin.

Chat History:

Girl: I bet you are well paid.

Li Zhendong: It's not considered very high. After all, money isn't of much use to us. Personally, my main goal is to have a good time.

*A photo of the spaceship where Li Zhendong was just floating freely*

Girl: Oh my, it looks so fun in space! Even in my dreams, I would dream of going up to space at least once, but it's a pity that the cost of going up there is too high.

Li Zhendong: How can you say that it's fun when it's a job that requires you to risk your life? In an environment without gravity, you can choke to death from drinking water, and there were really such cases in the past!

Girl: Does your dad also work in the space city?

Li Zhendong: Of course, but I've never relied on my father. I managed to pass the exams with my abilities.

*omitting thousands of flirty text messages*

Li Zhendong: Since I'm someone who's about to board the spaceship soon, will you accompany me to watch a movie together? I haven't gone on a single date at my age.

Girl: Haha~ For real? You don't have a girlfriend?

The girl was beating around the bush and did not reply with a definite answer. But from the looks of it, she seemed to have fallen for him.

Li Zhendong showed off while radiating an expression of delight. "Now you know how good your brother here is. Do you need me to teach you how to flirt with girls? The first move is to act pure. Some women dig that persona. They love virgin males!

Zhang Yuan furrowed his brows the more he listened on.

"The second move is to loosen the reins to grasp them better."

"The third move is to distract them with one hand and seizing their testicles with the other!"

"What… testicles?!"

Li Zhendong became increasingly excited and his voice gradually got high-pitched. "Oh, I meant seizing their heart. Think about this, even after you've left Earth, these girls would still keep you in their hearts. They would leave a space for you in the corner inside the depths of their hearts, and the beautiful memories you've experienced together would always be there, hidden.

"After a year, a decade, a century, the name they call out when they say their last words would be yours, but you would be across the galaxy at that time.

"Don't you feel that it is a very meaningful thing?"

For some reason, Zhang Yuan remained unmoved and even felt queasy…

Zhang Yuan sighed in helplessness. This brother of him was excellent in all aspects, with a high IQ and all that, a total genius. He was like a god-like character who could easily achieve good grades casually in his sleep.

The only negative aspect of him was… he was very trashy and loved to brag.

Zhang Yuan suddenly grinned and said, "Scumbag! I'll tell your mom about this"

Suddenly, the conversation fell into a dead silence.

Zhang Yuan repeated what Li Zhendong said. "After a year, a decade, a century, the name they call when they say their last words would be yours?"

"Li Zhendong! Li Zhendong! Ahh~ I'm dying. Is that how they are to call out your name? How is it? Does it sound good?"

Another dead silence enveloped them.

To a certain extent, Zhang Yuan was also a genius.

Li Zhendong sighed and stared into the ceiling. "Right now, I only feel like punching you to death. Like literally punching you to death. I really mean it!"

...

Li Zhendong on the dining table was an obedient son that did not utter a single word and only ate in silence.

Li Zhendong's mother was very amicable as she continuously prompted Zhang Yuan to eat more and said words like 'You won't get to eat real meat when you go up to space', 'this drumstick is cooked with a real chicken'. It was basically the same as what his Aunt had said.

However, what she said was also a fact. Space was limited in the spaceship and the ecosystem there was also poor. It wouldn't be a problem to grow plants, but it was impossible to rear pigs, cattle, sheep, chickens, ducks, and fishes in large quantities. Therefore, the meat available in the space city was only cultured meat produced by in vitro cell culture of animal cells.

Li Zhendong's father, Li Zhen, was colleagues with Zhang Yuan's father in the space city.

And he was currently chatting with them about some stories regarding the design of the spaceship, Earth Age.

"Your father Zhang Qiming was a real genius. For problems we couldn't figure out, with a spin of a pen and a slap on his head, he came out with the solution. It was like he was on drugs!"

"Drugs?" Zhang Yuan could not help but wipe the sweat on his face.

"A huge part of the spaceship control system was built by him, and we've only managed to detect 212 bugs until today. This is an amazing feat…"

"Unfortunately, he had passed away too early. It's such a pity…" Li Zhen had complex feelings. He even drank some wine.

"Are 212 bugs still considered little?"

"You don't understand. The control system of the spaceship is interlinked with each layer stacked on top of one another. The more complex the system is, the greater the risk. Earth Age alone possessed a safety monitoring system, energy system, ecological system, material circulation system, communication system, and dozens of subsystems. There are even a few industrial factories on board. The complexity of the control system is far beyond your imagination!

"The software and hardware components must complement each other. Moreover, the difficulty of building the software is not necessarily easier than the hardware!"

The two young men were totally unable to join in the conversation.

After some time, Zhang Yuan asked a question, "The spaceship cannot go any faster?"

Li Cheng shook his head and said, "The speed of seven thousandths the speed of light is already very fast. Unless it is propelled by a large nuclear bomb, we estimate that it can accelerate up to 3% the speed of light. However, the materials we possess now cannot withstand the destructive power of nuclear bombs… Moreover, it is impossible for anti-nuclear materials to be created in the foreseeable future."

Li Zhendong also joined in the conversation and asked another question, "Dad, after we leave, will they construct the next colonial spaceship?"

"I doubt so. Probably in the next few years or even decades… we won't build another spaceship… The entire country's economy needs to recuperate for some time. This project is truly too costly, and even with the strong support of the various countries' governments and the Deep Space Foundation, it would take a long time before we can recover."

"As for the special aviation tax, the opposition from the people is extremely strong and several countries have also made huge complaints about it. I reckon the tax would soon be canceled…"

Zhang Yuan asked in doubt, "Could we be the only batch of deep space colonists?"

"It may not necessarily be so. Who knows what can happen in the future?"

"The basic technology of deep space voyage has already matured and if we were to construct a second large-scale colonial ship, it would not be as costly as the first ship. Perhaps after the government stabilizes its finances, it would still be possible for the launch of a second ship. However, before the advent of new ground-breaking technology, it would be hard to significantly increase the traveling speed. You should not expect for the ship behind you to catch up."

Zhang Yuan stopped chewing for a moment as he interpreted a hidden underlying message. It seemed like the wealthy Deep Space Foundation was now broke.