Chapter 238: Desert North Farm_1

Jiang Yu explained to the little girl again, "I will go to rescue them, but not now."

After thinking for a while, the little girl asked, "When then? Will a disaster really happen?"

"Many people are hesitating whether to move away or not, won't you persuade them?" she asked.

After pondering for a moment, Jiang Yu replied, "It won't be too long. I don't hope for a disaster to happen either, but some things are inevitable."

"If some people want to move away, let them do so. This is a huge trial, and only those who withstand the trial will have a will as strong as steel in the future."

"This is humanity's new selection mechanism. Those who pass the trial will become the new cornerstones of society."

The little girl pondered for a while, seemingly not quite understanding.

Jiang Yu smiled and said, "You will understand in the future."

The little girl bowed slightly, "Thank you for your answer. May I tell others about it?"

"You cannot. If the answers were made public prematurely, the trial would be meaningless," Jiang Yu said with a smile. "Just consider the answer a secret in your heart."

The girl nodded, about to leave when Jiang Yu asked her, "Do you believe in the Wallfacer? Are you willing to support the Wallfacer plan?"

"I believe! And I am willing to support your plan!" she answered without hesitation.

Jiang Yu was startled. If he asked Number Three these questions, he would probably hesitate for a fraction of a second:

"Why do you believe in me so much?"

The little girl smiled and said, "Because you always make the right choices, of course!"

Jiang Yu was startled, "That was in the past, not now."

"If you could make the right choices in the past, why can't you make the right choices now?"

Jiang Yu smiled, "Thank you for your trust!"

Watching the little girl bounce away, Jiang Yu muttered, "A bunch of good-for-nothing bigwigs, none as discerning as this little girl."

He had received tremendous encouragement from this little girl.

It was not just that some people were guarding against him as if he were a thief, but also that there were people who trusted him unreservedly!

Jiang Yu stood up and ordered several armed robots, "Let's go."

The armed robots followed Jiang Yu, on alert.

Jiang Yu was to embark on his journey to Earth today, only if he went to Earth would Gu Cheng and the others who had just left feel at ease.

Gu Cheng and the others moved ahead first to show their sincerity.

If Jiang Yu's spaceship did not take off today, then Gu Cheng and the others who had just left might turn around and come right back.

The accompanying personnel on this trip, besides the spaceship's pilot, were You Ze as the assistant that Number Three had found for Jiang Yu.

You Ze was a middle-aged man with black hair and eyes, lean with little flesh on his cheeks.

But he was healthily thin, not the sickly thinness that comes with illness.

Besides these two, there were also twenty armed robots on the spaceship.

After all, Earth was already quite safe, and the Solar System State also had significant power on Earth.

These robots were enough to ensure Jiang Yu's safety, and if not, they could summon additional forces from the local area.

Jiang Yu said to Number Three, who had come to see him off, "Find someone good to take over the administrative responsibilities in Yinghuo City, and in seven or eight months, we'll go to Jupiter together!"

Number Three agreed, and Jiang Yu boarded the shuttle.

Mars's gravity was much greater than the Moon's, but shuttles were still a relatively time- and effort-saving mode of transport.

As the shuttle prepared for launch, Jiang Yu looked out the porthole and saw this red, desolate world.

The sun, far on the horizon, bathed the land in a dreamlike orange-red glow.

For a moment, Jiang Yu felt as if this place was not Mars, but an uninhabited region on Earth.

With the white flames erupting from beneath the shuttle, it quickly soared away from the ground.

As the red planet came into view, Jiang Yu suddenly had the feeling of leaving an alien world, ready to go home.

Jiang Yu's personal spacecraft had been on standby in Mars's low earth orbit for some time.

It was a planet-class spacecraft, not very large, with a maximum range that could span from Earth to Neptune and back.

Nowadays, most of humanity's ships were of this type, capable of reaching any human city and colony planet within the Solar System.

Only the ships of the Four Great Fleets were stellar-class spaceships.

With the widespread application of nuclear engines, the trip between Mars and Earth, which once took three months, now just needed about a week.

If luck was on one's side and Mars was at its closest point to Earth, the journey could be completed in around four days.

Jiang Yu was not in a hurry; he chatted with You Ze while gazing out the porthole at the space scenery, enjoying the space journey.

Once the flight path was set and the ship switched to autopilot, the pilot also joined in the chat.

Nowadays, on a planet-class journey, only takeoff, landing, acceleration, and deceleration required a pilot's hands; during acceleration, deceleration, and coasting, the pilot only needed to occasionally check for any deviation from the course.

In their conversation, Jiang Yu learned that You Ze was actually a descendant of You Haoming, one of the first astronauts to set foot on Mars.

Speaking of You Haoming, he was quite an ancient figure now. There was a memorial hall for him and others like him in PDC's Mars City, showcasing humanity's first journey to Mars.

From You Ze, Jiang Yu learned that You Haoming and four other astronauts chose to return to Mars and participate in its development.

Their families followed, becoming the first batch of Martian immigrants.

You Ze said, "My great-grandfather used to say that the vast emptiness of Mars was enchanting, an open realm free for wandering. Once you live here for a while, you wouldn't want to leave."

Suddenly, Jiang Yu remembered something, "Was he still alive when the 'Plan Zero' was announced?"

"He had passed away long before." You Ze said with a smile, "He is buried on the mountain outside Yinghuo City. When 'Plan Zero' was announced, my father even went to his grave to share the news."

Jiang Yu sighed, "I wonder if he would blame me."

"Why would he blame you?" You Ze replied, "He might be too happy to blame anyone. After all, their endeavors reinvigorated human society, what a great honor that is!

"After the announcement of 'Plan Zero,' the matter was immediately clear.

"Many scholars believe that the opposing escape-ism of the past was a form of self-harm and castration for humanity.

"Fortunately, we had the Wallfacers, and 'Plan Zero' saved humanity from disaster.

"Many of us have firm faith in you because of your 'Plan Zero,' and we are determined to continue executing the Wallfacer Project."

Jiang Yu replied with a smile, "That's good to hear."

The seven-day journey passed with games of cards and casual conversations. On the first day, Jiang Yu found it quite novel, but from the second day on, it felt rather uninteresting.

After all, the view out the porthole had not changed much.

Finally, they arrived on Earth, and Jiang Yu and his companions took a shuttle down to their destination: Desert North Farm.

In the vast desert north of Beijing, there was a massive artificial oasis.

It was an industry of the Solar System State, created using "Climate Air Conditioning" technology.

The naturally grown agricultural products, which had become luxury items on Earth, mostly came from Desert North Farm. Even from space, one could see the greenery amidst the desert.