Inside the Oasis City palace, City Lord Cole was talking with people from the merchant caravan.
"So, based on your observations, was Red Iron Town actually attacked?"
For the past few days, the Stormwind Gang had been silent, and not a single beautiful female slave had been sent to the city, which made Ke'er feel uneasy.
"When we went to deliver water, we did see damage to the town's buildings," the caravan leader said, "but I always felt, uh, the atmosphere was a bit strange."
"Specifically, what was strange? Explain more clearly."
"It's just... the townspeople deliberately kept their distance from us, and the expression on their faces was hard to describe, very angry, but, without sadness."
"Without sadness..."
Ke'er narrowed his eyes and stroked his chin.
He paced back and forth in his office with some unease, and although he was unwilling to believe it, he ultimately deduced the truth behind the phenomenon.
The Stormwind Gang suffered a defeat!
Red Iron Town couldn't possibly have repelled them; they must have collaborated with that group of new Celestials.
These unruly people, how audacious!
Collaborate with Celestials?
Will Celestials help you improve your livelihood? Will they provide you with water and food? Electricity and fuel?
Heh heh, they're just interested in your ore and metal. Do you really think that just because you repelled the Raiders, I have no way to counter this hypocritical alliance?
Have you forgotten who your true benefactors are?
A bunch of ungrateful things!
Ke'er was burning with rage when his beautiful secretary scurried in with a panicked look on her face.
"City Lord, something's happening outside!"
"Outside?"
Halfway to the terrace, Ke'er sensed something was wrong; the "light" shining through the window was exceptionally strong, and there was a rumbling sound overhead.
Upon reaching the terrace, he found that the entire city was illuminated by a huge bright yellow light source in the sky. In the noble district and the civilian district, many people had run out of their homes to look up and watch.
The entire city witnessed this scene.
At this moment, the spaceplane was trailing a long plume of fire, accelerating away from the planet's surface at an angle close to 90 degrees, directly above Oasis City.
The overload exceeding 7G pressed the four crew members firmly into their seats. Fortunately, three of them had physical attributes exceeding ordinary people and could withstand it even without astronaut training. Only Jubian, the frail Scholar, had a difficult time.
A spaceplane like this typically uses jet engines to fly to an ultra-high altitude of 35 to 45 kilometers before igniting the rocket engine. Igniting at such a low altitude now would increase rocket fuel consumption, but to leave a deep impression on the City Lord, it was all worth it.
This launch scene could only be described as spectacular, and its deterrent effect was excellent. The citizens of Oasis City could even feel the heat of the high-temperature exhaust on their faces, and their upward gazes were filled with awe and longing.
Celestial's spacecraft!?
"Did someone from Apollo leave today?" the City Lord asked urgently.
"No," the secretary replied, "they were just questioning me, asking if it was our own spacecraft, and their tone was very unfriendly..."
"Clarify with Apollo as soon as possible! How could I have launched that!?"
If I could launch this, would I still be a City Lord in this Desert?
"Yes! It has already been clarified, please rest assured..."
City Lord Cole pinched the bridge of his nose. How could he possibly be reassured?
A group of Celestials came to this planet but didn't contact him, instead cooperating solely with Red Iron Town. This clearly meant they intended to acquire large amounts of metal resources and begin ground construction.
If he still couldn't figure out what would happen next, he might as well quit being City Lord.
The light in the sky gradually dimmed. After an internal struggle, Ke'er gritted his teeth and issued an order.
"Immediately cut off Red Iron Town's resource supply!"
"Which kind of resource?"
"All of it! Water, electricity, food, fuel, and also industrial products, daily necessities, cut off everything!"
"But, my lord..." The secretary was startled by this idea. "This way they won't be able to provide us with metal. In a month, the entire town will starve to death, and training and colonizing a new batch of skilled workers is very troublesome."
The City Lord turned back to look at her and sneered.
"Don't worry, before that time comes, that old fool Shen Hai will come kneeling and begging for mercy! I'd like to see if the Celestials are kind enough to help him solve these problems. At his age, he's still so naive and childish!"
At the same time, the spaceplane climbed to 100 kilometers, officially entering outer space.
Outside the window, the horizon was no longer flat; the curvature of the planet's surface became very obvious.
The aircraft changed attitude to enter orbit, beginning to circle Li Star at a speed of 83 minutes per orbit, entering a state of weightlessness. Soon after, it flew past the terminator line and reached the sunlit side of the planet.
The full view of Li Star was revealed.
There were no clouds above the entire planet. Except for the Desert that was 1800 kilometers long and 700 kilometers wide, other areas were covered by yellowish-green glass-like substance, reflecting a crystalline light under the sun's illumination.
This kind of scenery was truly magnificent and bizarre.
"Okay, it has entered automatic orbiting state, you can move freely now."
The first space mission, a complete success!
Chang Kong was the first to unbuckle his seatbelt and float up. Seeing this, the others also followed suit, experiencing weightlessness and flipping around, feeling like carefree children.
Ye Xing insisted that the other three link hands and feet to form a triangle, and he would fly through the middle, claiming it was something he promised his fans to prove it was real weightlessness and not wire-fu.
"Don't mention it, this feeling of weightlessness is actually a bit nauseating..." Jubian's face turned green.
Ye Xing panicked upon hearing this.
"Holy crap, my dear brother, please don't vomit now that you're weightless. If you vomit, yellow and green stuff will be floating everywhere!"
"Damn it, stop describing it, the more you describe it, the more nauseating it gets."
"Really weak... How come we're all fine?"
"Clearly, your physical fitness was exchanged for intelligence."
"If you're really dizzy, just look at the scenery outside the window," Caoyuan said. "We have to orbit the planet at least once, which will take some time."
Ye Xing: "Yeah, it's a shame this time we just came up to test the flight parameters. There's no special mission, it's a bit boring."
Jubian pushed up his air glasses.
"No, given the Executive Officer's deep cunning, I don't think so."
On the ground, Lu Yuan achieved two accomplishments.
【Achievement Unlocked: As Good As New; Completely repaired the spaceplane, gained 5 Redemption Points】
【Achievement Unlocked: Leaving the Cradle; Entered outer space, gained 5 Redemption Points】
Total Points: 33 points
Gaining achievements by going into space was within Lu Yuan's expectations.
One achievement wouldn't be a loss, and two was the best outcome!
He spent 30 points to purchase the coordinates of an outer space resource point, which had been on the shop list since the first day.
The coordinate data was displayed on Lu Yuan's pad. The specific location was above Li Star, 2000km from the ground, orbiting the planet in a polar orbit.
When the spaceplane flew over the camp again, Lu Yuan sent a message to the crew.
"When I first crash-landed, I discovered a suspicious target. The specific location has been sent to you. Please go and check it quickly."