This year's winter in the Northern Hemisphere came a little earlier.

Before the winter solstice, there was already a biting chill in the wind in Jinling.

Looking at his wife standing in front of him and the little baby in her arms, Sun Lieyang's eyes flashed with a trace of reluctance, but he still took a deep breath of cold air and made up his mind to say.

"I'm leaving."

The woman stared into his eyes, and the lake-like gaze seemed to have a lot to say, but in the end only one sentence came out.

“…… Remember to miss me. ”

"Don't be so sad."

Gently brushing away the windswept bangs on her forehead, as if to engrave this face in her memory, Sun Lieyang, who was staring at his wife, grinned from the corner of his mouth, trying to make his tone sound as relaxed as possible.

"It's not like I'm not coming back. And I feel that for a maximum of ten years, let's go to the moon, just like making a high-speed train back to my hometown. When the time comes, you come up to see me, or I go down to see you, it's all the same. ”

Looking at the little baby in the woman's arms, Sun Lieyang stretched out his index finger to tease him, and showed a warm smile at him.

Perhaps infected by that warm smile, the baby stopped crying, giggled and reached out to grab his father's index finger.

"Good, baby, wait until I get back."

Gently holding the child's hand, he continued in a tone of some wistfulness.

"When that happens, your father will be able to tell you a story that your classmates will be envious of."

Biting his lip, the woman looked at him with a hint of grief in her eyes.

"Really...... Do you have to go now? ”

"There's no way, someone has to go," easily opened the child's hand, Sun Lieyang looked at his wife, and said with a smile, "My junior brother will get married next year, and there is a twenty-five or sixteen-year-old junior sister, if I, the senior brother, don't stand up, do you want the two of them to go up?" ”

Somebody has to do something.

There are only a few researchers in the country who are working on second-generation controlled fusion, and their research team can be said to be the backbone of this. Although so far it has only been some foreshadowing work, and it is still far from unlocking the treasure trove of energy on the moon, if no one takes the first step, there will be no future.

“…… I heard that it was very cold there, so remember to wear more clothes when you go up. ”

"Don't worry, I'll take care of myself."

Kissing goodbye to his wife and the child in her arms, Sun Lieyang threw the half-human-high backpack on his body, resisted the urge to turn back, and walked away towards the SUV parked outside the dormitory building.

The first batch of pioneers who went to the Guanghan Special Zone had a total of 50 people.

As pioneers pioneering the future, they will board a special spacecraft specially prepared for them at Launch Base 2 and go to the Queqiao waiting in synchronous orbit.

Looking at Sun Lieyang, who had been inked for a long time and was the last to get in the car, Tao Muye turned his inquiring gaze to him.

"You even have a baby?"

Sun Lieyang grinned, and a string of white mist floated out of his nostrils.

"What? Doesn't look like it? ”

"It's not like that."

"What about you? I've been studying for a Ph.D. for a few years, haven't you found a partner? ”

"I'm celibate."

"It's the first time I've heard someone talk about a single dog so fresh and refined...... But I'm a little curious, there shouldn't be a shortage of people in your institute, right? How do you send an older unmarried young man up? ”

It is understandable that such doubts will arise.

Although the Great Druid no longer has doctoral students, there are still many people in his institute. Agricultural research is not the same as controlled fusion, the latter is an emerging discipline, and the former has been developed for decades. If you have a choice, there is no reason to send an only child who has not yet started a family.

"It's my own name."

Unlike Dr. Sun, it can be said that he has put a lot of effort into getting this place.

“…… Did you report it yourself? Sun Lieyang looked at him stunned, and said with some incomprehension, "Why?" ”

"Didn't Academician Lu say it?" Tao Muye smiled faintly and looked at the scenery flying outside the car window, as well as the autumn leaves blowing off the sycamores, "This is a necessary expedition." ”

"For the future of civilization."

"Don't you think it's a romantic thing?"

……

The last car arrived at launch site No. 2.

The luggage and passengers were divided into two groups, and under the command of the on-site staff, they boarded the plane in the shape of a giant bird in a step-by-step manner.

Thirty minutes later, they will travel to the moon, more than 300,000 kilometers away, where they will carve out a new home.

Although the road ahead was full of uncertainty and confusion, none of them sitting in the life protection device showed fearful eyes.

As the man said, it was an expedition of necessity.

Sitting here at the moment, each and every one of them is carrying a great and glorious mission.

They didn't just go to the moon.

It is the future of human civilization.

The broad engine spewed out a blue arc of light, and under the impetus of the high-speed plasma, the spaceplane began to slowly move forward, heading for the sky.

The relatives standing on the ground waved goodbye to the people who were far away, until the arc of light disappeared into the corner of the sky, drawing everyone's eyes into the distance......

At the same time, the general manager of the Aerospace Project Department, which is less than 50 kilometers away from the No. 2 launch base, sent the launch briefing from the command center to the CEO's office, and briefly reported the current launch situation.

“…… Chang'e has passed smoothly through the stratosphere and is switching to vertical flight mode to change course, and is expected to reach its intended orbit in two hours. ”

Taking the report and glancing at it, Chen Yushan nodded.

"I'll leave this report here, you can go down first."

"Okay, Mr. Chen."

The man nodded, turned and left the office, closing the door with his hand.

After carefully reading the report in her hand, Chen Yushan thought for a moment and then summarized the situation into a more concise report, which was sent to Lu Zhou through the internal office system of Star Technology.

Although she was not in command at the scene, she knew very well how much Lu Zhou attached importance to this launch plan in her heart.

Presumably, after hearing this good news, he should be in a very happy mood.

Unconsciously, my thoughts drifted tens of thousands of kilometers away.

Stretching her somewhat sore arms, Chen Yushan, who had finished the work at hand, stood up from the office chair with her hands on the desk and walked to the floor-to-ceiling window with a coffee cup.

Looking at the sunset outside the floor-to-ceiling window, there was a faint melancholy in her heart for a while.

Although I haven't seen each other for a few days, it always feels like a long, long time has passed.

“…… If only I could come back sooner. ”

muttering softly in her mouth, Chen Yushan suddenly felt that the face reflected on the floor-to-ceiling window was a little unfamiliar.

I always feel that this kind of willful words that only little girls can say are really a little inconsistent with my image as a strong woman.

“…… Looks like I'm going to have to work harder. ”