The space shuttle assembly center, inside the Jinling high-tech zone.The army troops were responsible for protecting this factory. This was the safest and most confidential place in the industrial park.

From Skyglow to the Magpie Bridge, 90% of the spacecrafts in lunar transfer orbit were assembled here. They were then sent to the launch site through the Jinling launch site nearby.

Jinling had gradually become the heart of China’s space industry due to Star Sky Technology and the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation. This assembly site was the blood that flowed through the veins of the heart.

Two engineers wearing hard hats were standing at the entrance number one of the assembly center. They looked at the workers unloading mechanical equipment nearby and chatted with each other.

“There’s been a lot of changes recently. I heard Old Wang and the others bragging during dinner yesterday about how the deputy district chief of the Jinling high-tech zone was investigated.”

“You mean District Chief Sun?”

“Of course, who else could it be? Apparently, when the police went to his house, they found two suitcases of gold bars.”

The slightly younger engineer was amazed.

How much are two suitcases of gold bars worth?

It must be more than I make in my lifetime.

“Jesus, even a district chief can embezzle so much money.”

“That’s only what they found at his house. Apparently, that’s not everything. This isn’t just ordinary bribery, foreign intelligence agencies are involved.”

The old engineer sighed and shook his head.

“Who could have thought of this? Thank god they captured him before he was promoted to head district chief.”

The equipment nearby had been unloaded. The automated logistics vehicles delivered the brown containers into the factory.

Then, another truck drove up and parked in front of the factory. Workers began to unload more boxes into the logistics vehicles.

The younger engineer looked at the trucks and spoke.

“Hey, don’t you think we’ve been getting a lot of shipments lately?”

The old engineer said, “Yeah, maybe there’s a big project soon.”

The young engineer looked at him.

“What project do you think it is?”

The old engineer looked at the young man and asked, “What do you want to know, you want to sell information to the US as well?”

“No, I’m just curious…”

“There’s no reason for you to know that. Talk less, work more.”

The older engineer patted the young engineer on the shoulder. They then turned around and walked inside the factory building.

The younger engineer buckled his helmet and muttered, “… I was just asking a question, Jesus.”

After the lunch break, the engineers in Factory One returned to their work stations.

On the other side of the factory building, a group of experts in hard hats stood next to a huge metal structure. They had been standing here all morning.

“… This is the latest tunnel boring machine we produced. The material is mainly titanium alloy. The total weight after assembly is only 50 tons. It’s suitable for low-gravity environments and can be used at a maximum depth of 20 meters. The Lunar Hadron Collider tunnel was dug using this thing.”

Standing next to Lu Zhou was an old engineer in his fifties. His name was Chen Yongliang; he was a deputy manager and technical supervisor.

It was obvious from his uniform that he didn’t belong to the space shuttle assembly center. Instead, he worked for the China Railway Group.

Even though aerospace and railways seemed like two different fields, they actually had many overlaps.

Ever since the Lunar Hadron Collider project, China Railway Group had followed the footsteps of Star Sky Technology and went into the aerospace field.

The acceleration track, which was hundreds of kilometers long and located along the inside of a crater, was a masterpiece from the joint efforts of countless engineers and researchers from China Railway Group and the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation.

The tunnel boring machine in front of Lu Zhou was one of the by-products of the particle accelerator project.

The whole body was made from a lightweight titanium alloy material. Its modular design allowed it to be assembled without the requirement of large construction equipment such as cranes.

Generally, tunnel boring machines made from steel had a drill weight of 50 tons. With the front and back shield, it was easily in the hundreds of tons. However, this large machine only weighed 50 tons.

No wonder Engineer Chen was so proud.

They were the only company in the world capable of drilling an orbit track on the moon; they were at the top of their industry.

After listening to Engineer Chen’s introduction, Lu Zhou finally asked the question he cared about the most.

“How much is it?”

Chen Yongliang: “60 million!”

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“A bit expensive.”

When Engineer Chen saw the chief designer shake his head, he quickly explained.

“It’s not that expensive. The titanium alloy body alone costs tens of millions, not to mention the other technologies and components inside.”

Lu Zhou didn’t respond.

He was the chief designer; he didn’t need to worry about the finance side. He was just casually making a comment based on his feelings.

The general manager from the China Railway Group, who was standing beside them the whole time, was about to say something, but Lu Zhou suddenly spoke first.

“I plan on building an electromagnetic orbit on the moon.”

Chen Yongliang was stunned.

“… How long?”

“Twenty to forty kilometers.”

“What’s the requirement? Similar to the collider?”

“It’s definitely different from the collider. It should be wider and the speed limit must be higher.” Lu Zhou smiled and squinted his eyes while looking at the steel machine in front of him. He said, “I need it to accelerate a mass of 50 tons to 2.5 kilometers per second in 2 minutes… Is that possible?”

After hearing Lu Zhou’s request, the engineer looked astonished as he spoke.

“… That’s a bit difficult, I’m afraid no one on planet Earth can create that.”

2.5 kilometers per second, that’s more than the escape velocity of the moon. Is he planning to launch cargo directly into the lunar transfer orbit?

“If someone else on planet Earth can do it, I wouldn’t be asking you right now.” Lu Zhou continued and said, “The Jinling Institute for Advanced Study is planning to set up a special research team to design the lunar mass driver. The goal is to directly launch the minerals mined on the moon into the lunar transfer orbit or even the low-earth orbit. This is extremely useful.

“We have successfully applied for special funding from the state. The initial budget is 10 billion yuan. If everything goes well, we will receive more funding. You guys are regarded as the top company in the fields of magnetic levitation and electromagnetic acceleration technology. I hope we can work together.”

Before Engineer Chen could say anything, the general manager standing next to them spoke.

“Yes, of course, we’d be glad to! Haha, it’s an honor to work with the Jinling Institute for Advanced Study.”

Lu Zhou smiled and politely nodded.

“It’s our honor too.”

Engineer Chen decided to stay quiet.

His guess was correct.

Academician Lu really plans on building an electromagnetic cannon to directly shoot things from the moon.

Is this even possible?

Even though he had some doubts in his mind, everything Lu Zhou worked on, no matter how ridiculous, had become a reality.

Chen Yongliang couldn’t help but sigh.

Maybe this is the next generation of engineers.

In 100 years, no one will remember Engineer Chen from China Railway Group, but they definitely will remember Lu Zhou.

Chen Yongliang looked at Lu Zhou and began to feel a little jealous…

…

Lu Zhou spent the entire morning watching the people from the China Railway Group demonstrate their tunnel boring machine; he didn’t even have time to eat lunch.

After he returned to his office, he picked up a pair of chopsticks and began to ravage through the food Wang Peng had brought him.

“Bring me a can of Coke next time, please. If I don’t drink something, my throat feels dry.”

Wang Peng smiled and spoke.

“Can’t you drink something healthy?”

Lu Zhou wiped his mouth with a tissue and said, “Tell me that when you quit smoking.”

Wang Peng sighed and said, “I just want you to be more healthy. For people like me, living to 60 or 70 years old is enough, it doesn’t matter if I smoke.”

“I don’t like that, all lives are equal.”

Wang Peng shrugged; he obviously wouldn’t talk back to Lu Zhou.

Perhaps he wasn’t as wise and enlightened as Academician Lu, but no matter how he looked at it, Academician Lu’s words were too idealistic.

How is it possible for everyone to be equal?

I can’t imagine a society like that…

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