Chapter 67: The Lunar Base Lava Tube Proposal

The major general’s voice was filled with a mix of excitement and anger.

As he concluded his speech,

"Clap, clap, clap, clap, clap, clap!"

Down below, the young garrison soldiers broke into enthusiastic applause.

Japan had never once publicly apologized for the atrocities it had committed in the past!

This had always been a deep thorn embedded in the hearts of all Chinese people.

The shocking, penitent kneel of the German Chancellor was a crucial turning point that allowed the world to view Germany in a new light.

Yet Japan had never done so!

They had committed crimes far more vicious than those of Germany, had never offered a public apology, and had even tried to play the ostrich, attempting to bury that history with their own hands!

This was utterly unforgivable.

The people had always known, yet they had always pretended not to know!

"Now, we are here, and our garrison is here!"

The major general pressed his hands down to quiet the young men, then raised his voice and continued passionately:

"I hereby announce!"

"Right now, before the media of the entire world, the Kyushu Garrison Base is officially under construction!"

"Boom, boom!"

The young men of the engineering corps immediately set to work on building the base.

The earth-shattering vibrations and the intense sounds of ramming mingled with the hearty chants of the young soldiers.

Every single strike

landing on the soil of Kyushu

was practically a +999 morale boost!

All around, the observing Japanese onlookers felt utterly helpless and deeply enraged.

They had gathered in protest, hoping to force their government to reject the deployment of the Eastern Dragon's garrison on their soil.

To this day, they still fancied themselves "innocent."

They believed the Eastern Dragon was bullying them and throwing its weight around.

Yet their fury and indignation were nothing more than rootless duckweed—

devoid of any foundation in morality, history, or military might.

In the distance, amidst the gazes of everyone on the sea and along the shore, fighter jets took off from the Eastern Dragon's aircraft carrier, roaring straight across Kyushu.

The low, fierce rumble of the jet engines

instantly brought all the gathered Japanese to their senses, clearing their minds in an absolute flash.

Hua Yeming, an Eastern Dragon journalist stationed nearby, acutely switched his livestream camera to focus on the faces of the Japanese crowd.

Almost instantly, the barrage of comments in the livestream skyrocketed by an order of magnitude.

"Look at the expressions on these little Japs, they look like they just ate shit, hahahaha, so satisfying!"

"Did you guys see that old man in the middle? His face was so fierce earlier, like he wanted to eat someone, but the moment the jet did a low pass, he immediately turned docile. So damn funny!"

"They bow to might but not to virtue—typical of these little Japs. You have to beat them into submission and keep them pressed down."

"Eat, sleep, and beat up the little Jap dog-heads."

"These bastards act like we're the ones bullying them. Truly deserving of damnation!"

"Awesome, so damn awesome! Just seeing these miserable pricks holding it all in makes me feel so good!"

"..."

In the livestream chat, comments shouting out in sheer satisfaction flooded the entire screen.

Helpless as it seemed, this was simply too cathartic.

The major general in charge of the garrison felt a deep sense of gratification in his heart.

In the past, whenever Japan provoked them, constrained by the masters behind the scenes, China could mostly only issue threats.

Now, not only did they directly step in and take control, but they were even establishing a permanent garrison base!

The crucial part was that throughout the entire conflict, there had essentially been zero casualties.

Oh, wait.

There was one injury.

Word had it that over at the Marine Corps, some reckless young punk had sprained his ankle while trying to tear down a Rising Sun flag.

How shameful!

The entire platoon was still mocking him for it.

"Once Ryukyu is restored, there will be no more obstacles or shackles blocking our path ahead."

Murmuring softly to himself, the major general gazed out at the distant sea, his eyes complex with emotion.

After watching the ocean for a moment, his gaze gradually shifted upward from the horizon until it finally rested upon the vast, azure sky.

Staring fixedly for a long while, he continued in an apologetic tone:

"Teacher, I am sorry. We may not be able to complete the mission of building the world's number one navy, because—"

At this point, his gaze toward the sky grew as sharp as a blade, and after a brief pause, he continued.

"Our journey lies in another vast ocean!"

...

The major general was named Zhang Zhong, hailing from the Navy.

Having presided over the groundbreaking ceremony for the Kyushu garrison, he wasted no time boarding a plane and returning home.

The aircraft landed in the northwest, at the Jiuquan Training Center!

This was the place where China's Shenzhou spacecraft embarked on their journeys, and the nation's largest astronaut training base was located right here.

Upon arriving at the gates of the training base, Yang Wei was standing outside waiting to greet him.

"General Yang, you've worked hard."

Zhang Zhong smiled warmly and gave Yang Wei a surprise handshake.

"General Zhang, you're too kind. You're a very busy man; let's hurry inside, things have already started!"

Yang Wei gestured with his hand, leading Zhang Zhong toward the entrance of the conference room.

"Elder Zhu personally gave the instructions for us to come up with a space force plan as soon as possible and begin training the corresponding personnel."

As Uncle Yang said this, a profound look of bewilderment filled his eyes.

He simply didn't understand.

A space force—did China even have such a branch of service?

And even if they were building a space force,

why on earth did they need to train a massive number of soldiers?

Look at the space forces of the US and Japan; which space force ever started out by directly training soldiers to go up into the sky?

Didn't they all just launch a satellite or two?

"Hahaha, General Yang, you'll need to train this group of naval lads I brought over very well."

General Zhang Zhong also decided to play the riddler. He had noticed the confusion in Yang Wei's eyes, but instead of explaining, he simply flashed a mysterious smile.

"Rest assured, I'll whip them into shape!"

Yang Wei's skills in training astronauts had improved immensely lately.

The reason was that a few months ago at the Xishan Base, he had actually managed to train an ordinary person into a standard astronaut.

The hands-on experience he gained from that was simply explosive!

"That's good to hear. We've arrived!"

Zhang Zhong smiled with narrowed eyes and immediately reached out to push open the heavy doors of the conference room.

The conference room doors swung wide open.

When Yang Wei caught sight of the interior, his eyes widened in shock, filled with sheer disbelief.

The reason was simple.

Inside the conference room, displayed in massive Chinese characters on the giant screen, was the title:

"Symposium on the Demonstration of Earth-Moon Orbit Space Maneuver Forces and Base Construction"

...

National Space Administration, Lunar Base Construction Verification Group.

Zhang Zhaoming rubbed his temples as he watched the two men in front of him argue relentlessly.

The two debaters were aerospace expert Li Duan and aerospace engineering expert Wang Ming.

The core of their dispute revolved around the operational model for the lunar base construction.

"We need to build the lunar base within six months. Constructing it directly on the lunar surface is undoubtedly the best approach. Building the modules right here on Earth and achieving everything in one go is far simpler and faster."

Wang Ming firmly advocated for the direct lunar-surface construction plan.

"If we only build on the lunar surface, micrometeorites in space pose a constant threat, and most of our scientific research work will be conducted underground anyway. Surface construction is completely redundant!"

Li Duan pulled a detection map from his file folder, slammed it down excitedly in front of Zhang Zhaoming, and gestured wildly as he said,

"The detectors left behind by the manned lunar landings discovered a massive underground lava tube in the Ural Crater! The cave is exceptionally sturdy, and we can easily build our base right inside that lunar cave!"

"Building the base directly in the subsurface cavern with the help of robots—six months is more than enough time!"

"Most importantly, Director, there are rich deposits of Helium-3 inside this cave!"

At the height of his excitement, Li Duan picked up a survey map drenched in red and green hues.

On the map, amidst a vast expanse of green, lay a cavern composed entirely of red.

Pointing at the red section, Li Duan was so excited he was practically spitting.

"All of this is Helium-3! The concentration of Helium-3 inside this entire cavern is terrifyingly high!!!"

Helium-3!

The ultimate material for controllable nuclear fusion.

Hearing this,

Zhang Zhaoming's eyes suddenly lit up with a brilliant gleam.

If they could construct the lunar base inside this cavern without missing their timeline, it would undoubtedly be killing two birds with one stone!

This project was a go!