Genius Club

Chapter 481: Chapter 77: The Final Battle!

See You in Heaven!

Chapter 481: Chapter 77: The Final Battle!

See You in Heaven!

“Lin Xian, this is the X-37B spaceplane that Kevin Walker plans to hijack.”

Evening, inside the dorm.

VV was displaying a photo on the tablet to Lin Xian.

It was a spacecraft much shorter and smaller than the “Little White” Coach Wei Cheng had described.

Its black and white color scheme was slightly more fashionable than the entirely white spacecraft of Dragon Country…but the choice was not made for trendiness or looks.

In a national asset like a spacecraft, there’s nothing superfluous.

Everything you see is the optimal solution after countless considerations.

The black that’s painted on the lower half of the spacecraft is actually a thermal tile material.

Since the X-37B is unmanned, there’s no need to consider the comfort of astronauts, so it can operate in higher orbits and undertake more dangerous tasks.

At the same time,

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Thus, more space can be spared inside the precious spacecraft for useful equipment, and a layer of thermal tiles can be fitted below to ensure the spacecraft does not get damaged by high temperatures during re-entry.

“This spacecraft was launched on the evening of December 28, 2023, from the State of Florida, undertaking its 7th orbital flight mission, codenamed USSF-52, with an expected operational period of 612 days in orbit.”

“Now, after several months of ascend, its orbit has reached 1200 kilometers, and it has been stable at this altitude for over a month.”

…

Lin Xian looked at the picture of the Mi Country spacecraft.

In recent days, VV had confirmed that Kevin Walker’s target was indeed this spacecraft, and now VV had become powerful enough to gain the upper hand in this cat and mouse game with Kevin Walker.

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At least,

although VV was still unable to locate Kevin Walker’s real identity and address, it could now track his activities on the network without being detected by the other party.

At this moment, VV really seemed like a super Artificial Intelligence.

“But…”

Lin Xian expressed his concern:

“But our Dragon Country’s spacecraft can’t reach that high, and Liu Feng has confirmed that the best position to capture space-time particles is around the Kármán Line, about 100 kilometers from the surface of the Earth.

Over the past few days, the speed of the space-time particle has slowed down again, now down to 2 Mach, which is twice the speed of sound, and it’s likely to slow down again in the coming time.”

“The Shenzhou-II carrier rocket will take us to an orbit of 300 kilometers, then release the spacecraft, operated by Wei Cheng, to start orbiting Earth and decelerate, lowering the orbital height, and eventually aligning with the space-time particles at an altitude of about 100 kilometers, allowing Gao Yang to operate the mechanical arm and the ‘electric rice cooker’ to capture the space-time particles.”

“So, by comparison, here comes the issue.”

He spread his hands:

“Our highest orbital altitude is 300 kilometers, while the altitude of the Mi Country’s X-37B is 1200 kilometers.

When a space-time particle flies from the vicinity of the Earth-Moon space towards Earth, it first has to pass through the X-37B’s orbit before descending to the 300 kilometers altitude.”

“Doesn’t that mean if Kevin Walker really manages to hijack that spaceplane, he could preemptively capture the space-time particle at an altitude of 1200 kilometers?

If that happens, all our efforts would be in vain.”

“That’s impossible, Lin Xian,” VV replied:

“First, I’ve already assured you, Kevin Walker’s capabilities are far below mine, especially now at a critical time when there is no need to worry about concealment, I can unleash my full power, and Kevin Walker stands no chance of taking control of this X-37B spaceplane from me.”

“Second, and most importantly, capturing space-time particles requires the ‘Space-Time Particle Captor,’ what you guys call the ‘electric rice cooker.’ I’ve infiltrated that spacecraft numerous times, and there are no such devices on board, nor any equipment that operates on the same principle and could capture space-time particles.”

“After all, that spacecraft was launched by Mi Country NASA for space experiments… It’s not like us, specifically launching to capture space-time particles.

Even if Kevin Walker manages to hijack it, it won’t do any good.”

“My guess is, his most likely goal is to hijack this X-37B spaceplane to interfere with us or even attack us, with the sole purpose of preventing us from capturing the space-time particles… ‘Better to be broken jade than an intact tile,’ if he can’t have it, he won’t let us have it either.”

Lin Xian nodded:

“Are there any weapons on the spacecraft?”

“Definitely not,” VV said:

“Neither the Mi Country’s spaceplanes nor our spaceplane this time carry any weapons.

These two models of spacecraft were designed initially for space experiments, docking with space stations, and never considered weapons and combat.”

“So…”

Lin Xian scoffed softly:

“So, Kevin Walker plans to directly use the Mi Country’s spaceplane as a projectile, aiming it at us?

His audacity is not ordinary at all, and it’s fortunate that no one in the world can find where he is or knows who he is…

Otherwise, neither Dragon Country nor Mi Country would let this punk off the hook.”