Chapter 4: How Did Everything Change?
“Clap, clap, clap—”
“Alright, the report from our flight control development team was excellent, and the applause just now clearly shows everyone’s recognition of their work.”
“The success of the flight control team proves one thing.”
“That is, our company’s policy of valuing and empowering young people is absolutely correct!”
“When I first proposed this policy, there was quite a bit of opposition among the leadership.”
“Many believed that young people lack experience and sufficient knowledge reserves, and feared they couldn’t handle core positions in major projects.”
“But the facts have proven that young people can indeed unleash tremendous energy!”
“Talents emerge generation after generation, like waves pushing forward on the Yangtze River.”
“In our organization, a group of outstanding young talents like Jiang Xingye and Lin Xu has already emerged.”
“I hope everyone will take them as role models in future work, continue striving, and march forward boldly.”
“The company will never treat any hard worker unfairly!”
“Once again, let’s give a round of applause!”
“Clap, clap, clap—”
...
In the conference room, Lin Xu clapped along somewhat mechanically.
Many eyes were fixed on him, as if, just like the boss said in the speech, he had already become a rising star.
Of course, compared to these empty honors, the thing Lin Xu cared most about was how much the bonus would be.
As the meeting moved on to the next agenda, he quietly opened the internal chat app and sent a message to Jiang Xingye.
Lin Xu 004267:
“Team leader, how much can we get as the project bonus this time?”
After a moment, Jiang Xingye replied.
Jiang Xingye 003876:
“Confidential. Can this be casually talked about?”
Lin Xu 004267:
“It’s being divided among us, so why can’t you tell me the figure?”
Jiang Xingye 003876:
“Of course not. You’ll know when it’s publicly announced. But don’t worry, your share won’t be small — it’ll definitely be the lion’s share.”
Lin Xu 004267:
“How much is the lion’s share? If you can’t tell me the percentage, just give me a number.”
Jiang Xingye 003876:
“Between sixty to seventy thousand... Just don’t tell anyone early, okay?”
Lin Xu 004267:
“Got it, got it... Only that much? I thought it’d be at least over a hundred thousand.”
Jiang Xingye 003876:
“What are you thinking? The company hasn’t been doing so well recently. I heard Test No. 1’s financing didn’t go smoothly — the Series B round was heavily undervalued, only getting a bit over 200 million.”
“The Series B plan isn’t finalized yet. The Qianhai side is asking us to come up with a more ambitious development plan.”
“Get ready — after we finish the early development of Test No. 1, the prelude for the new project will kick off soon.”
“Then you’ll have to push forward again. Young people must seize the opportunity.”
Lin Xu 004267:
“Can I just lie low?”
Jiang Xingye 003876:
“You can, if you come out with me for a midnight snack tonight.”
Lin Xu 004267:
“...You really need to control yourself. Do you talk like this to everyone?”
After sending the message, Jiang Xingye didn’t reply immediately.
Lin Xu looked up to see the administrator in charge of controlling the meeting had quietly stood beside him.
He cleared his throat, closed the chat window, and put on a “listening attentively” expression.
However, the rest of the agenda was mostly trivial and uninteresting.
His mind drifted to that world inside the bracelet.
So, is a woman like Jiang Xingye the same kind as Skeleton’s wife?
Apparently not at all.
Although Jiang Xingye talks fast and unfiltered, she is usually quite serious with others.
Only with him, since their relationship was better, did she enjoy teasing him.
And what about Skeleton’s wife?
From what Lin Xu had heard, everyone in the mercenary squad attacking the space base knew about her promiscuity — to the extent that you could meet a dozen men who’d slept with her just going downstairs to buy cigarettes.
He didn’t know if Skeleton was kept in the dark or just deceiving himself.
Either way, the poor guy had it rough.
But then again, his hard times were ending.
The apocalypse was coming — maybe it wasn’t so bad to face death immersed in the fantasy of being loved.
In the face of life and death, truth and lies didn’t matter so much.
Still, what exactly was this world-ending apocalypse?
Super nuclear weapons?
Gamma-ray bursts?
Vacuum annihilation?
Antimatter collisions?
Lin Xu’s thoughts drifted as polite applause signaled the end of the lengthy meeting.
He stood up, and Jiang Xingye, sitting in front of him, turned around and blinked.
“Come on, let’s go to my office and talk.”
“...That eager, huh?”
Lin Xu teased, and Jiang Xingye rolled her eyes.
“Bring your laptop. I want to talk about the next project.”
“Oh... okay.”
Lin Xu obediently followed Jiang Xingye into her office.
Once inside, she shut the door and collapsed on the sofa without any pretense.
“This lousy meeting — it was supposed to be 15 minutes, and it dragged on for two hours…”
“No need to work overtime tonight. Go home early and rest.”
“But before you go…”
Jiang Xingye sat up, adjusted her expression, and asked.
“The ambitious plan I mentioned earlier — do you have any ideas?”
“Me?”
Lin Xu was momentarily stunned.
“Isn’t that something the leadership decides? Why ask me?”
“Didn’t you hear what the boss said? The new generation pushes the old, so we’re looking for inspiration from the younger crowd.”
Jiang Xingye shrugged.
“Just throw out some ideas. It’s just for reference, no pressure if you’re wrong.”
“Alright then…”
Lin Xu frowned slightly.
He recalled the project he had seen inside the bracelet.
Star Voyage No. 1.
If in the future, Sky Dome Technology truly shifted toward becoming a space tourism and aerospace services provider, would that mean this direction was actually the right one?
After a moment’s hesitation, he spoke.
“If you ask me, focusing on commercial launch vehicles might not be the best approach.”
“Those look like high barriers, but they really aren’t.”
“Think about it — ten years ago, low-altitude flight services were a high-barrier industry. What about now, ten years later?”
“So, for sustainable development, just providing launch and transportation services isn’t enough.”
“We should consider offering more value-added services.”
“Okay.”
Jiang Xingye looked satisfied, a hint of admiration in her eyes.
“You seem to have a good handle on this. Go on, what kind of value-added services?”
“Space tourism.”
Lin Xu said seriously.
“Space tourism?”
Jiang Xingye exclaimed in surprise.
“That concept is too ahead of its time, isn’t it? Or rather, too... vague?”
Lin Xu shook his head and continued.
“It’s not vague at all... The boss’s own vision is to reduce transport cost per kilogram to under 10,000 yuan, ideally to 5,000.”
“Doing the math, sending an adult to outer space would cost just a few hundred thousand yuan.”
“Think about it — nowadays, how much does a trip to Antarctica cost? How much would a wealthy person spend to go to Hawaii?”
“Calculated by luxury hotel prices, wouldn’t those people easily spend over a million on a trip?”
“Well, now going to space costs less than a million. If you had to choose, which would you pick?”
“Makes sense.”
Jiang Xingye nodded thoughtfully, and Lin Xu seized the moment.
“This plan also has a very practical advantage.”
“What advantage?”
Jiang Xingye asked.
“Simple. It’s the kind of story capital loves.”
“If you were rich, would you rather hear ‘Spend 500,000 to launch a one-ton nuclear warhead into space’ or ‘Spend 500,000 to take a tour around space’?”
“Perfect!”
Jiang Xingye jumped up excitedly, clapping her hands.
“I’ll propose exactly that!”
“I have a feeling the boss will love your idea!”
“Wow… Lin Xu, you’re really going places.”
“Maybe in two years, you’ll be promoted faster than me.”
As she said this, Jiang Xingye’s eyes suddenly took on a playful gleam.
She leaned closer and added,
“Looks like I have to take you up on that midnight snack tonight…”
...
At eight in the evening, Lin Xu returned to his rented apartment.
In the end, he didn’t go out for that midnight snack with Jiang Xingye.
They had dinner, but nothing else happened between them.
According to Lin Xu’s own judgment, Jiang Xingye was a classic “banana” — yellow outside, white inside.
After the meal, before Lin Xu could suggest anything, Jiang Xingye used the excuse of working overtime and quickly slipped away.
It was as if if she didn’t leave, he’d take that “midnight snack” joke seriously and drag her home to watch the cat doing backflips after the meeting.
Just thinking about it made Lin Xu chuckle.
After all, she was about twenty-five or twenty-six — aside from work, her behavior was quite childlike.
He wondered what kind of man a person like her would eventually marry.
But most likely, it had nothing to do with him.
Lin Xu shook his head and glanced at the bracelet on his wrist.
After two days of rest, the number on the bracelet had returned to “5.”
That meant he could enter that other world again and start enduring high-intensity hardship.
This time, Lin Xu didn’t plan to fight over the spaceship.
In the control room, he had already seen the documents for Star Voyage No. 1.
He planned to use all five opportunities, memorizing as much of the information as possible.
Maybe it would really come in handy in reality.
After tidying his bed, Lin Xu put on an eye mask.
Then he lay down and lightly tapped the bracelet.
In an instant, his consciousness was drained away again.
When he opened his eyes, he was already at that familiar space base...
No — not familiar!
Lin Xu suddenly stood up, hitting his head on the car roof with a loud “bang.”
Skeleton beside him looked stunned, but Lin Xu only pressed against the car window, staring out at the space base.
Damn.
Everything had changed.
The entire layout of the space base was completely different from the dozens of times he had seen it before!