Chapter 138: Making Contact

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The scene before him left Sun Jia, steward of the Sun residence, scarcely able to believe his own eyes. Wang Jia had always been invincible in Hezhou City. No one had ever managed to last three moves against him, yet today he had encountered Zhao Chengming—the first time such a thing had ever happened.

At that moment, Zhao Chengming said to Wang Jia, “Enough. You have lost. Do you have anything else to say?”

Sun Fu, who had already received a hundred slaps across the face, was so swollen that he could no longer speak. He could only turn a beseeching gaze toward the steward, Sun Jia.

Looking at the situation before him, Steward Sun Jia could do nothing but shout, “No! The Earl of Xuanwei will be here soon. You are cutting off your own path to survival. Just wait and face the fury of the Sun family!”

Wang Jia said, “Enough, Steward. We know perfectly well what sort of temper and character the young master has.”

Then Wang Jia turned to Zhang Desen and the others. “You gentlemen possess remarkable skill. I admire you greatly. Allow me to offer one piece of advice: leave at once.”

Steward Sun Jia was furious. “Wang Jia, you traitor! Have you forgotten who took you in and gave you shelter when you were wandering the streets?”

Wang Jia replied, “Steward, I have forgotten none of the kindness shown to me. My failure to protect the young master today is indeed my fault. I have spent my entire life making friends through martial arts, and I hold these heroes in the highest regard.”

He continued, “My abilities have proved insufficient today. I could neither ensure the young master’s safety nor protect those I admire. So I urge you all to leave quickly. As for my failure to protect the young master, once I return to the residence, I will submit to whatever punishment the family decrees, without a word of complaint.”

Hearing this, Sun Fu, the eldest son of the Sun family, was consumed by rage. He immediately pointed at Wang Jia and prepared to curse him. But after more than a hundred slaps, even that movement pulled at the wounds on his face. The pain was so great that he fainted on the spot.

Steward Sun Jia hurried to his side, supporting him as he cried, “Young master! Young master, wake up!”

At that moment, Zhang Desen spoke. “Enough. He merely fainted. He’ll wake up on his own after a while, you alarmist fool.”

The steward glared at Zhang Desen in fury. “Is that so? Just wait. Our family head will soon arrive with the Earl of Xuanwei. If you have the courage, stay here and wait. If you run, you’re a coward.”

Zhang Desen said, “Enough. A bully who relies on his power has no right to pass judgment on anyone. All you know how to do now is cling to this unreasonable brute and cry. But I will stay. I happen to want to meet the Earl of Xuanwei. I would very much like to see just how formidable he truly is here.”

Wang Jia immediately said, “Oh no, young friend, you really should—”

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Zhang Desen quickly raised a hand to stop him. “It’s fine. I want to have a word with the Earl of Xuanwei anyway. I’ll wait here.”

The surroundings immediately fell silent.

…

What no one knew was that, at that very moment, a mysterious base on Mount Olympus on Mars was conducting a communications link.

First, a word about Mount Olympus. Mount Olympus is a shield volcano on Mars, the highest volcano on the planet’s surface and the largest known volcano in the Solar System.

Mount Olympus rises 21,171 meters above the Martian datum. Yet the difference in elevation from its foot to its summit is 21.9 kilometers—more than twice the height difference between the foot and summit of Mauna Kea on Earth. It stands 26 kilometers above the plains located a thousand kilometers to its northwest.

Mount Olympus is approximately 600 kilometers wide and covers about 300,000 square kilometers, an area roughly equivalent to that of Italy. It lies at 18.65 degrees north latitude and 226.2 degrees east longitude.

Before spacecraft confirmed that it was a mountain, Mount Olympus appeared through ground-based telescopes as a bright spot. Astronomers in the latter half of the nineteenth century named it the “Snow of Mount Olympus,” or NixOlya.

The halo surrounding Mount Olympus was first discovered by Mariner 9, prompting various theories about its origin. One theory holds that it was created when the edges of Mount Olympus collapsed and shifted outward in repeated massive movements of rock. This also explains the formation of the slopes around Mount Olympus, known as Olyus Rupes.

The northwestern Lus Sui movement traveled the farthest, extending 750 kilometers from the slopes at the mountain’s foot. The movements in other directions covered shorter distances because they traveled uphill.

The discontinuity between this terrain and the mountain was caused by later lava flows covering the area. Another hypothesis proposes that the rugged terrain was formed when ice lubricated the ground, allowing it to spread outward under the force of gravity. Models predicting extension along the inner edge and compression along the outer edge are also consistent with observations.

Inside the mysterious base on Mount Olympus, the highest commander in the command room was speaking with the supreme commander of a base on another world.

The commander addressed the figure on the screen. “Mamba, this is the Mars base. How are things on your end?”

Mamba replied, “Enba, we are always short of labor here on Io. Can you capture more slaves?”

Enba immediately thought of Io’s extremely harsh environment. It truly required a constant supply of new laborers.

Io, also known as Jupiter I, is the innermost of Jupiter’s four Galilean moons. It has a diameter of 3,642 kilometers, making it the fourth-largest moon in the Solar System. Its surface environment is extraordinarily hostile, and more than four hundred active volcanoes are scattered across it. Its surface is reshaped over comparatively short periods.

Its name comes from Io, one of the lovers of Zeus, king of the gods. She was a priestess of Hera.

In 2004, astronomers discovered that the hottest celestial body in the Solar System apart from the Sun was not Mercury or Venus, the planets traditionally believed to be closest to the Sun, but Jupiter’s moon Io—one of Jupiter’s four brightest moons, first observed by Galileo four hundred years ago.

Of course, Io’s extraordinarily high temperature is not caused by solar radiation. It is the result of intense volcanic activity within the moon.

Nowhere else in the inner Solar System can any planet or moon rival Io in the number of volcanoes it possesses.

Astronomers first discovered Io’s intense volcanic activity more than twenty years ago, when the American Voyager spacecraft photographed the moon.

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Later, the Galileo probe, which operated near Jupiter for approximately eight years, took close-range photographs of the blazing moon.

Based on these photographs, scientists determined that Io was experiencing extraordinarily violent volcanic activity, with surface temperatures reaching as high as 1,610 degrees Celsius.

Computer simulations of volcanic eruptions on Io conducted by researchers from Saint Louis University showed that lava expelled by the volcanoes could melt and vaporize sodium, potassium, silicon, iron, and their compounds on the moon’s surface, releasing them into the atmosphere.

The vapors of these substances react with volcanic gases, including sulfides and chlorides, forming the distinctive components of Io’s atmosphere: sodium and potassium chlorides, as well as magnesium and iron dichlorides.

Gaseous sodium chloride has already been detected on Io. Under current conditions, however, the sensitivity of our instruments must be improved before gaseous potassium chloride can be found.

Although scientists have gathered a great deal of information about Io, these data remain far from sufficient to unveil the moon’s mysteries. How can a satellite only about the size of Earth’s Moon maintain such extraordinarily hot magma? Why does magma at such temperatures fail to melt the surrounding rock? How thick and strong is its lithosphere, including the crust and upper mantle? If mountains exist there, could they surpass Mount Everest in height? Naturally, answering these questions will require the sustained efforts of astronomers.

Scientists have discovered that the most active volcano in the Solar System is on the verge of erupting, while Io, whose volcanic eruptions occur with such frequency, may one day fall dormant.

In the past, Io—the large moon closest to Jupiter—experienced repeated volcanic eruptions. Its surface was covered in volcanic ash, and dozens of active volcanoes still stood upon it.

Io is roughly the same size as Earth’s Moon. Scientists explain that its frequent volcanic activity is caused by the combined gravitational influence of Jupiter and its three other major moons.

The gravity of Jupiter and its moons produces variations in gravitational force across different regions of Io, causing the ground to stretch and the crust to deform.

This gravitational stretching makes Io’s surface rise and fall every ten meters, triggering violent activity in the crust. After lengthy observation and research, the Paris Observatory in France confirmed that this was the cause of Io’s frequent volcanic activity.

As Enba sank into contemplation of Io, Mamba grew somewhat impatient. He immediately said, “Enba, Enba. What’s wrong with you? We’re in the middle of a conversation.”

At that, Enba realized he had lost track of the matter at hand. He quickly apologized to Mamba through the screen. “Sorry, sorry. Mamba, I suddenly fell into a reverie. But I wanted to tell you that Earth still has advanced intelligent life and a highly developed civilization. That’s why we can only capture slaves in secret, one operation at a time. I hope you understand.”

Mamba looked displeased. “Enba, have you become confused? You should understand that we have observed the humans on that planet many times. Their advanced civilization exists only among a portion of the terrifying beings on its land. There are also the underwater human civilizations, of course, but the land-dwelling human civilization is still in a primitive state…”

Enba interrupted him. “Even if it is primitive, it is still a civilization. Besides, the advanced intelligent beings on that planet seem to be preparing to make a major move…”

Mamba immediately flew into a rage. “You’re simply being lazy, which is why you haven’t managed to capture any slaves!”

Enba was furious. “You…”

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