Chapter Seventy-Nine: Emergency Takeoff

Soon, many residents began to run about the streets in panic, shouting:

“Monsters are here, run for your lives!”

“They’re slaughtering the city, run!”

The streets were in utter chaos. At that moment, a household retainer rushed to report to Zhang Desen:

“Master, those primitive terrorfolk have reached the western part of the city. They’re attacking the city walls without pause. Please make your decision quickly!”

Upon hearing this, Zhang Desen immediately ordered everyone to take their assigned positions according to the original plan. Take everything from the Liu Family Trading Company that could be carried onto the ship as quickly as possible; the launch plan would not change.

Just as they were about to act, a thunderous explosion resounded near the Liu Family Trading Company. Immediately after, a barrage of shells began detonating throughout the city.

Zhang Desen and the others instantly realized these shells came from crude cannons. Zhang Desen remarked,

“Well, it seems these primitive terrorfolk, though their technology is far inferior to their more advanced kin, have already learned to use cannons. We’ll need to pay closer attention to them than we have in the past.”

Li Longfang asked, “What should we do now? Should we move the spaceship to the dock?”

Zhang Desen replied, “No, the city is already in chaos, and the dock will be even worse. If we try to move the spaceship there now, there are too many unpredictable factors. We should go immediately to put on our flight suits and make all emergency preparations. Also, bring all the communication equipment originally intended to stay on the ground to maintain contact with the ship, and hand it over to Zhao Chengming on the ship.”

Li Longfang responded, “Understood!”

Because of the sudden change in circumstances, after preparations were complete, everyone else from the Dali branch of the Liu Family Trading Company had to evacuate to the dock and prepare to leave.

Once everyone had boarded the ship at the dock, Zhang Desen and Li Longfang remained alone at the launch platform of the trading company, continuing the final pre-launch preparations. They decided that as long as the terrorfolk had not breached their position, they would wait until nightfall to launch the ship, so as not to cause excessive panic.

Meanwhile, outside, the primitive terrorfolk were launching a relentless assault on the city of Dali.

The sky grew darker and darker, yet the long-awaited rain did not come. The army of Southern Dian, already suffering under the cannon fire and catapult stones of the terrorfolk, grew ever more desperate. The garrison had hoped for rain to render the crude cannons useless and ease their burden, but reality offered no such respite.

Soon, a breach appeared in the western city wall. The terrorfolk army surged forward, launching a fierce assault on the gap. The Southern Dian soldiers, outnumbered several times over, engaged in brutal close-quarters combat with their attackers.

Time passed swiftly, and night fell. Unexpectedly, the weather cleared. Though the new moon was near, a slender crescent still hung in the sky. By now, the city was ablaze in many places. The terrorfolk army had breached the city and were going house to house, killing anyone they found.

They soon closed in on the Dali branch of the Liu Family Trading Company. By then, the building was nearly deserted and all essential items had been moved. At the makeshift launch platform, Zhang Desen and Li Longfang stood outside the spaceship, preparing to board and launch into space.

Both men had donned their flight suits in preparation for space travel. Zhang Desen checked the time, then opened the hatch.

As Zhang Desen entered the ship, Li Longfang followed him into the escape pod. Zhang Desen closed the hatch behind them, savoring the fighter jet–like design of the ship.

Even though it was just an escape pod, the interior was spacious. Li Longfang had previously prepared some firewood, but Zhang Desen explained that cooking in space was different, so they made the necessary adjustments. Not knowing how long they would remain in space, they made all the preparations they could.

Once they were ready, the area outside was deserted. On the Liu Family’s merchant ship at the dock, Zhao Chengming and the others anxiously watched the trading company, praying Zhang Desen and Li Longfang would launch before the terrorfolk reached them.

Zhang Desen activated the anti-gravity engine, and the ship began to power up. At that very moment, the terrorfolk troops surged forward and came into view. Zhang Desen and Li Longfang could see them approaching.

Without delay, the ship began a vertical takeoff, much like a modern fighter jet. Once it reached an altitude of twenty meters, the main engines engaged and the ship shot forward. Thanks to the noise suppression system, the sound was minimal, avoiding unnecessary attention.

As the ship climbed, its nose slowly angled skyward until it was pointing straight up, heading for the stratosphere, which lay about twelve kilometers above. The ship quickly broke through the clouds, leaving the turbulent troposphere behind and entering the ozone-rich stratosphere. The external temperature dropped to its lowest. As the ship neared the mesosphere, the temperature began to rise again, but the ship’s internal climate control kept conditions comfortable for Zhang Desen and Li Longfang.

The ship continued to ascend, reaching about forty-eight kilometers above ground, entering the mesosphere—the region where meteors burn up. Any rocks or debris falling from space typically burn up here, creating meteor showers. If a rock is too large to be completely incinerated, it becomes a meteorite upon passing through.

So far, everything was proceeding smoothly; there were no unexpected incidents, and the ascent was normal. The ship soon traversed the thermosphere.

After a further period of ascent, the ship reached an altitude of about eighty kilometers, entering the ionosphere. The auroras that dance at the poles occur in this layer, which is thick with plasma. In Zhang Desen’s original universe, some radio communications could be made over long distances by bouncing signals off the ionosphere, without relying on satellites.

At this point, Li Longfang, untrained in space travel, began to feel unwell. His complexion turned pale. Zhang Desen realized he was suffering from severe motion sickness—a potentially dangerous condition in such flight.

Since the ship was accelerating rapidly, the body endured great pressure. Motion sickness could quickly lead to suffocation or worse. Zhang Desen immediately shouted to Li Longfang,

“Hold on, and breathe deeply. I can’t help you right now—this could be life-threatening.”

Li Longfang, too uncomfortable to respond, managed a slight gesture to show he understood. Zhang Desen added,

“No need to answer, just hang in there. I’ll get us out of the atmosphere as quickly as possible. Once we’re clear, I’ll help you. You must endure for now…”

With that, Zhang Desen piloted the ship onward toward outer space, hoping desperately that Li Longfang would not suffer any complications during this phase. All he could do was fly as quickly as possible.

At last, after much effort, Zhang Desen brought the ship to an altitude of about 483 kilometers. Suddenly, they felt a sensation of being flung upwards. Anything not fixed in place began to float around the cabin—they were weightless. Zhang Desen knew they had finally reached the exosphere, the region where human spacecraft operate.

Now, Zhang Desen engaged the autopilot, setting the ship to fly toward its predetermined destination. He had intended to pilot the ship himself, but seeing Li Longfang’s discomfort, he decided to switch to autopilot to assist him.

Once autopilot was engaged, Zhang Desen unbuckled his safety harness and floated towards the right, retrieved an airsickness bag, and passed it to Li Longfang. After using and cleaning the bag, Li Longfang asked,

“Desen, how can you float like that? How is this possible?”

Zhang Desen smiled and replied,

“It’s nothing extraordinary. We’re in space now, and I haven’t activated the artificial gravity system, so we’re experiencing weightlessness. It’s not just me—if you unbuckle your harness, you’ll float too. Just be careful not to push too hard in one direction, or you’ll lose control of your movements.”

“Alright! I’ll give it a try.”

With that, Li Longfang unbuckled his harness and floated up as well. The novel sensation left him both excited and nervous, and though he’d heard much about it from Zhang Desen before, experiencing it firsthand was quite different.

However, lacking any space training, he pushed off too forcefully and nearly crashed into the side of the cabin, only saving himself by grabbing hold of a seat.

Zhang Desen said,

“Take your time and get used to it. I need to continue piloting the ship toward our objective. At our current speed, we’ll soon pass through the Van Allen radiation belt and be well on our way to our destination.”

“So many things I’ve never even heard of…”

“No worries. Take your time to learn. Now that you’re experiencing it yourself, you’ll gradually understand more. But for now, let’s focus on our mission. This ship moves very quickly.”