Chapter 369 - 340: Landing on Terra Star

Chapter 369: Chapter 340: Landing on Terra Star

In the silent void of space.

While war raged across Celestial Water Star, the two manned rockets launched by North Star and Soloma, Dream Ship One and the Imperial Pioneers, arrived and landed on the moon Terra, right on schedule.

The entire landing went smoothly, without any mishaps.

This was hardly surprising, given the technological prowess of North Star and Soloma.

The space colonization program these two rockets represented was exceptionally important—it was one of the key paths to preserving human civilization. Therefore, no matter how chaotic their home planet of Celestial Water Star became, this mission would not be affected.

Once the landing was complete, the reconnaissance drones aboard the rockets were the first to deploy and begin their work. The astronauts, meanwhile, waited for the data feedback before acting on instructions from the Aerospace Agency on the ground.

"Good thing that rule doesn’t affect us."

The astronauts inside Dream Ship One chatted amongst themselves as they waited.

"Yeah. The last thing I want is to worry about some rule while I’m on a mission."

"Still, things back home are pretty chaotic, aren’t they? Sounds like the fighting has started."

"The fighting can’t touch us here on Terra. As long as they don’t blow up the Aerospace Agency, we’ll be fine. If they do, we’ll never get back home!"

"If they’ve destroyed the national Aerospace Agency, we’d probably just be returning to a pile of rubble anyway..."

[DATA ANALYSIS COMPLETE]

Just then, the rocket’s system chimed. The astronauts stopped their idle chatter and focused their attention.

Shortly after, a message came in from the Aerospace Agency.

"Proceed with the established mission. Attempt to establish a small-scale ground habitat."

Receiving their orders, the astronauts methodically donned their spacesuits and opened the hatch.

The moment their boots touched the surface of Terra, every astronaut was thrilled.

If it weren’t for the Fire Thief and the Apocalypse Rules, they would undoubtedly be the focus of the entire world’s attention.

But unfortunately, the Apocalypse Rules had stolen their thunder. The general populace on Celestial Water Star was now consumed with worry over the war; many had even forgotten that two manned rockets were scheduled to land on Terra today.

But it didn’t matter. This view, at this moment, belonged to the astronauts alone.

They looked up.

Terra had no atmosphere, so from their vantage point, they could look directly into the cosmos.

While cameras would struggle with overexposure, rendering space as a black void, the naked eye could still make out the faint, myriad stars. And there, suspended in the endless void, was the blue planet—their home, Celestial Water Star.

The overview effect stirred an indescribable mix of emotions within each astronaut.

They felt their home world was simultaneously vast yet tiny, resilient yet fragile.

A surge of anger rose within them as they thought about how such a beautiful place had been plunged into disaster by the ravages of the Fire Thief.

"All right, stop staring," the Dream Ship One team leader said. "Let’s focus on the mission. Start setting up the habitat according to our training assignments. Once it’s built, you can stare all you want."

"Understood."

The astronauts tore their eyes away from the view and got to work.

Establishing a habitat meant meeting basic human survival needs.

The most fundamental of these were food, shelter, and oxygen.

For now, food and oxygen would be supplied by the nutrient packs and reserve oxygen tanks from the rocket. Shelter would be a temporary, custom-made inflatable module. ℯℯ𝑙.

Establishing a long-term habitat, however, would require more rocket launches to deliver materials and resources. A more advanced approach would be to mine Terra Ore and other local resources, using technologies like 3D printing to construct permanent structures on Terra.

But those were long-term plans. The astronauts’ current mission was to achieve minimum viable proof of concept: establish a temporary habitat to confirm the feasibility of long-term residence.

Once the inflatable module was fully deployed, the astronauts began unloading and assembling more equipment from the rocket.

A radiation-shielding layer, high-efficiency solar energy arrays, a low-consumption electrolysis unit, and so on.

[Imperial Pioneers - Comm Link Established]

"Hey, how are things on your end?"

The voice of the Imperial Pioneers’ team leader crackled through the comms.

The two rockets hadn’t landed near each other; each had its own designated landing site.

The Dream Ship One leader replied, "Everything’s going smoothly so far. How about you?"

"We’re doing great, too! Setting up the habitat now!"

"Good. Stay in touch."

After signing off, the Dream Ship One leader suddenly glanced over his shoulder.

Behind him, there was nothing but their rocket and the endless, grayish-white soil of Terra’s surface.

’Was that my imagination?’

For a fleeting moment, the leader felt as if he were being watched.

...

"Air and Space Force has completed anti-air suppression in sectors A1 through A13."

"Drone squadrons and ground demining units are deployed and advancing."

「The outskirts of Capital Wuze, Black Banner Country.」

The Human Federation’s allied forces were launching a fierce assault on the city.

Based on satellite locks, ground radar, and other reconnaissance, the allied forces had determined that the Parasites’ main strength was concentrated within Wuze City.

The objective of the allied forces was to take the city and capture the Parasites inside.

As for the Parasites hiding in the mountains and remote wilderness, the allied forces had no plans to search for them at present.

This was the strategy devised by the Human Federation’s Strategic Command: "Target the majors, ignore the minors."

Given the urgency on multiple fronts, the allied forces didn’t have time to clear out every single Parasite-occupied city one by one.

The allied forces’ plan was to leverage the Air and Space Force’s superiority to completely suppress the Parasites’ anti-air capabilities. Then, they would airlift massive numbers of soldiers and combat robots into Wuze City.