Eating hotpot, singing songs, and keeping the music and dancing going.
On one side was the massive Blue Star, and on the other, a sky filled with countless stars.
This was Gu Zhao’s first time having hotpot on the Moon. With his girlfriend and friends by his side, the experience was leisurely and incredibly relaxing.
By the time they finished their hotpot feast, it was only three in the afternoon.
Gu Zhao took the group for another spin around the Moon, taking in the sights of both the near and far sides.
They saw the Storm Ocean Moon Sea, Copernicus Crater, the Jurassic Mountain Range, and locations independently named by Celestial Xia—Guanghan Palace, Ziwei, Celestial Market, Tianhe Base, and more.
"I didn’t think much of it when they were first named, but looking at them now, the names feel a bit too grandiose," Zhang Hang said with a chuckle. "I feel like the place where you built Guanghan Palace is the only one that truly deserves the name."
Song Qiuqiu pointed at some of the craters. "All these mountain formations were named by foreigners. They haven’t even landed on the Moon, so what right do they have to name these terrains?"
"Exactly!" Jiang Shishi nodded repeatedly. "When we land on the Moon and establish bases in the future, are we really going to call them the Kepler Crater Base or the Aristotle Crater Base?"
"Why don’t we set up stone monuments on these craters?" Xiao Ya urged.
"Could we leave a few small ones and name them Napoleon and Joan of Arc?" Erin asked meekly.
Gu Zhao was speechless. He hadn’t expected them to be even more radical than he was, already jumping to the idea of carving stones and erecting monuments. He casually retorted, "Monuments stand vertically, so they wouldn’t be visible from Blue Star. How about we set up some navigation beacons instead?"
To his surprise, the group nodded enthusiastically. "That works! Let’s do it!"
Gu Zhao didn’t know what to say.
After all, those names belonged to scientists who had made significant contributions to astronomy. Gu Zhao wasn’t about to rob them of their legacy, especially since his group had already built the actual Guanghan Palace.
After chatting and joking around a bit more, the group resumed their tour. Each of them picked up two or three uniquely shaped rocks as souvenirs.
Back on Blue Star, astronomical centers across the globe monitoring the Moon were in a state of sheer chaos.
"They went up again?"
"Didn’t they already collect Moon rocks and Moon soil last time?"
"I’ve seen the application from the Celestial Xia Aerospace Research Institute. It covers a staggering one hundred and thirty-two locations, requesting Moon rocks and Moon soil from the surface all the way down to a hundred meters underground. It’s enough material to keep them busy for twenty years!"
"What else do they want to do? They can’t possibly be building a Moon Base, right?"
"Uh, about that..."
The highest-definition astronomical telescopes were actually capable of capturing relatively clear images of the Moon’s surface.
"They really did build a base on the Moon."
"What!?"
A high-definition satellite image displayed a top-down view of Guanghan Palace.
Next to it, several top-down images of ancient temples and Taoist Temples within Celestial Xia were laid out for comparison.
It had the exact same enclosing walls and archways, the same three-courtyard layout, the same glazed roof tiles, and the same bronze cauldrons.
"It’s those Daoists again..."
A white-haired scientist gritted his teeth. "They would rather build a Taoist Temple on the Moon than a modern research base for scientific studies! To use a Celestial Xia idiom, this is a reckless waste of resources!"
The director of another astronomical base echoed the same sentiment. "They have spatial equipment, and Celestial Xia has the technological backing. They could be conducting all sorts of experiments on the Moon! Yet they actually built a Taoist Temple instead?"
It wasn’t just the foreign astronomical bases; the domestic aerospace research institutes were also in an uproar.
While Gu Zhao and his friends were still wandering around the Moon, a blizzard of feasibility study reports applying to build a Moon Base and conduct experiments on the lunar surface was submitted to the Yandu Aerospace Base.
Some argued that the Moon’s thin atmosphere would allow for more precise low-frequency radio astronomical observations and gravitational wave detection.
Others wanted to conduct close-range probes of the Moon’s structure, geology, and magnetic field.
Still others proposed conducting biological cultivation and growth experiments in a near-vacuum environment to support life sciences and medical research.
The Yandu Aerospace Base didn’t have the authority to make such decisions. They compiled the hundreds of research reports, wrote up a brief summary, and sent the entire package to the Taoist Office, simultaneously carbon-copying their superiors.
In short: the lunar landing program must continue to advance, but lunar experiments could be conducted ahead of schedule.
Furthermore, conducting experiments on the Moon could inversely accelerate the development of lunar landing technologies. After all, space engines naturally needed to be tested in space, and the Celestial Palace Space Station was simply too small and fragile for that.
Inside the Taoist Office.
Zheng Hongsheng stared at the dense list of applications and feasibility reports, momentarily at a loss for words.
"What happened to self-reliance?" he said, shaking his head.
"It’s just too tempting," Chen Yao replied with a laugh.
"Do our current technological capabilities support establishing a Moon Base?" Zheng Hongsheng asked.
The presenter looked over the summarized reports as he answered, "What we currently lack is primarily high-thrust engines and return capabilities. If we’re just talking about space survival capabilities, the Celestial Palace Space Station has actually already solved that issue.
"If we build a Moon Base, the space will be much larger, and there will be far more safety redundancies. It would actually be safer than the Celestial Palace Space Station.
"The astronauts on the Celestial Palace Space Station can already rotate every six months. A Moon Base could achieve much more than that."
Looking at the computer screen in front of him, the presenter continued, "We could build a gravity simulation chamber on the Moon, allowing astronauts to undergo daily Earth-gravity adaptation, meaning they could stay on the Moon for extended periods.
"According to the summarized research reports and current Moon Base planning, if we don’t factor in the landing and return phases, six months is enough time to design a fully functional lunar research base.
"Aside from sending personnel up there, we wouldn’t need to constantly bother Mr. Gu and the Taoist Masters. If it’s just sending supplies, we are entirely capable of doing that ourselves.
"If we can establish a manufacturing base on the Moon, we would even gain the ability to return to Blue Star."
Everyone in the room fell silent.
Zheng Hongsheng laughed and scolded mildly, "Is the efficiency really that high?"
A middle-aged man wearing glasses sitting nearby chuckled. "The early bird gets the worm, while the latecomers are left with scraps."
Zheng Hongsheng huffed. "He hasn’t agreed to this yet."
"Mr. Gu is a patriot," the middle-aged man smiled. "Besides, this isn’t a troublesome request, nor does it interfere with the country’s original technological development plans. I don’t think Mr. Gu will refuse."
Zheng Hongsheng thought it over. "This is a long-term project. I’ll have a chat with Mr. Gu when he gets back."
Several people at the table cupped their hands in a respectful salute toward him. "We’ll leave it in your capable hands, Director. You have to seal the deal!"
Zheng Hongsheng was speechless.
Meanwhile, on the Moon.
Gu Zhao had taken the group on a tour around the Moon, and it was fast approaching late afternoon.
They had only brought enough ingredients for lunch, with nothing prepared for dinner.
"Let’s go get barbecue for dinner!" Erin suggested. "I found a Northwest barbecue place a few days ago, and it’s super delicious!"
"Sure!" No one had any objections.
Wrapping them all in his True Qi, Gu Zhao soared into the sky, leaving the Moon behind and flying straight toward Blue Star.
During the flight, Zhang Hang pulled out his phone, pointing the camera at himself with the shrinking Moon in the background. "Guys, I’m coming back!"