Two hours later, the bottom of the polar ship.
Ou Zhanpeng activated the assault boat and adjusted the communication frequency, "Bridge, Assault 007 requests to disembark!"
"Assault 007, you may disembark. Good luck!"
"Thank you."
The hatch opened, and a robotic arm extended the assault boat out of the bay, released it, and the assault boat slowly descended toward the lunar surface.
At this moment, the polar ship was flying over the Moon's North Pole, and the assault boat's target was Luohu Mountain, located in the heart of the North Pole. It was the largest ice lake on the Moon and also the location of China's lunar research station.
The assault boat continued its descent. Every so often, Ou Zhanpeng would activate the engines, reducing speed and adjusting direction. Before long, the assault boat landed in a crater and stopped outside the research station.
The assault team members in the crew cabin quickly disembarked and entered the research station in batches.
Ou Zhanpeng waited in the assault boat. After a short while, a group of EVA suits left the research station and boarded the assault boat in batches.
Ou Dashao, unable to rest assured, personally entered the crew cabin, carefully checked the condition of each passenger, and guided everyone to fasten their seatbelts.
So far, the research station was the only man-made complex on the Moon. According to orders from superiors, the assault team would use the research station as a base to do their utmost to ascertain the enemy's situation.
Ou Zhanpeng had two missions: first, to deliver the assault team, and second, to evacuate the researchers stranded at the research station back to the polar ship.
Before long, the first batch of evacuated personnel had all boarded. Due to the lack of weapons and equipment, the crew cabin, designed to carry twelve people, was crammed with sixteen.
After confirming there were no issues and instructing everyone not to unfasten their seatbelts under any circumstances, Ou Zhanpeng returned to the cockpit, "Bridge, Assault 007 is ready for return!"
"Assault 007, our ship has just flown over the South Pole, please wait for takeoff!"
"Assault 007 received!"
To avoid the no-fly zone, the two human warships immediately adjusted their orbits and were now flying in a polar orbit around the Moon, effectively avoiding the no-fly zone while remaining close enough to the enemy ships for surveillance.
After waiting patiently for a moment, a voice came over the radio from the bridge, "Assault 007, you may take off!"
"Assault 007 received!" Ou Zhanpeng immediately started the engines, the thrusters operating at full capacity. The assault boat lifted off the ground with a slight tremor, accelerating towards space.
The entire takeoff process was controlled by the program, requiring no intervention from Ou Zhanpeng.
However, shortly after takeoff, an unusual explosion sounded from the rear of the craft. The subtle tremor intensified dramatically, a series of fault lights lit up on the control panel, and a continuous stream of beeping alerts filled the air.
Ou Zhanpeng's heart leaped into his throat. He grabbed the control stick, switching from autopilot to manual control.
But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't control the attitude. The assault boat, which had been steadily ascending, began to fall like a kite with a broken string.
"Bridge, Assault 007 is experiencing a sudden malfunction and is preparing for an emergency landing, preparing for an emergency landing—"
"Assault 007, stabilize, stabilize, pull up—"
Ou Zhanpeng had pulled the control stick all the way back, but the assault boat's attitude remained unchanged. The lunar surface grew closer, and it looked like it was about to crash headfirst into the ground.
In a moment of inspiration, he suddenly controlled the assault boat to perform a 180-degree flip. At the same time, the attitude thrusters located at the bow of the craft ejected two streams of gas, barely lifting the nose.
Now!
Under Ou Zhanpeng's control, the assault boat flipped again. As soon as its attitude was adjusted, a dull thud echoed, and the belly of the craft slammed heavily onto the ground. It bounced like a stone skipping on water, rose, fell, and bounced again, kicking up a storm of lunar dust.
After several bounces and falls, the assault boat crashed into a protruding lunar rock, its tail propped high in the air. Metal groaned and creaked from somewhere, and only when the tail finally slammed down did it come to a complete stop.
Ou Zhanpeng hit his head on the control console, his head spinning and his stomach churning. His internal organs felt like they were twisted into a knot, and he felt utterly miserable.
Yet, his consciousness remained remarkably clear.
After taking several deep breaths, just as he began to recover, Ou Zhanpeng forced himself to unbuckle his seatbelt and shuffled into the crew cabin across the tilted deck.
The crew cabin was in disarray. Although everyone was in their seats, they were all disheveled from the impact of the crash, with half of them unconscious.
One person's chest was penetrated by something, and their spacesuit was stained red with blood.
A few conscious passengers had unbuckled their seatbelts and were gathered around the injured person, frantically trying to figure out how to help. However, beyond trying to staunch the bleeding, they had no other solutions.
Upon seeing Ou Zhanpeng, someone immediately cried out, "Please save her, please, you must save her!"
Ou Zhanpeng was anxious but helpless, staring with wide eyes, "I'm a pilot, not a surgeon!"
"We'll save her ourselves!" someone shouted, reaching to remove the injured person's helmet.
Ou Zhanpeng's gaze happened to sweep over the pressure readings, and he quickly roared, "Don't take it off, the air pressure is wrong!"
The cabin's air pressure was only two-thirds of the normal value, and it was still dropping.
"Think of something quickly!" several researchers urged him, like ants on a hot pan.
Without sufficient air pressure, they couldn't remove the spacesuit. If the spacesuit couldn't be removed, emergency treatment couldn't be administered, and the injured person could only wait to die!
Ou Zhanpeng immediately took out a repair patch and shouted, "Where is the leak?"
He didn't expect an answer, but to his surprise, several people pointed simultaneously to the area beneath the injured person, "Here!"
Ou Zhanpeng leaned in and quickly found a finger-thick hole in the floor. He tore off a strip of repair tape and pressed it onto the hole. The air pressure immediately stopped dropping and began to rise slowly.
"That's it!" Ou Zhanpeng yelled.
The group removed the injured person's spacesuit, revealing a bloody and mangled hole in her upper abdomen, from which blood gushed out like a fountain.
Ou Zhanpeng immediately tore open the first-aid kit and applied several packets of hemostatic gel, barely managing to seal the bleeding wound. "This won't do. She's too severely injured. She must be sent back to the warship immediately... How is everyone else?"
Everyone's gaze turned to Ou Zhanpeng. One of them asked, "Can it fly again?"
Ou Zhanpeng shook his head, "The engines and thrusters are both damaged..."
"Then fix it quickly!"
"It's not that simple," Ou Zhanpeng said with a grim expression. "The assault boat didn't malfunction and lose control; it was shot down."
Shot down?
The terrifying word immediately stunned everyone.
"Aliens?"
"Yes, aliens." Before sealing the leak, Ou Zhanpeng had carefully examined the hole in the floor. Its edges were very neat, as if made by a precision instrument, and it was definitely not caused by micrometeoroids or other natural factors.
"Then what should we do?" Hearing Ou Zhanpeng's words, everyone became frantic.
"Do your best to stabilize the injured person's condition. I will contact the warship immediately!"