"Old Xu, if I told President Jiang that you weren't going next time, do you think he'd agree?" Guo Xuyang said with a sly smile.
"You got me, boss. You call the shots. I'll head to the back right away."
"Master, don't go!" Ye Zi tugged at Guo Xuyang's collar.
"Ye Zi, let your brother off the hook this time. Yang Zi is on fire with the bosses. He's a rising star. I don't want to retire just yet," Xu Dahai said, feigning fear.
"Alright, enough joking. Hurry and get ready. We should be able to lift off on time at three." Xin Dali glanced at the spaceship outside.
Donning space suits, organizing equipment, and entering the cabin to await the spaceship's launch.
The sensation of weightlessness was truly terrible. Guo Xuyang almost threw up his stomach's contents. Fortunately, once the spaceship entered space, it became much more comfortable. Guo Xuyang, finding his space suit cumbersome, took it off. After entering outer space, the spaceship began its constant-speed journey, and the tension eased. After all, it wasn't their first time.
"Yang Zi, did you throw up?" Ye Zi called out from beside him.
"Throw up? Impossible. Why ask? Don't tell me you did."
"No. I didn't eat much. I thought you might have."
"It would be too wasteful to eat something and then throw it up," Guo Xuyang said, looking up at the pitch-black expanse outside. The coordinates for this trip were set quite far. No wonder the middle-aged man that night mentioned the food had a fifteen-day shelf life; they had calculated the time for them.
The spaceship flew for about three days before reaching its destination.
"Master, be careful," Kasa's voice suddenly echoed in Guo Xuyang's mind. Before he could react, the spaceship was struck by an unidentified object.
"Be careful!" he shouted, recalling Ye Zi and Yu'er into his mind. The air inside the spaceship instantly rushed out, and a massive crack appeared.
"Yang Zi, we have to return!" Xin Dali yelled with great effort.
"You and Old Xu and everyone else get into the escape pod. Zhang Li, put on a space suit and see if the spaceship can be repaired!" Guo Xuyang commanded loudly.
"I'll go out and take a look." Zhang Li, as he spoke, put on his space suit and was about to go out when Guo Xuyang yanked him back.
"Don't go. All of you, get into the escape pod." Guo Xuyang saw an eight-legged monster clinging tightly to the spaceship outside, its tentacles probing inward. It seemed this spaceship was beyond repair. If the monster's tentacles reached inside, none of these people would escape.
"What about you?" Zhang Li asked.
"I have my own ways of getting out."
"Yang Zi, I'll stay with you. I'm not leaving," Xu Dahai said.
"This is not the time for recklessness. Go quickly. I'll follow soon. Go back and tell President Jiang that at the soonest in ten days, at the latest in three months, I will definitely be back. And when I get back, I'll introduce you to a tall, beautiful woman. You'll be satisfied," Guo Xuyang said as he pushed Xu Dahai into the escape pod.
The nine of them activated their escape pods one by one and departed.
"Yu'er, is the spaceship I had you repair finished?"
"Master, it's all repaired."
"That's good. Can you pilot a spaceship?"
"I should be able to. I've studied it for a long time, and theoretically, I can. But I've never practiced."
"Today, you'll get a chance to practice," Guo Xuyang murmured, releasing the spaceship and Yu'er.