Chapter 383 - Start with collecting garbage

Translator: _Min_ Editor: Caron_

“Aerospace Technology Research Institute?” Jiang Lin was stunned.

From the shape of his lips, Jiang Chen could tell that he was asking in shock: Why me?

“Because I believe in you.” Jiang Chen was direct.

“But”

Jiang Lin wanted to say that compared to scientists before the war, his abilities paled in comparison, but Jiang Chen interrupted him.

“I know what you want to say, but I want a response now.”

Jiang Lin held his breath.

“… Okay.”

“Excellent, your response is what I wanted to hear.” Jiang Chen smiled.

Seeing as his expression was still perplexed, Jiang Chen paused to explain to him.

“The director of the research institute doesn’t have to be the one who has the best research skills - even if your knowledge level is nowhere close to the old experts, I still believe that you will be the one who leads a group of people with the ability to achieve important results. Such as the miniature rocket I saw at your store last time - I still have a vivid impression of it.”

Not just a vivid expression - it was stunning.

In Jiang Chen’s understanding, a rocket would have to be massive like a chimney, but Jiang Lin’s observation satellite completely altered his understanding of near-orbital rockets.

“If you wanted that small thing, you didn’t need to start a research institute.” Jiang Lin showed a troubled smile.

“You’re misunderstanding me.” Jiang Chen shook his head. “It’s the imagination that counts.”

“Imagination?” Jiang Lin raised his eyebrows.

“That’s right.” Jiang Chen took out a piece of crystal from his pocket. “Look at this, do you know what it is?”

“A crystal?”

“Correct.” Jiang Chen smiled and threw this crystal in Jiang Lin’s hand. “But before I told the blue skins, they didn’t know what it was.”

Jiang Lin looked at the green crystal in his hand as thoughts began to emerge in his head.

“The entire Wanghai City, or the entire wasteland… The world is no longer the world we were used to. Past ways of thinking wouldn’t be adaptable on this wasteland, whether survival or research. I need you to use your creative imagination, your extraordinary vision to develop aerospace technology suitable for this wasteland.

Jiang Chen stared into Jiang Lin’s eyes as he spoke with seriousness.

It was far more challenging to build a space elevator on the wasteland compared to the modern world. Just in terms of the dangers of the ocean, there was a vast difference between the two. Although he’d never been to the coast before, Jiang Chen heard some stories from Chu Nan.

Liuding Town was on the better side because it was close to land, so sea mutants were uncommon. But once in the deep ocean, the dangerous level of mutants would rise exponentially. Regarding the battle on earth, only a small portion of the total launched nuclear, biological and chemical weapons actually struck the land. Where did the rest go? It didn’t disappear but was intercepted by the ocean.

With the influence of bacteria, viruses, and radiation, the mutation of the sea creatures was far more unpredictable than the land creatures. But the foundation of the space elevator had to be built on the ocean surface near the equator.

Other than that, the space garbage around the near earth orbit and synchronous orbit almost formed a small planetary ring. These factors had undoubtedly increased the difficulty of aerospace exploration.

“Extraordinary vision? You gave me a hard problem.” Jiang Lin smiled, troubled again.

“If it wasn’t hard, why would I need you?” Jiang Chen glared at him.

After a moment of silence, Jiang Lin inhaled deeply.

“Could you give me a general direction? The NAC or space technology you require is leaning toward which area?”

Jiang Chen thought momentarily.

“Start with collecting the garbage.”

“What?” Jiang Lin looked at Jiang Chen dumbfounded; he didn’t know the meaning of this sentence.

Jiang Chen pointed up in the sky.

“Design a rocket that can be sent to the near earth orbit or the synchronous orbit… Whatever you do, I need you to bring the stuff in space down, fix it, and send it up again.”

“This… is rather an unscrupulous thought.” Jiang Lin showed his third troubled smile that day.

“It is possible from a technology point of view, right?”

“Yes. But no one would want to bring the satellite down to the surface; they’d rather fix it in the space station or just launch a new one…”

“I said, don’t look at the present problem with the past ways of thinking.” Jiang Chen waved his hand in disagreement. “Do we have a space station?”

He patted Jiang Lin on the shoulder.

“I believe you can do it. But first, I need you to create something small for me. Should be really easy for you - just a dumb small missile that can be launched. I need you to create four for me to send communication satellites up… Space junk? No, you don’t need to consider that, just design it based on the ‘most ideal conditions’…”

…

Just as Jiang Chen and Jiang Lin were discussing the Aerospace Technology Research Institute, there was also a negotiation in the mansion.

It was a discussion about life.

“Xiaorou, can I ask you a question?” Sun Jiao squeezed the body wash in her hand and evenly rubbed it over her sister’s back.

When her sister was paralyzed, she was responsible for bathing her. Although Sun Xiaorou could wash now, she was still worried. What if that thing malfunctioned or came off, wouldn’t that be terrible? Imagining her sister being stuck lying in the water - Sun Jiao only gave it a quick thought before her hands turned cold at the idea.

She finally found the only family she had in this world; she didn’t want to lose her again.

The cold but soft sensation on her back made Xiaorou narrow her eyes in comfort.

“Mhmm?”

Sun Jiao gently bit her own lip, but she still asked.

“Do… Do you like Jiang Chen?”

Xiaorou took a second to process it then she turned around with a smile.

“Of course, he’s a great brother-in-law.”

“No, I’m talking about from a relationship point of view.” Looking at the smile on her sister’s face, Sun Jiao asked with seriousness.

The smile was gradually replaced with a hint of melancholy. Finally, Sun Xiaorou let out a sigh.

“Did brother-in-law… tell you?”

Sun Jiao knew what her sister referred to - what happened a few days ago at the door.

Sun Xiaorou thought Sun Jiao was asking about what happened that day in her bedroom.

The two coincidentally misunderstood each other.

“Mhmm.” Sun Jiao nodded.

“… Are you planning to blame me?” Like a kid that did something wrong, Sun Xiaorou buried her head.

The bubbles in the bathtub reflected her sad face as well as her gorgeous figure.

“No, I just wanted to know your opinion.” Sun Jiao hugged her sister from behind, closed her eyes, and whispered.

Felling the warm hug of her sister, Sun Xiaorou suddenly felt like she was selfish. She couldn’t tell if she actually liked Jiang Chen or if she just liked the person her sister liked. Her heartbeat pumped insanely because of the gray moral territory that made her do things she shouldn’t have done…

But just as she thought, a sour feeling emerged from the bottom of her heart.

[It was him that took my first time, why do I have to bear the guilt?]

Perhaps driven by some kind of emotion, she spoke out without processing the emotions in her head.

“Even if they’re rather fickle?”

“Mhmm.” Sun Jiao put her chin on her sister’s shoulder and whispered into her ear.

Sun Xiaorou leaned forward, turned around, and faced her sister.

She lowered her bead while she gently bit her lip.

Suddenly, she got closer to her sister’s ear and spilled the emotions in her heart…