Chapter 389 - 381 Blood Ties_1

"My God, they’re flying to the Moon!"

Musk watched the newly uploaded video on YouTube in disbelief. It wasn’t until that moment that he truly believed Storm was actually on its way to the Moon.

"...China will proceed as planned with a flight test of the new-type power manned spacecraft, which will circle the Moon during the test. This is a rational decision made by China’s aerospace based on its own arrangements.

The Aerospace Development Committee opposes any conspiracy theory speculation. We have always insisted on following our own path and resolutely refuse to engage with..."

In fact, the departure of Storm did not cause much stir; only a few countries were attuned enough to notice its departure due to their extreme interest in Storm. By the time the news had spread across the world, Storm had already turned around to begin decelerating.

Whether they received the news early or late, people’s reactions could be summarized in one word:

"Huh?"

Bonkong had just arrived at the training ground when he learned from Santosh that seven Chinese People were already en route to the Moon.

Santosh was wearing glasses. A former Khmer Air Force pilot, he had now retrained to become an astronaut in China.

With animated gestures, he explained in his stiff Chinese:

"Storm is a hundred meters big, even larger than the C919 you took when you came here. It’s even nuclear-powered.

Ruan Liang says he’s well-connected with the people at the Aerospace Development Committee and got the info. It only takes one day to reach the Moon! It’s more than twice as heavy as America’s Apollo spacecraft and three times faster. Truly remarkable."

Bonkong, Santosh, Ruan Liang, Basong, collectively known as the Southeast Asia Group.

They hailed from Laos, Khmer, Annan, and Siam, respectively—the first batch of astronauts chosen by their national space agencies to go to space. They all got along quite well, often seen together.

As Fan Zun had signed the space cooperation agreement on behalf of Annan just half a month prior, the neighbors had all come knocking at the door. Eventually, the Big Shot said (rumor, unconfirmed): "We will send an astronaut to space for every friendly nation!"

Thus, the neighbors scoured for excellent pilots to send over, happily signing a series of agreements, all eagerly waiting to join the space family.

Little did they know that within a few days of their arrival, they would hear such explosive news. Hey, America hasn’t even sent people to the Moon yet!

The four started lavishing praise on the soil beneath their feet, an old friend who felt like home—from praising the space agency, the talk shifted when Ruan Liang mentioned that his grandfather was a remnant of Li Mi’s forces and was a true-blooded Han Chinese, steering the conversation towards debates of lineage.

Basong immediately countered, claiming he was Dai and genuinely of Chinese descent. Bonkong went further, stating outright that he was from Yunnan, from Ruili. Even Santosh, from a country that didn’t even share a border, started speculating that his ancestors might be descendants of refugees from Nanming.

The surrounding astronauts watched the four loudly boast of their "homelands" with astonished expressions, unsure whether to step forward to intervene.

A slim but serious-faced young man snorted disdainfully, muttered "little smarty-pants" in the authentic Jiechuan dialect, and then, without another glance, walked past, joining Zhang Zhiguang, who happened to be walking by.

"They dare to freeload on the Central Plain’s reputation? They are nothing but sycophants. It is our China’s age-old tradition to be inclusive and tolerate them.

Captain Zhang, I am a true Manchurian, raised on the waters of Xijiang flowing from Changbai Mountain, and even I am not proud. What is there for them to scramble over?"

Zhang Zhiguang: "..."

"Major Park Yijun, aren’t you from Jiechuan? Xijiang is, I believe..."

Park Yijun: "..."

Park Yijun laughed off the comment, pretending he hadn’t heard it, and then said with a serious tone:

"My grandfather served in Siye, in terms of relations, aren’t we just descendants of Manchuria separated by a strip of water?"

"..."

...

B-level Base.

The four oral health specialists, urgently summoned from Huaxi, signed a consulting contract and were brought into the basement, where they performed a comprehensive examination on Liu Si, who was sweating from the pain.

Using advanced scanning technology, the computer constructed an almost 100% accurate model, precisely displaying the bones around Liu Si’s teeth.

The four top specialists were amazed as they diagnosed at top speed: Liu Si’s oral health was very good, and the inflammation was within a controllable range.

Han Zixing, the leading chief physician, pried open Liu Si’s mouth and explained the reason for the excessive pain:

"...This person’s teeth actually aren’t that great; there are some occlusion and overcrowding issues. For the average person, it’s nothing major, just a bit unsightly.

But during teeth replacement, the crowding causes significant pain, especially... turtle, all 28 teeth are growing in at the same time, and I estimate the error won’t exceed a day before they all emerge, with the entire replacement cycle probably lasting only three to four days. That’s definitely painful, like having someone slowly pull them out with pliers; you’re really tough for holding on."

Liu Si, watching Han Zixing give him a thumbs-up, was on the verge of tears. He actually preferred to pass out from the pain, but his past training instinctively kept him conscious, and moreover, he needed to cooperate with the observation.

"Can you give me a shot of morphine (morphine), it’s too painful (too painful)."

The dozen or so surrounding physicians and researchers shook their heads in unison; anesthetics could indeed alleviate pain, but they would also affect the brain, exactly the crucial area where the No. 304 Injection was supposed to take effect. Unless absolutely necessary, it was definitely not an option.

Han Zixing: "Just hold on a little longer, and you’ll be fine. I truly never imagined in my lifetime that I would see such a miraculous medicine... Dentists will be out of a job in the future, because no matter how good the repair technology and dental implants are, where can they compete with growing new teeth? Incredible, truly incredible, this is definitely a revolutionary technology."

Xie Miao: "But we can’t just leave it be, right? Nerve stimulation can also feedback to the brain, and too much pain isn’t good either."

Xie Miao, originally a doctor in bioinformatics, wasn’t adept at specific oral diseases, so he used his privileges to "borrow" four oral specialists. He had a deeper understanding of nerve research and was somewhat concerned about Liu Si’s condition.

Han Zixing: "Don’t worry, such mild inflammation can be managed with ice packs, which will also provide pain relief. Additionally, we need to loosen his existing teeth to accommodate the new growth; this will make it easier for him later."

The half of Liu Si’s face covered in ice packs quickly felt a significant reduction in pain, and he began to look forward to the new teeth growing in—after all, who could understand the longing of middle-aged and elderly people for a set of healthy teeth?

"By the way, what should Liu eat?"

"Let’s go with tube feeding, directly providing liquid food, it won’t interfere with the ice packs... Damn, the potential for the No. 304 Injection seems much broader than I thought. If we could isolate this effect on its own, people would pay a million a shot, and if the price dropped below a hundred thousand, there would be no need for dental clinics across the country."

Han Zixing nodded fervently; facing various cases every day, he could relate to this statement even more.

"For those whose teeth have decayed to a certain extent, rather than spending tens of thousands on dentures, they would definitely prefer to spend more on this treatment. Damn, I need to switch careers early!"

In the end, even Han Zixing himself couldn’t help but swear, confirming that teeth replacement was just one aspect of the No. 304 Injection’s effects, or rather a "side effect," yet it obliterated over a century of dental science, with no treatment coming close to matching its results.

This damn future technology.