Xu Lanzhou stretched her perfect figure, glancing at the lazy cat-eared fox by the window, feeling a touch of lancholy.
The adorable little creature turned its head to look at the freshly awakened Xu Lanzhou, then laid its head down again, appearing listless. It was the very cat-eared fox raised by Bai Zhongqi, who didn't take it with him on the Sacred Falcon but left it in the care of Xu Lanzhou.
Xu Lanzhou sat up in bed, her pale legs touching the ground, her hands bracing the edge of the bed. Warm sunlight stread in from the window, bathing her sitting in the light, as enchanting as a water lily.
Xu Lanzhou's personal AI assistant greeted her through the smart ho system, "Good morning, Commander Xu."
"Good morning," Xu Lanzhou responded, slowly erging from her groggy state.
"The Chancellor has been on his strategic reconnaissance journey for 77 days."
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Xu Lanzhou's expression turned wooden, she had set up this tir after Bai Zhongqi left, though unsure of the motive behind it, she did it anyway.
"Commander, while you were asleep, we received new ssages from the Sacred Falcon. His Excellency the Chancellor has crushed the enemy's supply fleet at Bupinga Star, successfully hindering the enemy's invasion and is now leading the Sacred Falcon back to the Danlu Interstellar Cloud. He is estimated to arrive at Ruyi City Spaceport on Earth in 17 days and 11 hours."
Upon hearing this news, Xu Lanzhou's face suddenly brightened, a change even she didn't notice. The little cat-eared fox at the window seed to sense sothing too, jumping down from the window sill, it approached Xu Lanzhou and began to ow, showing its cuteness.
Xu Lanzhou hopped out of bed, displaying a girlish spirit. Her voice also seed more cheerful as she spoke to the AI assistant, "What's the work schedule for today?"
"Today marks the official launch of the Star Alliance Universe Army's Aquarius-class aircraft carrier, and you will be attending the launch ceremony. The afternoon is scheduled for your routine review of Universe Army operations."
Xu Lanzhou nodded and swiftly moved to the bathroom. A floating cleaning robot hovered and completed her cleaning—an appliance now widely sold on Earth. Connected to personal AI assistants, they cater to individuals by providing services like bathing, facial cleansing, tooth brushing, and skincare.
Commander Xu, now grood and having had breakfast, left ho to go to work. She opened her door and found a small car waiting for her. After boarding, the air-cushion vehicle took off, accelerating to speeds above 200 knots.
At such speeds, it's impossible to see the outside clearly from within the vehicle. Many people might experience motion sickness, hence the windows can be made opaque or turned into screens displaying images. Iridium Star's air-cushion cars are highly stable, and with an interior damping system, passengers feel as if they aren't moving at all, even while traveling at high speeds through the air.
Xu Lanzhou did not activate the window screens but watched the swiftly passing vehicles and buildings outside. Tai Ping City had existed for over eight months, and during that ti it developed rapidly. Initially, it was a new special zone of Country C, but after Iridium Star Chancellor Bai Zhongqi seized the opportunity presented by the Teizene invasion to unify Earth under the Star Alliance governnt, Spratly Island increasingly beca the confluence of various Earth races and the de facto political center of the planet.
At this point, the population of Tai Ping City had exceeded two million, with ninety-seven percent being Chinese immigrants from Country C and around the world. Immigrating to Spratly Islands was not difficult in terms of infrastructure; people could move and settle with ease. When Bai Zhongqi designed Spratly Island with the Holand Stone, he already constructed various facilities, from residences to schools, hospitals, shopping centers—everything necessary for daily life.
With employnt organized by the Star Alliance, people quickly found their bearings on Spratly Island. Nowadays, other nationals living on Spratly Island partly comprise family mbers of Star Alliance officials and Universe Army personnel from other than Country C. Although residency in Spratly Island remains open for application by other nationals, without the aforentioned dual identities, available slots are limited, making applications more challenging.
After all, Spratly Island, Ruyi City, and Lunar Palace City are the true interstellar civilization cities of the Star Alliance at present, whereas other cities on Earth and so cities on Erald Sea Star, though modernizing quickly, face more difficulty adapting pre-existing urban structural issues.
After arriving at Tai Ping Spaceport, Xu Lanzhou took a shuttle spacecraft to Ruyi City. Now there are over twenty spaceports with flights to Ruyi City globally, typically taking no longer than 20 minutes. As Earth's largest spaceport, Ruyi City has taken on a massive load of logistics. Various resources from other planets are delivered non-stop to Earth. A multitude of Iridium Star-style industrial bases have been established on Earth, producing an array of consur and industrial goods, and the resource consumption has beco enormous. To protect Earth's environnt, the Star Alliance has essentially put a halt to the extraction of Earth's local resources, due to their destructive nature.
Ruyi City Spaceport is gradually failing to et Earth's vast transport and docking demands, especially the ever-expanding Universe Navy Fleet, which clearly isn't suited to compete with comrcial vessels for docking space. The Star Alliance has built a dedicated military port near Earth's shipyard, nad Changxiu Port.
The launching ceremony would not be at Ruyi City but at Changxiu Port. After Xu Lanzhou's arrival, she encountered the new captain of the Aquarius Aircraft Carrier, the renowned Lv Zhinian, forr captain of Country C's Navy.
Xu Lanzhou nodded to Lv Zhinian, impressed with the captain. He was the only Earthling who, in a re three months of training, had passed the Star Alliance main battle ship captain's examination. The previous two main battle ships, the Bojiang Class Battleships Bojiang and Beiluoshin, were captained by Iridium Star citizens. The selection of the Aquarius's captain was won by Lv Zhinian against two Iridium Star competitors.
In Iridium Star, soone like Lv Zhinian, who qualified to command a main battle ship in three months, was an unparalleled genius, so Xu Lanzhou did not hesitate to appoint him as the captain of the Aquarius.
The Star Alliance's launching ceremony involved neither the traditional Western bottle-throwing nor the Eastern offering of a pig head, nor did it include the Slavic-style blessing by a priest. Instead, an Iridium Star custom was followed: all weapons on the warship were opened from the armories, and all lights aboard the ship were turned on. At the sa ti, every crew mber placed a blood sample on the inner walls of the ship's cabins.
This was a very traditional custom of the Iridium Star Universe Army, pledging their hearts with their blood, swearing to share life and death with the warship.
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