Wu Chuping is indeed younger than Pei Hongyin, but in this case it is more appropriate to stay at the ground station, not to mention that the general control center also needs someone to direct the overall situation.

"Commander Wu, we can't live without you at the ground station. Why don't we wait until next time to talk about it." Xu Lei did not reject Wu Chuping directly, but mentioned this more tactfully.

We have been getting along with each other for so long, how could Wu Chuping not know the meaning of these words.

In addition, although he had this idea, it was not strong, so he could only nodded and smiled bitterly: "Okay, I will stay here to ensure your safety."

With several people talking, two hours passed quickly.

When the space elevator car arrived at the near-Earth spaceport, the space robot began to execute the program under the operation of Xingtong, using the robotic arm to transport the nuclear fusion power engine and dock it with the main body of the Shenzhou.

The whole process seems very difficult, but it is very smooth and fast due to the functions of various equipment.

In a short time, the installation of an engine was completed.

Because after the space elevator arrived at the near-Earth space port, the perspective of the live broadcast screen changed, and the Shenzhou that everyone had been thinking about was finally fully revealed.

With a length of almost 400 meters, it looks very large even in a near-Earth space port. Although the all-black painting is not very eye-catching, it is a hidden killer in space.

The two heavy rail guns as the main weapons cannot be underestimated even by medium-sized battleships.

What's more, there are also powerful space torpedoes and close-in defense guns.

It’s just that the nuclear fusion power engine at the rear has just been installed, and it doesn’t look very harmonious.

But no matter what, the enthusiasm of viewers from all over the world in the live broadcast room has been completely ignited, and the barrage refresh rate has reached an astonishing frequency.

"Is this our first interstellar battleship Shenzhou? It looks so thick and big."

“What a powerful visual impact.”

"It's actually true, we already have interstellar battleships."

"The history of human civilization will be rewritten again."

"Humanity will win!"

"I don't think Pluto is anything. It's just a larger meteorite."

"I believe that with the presence of interstellar battleships, mankind will definitely be able to overcome the disaster in a few years."

…

Just as the audience in the live broadcast room was immersed in the majestic body of the Shenzhou, good news finally came from the Dengtian Island master control center.

"The last nuclear fusion power engine has been installed and the Shenzhou assembly progress has reached 100%. Will it start?"

Xu Lei listened to the voice coming from the communicator, turned his head and looked around at everyone, and then gave the final order decisively.

"Start the Shenzhou."

For star battleships, space is their destination. If they do not encounter any special conditions after the first startup, they will basically not shut down completely again.

A lifetime of sailing through the galaxy.

Almost as soon as Xu Lei's voice fell, the audience in the live broadcast room suddenly noticed that the originally silent Shenzhou was moving.

First, the six nuclear fusion power engines located at the rear of the battleship began to slowly start and emit a faint light, and then even the main body of the battleship began to brighten, as if it had been injected with life.

Until everything is calm again.

Although the audience does not understand these things very well, their subjective judgment of the Shenzhou based on its appearance alone is undoubtedly a complete success.

After all, if the activation fails, the battleship will no longer exist due to the power of nuclear fusion.

It even involves the entire near-Earth space port and the Tiangong Space Station.

The intelligent core system used by the Shenzhou interstellar battleship is Xingtong. After the battleship was successfully started, Xingtong immediately ran the self-test program and reported it in real time in the general control center.

"The power engine system is operating normally."

"Weapons systems are operating normally."

"The gravity system is normal."

“The adaptation rate of each core component reaches 100%.”

…

"Passing system detection, you can fly..."

Xu Lei, who was standing in front of the main control screen, listened to everything Xingtong reported in his heart. After being stunned for a few seconds, he turned around with great excitement to face the crowd and uttered five words in a deep voice.

"We succeeded."

What followed was cheers and warm applause.

Enduring.

"The Shenzhou has been launched successfully. The next step is up to us. All crew members will enter the Shenzhou with me." Xu Lei raised his hand to signal everyone to stop, without forgetting his mission at all.

Although the Shenzhou is a small warship with a length of less than 500 meters, it can accommodate 1,400 crew members when fully loaded.

However, there is currently no training system for crew members in China. It is definitely impossible to fully load the Shenzhou. There are only more than 100 personnel who followed Xu Lei into the Shenzhou this time.

It's a little less, but the mechanical body of Star Pupil is enough to ensure the normal operation of the battleship.

So no one hesitated in the next moment, and the originally scheduled crew members followed Xu Lei and Xingtong directly into the space elevator.

However, it is worth mentioning that these people also include two special figures.

It was Yu Hongliang and Li Chengzhe.

Li Chengzhe is a core member of the Hammer Project, and Wu Chuping is in charge of the general control center of the ground station. There is no problem with him boarding the Shenzhou to participate in the specific testing of various functions of the battleship.

As for Yu Hongliang, he just sneaked in to experience it.

Considering that Yu Hongliang's military fitness was pretty good, Xu Lei turned a blind eye to this.

Anyway, they won't stay on the Shenzhou for long.

Later, a captain will be selected to stay in space for a long time and be responsible for the command of the Shenzhou.

But at a time when human civilization is in crisis, when Pluto approaches the Earth, it is inevitable that someone on the ship will have some selfish thoughts and do something that betrays all mankind.

For example, capture the battleship and move it away from the earth star.

But with the existence of Star Pupil, the captain's control authority can be removed at any time, which ensures absolute control.

Soon after they entered the space elevator and started heading for the Shenzhou, the live broadcast room also announced the successful launch of the Shenzhou and the news that it would go on a mission to Mars.

Especially when everyone found out that the person in charge of the task was Xu Lei, they were completely surprised.

At this moment, everyone finally understood that Xu Lei did not take the crisis of Pluto to heart. At this time, he dared to go to Mars like nothing happened, which showed that he was absolutely sure that he could solve Pluto.

This caused the number of Xu Lei's supporters to increase at a linear speed in almost a short period of time. The key is that they all come from all over the world.

It is no exaggeration to say that even if Xu Lei wants to be the overlord of the planet, there will probably be a large number of people supporting him.

The barrage is so fast that it can no longer be observed with the naked eye.

"Damn it, Mr. Xu is so strong."

"From now on, Mr. Xu will be my guiding light in life."

"With Mr. Xu here, who dares to say that human civilization is gone?"

"Suddenly I am very envious of Mr. Xu. I also really want to experience the feeling of riding on the Shenzhou."

"This is an interstellar battleship that can only appear in science fiction movies. Who doesn't want to go up and experience it? Maybe in the future, when our human civilization is strong enough, interstellar travel will become easier."

"I hope that the global forces will support Mr. Xu in the future, so that the crisis on Pluto will definitely be resolved."

"We have to stick together."

Just like the audience's mood at this time, Xu Lei was extremely excited as he saw the space elevator rising rapidly and about to reach the Shenzhou. After all, this was his first time in space.

As for Yu Hongliang beside him, he didn't care at all, and hearty laughter came from the communicator from time to time.

"In my life, I have ridden in armored vehicles, driven tanks, and fired missiles. I can even drive aircraft carriers. I never thought that I would be able to board an interstellar battleship in my lifetime. This is all thanks to your future technology!"

"Commander Yu, the Shenzhou is fully intelligently controlled. I'm afraid there's no hope for you to pilot it." Hearing this, Li Chengzhe reminded with a smile.

But Xu Lei thought of something and suddenly interjected: "The Shenzhou does not need to be driven manually, but you can try the heavy rail gun."

Based on the introduction of relevant technical knowledge in the Science and Technology Museum, Xu Lei knew that the heavy rail gun on the Hammer cruiser uses nuclear fusion reaction as energy to accelerate the projectile to a relative speed.

The shells are made of tungsten alloy and have a maximum range of two astronomical units.

That is twice the average distance from the Sun to the Earth's stars.

And it can directly penetrate any ordinary star battleship at a distance of 1,000 kilometers.

It's just that these are all evaluations from the Science and Technology Museum. As for how powerful the Shenzhou can be, it is currently unknown.

Previously, because the nuclear fusion power engine was not installed and could not provide energy support for the weapon system, it was naturally impossible to conduct actual testing.

Now that the Shenzhou has been successfully launched, there will be no obstacles to launching the rail gun.

Moreover, in the vastness of space, there is no need to worry about any impact.

really.

I heard they were going to test-fire a railgun.
To be continued...