Chapter 1248 - Celebration Night
Pentagon.
Inside a special meeting room.
A group of people sat at the conference table and watched the live CTV broadcast on the big screen without saying a word. When the group of soldiers armed to the nines appeared on the screen with drones behind them, almost everyone held their breath.
After the soldiers disappeared from the screen, whispers were heard in the conference room.
“I don’t know what chance our rangers have against their paratroopers...” The first to break the silence was the Minister of Defense. He reached out his index finger and touched the coffee cup on the table. It took him several tries before he grabbed it. He pretended to be calm and took a sip. He then said, “We don’t need any fancy armor. Fighting with a lithium battery is no different than carrying a bag of explosives.”
These words comforted most people. After all, lithium batteries, which used active metals as electrodes, were more explosive than thermite.
However, most people still remained pessimistic.
After all, if even the people here thought of the lithium batteries issue, there was no way the Chinese didn’t think about it. Also, since these pieces of equipment had to land from low-Earth orbit, they had to be durable.
“... We already talked about this last time.” The National Security Advisor looked at the overly confident Secretary of Defense. He stood up and pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. He slowly said, “This depends on whether they want to fight our rangers.”
The Secretary of Defense said, “The battlefield is constantly changing, we don’t always have a choice.”
The National Security Advisor shook his head.
“Let’s acknowledge the reality. We have no defense against their vertical global landing. No missiles can catch up to their speed after they break through 20 kilometers of the atmosphere. Unless they jump into us or we prepare air missiles over the entire country, we are defenseless.”
The president twisted the pen in his hand.
“This sounds like a good idea.”
The National Security Advisor looked at the president seriously.
“Mr. President, I’m afraid that no company would be happy to do this. With all due respect, instead of wasting money on this, we might as well put our resources in other places, such as our diplomatic relationship with the Chinese. Regardless of whether you want to accept this reality, we are not in a good situation.
“We only know that they have a team of aerospace paratroopers. But we still don’t know the size of this team. Do you understand what I mean? They could have more paratroopers than we think. If they were to arm every single aerospace soldier with the exoskeleton...”
The National Security Advisor looked at the people around the conference table. He then took a deep breath and said, “I think it will be extremely unlikely for us to win against them...”
...
The discussions and excitement on the internet continued to grow.
The military parade was over.
The finale of the ceremony was obviously the Airborne Brigade. This team was led by Li Gaoliang, or Brigadier Li.
Since the beginning of the second half of this year, the size of the orbital Airborne Brigade had expanded from the regiment level to the brigade level. This special team that originally belonged to the Eastern Theater Command had also been assigned to the space army and was under the direct command of Beijing.
Lu Zhou was happy to see Li Gaoliang’s progress.
He knew that Li Gaoliang was glad to have chosen this path.
“Dad, the Bird’s Nest celebration show starts in the evening. You don’t have to worry so much.” Lu Zhou sighed and looked at his anxious father. He said, “Also, we have special seats. No matter how late we go, we can always get in.”
In fact, the Bird’s Nest stadium had VIP boxes. But when Lu Zhou went there to take a look, he realized that the watching experience in the box was not as good as sitting in an open seat. Because of the closed walls, the viewing angle was quite narrow.
Even though Star Sky Technology’s holographic technology was state of the art, it had not matured yet. They were at least a few generations away from complete coverage.
Thus, the best seats were actually the temporary seats placed on the track field in the middle of the stadium. The VIP seats that had the best viewing experience were the first row seats.
Old Lu looked at Lu Zhou with his eyes wide open.
“What? It starts at night?”
“Yeah.”
If Lu Zhou recalled correctly, he already told his father this three times.
Lu Bangguo had an awkward smile on his face. He scratched his head and said, “It starts at night... I see, then we don’t have to rush... Oh yeah, I ran into an interesting old man on the way here. His niece is in her early twenties, also single, maybe we can arrange...”
When Lu Zhou saw his dad take out a business card, his eyes nearly popped out of his eye sockets.
What the hell is this?!
You found me a blind date on the high-speed rail train? How is that even possible?
He finally understood why Chen Yushan didn’t want to go home unless it was Chinese New Year.
Lu Zhou was thinking about how to politely refuse. Chen Yushan, who was standing next to him, noticed the embarrassment on his face.
She took a step forward calmly. Before Lu Zhou could say anything, she smiled and took the business card from his father’s hand.
“Uncle Lu, he doesn’t have a place to put the card right now. I have a purse, so I’ll hold it for him. I’ll urge him to go on the blind date later.”
“Ohh...” Old Lu nodded and smiled. He said, “Okay then... My son doesn’t listen to me, so thanks.”
“Yeah, don’t worry!”
Lu Zhou was delighted he didn’t have to deal with this troublesome matter. He secretly gave Chen Yushan a thumbs up.
Good job!
...
As the night gradually came, the neon lights on the tall buildings began to light up.
Outside the Bird’s Nest Stadium, soldiers formed a human wall. They guided the nearby traffic and directed pedestrians into the stadium in an orderly manner.
Several roads nearby had been blocked. Wang Peng parked his car in the underground garage at a nearby hotel. He then led Lu Zhou and others toward the stadium.
Chen Yushan looked at the crowds and spoke.
“There are so many people this year.”
“After all, this is the first time...” Lu Zhou suddenly remembered something and said, “Has this kind of celebration been held before?”
historical
Wang Peng thought for a second before saying, “It’s the first time for the Bird’s Nest, and the first time for this scale of holographic projection...”
No sh*t?
Lu Zhou shook his head and smiled.
When has there ever been this scale of holographic projection?
Lu Bangguo walked with his wife. He looked at the crowds and muttered, “There are so many people... How are we supposed to find them?”
Before coming here, he and the old man on the train agreed to meet at the Bird’s Nest stadium.
Fang Mei rolled her eyes and said, “Who cares? Look at how many people there are, it’s like finding a needle in a haystack.”
Lu Bangguo had an unfortunate look on his face.
Liu Peizhong had agreed to bring his niece and watch the grand performance together.
But now, it seemed like it was impossible to meet up.
Lu Zhou was oblivious to what his father was thinking. He looked up at the sky.
Suddenly, a fiery beam of red light rose from the center of the stadium, and light particles exploded into the air, lighting up the entire night sky.
They didn’t expect there would be a fireworks show before the celebration. The tourists and pedestrians were shocked. They held their mobile phones excitedly and took photos of the sky.
Lu Zhou didn’t take out his phone. Instead, he looked at the gorgeous fireworks and spoke.
“It’s about to begin.”
Chen Yushan looked at the fireworks and asked, “Is that... really fireworks?”
“Yeah, but not the same as traditional fireworks.” Lu Zhou paused and said, “Those scattered light particles are all holographic projections.”
“... So it’s just a holographic image.”
Lu Zhou glanced at her.
“Why do you sound disappointed?”
“Not disappointed... Actually, I’m pretty happy. It’s just that these fireworks are not real, so it feels a little ingenuine.” Chen Yushan shrugged and jokingly said, “Maybe I’m too critical.”
Lu Zhou shook his head and smiled.
“Whether it’s holographic fireworks or gunpowder fireworks, they both only last for a short time. Gunpowder fireworks contribute to pollution and are a safety hazard. Don’t you feel like this kind of holographic image has a futuristic vibe?”
Chen Yushan said, “That’s totally something you would say.”
Lu Zhou: “What do you mean?”
“You’re such a science nerd.”
What is that supposed to mean?
Isn’t this engineering, not science?
Chen Yushan smirked while Lu Zhou had a bored look on his face. He looked at the sky.
I guess men and women just think differently.