Chapter 298 Meteorite Capture Plan

On the surface, in Kyoto's second fortress city, at the joint conference room of the Supreme Academy of Sciences.

The encrypted holographic conference, spanning 200 kilometers in the air, has lasted for a full forty minutes.

In one corner of the screen, the data from the miniature titanium crystal test piece that withstood the ultimate pressure at high orbit for one minute and forty-seven seconds hangs quietly. It is no longer a miracle to be debated, but has become a fundamental constant of human high-orbit industry.

The first layer of the [Star Gathering Platform] is operating smoothly. Over the past twelve hours, it has acted like a slow funnel, successfully collecting approximately 130 grams of [Stellar Origin Energy] from the silent starry background.

The quantity is small, but enough for a single, truly engineering-level application.

Now, there is only one question facing the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Coordinating Department, and the Military Industry Department: where exactly should this hard-won high-dimensional material be used?

"I insist on the original plan."

Wu Di from the Coordination Bureau rested his hands on the table, his eyes filled with deep exhaustion. "Introduce these 130 grams of stellar energy into the core pressure-resistant array plate of the second-generation heavy-load transport capsule. The high-orbit main platform is currently like an isolated island, urgently needing to replenish its surface with engineering personnel, micro array plates, and life support equipment. As long as the transport capsule's structure can withstand the ionospheric spiritual pressure, we can stabilize the main platform's foundation and prevent the project in the sky from coming to a standstill."

Several generals from the Military Industry Department nodded slightly. Opening up the logistics supply line to ensure that the front line does not collapse is the most standard emergency rescue route in wartime.

"Keep it running...and then what?"

At the other end of the conference table, Lao Chen, the chief exploration engineer of the orbital resources group, stood up. He was an old-school scholar who dealt with various satellite debris and meteorite data year-round, and his speech had a harsh, metallic accent.

"There are no other readily available resources in space. You can certainly send people up there after you build the transport capsule, but without production, the main platform is just a bottomless pit that devours surface resources. Our veins of associated spirit gold are almost depleted. Are we building this road just to keep filling the sky with our pitiful resources from the surface?"

"So what do you mean?" Wang Mingyuan sat in the main seat, his hands crossed, his gaze calm.

"For this transport route to be meaningful, there must be 'cargo' in the air."

Old Chen swiped his finger heavily across the holographic control panel, and a vast near-Earth orbit radar map filled the entire conference table.

"Over the past three years, Earth's unusual spiritual pressure gravitational field has captured a large number of small celestial bodies from deep space. They are now hanging right above us."

Old Chen zoomed in on the radar image and locked onto a tiny point of light orbiting the Earth in a large elliptical orbit.

"Target designation: Peregrine-07. This is a metal-rich meteorite approximately 45 meters in diameter and weighing around 6,000 tons. Its orbit is currently relatively stable, periodically passing about 300 kilometers above the main platform of the geosynchronous orbit."

"Based on spectral and psionic reflection analysis, Peregrine-07 contains an extremely high-purity iron-nickel alloy. More importantly, it is a natural cosmic material. It has been refined by high-energy rays in the vacuum of space for countless billions of years. Its material is inherently a level above anything we can mine from our surface veins."

Old Chen's gaze swept across the entire room intently.

"If we can take this rock down, it's equivalent to directly obtaining a high-level material source at an altitude of 200 kilometers! Once the source is opened, the material bottlenecks for transport pods, recovery boats, and even the surface front can all be solved!"

The meeting room was silent for a few seconds.

Subsequently, a lieutenant general from the General Administration of Military Industry frowned sharply and raised the most realistic obstacle.

"Engineer Chen, your idea is very promising, but the engineering difficulty is too high."

The lieutenant general pointed to the point of light, "That's a solid iron lump weighing six thousand tons, flying through the sky at a speed of several kilometers per second. The traction cables can't withstand the shear force of the track and will break directly; the array used as a buffer node will instantly harden or explode under high-intensity loads."

"We simply don't have a strong enough support point in a vacuum to anchor such a large mass."

"Not to mention the risk of losing control. If the formation collapses during the towing process, and the 6,000-ton meteorite deviates from its trajectory and crashes onto the ground, it will be a natural kinetic nuclear bomb."

Faced with the military's stern questioning, Lao Chen did not back down, but instead turned his attention to the high-orbit main platform on the other end of the holographic projection.

In the video, Lin Feng took over the conversation. He magnified the compressive strength data of the miniature test specimen again.

"Lieutenant General, you're right. We didn't dare to touch large targets before because conventional formations lacked underlying structural anchoring, and would disintegrate under extreme vacuum tension."

"But now, the Star Gathering Platform is operational. We have 130 grams of controllable Star Source Qi."

Lin Feng pulled up a brand new engineering sketch. "We don't need to use stellar energy to envelop the entire meteorite; that's unrealistic. We only need to use it to reinforce the twelve sets of [High-orbit Traction Anchors]."

On the screen, a heavy engineering component appeared, with a front end resembling an armor-piercing javelin and a rear end connected to a complex array base.

"Inject stellar energy into the underlying array patterns of the traction anchor. Its high-dimensional pressure characteristics will completely lock the physical strength and array's load-bearing capacity of the traction anchor. Under the pull of six thousand tons in space, it will absolutely not break!"

"On the main platform side, a corresponding buffer array is built, and high-strength titanium crystal anchor chains are used to connect the two sides. Finally, using the main platform's own massive mass as a counterweight, during the window of its passage, the damping effect is used to gradually weaken its orbital kinetic energy, eventually pulling it into the escort orbit."

Lin Feng braced his hands on the control panel, his gaze sharp and cold: "But now there is a critical engineering challenge. The Peregrine-07's window of relative stillness during its closest approach to Earth is only ninety seconds. Conventional engineering machinery is too cumbersome and simply doesn't have enough time to precisely and deeply drive the twelve heavy-duty traction anchors into the high-density meteorite rock layer."

The atmosphere in the control room suddenly tensed up.

The lieutenant general's fingers tapped rapidly on the table as his brain quickly assessed the tactic. A moment later, he abruptly looked up, a glint of brilliance in his eyes.

"If conventional machinery fails, then let's use the power of cultivators to make up for it!"

The lieutenant general looked at Wang Mingyuan and said in a deep voice, "The military can immediately dispatch six Golden Core stage cultivators. Chu Qing, the Zhenyuan Army's top swordsman, is currently in seclusion and stationed at the near-ground defense line, along with five rotating military retainers. When the six Golden Core cultivators form a sword formation, the sheer volume of their Golden Core true essence is enough to maintain a brief internal circulation in an absolute vacuum, and the explosive power of their sword flight can also smooth out minor speed differences."

"They used handheld traction anchors to land on the island, acting as highly mobile rail-mounted pile drivers for ninety seconds—enough to hammer nails into the rock!"

This industrial solution, which integrates crude physics, sophisticated cultivation formations, and Golden Core combat power, was clearly presented to everyone. This was the first space mining project resulting from the combination of industrial civilization and the cultivation system.

"Qin Lie," Wang Mingyuan suddenly spoke, his gaze shifting to the high-orbit end, "from a practical combat coordination perspective, can this plan be implemented?"

Qin Lie stood by the porthole of the high-orbit platform, glancing up at the Peregrine-07's orbital parameters on the screen. As a late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator, he couldn't perform ultra-high-mobility close-combat bursts in a vacuum like a Golden Core cultivator, but he held a more crucial position.

"As long as the traction anchor array doesn't break down midway, there will be absolutely no problem with six Golden Core cultivators driving the piles."

Qin Lie paused, his voice cold and hard, "I will pilot the 'Broken Army' as a tactical base station in the rear, providing them with precise laser guidance, and after the piling is completed, I will be responsible for pulling the titanium crystal anchor chain back to the main platform for network connection. But I need authorization."

"During the towing process, if the meteorite's kinetic energy gets out of control and it shows signs of crashing into its parent star, I need absolute authority to cut the titanium crystal anchor chain on-site and use a blasting array to shatter the meteorite's main body."

This is the bottom line. Going to the sky to make money is fine, but it must never bring disaster to the earth.

"Authorization approved."

Without the slightest hesitation, Wang Mingyuan pressed the confirmation button on the highest-level access panel.

He stood up, placed his hands on the conference table, and his gaze swept across the room before finally settling on Wu Di's face at the Coordinating Office.

"Wu Di, don't stop the regular repair line for the transport capsule. Continue to use the existing ordinary materials. But allocate all of this first batch of 130 grams of Star Source Qi to the Orbital Resources Group and the Array Group, and prioritize its use in the [High-Orbit Traction Anchor].

Wu Di opened his mouth, then nodded heavily. He understood Wang Mingyuan's considerations: building roads was to maintain the status quo, while mineral exploration was the way to break the deadlock.

"Gentlemen, we have been trapped on the surface for far too long."

Wang Mingyuan's voice wasn't loud, but it carried weight in the quiet conference room.

"In the past, we were locked on the surface, forced to compete with demonic beasts for meager mineral veins in the Hundred Thousand Mountains. It's undeniable that our home planet did indeed come back to life under the nourishment of spiritual energy, and new mineral deposits were constantly being nurtured deep within the earth. But the long process of natural evolution simply cannot fill the bottomless pit that has been simultaneously opened by wartime heavy industry and the entire cultivation system. It's not that Earth has been completely drained, but rather that the planet's slow rate of regeneration has long been unable to support our raging industrial machine."

"Now that we have the trump card to withstand pressure in a vacuum, the ability to tame starlight, and even the readiness to point our swords at deep space, we can no longer just focus on the scraps before us."

"Initiate the [Meteorite Capture Project]."

With the Supreme Commander's approval, the entire Second Fortress City and the high-orbit main platform two hundred kilometers away, like two massive and precise gears, instantly meshed and accelerated into operation.

Outside the main platform, the thirty-six nodes of the first ring of the Star Convergence Platform were shimmering with a faint blue light. Inside the temporary technical area, twelve heavy titanium crystal traction anchors, each three meters long and with tips resembling armor-piercing javelins, were pushed into the energy injection chamber.

Lin Feng and Lao Liu stood in front of the control panel and began the tedious but absolutely undistracting process. The dark blue star energy was being pressed into the bottom array of the traction anchor with extreme slowness, causing the originally silvery-white metal surface to gleam with a chilling, eerie light.

Meanwhile, at the near-Earth defense line, six powerful sword beams shot into the sky, breaking through the ionosphere and heading straight for the 200-kilometer high orbit.

Outside the porthole, the metallic celestial body codenamed "Peregrine Falcon-07" was silently gliding along its predetermined orbit, slowly approaching the capture window above the main platform of the synchronous orbit.

A metallic meteorite that has been drifting in deep space for countless billions of years is about to be intercepted by Earth's civilization for the first time.