My Items Have an Upgrade Panel

Sh*t.

“Why are you so flustered? Is the bear attacking? Oh, the Soviets have gone to meet God, so why all that rush?” the old man joked dryly to his secretary.

“Boss, this is a message from NASA.”

“A message from NASA?”

The old man took the folder and opened it.

Boom!

The hand that was holding the coffee trembled, and the coffee spilled all over his pants.

But at that moment, his coffee was the least of his worries.

He stared at the document in his hand foolishly.

There was a photo on it.

A fighter jet was flying in low-Earth orbit.

The old man knew about this purported fighter jet that came straight out of a sci-fi movie. The intelligence department had reported to him two days ago.

Frankly, though, his understanding of this fighter jet was still rather limited.

Their own sixth-generation fighter hadn’t even been mass-produced yet.

Yet the other party’s sixth-generation fighter was already out?

It was impossible.

It was absolutely impossible.

It had to be a ruse. Perhaps they obtained some kind of technological breakthrough through studying our Black Swift, but it was definitely impossible to produce a real sixth-generation fighter jet in its entirety.

In the end, only a short period of time had passed.

This fighter jet had apparently gone to space?

“Tell me, where is this damned plane now? Don’t tell me that it’s above our heads,” the old man asked excitedly.

“Boss, according to NASA’s latest intel, the aricraft has returned to Earth. Its destination is their satellite launch center.”

“Inform the person in charge of the intelligence department to come over for a meeting. They have so much funding for a year and extra income.

“Why didn’t we know that it was a space plane before? Do we have to wait until it flies above our heads before we do?”

Bang!

At this moment, the office door opened again.

Another secretary rushed in.

“What is it now?”

“NASA has sent news that the jet has flown into space again with two long pods.”

“Let’s go to the fallout shelter,” the old man quickly got up and ran outside.

Saying the place had erupted into chaos was an understatement.

Tang Rui piloted the fighter jet, bringing the space station’s supplies and flying into space once again.

This time, he brought some people with him.

It was an astronaut.

“Brother Huang, were you a pilot before?”

“Yes, I was originally flying the J-ioC, but I was selected by the space center.”

He was actually feeling quite complicated at this moment.

As an astronaut, he had been training for three years and had gotten A’s in all subjects. He wouldn’t have been selected to replace Sun Lihai on the space station otherwise.

But he had trained for several years, and even in his dreams, he wanted to ride a rocket and experience that feeling.

In the end, the rocket wasn’t complete, so they returned him to fly planes.

If he had known that fighter jets could go to space, he would not have been an astronaut. Wouldn’t it be better to continue flying fighter jets?

He looked at the plasma torrents outside the window.

It felt ridiculous.

In less than ten minutes, Tang Rui once again piloted the fighter jet outside the space station.

He looked at the time. 7:58.

He opened the canopy and flew under the fighter jet with the thrusters from his exosuit.

Two long pods were mounted on the belly of the plane.

These were the supplies that he needed to hand over to the space station. By having the cargo in tow, millions would have been saved by not having to have to launch a rocket.

Tang Rui unloaded a pod and handed it to Brother Huang beside him.

Then, he carried a pod and came to the hatch.

Manual docking was a waste of time.

Looking at the open hatch, he didn’t know what to say.

He carried the pod and entered the space station.

The airlock was sealed.

“Brother Sun, I’ll be punctual. I said I’d pick you up at eight,” Tang Rui said with a smile as he entered the cabin of the space station.

“Punctual. Your flight is more punctual than our domestic flights. Not a single minute delay,” Sun Lihai also joked along.

For astronauts, the convenience of shuttling between the space station and Earth was nothing short of a lifesaver. The unpredictable nature of outer space made it a priceless resource.

Who knew what would happen in outer space?

Even if the space station was fine, who could guarantee that everyone was fine?

Just like this time, Sun Lihai was taken ill.

All he could do was to endure it.

Now, a convenient shuttle in times of emergencies would prove to be an absolute lifesaver.

“Brother Sun, this is your spacesuit. Go and change into it.”

Tang Rui took out a sleek spacesuit from the supply box and handed it to Sun Lihai.

“Alright, wait a moment.”

Sun Lihai nodded and headed to the corner to close the curtain.

This was the bad thing about the space station.

The place was too small.

He told himself he’d build a much bigger one in the future. Getting to the Moon would prove extremely difficult without a space large enough to accommodate stopovers.

Of course, it was merely a thought.

It was not that time yet.

After a while, Sun Lihai came out of his spacesuit with a smile on his face.

“This is much better than the original spacesuit. It doesn’t feel uncomfortable at all, and it doesn’t affect my movements.”

Tang Rui returned the smile, crediting the materials for the upgrade

“Brother Sun, let’s go.”

“Alright, I’ll go back first. I’ll leave this place to you.”

“It’s okay. Going back and forth seems to be a breeze these days. You might come back one day.”

“That’s right. At most, 1’11 trouble President Tang to send you back.”

After a short farewell, Tang Rui and Sun Lihai left the space station with the two pods.

Only the supplies were left behind, not the cargo pods.

It was evident that the cramped space station would have no place to store it.

Tang Rui let Sun Lihai enter the cockpit first. After he mounted the two pods, he returned to the cockpit.

Beep!

He closed the hatch.

“Calling the aerospace logistics center. Mission complete. Requesting return.”Tang Rui called the space command center on the ground.

“Roger, permission to return. Deorbit calculations in progress.”

“Fish Pond acknowledges.”

Tang Rui pushed the throttle valve, pulled the control stick, and skillfully accelerated the fighter jet to return along the track.

At this moment.

With deftness and precision, Tang Rui nudged the throttle and manipulated the control stick, propelling the fighter jet along its designated course for the return trip.

At that very moment, a satellite in low-Earth orbit embarked on an abrupt change in trajectory. Orbital adjustments were routine, but this deviation was conspicuous—it coincided exactly with Tang Rui’s prescribed return path.

Actually, things like trajectories were very easy to calculate.

It was the same as calculating the landing point of a ballistic missile because there was a pattern.

“Change your orbit immediately and stop your return. A satellite is blocking your return trajectory.”

Tracking satellite orbits was a meticulous science. Those on the ground swiftly recognized this deliberate obstruction of the return trajectory, resulting in disrupted calculations.

It was discovered that the orbit of this satellite overlapped with his return orbit.

This was f*cking intentional.

Actually, there was no need for the ground to remind him. Red Lotus already reported this situation to Tang Rui at the first possible moment.

Orbit change?

What were they thinking?

They dared to block the way with a satellite?

Did they really think he was an unarmed re-entry capsule?

“Fish Pond acknowledges. Requesting to destroy the target..”