Our ship crashed on an unfamiliar planet. The escape pod has only enough oxygen for thirty days, and I am the chief designer of its life-support system.
In 2137 AD, humanity's first warp-drive spacecraft, the Kuafu, launched from Jiuquan.
It was the most ambitious voyage in the history of human civilization. Twelve leading experts from various fields carried all the hopes and seeds of Earth's civilization as they set out for Proxima Centauri, 4.2 light-years away. The launch was broadcast worldwide, and billions gazed up at the sky. People believed this was humanity's first step beyond the Solar System, and civilization's first step toward the stars.
No one imagined that this step would be cut short in such a brutal fashion.
The warp bubble collapsed midway through the jump. The Kuafu split into 1.8 million fragments, like a paper boat torn to pieces in the silent depths of space.
The emergency escape pod, carrying five survivors, plunged toward a planet humanity had never named.
The moment the countdown reached zero, the entire wine fountain was trembling. Lin Du stood in front of the porthole, watching the ground beneath his feet disappear rapidly. Ten, nine, eight... The female voice on the radio counted quietly, as if she was reciting a string of numbers that had nothing to do with him. Until the word "zero" fell, a huge force pressed him into the seat - the Kuafu was ignited.