Zhang Xiaoman had arranged a meeting with someone today.
His name was Richard Cromwell, a scientist from England.
To be precise, he was an expert with deep knowledge of planetary science.
Unlike other projects, planetary science is an enormous domain.
It encompasses numerous subjects, including astronomy, geology, meteorology, atmospheric sciences, gravimetry, thermodynamics, Water Blue Star physics, Water Blue Star chemistry, remote sensing, manufacturing technology, and more.
Even architecture, material science, computer science, and agronomy; indeed, it is a massive hodgepodge.
Generally, anything you can think of is within the scope of planetary science.
Of course, it was impossible for humans to master all these, and usually, one would specialize in a particular aspect.
And Mr. Richard Cromwell specialized as a dual doctorate in astronomy and geology.
Interestingly, Zhang Xiaoman had met this bigwig through Sun Mingsheng.
During the time when Sun Mingsheng worked at an overseas research institute, they were colleagues in different departments within the same company.
Add on their shared interest in eating hotpot — that familiarized them and they became very good friends.
Now, when he heard that Zhang Xiaoman was looking for a scientist with achievements in astronomy and geology, Sun Mingsheng immediately thought of his old friend.
According to Sun Mingsheng, this was a top talent in the industry, the kind that everyone would want to snatch up.
Of course, such a prominent figure was usually very busy; even if a friend visited, he might not have time to entertain them.
However, with just one phone call, Sun Mingsheng had managed to summon him all the way from England to Qionghua City.
The tactic he used was simple, just vaguely mentioning something about moon landing and space exploration.
That was precisely why Zhang Xiaoman was seeking him out.
However, mere talk was useless.
Thus, he provided Richard with a video recording, which captured some scenes that were filmed on the Moon by the "Dawn".
With this, the important figure immediately dropped all his current work and took the hardship of flying from England eagerly to meet the man who provided the video.
At that moment, inside Light Blue Star Company, in Conference Room 1, three people were engaging in conversation.
"Richard, I didn’t expect you to arrive so early, but it’s still a bit early from the agreed time, how about I show you around the company first?"
Sun Mingsheng, wearing a white research suit, suggested.
Opposite him was a white-haired old Caucasian man, well over sixty.
This person was the visiting Richard Cromwell.
Actually, Richard had arrived in Qionghua City yesterday afternoon.
But due to time differences, he was too tired and directly went to sleep in the hotel, only waking up this morning.
It wasn’t his first time in Hua Xia Country; he had previously visited this ancient and mysterious land once for a research project.
From then on, he grew fond of a unique local cuisine—hotpot.
However, this time Richard didn’t have the inclination to indulge in his favorite cuisine.
Because in the company his old friend Sun Mingsheng mentioned, there was a project that was making him lose his appetite.
Initially, Richard had no interest in the so-called moon landing video when he first received the email.
He thought it was just a unique joke from his Huaxia friend.
But since it was from an old friend, he decided to take a look anyway.
The content of the email was an invitation to join a company named "Light Blue Star" in Hua Xia Country.
Richard had smiled helplessly at the time, ready to close his email account.
It seemed his old friend was coming to him as a lobbyist this time.
He received several similar emails every day.
When he was about to close his email, he suddenly noticed the last sentence of the message:
"Dear Richard, I know you don’t care much about these invitations, but this company is truly beyond your imagination. They even have their own space battleship, a real space battleship that can easily accomplish a moon landing. If you don’t believe it, just check the attachment I sent you."
Richard could still remember every word in that email.
He didn’t know why, but out of curiosity, he somehow opened that attachment.
However, he was very grateful that he made this right decision.
Initially, Richard opened the video with a sense of absurdity.
He didn’t believe any private company could carry out a manned moon mission. That so-called "real space battleship" was even more unbelievable.
Yet, the moment he played the video and saw the outer space scene, the scorn on his face vanished and he was momentarily stunned.
Seconds later, Richard suddenly snapped out of it, thinking it must be fake, a high-tech edited clip, just like those sci-fi movies.
However, as the video progressed, the skepticism on Richard’s face gradually disappeared, replaced by an expression of puzzling disbelief.
The video lasted for about ten minutes and was shot on the surface of the Moon, in very high clarity.
In some close-up shots, he could even see the dust on the ground.
After the video ended, Richard was in deep shock; it took him a long time to come to his senses, then he immediately dialed Sun Mingsheng’s number.
For a scientist who had studied astronomy and geology for decades, the authenticity of the video content was immediately apparent.
Initially, he had watched it with a preconceived bias.
Later, after several deliberate rewatches, Richard was confident that nearly all of it was genuine.
He even used his own telescope to observe and verify the location mentioned in the video; the results both shocked and delighted the old scientist.
These things were indeed real.
In Richard’s experience, unless the other party also had an expert of equal skill who was idle and willing to spend substantial costs just to joke with him,
that was clearly impossible; nobody had that much free time.