Genius of the Rules-Style System

Chapter 1522: 720

Additionally, work was exhausting.

Every day, he had to walk from the living quarters to the laboratory, a distance of over a kilometer. Even walking took a while since the Moon’s gravity was different from Earth’s, requiring him to "hop and jump" in his spacesuit to get there.

At first, it felt novel and interesting, but after many times, it became tiring, and he longed for the feel of Earth.

Although it was possible to rest in the laboratory, Li Renzhe insisted on returning to the living quarters to sleep. The lab was very lonely; there were fewer than ten people in several labs combined, and the experiment modules weren’t connected. Alone in his module, he felt a unique kind of solitude. There was no way to communicate, as if he had been abandoned by the whole world, or as if it were the apocalypse and he was the only person left.

Life on the Moon was far from wonderful. Li Renzhe was gradually adapting but still missed the feel of Earth immensely.

"Sigh~~"

All the various frustrations in his heart were transformed into a single sigh.

Zhao Yi patted his shoulder and said, "Old Li, I understand you."

"You understand?" Li Renzhe rolled his eyes, "Understand what? Why don’t you come and work here for a change? Not too long, just a week would do."

"Ha ha~~"

Zhao Yi laughed, "If I had the chance, I really would like to come, but alas, I’m too busy with work, and it wouldn’t make sense for me to work on the Moon."

Li Renzhe grumbled, "Anyway, I definitely won’t come again. I’ve truly been tricked by you."

"How about you come back with us?"

"I’m not going back."

"Oh?"

Li Renzhe exclaimed angrily, "I’ve already been slogging it out here for over two months, and I’m about to see it through. If I go back now, wouldn’t that be giving up halfway? I should never have come!"

"Makes sense!" Zhao Yi gave him a thumbs up, then suddenly pulled him aside and discreetly waved at the accompanying reporters.

The reporters understood and pointed their cameras elsewhere. ƒree𝑤ebnσvel.com

Zhao Yi set down the large backpack he was carrying behind him and handed it directly to Li Renzhe, "Stop complaining, hurry up and take these to your dorm, tuck them away somewhere out of sight."

"Ah? What’s this?" Li Renzhe curiously opened the backpack to find bread, sausages, jerky, dried fish, instant noodles, dried vegetables, and even a bag of oranges.

A bunch of industrial food that wouldn’t get a second glance on Earth shone bright in his eyes. He quickly picked up the bag and walked away.

Zhao Yi watched Li Renzhe turn the corner, smiling. He, of course, knew what was most precious in life at the Lunar Base.

Fresh food!

It wasn’t that you couldn’t get food at the Lunar Base, but the taste of the available food was not good. They were specially made compressed food products, enough to fill the stomach but certainly not tasty. Bringing ordinary foods from Earth was not easy; the main reason was they took up too much space and were very difficult to preserve.

For example, fresh fruits and vegetables.

Fresh fruits and vegetables would spoil within a couple of days on the Moon, so regular supply shipments wouldn’t consider fresh foods.

Even ordinary food from Earth was difficult to transport. Delivering food to the living quarters required sealed transport. The transport ship had to dock with the living quarters as the external chamber’s temperature and radiation had to be considered. The process was somewhat complex; hence, most of the supplies consisted of specially made compressed foods or at least food with a long shelf life.

Bread, vegetables, and fruit could only be transported in small quantities when the supply ships arrived at the Moon.

Li Renzhe walked fast and returned quickly, obviously munching on something, his spirits visibly different.

He came over and whispered, "The oranges are a bit sour!"

"Scram!"

Zhao Yi said, "I carried it all the way for you. The spaceship brought some too, but very little; the Xuanhuang couldn’t dock, so it’s good if the others get even one orange."

"Ha ha~~ Just kidding!" Li Renzhe’s mood improved significantly.

The reporter came back to take more photos.

This time, the reporter came specifically for Li Renzhe because Zhao Yi was accompanying the senior leadership on an inspection, and there really wasn’t much to interview. Their main focus was still on interviewing the Lunar Base personnel, and Li Renzhe, being the only microbiologist, was also one of their targets.

Li Renzhe took the main seat for the interview. He talked about his research on Mutated Red Spirulina and, with a prideful glance at Zhao Yi, said, "My research is on a type of mutant bacteria. This mutant bacteria can produce oxygen, and the efficiency is very high."

"The research here on the Moon mainly hopes that the mutant bacteria can adapt to the lunar environment, especially to the light conditions, because the light on the Moon contains ultraviolet radiation. The bacteria need light to survive and reproduce; they perform a type of photosynthesis."

The reporter immediately asked with interest, "Has there been any progress in the research?"

Li Renzhe nodded, "Significant progress."

This affirmative response surprised Zhao Yi, who then became much more serious.

Li Renzhe continued, "I’ve cultivated several batches. The first few all died, but later, when I added an anti-oxidative substance and some red algae into the culture dish, I found that some survived and were able to reproduce normally."

"The bacteria that survived and could reproduce normally have a very high efficiency in producing oxygen, even higher than the original strains."

"I believe the reason is that they are using ultraviolet light for a more effective photosynthesis, but I’m not completely sure, as we don’t have the conditions to test this here."

Several questions followed after Li Renzhe’s talk. He mentioned that his research on Mutated Red Spirulina could allow bacterial reproduction to take over the role of plants in oxygen production.

This is a major advancement.

Not only for the environment of the Lunar Base, but even for future applications, bacteria have more usage scenarios than plants. Compared to bacteria, plants have more stringent environmental requirements, and it’s not as heartbreaking to lose a batch of bacteria; the death of space-cultivated plants, however, is quite troublesome.

After listening to Li Renzhe’s explanation, Zhao Yi was also very interested, and he decided to go see the experimental area right away.

This decision made things difficult for others, but Zhao Yi insisted on going, and the reporter had no choice but to follow in a spacesuit, along with Li Renzhe and two others.

Since they had to continue filming, the reporter simply carried the equipment and followed behind Zhao Yi and Li Renzhe.

The base had planned to send a vehicle, but Zhao Yi still decided to walk there with Li Renzhe, to experience Renzhe’s lunar life.

They walked out of the living area in their spacesuits and headed towards the experimental area.

The journey was one of hopping and bouncing along.

Li Renzhe, who had been on the Moon for a while, knew how to walk in the most energy-efficient way, taking steps that were neither hurried nor slow, just occasionally taking a large leap with some force.

Zhao Yi found this novel and hopped along; each leap took him quite far, which felt very interesting. Eventually, Li Renzhe simply started hopping along with him.

The accompanying reporter followed behind, filming, but the distance kept increasing.

At that moment, the live broadcast switched to the viewpoint of the accompanying reporter, revealing the two figures hopping along. The television audience, a bit puzzled, heard the reporter say, "Leading the way are Academician Zhao Yi and Li Renzhe, the microbiologist working at the Lunar Base."

"Professor Li is dedicated to cultivating Mutated Red Spirulina that can replace plants in photosynthesis to produce oxygen, and he has made progress in this research—"

"Woo-la woo-la~~"

The reporter’s lengthy introduction was automatically ignored by the majority of people; they only knew that the men in front were Zhao Yi and someone named Li Renzhe.

Li Renzhe was a somewhat unfamiliar name, but within Yanhua University, he was certainly well-known. Everyone knew that Li Renzhe and Zhao Yi were close friends, roommates from their university days.

Now, the two were together on the Moon, jumping and bouncing in their spacesuits, as if they were young boys playing?

"This is what true friendship looks like, from Earth to the Moon!"

"It’s really enviable!"

"They are both genuine talents. Professor Li went to the Moon to study microbiology, and Academician Zhao needs no introduction."

"It really proves the saying, ’A man remains a boy until death!’"

"Still so spirited on the Moon, love it, love it! By the way, does Professor Li have a girlfriend—"