9 Intentionally Hiding the Landing Point?

"Do you guys feel that something is wrong?!"

 Zhang Tao asked with a serious expression. He was on the -109th floor of the Moon Base. Beside him, Liu Ning and Wang Dong Dong were holding the food that Zhang Yi Xia had sent over. They were savoring it carefully.

 "Captain, the food that the aliens cultivate seems to be similar to ours. It's also potatoes, vegetables, and rice…"

 They had flown for more than three days from Earth to the moon. All the food that they had was vacuum packed. The taste was pretty subpar, needless to say. That being said, the food that they were having now was hot and delicious.

 Wang Dong Dong didn't understand what his captain meant when he asked about something being wrong. He asked curiously as he ate, "Captain, did you find anything?!"

 Zhang Tao looked around warily and gestured to the two of them. He whispered as they got their heads close to him,

"Did you notice that these aliens are speaking Chinese?!"

 "Ah?"

 The two of them stopped stuffing food into their mouths, and their eyes revealed surprise.

 "Yeah, why do they speak Chinese?!"

 They were used to talking to people who spoke Chinese, so they never realized this issue. However, after Zhang Tao reminded them, the two of them remembered that they were on the Moon, inside the base of an alien. Come to think of it, the aliens that they were talking to all spoke Chinese.

"Also, the man and woman who led us here earlier look very similar to us. They have very standard Asian faces and figures…"

"Don't you guys think this is too much of a coincidence?!"

 "Other than that, the floor signs in the elevator use Arabic numbers…" Zhang Tao continued to list.

"The decoration style of this house is also very similar to that of Earth. The food, too. We've got potatoes, rice, vegetables..."

 Gulp ~!

 Liu Ning gulped and thought of a possibility, "Captain, are you saying that we're dreaming right now?!"

 "It's possible, but I just feel that this moon base is probably linked to Earth…"

 "It's as if it was built by Earthlings…"

 Wang Dong Dong was a little shocked, "Captain, could it be that the aliens have arrived on Earth a long time ago? You know, so they could bring these things to the moon?"

 Liu Ning's eyes lightened up, "So, the man and woman who brought us here before could be orphans brought here by real aliens from Earth. They were probably raised from a young age and were indoctrinated to think of themselves as aliens?!"

 Zhang Tao nodded slightly. As nonsensical as this theory was, it was still a better explanation than to say that they were all dreaming. 

He continued, "From the looks of it, this moon base is very likely to be used by aliens to communicate with Earthlings…"

 ..

"My name is Yao Zhui Du, and I am a web administrator. I do website maintenance for a small company."

"Of course, this was my public identity. In secret, I am a hacker who believes in, say, equivalent exchange."

"Today, two amateurs came to me and asked me to hack the same satellite."

"Awesome! I can get paid double for doing one thing!"

"It's just a satellite. It'll take three to five minutes, but I can't give it to my clients too quickly. They'll think that they are overpaying me if I do that."

 "So, for now, as usual, I'll play a few games and wait until it's about time I start."

 ..

 "It's here. Bros, look!"

 Ma Hai Bo was excited as he shared the picture sent by his hacker friend in the online group meeting. He and other members of the association took a long look at this image that they've waited for a long time. The image was plain and unremarkable. It was the surface of the moon.

 Regular people might enjoy looking at photos like this, but they were from the Extraterrestrial Civilization Exploration Association. They were already sick of all the pictures of the moon that were circulating on the market.

 "Where's White Rabbit Nine?!"

 One of them stared at the satellite image for a while, "Brother Bo, did your friend hack the wrong satellite?"

"That's impossible. He's very skilled at hacking…"

 Ma Hai Bo hesitated for a bit before contacting his friend again. He then went to ask about the image of the moon. Ten seconds later, he received a reply. The image sent over was the image that was requested.

"I didn't hack the wrong satellite. This is the satellite you asked for…"

 That's when Ma Hai Bo realized the problem. He frowned, "Where's White Rabbit Nine?!"

 "Could it be that Meine and the other countries didn't capture the landing point?!"

 "Check the coordinates…"

 "Coordinates are the same!!!"

 Ma Hai Bo was stunned. The members who were watching the satellite images with him were also dumbfounded.

 "There's no White Rabbit Nine at the landing point…"

 "Could it be…? Was the landing really staged? Was all recorded in a recording studio?!"

The atmosphere in the group meeting became very tense. No one spoke for a long time. Ma Hai Bo was at a loss. He was starting to think that what they were doing was pointless. However, while the others could remain silent, he had to speak. He was the president of the association.

Ma Hai Bo sighed and tried to pull himself together, "There are two possibilities…"

"One is that White Rabbit Nine is really filmed in a recording studio. That would explain why the satellite from Meine didn't capture it…"

 "The other possibility is that… the Great Xia Space Agency was lying about where the landing point of White Rabbit Nine was…"

 "So they might've told us the wrong position. Is this really possible?"

 "This is the first manned moon landing project. It will go down in history, for sure. Perhaps creating propaganda is more important than actually making the landing…"

 Ma Hai Bo pursed his lips. No matter which country it was, this was an opportunity to demonstrate strength. How could the space agency hide where the landing point was?

 "Brother Bo, I'm going down…"

 "I'm going offline too!"

 "I'm tired. I'm going to sleep!"

 "Bye!"

One member after another went offline. Many people simply could not accept the possibility that their government had lied to them.

 After most of the members were gone, Ma Hai Bo slumped onto the bed and let out a long sigh.

 "Now, whatever the space agency was up to, I just hope that they told us the wrong coordinates…"

 ..

 Meanwhile, at the Greata Xia Space Agency.

All the staff members put down what they were doing and looked up at the big screen. It was showing the images of the Miyue-14386 satellite transferred from other channels.

The screen flashed, showing the lonely scene on the moon. Chief Engineer Yang said, "Checking the satellite number…"

"It's confirmed to be Miyue-14386!"

"Checking the coordinates…"

"The coordinates are the same!"

Chief Engineer Yang quickly turned his head to look at another screen. On it was their own satellite. From another angle, they were recording the landing point.

 By comparing the images transmitted by the two satellites, they could confirm that they were at the same location.

There was no White Rabbit Nine!

There were no signs of landing!

This meant that there was nothing wrong with their satellites!

After all, the possibility of two satellites from two countries failing at the same time was close to zero.

There was silence in the game. No one spoke, because no one knew what actually happened.

In fact, no one knew if the three astronauts were dead or alive!

Assistant Little Wang couldn't help but ask, "Boss, the other departments and the General Affairs Office are asking about the situation again. Should we tell them the truth?!"

Chief Engineer Yang gritted his teeth and said, "Let's wait a little longer. Our near-orbit satellite will arrive in one day. The image will be clearer. We can enlarge it to the centimeter level. We will definitely be able to see something…"