I changed the world.

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"Agriculture is the foundation of the nation. Therefore, I will personally lead the plowing of the imperial fields..."

After the sacrificial ceremony was completed at the Temple of Agriculture in the southern suburbs, the official in charge of rites' loud voice began to echo in the air. At this moment, he was reading the sacrificial text that had been prepared in advance. The text was written in the tone of the current emperor and mainly encouraged agriculture and sericulture, and prayed for favorable weather and a bountiful harvest in the coming year.

Although it is no longer an agricultural society, the Great Zhao is a populous nation, and agriculture still plays a significant role in national development. It not only provides food for hundreds of millions of citizens but also sustains a considerable portion of their livelihoods. After all, with the development of the times, a populous country like the Great Zhao cannot realistically dedicate all its citizens to industry or technology; otherwise, there simply wouldn't be such a large market to consume so many industrial products. Therefore, a large portion of the domestic workforce still relies on traditional agriculture and the service industry for employment. This is not a problem of technological development, but rather a genuine issue of population and social structure.

Therefore, adhering to the consistent tradition since the founding of the Great Zhao Dynasty, the emperor personally offered sacrifices every spring to pray for favorable weather and abundant harvests, and personally tilled the land as an example for the world. This tradition remains an important annual event to this day.

After worshipping the God of Agriculture, His Majesty the Emperor changed his clothes and, guided by his attendants, went to the Jitian field to perform the ceremony of personally plowing. After a series of procedures, he planted rice, millet, sorghum, wheat, beans, and other grains.

Li Jingxin was dressed in an elaborate and gorgeous Taoist robe. Not far from him stood the old Celestial Master from Danding Mountain. Both of them were in a daze, bowing and chanting according to the requirements of the ritual...

The entire sacrificial ceremony was not completed until noon. After the ceremony, the emperor left first, and the others began to leave in accordance with etiquette. A eunuch bowed his head and hurried to Li Jingxin's side, whispering, "Abbot Li, please wait."

"What can I do for you, sir?" Li Jingxin asked in a calm tone, bowing respectfully.

"I wonder if Abbot Li is free tomorrow? Her Majesty the Empress has long admired Abbot Li's reputation. Now that the Abbot is visiting the capital, Her Majesty wishes to invite him to the palace for a chat and to personally inquire about some esoteric Buddhist scriptures..."

***

"From now on, the ship is on high alert. Everyone must act in pairs, even when going to the toilet. Also, everyone must carry firearms at all times." In the command cabin of the Mogen River exploration and testing ship, Captain Winters was relaying orders to his crew.

In the days leading up to this, a third and fourth victim had emerged on the test ship, one of whom was even the ship's second officer, Bazel. Yes, at this point, the ship's high command had clearly identified him as a "victim."

This is because, although both men were reported "missing," the subsequent review of surveillance footage revealed extremely bizarre circumstances. Second-level engineer James was conducting a compartment inspection when he was suddenly attacked from behind by second officer Bazel, who struck him on the back of the head with a multi-purpose maintenance tool, knocking him unconscious. After stunning James, Bazel immediately opened a nearby compartment door, causing the two, who were not wearing any protective gear, to be sucked directly into space…

It is certain that Second Officer Bazel was a rather composed person who generally had good relationships with the other crew members. In particular, according to the subsequent investigation, there was no conflict between Bazel and the victim, James; in fact, many people could testify that they had a certain degree of personal acquaintance.

Meanwhile, Bazel had two children, a beautiful wife, and a harmonious family. Even the day before the accident, he was chatting with his crew about wanting to expand his house when he returned.

Furthermore, it is certain that neither Barzel nor James had a history of mental illness or use of narcotics. After all, every crew member on the experimental ship was carefully selected, and it would be impossible to allow mentally ill patients or drug addicts to board the ship.

However, under these completely unreasonable circumstances, a professionally trained second officer with extensive spaceflight experience attacked his crew members and then committed suicide...

This is simply unbelievable!

However, this unbelievable thing actually happened.

The series of unexpected events eventually made it impossible to keep the news hidden, as the experimental ship had limited space and most of the crew members knew each other. It was virtually impossible to keep such a major event a secret for long.

The entire ship was immediately enveloped in an atmosphere of widespread anxiety. After all, in this era of advanced information and entertainment industries, although humanity has only just begun to explore deep space, virtual films and television shows have already imagined a great many unexpected situations that may occur during deep space exploration.

Strange, unknown diseases, mutations caused by unknown spaces, monsters hidden in the ship's cabins... many classic scenes from movies and TV dramas were imagined by the crew members. This matter, which concerns the lives of everyone, quickly became the focus of discussion among all the crew members on board.

In this situation, Captain Winters simply ordered an increase in security measures on the test ship to prevent another mishap.

After lunch, Winters began his inspection of the Morgan River. Due to the previous incident, the ship conducted a temporary combat readiness exercise to strengthen its ability to respond to emergencies.

Although the Mogenhe was an experimental ship used for scientific research purposes, most of the crew members came from the military and were no strangers to such combat readiness exercises. However, this exercise was obviously different. The usual joking and laughing were gone, and everyone was extremely serious.

Since the security alert level was raised, everyone has been living in fear, trying to keep themselves in the public eye for fear of disappearing without a trace.

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P.S.: Happy New Year! Wishing all my friends a healthy, prosperous, and happy new year with your families!

I've seen many comments asking if I'll continue updating during the Spring Festival. My current plan is to keep updating without interruption. If there are no unforeseen circumstances, I should be able to update as usual. I'm just letting everyone know!

Chapter 424 Gunshots on the Spaceship

"So, what exactly is going on? The ship's doctor said it could be a stress-induced sudden onset of a mental illness, but I have a feeling something's not right." In the engine room, Second-Class Engineer Zhan Jishun asked his partner with a worried tone.

"That was probably instructed by higher-ups to say that. How could someone like the second mate have a mental illness, let alone suicidal tendencies? It's all nonsense..." Loki, who was also a second-level engineer, chuckled. The two of them were currently conducting a routine check on the spaceship's power system data.

Both men were wearing face masks, which are protective devices that can filter various pollutants and viruses and even provide a short-term oxygen supply. Normally, these masks are not required on board ships, but due to the current situation, they are mandatory in public places, even on board ships.

"So what do you think is going on?" Zhan Jishun asked casually as he looked through the data of the various subsystems on the control panel.

"Who knows... Anyway, it's always better to be careful. This whole thing seems a bit strange; we can't be sure it's some kind of interstellar infectious disease..."

"I've had three physical exams recently, and apart from some people experiencing normal bone loss, the rest seem to be normal..."

"I hope everything is really alright. I still want to go back alive to receive my medal..."

Hearing his colleague say this, Zhan Jishun smiled, adjusted his mask, and was about to say something when he suddenly heard a commotion coming from outside the cabin.

Both of them were immediately puzzled. They looked at each other and saw the same confusion on each other's faces. Loki pointed outside and decided to go and see. Driven by curiosity, Zhan Jishun followed.

The two of them floated to the door of the engine room when a gunshot rang out from a nearby compartment, followed by two more gunshots.

Something terrible has happened! The thought flashed through their minds instantly. At the same time, they simultaneously drew their handguns.

This handgun, which is provided for astronauts to carry, is not the kind of high-tech weapon described in some science fiction novels. Although it has been greatly improved for the space environment, it is still a thermal weapon powered by an explosion. Since the miniaturization of electromagnetic weapons has not yet been completed, and thermal weapons still have a fairly good denial capability in close combat, there is no sign that this weapon will be replaced in the short term.

Traditionally, it's believed that bullets misfire in a vacuum. This is partly because some people think that without air and atmospheric pressure, a bullet simply cannot exit the barrel. Others believe that without oxygen, the firing pin cannot ignite the primer, preventing the bullet from firing. This is a misconception. Experiments have shown that bullets can fire in a vacuum, and not only does their initial velocity increase by 5%, but their power is also greater! Of course, adjustments are necessary depending on the environment.

As the gunshot rang out, the ship's alarms were triggered, and sharp alarm sounds echoed through the cabins, accompanied by flashing red warning lights.

Ji Zhanshun and Loki, armed with guns, carefully exited the cabin and proceeded along the passage. The location from which the gunshot had come was not far from them, sounding like it was just around the corner about ten meters ahead.

Just as they were about to reach the corner of the passage, a figure suddenly burst out of the passage, nearly colliding with Loki who was walking ahead.

The two men, who were on high alert, immediately raised their guns, only to see the figure, after crashing into the bulkhead, raise his hands and shout, "Don't shoot! Don't shoot! It's me!!"

Upon hearing this, the two looked closely and saw Hoffman, a Level 3 engineer in charge of monitoring system maintenance. This Holstein man with gray eyes had a terrified expression on his face, holding a pistol in his right hand and waving it around. His mask had been knocked to one side by the impact with the bulkhead when he rushed over.

Ships have specific regulations. Since the entire cabin is in a state of microgravity, movement in the cabin needs to be at a certain constant speed. It cannot be too fast, mainly because there is a concern that moving too fast will cause the human body to lose control of its posture, thereby colliding with certain instruments and causing damage to them.

Clearly, Hoffman had completely disregarded these regulations; he had charged at them like a cannonball.

Therefore, even though they recognized the person, the two men still dared not put down their guns.

"Hoffman, what happened?"

"What was that gunshot just now?!"

Ji Zhanshun and Loki asked nervously, their guns firmly pointed at Hoffman.

Hoffman, not even bothering to adjust his mask, pointed to the other end of the passage: "Nelson, it's Nelson, he's gone mad, Abusharah was bitten by him, I... I shot him, I didn't mean to..."

Hoffman's speech was somewhat incoherent, clearly indicating that he was frightened.

However, the two who heard all this didn't entirely believe it and remained on high alert. Loki even shouted, "Hoffman, don't be nervous. Put down your gun and put it aside..."

“Okay…okay…I’ll put it down, I’m fine, you have to trust me…” Upon hearing this, Hoffman quite cooperatively tossed the gun he was holding aside. The gun floated in the microgravity environment, bumped into the bulkhead, and bounced even further away…

Seeing him drop his pistol, the two men who had been pointing guns at him undoubtedly breathed a sigh of relief. To ease the tension, Ji Zhanshun even put down his gun and said, "Hoffman, don't move. Let's wait for the others to come over."

“Okay, I won’t move… I won’t move…” Hoffman was quite cooperative, raising his hands, but still glanced at the other side of the passage: “But you’d better go check on Abusara, he’s badly injured.”

Upon hearing this, Ji Zhanshun and Loki exchanged a quick glance. After a moment's hesitation, Ji Zhanshun decided to go and see for himself. He made a gesture, and Loki nodded to him, indicating that he would keep an eye on Hoffman. So Ji Zhanshun continued forward along the passage.

Turning the corner ahead and entering the passage, a strong smell of blood immediately hit us. Dark red blood was splattered everywhere, and bloodstains could be seen all over the surrounding bulkheads. There were even some blood droplets that had condensed into spheres in the air, but due to the microgravity environment, they did not fall directly to the ground like they would on Earth.

Chapter 425 Bloodstained Cabin

A corpse with a grotesque face floated to the side, its body still twitching slightly, its head already smashed open. The conspicuous, huge wound on its head made it impossible to identify who it was. It looked like the victim of the gunshot earlier.

According to Hoffman, this should be the "crazy" Nelson.

Of course, Ji Zhanshun didn't dare to completely believe his words. He looked to the other side, where a body was still twisting and struggling in mid-air, half of its body covered in blood, and it was tightly clutching its neck.

Ji Zhanshun carefully approached and discovered that this was the Absalah that Hoffman had mentioned. He was a man with brown skin and black hair from the Seljuk Empire, a level three electrical engineer, but he was not familiar with Ji Zhanshun on a regular basis.

There was a horrific, bloody wound on the right side of his neck, clearly indicating that a blood vessel had been damaged. A large amount of blood was gushing out from the area he was covering, staining his hands bloody.

Ji Zhanshun's heart tightened the moment he saw it, because astronauts' faces would turn red and swollen due to prolonged exposure to microgravity, a phenomenon known as "big head-bird leg syndrome." As fluid composed of blood and cerebrospinal fluid flows to the brain, the astronaut's face becomes swollen and their legs become thinner.

Compared to their condition on Earth, astronauts experience increased intracranial pressure in space, which can lead to blurred vision and even intellectual impairment in severe cases. This condition is known as "visual impairment and intracranial pressure syndrome." Therefore, ships are equipped with specialized ship doctors and medical equipment to address such problems that may arise during long voyages.

Because intracranial pressure is higher than on the ground, if a neck blood vessel ruptures like Abu Shala's case, the rate of blood loss will be much faster than on the ground...

Absalom was clearly in a state of delirium, his eyes rolled back, but his hands were still instinctively clutching the bleeding spot on his neck.

Ji Zhanshun had learned some first aid knowledge, but he was still at a loss when faced with such a dangerous situation...

Fortunately, he soon didn't have to worry about it anymore, because the ship's support had arrived. There was a special commando team on the ship, all of whom were elites trained in special microgravity combat environments. Because of the alarm triggered by the gunshot, these commandos rushed to the scene fully armed.

Somewhat awkwardly, Ji Zhanshun, the only person who could still move, was immediately subdued. Fortunately, Ji Zhanshun quickly explained the situation, and with Abu Shala, who was seriously injured and on the verge of death, the situation quickly turned into emergency treatment for Abu Shala.

A few moments later, two ship's doctors arrived. Abusara was already in shock from blood loss, his body twitching slightly, seemingly from the cold due to the loss of blood. A commando was pressing hard on his wound, his hands completely soaked in blood…

Upon seeing this, a ship's doctor hurriedly said, "Hemostats! Quickly, get hemostats..."

After a flurry of activity, Abusara, having received basic treatment, was transferred to the medical ward...

Ji Zhanshun, Loki, and Hoffman were isolated and interrogated separately in order to reconstruct what exactly happened at the time.

As for Nelson's body, it was also carefully isolated and preserved. An autopsy would soon be organized on board to determine what exactly happened.

Following this, the compartment underwent a rigorous disinfection procedure to prevent any unknown contamination.

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