Chapter Forty: The Sky

“Mr. Huang, it’s wonderful that you think this way!” Gao Ying exclaimed with delight, her gaze toward the black dragon growing warmer—Socialist Giant Dragon, even the name sounded awe-inspiring and formidable!

“Major Liu, I believe you’re aware that the giant dragon clan… and many other extraordinary races, possess a very weak sense of collective and national identity.” Gao Ying continued, “They generally lack a clear understanding of the concept of nationhood, so it’s naturally difficult for them to comprehend why the black dragon would choose to naturalize and join Xia. Simply appealing to emotions to elicit empathy or resonance from them is nearly impossible.”

“But if we use revolutionary ideals and principles, the situation changes entirely.”

“Struggling against fate, rebelling against divine authority—these are things many intelligent races have attempted or yearned to do, but due to the absence of proper organization and correct guidelines, they’ve never succeeded.”

“When Mr. Huang, under the banner of a revolutionary, becomes our country’s first naturalized giant dragon, it will doubtless cause a sensation abroad, further encouraging those with insight to actively seek out and learn Xia’s advanced ideas and culture.”

Gao Ying grew more confident as she spoke, and the black dragon nodded repeatedly, not so much moved by revolutionary passion as simply convinced his future would be grand and exciting, with plenty of battles ahead.

“Miss Gao, your approach is brilliant!” Liu Weihan said, deeply inspired. “I’ll go find Academician Ding right now and try to persuade them to follow your plan.”

After exchanging a nod with the black dragon, he hurried away.

“Mr. Huang, what do you think?” Gao Ying sat down on the ground, looking up at the black dragon. “Are you satisfied with my performance?”

“…It’s acceptable, I suppose,” the black dragon replied with a touch of pride, reluctant to admit that Gao Ying’s actions had indeed left a favorable impression.

“Then I ask for your guidance going forward.” Gao Ying put away her smile, shook the dragon’s claw, and spoke with utmost sincerity.

…

The next morning, the black dragon set out with six fully armed warriors, heading to the site of yesterday’s battle with the phoenix to recover fallen dragon scales and phoenix feathers.

Because the terrain outside the country was complicated and unsuitable for helicopter flight, the black dragon personally transported them—he tied two aluminum alloy baskets to his claws and let the warriors sit inside.

“Mr. Huang, what’s your maximum lifting capacity?” one warrior asked, unable to restrain his curiosity during the long journey, as the dragon’s speed was somewhat underwhelming.

“I honestly don’t know,” the black dragon replied after considering. “But lifting one or two hundred tons shouldn’t be a problem. I’ll do a proper test when there’s an opportunity.”

“One or two hundred tons…” All the men drew a sharp breath, no wonder the black dragon was considered the most dangerous of his kind. With such terrifying physical strength, even without magic, he could simply grab several hundred-ton boulders and drop them from the sky, obliterating a city with brute force.

“Mr. Huang, what’s the highest you can fly?” another warrior asked.

“Never tested that either,” the black dragon admitted. “But ten thousand meters or so shouldn’t pose any difficulty.”

“And… since we’re all citizens of Xia, all brothers here, you can relax around me, no need for formal titles like ‘sir.’ That kind of respect makes me feel puffed up, which isn’t good for my psychological stability.”

The six warriors, elite soldiers chosen for long-term collaboration with the dragon, were privy to his secrets. Though they’d heard the black dragon was approachable, facing him in person still left them uneasy—his appearance was simply too fierce and imposing.

But the dragon’s words immediately put them at ease. He truly was unpretentious, even willing to treat everyone as equals.

Were it not for discipline, they’d have loved to call him “Brother Dragon.”

“Mr. Huang, you really should test it sometime,” one warrior ventured. “If you can fly really high, you could help the aerospace department explore whether this world is actually a planetary body.”

“No way…” The dragon was astonished. “We’ve been here six months, and we still haven’t figured out such a basic question?”

“No,” the warrior replied.

The laws outside the country are unfriendly to our technology. Our spacecraft can only reach twenty thousand meters before crashing—that height isn’t enough to see if the horizon curves.

“And within the country…”

“What about within?” the black dragon asked curiously. Xia had been transported by unknown forces, the climate and physical laws changed little, but the starry sky above was clearly no longer the familiar Milky Way.

No one knew the first, second, or third cosmic velocities here, nor whether it was still possible to launch exploration satellites…

“Inside the country, our spacecraft… can reach a maximum altitude of 1,000 kilometers, which is the main body of our atmosphere. Beyond that, there’s a barrier; crossing it means entering the outer universe.”

“Our spacecraft usually lose contact at that boundary… There are signs that above 1,000 kilometers, malicious unknown entities roam, forbidding anyone from probing the secrets of the cosmos.”

“What about our satellites?” the dragon suddenly thought to ask. “Since we’ve arrived in a new world, they obviously can’t orbit Earth anymore—so wouldn’t they all crash?”

“Indeed, many have lost contact,” the warrior replied. “But the physical laws within our country are almost unchanged, with rotation and gravity still present. So low-earth orbit satellites can still function normally.”

“Satellites in higher orbits, like those in the BeiDou system, have lost contact.”

“That doesn’t sound right,” the black dragon said, puzzled. As a follower of the Great Physics Cult, he knew a bit of doctrine. “If I recall, low-earth orbit isn’t stationary—the satellites must keep circling Earth to avoid falling due to gravity.”

“Since we’re no longer on Earth, wouldn’t they drift outside the country… How can they still function?”

“That…” The warrior was momentarily at a loss and said apologetically, “Sorry, Mr. Huang, I’m not sure about the specifics. You’d need an aerospace expert to explain it properly.”