Chapter 1436: I Am Lu Zhou
As Professor Leonard looked at the lady from behind, a trace of disappointment appeared on his face.
He turned his head to look at Lu Zhou and said, “You shouldn’t have rejected her.”
“Why?”
“You are not in the system. Even if you have an ID card, you probably aren’t registered in the household registration database. You don’t receive benefits from the Pan-Asian cooperation. You can’t open a personal account. Sooner or later, you will need help. Your ident.i.ty information would have been canceled a long time ago. It is not that simple to go through the Pan-Asian’s household registration procedures…”
After taking a peek at the side and seeing that no one was looking here, Professor Leonard leaned close to Lu Zhou and continued in a low voice, “I know a little Chinese. Listening to that lady’s words, she should be Chinese… Do you know what this means?”
“What does it mean?”
“Among the household registrations of many member states of the Pan-Asian Cooperation, the one with the highest value and the most difficult to apply is the household registration of China. If you marry her and successfully naturalize for 12 months, you will be able to pay me back the credits you borrowed—”
“F*ck off.”
Perhaps Leonard was frightened by Lu Zhou’s tone, he shrank his neck and immediately shut his mouth.
…
Lu Zhou originally thought that his refusal was not polite enough, but he did not expect that he underestimated the pa.s.sion of people in this era.
Over the past two days, the woman had been approaching him constantly and using romantic words she probably read from a romance novel.
Perhaps it was because the way people expressed their love in this era was so straightforward, in addition to feeling embarra.s.sed, Lu Zhou felt violated.
Bewildered by Lu Zhou’s reaction, Professor Leonard finally spoke after two days.
“Don’t tell me… you actually like men.”
Lu Zhou, who was drinking water, almost choked to death by the water. He coughed several times before he responded.
“What?”
F*ck!
If I choke to death from drinking water after saving us from the hijackers, that would be embarra.s.sing.
“I was just curious.” Professor Leonard shrugged and glanced at the front row. “Even if you don’t like her, why not give it a try? Or do you not like the fact that she has children?”
“Why do I have to waste time trying? I don’t agree with your logic…” Lu Zhou put the drinking water bag aside and continued, “Moreover, in our era, romance should be more subtle. Anyway, I can’t accept it.”
“I see… That is a valuable piece of information.”
After hearing this, Professor Leonard pinched his chin and nodded.
However, he suddenly realized that Lu Zhou had quietly moved away from him.
Leonard quickly realized what was going on, so he explained, “Don’t be mistaken… I mean value in the sense of ancient cultural studies.”
Lu Zhou: “…”
…
Two days after pa.s.sing by the Tianzhou s.p.a.ce station, the two patrol s.h.i.+ps of the Pan-Asian Cooperation First Fleet arrived at the flight N-177.
After the merging operation was completed, the two patrol s.h.i.+ps sandwiched flight N-177, while the docked patrol s.h.i.+p supplied the propellant for the flight.
As Lu Zhou looked at the Pan-Asian soldiers boarding the flight, his heart finally relaxed. The other tired faces in the cabin also showed expressions of relief.
This was probably the longest flight they had even taken in their lives.
However, for Lu Zhou, this was a “normal” length of time for a flight between Mars and Earth.
In addition to the condolences, the soldiers of the Pan-Asian Cooperation also checked the ident.i.ty cards of the pa.s.sengers on the s.h.i.+p.
One reason was to eliminate potential safety hazards and prevent the accomplices of those s.p.a.ce pirates from hiding in the pa.s.sengers, and the other reason was to check whether anyone was missing or killed.
To be honest, when it was his turn, Lu Zhou was a little nervous.
After all, he was not in the system. If a problem was found, it would be difficult to explain himself.
Fortunately, his worries were superfluous because Xiao Ai was as reliable as ever.
When the soldier who scanned his ID card found no problems, he politely returned the card to him, then walked to the next pa.s.senger.
These soldiers did not interact much with the pa.s.sengers.
After recovering the corpses and the wreckage of the robots, some of them returned to the patrol s.h.i.+p, leaving only the pilot and two marines on the flight.
Lu Zhou was curious as to what they would write in the investigation report after seeing the robot corpses.
The magnetic slingshot was easy to explain, but he really didn’t know how to explain the nitrogen s.h.i.+eld.
But what was interesting was that those Pan-Asian Cooperation soldiers did not question him too much. They merely expressed surprise and admiration for his brave actions, then went on to do other things.
After the completion of the fuel supplement, flight N-177 began on its return journey.
A professional pilot operated the s.p.a.cecraft and repaired the dismantled modules. There were no accidents in the second half of the voyage…
Lu Zhou was about to arrive at the Tianzhou s.p.a.ce station.
“The flight will arrive in 15 minutes. You will stop at the Tianzhou s.p.a.ce station for a while, then take the shuttle to Yangtze River Delta city group: Jinling City.
“As for the compensation, Pan-Asian Airlines and the Pan-Asian Air Traffic Control Bureau will negotiate with you in the future. We will inform you of the cause of the accident as soon as the investigation results come out.
“We are sincerely sorry for what has happened…”
Lu Zhou didn’t pay attention to what the soldier said after.
As he looked at the azure planet reappearing in the window and the towering s.p.a.ceport, his heart was filled with shock, and his heartbeat gradually accelerated.
It was difficult to describe the feelings that were boiling in his heart at the moment.
In addition to the majestic s.p.a.ceport and azure planet, what was printed in his eyes was partly excitement, partly anxiety, and some inexplicable emotions.
Perhaps this was what homesick felt like.
He had been away for a hundred years.
Most people hadn’t even lived a hundred years.
But to him, everything from a century ago seemed to have happened yesterday.
In the blink of an eye, everything changed…
…
Pan-Asia, Yangtze River Delta city group, Jinling.
A crowd was waiting next to the landing area of the airport.
Except for some people joining in on the fun, most of them were personal media and journalists from all over the world, as well as the official personnel of the Pan-Asian Cooperation.
Drones for live broadcasting floated above people’s heads, while cameras were pointed at the distant sky.
Today was the day the pa.s.sengers of flight N-177 would return.
Ever since the flight was hijacked, this transport s.h.i.+p had become the focus of the world media’s attention.
This was a Pan-Asian Cooperation flight!
A regional alliance led by the world’s largest power!
Who could be so brave enough to provoke the powerful Pan-Asian Cooperation?
Almost everyone in the world was watching the progress of this hijacking incident. They waited for the follow-up response of Pan-Asian cooperation and prayed for the pa.s.sengers on the flight.
And now, after a series of bad news, there was finally good news.
The pa.s.sengers who were hijacked were finally taken back to Earth.
In half an hour, they would land here…
“We are in front of the Pan-Asian Cooperation Jinling Aeros.p.a.ce Airport…”
Faced in front of a drone, a stylishly dressed lady reporter held a recording pen in her hand and explained the situation live on the scene in an excited voice.
“Soon, the shuttle from the Tianzhou s.p.a.ce station will land here and safely bring our friends back! Look! Here they come!”
A touch of silver appeared in the distant sky.
A shuttle came out of the clouds, getting closer and closer to the ground. It finally landed smoothly on the open s.p.a.ce in the landing zone.
A movable gangway approached the shuttle. The pneumatic escalator popped up and docked with the open hatch. The pa.s.sengers finally appeared in front of the cameras.
When Lu Zhou walked out of the shuttle, the dazzling sunlight s.h.i.+ned into his eyes.
He immediately received attention.
“Thank you, hero of the Pan-Asian people!”
A middle-aged man in formal clothes stepped forward and gave him a big hug.
“On behalf of the Pan-Asian Cooperation, I extend my highest respect and grat.i.tude to you! Welcome, welcome home!”
Lu Zhou glanced at him blankly. After Lu Zhou shook hands with him, he saw the recording pens, cameras, and interview drones flooding behind him.
In the blink of an eye, the suffocating questions flooded him.
“I heard that you defeated the hijackers on the flight?”
This was probably the simplest question.
However, Lu Zhou gave an ambiguous answer.
“Sort of…”
Xiao Ai did 70% of the work, and the high-tech weapons provided by the system accounted for at least 20%.
However, the way the reporters interpreted his short answer was completely different.
The scene went into chaos.
“Can you tell us the specifics?”
“Sorry, I don’t want to recall the incident.”
This was Professor Leonard’s suggestion to him. If there was a question that he didn’t want to answer, he could just refuse it.
In the 22nd century, whether it was a reporter’s interview or a question, unless it was an accusation of some special crime, even a court could not force a person to speak.
Sure enough, after he bluntly refused, the reporter did not continue to ask the details, even though his expression was clearly one of disappointment.
However, there were still a bunch of questions waiting for him.
A young lady reporter squeezed into the front row of the crowd. She looked at him with admiring eyes and said excitedly, “Hero, can I ask for your name?”
Name…
“I…”
Lu Zhou opened his mouth.
He wanted to say the name on his ID card.
But after being silent for a while, he suddenly changed his mind.
I am Lu Zhou.
I always have been…
This was the name that his parents gave him. The name that was recognized by the world. It was not something worthy or needed to be covered up.
Faced with the recording pens and the eyes of admiration, excitement, and curiosity, Lu Zhou looked at the cameras.
He spoke in a clear and confident tone.
“I am Lu Zhou.”