Chapter 295 - Following Closely (1/2)

And that was Zhang Heng’s last contact with the tower before all communications were lost. Base instantly sent out a rescue team to his last known location.

This was the second major accident on the same day, and even the steady and calm captain started to feel nervous. Undeniably, the risks were astronomical when it came to astronaut training. The Apollo 1 incident was a tragedy that NASA would remember for the rest of their days. During a launch test, the command module of a test article caught fire suddenly with three unfortunate astronauts inside. The hyperbaric oxygen atmo caused the fire to spread a lot faster than expected, and tragically, all three astronauts were charred to oblivion when ground control eventually got to the rocket.

This catastrophe caused the Apollo Program to be delayed for 20 months. After that, many other accidents continued to plague s.p.a.ce exploration. This was, however, the first time they witnessed two people losing their lives while training on the same day. Once communications were dead, the tower had no way to know Zhang Heng’s current situation. For a twin-engine aircraft, an experienced pilot would usually be able to coax the plane back home even if one engine suffered a critical failure. Alternatively, the pilot could land the aircraft as soon as he could. However, if both the engines failed, the aircraft would lose alt.i.tude quickly, seeing how the heavy trainer wasn’t a very good glider.

In such a situation, Zhang Heng’s best chance of survival would be ejecting and parachuting to the ground safely. Ever since Anthony’s ejection seat failure, the players did not have much faith in the aircraft anymore. Not too long ago, Livingston gathered everyone in a meeting, looking for Anthony’s murderer. Logically, that should have pressured the killer into not acting again within such a short period. n.o.body expected the murderer to go as far as to kill Zhang Heng within a few hours of Anthony’s death.

It appeared that this time, the a.s.sa.s.sin targeted someone they expected least. Until now, Zhang Heng’s scores always came in first for astronaut training. Killing him would indeed empty one of the seats on Apollo 11. However, the other players also believed that the killer wouldn’t benefit much even if Zhang Heng was eliminated. Other than the fact that he looked like a guy who shouldn’t be messed with, killing the person in first and third place made no difference. Seeing that s.p.a.ce was the ultimate goal here, everybody hoped that their crewmates were reliable. It wasn’t a solo mission, anyway, and the three had each others’ lives in their hands. Logically, the killer should have targeted the second and third place instead of the best man for the job.

There was only one person who could have had the motive to kill Zhang Heng.

“What’s going on? Why are all of you staring at me like I’m the killer?” the listless young man asked while snorting.

“You said that you had no reason to kill Anthony because he wasn’t a worthy opponent for you. This time, you must have found your reason,” said Yin Xiong. “What do you mean by that?”

“You realize that you are now in grave danger. Most players hope for your elimination. Now that David is gone, chances are you’ll get first place in astronaut training.”

“So what?”

The listless young man rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

“You and David are the only two pilots with a solid foundation on flying. With us losing David, we’ll have no choice but to choose you as our pilot.”

“I like how you think. If I had a choice, I’d like you to be my moon-landing partner.”

“Dream on.”