Chapter 238 The Land of Eternal Summer

The next day, at 0500 in the morning, before the sun had risen, Ye Zhou boarded the H-20 as planned and entered the main cockpit.

His position was arranged behind the crew, and he was not subject to any confidentiality restrictions throughout the entire process. However, he did not hear a single operating command because his attention was completely attracted by the strange scenery outside the porthole.

The plane taxied slowly on the runway, and then suddenly lifted off the ground with afterburner. As the altitude gradually increased, the light entering the cabin became brighter and brighter.

Their flight route was from west to east, facing the direction of the sun, so from Ye Zhou's perspective, it seemed like they were flying towards the sun.

The altitude continued to rise. Just when Ye Zhou was wondering how to fly the plane in such light conditions, all the cockpit windows suddenly closed. Then, the display screen rose, and a full-angle image of the outside of the aircraft was projected on the display screen. into the pilot's eyes.

Ye Zhou looked at this scene in surprise and wanted to ask questions, but finally shut up.

After completely ascending into the stratosphere, Ye Zhou felt that the plane was slowly accelerating. Then at a certain moment, after the noise reached its peak, the sound in his ears suddenly became quieter.

Breaking the speed of sound.

The only noise transmitted into the cabin now is the structural noise of the aircraft itself and the noise from the engine operation.

Although it is still huge, compared with the huge wind noise before breaking the sound barrier, the noise environment in the cabin is now comfortable enough.

The two pilots took off their sound-isolating headphones, turned around and gestured to Ye Zhou, then said:

"Leader, the flight will take about five and a half hours. You can rest for a while on the plane."

Ye Zhou nodded reservedly and then closed his eyes.

But after a moment, he opened his eyes again after realizing that the pilot was not looking at him.

This is an extremely rare experience in life. How can it be spent in sleep?

Flying is indeed boring, especially after entering supersonic cruise state, but supersonic cruise of a strategic bomber?

No matter how boring it is, it won’t be boring!

During the five-and-a-half-hour flight, Ye Zhou didn't feel a trace of sleepiness.

When the plane finally began to descend and prepared to land on Yongxia Island, he even had a feeling of unfinished business.

"How about another flight?"

he asked.

The two pilots looked at each other, smiled slightly, opened the plane windows, and started a new flight around the island.

Through the porthole, Ye Zhou saw the blue water below him, and the island in the sea that was growing in size day by day.

It is like a pearl in the sea, and like a giant ship, carrying the hope of this country towards the deep blue.

In a corner of the island, Ye Zhou suddenly saw a real giant ship that was wildly swallowing sand.

Not long after, the number of H-20s that this island can accommodate for takeoffs and landings is no longer as few as four.

After completing the final circle, the aircraft began to land slowly.

Accompanied by a slight tremor and a burst of green smoke rising from the runway, the Chongming bird, whose name carries the hope of “driving away all wild beasts”, finally landed in its southernmost nest.

Ye Zhou climbed off the plane, and there were already some soldiers standing on the runway who came specially to greet him, and Chen Hao, who had set off early, was also among them.

After seeing Ye Zhou, he walked up with a smile on his face and asked:

"How's it going? Feeling okay?"

"Well, it's just average. It would be nice if I could fly faster."

"Just pretend, your grin is almost reaching the back of your head. Let's go and have breakfast first."

"I'm in a hurry to have breakfast. I'll go take a look at my lovely J-20H first."

"The J-20H doesn't go to the island, it's on the aircraft carrier. Why are you in a hurry? Let's have breakfast first, and then I'll take you around the island."

"Okay. Then you ask the canteen to give me two coconuts so I can eat some bread."

Ye Zhou replied helplessly.

In fact, he really didn't want to waste time on trivial matters like eating breakfast after arriving on the island, but since Chen Hao insisted, he couldn't refuse too hard.

"Are you sure you don't want to try the seafood tea noodles here? This is a must-have on Yongxia Island."

“This place also has Sha Cha Noodles!?”

Ye Zhou opened his mouth and asked in surprise.

".Don't talk about sha cha noodles, they are all available in supermarkets. Can you take your eyes away from H-20 for a few seconds and look around you. Do you find it surprising that there are sha cha noodles in this place? "

Hearing Chen Hao's words, Ye Zhou was stunned for a moment, then raised his head and began to look at his surroundings. However, after looking at it, he suddenly realized that his impression of this island was completely wrong.

Yes, he does know that the country has invested a lot of effort on this island. It is even said that in recent years it has begun to open up tourism and has experimentally welcomed the first batch of tourists. However, in his mind Li always believed that this was just a remote island in the vast ocean.

No matter how large an island is, no matter how beautiful its natural conditions are, how good can its living conditions be?

However, the scene before his eyes slapped him hard in the face.

This is not as simple as an island at all, this is a city.

There are many buildings and the streets are neat. Looking out through the airport fence, you can even notice that there are traffic lights at some intersections!

Ye Zhou looked back at Chen Hao in shock. Chen Hao smiled, took him into a special car, and then explained:

"This island is no longer what it was before. Your impression of it is probably still the same as it was a few years ago."

"Now, this is not only an island, nor even a military base, but the official office of Sansha City. There are not only troops stationed here, but also official personnel and civilians."

"A little further in, we can enter the city. Although the area is really not big, it has all the necessary organs."

“Supermarkets, cinemas, KTVs, restaurants, everything is available.”

"Yongxia Island is no longer the Yongxia Island."

Having said this, Chen Hao sighed deeply, looked out the car window, and then continued with some emotion:

"In 1988, we took back Yongxia Island. At that time, it was not an island, just a reef."

"The area of ​​this reef above the water is less than one square meter. After placing the boundary marker, the soldiers guarding the reef must stand in the water."

"They changed shifts once a day. They were soaked in the sea water for a long time. Everyone's legs were soaked to pieces. It is no exaggeration to say that sometimes when they stand, they find that the water under their feet turns red. ”

"They can't feel pain, but when this happens, they have to get out of the sea immediately - because there are actually sharks in this sea."

"After a while, we built a stilt house here - actually a simple iron house. This kind of house is better than the thatched house at the beginning, but the conditions are limited."

"Just think about it, at this latitude and under this sunshine condition, the daytime temperature will soar to close to 40 degrees every day. The iron house is like a steamer. If you encounter a typhoon, you can only leave it to fate."

"At that time, the soldiers on guard had to leave the iron huts every once in a while to go outside for fresh air, because under high temperatures, if they stayed in the house for too long, they might face the risk of heat stroke or even suffocation."

“In comparison, the lack of fresh water and approximately zero recreational options are not difficult.”

"It's nothing to only drink a cup of fresh water every day. It's nothing to suffer from rheumatoid arthritis due to too much humidity. It's so boring that talking to the fish that occasionally jumps up in the sea becomes a joke. At that time, they wanted to There’s really only one thing to do.”

"That is to fill the sea with their bodies."

"This went on for a long time until we started building the Yongxia Reef Marine Observatory."

"Yongxia Reef is inaccessible, isolated from the world, has inconvenient transportation, and faces great difficulties in transportation. We first blew up a corner of the atoll to facilitate the entry and exit of cargo ships, and then used the blown sand and gravel as construction materials , secondary use.”

"The materials transported from outside the islands and reefs weigh thousands of tons, and we carry them little by little to Yongxia Reef by manpower."

"At that time, we endured the harsh natural environment, worked 16 hours a day, stepped in water more than one meter deep, and almost forgot to eat or sleep. In the end, we created an impossible engineering miracle."

"From that day on, everything started to get better."

"Various equipment began to be shipped to the island, fresh water wells were discovered, and communication facilities were set up. People on the island can finally call their families to report that they are safe."

"But at that time, it was just an island, until 10 years ago."

"In 10 years, the Sky Whale was built and dispatched here as soon as possible."

“In 2014, the island reef growth plan was launched, and within one year, the area of ​​Yongxia Island expanded 350 times.”

"The airport runway has been completed and the deep-water berthing port has been built. There is no pressure for ships under 20,000 tons to dock on the island."

"Not long ago, the Y-20 landed on Yongxia Island."

"Finally we will no longer be short of daily necessities - everything we have on land will be available here."

"The supermarket moved in at that time, and some family members moved in with the supermarket. Now, some approved businessmen have also begun to visit the island."

"Like I told you, this is no longer an island, but a city."

"This is a city that belongs to all of us."

"Or maybe we could be more explicit?"

"She is an unsinkable aircraft carrier that will always stand at the forefront and guard the first line of defense."

"In front of her is the enemy, and behind her is the motherland."

"So, I hope to take a good look at her and see this place that has been the focus of decades of our efforts."

"She has more than just the J-20, Lun-20, and H-20 that you have been thinking about for a long time."

"She also has coconut-flavored waves, blue lagoons, unparalleled seafood, and green trees and red walls."

"She has seagulls as white as snow flying from the sea, fish that are not afraid of our ships at all but often cross the pier block at sunset, and a gentle sea breeze that you can't feel anywhere else. There are beaches without a trace of impurity.”

"She also has our soldiers, and our people."