The research station did not keep Ou Zhanpeng waiting for too long; half an hour later, the inner airlock door creaked open.
Already impatient, the young master Ou immediately complained, "What's the hold-up? How long has it been… Huh?"
He suddenly noticed something was amiss. Standing outside the cabin door were two people, not wearing space suits, nor powered armor, but full-body isolation suits that offered no protection at all.
Without exaggeration, the moment the cabin door opened, these two would be immediately exposed to the harsh vacuum, dying within a minute.
There was no need to ask; they were undoubtedly researchers from the Guanghan Station.
"What are you doing?" Ou Zhanpeng was completely taken aback.
It wasn't that he was being overly cautious, but military regulations stipulated that one could only remove their space suit inside a well-equipped warship or base. Otherwise, they had to wear a space suit, powered armor, or similar protective gear.
In simple terms, they had to be safe in a vacuum environment.
The protective suits these two were wearing were designed for protection against bacteria and viruses, offering no resistance to radiation whatsoever.
Not only that, the once transparent crew cabin was partitioned by layers of plastic film into compartments of various sizes, with personnel stationed in each, cramming the already small cabin.
It was as crowded as a can of sardines.
"You can come out," one of them said, pointing behind him. "Enter that compartment for sampling and disinfection."
What the heck?
Ou Zhanpeng was utterly bewildered. He had directly encountered aliens, so disinfection made sense, but what was sampling all about?
With a dark expression, he entered the compartment. A suited individual carefully took a cotton swab and meticulously wiped his shoulder and arm a few times, broke off the swab head, placed it into a test tube, sealed it, and carefully set it aside, not forgetting to mark the sampling location.
Ou Zhanpeng thought it would be over quickly, but he was mistaken. The person in the protective suit was unexpectedly thorough, leaving no stone unturned.
The young master Ou couldn't help but ask, "Can I take off my armor later and you can slowly wipe it then?"
"Certainly not!" the person in the protective suit immediately refused. It turned out to be a woman!
Ou Zhanpeng was astonished. "Aren't you afraid of the radiation on me?"
The moon had no atmosphere. Various rays from deep space bombarded the lunar surface for extended periods, and all lunar soil and rocks carried a certain level of radioactivity.
Therefore, once exposed to the lunar surface, humans had to undergo a thorough and detailed decontamination wash upon return to ensure radiation safety inside buildings.
These people couldn't possibly not know this, yet judging by their demeanor, they didn't care at all.
Bored and at a loss, Ou Zhanpeng glanced back. Instantly, he felt his stomach churn. The two individuals from earlier were squatting in the airlock, meticulously wiping the alien's corpse with cotton swabs, as if intending to clean the alien with them.
Forget it, let them have their way!
Ou Zhanpeng closed his eyes, letting the protective suit do as it pleased, eager to avoid further complications.
A full fifteen minutes later, the sampling was finally completed. Over a hundred test tubes were sent to another compartment, disinfected by spray, and then loaded into transport containers.
Yes, containers that could keep test tubes safe in a vacuum.
Ou Zhanpeng received the same treatment, his powered armor receiving a bath with disinfectant.
He thought it was over, but he had to go through three compartments, undergoing disinfection with three different methods consecutively. Only when he felt he was absolutely sterile were the individuals in protective suits occupying his assault boat finally willing to let him go.
Ou Zhanpeng felt utterly helpless. He would have preferred to rush out and fight the aliens head-on than to continue cooperating with these people in protective suits.
Since the alien's corpse occupied the airlock and the crew cabin was taken over by the protective suits, he couldn't open the hatch. Ou Zhanpeng was temporarily unable to leave the assault boat. He could only retreat into the cockpit and let out a silent sigh of relief in the relatively familiar environment.
A moment later, he turned on the radio: "Ling Xiao, what are you doing? Chat with me for a bit."
"Waiting for surgery results," Ling Xiao replied. "I'm impressed, the research station prepared a sterile operating room, can you believe it?"
"What's so unbelievable about that?" Ou Zhanpeng glanced back at the crew cabin. "You have no idea what the assault boat has turned into."
Ling Xiao's eyebrows shot up. "What do you mean?"
"Nothing, too lazy to explain. You'll see for yourself later… How are the injured?"
"Their condition is stable. I heard they were quite seriously injured, but all internal organs are fine, and the condition has stabilized."
"That's good, that's good!" Ou Zhanpeng's suspended heart finally eased a little.
As they spoke, the people in protective suits finally finished their work. They retreated layer by layer, disinfecting at each step. Only after exiting the partitioned areas did they remove their protective suits and put on their space suits again.
The crew cabin was small, and with more than half of it taken up by plastic partitions, the researchers, now in their space suits, were crammed into the confined space, their crowding exceeding that of a sardine can.
Before long, they squeezed into the cockpit.
Fortunately, this situation did not last long. After everyone had evacuated, the hatch finally opened, and several researchers immediately began transporting the containers into the research station.
The assault boat remained as it was, with no intention of removing the partitions, and the alien's corpse stayed in the airlock without any sign of being moved.
With a belly full of questions, Ou Zhanpeng entered the research station. Following procedure, he underwent a decontamination wash. The researchers then shed their bulky space suits for lighter one-piece suits. However, young master Ou dared not remove his powered armor and kept his rifle with him.
Guanghan Station had entered the aliens' line of sight, and it was better to be cautious.
Ou Zhanpeng couldn't quite understand why the alien wasn't moved into the research station but left in the assault boat. It made no logical sense.
However, he guessed there must be some intention behind it, so he didn't ask further.
Just as he was about to find Ling Xiao, after only a few steps, Ou Zhanpeng was astonished to see that the research station was in an unusual state of busyness. The scientific researchers in sight were practically on their feet non-stop. Even Xie Yu was leading the assault team, rushing here and there, moving tables and chairs. Some researchers were everywhere, sticking plastic film, making the well-maintained base look messy.
Zhu Yuhan happened to pass by, and Ou Zhanpeng grabbed her. "Hey, hey, Station Chief Zhu, what's all this busyness about?"
Deputy Station Chief Zhu looked surprised. "What else? Setting up a quarantine laboratory!"
"What?"
Guessing that Ou Zhanpeng was not privy to the situation, Zhu Yuhan decided to explain clearly. "You brought back an alien corpse, didn't you? The superiors have instructed us to establish a Level 4 biological laboratory on-site to research the alien and the microorganisms on it… You know what a Level 4 laboratory is, right? It's a laboratory that researches dangerous microorganisms!"
Ou Zhanpeng suddenly understood. Only then did he grasp why there was so much fuss on the assault boat and why they weren't in a hurry to send the alien into the research station.