72: Chapter 72 Jiang Chen: Actually, it was just a transport ship, used for delivering packages.

"Can it fight?"

This question was like a bullet, echoing in the empty underground hangar.

Jiang Chen looked at Commander Li Zhenhua's eyes, which were bloodshot but frighteningly bright. He then looked at the circle of military experts surrounding them, who were watching like tigers with notebooks in hand, ready to record everything at any moment. He suddenly felt a toothache.

He sighed helplessly, pulled a tablet-like control terminal from his pocket, and swiped across the screen filled with alien characters.

"Chief, instead of guessing here, why don't we go inside and take a look? I've pretty much finished translating the manual."

As Jiang Chen pressed his finger down, a hidden hatch on the side of the mountain-sized luan niao starship slid open silently.

The hiss of hydraulic rods venting air sounded like heavenly music to everyone's ears.

"Move! Get in!"

Commander Li Zhenhua took the lead, his agile movements not at all resembling those of a man in his sixties; the guards behind him could barely keep up.

The space inside the warship was ridiculously large.

There were no narrow, cramped submarine-style corridors as imagined; instead, they were replaced by metal passageways wide enough to drive two tanks side-by-side. Soft cold light lamps automatically lit up with their footsteps, illuminating the pipelines and valves full of industrial aesthetic.

"This… this is incredible."

Academician Chen Shuyin followed behind, pushing up the glasses on the bridge of her nose, her voice trembling, "A gravity system! There is actually an independent artificial gravity system in here! We can't even feel that we are underground!"

"That's to prevent the package sorters from getting osteoporosis."

Jiang Chen replied casually, leading the group through the corridor to a massive chamber.

The hatch opened, and a stale, dry scent rushed out.

What appeared before them was a massive space the size of a football field. Countless neatly arranged metal shelves reached the dome; although they were empty now, one could still feel the suffocating throughput capacity.

In the corner, a few transparent cultivation pods were scattered, containing a pile of long-dried and blackened plant remains.

"Look!"

Jiang Chen pointed at the withered plants, as if grabbing onto a lifeline, with an "I told you so" expression.

"What is this? These are green onions and garlic sprouts grown by the previous crew! What does this mean? It means this is a civilian ship full of life! Who grows green onions on a warship?"

Commander Li Zhenhua frowned, walked over to look at those few "alien green onions," and didn't speak.

He turned around, his gaze passing over the shelves and landing on a row of pitch-black, three-meter-diameter metal pipes at the end of the cargo hold. The pipes extended to the outside of the warship, and the pipe openings had complex electromagnetic coil structures that emitted a chilling, heart-palpitating cold light.

"Then what about this?"

Commander Li Zhenhua pointed at the pipes, his tone grim, "Don't tell me this is a sewer."

"Oh, that."

Jiang Chen took a look at the instructions on the terminal, looking calm, "That is the 'Cargo Express Delivery System,' commonly known as a catapult."

"Some customers live in remote areas where the ship can't easily stop. To improve efficiency, we just put the package in a capsule and launch it over. To ensure accuracy, the initial velocity is a bit fast, probably just a few dozen times the speed of sound."

"A few dozen times the speed of sound?!"

A white-haired old expert next to him dropped his notebook with a "clatter."

He pointed tremblingly at the complex electromagnetic coils: "Comrade Jiang, do you know what this means? This is an electromagnetic railgun! And of this caliber! If this 'package' hits the ground, its power would be no less than a tactical nuclear bomb!"

"How can you call it a nuclear bomb?"

Jiang Chen retorted with dissatisfaction, "Nuclear bombs have radiation; this is much more environmentally friendly. Pure kinetic strike, clean and hygienic."

The experts looked at each other, feeling their worldview collapsing.

Clean and hygienic, my foot!

Commander Li Zhenhua took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the shock in his heart, and pointed to the most conspicuous, ferocious main cannon on the belly of the warship, which had made him panic just now.

"Fine, I'll count that as a package delivery system. But what about this?"

The old general's voice was shaking as he pointed at the giant device with a barrel thicker than a person and surrounded by heat dissipation grilles, "Is this thing also for delivering packages? I think one shot from this could send the package to the underworld!"

"This one is indeed not for delivering packages."

Jiang Chen nodded honestly.

The experts breathed a sigh of relief, thinking he finally admitted it; this must be a superweapon like a star-killer cannon.

"This is a 'rock crusher'."

Jiang Chen explained with a serious face, "The road conditions in space are not good; there are often meteorites blocking the way. For driving safety, when we encounter large meteorites, we use this high-energy particle beam to shatter them. This is called clearing operations, which falls under the category of civilian engineering equipment."

"A… a rock crusher?"

Academician Chen Shuyin felt her brain wasn't working well enough. She looked at the cannon muzzle glowing with a dim blue luster and swallowed, "Engineer Jiang, this power… about how big is it?"

"Not that big."

Jiang Chen looked at the data, "At full power, it's just enough to burn a ten-kilometer-diameter asteroid into glass beads. After all, it's the civilian version, the power is locked; otherwise, it might easily hurt friendly forces by accident."

"Thump."

A muffled sound came from behind.

The old expert who had dropped his notebook earlier this time sat directly on the floor, his eyes staring blankly, muttering to himself: "Ten kilometers… asteroid… glass beads… civilian version…"

Commander Li Zhenhua only felt his blood surging in his chest; he didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

He looked at Jiang Chen's harmless face and really wanted to pry open his skull to see what was inside.

If this could be called a civilian transport ship, then what were the destroyers and aircraft carriers they were currently using? Kayaks in the ocean? Or strollers in the park?

"Move! To the engine room!"

Commander Li Zhenhua gritted his teeth and waved his hand, "I want to see what kind of monster this ship's heart really is!"

The group passed through layers of airlocks and finally arrived at the warship's most core area—the power reactor.

The moment the thick lead radiation-proof door opened, everyone held their breath.

There were no massive boilers or turbines as imagined, only a sphere floating in mid-air, emitting a pale golden light. It was constrained in a strong magnetic field, rotating slowly, and the surrounding space seemed to be distorting along with it, emitting a heart-palpitating beauty.

"This is…"

Academician Chen Shuyin covered her mouth, her eyes full of disbelief, "Antimatter?"

"It's a hybrid."

Jiang Chen stepped forward, as if introducing his own gas stove, "The main engine is cold nuclear fusion, and this little ball is an antimatter reactor, used as a starter for faster-than-light jumps. Usually, it's just used as a backup power source to power the air conditioning, refrigerator, and so on on the ship."

"Fuel-efficient, environmentally friendly, long-range."

"Fully charged once, it's enough to run around the Milky Way Galaxy twice."

Dead silence.

Deathly silence.

In the entire engine room, there was only the faint humming sound of the light sphere rotating.

All the experts seemed to be frozen in place, each with their mouths wide open, looking at the "backup power source" that was enough to change the course of human civilization.

An antimatter reactor.

Just to power a refrigerator?

What kind of humblebrag is this?!

Commander Li Zhenhua slowly turned around, his eyes looking at Jiang Chen, having changed from initial shock to a kind of almost fanatical determination.

He didn't care what this ship was used for in that alien civilization.

Maybe they really did use it for delivering packages, maybe they really did use it to crush meteorites.

But on Earth, at this moment in the Dragon Country.

It is the truth!

It is justice!

It is the only way to make those powers that try to blockade and suppress the Dragon Country become docile and well-behaved!

"Little Jiang."

Commander Li Zhenhua stepped forward and patted Jiang Chen's shoulder heavily, with such force that Jiang Chen almost stumbled.

The old general took a deep breath, his tone resolute and unquestionable:

"No matter what you say, in my files, it absolutely cannot be called a transport ship."

Jiang Chen rubbed his shoulder with a bitter smile: "Then what should it be called?"

Commander Li Zhenhua raised his head, staring burningly at the antimatter core, and said word by word:

"This is called—the Nantianmen Project, the first deep space strategic cruiser!"

"As for those cannon barrels…"

The old general waved his hand, full of heroic spirit:

"Paint them all red for me! I don't believe that with this thing, the Eagle Nation would still dare to speak loudly to us?"