104: Chapter 104 Named After Divine Beasts

Chu Ge returned to his office to continue incubating his armament system.

Data reports, engineering blueprints, and the layout of the array phase cannons within the aerospace carrier—he had to organize and categorize everything bit by bit.

As for the new condensates and synthetic crystals, Chu Ge planned to make a separate list for them and hand it over to the materials R&D team designated by Old Chen.

The entire process was long and gradual.

Two days passed in a flash. During his breaks, Chu Ge began to ponder the naming of the aerospace carrier. After thinking for a long time, he was inclined to name it after ancient divine beasts unique to China or some of the rare creatures from the "Classic of Mountains and Seas" and "Enjoyment in Untroubled Ease."

Firstly, the Aerospace Aircraft Carrier was a vital instrument of the state intended to showcase national prestige; using names familiar to the Chinese people would resonate more.

Secondly, among these divine beasts, many were later regarded as symbols of auspiciousness. For Chu Ge, this also carried a sense of prayer, whether for the Interstellar Fleet's future space voyages or for China's prosperous future.

Finally, Chu Ge wanted these things emerging from the Military-Industrial System to be firmly branded with the mark of China.

Regardless of whether the Earth Alliance would exist in the future or if these technologies would be shared, their origin had to be clear. Just as mentioning American stealth technology leads many to think of the B-2 or F-22, that is a kind of brand.

This was the effect Chu Ge wanted.

Chu Ge narrowed down several names, with kunpeng, Phoenix, and Vermilion Bird as the primary candidates. The alternatives included: Solar Zhuzhao, Lunar Youying, Qingluan, and Yellow Dragon.

Looking at the names he had written down, Chu Ge felt that "kunpeng" was more appropriate, while the others could be used for other vessels.

The kunpeng spreads its wings ninety thousand miles, soaring through the boundless sky.

It was simply because of its size; the aerospace carrier was the flagship of the fleet and had the largest tonnage. Chu Ge remembered that the kunpeng described in Zhuangzi's "Enjoyment in Untroubled Ease" was also massive, so the two were a perfect match in terms of scale.

Thinking of this, an idea gradually formed in Chu Ge's head. It seemed like it would be quite exciting to collect all these divine beasts. Uh, maybe not. Chu Ge thought of the "Classic of Mountains and Seas"; there were apparently 128 of them in there.

"When it comes to mythology and imagination, China is truly impressive."

Chu Ge sighed in admiration.

Afterward, he dutifully circled "kunpeng."

"System Big Brother, what do you think? Isn't this name domineering?"

[Boring.]

"It's more meaningful than those messy English letters and numbers of yours."

[They are just symbols.]

"You don't understand, you emotionless..."

Chu Ge got stuck. He actually didn't know how to describe System Big Brother's form for a moment. It wasn't like a robot, nor was it a program; it was more like a wisp of divine consciousness.

A divine consciousness carrying a military-industrial database.

"In short, the Chinese language and characters have many symbolic meanings and deep connotations that those dry English letters cannot express."

Chu Ge stopped talking to System Big Brother; he had no way to explain these things to him.

With the task completed, Chu Ge was organizing the armament system data and construction blueprints he had prepared over the past two days when the phone on his desk rang. He picked it up and tucked it between his ear and shoulder while continuing to organize.

"Little Chu, do you have time? Come to the Research Institute's comprehensive conference room. You have to attend today's meeting. We're waiting for you."

Academician Chen said kindly. Chu Ge quickly agreed. It seemed like something was up, and it was perfect timing since he had just finished with the armament system and the naming of the aerospace carrier.

After packing up his materials, Chu Ge headed for the conference room. The Ordnance Research Institute's comprehensive conference room was the largest in the entire institute. Chu Ge remembered he had only been there once, which was his first time at the Ordnance Research Institute, though he had gone there with an initial contribution back then.

He rarely attended the various meetings afterward, including technical seminars for specific projects. It wasn't that he was being pretentious; he simply didn't have the time, and such technical discussion meetings often dragged on for a very long time.

Gradually, Academician Chen stopped asking Chu Ge to attend most meetings. He had become the leader; usually, he would research new projects, and then the Research Institute would hold meetings to schedule and allocate tasks around his work.

Since Old Chen had made a special call to him today, it must be important.

When Chu Ge arrived, the conference room was already packed. He took a quick glance at the dense crowd.

It seemed that all the department heads and technical backbones of the entire institute were here.

Upon seeing Chu Ge enter, the crowd below stopped whispering to one another. The huge conference room fell silent instantly, and those nearby stood up.

"Academician Chu!"

"Academician Chu!"

...

People further away, unsure of the situation, also stood up. Seeing this scene, Chu Ge felt a bit out of place. Over the past year, he had been working in isolation and hadn't seen so many people, many of whom were leaders of various departments in the institute.

"Haha, the current Chu Ge, Academician Chu, is no longer the young man who just arrived a year ago. He is now the renowned face of our Ordnance Research Institute. Why are you still standing there? Come over here next to me."

Chu Ge bowed to the crowd as a greeting and then stepped onto the rostrum.

Academician Chen sat in the center of the rostrum, surrounded by senior veterans of the institute. There was an empty seat next to Old Chen, and next to that was Old Huang. This was likely the only empty seat in the entire room, so Chu Ge hurried over to sit.

As Chu Ge sat down, he felt a bit uneasy.

"Minister Wu, Minister Long, Director Chen, Commander Wang, shall we begin?"

Academician Chen spoke while looking at the multimedia screen beside him. Chu Ge took a look—the heads of the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Ministry of Commerce, the military, economic planning, the Resources Department, and even the Chinese national media were actually participating.

However, they were attending via video conference; there were over a dozen faces on the integrated display screen.

Chu Ge didn't know many of the leaders, though they looked familiar.

There was also television recording equipment on site.

"This isn't going to be a live broadcast, is it?"

Chu Ge sighed inwardly.

"Alright, everyone. Today can be said to be the largest-scale meeting in the history of our Research Institute. I won't say much more, as I believe you've heard some rumors. Today, I can officially tell you that the theme—or rather, the ceremony—of today's meeting is the launch of the aerospace carrier project."

Academician Chen didn't waste words and went straight to the point.

"Regarding the aerospace carrier, its chief designer will talk to you later, so I won't show off my limited knowledge here. I just want to state that in the coming years, the Ordnance Research Institute—and indeed all of China's military-industrial research units—will revolve around this world-renowned, massive project."

"Perhaps in the near future, in a year or two, China will represent the entire Earth in officially beginning interstellar exploration. Of course, this exploration isn't the kind where we just launch a satellite or dig up a spoonful of soil for research. It will be in the form of an Interstellar Fleet cruising and exploring. It is no exaggeration to say that we do not rule out establishing space bases on suitable celestial bodies or moons."