118: Chapter 118 Initial Plans for the Western Journey

Chu Ge did not return immediately after leaving Academician Chen's office; instead, he took a tour of several experiment bases.

Along the way, Chu Ge discovered that the experimental progress of each system was going very smoothly. In particular, Academician Huang's Nuclear Fusion Engine would be ready for ignition testing in a short while. This speed made Chu Ge almost unable to believe his eyes.

Consequently, Chu Ge was not stingy with his praise. Especially after seeing the office full of blueprints and the disheveled Yan Tianhao behind a pile of them, he emphasized his commendation for the master and apprentice's painstaking efforts.

Then, after Academician Huang solemnly thanked Chu Ge for the precision of the progress report, he tearfully accepted the next task: the core of the power system, the Nuclear Fusion Reactor.

With a smile on his face, Chu Ge walked out of Academician Huang's still-messy office and headed toward Li Gang's experiment base.

By the time he reached Li Gang's side, it was already near noon. Before Chu Ge could even enter the door, he was dragged out by Li Gang and others toward the Research Institute's cafeteria.

“Academician Chu, don't think you can just clock in and leave. Come eat with us; the colleagues at the base haven't seen you in a long time.”

The way Li Gang looked at Chu Ge now was as if he had found a long-lost kidnapped child.

“Hmm? Haha, I've been tackling technical problems lately, so it's normal that you haven't seen me. I haven't been to the cafeteria in a long time; Academician Chen specially authorized Wang Yun to work part-time as a delivery person.”

During this month, whenever he encountered a difficult spot, Chu Ge would forget about going to the cafeteria. Academician Chen had no choice but to specially permit Wang Yun to bring the warmed-up meals to him.

The consequence was that Chu Ge hadn't eaten in the Research Institute's cafeteria for nearly a month.

Along the way, when colleagues in the institute saw Chu Ge, it was like seeing a giant panda; amidst their surprise, they all greeted him one after another.

“Li Gang, how is the progress on your base's Electromagnetic Railgun?”

After getting his food, Chu Ge sat down at the dining table and began to inquire about the progress of Li Gang's group.

“It's almost there. We need to go to the Weapon Experiment Base in the Northwest this month. The entire individual soldier system and the Electromagnetic Railgun both need to be taken there for field testing.”

Li Gang sat upright, as serious as if he were giving a work report.

“Eat, eat. Let's talk while we eat.”

“Okay. By the way, there happens to be a joint exercise over there at the end of this month. Would Academician Chu like to go and observe?”

After taking a mouthful of rice, Li Gang spoke to Chu Ge in a low voice, acting quite mysteriously.

“An exercise with whom?”

“Russia and several Central Asian countries. It was decided before; according to the year, it's our turn to hold the joint exercise on Huaxia's territory.”

“Oh, we'll see. If the work on hand is mostly finished, I can go out for a tour. It just so happens that I also need to go to the base over there for the mechas and Mecha Warriors to see how their progress is going.”

Chu Ge calculated silently in his heart. The blueprints for the main system should be mostly designed this month, so he would have plenty of time. Speaking of which, it was time to go out for some fresh air; besides, the Soul Blade he had been thinking about was also there.

“Li Gang, have you learned anything more about the Soul Blade? Like its recent status?”

“Yes, its status is fine. It's just that the new base hasn't been built yet, so it hasn't been awakened. However, professional personnel check it every day. It's been on standby and hasn't activated itself again. Its brothers and sisters have increased by five; they are all there, just waiting for the Hive to be commissioned so they can move in together.”

Li Gang thought for a moment and reported the recent situation of the Soul Blade to Chu Ge in as much detail as possible.

“Five? Including the Soul Blade, that's six. We're still two short of the Eight Great Vajras, haha.”

Li Gang and the others also laughed along after hearing this.

“However, its five brothers don't have Energy Cores installed, so they aren't on the same level as the Soul Blade yet.”

Chu Ge smiled, thinking to himself that of course they weren't on the same level; even if they had Energy Cores installed, they still wouldn't be.

The Soul Blade was personally built by Chu Ge. At that time, he had implanted a human-machine intelligence system into it. Although it wasn't the full set of code provided by the Military-Industrial System, it was enough to make the Soul Blade no longer just a cold steel frame.

As for the subsequent Mecha Warriors, they did not have this human-machine intelligence system; the cost was simply too high. After the military completed the plan for this batch of ten Mecha Warriors, the project would be finished.

According to the initially discussed plan, no new Mecha Warriors would be built afterward. Instead, they would start building a stripped-down version of the mechas.

The new version of the mecha would be similar to a battlefield companion Mecha Soldier. The size was reduced, but the armor performance remained unchanged. Then the control mechanism, reaction mechanism, and intelligent system were all stripped down. The benefit of this was that the cost was reduced by several orders of magnitude, allowing for large-scale production.

Mecha Soldiers could even replace human soldiers in organized units, serving as reconnaissance units or vanguard troops, thereby greatly reducing unnecessary sacrifices.

“Alright, everyone's progress is good. This way, once the shipyard is built, construction can start directly. Since your Electromagnetic Railgun is almost done, I'll hand the progress report for the Phased Array Cannon over to you. I originally planned to give it to another team, worrying you'd be too busy.”

Chu Ge pretended to mention it casually and then waited for Li Gang to respond.

“Don't! We're fine. The railgun is already in its final stages, just waiting for actual testing. What is that Phased Array Cannon thing? It sounds pretty powerful.”

Sure enough, Li Gang stopped eating and stared intently at Chu Ge.

“A strategic weapon for the aerospace carrier. This is a systemic job, a bit different from previous weapon systems.”

“Then it must be given to us even more. Academician Chu, I have plenty of capable men now. Strategic weapons must come from my experimental group, right brothers?”

“Yes!”

The several group leaders who came with Li Gang all chimed in. Chu Ge smiled and gave a reluctant nod.

“Fine, I'll hand the data and everything over to you later. Same old rules: deliver it to me with guaranteed quality and quantity. If anything goes wrong, I'm coming for you.”

“No problem.”

Li Gang accepted readily. In fact, Chu Ge had intended to give it to them all along. In Li Gang's words, his experiment base was now full of strong and capable people—if not to him, then to whom?

Everyone finished their meal in peace. Chu Ge said goodbye to Li Gang and the others and returned to his office. With his current work almost finished, Chu Ge pulled up the database for the aerospace carrier from System Big Brother.

The armor system and Quantum Main Computer System would have to wait for the expert group's relevant technical breakthroughs before the next step could be taken. This didn't require too much of Chu Ge's attention. What remained was the Hyperspace Detection Technology.

Chu Ge pulled up the reports related to it and began a rough scan. He didn't know when he had developed this habit, but he needed to gain a rough understanding of all subsystems, including the hull blueprints, before starting work.

Progressing through learning allowed him to generally judge where the core devices of the system or the more difficult points were.

Then he would organize personnel to focus on breaking through them. Chu Ge felt his efficiency was quite high.

Hyperspace Detection Technology was a modified version of Particle Detection Technology. The core was still the core system of that 'Telescope' system. Seeing this, the weight on Chu Ge's heart finally lifted.