140: Chapter 140 A Show of Concern from Old Chen

After returning to Yanjing, Chu Ge focused his energy on researching the blueprints for the carrier-based aircraft system.

The carrier-based aircraft is divided into several subsystems: the propulsion system, weapon system, energy system, and the core 'brain'—the superconducting Quantum Computer system.

As for the material of its main body, Chu Ge took a look and saw it was an alloy numbered HQL-C1159, a general-purpose material labeled in Chinese as 'Mass Alloy.' Chu Ge was no stranger to this; it was the same as the exterior material of the aerospace carrier.

However, he hadn't yet studied the properties of this material in depth, only roughly checking its main constituent elements.

This was also to avoid the sad stories of the past, where he would be excited for a long time only to find out that the elements needed for synthesis didn't exist on Blue Star at all.

In fact, Chu Ge didn't even need to look at the attribute data to know it was nothing more than adapting to the harsh environment of space and the various adverse factors generated by light-speed travel.

Chu Ge sat at his desk, just about to continue conquering those subsystems one by one, when the desk phone rang. He picked it up.

"Little Chu, come to my office for a moment."

"Okay, Old Chen."

Chu Ge put down the phone and rushed to Academician Chen's office. He missed the apples—no, wait, he missed Academician Chen too.

In Academician Chen's office, only after Chu Ge had earnestly finished off two apples did Academician Chen slowly speak up.

"I heard about what happened at the Weapon Experiment Base. It's a good thing [Soul Blade] intervened, otherwise..."

Old Chen didn't finish the sentence, only shaking his head silently.

"It would have been fine regardless; we have our air defense units. [Soul Blade] just had the advantage of speed. Actually, I reckon they all started at the same time, it's just that [Soul Blade] reached the finish line first."

"That may be so, but what if there were no [Soul Blade] and no air defense units?"

"Huh? Old Chen, you don't actually think someone is out there aiming a surface-to-air missile at me every day, do you?"

Chu Ge stared at Academician Chen with wide, innocent eyes before bursting into laughter, eventually causing Academician Chen to laugh along as well.

"You... well, it wouldn't go that far. G Istanbul was an isolated case. Missiles capable of penetrating our country from across the border likely won't exist anymore, not with the Prism Towers you designed guarding the four corners of the land."

"Here, there was a news report yesterday. I bet you haven't seen it."

As Academician Chen spoke, he handed a newspaper to Chu Ge, who took it and began to read.

"They published it directly? What do the top leaders mean by this?"

"The intent is clearly elsewhere. At this stage, is there anything more important than providing a blood transfusion for your Interstellar Fleet?"

"Haha, I see. So, how was the effect?"

Chu Ge became interested and stopped eating his apple, listening intently to Academician Chen's explanation.

"It's alright. A few countries that were originally hesitating were spurred by the exercise and have opened their wallets generously."

"Oh, that's good. Speaking of money, Old Chen, the carrier-based aircraft system I'm researching now will have quite a high final count for the actual deployment on the aerospace carrier. Between drones and manned aircraft, there are 480 in total. Hmm, I did a rough calculation, and the cost per unit is around 300 million. The total cost for the aircraft is 144 billion, which rounds up to about 150 billion. That's just for the bare aircraft, mind you; weapons and ammunition are extra."

Chu Ge started counting on his fingers, doing primary school arithmetic for Academician Chen.

"150 billion huaxia currency isn't that much for nearly 500 planes..."

"Uh, Old Chen, let me correct that. It's not huaxia currency, it's US Dollars!"

"*Cough, cough*... Little Chu, couldn't you pick another time to discuss this? Look, you just got back, and I haven't seen you for days. I thought I'd call you over for a chat between us, but now I'm starting to regret it."

Chu Ge laughed heartily, while Academician Chen shook his head helplessly.

"Tell the top leaders that once the aerospace carrier takes flight, we'll go to the moon to mine. Won't the remaining funds for the Interstellar Fleet be secured then? Perhaps the funding for the second and third fleets will come from there too."

Chu Ge tossed out those words and ran off. Academician Chen suddenly smiled, "That little brat, he certainly plans far ahead."

After his trip to Academician Chen's office, Chu Ge sat down full of energy and began organizing the data for various systems of the carrier-based aircraft.

With the massive system data of the aerospace carrier as a foundation, this smaller system was a breeze for Chu Ge. He quickly developed his own train of thought and began the primary data organization.

The propulsion unit was the simplest part. One main engine and those two auxiliary engines were inextricably linked to the engines of the aerospace carrier; the structural principles were largely the same, just on a much smaller scale.

Specifically, the vector nozzle engines located on the wings on both sides had core devices not much larger than the nuclear fusion device Chu Ge first designed. It was only the reaction devices and tail nozzles behind them that made the whole system look less compact.

Chu Ge looked at the design blueprints for the auxiliary engines. Perhaps for the sake of flexibility, they couldn't be made too massive; otherwise, the powerful kinetic pull during operation would place a great strain on the connecting structures.

The reason for such a flexible design was the diversified functionality of the auxiliary engines. Besides spraying downwards to obtain upward lift, they could also extend downwards as a whole, and then the engines would transform via a rotating mechanism into auxiliary propulsion engines spraying backwards.

Combined with the main engine, this allows the carrier-based aircraft to instantly obtain maximum forward thrust. This is usually unnecessary as the main engine's power is sufficient, but in special circumstances, they can be borrowed to provide extra power.

It was somewhat similar to the afterburners of modern fighter jets, except that this program for the carrier-based aircraft turned the afterburner into a small, unlimited-time 'cheat code.'

It took Chu Ge an entire day to organize the data reports for these three sets of engines and the blueprints for the accompanying structures. He once again forgot about lunch until Wang Yun brought it to him, reminding him of the matter.

At dusk, Chu Ge finally completed all the progress reports for the carrier-based aircraft's propulsion unit. He stood up, stretched his limbs, and walked slowly to the window.

The window was open, and the breath of summer rushed in. Faint sounds of conversation drifted from outside as colleagues from the Research Institute finished their day's work and began returning to their normal lives.

Chu Ge leaned out to look down. Captain Gong and his team were standing downstairs as steady as ever, their straight backs revealing the unique temperament of soldiers. Chu Ge counted heads; a rough count showed over 30 people, not including those hidden from view.

It seemed the trip to the Weapon Experiment Base had truly given Academician Chen a fright. No wonder he had called him over for a talk the moment he returned, and the number of guards had increased as well.

Chu Ge shook his head, thinking to himself that his 'Giant Panda' treatment had been upgraded once again.