50: Chapter 50: Battlefield Testing – The Electromagnetic Pulse Rifle Reveals its Ferocity

The next day, Chu Ge was woken up by a knocking sound a little past 5 AM. He opened the door to see Yan Tianhao looking full of energy outside, and Chu Ge suddenly regretted the brainwashing plan he had for him yesterday.

After kicking him away, Chu Ge turned back, collapsed, and continued his sleepwalking state. He was too tired; he had stayed up until 2 AM yesterday.

The work on Li Gang's end was basically finished. As the next step, he planned to have Li Gang get the helmet system done first. Don't let its small size fool you; it felt a bit lackluster.

Chu Ge had spent half the day yesterday looking at the remaining projects for the individual combat system.

This helmet system was the most complex; it needed to integrate the head protective cover, life support system, communication system, and even a night vision system.

Aside from the night vision system, which was relatively simple, all these smaller systems required complete new blueprint plans; otherwise, for Li Gang and his team, it would be like groping in the dark.

Therefore, after returning from the laboratory, Chu Ge began writing furiously, not even stopping when Yan Tianhao came to call him for a meal.

He was on a roll; quitting halfway through would have been a total mood killer.

After napping for another two hours, Chu Ge had to get up. He was starving.

After washing up, Chu Ge walked out of the dormitory and found Yan Tianhao waiting for him outside.

"Good morning, Academician Chu!"

"Morning to you too. Sorry about earlier; I stayed up until the early hours yesterday, so I was counting on these few hours in the morning to recover."

"It's fine, it's fine. I didn't know you were working so late yesterday, hehe."

As they talked, they walked to the Research Institute cafeteria. After lining up and getting their food, Chu Ge began to wolf it down, making a simple breakfast feel like a grand banquet.

Before Chu Ge had even finished cleaning up his "battlefield," he heard Li Gang shouting for him at the top of his lungs.

"Academician Chu, the people from the 224th Brigade are here, and they're insisting on seeing you."

"Mm, got it. You go handle them first. I'll be there in a moment."

"Understood!"

Chu Ge quickly finished the rest of his meal in a few bites, then took Yan Tianhao and headed toward Li Gang's laboratory.

From a distance, Chu Ge could hear Brigadier General Lu's loud voice.

"I only asked Brigadier General Lu to arrange for someone to come over to test the rifle, and you came yourself? Haha."

"That's a must. I've been itching to see it since you told me yesterday. As soon as I got the news today, I came over without a moment's delay."

"Where's the rifle?"

Brigadier General Lu Nan didn't mince words as usual; Chu Ge had gotten used to it after interacting with him a few times.

"Haha, the rifle isn't going anywhere. Li Gang, has the caseless ammunition from the Research Institute been delivered?"

"Reporting to Academician Chu, it was delivered first thing this morning!"

"Mm, then we can test the rifle. However, our laboratory doesn't have a firing range; this individual combat system laboratory was just set up."

Chu Ge frowned, and Brigadier General Lu, standing nearby, heard this.

"A firing range is easy. My situation is complicated, so it might not be suitable, but the 223rd Brigade is on the outskirts of the bunker base; they definitely have one!"

"Alright then. Li Gang, bring the Electromagnetic Pulse Rifle, we're going to the firing range!!"

"Yes!"

Ten minutes later, Brigadier General Lu, who had been eagerly waiting, saw a long metal box brought over, the kind that required two people to carry. Chu Ge glanced at it; it even had a combination lock.

"Can't I just take a peek at it first?"

Brigadier General Lu felt like a cooked duck had flown away.

"Haha, you can't even wait an hour? Let's go, my dear Brigadier General."

After saying this, Chu Ge took Li Gang and the others and boarded several military jeeps. Behind them, Brigadier General Lu shook his head helplessly and directed the soldiers to follow along.

And so, the convoy headed toward the firing range in a grand procession.

On the outskirts of the bunker base, at the 223rd Synthetic Battalion training ground, Brigadier General Gu Jianhua had been waiting for a long time.

The name of Colonel Chu had long been thunderous in the military.

However, his brigade had just arrived here, and there was a lot of work to be done, so although he had heard that Chu Ge had arrived at the bunker base, he hadn't been able to get away to pay a visit.

Fortunately, after receiving a call from Lu Nan today saying that Chu Ge was bringing a new weapon to the firing range for testing, the excited Brigadier General Gu praised Lu Nan over the phone and then arrived here early with his men to wait.

Several tens of minutes later, a convoy appeared in the distance, kicking up dust, and Chu Ge's party finally arrived.

"Hello, Colonel Chu. Brigadier General Gu Jianhua of the 223rd Digital Synthetic Operations Brigade salutes you!"

Before Chu Ge had even stepped out of the vehicle, Brigadier General Gu's deep voice rang out from outside.

"Hello, Brigadier General Gu, I am Chu Ge."

After returning the salute, Chu Ge looked at Gu Jianhua. Brigadier General Gu was not tall, but his build was robust, and his deep eyes revealed the fortitude characteristic of a soldier.

He grasped Chu Ge's hand with a pair of powerful hands and shook it vigorously.

"Ha, is this how soldiers always greet each other?" Chu Ge mused to himself.

With Chu Ge and the two brigade commanders in the lead, the group walked toward the training range.

"Colonel Chu, could you reveal some basic data about the new rifle for us first?"

Brigadier General Lu Nan asked, rubbing his hands together.

"Mm, sure. The Electromagnetic Pulse Rifle is 95cm long, weighs 3.2 kg unloaded, uses caseless ammunition, has a range of 2000 meters, an effective range of 1500 meters, a 100-round magazine, uses a 10 * 24mm caliber bullet, has immense power, features four firing modes, and a maximum rate of fire of 2000 rounds per minute."

"Mm, that's the general data. We'll need to verify if it meets its design requirements in a moment."

"Ha, that's definitely not a problem. It's Colonel Chu's gold-standard reputation!"

"..."

"With this ammunition capacity and the added lethality, I believe this rifle will be able to instantly outclass all the famous rifles currently in the world as soon as it debuts."

Brigadier General Gu added from the side.

Just then, with a "click," Li Gang opened the briefcase, and the HQL-411 A first-generation Electromagnetic Pulse Rifle was revealed to everyone.

After a long while, Lu Nan, who had been hunched over scanning it like a scanner, finally remembered to reach out and touch it. His hands, covered in thick calluses, traced from the muzzle to the stock, barely touching it, as carefully as an adult stroking a baby.

"Huh, what is this small display screen?"

Brigadier General Gu, having been beaten to it by Lu Nan, looked it over carefully and pointed to the small screen to ask.

"Oh, this displays the high-energy battery level and the remaining ammunition in the magazine."

Li Gang explained from the side.

After the two brigade commanders took turns "playing" with the Electromagnetic Pulse Rifle for a while, it finally entered the testing phase.

"Test phase 1: Penetration power. 100-meter distance, two 0.7cm steel plates. Comparison weapon: 7.62mm caliber Type 81 rifle."

Li Gang was recording the experiment on the side, and two soldiers holding the two rifles had already taken the prone position and were ready.

"Type 81 rifle, fire!"

"Bang!" The soldier holding the Type 81 pulled the trigger decisively.

"Electromagnetic Pulse Rifle, fire!"

"Shoo."

Brigadier General Lu Nan looked at Gu Jianhua.

"Does this rifle have a silencer installed?"

"No. Without the sound of gunpowder exploding, and with the fully enclosed structure at the back, the firing noise is even better than a regular rifle with a silencer."

"Mm, at least that saves the cost of purchasing silencers."

Chu Ge thought to himself.

The firing results were quickly reported. The Type 81 rifle bullet penetrated the first steel plate and was stuck between the two plates.

At a distance of 100 meters, 0.7cm steel plates were its limit.

On the other steel plate, two clearly larger penetration holes appeared before their eyes. As for the bullets, who knew where they had gone.

"Electromagnetic Pulse Rifle penetration test 2: 10 layers of 0.7cm steel plates."

Li Gang continued to record.