53: Please, just upgrade the sixth-generation fighter jet directly into a space fighter!

"Th... Thirty years?!"

When Lu Chen's conservative estimate, which was full of "truth-seeking," clearly echoed throughout this huge lecture hall...

The smile that had just filled Ye Qingcang's old face instantly... froze!

The smile on his face was like a comical mask instantly frozen by liquid nitrogen at minus two hundred degrees! It appeared incredibly ridiculous and... pathetic!

Thirty years?! Damn it... I'm almost seventy this year! In another thirty years, the grass on my grave will be three meters high, damn it!

You're telling me to wait thirty years to take a look at my dream aerospace carrier?! You... are you playing a joke on me from the underworld?!

Pfft—! This time, Ye Qingcang could no longer hold it back! A mouthful of scalding old blood, pent up for decades, sprayed directly from his mouth!

"Old Ye!"

"Old Ye!"

Long Weiguo and Lu Chen, who were beside him, were both shocked by this sudden scene!

They hurriedly stepped forward, one on each side, to support the swaying, aged figure!

"I... I'm fine..."

Ye Qingcang waved his hand and wiped a trace of blood from the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand.

All the light in his murky old eyes dimmed completely in that instant. Replacing it was a deep sense of helplessness and... despair, the feeling of a hero in his twilight years.

"Thirty years... thirty years..."

He muttered to himself, his voice hoarse and desolate.

"It seems I'm destined not to see it in this lifetime..."

Looking at his dejected appearance, as if his spirit had been instantly drained, Lu Chen's heart, which had become somewhat cold due to exposure to so much "black technology," felt a flicker of sympathy for the first time.

He knew what the aerospace carrier meant to the old man before him, who had dedicated his entire life to the national defense cause.

It was not just a weapon. It was his lifelong belief! It was the ultimate dream that his generation of military industrial workers had chased their entire lives!

"Sigh."

Lu Chen sighed helplessly in his heart. He knew he seemed to have gone a bit too far. He had stimulated the old man too harshly.

"Um... Old Ye."

He looked at Ye Qingcang's face, which seemed to have aged a dozen years in an instant, and said, unable to bear it, "Actually... thirty years is just my preliminary estimate."

"Hmm?"

A faint spark of hope instantly reignited in Ye Qingcang's dim eyes! He abruptly raised his head, grabbed Lu Chen's arm, and his voice trembled!

"You mean..."

"There's still a turning point?!"

"A turning point... I wouldn't call it that."

Lu Chen rubbed his nose and said somewhat uncertainly, "After all, the aerospace carrier is just too big and too complex."

"It involves not just materials science and dynamics."

"There's also energy science, space physics, artificial intelligence, and even... ecological circulation systems!"

"This is a... super... systematic project that requires the entire country and all scientific and technological fields to develop to an extremely high level to support it!"

"Let alone thirty years."

"Even if you gave me another fifty years, I wouldn't have one hundred percent certainty."

His words were very sincere. And also, very... realistic. Instantly, the faint spark of hope that had just ignited in Ye Qingcang's heart was ruthlessly extinguished.

Ye Qingcang's face once again revealed that expression of despair, which was even uglier than crying. However... just at this moment, Lu Chen changed the subject!

"However..."

A meaningful curve tugged at the corner of his mouth!

"Although we can't build the big one for the time being."

"But..."

"Building a small one to get a taste of it..."

"Is... no problem at all."

"A small one?!"

Ye Qingcang and Long Weiguo were both stunned! Their breathing became rapid in that instant!

They suddenly raised their heads, their eyes, filled with flames of fanaticism, locked tightly onto Lu Chen's face!

"That's right."

Lu Chen nodded. He stretched out his finger and tapped lightly on the holographic projection control panel. The next second!

The sci-fi "anti-gravity engine" design instantly disappeared. Replacing it... was a brand-new design for a... fighter jet, full of ferocity, domineering power, and streamlined beauty!

Its appearance was extremely sci-fi! The entire body was forged from an unknown dark golden alloy! The fuselage presented a perfect spindle shape! No wings! No vertical tail! Not even a traditional cockpit!

It was like a ghost from an alien civilization! Full of mystery and... a lethal aura!

"This is..."

Ye Qingcang pointed at the design, unable to understand even a single part, his voice trembling!

"Is this... the sixth-generation fighter jet... we are currently pre-researching?!"

"No."

Lu Chen shook his head, a trace of faint disdain appearing on his face.

"That sixth-generation fighter jet stuff is too low-end."

"Still using variable cycle engines, artificial intelligence-assisted piloting..."

"It's simply a pile of... flying tractors with wings."

"This one of mine..."

He pointed at the ghost fighter jet on the screen, which was full of violent aesthetics, a proud, world-disdaining curve tugging at his mouth!

"I call it..."

"The 'South Heaven Gate'-class, aerospace... assault... fighter!"

"It is cast in one piece from 'Dragon Bone' alloy!"

"Powered by a simplified version of the 'anti-gravity engine'!"

"Unmanned piloting is conducted by the 'heavenly craft' artificial intelligence!"

"Its conventional cruising speed is twenty Mach!"

"Its maximum penetration speed is thirty Mach!"

"It can fly from the atmosphere to near-Earth orbit in three minutes!"

"And it can also carry out... dimensional reduction... strikes on any corner of the Earth within half an hour!"

With every word he said!

The color drained from the faces of Ye Qingcang and Long Weiguo!

When his last word fell!

These two super bigwigs of the Xia Kingdom were completely shocked, their faces drained of blood! Their entire bodies were trembling violently like a sieve!

Aerospace... fighter?! The hell, where is this a sixth-generation fighter?! This is clearly a space... ship that can only appear in sci-fi movies!

"Li... Little Lu..."

Ye Qingcang suddenly grabbed Lu Chen's arm, with so much force that he almost crushed Lu Chen's bones! His murky old eyes were filled with unprecedented bloodshot veins, and... begging!

He could no longer care about any general's demeanor or face!

His voice was hoarse and filled with irrepressible madness!

"I don't care!"

"I don't care what method you use!"

"I, I order you! No! I beg you!"

"Stop our damn sixth-generation fighter jet project!"

"And then..."

"This 'South Heaven Gate'!"

"For me, immediately, right now..."

"Build it!"