Chapter 39 Reporting!

Eastern Country, a certain research institute.

In the office of the Third Department of Technical Applications, the atmosphere was as serious and oppressive as ever. The clatter of keyboards and the low hum of server cooling fans were the eternal main melody here. Everyone walked in a hurry, their faces full of the exhaustion of being dominated by project deadlines.

Department head Sun Danian, a middle-aged man who looked to be in his early forties, was utterly frazzled by a bottleneck in the aerodynamic layout of a key project.

On the computer screen in front of him were dense layers of fluid dynamics simulation data and complex model diagrams; a tiny change in any single parameter could lead to the failure of the entire project. For the past few days, he and his team had been working almost non-stop, but several key technical difficulties had yet to see any breakthrough progress.

"Teacher Sun, take a break." A young researcher walked over holding a steaming cup of goji berry and chrysanthemum tea, a smile on his face. "This was brewed by the new intern at our institute; they say it's especially good for refreshing the mind."

Sun Danian didn't even lift his head, just waved his hand, his eyes still fixed intently on the constantly jumping red warning data stream on the screen, muttering to himself, "Not right, the compensation algorithm for this control surface deflection angle is still problematic; the data link latency is too high..."

Seeing this, the young researcher didn't dare to persuade him further. He knew that this was just Teacher Sun's temperament; once he dove into a technical problem, not even nine oxen could pull him back.

He carefully placed the teacup on the corner of the table, hesitated for a moment, and decided to share a "funny bit" he had seen online today to help alleviate this suffocating, dull atmosphere.

"By the way, Teacher Sun, have you seen the big scoop on the internet today? Our Ministry of Foreign Affairs dropped another golden quote, leaving the Chouguo Reporter speechless. It was so satisfying!"

As he spoke, he opened a short video on his phone and handed it to Sun Danian.

In the video was that routine press conference of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that had gone viral online.

Sun Danian originally had no interest in watching this, but when he heard the familiar, calm, and slightly sarcastic tone of the female spokesperson in the video, saying keywords like "Toy Factory?" and "Laundry detergent?", a rare smile finally appeared on his tense face.

"Haha, these comrades in the foreign affairs department really have sharp tongues." He shook his head, his mood relaxing slightly.

He was just about to tell his subordinate to take the phone away, but the moment his gaze swept across the video screen, it suddenly froze.

...

In the video, to corroborate their own "irrefutable evidence," the screen behind that Chouguo Reporter was displaying several high-definition photos from the scene.

One of them was that battery cover plate, magnified several times, imprinted with "Li's Toy Factory" and a cartoon bear logo.

And another was the wreckage of a relatively intact drone that had crashed into the sandy ground.

Sun Danian didn't feel anything about that cartoon bear logo, but when he saw the unique aerodynamic shape of the drone wreckage, his smile vanished instantly without a trace.

This shape...

It was too familiar!

He felt as if his heart had been gripped by an invisible hand, and a cold chill rushed straight from the soles of his feet to his scalp!

He suddenly remembered that just a few days ago, one of his researchers had excitedly shown him an online video, claiming it was the "new peak of domestic special effects."

At the time, he had only glanced at it casually.

In the video, the swarm of drones covering the sky, the uniform flight movements, and that unique, sci-fi-looking drone shape...

His first reaction at the time, just like the vast majority of people online, was to assume it was just a well-produced piece of CG special effects. Although he marveled at the rendering technology behind it, he didn't delve into it and quickly put the matter behind him because of urgent tasks at hand.

But now...

The "material evidence" that the Ugly Country had brought out in a foreign affairs setting, and the protagonist from that "special effects video," were actually... exactly the same!

A thought, so absurd it made his scalp tingle, emerged uncontrollably from his mind.

'That video... could it... actually be real?'

Once this thought appeared, it could no longer be suppressed.

"Xiao Wang!" Sun Danian turned his head abruptly and roared at the young researcher who had shown him the video earlier, his voice sounding somewhat hoarse due to tension. "The live stream recording of that 'Swarm Drone' you showed me a few days ago, is the original video still there?!"

The researcher called Xiao Wang was startled by his sudden reaction and nodded blankly. "It's... it's here, Teacher Sun. I thought the special effects were so awesome at the time, so I just happened to... download and archive the high-definition original..."

"Quick! Immediately! Upload it to me right now!" Sun Danian said hurriedly.

A few seconds later, the hours-long high-definition live stream recording appeared on his computer screen.

Sun Danian, with trembling fingers, clicked the play button.

He skipped all the boring bragging and interactions at the beginning and dragged the progress bar directly to the final "swarm" takeoff performance part.

Then, he compared the video footage frame by frame with the photos of the battlefield wreckage that had been urgently sent over from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, displayed on a split-screen on the other side.

Every detail, every angle, every part twisted and deformed in the explosion...

The more he looked, the more cold sweat broke out on his forehead.

The more he looked, the paler his face became.

The same!

Exactly the same!

From the streamlined design of the fuselage to the unique tilt angle of the rotors, down to that tiny blue indicator light on the tail... everything matched perfectly!

This was absolutely no coincidence!

This damn thing was the exact same object!

Sun Danian felt his breathing become difficult, and he slapped his thigh hard, roaring in frustration.

"It's over! It's ruined!"

"Why didn't I take a closer look back then!"

He never imagined that the thing he had glanced at as a "random internet story" and "special effects video" actually hid such an earth-shattering secret!

A private toy factory had actually built a Swarm Drone with combat capabilities that might have technically surpassed what they, the official authorities, were researching. Furthermore, it had been sold abroad, used on a real battlefield, and had even triggered an international diplomatic incident!

This wasn't just absurd; it was magical!

If all of this was true...

Sun Danian didn't dare to think any further; he knew the severity of this matter was... quite serious.

He looked at the young Streamer on the screen who was still feeling smug about the perfect sale of his "artwork," and felt his blood pressure skyrocketing.

This brat who had caused such a monstrous disaster yet remained completely unaware!

Damn it? This!

This matter must be reported!