Chapter 51 This is not science as we understand it

The test concluded.

The open ground was a mess, with the oil drums and wooden boxes that had served as targets scattered in pieces. The hundred drones had already returned to their packing crates as instructed, as if nothing had ever happened.

However, that cold, scalp-tingling sense of shock still hung over the entire factory area.

A deathly silence persisted on the scene for a full minute.

Then, this silence was broken by a sudden, suppressed commotion.

"Quick! Go check the wreckage!"

Sun Danian was the first to react. As if injected with adrenaline, he let out a howl, completely disregarding his dignity as an Expert, and was the first to charge toward the targets that had undergone the simulated attack.

The group of Experts behind him, who had been dazed for a long while, also snapped out of it. Like perverts seeing a naked beauty, their eyes gleamed. With an agility completely unbefitting their age and status, they swarmed forward, surrounding the pile of scrap metal so tightly that not a drop of water could leak through.

"This impact point... is too precise... These are marks left by a simulated kinetic impact! It even calculated the most effective angle of attack!"

"Look at this remote-controlled car! The AI predicted its entire movement trajectory and chose an interception point that was the only blind spot! My god, just how terrifying is its computing power?"

The Experts spoke all at once, their voices filled with the fanaticism of discovering a new continent and the confusion of having their life's work overturned.

Li Jiajun watched this group of big shots who were nearly crawling on the ground to study scrap, feeling utterly speechless.

'Is this really necessary?' The thought surfaced in his mind.

Right then, the Old General walked up to his side.

This elderly man, who had maintained his majesty from start to finish, now had an incredibly complex look in his eyes. He didn't look at the wreckage; instead, he stared intently at Li Jiajun and asked in an unprecedentedly serious tone, "How did you produce something so advanced?"

This question went straight to the root of the matter.

The drones being impressive could be explained as a work of genius design.

But being able to mass-produce something that transcended the era represented something even more terrifying: an industrial manufacturing capability strong enough to support an entire cutting-edge technology system!

Li Jiajun's heart skipped a beat. He was just about to use some vague rhetoric like "Oh, it's just some imported high-end machine tools, nothing special" to brush it off.

However, he was a step too late after all.

His loyal "Big Smart One" manager had once again seized the perfect opportunity to "gain face" for his boss!

This manager had just witnessed how his boss's "Version 2.0" had shocked this group of national-level Experts into silence. His inner pride and adoration had reached their peak. He felt that his boss's prestige could be raised even further!

'Look, the leaders are stumped by the boss's technology again!' the Big Smart One manager thought gleefully. 'The boss is just too humble. At a time like this, I must step forward and proactively mention his even more impressive side! What's this called? It's called adding the finishing touch! Of course, it's also a part of the boss's [Reluctant Posturing Method].'

He felt that after this move, he would be even more highly valued by the boss.

With that thought...

Completely failing to notice the nearly pleading look Li Jiajun was shooting him, he walked up to the Old General with his chest puffed out and said in his booming voice:

"Reporting to the Chief! Our ability to produce this doesn't rely on any foreign technical support! It relies on our boss's genius brain!"

After speaking, he waved his hand proudly toward the nearby production workshop.

"Leaders, please follow me! I'll take you to see our true core secret!"

Li Jiajun's face fell.

He felt like a poor soul trying desperately to cover a volcano, only for his most trusted teammate to jump in while carrying a ton of TNT.

Inside the workshop, the "Frankenstein-esque" production line that Li Jiajun had "heavily modified" stood there quietly. Various machine tools of different brands and functions were welded and spliced together in an extremely crude manner. Exposed wires and pipes wound around them, making it look like a piece of postmodern art cobbled together from industrial junk by a psychotic artist.

The "Big Smart One," Wang Dachui, pointed at this production line and said to everyone with the prideful tone of someone introducing an imperial seal:

"Leaders, please look! This is the key to how we can produce those 'artworks'! Moreover, this entire production line, from design to modification, was handled by our boss alone! Just a few days ago, he saw a video online of a food processing plant making cookies and suddenly got inspired. Then he led us for a day and a night, dismantling all those newly purchased machines and forcibly transforming them into what you see now!"

As soon as these words were spoken, the air on the scene seemed to be sucked into a vacuum.

If the previous waves of shock had merely caused the Experts' worldviews to crack...

...then the Big Smart One manager's words were like a sledgehammer slamming into those cracks, shattering their final psychological defenses to pieces!

*Thud!*

An Expert with research in industrial automation and intelligent manufacturing was so startled he almost sat flat on the ground. He stumbled and then said:

"What did you say?! This production line... he modified it himself... after watching a video of making cookies? This... this violates all industrial protocols and bus standards! It... it doesn't even have the most basic logical closed loop! This is impossible! Absolutely impossible!"

These words voiced the inner thoughts of every technical Expert present.

Yes, it was impossible.

Getting industrial machines of different brands and systems to work together was a world-class challenge. Yet this young man before them had not only solved it, but the method of solution was "enlightenment from watching a video," followed by implementing it in a way that was nearly "nonsense."

This wasn't science.

Or rather, this wasn't the science they understood!