219: Chapter 219: Non-human technology that uses gravity to travel really exists in reality!

Fang Jinhua, Kyoto Aerospace University, retired academician of the Academy of Engineering.

Seeing the newcomer, the netizens were stunned for a moment, and before they could even process the jump from the level of university professors, a massive wave of bullet comments surged in.

"Holy crap, a real academician is taking the field!"

"Academician Fang Jinhua, one of the leading figures of the manned spaceflight materials team back in the day!"

"Brother, this lineup... from retired professors to Nobel-level big shots, and now even a national treasure academician has arrived?"

"Greetings, Academician Fang! I'm kowtowing to you!"

"This time, the difficulty of the questions is probably going to hit the stratosphere!"

"..."

Even Ouyang Baili, Professor Wu, and Old Yu in the principal's office couldn't help but feel their scalps tingle as they looked at this somewhat playful yet elegant middle-aged to elderly academician.

Ouyang Baili said with a look of surprise, "I'm really curious. What did Jiang Zhe answer on the official website during the day to actually draw out a big shot of this level?"

Professor Wu was also stunned, but being a man of action, he immediately pulled out his phone and made a call. "Xiao Fang, can you tell me what your mother is currently doing at the institution? Why did she personally come down to evaluate a candidate?"

A man's voice in his thirties or forties came from the other side. "Uncle Wu, my mom just opened the video review at home. I heard that a young man signed up for every single subject during the day. Mathematics, foreign languages, physics, chemistry, politics, geography, aerospace... he signed up for almost everything possible."

"At first, I thought it was a joke. Who would've thought there'd be such a freak who got every single answer right under conditions where online cheating is impossible."

"Some questions that don't even have answers in our world were answered by that freak. It made my mom's eyes light up, so she decided to personally evaluate him tonight."

"Uncle Wang, did you call because you found out too?"

Professor Wu listened in a daze. An examination for all subjects???

Nearby, Ouyang Baili, Li Mo, Professor Guan, and several physics students looked at each other, all seeing the same look of disbelief on each other's faces.

What the heck, all subjects? That's not just one major, but hundreds of disciplines...

"Yeah... I know now. I'm currently watching the freak you're talking about." After saying that, Professor Wu hung up the phone in shock and couldn't help but suck in a breath of cold air. "Is Jiang Zhe really that hard? I mean his strength, nothing else."

Ouyang Baili's gaze grew increasingly fervent, becoming more and more expectant of Jiang Zhe's performance.

Just then.

On the large screen, Academician Fang looked at the calm Jiang Zhe and got straight to the point: "Student J, let's talk about something practical. To build a spacecraft that can repeatedly travel between heaven and earth, especially one that can withstand that fiery hell when returning from space, what do you think is the greatest material hurdle?"

"Is it absolutely necessary to find some kind of [mythical composite material] that can never be burned through?"

Jiang Zhe couldn't help but shake his head, his expectations for this world's aerospace technology dropping another notch.

"Academician Fang, your question is top-tier and indeed reflects the peak thinking of an engineer. But if we're thinking about flying out of the Solar System, it's like an Earthling trying to charge through the sun's surface using a continuously thickened cotton-padded jacket..."

Before he could finish, a look of intense interest appeared on Academician Fang's face. "Oh? If a cotton jacket won't work, then what should be done? We can't exactly go naked, or go at night, can we?"

As soon as she said this, the humorous Academician Fang made the netizens grin.

"Of course not naked, but rather a different principle of 'dressing'." Jiang Zhe nodded slightly and decided to explain in easy-to-understand terms: "First, you must understand that in the deep space of the universe, which is filled with invisible space radiation bullets and temperatures that easily reach tens of thousands of degrees, relying on brute-force resistance has no end. No matter how sturdy a shield is, there will come a day when it is pierced. So, what should be done?"

Speaking to this point, he held up one finger:

"The first method: make the material come alive, and learn to interact with the environment, or even use its own strength against it."

"For instance, imagine a material that has life. If its surface is hit by cosmic rays and sustains a small wound, it can heal itself. But that's not enough. What if its surface was covered with a layer of microscopic structures a million times thinner than a hair that could [move]?"

"When high-temperature plasma of several thousand degrees lunges at the spacecraft from all directions, these microscopic structures instantly align themselves like a living guide vane. They would guide and dissipate the violent heat, throwing it off in a specific direction."

"Or, simply convert a portion of the lethal heat into a harmless light wave and radiate it away."

"With this method, it doesn't fight to the death with the extreme heat or cold of the universe. Instead, it shows the heat and cold the way, even making the heat work for it."

Hearing this, Academician Fang sucked in a small breath of cold air, her eyes lighting up. "It seems your answer sheet during the day was indeed your own. From this point alone, you have a very deep understanding of aerospace!"

Not only that, but even the netizens heard it clearly. This was clearly a 'Great Shift of Heaven and Earth' version of a composite material!

Jiang Zhe did not respond to the praise and continued his explanation: "But this is still passive defense."

Then he held up a second finger. "The second method is more radical—why must we let the spacecraft's hull endure this suffering? Why can't we make the surrounding environment actively clear a path for the ship?"

"Is it warp drive?" Academician Fang blurted out.

"It's similar to warp drive, but more fundamental." Jiang Zhe said with a serious expression, "If there were a technology where a tiny, persistent spatial depression existed in front of the ship, much like the bow of a speedboat naturally splits the water's surface, this depression itself would cause the most ferocious energy and particle streams to detour around it."

"Where would the energy to create this depression come from..."

He pointed his finger overhead. "Naturally, it would come from the seemingly empty space around us itself."

To help Xiao Yu, who was slacking off behind him, understand, he intentionally simplified his language: "Just like wringing a wet towel can produce water; in the microscopic world invisible to the naked eye, the vacuum is always boiling with invisible energy foam called [virtual particle pairs]."

"If a spacecraft could continuously and directionally 'wring' this vacuum, it could then extract tiny amounts of energy to maintain that [spatial bubble] protecting the ship."

"This radical method: instead of having the spacecraft endure cosmic storms, it raises an invisible umbrella that constantly moves forward for the ship itself."

Academician Fang's ears perked up as she listened, and she quickly followed up: "Wonderful, and very clever!"

"But how do you make this umbrella fly forward? Without burning fuel, what would provide the propulsion?"

"Don't tell me it's by distorting space itself for propulsion. The energy required for that is an astronomical figure that we can't even achieve now in 2026!"

Hearing this, Jiang Zhe revealed a subtle smile. "You've hit the root of the matter!"

He held up a third finger. "This is the third and most subversive idea: we may have been looking for the wrong fuel and looking at the wrong path forward from the very beginning."

"We humans, whether ancient or modern, always think about lighting a fire and spraying something out the back, relying on reaction force to go upstream in the universe like rowing a boat."

"But what if, in this sea of the universe, there already exist ocean currents and waterfalls that we haven't discovered yet?"

"For example, gravity!" Jiang Zhe felt his throat go dry, took a sip of black tea, and continued to explain: "Not using a gravity slingshot to borrow force for acceleration, but using gravity for [gliding]!"

"If our spacecraft could be like a surfer, sensing those faint [gravitational gradients] in cosmic space."

"Even if it's just the insignificant fluctuations between galaxies—then it could adjust the shape of the spatial bubble outside its ship so that it is always on a gravitational [downhill path]."

"It wouldn't need to row desperately itself; the terrain of cosmic space itself would naturally carry it, accelerating toward its destination."

"This is like a future high-tech bicycle. No matter when—the bicycle can create a downhill path for itself. Even when going uphill, the bicycle itself can create a [downhill path] for the bicycle."

Before Academician Fang could react, Jiang Zhe's tone shifted, and his eyes suddenly became sharp.

"Academician Fang, these conjectures of mine are not without foundation."

"In our era, there may already be certain existences that have demonstrated a tip of the iceberg of this mode of movement to us!"

"And this technology, which does not belong to humanity, has truly appeared..."

"In reality!!!!"

As soon as he said this, Xiao Yu, who was originally slacking off, suddenly raised her puppy-like waist, widened her puppy-like eyes, and perked up her puppy-like ears. "Eh? There's actually an unexpected harvest!"

She put down her puppy phone that she used to chat with the netizens and leaned in closer to listen.

Even Academician Fang, the millions of netizens, the teachers, experts, and professors all looked up in disbelief.

It couldn't be?

It couldn't be another non-human technological creation like the one in Chelyabinsk last time, could it?