Chapter 163 The Showdown: My Targets are the Dawn and Project 714

"Little Lin, you are only 21 years old."

Old Qian's voice was very light, very slow, but it carried a power that went straight to the soul.

"From fans to neodymium iron boron, to CNC machine tools, and now to carbon fiber."

"You are running too fast, so fast that it's as if there's a wolf chasing you from behind."

Old Qian leaned forward slightly, staring intently at Lin Xi: "Tell me, what are you chasing?"

"Or perhaps... what are you afraid of missing?"

Lin Xi's heart tightened abruptly.

As expected.

He could fool Zhang Zhengguo, he could fool foreigners.

But he couldn't fool this old man who had also returned from "opening his eyes to see the world."

In front of those eyes filled with wisdom, all lies seemed pale and feeble.

There was no way for Lin Xi to avoid it.

He thought of the notebook in his satchel.

He thought of those rough hands in the auditorium.

He thought of the figure that, decades later, would still be looking back at Earth in solitude from space.

He no longer hid anything.

The shyness and smile on his face gradually faded.

Replacing them was a solemnity and determination that transcended his age.

He met Old Qian's gaze and slowly uttered two terms.

"Shuguang-1."

"Project 714."

Boom!

The moment these two terms were spoken, the air in the office seemed to be sucked out.

The expression on Zhang Zhengguo's face froze.

And Old Qian's hand, resting on his knee, gripped his trousers tightly.

That was the deepest, most painful, and still unhealed scar in the hearts of this generation of space professionals.

It started in 1966, and even selected 19 astronauts.

But due to various reasons like national strength, technology, and turmoil, it was eventually forced to be scrapped in 1975, without even sending a single hair into the sky.

That was China's first attempt at manned spaceflight, and also an unfinished tragedy of great ambition.

"Do you know what you are saying?"

Zhang Zhengguo's voice was dry.

"That project... the files have all been sealed."

"I know."

Lin Xi said in a calm voice,

"Mountains of gold and silver couldn't fill the void, and the national strength couldn't support it."

"But, Old Qian, Director Zhang."

"If we don't start preparing now."

"When our national strength is sufficient, our technology will have a gap, and our talent will have been lost."

"By then, it will be too late to catch up."

"I want to make money, I want to develop machine tools, I want to develop carbon fiber..."

"It is all for this 'Shuguang'."

"To save up for a ticket, even if it's just to the launch!"

Old Qian closed his eyes.

After a long while.

The old man let out a very light, bitter laugh:

"That is four billion... not forty million."

"We calculated the costs back then; to succeed, it would take at least four billion... USD."

"I have a plan."

Lin Xi stood up and walked to the blackboard on the wall.

He picked up a piece of chalk, and without any hesitation, drew three lines heavily on the blackboard.

"Reaching the sky in one step is impossible."

"We need to take it in three steps."

The chalk rubbed against the blackboard, making a crisp "tap, tap, tap" sound.

"The first step: launch a manned spacecraft."

"Build an initially equipped experimental manned spacecraft project and conduct space application experiments."

"The second step: break through the technology for astronauts' extravehicular activities and the rendezvous and docking technology for spacecraft."

"Launch a space laboratory to solve the problem of space applications with a certain scale and short-term human attendance."

"The third step..."

The chalk in Lin Xi's hand paused abruptly, and he wrote the last line forcefully,

"Build a space station."

"Solve the problem of large-scale, long-term human-attended space applications!"

White chalk dust fell rustlingly.

On the blackboard, the "Three-Step Strategy for Manned Spaceflight," which would later be known to countless Chinese people and eventually perfectly realized, was clearly displayed to the world for the first time on this winter night in 1982.

Rigorous logic, interlocking nodes, and a highly operable engineering de-escalation plan.

This was not a fantasy.

This was a mature engineering blueprint!

In the livestream room, the netizens exploded:

[Holy crap! Three steps! This is the three-step strategy engraved in our DNA!]

[Tearing up, this is the strategy we later confirmed in the 921 Project, and the Streamer actually proposed it in '82!]

[This spoiler is too hardcore! Director Zhang is stunned!]

[This is the most awesome top-level design for China's aerospace, bar none! Streamer, you really dare to say anything!]

Zhang Zhengguo was completely stunned.

This plan of Lin Xi's avoided the problem of high-thrust rockets that were too ambitious.

Starting from the basics, every step trod on the edge of the limits of current industrial capacity, yet it was practical and feasible.

"This... did you come up with this yourself?"

Zhang Zhengguo asked incredulously,

"Just how much stuff do you have in your head?"

Lin Xi stopped writing and turned around.

He silently opened his satchel.

Under the puzzled gazes of Zhang Zhengguo and Old Qian, he took out a book.

It was a book published by Science Press in 1963.

The cover had yellowed, the spine was cracked, and it was densely covered with notes and annotations made in red and blue pencil.

The title—《Introduction to Interstellar Navigation》.

The author—Old Qian.

Lin Xi held the book with both hands, his eyes clear:

"Old Qian, when I found this book in the library, I was thinking."

"If we follow your theories and combine them with current technology, how should we proceed?"

"This 'three-step strategy' is actually all in your book."

"I just... stood on the shoulders of a giant."

The office fell into dead silence once again.

Zhang Zhengguo stared blankly at the book, then looked at Lin Xi, and finally his gaze fell on Old Qian.

Suddenly, he slapped his thigh hard, looking like he had just realized something:

"Hey! I knew it!"

"How could this kid be so godly!"

"So the root of it is here!"

"He has thoroughly digested your book!"

"That explains it, it makes sense now!"

Zhang Zhengguo's logic instantly closed the loop.

If it was an extension of Old Qian's theories, then never mind three steps.

Even thirty steps would be scientific and reasonable!

This was top-tier "self-convincing."

Old Qian, however, was stunned.

He looked at the lecture notes he had written back then.

He looked at the dense annotations on it, annotations that were even more numerous than the original text.

In a trance, he seemed to see himself from thirty years ago.

The person who, on the lawn of the White House, told reporters, "Everything I do is in preparation for being able to do something for the people after returning to the motherland."

The person who knew it was like a mayfly shaking a tree, yet resolutely wanted to grow a mushroom cloud on the barren land.

That kind of madness and purity, willing to burn oneself out for a grand vision.

It was really very similar.

"Standing on the shoulders of a giant..."

Old Qian muttered to himself,

"Good, a very good 'standing on the shoulders of a giant'."

At this moment, he saw it—inheritance.

An inheritance more precious than technical drawings, and more dazzling than gold and dollars.

"carbon fiber, go ahead and do it."

Old Qian put his glasses back on, his tone returning to calmness,

"Whatever support you need, tell Old Zhang directly."

"Whoever dares to block you, let them come find me!"