Chapter 9 Ambition and Pledge!

This was the development path Lin Xi had come up with after thinking hard all night:

Get money first!

Get money desperately while developing technology on the side!

Without money, how could one talk about the sea of stars?

Why was the national aerospace industry struggling? In the end, it came down to two words: lack of money.

As long as there was sufficient funding, combined with the experience and wisdom from forty-five years in the future,

Lin Xi was confident he could push the manned spaceflight schedule forward by ten years and the space station plan by twenty!

By then, the Beidou network would be established, and the history of the "Yinhe" incident's humiliation would be rewritten.

The star network would be like a brilliant diamond necklace, hanging 12,992 satellites across low Earth orbit!

This was not just his personal ambition, but also the collective "Aerospace Dream" of 1.4 billion netizens in the 2025 livestream!

...

In the office, you could hear a pin drop.

Li Jianguo's face turned pale, and he desperately tugged at Lin Xi's sleeve:

"You brat, what nonsense are you talking! Is that something you should be worrying about?"

Elder Qian slowly set down his tea mug, not showing any anger:

"Young man, you certainly talk big."

"Do you know how much a supersonic wind tunnel costs?"

"Do you know how difficult things are for the country right now?"

"Since you know it's difficult, instead of thinking about contributing more in this position, you want to pursue unorthodox ways?"

The air pressure in the room instantly dropped to the freezing point.

It was the pressure of a superior, making it hard for one to breathe.

Lin Xi, however, smiled.

To convince this elder who had seen great storms, sentiment was useless; he had to use the kind of truth that pierced the soul.

"Chief Designer, I think our current approach is wrong," Lin Xi suddenly raised his voice.

"We have first-class technology and first-class talent, yet we live third-class lives."

"If I may be blunt, we are begging for food while sitting on a golden rice bowl!"

Boom!

These words were like a depth charge, exploding directly in the office.

The guard nearby stared so hard his eyes nearly popped out, and his hand instinctively moved toward his waist.

Li Jianguo was so terrified he almost fell to his knees.

In this era, these were extremely "rebellious" words that could even carry political risk!

"A golden rice bowl?" Elder Qian laughed out of anger.

"What golden rice bowl do we have?"

"Is it a pile of scrap metal, or a pile of gunpowder that can only make a loud bang?"

"Technology is the golden rice bowl!" Lin Xi spoke very quickly.

"We have the best aerodynamics experts in the country, the most incredible superalloy formulas, and the most precise processing workshops."

"Since these technologies can send satellites into space, why can't they be used to improve the lives of ordinary people?"

"Even if we just take a few scraps of technology and turn them into civilian products, it would be a dimensionality reduction strike against the current market!"

Elder Qian frowned, clearly maintaining the vigilance characteristic of that era toward such rhetoric:

"Civilian use? You mean you want our dignified aerospace base to make iron pots and washbasins?"

"That is not just neglecting our proper duties; it is a waste of talent!"

"No." Lin Xi's gaze was firm as he looked directly at Elder Qian.

"What I want to make is something that will make foreigners reach for their foreign exchange when they see it."

He pulled a sketch he had drawn last night from his pocket and spread it out on Elder Qian's desk.

"I want to apply to go to our base's 'Red Star Labor Service Agency'."

"Give me a workshop, and I won't ask for a single cent of state funding."

Lin Xi held up one finger, his voice echoing through the office:

"I will sign a military pledge with you!"

"Within one year, I will hand over one million yuan in cash profit to the base!"

"With that money, what kind of preliminary research can't we do? Would everyone still be unable to even afford a pair of new shoes?"

"One million?!"

Li Jianguo was completely stunned.

In this era, one million was practically an astronomical figure!

"Boy, do you have a fever?"

"Do you know how many tons of special steel one million can buy?"

Elder Qian also smiled, though with a hint of disappointment:

"Xiao Lin, having drive is a good thing."

"But whether it's scientific research or production, one must seek truth from facts."

"Bragging comes with a price."

Facing the doubt, Lin Xi didn't rush to defend himself; he simply pointed to the drawing on the desk.

"Elder Qian, you are an aerodynamics expert."

"Take a look at this, and you'll know if I'm bragging."

Elder Qian looked down, casually glancing at the drawing.

With that one look, he couldn't take his eyes off it.

He quickly put on his reading glasses and leaned forward.

What was drawn was an apparently ordinary electric fan.

But the shape of the blades was so strange it was almost outrageous—

It wasn't the traditional three-blade sheet metal design.

Instead, it was a seven-blade design with complex curvature and serrated edges.

"This is..."

Elder Qian's finger traced the curves on the drawing in the air, his brain calculating rapidly.

"Bernoulli's equation... boundary layer suction principle?"

"The change in the angle of attack of this blade..."

"Is this a variant of a transonic compressor blade?"

Elder Qian suddenly looked up, staring at Lin Xi in shock:

"You're using an aerodynamic model for Mach 0.8 on a civilian fan that spins at 1,200 RPM?"

"You're... you're using a dragon-slaying knife to kill a chicken!"

"Only by using a dragon-slaying knife to kill a chicken will it stay dead; it's called technological crushing," Lin Xi replied calmly.

"Current domestic fans are noisy and have a harsh wind feel."

"My design utilizes fluid mechanics principles to reduce noise by 50% and double the wind distance, blowing out a soft laminar flow."

"With this kind of fan, I'm confident we can make a profit of 30 yuan per unit, or even more!"

Lin Xi's voice was full of persuasion,

"This is a money-printing machine."

"..."

The livestream chat exploded again.

[Holy crap! Is he using Dyson's playbook to pull a dimensionality reduction strike on the 80s?]

[Elder Qian's eyes are literally glowing! Do you see? That's a scientist's intuition!]

[This move is called: I may be making a fan, but it has the bloodline of a rocket!]

[This isn't just a fan; it's an aerodynamic work of art!]

Elder Qian took off his glasses, the last trace of contempt in his eyes vanishing.

He looked at Lin Xi as if he were looking at a monster, yet also as if he were looking at a piece of unpolished jade.

"A 'dimensionality reduction strike,' indeed..." Elder Qian murmured to himself.

"To think that downgrading aerospace technology for civilian use could be played this way..."

He looked at the drawing, thinking to himself.

In recent years, the talk of compressing military spending had become more frequent. If they kept following the old path and waiting for funding, they might not even be able to maintain basic preliminary research.

This kid Xiao Lin's methods were wild, but they were structured—military-to-civilian tech transfer was exactly the direction the central government was advocating.

If it succeeded, it would carve out a path for the base to survive.

If it failed, the loss of a single Service Center was something the higher-ups could handle; at worst, he'd just drag the boy back to continue drawing blueprints.

He was silent for a long time before finally slapping the table hard.

"Good!"

That single word was resounding.

"Since you're willing to make a go of it, I'll hand over that 'Red Star Labor Service Agency' with its few broken tile-roofed houses and group of unemployed youths to you."

"You'll be the Deputy Manager, but in reality, you'll have the final say on operations!"

"But let me make things clear: first, no political mistakes are allowed; second, once you make money, I'm taking 70% of the profits for scientific research."

"If you're short even by a single cent, I'll hold you accountable!"

The corners of Lin Xi's mouth curled up as he stood at attention and gave a standard military salute:

"Deal!"

"But I also have a condition: I must have independent personnel and financial authority. The base can supervise, but it cannot interfere."

"I want that abandoned Workshop No. 5 and the scrap metal inside it."

"I also want a single dormitory to make it easier for me to draw blueprints."

"Granted! As long as it's not against the rules, I'll back you up!"

"I'll have someone send the relevant documents over to you later."

Elder Qian's large hand reached across the desk and gripped Lin Xi's hand tightly, a faint smile on his face.

"Young man, this road won't be easy. There might be more difficulties than you imagine."

...

Stepping out of the Chief Commander's office, the wind outside was biting cold.

Li Jianguo still hadn't recovered, his steps a bit shaky:

"Kid, are you for real? You're really going to try and get that dilapidated Service Center running?"

"And one million..."

"Do you even know how much money one million is?"

"The Lanzhou Textile Mill, with ten thousand people working themselves to the bone all year, can only hand over ten million."

"You know the Huashang Factory in Shanghai, right?"

"It's considered the most profitable light industry enterprise in the country, and it hands over eight million a year."

"And you just say one million like it's nothing; it's simply a fantasy!"

Listening to his master's nagging and seeing the graying hair at his temples, Lin Xi felt a warmth in his heart.

"Don't worry, Master." Lin Xi narrowed his eyes, looking at the gray sky in the distance.

Advancing manned spaceflight by ten years?

Completely washing away the humiliation of having our necks squeezed by the West?

One million wouldn't be nearly enough.

I was just afraid that if I said a larger number, it would be too shocking...