Chapter 285 Training Accident

The accident happened at 3:47 p.m. that day.

At that time, the "Kuafu" No. 3 was undergoing a complex terrain mobility test. Pilot Wang Lei was controlling the mech to climb a near-vertical steep slope. The five-meter-tall steel body gripped the rock wall steadily, its hydraulic system emitting a low hum.

On the command platform, Zhao Gang stared at the data on the screen: "This kid climbs well."

Chen Xueming stood beside him, holding a tablet, monitoring the mech's various parameters in real-time: "Power output stable, attitude control good. Much better than yesterday."

As soon as the words were spoken, the data on the screen suddenly flickered.

Chen Xueming frowned slightly. Just as he was about to take a closer look, Wang Lei's voice came over the walkie-talkie: "Report, there's something off with the power system."

"What's the situation?" Zhao Gang immediately grabbed the walkie-talkie.

"Output power is dropping. I'm now..." Wang Lei's voice cut off, then turned into an urgent shout, "Power failure! Losing power! I'm—"

On the monitor, the mech suddenly stalled in the middle of the steep slope. Immediately after, the grip of its caterpillar-tracked feet vanished. The five-meter-tall steel body began to slide downward.

"Wang Lei!" Zhao Gang roared.

Everyone saw it—Mech No. 3 tumbled down the steep slope, crashing heavily into the pile of rubble at the mountain's base. Dust billowed up, obscuring most of the machine's body.

"Quick! Rescue team, deploy!" Zhao Gang threw down the walkie-talkie and rushed down from the command platform.

Chen Xueming froze for a second, then followed closely behind.

At the mountain's base, Mech No. 3 lay on its side in the rubble pile, its silver-gray paint covered in dust. The rescue team's off-road vehicle arrived at the scene in three minutes, but everyone stopped five meters away from the mech, not daring to approach.

"What's the situation?" Zhao Gang rushed over, panting.

"Complete power failure. The cockpit hatch won't open," the rescue team leader pointed at the mech. "The hydraulic system is also down. The manual unlocking mechanism is unusable."

Without another word, Zhao Gang rushed to the mech's side, using his bare hands to clear the rubble around the hatch. He found the manual unlock port, took out the military knife he always carried, and prepared to pry it open.

"Old Zhao!" Chen Xueming pressed down on his hand. "You won't pry it open like this. We need cutting equipment."

"Then get it, quick!" Zhao Gang yelled.

"It's already on the way," the rescue team leader pointed into the distance. "Three minutes."

Zhao Gang leaned on the mech, pounding on the hatch and shouting: "Wang Lei! Can you hear me!"

A muffled response came from inside: "I hear you! I'm okay!"

"Are you injured?"

"No! Just can't get out!"

Zhao Gang relaxed slightly, but his face remained ashen. He turned to look at Chen Xueming: "What caused it?"

Chen Xueming had already opened his tablet and pulled up the data from the final moments. He stared at the screen, his frown deepening: "The power system... The final data shows the output power of all four power units dropped to zero simultaneously within 0.3 seconds."

"Simultaneously?"

"Yes," Chen Xueming looked up, his expression grave. "It wasn't a single unit failure. It was a system-level failure."

Zhao Gang didn't understand the technical details, but he understood what "system-level failure" meant—it wasn't an accident; it was a design flaw.

The cutting equipment arrived, and the rescue team began cutting the hatch. Sparks flew. Zhao Gang stood nearby, staring intently, his fists clenched white.

Twenty minutes later, an opening was cut in the hatch. Wang Lei crawled out, drenched in sweat, but indeed uninjured.

"Report..." he began.

"Report my ass!" Zhao Gang grabbed his shoulders, checking him over. "Does anything hurt? Are you feeling unwell anywhere?"

"Really, I'm fine," Wang Lei forced a smile. "Just got a scare."

Zhao Gang released him and turned to look at the mech lying on its side. The dust had settled. Under the sunlight, the silver-gray "Kuafu" No. 3 lay quietly in the rubble pile like a wounded giant beast.

"Everyone, withdraw to the safe zone," Zhao Gang said in a low voice. "Seal off this mech. No one is to approach without orders from me or Director Chen."

Two hours later, Mech No. 3 was towed back to the assembly workshop.

Lin Mo arrived at 8 p.m.

He had been in Beijing attending a Mars Project coordination meeting. After receiving Chen Xueming's call, he flew back overnight. He landed at 7:30 p.m. and came directly to the base from the airport.

The workshop was brightly lit. Mech No. 3 was secured in the maintenance area, most of its outer shell already removed, revealing the complex internal power system. Chen Xueming, along with several technicians, was troubleshooting. Zhao Gang stood nearby, his face dark as a storm cloud.

"What's the situation?" Lin Mo walked in briskly, not even having time to take off his coat.

Chen Xueming looked up, his eyes bloodshot: "We've identified the issue."

He pointed at the core component of the power unit: "This is the power distribution module, responsible for distributing the energy output from the main assembly to the four power units. This afternoon's failure was caused by the control chip in this module failing."

Lin Mo leaned in for a closer look. It was a palm-sized circuit board, its surface showing no visible abnormalities.

"Chip failure?" he asked. "What caused it?"

"Overload," Chen Xueming pulled up the data. "No. 3 was climbing a steep slope, requiring power output close to the upper limit. The control chip operating continuously under these conditions caused its internal temperature to exceed the design threshold, and then..."

He didn't finish, but everyone understood.

Lin Mo was silent for a few seconds: "What about the other nine units? Do they have the same problem?"

"I spot-checked four of them overnight, opened them up," Chen Xueming said. "Same chip, same design. Even though they haven't failed yet, if high-intensity training continues..."

"The problem will surface sooner or later," Lin Mo finished for him.

A dead silence fell over the workshop.

Zhao Gang finally spoke, his voice hoarse: "The responsibility is mine. I've been pushing them too hard these past few days. The training intensity was too high, exceeding the mech's design limits."

Lin Mo looked at him but said nothing.

"What's the design threshold for that chip?" Chen Xueming asked a technician beside him.

"Continuous operation for one hour at over 80% power, and the temperature will exceed the limit," the technician said quietly. "But during our lab tests, the operating conditions weren't this harsh..."

"The lab is the lab; real combat is real combat," Chen Xueming interrupted him. His tone held no blame, only exhaustion. "This responsibility is mine. I'm responsible for the overall design. I didn't consider the heat accumulation problem under sustained extreme operating conditions."

Lin Mo still didn't speak. He walked over to Mech No. 3 and gently placed his hand on the exposed power unit.

The metal was cold.

"What about Wang Lei?" he suddenly asked.

Zhao Gang was taken aback: "Resting in the dorm."

"How's his state of mind?"

"Not bad," Zhao Gang said. "This kid has a thick skin. Said it was like riding a roller coaster."

Lin Mo nodded, then asked: "What about the other pilots? Is anyone afraid to train?"

"No," Zhao Gang shook his head. "In fact, those guys came to find me just now, asking if they could continue training tomorrow."

Lin Mo finally turned and looked at Chen Xueming: "How long to fix this problem?"

Chen Xueming gritted his teeth: "Give me three days. Redesign the power distribution module, replace the chips with high-temperature resistant ones, optimize the cooling structure. In three days, I guarantee all mechs can withstand extreme operating conditions."

"Three days is too long," Lin Mo said.

Chen Xueming was stunned.

"Tomorrow morning," Lin Mo looked him in the eye. "I want to see the new plan."

Chen Xueming opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but in the end, only uttered one word: "Okay."

Lin Mo then looked at Zhao Gang: "Training continues tomorrow, but at half intensity. Tell your soldiers today's accident was due to a design flaw, not operational error. Tell them to train with confidence; we'll solve the problem."

Zhao Gang nodded.

Lin Mo turned to leave. He stopped at the doorway: "Chen Xueming, come with me."

The two walked out of the workshop, one after the other.

Outside, the night was cool as water, the sky full of stars. Lin Mo stood in the open area, looking up at the sky for a long time without speaking.

Chen Xueming stood behind him, not daring to speak either.

"Do you know what meeting I was attending in Beijing today?" Lin Mo suddenly asked.

"No."

"The Mars Project coordination meeting," Lin Mo said. "Discussing the launch timeline for the unmanned probes. Someone suggested we could launch the probes first and only start the mech modification plan after the probes land. Their reasoning was that the mech technology isn't mature enough yet."

Chen Xueming's heart tightened.

"I insisted on proceeding concurrently," Lin Mo continued. "I said the mech plan must advance in sync with the probes. Only then can we initiate the manned mission as soon as the probes confirm a landing site."

He turned and looked at Chen Xueming: "Today's accident made what I said at the meeting a joke."

Chen Xueming lowered his head: "I'm sorry."

"It's not about being sorry," Lin Mo's voice held no blame, only heaviness. "Xueming, do you know what worries me most?"

Chen Xueming shook his head.

"What worries me most isn't that you make mistakes," Lin Mo said. "It's that after a mistake happens, everyone becomes afraid to make any more mistakes."

Chen Xueming was stunned.

"Technology advances through trial and error," Lin Mo looked at him. "Today's accident exposed a design flaw. That's bad, but it's also good. Bad because it put Wang Lei at risk. Good because it let us discover the problem during the training phase, not on Mars."

He paused, his tone turning serious: "But, Xueming, you must remember—some mistakes can be made; some cannot. A design flaw like today's should have been discovered in the lab, not during live mech training. Our time is tight, but not so tight that we use human lives for trial and error."

Chen Xueming clenched his fists: "I understand."

Lin Mo patted his shoulder: "Go get some rest. Tomorrow morning, first thing, I want to see the new plan."

"Okay."

Chen Xueming turned to leave but stopped: "Old Lin."

Lin Mo turned back.

"Thank you," Chen Xueming said. "For not chewing me out in front of everyone."

Lin Mo looked at him for a few seconds, then suddenly smiled: "When have I ever chewed you out?"

Chen Xueming also smiled: "True."

He strode off towards the workshop. After a few steps, he heard Lin Mo call out from behind: "Tomorrow morning, eight o'clock. I'll come to your office."

"Got it!"

Lin Mo stood where he was, watching Chen Xueming's back disappear into the workshop doorway.

He looked up again at the star-filled sky.

Mars was still in that direction, faintly glowing red.

"It's still a long road ahead," he said softly.

The next morning at 7:55, the new plan was ready on time in Chen Xueming's office.

When Lin Mo pushed the door open, Chen Xueming was slumped over the desk catching up on sleep. The desk was covered with a thick stack of blueprints, next to three empty energy drink bottles.

Lin Mo didn't wake him. He quietly picked up the blueprints and began flipping through them, page by page.

The new power distribution module adopted a redundant design, with dual chips backing each other up. The cooling structure was completely redesigned, adding two independent cooling channels. The control logic was optimized, incorporating a heat accumulation warning mechanism. When chip temperature reached 80% of the threshold, the system would automatically reduce power...

At exactly eight o'clock, Chen Xueming woke up on his own.

He groggily lifted his head and saw Lin Mo sitting across from him, holding the blueprints.

"How is it?" he asked, rubbing his eyes.

Lin Mo put down the blueprints and looked at him: "Three days changed to one night. Did you sleep at all last night?"

"Slept for an hour," Chen Xueming yawned. "It's enough."

Lin Mo stood up and placed the blueprints back on the desk: "Plan approved. Notify the factory to prioritize production of these ten modules. Within three days, complete the refit on all 'Kuafu' units."

Chen Xueming was taken aback: "You're not going to review it in detail?"

"No need," Lin Mo walked towards the door. "The night you spent working on it is the best quality assurance."

Chen Xueming opened his mouth but couldn't find words.

Lin Mo reached the door and turned back: "Training intensity is halved today, but mechs that have been refitted can train normally. I'll talk to Zhao Gang about it."

The door closed.

Chen Xueming sat where he was, looking at the stack of blueprints, and suddenly smiled.

"Old Lin," he said softly. "You, you're really something..."

Sunlight from outside the window streamed in, falling on the blueprints.

Those dense lines and numbers shimmered faintly in the sunlight.