114: Chapter 114 Twenty Hours! A Third Secret Door is Hidden Inside the Thrust Vectoring Nozzle!

Taklamakan Desert, Shennong Base, Bunker No. 3.

9:51 AM.

After Su Che sent the encrypted file for the "Sky-Breaking Bow" plan, he didn't wait for Lieutenant General Peng's reply and switched directly back to the "Candle Dragon" terminal.

Twenty hours.

Subtracting the time he needed to oversee the remote deployment of the Sky-Breaking Bow, the actual working hours left for the engine were less than fifteen hours.

Thrust vectoring nozzle, final assembly, injection control program, cold-state verification.

Four processes, fifteen hours.

Enough, but there could be no mistakes.

Su Che moved the hafnium-based ceramic powder and the last batch of niobium-tungsten alloy ingots out of the box and stacked them next to the force field workspace.

He pulled up the 3D model of the nozzle.

The thrust vectoring nozzle is the "mouth" of the engine; the gas is ejected from here, and its direction, angle, and diffusion ratio are all controlled by it.

The design provided by the system was a three-segment movable structure. The tail of the nozzle consisted of three curved guide vanes, each driven independently, capable of deflecting within a range of plus or minus ninety degrees.

The deflection drive was not hydraulic, but electromagnetic.

Three sets of high-temperature superconducting electromagnets were embedded in the outer wall of the nozzle, directly pushing the guide vanes to turn via magnetic force.

There was no mechanical contact, no friction loss, and the response speed was at the millisecond level.

Su Che entered the parameters for the first guide vane into the terminal.

"Hum—"

The force field expanded, and the niobium-tungsten alloy atoms began to arrange themselves.

While watching the growth progress, he used the military supercomputer to run the remote deployment script for the Sky-Breaking Bow.

President Liu Qianghua's call came in at this moment.

"Engineer Su! The management authority for the quantum key distribution backbone network has been fully transferred to you! Thirty-six provincial nodes, one hundred and twenty-eight municipal relay stations, all on your terminal."

There was obvious exhaustion in President Liu Qianghua's voice; the old man clearly hadn't slept all night either.

"I have already written the modification script for the generation rate parameters of the entangled particle source. I am pushing it to your terminal now; you can just issue it directly from your end."

Su Che picked up the walkie-talkie, clamped it between his neck and shoulder, and freed both hands to continue operating the "Candle Dragon".

"Dean Liu, I've seen the script, but there is a place that needs to be changed."

"Where?"

"For the clock source of the seventh-layer frequency hopping synchronization, you used a cesium atomic clock. Change it to the optical lattice clock built into the quantum chip. The precision will increase by three orders of magnitude, and the synchronization jitter will drop directly to zero."

"Optical lattice clock? Our quantum chip has this function?"

"Yes. When I designed the chip architecture, I tucked it in, but didn't write it into the manual."

President Liu Qianghua sighed deeply on the other end of the phone.

"You kid, how much stuff did you hide in that chip?"

"I'll give you a list when this is over. Change the parameters first; time is short."

After hanging up, Su Che pushed the modified script to the thirty-six provincial nodes.

The upgrade of the backbone network was silent; it didn't require downtime or a restart. The optical lattice clock of the quantum chip took over clock synchronization seamlessly in the background.

Throughout the process, Eagle Sauce's satellites couldn't see any anomalies.

Because this operation didn't go through the electromagnetic channel at all.

...

10:40 AM.

The first guide vane was completed.

Su Che took it out of the force field, placed it on the workbench, and picked up a vernier caliper to measure a few key dimensions.

Everything was within tolerance.

To be precise, there was no tolerance.

Things made by "Candle Dragon" had atomic-level errors; the precision of the vernier caliper wasn't even enough.

He measured it purely out of habit.

He threw the caliper back into the toolbox and started on the second one.

Just as he was entering the material ratio for the second guide vane, the retrieval interface of the Southern Gate master database automatically popped up a correlation prompt.

[Historical file related to the current process retrieved: Experiment No. 937 — Analysis of High-Temperature Deflection Failure of Thrust Vectoring Nozzle.]

Su Che clicked it open.

Experiment No. 937, timestamped nine years ago.

Experiment content: Under simulated Mach 12 operating conditions, when the deflection angle of the guide vanes exceeded sixty degrees, the high-temperature superconducting electromagnet quenched due to exceeding the critical temperature, the magnetic force dropped to zero, and the guide vanes went out of control.

Conclusion: The superconducting electromagnetic drive scheme is unreliable under extreme high temperatures.

Experiment status: Failed.

Signature of person in charge: Academician Qian Zhenhua.

Su Che flipped down.

On the last page of the report, there was that kind of pencil annotation hidden in the corner again.

It wasn't Academician Qian Zhenhua's handwriting.

It was Grandfather's.

[Superconducting quench is a temperature problem, not a scheme problem. If there is a material that can form a local low-temperature environment on the outer wall of the nozzle, the superconducting electromagnet will not quench. "Kunlun" resonance heat suppression field, 0.73 Hz, can it be applied in reverse? — Su Changshan, Note.]

Su Che stared at the four words "applied in reverse".

Forward application — 0.73 Hz resonance, eliminating temperature gradients, so that there is no thermal oscillation in the high-temperature zone.

Reverse application...

He pulled up the physical property database of the "Kunlun" alloy, found the correlation equation between the resonance frequency and the temperature field, and reverse-calculated it.

Thirty seconds later, he leaned back in his chair.

The meaning of reverse application is: If the resonance frequency of the "Kunlun" alloy is adjusted from 0.73 Hz to its third harmonic — 2.19 Hz, the effect of the heat suppression field will reverse.

It won't eliminate the temperature gradient.

It will create a temperature gradient.

On the outside of the coating area, it will forcibly form a low-temperature zone.

A layer of "Kunlun" alloy coating one atom thick, resonating at 2.19 Hz, can create a relatively low-temperature "pocket" around the superconducting electromagnet on the outer wall of the nozzle.

The superconducting material will stay in this pocket and will never quench.

The dead end of Experiment No. 937, solved.

Su Che added a line to the coating process parameters for the guide vanes.

["Kunlun" resonance coating · Outer wall · Third harmonic mode · 2.19 Hz.]

He saved the parameters and continued to "grow" the second guide vane.

The third hidden door.

In the fifteen-year data graveyard, Grandfather had buried at least three hidden doors.

0.73 Hz heat suppression field, spiral channel gas film insulation, 2.19 Hz reverse low-temperature zone.

Each one was precisely locked onto the key nodes of the system blueprints.

This was not a coincidence.

This was a scientist who had groped in the dark for fifteen years, carving everything he "thought of but couldn't do" into the bones of the data in the most hidden way possible.

Waiting for those who came after.

...

12:00 PM.

All three guide vanes were completed, and the superconducting electromagnet module on the outer wall of the nozzle had also "grown".

Su Che had been grabbing every spare moment to doze off since last night; he hadn't slept well, and his lower back was killing him.

He stood up to stretch, only to find that a bowl of noodles had appeared on the right side of the console at some point.

Hand-pulled noodles with a tomato and egg topping, with a poached egg on top, the yolk still runny.

A note was pressed next to it, in Lin Waner's handwriting.

[Eat before working, no leftovers allowed.]

Su Che picked up the bowl and ate the noodles standing up.

Vinegar had been added to the broth, making it sour and appetizing.

He put the empty bowl back, placing it upside down; this was his habit since childhood, turning the bowl over after eating to keep the dust out.

The walkie-talkie rang.

"Chief Engineer Su, the data from the Aerospace Telemetry and Control Center has arrived." Zhou Qihang's voice.

"The real-time orbital parameters of the six Quantum Communication satellites, the communication window schedule, and the firmware versions of the spaceborne terminals are all in the encrypted email."

"Received."

Su Che opened the aerospace telemetry and control data packet while starting the "growth" process for the nozzle casing.

He studied the orbital distribution of the six satellites for three minutes.

Then he drew four circles on his tactical tablet.

Beijing Military Science Commission.

Western Theater Command Joint Operations Center.

Southern Theater Command Joint Operations Center.

Eastern Theater Command Joint Operations Center.

After rearranging the communication windows for the six satellites, the four core nodes could achieve at least forty-five minutes of quantum encrypted direct connection per hour.

The remaining fifteen-minute gap would be covered by the quantum relays of the ground backbone network.

He sent the arrangement plan to the Aerospace Telemetry and Control Center and carbon-copied Lieutenant General Peng.

He added a sentence.

[How long does it take for satellite orbit adjustment?]

The reply from Aerospace Telemetry and Control was quick.

[Plan received, the orbital fine-tuning instructions for the six satellites have been issued, expected to be in position within three hours.]

Three hours.

By the time the nozzle casing finished "growing", the satellites would also be in position.

The timing was just right.

Su Che tossed the tactical tablet aside and focused on the force field.

...

1:10 PM.

The nozzle casing was completed.

Su Che lined up all the completed components on the temporary shelf.

Six-stage turbine rotor disk.

Three-segment combustion chamber casing.

Full set of variable cycle valve groups.

Full set of thrust vectoring nozzles.

Intake, compressor blades, bearing components, fuel supply module...

Fifty-seven core components were neatly arranged on three rows of shelves.

The silver-white metal gleamed with a cold light under the bunker's lamps.

It was time for final assembly.

Su Che pulled up a folding chair, sat in front of the shelves, and stared at the components for a minute.

Then he opened the program interface of the Quantum Predictive Control Core V1.0 and filled in the last set of data in the last parameter input box.

"Kunlun" resonance coating · Full machine · Dual-frequency coupling mode.

Turbine section: 0.73 Hz.

Nozzle section: 2.19 Hz.

Two frequencies, running simultaneously, without interfering with each other.

He pressed save, and the control program locked.

"Begin final assembly."

He said this to the empty bunker, then pulled the control stick of the "Candle Dragon" terminal.

The force field expanded again.

This time, it wasn't "growth".

It was assembly.

Fifty-seven components, under the precise control of the quantum force field, began to move slowly, one by one, toward the assembly area in the center of the bunker.

Just as the first-stage turbine rotor disk was about to dock with the compressor blades.

In Su Che's mind, that blue-white system panel suddenly flashed.

Not a task prompt.

Not a redemption prompt.

It was a line of text he had never seen before, displayed in red font.

[Warning: Detected deep correlation between the host's current R&D project and the system's underlying database.]

[Related project: ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ (Insufficient permissions, unable to display)]

[Suggestion: After completing the current task, please proceed to coordinates...]

The coordinates didn't finish displaying.

The panel lagged for 0.5 seconds, then returned to normal, and that line of red text disappeared.

As if it had never appeared.

Su Che gripped the control stick, the veins on the back of his hand bulging.

The system... lagged?

No!

The system was trying to tell him something.

But something was stopping it.