143: Chapter 143 The Heart of a Giant Beast, a Frenzied Thirty-Seven Thousand Tons of Thrust!

Su Che pulled the keyboard over and typed out a three-line material list.

"Qin Lan, go acquire ten tons of industrial-grade crude gallium, three tons of crude indium, and two tons of crude tin."

Qin Lan glanced at the screen.

"The purity of the industrial grade is only 99 percent," Qin Lan reminded him. "Academician Wen requested the special grade with seven nines."

"If we can't buy seven nines, buy the three nines and we'll refine it ourselves."

Su Che printed out the list and handed it to Qin Lan. "The Military Science Commission has a strategic reserve in Changping. Use the military green channel; it should arrive this afternoon."

Qin Lan took the paper and turned to walk out.

Wen Bo stepped forward.

"Chief Engineer Su, the purification of the special gallium-indium-tin alloy requires a large vacuum electron beam melting furnace," Wen Bo said quickly. "Even if the two units in the country run at full capacity, they can only produce three hundred kilograms a month."

"We don't need an electron beam." Su Che turned and walked toward the corner of the hall.

There sat an idle superconducting magnetic confinement chamber, a spare part left over from testing precursor technologies for nuclear fusion.

Su Che connected a data cable to the chamber's control panel and linked it to his tactical tablet.

"Liquid metal has extremely high conductivity under a strong magnetic field," Su Che said, inputting parameters on the tablet. "Power the chamber and use the Lorentz force to drive the liquid metal to rotate at high speed."

Wen Bo put on his reading glasses and leaned in to stare at the force model on the screen.

"Electromagnetic centrifugal purification?" Wen Bo understood.

"The atomic mass of oxides and impurities differs from that of gallium, indium, and tin." Su Che pressed the enter key to save the program. "Under an electromagnetic centrifugal force of 80,000 revolutions per minute, the impurities will be thrown to the outer ring, while the pure alloy remains in the inner ring."

Wen Bo's hand holding the test report dropped down.

Theoretically, it was completely feasible.

But no one on Earth did this because no one could build a chamber capable of withstanding such extreme centrifugal force and electromagnetic intensity.

Except for this underground laboratory, which possessed reserves of nuclear fusion materials.

Two o'clock in the afternoon.

Three heavy trucks drove into the loading area of the Pangu Laboratory B2 level.

Fifteen tons of industrial-grade raw materials were unloaded next to the superconducting magnetic confinement chamber.

Su Che put on heat-resistant gloves and directed the automated robotic arms to feed the raw materials into the high-temperature melting furnace in the correct proportions. The metal blocks turned into a silver-gray liquid at a temperature of two thousand degrees, and pipes channeled the molten metal into the superconducting chamber.

Su Che sat at the control console and pushed down the main power lever.

A deep electromagnetic resonance echoed through the hall, and the magnetic field strength inside the chamber instantly surged to fifty Tesla.

Under the influence of the Lorentz force, the liquid metal turned into a high-speed rotating silver vortex.

Impurities were stripped away along the centrifugal track and discharged into the waste tank.

High-purity special coolant flowed continuously from the central pipe and was injected into the sealed storage tank below.

Wen Bo stood nearby, watching the scale on the storage tank.

Two hundred kilograms produced per hour; it could churn out a year's domestic production capacity in a single day.

Su Che took off his gloves and threw them on the table.

"The coolant is done." Su Che looked at Wen Bo. "I'll leave the laying of the Anti-gravity base to you. I want to see the test stand take shape within three days."

Wen Bo nodded heavily.

For the next dozen days, the Pangu Laboratory B2 level turned into a pressure cooker.

The fourteen researchers of the propulsion team ate and slept at their workstations.

Robotic arms grabbed, welded, and assembled day and night without stopping.

Wen Bo, leading the Anti-gravity team, laid twelve tons of high-purity graphene in the underground test area.

Above the graphene network, dense cooling pipelines were interwoven, through which flowed the special gallium-indium-tin alloy that Su Che had crafted by hand.

The top layer was a special high-temperature resistant alloy base plate half a meter thick.

The test stand was completed on schedule within three days.

On the last day of the two-week deadline, at 11:40 PM.

In the center of the underground test area, a massive circular linkage fixture was completely finished.

Seventy-two improved adaptive variable-cycle engines were arranged in a matrix and firmly fixed to the fixture bracket.

Thick Quantum Communication cables connected them to the main console, and the group of micro-nuclear fusion reactors in the back emitted a steady hum.

Academician Li Zhengyang stood in front of the main console.

His white hair was plastered to his forehead, and his work uniform was smeared with grease.

But he stood very straight.

Su Che walked over carrying a water cup.

"Are they all hooked up?" Su Che asked.

"Seventy-two units, not a single one missing. The Quantum Communication bus self-test passed, and the nuclear fusion coupling interface pressure is normal."

Su Che took a sip of water, pulled over a swivel chair, and sat down.

"Clear the area." Su Che ordered.

Alarms sounded on the B2 level.

All non-essential personnel evacuated the underground test area.

Academician Li Zhengyang, Wen Bo, and several core researchers retreated into the explosion-proof control room.

One-meter-thick lead glass separated the control room from the test area, leaving only the massive metal matrix in the hall.

Su Che sat at the main console with his hands on the keyboard. Seventy-two independent data boxes appeared on the main screen, and the standby interface of the Yiren AI Core flickered in the upper right corner.

"Core, take over global thrust scheduling." Su Che input the command.

[Command confirmed.]

[Multi-machine load balancing algorithm activated; extreme condition compensation control ready.]

The time jumped to exactly midnight.

Su Che pushed down the master control lever.

"Ignition."

There was no countdown.

The plasma igniters inside the seventy-two engines worked simultaneously.

The energy valves of the nuclear fusion reactors opened instantly, and massive amounts of energy poured violently through the coupling interfaces into the seventy-two combustion chambers.

Outside the explosion-proof glass, a blindingly bright light erupted instantly.

The global active noise reduction module suppressed the roar that would have torn the air apart, keeping it below the level of ambient noise.

But the vibration of the ground could not be concealed.

Seventy-two ghostly blue plasma jets blasted out from the tail nozzles, slamming straight into the high-temperature resistant alloy base plate below.

The jets were over forty meters long, with core temperatures approaching the surface of the sun.

The air at the exhaust vents was swept outward by the high-temperature exhaust gas, and the cooling towers on the outside of the mountain began to operate frantically.

On the control room's main screen, the thrust data began to jump wildly.

10,000 tons.

20,000 tons.

28,000 tons.

The numbers were still climbing.

Academician Li Zhengyang pressed his hands against the explosion-proof glass, staring at the sea of blue fire outside.

"How much thrust is missing?" Academician Li Zhengyang shouted.

Su Che looked at the screen.

"Zero." Su Che replied.

The absolute zero latency of Quantum Communication, coupled with the millisecond-level fine-tuning of the Yiren AI Core.

The thrust curves output by the seventy-two engines overlapped perfectly, as if only one engine were working.

The data finally settled.

37,440 tons.

The limit thrust required for a 100,000-ton class aerospace carrier to take off; the target was met.

Wen Bo watched the monitoring panel of the Anti-gravity base.

The terrifying reaction force of over 30,000 tons slammed into the base, the graphene network at the bottom instantly glowed red, and the stress conduction system operated at full power.

The Anti-gravity coupling nodes erupted with dazzling blue light, forming an invisible force field shield that forcefully held up this power capable of destroying the mountain.

The special gallium-indium-tin alloy in the pipelines circulated at high speed, carrying away the high heat capable of melting steel.

"The base is intact." Wen Bo said, his voice trembling. "Stress absorption rate is one hundred percent."

The test lasted for a full fifteen minutes.

The engines did not explode, the base did not collapse, and all data remained stable within the safety thresholds.

Su Che pulled back the master control lever.

The nuclear fusion energy valves closed, and the plasma jets extinguished instantly.

The bright light in the hall dissipated, leaving only the dark red high-temperature embers that had not yet faded on the base plate.

No one in the explosion-proof control room spoke.

Two seconds later.

Academician Li Zhengyang slapped his hand against the alloy wall.

"It's a success!" The old Academician turned around, his eyes rimmed with red.

Several young researchers slumped to the floor, gasping for breath.

In two weeks, they had shattered the ceiling of Earth's aerospace propulsion.

Su Che leaned back in his chair and took a sip from his water cup.

In his mind, the blue-white system panel popped up right on time.

[Ding! Main R&D mission completed!]

[Improved adaptive engine control module global joint debugging passed! Single-unit thrust increased by 5.2 times! 72-unit distributed coordination latency 0ms!]

[Mission reward: 30,000 skill points!]

[Current host cumulative skill points: 86,400 points.]

Su Che closed the panel.

He stood up, walked to the explosion-proof glass, and watched the test stand cooling down outside.

Over 37,000 tons of thrust was enough to push 100,000 tons of steel into the sky.

But this was only brute force directed vertically upward.

"Chief Engineer Su," Academician Li Zhengyang walked over. "The propulsion module is finished. Is it time to build the 100,000-ton frame?"

Su Che shook his head.

"The frame isn't urgent." Su Che said, looking outside. "Brute force alone won't get it up there."

Academician Li Zhengyang was taken aback.

"With a thrust-to-weight ratio exceeding 0.3, plus the Anti-gravity system, why wouldn't it go up?" Academician Li Zhengyang asked.

"Aerodynamics within the atmosphere won't allow it." Su Che turned and walked toward the console.

He pulled up the 3D aerodynamic model of the 100,000-ton class luan bird.

"With a volume of 100,000 tons, the frontal area is too large." Su Che drew several airflow lines on the screen. "With seventy-two engines concentrated in the tail and belly, during vertical takeoff and landing, the ground-effect rebound airflow will form huge turbulence."

He zoomed in on the model.

"This level of turbulence will directly destroy the stability of the Anti-gravity field." Su Che looked at Academician Li Zhengyang. "The carrier would flip upside down due to loss of attitude control just fifty meters off the ground."

Academician Li Zhengyang looked at the fluid dynamics simulation on the screen and was speechless.

The takeoff and landing experience of traditional aircraft was completely ineffective in the face of a 100,000-ton monster.

In his mind, the system panel lit up again.

[Ding! Detected demand for takeoff and landing attitude control for a 100,000-ton class aerospace carrier; main R&D mission triggered!]

[Mission Name: Behemoth Takes Flight, Can't Flip Like a Turtle!]

[Mission Content: Break through the repulsive effect between the Anti-gravity field and aerodynamics. Please develop force field ducted composite takeoff and landing technology to ensure the 100,000-ton class platform can take off and land smoothly within the atmosphere!]

[Mission reward: 40,000 skill points, unlock exchange permissions for force field-aerodynamic synergistic takeoff and landing technology, ducted airflow control technology, and large platform takeoff and landing stability control technology; exchange points 26,000.]

[Current host cumulative skill points: 86,400 points. Exchange?]

Su Che looked at the exchange requirements at the bottom of the panel.

He picked up the water cup on the table and finished the remaining half cup of water.

The 100,000-ton behemoth had its heart.

Now, it was time to teach it how to walk.