204: Chapter 204: All Six Systems Completely Closed, the Swarm Opens Its Teeth!

Countdown to the arrival of the sentry ship, 89th day.

Kaitian Base, Zhulong Production Line for atomic growth machine tools.

Zhou Dehai stood at the output of the No. 3 processing zone in his anti-static suit, facing a set of silver-gray components just pushed out from the machine tool's processing chamber.

The first batch of core fuselage frames for the Solar System version of the Xuan Nu.

The carbon nanotube-reinforced substrate had been formed through atomic-level growth, with surface textures so fine that the naked eye could not distinguish any machining marks.

Zhou Dehai picked up a wing spar segment, weighed it in his hand, and handed it to the quality control technician beside him.

"Run the tensile strength and fatigue life tests, and send the data directly to Pangu Quantum Computer."

The quality control technician took it and clamped it into the testing machine.

Zhou Dehai walked back to the production line main console and scrolled down the production schedule by one entry.

Scaled-down improved adaptive variable cycle engines, four sets, hot-fire tests completed, ready for assembly.

The third version of the stealth substrate cut-to-shape parts, the entire set of pre-fabricated assembly groups completed.

Sub-nanometer chip airborne arrays, packaged at Pangu Laboratory and transferred directly, locked in a temperature-controlled cabinet.

He put a question mark after the last line of the production schedule, "Complete machine assembly parts ready." One thing was still missing.

Wen Bo's stealth avionics fusion interface board.

The holographic projection connected to the B2 level of Pangu Laboratory.

Wen Bo was crouching by the console, clutching a circuit board the size of a fingernail in his hand, looking at the solder joints through a magnifying glass.

"Wen Bo, when can you give me the interface board?"

"Why are you rushing me? The solder joint calibration is still missing the last two sets. The frequency-hopping control signals for the stealth film have to pass through this board. If the welding precision is off by even a hair, the frequency-hopping timing will drift."

"My assembly schedule is being squeezed here."

"Tomorrow morning, at the latest tomorrow noon."

Zhou Dehai turned off the projection and turned to walk deeper into the production line.

The processing chamber of the Zhulong Production Line was still turning, and the raw material rods for the next batch of components had already been fed into the intake.

The production line hadn't stopped for twenty-four hours.

...

Countdown to the arrival of the sentry ship, 88th day.

Pangu Laboratory B2 level, 9:00 AM.

Wen Bo finished calibrating the last two sets of solder joints, put the interface board into an anti-static bag, and slapped it onto Su Che's desk.

"It's all here."

Su Che picked up the anti-static bag, flipped it over, and stuffed it into the outgoing shipment box.

"Dean Liu, send the interface board via the expedited channel; it must reach Kaitian Base today."

Liu Huaqiang responded from the communications area and crossed off a to-do item in his notebook.

Zhao Mingyuan rolled over from his workstation, his laptop closed on his knees, and leaned back against his chair.

"The third round of iteration for the Cognitive Graph is done, and the false judgment rate has been pushed down to 0.4 percent."

Su Che turned his head. "0.4 percent?"

"The mechanism of two-aircraft verification plus autonomous fallback has taken effect. Three hundred virtual Xuan Nu units ran ten thousand rounds of randomized combat, with zero collisions and zero friendly fire. This brain is good enough."

Su Che pulled up the third iteration log of the Cognitive Graph and scanned it. The data was clean.

"Finalize it, lock the version."

Zhao Mingyuan dragged his chair back to his workstation, stopping halfway. "Chief Engineer Su, I've locked my line. What's next?"

"Wait for assembly and joint debugging."

"Then can I take a nap first?" "Whatever."

Zhao Mingyuan pushed his swivel chair into a corner, slumped into it, and two minutes later, the sound of even breathing could be heard.

Academician Zhang Weide stood up from the Pangu Quantum Computer terminal, copied the final version of the flight control system package file onto an encrypted USB drive, walked over to Su Che, and set it down.

"Flight control version locked. Quaternion calculation, star map calibration loop, and radiator fin vibration suppression—all one thousand sets of full-condition simulations are all green."

Su Che took the USB drive. "Good work." Academician Zhang Weide nodded and turned to leave.

Academician Qian Zhenhua at the east workstation packed the final version of the layered networking protocol and sent it to the public encrypted storage. "Swarm coordination version locked."

Academician Li Zhengyang, in the weapon adaptation area, performed the final round of regression testing on the fire control linkage code for the high-order directed energy components. "Fire control version locked."

Academician Sun Qiwen leaned against the cabinet in the U-shaped array area, his enamel mug tucked under his arm, holding the final parameter table for the active heat pump cooling scheme. "Power supply version locked. Power output 160 kilowatts, margin 4.5 percent, steady-state heat pump circulation temperature 47 degrees."

In the B2 level, the version lock notifications for all six technical lines arrived within ten minutes. Su Che lined up the six version lock files on the main screen.

He opened the fifth interface project file, the last one, completed the remaining adaptation code, compiled it, and it passed. "Full machine software version locked."

He packaged and encrypted all the files and pushed them to Kaitian Base via the Quantum Communication link. "Zhou Dehai, the software package has arrived. You can start the final assembly."

The holographic projection lit up. Zhou Dehai was standing next to the Zhulong Production Line, the sleeves of his anti-static suit rolled up to his forearms. "Received. We'll start assembling the first one this afternoon."

...

Countdown to the arrival of the sentry ship, 87th day.

Kaitian Base, assembly workshop. The No. 0 unit of the Solar System version of the Xuan Nu was hanging on the assembly rack.

Twenty-eight-meter fuselage, twenty-five-meter wingspan, four scaled-down improved adaptive variable cycle engines embedded in the tail, and the doors of the ventral weapon bay were tightly closed.

The ultimate version of the stealth film covered the entire surface of the airframe. The dark gray substrate did not reflect light under the workshop lights, like a skin that had absorbed all light.

Zhou Dehai stood under the rack, holding the last signal cable in his hand. "The last one."

He plugged the cable into the end socket of the avionics fusion interface board and locked it tight. The status panel above the assembly rack turned green one by one.

Structural integrity, green. Power system, green. Flight control system, green. Communication system, green. Stealth system, green. Fire control system, green. Cognitive Graph, green. Power supply system, green. All green.

Zhou Dehai stepped back two paces and crumpled the packaging bag of the signal cable into a ball and stuffed it into his pocket.

The holographic projection was transmitted back to the B2 level of Pangu Laboratory. Su Che sat in front of the main console, watching the fighter aircraft hanging on the rack. It was a completely different species from the near-Earth version.

The near-Earth version was like a dagger—short, sharp, and suitable for close-quarters combat. The Solar System version was like a falcon, with wings spread wide and a lengthened frame, born to hunt in the vastness of space.

"Full machine power-on test." Su Che issued the command.

Zhou Dehai pressed the power-on button in the assembly workshop. The internal systems of the No. 0 unit woke up one by one.

The scaled-down Controlled Nuclear Fusion power supply module started up, the power reading climbed from zero and stabilized at 160 kilowatts.

The active heat pump cooling system intervened, the coolant began to circulate in the cooling pipes inside the wings, and the surface temperature of the airframe was locked at the design value.

The Cognitive Graph cold start was completed, and the airborne distributed unit of the Deep Space Main God AI ran the self-test program on the Sub-nanometer chip.

The swarm communication module came online, the layered networking protocol handshake was successful, and the first set of heartbeat signals was sent to the mothership end.

On the main screen of the B2 level, the command and control system of the luan bird received this heartbeat. Su Che looked at that line of signal records. The No. 0 unit of the Solar System version of the Xuan Nu was alive.

"Zhao Mingyuan." The sound of breathing in the corner stopped. Zhao Mingyuan sat up from the swivel chair he had been slumped in, his hair sticking up. "What?"

"The No. 0 unit is online. Run a real-time self-test of your Cognitive Graph."

Zhao Mingyuan rubbed the back of his head, dragged his chair to the workstation, and typed a few lines of commands. "Cognitive Graph real-time self-test passed, tactical deduction engine response time two milliseconds, combat decision tree depth seventeen layers."

He looked back at Su Che. "This brain is about thirty times smarter than the near-Earth version."

Academician Zhang Weide walked to the side of the main console, his engineering calculator finally coming in handy, and he pressed a set of numbers on it. "Flight control power-on self-test all green, quaternion calculation accuracy consistent with simulation."

Academician Qian Zhenhua's data came from the east workstation, "Swarm communication heartbeat signal is stable, subnet handshake latency is at the nanosecond level, consistent with theoretical values."

Wen Bo turned in from the hallway, his vernier caliper still clipped to his waist. "Electromagnetic shielding rate after the stealth layer is powered on is 99.6 percent. Frequency-hopping window microsecond-level pulses confirmed normal."

Academician Sun Qiwen stood at the exit of the U-shaped array area. "Power supply heat pump circulation steady-state confirmed, core temperature margin sufficient."

Academician Li Zhengyang walked out to report. "Directed energy component power-on standby power consumption is normal, fire control bus response is qualified."

Su Che summarized the power-on self-test results of the six lines into a table on the main screen. All green. Not a single yellow, not a single red.

"Zhou Dehai, remove the No. 0 unit from the rack and send it to the Near-Earth Orbit Base for actual flight verification."

In the holographic projection, Zhou Dehai waved to the hoisting operator in the assembly workshop. The No. 0 unit detached from the rack and was moved toward the exit passage by the transport platform.

Su Che leaned back in his chair. In his mind, a blue and white panel popped up.

[Ding! Main R&D task "The swarm can't just hover at the doorstep!" completed!]

[Space global autonomous evolutionary decision architecture running stably; cross-orbit ultra-high maneuverability control cumulative deviation suppressed to the micro-arcsecond level; massive swarm global coordination, three hundred units synchronized response in 0.03 seconds; high-order stealth avionics fusion frequency-hopping shielding rate 99.6 percent! Xuan Nu aerospace unmanned fighter Solar System version full machine R&D verification passed! The swarm's fangs have been sharpened!]

[Task reward: 850,000 skill points!]

850,000 received. Su Che closed the panel.

In the B2 level, Zhao Mingyuan leaned back against his chair again, crossing his hands behind his head. "Twelve days, from scrap metal to a falcon."

Liu Huaqiang stood up from the east side, opened his notebook, and found the two characters "Xuan Nu" and the half checkmark he had written earlier. The pencil tip landed on the paper, slowly completing the half-arc into a full checkmark. He closed the notebook.

In the corner of the main screen, the countdown to the arrival of the sentry ship. 87.