222: Chapter 222 The Arrow Whistles and the Bones Stand Firm: The Fastest Blade in the Solar System!

Countdown to the arrival of the sentry ship, day 58.

Early morning, B2 level of Pangu Laboratory.

When Su Che sat up on his cot, there weren't many people on the B2 level yet.

Academician Zhang Weide was slumped over the supercomputer terminal; the screen was on, but he had fallen asleep.

Zhao Mingyuan was not there. The quilt on his cot was folded neatly, and a bag of opened goji berries was placed next to the pillow.

After Su Che washed his face and returned, the blue and white interface in his mind had already lit up.

[Ding! Detection complete: The Solar System version of the White Emperor dual-mode manned/unmanned aerospace fighter has been finalized! The R&D conditions for the fourth core equipment of the second phase of the Nantianmen Project have been met! Main R&D task triggered!]

[Task Name: Forge the Fastest Blade for the Solar System!]

[Task Content: The luan bird is a mobile fortress, the Xuan Nv is the swarm's fist, and the White Emperor is the formation leader, but the Solar System is still missing one role.]

[The killer who hides in the shadows, is faster than anyone else, and strikes with a single blow! The Mingdi Interceptor: deep-space sub-light maneuverability, global stealth reconnaissance, cross-orbit precision interception, and deep-space situational awareness—all four core capabilities must be fully realized!]

[We have the engine, we have the stealth, we have the chip, we have the main god ai—now forge them into the sharpest dagger!]

[Task Reward: 1,200,000 skill points, unlocks exchange permissions for deep-space sub-light maneuverability technology, global stealth reconnaissance technology, cross-orbit precision interception technology, and deep-space situational awareness technology; requires 640,000 exchange points.]

[Current host skill point balance is sufficient. Do you wish to exchange?]

1.2 million.

Su Che read the task description twice.

The Mingdi Interceptor was different from the previous three.

The luan bird is a heavily armored fortress, the Xuan Nv is a swarm fighter, and the White Emperor is the command leader.

The Mingdi Interceptor is an assassin.

22 meters long, 11 meters wingspan, weighing 12 tons.

It is the smallest, lightest, and fastest in the entire lineup.

Cruising speed of 360 kilometers per second, top speed of 720 kilometers per second.

One-third faster than the White Emperor's top speed.

At this speed, the flight time from Earth to Mars at their closest distance is less than one day.

"Exchange."

[Ding! Consumed 640,000 skill points; core technologies unlocked!]

[System Prompt: Supporting auxiliary technologies have not yet been exchanged, including: Mingdi Interceptor full-aircraft blueprints, deep-space maneuver module blueprints, reconnaissance and interception system blueprints, and stealth configuration design. Total exchange points: 120,000.]

[Current host skill point balance is sufficient. Do you wish to exchange?]

"Exchange all."

[Ding! Consumed 120,000 skill points.]

Four sets of technical frameworks were poured in.

Su Che stood by the cot and digested the information for nearly eight minutes.

The design philosophy of the Mingdi Interceptor was completely opposite to all previous equipment; it wasn't about piling on functions, but about cutting them down.

No swarm command module, no close-in defense missiles, no formation collaborative decision tree.

Only two engines, one main gun, one reconnaissance system, and one main god ai sniper fire control unit.

All excess weight and space were sacrificed for speed and stealth.

A pure assassin.

Su Che walked to the main console and projected the full-aircraft blueprints onto the public big screen.

The outline of the Mingdi Interceptor appeared on the screen.

A narrow, long fuselage with short wings, like a flying knife honed to extreme thinness.

Academician Zhang Weide had woken up at some point, his hands resting on the counter of the supercomputer terminal, his head tilted as he looked at the big screen.

He stared for ten seconds and said, "This is not a plane; this is an arrow."

Su Che pulled up the list of materials and equipment and went through it.

Upgraded Adaptive Variable Cycle Aerospace Engine, check.

Micro-Controlled Nuclear Fusion power supply module, check.

Sub-nanometer Quantum Chip, check.

Full-band Metamaterial Stealth Structure (Ultimate Evolution Version), check.

All prerequisite technologies were in place; no additional exchange required.

"Dean Liu."

Liu Huaqiang came out of the communication area; his notebook was already turned to a new page, with the words "Mingdi Interceptor" written on it.

"Mingdi Interceptor full aircraft, ten days."

Liu Huaqiang laid his pencil horizontally on the paper and waited.

"There are fewer lines this time; the focus for the Mingdi Interceptor is different from the White Emperor." Su Che flashed the task division table onto the right side of the big screen.

"Academician Zhang Weide, full-aircraft structure. The Mingdi Interceptor only has two engines; the airframe stress is completely different from the four-engine Xuan Nv and the six-engine White Emperor. Recalculate."

"Academician Sun Qiwen, power distribution and thermal management for the micro-fusion reactor. The Mingdi Interceptor's heat dissipation area is more than half smaller than the White Emperor's, but its top speed is higher, and aerodynamic heating is more intense. The thermal balance must be redone."

"Wen Bo, stealth configuration adaptation. The Mingdi Interceptor's narrow wingspan and short fuselage have a different skin layout logic than the Xuan Nv and White Emperor; the edge diffraction paths have changed."

"Academician Qian Zhenhua, communication and navigation interfaces. The Mingdi Interceptor is for single-unit deep-space penetration and will operate far from the Luan Niao Mothership. The anti-interference and latency requirements for Quantum Communication are one level higher than for intra-formation communication."

"Academician Li Zhengyang, Zhao Mingyuan, and Zhou Dehai, don't start yet. Weapons and reconnaissance systems will be started later."

Four lines.

Academician Zhang Weide had already sat down in front of the supercomputer terminal and pulled up the cross-section diagram of the Mingdi Interceptor's full-aircraft structure.

"Where are the two engines mounted?"

Su Che walked over and pointed to two positions on the blueprint.

"On both sides of the fuselage, semi-recessed installation. Not on the wing roots, not on the belly."

"Semi-recessed."

Academician Zhang Weide drew the thrust vector lines of the two engines and overlaid them on the center of gravity of the airframe.

"Thrust symmetry is fine, but semi-recessed installation means the engine intake is integrated with the fuselage, and intake efficiency will be affected by the fuselage boundary layer."

"After switching from variable cycle mode to closed cycle, it doesn't need air intake; the boundary layer only affects the part within the atmosphere."

"That part within the atmosphere is precisely for takeoff and landing."

Su Che pulled up the parameters for the atmospheric flight envelope.

"The Mingdi Interceptor does not fight within the atmosphere; it only performs takeoffs, landings, and climbs within the atmosphere. An intake efficiency loss within 7% is acceptable. Once it leaves the atmosphere and switches to closed cycle, this problem no longer exists."

Academician Zhang Weide pressed a few numbers on the engineering calculator and calculated the impact of the intake efficiency loss on the takeoff roll distance.

"The takeoff roll distance increases by 9%, from 600 meters to 650 meters. The runway at Kaitian Base is 3,000 meters; it's more than enough."

"Approved."

...

Countdown to the arrival of the sentry ship, day 57.

Afternoon, B2 level.

Academician Sun Qiwen brought over a handwritten thermal balance calculation.

Today he wasn't holding his enamel mug; he was holding a bottle of mineral water, the cap unscrewed but not yet drunk.

"There is a tough nut to crack regarding the Mingdi Interceptor's thermal management."

Su Che turned around.

"At a top speed of 720 kilometers per second, there is no atmospheric friction heating during flight within the Solar System, but the heat flux density from solar radiation in near-sun orbits is not low."

"If the Mingdi Interceptor performs interception missions in the inner Solar System, such as intercepting targets near Venus's orbit, the heat flux density on the sun-facing side of the airframe is nearly four times that of Earth's orbit."

Su Che brought up the thermal environment parameters for the inner Solar System on the screen.

"The ultimate evolution version of the stealth skin already has a solar radiation wave shielding function; this was built in during the second phase of stealth R&D."

"It shields electromagnetic radiation characteristics, not heat."

Academician Sun Qiwen placed the mineral water bottle on the cabinet.

"When sunlight hits the skin, it will absorb heat regardless; the stealth coating is about whether others can see you, not whether you are hot."

Wen Bo came in from the corner of the corridor, with a pen-style thermometer probe clipped to his waist today.

"Add a layer of aerogel insulation under the skin, three millimeters thick; the weight increase will be less than 80 kilograms."

"The thermal conductivity of aerogel is 0.015 W/m·K; in front of this insulation layer, the heat flux density of Venus's orbit is equivalent to being separated by a wall."

Academician Sun Qiwen took a pencil stub out of his pocket and calculated two lines on the blank space of the thermal balance sheet.

"After adding the aerogel layer, the temperature of the inner wall of the sun-facing skin drops from 180 degrees to 42 degrees. That works."

"What about 80 kilograms for the Mingdi Interceptor?" Su Che glanced at the total airframe weight budget.

"For a 12-ton aircraft, 80 kilograms is 6.7 per thousand; the impact on the thrust-to-weight ratio is negligible." Academician Zhang Weide added from the supercomputer terminal without turning around.

"Add it."

Wen Bo took the pen-style thermometer probe off his waist, spun it around in his hand, and left.

Academician Qian Zhenhua had been silent all this time.

He pushed the deep-space single-unit penetration plan for Quantum Communication from his workstation on the east side to the secondary screen next to the public big screen.

"For the Mingdi Interceptor's single-unit deep-space penetration, we calculate the maximum operational distance from the Luan Niao Mothership at 30 million kilometers. Signal attenuation for Quantum Communication at this distance is not an issue; the quantum state is not limited by distance, but communication latency is not zero."

Su Che looked at the secondary screen.

"Quantum entanglement is faster than light."

"The collapse of the entangled state is instantaneous, but signal encoding and decoding take time. The encoding end is on the luan bird, and the decoding end is on the Mingdi Interceptor. The encoding and decoding latency of the Sub-nanometer Quantum Chip adds up to about 0.3 milliseconds. This does not affect flight control, but it does affect sniper fire control."

Academician Qian Zhenhua turned a line of formulas on his draft paper for Su Che to see.

"The Mingdi Interceptor's main weapon is a long-range precision particle beam sniper cannon, targeting objects 3 million kilometers away."

"The luan bird's Quantum Radar provides target coordinates. There is a 0.3-millisecond encoding and decoding latency for the coordinate data transmission from the luan bird to the Mingdi Interceptor. If the target is maneuvering at high speed, how much does it displace within 0.3 milliseconds?"

Su Che did a quick calculation.

"Assuming the opponent's maneuvering speed is 100 kilometers per second, it moves 30 meters in 0.3 milliseconds."

"Can the particle beam sniper cannon accept a 30-meter deviation?"

Su Che didn't answer immediately.

He left this question on the screen.

This is something to be solved during the development of the sniper cannon, not a matter for the communication link.

"Let's set the communication plan according to this for now; leave the latency compensation for the fire control team."

Academician Qian Zhenhua put the draft paper into his drawer and said nothing more.

...

Countdown to the arrival of the sentry ship, day 56.

Morning, B2 level.

Academician Zhang Weide completed the first round of stress simulation for the Mingdi Interceptor's full-aircraft structure.

The thrust transmission path for the semi-recessed installation of the two engines passes through only two structural nodes between the engine mounting base and the main fuselage beam.

It is much simpler than the six-engine layout of the White Emperor, with fewer stress concentration points, and the structural margin is actually more abundant.

"Under all operating conditions, the peak stress does not exceed 68% of the allowable, with a 32% margin."

Academician Zhang Weide closed the simulation cloud map and leaned back in his chair.

Su Che glanced at the number, made no comment, and flipped directly to the next item.

Stealth configuration.

Wen Bo came in with a skin layout plan.

The Mingdi Interceptor's narrow wingspan and short fuselage mean its frontal radar cross-section is inherently smaller than that of the Xuan Nv and the White Emperor.

But the problem lies in the tail.

"The nozzles of the two engines form two cavities at the tail; the cavities are natural focusers for radar waves and will reflect incident waves back to the source, which is equivalent to hanging two lights on the rear."

Su Che brought up the cross-section diagram of the tail.

"Apply stealth coating to the inner wall of the nozzles."

"It's applied, but the working temperature of the nozzle is over 1,200 degrees, while the temperature limit of the stealth coating is 800 degrees. In closed cycle mode, the nozzle temperature drops below 600 degrees, and the coating can survive. During open cycle mode within the atmosphere, the coating cannot withstand it."

"The Mingdi Interceptor does not fight within the atmosphere."

"What about takeoff and landing?"

Su Che paused for two seconds.

"Stealth is not needed during the takeoff phase; the Mingdi Interceptor takes off from its own base. The same applies to landing. Those few minutes within the atmosphere don't count."

Wen Bo put away the plan diagram.

"Then the stealth coating will only cover closed cycle operating conditions; we will abandon nozzle stealth for open cycle operating conditions, and note in the design constraints that it does not have rear-facing stealth capability during flight within the atmosphere."

Su Che added this item to the design constraint document.