Chapter 15: The Fireworks King

The online communication with Wang Hao went so smoothly that it even surprised Feng Yan a little.

This guy's personality was just like his skyrocket monkeys: bright, direct, and quick to ignite.

Feng Yan only slightly touched upon "larger carriers" and "more precise control."

Wang Hao immediately sent over a string of voice messages, his tone as excited as if he had discovered a new continent:

"Brother Feng! You've really hit the nail on the head! To be honest, I've long felt that these skyrocket monkeys could be taken a step further!"

"It's just that when I ponder it alone, I sometimes hit a wall I can't get past, and there's no one around who understands this stuff."

"Everyone just thinks I'm messing around... Are you guys really interested in doing this?"

"When can we meet up and talk? I'll bring some of my 'treasures' for you to see!"

Listen to that tone; there was no need for Feng Yan to "sweet-talk" him at all.

It was clear that Wang Hao himself was dying to find an organization where he could exchange ideas.

Feng Yan made the decision on the spot: let's set it for Saturday, and the location... well, naturally, it had to be that all-purpose place.

The "Tie Lang Gong Fang," filled with the "scent of industry" and the aroma of instant noodles.

On Saturday morning, Feng Yan arrived at the warehouse early.

He broke the "good news" to Li Yang and Chen Guang.

"A new friend is coming over in a bit," Feng Yan said while kicking aside a few empty instant noodle cups in the corner.

Trying to increase the "guest-hosting area" of the warehouse.

"He's into rocket propulsion, a pretty interesting guy. You two... try to be a bit enthusiastic, don't scare him off."

Li Yang was busy measuring a newly arrived piece of composite material.

He didn't even look up at the remark, just gave a grunt to show he'd heard.

Chen Guang, however, pushed up his glasses, feeling a bit curious:

"Rocket propulsion? Is it... what type? Solid fuel? Liquid fuel? Or..."

"Uh..." Feng Yan choked; he couldn't exactly say "skyrocket monkey fuel."

"Ask him yourself when he gets here. Anyway, it's very down-to-earth, very... low-cost."

As the agreed time approached, a "putt-putt-putt" sound of a small tricycle echoed outside the warehouse.

Then came a booming voice:

"Is this the place? Tie Lang Gong Fang? Whoa! This place has character!"

Feng Yan hurried out to greet him, only to see Wang Hao jumping off a small tricycle that was puffing out black smoke.

He was wearing work clothes today with the "Haoyu Fireworks" logo printed on them, exuding a sense of capability.

In his hands, he carried two large, heavy-looking toolboxes.

"Wang Hao?" Feng Yan greeted him with a smile.

"Brother Feng! That's me!" Wang Hao's smile was radiant as he shook Feng Yan's hand vigorously.

His eyes were already darting into the warehouse.

"These two must be Brother Li Yang and Brother Chen Guang, right? I've heard so much about you!"

His social skills were maxed out.

Once inside the warehouse, Wang Hao wasn't intimidated by the messy environment at all; instead, his eyes lit up:

"What a great place! This smell, these parts—you can tell this is where big things happen!"

He set down the toolboxes and couldn't wait to open one of them, which was packed with an eye-popping array of items.

There were modified "skyrocket monkeys" of various sizes, double-bangers, and a pile of small rocket models he couldn't even name.

Various colors of gunpowder, homemade ignition controllers, and a heap of hand-polished metal parts and plastic tail fins.

Good heavens, this wasn't a toolbox; it was a mobile "DIY Rocket Armory"!

"Come, come, let me show you guys my treasures!"

Wang Hao picked up a particularly thick "skyrocket monkey" reinforced with a few strips of transparent tape.

"This is my latest modification, the 'Little Black Fatty'."

"I added some quick-burning core I mixed myself and adjusted the tail fin angle; the initial speed is thirty percent faster!"

He then picked up another one with a stranger design, its head looking like a mini propeller:

"This is the 'Drill-Sky Monkey.' I tried adding some spin stabilization; it flies like a spinning top, much steadier!"

Li Yang, who had been busy with his own work, was now drawn over as well.

He picked up a component Wang Hao had modified, carefully examining the hand-cut marks and the angle of the glue bonds.

His brow furrowed slightly, but his eyes held a look of scrutiny.

Chen Guang, meanwhile, became interested in Wang Hao's homemade ignition controller, which was modified from an old mobile phone power bank.

He squatted down to study the circuitry.

Feng Yan watched these "three weirdos" finally come together, his heart blooming with joy as he quickly acted as the hype man:

"Not bad, Old Wang! Did you figure all this out yourself?"

"You bet!" Wang Hao patted his chest.

"My family runs a fireworks factory, so I've been dealing with these since I was a kid."

"Later, I felt that just setting them off was boring, so I started messing around with how to make them fly more accurately, steadily, and flashily!"

"At first, it was just for fun, but then I saw some tutorials online, bought some books to read, and slowly started to get the hang of it."

He picked up the "Little Black Fatty" and walked to a relatively open area at the warehouse entrance:

"Talk is cheap, let me show you guys the real deal!"

He skillfully set up a small, homemade launch rail.

He placed the "Little Black Fatty" on it and connected the ignition wire.

Then he took out his phone and opened an app he had written himself, which had an extremely rudimentary interface.

"You wrote this app too?" Feng Yan was a bit surprised.

"Hehe, self-taught. Just a simple thing to control ignition delay and record the rough trajectory."

Wang Hao was a bit smug as he set the parameters and tapped the screen.

"Whoosh—Boom!"

The "Little Black Fatty" dragged a tail flame far more intense than an ordinary skyrocket monkey.

It shot up almost vertically at an extremely high speed.

It exploded in the air into an exceptionally bright firework.

"Look at that initial speed! Look at that height!" Wang Hao pointed at the sky, excited.

Li Yang silently estimated the initial speed and rough height, then nodded:

"The initial speed is indeed decent. Have you measured the thrust-to-weight ratio yourself?"

Wang Hao scratched his head: "I used my phone to take slow-motion video, then calculated it frame by frame. It's a rough estimate, not very accurate."

Chen Guang pointed at the simple trajectory data recorded on Wang Hao's phone:

"Brother Wang, your data sampling rate is too low, and you haven't accounted for wind drift."

"If you use a high-frame-rate camera combined with visual algorithms, you could reconstruct a much more precise 3D trajectory."

Wang Hao's eyes lit up: "You can do that? Brother Chen Guang, that's impressive! That's exactly what I'm missing!"

Feng Yan watched as the three of them began a heated discussion on "how to scientifically measure the performance of DIY rockets."

(Mostly Wang Hao and Chen Guang talking, with Li Yang occasionally interjecting with a key critique.)

He knew this was basically a done deal.

He struck while the iron was hot and said to Wang Hao:

"Old Wang, with your skills and ideas, it's a waste to just be setting off fireworks in your own factory."

"Have you ever thought about making these 'DIY' methods... a bit more formalized?"

"For example, what if we work together to build a... well, low-cost verification rocket that can fly stably, be programmed for control, and even carry a small payload?"

Upon hearing this, Wang Hao's breathing quickened:

"Brother Feng! You guys... can you really do this? What do you need me to do? I'll provide the manpower, effort, and technology!"

"I still have plenty of materials in the factory that I can... uh, 'borrow'!"

He rubbed his hands together, his face filled with irrepressible excitement.

"To be honest, building a big firework that actually listens and flies exactly how I want it to is something I've dreamed of doing!"

Feng Yan smiled and patted him on the shoulder:

"Then it's settled! Welcome to our..."

"Uh, our 'Outrageous Research Group' that doesn't have a name yet!"

He glanced at the three people in the warehouse:

A mech-obsessed nerd, a laser-wielding genius obsessed with killing mosquitoes, and a fireworks factory heir who dreams of building big rockets.

This lineup looked for all the world like a ragtag crew pulled from some third-rate sci-fi movie.

But Feng Yan felt incredibly secure and expectant.

He had a premonition.

When Li Yang's mechanical structures, Chen Guang's precision control, and Wang Hao's propulsion energy were combined, the things they would create...

... would be far more than just "cool."

They might just be the kind of... national weapons that would truly drop everyone's jaws! ===== CHAPTER 16 =====