Chapter 232: Wang Hao

Wednesday morning, the edge of the Northwestern Test Field was surrounded by a ring of spectator stands, which were filled with officers drawn from various military districts to observe.

There were even a few foreign officers in plain clothes, of course invited under the pretense of friendly exchange.

Wang Hao today deliberately changed into a fresh set of training uniform he had never worn before, his boots polished to a shine, and stood before the launch control console.

"Director Wang, the livestream is already on. Current online viewers……have reached eight million." The assistant whispered a reminder.

"Only eight million?" Wang Hao pouted, "Wait till I unleash my big move—it'll break ten million in minutes."

He cleared his throat, flashed his signature smile at the camera: "Good morning, folks! Welcome to the first live-fire test of the Bifang stealth missile! I'm your host and chief designer, Wang Hao!"

The barrage of comments instantly flooded the screen.

"Brother Hao looks so handsome today!"

"So is this missile actually stealthy or not?"

"The person above, a stealth missile is just a missile you can't see."

"Nonsense! I'm asking how it's stealthy!"

Wang Hao glanced at the comments, grinned: "Don't rush, let's go step by step. First——"

The hangar door behind him slowly opened.

A silver-gray fighter jet taxied out, its shape sharp as a dagger.

With a blended wing-body design, no vertical tail, and a surface so smooth it could serve as a mirror.

"This is the Sword Immortal Sky Fighter, one of Penglai's carrier-based aircraft." Wang Hao patted the fuselage.

"Today it will carry the Bifang missile for the test. Why choose it? Because this thing flies fast—top speed Mach 5, faster than the missile itself!"

Chen Guang's voice came over the comms: "Wang Hao, the test procedure."

"Got it, got it!" Wang Hao winked at the camera.

"Guangzi's been urging me on, so let's get straight to the main course."

He walked to the jet's underside, where a slender missile was mounted.

The missile body is about four meters long, uniformly dark gray, its surface covered in fine scale-like patterns made of millions of tiny lenses that can actively adjust the angle of reflected light.

"The Bifang missile—this is our focus." Wang Hao tapped the missile body.

"The three stealth features—optical, radar, and infrared—none are missing."

He brought up a holographic projection and began to explain:

"Optical stealth relies on this adaptive coating."

"It can instantly analyze the surrounding light and color, adjusting its surface in 0.03 seconds to achieve visual blending. Simply put, it's a chameleon Pro Max version."

A comment floated by: "So the missile changes color?"

Wang Hao proudly replied: "Correct! But it's not just about changing color—it can also simulate background textures."

"For example, put it on concrete and it turns into a concrete slab; place it in grass and it sprouts virtual grass blades."

"Radar stealth is even simpler." He switched the image to show the missile's cross-section.

"The missile body uses dragon-scale space-simplified material, with tiny rhombic structures on the surface that scatter radar waves in all directions. Combined with the internal absorbent layer, the radar cross-section is only——"

He paused deliberately, then announced loudly: "0.0001 square meters! What does that mean? On the radar screen, it's smaller than a sparrow!"

A low murmur of astonishment rose from the stands.

"As for infrared stealth," Wang Hao walked to the missile's tail.

"Here's a black tech: the fusion thruster's exhaust temperature is kept below 800 degrees, and the nozzle is shrouded in a cold-air curtain. Existing infrared detectors can't see it at a distance of a hundred meters."

After the explanation, Wang Hao jumped onto the control platform: "No amount of theory matters—let's jump straight to a live demonstration!"

He pressed the launch preparation key.

The Sword Immortal fighter's engines ignited, the vector nozzles swiveled, and it rose vertically.

Ten seconds later, the jet was at an altitude of five kilometers, flying toward the designated target area.

"Target: a converted decommissioned frigate turned target ship three hundred meters out." Wang Hao switched to the satellite feed.

"That ship is still moving at 15 knots, simulating an enemy vessel."

On the screen, the target ship's real-time image is clearly visible.

"Launch countdown: ten, nine……"

Everyone in the stands held their breath.

"……three, two, one—fire!"

From the fighter's belly, the Bifang missile broke free of its rack.

It initially dropped a few meters, then the tail spewed pale blue flame, instantly accelerating.

But no sound reached us—the missile's speed was so great that by the time the sound traveled to the ground, it was already tens of meters away.

Wang Hao switched to the tracking view.

The missile streaked along at Mach 3, its surface color shifting—first mimicking the blue sky, then gradually turning deep sea-blue as it descended.

Most impressively, as it flew just above the sea surface, its skin simulated white foam from the waves.

"This……this really can't be seen." An air force colonel murmured.

On the radar monitor, the dot representing the missile was so faint it was barely visible, blinking on and off like a bad signal.

Infrared monitoring showed a complete blank; the missile's exhaust heat was perfectly shielded.

At a distance of three hundred kilometers, the Bifang missile arrived in under three minutes.

In the final phase, the missile suddenly climbed, then dove at an almost vertical angle.

Then the warhead separated.

The main missile body deployed four small wings in midair, performed a final evasive maneuver, and precisely struck the target ship's midsection.

Because this test used an inert warhead loaded with only a small amount of explosive to mark the impact point, all that came through was a single dull thud.

But the effect was already sufficiently shocking.

The satellite footage showed that the spot where the target ship was pierced was exactly the engine room; in real combat, the ship would already be a wreck.

"Hit accuracy," Wang Hao said, looking at the data screen and deliberately stretching his voice, "0.8 meters! That's 0.2 meters higher than the design specification!"

The audience erupted in enthusiastic applause.

Looking at the bullet comments, they were already going wild at this point:

"The missile can cloak, and it can even turn corners?!"

"Hitting a moving target from three hundred kilometers away with less than a meter of error?"

"Wo De, fuck! If we ever go to war with Longguo, does that mean we can only take hits?"

Wang Hao, beaming with pride, made a peace sign to the camera: "How's it look? Hao Ge, my skill's still decent, right?"

He jumped down from the console, took a bottle of water from his assistant, and after a sip, Chen Guang's voice came again:

"Haozi, what's up with the missile's surface coating?"

"Huh?" Wang Hao pretended to be clueless.

"The small text on the side of the warhead reads, 'Invisibility isn't about being unseen; it's about not wanting you to see.' Who gave you permission to add that slogan?"

Stifled laughter came from the audience.

Wang Hao, confident and righteous, said, "It's to increase affinity! Even in war, we need to consider humanitarian care, right?"

"Erase it immediately. If it shows up in the next test, I'll delete all your rainbow effect permissions."

"No, Guangzi! I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"

The conversation was captured by the live broadcast, and the bullet comments erupted in laughter:

"Hao Ge, daily self-destruction"

"Chen Guang: I often feel out of place with you because I'm not perverse enough"

"That slogan is actually pretty cool"

After the test ended, the officers gathered around to ask about technical details.

Wang Hao finished fielding the questions, his throat nearly hoarse, and slumped in his chair gasping.

Li Yang walked over, handed him a functional drink, and said, "Performance is good; the military has placed an order—first batch of two hundred units, to be delivered within six months."

"Two hundred?" Wang Hao's eyes lit up. "That means we need more funding... no, I mean we need more manpower!"

"Personnel have already been assigned; thirty engineers have been transferred from the Missile Research Institute, reporting next week."

"Great! With Bi Fang, we can strike anyone we want, and they won't even see who's firing!" Wang Hao gulped down another drink.

Chen Guang walked over at that moment, his complexion off.

"What's wrong, Guangzi?" Wang Hao asked, "Still angry? I promise I won't scribble on the missiles next time!"

"It's not that. Torch Dragon-3 has extracted some fragmented data from the deep-space signal," Chen Guang said, pulling up a tablet.

The screen displayed several vague phrases; after multiple layers of translation the meaning was uncertain, but a few keywords were alarming:

"The Devourer"

"Inescapable"

"Stellar Realm Silence"

Zhao Kaiyuan came over, frowned after reading, and said, "What kind of enemy can terrify an interstellar civilization? Even escape is impossible?"

Li Yang was silent for a few seconds and said, "At least they're several orders of magnitude stronger than us. The technology the signal sender gave us is all defensive, with no escape capability; perhaps escaping is simply useless."

Wang Hao scratched his head: "Then what's the point of building so many weapons? If we can't win and can't escape, aren't we just waiting to die?"

"But they gave us technology; although it's all defensive, it at least shows they think we might still be able to hold out," Feng Yan appeared behind the group at some point.

He paused, looked toward the Sword Immortal fighter descending in the distance, and said, "Moreover, we can't rely entirely on these alien technologies."

"The invisibility principle of the Bi Fang missile, while borrowing the optical manipulation model from the signal, has its core algorithm optimized by us."

Wang Hao perked up at that: "Right! The dynamic texture simulation I added, the aliens never taught us!"

Chen Guang adjusted his glasses and said, "So the signal sender might be... cultivating us? Giving us tools, and it's up to us how to use them."

"And then they expect us to use these tools to help them?" Li Yang chuckled wryly, "The pressure is a bit heavy."

Feng Yan patted Wang Hao's shoulder: "Even if the pressure is great, you have to bear it. Haozi, keep improving the Bi Fang missile."

"Next stage goal: increase range to one thousand kilometers, boost invisibility performance by another 20%. Can we achieve it?"

Wang Hao stood at attention and saluted, "Mission will be completed! But Feng Ge... the budget needs a bit more."

"Apply to the finance department."

"Got it!"

After everyone dispersed, Wang Hao stayed alone at the test site, watching the crew retrieve missile debris.

Although most were damaged in the impact, some components could still be salvaged for study.

He crouched beside the missile fragments, feeling the invisible coating on them.

It was icy and smooth, like the skin of some creature.

"The Devourer... just the name sounds anything but friendly," he muttered to himself.

The assistant came over: "Wang Suo, should we edit and publish the live footage?"

"Post! Of course post it! But cut out the part where Guangzi scolds me... never mind, don't cut it, keep it, it adds show effect," Wang Hao stood up.

He grinned: "Let the whole world see that our missiles not only can cloak, but the designer is also especially cool."

Evening, Dragon Chant cafeteria.

Wang Hao was carrying his tray looking for a seat when he saw Chen Guang sitting alone in a corner, tablet spread before him, brow tightly knit.

"Guangzi, still working while eating?" Wang Hao plopped down.

Chen Guang didn't look up: "Torch Dragon-3 discovered something new again; the signal contains a very short mathematical sequence."

"I used to think it was just random noise, but tonight the system linked it to gravitational fluctuation data from the edge of the Solar System."

"What does that mean?"

Chen Guang looked up and said: "That means the signal sender might be using some method… to mark the Harvesters' advance route."

"And the latest marker point on that route is only 1.2 light-years from the Solar System."

Wang Hao's chopsticks halted mid-air: "1.2 light-years? Isn't that pretty close?"

"On an interstellar scale, that's already close. If the Harvesters move at 0.1 times the speed of light, they'll arrive in twelve years. If they have faster travel technology…" Chen You displayed a simulation diagram.

He didn't finish.

But Wang Hao understood.

"So we really don't have much time left, do we?"

"At least not as ample as we thought, so your missile still needs to be faster." Chen Guang said that, put away his tablet, and started eating.

"It's already fast!" Wang Hao took a couple bites of rice, then suddenly thought of something.

"Hey Guangzi, you think we could add… uh… a Harvesters assault version to the missile?"

Chen Guang glanced at him: "What strange function are you thinking of adding now?"

"It's not a strange function!" Wang Hao said seriously.

"I'm thinking, since the enemy might be some kind of higher-dimensional being or energy lifeform, conventional kinetic weapons might not work."

"We need to develop something new, like… a quantum entanglement bomb? Or a spacetime tremor bomb?"

Chen Guang's chopsticks paused.

He pushed his glasses, fell silent for a few seconds, then said: "Come to my lab tomorrow, and we'll discuss it in detail."

"Sure!"

Wang Hao laughed and continued eating with his head down.

Outside the cafeteria window, night fell.

And in the deeper night sky, the signals from distant stars continued to come.

Faint, but persistent.

Like the last firefly in the darkness.