Chapter 37

The conventional demonstrations were all over, and the effect was explosive.

The experts all had expressions of lingering interest and undisguised excitement on their faces.

They whispered to each other, looking at the Feng Yan team as if they were looking at a treasure.

Feng Yan felt wonderful, feeling as if he had already stepped half a foot into the ranks of the "National Team."

But he knew that no matter how flashy the conventional operations were, they were at most an honor student.

To truly make these well-informed big shots remember them, they had to do something different.

He took a deep breath and walked to the center of the field.

A mysterious smile, mixed with confidence and "I'm about to do something big," hung on his face.

"Leaders, experts," he picked up the megaphone with static, his voice steady.

"What you just saw was our team's work based on existing technology."

"Some explorations and achievements in the fields of individual equipment, intelligent platforms, directed energy, and precision delivery. They represent our present."

He paused, his gaze sweeping across the venue, seeing that the experts' attention had been attracted.

"However," his tone changed, becoming more powerful.

"What we want to show you is not just some performance parameters and demonstration items."

"What we want to show is the core of why this team has been able to make it to today."

"An R&D philosophy that originates from life and serves the country, and a kind of strategic imagination that might seem a bit 'outrageous'."

"But might represent the future."

He shook the mobile hard drive in his hand, like holding a holy grail.

"Next, please allow me to play some video material we recorded internally."

"It is not as rigorous as the previous demonstrations, and even a bit... messy and comical."

"But it truly records how we found the inspiration for the next technological step from a ridiculous 'civilian mission'."

Section Chief Wang's eyelids twitched as he listened, internal monologue:

'Little Feng, oh Little Feng, you must not mess this up! We're at the final step!'

Feng Yan gave Wang Hao a look.

Wang Hao immediately understood and skillfully connected the projection equipment.

Images began to appear on a temporarily set-up large screen.

No fancy opening, no passionate soundtrack; the opening was just a shaky mobile phone lens.

Aimed at the huge, scalp-tingling hornet's nest under the eaves of Uncle Zhang's house.

Followed by Wang Hao's voiceover, which carried a crying tone:

"Holy crap! A bad start, Brother Feng! These bees don't play by the rules! They're launching a sneak attack!"

The scene switched, "Xiao Bai" braving faint electronic smoke (having been stung),

limping away in defeat.

Then Wang Hao's "sticky foam restraint projectile" launch failed, spreading out on the ground as a pile of white, constantly expanding foam.

The swarm didn't even care.

A burst of suppressed laughter came from the expert seats.

This scene was too relatable.

It looked exactly like the scenes of scrambling to deal with trouble that everyone encounters in life.

Then, the style began to change abruptly.

The camera focused on Chen Guang staring at the thermal imaging screen, analyzing calmly:

"... The swarm is very sensitive to local low temperatures!"

Then Wang Hao ran to fetch a Dewar flask and compressed gas tank as if he were high on adrenaline.

In the video, Li Yang was controlling "Iron Wolf."

Carrying an incongruous high-pressure gas cylinder and Dewar flask on his back.

Holding a shield in his left hand and a hose connected to an atomizing nozzle in his right.

A veritable steel gardener preparing to pest-control the garden.

"Activate spray." Li Yang's calm voice came through the video.

"Sss—" A white water mist with a chill sprayed out.

The swarm, which had been aggressive just a moment ago, instantly seemed to have been pressed on slow-motion, flying unsteadily and falling one after another.

"Effective! Too effective!" Wang Hao's voiceover cracked with excitement.

Finally, "Iron Wolf's" mechanical claw precisely clamped the base of the nest.

With a twist and a pull, a "crack" sound, the huge hornet's nest was removed entirely and fell into a sealed bucket.

The screen froze on the "heroic posture" of "Iron Wolf" holding the spray tube, emitting faint white mist.

The venue was silent at first, then erupted into laughter and discussion even warmer and more relaxed than when watching the missile demonstration.

"Low temperature to inhibit swarm activity? This idea... is amazing!" An expert slapped his thigh and laughed.

"Multi-platform coordination under emergency conditions, although rough, is responsive and effective!" The expert in the jacket nodded, his eyes shining.

Team Leader Zheng also shook his head with a smile: "These kids... they really dare to think and really dare to do it!"

Before the laughter died down, the image on the screen switched again.

This time, it was a smoky barbecue stall.

Charcoal crackling, meat skewers dripping with oil.

The camera focused on Li Yang's hands, stained with oil but unusually steady.

He was using a few greasy barbecue skewers, micro-motors, and enameled wire as thin as hair, focused on assembling something.

The narration was Feng Yan's voice, with a bit of teasing and pride:

"On the very night the bee-repelling was successful, at this barbecue stall, Li Yang used these inconspicuous things."

"To tinker with the first concept verification machine of our 'Insect Legion'."

The video sped up, and a simple but cleverly structured eight-legged "mechanical spider" gradually took shape in Li Yang's hands.

Wang Hao contributed an ultra-small servo, and Chen Guang coded the basic movement logic on the spot.

When that bamboo-skewer spider, named "Spider One," began to move "click-clack" on the concrete floor.

And even used its front legs equipped with servos to poke at the chicken bones Wang Hao had dropped on the ground.

The laughter in the expert seats reached a climax.

That old academic professor laughed so hard his glasses slid down, and while wiping them, he said:

"Barbecue skewers... micro-motors... on-site programming... this."

"This is the lowest-cost rapid prototype verification! Imagination is not limited!"

The screen finally froze on the slightly clumsy but life-like crawling posture of "Spider One."

The VCR ended.

The venue quieted down, but a strange, excited atmosphere permeated the air.

The smiles on the experts' faces had not yet faded, but their eyes had become incomparably deep and serious.

Feng Yan walked to the center of the field, the light shining on him.

He no longer had the previous joking manner, his expression solemn and sincere.

"Leaders," he began, his voice transmitting through the megaphone across the quiet venue.

"What you just saw was not a drill, not a pre-designed script."

"That is the truest appearance of our team—we will go all out for a neighbor's request for help."

"Will be so engrossed in an inspiration at a barbecue stall that we forget everything else."

"Will use whatever we can find at hand to verify those seemingly wild ideas of ours."

He pointed to the frozen "Spider One" and the bee-repelling scene on the screen.

"We believe that future technology, especially national defense technology."

"Is not just the parameters iterated in the laboratory, not just the massive steel torrent."

"It should be an 'ecosystem' that is ubiquitous and pervasive."

"Our 'Iron Wolf' and missiles can be the powerful 'predators' in this ecosystem;"

"And our 'Xiao Bai,' and the 'Insect Legion' that will evolve from 'Spider One' in the future, will be the 'scouts,' 'engineers,' and 'sentries' spread across every corner."

His voice gradually rose, carrying a burning infectious power.

"We may not have the top laboratories, not have the most sufficient startup funds."

"Some of our ideas may even seem childish and 'tacky' to the experts."

"But we possess the most primitive impulse for technology, the wildest imagination, and the most important point."

"—We always remember where technology should come from and where it should eventually return."

"It should be able to solve the hornets under Uncle Zhang's eaves, and it can also become an invisible Great Wall guarding the country's gates on the future battlefield!"

"What we are showing is not a perfect answer, but a tenacious R&D path full of possibilities, like wild grass!"

"This is our 'Iron Wolf Workshop,' the different future that we, this group of young people whose 'hobbies are a bit hardcore,' want to bring to the country!"

Feng Yan finished speaking and bowed slightly.

The venue fell into a silence that lasted for more than ten seconds.

Then, Team Leader Zheng was the first to stand up and applaud vigorously.

Immediately after, all the experts, along with Section Chief Wang, stood up.

The applause sounded like thunder, lasting and warm.

Filled with heartfelt appreciation and indescribable shock!

Wang Hao excitedly pinched Chen Guang's arm, and Chen Guang winced in pain but forgot to shake him off.

Li Yang stood next to "Iron Wolf," looking at the frozen "Spider One" on the screen.

A clear arc lifted from his tightly pursed lips.

Feng Yan stood in the center of the applause, feeling his blood boiling.

He knew he had bet correctly.

This "outrageous" yet "real" VCR, coupled with his "wild path" declaration.

Had completed a "dimensional reduction strike" on the experts' cognition!

'It's done!' A little person in his heart was already setting off fireworks, 'This emotional card plus long-term planning is a direct king bomb!'

Next was the final defense session.

Feng Yan took a deep breath; he knew the real test was only just beginning.

But at this moment, he was full of confidence.