Chapter 68

The operation of the Longyin Research Institute gradually entered an efficient and tense rhythm.

The cafeteria became more and more popular.

But more people grabbed their food and hurried back to the laboratory or workshop.

While eating, they discussed while staring at the data or drawings on the screen.

This "cafeteria brainstorming" became the new normal for the institute.

Under this clamor, two forces were silently yet firmly expanding the boundaries of "Longyin"'s capabilities.

One force came from Zhao Gong and his increasingly capable support squad.

A corner of the workshop was planned as a "standardized production area."

Zhao Gong, leading Major Zhang and the team members, was fully pushing for the standardized process finalization of a batch of core parts, such as key joints for the "Chengshan" exoskeleton and core components for the "Peregrine Falcon" missile engine.

Calipers, precision gauges, and roughness testers were their new weapons.

Process flow cards and quality control tables covered the workbenches.

"Tolerance bands must be locked tight," Zhao Gong pointed to a "Chengshan" knee joint part that had just been processed.

Telling the team member responsible for quality inspection, "For civilian equipment, reliability is the first priority."

"Any deviation could become a hidden danger in the future."

He personally monitored every key process, from material cutting to heat treatment, from precision machining to surface treatment.

Under his high-pressure control, batches of parts were produced like a flowing stream.

The dimensional precision and consistency reached an astonishing level, laying a solid foundation for future large-scale trial production.

However, while pushing for standardization, Zhao Gong knew in his heart.

Some things could not be replaced by machines and standardized processes for the time being.

In the evening, most people in the workshop had gone to the cafeteria to eat, leaving only a few core members.

Zhao Gong would call Li Yang and Wang Hao to his old workbench piled with all kinds of strange tools and start his "small stove."

He picked up an extremely irregularly shaped micro-vector nozzle blank used on the "Peregrine Falcon" missile.

Telling Wang Hao: "Hao kid, watch closely."

"For this kind of special-shaped part, no matter how much the five-axis machine tool path is optimized, the R-angle at the root is prone to micro-vibration, affecting airflow stability."

Saying that, he picked up a scraper he had polished himself, with an extremely tricky angle.

His wrist moved with a soft force that was hard to describe, a light turn, a wipe, and metal shavings fell like hair.

He didn't need to look at any measuring instruments, relying entirely on the touch of his fingertips and his eyes' judgment of reflections.

After a few strokes, that subtle R-angle became smooth and flowing, as if naturally generated.

"This is called 'following the strength'," Zhao Gong put down the scraper and said faintly:

"Machines only know how to cut iron according to instructions; you have to feel the 'temper' of the material and follow its texture and toughness."

"This kind of thing, data models can't teach you for now."

Wang Hao was dumbfounded, took the nozzle, and looked at it carefully against the light.

And touched it with his hand, feeling that silky transition, deeply shocked in his heart.

He had only known how to pursue thrust and trajectory before, never having paid such detailed attention to the potential impact of the smoothness inside a nozzle on final performance.

On the other side, he picked up a bionic joint ball socket for the "Mechanical Mantis" designed by Li Yang.

Telling Li Yang: "Your ball socket design is fine, but the material is a new composite material, high hardness but brittle."

"After precision milling by the machine tool, there will be extremely subtle stress concentration points on the surface, affecting life and smoothness of movement."

He changed to an oilstone strip as thin as a needle tip.

Dipping it in special grinding paste, he began to lightly grind the inner wall of that tiny ball socket with a specific frequency and trajectory, but after a few minutes.

Li Yang observed with an electron microscope and found that the micro-scratches on the inner wall had disappeared, becoming as smooth as a mirror.

"Some precision is called 'feel'," Zhao Gong wiped his hands.

"Standardization guarantees the lower limit, while these hands pursue the upper limit. At critical moments, they can top it off."

Li Yang nodded heavily, firmly remembering these seemingly "earthy" but essence-containing techniques.

He knew this was the essence of Zhao Gong's decades of accumulation, a treasure that couldn't be learned from books.

Just as Zhao Gong was silently laying the manufacturing foundation for the team.

Another silent force was also growing quietly—the "Light Domain" led by Chen Guang.

His progress reports were always the most concise and data-driven.

But every breakthrough was enough to cause vibrations in the outside world.

On his workbench, a metal module the size of a matchbox had just completed testing.

This was the engineering prototype of the "Firefly" micro-laser communication system.

It successfully achieved in a complex electromagnetic environment.

Establishing a stable, low-latency, high-bandwidth laser communication link with a receiving end 500 meters away, while power consumption was shockingly low.

"'Firefly' No. 1 prototype, test passed."

Chen Guang recorded calmly in the experimental log, "Can be mounted on the 'Mechanical Butterfly' platform to realize silent reconnaissance and real-time data return."

At the same time, in close cooperation with Li Yang's group.

The "Bee Sting" micro-laser, specifically designed for the "Mechanical Mantis" jump assault unit, also completed its first round of integration testing.

The test was conducted in a sealed target room.

A target, fixed on a mechanical arm and simulating a small reconnaissance drone, was moving rapidly and irregularly.

The "Mechanical Mantis" prototype lurked in the shadows.

At its front limb joint, a "Bee Sting" laser emission port the size of a fingernail was slightly adjusting its angle.

Chen Guang pressed the test key.

There was no deafening sound, no fire or smoke.

Only a faint red light, almost impossible to capture by the naked eye, flashed and disappeared.

The footage captured by the high-speed camera showed that the laser pulse accurately irradiated the core sensor position of the target.

It wasn't destruction, but instant blinding and burning of its key circuits.

At the same time, in another test, "Bee Sting" also left clear tiny melt marks on the special steel plate.

Demonstrating its small-power cutting ability.

"'Bee Sting' micro-laser, first round of functional testing complete."

Chen Guang wrote in the report, "Verified the precise blinding/soft-kill capability against micro-targets, as well as small-range cutting ability."

"'Insect Legion' attack module has completed initial integration."

No cheering, no showing off.

Chen Guang just saved the data calmly, synchronizing the test results to Li Yang and Feng Yan.

Then started working on the next step of optimization—improving the continuous firing count and energy utilization efficiency of "Bee Sting."

When Feng Yan received the report synchronized by Chen Guang, he was discussing the next step of process optimization with Zhao Gong.

He looked at the few lines of text on the screen that carried a lot of weight, as well as the video clip of the "Bee Sting" test next to it, and couldn't help but grin.

He handed the tablet to Zhao Gong to see:

"Zhao Gong, take a look, this kid Guangzi, silently, has made another big news."

Zhao Gong finished reading, his face still expressionless.

Just placing the micro-vector nozzle he had just polished by hand, which was as bright as a mirror, on the table.

Emitting a crisp, light sound.

He looked at the young people busy in the workshop, slowly exhaling a smoke ring.

"Only when the foundation is laid well can the building be built high."

His voice wasn't high, but it carried a certainty, "These kids, the path they're taking is right."