Chapter 24

Hey, you bastard calf, are you letting go or not?

Qin Miao's killing intent in his eyes vanished instantly, and he squeezed out a smile: "Let go, let go! Big brother, what should I call you?"

"People on the road all call me Xiao Bailong, and that building behind is my family's ancestral property!" Xiao Bailong watched the big rooster pecking as Zhao Wanli ran, a cold smile on his face: "Look, you startled my big rooster—you have to pay for it!"

Qin Miao glanced at it—it was a three-story dormitory building; the ground floor and a large open space had been forcibly occupied, and inside there was a middle-aged couple, the man with a brutish face, the woman with a sharp, sour expression; this family was probably not easy to deal with.

"Cough cough, Long Ge, how much money?"

"At least two dollars!"

"This is Xiao Bailong? That's his level? Extorting a few students for pocket change, and only two dollars? Qin Miao really doesn't know what the school's Security Section is good for—this kind of social scum should be sent straight to labor reform!"

"Long Ge, I… I have no money."

"Just started school, how can you have no money? Didn't the school give you your living subsidy? Even meal tickets would do!"

"Long Ge, I really have no money, but… I do know a place with a lot of scrap copper; if we can figure out how to move it and sell it, we could at least get ten dollars!"

"Scrap copper? Where?"

"The experimental workshop of the Metal Cutting Teaching and Research Section."

"You're sure it's scrap copper?"

"Yeah, once the finished product is cut, it's shipped out, and what's left are the offcuts." Qin Miao said: "Find a tricycle, park it at the workshop entrance at midnight tonight—I'm on duty tonight, so I can get those offcuts out."

Xiao Bailong thought for a moment: "Okay!"

"When you get there, shout 'Heavenly King covers Earth Tiger,' and I'll reply with…"

Afternoon, the experimental workshop of the Metal Cutting Teaching and Research Section.

"Qin Miao, you've finally shown up!" Professor Yuan's eyes were full of excitement: "The troops have already taken the firing tables out for test firing, the error is completely within controllable limits, and within a week the southern front will be able to use the new ammunition! However, the troops also hope to further increase the range—do you have a way?"

"Well, to increase a projectile's range, we just need to reduce the pressure difference between nose and tail. We dig a hole using aerodynamic principles, and we can also install a gas device at the projectile's tail; the gas it expels fills the low-pressure area at the tail, thereby reducing the nose‑tail pressure difference. Right, I saw in the factory archives that Europe tried this in the mid‑1960s—we…"

"We've tried that too, but the accuracy was too poor, so we gave it up." Professor Yuan said: "The expelled gas creates a reaction force that interferes with the projectile's flight path."

"The range‑boosting effect of base‑bleed shells is very pronounced—easily adding thirty percent to the range—but… the accuracy is too poor, so even today, the world's main‑service shells are still the ordinary pointed‑flat‑base type."

"The date‑pit shell has only appeared in the last few years, and it's already successful, which is why the domestic side wants to develop it—who would have thought Qin Miao would just dig a hole in the shell's base and solve it! Now, is this tough nut of base‑bleed shells also going to be cracked?"

Professor Yuan's eyes were full of anticipation: "When the projectile flies out spinning, the gas in the nozzle will spin with it; no matter which direction the nozzle is designed for, the expelled gas will always be helical—if only the projectile didn't spin!"

"Then we need to calculate and design multiple exhaust holes at the tail so that the reaction forces they produce cancel each other out."

Professor Yuan's eyes lit up: "Really? That actually is a good method! You… can you start working on it now?"

"Of course." Qin Miao said: "Since the front‑line troops need it, we have to get it done as soon as possible!"

"Without affecting the shell's power, base‑bleed and base‑recessed shells are the most suitable choices; other rocket‑assisted propulsion schemes, etc., need to take up most of the warhead's space, leaving much less room for explosive."

"Since the troops find the base‑recessed shell's range insufficient, let's just produce the base‑bleed shell!"

After all that, it was ten o'clock at night; seeing Qin Miao lie down on the table again, the others could only leave reluctantly.

Midnight.

Xiao Bailong rode the tricycle, creaking all the way to the lab door.

"Heavenly King covers Earth Tiger!"

"Stewed young chicken with mushrooms, Long Ge, you've finally come—everything on the ground can be taken away!"

"These… won't get us in trouble, will they?"

"Of course not—it's all offcuts! I've seen a few senior brothers sneak them out and sell; they can sell, I can sell too! Long Ge, this time I'll make up for the loss of your rooster; come tomorrow night, we'll get more offcuts, sell them, and you'll get half the profit!"

Xiao Bailong's eyes shifted: "Okay!"

The next day, Qin Miao continued classes in the morning, did research in the lab in the afternoon, slept there at night, and in the middle of the night prepared another tricycle load of offcuts for Xiao Bailong.

On the third day, after Qin Miao finished class, he went on to the staff cafeteria, but Xiao Bailong intercepted him halfway.

"Brother, from now on I've got your back at this university! Come, eat some eggs!" Xiao Bailong said, pulling two eggs out of his pocket.

"Long Ge, what about the money from selling the offcuts?"

"The money… Brother's been a bit tight these days… Come, eat the eggs—our own chickens lay them, they're very nutritious."

"Long Ge, you're short on cash?"

"Yeah."

"Over there are a few scrapped parts; no one probably wants them—come tonight, we'll sell them and they should fetch fifty or sixty dollars!"

Xiao Bailong's eyes showed some hesitation: "You're sure it's scrap?"

"No doubt! The parts' tolerances are too large, they were over‑machined—definitely scrap."

"Okay!"

"Let's agree first—this time, when we sell it, I get half the money."

"Fine, fine, fine!"

Qin Miao held the eggs, went to the cafeteria, poured a bowl of boiling water, cracked the eggs in—egg soup. These were proper free‑range eggs, and they smelled wonderful when eaten.

Having eaten and drunk his fill, Qin Miao went to the workshop, looked at the hopeful Professor Yuan, and said: "The design work is done; we can start machining it today!"

"Really? Great—I need to call the troops; Representative Zhao is still waiting for them to use it!"

Half an hour later, Representative Zhao arrived, saw the blank being machined on the CNC machine, and his face was full of anticipation.

"San Shui, how much longer will this take?"

"It'll be done by tonight. By the way, Representative Zhao, I've noticed someone sneaking around the workshop lately—looks like a loiterer from society—I suspect…"

"Suspect what? Grab them first and talk later!"

"We're just suspecting, we have no evidence—how about tonight…"

Representative Zhao nodded: "Just do as you say!"