Chapter 726 - 700 Answer_2

He absorbed the knowledge with an insatiable hunger, even feeling a twinge of regret:

"If only I had started twenty years earlier, half of my past two decades were spent in mediocrity."

"If you were mediocre, then we’re merely idling our days away,"

Ye Changsi silently thought, judging by his observations, Zhang Shoucheng’s system rating was very likely above A+!

The reason why he hadn’t achieved great fame was that the current scientific advancement of the world wasn’t sufficient to support his further breakthroughs—he was a true super genius with an almost omnipotent capacity for learning in physics.

Without Lin Ju having to say anything, he was already gradually improving his relationship with Zhang Shoucheng—such talent was not to be missed.

"Professor Zhang, the nation’s resources are limited; please look at which technologies have the highest priority, so we can be prepared,"

"There are so many... In my opinion, we cannot afford to delay any of them..."

Zhang Shoucheng casually replied but stopped abruptly after he noticed that surrounding people, like himself, were all immersed in their work. He then leaned in closer to Ye Changsi, who was looking at him in surprise, and whispered so that only the two of them could hear:

"President Ye, your New Yuan has strong research capabilities as well, I mean in frontier physics."

"Hmm... Haha."

Clearly not keen on elaborating on the topic, Ye Changsi laughed trying to brush it off, not expecting Zhang Shoucheng to press on:

"You, Vice President Cheng, and those few there, are all one in a million geniuses,

Such figures couldn’t have been unknown in the first half of their lives, yet I have never heard your names.

Don’t tell me it’s because of that stone giving you knowledge; it cannot improve intuition for science."

Ye Changsi originally wanted to explain, but the words he meant to say were blocked.

Yet he remained calm, as if it was of no concern to him, and met Zhang Shoucheng’s gaze unflinchingly:

"Don’t worry, Professor Zhang, we’re all homegrown Earthlings, no aliens are controlling our brains."

Zhang Shoucheng stared intently at his face, but seeing nothing beyond sincerity, he gave up and as if nothing had happened, returned to the previous subject:

"Considering the current situation, I see two key directions moving forward: nuclear fusion and the space elevator.

This ’Chi Ren’ material is really interesting, it has completely changed my view on nanomaterials. I believe it’s only when the space elevator is built that humanity can truly undertake large-scale space construction."

"That’s the idea...however, before that, there are two things that could also play a significant role, and I can take you to see them later,"

"Oh?"

Zhang Shoucheng showed interest, then listened as Ye Changsi said:

"Firstly, the Aero-Space Plane, you’ve seen the Cloud Ascend project; it resolves launches of medium and smaller scales with very low cost.

For medium and large-scale launch tasks, we will soon replace traditional rockets with something else."

"I think I have an idea of what that might be."

...

After dinner, during the rest period, a group of researchers were gathered together, following Ye Changsi and Xie Liaofu into an independent assembly workshop within the base.

Upon entering the brightly lit workshop illuminated by shadow-less lamps, everyone couldn’t help but let out an exclamation at the sight before them.

On a raised platform, a monster full of angles lay quietly, and though it was night, one could still see "workers" continuously moving about on the scaffold.

More than thirty "Warrior III" type operation robots were busily at work, their motions brisk and silent as they efficiently carried out their tasks with seamless fluidity.

Before them lay the XN90 spacecraft that was awaiting assembly—only the last two thrusters remained to be fitted, currently undergoing checks to ensure the prescheduled electrical interfaces were functioning properly.

The science fiction exterior, already striking with its impact, combined with the cold machinery workers, gave one the impression that they had indeed arrived at the next-generation automated factory.

Zhang Shoucheng looked around; apart from his own group, he did not see a single human being.

Xie Liaofu was very proud of this, because with his continuous efforts and the rapid progress of robots, OGAS had truly achieved computer control of everything, and everything was automated.

Having experienced disorderly management, slow responses, astonishingly high resource wastage, and rigid and inflexible Union Production Association, he had an unusual fixation on efficient and automated factories.

The concept of OGAS was derived from Anatoly Kitov and Victor Glushkov, but it was Xie Liaofu who first implemented it in a super enterprise.

Even with the exact same equipment, a factory controlled by the latest OGAS automated command system could save 90% of front-line workers and increase production efficiency by more than 50%, with an additional level of improvement in quality management.

In the final assembly of the XN90, he conducted bold experiments under the pretext of nuclear radiation risk, with robots participating in the entire process and human intervention only in final checks at each stage; so far, everything has gone smoothly.

According to the schedule, this spacecraft could have its first test flight by the end of July or mid-August.

Xie Liaofu walked directly underneath the spaceship and knocked forcefully on the surface wrapped in the heat shield, producing a dull sound:

"For this thing, we’ve essentially thrown in all our most cutting-edge technologies. Despite its huge size, it only has an empty weight of 50 tons—just think about it, that’s equivalent to 6 nuclear reactors!

Minus the engines, the empty weight is only 22 tons. For this purpose, its heat-shield tiles were upgraded twice, which is way ahead of Typhoon—such a huge piece of the material can be lifted with one hand."

Zhang Shoucheng also approached to feel the texture of the surface material. After realizing that behind this thin layer was the nuclear reactor, which would repeatedly endure the scorching of the atmosphere, he couldn’t help but express his admiration:

"Just looking at the data is nothing compared to the shock of seeing the real thing."

"The efficiency of an Aero-Space Plane is definitely higher, but the potential of an aircraft design is limited. Although the payload of the XN90 is only 25 tons, we will make bigger ones in the future, increasing the payload capacity at least tenfold."

"More importantly, is it... versatility?"

Ye Changsi looked toward the person who revealed the truth, Shen Zuozhou, who also waved at him amiably.

The XN90 is particularly undemanding of the environment. As long as conditions allow, it could be used everywhere—Earth, Mars, the Moon, and so on—it’s also incredibly convenient for maintenance and very suitable for short-distance travel, with ample power output, simply a cure-all solution.

It is not optimized for any specific environment, lacking any particular advantage, but it can be used in most places in the Solar System. This feature will be especially important in the development of extraterrestrial planets in the future.

A group of researchers from different fields no longer avoided the topic and, under the guidance of Xie Liaofu, they carefully inspected the ins and outs of the spaceship, while Zhang Shoucheng conversed privately with Ye Changsi:

"This thing is too advanced, aren’t you afraid of arousing suspicion?"

Ye Changsi: "Even if we don’t want to, we must do it."

In the face of a crisis of life and death, intense development is the only choice.

Zhang Shoucheng’s gaze returned to the spaceship:

"The astronauts on March are going to use this thing to land on Mars and Titan, it’s really like acting in a science fiction movie now.

Old Ye, tell me, what’s the relation between the stuff on those two places and that black stone?"

Until now, Zhang Shoucheng only believed that extraterrestrial civilization was related to New Yuan but still held skepticism towards "Karst" and was even unwilling to use that fabricated name.

Ye Changsi secretly felt a headache. A genius’s intelligence wasn’t just manifest in academics—it’s just that often they were too lazy to apply it elsewhere.

Unfortunately, every move of New Yuan now attracted high attention; otherwise, he would have just put out a contract for external consultation.

"I can guarantee with my personal honor, we too know nothing, but six probes are already on their way, and we will soon have some answers."

"I hope that you are on the side of humanity."

Ye Changsi thought about it and answered very seriously:

"I believe what I am doing is for the future of humanity, and the same goes for the others here."

Zhang Shoucheng seemed to think of something and did not continue to ask further.