Darkstone Code-Chapter 852 - 850: Let’s Hype It Up First

At this moment, most people were gazing at the airplane soaring in the blue sky. A long sigh from the President seemed to express a sense of humanity advancing one more step in the struggle against nature.

It also seemed to reflect a sense of helplessness about human insignificance, for even if we conquer the sky, there are more unknowns and mysteries awaiting us.

These are actually just rhetorical devices; he really just wanted to sigh. Sometimes, when people do certain things, they don’t have that many psychological activities going on.

Everyone was focused on the airplane, but there were also two guys whose focus was a bit different. Their eyes wandered around in the hangar, and one of them even tried to grab something to stuff into his pocket.

Everyone has their own tasks and missions. Some people’s task is to advance the course of civilization, but not everyone has to be so great.

Because for most people, the purpose of living is just to survive, supporting the extraordinary of that small group.

The Chief Engineer coughed. He was very obedient to Lynch’s orders, constantly keeping an eye on these people.

The scientist from the Ministry of Defense, who was stuffing a thumb-sized metal burr scraped from the fuselage into his pocket, showed an innocent smile and then put it back.

He even reached out to wipe the dust off it.

Mr. Lynch was absolutely right; one really shouldn’t relax too much. Who would have thought these scientists from the Ministry of Defense could be so dishonest?

He knew the other party wanted to analyze the metal composition to understand this airplane, but such behavior... it’s hard to evaluate.

"You can let them come down..." After a long sigh, the President’s emotion finally recovered.

People from the Ministry of Defense and the Military also began to closely monitor the airplane’s landing situation. Until now, there weren’t any large-scale research projects on airplanes; the problem was that landing was very difficult to solve.

First was the initial plane, its pure aluminum metallic fuselage circling as it lowered altitude and reduced engine output. After the last circle, it began its official landing.

Several Special Agents instinctively stood in front of the President. At the annual aviation expo, the damage caused by those planes when they crash is no less than a cannonball.

Every year, some unlucky folks get injured by plane debris due to being too close to the take-off and landing strip, and even deaths have occurred.

Everyone held their breath, watching quietly...

After an unpleasant, somewhat piercing sound, the rubber wheels deformed upon contact with the ground, and the fuselage seemed to sink to some extent. Surprisingly, it didn’t get damaged; instead, it bounced the airplane up.

But just this one contact of less than a second reduced the airplane’s speed to a rather low level. It was now gliding purely based on its structure.

Three or four seconds later, the second contact happened. This time, the degree of deformation of the rubber tires was not so exaggerated. The airplane’s fuselage bounced a bit but quickly settled on the ground.

The runway was mostly covered, and the airplane had completely landed. The pilot excitedly helped ground staff push it aside, as there was another plane in the sky waiting to land.

The aluminum-plated airplane landed a bit more smoothly than the all-aluminum alloy fuselage plane. The wood’s toughness was better than aluminum alloy, able to withstand greater extremes during the force collision at landing.

Both planes perfectly completed their missions, from takeoff to soaring and then landing, without any issues!

Whether it was the pilots, researchers, or the officers of the Ministry of Defense and Military, everyone was extremely excited at this moment.

The first to ask a question was someone from the Navy, "Mr. Lynch, how far can these... planes fly at most?"

This is a crucial question. If they can’t fly too far, while still valuable, the value isn’t as great.

The world is so vast; the Federation can’t be fighting wars at its doorstep with other countries forever. That wouldn’t be a smart choice.

If the flames of war were brought into the homeland, everyone from the President to the Minister of Defense would be responsible for this!

So, the core idea of waging war on others’ soil as much as possible has been deeply ingrained in the minds of the Federation people. During the war, they witnessed too many tragedies and deeply feared war flames igniting on their land.

Therefore, these planes need to have good range capabilities. Only then can they cooperate with the Navy and Army to advance.

Lynch looked at everyone, smiled, took a couple of steps, turned his back to the research institute’s entrance, and with a smile asked, "Why don’t we sit in a warm room, drinking coffee while discussing these questions?"

The President didn’t hesitate much and directly stepped forward.

Lynch’s suggestion was very welcome to him. Among this group of people, he was possibly the oldest. The temperature in February wasn’t that high, and the not-yet-developed industrial capability hadn’t destroyed the climate within the planet, so winter was really cold!

After being in the cold wind for over twenty minutes, the President vaguely felt some knee pain, and his elbows were a bit sore. He had to find a warm place to stay.

A large group of people followed Lynch into the meeting room of the research institute. The blackboard in the meeting room had long been wiped clean, and the things on it were preserved as photo film.

"Our first prototype can theoretically fly about a thousand kilometers one way if equipped with additional fuel tanks!"

The Chief Engineer coughed heavily, having choked on his own saliva.

They delayed reporting the aircraft’s situation to Lynch by over a month because unexpected issues kept arising.

For instance, in order to provide a more stable output, they slightly sacrificed endurance by increasing takeoff runway speed.

Currently, without extra fuel tanks, it can only fly about 220 kilometers round trip with an adult onboard, and even with extra fuel, it can’t reach a thousand kilometers!

"Are you feeling unwell?" Lynch glanced at him sideways, and without waiting for the Chief Engineer to say anything, he added, "If you’re not feeling well, you can take a rest. I know you all worked hard to research these things as quickly as possible."

The Chief Engineer intended to remind Lynch, but unexpectedly, Lynch furtively gave him a look that seemed to say, "Shut up, I damn well know what you want to say, but shut up!"

After confirming the look, the Chief Engineer forced a smile to thank Lynch for his "mercy" and voluntarily left his post.

Actually, Lynch was aware it doesn’t fly very far, but that didn’t stop him from boasting a bit about its performance.

Less than a thousand kilometers, a hundred kilometers is also less than a thousand kilometers, and nine hundred ninety-nine is less than a thousand kilometers. Besides, there’s no specified size for the fuel tanks, they only asked for the maximum flight range.

It’s just like those car salespeople, you think they’re talking about a complete car, but other than initially discussing the car, they spend the rest of the time talking about parts.

Once you believe what they say, you’ll realize that what they said and what you heard aren’t the same thing.

Those satisfying parts and interiors are actually optional, meaning you need to pay extra to get them.

But they won’t say this, they’ll take the customer to see the top-spec car and let them test drive it, only telling you that if you want the car in your mind—you’ll have to pay more, sir!

Now Lynch is playing the same trick with them; he dares to claim it can even fly near the atmospheric layer, as long as someone asks.

When it comes to actual operations later, reducing the initial data for various reasons results in a realistic figure.

After all, we have "theoretically" fully confirmed its feasibility!

The gentlemen in the room nodded in agreement; a thousand kilometers, if they build some supply transit points in the Atlantic Ocean, they could even fly directly to Gafura’s mainland.

Even though they didn’t know why, they subconsciously considered Gafura as the hypothetical enemy when contemplating this issue.

People asked many other questions, like its actual combat performance, bombing accuracy, and supply convenience. At this moment, Lynch became an expert in the field of aircraft, with no question he couldn’t answer.

He wasn’t just talking nonsense; he slightly processed the data provided by the Chief Engineer and researchers before presenting it.

It’s common knowledge that theory looks better in numbers than reality; it’s like how a girl’s chest can rise even if it’s flat when she stands proudly.

If it’s slightly raised, it might become voluptuous.

Therefore, it’s normal for theory to have a discrepancy!

After briefly answering some questions about performance and efficacy, Lynch quickly took control.

He turned the Q&A into his own monologue through the topic of "future warfare development trends."

When he noticed that he might not be able to answer some questions if they kept asking, he knew it was time to change the topic.

"Aircraft is the most important invention in human history and the key to helping us achieve victory in war."

"I’ve previously talked about three-dimensional warfare. When other nations’ wars are still on a single plane, our warfare capability has already developed into multidimensional. We have the key to victory."

"We can attack any facility of any power without any restrictions, even execute ’decapitation tactics,’ directly securing war victory!"

The Military people liked hearing this. The Major General, who came as a representative, asked, "Mr. Lynch, what exactly do you mean by ’decapitation tactics’ that you mentioned just now?"

Lynch liked such potentially friendly people who cooperate with him. He waggled his finger, "The human brain controls the human body, so if we personify war, the command center is equivalent to the war’s brain."

"What happens if our aircraft suddenly appear above the enemy’s command center and drop bombs?"

"What happens if our aircraft suddenly appear in the enemy’s capital and deliver bombs to the enemy’s national hub?"

"Gentlemen, from this moment, the form of warfare has changed!"

"Those who can’t keep up will lag behind, and I hope it won’t be us!"