Chapter 120: Excavation

During busy and fulfilling times, the passage of time was almost imperceptible to them, barely felt at all.

By the time the office seminar concluded, night had deepened, and the bright moon hung high in the sky.

Meanwhile, in the laboratory, multiple rounds of repeated tests on the new T4 alloy material had taken place. Each round yielded consistently stable and superior performance data.

Cheng Huanan, following Wu Tong’s preparation process, had freshly fabricated two new material samples and sent them back to the testing lab. The assembly line tests on samples two and three, compared with Wu Tong’s original sample one, showed minimal data variation. This confirmed that Wu Tong’s manufacturing technique was precise and rigorous, capable of reproducible mass production.

Every confirmed validation result brought the testing staff near delirium with joy, their celebrations almost like dancing and cheering. Many of the testers were already shouting inwardly: “Long live our young boss! Our boss is formidable!” As frontline trusted personnel, they felt their fortunes were about to improve.

Cheng Huanan could no longer contain himself. Announcing to Ruan Chengxu the news that Wu Tong had formally become his disciple, the elder’s rare display of pride verged on boasting, revealing the depth of his happiness.

In the scientific community, it was common to call the project leader “boss.” With Wu Tong joining under Elder Cheng’s tutelage as a closely guarded apprentice, he was indeed their “young boss.”

Given the young boss’s talent, a flash of inspiration could spark the birth of a project, with the young boss handling the core tasks. The grueling and tedious labor could be delegated to others. Those who applied themselves diligently now would surely be the first to be chosen in the future. Participating in such opportunities multiple times would make their resumes shine brilliantly, promising a bright future.

In their hearts, they felt a warm glow. Despite working overtime all night on testing, their spirits were as if energized by adrenaline, showing no signs of complaint or slackening.

In the office, Lu Xiao and Wu Tong sparked flashes of inspiration through their brainstorming. After completing the perfect model, Lu Xiao immediately began designing the experimental procedure. Every step required precise control and accuracy. Without realizing it, he entered a state of intense concentration.

Wu Tong, seated at the other end of the conference table, used the encrypted laptop provided by Zheng Hongming’s team, opening the confidential files adjusted by Lu Xiao himself. She carefully studied the principles and structure of the turbofan engine, along with the parameters of various component materials. Her knowledge database in the field of aero engines rapidly expanded.

Building upon this, her abilities of absolute direction and absolute deduction operated at full capacity, delving deeper and revealing more avenues for improvement.

Simultaneously, the material model Wu Tong derived for the blades continued to be enriched, moving toward a detailed and perfected molecular structure, material composition, and corresponding preparation processes.

Regarding the proportions of the three core components of the turbofan engine—the high-pressure compressor, combustion chamber, and turbine—Wu Tong, based on thorough research and theoretical understanding, converted the data into mathematical models. Combining this with her deductions, she determined superior parameters.

Though her grasp of the principles behind these core precision components was still at an initial stage, designing them from scratch might be unrealistic. Yet, with her solid mathematical foundation and ability in absolute deduction, optimizing existing models—a task daunting for others—was relatively straightforward for her.

She had already mastered the use of absolute deduction and absolute direction determination. It was as if she had densely calculated on scrap paper, building a complete engine architecture model. After deducing the optimal parameter ranges from a mathematical perspective, she visualized the sizes of the combustion chamber and turbine in her mind, enumerating approximate parameters.

The innate integration of absolute direction determination allowed her to select the closest fitting parameters. Under absolute deduction, she constructed a detailed model of the turbofan engine’s components deep in her mind, applied the chosen parameters, and directly simulated its operation.

This gave her a vivid sense of where further refinement was needed and what areas held potential for improvement.

Where improvement was necessary, she reconfirmed more precise parameters and reran the simulation repeatedly until identifying the optimal parameters achievable under current conditions. Using these parameters, Wu Tong then mathematically reverse-engineered the entire calculation process of the parameters.

What would require unknown countless attempts, improvements, failures, setbacks, billions in funding, and the risk of missteps and wasted effort in the outside world, was all completed through her internal deduction on paper.

Her greatest expenditure was her immense energy, along with stacks of scrap paper and countless emptied pens.

Unconsciously, night faded and the day dawned bright once more.

Outside the office, Cheng Huanan rubbed his face vigorously, forcing himself to regain some energy. Having aged, he felt less able to endure late nights than in his youth, when he could push through three days straight.

He asked the plainclothes soldier guarding the door and Zheng Hongming waiting outside, “Are Lu Xiao and Wu Tong still hard at work?”

Since last night, they had been busy preparing materials and monitoring data tests. He had briefly checked in earlier. At first, it was deep discussions between Lu Xiao and Wu Tong, switching among various data, formulas, and principles. Honestly, he couldn’t keep up with their strong foundation in mathematics and dynamics.

He could only sense that after their minds synchronized, they had made great progress.

“They’re still fully engaged in calculations. I’ve only been in once, bringing two bundles of scrap paper, two boxes of pens, and some energy bars and chocolate drinks,” Zheng Hongming said, glancing through the window. They could still be seen fully focused, with the conference table piled high with notes and a heap of discarded pens.

They dared not disturb them further. Interrupting their inspiration could jeopardize the optimization direction of the Weilon J-20, a tragedy for the entire China-20 project team. They would be unforgivable sinners.

“They can’t keep this up forever. From last night until this morning, these two have worked through the night without eating,” Cheng Huanan noted. He had monitored the data overnight, taking turns with Cheng Xu to rest briefly.

For those in materials research, continuous shifts were common, and they had ample experience managing them.

Cheng Huanan rubbed his brow and reminded Zheng Hongming, “It’s one thing for old bones like us, but they’re still young. If they ruin their health, it’s a lifetime problem. We must watch their health closely; their minds and bodies are national treasures.”

“Elder Cheng, you have to lead by example,” Zheng Hongming replied with a wry smile. Among this big shot and other top figures in the country, who really listened?

(End of chapter)