Volume 1, Chapter 46: Draw It Out

A wave of ecstatic joy swept through the entire workshop.

Workers tossed their caps into the air, and some of the younger ones embraced in sheer excitement, shouting and jumping. Several veteran master craftsmen gathered around the flawless horizontal stabilizer as if guarding a newborn infant. Wearing white cotton gloves, they gently stroked its surface with a mixture of pride and disbelief etched across their faces.

Li Weiguo was surrounded at the center of the crowd. Normally stern and uncompromising, the factory director was now smiling like a child. His flushed face was streaked with sweat and perhaps tears.

"Director, say a few words!" someone shouted from the crowd.

"What is there to say? The job is done! This month, everyone gets a double bonus!" Li Weiguo waved his large hand, his voice hoarse yet charged with immense power.

"Bravo!"

Another wave of roaring, tsunami-like cheers erupted.

Du Yuze was squeezed into the crowd, his back patted over and over again until his internal organs felt nearly displaced. He did not join the frenzy, choosing instead to quietly absorb the heated atmosphere. A portion of his attention remained fixed on the cold system notification inside his mind.

[Points +5,000.]

[New technology blueprint unlocked: Composite Structure Health Monitoring System.]

Five thousand points. This was a colossal sum. His previous redemption of the prepreg automatic fiber placement program had nearly exhausted all his accumulated reserves. With these points, so many things became possible.

His gaze drifted past the cheering crowd and landed in the far corner. Shen Qingyun had departed at some point; that spot was entirely empty, as though he had never existed at all. Lose, and vanish. That suited his character precisely.

"Du Yuze! Come here!"

Li Weiguo squeezed out from the crowd and grabbed Du Yuze by the arm with a grip as tight as an iron pincer. He still reeked of sweat and the pungent aroma of mixed tobacco.

"Follow me! And you two, Old Zhang, Old Sun, come as well!" He motioned to the two white-haired chief engineers.

The celebratory mood seemed cleaved open by his decree. The men exchanged glances and immediately followed.

The heavy door of the director's office slammed shut with a loud thud, cutting off all outside clamor.

The world fell instantly silent.

Li Weiguo walked behind his desk, felt around in the drawer, pulled out a crumpled pack of Red Pagoda Mountain cigarettes, and tossed it onto the table. "Don't stand on ceremony, help yourselves. Today is an exception, smoke up."

No one moved. Everyone stared at him.

Li Weiguo pulled out a cigarette himself, though he did not light it, merely holding it between his fingers. "The horizontal stabilizer is done, and our military pledge is fulfilled. Tell me, isn't this the greatest news imaginable?"

"Of course it is!" Deputy Chief Engineer Old Zhang spoke up, his voice still trembling with excitement. "Director, this isn't just a victory for our plant; it has injected a surge of morale into the entire aviation industry!"

"Injected a surge of morale?" Li Weiguo repeated, tapping the cigarette heavily against the desk. "Old Zhang, do you really think the higher-ups only want a morale boost?"

Old Zhang froze.

"A horizontal stabilizer is merely a stepping stone. We've knocked the door open, but then what? Stand in the doorway and catch a draft?" Li Weiguo swept his gaze across the three men, his tone turning abruptly stern. "Behind that door lies the real battlefield! What we just won was merely an outpost skirmish, an accidental encounter where we didn't even catch sight of the enemy!"

The air in the office congealed. The preceding joy vanished completely, replaced by a crushing weight of pressure.

"Director, you mean..." Old Sun asked cautiously.

Li Weiguo walked over to the wall, where a structural diagram of a fighter jet hung. Ignoring the horizontal stabilizer, he jabbed a finger heavily onto the section of the fuselage marked as the "core."

"Turbofan engine."

He spat out the four words, each one landing like a lead ball hitting the floor.

"The horizontal stabilizer is the skeleton, but the engine is the heart! Without a powerful domestic heart, no matter how high our fighter jets fly, we will remain a crippled bird at the mercy of others! Are you unaware of this?"

Du Yuze's heart gave a violent thump. He thought of a certain possibility.

"The directive from above arrived yesterday." Li Weiguo walked back to the desk, pulled out his chair, and sank deep into it. "The key technology pre-research project for the 'turbofan core engine' is officially launched. Our Red Star Plant is designated as one of the primary manufacturing units."

Old Zhang and Old Sun drew in sharp breaths simultaneously.

"A core engine?" Old Zhang's lips quivered slightly. "Director, that... that is the Mount Everest of the aviation industry! Our plant hasn't even scaled the Kunlun Mountains yet, and now we're expected to climb Everest?"

"Yes, we have to climb!" Li Weiguo slammed his fist onto the table, making the cigarette pack leap. "If we don't climb, we wait for someone to kick down our front door! Do any of you want to live through days like that?"

"But we lack the technical reserves!" Old Sun said anxiously. "Putting everything else aside, take the high-pressure compressor—what kind of working environment is that? Temperatures exceeding a thousand degrees, rotor speeds in the tens of thousands of RPM, and pressures of dozens of atmospheres! Can our materials handle it? Can our aerodynamic design handle it? Can our manufacturing craftsmanship handle it?"

The rapid-fire succession of questions plunged the office into a dead silence.

These were not expressions of pessimism; they were cold facts. Every single item was a towering mountain blocking their path.

Du Yuze remained silent. His consciousness had already submerged into the system.

Five thousand points.

He opened the technology redemption mall. A dazzling array of blueprints and technical documents flashed before his eyes. He typed keywords directly into the search bar.

[High-Pressure Compressor]

A row of options popped up.

[Design Blueprints for Small Turbofan Engine High-Pressure Compressor (Verification Version)]

[Aerodynamic Optimization Algorithm for Axial Compressor Blades]

[Powder Superalloy Preparation Technology (Primary)]

...

His attention was entirely captured by the first item.

[Design Blueprints for Small Turbofan Engine High-Pressure Compressor (Verification Version): Contains a complete set of design blueprints, aerodynamic design data, material selection schemes (GH series superalloys), and manufacturing process guidelines for a scaled ten-stage axial high-pressure compressor verification assembly. Can be used for ground rig testing to validate novel three-dimensional transonic blade design theories.]

[Points Required for Redemption: 3,000]

Du Yuze's brain operated at lightning speed.

The debate between Li Weiguo and Old Sun continued.

"If we have no reserves, we start from scratch!" Li Weiguo roared. "The higher-ups have provided policies and funding; what they want is for us to show resolve and crack the hardest nut! We can't swallow the core engine whole in one bite, but we can break it down! Start with a single component! Start with the high-pressure compressor you just mentioned!"

"How do we start?" Old Sun retorted. "What about the design blueprints? We can't even copy mainstream designs properly right now because their design software and databases are embargoed against us! Are we supposed to build chariots behind closed doors?"

"Then we build our own!" Li Weiguo stood up, pacing back and forth in the cramped space. "We won't set our sights too high at first! We'll start by building a scaled verification engine! Regardless of performance, we make it spin on the ground first! What we need is data, experience, and a path forged by crawling out of failure!"

A scaled verification engine...

Ground rig testing...

Validating novel designs...

Every word Li Weiguo uttered mapped precisely onto the description of the blueprint in front of Du Yuze's eyes.

This was no coincidence. This was the path the system had long since plotted out.

"Director, I'm not afraid of dying; I'm afraid of sending our brothers to their deaths in vain." Old Zhang sighed, his tone heavy. "The money and energy poured into this project will be ten times, a hundred times that of the horizontal stabilizer project! Once it fails..."

"There is no 'once it fails'!" Li Weiguo interrupted him. "We have no way out."

The office fell silent once more. Both Old Zhang and Old Sun lowered their heads, brows tightly furrowed. It was not a retreat, but an instinctive sense of heaviness and bewilderment that technicians felt when confronting the unknown, pondering where on earth to begin.

"Perhaps," a voice broke the stillness, quiet yet exceptionally clear, "we can find a breakthrough point in the aerodynamic design."

Everyone turned toward Du Yuze.

Li Weiguo halted his pacing and stared fixedly at him. "What did you say? Say it again!"

"I said, the key to the high-pressure compressor lies in efficiency and pressure ratio." Du Yuze met the three gazes calmly. "Traditional design philosophies may lead to a dead end, but we can attempt a novel three-dimensional blade design. A design... with higher efficiency and much clearer requirements for materials and craftsmanship."

He could not be overly specific, but he had to point the direction.

Old Zhang and Old Sun both wore perplexed expressions. A novel three-dimensional blade design? What kind of concept was that? Research both domestically and internationally was still in the exploratory stage; where did a young man like him find the audacity to utter such words?

"You have a scheme?" Li Weiguo took a step forward, nearly pressing against Du Yuze.

"I have an immature concept." Du Yuze did not flinch.

"Draw it out!" Li Weiguo pointed at the desk. "Draw it right now! Whatever it is, as long as it's an idea, draw it for me!"

Du Yuze shook his head.

Li Weiguo's brows immediately shot up.

"I can't draw it out," Du Yuze said. "This is a complete design system, not something that can be explained in a few sketches. Give me three days, and I can produce a preliminary conceptual design proposal."

His words carried the weight of conviction.

Inside the office, even the sound of breathing vanished.

Li Weiguo looked at the young man before him—the very youth who had been written off from the beginning, yet had single-handedly turned the tide of the horizontal stabilizer project. There was a composure and self-assurance in him that defied his years.

"Fine." Li Weiguo squeezed the word out between his teeth. "I'll give you three days. Use any resources in the entire plant as you see fit!"

Du Yuze nodded.

In his mind, the system notification rang out once more.

[Confirm redemption: Design Blueprints for Small Turbofan Engine High-Pressure Compressor (Verification Version)? Point consumption: 3,000.]

Du Yuze's consciousness wavered not for an instant.

Yes.

[Redemption successful.]