Tomorrow, Stay Tuned

An hour later.

Chen Yi filled the model aircraft with kerosene and liquid oxygen, then drove it to a seaside park.

He carried the drone down, set up the ground antenna, turned on the remote controller, and began debugging the avionics signals.

"Altitude measurement is fine. The fuselage temperature-sensing module is normal. Fuel endurance calculations are normal. Speed and distance calibration is normal. Navigation is normal. Attitude sensing is normal. The front and rear cameras are normal."

Compared with a simple ducted-fan model aircraft that only had a speed-control switch, the turbojet model aircraft's avionics system was undoubtedly far more complex.

Without ground radar, altitude could only be measured through the altimeter's pressure and temperature readings.

The aircraft's speed, distance, and navigation while flying in the sky also differed from ground navigation, which primarily relied on base-station triangulation. It needed BeiDou positioning for calculation and navigation.

He busied himself for more than forty minutes.

Night had already fallen. All the model aircraft's functions had been calibrated, and the drone's test flight had been filed as well.

Chen Yi set up the remote-control signal antenna, sat before the computer, placed his left hand on the throttle lever, and gripped the control stick with his right.

Beep! A long chime sounded.

The avionics system activated.

The engine ignited.

Boom!

A brilliant blue exhaust flame burst from the model drone's engine nozzle.

Chen Yi released the brake, opened the throttle valve, and the powerful engine thrust sent the model drone shooting forward.

Its tail flame stretched more than half a meter, and in the darkness, rings upon rings of Mach rings were clearly visible.

"Takeoff!"

Chen Yi pulled the control stick.

With a whoosh, the drone pitched sharply upward in midair. Like a vertical rocket, it surged fiercely into the sky.

"Gain altitude, head out over the ocean, then test the maximum speed and service ceiling."

Chen Yi controlled the drone as it rapidly climbed to an altitude of five hundred meters. Then he turned it toward the ocean.

On the computer beside him, the customized avionics software Chen Yi had spent a considerable sum on continuously emitted beeps indicating normal communication.

The right side of the software displayed various parameters, including the drone's speed, fuel endurance, altitude, longitude and latitude, heading, and acceleration.

The central interface was divided into four sections.

The upper two sections displayed the drone camera's front and rear views respectively.

Of the lower two, one showed dynamic map positioning, while the other was a line-rendered 3D model simulating the real-time attitude of the drone's fuselage.

Before long, the drone had flown ten kilometers out over the ocean, completely away from areas of human activity.

Chen Yi glanced at the map positioning, pulled the control stick, increased the throttle and power output, and the entire drone began climbing straight up.

In the darkness, something seemed to flicker like a star in the direction of the ocean.

On the monitoring display of the computer beside him, the simulated fuselage attitude had already turned vertical.

In the first-person view from the drone's front camera, specks of stars gradually began appearing as well.

The whole aircraft was chasing the stars!

"Sixteen hundred meters. Two thousand meters. Three thousand meters. Five thousand—"

Chen Yi maintained the drone's ascent, but his attention remained fixed on the computer monitor beside him, staring intently at the altitude data.

"Seven thousand nine hundred meters. It's broken the sound barrier! Speed: five hundred and twelve meters per second. The fuselage is shaking!"

At that moment, through the camera view's trembling, Chen Yi determined that the fuselage was shaking.

On the real-time 3D model, the engine nozzle had expanded to its maximum diameter due to supersonic speed.

The temperature readings beside it were also skyrocketing, indicating that the drone was about to enter a thermal barrier caused by friction between the air and fuselage at extreme speed.

Chen Yi controlled the power output, ensuring the shaking drone would not be further torn apart by the air.

Another ten seconds passed, and the model drone began entering the thermal barrier. The edge of the camera frame had already captured the fuselage reddening from the heat.

Less than a minute later, the drone climbed to an altitude of twenty thousand meters.

That altitude already surpassed the service ceiling of most modern fighter jets.

The rear camera had captured the sleepless lights of Penghai City and its surrounding cities.

"At twenty thousand meters, the thin air of the stratosphere has already affected the turbojet engine's combustion efficiency."

Chen Yi looked at the computer display, which showed three-quarters of the fuel remaining. Without hesitation, he opened the oxidizer tank valve and began injecting liquid oxygen.

Beep!

The drone's nozzle became a trumpet-like cone, and its speed and acceleration abruptly surged.

Yet thanks to the thin air of the high stratosphere, although its speed had soared, the fuselage actually flew more steadily.

It did not shake as it had at the beginning of the ascent, when excessive speed had made the fuselage tremble.

"Thirty thousand meters. Thirty-eight thousand meters. Forty thousand meters. Fifty-five thousand meters. Entering the ozone layer. The camera has captured the sun."

When the drone climbed to fifty thousand meters, the sun, which had set more than two hours ago, reappeared at the edge of the image.

Chen Yi did not allow the drone to continue climbing. Instead, he adjusted its flight attitude.

He changed from climbing to level flight, aimed the camera at the sun, and took several consecutive photos.

After taking the photos, Chen Yi had gained a detailed understanding of the drone's performance and had a rough plan for the upcoming livestream promotion. He no longer intended to keep flying.

He controlled the drone as it turned around and began slowing down for descent.

More than ten minutes later, two blue exhaust flames descended from the horizon. The drone slid nearly a hundred meters along the park's straight road before coming to a steady stop.

[Item: Fixed-Wing Model Drone]

[Attributes: Energy x7.3, Speed x13.8, Stability x4.9 (-0.6), Strength x9.4, Communications x10.5, Radar Imaging x6.1, Avionics x8.7, Appearance x2.1]

[Consciousness Waves: 489]

[Adjustable Attributes: 0]

"Looks like breaking the sound barrier at low altitude during the climb still had some effect on the drone."

Chen Yi checked the drone's status and looked at the stability attribute, which had dropped by 0.6. "The reduced stability should mean there's a problem with the drone's internal structure."

After running his model aircraft business for several years,

even though he had not come from a professional academic background, Chen Yi still had some understanding of aircraft.

When an aircraft flew at high speed, it not only had to resist air drag, but the components and structure inside the fuselage also had to withstand the overload and torsion caused by extreme-speed flight.

If the former was inadequate, the aircraft would be torn apart by the air because it could not withstand the tearing force.

If the latter was inadequate, the aircraft would break apart and disintegrate under excessive overload.

The fuselage had shaken during the high-speed climb just now.

It was most likely because the structural design was not perfect enough and its stability was insufficient.

If it had gone any faster then, or if Chen Yi had performed a high-angle maneuver, the drone would definitely have broken apart in midair.

"Looks like when making ultra-high-speed aircraft in the future, stability will be just as important as speed."

"I saved four hundred consciousness waves this time. I can still adjust two attribute points. I'll lower appearance by one more point and communications by one point, then add them both to stability."

Seven-colored light bloomed.

Mm, it was even uglier now.

Chen Yi glanced at the adjusted drone, logged into his self-media accounts on the major platforms, uploaded the photos he had just taken and screenshots of the avionics software interface, and posted a unified teaser.

[Brand-new turbojet. Straight up to fifty thousand meters—watch the sunset, admire the stars. Tomorrow, stay tuned!]