"Holy shit!"
Not far from Chen Yi's livestream location.
A burly young man with a buzz cut and tattooed sleeves stared at the gale sweeping down from the sky and the slowly dispersing clouds.
He stood there wide-eyed in utter disbelief and shouted.
He was the Old Zhang Chen Yi had mentioned.
A model aircraft shop owner devoted to fitness and fond of tattoos.
He had come today mainly to confirm the ducted-fan parts Chen Yi intended to sell, as well as the matter Chen Yi had teased yesterday.
But he had never expected to receive such a brutal shock the moment he arrived at the park!
A sonic boom!
Breaking the sound barrier!
As a professional model aircraft shop owner, Old Zhang knew exactly what that meant.
For any aircraft to break the sound barrier, it needed not only sufficiently powerful engine thrust.
Its airframe design, aerodynamic layout, material strength, internal structural distribution, and more all had to meet the standard.
If even one aspect fell short, it would be unable to break the sound barrier.
Or, at the instant it did, the airframe would be ripped apart by air shockwaves and disintegrate on the spot.
But now.
Chen Yi, who only knew how to sell assembled drones and ducted-fan model aircraft and whose business had been so bad these past six months that he was on the verge of bankruptcy, had suddenly brought out a turbojet model aircraft capable of breaking the sound barrier and flying at supersonic speeds.
This was insane!
Chen Yi noticed Old Zhang's arrival and nodded in greeting. Looking at the equally shocked and excited livestream comments, he chuckled. "As everyone knows, a turbojet model aircraft breaking the sound barrier is basic stuff.
"Our Yifei turbojet model aircraft's selling point today isn't breaking the sound barrier or creating a sonic boom cloud. It's attempting to enter space.
"More than a century ago, we gazed at the sky. To experience its allure, we invented airplanes.
"After more than a century of development, aircraft and drones of all sizes have become widespread, and we have come to understand the allure of the sky.
"Now, we yearn for better aircraft and better drone models, to take another step toward touching space and comprehending the beauty of the stars."
As he spoke, Chen Yi opened the oxidizer fuel tank valve and began injecting liquid oxygen.
On the avionics flight-control interface connected to the drone, the remaining fuel and oxidizer steadily dropped while its altitude soared at an extreme rate.
Compared with yesterday's gentle test flight, today's violent climb sent the drone to an altitude of forty thousand meters in less than a minute, with its speed exceeding Mach 4.
The ground captured by the rear camera began to show a spherical curve.
"It can still keep flying for four minutes."
Chen Yi looked at the remaining fuel endurance and muttered to himself.
Under normal conditions, this model aircraft had a flight endurance of more than seventy minutes.
But with it accelerating at full power and climbing almost vertically, that seventy-minute endurance had shrunk by more than tenfold.
"It's entered fifty thousand meters. The air is thinner here, resistance has decreased, and it's accelerating even faster!"
"Eighty thousand meters, Mach 8. We can start tracking it."
"One hundred fifty thousand meters. It's crossed the Karman line. The acceleration has entered a smooth curve, and its speed is Mach 15!"
"Two hundred thirty thousand meters—Mach 21, Mach 22. It's already reached the altitude of ordinary satellites. Have we tracked it yet?"
Nanjing Aviation Academy.
Shao Kaiwang, Lin Qian, and the others were also watching Chen Yi's livestream.
Shao Kaiwang was responsible for reporting the avionics parameters displayed on the stream.
Meanwhile, Wu Ande controlled the space telescope, attempting to capture the trail of Chen Yi's model aircraft drone.
But since he was not a professional tracking photographer, even after the model aircraft had shot to an altitude of two hundred thousand meters, they still had not caught sight of it.
This made Shao Kaiwang, who wanted to personally see the model aircraft through the telescope and prove that Chen Yi had not faked or lied about anything, so anxious that he felt like he was about to burst into flames.
"Don't panic. I just saw a black shadow flash past, but I don't know whether it was the target."
"I'll keep tracking it. You keep reporting the altitude shown on the stream!"
Every muscle in Wu Ande's body tensed as he carefully adjusted the telescope's angle and tracked the high-altitude model aircraft.
"President Chen, the model aircraft drone is shaking. Should we stop?"
While Shao Kaiwang was anxiously fretting, the tracking film crew in Penghai City could not help shouting as well.
In their tracking footage, the model aircraft drone, which had climbed at high speed all the way to this velocity, was already shaking.
If it kept flying, even if it was not destroyed by the heat barrier generated through friction with the lower atmosphere, it would likely disintegrate from the continued insane acceleration.
"Boss, stop it! If it keeps flying, the drone will be scrapped!"
"I never thought there really could be a model aircraft drone that flew into space."
"Holy shit, my friend just saw the streamer's drone through a space telescope."
"Didn't you notice? It's practically at the first cosmic velocity, yet the drone can still accelerate. This engine is insane!"
"Master, please slow down. A model aircraft drone that can fly into space must cost at least close to a million. Watching it get wrecked like this hurts."
Hearing the Hurricane Team's shouts, some netizens in the livestream who loved model aircraft drones could not help trying to persuade him.
At first, they had doubted Chen Yi's teaser, letting a bunch of haters and freeloaders revel in it.
But once this uninterrupted single-take livestream hit them.
And some netizens had even used telescopes in real life to capture the model aircraft's silhouette high in the sky.
Everyone was left with nothing but stunned cries of "awesome."
As for those haters and freeloaders, they did not dare show themselves at all.
"Seven thousand six hundred sixty-one point three meters per second. Acceleration, two point one meters per second squared."
Ignoring the Hurricane Team's shouts and the comments urging him to stop, Chen Yi focused entirely on the computer monitoring display beside him, staring fixedly at the drone's altitude and speed parameters.
His left hand controlled the throttle, maintaining maximum fuel injection at all times.
But his right hand on the control stick and his feet on the rudder pedals did not dare move even a fraction.
Because the model aircraft had already exceeded Mach 22.
At such a terrifying speed, even after gaining two points of stability yesterday, the drone's airframe had begun to shake.
If he carelessly moved the control stick or rudder pedals and caused the model aircraft drone to suddenly perform a maneuver.
There was no question—it would break apart and disintegrate on the spot.
"No hope. It won't reach the first cosmic velocity." After waiting for a while and seeing that less than twenty seconds of fuel remained, Chen Yi sighed.
"If it can't make it this time, there's always next time."
"There's nothing wrong with failing the first time. I failed my first time too."
"Brother, was your first time the proper kind?"
"Streamer, will you sell this drone after it lands? I'll offer one million!"
"I'll offer two million. If you're selling, pretend I said nothing!"
Hearing Chen Yi's sigh, the countless netizens in the livestream, along with Qin Xiaoyu and the others beside him, all breathed a sigh of relief.
"Land? Who said I was going to land?"
"With the little fuel it has left, the drone can no longer slow down enough to land."
Chen Yi looked at the comments and shook his head. "The moment it shot up to an altitude of two hundred thousand meters, it was destined to become a firework in the sky."
As soon as he finished speaking.
Chen Yi stomped hard on the rudder pedal.
Boom!
The drone's first-person view jolted violently twice before plunging into darkness.
Meanwhile, Hurricane Team's space-filming telescope clearly captured the drone suddenly making a sharp turn.
But before it could complete the turn, its airframe began shaking wildly, then shattered and broke apart into a burst of firework-like flames.
The livestream fell silent.
The next second, the comments exploded.
The consciousness waves collected by the system suddenly surged severalfold.
The contract was signed. Starting tomorrow, there would be two guaranteed updates a day. Please send recommendations and monthly votes!
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