After the meeting, in the corridor of the confidential unit.
Old Zhou dialed the encrypted line of Qin Zhengfeng.
After listening to the report on the other end of the phone, Qin Zhengfeng was silent for a few seconds and said in a deep voice, "I knew that what this kid had in his hands was much more than what we saw. If we find a chance, we must meet him."
Old Zhou sighed.
He has worked National Security all his life and has never seen such an operation. The rocket turbofan composite engine blueprints that can rewrite the global aerospace pattern were given to the country as soon as they were promised, without any conditions or benefits.
But he still directly suppressed Qin Zhengfeng's proposal. "No, now is not the time."
"Once the information about our contact with him is captured by the CIA, it will be like pushing him directly into the pit of fire."
"The tone has been set from above and the status quo has been maintained."
"Maintain the status quo?"
"Yes, his file will be classified as top secret starting today, and the scope of knowledge will be restricted to our dedicated class."
"No contact unless necessary, no investigation unless necessary."
"The original words above, he is the nail driven into Amerikan. The deeper it is driven, the greater the value."
"Our current task is to protect him, not to disturb him." Old Zhou paused and added, "The joint special team of the three major domestic military industrial units has given the highest priority green light. All supporting factories are rushing to work 24 hours a day, and all components are exempted from inspection, and the delivery cycle is fully guaranteed."
"Just do it, don't tell it, keep it secret."
Qin Zhengfeng was silent for a few seconds and said firmly, "I understand. On the production line, I will use the power of the entire system to support him and there will be no mistakes."
After hanging up the phone, Old Zhou looked out the window. The young man named Fu Haoran is more worth looking forward to than any case he has pursued in his life.
DYB North America R&D center, modification workshop.
The transformation went quite smoothly.
Priest Kallen has finalized the standardized process for quickly replacing the stainless steel skin with Imperial Plastisteel. The domestic AESA radar array for the F-22 has been rewritten two weeks faster than expected, and the real machine adaptation has been completed.
Li Jianguo, with two dark circles under his eyes, could not suppress his excitement in his voice. "Mr. Fu, according to this progress, the first batch of 12 aircraft can be rolled off the production line within five months, or even ahead of schedule!"
Just when the situation was looking good, a cold female voice floated in from the door. "Do you have a pilot?"
The smile on Fu Haoran's face froze instantly, and he turned to look at Kallen.
Kallen looked at him innocently with his only naked eyes. The translation of his eyes was: Boss, I'm a technician. How did I know we didn't have a pilot?
Fu Haoran looked at Wade again. The latter's expression was full of shock, as if he was saying: Boss, I am the Army, how can I take care of the Air Force's affairs?
Finally, Fu Haoran set his sights on the most "smart" one, Gray Ogryn. Tychus lowered his head and glanced at his belly. At that size, let alone the cockpit, it couldn't even fit through the cabin door.
He showed an awkward yet polite smile, as if to say, do you think my figure is okay?
Lucifer took a sip of tea, his eyes swept over the faces of Fu Haoran, Kallen, Wade, and Tychus in turn, and finally stopped on the ceiling and said, "What a reassuring team."
Looking at a group of pig teammates with stiff expressions, Lucifer kindly reminded, "As far as I know, it takes four to five years to train a fighter pilot from scratch."
"As for becoming an ace pilot, it will take longer. Do you think it's too late now?"
Fu Haoran was silent for a few seconds, then raised his eyes and glanced at the engineers in the room. "Everyone is off work now, we will discuss it tomorrow."
After everyone left, he, Tech-Priest, Kallen and others were the only ones left in the workshop.
"Priest Kallen, do you think it is feasible to use Wetware to replace the driver?"
A stream of data flashed through Kallen's optical eyepiece, and he shook his head slowly. "Theoretically, it's feasible."
"Using cloned neural units to cultivate the brain of Wetware, or using the brains of felons sentenced to death in Hive City can be used as materials, stripping away autonomous consciousness and only retaining neural computing capabilities, which can be connected to the analog signals of the mechanical system to complete driving operations."
Kallen paused. "But the simulation data is a simulation after all, and there is a gap between it and real air combat."
"However, there is a fatal problem. We do not have enough actual combat data. The driving skills of these Wetware will be very rigid."
"Generally speaking, it is ideal to choose pilots who died in combat with combat experience to make Wetware."
Fu Haoran thought for a while and said, "What do you mean, as long as there is enough simulated battle training?"
"Yes, my lord."
"Okay, I'll figure it out."
Three days later, <War Thunder> international server.
As a vehicle shooting game famous for its realistic restoration of aerodynamic parameters and ballistic models of fighter aircraft, <War Thunder> has over a million online players worldwide.
After registering more than twenty new IDs with the IDs of "Stainless Steel No. 1", "Stainless Steel No. 2", "Stainless Steel No. 3"... the only aircraft unlocked was the Soviet fourth-level interceptor MiG-25.
In the first game, I pulled the lever too hard during takeoff and stalled.
In the second game, I finally flew into the sky and was remotely locked by the opposite F-14, and was shot down on the spot.
In the third and fourth games... the KD ratio was stable at 0-10, and I was chased and scolded by my teammates on the public screen, "Don't cheat with the MiG-25, novice!"
"If you don't know how to play an interceptor, just go and fly a basic machine!"
But these batch numbers are very strange.
Don't get angry, don't talk back, don't quit, restart immediately if you are shot down, stay in the game 24 hours a day, and only play MiG-25.
A week later, the account was blocked.
Anti-cheating system judgment: automated scripts seriously damage the balance.
Fu Haoran looked expressionless and asked JARVIS to change a batch of new accounts.
Three days later, the new account was blocked again. It was changed again and blocked again.
<War Thunder> On the official forum, there are hundreds of posts scolding "Mig-25 Script Dogs to get out of the game", and some players even established a "Stainless Steel Victims Alliance" group.
"Sir, <War Thunder>'s anti-cheating system has blocked our entire IP range." JARVIS's voice was calm.
Fu Haoran was silent for two seconds, then said, "Then buy the company, first obtain the underlying code permissions and custom development license, launch the exclusive training server within 72 hours, and proceed with the complete offshore holding acquisition process simultaneously."
JARVIS gave the plan in one second. "Understand, Gaijiertai is a Russia company. We hold shares through an offshore company and can quickly avoid foreign investment review. The development of training uniforms will start immediately without affecting use."
72 hours later, Gaijiertai's core development team received the weirdest customization request in their career: to build an independent and exclusive training suit, and replace all enemy AI with the aerodynamic and armor data of Thunderbolt Fighter, Leman Russ Tank, and Chimera Armored Transport.
The battlefield environment is a 1:1 replica of the parameters of Si-Sai IV Planet's high gravity atmosphere, with full AI intensity, no time limit and no limit on times, and an exclusive training suit codenamed "Stainless Steel".
After reading the requirements document, the development team leader slammed the table angrily. "Who does he think we are! We are game producers with ideals, pursuits, and dreams!"
"We will never agree to this kind of disrespect for reality and game balance!"
"Boss," the subordinate said weakly, "The other party is willing to offer 10 million US dollars to set up an exclusive PVE dungeon event, and will add an additional 20 million version update budget in the future."
The team leader was silent for a long time and then said, "This Party A is a hard-core science fiction fan with feelings at first glance. Why is there such a demand?"
"As he asks."
As a result, the game company launched an entertainment model called "Starfield Expedition" with unprecedented efficiency.
This mode does not pursue balance, but only emphasizes "sci-fi authenticity". As for whether "alien technology" is real or not, the game company does not care.
A large collection of fantasy novels to satisfy your reading preferences.
And this seemingly inconspicuous model later became the cradle (nightmare) of countless ace pilots.
Of course, this is all for later.
Players have mixed reviews about the new PVE mode.
But one thing everyone discovered is that all those accounts with the "stainless steel" prefix came here to play.
So various uncle parties released news, indicating that these accounts with the "stainless steel" prefix were secret accounts of the military and were used to train drones.
Although most netizens scoffed and thought it was nonsense, sometimes the truth is so ridiculous.
On the other side, Wetware began endless air combat training.
Wetware There is no fatigue, no emotion, no fear.
Dive, lock on, fire, pull up, and evade 24 hours a day, engraved high-altitude and high-speed BZ tactics into the nerve reflexes.
They repeatedly tested the aerodynamic effects of different mounting solutions in the game, fully mounted the MiG-25 to eliminate the inherent shortcomings of extreme speed, and came up with the optimal solution.
The extreme boundaries of high-speed dives were measured, and the optimized data of wing vibration was sent back to the Li Jianguo team, which fed back into the real-world fighter modifications and completed three iterations of the aerodynamic shape of the Plastisteel skin.
It even figured out the optimal output range of the engine under different heights and different gravity environments, which improved the adaptability of the RX-92-00 engine by 20%.
Game training and fighter aircraft modification form a perfect closed loop.
Three months later, the <War Thunder> official forum completely exploded.
A pinned post "Does anyone care about these MiG-25 crazy people? The same operation is started, and the official doesn't even give a shit?", and the response was thousands of times.
There are more than a dozen videos attached to the post: The MiG-25 with all stainless steel XX IDs will always only play at high altitudes and high speeds, diving, locking, firing and raising in one go, without unnecessary low-altitude dogfights throughout the process.
Its reaction speed is ridiculously fast. As soon as the opponent is locked, it has already moved to the extreme to counterattack. The KD ratio is stable over 100, and there is no game below 10 kills and 0 deaths.
The comment section is completely crooked:
"I encountered this in the rankings last week! The whole team was chased and bombed by this group of people, and there was no way they could stop them!"
"It's definitely a failure, right? Can humans have such reaction speed? Complete lock-on, fire and disengage in 0.3 seconds?"
"Take it down, the official has not banned it. Do you understand the new boss's test account?"
"I think they are just a bunch of crazy MiG-25 fans who spend 24 hours practicing in the game without even sleeping?"
"It's so funny. Now there is a Stainless Steel Victims Alliance in the game. If you encounter this group, just quit the game!"
No one knows that behind these accounts that have been criticized as crazy fans and script dogs are thirty Wetware brains soaked in nutrient solution.
They don't know what a game is or what an insult is. They only know that the outline of an enemy fighter appears on the screen, and the neural interface will automatically issue instructions and pull the trigger.
At this time, there are only 28 days left before the five-month window.
DYB North America R&D center, test flight track.
The first fully modified MiG-25 parked quietly at the end of the runway.
The Plastisteel skin replaced the original stainless steel shell, and the empty weight was reduced from 20 tons to 14 tons. The original cockpit was completely removed and replaced by the sealed Wetware core cabin.
A Servitor neural Wetware brain soaked in nutrient solution is directly connected to the flight control system of the fighter aircraft through the native hydraulic interface, without any digital signal conversion.
The belly of the aircraft was replaced with an RX-92-00 engine nozzle, and the AESA radar array on the nose of the aircraft slowly rotated.
There are 4 underwing hardpoints, and 6 Air-to-Air Missiles are hung on double pylons. The warhead uses the same miniaturized plasma technology as the Predator shoulder gun, with infrared + electromagnetic composite tracking, and a range of 60 kilometers.
The wingtips are also equipped with two additional air-to-ground missiles, Warhammer Melta charges, specifically targeted at landing craft and ground fortifications. The maximum bomb load has been increased to 6 tons, far exceeding the 4-ton upper limit of the original MiG-25. This is the terrifying redundancy brought by the Thunderhawk Gunship engine.
Fu Haoran stood at the edge of the runway, and Li Jianguo stood next to him, holding the test flight data tablet in his hands, his palms all sweaty.
Kallen stood on one side, and the optical eyepiece locked every parameter of the fighter aircraft.
"Engine ignition." Fu Haoran ordered into the communicator.
Boom!
The RX-92-00 engine sprayed out orange-red plasma tail flames, and the huge roar shook the ground.
The MiG-25 slid less than 400 meters on the runway when it was suddenly pulled up at a nearly vertical angle, like a stainless steel sword piercing the sky - at that angle, if it were pulled by a human pilot, the spine would have been crushed by the overload.
10 seconds to break the sound barrier.
In 30 seconds, it reaches an altitude of 20,000 meters.
In 6 minutes and 30 seconds, the level flight altitude was locked at 25,000 meters, and the speed exceeded Mach 3.2.
The optical eyepiece of Kallen stared at the data stream, and the binary codes popping out of the mechanical speakers were full of praise for Omnissiah: "The speed is Mach 3.2, the whole system is normal, and the flight control response is normal! Praise Omnissiah, the limit of this steel creation is far more than that!"
Li Jianguo looked at it again and again. "The stainless steel fighter plane flew at Mach 3.2! It is still fully loaded!"
The R&D teams on both sides of the runway burst into deafening cheers.
This group of engineers who had been working for more than three months shook their fists at the almost invisible light spot in the sky and shouted until their voices became hoarse.
They themselves couldn't believe it. In just over three months, they transformed an old stainless steel aircraft from fifty years ago into one that could fly at the terrifying speed of Mach 3.2.
Fu Haoran looked at the light spot on the radar screen that was cruising at high speed on the edge of the stratosphere and nodded with satisfaction.
By replacing stainless steel with Warhammer World's Plastisteel and Plasteel, the MiG-25 fighter jet has made a qualitative leap.
The first batch of 12 modified MiG-25s will be completed for combat formation in two weeks and will be officially stationed at Hive City at Si-Sai IV Planet.
At the same time, Pentagon, CIA Intelligence Analysis Room.
A report on the recent movements of DYB Company was thrown on the director's desk.
"Target recently acquired 117 retired Soviet-made fighters from Kazakhstan through an offshore company, among which dozens of MiG-25s in good condition are being modified by North America."
"The content of the modification is unknown, but according to satellite photos, they only replaced the skin and engine, and did not install any advanced avionics systems."
The analyst pushed up his glasses with undisguised sarcasm in his tone. "Director, I think we overestimated this Fu Haoran before."
"He may be a rich man, but he doesn't have access to any purchasing channels for advanced fighter jets. He can only buy these antiques from fifty years ago to support his appearance."
"It's very difficult for these MiG-25 fighter jets not to crash, let alone fight."
The director glanced at the photo of the MiG-25 on the report, sneered, and threw the report into the wastebasket.
"What can an upstart do? Ignore him and focus on Trinity Bio's super soldier project."
What they don't know is that the "tatters" in their eyes will soon give humanity 30,000 years later a small shock in another time and space.
At this moment, a cold system prompt suddenly sounded in Fu Haoran's mind:
[Main mission update: Battle for air supremacy]
[Mission goal: Seize Si-Sai IV Planet air supremacy in low-Earth orbit and prevent Seven Hive Alliance advance troops from landing on the surface]
[Task time limit: 10 Terra months (currently 2K World 6 years)]
[Task reward: Universal Points+20000, unlock the complete drawing of Thunderhawk Gunship, free attribute points +3]
[Failure penalty: Hive City's peripheral defense line completely collapsed, Seven Hive Alliance's main force drove straight in]
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