August 2037.
Half a month after the plan was finalized.
Outside the Mars Spaceport, pale blue flames lit up at the stern of an oddly shaped starship as it slowly headed into the endless depths of space.
The ship's overall shape still bore traces of the Luan Bird Starship.
That was thanks to the Luan Bird Starship's structural design-its Fusion Reactor was installed at the stern.
As a result, this bizarre-looking starship retained the Luan Bird Type I's "rear end" in its entirety.
As for the other sections...
To install the Electromagnetic Coilguns, many unnecessary facilities had been removed.
With five additional gun barrels mounted on its bow, the starship looked especially peculiar.
It had an indescribably bizarre, cobbled-together look.
Inside the Mars Spaceport.
Fang Xu watched the starship slowly recede into the distance with a strange expression. "Yongchang," he remarked wistfully, "why doesn't this starship look much like the simulation you showed us a month ago?"
Lü Yongchang turned to glance at Fang Xu beside him, looking helpless.
He had already heard that question more times than he could count.
Over the past few days, a whole host of council members and researchers had expressed their curiosity about the starship's appearance.
"We had no choice... We were short on time. Getting it modified this far was already an achievement." Lü Yongchang spread his hands. "It might look a little unusual, but I guarantee it has all the performance it needs!"
Fang Xu stared at the noticeably weaker glow of the Hall Thrusters and asked in a deeply skeptical tone, "...Are you sure?"
"..."
Lü Yongchang fell silent for a moment before saying with some embarrassment, "We didn't have much choice there, either."
"The Luan Bird Type I Starship's reactor output was still a little lacking."
"To supply enough energy