Flight training

Gunshots rang out from outside the door. Zijin, holding a QBA221 shotgun, began to smash the magic shield.

"However, there's actually a problem with these blueprints." Newman suddenly smiled mysteriously, his bony claw pointing to a wall marked 2.7 meters wide. "For example, here, although both the marking and the actual construction show 2.7 meters, I drew the line segment as 2.8 meters long on the blueprints."

Newman picked up a pen and began making rapid corrections on the drawings. As he scribbled, a subtle gap suddenly appeared between a wall and the adjacent building.

He made more than a dozen similar modifications, and soon, a mysterious cavity that was not connected to any of the rooms appeared in the middle of the originally messy and irregularly pieced-together group of cells.

"You secretly hid a secret room in the middle of the cells!" Su Ming was somewhat surprised. This would indeed save a lot of trouble, but—

"How do I get into this secluded room that's isolated from everything around me?" he asked.

"Dig it from above," Newman said casually, pointing to the top of the map. "The secret room is directly beneath the dormitory building."

"Ouch!" Zijin suddenly cried out outside. A shrapnel bullet had been bounced back by the shield and left a red mark on the girl's head.

Both of them saw this scene from the window, and then simultaneously turned their heads away quickly.

"Even if I smile with my back to her, she'll still see it, won't she?" Newman said.

"Yes." Su Ming nodded with a straight face; that's how domineering his Omniscient Vision was. "So don't hold back."

The two men slapped the table and burst into laughter.

Zijin snorted angrily and continued firing her gun.

****

Inside the Divine Might Prison's dormitory area, staff members respectfully received Archbishop Stanton. In the spacious reception hall, coal flames roared, making the room incredibly warm.

"Give me a room on the lowest floor," Stanton said after looking around. "I don't like staying on high floors."

The clerk bowed slightly. "There are vacant rooms on the first floor. If you don't mind, I'll take you to choose one right away."

Stanton shook his head. "Isn't there a basement floor downstairs? Just put me there."

The clerk immediately looked troubled. He rubbed his hands together and explained cautiously, "Your Excellency Archbishop Stanton, the basements are just storage rooms for miscellaneous items. If our superiors knew we had treated you so poorly, they would certainly reprimand us severely for our inadequate hospitality."

Stanton stroked his chin thoughtfully, then suddenly pointed to Yuya beside him, "Surely it's not a problem to put her in the basement?"

Yuya was just an ordinary priestess, so adjusting her living quarters wasn't a big problem.

"Yuya," Stanton turned to his companion, a sly glint in his eyes, "If I can't sleep downstairs tonight, I'll come down and chat with you."

"It's my honor!" Yuya bowed respectfully, whispering at the same time, "You dare touch me with your claws!"

The clerk suddenly realized—the two wanted to play some tricks, which was why they insisted on choosing a well-insulated cellar.

He immediately stopped talking and diligently led Yuya to choose a location in the basement, busily helping her move her Yuya down from her original dormitory on the third floor.

Stanton, satisfied, tossed a fine cigar to the clerk. "Good eye, not bad!"

"Praise be to the Light!" The clerk bowed as he accepted the tip, his face beaming. "Ensuring your well-being, Archbishop, is our duty!"

****

Earth, conference room.

Su Ming will simultaneously send detailed data on the attack test of the mini version of "Sacred Antelope Horn" to Fengshou.

The representative, who identified himself as the "director of Fengshou Agricultural Machinery Factory," was extremely surprised. "A QBA221 shotgun, firing seven consecutive 18.3mm rounds at close range, couldn't penetrate a shield with a strength of one-thousandth?"

Proportionally speaking, this performance is far superior to a mage's personal shield!

"The shield generated by the magical defense device is completely different from a mage's personal shield; the energy flow rate is dozens of times faster," Su Ming explained. "The energy lost by the magical shield when attacked is replenished evenly from other areas within milliseconds."

Magical technology and magical devices from other worlds are an important area. However, due to the high difficulty of manufacturing and the high cost of use, only powerful organizations can afford to use them.

This is also why even the strongest individuals in other worlds won't easily provoke various forces.

Fengshou understood, "So either increase the rate of fire, such as using a 12.7mm caliber machine gun with a rate of fire of 3,000 rounds per minute; or increase the caliber so that the shield doesn't have time to replenish its energy, and a single shot can penetrate it!"

"That's basically it," Su Ming said.

However, this analysis is based on a test model of one in a thousand. If facing the real "Sacred Antelope Horn", the weapon's power must reach a certain threshold.

Rapid fire at this level is impractical, so the only option is to increase the power of each shot to blast through the defensive shield in one go.

"We need a big one!" Su Ming said.

"No problem, this is our main business!"

Fengshou quickly organized a team to calculate, and the final theoretical calculation showed that a weapon with an explosive yield of 2 tons of TNT was needed to hit the three locations Newman mentioned simultaneously.

"That means we need six precision-guided weapons with a yield of 10 tons of TNT each, right?" Fengshou concluded.

Su Ming checked the result again, confirming it. "Didn't we calculate three missiles, each with a yield of two tons?"

"Don't you consider leaving a little bit of redundancy?" Fengshou asked curiously.

"... Nobody does that with ten times the redundancy, right?"

"Abundance is beauty, and greatness brings peace of mind," Fengshou advised.

"No, no, no, I need to reserve resources for other matters!" Su Ming decisively rejected the tempting offer. "Next, we'll review the calculations we just made, and then design a verification experiment." He made his decision. "If there are no errors, we only need three 3-ton TNT equivalent bombs!"

Fengshou reluctantly nodded in agreement.

"At the same time, the attack plan must be compatible with my current system and implemented in the most convenient way," Su Ming added.

"Understood. We'll organize a technical team immediately to tackle the technical challenges and complete the development as soon as possible!" Fengshou closed his notebook and stood up.

The two shook hands and said goodbye.

****

Su Ming did not immediately disconnect because there was a fixed-wing drone operation course scheduled for today.

He went to the training room next door, greeted the instructor, and then sat in the flight simulator. While reviewing the training records, Su Ming noticed several highly rated records.

"Is anyone else training?" Su Ming asked curiously. Although others could use the simulator when he wasn't around, Ling Wen and the others probably wouldn't allow it for safety reasons.

"It was Miss Qiu flew," the instructor replied, his tone tinged with admiration. "She's incredibly talented!"

"I saw you were learning so enthusiastically, so I couldn't resist giving it a try," Miao Xin said. "It felt pretty simple."

[Simple?] Su Ming's hand paused.

"Good luck, Su!" the instructor encouraged. "Miss Qiu has already qualified for practical training."

On the simulation training equipment interface, Su Ming made a mistake and the machine crashed.

"... How about you give me a more advanced AI to control it?" Su Ming suggested.

"Large-scale artificial intelligence models require a lot of computing power. Do you have enough computing resources right now?" Jisu asked.

Su Ming sighed. If he had computing power, he would have started many things long ago.

"Moreover, the performance of AI depends on training with a large amount of real-world data," Jisu continued. "The gravity, air pressure, and air density are different between the two worlds. The models from here cannot be used directly there."

"So I have to fly myself before I can have the data to correct the AI?" Su Ming asked.

"More or less." Jisu nodded.

Su Ming sighed helplessly and continued to bury himself in his training.

"From an investment perspective, we believe it's worthwhile," Jisu added. "The data collection is crucial for the formation of the subsequent drone combat system! And—" Jisu paused, "You'll be flying that big guy in the future, right?"

Su Ming then remembered the photos Fengshou had shown him before, and nodded, "Indeed!"

"Therefore, we need to start with drones to get to know and understand fixed-wing aircraft."

"... Understood."

"Actually, Su, you're already learning very quickly," the coach comforted her. "Of course, Miss Qiu's situation... is indeed outside the normal range."

****

The simulation training course did not last long. After Su Ming was able to complete takeoff and landing, the instructors immediately moved on to real aircraft operation training.

In the instructor's words, "Nothing beats the thrill of flying a real aircraft during a simulation!"

Su Ming had no objection.

So a day later, at a flight training ground in the wilderness, Su Ming sat in front of a control console with an excellent view in the control tower.

From here, you can overlook the entire runway and apron. The wind blows across the apron, swirling up clumps of dry grass, and ground crew are preparing the aircraft, their uniforms flapping back and forth in the wind.

The instructor patted the Little Spiky Head on the shoulder and said, "Fly with confidence, fall as much as you want! There's plenty!"

"If you don't care, then I don't mind at all," Su Ming said.

However, forcing growth always comes at a price. When Su Ming crashed the third drone in a row, Miao Xin, who had been floating cross-legged to the side, finally couldn't help but burst into laughter.

[Hahaha, another stall!] Miss Ghost laughed so hard she nearly fell over, her semi-transparent figure swaying back and forth in the air. [The third million has gone down the drain!]

This drone is quite large, and considering the harsh weather conditions and complex terrain of the snow-capped mountain area, it has many special features. Even with specially rewritten flight control assistance, it still takes time to get used to it.

Or rather, the technical team was using Su Ming to deliberately expose the aircraft's problems, so they could keep up with and adjust the hardware and software.

But comparisons are odious; in the same situation, Miao Xin has never crashed!

"Don't ignore the rate of descent when focusing on airspeed," the instructor pointed out, frowning. "You seem to easily confuse some parameters."

"The images I see through Little Spiky Head are all in black and white," Su Ming explained. "And the screen flickers a bit in my field of vision."

Su Ming wasn't operating the plane in his physical form; rather, he was indirectly controlling the control console on Earth through Little Spiky Head.

"[Miao Xin, how did you solve this problem?]" he asked.

"I'm used to black and white vision all day long," Miao Xin replied. "You just haven't practiced enough!"

****

The fourth drone was pushed onto the runway, and in the strong wind, the ground crew started the single propeller at the tail of the drone.

Su Ming began executing the takeoff checklist, his fingers moving rapidly across the control panel to confirm the aircraft's status one by one.

"How have you been lately?" Su Ming asked Miao Xin casually.

[It's alright.] Miao Xin floated to Su Ming's side. [Studying the Resentment Mark, being a cadaver for scientists, strolling around and watching movies wearing silicone simulated skin, watching live streams with suggestive content—it's quite enjoyable—how about you?]

[It feels like I'm back to working in a factory.] Su Ming sighed. [Still the kind where we're rushing to meet orders every day.]

Miao Xin burst into laughter again upon hearing this.

Su Ming suddenly reached out and flicked her wrist as if in a prank, and Miss Ghost immediately began to spin in the air like a top.

"Hey!" Miao Xin shouted, trying to steady herself.

This time it was Su Ming's turn to burst into laughter, "[Sorry, slip of the hand!]"

[Even ghosts get dizzy spinning!] Miao Xin finally managed to stop spinning in mid-air and complained angrily. Even the Nether Sea trembled with her movements.

To address Su Ming's black-and-white vision issue, the technicians optimized the human-computer interaction interface of the control panel and even replaced it with a monitor that uses a different working principle.

Su Ming's performance improved this time. After crashing the fourth aircraft, the fifth one landed successfully. Although the touchdown was bumpy and the nose landing gear was clearly damaged, the overall performance met the acceptable standard.

"Excellent, a 15-knot crosswind landing, handled very well." The coach praised, marking several checkmarks on the score sheet. "Correct crab-like approach, timely crosswind correction, stable directional control, and standard touchdown position."

****

Su Ming was immune to this kind of baby-coaxing encouragement. He nodded without much expression, turned the plane around on the spot, and planned to fly it again.

But just halfway through the taxiing, the drone's front landing gear suddenly broke. The aircraft immediately came to rest on the runway, its metal fuselage sliding across the ground, sending sparks flying.

Su Ming immediately reduced the throttle, feathered the propeller, and controlled the rudder to maintain direction, finally coming to a stop on the grass.

Ground crew immediately went forward to check the situation, and a series of questions came through the walkie-talkie.

The drone wasn't badly damaged; the propeller was at the tail and hadn't touched the ground. Ground crew cleaned up the scene and pulled out another drone.

The instructor looked puzzled and started analyzing the flight data.

"Could the landing gear have been damaged during touchdown?" he frowned. "But it shouldn't have broken!"

Su Ming realized the reason and immediately glared at the vengeful spirit beside him.

Miao Xin floated in the air, shaking her head and responding with an innocent expression.

[Your "Calamity Mark" has improved quite a bit.] Su Ming said.

Of course, I'm very diligent.

Suddenly, Su Ming seemed to realize something, raising an eyebrow, "[Hey, Miao Xin, did those five planes I flew before all crash for the same reason?]"

"Don't try to shift the blame!" Miao Xin immediately retorted, dissatisfied. "If I really caused trouble, not a single one of your planes would be flying!"