Steel torrents pioneering a different world.

Chapter 92: Mr. Yang Wants to Upgrade Ginkgo Leaves! (Bonus Chapter for Sponge Cake)

Seeing Zhang Zhongxiao's utterly dejected expression, Qian Jin handed him a glass of water. "Old Zhang, did you... work all night?"

Zhang Zhongxiao waved his hand and groaned weakly, "Don't even mention it. I feel like my bones have been dismantled and then not put back in the right place."

He gulped down a mouthful of water before he recovered.

"Your superiors didn't stop you from resting, did they?"

"Rest? Rest my ass! I'm really unlucky this time. Chief Engineer Yang caught me red-handed and questioned me about everything from the molecular structure of the materials to the atomic arrangement. He almost found out how many times I wet the bed in second grade! I'm going crazy!"

Qian Jin was taken aback: "Chief Engineer Yang? Weren't you going to the Institute of Optics and Electronics and the Institute of High Energy Physics in Chengdu to deliver materials? There's no Chief Engineer surnamed Yang there."

"Who else could it be?" Zhang Zhongxiao fumed at the mention of it, yawning and sitting up straight. "The one who works on airplanes! Yes, you guessed it, the chief engineer who didn't take the college entrance exam and was directly admitted to the gifted youth program!"

Qian Jin was truly shocked this time.

Seeing his shocked expression, Zhang Zhongxiao found a sense of psychological balance and began to pour out his grievances.

When he arrived, he happened to meet the director of the Chengdu Materials Institute, who was discussing the technical bottlenecks of the "sixth generation ginkgo leaf" with Chief Engineer Yang.

Chief Engineer Yang has excellent secrecy skills, and the Secret Service has agreed to let him see some new materials.

As soon as Zhang Zhongxiao handed over his report, Chief Engineer Yang, who had only been attending the meeting casually, had his expression change instantly upon seeing the data.

And then... Zhang Zhongxiao's nightmare began.

"He called me over directly, pointed to the energy reflection curve of the adamantite on the report, and asked me, 'How was the steep peak in this specific frequency band achieved? What is the theoretical model?'"

"How would I know!" Zhang Zhongxiao slapped his thigh. "I told him I was a basic research researcher, and he just changed the way he asked the question."

"Comrade Zhang, how can a doping ratio of 0.01% improve the performance of the substrate by an order of magnitude? This doesn't conform to traditional materials science principles. What is its microstructure?"

"How am I supposed to answer that?"

Qian Jin's eyelids twitched as she listened; just imagining the scene made her feel suffocated for Old Zhang.

Zhang Zhongxiao became more and more agitated as he spoke: "The most alarming thing was that he stared at the energy consumption chart of the smelting process for a full five minutes, and then quietly remarked: 'This energy consumption curve is very strange; it doesn't resemble the mature smelting technology of the past.'"

"My hair stood on end! I almost spilled the beans about our mining operations in that other world!"

"Luckily, I was quick-witted," Zhang Zhongxiao patted his chest, still shaken. "I immediately stood at attention and reported to him that this was classified as a higher level of secrecy, and I didn't have the necessary permissions! I was just a data handler!"

He mimicked his own appearance at the time, with an expression of righteousness and innocence.

"and then?"

"Hehe, Chief Engineer Yang let me off the hook because he saw I really didn't know anything. But he kept emphasizing the design difficulties of an aircraft that's newer than a ginkgo leaf!"

Zhang Zhongxiao sighed deeply and slumped back onto the sofa: "For a while afterward... you wouldn't believe it. Even though he stopped asking questions, his curious eyes were shining like two light bulbs. He practically wanted to drag me back to the research institute to dissect and study me. He was like... yes, like a panda cub that had just spotted a bamboo shoot!"

Qian Jin was amused by his absurd analogy, but after laughing, the shock in her heart grew even stronger.

He only caused a stir at a materials research institute.

Old Zhang, on the other hand, directly presented the dragon liver and phoenix marrow to the nation's top fighter jet chief designer.

Qian Jin slowly exhaled, her eyes filled with complex emotions.

"Old Zhang, if you're too tired, let me do this kind of pretentious stuff next time!"

"Heh... Get lost!" Zhang Zhongxiao said, then suddenly remembered something.

When Qian Jin looked at the group photos, he walked straight out!

I thought he was asking for comfort, but it turns out he came to show off.

This place is unbearable!

-

Another world, a special materials research lab.

The hum of the high-intensity grinder echoed in the enclosed room, harsh and monotonous.

Chung Shih-chang stared intently at the image captured by the probe lens, a fine layer of sweat beading on his forehead.

He manipulated the robotic arm, carefully aiming the grinding head at the long-captured ice spear.

This ice spear once easily shattered sandbags and nearly killed a warrior named An Kang; its hardness and armor-piercing ability far exceeded that of special steel.

What's more troublesome is that its internal special electromagnetic interference field acts like a black hole, absorbing magical particles and causing a large number of high-tech detection devices to malfunction.

Originally, the ice spear was to be taken back for research the next day, but Li Jing believed that this thing might be a specialty of this world and strictly forbade it from being brought back to the modern world, for one reason only—the modern world does not have magical particles.

They feared that if the ice spear were separated from the environment of this world, this priceless research material might disintegrate on its own.

Therefore, research has remained at the most conservative level of surface analysis, with no progress.

Chung Shih-chang submitted his application report more than a dozen times and pleaded until his lips were sore before it was finally approved, allowing him to take a few grams of powder sample from the tail of the ice spear.

Shila-

The moment the grinding head made contact with the ice spear, the sharp friction sound almost pierced the eardrums.

Under the magnifying glass, the pale blue ice crystal powder was slowly scraped off, and Zhong Shichang's tense lips finally relaxed slightly.

Become!

He was overjoyed and was about to scrape off a little more when an unexpected event suddenly occurred.

A sharp "crack" was heard, like the sound of glass shattering.

The seemingly indestructible ice spear suddenly developed spiderweb-like cracks that spread throughout its entire body from the point of contact.

The next second, the entire ice spear shattered, turning into a pile of shimmering fragments.

Even more contrary to common sense, the ice spear fragments quickly melted, turning into a pool of cold water that slowly spread across the metal lab table.

The hum of the grinder had stopped sometime earlier, and the room was deathly silent.

Chung Shih-chang stood frozen in place, his mind blank.

"...What the hell?"

His voice trembled as he looked at the puddle of water.

"It's over! It's completely over!"

Zhong Shichang turned around abruptly and looked at his colleague Lao Guo, who was in charge of recording data. His face was completely drained of color.

"This thing is much harder than Rupert's Tear, how can it have a weakness?" Zhong Shichang said, on the verge of tears.

Rupert's Tears is a modern glass artifact with a hard head but a fragile tail that shatters easily when squeezed. Its head can withstand bullet impact without breaking, but the tail, due to its delicate structure, will completely crumble with a gentle squeeze.

They tested the ice spear multiple times and confirmed that the ice spear they had just destroyed was extremely hard, both at the tail and the tip.

This also gave them the opportunity to cut this thing up for research.

Unexpectedly, the precious ice spear malfunctioned during the cutting process.

"Old Guo, think of a report that will make us look better when we get criticized, okay?"

Old Guo's face was even paler than his. The two stared at each other, cold sweat trickling down their temples.

After a painful internal struggle, they finally chose to report it.

You can't hide it forever; those who confess will be treated leniently, and those who resist will be punished severely.

They did not commit a crime!

This was a scientific research accident!

Yes, a rather significant research accident!

The two convinced themselves of this, and then went to report the situation.

(End of this chapter)