Live Stream 1980: Netizens Teach Me How to Make a Rocket by Hand

Lin Xi placed the ugly-looking little motor wrapped in black tape on the table.

"Brother Pao, power it on."

Without saying a word, Wang Dapao skillfully slapped in two No. 1 batteries and attached the wires to the electrodes.

Lao Zheng crossed his arms, a hint of sarcasm playing on his lips.

He wanted to see what tricks this nouveau riche, who talked nonsense, could pull.

The instant the wire contacts the electrode.

There was no preheating.

There was no "crackling" mechanical friction sound as I had expected.

It also doesn't have the dull "humming" sound of a regular motor.

"hiss--!!!"

A sharp, high-pitched whistling sound instantly pierced the oppressive atmosphere of the entire workshop.

The sound was unlike any ordinary machine.

It sounds more like the roar of a jet fighter engine during afterburner takeoff.

After being shrunk countless times, it was stuffed into a small box.

That frequency was extremely high and extremely stable.

It was so steady it was unsettling.

The small motor placed on the table did not vibrate violently; it was like a rock.

Only that indistinct rotating shaft cut a deathly vacuum vortex through the air.

The sarcasm on Lao Zheng's lips froze.

His pupils instantly contracted to the size of pinpoints.

As an expert who has worked with motors his whole life, he knew what it meant just by hearing that sound.

The ultimate dynamic balance.

A terrifying rotational speed.

And there was that seemingly endless burst of magnetic field power.

"This...this is..."

Lao Zheng rushed to the table.

He wanted to reach out and touch it, but was afraid that the oil on his hands would damage this sacred object.

"Tachometer! Quick! Tachometer!"

Lao Zheng roared at his apprentice in the distance like a madman.

The apprentice hurriedly handed over a tachometer.

The numbers on the LCD screen began to jump wildly.

8000...

10000...

12500!

The speed eventually stabilized at 12500 RPM!

Dead silence.

Apart from that high-frequency whistling sound, there was no other sound in the entire workshop.

Lao Zheng stared at the number, his eyes red-rimmed.

He turned his head sharply and stared at Lin Xi, his gaze no longer that of someone looking at a nouveau riche, but rather as if he were looking at an alien.

"This is not ferrite..."

"It's not samarium cobalt either..."

Lao Zheng, his fingers trembling, pointed to the few silver-gray magnetic tiles inside the motor casing.

"What is this? What kind of material is this?!"

This magnetic energy product is more than twice as high as the best samarium-cobalt magnet he knows!

This is a revolutionary material that could revolutionize the entire motor industry!

With this thing, forget about razors.

Missile servos, drone engines, and even submarine silent propulsion systems will all be rewritten!

"Click."

Lin Xi unplugged the power cord.

The whistling stopped abruptly.

The workshop was eerily quiet.

Lin Xi slowly put away the motor, stuffed it back into his pocket, and looked at the completely out-of-control Factory Manager Lao.

"Manager Lao, can we talk about the razors now?"

Lao Zheng swallowed hard, his Adam's apple bobbing violently.

The arrogance and haughtiness of just now have all shattered into pieces.

It was ground into dust by that 12500 RPM speed.

He grabbed Lin Xi's sleeve.

"Mr. Lin... Mr. Lin! Manager Lin!"

Lao Zheng's voice trembled, "Don't go!"

"You can't leave! These blueprints..."

"No, you must keep this ingredient recipe!"

Even if it's for the sake of national defense...

"stop."

Lin Xi withdrew her hand and patted the oil stains off her sleeve.

"Director Lao, we are now engaged in commercial negotiations."

"Business is business, no sentimentality."

"I'll give you the technology, I'll give you the blueprints."

"I want you to free up all the production capacity of Factory 702 to make this 'Red Star Whirlwind' for me."

"Will it work?"

"Sure! We can shut down the entire factory!"

Lao Zheng didn't hesitate at all; his eyes lit up.

"If you can provide this magnetic material, I'll even give you the factory manager's office!"

At this point, Lao Zheng suddenly paused, and his face fell again.

"But...where did these materials come from?"

"Domestic rare earth purification technology is lagging behind. Magnets of this level definitely require extremely high purity rare earth elements."

"The West has imposed a strict embargo on us, so... can we mass-produce this stuff?"

Make bricks without straw.

Without the materials, this motor is just a unique product in the laboratory, and it can never be turned into a bullet for the Western market.

Seeing the despair in Lao Zheng's eyes, Lin Xi smiled.

"Director Lao, do you know what 'turning lead into gold' means?"

Lin Xi walked to the window in the workshop and pointed to the rolling barren mountains outside.

"In the eyes of Westerners, that's just rustic."

"But in my eyes."

Lin Xi's voice was deep and seductive.

"That's more precious than gold..."

"Industrial vitamins"

He turned around and stared intently at Lao Zheng.

"I have the materials, plenty."

......

A Jiefang brand truck rumbled and crashed into the open space in the backyard of the factory.

As the truck bed was lifted, a pile of dark, reddish-brown slag was dumped out with a "whoosh".

Dust filled the air, causing Lao Zhengzhi, who was following behind, to cough.

"Manager Lin, is this the... darling you were talking about?"

Lao Zheng waved his hand to disperse the dust in front of him, his brows furrowing into a knot.

"Is this the raw material you were talking about, the one that can create that 'god-level motor'?"

"This stuff is piled up like mountains at Baogang, it's all waste residue left over from iron smelting."

The truck driver jumped off, took the towel draped around his neck to wipe his sweat, and looked at him with an expression that said, "Are you crazy?"

"If you still want more, I have tens of thousands of tons left. I'll give them to you for free as long as you pay the shipping fee."

Lin Xi stepped forward and squatted down.

He grabbed a handful of warm "wasteland" and gently ground it between his fingertips.

It's rough, granular, and has a pungent sulfur smell.

But in Lin Xi's eyes, this was anything but rustic.

This is lanthanum, cerium, and titanium, and it is also the strongest magnetic element currently found on Earth.

neodymium.

[Geological Prospector 007: Holy crap! I'm heartbroken! It just collapsed on the ground? This is tailings from rare earth concentrate! The neodymium content is at least 15%!]

[Long live the Industrial Party: This is the reality of the 80s—rare earth elements were sold only as additives, or even as paving stones. Now they're dirt cheap, but tomorrow they'll be as expensive as gold.]

[Scrap collector: Streamer, stop talking nonsense and get to refining! Seeing this pile of treasures being treated like garbage, I've already taken all my nitroglycerin pills.]

Lin Xi dusted off her hands, stood up, and smiled at the driver:

"Master, I'll take this pile too. I'll take as many as you have in the future."

The driver looked at Lin Xi as if she were a god of wealth, then happily took the freight slip and drove away.

"Director Lao, find me a ball mill, and also a vacuum sintering furnace."

Lin Xi turned around, her eyes becoming unusually sharp.

"Let's begin the 'alchemy'."