Traveling Back to the 1960s: The Entire Internet Teaches Me How to Build Missiles

The devil may be one foot tall, but the righteous will be ten feet tall.

Zhou Yunxiao glanced at them and saw that each of the group members was well-equipped, yet different in their own way.

Some carried Type 54 assault rifles, while others carried Type 56 semi-automatic rifles, demonstrating a comprehensive approach to both distant and close-range warfare.

They had ammunition pouches hanging from their waists, their belts under their cotton-padded coats were tightly fastened, their expressions were solemn and unsmiling, and each of them exuded a strong murderous aura.

Yan Baoguo walked over with his hands behind his back, grinning. "Old Xu, you could have kept a low profile when you came, but it'll be a different story when you go back. Carrying Qiu Xiaomei's four big iron boxes, you think you can hide it? Dream on!"

"As instructed by Director Chen, I have specially selected a group of skilled soldiers for you. One class is the top performer in last year's competition, and the other two classes are also skilled fighters. There are even a few who are experts in Tongbei Quan and Bajiquan."

"I've arranged for them to form a reinforced special operations platoon, specifically tasked with guarding Qiu Xiaomei in shifts. That way, your workload will be reduced a bit—"

Staff Officer Xu saluted. "Then I thank you on behalf of Ye Ling!"

"No need to thank me, just return them after the mission is over." Yan Baoguo added a warning, still not entirely at ease, "If that bastard Ye Guoquan dares to lay a finger on my special operations platoon, I'll fly over there and give him a good beating!"

"How could that be? Our Ye Ling would never do something like poaching someone's talent!"

Staff Officer Xu replied somewhat hesitantly, then waved his hand and led the 501 squad into the car and set off.

Yan Baoguo watched them leave from afar.

The convoy transporting Qiu Xiaomei was impressive, with dozens of vehicles, but in reality, only four of them were actual container trucks; the rest were vehicles escorting the soldiers.

The convoy slowly bumped along the washboard road. Zhou Yunxiao thought to himself that he was transporting an atomic bomb, and his heart couldn't help but surge with excitement.

Because the vehicles were moving very slowly, the convoy was still circling around Jin Yin Beach at noon. Then, at 3 p.m., they finally reached a fork in the road.

The long convoy immediately split into two groups of more than twenty vehicles, heading straight for Caojiabao Airport.

Director Chen of the Science and Technology Commission instructed that Qiu Xiaomei be transported in two separate groups and not mixed together.

Therefore, some were transported by train and the rest by plane.

Because of the low safety factor of airplanes, only containers number one and three, which are not very valuable, are transported.

The two boxes each contained a neutron ignition source, as well as special tools and scientific instruments.

Therefore, Li Difeng and the other two took two suitcases from Caojiabao Airport and boarded an Il-14 transport plane to fly directly to Dingxin Airport in Jincheng.

It's estimated that Qiu Xiaomei's next reunion will be in about half a month.

The remaining half of the convoy continued towards Tianduo Station, while the special operations platoon soldiers all stayed behind, since they couldn't really utilize their skills much on the plane.

The convoy gradually drove out of Jinyintan and arrived at a slightly better road in Haiyan County, and then headed straight for the train station without stopping.

By 4 p.m., the convoy had finally arrived in Tianduo.

From a distance, Zhou Yunxiao could see the heavily guarded station through the windshield, with more than a dozen military trucks parked outside.

Five kilometers from the station, the roadside was already lined with armed guards, and occasionally a few curious eyes would peek out from the windows along the street.

As soon as the Jinyintan convoy entered the train station, the guards immediately closed in, forming a fan shape to completely surround the station, preventing anyone from approaching at will.

Staff Officer Xu jumped out of the truck and warmly shook hands with Director Yi, the head of Tianduo's security department.

Director Yi said, "The special trains are ready. One will depart at 8 PM tonight via the 220 express line; the other will depart at 4 AM tomorrow morning via the 221 express line. We can ensure everything goes smoothly!"

Staff Officer Xu nodded. "You've all worked hard tonight. Make sure to keep a close watch on things and don't let your guard down. I've heard our adversaries are quite audacious; we must sabotage them at all costs."

Director Yi smiled and said, "It's not hard work. We've all signed pledges. The command center in whichever region the special train passes through is the first person responsible. Everyone from top to bottom will be held accountable. We dare not be negligent."

Staff Officer Xu laughed and then called over the remaining three members of the six-man squad.

Zhou Yunxiao, Mu Chunsheng, and a key member of the third division.

Chief of Staff Xu said, "Transfer a squad from the special operations platoon to inspect the coal and water we'll be using tomorrow morning. Search carefully and don't slack off!"

The three nodded in agreement.

He Chenggong, along with another squad of soldiers, supervised the well-trained workers at the train station as they carefully unloaded containers number two and four using hand-operated hoists and A-frame booms.

The suspension damping base was then removed and re-welded to the chassis of the special train carriage. After confirming its stability, the two boxes were loaded into the carriage one by one.

Box number two is relatively lighter, weighing only 300 kilograms;

The detonation lens in box number four was much heavier. In addition to hundreds of kilograms of high-energy explosives, it also contained high-density natural uranium, plus a shielding box made of special steel, totaling a full 1,500 kilograms.

A group of workers worked together to lift it up with a gantry crane, then installed heavy casters. It took them three or four hours to move it into the carriage, and the job was done.

On the other side, Zhou Yunxiao and his group were not having an easy time either; in fact, their task was even more arduous.

Trains need to burn coal and water to transport goods, and the journey from Tianduo to Jincheng requires at least 15 tons of coal and 40 tons of water, which gave spies an opportunity to take advantage of the situation.

Water is easy to check; you can spot anything wrong at a glance.

But with 15 tons of coal, they could only search little by little. A slight miscalculation could lead to the other side planting a detonator in the coal pile.

Hiding a bomb would be a huge disaster.

Regarding the coal inspection, Chief of Staff Xu was not comfortable with the inspection conducted by the Tianduo Command and insisted that his own people conduct another inspection.

Therefore, Zhou Yunxiao and Mu Chunsheng, along with a special operations squad, each carrying a specially made copper hammer and a copper shovel, converged from both ends of the coal cart towards the middle, carefully inserting them into the coal pile to knock and search.

Fifteen tons of coal is neither a lot nor a little; it's enough to fill four large trucks. After inspecting it for a long time, with their faces covered in coal dust, the group finally jumped off the coal truck, looking disheveled.

Zhou Yunxiao gestured towards Captain Mu with his chin, "How's your search going? Did you find any detonators or explosives?"

Captain Mu shook his head, panting, and leaned on his copper hoe to find a step to sit down. "No, we cracked open all the large coals and checked them; they're safe. We also weighed each of the small coals; the weight is fine."

"I'm all set, I can assure you the bus will depart smoothly tomorrow morning."

The special operations platoon members sat down in a circle. Someone asked curiously, "Comrade, since the train doesn't leave until tomorrow morning, why is there another one tonight? I heard it left at eight o'clock?"

Upon hearing this, Mu Chunsheng chuckled and said smugly, "You call yourself a soldier? Don't you even know what it means to make the real appear real and the unreal appear real? That special train 220 that departed tonight was bait released by the Tianduo Command, a decoy specifically designed to impress the enemy agents."

They've been closely monitoring our operations. If they wanted to sabotage us, they would definitely target train 220. In the end, they'll find it's all for nothing; the train's crates are full of stones! The real Qiu Xiaomei is actually on train 221!

The comrade from the special operations squad gave a thumbs up and said, "That's brilliant! That was a really cunning move."

Mu Chunsheng rolled his eyes: "What do you mean by 'cunning'? You know what they mean by 'the devil is one foot tall, but the righteous are ten feet tall'?"

At this moment, another soldier asked, "This Qiu Xiaomei, no—what exactly is this atomic bomb?"

Mu Chunsheng nudged Zhou Yunxiao, who was resting nearby, and said, "Little Zhou, you're very knowledgeable. Come and tell our special operations squad what an atomic bomb is."

Zhou Yunxiao laughed and said, "This cannot be explained in just a few words. To understand the atomic bomb, you must first understand the atom."

Do you know what an atom is?

Everyone shook their heads, saying they had only heard of the courtyard, not the atom.

"An atom is an extremely small particle. How small? A drop of water contains more atoms than all the sand in all the deserts on Earth combined."

The soldiers stared wide-eyed, completely unable to comprehend it.

Zhou Yunxiao simply changed his words and said bluntly: "In short, atoms are the basic particles that make up this world. They have existed since the beginning of the universe, and their quantity, quality, and size are exactly the same as when they were first created."

The fundamental purpose of the atomic bomb is to blast an even smaller particle, called the atomic nucleus, from this single particle. When it is blasted in two, it releases tremendous energy, a process known as nuclear fission.

"Nuclear fission releases an enormous amount of energy; the temperature at the epicenter is even higher than the sun. So if Qiu Xiaomei were to detonate it, it would be equivalent to half a sun falling from the earth—that is the atomic bomb!"