174: Chapter 94: Paper Airplane 174: Chapter 94: Paper Airplane That was a mory Xiang Shan no longer rembered.
In 2048, within a mountain in the North Asian Russian Federation.
A woman pressed down on her hat and shouted, “Klein!
I thought you were a respectable person…
”
“What——” David Klein, who had recently grown a beard, responded in this manner.
Because the wind was really strong.
“I said!
I!
Thought!
You were!
A respectable person!
Not like Mountain’s!
Silly antics!”
“Hey, that’s!
A bit!
Slanderous!” the man also yelled: “This is!
A proper!
Scientific research activity!”
“You took!
The group’s!
Funding!
Bought!
This!
Research institute!
And the first thing you do is launch!
A paper airplane contest!”
“Ah, I say you two are idiots…” Xiang Shan said, “Why not wear noise-cancelling helts and communicate using electromagnetic signals…”
The three of them were presently inside a huge wind tunnel.
This place was a forr aerodynamics research institute of the Red Alliance, involved in the developnt of several generations of MiG fighters.
This huge wind tunnel might even be a product from seventy or eighty years ago.
However, with the drastic changes in the 1990s, this place gradually lost its vitality.
Projects were canceled, and researchers were dismissed.
Most of these employees had left the country for the Federation or the Republic.
This research institute was just a frawork.
And it was clearly priced as such.
For at least half a century, its nominal ownership had shifted between oligarchs several tis.
However, its owners had never thought about reinvigorating this dead place.
David Klein had bought this place not long ago.
It was only worth a few billion.
David Klein was fascinated with human space travel during the Cold War.
He had bought a space shuttle that the forr Red Alliance manufactured but never launched, a large number of retired, discarded aircraft, and satellites.
Additionally, using his connections at NASA, he had acquired many artifacts from the other side.
This engineer considered himself the most hardcore space buff on Earth.
By the way, many of these projects also involved Yawgmoth.
Yawgmoth strongly rejected personal pleasure, seeing it as a sign of decay.
He hardly ever spent his share of corporate dividends on his lifestyle.
After David Klein had bought this research organization, he quickly cleaned it up and even installed so advanced equipnt.
According to him, he might consider establishing a private research institution here to work on topics of his own interest.
Today was the ceremony to restart this research base.
However, the woman had never expected that the first project this crazy guy proposed would be…
“A paper airplane competition!” she continued muttering after Xiang Shan forcibly put a helt on her head: “Have you considered that, because of its old design, this huge wind tunnel’s energy efficiency can’t compare to the latest technologies!
It will consu a huge amount of electricity!
A paper airplane contest, what the heck?”
“‘Personal interest projects.'” David Klein shrugged his shoulders: “Moreover, it’s not bad at all.
This research team is freshly recruited and still needs to sh well.
At this ti, working on a fun yet not overly complicated project is, of course, very important.”
Besides, Xiang Shan quietly added: “And which man doesn’t like paper airplanes?”
“Huh?
No matter how you look at it, this is an extravagant waste!
We should be wary of such…”
“No, you’re mistaken, Zhu.” David Klein shook his head: “Humans know almost nothing about fluid dynamics.
Let put it this way, humans only know ‘planes are built this way so they can fly,’ but as for ‘why planes can fly,’ there is no definite answer…”
“Isn’t it said to be the Bernoulli principle…”
“That’s at most just one aspect, explaining ‘where the lift of the wings cos from,’ not ‘why this whole thing can maintain balanced flight.’ Perhaps our paper airplanes can help us summarize so great theorem or formula.”
“That’s sophistry!”
“Alright, alright, dear.” Xiang Shan pressed down on the woman’s shoulder: “Aren’t you also having fun?
You, as soone who deals with pure numbers, probably wouldn’t understand this engineer’s taste!
Co on, let’s fold so tallic foil into a paper airplane.”
“Oh, let’s make a big one.”
“The thickness of the tallic foil won’t support that!”
Reportedly, this “paper airplane sport” continued in this research institute for over a decade, and every year, nurous papers were published.
And those lucky enough to participate in this sport naturally ca to understand paper airplanes well.
Rather, it should be said…
“No one understands paper airplanes better than .” Xiang Shan confidently folded a small paper airplane out of tallic foil.
His prosthetic hand was highly dexterous.
Such a complex three-dinsional structure might take dozens of seconds in normal person’s hands, but in his, it took not even a second.
Then, Xiang Shan threw these paper airplanes out like hidden weapons.
This was already the third batch.
The paper airplanes spun and shot through the air like darts—indeed, they were actually tallic.
Only after several seconds of flight, due to the mory ability of the alloy, did they unfold and glide smoothly through mid-air.
Just monts ago, there had been an explosion in this hall.
Although the blast wind had largely subsided, the scorching air at the blast center was still slowly rising.
This hot air lifted the paper airplanes, pushing them higher once again.
Then, they were locked onto by radar.
In the early 21st century, there were generally two strategies for stealth aircraft.
First, use a high-tech coating that absorbs the electromagnetic waves emitted by radar.
Second, rely on shape to change the reflection of electromagnetic waves.
This is also why the exteriors of so advanced fighter jets look so unconventional and counterintuitive.
It’s because they reflect specific bands of electromagnetic waves.
To the naked eye, this object might appear as an enormous structure asuring several ters in length, width, and height, but to radar perception, it “appears” just like a bird.
Xiang Shan did the exact opposite.
This paper airplane, only the size of a Natural Person’s palm, could, if programd correctly, appear on radar as the reflection of a cybernetically enhanced person.
Of course, the application of this gadget was actually very narrow.
If the opposition used detection devices that included microwave radar as well as visible light and infrared sensors, these paper airplanes would instantly fail.
But he first disabled the brightest visible light sources, then created scorching air with the explosion, all for this purpose.
He disrupted other interference factors.
In such circumstances, the enemy would likely set the AI to a mode that “fires as soon as one kind of detection is compromised.”
And Xiang Shan used this thod to detect the fastest-reacting weapon system in the entire environnt.
In terms of re reflection speed, humans couldn’t keep up with intelligent weapons.
“Oh dear, oh dear, laser weapons,” Xiang Shan said, “I don’t know whether it’s unfortunate for you Knights or lucky for .
Right, using lasers here is indeed the right idea.”
Compared to live ammunition, lasers only needed recharging to be reused and didn’t produce ricochets causing secondary damage.
If the locked target were a skilled Martial Artist, perhaps the opponent could dodge live rounds with unparalleled reflexes, but lasers eliminated that concern.
But the tallic foil paper airplane didn’t just reflect microwaves from the radar.
It could also reflect lasers.
Of course, limited by reflectivity, the tallic foil couldn’t reflect 100% of the laser’s heat.
If it t a laser, it was certain to vaporize.
But in the few milliseconds before vaporization, it would still splatter the laser’s damage.
You see, this was no Old Era aluminum foil, but rather an ultra-thin core, a great achievent of the new era materials science.
If it were a Natural Person, such a blast could cause skin burns or even necrosis.
Of course, even for Cybernetically Enhanced People, delicate sensory parts like Prosthetic Eyes would be damaged.
Clusters of high-energy flowers burst into existence for re instants across the sky.
“What are these idiotic AIs shooting at?” Bengel scread.
“Have they been rewired?
Who calibrated them?
Did they collude with the Hero too?”
“The precision of Prosthetic Eyes has its limits, and under such strong light, it’s really impossible to see,” Daijiu Tai’a said.
“But there must be a target, extrely small, yet capable of disturbing AI judgnt…
The most crucial point is, it must be scattering electromagnetic waves.”
Appennine stood up.
The food in front of him had been turned to char by the scattered lasers and was utterly inedible.
The young lord looked bewilderedly around the chaotic surroundings, unsure of what had happened.
So of the ornants on the floor had also been ignited by the lasers, creating fires everywhere.
A Martial Artist imdiately grabbed a fire extinguisher.
“No good!” Daijiu Tai’a “suddenly” realized: “Mr.
Bengel, his goal is to overload the laser generators!
The core crystals can’t withstand multiple continuous firings!
Make them stop!
At least turn off the microwave radar’s detection signal!
It can scatter lasers, mostly through tampering with electromagnetic waves.”
“Ah!
Right!” Bengel exclaid.
“Readjust the weapon AI!”
Seconds later, the flashing finally ceased.
But almost simultaneously, several whistling sounds.
The laser emitters fixed to the walls and do almost exploded at the sa ti.
Xiang Shan had released the small missiles he had brought with him.
When the frequency of flashing decreased, he walked boldly through the main entrance, accompanied by more than a dozen paper airplanes.
He had been modeling the atmospheric environnt of that room and predicting the flight paths of the paper airplanes, then using the information conveyed by the flashes to deduce the positions of the laser weapons.
And now, he had achieved a successful strike.
After snapping the necks of two Martial Artists beside him, Xiang Shan softly humd, “Lift your head and look around/the heavens and earth vast and boundless…”
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