I built an armada.

At this moment, all the doubts raised by those who relied on their seniority and all the admonitions based on their experience became laughable dust.

A tremendous, almost absurd sense of disparity instantly washed over him like ice water—Longxia, a leading figure in materials science, had devoted five years of painstaking research to this prodigy who had been in the research institute for less than a month, and he felt as insignificant as a speck of dust on the laboratory floor.

"Five years..."

Xu Bingxian's lips trembled, each word like blood foam squeezed from the depths of his chest, carrying an indescribable bitterness and a sense of bewilderment and shock after his cognition was shattered by the heavy hammer of truth.

"The threshold of five years of research... is not as high as you 'looking' at that pile of scrap metal for a month?!"
In this world... what is there to call technological accumulation? What is there to call expert barriers?

His dazed gaze swept over the gleaming blueprints again, finally settling on the core drive module that was beyond the imagination of the times. His lips trembled silently as he repeatedly murmured those astonishing words that seemed to come from another dimension.

"Impossible...impossible...how...how did they come up with this?!"

Xu Bingxian's earth-shattering "Impossible!" was like a heavy, cold stone crashing onto the silent laboratory floor, breaking the breaths of all the researchers behind him.

The room was filled with people staring wide-eyed at the unimaginable design on the screen, then at the calm face of the young man in front of them. The air seemed to be filled with the sizzling sound of hot oil, a silent, unbelievable shock.

"Professor Xu, fellow teachers."

Su Dingping broke the silence. His voice was not loud, but it was like a precise scalpel cutting through the thick atmosphere as he pointed to several key points on the screen.

"The structural idea of ​​this supramolecular resonant membrane was indeed inspired by the publicly available literature on a certain type of biomaterial from an American tribe a couple of years ago, but they narrowed their focus."
The core module of this magnetic vortex accelerator actually incorporates a concept about special magnetic confinement fields published three years ago in a secondary journal by the Nordic Valkyrie Laboratory. They underestimated its application potential... We took the essence, discarded the redundancy, and added a bit of our own "hard nut to crack," and that's it.

He paused, his gaze sweeping across the stunned faces of the crowd before finally settling on Xu Bingxian's eyes, which were brimming with barely suppressed excitement.

"Look, this new generation of centrifugal extractors, from the core drive to the main frame, we can be self-reliant on at least 90% of the components and have mastered all the intellectual property rights! Foreign tribes want to strangle us again? No way!"

These words, like the first drumbeat of a cold winter morning, shattered the room's astonishment and replaced it with ecstatic joy!
In particular, the powerful phrases "self-reliance," "capable of manufacturing over 90% of the materials," and "no longer having to rely on foreign countries" were like sparks that instantly ignited the passion of these researchers who had been fed up with foreign influence and felt stifled for too long in the field of materials science!
"Excellent! Excellent idea of ​​extracting the essence! Excellent idea of ​​self-reliance!"

Xu Bingxian suddenly grabbed Su Dingping's arm, the bulging veins on his hand and the trembling force revealing the turbulent excitement in his heart.

He was no longer the dignified giant sitting atop the academic pyramid, but more like a traveler trekking through an endless desert, on the verge of despair, who suddenly stumbled upon an oasis, his voice hoarse and distorted.

"Dingping! Professor Su! I...I'm getting senile! I deserve to be hit! You...this isn't just blueprints! This is clearly a lightsaber piercing through the darkness above our heads! No nonsense, this old man is completely convinced today!"

He no longer cared about his status or qualifications, gripping Su Dingping tightly with one hand and pointing his other withered hand at the huge electronic drawing screen behind him, as if he had grabbed a life-saving anchor.

"Please tell us! Professor Su, you must tell us in detail how this 'lightsaber' was forged! Every joint! Every difficulty and hurdle of the new technology! I, Xu Bingxian, am just a primary school student today! No, I'm just a beginner's student!"

His gaze was so intense it almost burned the air.

That was the pure yearning of a research fanatic when he encountered the answer to the ultimate mystery, and the absolute fervor of a nation's researchers when they saw the great dawn of breaking free from their shackles! All the researchers around him quickened their breathing, their eyes fixed on Su Dingping, filled with the same hungry light.

For the next two days and two nights, the brightly lit multimedia classroom on the top floor of the Xijiang Research Institute became a city that never sleeps.

Su Dingping's calm and clear voice became the most authoritative command. The complex and dazzling three-dimensional structural model on the screen flowed and was cut, and the dry and profound physical parameters and chemical mechanisms were analyzed by him as if they had come to life.

Below, from Xu Bingxian to the youngest assistant, not one dared to blink or doze off. Notebooks flew like white doves, and pens scribbled across the paper, making every formula and annotation seem incredibly precious.

Su Dingping has become the new king of this sacred place of materials science in Longxia.

No matter how tricky or strange the question—whether it's about the molecular chain matching stability of resonant films, the precise threshold of the initial excitation power of magnetic vortex force fields, or even the microscopic deformation tolerance analysis of special alloys under anti-gravity gradients—he can answer them all off the top of his head, his thinking speed far exceeding that of computer simulations!
His arguments are well-supported by evidence and supported by clear logic, like a solidly cast steel, shattering all doubts.

until--

"Dingping".

Xu Bingxian held up a copy of the blueprint, his rough fingers pressing hard on a component that was highlighted and marked with its limit parameters. His expression became unusually solemn again, as if he had been doused with a bucket of ice water.

"Here... the ultra-high strength alloy bearing of the main drive core shaft... is designed to withstand pressure 40 percent higher than the existing theoretical peak value!"

This parameter...this intensity..."

His throat felt congested, and his voice was so heavy it could crush a person.

"Our... the entire Longxia tribe's existing technological platform, whether it's forging or smelting, simply... simply cannot produce materials of this level! If we force it, the moment the shaft is activated, it will be shattered to pieces!"
This...this is just a theoretical shell! Without this bearing, all the blueprints are just a piece of waste paper!

An atmosphere of despair, like a cold, venomous snake, quickly coiled around every excited heart. The atmosphere took a sharp turn for the worse! The classroom, which had been buzzing with excitement just moments before, instantly froze into an ice cave.

Everyone was stunned by this harsh reality. Yes, no matter how good the design, if it can't be implemented, it's just a mirage! A bottleneck? It turns out the most fatal weakness ultimately comes back to the most basic materials!
"import?"

A young researcher asked instinctively, his voice trembling with despair.

"The Eagle Tribe or the European continent..."

"late!"

Xu Bingxian slammed his hand on the table, his face turning ashen.

"Since the last 'Tianhe incident,' the import channels for key materials have been blocked at every level! Even if we could get a small portion, it would absolutely not meet our mass production needs! And the price... would drain our entire budget! Not to mention the potential risk of technology leaks!"

He closed his eyes in anguish; the exquisite beauty of the blueprints now seemed like a cruel irony.

"What a disappointment... Could it be... fate?"

His voice carried a desolate air, like that of a hero in his twilight years.

The room was deathly silent.

Everyone's heart felt as if it were being crushed by a boulder, sinking into a cold abyss. The glimmer of hope that had just been torn open seemed to be swallowed up again by thick black clouds.

Just as the oppressive atmosphere of despair was about to freeze, Su Dingping, who had remained as steady as a mountain, suddenly spoke softly, even somewhat inappropriately.

He chuckled.

The laughter wasn't loud, but it pierced the oppressive air with exceptional clarity. "Old Xu, everyone."

He even had that almost "cunning" calm smile on his face, as if they weren't discussing a life-or-death bottleneck, but a trivial matter that was perfectly reasonable.

"Who said we have to rely on imports for materials?"

"Ok?"

Xu Bingxian suddenly opened his eyes, and a faint light suddenly burst forth in his stagnant eyes.

"Have you forgotten the main research project of Longxin Laboratory?"

Su Dingping turned his gaze to the crowd, his voice carrying a heavy weight.

"Our latest generation of special polymer metal matrix composite material, codenamed 'Dragon Scale,' was finalized and put into mass production last month."

One of its unassuming 'little advantages' includes…

He pointed to the location of the bearing with extremely high parameters on the drawing.

"...unparalleled strength and toughness, as well as amazing resistance to creep, resistance to ultra-low temperatures and extreme radiation stability."

He paused, then spoke each word as if making a declaration.

"All indicators exceed the requirements of the drawings by more than 15%!"

boom!
A shockwave even larger than the "Impossible" shout from before exploded!
Xu Bingxian sprang up from his chair as if struck by lightning! His cloudy old eyes stared intently at Su Dingping, as if trying to pierce through him and see if this young man was a human or a celestial being descended to earth!
"Dragon... dragon scales... you're saying dragon scales are being mass-produced?!"
That material…

His throat was gurgling; he had lost his voice from excessive excitement.

"The parameters of that material... are they as powerful as you say?!"

He simply couldn't believe his ears!

This completely contradicts his more than half a century of accumulated knowledge in materials science!

"The data reports are in my Longxin experimental database, and can be checked and retested at any time."

Su Dingping's tone was as flat as if he were simply stating that the weather was nice today.

"If Elder Xu doesn't believe it, he can send someone to take samples and verify it at any time. Strength, toughness, number of extreme fatigue tests... you can test it yourself."

"...I believe you! I believe you!"

Xu Bingxian seemed to be seized by a tremendous force, and staggered forward a step!
This time, instead of screaming "Impossible!" in horror, his lips trembled violently, and tears streamed down his face without warning, like a flood bursting its banks! Large, turbid tears rolled down his deeply lined old face and splattered onto the cold, hard floor.

He reached out his withered, twig-like hands, trying to grab Su Dingping's arm, but his entire body swayed violently from the overwhelming excitement and exhaustion. Several researchers nearby rushed forward to support him.

"Enough...enough already!!"

This living fossil of materials science, overwhelmed by immense ecstasy and a shocking shock that swept away the boundaries of his lifelong knowledge, completely lost his composure.

He burst into tears like a child who had been lost for a long time and finally returned home, his voice hoarse and full of relief.

"Just for this one bearing... just for this one tough bone we forged from our own bones! It's worth it!"

It was all worth it! The centrifuge...it's a success! The centrifuge is absolutely a success!
This jerk... We've been put up with this fancy stuff for too long... We... We... Finally, we don't have to look at other people's faces anymore!

He almost roared it out at the end, his roar carrying decades of humiliation, struggle and resentment!

The entire classroom was instantly swept up by this massive torrent of emotion! After a brief silence, cheers erupted like thunder! The exhilarating shouts nearly lifted the roof off!
The researchers, with tears in their eyes, abandoned all decorum and embraced those around them, shouting wildly! The entire Xijiang Institute was ablaze with joy! Years of suppressed resentment finally erupted into a deafening roar that echoed through the heavens!

But the "fright" Su Dingping brought to Xu Bingxian was far from over. Just as the main structure of the centrifuge had been given a steel backbone, Su Dingping suddenly disappeared again, plunging headlong into the vast collection of foreign extraction solution analysis reports and technical documents treasured by the research institute.

He even went so far as to have a large truckload of cutting-edge chemistry, chemical engineering, and metallurgical masterpieces, stacked half a floor high, delivered from his Longxin Laboratory, and locked himself in a quiet pharmaceutical analysis room.

For three days and three nights, apart from the simple meals delivered at regular intervals, the heavy isolation door remained closed.

On the morning of the fourth day, the door opened.

Su Dingping, with faint dark circles under his eyes but looking energetic, walked out and handed a thin sheet of paper filled with precise chemical equations and proportions to Xu Bingxian, who had been waiting anxiously outside the door.

"Professor Xu, this is a new formula for the extraction solution that has been improved based on the analysis results. Give it a try."

There's no "for reference only," no "may be effective," it's just "try it."

That unquestionable confidence left Xu Bingxian, who had just recovered from the huge surprise and was viewing Su Dingping through a kind of "divine filter," without a single extra question. Holding the light yet heavy piece of paper, without saying a word, he rushed to the highest-standard constant temperature and humidity synthesis preparation room in the research institute as if he were holding a heart transplant donor for emergency treatment!
He dragged the most elite team in the entire research institute out of their sleep and threw them into the precise proportions as if they were fighting an emergency battle.

As the deep blue, strangely fluorescent new extract was slowly poured into the container in front of the giant centrifuge model, and as the originally stubborn and difficult-to-separate isotopes were seen to precipitate perfectly and quickly in different areas of the centrifuge tube, like snow meeting the blazing sun...

The moment the final test results came out, I stopped breathing.

"Extraction efficiency... has increased by an average of 21.86%!"

Old He rushed into Xu Bingxian's office with the report in his hand, his face flushed red and his voice cracking.

"Purity! A breakthrough in purity!! Impurities have been suppressed to an unprecedented level!! Professor Xu! We've broken through! We've completely shattered the absolute monopoly of foreign countries in the field of high-end extraction solvents!!"

His hands trembled so much with excitement that he could barely hold the paper.

In the office, Xu Bingxian, who had just taken a sip of hot tea, suddenly spilled the scalding tea onto his trousers without even noticing. (End of Chapter)