Courtyard House: A Major Power's Heavy Industry, Hand-Crafted Nuclear Fusion

Base 504, Air Defense Command Post.

This used to be the quietest place in the base, but in the last few days, the air here has become so hot and dry that it's like a powder keg, ready to explode at the slightest spark.

"Bang!"

General Zhang slammed the enamel mug he was holding onto the table, splashing the strong tea all over the floor, with a few tea leaves even getting stuck on the map.

"Here we go again! Here we go again!"

General Zhang pointed at the rapidly moving dot on the radar screen, his fingers trembling—a sign of extreme anger. "These bastards! Do they think we're made of clay? They're defecating and pissing on our heads every other day!"

The staff officers and radar operators in the command post all kept their heads down and dared not utter a sound.

On the radar screen, the dot of light was like an arrogant ghost, frantically probing along the edge of the base.

"Altitude 28500 meters, speed Mach 3.3."

The radar company commander's voice was filled with bitterness, "Sir, it...it's accelerating again."

Mach 3.3.

In this era, this is almost a statistic that represents "absolute invincibility".

It's important to understand that at the time, the J-6, the mainstay fighter jet of the Chinese Air Force, could only reach Mach 1.3 even with afterburner engaged at full throttle. As for ground-based anti-aircraft missiles, they were designed to deal with slow gliders like the U-2. Against such a high-altitude, high-speed monster, the missiles couldn't even keep up with its speed.

"Is that the 'Tu-123' from that big brother in the north?"

A young and calm voice rang out at the doorway.

Everyone turned around.

Su Zheng was wearing work clothes covered in oil stains and carrying half a leftover steamed bun, clearly having just come from the computing center.

"Su Zheng?" General Zhang saw him, his anger slightly suppressed, but his face was still dark. "You found out too?"

"That thing was flying so low, it rattled the windows of my lab, how could I not know?"

Su Zheng walked in, put the steamed buns on the table, and stared at the radar screen for a while.

"Tu-123, codenamed 'Eagle.' All-titanium fuselage, ramjet engine—this thing is basically a cruise missile with a camera on it," Su Zheng said calmly. "They're showing us a show of force. It means: even if you shoot down the American U-2, you're still a little brother in front of us."

"Damn it!" General Zhang slammed his fist on the table. "This is outrageous! Su Zheng, you're smart enough to think of something! Can we bring this down?"

Su Zheng did not answer immediately.

He walked up to the huge battle map, picked up a red and blue pencil, and drew several lines on it.

"We definitely can't catch up head-on," Su Zheng shook his head. "The equipment we have is outdated. It's like trying to catch a Ferrari on a bicycle—you'll exhaust yourself and still not catch up."

"So we're just going to stand there and watch helplessly?" General Zhang's face turned red with frustration.

"Just because you can't catch up doesn't mean you can't hit them."

Su Zheng's lips curled up slightly, revealing a hunter's characteristic cunning. "Old Zhang, have you ever hunted?"

"Nonsense! Back in the day, I was in the snowy forests of the Northeast..."

"When hunting a fast-running rabbit, you can't aim for its rear end," Su Zheng interrupted him. "You have to calculate where it will step next, and then fire into that open space."

"You mean... prediction?"

The air defense battalion commander interjected, "Dean Su, we understand the logic. But this thing travels at Mach 3.3! That's more than a kilometer per second! And it can maneuver and change course. Our human brains can't keep up! By the time we figure out the lead time, it'll be too late!"

"The human brain can't calculate it."

Su Zheng turned around and pointed in the direction of the third basement level, "But 'Red Star No. 1' can be counted."

……

Ten minutes later.

A dedicated telephone line connected to the underground computing center.

"Xinyi, pause all implosion model verification tasks," Su Zheng said into the microphone. "Free up computing power and load it all into the 'Ballistic Prediction Program'."

"yes!"

On the other end of the phone, Ye Xinyi's voice was crisp and clear.

Inside the command post, everyone held their breath.

Su Zheng sat in front of the radar control panel and personally took over the data interface. He took out a self-made data cable with various interfaces from his pocket (to adapt to Soviet radar and self-made computer) and directly imported the radar's analog signal into the input terminal of "Red Star-1".

"Beep—beep—beep—"

The dot on the radar screen continued its arrogant movement. It seemed to have detected the ground radar lock-on and began making provocative S-shaped maneuvers.

"Trying to run away?"

Su Zheng sneered, his fingers flying across the keyboard. "Since you're here, don't bother going back. Perfect timing, I'm short a few kilograms of high-temperature resistant ceramic for making atomic bomb detonators."

"Data sampling complete."

"Trajectory modeling begins."

"Interference eliminated..."

On the third basement level, the newly invented transistor computer emitted a cheerful hum. Red indicator lights flashed wildly, as if it were thirsting for blood.

Differential equations, which are incredibly complex to the human brain, are just a bunch of simple addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division to it.

Only five seconds passed.

"I've figured it out!"

Su Zheng slammed the Enter key, "Send the coordinates to the Second Battalion!"

"Direction: 135".

Distance: 32000.

Altitude: 28000.

"Launch method: Three rounds fired simultaneously, detonated on command!"

"Detonation time: 124.5 seconds later!"

When this data came out, everyone was stunned.

"124.5 seconds?" The second battalion commander stared at the time, accurate to one decimal place, and broke out in a cold sweat. "Dean Su, this... this is blind firing! There's not even a trace of that coordinate point left!"

"Just do as I say!" General Zhang roared. "I'll take responsibility if anything goes wrong! Execute orders!"

"yes!"

……

Deep in the Gobi Desert, the Second Battalion's position.

Three HQ-1 missiles (the prototype of the SAM-2) slowly rose, pointing straight to the sky.

They were like three silent assassins, awaiting their final orders.

"emission!"

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

With a tremendous roar, three fire dragons rose from the ground, trailing long white plumes of smoke, piercing the azure sky.

Without activating their guidance radar, they flew straight towards the empty void, like three out-of-control rockets.

high in the air.

The silver-white Tu-123 drone was still speeding along at high speed.

Its lens coldly surveys the land. In its programming logic, this land is a safe backyard. It even deliberately lowered its altitude a little to get a clearer shot.

Unbeknownst to it, a deadly trap had already been set in motion for it two minutes earlier.

Inside the ground command post.

General Zhang stared intently at the stopwatch in his hand.

"120..."

"121..."

"122..."

Everyone's heart was in their throat.

On the radar screen, the three small dots representing the missile are hurtling toward the preset coordinates at their fastest speed ever.

The light spot representing the drone seemed to be rushing towards the same place as if it were in a hurry to be reincarnated.

That's the charm of mathematics.

This is the terror of computing power.

The moment when the two perfectly intersect in time and space—

"124.5!"

"fry!"

Su Zheng uttered a single word softly.

At an altitude of 28,000 meters.

Three missiles detonated simultaneously.

It didn't hit directly. At that speed, a direct impact would be a pipe dream.

What Su wanted was a shrapnel.

The three missiles, carrying nearly 100 kilograms of high-energy explosives, created a metallic storm in the thin stratosphere. Tens of thousands of tungsten alloy pre-fabricated fragments instantly formed a "wall of death" with a diameter of over 500 meters.

next second.

That arrogant Tu-123 crashed headfirst into this wall.

"Bang bang bang bang——"

Even though it is made of the most expensive titanium alloy, and even though its structural strength can withstand Mach 3 shock waves.

However, under an impact with a relative speed exceeding Mach 5, even a fragment the size of a mung bean has enough kinetic energy to penetrate the armor of a tank.

On the radar screen, the arrogant dot of light suddenly jerked violently.

Then, it split into several fragments.

"Hit!!"

The radar company commander roared, his voice hoarse from shouting.

"Target disintegrated! Target disintegrated!"

"It's dropping! It's falling! It's falling!"

"Whoosh—"

The entire command post instantly erupted in excitement.

Hats, notebooks, pencils—everything that could be thrown was tossed into the air.

General Zhang grabbed Su Zheng tightly, nearly breaking Su Zheng's ribs.

"Amazing! Absolutely fucking amazing!"

General Zhang, tears streaming down his face, exclaimed, "Su Zheng! What's wrong with your brain? Predicting the future of missiles? This battle has truly shown the might of the Chinese people!"

Su Zheng coughed as he was being strangled, but a smile appeared on his face.

"Old Zhang, don't rush to celebrate."

Su Zheng broke free from General Zhang's bear hug, straightened his collar, and said, "Quickly send someone to the landing point. That thing is a treasure from head to toe."

"You mean... the intelligence inside?" General Zhang asked.

"Intelligence is worthless."

Su Zheng curled his lip in disdain. "What I want are its engine blades and its skin."

A glint of fanaticism flashed in his eyes.

"Our atomic bomb has already been designed with an implosion lens, but we have been lacking a material that is resistant to high temperatures and has good insulation properties for the detonator casing."

"I just used the truth... uh, I used calculations to deduce that this drone's engine uses zirconium oxide toughened ceramic. That's a really good thing; we can't make it domestically right now."

"With this thing, our 'Miss Qiu' (the code name for the atomic bomb) can finally wear her wedding dress."

……

three days later.

504 Base, Special Materials Workshop.

That once arrogant "prodigy" soaring ten thousand meters in the sky is now a pile of twisted scrap metal, lying on the cold concrete ground.

Su Zheng, along with several technicians, was disassembling the severely damaged ramjet engine.

"Be careful! Don't pry it open!"

Holding a pair of specially made tweezers, Su Zheng carefully removed a white fragment the size of a fingernail from the base of the turbine blade.

The fragments were as white as jade, gleaming with a warm luster under the light.

The Eye of Truth is opened.

Material analysis: High-purity zirconia ceramic.

Temperature resistance: 3200 degrees Celsius.

Insulation resistance: 10 to the power of 14 ohms.

"Perfect."

Su Zheng sighed and held the fragments up to his eyes.

This is the last piece of the puzzle he's been looking for.

"Dean Su," the workshop foreman beside him said, somewhat puzzled, "we went through all that trouble to shoot down their plane, just for a few broken pieces of porcelain?"

"A broken piece of porcelain?"

Su Zheng laughed, "Old Zhao, don't underestimate this broken piece of porcelain. In the eyes of us atomic bomb makers, it's more valuable than gold."

He pointed to the complex spherical structure on the drawing next to him.

"The implosion method requires 32 explosive lenses to detonate simultaneously within a fraction of a millionth of a second. This places extremely high demands on the synchronization of the detonators. If ordinary insulating materials are used, they will be punctured at the moment of high-voltage detonation, causing an error in the detonation time. In that case, instead of creating a mushroom cloud, it will only explode into a large firecracker."

"Only this type of ceramic can withstand instantaneous high temperature and high pressure, ensuring that the current is released only at the last moment."

"With it, our problem of 'synchronized detonation' has been completely solved."

Su carefully placed the ceramic shards into a velvet-lined box.

"Pass on my orders."

"The entire base is on Level 1 combat readiness."

"Materials team, begin extracting the ceramic components immediately. I need to see the first batch of detonator casing samples within three days."

"Precision work team, get your machines ready. The work ahead is a hundred times more delicate than embroidery."

Su Zheng straightened up and looked through the workshop window at the towering test tower in the distance.

The wind and sand howled around the tower.

But in Su Zheng's eyes, it was no longer a cold iron tower.

It was a torch about to be lit.

"The east wind is ready."

Su Zheng muttered to himself softly.

"Now, let's see how we put on this grand show and make it resound throughout the world."

……

at the same time.

A large country in the north, thousands of kilometers away.

Inside a Kremlin-style office, an elderly man with a chest full of medals is roaring angrily.

"Can anyone tell me why we lost contact?!"

"That was a Mach 3.3 eagle! What did the Chinese use to shoot it down? Did they use their willpower?!"

The intelligence officer nervously handed over a report.

"Based on... based on the final telemetry data analysis... it hit a 'wall'."

"Wall? What wall? Where did the wall in the sky come from?"

"It's a shrapnel wall." The intelligence officer wiped away cold sweat. "The Chinese... seem to have predicted its trajectory. Three missiles detonated two seconds ahead of its intended path."

The old man was stunned.

He slumped into a chair, the anger in his eyes slowly turning into shock, and finally into deep fear.

"Predict... calculate..."

"It seems we all underestimated that little brother we used to know."

The old man looked at the snowflakes falling outside the window and murmured to himself.

"They must have a trump card that we don't know about."

"A trump card that can predict the secrets of heaven."