The new mecha’s manufacturing had been completed, so the test flight had to be put on the agenda as soon as possible. But although the last conversation with Meng Jinhuai acted as a base, as the designer, Duan Hengye’s worry didn’t reduce.
During the period when the mecha was built and waiting for the final test flight, Duan Hengye didn’t relax at all. He stayed in the research institute and never went anywhere. Apart from ordinary meetings and daily research tasks, Duan Hengye spent all his time checking the armor.
If Duan Hengye’s nervousness was hidden before, then now, almost all the staff of the institute could see that he was worried. The mecha wasn’t only huge, the internal structure was also known for its fineness. Compared to the complex structure and connections, the human eye observation and inspection could only play an incredibly small role. But despite this, Duan Hengye still inspected the mecha as carefully as possible.
Every time a new mecha was born, it was a big event for the entire Ye Tian Empire Mecha Research Institute. Although these two recent mechas were almost all independently developed by Duan Hengye, the whole institute was gradually filled with a tense atmosphere as the time for test flights approached.
As the director, Duan Hengye was now guiding and leading the work of the rest of the people in addition to his research. For example, this time when inspecting the mecha, Duan Hengye was followed by a lot of people during the observation. By the way, these institute staff also had a more specific understanding of the new top mecha.
Just like what Duan Hengye said to Meng Jinhuai, as the highest spiritual power on the interstellar now, the mecha was tailor-made for Meng Jinhuai, he was also the only one who could open and pilot it. As a marshal, although Meng Jinhuai was always busy, but the test flight of the mecha was still listed in the top priority of the military department.
In order to make the test flight as smooth as possible, the relevant staff of the Ministry of Military Affairs also deliberately adjusted Meng Jinhuai’s schedule. They moved some of the less important matters back or handed them over to the other two admirals. Then they gave Meng Jinhuai a large period of time to prepare for this event.
In addition, the Mecha Research Institute also formed a test flight data supervision team with the largest number of people in recent years. When the test flight day came, everyone would go to the test flight star together with Duan Hengye to participate in this event.
Soon after the birth of the new mecha, Duan Hengye began the meeting with the staff in the test flight data supervision team to talk about the knowledge of the new mecha. After all, this time the top Mecha upgrade part was really a lot, even these staff who always paid attention to the mecha field evolution process, weren’t able to understand all the points at once.
Now with the approaching date of the test flight, the entire data supervision team had a more intensive meeting, and facing Duan Hengye, the staff members actually had the illusion that they were back in school.
This time, the intense preparation lasted until the day before the test flight, and after following Duan Hengye on board the starship to the test flight star, compared to the last time, the excitement in everyone’s heart was much less, but the nervousness increased geometrically.
Because this time the mecha would be tested by Meng Jinhuai himself, before Duan Hengye came to the test flight star, the marshal had already come to the planet in advance with the staff to prepare.
Meng Jinhuai was very busy, and people who often followed the news were able to see his relevant content on the star network almost every day. In addition, if they cared to follow, they could also look up Meng Jinhuai’s itinerary on Southern Star’s official website in advance.
This time, because of his low profile, the military didn’t announce the time of the test flight in advance like the last time, and there was no intention to call the star network media to broadcast live. So even as the real test flight date approached, the star network wasn’t aware.
Just three days before the official start of the test flight, finally some netizens who had been following Southern Star noticed that Meng Jinhuai’s schedule seemed to have suddenly changed. In the following days, all his scheduled work was postponed or handed over to the admiral, and several public events were suddenly cancelled. It could be seen that Meng Jinhuai’s originally dense schedule was suddenly vacant, which was really very rare for the usually busy Meng Jinhuai.
So although Southern Star didn’t publicly notify this matter, the news about Meng Jinhuai’s schedule was popular in the star network, the suspected test flight spread throughout the interstellar.
Although Southern Star intended to keep a low profile, but the attention to this matter was too high. Although the intention was to control the discussion of this matter, but after a short while, all the major pages of the star network had related news and discussions on the screen.
On the starship that was going to the test flight star, Duan Hengye had been using his light computer to communicate Meng Jinhuai, so naturally he didn’t miss the Starnet real-time hotspot alert that suddenly popped up. After seeing this thing that suddenly appeared in front of him, Duan Hengye first hesitated for a moment, and then clicked on it.
He saw that it had only been ten minutes since Meng Jinhuai’s schedule had changed, but there were already hundreds of discussion posts about the incident on Starnet. Obviously, people were really very concerned about this matter.
Duan Hengye was a person who easily put pressure on himself, after seeing these discussions, Duan Hengye took a long breath and then turned off his light computer. After a while, he slowly buried his face in the palm of his hand, and waited until the starship showed the prompt of the imminent landing, Duan Hengye then raised his head again.
At this time, Duan Hengye was staying in his lounge inside the starship, with only his assistant Ye Pu by his side. As an assistant who had been spending a lot of time together, Ye Pu knew how much pressure Duan Hengye had been under in recent times. When he saw Duan Hengye’s movements just now, he originally wanted to go up and ask about it, but finally gave up.
But Duan Hengye’s emotional recovery ability was equally good, or rather he was very good at hiding his emotions. By the time he raised his head again, Ye Pu completely failed to see a single abnormal emotion from Duan Hengye’s face. On the contrary, after seeing Ye Pu standing there, Duan Hengye gave him a puzzled look, then frowned, “The starship will land on the test star soon, is it safe to stand here?”
The weather conditions on the test flight star was still so bad. He could see from the windows around him that although there was no huge tornado outside, it was still cloudy.
After hearing Duan Hengye’s words, Ye Pu first froze for a moment, and then hurriedly sat down on the chair by the side. After making sure that he remained seated, Duan Hengye redirected his eyes from Ye Pu, and then looked outside, at the viewport.
Compared to the last time he came here, Duan Hengye’s mood had changed quite a bit, and the person who was originally accompanying him wasn’t here. When the starship’s path became slightly bumpy, Duan Hengye couldn’t help but clench his fist.
Today’s weather conditions were much better compared to the last time, the outside of the viewport was no longer a dark patch. However, in order to be safe, the starship landing speed was still much slower, after a while, Duan Hengye could see the docking pad below.
This time a few people came from the Ye Tian Empire Mecha Research Institute. Because of the special conditions on the test flight planet, people didn’t leave the cabin immediately. Instead, they waited by the door and took the levitator to leave.
So Duan Hengye also didn’t rush out of the lounge, he stood there looking out for a while, until he saw the staff leave with the hovercraft one after another and only then did he slowly move towards the hatch.
Because he had already been here before, Duan Hengye was already very familiar with the next process. Ye Pu, who had been following behind Duan Hengye, saw that before he went out, Duan Hengye took another deep breath, and when he walked into the test flight hall, he returned to his former calm appearance.
It seemed like it wasn’t Duan Hengye who was nervous on the starship just now.
Ye Pu had always admired Duan Hengye, especially now.
There was still some time before the official start of the test flight, Duan Hengye was the last one to arrive at the test flight hall inside the institute. When he arrived, those staff members who came in the hovercraft before were already seated in their positions.
The test flight was about to start, and now the person who undertook this task was the imperial marshal. After sitting on the familiar control chair, Duan Hengye saw the nervous expressions on the faces of all the staff.
The staff of the research institute had long found that after more than a year of training, Duan Hengye was no longer the same researcher who worked alone. Now Duan Hengye had long been trusted and respected by the entire research institute and had become a true “backbone”.
Seeing Duan Hengye arrive at the test flight hall, although he hadn’t said anything, their nervousness dissipated a lot.
Everyone understood in their hearts that as the main person in charge of the experiment Duan Hengye was definitely much more nervous than them – especially because his spouse was piloting it. But after seeing Duan Hengye’s expression, their moods gradually calmed down
Duan Hengye didn’t say any special words of comfort, but stood in the center of the test flight hall, and then as usual he began to give everyone instructions on the work. It was as if today was really just an ordinary mecha experiment, not the first test flight of a new mecha.
“How much time is left before the test flight?” After the work was arranged, Duan Hengye sat down on the front experimental seat, and then asked Ye Pu, who was standing beside him. Duan Hengye spoke in a very small voice, but because of the close proximity to his position at this time, Ye Pu clearly what Duan Hengye was saying, but also didn’t miss the slight tremble in his words.
“Two more hours.” Ye Pu replied.
At these words, Duan Hengye nodded, and began to confirm the working condition of all light computers once again.
Duan Hengye looked at it very carefully, and the voices of people around him faded. After a long wait, a burst of footsteps finally broke the quiet scene. Now the test flight mission was about to begin. Meng Jinhuai and other military staff who arrived here in advance had finally arrived at the test flight hall from other preparation areas.
The test flight of the mecha was very heavy work, because of the special status and limited time, Meng Jinhuai’s test flight project was very different compared to the previous mass production mecha. One of the most obvious features was that the number of items and the content of the test flight had changed significantly.
So in order to match this change, today’s Meng Jinhuai wore a special experimental suit. This black suit with many monitoring devices, looked very much like the one worn by Duan Hengye when he first experimented with his spiritual energy at An Luo University.
In addition to monitoring, this simple-looking black clothes above also had a security protection system. It could be said that this suit was like a mecha, a great achievement of interstellar science.
Unlike the previous version of the elegant military uniform Meng Jinhuai often wore, he looked quite imposing in the experimental suit. When Duan Hengye looked back at Meng Jinhuai, he couldn’t help being shocked by his aura.
He had been sternly discussing the test flight with the surrounding people, but seeing Duan Hengye’s eyes fall on him, Meng Jinhuai immediately looked like a different person. He smiled at Duan Hengye, and then gently gestured to the military staff on the side.
The staff member nodded and retreated. Meng Jinhuai walked to Duan Hengye’s side and then saw the screen. Although Meng Jinhuai wasn’t a staff member of the research institute, but during this period of time, he worked with Duan Hongyi on the test flight. So the Marshal knew that what Duan Hengye should have done by now had long been done. He was just using it to ease his tension and by the way, bring the staff into this atmosphere as well.
Duan Hengye didn’t see Meng Jinhuai’s experimental clothes until the other approached. On his clothes, there were many lines that flashed dark light. Perhaps due to the influence set by the original author, Duan Hengye couldn’t feel the “sense of the future” from the clothing and furniture decoration alone. However, the clothes Meng Jinhuai wore at this time were very consistent with Duan Hengye’s imagination of the outfits in the interstellar era at the beginning.
After seeing those dark patterns, Duan Hengye couldn’t help but freeze for a moment. Noticing Duan Hengye’s expression, Meng Jinhuai directly ignored the whole room full of people who were silently observing him and Duan Hengye, then reached out his hand to gently ruffle his hair.
“This is a unique mecha experimental suit from the military department, with many practical functions on it.” Meng Jinhuai couldn’t help but slow down as he spoke, which sounded like he was coaxing child to the ears of some of the staff members who were familiar with him.
Meng Jinhuai speaking in such a tone was already very incongruous, not to mention that the person he was speaking to was Duan Hengye. Although the distance between the two wasn’t very small, and the words were actually not much of a problem, but after hearing it, many people still felt emotionally ab–used ……
The last second was a tense state of preparation, but after seeing these two people appear in a space at the same time, the atmosphere immediately developed in another direction – this was the intuitive feeling of Admiral Yu who has been following behind Duan Hengye.
Duan Hengye nodded, then finally closed the interface on his light computer. At this time the experiment was about to start, the weather observer sitting in another corner of the office also started to follow up the data in real time, reporting the situation outside to Duan Hengye and the rest of the people by the way.
“Okay, don’t be nervous, trust me.” Meng Jinhuai said.
Just like Duan Hengye was able to tell the institute staff to calm down, Meng Jinhuai was likewise a person who could tell Duan Hengye to put his mind at ease. Everyone knew that the test flight was an incomparably dangerous thing. And there were so many people present, bearing the greatest risk was Meng Jinhuai himself …… if there was really any accident in a while, Meng Jinhuai was also the most least able to control the dangerous situation.
The person he should trust most should be Duan Hengye, but now Meng Jinhuai turned it around and asked Duan Hengye to trust him.
…….
“Hmm. I know.” Duan Hengye nodded once more, then he glanced at his light screen, “You have to trust me as well.”
When speaking, Duan Hengye was sitting in his office chair, much shorter than Meng Jinhuai. He raised his head as he spoke with wide eyes.
In normal times, Duan Hengye’s eye shape was slightly long, with his usual expression and temperament, he seemed “cold”. But now, because of the unintentional widening of his eyes, Duan Hengye looked naive and a lot younger.
Meng Jinhuai smiled, “That’s for sure.”
Because it was about to reach the experiment start time, Duan Hengye and Meng Jinhuai didn’t say more. After saying this, Meng Jinhuai walked to the middle of the hall and began to confirm and debug the black bodysuit he was wearing with the assistance of the military staff.
Duan Hengye, who was sitting on the side, saw that in the process of debugging, the clothes on Meng Jinhuai’s body kept emitting a dark blue glow, and the “lines” on the clothes became more and more obvious. Perfect features, body, plus such an outfit, in the eyes of Duan Hengye, Meng Jinhuai was like a robot in a science fiction movie ……
Seeing that Duan Hengye had been looking at Meng Jinhuai, his assistant standing beside him, Ye Pu, also came over, “In addition to monitoring on this clothing, it can also guarantee thirty minutes of independent action outside the cabin.”
Although he knew some of it before, after hearing Ye Pu’s words, Duan Hengye relaxed a little.
” Marshal, Professor Duan, the golden time period for the test flight has now been reached.” At this time, the weather observer who had been sitting there finally spoke. After hearing his words, Meng Jinhuai then once again adjusted the black lab bodysuit he was wearing, and then reached out his hand to quickly click on the light screen in front of him to confirm.
Meng Jinhuai turned to him and said with a nod, “Okay, start preparing.”
When he said this, Meng Jinhuai’s tone was unusually calm, as if what he was about to do was just a routine job, not some crisis-ridden mecha test flight. The two admirals who had been following him couldn’t help but glance at each other when they heard Meng Jinhuai’s words, and then they went to their own office seats. Although they wouldn’t be as busy as the people of the Institute, they were also shouldering a considerable burden.
Long before that, the Institute side was already in place. Meng Jinhuai took one more look at the hall, then turned around and walked towards the preparation room at the back. He would log on to the mecha here and after confirming that it was correct, he would fly out of the experiment hall directly through the hatch above.
At the same time that Meng Jinhuai turned around, the wall directly opposite the test hall also turned transparent in an instant. Just like last time, when the test flight started, everyone was able to see through this original metal-covered wall.
Unlike the narrow window just now, the wall now became transparent, the outdoor scenery was also more clearly transmitted to Duan Hengye. The same as the previous time, this time the outside scenery also had a full “doomsday painting style”.
Although Duan Hengye didn’t know much about meteorology, but experience told him that such weather may be able to test the performance of the mecha, but it definitely couldn’t be associated with the word “good”. Duan Hengye had always been a confident person, especially in his own work with a million percent confidence, but today when it involved Meng Jinhuai, Duan Hengye was finally not so confident.
Now the light screen in the center of the hall had begun the countdown, as the numbers gradually became smaller, the hall also constantly rang out with the voice of the staff reporting the data.
A burst of data reporting sounded in the originally quiet hall, this burst of sound didn’t make the hall lively, but on the contrary the atmosphere became gloomy.
At this time, Meng Jinhuai was walking towards the preparation room, Duan Hengye was sitting on that side. The staff following the Marshal saw that Meng Jinhuai, who had been walking towards his destination without looking away, suddenly stopped in his tracks when he saw Duan Hengye. He then smiled down at Duan Hengye, and then gently mouthed, “Trust me.”
“Okay.”
TN:
They’re always sooo cute 😭