ebookland Chapter 905 Test
Chapter 905 Test
At the end of the pier, the sea breeze carried Fang Yu's calm words to everyone's ears.
Castro, Guevara, and Allende were all drawn to the handheld terminal that Fang Yu had handed them, their gazes fixed on it as if by a magnet.
That gleaming metal plate seemed to bear the weight of an entire continent's fate.
"Can... I really test it myself?"
Castro's voice was somewhat hoarse as he extended his hands, which were accustomed to waving cigars and signing documents, with a cautiousness that seemed out of place for his imposing physique.
Fang Yu simply placed the terminal steadily in his palm, then stepped back half a step and made a "please do as you please" gesture.
Castro looked down at the screen.
The interface is surprisingly simple.
In the very center is a high-precision nautical chart, with blue droplet icons representing the four "Mysterious Whales" floating quietly on it.
The screen edge displays basic status parameters—battery level, depth, and communication signal—all clearly displayed without any unnecessary or complicated buttons.
"It...it's really that simple?"
Castro was somewhat incredulous; he looked up at Fang Yu.
In his limited understanding, operating a submarine, even a model, should require a dense array of instruments and valves.
"That's right, it's that simple."
Fang Yu replied.
"The trend in modern warfare is to entrust complex decision-making to machines and leave the simplest 'yes' or 'no' choices to human commanders."
"It shares the same core as our civilian intelligent vehicle driving system."
Castro nodded with some skepticism.
Che Guevara, standing next to him, stepped forward, crossed his arms, and stared sharply at the screen and the sea, like a strict proctor.
Allende adjusted his glasses, his face filled with scholarly curiosity.
"Let's test the speed first."
Fang Yu pointed to the horizon where the sea met the sky, where a small, red unmanned target boat was floating about five kilometers from the dock.
“Comrade Castro, you can now try to move ‘Xuanjing’ Unit 1 next to that target ship.”
"Okay, okay."
Castro took a deep breath and, mimicking the operation he had seen in the car, tapped the "Xuanjing" icon on the screen with his finger.
The selected icon lights up, and a simple menu pops up on the screen.
"Move", "Cruise", "Standby", "Stand by".
He carefully clicked "Move," and then tried to slowly drag the blue droplet on the screen like a throttle valve for pushing a boat.
However, the "Xuanjing" No. 1 on the sea surface remained completely still.
A bead of sweat appeared on Castro's forehead. He increased the amplitude and speed of his dragging, but the black phantom remained floating silently.
"No, that's not how you do it."
Fang Yu's voice rang out at the right time, without the slightest hint of mockery or impatience.
"You don't need to tell it 'how to get there,' you just need to tell it 'where to go.'"
As he spoke, Fang Yu stretched out his finger and demonstrated next to Castro's hand.
He first selected "Xuanjing" No. 1, and then simply tapped the location of the red target ship on the nautical chart.
A green destination marker appeared next to the target ship.
"Then, confirm execution."
Fang Yu gestured for Castro to press the 'Confirm' button that popped up on the screen.
Castro did as he was told, albeit somewhat awkwardly.
He pressed the virtual button hard.
The instant his finger left the screen, something unexpected happened.
There was no roar of engines, no huge splashes.
The "Xuanjing" No. 1, which had been floating quietly on the water, seemed to become a phantom on a two-dimensional plane. In everyone's eyes, it stretched out with a "whoosh" and then disappeared from the spot in an instant.
Its start-up is so fast that it is almost imperceptible to the human eye, leaving only a thin, elongated cavitation trail on the sea surface, like a white zipper.
The trajectory pointed straight towards the target ship in the distance, leaving a glaring white scar on the blue sea.
Everyone on the pier instinctively took a half step back.
Castro's hand trembled, and the precious cigar he had been holding in his mouth but had forgotten to light fell straight out of his open mouth and rolled onto the damp wooden board.
"God……"
Allende muttered to himself, gripping his glasses tightly as if afraid they would slip off due to his shock.
Guevara's hands, which had been clasped to his chest, had unknowingly become tightly gripped on the cold metal railing of the pier, his knuckles turning white from the force.
Fang Yu ignored their shock, simply switched the screen of his handheld terminal to data mode, and projected it onto a holographic display screen that rose up beside them.
On the screen, the speed parameters of "Xuanjing-1" surged from 0 to over 60, 100, and 150 knots within 1.5 seconds of leaving its initial position.
It eventually stabilized at a terrifying number of 201.7.
Before everyone could recover from the shock of those numbers, the white waterline had already reached its destination five kilometers away.
The "Xuanjing" No. 1 made a graceful, almost right-angled tail flick next to the target ship, came to an abrupt stop, stirred up a small clump of rolling waves, and then returned to that ghostly stillness, as if it had been there all along.
The entire process, from start to finish, took only a minute and a half.
"My God..."
Casterbo finally found his voice. He bent down, picked up the wet cigar, and stuffed it back into his pocket without even looking at it.
But his eyes were fixed on the number "201.7" on the screen.
"This thing can actually reach a speed of 200 knots..."
"This is practically an underwater ghost..."
"Now, let's proceed with the second test."
Fang Yu's voice interrupted his reflections as he gave an order into the communicator.
"'Falcon', testing begins as scheduled."
At his command, a dark gray anti-submarine helicopter with a futuristic design roared into the air from the tarmac of the distant base.
Instead of the massive main rotor of a traditional helicopter, it has four tiltrotor rotors enclosed in wing ducts, resulting in minimal noise and a more stable flight attitude.
"This is our latest 'Falcon-9' stealth anti-submarine helicopter."
Fang Yu gave a brief introduction.
"It is equipped with our most advanced quantum-enhanced active/passive composite sonar system currently in service."
"Now, let's see if our sharpest spear can find our strongest shield."
He turned to Castro.
"Comrade Castro, please select Unit 1 and Unit 2 on the screen, then click 'Silent Cruise' and set the cruise range to a circular area with a radius of one kilometer around the target ship."
This time, Castro learned his lesson and did as instructed, drawing a circle on the map.
Like the two "mysterious whales" that were chosen, they dived vertically and quickly disappeared from the surface of the sea.
The Falcon-9 quickly arrived over the test area, and a huge dipping sonar slowly sank into the water beneath its belly.
On the dock, the holographic screen that Fang Yu brought up was split into three.
On the left is the first-person view from the cockpit of the "Falcon-9", on the right is the waterfall data chart in front of the sonar operator, and below are the optical and sonar images transmitted back by the "Xuanjing" No. 1 and No. 2 aircraft.
The South American leaders present were now able to watch this unequal "cat and mouse game" from a god-like perspective.
They saw the sonar operator of the "Falcon-9" sweating profusely, constantly switching detection frequencies from broadband pulses to high-frequency narrow waves. Apart from the huge echo signal representing the target ship, the sonar screen always showed a blue background mixed with snowflakes.
Following instructions, the helicopter pilot kept changing his position and altitude, trying to scan from different angles, but the result was always the same—nothing was found.
"Report to tower: Scan of area A-3 complete. No abnormal acoustic signals detected! Repeat: No signals detected!"
The sonar operator's somewhat frustrated voice came through the public channel.
On the smaller screen below, Castro and his men could clearly see that the two "Black Whales" were like two sardines playing with a giant whale.
Sometimes they would pass at high speed under the sonar, one after the other, and sometimes they would hover almost motionless, less than fifty meters from the sonar probe.
In the images transmitted back by "Xuanjing", the sonar probe that was working in vain was clearly visible.
To add a bit of fun, Fang Yu issued a new command to one of the "Mysterious Whales" via a handheld terminal.
The "Xuanjing" No. 2 silently rose to the periscope depth, and a nearly invisible slit appeared on its smooth bow, from which an extremely thin optical periscope extended.
The next second, a new image appeared on the holographic screen—a high-definition close-up photo of the "Falcon-9" hovering in the air, taken from a low angle, with even the serial number and warning signs on the fuselage clearly visible.
"Photos have been sent."
Fang Yu said something softly, then spoke to the helicopter crew in the communicator.
“‘Falcon,’ test complete. Well done. You can return to base now.”
The pilot and sonar operator in the cockpit looked at each other, their faces full of frustration and confusion.
Until the very last moment, they had no idea that they had been closely "observed" by their prey countless times, and even had their "ID photos" taken...