Chapter 7

The people of the flight squadron burst into a chorus of inexplicable laughter at the backs of Xiao Ming, the mechanic, and the new recruit, Chen Fei.

The sudden arrival of a new recruit in the maintenance team seemed to have provided the flight squadron, which had been idle to the point of boredom, with some form of entertainment.

Whenever a naive and ignorant rookie appeared, it often added a lot of topics to the monotonous and dull base life.

The interior of Hangar 1 was spacious, with ample room for six propeller-driven light attack aircraft and two armed helicopters, and a large part of the space was still left for neatly arranged shelves and even stacked standard containers.

One of the containers had been converted into the maintenance team's office, which housed several sets of tables and chairs, a row of personal lockers, and even folding beds for a brief rest during breaks.

"Sit down!"

Xiao Ming, who led Chen Fei into the container office, pointed to a chair, turned around, and brought a large tray. On it were two bowls of congee, a plate of steamed buns, a dish of bacon and fried eggs, a platter of pickled vegetables, and a large pot of milk. The aroma of the food quickly spread.

He handed a set of chopsticks and a bowl to Chen Fei and said, "This is breakfast, let's eat together!"

"Thank you!"

Chen Fei didn't hesitate, took a bowl of congee, and ate heartily with steamed buns, fried eggs, and a few pickled dishes.

Xiao Ming, the maintenance team leader, lived up to his physique. He finished all the food that Chen Fei didn't touch, including the large pot of steaming milk.

After putting the empty bowls and plates aside, Xiao Ming brought over a cardboard box and pushed it to Chen Fei.

"Take it, this is your work computer."

Chen Fei glanced at the packaging box, somewhat surprised.

It wasn't just a computer but the latest model of a tablet. Just looking at the specifications printed on the box, it was light and thin, with decent local hardware performance and support for cloud technology, far surpassing his old laptop that had accompanied him through his entire college years. It came with cloud services and hardware acceleration.

"Turn it on, take this dedicated data cable, and follow me!"

Xiao Ming tossed a snake-like cable over and walked out of the container office without hesitation, showing no intention of introducing Chen Fei to the other members of the maintenance team.

Whether Chen Fei would ultimately gain his approval and stay in the maintenance team was still uncertain.

If he didn't meet the standards, he would still be sent to the cleaning team to sweep and move bricks.

In fact, the maintenance team was so busy from morning till night that they didn't even notice the arrival of a new recruit.

The dedicated data cable had golden connectors that were blindingly bright, undoubtedly plated with 24K gold. The length of the cable was more than enough to be used as a jump rope.

Chen Fei held the tablet he had taken out of the box, wrapped the data cable around his wrist, and hurriedly followed.

Even if he hadn't eaten pork, he had at least seen pigs run. He easily found the power button, pressed it, and the screen lit up. In just a breath, it entered the standard desktop.

Holding one end of the data cable, he plugged it into the tablet's port, and it worked on the first try.

The ancient foolproof design had long been abandoned. The compatibility and universal data interface, along with the special dedicated protocol recognition, ensured that it would always be correctly inserted, without damaging either end of the device.

Arriving at the work area, Xiao Ming patted the belly of a propeller-driven aircraft waiting for maintenance and said, "This is the A-39B light attack aircraft, also known as the 'Big Mouth Monster.' It is an upgraded version of the A-29 'Super Tucano,' with an optimized long-life turboprop engine, improved payload and range. The most significant improvement is its ability to carry and launch the KDK-1 air-breathing hypersonic smart missile from Lewis Industries, which has enough power to kill a dragon. The KDK-1 is also known as the 'Dragon Killer,' even capable of taking down a gold dragon."

The A-29 "Super Tucano" has a simplified twin brother called the B-250, with one less propeller blade, no wing-mounted cannon, but two additional mounting points, a 50% increase in range and endurance, making it more suitable as a reconnaissance and patrol aircraft.

"Dragon killer?" Chen Fei gasped.

Since the end of the "Three Realms Fusion War" thirty years ago, except for the Neanderthals who collectively immigrated to the Blue Star Realm and even the Sky Realm, and the Primal Realm, which had fallen silent due to resource depletion, the Blue Star Realm and the Sky Realm have become increasingly interconnected. Not only in economic and cultural exchanges, but many exotic creatures have also come to the Blue Star Realm through various channels, including dragons, which occupy the pinnacle of the life domain.

According to the agreements between the Blue Star Realm and the Sky Realm, there are clauses stating that if threatening creatures (including but not limited to dragons) cause innocent casualties and destruction, the civilization to which the threatening creature belongs has the right to eliminate it and terminate the threat.

Most dragons are peaceful and friendly, except for the gold dragons.

The "Halo" gateway in near-Earth orbit is managed by the digital intelligence construct Cybertrom, but the side corresponding to the Sky Realm is guarded by the entire gold dragon clan.

The civilian names for this gateway are completely different, even opposite.

On the Blue Star side, it is called the "Guardian Ring," while in the Sky Realm, due to a taboo topic, it is called the "Doom Ring." This is not directed at each other but rather due to the inexplicable reasons for its formation.

The special authorization clause largely targets not only out-of-control magical beasts but also prevents brainless gold dragons from suddenly leaving the "Halo" and causing trouble.

The gold dragons, which feed on metal, have found a new evolutionary path and have become digital dragons, capable of causing significant damage to human civilization, especially in the Blue Star Realm.

To counter the more difficult-to-handle digital dragons, the KDK-1 air-breathing hypersonic smart missile, known as the "Dragon Killer," was developed. It has a database of dragon characteristics, an effective range of 300 kilometers, and a very high hit rate within 100 kilometers. If three "Dragon Killers" simultaneously lock onto a target, the probability of destruction is almost 100%.

This powerful and fierce weapon, the "Dragon Killer," has a formidable power. Once it hits, it instantly turns everything within its kill radius into dust, even the tough-skinned dragons cannot withstand such a lethal strike.

"Here! That's the humidity-controlled storage box for the 'Dragon Killer.' Before it is officially mounted, it needs to be charged and decoded, which is handled by the weapons team. They will also use the computer and data cable."

Xiao Ming pointed to the edge of the dedicated work area, where six silver rectangular boxes were stacked. The boxes were labeled with KDK-1, production date, serial number, and Lewis Industries.

These powerful weapons are usually in a dormant state and are not easily activated. Once activated, it means a significant event is happening.

"Open the application 'Sky Eye Cloud Inspection,' register a personal account, and remember to input your work card number. Let me know when you're done, and I'll give you authorization."

Xiao Ming guided Chen Fei step by step through the setup of the productivity tool, a tablet with a custom-packaged system integrated with a special key chip, already pre-configured to automatically connect to the hangar's Wi-Fi network.

"Sky Eye Cloud Inspection" is a custom-made aviation inspection software for the 911 Air Base contractor, assisting employees in inspecting aircraft.

Xiao Ming's method of training new recruits was simple, brutal, and effective. The fastest way to get started is through practical experience, and theoretical foundations are secondary.

By directly working on this light attack aircraft, Chen Fei could quickly familiarize himself with the basic work of the maintenance team.

The advantage of this approach is that it allows Chen Fei to quickly understand the components and common faults of the A-39 light attack aircraft. The disadvantage is that it can lead to a lack of versatility, and if he encounters other aircraft models, he would be completely at a loss and would need to start from scratch.

As the saying goes, the master leads you to the door, but cultivation depends on the individual. If he wants to handle more complex and challenging tasks, he will need more time to accumulate experience, with no shortcuts available. He must conscientiously and voluntarily make up for the missing basics.

"Now that the authorization is complete, log out and log back in. Try connecting to this 'Big Mouth Monster' and activate the inspection module."

Xiao Ming skillfully opened the inspection panel of the A-39B light attack aircraft in the work area and had Chen Fei plug the other end of the data cable connected to the tablet into the corresponding port on the panel. It was still the familiar universal data interface.

Ding!~

A signal light on the inspection panel lit up, quickly changing from a flashing yellow to a steady green.

A five-inch LCD screen displayed "Inspection Mode" and "Device detected, connecting..."

Another flashing blue signal light appeared.

In the maintenance team, the act of plugging in is the most common operation.

If you can't even plug in, what's the point of living?

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