Chapter 437 Dragon Bone Merging

"Overweight by thirty tons? All three of your factory reports were合格 (qualified/compliant), but by the time it reached Jiuquan, it was thirty tons overweight?"

He Yuzhu slammed the report onto the support platform, the papers fluttering and rustling in the Gobi Desert wind. Lin Jianguo didn't dare to respond immediately. He squatted down to pick up the report, pressed down on the corner of the paper with his fingers, flipped through it, and then stood up again.

"The Shanghai section was eleven tons overweight, the Dalian section nine tons, and the Guangzhou section ten tons. Qian Zhiyuan said it might be due to the climate—it's dry here, so there are fewer volatiles in the adhesive bonding process, and the coating naturally becomes thicker. In total, the coating used for the three sections used twelve tons more material."

He Yuzhu didn't speak. He squatted down and ran his finger along the surface of the keel. The thickness of the coating was invisible to the naked eye, but his fingertip could feel a slippery resistance, making it thicker and heavier than the laboratory sample. He straightened up and glanced at the report in Lin Jianguo's hand.

"What about the remaining eighteen tons?"

"The pipes, cables, and connectors all exceeded the design weight. The cable sheaths from the Shanghai factory were thickened by 0.3 millimeters, supposedly to prevent wear from the sand and dust of the Gobi Desert. The flange bolts from the Dalian factory were replaced with larger ones to prevent them from loosening. And the Guangzhou factory—"

"Aren't you afraid of being afraid of this and that, or that you won't be able to fly?"

He Yuzhu's voice wasn't loud, but Lin Jianguo's shoulders hunched slightly. He pulled a weight reduction plan from his briefcase and handed it to He Yuzhu. "Replacing part of the metal structure with carbon nanotubes can reduce weight by fifty tons."

He Yuzhu took the plan but didn't open it. He turned and walked along the keel. The four-hundred-meter-long behemoth lay across dozens of hydraulic supports, its carbon nanotubes gleaming a deep gray under the searchlights. His footsteps echoed in the empty factory, each step feeling like a blow to the heart.

Lin Jianguo followed behind, keeping a three-step distance. When they reached the middle section, He Yuzhu stopped and looked up at the seam two meters above his head. The fine lines left by the adhesive bonding process were almost invisible, and the coating texture continuously crossed the seam, like healed skin.

"Fifty tons, where should we reduce it from?"

Lin Jianguo stepped closer, pointing to the blueprints on the plan. "Replace the radiation-shielding lead plates with carbon nanotube composite plates, embedded with lead powder, reducing tons by ten tons. Replace all internal partitions, storage cabinets, lab benches, and chair supports with carbon nanotubes, reducing tons by twenty-five tons. Rewire the cabling, merging redundant lines, reducing tons by ten tons. And another five tons from—"

"That's enough." He Yuzhu interrupted him, snatched the plan from Lin Jianguo's hand, glanced at it, and closed it again. "Replace the radiation shielding layer and the internal partitions first. Two months, is that enough?"

Lin Jianguo bit his lip. "Three months is a safe bet. Two months—"

"Just two months. Qian Zhiyuan will send someone to your factory to train you. If you don't have enough equipment, come to me for funding. I'll come back in two months, and if it's still lying dormant, I won't sign any of your three acceptance reports."

Lin Jianguo didn't say anything more, stuffed the proposal back into his briefcase, and zipped it all the way up.

He Yuzhu turned around and walked towards the workers' shed. The door was ajar, and inside sat Lao Zheng from the Shanghai factory, Sun Demao from the Dalian factory, Chen Guoqiang from the Guangzhou factory, and two leaders from the Jiuquan base. Teacups were laid out in front of them, but the tea had long since gone cold, and no one was drinking it. Seeing He Yuzhu enter, Lao Zheng was the first to stand up.

"Dean He, it's not that we don't want to take on the task. We've never done carbon nanotubes replacing metal before. Cutting, drilling, gluing—these are all new processes. Two months isn't even enough to train the workers."

He Yuzhu walked to the table, placed the plan on it, and pointed to the cover. "Two months from now, all the weight-reducing components need to be shipped to Jiuquan. If the training isn't enough, we'll have to work overtime; if we don't have the equipment, we'll buy it. If the Shanghai factory can't do it, I'll find another one. There are other arsenals across the country besides yours."

Old Zheng's face flushed red, his lips moved a few times, but he didn't utter a sound. Sun Demao stood up to smooth things over. "Dean He, Old Zheng isn't shirking his responsibilities; he's afraid of accidents happening if he rushes the work. Carbon nanotubes are brittle; if you're not careful during processing, the whole tube will be ruined. With a two-month deadline, the scrap rate will increase, and the cost—"

"I'll cover the costs. You just need to deliver the qualified products."

Chen Guoqiang remained silent. He stood up, walked to the door of the workers' shed, opened it, and sand and dust rushed in. He pointed to the keel outside.

"Dean He, after reducing it by fifty tons, what safety margin is left?"

He Yuzhu glanced at Lin Jianguo. Lin Jianguo turned to the last page of the report. "Twelve percent. The design specifications allow it, but it can't go any lower."

Chen Guoqiang nodded, closed the door, and sat back down in his chair. "The Guangzhou factory will take on this task. I'll deliver the weight-reducing components within two months."

Old Zheng and Sun Demao exchanged a glance. Old Zheng picked up his herbal tea, took a sip, and put it down. "The Shanghai factory will also take over."

Sun Demao nodded in agreement.

He Yuzhu turned and walked out of the work shed. The wind was strong, blowing the hem of his military overcoat up and making a slapping sound against his legs. He walked to the end of the keel, stopped, and touched the connector at the end. The surface of the carbon nanotubes was cool and smooth like glass. He wanted to touch the edge of the adhesive layer at the seam, but that position was too high for him to reach.

Lin Jianguo followed and stood behind him.

"Dean He, over at Galaxy Six, Qian Zhiyuan's high-temperature superconducting cables have been replaced. Power consumption has decreased by 60%, and the server room no longer needs to buy liquid nitrogen."

He Yuzhu didn't turn around. "Keep an eye on the Kunlun's weight reduction. Report the progress to me every week. If anyone is slow, I'll talk to them."

"clear."

He Yuzhu opened the car door and got into the old Jeep. The engine roared to life, and the headlights illuminated the dirt road ahead. He stepped on the gas, the car jolted, and drove out of the parking lot. In the rearview mirror, the gate of the final assembly plant was wide open, and the beams of searchlights poured out, casting the shadow of the keel onto the Gobi Desert like a giant cross.

Lin Jianguo stood there, watching the taillights of the car grow smaller and smaller. Sand and dust lashed his face, but he didn't move. After a long while, he finally turned and walked back to the work shed.

The car drove onto the main road leading from Jiuquan to the city. The road in the Gobi Desert was straight, flat, and long, its headlights unable to reach the end. He Yuzhu gripped the steering wheel with one hand, and with the other, he took out the weight reduction plan from his pocket, glancing at it by the light from the dashboard. He folded the plan neatly and put it back in his pocket—actually transferring it into the system space.