Chapter 307: Battleship?

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Tang Rui soon arrived at the old man’s house.

As soon as he entered the house, he saw a whole family busy.

His mother-in-law and brother-in-law’s wife were cooking in the kitchen, while his father-in-law, brother-in-law, and Li Shuyao were chatting with grandma.

After greeting everyone, Tang Rui was pulled into the study by Li Shuyao. “Grandpa, Tang Rui is here, just tell him whatever you need to,” she said with a smile after arriving in the study.

“You go out, I’ll talk to Xiao Rui myself,” the old man said uncompromisingly, trying to send Li Shuyao out.

Can’t I listen?” Li Shuyao widened her eyes in disbelief, looking at her grandfather.

Is this the legendary case of ‘killing the donkey once the grinding is done’? ‘Definitely not, what we’re going to discuss is a matter of national security,” the old man said, uncompromisingly shooing Li Shuyao out of the study. Tang Rui’s lips twitched.

In fact, Li Shuyao’s security clearance wasn’t as low as the old man thought. After all, being with him, her clearance couldn’t be low.

“Xiao Rui, I’m going to trouble you for a while to help me look at some blueprints,” the old man said, locking the door behind them.

“This isn’t a trouble at all, we’re all family. If you keep this up, I’ll be embarrassed to come over,” Tang Rui quickly waved his hand.

“Alright, then I won’t say more. Take a look at this.”

The old man took out a design drawing and spread it out on the table for Tang Rui to check.

Li Shuyao’s grandfather, in his younger days, was involved in marine research and later was recruited by the navy to help in their research institute until he retired.

The blueprint he took out, Tang Rui initially thought it might be for some diving equipment or an underwater robot.

But upon inspection, the blueprint read in large letters: ‘New Type Battleship.’ Well, that’s something.

This was the navy’s revival of the ‘battleship and cannon’ ideology, planning to build a battleship to experience the roar of multiple turrets.

But when he saw the design of the new type battleship, he realized it was completely different from what he had thought.

It was indeed a battleship.

But this battleship wasn’t meant to sail in the sea, but to roam the vastness of the stars.

Designed with sharp triangular angles, it had three 1024 mm caliber main cannons, 24 680 mm secondary cannons, equipped with three nuclear fusion reactors, and powered by 16 large electric propulsion engines.

After looking at the blueprints, Tang Rui didn’t know what to say.

“Xiao Rui, can this battleship be built?”

“Before discussing whether it can be built, I want to ask, where did this blueprint come from?”

Tang Rui didn’t understand. Such a divine blueprint, where did the old man get it from?

“I was rehired, and since I didn’t have much to do, I just idly toyed around with designs with others in the institute.

“Is there a problem with this blueprint? Is there something not designed well?” the old man asked, clearly not entirely honest.

“No, the design is good, it’s just impossible to build,” Tang Rui saw through it but didn’t mind.

Could he build this battleship?

He could.

But even if he built it, it would just be a model.

Impossible to build? Is it an equipment issue, or something else?”

The equipment is not a problem, it can indeed be built, but even if we do, it can’t ascend to space.”

Tang Rui was not fooling the old man; he spoke the truth.

Electromagnetic anti-gravity has its limits.

Just like the buoyancy of water, the limit of electromagnetic anti-gravity was related to the strength of a planet’s magnetic field.

With the strength of Earth’s magnetic field, the weight limit for electromagnetic anti-gravity was 5176 tons.

It didn t matter how many SEG units you used.

Even if you used them in tandem, it made no difference.

Of course, other methods could be used to enhance the surface magnetic field strength, such as using a huge coil to increase repulsion.

But the problem was, such things were impractical.

And the affected range was limited. All it could do was fly to an altitude of twenty to thirty thousand meters, and it wouldn’t go any higher. How awkward.

So, unless Tang Rui could unlock true anti-gravity technology, such types of spacecraft were impossible, even if they could fly to outer space. It’d be meaningless because there was no gravity inside the ship.

Were soldiers supposed to float around inside their warship?

That would be a joke.

Long-term absence of gravity causes serious calcium loss.

A spaceship that looks impressive but can’t even leave the solar system, what’s the use of building it?

As for traveling within the solar system.

Isn’t it better to build a spaceship that simulates gravity through centrifugal force?

“If you want to build a battleship, how should it be modified?” the old man asked after listening.

“Modify… it can be changed like this.”

Tang Rui took out his phone and showed the old man the design effect of the

Queqiao space station previously designed by Red Lotus.

“This is a space station, not a ship.”

‘I can’t help it, with the current technology, we can only do this much. Those

kinds of spaceships in movies, we really can’t build them.”

1 knew it, definitely impossible to build. It was just those old guys in the

institute, insisting on designing some cross-era weapon.”

The old man put away the blueprints and put them back.

He then left the study with Tang Rui.

By then, dinner was ready.

Everyone began to sit down and eat.

“What did grandpa talk to you about just now?” Li Shuyao quietly asked Tang Rui.

“Nothing much, I’ll tell you when we get home.”

Tang Rui shook his head and didn’t tell her.

“Brother-in-law, what do you want to drink? White or red?” The brother-in-law asked Tang Rui, holding two bottles of wine.

“I’m fine with either.” Tang Rui was indifferent.

After all, everyone’s alcohol tolerance was about the same, so it didn’t matter what they drank.

The meal lasted over two hours.

It was after nine o’clock at night when they left the old man’s house.

Tang Rui was also a bit tipsy.

“What did Grandpa want with you?” Li Shuyao asked again in the car.

“The old man told me something, someone wants to make a big move, trying

to reach the sky in one step.”

Tang Rui had been drinking, but his mind was still clear.

Today’s question from the old man clearly had ulterior motives, telling him something through the design of the battleship.

“Will it affect you?” Li Shuyao asked with concern.

“How can it affect me? If it was going to affect me, why would they rehire the

old man and then take such a big detour?”

Tang Rui didn’t take it seriously, clearly thinking the old man was overthinking.

The next day, he went to see Han Shu.

“President Tang, you finally have time.” Han Shu’s face was full of complaints when he saw Tang Rui.

“I’ve been busy recently, and I came to see you as soon as I was free,” Tang Rui said, picking up a handful of sunflower seeds and eating them.

“I have good news, the report I submitted was approved, and our Blue Army has been granted additional funds for equipment procurement,” Han Shu said excitedly when talking about the funds.

It seemed like a substantial amount.

How much?” Tang Rui asked curiously.

“120 billion,” Han Shu immediately replied.

Huh?

120 billion.

Tang Rui’s expression became a bit strange after hearing this number.

‘What do you think? Is this money not enough?”

“It’s not that, did the superiors say what this money is to be used for?”

“No, they said to discuss it with you, preferably not traditional weapons, but equipment that fits the new era.”

“Do you want a mech?”

“The kind of mech Tifa pilots in the game? How much?”

“120 billion.”

The allocation from the superiors was definitely thoughtful, especially demanding new equipment. What else could it be but mechs?

And this price was just the cost of a mech.

“Let’s buy it.”

Han Shu made a decision after gritting his teeth.

I m not selling,” Tang Rui immediately refused.

“President Tang, let’s not joke around.”

I m definitely not selling the mech, that one is a technology verification model and hasn’t met my standards yet. But with this money, we can definitely make a big toy.”

“What big toy?”

“What about a battleship?”

Tang Rui revealed his purpose for coming today.

A battleship? Are you talking about an electromagnetic gun battleship?” Han

Shu asked after thinking.

“Think bigger.”

“An aerospace battleship?” Han Shu’s eyes lit up.

“Think even bigger.”

“Could it be a cosmic battleship?”