eurekapd Chapter 903 Four People on a Journey to the West, Isn't This a Pilgrimage?
Chapter 903 Four People on a Journey to the West, Isn't This a Pilgrimage?
The three retreated to a corner three meters away. Zhao Gang subconsciously held the steel pipe horizontally in front of him, like a small wall protecting Jiang Xia.
Jiangxia struck a match, and the extended fuse crackled to life, igniting an orange-red flame that spread rapidly along the cotton thread. Sparks landed on the dark cabin walls, disappearing in an instant.
A few seconds later, the flames shot up to the base of the cutting strip and burst into a blinding white light!
In an instant, a nearly deathly white, scorching flame erupted violently from the tip of the cutting bar, so bright that it was blinding; even the boy with the ahoge was wearing sunglasses couldn't look directly at it.
The high temperature, accompanied by turbulent air currents, distorted the surrounding air into ripples, and a continuous hissing sound could be heard, as if countless fire dragons were roaring.
A sudden wave of intense heat swept over them, and even the three people around the corner felt their skin burning; the air inside the cabin instantly became scorching.
Wearing sunglasses, Jiang Xia could clearly see through the hazy white light the plug welded to the hull, which quickly turned red and softened under the licking flames, the edges of the iron plate curling up like a melted candle.
Molten iron flowed down the cut seam, pooling on the ground into a small pool of dark red liquid, making a sizzling sound and mingling with the pungent smell of burning metal, permeating the entire passage.
The hard blockage that was welded to the hull melted and vaporized rapidly at a speed visible to the naked eye under the licking of the ultra-high temperature flames, and was precisely burned out to create a narrow but deep cut!
In less than half a minute, the cutting strip burned out, the white light suddenly dimmed, leaving only the still-hot, red-hot cut surface. Wisps of smoke rose up, gathering into a small ball under the dim light, and slowly drifted towards the top of the cabin.
After the temperature of the cut surface dropped slightly, Jiang Xia picked up the long iron rod and poked it. He saw that a neat slit had been cut at the connection point of the pile of debris.
"Brother Zhao, lend a hand!"
Zhao Gang immediately rushed forward and inserted the crowbar into the gap. Comrade Xu Hua also stepped forward to help. With a strong effort, the welded plug, along with the scrap metal, crashed to the ground with a loud "bang," and the passage instantly opened up with a gap large enough for a person to pass through!
"Ha... Junichiro, you son of a bitch... It's really not easy to rip you off this time!"
The process of clearing the passage was quite a spectacle, especially the dazzling light and flying sparks from the thermite cutting, which were particularly eye-catching in the narrow interior space of the boat.
This attracted another middle-aged man who happened to be checking equipment in a nearby compartment.
He was slender, wearing black-rimmed glasses with the temples reinforced by thin wire. The lenses were dusty and reflected a hazy light in the passing light.
Although his light gray overalls were stained with some oil, they were ironed neatly, and he was tightly holding a hard-covered notebook with a worn-out cover.
The passageway was as stuffy and hot as a steamer, and beads of sweat were seeping from his forehead. He would occasionally raise his hand to wipe them with his sleeve.
"Good heavens! It's already cleared? I hope no one was hurt!"
"Shi'e, you've come at the right time." Huang Xuhua smiled when he saw the newcomer and introduced Jiang Xia, "Thanks to Comrade Jiang Xia for bringing out the aluminothermic cutting strip, otherwise this 'roadblock' would have troubled us for half a day." He then turned to Jiang Xia, "Jiang Xia, this is Engineer Yang Shi'e, an expert from Harbin Military Engineering Institute."
Hmm, I've never heard of that name before...
Jiang Xia was taken aback, and quickly reached out his hand: "Hello, Teacher Yang! I've heard of you before, and it's great to finally meet you in person today! It's so stuffy and hot in this submarine, and you've been working so hard inside! You've worked so hard!"
Teacher Shi E held Jiang Xia's hand, blinked his eyes behind his glasses, and suddenly chuckled, a mischievous glint in his eyes, and asked, "Little Jiang, you've got a sweet tongue. Now tell me, how do you write this character 'é'?"
"Ah? This..."
Seeing Jiang Xia's momentary embarrassment at being speechless, Yang Shi'e's smile widened. He released his grip, traced the dusty notebook cover with his index finger, and explained with a cheerful laugh as he wrote:
"See? The top part is the grass radical, and the bottom part is the character 'I'. Together they form the character '莪'! The '莪' in the Book of Songs, '菁菁者莪，在彼中阿', describes the lush growth of plants."
"However, there's another word, '莪蒿' (ehao). It's a kind of wild grass by the water, incredibly resilient! You see, my name is like 'a scholar is like a wild grass,' seemingly inconspicuous, but incredibly tenacious!"
"Just like the underwater acoustics industry in our country, it can be like the grass on the plains. Give it a little sunshine and rain, and it will take root and grow wildly. Sooner or later, it will be lush and green all over the world! How about that explanation? Not bad, right?"
Wow, this old comrade is really open-minded and optimistic.
His explanation immediately sparked laughter throughout the narrow passageway of the submarine.
Jiang Xia breathed a sigh of relief and sincerely praised, "Teacher Yang, you chose a great name, and you explained it even better! It sounds inspiring and hopeful!"
"Haha, right! I think so too!" Teacher Shih-E pushed up his wire-reinforced glasses with a smug look, like a child who had just received a compliment.
After Huang Xuhua's more formal introduction, Jiang Xia finally understood that the senior with the unique name and optimistic and humorous personality in front of him was actually a hidden top expert in the field of underwater acoustic engineering in China, and the key figure who truly created the "ears" and "voices" for submarines!
Well, this kid has completely forgotten Mr. Shi Lu's warnings. Otherwise, he wouldn't have made such a fool of himself.
However, this isn't really the fault of the simpleton; it's mainly because this meritorious figure wasn't widely publicized in later generations. Moreover, his field of expertise was rather niche.
Just the idea of a marine acoustic testing range is enough to give anyone a headache.
Don't rush, don't be picky. Just remember that this person is a hero who provided eyes and ears for our vast coastal areas.
So the four of them continued on their way.
As Jiang Xia walked along the road, he felt something was off. This trip of extortion felt a bit like Journey to the West.
Now that we have four people, shouldn't we start facing the eighty-one tribulations...?
"By the way, Professor Yang, Professor Huang, there's something I'm curious about. How could so many experts from different fields gather at Dalian Shipyard in just one afternoon? Logically speaking, coordination and mobilization shouldn't be this fast." As they walked through the narrow passageway filled with pipes and valves, Jiang Xia couldn't help but ask the question that had been bothering him.
Upon hearing this, Shi E burst into laughter. He pointed to Teacher Xu beside him and said, "I don't know how he got here. I just happened to be there."
The organization sent me here to prepare for the construction of a maritime acoustic testing range, mainly responsible for submarine noise measurement and analysis, and algorithm optimization for the SQ-2 low-frequency active sonar.
As he spoke, he winked at Jiang Xia, lowered his voice, but couldn't hide his admiration: "Speaking of which, I have to thank you guys for that single-board computer you came up with. It's so useful! It greatly improves computing efficiency. Otherwise, my algorithm verification would have taken much longer."
Wow, this guy's research is highly valued by the higher-ups. You know, Jiang Xia has only ever seen a single-board computer once before, in the cabin of a landing ship that was being given away.
Jiang Xia understood immediately and nodded with a smile.
Teacher Xu Hua, standing to the side, was more down-to-earth. Wiping the sweat from his face, he frankly said, "There's nothing special about my side. I've been accompanying Team Leader Peng on a recent trip to several key factories in the north to see what stage their precision machining technology and special material production capabilities have reached."
Our next stop was supposed to be Darian, but before we even arrived, we heard about your earth-shattering, heroic act, Captain Zhao! Captain Zhao, you probably don't know this, but the 'Hayashio' class submarine you captured is crucial to our preliminary research on... uh..."
At this point, Teacher Xuhua suddenly stopped, seemingly realizing that she had almost let slip some project information she shouldn't have. A flash of embarrassment and regret crossed her face, and she quickly shut her mouth, scratching her head somewhat awkwardly.
For a moment, the atmosphere in the passageway became somewhat subtle and silent.
Zhao Gang was a soldier and knew the rules well, so he simply nodded and didn't ask any further questions.
Jiang Xia and Teacher Shi E tacitly stopped discussing the topic, leaving only the sound of their footsteps echoing in the steel corridor.
Hmm? You're already looking for manufacturers?
Looks like I'm flapping my butterfly wings pretty well!
The silly boy started being shameless again, but his smugness didn't last long before the four of them were drawn to a strangely shaped device.
"Look, this is the unknown device I found!" Zhao Gang pointed to the object in front of him, which was as big as a bookshelf, and said it with certainty.
Teacher Shih-E pushed up his glasses.
"Is this the passive underwater acoustic receiver array you were talking about?"
"No...it doesn't look like it!"
"impossible!"
"Absolutely impossible."
Jiang Xia squeezed out from behind Zhao Gang: "I really put my mind to it when I came to this conclusion."
"This……"
"Look! They even sprayed the words 'Ichiro Heavy Industries' on here!"
"This little notebook, and it still claims it's not our grandson's, even the handwriting is the same..."