In the early morning, the orange morning sun shone through the porthole into the cramped cabin, reflecting a face full of stubble. This face, angularized by emaciation, melancholy temperament, although the luster of the eyes is dim, is not blinded by the hesitant look, the depths are still clear as water, firm as steel.

Outside the porthole, the sea of clouds is shaped like waves, and the smoke is ethereal. Beneath the portholes, there is not a building perched on top of a mountain, but a huge steel ship that sails in the sky.

For the sake of Nicholas, both physically and mentally, Weiss had been at the Norman air base for six days from Somsonas. The time is not long, the harvest is not small, but the worries and sorrows are endless. Once, Weiss chose to sacrifice in order to protect his father and fellow villagers who followed him, but he failed to be generous, and now, the idea of sacrifice has returned, and not only himself, but Nikolai's safety is no longer the first priority.

There is no other reason: only sacrifice can save the fate of more people.

What is at stake is not the fate of dozens or hundreds of people, but the fate of millions and tens of millions of people!

Outside the hatch, there was a sound of footsteps from far and near, and the expression on Weiss's face suddenly became cold. In a moment, there was a rude knock on the hatch. Then, with a tooth-aching creak, the steel hatch opened.

Under the muzzle of the black hole and the cold gaze, Weiss lay motionless on the hard bed, his brain racing to calculate......

A hand pushed the iron plate in, and the door was closed again.

Except that the door opens and closes, the process is almost like a jailer delivering food to a prisoner.

Weiss got up quickly, took a handful of water on the sink, wiped his face, picked up the dinner plate, and ate the strange thing that looked like a cake but not a cake, salty, salty and sweet, and then weighed the weight of the plate, pinched its thickness, and carefully observed its shape.

After about five minutes, the door opened again.

Closely guarded by a small group of heavily armed Norman crews, Weiss left the cabin and headed to the work area. Only here could he meet Nikolai and could speak, but every word was under the direct watchful eye of Lieutenant Notz or his soldiers.

The research work here is entirely centered around the "Norman Flying Shark". Nominally, Dr. Franz is in charge of all the work, but the direction and plan of the work are set by someone else. Here, Weiss and Nikolai did not have the freedom to play as before, and the Normans set them a clear job position and work task - to improve the design of the "Norman Flying Shark" from the shape and structure of the aircraft.

It is impossible to delve into a single aspect of the design and development of any weapon and equipment in isolation from the whole, so Weiss and Nikolai were able to get in touch with the design drawings of this new type of aircraft, but the core secret of the Normans, the artificial star source stone technology, did not reveal the mystery to them. The Normans not only disguised the power part of the original technical drawings, but also did not say a word about this core technology. However, the aerodynamic design of the aircraft is inextricably linked to the dynamics, and the Normans provide some data, and the monotonous numbers are sometimes more intuitive than the graphs on paper.

Through careful countercalculation, Weiss speculated the technical performance of the artificial star source stone: the floating power is equivalent to more than eighty percent of the natural star source stone refining, and the floating power is slowly attenuated after synthesis, with an effective time of more than six hours, and may even reach more than twelve hours.

To the average person, such a conclusion may not seem like a big deal, but in Weiss's view, it is a chilling discovery. You must know that the great power strategy of this world is originally based on the production and stock of star source stones as the key element, and now the Normans not only have exclusive access to artificial star source stone technology, but also make it more mature and perfect, over time, their military power will crush any opponent, and the weak balance of war will also collapse. This world is about to fall into the hands of the Norman Empire completely!

Although the time of the military academy has gradually faded away, the tacit understanding of the year has not disappeared. Through each other's expressions and eyes, Weiss and Nikolai saw each other's deep worries: the Norman Steel Flying Shark is still only a small batch of equipment and put into the battlefield, once it is improved and formed a mature and stable combat force, what awaits the Ulster Federation Army will be irreversible. Therefore, helping the Normans is no longer as simple as grinding the teeth of tigers, but giving them wings and fish in water.

Realizing the seriousness of the problem, Weiss and Nikolai began to consciously slack off, deliberately "tossing" on the wing and tail, constantly submitting plans with miscalculations, most of which were sent back by Dr. Franz, and on two occasions created a new tail model, which was also rejected at the inspection stage. Researchers are accustomed to repeated attempts and failures, but Lieutenant Notts doesn't think so. At first, he kept urging the two to submit a plan, and after many setbacks, he began to question their intentions, and then simply set a deadline - if nothing was achieved on the seventh day, the rations of both would be halved every day.

In the face of Lieutenant Nots's aggressive attitude, Weiss and Nikolai did not choose to resist recklessly, while quietly probing and collecting hidden information in Norman technical materials, while patiently and meticulously familiarizing themselves with the environment, exploring desperate opportunities for survival. As the sixth day of work draws to a close, the new No. 6 wing has passed the fourth model test, which means that the airframe can be tested next. While current technology has not yet been able to verify that it can perform as a design on paper, experts who have been working continuously for a long time are optimistic about the prospects.

The Norman experts on the research team celebrated, and Weiss and Nikolai's calm, even cold, seemed out of place by comparison. At that moment, the gray-haired Dr. Franz came up to them and said in simple Ulster: "Number four or number six, which is better?" ”

The No. 4 and No. 6 wing schemes have been tested by the model and entered the airframe testing stage. In Weiss's opinion, both wings can improve the flight performance of the "Norman Flying Shark", but the improvement is not high, and some of them are better than nothing. If you simply pursue horizontal maneuverability, then with the current state of technology, the use of double or triple wings will be a good choice, after all, the performance of the artificial star source stone allows the designer to not worry too much about the lift of the aircraft, but if the balance performance is put in the first place, then the use of a cantilever single-layer wing with flaps, combined with a long tail design will be a good choice.

After a few days of contact, Weiss realized that this seemingly harmless old man was a very powerful character in terms of technology, and a little inspiration could help him grasp the essentials, and the stronger the Norman Empire's military equipment, the more unfavorable it would be to the Ulster army, so Weiss became more and more cautious when facing him.

Seeing that Weiss didn't answer, Dr. Franz frowned: "It's all bad?" ”

As soon as these words came out, the audience suddenly fell silent, and the Norman Empire's flight technology experts focused their eyes on Weiss and Dr. Franz. Objectively speaking, the Normans are much behind the Ulster Free Federation on the other side in terms of heavy aerodynamic technology, if it weren't for the stability and sustainability of the artificial star source stone is not enough to become a regular floating power source for flying warships, and the war situation is very unfavorable to them, the Normans would not have invested so much energy in developing and improving the "Norman Flying Shark" now.

Focusing on everyone's gaze, Weiss did not panic, but thought with extraordinary calm, thinking about the value of these Norman technocrats, and whether they could be hostages enough to help himself and Nikolai break out of a desperate situation......

Weiss's gaze wandered back and forth between Dr. Franz and Dr. Z, and finally fell on Dr. Franz, who deliberately muttered, "Wing No. 6 and tail fin No. 2, if they are combined, the effect will be better." ”

Dr. Franz frowned in contemplation, and behind him, several technicians were already working on paper data for this combination at their workbenches. Of course, what they do now is simply calculate the weight balance and rough lift values, and the exact performance parameters can only be obtained through repeated testing.

Previously, when the second tail was used alone for airframe testing, pilots reported sluggish and unstable handling, and were thrown into the list of defective solutions. So, Dr. Franz thought about it for an extraordinarily long time, then stared at Weiss and said, "Are you sure?" ”

"Yes." "I'm confident enough that if I can, let me test it and I'll get a result that will satisfy you." ”

Dr. Franz's Ulster language was not very good, and he did not fully understand Weiss's words, so he turned to his colleagues for help. Among the experts, there are a few who are proficient in Ulster, and Dr. Z is probably one of them, but since the first day of meeting, he has always avoided Weiss, intentionally or unintentionally.

After a few moments, the researchers who performed the calculations told Dr. Franz that there was no problem with the weight distribution of the new combination, and that the estimated lift was within the equilibrium range - even if the test was out of balance, the artificial star source stone would be able to ensure the safety of the vehicle and its crew.

Prior to this, the Normans arranged for Nikolai to conduct two airframe tests, with her as the pilot and two Norman pilots as records and liaison, and by the way for surveillance and control. According to normal logic, such a configuration can both give full play to Nikolai's flight experience and ensure thorough testing.

As a researcher, Dr. Franz naturally hoped that the researchers would be able to fly the plane to test, and then obtain more direct data and intuitive feedback, but he obviously had no say in this, and Lieutenant Notts on the side swept Weiss's face with a vigilant gaze and said: "Miss Lebold is the first ace pilot of the Federal Army, and is undoubtedly the most suitable candidate, does Mr. Clumber-Heisen feel that his flying skills are even better?" Or is there something else going on? ”

Faced with Lieutenant Notts's sharp question, Weiss responded unhurriedly: "As long as you swear to abide by our previous agreement, I can go out and get the test data for you, and in two days at most, you will get a satisfactory design." ”

Lieutenant Notts clasped his hands in his arms: "One of my people is driving, one is guarding, and you are responsible for recording data." ”

By implication, Nikolai had to stay.

In order to dispel Lieutenant Notts's concerns, Weiss replied without hesitation: "Okay, no problem." ”