The work is carried out in an intense and orderly manner.

Using the prototype as a template, it took engineers another three days to assemble an identical WS-1.

Xiu mimics the tail into an interface plug and inserts it into the prototype to familiarize himself with how to control the thruster in advance.

Chriss, with another group of people, began to rebuild the test ship, which was also completed in three days due to the relatively simple structure.

And Summer Night took Xiu Ji to the warehouse where the wing bones were stored, and let it eat for three days......

Finally, the excitement came—mostly summer nights, and mostly in a state of skeptical "can this really work?"

The two thrusters are mounted side by side on disposable brackets at a 45-degree inclination and are secured using snaps. The bracket is connected to a shuttle, which can slide back and forth along the rails buried under the foredeck – thus creating a set of unpowered "catapults".

However, the biggest technical difficulty of the catapult is the power system, which must be able to provide great thrust in an instant, be able to adjust the size of thrust according to the mass of the load, and also need to have high reliability and maintainability.

Fortunately, there is just such a power source on a summer night...

On deck, Xiu had already placed his legs in the reserved space for the thrusters, and unlike the original concept drawings drawn by Summer Night, Chrissy finally designed the air intakes on the back of the legs from the perspective of engineering feasibility.

According to Chris, when Xiu is in level flight, the etheric wind can blow into the air intake along the relatively flat back, and if the air intakes are placed on either side of the legs, the movement of the hands will obviously seriously interfere with the intake airflow, if the design is on the front side of the legs......

"Isn't that the equivalent of a DSI intake?" Summer night blurted out.

“D… S… I？ What is that? Chrissy asked curiously. She would have said that the airflow was blocked by the chest, and the intake efficiency would definitely be lower.

Summer Night tried to recall the knowledge that she also knew a little about, and explained the principle and function of DSI in general.

“…… All in all, the bulge does not necessarily cause an obstruction, but has the potential to eliminate the surface layer, compress the aetheric air, and improve the efficiency of air intake. However, this design is very demanding on the bulge, neither too big nor too small, and the shape must conform to a certain curve, otherwise it will not be as efficient as the back air intake. ”

"Is there anything like this...... "Chrissy was incredulous, "and this is also something I learned from another city?" ”

"Well, it's called 'pneumatics,' and it's complicated."

Seeing that Xia Ye said something wrong, Chrissy was finally a little interested: "If that's the case...... When we're free, let's try it out, and we happen to be the youngest ...... here," she said, glancing at the summer night.

"To the biggest ......," she said, glancing at Yaha again. Of course, there are not many first mates who are not present, and there are quite a lot of samples of large DSI bulges.

“…… Both! ”

"......" Xia Ye looked at Chrissy with a smile on her face, thinking in her heart how to use the power of the major shareholder to deduct her salary from 0 this month.

While the two were discussing DSI, Xiu had already made all the preparations with the help of the engineers. Her tail split into two and was inserted into the interface of the two thrusters, which had gone into fan mode and made a low humming sound on the fixed stand. If it weren't for the hook being held at the starting point, it would have been slowly gliding forward along the guide rail under the thrust of the fan.

Everything is ready, only repair.

Summer Night patted the black cat sleeping on top of her head and said, "It's your turn!" ”

"Meow~~" Xiu yawned and lazily jumped from the top of his head to the ground.

"You've eaten half of the whale bones in the warehouse in the past few days, so you have to do a good job~"

"Don't worry, although this cat hasn't been digested yet, it's such a light thing, it's just a trivial matter!"

The black cat leaped forward, its body rapidly expanding in midair, and then, it split into two balls of equal size, falling towards the left and right sides.

By the time they landed on the deck, they had turned into two clusters of tentacles with teeth and claws, each consisting of five slender tentacles. In the next second, all the tentacles stretched out and headed towards the scroll in the center of the deck.

Two on the left and right legs, two on both hands, two on the body, and ten tentacles just right and left symmetrically wrapped the girl's body tightly.

"Thruster engineer confirmed!" According to the process that had been designed long ago, Summer Night shouted.

After checking the state of the thrusters one last time, the engineer responded, "Confirm! With that, he quickly ran away from the ejection area.

"Strike Witch confirmed!" Summer Night then shouted.

According to the requirements of the process, the items that need to be checked include: whether the "synchronous strengthening" has been turned on, whether each tentacle is firmly wrapped around the body, and whether the thruster is operating normally...... The girl quickly checked everything, nodded to the summer night, and shouted:

"Confirm meow~"

Summer Night looked at Xiu Ji, "Xiu Gus Catapult confirmed!" ”

A few seconds later, a voice came from the tentacle: "Confirmed! ”

"The current speed?" Summer night looked at Chris.

"180 knots, cruising speed." Chrissy replied.

"Okay." Summer Night nodded, and then announced loudly, "Countdown to five seconds to eject!" Five, four......"

With the countdown sound, the ten tentacles distributed in a "V" shape tensed quickly, Shogoth is a very powerful race, which can easily burst out thousands of kilograms of thrust, while the total mass of Xiu plus two thrusters is less than 100 kilograms, which means that Shogos catapults can reach an acceleration of more than 10G! If it weren't for the "synchronous strengthening", the girl's body would probably be torn apart at the same time as she was ejected.

“…… Three, two, one. Catapult! ”

The hook that holds the shuttle looses –

"————"

There was a sharp and piercing sound, and the shuttle rubbed sparks in the rails, and the girl was like a stone in a slingshot, and in an instant she came to the end of the deck. With a muffled "bang", the shuttle slammed into the cushion seat at the end of the rail, and the impact caused the tenon to open, and the propeller broke away from the bracket and flew out of the barrier with the girl.

A strong etheric wind blows in his face, Xiu enters a command to the thruster through his tail, activates the contract in the compression combustion chamber, and a second passes, and the thruster does not respond, two seconds, three seconds...... As time passed, her body began to fall, and in the blink of an eye, it had disappeared into a sea of clouds.

But she didn't panic, and adjusted her body posture in the air, allowing herself to dive down with her head down and her feet high, while activating the compression pact again.

Boom –

Finally, there was a roar of the aether explosion under his feet, and the sound of the thrusters becoming high, and a huge force suddenly appeared, pushing the girl's light body to accelerate. Fix the lock fan so that the thruster is fully in ram propulsion mode, and at the same time move the legs less skillfully, so that the thrust torque is directed from down to up.

The girl dragged a golden tail flame behind her, drawing a "U" shaped track.

A moment later, Xiu burst out of the thick clouds.

Her vision suddenly widened, and when she looked back, she saw a sea of golden clouds stretching beneath her feet to the horizon. Behind, the test ship had been thrown away by her for a long distance, but she could barely see the crowd waving and cheering on the foredeck.

An inexplicable feeling rose in his heart, and from this moment on, Shu thoroughly fell in love with the feeling of flying over the Aetheric Sea.

(End of chapter)