Xie Yu glanced at the broken ship, his tone filled with anticipation, "You're talking about this? They plan to repair it."
"Really?" Ou Zhanpeng could hardly believe his ears, "Can a broken ship be repaired just like that?
"Didn't you see it yourself?" Xie Yu said.
Ou Zhanpeng was flustered, "How is this possible?"
It wasn't that his mental fortitude was poor, but he knew too well the technology used in the broken ship. With humanity's current technological level, how could they possibly repair this warship?
Xie Yu smiled and said, "When I first heard this news, my reaction was the same as yours. But then again, there's nothing impossible in this world if one sets their mind to it. Regardless of whether the technology we have works or not, how will we know if we don't try? Let's fix what we can first, and continue researching what we can't fix yet. It will be repaired someday, don't you think?"
"That's what they say, but I still feel it's too unreal, like a dream!" Ou Zhanpeng didn't know how to describe it.
Xie Yu tilted his head and looked at Ou Zhanpeng, "Station Chief Gong has a saying that I think is very insightful."
"What saying?"
"If we succeed in repairing it, it's our capability; if we fail, it's training. When we finally repair the broken ship, it means we have fully grasped alien technology."
Ou Zhanpeng nodded thoughtfully upon hearing this.
One shouldn't aim too high, but conversely, when facing difficulties, one must also have the courage to fight.
Recalling the past, with neither strength nor foundation, no one believed that China could produce the atomic bomb. Yet, the scientific research team at that time, under extremely harsh conditions, managed to create the atomic bomb, shocking the world.
Today's scientific research environment and technological conditions are far superior to the past. Should we stop progressing when we encounter difficulties instead of striving forward?
That makes no sense!
With this thought, Ou Zhanpeng immediately calmed his mind. What's so special about alien technology? Wasn't it developed by people? If we lack this spirit, we should just go back to Earth and retire, and stop embarrassing ourselves here!
The vehicle continued to drive forward. Several large, fully enclosed machines appeared by the roadside, and several flatbed trains were parked on nearby tracks. The trains carried astonishingly large mechanical structures, some over thirty meters long and seven to eight meters wide and high.
Ou Zhanpeng's eyes widened, "Are those warship modules? Those are warship modules, aren't they?"
"Yes, they are warship modules!" Xie Yu's smile was joyous, "How about that, impressive, isn't it?"
Ou Zhanpeng stared at the large machines, "Were they all made by those machines?"
"Yes!" Xie Yu said, "Those are large 3D construction machines built not long ago. Essentially, they are super-sized 3D printers. Once you input the 3D blueprints, they can directly print warship modules."
Ou Zhanpeng suddenly realized something was amiss, "Hey, you took a detour on purpose, didn't you?"
The route from the landing field to the base shouldn't have passed through here.
"Haha, you found out!" Xie Yu laughed heartily, "Things have changed so much! I have to take you around to get acquainted first!"
Ou Zhanpeng was indeed quite impressed, but he absolutely refused to admit it verbally, "Cut the crap, you're just here to mock me, showing off, right?"
From the end of '64 to now, a period of three full years, the changes at Luojian Mountain have reached an unbelievable level.
If this were on Earth, no matter how great the changes, Ou Zhanpeng wouldn't find it strange. The reputation of the "infrastructure maniac" wasn't just for show. But this is the moon. With no foundation and no manpower, what was the Luojian Mountain base like three years ago, and what is it like now?
He could completely imagine the hardships and efforts everyone had put in during those more than a thousand days and nights.
It's not just those fighting on the front lines who are called heroes. Those silent industrial workers working behind the scenes are also heroes, unsung heroes at that.
Xie Yu admitted without reservation, "I am showing off to you, what can you do about it? With this, building warships is simpler and more efficient than before... And look at this, do you see it?"
As he spoke, he pointed to the front side.
There was a tunnel with a diameter of no less than ten meters. A bullet-shaped train was parked outside the tunnel. A group of people were lining up to board, and then the train started, ascended, and silently slid into the cavity.
Ou Zhanpeng noticed that the magnetic levitation track didn't stop outside the tunnel but extended all the way to the other side of the crater. The end followed the mountainside all the way up, changing from horizontal to vertical.
His eyes widened almost to the point of cramping, and his tone was filled with disbelief, "Electromagnetic rail?"
"That's right, it's an electromagnetic rail, the kind that launches into orbit," Xie Yu's tone was exceptionally proud.
Ou Zhanpeng was speechless. On Earth, they still used rocket launches, but on the moon, they were using electromagnetic launches. What were they trying to achieve?
However, he had to admit, the moon's low gravity and lack of atmosphere indeed made it more suitable for electromagnetic rails than Earth.
"All those warship modules will be launched using this in the future, right?" Ou Zhanpeng asked.
"Yes," Xie Yu said, "Once all the modules are built, they will all be launched at once and assembled in orbit. According to the construction plan, it will only take three to five months."
For the Expedition series of spacecraft, three to five months was quite long, but for actual steel warships, a construction time of a few months was truly very short.
Ou Zhanpeng looked back, his gaze seemingly fixed on those warship modules, "What standards are they built to? Our own, or alien?"
"What are you thinking?" Xie Yu shot him a sidelong glance, "We have our own, and we have alien ones. It's a hybrid... In fact, the main purpose of this warship is to experiment with the alien technology we've mastered. We'll see if it works after it's built."
Decades ago, there was no such thing as "build it first and then see." After all, how could such expensive things be tampered with casually?
Today's warships are highly modular. If a module is faulty, they just build a new one to replace it until it meets the design specifications. It's simple and convenient.
The more advanced the technology, the simpler it becomes. From certain perspectives, this statement is indeed very accurate.
Ou Zhanpeng knew that Luojian Mountain had already done a great job reaching this point, but he still felt a sense of regret. If they could have dismantled the equipment from the broken ship and transplanted it entirely onto the new warship, what kind of spacecraft would they have created in the end?
However, he also knew that such a non-integrated approach would be awkward, and the final result might be that after dismantling the broken ship, the new one would be useless.
As they spoke, the vehicle had reached its destination. A gate opened, revealing a downward sloping passage.
After three years, the base had also changed. The originally simple, assembled base had become a semi-submerged fortress-like structure, clearly built for extreme sturdiness.
Ou Zhanpeng couldn't help but sigh, this was definitely a subterranean fortress built to combat standards. With simple camouflage, it could evade enemy eyes!
This was preparation for war!