Sky-cracking Rider

After finishing up in the kitchen, Chen Fei carried a fragrant baguette, a bag of roasted lamb chops, and a mixed salad off work, a perk of helping out in the kitchen that at least saved him some food expenses. It wasn't a lucrative gig, but it sure was a delightful one.

He returned to his dormitory, left half of the baguette, roasted lamb chops, and salad there, and put the other half in a basket. He then carried it to the northwestern corner of the Aircrew Base where he was headed.

The place was now surrounded by layer upon layer of standard shipping containers. Walking through felt a bit like navigating a maze.

When Chen Fei arrived in front of a steel-structured shed, he couldn't find a doorbell, so he had to shout.

"Grandpa Barut, are you there?"

"Who is it? Oh, Little Chen, come in, the door's unlocked!"

Several coughs and an elderly voice came from inside.

The warm-hearted mechanic had long been acquainted with the old master Barut, the Neanderthal in charge of the Target Low Temperature Nuclear Fusion Energy Tower. By the time Chen Fei found the place, the person inside had been waiting for a while.

Chen Fei pushed the door open and was first struck by the sight of a huge cylindrical body, nearly four meters tall, nearly touching the shed's ceiling. It dominated his entire field of vision.

This was the Target Low Temperature Nuclear Fusion Energy Tower that provided abundant electric power to the entire 911 Aircrew Base.

It was technology of high efficiency from the Third Era Civilization, using deuterium and tritium as fuel, entirely non-radiative and non-vibrational, extremely safe and stable—indeed very reliable.

Even though it was operating, it was still extremely quiet; you couldn't hear a sound.

Apart from the blinking indicator lights and display screens updating in real time with output power curves and other relevant data, it was hard to tell that it was conducting ultra-low-temperature fusion reactions and continuously converting electric energy.

"Ultra-low temperature" didn't mean many degrees below zero; it was only relative. The actual reaction temperatures were still above zero degrees Celsius. It couldn't melt steel, but there was no problem igniting a piece of paper.

This perplexing temperature naming wasn't an exception. For instance, the "high temperature" in high-temperature superconductors wasn't truly high, still being below zero degrees Celsius, and far colder than a household refrigerator's freezer compartment.

Only with the advent of room-temperature superconducting materials did temperature names return to normal.

The steel-structured shed had a round weather vane on top, like a big conical hat, which was slowly rotating, dispersing the excess heat released from the Energy Tower directly below it.

Still, some heat remained in the shed, making the temperature inside five or six degrees Celsius higher than outside.

In the Xingdu Kush Mountain Area, the temperature difference between morning and evening was huge—with daytime temperatures over twenty degrees Celsius, but plunging below zero at night.

If the weather vane on the roof were closed after nightfall, the residual heat from the Target Low Temperature Nuclear Fusion Energy Tower would still be enough to keep the entire shed warm as spring, to the point where even thermal coats would be too hot to wear.

After moving his gaze away from the Target Low Temperature Nuclear Fusion Energy Tower, Chen Fei was immediately struck by the plethora of greenery nearly filling the entire shed.

The place was like a small garden, moreover a greenhouse, brightly lit as if by baby suns, illuminating the whole shed as if in daylight.

The smell of ammonia in the air, mixed with the unique fragrance of plants, was unexpectedly not unpleasant.

The cozy warmth hit him as he entered. Chen Fei noticed the hanging hygrometer. The current temperature was 24 degrees Celsius with a humidity of 62%. Compared to the dry cold outside, along with the lush greenery before his eyes, the environment here was like Eden.

"Chirp!~"

The little bird, who had been dozing in Chen Fei's collar, bustled out, shook its feathers, and looked around curiously. It took flight excitedly, landed amid the flora, and pecked around, occasionally chirping, clearly considering the place its own playground.

"Xiao Jiu, don't fly around, come back!"

Chen Fei called out in haste, wary of the little bird disturbing the master of the place.

On hearing the call, the little bird promptly flew back, but instead of perching on his shoulder as usual, it hopped around nearby plants, seemingly too happy to leave.

"It's okay, birds are free. You can take off your coat and hang it on the rack."

The Neanderthal elder, Grandpa Barut, wearing a short-sleeve T-shirt, was watering the flowers and plants when he heard the chirping of a bird, and a smile appeared on his face.

The arrival of Xiao Jiu actually brought him an unexpected surprise.

The usually quiet hut felt instantly livelier with the sound of the bird's chirping.

Barut's work here resembled that of a retired old man who spent his days caring for plants, nearly devoting all his dull days guarding the Energy Tower to them.

"Sorry to interrupt,"

Chen Fei obligingly took off his thick work clothes and hung them on the clothes rack, before lifting up the basket to signal his reason for the visit.

"Grandpa Barut, I've brought some snacks to accompany the drink."

Having drunk together before, Chen Fei naturally knew what kind of gift to bring when visiting the Neanderthal clan leader.

Bread, lamb chops, and salad were more than sufficient to pair with drinks.

"Oh ho, you're thoughtful. Just hold on a sec, I'll go get the wine,"

Said the Neanderthal elder with a chuckle, nodding at the brimming basket before setting down his watering can and walking toward a corner of the hut.

When he came back, he was carrying things in both hands—one hand held a glass bottle of wine with two goblets pinched alongside, and the other gripped a thick book.

Leading Chen Fei to a round table, Barut finally put down the wine bottle, goblets, and the book, stating, "This is my homemade blueberry wine. Taste it and see how you like it. And this, I think you might need it."

As he spoke, he tapped the cover of the book with his finger, then uncorked the bottle and poured the wine, as clear as a sapphire, into the goblets.

Chen Fei picked up the book and glanced at the cover. It was a technical manual for the Target Low Temperature Nuclear Fusion Energy Tower, including design principles, operation procedures, and troubleshooting.

The entire book was brand new and seemed almost untouched.

Low-temperature nuclear fusion technology originally came from the Third Era Civilization of the Neanderthal tribe, and Barut was no stranger to it. He could navigate every button and part of the Energy Tower with his eyes closed, his familiarity even surpassing that of the Blue Star manufacturers; he had no need for the technical manual.

The Aircrew Base had employed such a Neanderthal elder not just for cost-effectiveness.

After Barut poured the drinks, he snapped open a pair of disposable bamboo chopsticks, picked up a piece of grilled lamb chop, and started gnawing on it, chewing and swallowing even the bones, mumbling through his meal, "The job isn't difficult at all, very simple. Just run a self-inspection program daily, routinely check the output power curve. You don't need to watch it all the time.

If there's any problem, it will alert and generate a fault report by itself. You don't need to repair it personally. If there's a fault, just phone it in and send the fault report; the Energy Tower won't explode. At most, it'll just automatically halt the fusion reaction. Once it shuts down, mechanical components will reset the reaction inserts, and the fusion fuel won't leak."

One couldn't help but admire the old fellow's strong teeth, capable of completely consuming the meat without spitting out the bones.

"Chirp!~"

Seemingly attracted by the aroma of the blueberry wine, the little bird that Chen Fei brought flapped its wings and flew over, perched on the edge of his goblet, and curiously eyed the purple liquid inside.

"Shoo, shoo, shoo, you can't drink alcohol!"

Having had the experience of Xiao Jiu stealing sips of coffee and making strange chirping noises, Chen Fei couldn't predict what kind of negative impacts might occur and wouldn't let it sneak a sip of something that birds shouldn't touch again.

He waved his hand to shoo Xiao Jiu away from the goblet while still flipping through the Target Low Temperature Nuclear Fusion Energy Tower technical manual in his hands.

Before this, he had been completely unfamiliar with the Nuclear Fusion Energy Tower.

"Chirp chirp chirp!"

Xiao Jiu flapped its little wings and hopped around on the table, clumsily but stubbornly refusing to give up easily.

Barut looked at the little bird with its glossy black feathers and expressed his surprise, "It's actually a Pure Light Sparrow!"

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