Xiu raised her head and found Xia Ye and her group walking towards her.
"Long time no see..." she said, "and thank you..."
Before she could finish speaking, Xia Ye had already guessed what she wanted to say: "You're welcome, I wanted to use your tail, so I bought the wing bone...how much did it eat?"
"I've finished eating...I'm done, meow~"
"Then it should have grown a little bit, right?"
"Yeah." Xiu nodded. The black tail dangling behind her suddenly expanded and became taller than her. However, its shape did not change into the shape of a tentacle. Instead, it looked very fluffy and a bit oversized. Fox tail.
"Oh!" Xia Ye couldn't help but exclaimed, "Have you released the mimicry?"
"Well...this is...its original form..."
"It seems that the clone has been completely integrated with your witch body!" Xiuji said, "Even the original form has become different."
Xia Ye walked forward, carefully stretched out her hand, and touched the surface of the tail. It's soft, a little warm, but very smooth. If you want to describe it, it's probably like a down pillow.
"Uh-huh..." Xiu snorted lightly.
"What's wrong?"
"It's a little itchy..."
"Is the tail so sensitive to touch?" Xia Ye asked in surprise.
Xiu nodded, and the two triangular cat ears on his head swayed slightly.
"Then..." Xia Ye suddenly smiled evilly, then opened her hands, hugged the fluffy tail, and rubbed her face against it.
"Hey~ wait a minute...don't do this..."
"What does it matter? Just let me rub you for a while. It's so comfortable, just like a pillow." Xia Ye suddenly stuck out his tongue and licked the tail lightly.
"Hey!" Xiu screamed, and Xia Ye's arms were suddenly empty. When she reacted, the tail had turned into a thin one, shrinking behind Xiu.
Xiu's cheeks were red. This was the first time Xia Ye had seen such an expression on her since they met. She smiled and was about to say something, but was interrupted by Yaha: "Stop playing, 豼Aren’t you here to test the thrusters?”
"But the tail is really cute..." Xia Ye muttered, and finally returned to the topic: "Why is Xiuya here? Are you planning to test the cat-machine interface today?"
The so-called "cat-machine interface" is a term coined by Xia Yesheng. It refers to the interface through which the cat witch connects to the thruster through its tail and controls the operation of the thruster.
"If the test run goes well, we can test the interface today." Chris said, "However, repairing it is mainly for another thing. We need her 'synchronization enhancement'."
"Huh?"
"Because the propeller may explode during trial operation." Chris explained, "So 'synchronous strengthening' is needed to strengthen the hull. We only have this test boat now. If the boat is blown up, we will be in big trouble. !”
…
After a while, the group of people came to the bridge, where through the windows, they could clearly see the test run of the thruster. As Chris issued the command to start the test, the test boat retracted its airbags and began to accelerate, reaching a cruising speed of 180 knots in a short while.
Then the ship's shields began to shrink, exposing the aft deck and the small thrusters affixed to it to the etheric winds.
"Check the fuel circuit." Chris ordered.
The engineer next to him started working on the crystal panel and responded after a moment: "The fuel circuit is normal!"
"Start the contract chain self-check."
"The contract chain is normal."
"Enter 'synchronized enhancement', count down five seconds to ignition, and start the first test drive."
Translucent curves suddenly appeared around the test ship, and Xiu entered a "synchronous strengthening" state. Almost at the same time, the engineer also started counting down.
"Five, four, three, two, one, light the fire!"
A roaring sound was heard, accompanied by a slight tremor, and the propeller on the support ran smoothly.
Chris and the engineers were temporarily relieved - at least there was no explosion. However, it is too early to say that it is successful. It is only in the fan air intake mode now. It needs to enter the stamping mode and run stably for a period of time before the test run can be considered successful.
"Report Ether compression ratio."
"Compression ratio...1.09."
"Too low..." Chris whispered.
Ether is a very difficult substance to compress, but precisely because of this, the compressed ether can be ignited by magic and cause deflagration. The compression ratio is related to various factors such as the intake speed, the shape of the intake cone, the length of the compression ignition type, etc. The minimum compression ratio required for deflagration is 1.22. Obviously, 1.09 cannot achieve ether deflagration, and therefore cannot enter the stamping process. Advance mode.
"The air intake efficiency of the fan is too low and the compression ignition chamber is too short... Only by increasing the speed of the ether wind blowing into the propeller can it reach the critical value." Chris quickly made a decision: "Increase the speed of the ship. Fly as fast as you can when you reach the highest point."
A roar louder than that of the test propeller sounded from the stern of the ship, and the test ship began to accelerate. The needle of the ship's speedometer slowly climbed to the right from the position of 180 knots, 190 knots, 200 knots, 220 knots... to 235 knots. , the pointer finally could no longer move an inch, and the ship shook as if it would fall apart at any time.
"Report the compression ratio!" Because the roar was too loud, Chris had to yell to make the people around him hear her clearly.
"1.21! No... it's down to 1.20 again! The compression ratio jumps repeatedly between 1.19 and 1.21!" the engineer shouted.
"Start the compression ignition contract! Try to see if you can enter stamping mode!"
"yes!"
The engineer clicked a few times on the crystal panel. Soon, a higher-pitched roar came. The propeller on the bracket shook violently, and a golden flame spurted out from the tail, but it lasted for less than a second before extinguishing. , the high-pitched sound also fell back, submerged in the noise of the ship itself.
"Failed! The compression ratio is too low!" the engineer shouted.
"..." Chris didn't respond, as if he was hesitating whether to try again.
"Please make a decision quickly! The test ship cannot last long at this speed!"
"Abort the test!" Chris shouted. She only had this one thruster and did not dare to take risks.
The ship's speed began to decrease rapidly and soon returned to 180 knots. The test ship circled the ether sea at cruising speed. The thruster used for testing on the stand stopped completely, and even the fan stopped rotating.
"The compression ratio is not enough, it didn't work..." Chris said to Xia Ye with some disappointment.
"But it seems just a little bit close? As long as the ship speed is faster, maybe it can succeed?"
"Their relationship is not linear. To enter the stamping mode stably, the ship's speed must be..." Chris quickly calculated in her mind for a while, "...it needs to be 290 knots."
"Even 'Mobydick' can't drive that fast." Xia Ye remembered that the top speed of "Mobydick" was 280 knots.
"Yeah." Chris said helplessly.
This means that even if the fastest ship from "Extreme Ship Rental" is found, there is no guarantee that the thruster can be put into ramming mode.
"It seems that the fan, air inlet cone and compression ignition chamber all need to be improved. Today's test ends here..."
"Wait a minute." Xia Ye interrupted, "I have an idea."
"Huh?" Chris looked at Xia Ye in surprise.
"The ship cannot reach such a high speed, but other methods can." Xia Ye said, "I can use the 'Thunder Knight' contract..."
…
After a few minutes, she finally convinced Chris and Yaha. Everyone came back to the stern of the ship and removed all the various pipes and wires connected to the propeller.
"This is the insertion port of the integrated interface, which is what you call the 'cat-computer interface'."
Chris pointed to a 6 cm long and 2 cm wide rectangular socket on the thruster and said, "The input of magic power and control commands is completed through it."
This was originally an interface designed for Xiu's tail, but this time, Xia Ye was going to let Xiu Ji provide magic power and control the thrusters - after all, Xiu's proficiency in mimicry was far inferior to Xiu Ji's.
The black cat showed its true form, and the front end of its tentacles mimicked the shape of a plug, connecting to the thruster. It was not difficult for Shoggoth to figure out how to control the thruster. After about ten minutes, Shoggoth was able to control it without any obstacles.
"BrClr"
As the witch text of "Thunder Knight" was read out, the armor made of lightning appeared on Xia Ye. In addition, there was a huge cat beside her.
"Is this, is this the 'Thunder Knight' contract you are talking about?" Chris asked in surprise.
"Um."
Xia Ye turned over and Xiu Ji also rolled up the propeller and "sat" behind Xia Ye.
"If this thunder cat runs at full speed, the speed should exceed 290 knots. When the time comes, Xiuji will start the thruster on the cat's back. If everything goes well, it should be able to enter the stamping mode."
"You have to be careful. Although the fan mode is operating normally, the stamping mode may still explode." Chris reminded again.
"It doesn't matter, the Thunder Knight is quite resistant to beatings." Xia Ye tapped the lightning armor on his body with his fingers, "As long as I don't remove them, even if they explode, they won't hurt me."
After saying that, she patted the cat's neck gently. Thundercat jumped hard and took her, Xiuji and the thruster away from the test ship.
(End of chapter)
