"I'll fly with you." Xia Ye said suddenly, looking at Xiu soaring on the sea of clouds.
"What?" Chris didn't react for a moment.
"Flight companion. After all, this is the first test flight. As a rule, it is necessary to fly with a companion, so that if there is any accident, it can be rescued." Xia Ye explained seriously.
"But why haven't I heard you mention it before?"
"Hehe... Because I just thought of it. In fact, it felt so good to see Xiu flying in the air, so I couldn't help but want to fly."
"..."
"Anyway, that's it, I'll come back as soon as I go~" After Xia Ye finished speaking, he crushed the feathers of thunder that appeared in his palm, and then his whole body turned into a bolt of lightning and flew in the direction of Xiu.
A distance of more than ten kilometers was covered in the blink of an eye. When he arrived near the girl, Xia Ye ended the effect of "Thunder Feather", and then immediately used "Thunder Knight". A big cat with lightning all over its body appeared in the air and caught the person heading towards it. On the falling summer night, she controlled the Thundercat, ran to Xiu's side, and flew alongside her.
"How do you feel?" Due to the loud noise of the propeller, Xia Ye had to shout to be heard.
"Great, meow!" Xiu replied loudly, with a rare smile on his face.
"Actually... I didn't... understand... why... you... had to... make this... small propeller..." She continued, "But now I... finally understand...!
"Because the feeling of flying... is really good... completely different from being on a boat..."
Xia Ye looked at her and suddenly noticed something that she hadn't noticed before.
"Did you cut your hair short?"
Xiu had always had long twintails before, but now it has become short hair that is just above the chin.
"Hmm...long hair is easy to...get caught in..." Xiu pointed to the air inlet of the propeller.
"That's right!" Xia Ye suddenly realized that if her hair was sucked in... it was scary just thinking about it.
"In that case...the thruster will...be damaged." Xiu continued.
...Is this what you were worried about? But if you think carefully about the strength of "Synchronized Strengthening" that can resist whale breath, it seems to make some sense.
"In short, short hair suits you quite well. I think it's more suitable than the long double ponytails before." Xia Ye said sincerely.
"……Thanks."
"What's the current speed?" she asked again.
Xiu read the reading from the airspeed meter through his tail: "320 knots...about..."
Compared to a ship, it is very fast, Xia Ye thought to herself, but it is still far behind her ideal speed. I wonder if there is anything like a sound barrier in the ether, and if so, where is the limit? Can we break through?
"Let's go back." She said to Xiu, "It's better to make the first test flight shorter. We will test the landing later. In the past few days, we still need to test the speed boundaries at various altitudes and draw the flight envelope. . In addition, the climb rate, turning radius, roll acceleration, etc. also need to be tested. In short, there will be many test flights in the future, all of which will be your hard work~"
"No problem." Xiu nodded, then pulled up, reached the top of the semicircle, rolled cleanly, completed a 180-degree U-turn, and flew towards the test ship.
It seemed like she was really enjoying it, Xia Ye thought to herself, controlling the Thundercat and chasing after her.
Not long after, the test ship appeared in sight again.
"I'll go down first." Xia Ye said, "You hover here and wait until the test ship raises the green signal flag, and then land from the stern of the ship."
"good."
The two separated, and Xia Ye quickly landed on the back deck. After the effect of "Thunder Knight" ended, she became naked again. Fortunately, everyone was already familiar with it, and the new sailor uniform was quickly delivered to her. hands. By the time she got dressed, the two pillars on the back deck had been erected.
"Xiuji, it's up to you to land." Xia Ye said to the black cat who came to him.
"It doesn't matter to me~ But the cat is very curious. What if one witch takes off and another one lands at the same time?"
This is indeed a problem. Xia Ye thought about it and suggested: "Clone?"
"No, meow. The cat needs to split into two groups to take off, and it also needs to split into two groups to land. If it takes off and lands at the same time, the cat will split into four groups! That will definitely make meow busy!"
"Hey, is that so?"
"Of course, Master, you can't chat with three people at the same time with three heads, right?" Xiu Ji gave an example.
"Uh...right." Xia Ye understood immediately.
While the two were chatting, the engineers also made preparations for landing. Xiuji once again turned into two groups of tentacles, wrapped around two pillars respectively. More than ten tentacles stretched out, weaving a web between the pillars. net.
Everything was ready, and a green signal flag was raised on the top of the bridge. After receiving the signal, Xiu slowed down and drew a downward sloping arc in the air, aiming at the tentacle net on the rear deck and rushing towards it. When there was still distance left, When you descend about twenty meters, repair the propeller that is completely turned off and turn on "synchronous enhancement" at the same time.
This is a process designed before takeoff. If the landing fails and the head hits the deck, it will not be dangerous if the "synchronized enhancement" repair is turned on; and turning off the thrusters is to prevent the running thrusters from colliding with each other. Explosion.
The girl dived towards the deck at an angle of about 30 degrees. For a moment, Xia Ye almost thought that the landing had failed, but Xiu still managed to crash into the range of the tentacle net. The slender tentacles instantly strangled her body, stretching like a rubber band while quickly reducing the huge kinetic energy carried by the girl.
Finally, the world's first Strike Witch successfully completed the entire process from takeoff to landing.
From this moment on, whaling ships also became something that people in the past could not imagine at all.
…
The success of the first test flight excited everyone, and all previous doubts were swept away. The sight of Xiu flying freely on the ether sea left a deep impression on everyone. If only the Cat Witch could use the "Assault Suit", I'm afraid everyone would be rushing to experience the feeling of flying in the air.
The next day, the test ship equipped with the catapult and assault suit couldn't wait to go to sea again. This time Curran also boarded the ship. After watching Xiuji fly into the etheric sea under Xiuji's ejection, she was killed by Xia. Ye invited back to the bridge.
Accompanying us are Chris and Yaha.
"So, do you have any new ideas?" Curran said as soon as he sat down.
Xia Ye was startled, pointed at his face and asked, "...Is it so obvious?"
"Yeah." Curran said with a smile, "You have it written all over your face, 'Look, look, my design of Strike Witches is great, right? So you will definitely agree with the next new idea, right? Yes, yes?' ?'--so."
When Curran described it like this, Chris and Yaha couldn't help but laugh.
Xia Ye was not embarrassed at all, and asked smoothly: "So, you must agree, right?"
"Then you have to listen first before speaking." Curran was not fooled at all.
"Actually, it's also related to the 'Strike Witches'." Xia Ye explained, "We have finalized three ships, a supply ship, a ship equipped with a rapid-fire cannon, and a ship equipped with a large-caliber whaling cannon. Now we have the last remaining One, and the most important flagship, the plan for the USS Moby-Dick has not been finalized."
"So, what do you think?" Curran asked.
"My idea is that the new 'Moby-Dick' will be a ship specially designed to carry Strike Witches. I named this ship the 'Helicarrier'."
(End of chapter)
