Chapter 492: Inheritance
It was a symbolic moment, like an era entrusting its future to the next, full of anticipation and hope.
It should’ve been done in a more formal setting—but even here, nothing about it felt any less solemn.
Lu Xi clutched the medal tightly and gave a solemn vow:
“I am willing to become the cornerstone of this country’s peace and dedicate my life to that goal.”
“Good! Good! Good!” Old General Zheng said the word three times in succession.
“You’ve truly raised an outstanding child.”
Then he and his group left the Blaze team’s territory just as grandly as they arrived. Throughout the entire visit, they never once asked about the crystal core energy technology.
“I thought they’d ask about other things,” Lu Xi said, still holding the medal.
“That generation put country above all else,” Lu Xiao said with admiration.
“Those who truly inherited that spirit don’t care about personal gain.”
Those words made Lu Xi’s inner alarm suddenly ring. Before coming, Zhuang Mingxu had specifically warned him that Lu Xiao might lean toward self-sacrifice, and that Lu Xi should try to talk him out of it.
Hearing this, Lu Xi immediately said,
“Dad, don’t you dare go following their example. The Zhengs are a massive family—losing ten or twenty people and they’re still standing. But in our family? It’s just the three of us. My brother…” He paused, then added,
“If you die for the country, I’m sure some base will imprison me to keep me in line.”
“You’re exaggerating.” Lu Xiao chuckled, playing with the crystal core in his hand and ruffling Lu Xi’s hair again.
“Dad, do you really think scientists can do whatever they want in this power-driven world?” Lu Xi said seriously.
“Do you really think all these new inventions and breakthroughs in our base came from just the few publicly known scientists?”
Lu Xiao didn’t respond.
Lu Xi leaned in pitifully and wrapped himself around Lu Xiao’s arm.
“News about my brother’s accident has already spread to all the bases. According to our informants, a lot of bases are starting to get ideas about us. Dad… I’m scared.”
“I’m afraid that one day, I’ll lose all support and end up locked away to do research day and night. And if I don’t make progress, I’ll even get punished physically.” He shivered appropriately, as if recalling terrifying punishments, instantly triggering Lu Xiao’s fatherly concern.
“That day will never come. Your old man is still here,” Lu Xiao said at once.
“Then promise me—you’ll protect yourself first, and never put yourself in danger.” Lu Xi seized the chance to push further.
Lu Xiao immediately understood what he meant and gave his head a light smack.
“You little rascal, trying to play mind games with your old man.”
“Hehe, come on, Dad, promise me. You don’t really want to see me getting bullied, do you?” Lu Xi bounced up and clung to his arm like a spoiled child.
“Alright, alright, you win. Stand properly—look how old you are and still acting like a spoiled brat. Aren’t you afraid your nephew will laugh at you if he sees this?”
Lu Xi didn’t feel embarrassed at all.
“Can we go check out the fighter jet you flew in?” Lu Xiao said as they walked toward the rooftop. Leaning in, he whispered,
“It’s not really powered by crystal cores, is it?”
He thought it was more likely that Lu Xi had just said it to impress others—he hadn’t heard any word of Half Moon Bay making such breakthroughs.
Even though he spoke quietly, all those around them were ability users and could hear it clearly. And though they were all trusted insiders, Lu Xi still felt embarrassed and immediately retorted:
“Of course it’s real! You don’t think I got my position as deputy director just because of my brother, do you?”
Lu Xiao looked slightly awkward. He knew his son was a little genius, but such a major achievement was still hard to fully attribute to him.
“I led the development team myself. The whole assembly process was done by my team hands-on,” Lu Xi said unhappily.
“That’s how I secured the deputy director role—unanimous vote. Even Zhao Changming didn’t voice a single objection.”
“Impressive. My son is amazing!”
“Xiao Xi really brings glory to General Lu!”
“So many people were clearly holding back their envy just now.”
“Especially that Vice Captain Sun Ying from the Falcon Team—his son’s a total slacker who just gets into trouble. He spends all his time cleaning up after him.”
“I saw it too. His eyes practically said ‘Why can’t that be my son?’”
As the people around him showered praise, Lu Xi’s invisible little tail might as well have been wagging in the sky with pride. He led them all over to get a closer look at the aircraft.
“Good day, General Lu!” The pilot standing beside the fighter jet was a young soldier with a straight posture. He gave Lu Xiao a crisp salute.
“This is Second Lieutenant Xin Cong, captain of our newly formed Air Force Combat Unit’s Third Team. The team members who came with me are all under his command,” Lu Xi introduced.
“Thanks for your hard work.” Lu Xiao returned the salute.
After exchanging salutes, several others stepped forward excitedly to touch the jet’s exterior and peek into the cockpit.
From the outside, the fighter didn’t look much different from those before the apocalypse. Even the control panels inside hadn’t changed much.
“Because navigation systems are currently unreliable, we’ve completely isolated the electronic command system. Everything now depends on manual control by the pilot,” Lu Xi explained professionally.
“This side’s digital console is just isolated for now. Once magnetic fields stabilize and communication systems are fully restored, it can be reactivated anytime.”
“So how do you determine your position and destination in the air? What about coordinating defense?” someone asked.
“It’s all manual,” Lu Xi said, climbing into the pilot seat.
“Some J-20s were originally built with two seats for special operations. For the current adaptation, we split up the roles for better performance in this era.”
He pulled out a device that looked like a pair of goggles and placed it on Lu Xiao’s eyes.
“This is a special binocular system made with unique materials. You can adjust the zoom level—4x, 8x, 16x—depending on altitude. It helps determine direction.”
As he spoke, he kept pressing buttons to demonstrate.
After trying it, Lu Xiao passed the binoculars to someone else and followed Lu Xi toward the aircraft’s belly.
“Originally, this compartment was for carrying missiles. Now, it’s been transformed into the chamber for the crystal-core weapon system,” Lu Xi explained.
He opened the compartment to reveal six crystal-core propulsion units laid out side by side.
“Once the operator hits the fire button, it triggers a chain reaction in the crystal cores, creating a missile-like launch of energy.”
Lu Xiao leaned in to examine the crystal cores. Though they were untyped, colorless cores, they clearly weren’t low-grade.
“What grade are these?”
“A-grade,” Lu Xi answered.
“The strength of the missile is determined by the crystal core’s conversion efficiency. Low-grade cores—even at max efficiency—can’t produce the required output due to limited energy content.”
“To guarantee impact, it’s best to use high-grade cores. Even if there’s some waste, the power won’t be compromised.”
“How many A-grade cores do you even have at your base?” someone asked enviously.
“Not many, honestly. But we use only the best for our weapons,” Lu Xi replied earnestly.
“Our base director says that when you need weapons, it’s already a life-or-death situation. Better to waste a crystal core than to lose lives because the core wasn’t strong enough. Those lives are irreplaceable.”
His words struck a chord with the soldiers present. Even before the apocalypse, they had faced weapon shortages. Afterward, things only got worse. Hearing of a leader with such a mindset naturally inspired admiration.
Someone who was familiar and unrestrained jokingly nudged Lu Xiao, “General, your nephew’s got better awareness than you!”
Lu Xiao wasn’t at all offended—if anything, he was proud.
“Damn right. You think just anyone could be my nephew?”
Lu Xi let them enjoy the show, then turned and led them to the fuel section nearby. He opened the refueling hatch, revealing an injector-like device inside. The special transparent material made it look exceptionally clean, and inside was a full tube holding over twenty crystal cores, connected at the front through a complex system to the aircraft.
“This propulsion system continuously pushes the crystal cores forward until they are fully consumed,” Lu Xi explained as he lifted a seemingly useless box from the front side. Opening it, they saw it was more than half full of used crystal cores.
He picked one up and held it to the sunlight.
“The conversion efficiency of crystal cores is still a bit low.”
“This one’s already been used?” someone asked.
“Yeah, this system burns through them fast. Just flying here from Half Moon Bay used up several hundred ordinary crystal cores.”
“How fast is it?” Lu Xiao asked bluntly.
“It took just over half an hour from takeoff to arrival. We maintained a speed of around 1,500 kilometers per hour.”
That speed didn’t compare to pre-apocalypse standards, but for the current era, it was incredibly fast.
Especially since this speed could outpace most mutated birds, avoiding attacks along the way. Aside from the limited passenger capacity, it clearly had many advantages.
Lu Xiao was very pleased—until he heard Lu Xi rubbing his fingers together sheepishly and muttering,
“Well… Dad, only three of the jets actually use the new fuel. I mainly brought them to back you up and make a show of force.”
“…Didn’t you say it was a gift for me?” Lu Xiao shot him a sidelong glance.
“I did… let you see it first.” Lu Xi awkwardly pointed at the crystal cores he gave earlier. “That was my filial offering, wasn’t it?”
“This stuff’s really not up to me,” Lu Xi patted the jet.
“Feel this metal—it’s a new alloy developed by our Academy of Sciences. Its hardness is more than double that of titanium. It was extracted and synthesized by S-class metal-type ability users. Even if it crashes into mutated birds midair at high speed, there won’t be… any damage at all.”
The more he spoke, the brighter Lu Xiao’s eyes became. Lu Xi suddenly realized he might’ve bragged too much and accidentally piqued his interest, so he immediately stopped talking.
