Chapter 125

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Chapter 125: Returning Fully Loaded

Seeing Lin Mo eagerly snapping pictures of his aircraft designs, Uncle Yan felt an immense sense of satisfaction and accomplishment. Suddenly, he thought of a meaningful way to pass his boring retirement.

In his eyes, a pilot’s flying career is limited. As age takes its toll, physical abilities decline, making it hard to endure the G-forces of a fighter jet. If this young man learned aircraft design, he could continue contributing to the country by designing more advanced planes when he could no longer fly. Moreover, he would undoubtedly become an excellent aircraft designer.

An ace pilot-level designer is almost equivalent to a master locksmith; just imagine the quality of their work! It must be said that experience counts, and Uncle Yan, even after retirement, still had a sharp eye as an old design expert.

Especially since Lin Mo understood the details of the J-10 to an extraordinary degree, this solid foundation made Uncle Yan particularly excited.

“I can’t come here often; it’s impossible to learn without the right conditions,” Uncle Yan said, sensing his words resonated with Lin Mo. However, Lin Mo had little time and energy to follow him for lessons. After all, his four years of undergraduate education had barely scratched the surface, leaving him without a solid foundation.

Lin Mo was willing to learn, but the distance from the “Night” base to Shenzhen was nearly four thousand kilometers just for the fighter jet, and repeatedly flying back and forth might cause this J-10 to retire early.

In the past, Lin Mo had unintentionally grasped some basic knowledge about this world’s educational system, recovering from what he had originally learned in university, giving him a solid background in popular science. He was now nearly on par with those who grew up here, but what he lacked was a systematic and specialized expertise.

Uncle Yan’s suggestions felt like a pillow being placed under a thirsty sleeper’s head—it matched Lin Mo’s interests perfectly and offered him tremendous help. The more he understood his new weapon, the J-10, the better he could utilize its combat capabilities.

Uncle Yan, more agile in thought, said, “This is simple. I’ll give you a book list; you can buy the books yourself, or I can lend you some here. Start by looking at them on your own. You have my number, right? You can call me. Do you have QQ? Email works too; don’t all young people have something like that? Just contact me through those means!”

Lin Mo’s eyes lit up. “Can I really?!” He quickly nodded. “I’ll jot it down! But my phone won’t help much; I work at a classified unit, and I can’t bring out even a piece of paper.”

He noted down both his QQ number and email address. His phone was useless on the base, which had electronic interference devices. His QQ and email would be monitored by network surveillance personnel, lacking any privacy, but they were the only external communication methods allowed—though he had to register them in advance with the base.

Lin Mo spent an afternoon at Uncle Yan’s home, collecting many excellent aircraft designs. Finally, he left feeling quite satisfied, carrying a list of books and several foundational texts from Uncle Yan.

As Lin Mo departed, a smile blossomed on Uncle Yan’s face; now he had something meaningful to do again.

With a few days left on his vacation, Lin Mo booked a room at a nearby hotel, visiting Uncle Yan every morning. He would bring a couple of books from the list and quickly became a regular at Uncle Yan’s home, leaving early and returning late. Uncle Yan was pleased to have taken on such a professional student later in life and started teaching him diligently.

Feeling grateful for Uncle Yan’s generosity, Lin Mo volunteered to take care of all the household chores; aside from bringing his own breakfast, he ordered lunch and dinner from outside, covering meals for both of them.

The once-empty house suddenly buzzed with the presence of a hardworking young man. It brought warmth to Uncle Yan’s solitary life, alleviating the boredom of retirement and filling his face with more joy.

The lonely elderly man feared silence more than anything else, and Lin Mo’s arrival suited his taste perfectly.

Uncle Yan discovered that although Lin Mo’s university major had nothing to do with aircraft, he had a solid foundation in both mechanical and flight principles, making the teaching process even easier.

Given Lin Mo’s understanding of the J-10, Uncle Yan decided against traditional teaching methods. Instead, he directly combined Lin Mo’s knowledge of the J-10A with detailed explanations of each part’s functions, advantages, and disadvantages. Though they lacked physical models for comparison, it posed no obstacle for two individuals who were intimately familiar with the J-10 down to the last screw.

As an aircraft designer, Uncle Yan not only had profound expertise in external shaping but was also deeply familiar with every functional module within the airframe. He knew exactly which manufacturers produced each component. Fighter jets have numerous capabilities, and consequently, many parts fill every inch of space in the body, utilizing it without a hint of waste. Any adjustments made require careful consideration of aerodynamics, center of gravity, electrical power, heat dissipation, and interference factors.

This step-by-step explanation led by Uncle Yan, an industry veteran, allowed Lin Mo to gradually step into the world of aircraft design. He came to understand that the flashy and cool designs held unique significance; every protrusion had its reason.

Learning to interpret aircraft shapes and assess their performance and special features became Lin Mo’s unique skill as a budding aircraft designer. By the final day of his vacation, when he had to leave, Lin Mo possessed a completely new understanding of aircraft thanks to Uncle Yan’s careful guidance.

While learning from Uncle Yan, Lin Mo arranged for the redesign of a J-10 at the 9th Fighter Division Base in Foshan, which looked no different from an ordinary J-10. It had swapped its dark gray paint and kill marks for a sleek silver-gray coat, topped with a black dome at the radar housing.

Riding the bus back to the Foshan Air Force Base, Lin Mo took an electric vehicle toward the tarmac. Along the way, he overheard two pilots from the 9th Fighter Division talking without any hesitation, perhaps because Lin Mo was a pilot too.

“Those American planes are in our South China Sea airspace again; it’s simply infuriating!”

“They must be here to scout our submarine positions. The 81192 aircraft was shot down by them eleven years ago; it was deliberate.”

“We should take a chance and shoot them down—just chalk it up to a misfire.”

At that moment, the two pilots glanced knowingly at Lin Mo, recognizing him as someone with a shootdown record.

Lin Mo smiled slightly, their unspoken understanding passing between them. He adhered to his principle of not asking questions he shouldn’t. Regardless, he didn’t belong to the 9th Fighter Division, and their missions were unrelated to him. He simply let the conversation pass by. Such military tests depend heavily on mutual patience. If Lin Mo encountered an unauthorized foreign military aircraft in his own country’s airspace, his first thought would undoubtedly be to shoot it down without hesitation.

In all honesty, Lin Mo had never truly shot down two fighter jets himself, although he could claim credit for two F-14s and two novice pilots, along with a helicopter he had downed. Deep down, Lin Mo longed to engage in aerial combat with true equals, as that would reflect his genuine aerial combat abilities in this world.

Two J-8s soared into the sky, followed closely by Lin Mo’s J-10, one heading south and the other north.

Utilizing the cover of the clouds, Lin Mo shut down the engines at high altitude, urging the gold giant dragon to transform the J-10 into several models from Uncle Yan’s collection. He began experimenting with the aerodynamic performance of various configurations. Perhaps even satellites in space could not conceive of a fighter jet changing from an F-22 to a Mirage 2000 among dense clouds. The challenge of developing variable wings that aviation designers worldwide still struggled with did not exist for the gold giant dragon.

Furthermore, the seventh-generation aircraft S-10, something Uncle Yan never dreamed of, appeared in China’s skies.

However, these forms were merely shells, without any real electronic equipment. No matter how it transformed, military radar stations continued to clearly show small blips, revealing its presence. Fortunately, there were no special radars capable of scanning shapes; otherwise, they might be astonished to see a continuously morphing fighter jet flying over inland China, likely greeted with a barrage of missiles.

Ultimately, Lin Mo restored his J-10 to its original appearance and restarted the engines, continuing to fly along its designated route. Although changing into various models was entertaining, he wasn’t about to deviate from his path. He knew that even a one-kilometer deviation could draw surface-to-air missile locks on him. The interlocking system between military branches was incredibly strict, and they wouldn’t hesitate because he was one of their own.

After refueling at Chongqing, Lin Mo’s J-10 took off again, reaching the tucked-away “Night” mini-airport nestled in a small valley by noon.

Seeing the newly painted J-10, Aircrew Group Leader Pan Rongyong wore a smile that carried special meaning; Lin Mo was in for some big recognition this time.

As the J-10 was towed into the mountain hangar, Lin Mo spotted Captain Pan leaning against the door with his arms crossed. He approached him and said, “Old Pan, I’m back!”

“Ha! Finally home, my great hero! You’ve really made quite a name for yourself this time; wherever you go, it’s impossible to hide the glow of this gold coin!” Captain Pan joked with Lin Mo. Their relationship felt more like that of close friends than merely a superior and subordinate.

“What happened later? I only saw one day!” Lin Mo recalled. After his cameo during the live-fire training, he hadn’t kept up with what happened next. He had plunged straight into Uncle Yan’s home, completely unaware of the outside world, not even glancing at the television or newspapers.

“You seriously don’t know?!” Captain Pan’s eyes widened in disbelief. The center of attention managed to ignore everything around him. Turning back, he wondered what Lin Mo had been doing in Zhuhai!