Chapter 53: Special Steel!

"How is it?" Qiu Yang asked.

"Not bad," He Xingzhou replied. "Quality inspection: top-grade!"

At this moment, the second printed inspection report came out. Qiu Yang snatched it up, took a close look, and burst into laughter: "As expected, top-grade! One of the hardest special metals in the world to smelt, and we've actually done it!"

"This is steel that can be used for aircraft carriers!" An expert from He Xingzhou's team was overjoyed and said, "We've been researching this for over a decade! Today, we've finally achieved results!"

"Is it really?" The other senior executives of Baosan also received their inspection reports. Seeing the results, every single one of them was grinning from ear to ear.

"Shenzhou finally has the capability to manufacture this kind of world-class special steel!"

"This plasma furnace is simply miraculous! It's several levels superior to the smelting equipment we used to import!"

"I've looked at the quality of the imported special steel we used before, and it doesn't seem as good as what we've just made, right?"

"From now on, we'll never need to import these special steels anymore. We can make them ourselves, and we're going to export them to the entire world!"

Kenta Nishikawa and the other Sakura-country experts also saw the inspection report. They were far too familiar with the figures on it.

"They really managed to smelt it?"

"Sugoi! This is the world's top-tier special steel! And it was smelted using that plasma furnace!" These people had already begun communicating in Japanese.

"Steel of this caliber is something even our conglomerate cannot produce, especially the plasma smelting technology—our mastery of it is still immature. How did they pull this off?" a whispered expert said.

"Nagata-kun, are you certain there were no issues with the inspection process?" Kenta Nishikawa couldn't believe it, or more accurately, he was unwilling to believe the reality of it.

Once Shenzhou possessed the capability to smelt special metals, it meant they could produce not just special steel, but all kinds of other special metals as well.

Shenzhou currently ranked first in the world in steel production. With their manufacturing capacity, it wouldn't be long before they dominated the global special metals market!

"Nishikawa-kun!" Yusuke Nagata wore an ugly expression and a bitter tone as he said, "I personally participated in every single stage. They didn't tamper with either the raw materials or the finished product. This is real."

"It's over." Kenta Nishikawa's hands trembled as he held the inspection report. He couldn't imagine how he was going to return home and face the conglomerate's senior executives.

Qiu Yang and the others relished the expressions on their faces. Even a fool could tell at this point that these Sakura-country experts were in the absolute depths of despair.

It was a stark contrast to their previous haughty arrogance!

"So satisfying! We've spent decades working on special steel, and finally, it's your turn to swallow your pride!" Qiu Yang laughed heartily to himself.

He Xingzhou also posted the inspection report in the Project Xuanwu chat group, writing: "Smelting successful. The material tested this time is ultra-pure bearing steel, which belongs to a higher tier of difficulty. According to our design, we have several other furnaces capable of smelting other special steels or special metals like titanium alloys with zero issues."

Qin Peng immediately chimed in: "Good! Beautifully done! Good lad, you might as well just join the military. With a merit like this, winning a First-Class Merit Citation is a walk in the park!"

He Hongwei chimed in: "I agree. With these special metals, many of our weapons and equipment can be upgraded and manufactured independently!"

Kong Qing chimed in: "Hahaha, we're all part of Project Xuanwu, it's all the same."

He Xingzhou: "...... [Sticker: Adorably blank expression]"

Back at the factory, the team still needed to conduct multiple smelting tests, adjust formulas, and smelt other varieties of special steel.

He Xingzhou did not participate in these tasks, leaving them to his team members and the experts from Baosan.

As for himself, he returned to the Beijing Watchtower Scientific Research Institute to continue research on other metal smelting technologies, as well as vacuum induction furnaces, ultra-high-temperature electric arc furnaces, and related fields.

Meanwhile, all of this footage, edited by Xu Zhilan, was published online.

"Aerospace Carrier Model Making Video (Part 1): Special Metal Smelting."

More than a month had passed since the previous preview. When He Xingzhou's videos were first published across the entire internet, they garnered massive attention.

However, because he hadn't updated in a long time, recent interest had cooled down.

The comment section had constantly been urging him to release new content. Finally, He Xingzhou released the first official episode, and his long-waiting fans hurriedly clicked to watch.

In the video, He Xingzhou introduced: "For this episode, our first step is to obtain the special steel for the aerospace carrier model. Although it's a model, the strength of this special steel is absolute enough to be used on a real aerospace carrier!"

In the footage, he introduced the plasma furnace while explaining the performance of the special steel.

When viewers saw the brand-new, reflective special steel being smelted out on screen, it felt as though they had personally participated in the process.

"Watching this video feels like I'm forging some divine weapon of legend—starting with blacksmithing, it's so thrilling!"

"Yeah! Clearly it's just a steel-making process, but watching it is more satisfying than watching a movie!"

"Damn, Big Boss He Xingzhou is truly formidable. I've already seen the news reporting that we've independently smelted special steel!"

"Too short! The creator is way too short! I felt nothing after finishing just one episode, hurry up and update!"

"??? Didn't he say he was making a model? And then he accidentally broke through a world-class technology?"

"Brilliant, even if I don't fully understand it!"

"As everyone knows, on the surface He Xingzhou is teaching us how to make models, but in reality, he's shattering technological monopolies!"

...

On the short-video platform, He Xingzhou's video soared to the number one spot on the trending list within ten minutes of its release!

It gained millions of likes and several million comments.

Even people who had zero interest in science and technology began paying attention to these developments.

Meanwhile, relevant personnel from various countries who had been keeping an eye on He Xingzhou were beginning to feel genuine fear!

How long had it been, and he had already smashed right through the field of special metals? Could he really continue to break down the barriers of ultra-precision processing technologies like machine tools?

At the end of his first video, He Xingzhou gave a preview: "In the next episode, we will design the blueprints for the aerospace carrier model and manufacture a machine tool capable of processing precision components."

"A machine tool! A machine tool! He's actually going to make a machine tool!"

"Go investigate immediately! How on earth did the team behind him pull this off? Did someone on our end leak the technology?"

"Recently, our security departments have noticed frequent activities by suspicious individuals everywhere." In the Project Xuanwu chat group, Cui Weimin warned He Xingzhou: "They are paying extremely close attention to you and the Watchtower Scientific Research Institute. Do not go abroad until absolute security is guaranteed."

"We have reinforced our personnel, and we can completely guarantee the safety of you and your team domestically."

He Xingzhou: "Understood! I won't be traveling abroad anytime soon."

He Xingzhou knew very well that the world was not as peaceful as it seemed, and there were bound to be people harboring resentment toward him.

Until he developed super-technological equipment capable of guaranteeing his own personal safety, he would never put himself in harm's way.

Normally, he stayed strictly within the Watchtower Scientific Research Institute and other secure facilities, so safety was not an issue.