Chapter 33: Chapter 27 Mysterious Upgrade
Previously, due to a moment of carelessness, Yan Fei forgot that a drone upgrade required raw materials, which resulted in over one hundred thousand yuan in damages to the appliances in his home. This time, he wouldn’t make the same mistake again, so he found a place early on that could provide a large amount of raw materials.
That place was a large-scale garbage landfill on the outskirts of Shanghai. Although in recent years the state had begun to advocate for waste sorting and recycling, the general public lacked awareness in this regard. Furthermore, the cost of waste recycling was very high, so some areas still resorted to the simple solution of burying the trash after minimal processing.
Within the waste that was buried, not only were there household garbage but also many scrapped home appliances and even some construction waste. These home appliances and construction waste were rich in various metal elements. Even though the directions for the drone’s upgrade did not specify what raw materials were needed, Yan Fei believed that there must be enough raw materials in this landfill for the drone to use for its upgrade.
Moreover, the Drone wasn’t picky at all about the condition of the materials, whether new or old and rusted. As long as it was the same element, it could break them down and make use of them, which is why Yan Fei had set his sights on the landfill.
After recovering his Drone Avatar, Yan Fei drove out of the city and stealthily infiltrated the landfill in the suburbs.
If the Drone Avatar were undergoing an upgrade, it would certainly cause some unusual noises. Moreover, during the upgrade, the drone would lose control capability, making it most vulnerable. The upgrade also had to be successful in one go, so Yan Fei didn’t dare to let the drone go out on its own to find materials for the upgrade. He had to be present in person to provide on-site protection for the drone and handle any emergencies that might arise.
It was now nearing 11 P.M., and the workers in the garbage landfill had long finished their shifts. The staff on the night shift was huddled indoors, watching television and playing on their mobile phones, with no one patrolling outside. After all, no one would expect that anyone would come to steal this seemingly worthless trash.
Yan Fei surveyed the terrain and, avoiding the garbage processing factory where the duty room was located, went to a secluded and hidden spot. Finding it particularly safe, he allowed his Drone Avatar to hover one meter above ground. Suppressing his excitement, he clicked the flashing red upgrade button on the virtual control screen.
As soon as the red upgrade button was pressed, Yan Fei’s consciousness was expelled from the drone. He then saw the four propellers of the drone suddenly stop spinning and become stationary, but the entire body of the drone eerily hovered in mid-air. Then an inexplicable beam burst forth from the drone and began scanning the surroundings.
Yan Fei could feel the beam but was unable to see it.
The beam swept quickly over the landfill, and Yan Fei saw that some of the piles of garbage began to dissolve and deform, turning into tiny particles. These particles slowly gathered together to form a fine particle stream. These streams of fine particles flew toward the drone body and then merged into it.
As these particle streams continually merged, the drone’s body also began to melt and deform. In the end, the entire drone body turned into a transparent liquid. The weird, transparent liquid floated mid-air, undulating and rippling like a water globe. And, with continuous streams of particles flowing into it, the transparent liquid slowly grew larger.
Yan Fei understood that the drone was integrating the raw materials. Once it integrated enough, the drone would complete the upgrade. What Yan Fei hadn’t expected was that the upgrade required a massive amount of raw materials. The towering piles of garbage had dissolved by a great deal. Not only that, even the trash that had been buried underground had partially dissolved, with various elements turning into particle streams and integrating into the drone body.
The ray not only decomposed various metal raw materials, plastics, and rubber, but also a significant amount of organic waste. Yan Fei had initially thought that the drone’s upgrade required only metal materials; only now did he realize that organic materials were also needed.
As the buried waste decomposed and the resulting particle stream burst out of the ground, the surface began to show numerous tiny holes. Eventually, due to the large amount of waste being decomposed, a vast underground space appeared. Unsupported, this massive space suddenly collapsed. The ground caved in with a muffled roar, kicking up dust into the sky.
Such a huge commotion at the landfill site caused Yan Fei to inwardly curse his luck. He had not expected the drone’s upgrade to require such an excessive amount of raw materials, resulting in a substantial sinkhole at the dump site.
Fortunately, this area was far from the central waste processing plant, and the sound did not carry there. Additionally, it was late at night, visibility was exceedingly low. Coupled with the on-duty staff huddling in their rooms surfing the internet and playing on their mobile phones, no one noticed the anomaly here. But by tomorrow, the landfill workers would surely see something amiss. After all, who could ignore a huge hole in the ground and the fact that a large portion of the garbage was gone?
As Yan Fei fretted over the possibility of alerting the landfill workers, which could lead to the failure of the drone upgrade, the mysterious rays finally ceased decomposing the surrounding waste. Having absorbed a considerable amount of the particle stream, the massive transparent liquid appeared to be saturated, no longer absorbing raw materials.
Then, the transparent liquid began to change shape incessantly, but it never settled on a fixed form. Just as Yan Fei worried that an accident might have occurred during the upgrade, the transparent liquid suddenly emitted a blinding white light, like a sun suddenly appearing out of nowhere, turning the world into a sea of light.
Faced with the blinding white light, Yan Fei had to close his eyes to avoid damaging them and risking blindness. But the light was fleeting, vanishing in the blink of an eye, making one wonder if it had been just a figment of their imagination.
When Yan Fei opened his eyes, he found that the transparent liquid had finally taken shape, but into a form that he never expected.
The upgraded drone had greatly changed in appearance, no longer resembling a small, civilian rotorcraft. The new drone featured an elongated nose with a slight bulge on the top, a pair of long wings at midsection, tail fins that drooped and spread at the back, and a propeller at the very end.
The entire body of the drone was elongated and smooth, exhibiting excellent aerodynamic properties that instantly conveyed a sense of science fiction. Not only that, the upgraded drone’s body was massive. Yan Fei had to look up at it; compared to the craft, he was just a speck.
Yan Fei kept rubbing his eyes, which were nearly blinded by the white light, somewhat incredulous at the sight before him. However, once he confirmed that his drone had indeed transformed into this form, he felt utterly dumbfounded.
In the elapsed time, due to acquiring the Drone Avatar, Yan Fei had developed a keen interest in the history of drones’ development and had searched for a considerable amount of information about drones on the internet. He was now very familiar with various drone models. So when he saw the upgraded shape of the drone, he immediately called out its common name—”Predator Drone.”
The reason why Yan Fei could identify it so quickly was that this “Predator Drone” had a formidable reputation on the internet. It is one of the most well-known drones of the United States, having proven its strength on various battlefields and considered a formidable force among unmanned combat aircraft. His drone and the Predator Drone of the US Army were identical in appearance, even in color. The only difference was that Yan Fei’s Drone Avatar had no markings.
Described by the United States Air Force as “medium-altitude, long-endurance,” the Predator Drone can perform reconnaissance roles and launch two AGM-114 Hellfire missiles. It is a remotely piloted flying vehicle with a length of 8.27 meters and a wingspan of 14.87 meters. Its maximum operating radius is 3,700 kilometers, with a top flight speed of 240 km/h. It can hover over a target area for 24 hours with a maximum endurance of 60 hours. The aircraft is equipped with photoelectric/infrared reconnaissance equipment, GPS navigation, and an all-weather capable synthetic aperture radar. At an altitude of 4,000 meters, the resolution is 0.3 meters, with a target positioning accuracy of 0.25 meters. It can land softly or employ a parachute for emergency recovery.
Seeing this drone, a flood of data about the “Predator Drone” flashed through Yan Fei’s mind. From the statistics, the Predator Drone was incredibly strong. But he believed his drone would be stronger because it had mutated through a mysterious power. Therefore, after his initial shock, Yan Fei couldn’t wait to fuse his consciousness with it, start up the drone, and begin inspecting the detailed data following the upgrade.
Upon entering the virtual control screen of the drone, Yan Fei discovered the following data displayed:
Drone Avatar (Level 3)
Universal Space —— 100 cubic meters
Drone Length: 10 meters
Wingspan: 18.5 meters
Empty Weight: 1080 kilograms
Payload: 4000 kilograms
Maximum Takeoff Weight: 5080 kilograms
Top Speed: 1000 kilometers per hour
Cruise Speed: 500-800 kilometers per hour
Maximum Control Distance: 5000 kilometers
Practical Ceiling: 10,000 meters
Flight Time: 5-10 hours per day
Special Abilities: Vertical Takeoff and Landing, Submarine Dive
One Vulcan Gun 730: (located in the nose, caliber 30 millimeter, ammunition capacity: 1800 rounds, types of ammunition: armor-piercing round, high-explosive round, incendiary round)
Weapon Pylons: 4 (located under the wings, each pylon can mount 4 missiles)
Missiles Available: Anti-tank Missiles (AGM-114 Hellfire Missiles), Air-to-Air Missiles (AIM-92 Stinger)
Radar: Quantum Radar (maximum detection distance 500 kilometers)
The virtual control screen listed out the detailed data of the Level 3 drone, providing Yan Fei with the most intuitive understanding of the drone’s capabilities. After the third upgrade, the drone had truly become a fighter jet, with every piece of data undergoing a drastic transformation.
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Thanks to the book friend: China*★*Military Spirit for the reward!