Chapter 51: The Mysterious Senior Sister

Chairman Hong Jun expressed a desire to inspect the suppliers of the Mythical Bird drone. Dr. Yu Ying readily agreed and led the group to the low-altitude economy exhibition hall, introducing various leaders to the aviation material and avionics suppliers for the drone. Old Jia was also quite interested and followed them to these venues. However, since the suppliers were scattered across different halls and visiting them all would take considerable time, Old Jia, who was preoccupied with the market reception of the Mythical Bird drone, said goodbye to Dr. Yu Ying and returned alone to Hall 13.

When Old Jia walked up to the Mythical Bird drone booth, he saw a large crowd already gathered outside the barrier. Among the crowd were two female naval officers in white service uniforms, one tall and the other short. These two female officers kept stopping to observe the drone. Old Jia put on his sunglasses, quietly squeezed in next to the female officers, and pretended to be a tourist observing and studying the drone.

Old Jia glanced sideways at the two female officers. The tall female officer had a DSLR camera hanging from her chest, while the short one cradled a folder in her arms. Old Jia edged closer to them, continued to pretend to look at the drone, and even raised his smartphone as if taking pictures of it.

After a while, the short female officer softly remarked, "I didn't expect my alma mater to actually build this thing." The tall female officer didn't reply, raising her camera to snap a few photos. Then, the two female officers slowly paced around the drone's barrier, carefully taking detailed photos from various angles.

Keeping a certain distance, Old Jia carefully scrutinized every move of the two female officers out of the corner of his eye. They didn't speak much, merely taking earnest photographs from all directions.

Having roughly guessed what was going on, Old Jia pretended to be a tourist and squeezed through the crowd to Long Wuyang, who was passionately explaining the drone to the audience with flying spittle. Old Jia whispered into his ear, "Go over there and entertain those two female naval officers. Find a way to fish for some information and see what they're up to. I suspect they might also be alumni of Yuyuan."

Startled, Long Wuyang followed Old Jia's gaze and immediately caught on. With a confident expression, he grabbed a stack of materials and hurried toward the two female officers.

Acting as if nothing was amiss, Old Jia slowly drifted in that direction, pricking up his ears to catch what they were talking about. He thought to himself: Let's see how good this kid's flirting skills are. Such a tall, handsome, and sunny boy shouldn't get rejected right off the bat!

Long Wuyang walked up to the two female officers with great enthusiasm, flashing a radiant youthful smile as he said warmly, "Hello, Officers! I'm Long Wuyang, the guide for the Mythical Bird drone. This drone was developed by Yuyuan University. Would you like me to give you a detailed introduction?"

The two female officers looked somewhat surprised and exchanged glances, but remained silent.

Continuing his enthusiastic invitation, Long Wuyang said, "You are welcome to step inside the barrier for a closer look at the drone. That way, I can show you some details not covered in the brochures."

"Well, not bad, learning how to build suspense. He's got what it takes for marketing," Old Jia thought with inward amusement.

The two female officers exchanged glances again and fell silent for a moment before the tall female officer calmly replied, "Very well."

Long Wuyang invited the two female officers to the front of the drone and launched into an eloquent introduction. The two female officers listened quietly throughout, without uttering a word.

When Long Wuyang finished his presentation, the tall female officer asked, "Could you open the control cabin cover for us to see?"

"Of course, no problem at all!" Long Wuyang answered loudly, immediately and skillfully opening the drone's control cabin cover to reveal the instrument control system inside.

"May I take pictures?" the tall female officer asked calmly once more.

Long Wuyang was startled at first, seemingly at a loss, and turned to look at Old Jia. Old Jia gave a slight nod, then deliberately turned his head away.

Long Wuyang immediately flashed a good-natured smile and said, "Of course you can! This is a civilian drone, and all our avionics systems are domestically produced."

The two female officers stood on tiptoe, leaned forward, and examined the inside of the control cabin thoroughly. The tall female officer raised her camera and snapped many more photos.

The short female officer asked, "Can the cargo hold be opened for inspection?"

"No problem!" Without a second thought, Long Wuyang pressed a button, and the cargo bay hatch popped open. The two female officers peered inside and exchanged glances; the tall female officer took a few more pictures.

Moving under the drone's engine, the tall female officer photographed the details of the engine and rotor blades with even greater care. Standing close by, Long Wuyang enthusiastically detailed every design aspect and functional parameter of the engine, yet the two female officers remained completely silent.

Old Jia couldn't help but lament inwardly, thinking: This kid's simping skills are still too shallow; he hasn't managed to extract a single word!

Finally, the tall female officer spoke, asking casually, "Can this drone achieve a payload of one ton with a full fuel load?"

"Not that much, only a few hundred kilograms, because the maximum range on a full tank is up to 4,000 kilometers," Long Wuyang said somewhat dejectedly, his earlier swagger and boasting instantly vanishing.

Realizing something, however, he quickly and excitedly added, "If we only fill half the fuel tank, the range is still 2,000 kilometers, and carrying a one-ton payload at that point is absolutely no problem. It can fully cover air freight transport within the Second Island Chain."

The female officer glared at Long Wuyang and said indifferently, "We didn't ask you about that."

Knowing when to quit, Long Wuyang stuck out his tongue playfully, made a face, puffed out his chest, and saluted with a standard military posture, shouting to the two female officers, "Yes, Officers!"

Unexpectedly, this goofy expression actually amused both female officers. They finally lost their composure and giggled out loud.

Dropping her aloof facade, the short female officer asked Long Wuyang warmly, "Which department at Yuyuan University are you from? Was this drone developed by your department?"

"We are from the School of Aeronautics at Yuyuan University. This is our school's first complete aircraft product, pouring in all the wisdom of the faculty and students over the past few years," Long Wuyang replied with unconcealed pride.

"That's truly not easy," the tall female officer said, shedding her previous solemnity and smiling at Long Wuyang. "We both graduated from Yuyuan University as National Defense students. Seeing our alma mater build such a fine aircraft makes us genuinely happy. You guys are amazing!"

"Oh! Really? Then you're both senior schoolmates! That's wonderful. I would feel immensely proud if I could do something for the Chinese Navy," Long Wuyang's boasting momentum surged again.

"Alright, we've learned pretty much all we need from the materials. We still have work to do, so we'll be leaving now. You carry on," the short female officer said, waving goodbye to Long Wuyang.

Panicking slightly, Long Wuyang blurted out, "Can we add each other on WeChat to stay in touch, so we can see what else we might be able to do for you?"

The two female officers burst into laughter and walked away without looking back, their voices floating back: "Thanks, no need. If there's any need, someone will contact you."

Gazing at the graceful departing figures of the two female officers, Long Wuyang stood frozen in place, seemingly savoring something.

"Did you manage to get the senior sisters' WeChat?" A familiar female voice drifted from behind him, sounding somewhat gloating.

"No." With a look of utter frustration, Long Wuyang suddenly snapped back to reality, turned around, and saw Cui Yino standing right behind him, staring straight at him.

"I..." Long Wuyang was momentarily at a loss for words.

"Humph!" Cui Yino turned on her heel and walked away resolutely.

Watching the two youngsters, Old Jia couldn't help but chuckle inwardly: Well! This kid has truly lost the battle and his army as well. He's probably in for a hard time over the next few days.

Dragging his feet, Long Wuyang walked over to Old Jia and complained with a sour expression, "Uncle, it's all your fault for making me flirt with those arrogant female officers and leaving me high and dry. Oh, by the way, what do you think those two female officers were here for?"

Teasing him, Old Jia asked in return, "What do you think they were here for?"

Gazing abstractedly in the direction the two female officers had departed, Long Wuyang muttered almost to himself, "I feel like they were like Bogdan's falling leaf, drifting into my life like an autumn breeze and leaving me with a head full of trouble."

"Hahaha!" Watching the lovelorn Long Wuyang, Old Jia burst into hearty laughter and dropped a lighthearted remark: "You didn't even know what they were here for, and since I didn't entertain them either, how would I know?" With his hands behind his back, he strolled out of the Mythical Bird drone exhibition area.

Old Jia felt quite happy because he believed that the large warship from Laoshan had most likely taken a fancy to the Mythical Bird drone. In recent years, the Chinese Navy has been moving toward the deep blue and the open ocean; the Second Island Chain, 2,000 kilometers away, is already firmly under the control of the Chinese Navy. However, the logistical supply of open-ocean fleets has always been a thorny problem—the further the Chinese Navy goes, the harder the logistical support becomes. A transport aircraft capable of vertical takeoff and landing on various large warships is an essential tool for the Chinese Navy's march into the deep blue. The Chinese Navy is in urgent need of a multi-purpose, heavy-payload, long-range tiltrotor transport aircraft much like the Osprey.

Old Jia glanced back at that punk Long Wuyang, who was still sitting dumbfoundedly beneath the aircraft. Humming a little tune, Old Jia mingled with the crowd and walked toward the surrounding exhibition booths.