Chapter 76: Mark II_1

A week later.

After last week's unmanned test flight, Cao Ge obtained the flight data of Mark Number One. After repeated analysis, he decided to start the second test flight.

"Mr. Cao, this is really too dangerous. As a Wallfacer, you have more important things to do. Test flights should be left to professionals," Li Qiu couldn't help but speak out, seeing that Cao Ge still wanted to take a spin in the sky wearing the mecha.

"Miss Li Qiu, I appreciate your concern, but I must do this myself," Cao Ge turned to look at Li Qiu, then walked to the center of the courtyard, spread his arms for the mecha to align with his body, and slowly approached, enclosing him within.

Standing aside, Li Qiu, although wanting Cao Ge to give up the idea of test-flying, could only try to persuade him. Since the Wallfacer had tasks to do, she had no power to stop him and instead had to find ways to cooperate.

"Mr. Cao, please be very careful."

Watching Cao Ge, who had now donned Mark Number Two and was constantly lifting his arms and legs to test it in the yard, Li Qiu frowned with overt concern, but she had to accept the inevitable.

She was Cao Ge's protection personnel, and if anything happened to him, she would have to go to court. Of course, Li Qiu's worries were not solely due to the legal risks she might face but also because of Cao Ge's importance to humanity. An accident involving him could mean humanity losing a chance to defeat the Trisolarans.

It can be said that the Earth government has placed its hope of defeating the Trisolarans on these five Wallfacers.

Granting them almost unlimited power to help them accomplish their plans.

Cao Ge looked up at Li Qiu and then said, "Miss Li Qiu, I will."

After speaking, the face mask closed, and from then on, Cao Ge was completely covered by Mark Number Two.

"Murphy, start the pre-flight self-check," Cao Ge spoke to Murphy, looking at the virtual screen in his face mask.

As soon as Cao Ge finished speaking, Murphy began the self-check.

Cao Ge decided to pilot it himself for very good reasons.

First, he had the data from the previous test flight, which could ensure that Mark Number Two wouldn't easily malfunction.

Second, he was confident in his own hands-on ability.

Third, even if Mark Number Two really ceased to function in mid-air, he still had a contingency plan because he was wearing a wingsuit. If the mecha stopped working, he could simply discard it.

Although he hadn't undergone professional wingsuit flight training, his wingsuit was not ordinary but specially modified with an automatic flying device, so he had no worries.

Of course, to say there was no danger at all would be impossible.

Aside from the mecha shutting down, it could also explode.

But Cao Ge still chose to conduct the test flight personally, clearly relying on something, as he was no fool.

He would only attempt a test flight after being certain that there wouldn't be an explosion.

The torso of Mark Number Two, composed of various functional modules, had been designed by Cao Ge with the possibility of explosions in mind. During its design, he avoided materials that were prone to exploding and, for added safety, placed a layer of explosion-proof material on the inner shell of the mecha where it contacted the body.

This layer could effectively prevent any explosion in the mecha from reaching inside.

This was also one of the main reasons Cao Ge dared to enter the fray himself.

Of course, if the Ark Reactor exploded, then Cao Ge certainly couldn't escape.

But the Ark Reactor was the least likely component to explode on Mark Number Two.

Of course, Li Qiu and the others were unaware of this.

Cao Ge couldn't be bothered to explain it to them; after all, he was someone who valued his life and wouldn't take risks with it unless absolutely necessary.

And clearly, it wasn't a situation of absolute necessity yet.

Cao Ge listened to the computer's self-check noises, though he couldn't help but feel his heart pounding in his chest.

Although he wasn't afraid of Mark Number Two having an accident, the nerves of taking to the skies in such a manner for the first time were there.

"Ding! Self-check complete!"

A virtual pop-up appeared in Cao Ge's view.

Seeing that the self-check was complete, Cao Ge began the preparations for takeoff.

"Miss Li Qiu, please step back a little," Cao Ge looked at Li Qiu for one last time.

Li Qiu, frowning, looked at Cao Ge in the center of the yard, but obediently took two steps back.

After seeing Miss Li Qiu retreat to the safety zone, Cao Ge turned his attention away and then looked up at the clear blue sky.

"Murphy, start the engine."

"Roar~"

Almost the instant Cao Ge's command was issued, the engine underneath the Mark II erupted with high-temperature flames, propelling Cao Ge into the sky at a stunning velocity.

The ascent rate of the Mark II was incredibly fast, reaching near-sonic speed within a few seconds.

"Roar~"

In the blink of an eye, it broke the sound barrier.

A conical sonic cloud was formed by the high-speed airflow around the leg area of the Mark II.

Even though the sensation inside the mech suit was greatly reduced, Cao Ge could still feel a load far greater than gravity.

During this high-speed ascent, Cao Ge was experiencing a gravitational acceleration of five Gs.

Luckily, Cao Ge's body had been enhanced by the system once before, otherwise, he couldn't have withstood such high pressure.

Since it was a manned flight, Murphy did not increase the engine thrust further and instead maintained the speed of sound.

If the speed had increased to over 2.5 Mach, like an unmanned flight, Cao Ge might not worry about withstanding high temperatures; the negative load generated by high-speed flight alone could have rendered him unconscious.

After all, a mech suit is not an airplane.

The pilot of a high-speed flight is ultimately inside the plane.

Although Cao Ge was inside the Mark II as well, he could still feel the external pressure, despite it being mostly mitigated by the armor.

About a minute later, Cao Ge shot through the clouds, reaching an altitude close to 20,000 meters.

The flight posture of the Mark II gradually shifted from vertical ascent to parallel with the Earth.

Cao Ge, delighted by the boundless white sea of clouds and the golden sun to the east, felt an indescribable surge of emotion.

Although his Mark II wasn't as advanced as Tony's, it was sufficient for Cao Ge.

The highest technological content in his Mark II mech suit was in the Ark reactor and engine technology.

............

In the airspace several tens of kilometers away from Cao Ge, a Boeing commercial airliner was flying along its predetermined route when suddenly a red dot appeared on its radar.

The sudden appearance of the red dot caused some panic in the two pilots in the cockpit as the radar showed the red dot rapidly closing in on their aircraft, posing a risk of collision.

"Captain, let's request to decrease altitude," the co-pilot said.

The captain glanced at the radar display, about to agree with the co-pilot's suggestion, but before he could speak, an emergency broadcast from the airport navigator came through his headset.

"We are breaking in with an urgent message: all aircraft at an altitude of 20,000 meters, please descend immediately upon receipt of this instruction."

At this moment, the aircraft's collision avoidance system also emitted a shrill alarm.

"Climb! Climb! Climb!"

The navigator's instructions conflicted with the collision avoidance system.

The sudden situation made both pilots tense.

"Captain, what should we do?" the co-pilot asked.

It was the first time both pilots had encountered conflicting instructions from the navigator and the collision avoidance system.

"Descend," the captain decided in an instant, choosing to follow the navigator's orders and then turned off the autopilot.

After the captain made his decision, the co-pilot immediately cooperated in reducing altitude.

Just as the commercial airliner had begun to descend, they saw a high-speed flying object zoom past overhead.

"Captain, what just flew over our heads looked like a person," the two pilots exclaimed in the cockpit, as if they had narrowly escaped a calamity.