Chapter 136: Burning Money

Because his WS-15 had been fitted with wings of dreams, it radiated a new vitality, truly poised to become a world-class engine of unparalleled excellence. With so many superior improvements and performance enhancements, he was confident in pushing the thrust-to-weight ratio of the WS-15 beyond 14, and the pre-turbine temperature directly across the 2,000-degree threshold.

Previously, in his step-by-step improvements for second and third-generation engines, his best-case scenario had only been to cross the 1,800-degree peak. Now, he could boldly turn that expectation into reality, effortlessly surpassing it and aiming for even higher temperature summits. Theoretically, every hundred-degree increase in pre-turbine temperature could boost the engine's thrust-to-weight ratio by ten percent, yet achieving such an increase required breakthroughs in material performance that were incredibly difficult. But now, they had been blessed with a genius who had shattered those material barriers.

Everything was ready; all that was missing was the final push. He looked forward to the WS-15 producing dazzling data that would shock the world. Without hesitation, Yang Wei left his office to head to the front lines and keep track of the progress. He seemed instantly revitalized, filled with boundless energy.

After a pleasant communication with Chief Engineer Yang and clarifying the key points, Wu Tong, guided by Cheng Huanan, began filling out the project completion progress report. As the project lead, this was her responsibility; national projects had strict regulatory processes for funding and experimental progress, requiring specific reports to be uploaded.

Even with their meticulous budgeting and efforts to avoid waste—with initial experiments even succeeding on the first attempt—the research and development costs had still burned through nearly forty million in funding, primarily due to materials and instrumentation. Replicating the preparation according to standard blade specifications consumed a significant amount of material.

In her usual mathematical work, she was accustomed to consuming only paper and pens, with extra costs amounting to little more than publication fees. Under the supervision of her teacher, Li Yisheng, she had previously applied for a project budget of only 100,000, and had even worried about how to spend it. Now, however, the figures had quietly inflated by hundreds of times. In the blink of an eye, forty million had vanished, and the R&D costs for materials truly left Wu Tong stunned.

And this was just for the T5 alloy experiments. The initial production costs for the T4 titanium-aluminum alloy had already claimed one hundred million, with 160 million remaining—reserved for the industrialization of the T5. The expectation was that this amount would be barely enough, if not insufficient.

Such a rate of spending was truly alarming.

"This level of expenditure is actually considered conservative!" Cheng Huanan said with a kind smile. Without Wu Tong’s detailed deductions and predictive designs, if they had poured the entire project budget into developing this material, they might not have even heard a whisper of success. Once Wu Tong led more projects, she would realize that she had already been quite frugal.

"What are you planning to study next?" With her R&D tasks complete—save for remote consultation, following up on the production process, and resolving potential issues—Wu Tong could finally take a breath and rest.

"In terms of materials, I want to organize my recent understanding, continue studying the reading list you planned for me, and in mathematics, I want to work on a turbulence model..." After the recent high-intensity material research, she had gained deeper insights into the properties and molecular-atomic structures of various materials, and she wanted to sort through her thoughts and discoveries.

While planning, Wu Tong suddenly remembered that military training had likely not finished yet; if she returned, she might still catch the tail end of it. "It's military training season now; should I go back and participate?"

"No need. If you are truly interested in those military training projects, I can help you reach out and arrange for you to visit a real base to touch the real hardware!" It was possible that, if inspired, Wu Tong might even design something of her own. There was no need to waste her time on the school's standardized training projects. If Wu Tong wanted to visit such a place, provided it wasn't a site of major secrecy, she would likely be very welcome.

"Then there's no need to trouble anyone!" Wu Tong shook her head. Her brother would likely have a keen interest in that, probably training every day. As for her, she preferred to swim in the ocean of knowledge and explore its infinite mysteries. "Teacher, may I use the laboratory equipment to familiarize myself with the structure of current materials?"

Only by observing more could she discover more. Since she didn't need to follow the military training schedule, Wu Tong wanted to dedicate her time to this aspect of her studies. She wanted to see if she could find an effective rule or explanation to elucidate the basis of the directional deductions she used while preparing these two new materials, making material R&D somewhat more traceable so that others could achieve results based on it.

No matter how effective her personal deductive ability was, individual energy was ultimately limited. A single flower does not make a spring; the blooming of a hundred flowers and the contention of a hundred schools of thought was the true prosperity she hoped for.

"Use it, by all means. Whatever materials you need that aren't in the lab, just ask your junior fellow student to place a procurement order; he's familiar with the process!" Old Cheng said with a joyful, supportive laugh. When a student was self-motivated and didn't need prodding to research and learn, a teacher would support it with both hands. Material research and constant experimentation were eternal topics.

Even he was currently studying and digesting the logic behind the two new materials Wu Tong had developed. Every new material brought extremely superior data; for someone in the field, how could one not be intrigued? However, the mathematical models and the transformation of mathematical knowledge involved truly gave him a headache, yet he had to keep rubbing his temples and pushing forward.

His student's mathematical foundation was too strong. Much of her material-science thinking originated from mathematics; this was Wu Tong's signature, and it was the basis for her precise predictions.

After Wu Tong successfully developed the superior T4 and T5 materials, Old Cheng decided not to interfere too much with her development. For a child with such innate talent, as long as she wasn't going astray, there was no need for excessive intervention. Just as it was difficult for those in low dimensions to glimpse high dimensions, ordinary people should not interfere too much with the research thinking of a genius.

With her teacher's permission, Wu Tong began her research. She didn't start from an unfamiliar sector; her first choice was titanium, which she had studied the most. From the thermal, chemical, and mechanical properties of titanium to its atomic structure and crystal cell diagrams, Wu Tong studied step by step, carefully ensuring she mastered every detail.

Then came the properties and atomic structures of aluminum, nickel, iron, the atomic structure of rhenium, the atomic structure of magnesium... Wu Tong observed step by step, and one fine atomic structure and crystal cell diagram after another leapt onto her sketches.

The molecular structure of the T4 alloy, the molecular structure of the T5 blade material...