CHAPTER 400: CHAPTER 190: BEAST TIDE APPROACHES

One day later, as He Shuo began the evacuation according to plan, Lei Jie and Jiang Yu, after four non-stop rounds of flights, finally brought back enough propellant fuel.

But retrieving the fuel was just the first step to restarting this formidable nuclear missile.

Premixing, heating, casting, cooling, carving...

Each step was quite a challenge for the current 011 Base, but fortunately, this stuff could actually be "home-made" through more complex procedures.

It meant adding the casting process, slowing down the casting speed, raising the melting temperature, and increasing the flowability of the viscous fuel.

After spending a full 20 hours, with the assistance of Fu Xi, the solid fuel casting work was finally completed, entering the low-temperature baking molding stage.

The final step was the reshaping and carving of the pyrotechnic.

Lei Jie planned to handle this step personally.

Watching Lei Jie, full of confidence, Chen Jian asked somewhat uneasily:

"Are you really sure? This stuff is very dangerous, if it blows up, our entire base would be destroyed."

Standing in front of the missile body with the cast propellant, Lei Jie shook his head and said:

"The process of carving the pyrotechnic isn’t as dangerous as you think, the idea that static electricity can cause it to explode is sheer nonsense."

"Institute 41 wrote articles addressing static electricity protection issues who knows how many years ago, and current missile bodies basically all have anti-static treatment."

"As long as the process is in place, you wouldn’t be able to make it explode even if you wanted to."

"Actually, the biggest problem with carving the pyrotechnic is precision. If a cut goes wrong, then the entire propellant is wasted."

"However, our requirements for the propellant aren’t so high; as long as the large surface residues and the basic dimensions of the propellant are in order, that’s good enough."

"As for more advanced adjustments, like burn layer width modifications and crack repairs... those are actually optional."

"Are you sure?"

Although Chen Jian had never been involved with rocket-related work, he had watched documentaries.

It’s said that rocket carving requires precision errors within 0.5 millimeters without any cracks; this is obviously a precision-demanding task. How could it seem so...

Coarse under Lei Jie?

Seeing his puzzled expression, Lei Jie spread his hands and said:

"In short, if the precision isn’t enough, flight control will make up for it."

"The DF-26 you’re seeing now isn’t the DF-26 of our era, its attitude adjustment system has fundamentally advanced compared to 2025."

"It can tolerate larger margins of error, and the robustness of the entire system is also stronger."

"Theoretically speaking, after the propellant casting is completed, even if we do no modifications and launch directly, there’d still be at least a 40% success rate."

"Over short distances, accuracy is also guaranteed — the error won’t exceed the destructive range of a nuclear explosion."

"... Hearing this makes me feel at ease."

Chen Jian let out a long sigh and then asked:

"How long will it take to complete the final assembly?"

"This fuel uses a polyurethane adhesive, which is more efficient compared to the commonly used hydroxyl-terminated polybutadiene adhesive, but even so, the low-temperature baking at 50 degrees needs to continue for at least 24 hours."

"After the baking and curing are complete, I’ll start reshaping, and it should be finished within two days."

"Once finished, we can start assembling it, place it on the launch rack, and prepare for launch."

"All in all... under relatively conservative estimates, 5 days."

"In 5 days, this nuclear missile will be ready to launch."

"Not bad at all."

Chen Jian nodded in satisfaction.

"With this thing, we at least have the capability to flip the table, and our security will significantly improve."

"But first, you need to know who’s attacking you."

Lei Jie shrugged and said:

"It’s not like the old days when we had thousands of nuclear missiles at our disposal; insufficient numbers make nuclear deterrence itself a joke."

"Back when we were prosperous, we could maintain deterrence with the dead hand system; what about now?"

"Without accurately locating our enemy, this missile is basically just a big firecracker."

"Not necessarily."

Chen Jian slowly shook his head.

"Even if we really can’t find where our true enemy is, we can definitely find the most threatening place to us in the world."

"You mean Mountain City?"

Lei Jie was momentarily stunned, then asked:

"So you mean that if the situation becomes irretrievable, we should just fire this thing towards Mountain City?"

"Yes."

Chen Jian’s eyes turned somewhat solemn.

"I certainly don’t want this to happen, but I have to prepare for the worst-case scenario."

"If we truly have nowhere else to go, Mountain City is our only hope."

"What we can determine now is that it is a place completely disconnected from the world."

"It is either extraordinarily advanced or extraordinarily backward."

"Obviously, the likelihood of the former is greater."

"Thus, as long as we have the ability to threaten Mountain City, we will have the capability to muddy the waters."

"If Mountain City is the enemy, we’d be making the right move."

"If Mountain City is neutral, the moment we unveil the nuclear missile, they should be inclined towards us."

"What if they’re an ally?"

Lei Jie couldn’t help but jokingly remark, but soon he realized it was a joke that couldn’t get any colder.

Ally?

What kind of ally would still refrain from contact after the Huaxia Army had shown such obvious traits and done so many significant deeds?