Chapter 267 - 267: Jinpeng

They exited Manila Airport.

Li Qingye had taken on the appearance of a gray-haired old man, while Sangjibada Laiyal had transformed into an ordinary middle-aged woman, supporting him as they left.

Even the Black Ship sailors hidden in the airport's reception hall failed to notice anything unusual about Li Qingye.

After all, he never appeared in public with the same face, rendering even Black Ship's powerful intelligence network useless.

A gray-haired old man and his middle-aged daughter leaving in a taxi. No matter how meticulous the intelligence agents were, they would never imagine that the mastermind controlling several regions would take a cab.

In truth, Li Qingye dared to take a taxi in Manila because the taxi company itself was backed by the Homo Sapiens Company.

The driver of this particular taxi was a hand-picked Soldier, with absolutely no possibility of betrayal.

At the same time, numerous Soldiers from the Blood Blade Special Team and New Human employees were hidden within a one-kilometer radius of Li Qingye, making it nearly impossible for the slightest disturbance to escape their surveillance.

After winding through the streets, the taxi arrived at the Manila Bay Grand Hotel. Li Qingye checked into a guest room that appeared ordinary on the surface but secretly held a world of its own.

Sangjibada Laiyal quickly inspected everything inside the room before drawing the curtains.

"Fox. Crocodile."

"Awaiting your orders, Miss Jasmine," replied Crocodile, an Internal Affairs Department agent with a build similar to Li Qingye's, while remaining invisible.

Sangjibada Laiyal gave a slight wave of her hand. "Disguise yourselves as me and the Chairman, then proceed to safe house number 17."

"Yes, ma'am."

When Li Qingye came out after a shower, he and Sangjibada Laiyal opened a floor-to-ceiling mirror in the room, revealing a custom-built elevator inside.

Guest rooms like this, secretly equipped with hidden elevators, were common in many hotels and private lodgings throughout Manila.

The two of them took the elevator and departed.

Back in the room, Crocodile and Fox quickly took on the appearances of the old man and the middle-aged woman.

Below the secret elevator was Qingni Station in Underground Manila City.

The term "Lower Manila" was actually an internal naming convention for the Homo Sapiens Company. Underground base cities built around existing cities were typically given the prefix "Lower" to indicate their subterranean nature.

In other words, Lower Manila was simply the underground base city near Manila.

Upon entering Underground Manila City, Li Qingye and Sangjibada Laiyal reverted to their original appearances. Phil and his team, who had rushed over from another station, began to lay out the day's itinerary.

"Boss, the first stop today is the Flying Fish Company's Batangas Manufacturing Base."

"Lead the way," Li Qingye said, sitting down and opening his personal bio-tablet to review information on the Flying Fish Company's Batangas Manufacturing Base.

The base was located in the mountains southeast of Batangas City and specialized in producing large-scale military transport aircraft.

Via the subway, Li Qingye's group quickly reached Lower Batangas City, where they transferred to another vehicle heading for the Flying Fish Company's manufacturing base.

As the Homo Sapiens Company's first fully authorized branch, the Luzon Branch was far ahead of the Hongsawaddy and Siam Branches in technological application. Only the Assam Branch, which maintained a state of total economy, could be compared to the Luzon Branch.

After the advent of rapid excavation technology, the Homo Sapiens Company had dug a vast number of underground base cities and tunnels throughout the Luzon Islands.

Although the Luzon Islands are a high-risk earthquake zone, the Homo Sapiens Company's overwhelming advantages in excavation, subterranean construction, and rapid repair technologies offset the potential seismic risks.

Currently, the Luzon Branch had already connected Luzon Island, the Mishan Islands, Cianlan Island, and Palawan Island via underground tunnels.

An undersea tunnel was even being excavated from the southern side of Palawan Island to connect with Borneo.

Therefore, Li Qingye could travel directly from Manila to any of the major islands in the Luzon Islands without ever needing to surface.

...

They arrived at the Flying Fish Company's Batangas Manufacturing Base.

As it happened, the Flying Fish Company's General Manager, Paul, and its Technical Executive Officer, Fang Bai, were both there on business. The two of them hurried to the underground station to welcome Li Qingye.

"Chairman, welcome. We are honored by your visit," Paul said respectfully.

Li Qingye nodded. "Thank you for your hard work. I'm just here to inspect things."

"Chairman, please follow me," Paul said, quickly leading the way.

Entering the base, the first thing they saw was a vast assembly workshop where technicians in exoskeletal work suits were busily at work.

The frames of ten large transport aircraft were already assembled, with various cranes lifting components into their designated positions.

Li Qingye walked over to a viewing platform above a transporter that was nearing completion.

"So this is the Feiniao-2—the Golden Roc Transporter—that you've developed?"

Fang Bai quickly replied, "Yes, Chairman. The Golden Roc-2 is a hypersonic stealth transporter we built by drawing inspiration from the Concorde, the Tu-160, and the Valkyrie strategic bomber."

Li Qingye raised an eyebrow. "What's its speed?"

"Theoretically, its maximum speed can reach Mach 7.8, as it's equipped with four Chixin-500 burst-type turbojet engines." Fang Bai's heart pounded with anxiety.

"Theoretically?" Li Qingye understood the difficulties the aircraft development department faced. After all, Luzon was under constant surveillance by satellites in the sky and radar on the ground.

Paul quickly added, "We're planning to conduct a flight test in April."

Li Qingye didn't press them to speed up the process. The Homo Sapiens Company already had enough trump cards; a hypersonic transporter was just a minor one. He then asked:

"What about its stealth capabilities?"

Fang Bai pointed to the fine, feather-like structures on the wing. "We used nano iron-based ceramics and ultra-micro dynamic feathers. This material can withstand temperatures as high as 3,528 degrees Celsius and absorb the vast majority of electromagnetic waves."

If the Golden Roc Transporter could truly reach a hypersonic speed of Mach 7.8, its wings and nose would endure temperatures exceeding two thousand degrees Celsius. Ordinary materials wouldn't just fail to absorb radar waves; they likely couldn't even maintain their shape.

"And the cockpit's anti-G system?"

"We plan to use an enhanced version of liquid anti-G technology, designed as a special exoskeletal armor. This will ensure the pilot is not harmed by the G-forces from sudden acceleration."

Li Qingye asked about some other specifications.

Overall, the Golden Roc Transporter had a maximum takeoff weight of around 275 tons, a maximum payload of 90 tons, a maximum range of 15,000 kilometers, a maximum flight altitude of 31,000 meters, and a top speed of Mach 7.8.

It was a typical hypersonic stealth bomber (transporter).

Designs for such an aircraft had existed back in the Cold War era. The main reasons it was never built were inadequate materials and the continually increasing speed of anti-air missiles.

The reason the Flying Fish Company could design it now was due to the availability of heat-resistant materials, a sufficiently advanced stealth coating, and incredibly powerful engine propulsion.

The integration of these advantages was what made the birth of the Golden Roc Transporter possible.

Even a large phased-array radar could only detect a target with the Golden Roc Transporter's stealth technology at a range of 100 kilometers or less.

And for a transporter (bomber) with a 90-ton payload, being detected at only 100 kilometers away is tantamount to a point-blank strike.

What's even more terrifying is the Golden Roc Transporter's incredible speed. A typical anti-air missile's boost-phase speed is only around Mach 5.

This means that the vast majority of anti-air missiles can't even catch up to the Golden Roc Transporter.