Though he wished he could smash his own head to pieces, Chen Hao knew he still had to earn the money he was owed, so he began contacting the relevant organizations.
Ordinarily, such a request would be difficult to fulfill. However, considering the traditional friendship between the bearded men and China, and the fact that aerial photography was not a particularly dangerous activity, the approval was granted.
The next day, the bearded men visited another aviation company.
It was commonly perceived that China's airspace was strictly controlled, making it difficult to see helicopters or similar aircraft flying overhead. However, China actually had quite a few aviation companies, including one owned by a Middle Easterner that specialized in helicopter services.
This particular company differed from most others on the market as it catered exclusively to the royal families of the bearded men's country, ensuring that royal members could receive prompt and comprehensive flight services in any nation.
Soon, with the arrangements made by the staff, a large helicopter was prepared. After passing various inspections, the group boarded the helicopter and flew directly towards the Bird's Nest.
The helicopter's takeoff time was clearly meticulously planned. As they arrived above the Bird's Nest, the Panghu Homeland was in the midst of its performance.
The stands were packed, with 90,000 spectators filling every seat. Upon closer inspection, it was evident that the majority of these spectators were foreign faces, predominantly Caucasians who had traveled from various European and American countries. They watched with excitement as the colossal entity in the center of the stadium performed.
The roar of the helicopter from the sky caused a stir among the audience. However, helicopters were not an entirely novel sight, so while the Chinese attendees expressed surprise, guests from other nations were relatively unfazed, quickly refocusing their attention on Panghu in the stadium's center.
However, Huang He, inside the cockpit, knitted his brows.
Contrary to the common imagination of piloting through screens, the external scene inside the cockpit was entirely real.
The cockpit itself was a perfect circle. At eight positions around Huang He's pilot seat—front, back, left, right, up, and down—eight projectors were installed.
These eight projectors could perfectly cover the interior of the spherical cockpit. Simultaneously, each of the eight projectors was connected to 108 cameras located outside the Panghu Homeland.
These high-precision cameras captured high-definition footage of the exterior from all angles, without blind spots, with clarity even exceeding that of the human eye.
Subsequently, through specialized computing software, the footage from the 108 cameras was compiled and transmitted to the eight projectors, which then cast the images onto the cockpit's walls.
These walls were constructed from special metal with high reflectivity, allowing for the perfect display of the projected images, capturing even the smallest detail with crystal clarity.
Huang Laoban, situated at the center of the cockpit, had a 360-degree, unobstructed view of everything happening around the Panghu Homeland. Even situations in the sky were visible with a mere upward glance.
Naturally, if needed, Huang Laoban could use the shortcuts at his fingertips to quickly zoom in on any specific area for more precise analysis.
However, this function was rarely required, as humans were accustomed to observing with their own eyes.
Therefore, when the helicopter appeared in the sky, Huang Laoban was the first to notice the unexpected arrival, which irritated him. It wasn't the presence of something flying overhead that bothered him, but rather the fact that he was unaware of it.
Simultaneously, Huang He immediately used the built-in communication system to contact the external control center, inquiring about what was happening and where the helicopter had come from.
The control center, however, was unable to ascertain the helicopter's origin within a short timeframe, requiring multiple layers of inquiry to establish its presence.
Despite his displeasure, Huang Laoban could not simply punch the helicopter out of the sky; after all, his reach was limited.
Meanwhile, inside the helicopter, the bearded man and Chen Hao, among others, gazed in awe at the colossal figure on the ground.
Although they had seen countless related videos online, viewing the giant from the air offered an entirely different experience. The immense sense of shock brought about by this change in perspective was something those on the ground could not fully appreciate.
Their astonishment grew as they witnessed the Panghu Homeland performing various precise movements and actions.
Chen Hao himself was equally impressed. This was his first time seeing the colossal structure with his own eyes, and the visual impact was no less profound than for anyone else.
"Chen, we need this. I must buy it, even if I have to take leave and do it on the spot!" the bearded man exclaimed excitedly. After only a few moments of observation, he was completely captivated by this behemoth. It was undoubtedly a miracle from God!
"Alright, we will fully cooperate!" Chen Hao nodded and prepared to have the helicopter pilot land on the Bird's Nest's helipad. As a professional stadium, it was naturally equipped with such facilities.
However, before Chen Hao could finish speaking, the bearded man quickly commanded in Arabic, "Lower the altitude, descend as low as possible. I want to see it more clearly!"
"Sir, you cannot do that, it's too dangerous!" Chen Hao protested urgently. However, the bearded man's attitude was unyielding, and the pilot was one of their own, so he promptly chose to obey the bearded man's orders.
The helicopter's altitude quickly began to decrease, finally settling at about 100 meters above the Bird's Nest, which was already a perilously low altitude.
Huang Laoban, below, clearly sensed the helicopter's continuous descent and grew increasingly annoyed with the buzzing intruder, casting glances at the humming aircraft from time to time.
Suddenly, Huang Laoban noticed something amiss with the helicopter's posture.
"Magnify the image in front of me!" Huang Laoban commanded, simultaneously pressing a shortcut key. The helmet he was wearing immediately tracked the direction of Huang Laoban's gaze, enlarging the image of that area and displaying it directly in front of him. The entire helicopter came into clear view.
The helicopter's tail rotor… it seemed to have stopped!
Upon closer inspection, Huang Laoban was astounded to discover that the helicopter's tail rotor had ceased to rotate.
As is widely known, a helicopter typically features a main rotor and a tail rotor, or tail fin.
The large rotor overhead is the main rotor, which generates lift through its rotation, allowing the helicopter to fly, similar to a traditional toy bamboo spinner.
However, with only a main rotor, a helicopter could ascend, but changing its direction and attitude in the air would be difficult, hence the need for a tail rotor to assist.
The tail rotor's force is used to adjust the helicopter's attitude, enabling movement and directional changes in the air.
Both rotors are crucial. If the main rotor loses functionality and stops rotating, the entire helicopter will enter a freefall, inevitably leading to the death of its crew.
If the tail rotor stops rotating, the situation is less dire. Under favorable weather conditions, a highly skilled pilot could potentially land the helicopter by controlling only the main rotor.
At the very least, this would prevent the helicopter from losing lift and entering a fatal freefall.
Presently, the helicopter was facing the latter scenario. The bearded man, who moments before had been admiring the colossal figure's invincible posture, suddenly felt the entire fuselage shake violently, and he was pinned to his seat by immense gravitational force.
At the same time, he heard the pilot's panicked voice: "It's no good, the tail rotor has stopped rotating, we've lost our tail rotor."
"Then emergency land! Emergency land!" The bearded man, being a frequent helicopter passenger, understood the immense danger posed by a malfunctioning tail rotor and how to react to avoid it.
"Forget the damn tail rotor, and don't worry about the fuselage spinning. Just get the plane down slowly, don't crash directly onto the ground!" the bearded man commanded the pilot, his voice a mixture of fear and a semblance of calm.
The pilot nodded. Even without the bearded man's instructions, he knew what to do. However, the bearded man's words did manage to calm him slightly.
But with the complete loss of the tail rotor, maintaining attitude solely through the main rotor was an extremely challenging task.
If the pilot were an experienced veteran who had undergone relevant training, or even personally experienced a tail rotor failure, the situation might have been different.
However, although this pilot was a graduate of a formal institution, since arriving in China, he had only served his own Middle Eastern family. Consequently, he rarely flew a plane more than a few times a month, and regular flight training had naturally fallen by the wayside.
To expect him to rectify the situation now and skillfully operate the helicopter was, therefore, an exceedingly difficult undertaking.
Thus, even though for the initial few seconds, the pilot did manage to control the helicopter's slow descent, a violent gust of air current caused the entire helicopter to completely lose balance and begin accelerating downwards at a perceivable speed.
"We're all going to die!" the bearded man despaired, knowing there was no escape.
"I haven't even paid off my mortgage yet!" Chen Hao cried out in agony, closing his eyes.