A week later, a strangely shaped vehicle slowly drove into the test site.
It was the first tracked tractor manufactured and assembled by the Industrial Department of Neverwinter City, based on the complete set of drawings and technical guidance provided by the Graypot Design Bureau. However, apart from the chassis being the same, its appearance was completely different from the prototype. The vehicle was surrounded by thick armor plates, looking like a mobile square box at first glance.
After driving into the epicenter area, it stopped in front of the melted iron tower for about half an hour, then turned around and drove south along the original route.
After driving about five kilometers, a wheeled truck approached and took away all the personnel on the vehicle, while the square box tractor was directly abandoned in the snow.
This group of people traveled around and returned to Neverwinter City from the Great Snow Mountain the next day.
Roland, who received the news, summoned them to the castle as soon as possible.
"How was it? Did you encounter any accidents?"
"Your Majesty, please rest assured, everything went very smoothly." Phyllis smiled and presented a rune seal to him, "Asha quickly located the scene at that time, and we stayed for a shorter time than expected."
"Be-because there is a specific time point, so it's not too difficult," Asha said shyly, "Compared to other sisters, my control over my abilities is relatively poor..."
"Alright, stop being modest."
"I-it's true..."
Roland took the rune seal, but his expression remained serious. He turned his head to look at Momo beside him, "Thank you for your trouble."
"No, you overestimate me, Your Majesty." Momo covered one eye with her hand to avoid seeing the King, and used her ability at the same time. After a moment, she lowered her hand and bowed to Roland, "Everyone's numbers and colors have not changed significantly, and are basically the same as when they set off."
Only then did Roland breathe a sigh of relief and smiled slightly, "Thank you all for your hard work."
"You too," the witches replied in unison.
"The reception hall has prepared meals, and Chaos Drinks are available in unlimited quantities. Everyone should fill their stomachs first." He shook his head with a smile, looking at the delighted crowd. As for the Taquila witches who participated in the operation, they were basically regulars of the Dream World, so there was no need to give any extra rewards.
Using Asha's ability to rewind time and observe the instantaneous changes when weapons take effect at close range has always been the most relied upon improvement method of the Engineering Department. By adjusting the rewind speed, it is possible to clearly understand the state changes of the target object at every moment, and most problems and omissions can be seen at a glance.
However, as mentioned before, the Sun's Radiance is different from other weapons, especially the dirty bomb with incomplete reactions. Many substances emitting deadly radiation will remain on site. If you enter rashly, you will undoubtedly suffer a huge amount of radiation damage.
For this reason, Roland did not hesitate to invest the first prototype tracked tractor into it and modified it into a radiation-proof vehicle. Its left, right, rear and bottom plates were covered with multiple layers of lead plates, with gold foil and beryllium sheets sandwiched in between, with an overall thickness of up to ten centimeters, giving it a high degree of shielding against photons, electrons and neutron beams. Only the steam engine powered by the magic cube can bear the structural weight brought about by comprehensive protection.
In addition, the vehicle has its own oxygen supply, which is almost completely isolated from the outside world, avoiding the risk of radioactive dust entering the vehicle through the ventilation channels. In order to observe the scene during the explosion, a huge leaded glass was installed in the front of the vehicle, with a thickness of up to a staggering thirty centimeters.
Considering that entering and exiting the test site may cause the tracks and armor to be contaminated, he also specifically requested that the vehicle be replaced immediately once the personnel were sent out of the most dangerous core area, and the former be directly abandoned in the snow.
It can be said that Roland used all the safety measures he could think of, but even so, he still found it difficult to feel at ease.
Fortunately, the final result showed that this observation operation was a complete success.
After obtaining first-hand information from the scene, Roland immediately began research with Anna and Celine.
...
Using the Time Rune Seal to repeatedly play back the rewound scene slowed down hundreds of times, the defects of the No. 1 principle device gradually surfaced.
"Our explosives are too poor," Anna said in a low voice.
"I can see it too. The explosive impact doesn't seem to be successfully transmitted to the 'chamber'," Celine tapped her main tendril, "Can we use batch detonation to improve this problem?"
"I'm afraid there is little hope in the short term." Roland rubbed his sore eyes. After watching the explosion records on site for two consecutive days, he felt that the whole world was only left with blue and white colors.
Although he had expected the problem of explosives, he did not expect it to be so obvious.
Neverwinter City has been mass-producing double-base smokeless gunpowder, although its energy and detonation velocity are not as strong as high explosives such as RDX, it is enough for the army. Even if the power is insufficient, it can be compensated by quantity. However, when placed in the principle device, the trouble becomes apparent.
More than a thousand kilograms of explosives is by no means a point on the design drawing. When stacked, it is as big as a safe. In order to transmit the explosive energy to the uranium block, Roland also specially made a lens similar to a funnel, hoping to gather the impact as much as possible.
There was nothing wrong with this idea, but the situation occurred before the detonation reached this step. Because the overall volume of the explosive package was too large, and each point was detonated at the same time, the shock waves generated by the front and rear explosives canceled each other out a lot. This can be clearly seen in the rewind slow motion. The shock waves that collided with each other caused the entire steel lens and even the outer shell to undergo violent deformation, which means that a large amount of energy acted outside the 'chamber', and the energy to push the uranium block was naturally much less.
What followed was a chain reaction.
Insufficient pressure in the chamber caused the fission to stop quickly, and most of the uranium was vaporized by the high temperature, which indirectly weakened the effect of the neutron source.
"We can only think of other ways." Roland spread his hands. Without electronic detonation control technology, it is almost impossible to sequentially ignite all the explosives within a thousandth of a second so that the front and rear shock waves overlap. Even if high explosives are used instead, this problem can only be improved but not eradicated.
He could let the Chemical Department try to study low-speed explosives and place them in front of the lens to minimize the mutual influence between the explosives, but this process may require a lot of experiments to adjust, and it is still uncertain whether it will be successful. The most reliable approach now is obviously to compensate for the lack of detonation technology through configuration design.
"It seems I have to work overtime again tonight." He stretched his waist and said weakly.
"I'll be with you." Anna smiled, "How about a Blackfire massage as a reward?"
"Suddenly I feel full of energy," Roland cheered up, "Are there any other rewards?"
"Like which one?"
"Let me think... Oh, right, what about the one you mentioned last time..."
Is this also knowledge learned from the Dream World...
Celine covered her slightly flushed face with her main tendril and quietly left the North Slope Laboratory.