UAAG CH50

In the dimly lit room, the air stagnated for a moment.

Fu Cheng pursed his lips and awkwardly looked away.

The person who was exposed had no reaction at all. His gaze lingered on the young man’s stiff profile for a few seconds before a teasing glint flashed in Zhuo Huan’s eyes. He leaned in close and whispered, “What did you see?”

Fu Cheng: “…”

Zhuo Huan: “Consider it my loss.”

Fu Cheng kept his head turned and didn’t answer.

Zhuo Huan laughed, ceasing his teasing. He freed his hands and started typing rapidly on the keyboard. While typing, he said, “The possibility of relying entirely on calculations to find the exact location of Rogue 318 is infinitely close to zero.”

Fu Cheng turned his head back. “But you just said you wanted to calculate where Rogue 318 is.”

As expected, he’s very interested in this?

The thought flashed through Zhuo Huan’s mind. He gave a soft “Mn” without turning to look at the young man lying beside him, continuing to type. “Calculating where it is means calculating its approximate location. Do you know how big the Pacific Ocean is?” Without waiting for Fu Cheng to answer, he continued, “181.34 million square kilometers. Do you know what that concept means? The total land area of the Earth is about 149 million square kilometers. Even if we exclude the vast majority of the Pacific… well, no matter how a plane moves with the currents, it’s impossible for it to drift from Canada to Australia.”

“Considering only the waters near the west coast of Canada, the search area given by the NTSB is 5 million square kilometers.”

“It’s as big as half of China.”

Pressing the “Enter” key, Zhuo Huan turned around and looked at Fu Cheng. “Can you find a plane in a map the size of half of China?”

Fu Cheng: “…Impossible.”

“Right, even you know it’s impossible.”

Fu Cheng frowned: Even me?

Zhuo Huan seemed unaware of the mockery inherent in his words. He stretched his neck and said lazily, “So, through calculation, we narrow down this range. When the range is narrowed down to only 10,000 square kilometers… it can definitely be found.”

After a while.

Fu Cheng: “Have you been doing this alone since the investigation was announced to be stopped, Teacher Zhuo?”

Zhuo Huan: “Alone? Of course not. I’m not a professional oceanographer, ocean current expert, or meteorologist… There are specializations in every field. Several people are doing this together.” He raised an eyebrow, somewhat surprised. “I was emailing Robert Gatsby just now; didn’t you see? You don’t know him?”

Fu Cheng: “…”

“Should I know him?”

His clear, narrow eyes slowly widened. After a long while, Zhuo Huan said, “Oh, he won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2006. The supercomputer at the University of California, San Diego is run by his lab. After our initial calculations, he inputs all the data into the supercomputer for the final calculation.”

Fu Cheng: “…Mn.”

Zhuo Huan laughed out loud.

Expressionless, Fu Cheng crawled up from the bed, picked up the pants that had fallen on the floor, and handed them to a certain someone.

The man lying on the bed, however, showed no intention of taking them. Instead, the corners of his mouth hooked up. “Before you put on pants, don’t you put on underwear?”

Fu Cheng: “…”

Another email arrived, and Zhuo Huan immediately looked at the computer. Without lifting his head, he ordered Fu Cheng, “Get me a clean pair of underwear from my suitcase. Where did I put the suitcase… hmm? Boussinesq approximation repeated…” He put down the laptop, fished his phone out from under the duvet where he’d tossed it who-knows-where, found a number, and dialed. “Robert, yeah, it’s me. If we re-derive, the eddy viscosity parameter in the equation under conditions of upwelling density changes and excessive thermal difference…”

Fu Cheng walked out of the room into the living room and found the suitcase leaning against the corner. He took out a clean pair of underwear and returned to the room. Zhuo Huan was bare-chested, leaning against the headboard, the duvet casually covering his waist, one leg extended outside the bed. Seeing Fu Cheng enter, he reached out, took the underwear from his hand, lifted the duvet, and put it on directly.

“Calculation anomaly, consider the eddy viscosity parameter issue. My suggestion is…”

He put on his pants, then grabbed a clean T-shirt from the sofa and pulled it on roughly.

It was five minutes later when Zhuo Huan hung up the phone.

Fu Cheng looked up at him. “I already told Lina to let them go first. We’ll take a taxi over in a bit.”

Zhuo Huan paused. He tilted his head, gazing at the young man before him. “Do you want to do something with me?”

Fu Cheng didn’t answer him directly but said, “Professor Robert Gatsby—I just looked up his information on Google. He’s a very impressive physicist.”

Zhuo Huan chuckled. “Am I not impressive?”

After a moment of silence, Fu Cheng looked at Zhuo Huan. “Teacher Zhuo, can you find it?”

The young man’s clean, beautiful pupils reflected clear, bright colors. It was quiet and peaceful, yet silently, he looked unblinkingly at Zhuo Huan. There were clearly many answers he could casually pick to respond to this question. But Zhuo Huan’s heart moved slightly. The young man’s expression was calm and composed, yet he saw a stubbornness and determination like bamboo.

After a long time, Zhuo Huan said, “When you look for something lost, do you think about finding it immediately?”

Fu Cheng: “No.”

Zhuo Huan walked barefoot on the carpet to Fu Cheng’s side. He leaned forward slightly, and Fu Cheng held his breath.

Reaching past the young man, he took a watch placed on the chair behind Fu Cheng. It was the one the three of them had given him for his birthday last week.

Straightening up and fastening the watch, Zhuo Huan reached out. He lifted Fu Cheng’s chin with his fingers, forcing him to meet his gaze.

The man’s voice was low, slow, and pleasant, speaking every inch with an ambiguously husky tone.

“Just like before I get to fuck you, I also did a lot of things. These things seemed meaningless, none of them allowing me to fuck you immediately… but the result is inevitable. I will fuck you, and I will also find Rogue 318.”

Eyes meeting, Zhuo Huan quietly scrutinized the young man looking up at him, but he couldn’t discern any emotion from his calm gaze.

He laughed once, released Fu Cheng’s chin, put on his shoes, and walked toward the bathroom.

Zhuo Huan: “Have the front desk call a car first. I’ll be ready soon.”

Fu Cheng: “Mn.”

The moment the bathroom door closed, the young man’s originally composed expression suddenly cracked. The hand holding the phone trembled slightly, and the tips of his ears inevitably turned red. His chest heaved up and down, but his face still tried its best to maintain a calm expression. He panted slightly, then buried his face in his palms.

Ten minutes later, the two went out together.

When they arrived at the investigation headquarters, Lina was watering the flowers.

Zhuo Huan: “When did you buy flowers?”

Lina smiled gently. “I bought them the first day we arrived. Reid, this is called the joy of life. The old you didn’t have eyes to discover beauty, so you couldn’t see it. I’m very happy that today you possess such eyes. Unfortunately, while you can discover beauty, correspondingly, you have lost your taste.” She pointed to the watch on Zhuo Huan’s wrist. “Patek Philippe doesn’t match a T-shirt at all, especially not the one you’re wearing.”

Zhuo Huan didn’t care, casually picking up a cup of coffee. “I’m not wearing it for you to see; I’m wearing it for someone else.”

Lina raised her slender eyebrows. Seeing Fu Cheng enter as well, she said to him, “Fu, Reid says he’s not wearing it for me, so is he wearing it for you?”

Fu Cheng turned his head to look at Zhuo Huan. “Teacher Zhuo, is this a bad joke?”

Zhuo Huan: “If you say it is, then it is.”

Fu Cheng: “Oh, then it’s not very funny.”

Zhuo Huan glanced at him and said to Lina, “In an hour, notify them to have a meeting. We officially start the investigation.”

Lina: “Okay.”

An hour later, GCAA Investigation Headquarters, Conference Room.

Old Joseph stood in front of a large whiteboard, explaining the specific details of the Emirates Flight 411 crash to all the investigators present. Since everyone had already finished reading the 96 boxes of investigation materials, Old Joseph spoke very easily, and no one raised any objections.

After finishing, Lina said, “GCAA contacted the NTSB yesterday at noon and informed them of the situation. As far as I know, the NTSB sent people over this morning; they should arrive in Dubai tomorrow. Reid, they are coming with documents.”

Zhuo Huan: “OK, what about the plane wreckage?” He looked at Fu Cheng.

Fu Cheng and Maha exchanged a glance, and the latter brought up a large cardboard box from under the table.

Fu Cheng said, “The Emirates Flight 411 crash was an accident from twenty-three years ago. Due to the intense explosion, the plane wreckage was destroyed almost to pieces. Therefore, the GCAA didn’t preserve the wreckage completely at the time, only keeping a part of the engine, which is what you see now. This is the only thing left of the right engine. After the explosion… only this much remained.”

Inside the box was a transparent rectangular glass frame containing a black metal object measuring 50 cm in length and width, and 30 cm in height. It was charred black all over and blasted out of shape; even Zhuo Huan looked at it for a minute without recognizing which part of the engine it belonged to.

Maha said, “Emirates is our country’s most outstanding airline. The 411 crash was the most tragic and severe accident since its establishment. Emirates has assured me that they will fully support the reinvestigation of the accident. They also want to know the truth.” He paused, then added, “This full support includes financial support.”

Zhuo Huan raised an eyebrow. “Does it include giving a Boeing 777 for research?”

Maha froze. “Th-this… I’m not sure about this. But I can contact the person in charge over there and ask if it’s possible.”

Zhuo Huan: “Then contact them now.”

Maha: “Huh?” He thought Zhuo Huan was joking.

Zhuo Huan: “Does full support not include giving a Boeing 777?”

Only then did Maha realize that Master Zhuo seriously wanted to ask Emirates for a Boeing 777 to study. With a complicated expression, he nodded and stood up. “I’ll go call them right now.”

Everyone present: “…”

As if not feeling there was anything wrong with asking for a plane worth over a hundred million dollars as soon as he opened his mouth, Zhuo Huan stood up, walked to the whiteboard, and wrote down a word—

Fragment.

“The NTSB people haven’t arrived yet, and the Boeing 777 provided by Emirates hasn’t come either…”

Everyone: “…”

Are you that sure Emirates will just give you a Boeing 777 to study casually?!

Where do you get your confidence!

Zhuo Huan continued, “First, we must determine the chronological order. Was it this palm-sized fragment located on the right flap that flew out of the fuselage first; and then, inside the low-pressure chamber of the right engine, the fan blade suddenly broke? Or at least, these two events could have happened simultaneously, but it is absolutely impossible for the latter to happen first.”

“Then the question arises…”

“Under what circumstances would a Boeing 777 that had only been in service for one year experience metal material breakage on the upper surface of the wing flap?”

“This is the answer you need to find.”

“Okay, meeting adjourned.”

Zhuo Huan announced the task, and everyone inside the investigation headquarters began to study this problem.

Su Fei pondered for a long time, then suddenly said, “I’ve got it.”

Everyone from UAAG looked at him in unison.

The punk teenager was no longer as rebellious and unique as when they first met. He had removed the three studs on his ear, leaving only a black skull one. At this moment, he touched the black skull on his earlobe, coughed, and said, “Disclaimer first: I’m still young, I’m a minor, and I lack experience! I’m just offering a guess; if I’m wrong, you’re not allowed to laugh!”

Everyone: “We won’t laugh at you.”

Su Fei got energized and said enthusiastically, “The simplest answer to this question is a maintenance error!”

Fu Cheng frowned slightly.

Su Fei said, “Wasn’t last year’s Martha Airlines Flight 123 crash caused by a maintenance problem with the plane, using the wrong size screwdriver, which eventually led to the tail falling off mid-air? Sorry, Lina, I didn’t mean to bring this up to make you sad; I’m just giving an example.”

Lina shook her head. “It’s okay.”

Old Joseph smiled slightly and stroked his chin. “The answer you gave is actually the most likely one.”

Su Fei’s eyes lit up. “Right?!”

Old Joseph: “In 1989, United Airlines Flight 232 crash. A DC-10 flying from Denver to Chicago crashed in Sioux City. The cause of the accident was a sudden fracture of the engine fan blade, which cut through the tail and all the hydraulic systems on board… Oh, the fracture of that fan blade wasn’t a maintenance error, but a flaw from the initial manufacturing. But your suggestion that a maintenance error caused the metal material on the plane’s surface to peel off is very likely.”

Su Fei felt encouraged and nodded. “Hearing you say that, I feel even more justified. Look, the chronological order of events is like this. First, the metal surface of the flap peeled off, and then didn’t it fly away? Actually! It didn’t really fly away; it flew under the plane and got sucked into the engine!”

Old Joseph clapped his hands. “And then this fragment cut the low-pressure fan blade of the plane, finally causing the crash?”

Su Fei: “Right?!”

Fu Cheng said helplessly, “Stop teasing him, Old Joseph.”

Old Joseph burst out laughing.

Su Fei: “…???”

Su Fei was a computer science major. No one knew why a Turing Award nominee like him got involved in aircraft accident investigations, and moreover, had such profound research on black boxes. But undoubtedly, he didn’t know much about aircraft themselves; most of his knowledge was learned on the fly over the past half-year.

Fu Cheng explained, “The Sioux City crash was a fan blade breaking and severing the tail. But your speculation won’t work. A low-pressure fan blade can fly out of the engine, but nothing can fly into the engine and sever its low-pressure fan blade. Because when it passes through the engine’s fuel chamber, it would definitely have been burned to ashes.” His voice paused, and Fu Cheng concluded, “In short, a fragment peeling off the flap absolutely cannot cause the engine fan blade to break.”

Su Fei: “…”

The punk teenager turned his head and glared at Old Joseph. “You were laughing at me on purpose!”

Old Joseph looked extremely innocent.

Fu Cheng: “Actually, Su Fei’s guess is indeed the most likely cause.”

Everyone looked at him together.

Fu Cheng pondered for a moment and said, “For a plane’s outer surface to peel off, the most likely reason is, of course, a quality issue with the plane itself. Such as the manufacturing flaw in the Sioux City crash, or the wrong screw used during maintenance in the Martha Airlines Flight 123 crash. The former is a Boeing manufacturing issue, and the latter is an Emirates maintenance issue. Hmm, it definitely isn’t an Emirates maintenance issue; it can only be a Boeing manufacturing issue.”

Su Fei asked in surprise, “Why isn’t it an Emirates maintenance issue?”

Before Fu Cheng could speak, Lina smiled first. “Su Fei, do you know the top ten safest airlines in the world?”

Su Fei shook his head.

Lina: “Emirates Airlines ranks in the top three. Aircraft accidents are unavoidable; no one dares to say an accident will definitely not happen. Eliminating crashes is impossible. But reducing the probability of crashes isn’t impossible. Money is a good thing.”

Fu Cheng nodded. “Every civil aviation pilot in the world knows that the happiest pilots are Emirates pilots. Do you know what the average age of Emirates’ aircraft is?”

A cool male voice sounded not far from everyone: “How much?”

Unexpectedly, Zhuo Huan was also interested in this. Fu Cheng froze for a moment, then turned to look at him: “55 months.”

Zhuo Huan was actually stunned.

Old Joseph whistled directly.

Su Fei: “Holy sh*t, 55 months? 4 years and 7 months?!”

Fu Cheng nodded. “Yes, just 4 years and 7 months. First, Emirates absolutely cannot have second-hand aircraft. They won’t buy phased-out planes from any other airline; all the planes they use are ordered directly from Boeing, McFly, and Airbus. No small planes, all large aircraft. Second, from the time a plane enters the Emirates apron to the time it is sold by Emirates, the average interval is only 4 years and 7 months. The service life of a plane is certainly not just a short 55 months; it can be used for ten, twenty, or even thirty years without problems. But undoubtedly, the safety index of a new plane is always more trustworthy than an old one.”

Su Fei: “I get it. So, since they are willing to spend money to phase out a plane every four years, Emirates must be willing to spend heavily on maintenance and absolutely wouldn’t cut corners to save money… How much f*cking money does that cost? Evil capitalists!”

Fu Cheng: “You can’t say that either. If they were truly purely capitalist, they wouldn’t be willing to spend so much money buying and repairing planes. For example, with American Airlines or Japan Airlines, if a plane has a maintenance issue, there are two choices—buy a new part or continue repairing. They will definitely choose the latter. Because the former costs millions or even tens of millions of dollars, while the latter is a hundred times cheaper. But Emirates is different. Similarly, when I was at Donghua Airlines, Donghua Airlines was the same.”

Old Joseph glanced at him and couldn’t help but agree. “Although I used to be an American Airlines pilot, Fu, I agree with you. Your Chinese airlines are really willing to spend on repairs, and generally, the fleet age is also very short, not much longer than Emirates. This is well known in the industry.”

Fu Cheng smiled. “That’s why our air crashes in China are also rare. Because in China, human life is greater than the heavens. We’d rather spend tens or hundreds of millions usually than have a single crash. There are many reasons behind this, but regardless, the outcome is good; China’s planes are very safe.”

Returning to the topic, Old Joseph coughed and stopped teasing Su Fei. “If it’s just the flap’s outer surface material peeling off, I believe it could be a Boeing manufacturing issue. If it’s just the engine blade breaking, I also believe it could be a Rolls-Royce manufacturing issue. But now that both happened together…”

Everyone fell into deep thought again.

Fu Cheng suddenly turned around. “Teacher Zhuo, do you have any ideas?”

Zhuo Huan sat by the window, chewing gum while looking solemnly at the 3D structural diagram of the Boeing 777 on the computer screen. Suddenly hearing his name mentioned, he looked up at Fu Cheng.

Their gazes met in the air.

Zhuo Huan twirled a pen in his fingers and smiled nonchalantly. “Four of you, one of me… Now, you’re asking me?”

Lina raised her hand and smiled. “Don’t count me; I don’t understand anything, I’m an outsider.”

Su Fei quickly pulled his chair back too. “Don’t count me either; I’m a minor, I’m still a child!”

Zhuo Huan raised an eyebrow, but he still didn’t answer directly. Instead, he asked Fu Cheng, “What do you think?”

Fu Cheng thought for a long time and said seriously, “Two events. If only one happened, there could be many reasons. But since both happened simultaneously, I think… the cause leading to the flap surface cracking and the engine blade breaking must be the same one.”

Old Joseph’s eyes lit up. “One thing cut both the plane’s outer surface and the engine? In 2000, Air France Flight 4590 crash. A supersonic Concorde caught fire in the left engine right after takeoff and eventually crashed. The investigation found that a long metal strip dropped by the previous plane was left on the runway. It cut the Air France tire, and tire fragments cut the fuel tank and cables, eventually causing the fire…” Just as he finished speaking, Old Joseph stunned himself. He shook his head. “No, Emirates 411 caught fire suddenly in the air; it has nothing to do with a previous plane.”

Fu Cheng: “In fact, before 411 took off, the runway underwent a detailed inspection, and there were no residual foreign objects.”

Old Joseph smiled bitterly. “And I can’t think of any foreign object that could pass through the Boeing 777’s fuel chamber and cut its fan blade.”

“Heh, then go think.”

Everyone turned around to look at the person sitting by the window.

Zhuo Huan lowered his eyelids, his gaze sweeping over the 3D structural diagram of that Boeing 777 on the computer screen.

“Contact Rolls-Royce.”

Although he didn’t call her name, Lina knew he was calling her. She smiled and stood up. “Okay. What do you want me to contact them for?”

Zhuo Huan raised his head. “Ask them to provide a Trent 800 engine for an experiment.”

Lina pretended to be surprised. “Just like that? Will they give it?”

As if hearing something funny, Zhuo Huan curled his lips. “Twenty-three years ago, they suffered a big loss, being wrongly accused of product quality issues by the joint hands of Boeing and the NTSB… You tell me, will they give it now?”

Lina laughed. “Reid, you really are a bad person.”

Zhuo Huan: “Oh, I’m bad, but people still like me anyway.” Saying this, he glanced indifferently at Fu Cheng.

Fu Cheng leaned back in his chair, looking at him calmly.

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