UAAG CH65

It was already early morning when they got into the car arranged by McFly.

The UAAG group didn’t go to the McFly factory immediately but went to the hotel first.

In the car, even Su Fei could see that Lord Zhuo’s mood seemed very bad. In fact, Zhuo Huan never seemed to be in a very good mood every day, but today his face was exceptionally bad, especially after Lina finished that sentence.

Su Fei asked cautiously, “Lina, does RIP have a bad relationship with his family?”

From the beginning, Zhuo Huan was very reluctant to come to Los Angeles. If McFly’s chief designer, Mr. Renner, hadn’t called him personally, there was no doubt he wouldn’t have made this trip. Now that his family knew about his arrival in Los Angeles, this was his reaction.

Fu Cheng quietly glanced at the man beside him.

Zhuo Huan folded his arms, leaned his head back, and rested with his eyes closed against the back seat. Su Fei’s voice was extremely low, but the car cabin was only so big; it inevitably fell into this man’s ears. Yet he acted as if he hadn’t heard, offering not a single opinion.

Lina glanced at Zhuo Huan and answered with a smile, “What do you think?”

Su Fei was confused.

After getting out of the car, Old Joseph patted the punk boy’s head speechlessly and said, “Has your brain been solely dedicated to IQ? Dear Fly, use your brain juice to think. Since Reid’s home is in Los Angeles, and he’s going to the hotel with us now instead of going straight home… Do you think this family relationship can be good?”

Su Fei: “…”

“Does Teacher Zhuo have a bad relationship with his father?” Fu Cheng asked.

Lord Zhuo had already put his hands in his pockets, taken a large stride into the hotel lobby, and had no intention of saying another word to his companions.

Regarding Fu Cheng’s question, Su Fei and Old Joseph were also very curious and looked at Lina.

Lina furrowed her delicate brows in thought for a moment, then smiled: “It shouldn’t be considered bad. Uncle Patrick is a very interesting person. He never gets angry. At least since I was little, I’ve never seen him angry. He… well… if you meet him one day, I think you’ll understand. He is a true gentleman, in every sense.”

A 20-hour flight, crossing sixteen time zones.

After resting in the hotel for a day to adjust to the jet lag, on the morning of the third day, McFly sent a car to the hotel entrance to pick everyone up and take them to the McFly factory in Burbank.

They were received by a middle-aged man in a suit with a face full of smiles. His crisp light-colored suit was ironed neatly and cleanly. His blond hair was slicked back with gel, though his hair volume was sparse. Waiting for everyone at the first security gate, he bowed and smiled upon seeing Zhuo Huan: “Mr. Patrick.”

Then, he introduced himself: “Good morning, colleagues of UAAG. I am Johnny Berkeley from McFly’s Public Relations Department. I will now take everyone into the factory.” As his voice fell, he took out his ID badge and swiped open the first security gate.

The group continued forward by car, passed through three more checkpoints, and finally arrived at a tall, spacious factory building with a reddish-brown roof.

Zhuo Huan raised an eyebrow: “In E3?”

Johnny nodded enthusiastically: “Yes, most of the McFly F475neo refurbishment plan is being modified in the E3 factory.”

For Zhuo Huan, this place was simply known like the back of his hand.

Most of McFly’s civil airliners were designed and researched here.

Design teams of thousands of people researched planes one by one in Burbank. They spent ten, twenty years designing it. Finally, the first test plane was built here. After this plane underwent hundreds of successful flights, it would then be put into McFly’s aircraft manufacturing plant in the southern United States for large-scale mass production.

The McFly Berkeley factory is the cradle where all McFly aircraft are born.

Upon entering the factory, what came into view was a tall McFly F475.

Previously, Zhuo Huan said the F475 was a medium-sized airliner, compared to the F485 and Boeing 777. In fact, it was also a giant aircraft, with a minimum passenger capacity of over 200 people.

Designers and workers wearing white lab coats surrounded the aircraft, constantly collecting data and analyzing it on computers. Seeing Zhuo Huan and his group, they stopped their actions one after another and cast glances. However, facing this former McFly chief designer, they didn’t have any more words or reactions and continued back to their work.

Everything was orderly, operating at the highest efficiency.

Fu Cheng glanced at Zhuo Huan and saw him with hands in his pockets, looking calm and expressionless.

No excitement, no nostalgia; there was only a near-heartless, cold calmness.

Old Joseph: “Previously, we saw in the documents on the plane that during the first test flight, the F475neo’s landing gear was scrapped, and the tires exploded directly. Is this that neo?” His gaze slid down, “Its tires seem intact.”

Johnny smiled: “Because we have already replaced the tires. The scrapped landing gear is currently in the laboratory. Please follow me.”

Taking the elevator to the third floor, they arrived at the laboratory.

Through the large tempered glass, two designers in lab coats were conducting detailed scanning and testing on a huge, burst tire in one laboratory; in the other two laboratories were shock struts completely twisted by huge impact force.

Old Joseph: “Tires and oleo-pneumatic shock struts… are these the only two things?”

Johnny smiled at him: “Yes, only these two. The landing gear retraction system and steering system have been confirmed to have no problems.”

Zhuo Huan said indifferently: “What are the deformation amount and process efficiency of the tires?”

“How could he possibly know such a question.” A solemn and vicissitudinous male voice sounded, and everyone turned to look. At the entrance of the laboratory, a white-haired old man wearing a white lab coat and goggles strode in. His gaze lingered on Zhuo Huan for a second, then turned to look at the aviation tire behind the glass: “The deformation amount is 31.65%.”

Johnny Berkeley straightened his body in an instant, bowed, and said respectfully: “Mr. Renner.”

Except for the five from UAAG, all the experimenters in the laboratory also put down their work and bowed to him: “Mr. Renner.”

After Thor Renner entered the laboratory, Fu Cheng’s gaze remained fixed on Zhuo Huan.

He clearly saw Zhuo Huan’s body stiffen for a moment.

Seemingly unconsciously, his hands were taken out of his pockets, and his expression was no longer so disdainful and indifferent. Zhuo Huan gave an “Oh” and asked again: “Using new scaled composite materials, significantly reducing the energy loss of lift, reducing the total weight of the aircraft… yet in the end, the tires exploded during landing. Wow, how was that achieved?”

This question had been in the minds of the UAAG group even before coming to Los Angeles.

For an aircraft flight, the most dangerous parts are always takeoff and landing.

NTSB data reports show that 32% of fatal air crash accidents occur during the takeoff phase; 44% occur during the landing phase.

When an aircraft weighing tens of tons lands from high altitude, although the airspeed has been reduced as much as possible, that terrible weight and speed still create a Grim Reaper holding a scythe, standing on the runway waiting to harvest lives.

With a weight of tens of tons and a speed of 140 knots, which is 260 km/h, to land safely, the aircraft’s landing gear is of utmost importance.

First are the tires.

Aircraft tires are all aviation radial tires, with extremely high resistance to pressure, heat, and friction.

Then there is the shock strut.

No matter how powerful the tires are, they cannot support a giant of tens of tons hitting the ground at high speed. What really plays a key role is the shock strut above the landing gear.

Currently, most civil airliners use oleo-pneumatic shock struts. It consists of cylinders, orifice plates, oil, etc.

Zhuo Huan: “Lighter weight, assuming no increase in speed, the impact force on the landing gear when the aircraft lands becomes smaller. That is to say, the load required for the landing gear becomes smaller. And under such circumstances… the shock strut was smashed into scrap iron, and the tires also burst?”

Thor Renner looked at his student. After a long time, he snorted coldly: “Haven’t seen you for two years, and your rudeness hasn’t changed a bit!”

Zhuo Huan said carelessly: “I’m just asking you a question, and it’s the simplest question that any freshman pulled from an aviation major could ask. You don’t even need to find a professional; probably any normal person with a functioning brain would feel that this landing gear being scrapped is very unreasonable.”

Renner: “It’s related to its wing modification.”

Zhuo Huan was silent for a moment: “Confidential data?”

Renner: “Confidential.”

Zhuo Huan: “Can’t say?”

Mr. Renner stared directly at his once-favorite student with sharp, merciless eyes and asked back with a sneer: “Are you a McFly designer?”

Zhuo Huan shut his mouth. For the first time, he was mocked instead of mocking others.

There was a long silence in the laboratory.

Until a gentle voice broke the silence: “So Mr. Renner, what do you want us to do by asking us to come here?”

Everyone turned to look at him.

Standing beside Zhuo Huan, among the UAAG group, Fu Cheng asked this stern and old-fashioned top designer: “UAAG is an air crash investigation organization. Our scope of work is to find the cause of air crashes. Now you have said yourself that the cause of this ‘air crash’ is a problem with the new aircraft’s wing design. Aside from this, you keep all data confidential and cannot disclose it, so we cannot provide effective support and improvements based on possessing data.”

Mr. Renner narrowed his eyes, looking at this young and handsome youth.

After a long time, he smiled, but there was no smile in his eyes, saying coldly: “I will provide the required landing gear and tire data. In other words, give a target, hoping to improve a landing gear with such pressure resistance. What I want is an excellent aircraft designer. As for other investigations, they have nothing to do with me.”

Su Fei and Old Joseph were both stunned, and Lina frowned. However, she knew that this chief designer had such a personality. You couldn’t even say he was eccentric or arrogant. Because the status and wealth he possessed far exceeded most people present.

Fu Cheng looked at Zhuo Huan.

Thor Renner’s meaning was already obvious. The only person McFly really wanted to invite this time was Zhuo Huan alone.

They encountered a difficult problem that even one or two geniuses and thousands of excellent designers couldn’t solve. They needed another genius. Inviting UAAG was just a guise; their real target was only Zhuo Huan. From beginning to end, there was no UAAG in his eyes, only Zhuo Huan.

Zhuo Huan raised his eyes to look at his former teacher.

After a long time, he put his hands in his pockets and said indifferently: “Hmm, everyone in UAAG gets paid leave. But during this period, all their expenses will be borne by McFly.”

Johnny: “Of course.”

Su Fei suddenly felt very annoyed. He couldn’t describe what this emotion was, but he felt extremely uncomfortable and resentful.

Old Joseph laughed loudly, breaking the awkward atmosphere: “Then if I buy a house, will McFly reimburse it?”

McFly PR staff Johnny smiled aside: “A house in Beverly Hills probably won’t work, but an ordinary house might be okay. And apart from that, any reasonable request is acceptable.”

Lina smiled helplessly: “However, spending McFly’s money seems like spending my money.”

Renner and Johnny seemed to have expected this outcome long ago.

Zhuo Huan would agree.

However, the next moment, they saw Zhuo Huan turn to ask Fu Cheng: “Got gum?”

Fu Cheng was startled, took out a piece of gum from his pocket, and handed it over. Zhuo Huan opened the package, put it in his mouth, and chewed.

Mr. Renner showed dissatisfaction with his student’s rude behavior, but Zhuo Huan seemed not to feel anything wrong with what he did.

“They are all very excellent talents.” Zhuo Huan chewed gum while saying lazily, “None of McFly’s data analysts are more proficient with computers than him. The black box of JAL 917, which you couldn’t solve, he solved it.” He pointed with his chin at Su Fei, who was silently sulking.

Su Fei was still angry and didn’t react immediately: “What?”

Zhuo Huan: “Not letting them participate is only because, firstly, this work is not their strong suit, and secondly, under the condition of confidential data, they cannot display their level. But he has to stay.”

Renner looked at Fu Cheng.

Zhuo Huan: “None of McFly’s test pilots are better than him. First, you have to confirm one thing: is the reason the landing gear of this plane was scrapped really not a pilot issue?”

Johnny paused and explained: “We trust this gentleman’s professional level, but the previous test pilot injured his head after the accident. Although it’s not serious, just a minor injury, the scar on his head hasn’t healed yet. That test pilot’s level is absolutely no problem, perhaps not as good as this gentleman, but Mr. Patrick, assuming you want your colleague to test fly again, it might be a bit dangerous.”

Fu Cheng: “I’ve never been afraid of danger.”

Johnny looked at him in astonishment.

Renner also looked at Fu Cheng meaningfully.

Fu Cheng said calmly: “Besides, it might not be as dangerous as you think.”

Another test flight was arranged for the next morning.

McFly needed to make some preparations.

On the way back to the hotel, as soon as Su Fei got in the car, he finally couldn’t hold it in anymore.

Su Fei: “I’m so pissed off. Why do I feel so angry? Although I don’t know why, I’m just very upset.”

Old Joseph disagreed: “Minor, is this your first time being slapped in the face with money? Don’t worry, wait for later; maybe one day you will be eager for someone to slap your face with money. Although I’m not very happy either, taking this opportunity, I can just go on a trip around the world? Hey Reid, you and Fu be a bit slower. Don’t let me be halfway through my trip when you guys finish here.”

Lord Zhuo sneered.

Lina said helplessly, “Uncle Renner has always been like this. He isn’t a bad person per se, but he has always been very arrogant. Unless you win his approval with strength, he will be like this. I’ve always told you before, Reid isn’t an arrogant person; he is just proud. I think now you should understand what I mean?”

Everyone fell silent.

Comparison creates beauty. Compared like this, Lord Zhuo seemed to have become polite and courteous.

Su Fei: “The chief designer of super aircraft manufacturer McFly, so amazing. He has the capital to be arrogant.”

After getting out of the car, Su Fei and the other two walked in front. The punk boy was still chattering, complaining about Mr. Renner and those people from McFly.

Zhuo Huan: “There is a reason for asking you to test fly again tomorrow.”

Fu Cheng turned his head to look at him.

Zhuo Huan: “Come to my room tonight.”

Fu Cheng: “…Hmm?”

Looking at the youth’s troubled and hesitant expression, somehow, Zhuo Huan’s mood improved a lot. The depression that had lingered in his heart since stepping into the McFly factory gradually lightened a bit. His right hand naturally wrapped around this person’s waist, sighing in his heart that it was still so slender. Zhuo Huan buried his face in the hollow of Fu Cheng’s shoulder and laughed low: “What are you thinking? Not fucking you tonight. There are some things and some data that need to be calculated carefully.”

Fu Cheng: “…”

Pushing this man away expressionlessly, Fu Cheng strode into the hotel lobby.

The moment he and Zhuo Huan entered the door, Lina’s surprised voice rang out: “Uncle Patrick?”

Fu Cheng subconsciously looked at Zhuo Huan.

He saw Zhuo Huan frown slightly and tsk softly.

Looking at the center of the brightly lit and magnificent hotel lobby again, a man sitting on the sofa stood up and looked at them. He wore a black suit with a high nose bridge and deep eye sockets. Although he had Asian features, one could tell he was mixed race. His eyes were light green, and his features bore some resemblance to Zhuo Huan.

His handsome appearance and elegant demeanor made it difficult to guess his age based on looks.

Zhuo Jing had obviously seen his son in the crowd, but he didn’t walk towards Zhuo Huan. Instead, he walked towards the only lady present. He exchanged cheek kisses with Lina and smiled gently: “Long time no see, my Lina. You’ve grown up, even more beautiful and charming.”

Lina returned the smile: “Thank you, Uncle Patrick. Who is this?”

Everyone then noticed that this handsome gentleman was accompanied by a gorgeous and beautiful blonde woman.

Fu Cheng slowly frowned.

If Zhuo Huan’s father was merely outstanding in appearance, making it hard to identify his age at a glance, looking like he was in his thirties, then the woman beside him definitely wouldn’t be Zhuo Huan’s mother, because she was at most 20 years old!

Zhuo Jing blinked elegantly: “She is a lost lady; I am guiding her way.” Then he turned his head and said to the young girl, “Honey, go to the room and wait for me.”

Everyone: “…”

Zhuo Huan sneered.

Seemingly just noticing his son, Mr. Zhuo walked over and extended his arms: “Reid, long time no see.”

Zhuo Huan stepped sideways to avoid him. He didn’t even look at his father, stepping towards the elevator, leaving only a cold sentence: “Don’t let that woman know.”

Mr. Zhuo shrugged indifferently.

The moment Zhuo Huan saw his father, he went upstairs by himself, not wanting to breathe the same air as this man for a second longer. So it became the four from UAAG taking the elevator upstairs with Mr. Zhuo.

Lina pressed the elevator button and said helplessly, “Uncle Patrick, does Reid’s mother know you’re back in Los Angeles?”

Fu Cheng was startled.

The elevator door chimed, and Mr. Zhuo stepped out of the elevator.

“Of course not.” Standing outside the elevator, he turned back and winked at Lina, “Be sure not to tell her.”

—

Author’s Note:
Fu Chengcheng: …Men with the surname Zhuo don’t seem to be very good.
Zhuo Rest-In-Peace: ? Fu Cheng, that’s not what you said in bed.

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