redvbooks Chapter 147 Ten Thousand Challenges!
Chapter 147 Ten Thousand Challenges!
"I'll do it!"
"let me!"
"President Su, please give me a chance!"
Although everyone present was from the industry, many people still raised their hands in response to the temptation of 500,000 yuan in cash.
Su Chen glanced around and randomly pointed to a young woman sitting in the middle row.
She was a girl with a ponytail, wearing a dark blue windbreaker, and looked capable and efficient—she had a conference badge hanging around her neck with the name of a drone company on it.
"Come on in."
The girl chosen by Su Chen's eyes lit up, and she quickly walked onto the stage.
Approaching Su Chen, she first smiled generously, then introduced herself:
"Hello, Mr. Su. My name is Zhao Siyu, and I'm from Chengdu Feiyi Technology. I'm a hardware engineer at our company."
"Hardware engineer? Then you should be familiar with materials."
Su Chen nodded slightly, then smiled and said.
"You already know the rules—choose a tool, sixty seconds. If any visible damage appears to the 'light armor,' the five hundred thousand is yours."
"clear!"
Zhao Siyu nodded excitedly, then quickly walked to the tool table.
Her gaze swept over the various tools—hammer, hacksaw, chisel—and finally settled on a rechargeable lithium-ion drill.
As a hardware engineer, she knew all too well that when dealing with thin sheet materials, impact force was not necessarily the most effective method; concentrated drilling force was.
A good drill bit should be able to penetrate 0.25 millimeters of material in just a few seconds—even carbon fiber.
She picked up the lithium-ion drill and inspected the drill bit—it was a high-speed steel twist drill bit, a standard configuration.
"Are you ready?"
Su Chen asked.
"Ready!"
Zhao Siyu took a deep breath, firmly gripped the electric drill with both hands, and aimed the drill bit at the center of the thin plate.
"start!"
As the timer went off, Zhao Siyu pulled the trigger on the electric drill!
"Buzz—!"
The electric drill spun at high speed, with the drill bit hitting the surface of the "light armor" thin plate at a speed of thousands of revolutions per minute.
Everyone in the audience held their breath, their eyes fixed on the point of contact between the drill bit and the thin plate.
one second.
two seconds.
three seconds.
The drill bit spun wildly across the thin sheet, producing a piercing metallic scraping sound—but no dents appeared on the sheet's surface!
"How is that possible?!"
Zhao Siyu's confident expression gradually turned into shock.
She increased the pressure, putting all her weight on the drill, making the screeching sound of the drill bit even sharper and more piercing.
Ten seconds passed.
Twenty seconds passed.
Thirty seconds passed.
Apart from a shallow friction mark, there was no sign of drilling through the thin plate.
Fine beads of sweat had formed on Zhao Siyu's forehead. As a hardware engineer who dealt with various materials for a long time, she knew all too well how incredible what was happening before her eyes was.
A high-speed steel drill bit, rotating at thousands of revolutions per minute, is applied directly to a piece of material 0.25 millimeters thick.
Based on her professional experience, even a 2.5-millimeter-thick aerospace-grade carbon fiber plate should be drilled through within ten seconds under these drilling conditions, let alone 0.25 millimeters.
But this "light armor"—
"Beep—"
The sixty-second countdown has ended.
Zhao Siyu released the electric drill, panting as she looked at the shallow friction mark on the thin plate—not a hole, not a crack, just a faint, almost imperceptible imprint.
She put down the drill, turned to look at Su Chen, her eyes filled with a complex expression of frustration and shock.
"President Su... what exactly is this thing made of?"
Zhao Siyu's voice trembled slightly.
"It's not carbon fiber... nor Kevlar... nor titanium alloy... I've never seen this material before."
Su Chen simply smiled and did not answer, instead looking down at the audience.
"Anyone else want to take on the challenge?"
Instantly, countless hands were raised from the audience.
This time, however, people were not only motivated by the 500,000 yuan in cash—it was more out of an irrepressible curiosity and a sense of injustice.
"Come on in."
Su Chen pointed to a burly man sitting in the third row. He was a middle-aged man with dark skin and thick arms, who looked like a drone pilot or engineer who worked outdoors all year round.
The man strode onto the stage.
"Hello, Mr. Su. My name is Qin Kai, and I'm a drone pilot and maintenance engineer at Guangzhou Tianyi Aerial Surveying and Mapping."
Qin Kai's voice was as loud as a bell, and his hands were covered with calluses—the marks left by long-term use of various tools.
"Master Qin, you understand the rules."
Su Chen nodded.
"Of course, choose a tool, sixty seconds."
Qin Kai chuckled and then strode towards the tool table.
His gaze didn't linger on any of the conventional tools—a hammer? The burly man had already tried it, and it didn't work. An electric drill? Engineer Zhao had tried that too, and it didn't work either.
His gaze finally settled on a pair of industrial hydraulic pliers in the corner of the table.
Someone in the audience recognized it and let out a low gasp—
"Hydraulic pliers! Those are hydraulic pliers!"
Hydraulic shears are tools used on construction sites to cut steel bars. They can easily cut threaded steel bars with a diameter of more than ten millimeters!
How do you use hydraulic shears to work on a 0.25 mm thick sheet?
Isn't that overkill?
"It's safe!"
The technical director in the audience slapped his thigh excitedly.
"Hydraulic shears can exert shearing forces of several tons; even the hardest 0.25mm thick material can't withstand that force!"
"Yes, impact resistance and shear resistance are two different things. Just because a hammer can't break it doesn't mean hydraulic shears can't cut it!"
His colleagues next to him nodded in agreement.
Many people in the audience also showed expectant expressions—hydraulic shears can even cut steel bars, so how could they withstand a thin plate of 0.25 millimeters?
Qin Kai picked up the hydraulic shears, weighed them in his hand, and then walked to the edge of the thin plate.
He aimed the blades of the hydraulic pliers at one corner of the thin plate, then took a deep breath.
"start!"
The moment the timer sounded, Qin Kai slammed his hands together—
The two blades of the hydraulic clamps gripped the thin sheet with a force of several tons!
"Gah—!"
The harsh sound of metal hitting materials echoed through the lecture hall.
Everyone in the audience stood up involuntarily, craning their necks to watch what was happening on stage.
Qin Kai's face was flushed red, and the veins on his thick arms bulged. The handle of the hydraulic pliers made a "squeaking" sound in his palms.
But thin plates—
Not a single thread broke!
"impossible!"
Qin Kai let out a low growl. He adjusted the angle, moving the blade of the hydraulic clamp closer to the edge of the thin plate, and then clamped it tightly again with all his might!
"Creak—!"
The sound became even more piercing, and Qin Kai's entire body trembled slightly from the exertion.
Thirty seconds passed.
Forty seconds have passed.
Fifty seconds passed.
A very faint indentation appeared on the edge of the thin plate—but there was no breakage, no crack, no “damage” in any sense.
"Beep—"
The sixty seconds are up.
Qin Kai, panting heavily, put down the hydraulic shears, looked down at the shallow indentation on the edge of the thin plate, and remained silent for three seconds.
Then he raised his head and said something to the nearly one thousand people in the audience—
"This is not scientific!"
A burst of laughter and applause erupted from the audience.
But behind the laughter lay genuine shock.
Hydraulic pliers!
Hydraulic pliers capable of cutting through threaded steel bars over ten millimeters thick!
It can't even cut a sheet of 0.25 millimeters thick?!
The technical director was completely unable to sit still any longer. He no longer thought about the 500,000 yuan in cash—at this moment, only one thought occupied his mind:
If this material were used in our drones…
The three DJI business representatives sitting in the corner looked at each other, their expressions changing from initial curiosity to seriousness.
Before they came, they thought today was just an ordinary industry summit, to see how powerful the G1 gateway really is and to assess whether Hongyuan Flying Bird poses any threat.
But now—
"Light armor..."
The leader of the three muttered the name to himself, a hint of unease flashing in his eyes.
If this material is genuine, then Hongyuan Flying Bird is no longer just a company that makes flight controllers and gateways.
They will directly target the upstream of the entire drone industry chain – the materials side.
However, materials have always been DJI's weakest link.
DJI's strengths lie in software algorithms and supply chain management, but in the materials field, they are, like other drone manufacturers, buyers—procuring carbon fiber from Japanese materials giants such as Toray and Teijin.
If Hongyuan Feiniao masters a new material whose performance far surpasses that of traditional carbon fiber...
What does that mean?
This means that Hongyuan Feiniao can use this material to manufacture drones with superior battery life compared to all competitors, or it can sell this material to other drone manufacturers.
Just like Su Chen selling the G1 gateway, he made everyone dependent on him.
Thinking of this, the DJI business delegation exchanged glances, and the leader quietly took out his phone and sent an urgent message to the Shenzhen headquarters.
……
Su Chen on stage naturally noticed the changes in the expressions of the DJI team in the corner.
His lips curled up slightly, but he quickly regained his composure.
"It seems none of the current challengers have succeeded."
Su Chen smiled and looked around at the audience.
"I'll give you three final chances to challenge me—three warriors, who's willing to come up?"
Dozens more people quickly raised their hands, but this time their eyes showed more seriousness and thoughtfulness—they were no longer blindly confident, but seriously considering what tools and strategies could be used to destroy the material.
Su Chen then called up three more people.
The first choice was an angle grinder—the high-speed rotating grinding wheel directly produced a series of sparks on the surface of the thin plate, but after sixty seconds, the thin plate was left with only a shallow groove less than 0.1 millimeters deep.
The second option was a hacksaw—it took sixty seconds to saw, and there was only one almost invisible saw mark on the thin plate.
The third was a clever man—he chose a pointed carbide chisel and a hammer, intending to pierce the thin plate by concentrating stress. He pressed the chisel tip against the plate and then struck the chisel shank with the hammer.
"Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!"
The chisel left a series of pits on the surface of the thin plate—but each pit was less than 0.05 millimeters deep.
At the end of the sixty seconds, the thin plate was still intact.
All five challengers failed.
The 500,000 yuan in cash lay quietly in the acrylic box, and no one could take it away.
At this moment, no one in the lecture hall thought that "Light Armor" was just an ordinary board.
The way everyone looked at that thin sheet changed—it wasn't just a material; it was a strategic resource that could transform the entire industry.
"Okay, that concludes the challenge."
Su Chen clapped his hands and walked back to the center of the stage.
"I know everyone is most concerned about two questions—first, how much will the 'light armor' cost? Second, when will it be mass-produced?"
Nearly a thousand people in the audience nodded in unison.
Su Chen smiled and turned to the last page on the big screen.
"The price of the 'light armor' material is 800 yuan per square meter."
"hiss--"
Another collective gasp rippled through the audience.
800 yuan per square meter!
It's worth noting that the current market price for aerospace-grade T1000 carbon fiber composite panels is around 500 to 600 yuan per square meter—but the performance of T1000 is less than one-third that of "light armor"!
In other words, the cost-effectiveness of "light armor" is nearly 3 times that of T1000 carbon fiber!
As for the mass production timeline—
Su Chen paused for a moment.
"Our materials production base in Dongguan completed the commissioning of its pilot production line last week. Small-batch supply is expected to begin in January next year, with a monthly production capacity of 1,000 cubic meters by March next year."
Hearing this timeline, many people in the audience breathed a sigh of relief—their biggest fear was that Su Chen would say, "This material is still in the laboratory stage."
But Su Chen said that "the pilot production line has been debugged"—which means that "Light Armor" has passed the most critical step from the laboratory to the factory!
"I'd like to add one more piece of information."
Su Chen's voice suddenly became serious.
"The production cost of the 'light armor' material is less than 120 yuan per square meter."
This statement was like a depth charge, detonating in the lecture hall.
Cost 120 yuan, selling price 800 yuan - profit margin over 560%!
The four investment firm partners present were no longer keeping a low profile.
Some of them stood up and stared intently at Su Chen, their eyes flashing with an almost crazed light.
Because they instantly calculated something—
If "light armor" can achieve a monthly production capacity of 1,000 square meters, then the monthly revenue would be 800,000, and the annual revenue would be nearly 10 million.
What if production capacity continues to expand to 10,000 cubic meters per month? That would mean annual revenue of nearly 100 million!
And this is just the drone market!
If we enter larger markets such as automotive, aerospace, and military defense—
Annual revenue of 1 billion or 10 billion is not impossible!
Thinking of this, the four partners simultaneously pulled out their phones and frantically sent messages to their respective fund partners.
The message boils down to one thing: This company is a must-invest in! At all costs!
Looking at the reactions of the audience, Su Chen on stage smiled even more broadly.
The "Light Armor" product is the result of his comprehensive optimization after disassembling three advanced composite material processes using a disassembly system.
In Su Chen's plan, it plays a completely different strategic role from the G1 gateway—
The G1 gateway is the entrance to the ecosystem, the "wall" of the city.
"Light armor" is the engine of funds and the "granary".
With the profits from "light armor", Qixin MEMS no longer needs to worry about funding issues in the research and development of DRIE etching technology.
even--
Su Chen's eyes became deep.
The applications of "light armor" extend far beyond drone fuselage materials. According to the technology roadmap provided by his disassembly system, the next evolutionary direction for "light armor" is—
Protective layer for foldable phone screens.
Battery casing for new energy vehicles.
Thermal insulation composite structure for spacecraft.
Each of these directions represents a market worth tens or even hundreds of billions of dollars.
But that's a story for another time.
The most important thing right now is to secure the first batch of orders for "light armor" and make money.
Then, use that money to feed the DRIE verification platform that is operating day and night in the Suzhou laboratory.
……
"Okay, that concludes today's product launches at the Flying Bird Technology Summit."
Su Chen collected his thoughts and walked back to the center of the stage.
Finally, let's make a brief summary—
He stretched out one hand and held up five fingers.
"We launched two products today, but Hongyuan Feiniao actually has five cards to play."
Su Chen retracted one of his fingers.
"Our first card—the S1 flight control module—is our starting point and the foundation of the alliance."
Put one away.
"Our second card—the G1 industrial gateway—is our fortress, and also the entrance to our ecosystem."
Put one away.
"Our third asset—the H-Link communication protocol and relay base station network—is our moat."
Put one away.
"The fourth card—'Light Armor' super composite material—is our granary."
The last finger.
"The fifth card – Qixin MEMS sensors."
Su Chen paused here and looked around at the room.
"This card hasn't been played yet. But it's our heart—once Qixin MEMS successfully develops its own DRIE etching process, we will no longer be just a low-altitude economy company."
Su Chen's voice echoed in the quiet lecture hall.
"We will be a full-stack technology company with independent core sensors, independent core materials, and independent core algorithms. By then—"
A slight smile appeared on Su Chen's lips.
"We will set the rules for the low-altitude economy."
"Bang bang bang bang—!!"
Thunderous applause erupted in the auditorium.
Nearly a thousand industry professionals stood up and gave the young man on stage the warmest applause.
The applause lasted for a full thirty seconds.
Amid applause, three DJI business representatives stood solemnly in the corner.
They did not applaud.
Because what they heard was not a product launch—
What they heard was a declaration of war.