Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales

Chapter 195 – You Won’t Be Satisfied If You Go Too Fast

After passing through the second carriage, first carriage, and cab’s 15-meter-long corridor, Chen Yu arrived back in the control room.

Currently, the various experts were scattered throughout the room. They focused on researching the control room’s technology according to their own majors.

And with the conductor area unoccupied at the moment, four conductors had used the opportunity to study the train AI’s operation tutorials.

Only the soldier and middle-aged team leader were resting on a sofa in the corner and quietly conversing with each other.

Meanwhile, upon noticing Chen Yu’s return, everyone in the room promptly halted their work and turned to look at him.

“Continue on with your work,” Chen Yu said, waving his hand. He then walked straight to the crystal ball and said to the four conductors there, “You can continue your studies later. For now, let me drive the train.”

“Yes, Mr. King.”

The conductors promptly stepped aside.

“Thank you.”

Chen Yu carefreely sat on the conductor’s seat. He then redirected the camera toward himself and said, “As a reviewer, my most important job is still to evaluate products. Currently, the train is already traveling at 5,000 kilometers per hour, equivalent to a fighter jet’s cruising speed. However, this is still far from enough to display the maglev train’s capabilities.

“Speed has always been a man’s romance.

“So, let us see how romantic 22nd-century technology can get.”

After saying so, Chen Yu placed his hand on the crystal ball and said, “Dimwit! Accelerate!”

What a horrible description. ( ͡°͜ʖ͡°)

Oh! My! God! What an inadequate adjective.

Nonsense! Speed is a man’s worst enemy!

It’ll only get romantic without speed.

At Chen Yu’s command, the AI immediately cut off power to the long stator synchronous linear motors and activated the high-pressure air jets at the train’s rear.

Pshh!!

The train instantly transformed into a comet, leaving a “white tail” in its wake.

Simultaneously, the speed of 5,000 km

/h displayed on the virtual projection also started rapidly increasing.

5,200.

5,500.

6,000…

Without the drag caused by the synchronous motors, the maglev train fearlessly increased its speed in the vacuum pipeline. Now, the only factor limiting its speed was energy.

It’s flying…

What a terrifying speed.

Can it match up with the AE86, though?

I can’t see the pipeline outside the windshield anymore.

At over 7,000 km

/h, the train will definitely cause an earthquake if it hits the ground.

Earthquake? With the train’s mass and speed, do you think it will only cause an earthquake?

I think I can see the light blueshifting…

To prevent the people on board from feeling overly stressed, the AI had set the train’s acceleration at a low rate. Even after some time had passed, the train had only reached a speed of 9,000 kilometers per hour.

Even so, this speed still translated to 2,500 meters per second.

Under Earth’s atmosphere, that was already more than seven times the speed of sound…

At this point, the world outside the windshield had already become distorted. If one looked at this distorted view for a long time, they would even develop an urge to vomit.

As everyone in the control room looked at the rising numbers on the virtual projection, they couldn’t help but break out in cold sweat.

So long as one had a basic understanding of physics, they would have an instinctive fear toward such speeds.

Seven times the speed of sound. Even if the maglev train was made of “godlike” materials, everyone on the train would be turned into meat paste if it collided with a solid object. The impact would also cause devastating damage to the outside world.

To make an inappropriate analogy, the train’s collision would be equivalent to having a five thousand-ton metal strip entering Earth’s atmosphere and hitting the ground at seven times the speed of sound…

Even space-based weapons weren’t so terrifying!

In this situation, the soldier sitting beside the middle-aged team leader started growing uneasy.

In his eyes, this maglev train could no longer be considered a mode of transportation. Instead, it was a strategic superweapon!

With his military expertise, he had managed to figure out over a dozen methods of utilizing this maglev train as a weapon in just one minute.

For example, he could dig to a depth of 2,000 meters and secretly tunnel to the hearts of enemy countries. Afterward, he would fill the train with metal and send it crashing at a speed of 14,000 kilometers per hour…

A whole country would disappear in the blink of an eye.

The entire process wouldn’t take more than a day.

Another example would be to create tunnels that spanned all over the world and secretly plant nuclear weapons at every key location…

The soldier shuddered at his thoughts. In the next moment, he suddenly stood up, saluted Chen Yu, and said, “Mr. King, we’re fast enough now. No need to accelerate anymore.”

Turning around, Chen Yu looked at the soldier and waved his hand, saying, “It’s fine. The top speed is 14,000 kilometers per hour. It’s still too soon to stop. Also, this is an official review product. You don’t have to worry about its safety and quality.

“And since we’re conducting a review of the product, we’ll have to push the product to its limits. Even if we’re reviewing a star destroyer, we must destroy a star with it before we can end the review. Hence, we cannot stop here.”

Is this something a human should say?

Mighty! Domineering!

Domineering my ass! I’m going to take shelter at Mars!

Don’t go! The seventh official livestream will be about destroying Mars!

I’m starting to find this a little scary…

The channel’s name is Transdimensional Review. The products reviewed naturally cannot be harmless.

After sweeping a glance at everyone in the room, Chen Yu’s eyes glowed with excitement as he commanded, “Dimwit, activate the plasma engine and accelerate once more!”

“Yes, Chief Conductor.”

Accompanied by the AI’s electronically synthesized voice, the jet nozzles closed, and the train’s rear fully opened to reveal an engine nozzle emitting blue flames…

Inside the control room, the number representing the train’s speed also started…

…

…Decreasing.

Chen Yu: “??”

8,400.

7,600.

6,000…

“W-Wait!” Chen Yu was stunned. “I told you to accelerate! Why are you slowing down?”

“We are about to arrive at our destination–Shanghai. Beginning deceleration procedures. This procedure’s priority is Level 1 and must be executed.”

The Ai’s mechanical voice sounded like a melodious harmony from heaven to the crowd inside the control room. The soldier and middle-aged team leader also could not help but breathe out a sigh of relief in this situation.

“We’ve arrived? How many minutes has it been only?” Chen Yu complained in dissatisfaction. “Isn’t it a little too fast?”

“Speed reduced to 5,000 kilometers per hour. Restarting long stator synchronous linear motors.”

5,000.

4,300.

3,500.

2,000…

Seated on the conductor’s seat, Chen Yu watched as the train’s speed rapidly descended and eventually fell to just 20 kilometers per hour…

Psh!!

The second seal of the Shanghai “station” opened and allowed the train to pass through.

Half a minute later, the maglev train came to a complete stop.

“Dear passengers, we’ve arrived in Shanghai. Please alight the train in an orderly manner. Thank you for riding with us.”

The preset notification spread throughout the train.

Simultaneously, the passenger carriages’ simulated environments vanished, and the screens now functioned as simple lights only.

“What? We’ve arrived?”

“We arrived so soon?”

“Crap! This speed is madness!”

“Dammit! I got scammed!”

“Crap!”

When the passengers inside the 10 passenger carriages snapped out of their dazes, they immediately started shouting angrily.

“How can we arrive so quickly?”

“That’s right! We waited for several hours, yet you’re ending the trip after just a few minutes? Do you have any humanity?”

“That’s over a thousand kilometers we’re talking about!

Amidst the excited crowd’s complaints, a little girl in the third passenger carriage raised her hand and asked, “S-Shouldn’t faster train rides be better?”

The passengers inside the third passenger carriage instantly fell silent. A moment later, however, they reacted with even greater excitement.

“Nonsense! Even if it’s fast, it can’t be this fast!”

“The trip isn’t worth the fare.”

“The moon was just right before me! I was so close to touching it…”

“We want another ride!”

“Another ride!”

An old lady raising her fists: “That’s right! Well said!”