Chapter 47: No Room Left? Can We Have It Now?

With this official announcement, the entire Blue Star suddenly became awash with undercurrents.

Especially those few nations that had long maintained dominant positions—they were even more reluctant than Little Sakura to see Shangxia suddenly capable of manufacturing such a missile!

Because once proven true, their standing would suffer an unprecedented and severe upheaval.

Out upon the vast ocean.

The coordinate region officially published by Shangxia instantly drew the gaze of the entire globe!

As time slowly ticked away, domestic internet users and observers everywhere grew increasingly tense.

Even the fierce online arguments subsided into a semblance of quietude.

Everyone was waiting for the test flight's results report.

Back home, within the Extraordinary Management Bureau.

Ye Guohong glanced at the time, looking at Zhao Zuzhen through the video conference screen. "Is everything ready?"

"Everything is ready!" Zhao Zuzhen's voice could not conceal his excitement.

Following the technical tutorial provided by Lin Yang, they had successfully completed the missile's upgrade without failing their mission!

The preliminary data measured by the engineers showed no significant deviation from what Lin Yang had previously stated.

A missile with a range of up to twenty thousand kilometers and a speed reaching one hundred Mach filled everyone with boundless excitement.

Ye Guohong took a deep breath. "Good. Once the time arrives, initiate the launch on schedule!"

"Understood!"

"..."

Over in Little Sakura, Lin Yang was also watching the livestream, awaiting the initial test.

After all, this was the first time the Greater Academy of Sciences had genuinely manufactured something so far ahead of the era's craftsmanship. He wanted to see what the margin of error was, so he could better gauge the current technological standards of the Academy.

The half-hour wait finally reached its appointed moment.

When the clock struck the hour, everyone instantly perked up!

In the livestreams of various official channels, the hosts temporarily paused their commentary, waiting for the results of the inaugural test over the ocean.

The domestic official livestream even used an ultra-high-definition camera aimed directly at the coordinate zone out in the ocean!

This was what Zhao Zuzhen and the others had previously agreed upon: since they were going to make it public, there was no need for concealment. They might as well use ultra-high-definition visuals to display the results!

Finally, as the order to ignite and launch echoed through the official livestream, everyone watched through the ultra-high-definition camera as the missile soared into the sky, rocketing toward the ocean at a speed almost invisible to the naked eye!

"Holy shit! With that kind of speed, are we really about to rise?"

A massive number of netizens were instantly stunned!

Although they were viewing it through a video screen, previous missile launches had also been broadcasted live, making the comparison stark: the speed of this missile vastly surpassed any previous attempt!

Just looking at it through the screen, the speed had clearly increased by at least two to three times over!

This immediately threw domestic netizens into a frenzy!

"Everyone calm down for a moment, stop flooding the chat. The speed has been boosted, but successfully striking the target area is what matters most!"

"According to the parameters previously released by the official channel, if it hits one hundred Mach, reaching the western ocean will take only three to four minutes! It won't be too late to celebrate then!"

"Alright, alright, it's only four minutes, we can wait!"

Netizens forcibly suppressed the excitement in their hearts, staring unblinkingly at the live broadcast.

Unlike the ecstatic domestic netizens, foreigners wore expressions of utmost gravity.

If this speed could be maintained all the way through to a successful target strike, it meant the data just published by Shangxia's officials contained not a single trace of exaggeration!

For them, that was by no means a joyful prospect.

Especially the people of Little Sakura, who were wishing with all their hearts that the missile would suddenly go out of control!

They were currently the ones least willing to see this inaugural test succeed!

Countless individuals in Little Sakura were silently cursing.

However...

The missile's flight would not halt for anyone's curses, nor would it encounter any mishaps.

Three minutes and fifty-eight seconds later, under everyone's tense gazes, soaring flames blossomed across the western ocean!

Rumble!

The violent sonic boom traversed the vast expanse of the ocean to reach the peripheral zones, leaving many people with ringing ears for a moment!

The seawater within the ocean's coordinate zone instantly churned into a massive swirling vortex!

Even the distantly monitoring equipment suffered an impact in that split second, causing the feed to destabilize.

Yet this did not prevent people from witnessing the ultimate outcome.

The gigantic vortex churning upon the ocean surface looked as though it could devour everything, and the churning fury of the sea made onlookers' chests tighten.

Each of these signs unmistakably proclaimed the complete success of this inaugural test!

In under four minutes, it had traveled from Shangxia to the western ocean and accurately struck the target area!

In an instant, the entire world fell speechless!

The distance from Shangxia to the western ocean was precisely over twenty thousand kilometers!

Reaching the designated intermediate zone within four minutes was enough to prove that the previously published official data was entirely free of exaggeration.

A range capable of covering twenty thousand kilometers, and a speed that definitively reached one hundred Mach—otherwise, it would have been utterly impossible to cross that vast distance of twenty thousand kilometers to reach the target area in four minutes!

At this moment, the globe fell silent!

Such terrifying speed, such immense destructive power, and such an extreme range—every single data point drove Western nations into despair!

Official agencies across various countries did not even need their specialized teams to run estimates; they could calculate for themselves just how quickly this missile could arrive if it were aimed at them, and whether they possessed any capital to retaliate or intercept.

Unsurprisingly, the results of those calculations only deepened their silence!

Virtually no effective countermeasures existed to repel such a terrifying intercontinental ballistic missile!

Silence!

Silence was the flame blossoming over the western ocean tonight!

Of course, as the saying goes, every coin has two sides.

Compared to the silence of the rest of the world, domestically—despite it now being the middle of the night—netizens were experiencing an unprecedented level of excitement!

Such a triumphant experiment left many netizens too ecstatic to string coherent sentences together.

"Oh my mother, oh my lord in heaven, this is too epic! My hands are trembling as I type these words right now, and I completely lack the language to express my feelings. All I can say is: absolutely legendary!"

"So exhilarating, so thrilling! With a missile this overpowered, we can truly live up to the phrase 'strike wherever we point'!"

"Who understands? I'm practically on the verge of tears. Our academicians have unknowingly developed something so far ahead of our era; my sense of security right now is simply through the roof!"

"Hahaha, now I finally understand what the official channel's 'seven-day pact' meant earlier. It wasn't a response to Little Sakura at all, but a reference to this inaugural test taking place seven days later!"

"Brilliant, my country!"

"Where are the people from Little Sakura? Didn't you say there was no other way out? I just want to ask: do you still have any way out now, and are you going to launch your own missiles for a test as well?"

This single remark left everyone in Little Sakura utterly speechless!