Chapter 134: Come watch the fireworks at 120!
This is a goddamn air-to-air missile! It’s a forty thousand dollar air-to-air missile! Known for being as costly as a brand-new Rolls-Royce every time it’s used!
The engine fell into the sea, but how did the missile end up here? Judging by its unopened tail wings, it doesn’t seem like it was fired from the ground."
This missile was once the prized possession hung on my own aircraft. Particularly the big abstract mouth painted on the radar cover of the missile head. That was painted by none other than Long Yi himself. Before each battle, he would paint a big mouth with a marker pen on his missile - this is Long Yi’s biggest hobby.
I never thought the engine would show up, let alone this treasure! Could it be that the other parts of my craft are still at the bottom of this lake?
"Air-to-air missile? Can you explain more about this?" The water spirits seemed interested.
"This air-to-air missile, I can launch it in the air, and it will automatically track and target, then explode at six times the speed of sound, destroying a giant dragon," Long Yi explained simply, using a giant dragon as a metaphor. This air-to-air missile does possess the power to annihilate a giant dragon without a Dragon Rider. However, with a Dragon Rider, it wouldn’t necessarily be the case. The Dragon Rider can create a shield enveloping the entire giant dragon using the Fighting Aura, enough to partially block the damage from the explosion. But just how effective this air-to-air missile would be, Long Yi wasn’t sure.
"Is it really that powerful?" The water spirit asked, lifting the missile to inspect it, full of doubt.
"Yes, it’s really that powerful." Long Yi confirmed.
"Let’s test it out!"
"No! Be calm!" Long Yi hastily shouted, startling the water spirit.
"This missile... It might be the last one. Can you please let me keep it?" Long Yi pleaded forlornly. The truth is, the missile wasn’t of much use to Long Yi anymore, but he just couldn’t bear to let it go. The re-emergence of his aircraft’s components in this world felt just like encountering an old friend in tough times.
"No can do, us water spirits stick by a simple principle – equivalent exchange. This air-to-air missile has been in my custody for a long time, and I’ve helped repel numerous malevolent poachers. We believe that you need to exchange more knowledge to receive it," the water spirit’s demand was reasonable, and she made a fair point.
"Alright, what knowledge would you like to know?" Long Yi asked helplessly, prepared to negotiate bit by bit.
"You just mentioned that it will explode, but I don’t sense any energy within it. How does it explode?" the water spirit asked.
In this world, substances like explosives didn’t exist. The proliferation of energy science had completely overshadowed physical science.
"What’s inside here are some substances that can explode, synthesized artificially," Long Yi could only explain it this way. He knew the chemical formula of the compound inside the missile, but how was he going to explain it to the water spirits? Given their curiosity, would they require him to teach them the entire chemistry curriculum?
"So, non-energy-based things can explode too!" The water spirit once again displayed interest.
"Of course, as long as the conditions are right, anything could potentially explode," Long Yi was simply stating the truth.
"Even water?" the water spirit asked curiously.
"Definitely!" Long Yi confirmed.
"Ok, as long as you teach me how to cause an explosion with water, I’ll return this missile to you," the water spirit settled on her terms.
Exploding water? That’s too easy! Just compress deuterium and tritium vigorously, then they will give you a surprise!
Impossible!
Long Yi certainly couldn’t reveal such secrets.
"If you want to make water explode, a lot of conditions are required," Long Yi chose his words cautiously, "Being elemental beings, do you know what constitutes water?"
The water spirits hesitated for a bit, contemplated, but finally shook their heads, "We’ve never pondered this question. Water is simply water, what could be different about it?"
Long Yi asked, "Then, what’s the smallest observable structure of water?"
The water spirit fell into deep thought after hearing Long Yi’s question. The surface of the Silver Dragon Lake began to shimmer with faint light. The light slowly accelerated its flow.
Suddenly, the light vanished, and the water spirit turned into a puddle of water, causing the missile in her hand to sink to the bottom of the lake.
After a long while, the water spirit once again surfaced. Long Yi could tell that she was significantly smaller than before.
"I saw it, this is what the water looks like," the water spirit’s voice sounded unstable, trembling. She raised her hands, creating a structure composed of two small spheres and a larger one in mid-air.
"Yes, that’s the basic structure of water. I call it a water molecule," Long Yi said, his heart pounding with astonishment. The water spirits are really powerful – they were able to discern the structure of a water molecule out of nowhere!
’Water molecule...’ the water spirits began to mumble, ’I can feel energy between these spheres, binding them tightly together. I can also sense a weak energy presence between the water molecules, clustering them together to form droplets,’ the water spirits reported.
Long Yi nodded, ’That’s right, what you sensed are the bonding forces and Van der Waals forces.’ He regretted mentioning these new terms instantly as he anticipated that the water spirits might ask him to explain these forces. Although he could clarify these concepts, would that lead them into the world of nuclear physics?
As expected, the water spirit’s eyes widened in curiosity. However, in the next moment, she shook her head saying, ’No, I’ve already said it, as long as you teach me how to induce an explosion with water, I’ll return the missile to you. I can’t go back on my words.’
Long Yi was taken aback, he was considering how to dodge the question when he didn’t expect the Water Spirits to be so honest.
"Now that you can see the water molecules, it’s simple. You need to use your own power to separate these two hydrogen atoms from this oxygen atom. They will form hydrogen and oxygen gases. Once you mix these two gases and only need a tiny spark, the mixed gas will explode, and become water again."
"Really?" The Water Spirits widened their eyes, they had never heard of such a thing.
"Really, you can give it a try." said Long Yi.
Water Spirits are elemental creatures controlling water. Long Yi figured that although it is difficult for them to see water molecules, it shouldn’t be difficult to split one. After all, humans can’t see water molecules with the naked eye, but they can separate hydrogen and oxygen using a normal battery and wire, right?
Hearing Long Yi’s words, the Water Spirits immediately fell silent. Then she lifted her head, said "Hold on a moment", and disappeared from the water’s surface. Following that, the glow under the water began to flow again. In no time at all, a watermelon-sized bubble bulged.
Then, a Water Spirit, even smaller than before, slowly surfaced with an excited expression on her face.
"After experimenting with one thousand seven hundred and sixty-five methods, I finally managed to separate them!"
So fast! So fierce! So powerful!
Without saying a word, Long Yi raised his thumb and praised: "Well done! You are indeed a well-versed Water Spirit, having tried so many methods in such a short time."
"No, because these are the only one thousand seven hundred and sixty-five methods I know, I divided into one thousand seven hundred and sixty-five avatars, and each avatar tried one method. Among them, one hundred and thirty-two methods were successful, and only one was the fastest." said the Water Spirits.
Parallel processing, the Water Spirits are indeed advanced!
"Then, can I borrow a little spark from you?" The Water Spirits asked somewhat embarrassingly. In the worldview of the Water Spirits, the principle of equivalent exchange is very important. Since she had previously said that she would trade knowledge for a missile, asking Long Yi for a flame was taking advantage of him beyond this equivalent, which is inappropriate.
However, Long Yi didn’t feel this way. Living in a world full of advantages, a small flame is nothing at all.
"Cover your ears." Long Yi told the two girls beside him.
Ai Lin quickly covered her ears, whereas Little Zi, a Female Demon, just curled her lips contemptuously.
Long Yi raised his hand and a spark flew out.
BANG!
A large Blue fire ring flashed and vanished. The intense explosion instantly shattered the weakened Little Water Spirit.
However, the next moment, the Little Water Spirit jumped excitedly from the water!
"Haha! This is so much fun!" The Water Spirits once again raised their hand, another bubble formed. Long Yi made no bones about it, raised his hand and sent out another spark.
BANG!
Another explosion rang out.
"Hahaha!" The Water Spirits kept throwing bubbles and Long Yi kept bursting them. They were having a blast! Meanwhile, the size of the Little Water Spirits continued to decrease.
The consecutive explosions awoke those who were sleeping in the tents.
"Ah! I’m losing energy! I need to sleep! As promised, this thing is yours now!"
With that said, the Water Spirits raised their hand and the hollow missile flew towards Long Yi. Long Yi watched as the missile flew straight towards him, scaring him into quickly dodging and catching it.
Oh my, this nostalgically heavy weight, Long Yi really wanted to hug this missile and have a good cry.
But of course, this was not possible. One by one, the onlookers were preparing to approach the lakeside to see what was going on.
"Wait a moment, I have a question to ask you." Long Yi stopped the Water Spirits who wanted to disappear.
"A question?" The Water Spirits asked with a puzzled face. At the same time, Long Yi felt the surface of the lake rising, completely submerging the stone bridge leading to the central island. The voyeurs who had planned to come to the central island immediately turned around and ran back. A few who ran slow ended up drinking a few mouthfuls of water, then got washed back to shore by the waves.
"The water of the Silver Dragon Lake is sweet!" That was the first thing the voyeur said when he opened his eyes.
Now that he had the missile, what Long Yi wanted to know was, how was his plane doing.
"Indeed, this is an important question. This missile, where exactly did you get it?"
"This missile, it fell from the stomach of the Silver Dragon!" The Water Spirits’ words were shocking.
