Ye Wenjie, watch my moves closely.

Chapter 65 Successfully Capturing Ball Lightning

"Still not enough?" The lieutenant colonel came up with a crazy idea: "The length of the wire also affects the body's response time."

To ensure safety, the wire used to capture ball lightning cavitation bubbles is 40 meters long.

This is already a very dangerously close distance; any closer and the helicopter and pilot would be extremely vulnerable to ball lightning.

The lieutenant colonel wanted to change the length of the wire to 15 meters, which would shorten the time it took for the aircraft to come into contact with the ball lightning cavitation bubble by 0.1 seconds.

Theoretically speaking, it is enough.

But Zhang Bin disagreed.

"This is insane. Your reaction time limit on land is 0.12 seconds, but that doesn't mean it's the same when you're piloting a helicopter. A helicopter can generate up to 5g of pressure while chasing ball lightning. Can you still maintain a peak reaction time of 0.12 seconds in that environment? Also, reducing the wire to 15 meters is too close! If you're not careful, the helicopter could hit the ball lightning directly. I admit I'm crazy. I can give my life for ball lightning, but that doesn't mean I can watch others pay the price to fulfill my dream."

The lieutenant colonel showed little emotion, but gave Zhang Bin a reply that left him speechless: "A soldier's duty is to obey orders. Successfully completing this operation plan is a task assigned to me by my superiors. Professor Zhang, you must trust me."

"That's absurd. It's not a matter of whether I believe it or not. You're walking a tightrope over a bottomless abyss. One wrong step and you're doomed. Who would willingly throw their life away?"

"I'm not afraid of dying," the lieutenant colonel said. "I'm just afraid of dying in vain. Before I came out, my superiors explained the special nature of this mission to me. They said that if we could successfully capture that torpedo ball, it would be more valuable than sinking an aircraft carrier."

Zhang Bin was helpless. He wanted to capture Hong Electronics more than anyone else, but he felt uneasy if the stakes involved betting other people's lives on the scales.

He looked to Li Youyu for help, hoping he would speak up and change the lieutenant colonel's mind, but he heard Li Youyu say, "The helicopter can be equipped with sound and light sensors, and the linkage that contains ball lightning can be modified into an automatic pop-out device. This would eliminate the need for human brain to react, making it more reliable and saving about 0.05 seconds in time. This 0.05-second delay is reflected in the superconducting wire by 25 meters."

"You mean continue?" Zhang Bin frowned. "25 meters isn't enough. The wire is only so long. When the helicopter is chasing the ball lightning, it must always maintain a distance of less than 25 meters. But who knows if it will suddenly stop or drift in the opposite direction? This distance is too close. If an uncontrollable event occurs, the pilot will not have time to react."

"I know." In front of the lieutenant colonel, Li Youyu continued to add the dangers of this capture plan, "After ball lightning is successfully captured, it will selectively release energy. All objects inside the helicopter may become receptors for this destructive energy. This is the most uncontrollable variable in the operation plan."

Li Youyu's words reminded Zhang Bin of the scene more than ten years ago when his wife was struck by ball lightning.

By then, his wife's body had turned to ashes, but the raincoat and rain boots she was wearing were intact.

Through his research over the past few days, he has come to understand that ball lightning, unlike traditional energy weapons, does not destroy everything within its effective range.

It will randomly select objects to destroy.

Other objects outside the destruction range will remain intact even if they come into close contact with them.

In other words, even if the pilot successfully captures the ball lightning, something inside the aircraft could still be damaged.

It could be the control panel, the fuselage frame, or even the pilot himself.

It was completely unpredictable.

This is a risk that Zhang Bin cannot avoid no matter how meticulously he considers it.

Zhang Bin stood there stunned for a long time, unable to reconcile with the guilt in his heart.

But he knew that researching ball lightning was no longer just a personal matter for him.

The technical team spent a week modifying the lieutenant colonel's helicopter. After the modification, the containment linkage was completely controlled by sensors. Li Youyu and Zhang Bin used round light bulbs to simulate ball lightning several times and made several adjustments before the average response speed was just barely within the limit of 0.05 seconds.

It was another clear night sky.

Zhang Bin stood at the entrance to the cabin, repeatedly explaining the precautions to the pilot.

The capture operation is scheduled to begin at midnight tonight.

As soon as the clock struck twelve, the main rotors of the two helicopters began to spin, and with a roar of engines, the planes took off.

As before, the two helicopters successfully generated an electric arc between them. The artificial fishing net, which was hundreds of meters long, swept across the sky. When it struck a ball lightning bolt, the arc went out, and the helicopter equipped with a storage rod quickly approached and followed behind the ball lightning.

This kind of tracking flight is extremely difficult.

No one can predict the trajectory of ball lightning, and pilots must be fully focused and constantly on guard against sudden changes in the direction of the ball lightning.

Fortunately, the ball lightning's trajectory was relatively stable, allowing the helicopter to follow it closely.

One minute and twenty seconds after being activated, the ball lightning suddenly disappeared. The lieutenant colonel pilot realized that the opportunity had come, accelerated and approached, and the helicopter's storage lever popped out simultaneously, precisely hitting the spot where the ball lightning had disappeared.

According to the data transmitted from the aircraft's instrument panel, the entire process took 0.45 seconds!

Before the pilot could even celebrate, he heard a loud bang from inside the cabin, like someone had set off a firecracker next to his ear.

He realized that the ball lightning's revenge had arrived.

Before he could even check, a strong gust of wind suddenly slapped his face.

In an instant, his body was thrown backward, but fortunately the seatbelt held him firmly in place. At the same time, several alarms sounded in the cabin.

It's glass!

The energy released by the ball lightning shattered all the glass in the helicopter used to isolate it from the outside air.

This is 5 meters above the ground, where the temperature is below zero. Without the protection of aviation glass, this gale would blow him unconscious in just a few minutes!

The neighboring pilot's call came through the radio, but the cockpit was filled with deafening noise, and he couldn't hear a word. He could only shout into the radio, "Front...windshield...detached..."

The wind was so strong that the immense wind pressure made it difficult for him to breathe, but the worst part wasn't that; it was the low temperature.

Every second felt like a knife cutting into his nerves; he could barely keep his eyes open anymore.

He gritted his teeth and pressed the release button. The superconducting container holding the ball lightning ejected from the cabin, illuminating the night sky with signal fireworks, and slowly fell to the ground.

After handling the most important matters, the lieutenant colonel began to think of ways to save himself.

"Arc 1, this is the ground control center. You can jump. Repeat, you can jump."

Li Youyu's voice switched to the radio station.

The lieutenant colonel had to listen several times before he could understand.

He didn't answer, but thought to himself:

It seems his luck isn't too bad.

Before boarding the plane, he had already written his will. He originally thought he would lose an arm or a leg, or even turn to ashes. Unexpectedly, the ball lightning spared him and simply shattered all the aviation glass.

As long as people are alive, there is hope.

The lieutenant colonel could barely open his eyes, making it difficult to discern directions. He could only strain to look at the cold, distant moon in his windshield.

The helicopter in his hand was the most advanced model in the country, and it had only been in service for a few years. He didn't want to parachute out so easily and give up the helicopter.

He was going to try to salvage the situation.

Anyway, as long as you drive in the direction away from the moon, you will find land.

Under his control, the helicopter began to descend.

4000 meters, 3000 meters, 2000 meters...

Once the altitude dropped below 1000 meters, the wind strength decreased significantly, reaching a tolerable level.

In the lieutenant colonel's view, the city had transformed from a single bright spot into a sea of ​​orange.

Finally, the helicopter landed safely at the airport.

The medical team that was waiting nearby rushed forward and lifted the lieutenant colonel out of the cockpit.

Within just 15 minutes of being contained and landing, the lieutenant colonel had developed varying degrees of frostbite all over his body, with the most severe damage to his face, nose, and ears, which had turned a deep, black frostbite.

If we lingered in the air any longer, the organization would probably die completely.

There's still hope at this point!

------

Soon, the ejected ball lightning storage container was transported back to the air force base.

Apart from the lieutenant colonel from Arc 1 helicopter who was receiving treatment at the hospital, everyone else gathered around.

From the outside, the storage container is a black metal box, and it doesn't look particularly special.

"Is that ghostly ball of lightning inside?"

The question was asked by an air force logistics soldier who had spent half a month with Li Youyu and his team and had personally witnessed many ball lightning strikes after they were triggered.

He thought, "Science is a wonderful thing. It can even give humans the ability to capture such strange objects."

After receiving an affirmative answer, he asked again,

"Teachers, when are you going to bring out the lightning ball so we can see it?"

Before Li Youyu could even speak, someone else answered first:

"This experiment is not child's play. We must be cautious when dealing with the lightning ball and have a thorough preparation process. Afterward, the equipment will be transported back to the laboratory in the capital. We will be notified of the results."

The one who answered was the Air Force representative, surnamed Yan, a senior colonel.

Colonel Yan was worried that Li Youyu and Zhang Bin might have other considerations and be too embarrassed to refuse the soldiers, so he spoke first to help them out of the predicament.

As soon as he spoke, the other soldiers fell silent.

It is indeed a pity. They were selected through special operations standards to be eligible to enter this operation. After going through all sorts of things, they finally captured the ball lightning. Now they are less than five meters away from it. If they can witness its phenomenon, this experience can be considered a perfect ending.

But for soldiers, obeying orders is their primary duty.

Everyone composed themselves, prepared to disperse, and returned to their original units.

Just then, Li Youyu suddenly said, "The superconducting team has arrived. Please wait a moment. After so many days of arduous efforts, I think we can't keep you waiting any longer."

Everyone understood what he meant, and cheers immediately erupted from the crowd. Even Colonel Yan, who had just been giving everyone a stern order, had a smile on his face.

The two pilots were his capable lieutenants, and he knew more about the dangers they had faced than anyone else. How could he not want to witness it with his own eyes?

The superconducting team's engineers quickly arrived at the hangar, bringing with them a magnetic field confinement device. The other soldiers formed a circle, silently watching the engineers connect various wires to the device.

Zhang Bin explained to the curious soldiers, "Ball lightning can pass through any object; no container can hold it. However, according to theoretical models, it carries a certain negative charge and can be confined by a magnetic field. This device can provide the magnetic field needed to bind it."

"I know, that's how they slaughter pigs back home. When they can't hold them down, they tie them up with a pig's hoof, and the pig squeals and screams!"

A burst of laughter erupted from the crowd.

"What the hell are you talking about? This is high-tech!"

"Actually, it's not that different."

Zhang Bin said, "High technology is not about using invisible ropes to tie up invisible pigs; the underlying logic is the same."

The engineers connected the device, and a small red light on the magnetic field generator lit up.

Next, Zhang Bin walked to the storage container and, under everyone's watchful eyes, pressed the switch to connect the magnetic field device.

Once this switch is turned on, unexcited ball lightning will be guided into the magnetic field.

"Alright, we've succeeded."

He said.

The entire room fell into a deathly silence.

Colonel Yan and the soldiers never took their eyes off the magnetic field generating device. When Zhang Bin announced the successful extraction, it was completely empty.

"Damn, isn't this something only smart people can see? Why can't I see it?"

One of the soldiers scratched the back of his head and asked his comrade next to him, puzzled.

"We won't fail, will we...?"

Someone winked at their comrade, "Two squad leaders risked their lives flying just to get air?"

Colonel Yan glared at the soldier who had spoken, signaling him to shut up.

Seeing this, Li Youyu walked over to the colonel and whispered, "Colonel, why don't you try standing behind the device?"

Without the slightest hesitation, Colonel Yan walked to the back of the device.

Look!

Suddenly, someone shouted, pointing to the colonel's uniform.

His uniform near his chest was deformed, the deformed area clearly outlining a circle, like a transparent crystal ball submerged in water.

"You can come back now, Colonel."

Li Youyu led Colonel Yan back to the front of the device, and everyone's eyes were fixed on the edge of the bubble. Now, even without the background color, everyone could see the bubble. Its faint spherical edge was faintly visible in the air, looking like a soap bubble without any color pattern.

"You, you go and touch it?"

"You're kidding me! I'm not going. What if I get shot?"

"It's okay, you can stick your head in there."

Zhang Bin said.

Encouraged by others, a soldier stepped forward and cautiously approached the cavitation bubble in the magnetic field.

He tried several times, but always pulled back just before getting close to the cavitation bubble.

Someone, unable to bear his rambling any longer, stood in front of the bubble and said, "Teacher Zhang, don't lie to me."

Then, with his eyes closed, he pushed his head inside in one go.

A moment later, finding nothing amiss, he opened his eyes and saw everyone jumping up, clapping their hands in genuine joy.

The ball lightning cavitation bubble, which had existed for countless years, finally welcomed its first human visitor.