“Is this the Batwing?
This is too cool!
It’s absolutely awesome!” Looking at the vertically descending Batwing, shock filled 2B’s eyes.
Because she had already awakened emotions and self-awareness, her behavior was beginning to resemble that of a real human girl more and more.
Her curiosity was no exception.
“It really is quite cool,” Loren smiled, opening the cockpit and quickly sliding inside.
He glanced back at the seat behind him and smiled at 2B.
“Hop in.
Let’s go for a spin!” Hearing this, 2B beamed, looking incredibly happy.
“Alright, Boss!” She nodded firmly, gave a quick hum of agreement, and swiftly climbed in behind Loren.
She then began scanning everything inside the cabin like a curious child.
In just a moment, she fully learned how to pilot the Batwing.
Although 2B’s cybernetic brain couldn’t compare to the super artificial intelligence, Alice, she was still light-years ahead of any human.
Her learning speed was beyond imagination, which was perhaps one of the reasons why 2B had developed self-awareness in the first place.
“Buckle up, we’re heading out right now!” Loren said, pressing the ignition button on the control console.
Right after, a pleasant synthesized electronic voice echoed inside the cabin.
“Good evening, Boss.
I am the artificial intelligence, Alice.
How may I assist you?” All of Loren’s smart devices could now connect to Alice.
Not just this Batwing, but his Batmobile and even his Batsuit could call upon Alice at any time.
Thus, he could not only operate these devices manually but also completely hand over control to Alice whenever necessary.
Naturally, Alice’s piloting capabilities far surpassed what any human was capable of.
And since this was a test flight, it only made sense to have Alice, who possessed the most outstanding piloting capabilities, handle it.
Doing this had another benefit: she could analyze flight logs in real-time and make dynamic adjustments on the fly.
This would be of great help for optimizing the jet later on.
“Begin the Batwing’s first routine test flight immediately,” Loren ordered.
“Understood.
Performing pre-flight checks now.” “Checking the Batwing’s propulsion system…
Check complete, all systems normal…” “Checking the Batwing’s weapon systems…
Check complete, all systems normal…” “Checking the Batwing’s radar systems…
Check complete, all systems normal…” “Overall check completed successfully.
Test flight is about to begin…” “The routine test flight is divided into three phases: maximum altitude test, maximum speed test, and combat capabilities test.” “Beginning maximum altitude test immediately…” As Alice’s voice faded, Loren and 2B, sitting inside the Batwing, instantly felt a powerful sensation of weightlessness.
Since the Batwing utilized an anti-gravity device rather than conventional engines, it could hover with ease.
As for vertical takeoff and landing, that was a piece of cake.
Thus, during the maximum altitude test, sitting inside the Batwing felt like riding a drop tower.
Without any startup lag, the aircraft soared straight into the heavens at an unbelievably mind-boggling speed.
“Altitude rising steadily: 1,000 meters, 2,000 meters, 5,000 meters, 10,000 meters, 15,000 meters, 20,000 meters, 25,000 meters…” “Warning.
Warning.
Ice detected forming on the hull surface.
Activate de-icing mode immediately?” Just as the Batwing reached 25,000 meters, the entire fuselage began to shudder noticeably, and Alice’s warning prompt rang out.
“Activate de-icing mode immediately.
The Batwing’s target altitude is far higher than this.
Keep climbing.” Hearing Alice’s warning, Loren was unfazed.
After all, he had built the Batwing using the world’s most advanced fighter jet technology, integrated with an anti-gravity system.
He had designed its maximum ceiling to be 50,000 meters.
This altitude already surpassed any existing fighter jet in the world.
According to official records, the highest actual altitude achieved by a manned aircraft in the world was around 37,000 meters.
And that was a record set back in 1977.
Up to this day, no one had broken it.
The maximum actual flight ceiling of the most advanced modern fighter jets was only about 27,000 meters, while ordinary fighter jets stayed below 20,000 meters.
This showed just how astonishing it was that Loren’s Batwing could fly to an altitude of 50,000 meters!
At Loren’s command, Alice immediately activated the de-icing mode.
With the activation of the de-icing system, the ice that had begun to solidify on the Batwing’s surface instantly shattered and melted away.
Having resolved the high-altitude freezing issue, the Batwing stabilized and recovered from its previous vibrations.
It then continued to fly higher into the sky.
Before long, it broke past 30,000 meters, eventually pushing all the way to 48,000 meters before it could climb no further.
“Boss, we have reached the maximum practical ceiling.
Unable to continue climbing for now,” Alice’s voice reported inside the cabin.
Hearing Alice’s report, Loren nodded with great satisfaction.
His designed target was 50,000 meters, and reaching an actual altitude of 48,000 meters already far exceeded expectations.
“Very good.
Drop the altitude to 25,000 meters first, and then we’ll conduct the maximum speed test.
My designed top speed is Mach 5; let’s see how close we can get to that in reality.” Loren issued his next test command.
Receiving Loren’s order, Alice immediately went to work.
“Understood!
Altitude has descended to 25,000 meters.
Beginning the maximum speed test now.
Countdown starting: 5…
4…
3…
2…
1!” *Boom!* *Whoosh!* As soon as Alice’s countdown hit zero, Loren and 2B instantly felt a terrifying, crushing force push them back into their seats.
At that moment, their bodies felt as if they were being pinned flat against their seats by a massive boulder, unable to move a single muscle.
Even Loren’s facial features distorted slightly under the G-force.
From this, one could imagine just how terrifyingly fast the Batwing’s initial acceleration was.
The g-force generated by such speed was something an ordinary human absolutely could not withstand; they likely would have blacked out instantly.
Fortunately, Loren had strengthened his physical body with the Perfect Super Soldier Serum; otherwise, he wouldn’t have escaped that fate either.
“Warning.
Warning.
Humanoid flying object detected ahead.
Target speed: Mach 0.8.” “A humanoid flying object?
What does it look like?” Loren was taken aback by Alice’s words.
Just as the words left his mouth, a gold-and-red humanoid armor suddenly popped up on the screen in front of him.
“Well, if it isn’t Iron Man!”