“Hey Alex, busy?”
A cheerful voice bounced across the lab.
Alex Reeve looked up, spotting his research mentor James Carter strolling in with a bright grin. “You seem in a good mood today,” Alex commented.
James let out a hearty laugh. “Of course I am! Got some huge news!”
Although nearly sixty, James still had that booming voice and infectious energy. He walked over and dropped into the chair opposite Alex, his eyes gleaming behind the monitor of an old CRT setup.
Curious, Alex grabbed some paperwork off the nearby desk. “So what’s this great news?”
James crossed his arms, satisfaction written all over his face. "They’ve nailed down the maiden flight date for the M-10. Our very own fourth-gen fighter jet! Can you believe it?" He burst out laughing like a kid showing off a new toy.
Alex gave a small nod and smiled. It was, indeed, a milestone. He already knew it was scheduled to fly next year—1998. After all, he was from 2023.
Now he was a long-term intern, nearly two and a half years in, working at 611 Institute under Sichuan Chengfei Aviation.
“Next year it finally takes off! That’s a whole fourth-gen jet—it changes everything for our air force,” James said, clearly struggling to contain his excitement. “Right now, we’re still flying those ancient J-7s. But once the M-10 flies, boom, we leapfrog an entire generation. Straight past third-gen! That’s massive!”
His voice trembled as he spoke. For a country like theirs, which started its aviation journey much later, this kind of breakthrough was more than just technical—it was symbolic.
The current backbone aircraft, the J-7, was basically an old Soviet MiG-21 copy. And while other countries nearby already had advanced jets—the White Elephant Nation, South Stick, and Japan all had fourth-gens, even if they were imported from the States—the fact remained: they had them.
Russia had a sky filled with all sorts of fourth-gens. But with the M-10 entering service, it would finally shift the balance.
“Yeah, big step forward,” Alex agreed, feeling a ripple of excitement himself.
He knew that in 2004, once the M-10 went operational, it would reshape the region’s airpower landscape. The jet would go through three major upgrades and remain a mainstay until the year he time-traveled from.
It even saw combat backing up allies in conflicts against countries like India, proving its strength.
“Wonder how Matthew over there is progressing,” James mused, a hint of worry in his tone.
“Don’t sweat it,” Alex responded calmly. “They’ll get it done. For now, let’s stay focused on the J-7 project. Till the M-10 officially joins duty, the J-7’s still what we’ve got.”
Both were assigned to work on improving this older third-gen model. Like some classic car, it had been upgraded over and over, simply because there wasn’t a better option available yet.
James wandered over to a decommissioned J-7 parked inside the workshop and ran his hand along its fuselage. “It’s old, huh? Just like me… past its prime.”
Since 1966, the J-7 had served faithfully. And even by 2023, it hadn’t officially retired.
Then the old CRT computer beside them chimed with a new message.
James rushed over and checked it—his smile faded fast.
“What is it?” Alex asked, picking up on the sudden shift.
James silently turned the monitor toward him, his expression heavy. “Take a look.”Alex Reeve frowned slightly and leaned in to read the headline in a hushed voice: “Shocking! World’s First! Uncle Sam’s strongest fifth-gen stealth fighter F22 completes maiden flight!”
His brow tightened.
Yeah, the F22 really did take off a year ahead of the Menglong 10. That was back in 1997.
“Man… they’re pulling ahead again…”
James Carter let out a heavy sigh. He clenched his fists, the excitement from earlier completely gone. Head lowered, his voice was full of frustration.
“Our fourth-gen’s still on the drawing board. We’re still flying second-gen jets, and they’re already testing their fifth-gen stealth fighters. The Menglong 10 hasn’t even flown—it’s already behind.”
As part of the older generation of researchers, he’d poured decades into this work. Blood, sweat, and endless effort.
But the gap was real.
They’re flying fifth-gens. We’re still on seconds.
Even back in 1977, Uncle Sam already had stealth bombers in flight!
Meanwhile, Huaxia was still tinkering with the same old J-6 variants.
Alex knew just how tough things were for Huaxia right now. Not just the air force—navy and army gear was just as outdated.
Then there was the west’s tech blockade, led by Uncle Sam.
No support.
No sharing.
Only Russia dared to sell Huaxia military gear. But tech transfer? Ha—no way.
You want to buy, okay. You want the know-how? Dream on.
Seeing James Carter so defeated, Alex’s voice turned firm.
“We’ll have fifth-gen jets. And they’ll be even better than F22s! We’ll have stuff they haven’t even imagined—like the near-sci-fi ‘South Gate Project,’ cutting-edge tanks, carriers… You name it, we’ll have it.”
The Mighty Dragon 20 was born later but packed more punch, especially with domestic engines.
High-angle maneuvers like reversed leaf rolls? Those were uniquely Huaxia.
And in terms of R&D? We didn’t just catch up—we broke into the first tier globally. Even surged ahead!
On land, the king of battlefields: the 99A tank.
At sea, the powerful 055 destroyer and carriers—three of them.
And the ‘South Gate Project’? That alone opened endless possibilities.
The future Huaxia? Unstoppable.
No more barking from neighbors.
James Carter looked up at Alex, giving a wry but warm smile. He patted Alex on the shoulder.
“As long as you kids keep dreaming. I just hope I live to see the day you’re talking about.”
Alex grinned. “You’ll see it all, I promise. Stealth bombers, carrier-based jets, giant cargo planes, next-gen EW aircraft—none of them will be missing!”
“Good, good!”
James’ eyes lit up again. “If it doesn’t exist? Then we’ll build it. If it’s tough? We’ll break through it. Remember back in the day, we made nukes with nothing more than abacuses in the desert. If we pulled that off, making solid aircraft is no big deal.”
He was genuinely proud of Alex—not just a top graduate from Huada, but gutsy, too.
Falling behind isn’t the end of the world. What matters is daring to dream—and fighting for it.
Alex nodded hard.
No difficulty could hold back Huaxia.
If they blocked us? Fine—we’d build it ourselves. Bigger and better!
The old-timers wouldn’t be cowed by foreign power.
Their spines didn’t bend.
They didn’t know fear. They didn’t know defeat.
And neither did Alex.
[ding–! Task complete: two-and-a-half years of check-ins. System “God of Tech” is now activating.]
[ding–! System launch successful. Tech Space is now open.]
[ding–! Obsolete fighter jet J-7 detected. Ready for analysis—proceed?]
…