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As the saying goes, laymen watch the spectacle while experts watch the craft.
The average person, seeing the thrusters on Crimson Typhoon's back, could manage maybe a single "holy crap" to describe it.
But in the eyes of certain people who knew the field, what this thing was registered instantly.
"Holy crap. Isn't that a vector engine?"
The military buffs in the livestream recognized these three thick tubes, which could even rotate up and down, almost the moment they saw them.
Vector engines had always been closely watched by the country's military buffs, because the country was currently one of only three vector-engine players in the world, and its strength still lagged behind the other two.
The one falling behind always drew the most attention.
But how was this thing showing up on a mech? And this big, at that.
They didn't know the engine's exact dimensions, but set against the seventy-six-meter Crimson Typhoon, everyone knew the nozzle diameter on this thing was absolutely not small. At minimum it had to be larger than every vector engine in the world right now.
These people were just like the vector engine team had been when they'd first received Ryan's technical documentation, a thick sense of absurdity rising in their hearts.
If, before this, anyone had told them that a vector engine could be used on a mech, they'd have spat on the person and informed them it made no sense whatsoever. But after today, they wouldn't anymore.
Because this kind of radical rework genuinely existed.
Inside the master control room.
The researchers were all busy at their computers, watching every piece of the mech's data at every moment, attentive to every detail's change.
"If they keep jetting into the sea at this speed, their fuel won't be enough."
The researcher monitoring the fuel data quickly frowned. He looked at Ryan, signaling to ask whether they should remind the pilots.
Ryan shook his head. "No need to worry. Those three brothers know their limits."
The three pilot groups had only ever dealt with mech-related training and were familiar with all of Crimson Typhoon's performance data. Naturally they knew this would burn through a great deal of fuel.
"They'll only jet to accelerate in the shallow-water zone. They'll shut it off once they head deeper," Ryan said. He understood those three brothers well enough to guess their thinking.
The deeper they went, the greater the resistance the mech would face, and jetting to accelerate wouldn't gain them much speed anymore. Those three brothers couldn't fail to understand that.
"Understood." The researcher nodded and returned his attention to his computer.
Ryan, in his seat, calmly watched the integrated data on the master control screen.
This precise data, transmitted from the countless sensors on Crimson Typhoon, formed the mech's current status report on the computer. From this data, he could obtain every condition of the mech's body right now.
And at the top of the master control room was another screen, showing the live broadcast feed from outside in real time.
This television broadcast's image quality was very clear, mainly because of a requirement Ryan had specifically raised. This broadcast team couldn't be the same people who filmed rockets and frigates.
Otherwise, never mind the broadcast serving any promotional purpose. If it didn't produce a negative effect, that alone would be a blessing from the heavens.
So the national broadcaster had hurriedly brought in a professional camera team.
This too was one of the reasons Crimson Typhoon could deliver such a shock to people. The professional cinematographers handled every kind of shot perfectly.
Outside, meanwhile.
The camera team on the boats had already stepped back, replaced by the aerial camera team that had ascended once more. They flew the helicopter in close to Crimson Typhoon, at the nearest point only twenty-some meters away, close enough to clearly see the patterns on the armor with the naked eye.
"As you can all see, the weather conditions right now still aren't great. The rain on-site is trending heavier, and the waves are starting to grow as well. Under ordinary circumstances, weather like this isn't suitable for a test." The reporter in the helicopter explained to the audience while the cameraman filmed from the air.
"But according to the information we currently have, Crimson Typhoon's ability to resist wind and waves is extremely powerful. Even in a storm, it's equally capable of operating at sea. So the current rain is, to it, no more than a light drizzle. There's no need for any of you to worry."
The cameraman's lens stayed locked on Crimson Typhoon out at sea.
By now Crimson Typhoon was walking deeper and deeper. The seawater had completely submerged its lower legs, and the occasional wind-driven wave that struck its back was immediately evaporated by the scorching flames jetting from the vector thrusters.
But in the cockpit at this moment, the resistance the pilots felt was growing greater and greater too.
The pilot frames of this generation of mech were still a mechanical-transmission design. The resistance to the mech's forward movement, once reduced, would transmit to the foot frames as well, a form of human-machine interaction.
"Shut off the thrusters."
Under Dean's operation, the thrusters on the mech's back shut off, and the dazzling flames gradually drew in.
Then the three of them piloted the mech, pushing the resistance aside, walking slowly toward their destination along the set route.
Their destination lay seven nautical miles away, a small fault where the water depth would reach eighty-seven meters.
Whooo.
Suddenly, a long horn blast came through.
Three enormous frigates drove up ahead, and their voices came over the radio.
"Crimson Typhoon, we will carry out navigation duty for you."
"Received. Thank you." Dean wasn't surprised in the slightest and replied calmly. This navigation task had been arranged long ago.
They then shifted positions, the three frigates spreading into a triangular formation, leading the way ahead, with Crimson Typhoon falling slightly behind the three ships.
This way, the frigates in front could help clear away some of the forward resistance.
The sight of the frigates navigating for the mech was captured faithfully by the cameraman in the helicopter.
On the dim sea, the frigates ahead were long and slender, while the crimson mech behind was tall and imposing, the searchlight on its head illuminating the waters before it. The whole image looked endlessly harmonious and complementary.
For a moment, the people in the livestream and in front of their televisions all got the same feeling.
This was simply a normal fleet carrying out its daily duties. Not a single person felt there was anything jarring about a mech moving together with warships.
The helicopter even circled around to the front of the frigates, deliberately lowering its altitude to let the cameraman capture a near horizontal view.
At sea level, behind the slender forms of the three frigates, a mech's upper half emerged, several times taller than the frigates, following closely behind them.
From this angle, the frigates magically became little boats in a washbasin, while the enormous mech following behind had been enlarged several times over.
"Mech plus fleet, six feet deep."
"This is way too cool."
The screen full of comments fully demonstrated the shock this scene gave the audience.
Under everyone's attention, the frigates led the mech through the rest of the route, a full half hour of travel, and not a single viewer found it boring.
Everyone watched this oddly fitting pairing out on the sea, their hearts blooming with delight. All sorts of memes had already begun spreading online. Some people even screenshotted the scene and added dialogue, turning the relationship between the three frigates and the mech into a love square.
At last, under the fleet's navigation, Crimson Typhoon reached the edge of the fault.
"Master control, we've reached the fault according to the planned schedule."
"Carry out the task according to plan." Ryan's voice came through the radio.
"Received."
"Sealing all cabins, preparing to dive."
The three frigates continued forward ahead, and Crimson Typhoon followed behind as usual, except it was now slowly descending in step with the changing depth of the seabed.
Soon the seawater had submerged the mech's body, leaving only the tallest point, the single-eyed cockpit, above the surface.
At this moment, on the frigate ahead, a cameraman quickly snapped this scene.
Amid the surging waves, the circular observation window of Crimson Typhoon's cockpit faced the lens directly, giving off a bright yellow glow, like a bright moon slowly setting.