Chapter 248: Secrets of the Experiment

Hearing Tang Mudao say he had a way, the other four turned their gazes toward him.

Tang Mudao pondered: "I told you before, Zheng Fa, that one major task for astronomers is collecting various signals from the universe—rays, light, even microwave signals—all of which are essentially electromagnetic waves. Such observations usually last many years, and the records are extensive."

Zheng Fa nodded, waiting for him to continue.

"So, theoretically, many observatories have records of electromagnetic signals from each solar term—only these electromagnetic waves are usually dismissed as noise."

"I'll check the public data from a few observatories; I should be able to obtain the corresponding records."

Hearing this, Zheng Fa gratefully said: "Then I leave it to Professor Tang!"

Tang Mudao waved his hand and headed toward his room, likely to look for some materials.

But the old white-haired man asked: "There are so many observatories, receiving all kinds of signals. How do we know which one is the one we want?"

That was a good question.

Electromagnetic waves are far too common—nearly infinite; every observatory receives an enormous volume of electromagnetic signals at all times.

On the other hand, since observatories are scattered across different regions, whether they can even detect the special signal Zheng Fa expects is another matter.

Of course, the old white-haired man and the others didn't know—but Zheng Fa understood clearly—

The Xuanwei Realm and the modern world are quite different; though both have the concept of solar terms, their underlying meanings may not be the same.

So the more deadly question is whether such a special electromagnetic wave even exists in the modern world.

This is truly like searching for a needle in a haystack.

"There's one way," Zheng Fa said.

"Assuming my hypothesis is correct, then we have a deduction—on the day of each solar term, a special electromagnetic wave appears."

"And this electromagnetic signal does not appear on any other day."

"If we find this specific electromagnetic signal in the records, it would partially verify the hypothesis."

"If we find nothing, then the hypothesis is wrong."

This is like how relativity predicted gravitational waves—often, when a theory cannot be directly verified, easier-to-observe deductions serve as proof.

"The workload…"

The old white-haired man clicked his tongue, sighing: "It's quite a lot…"

"Then it all depends on Professor Tang."

This verification method first requires massive amounts of data.

As for how to process the data and locate the response signal—that's the next problem.

…

Tang Mudao's connections were indeed useful; at least, obtaining these public records posed no difficulty.

The difficulty lay in—how to find Zheng Fa's tiny signal among this ocean of records…

Zheng Fa glanced toward Tang Lingwumin.

In such a predicament, handing it over to a computer was always the first choice.

Tang Lingwumin frowned, thinking: "The technical difficulty isn't high, but it requires time and luck."

This was actually simpler than the earlier rune recognition—it was more like playing "spot the difference."

But the problem was the sheer volume of data, with no specific pattern, leaving no clear method—only letting the computer run and compare.

Zheng Fa looked at the others beside him.

Seeing they were all at a loss, it was clear they had no better ideas.

…

On an evening half a month later, Zheng Fa and Tang Lingwumin and the others were in the courtyard.

From inside the room, the lab's mainframe could be heard groaning, fans whirring—the sound had persisted for over ten days.

The records Tang Mudao had gathered were numerous, and more kept arriving steadily.

Both domestic and international sources.

Yet there was still no surprising discovery—only increased computational load, forcing Tang Lingwumin to upgrade the machine.

Zheng Fa was no longer in such a hurry—mainly because he realized the retirement home now revolved around him.

If he showed even a hint of impatience, the old white-haired man and the others would feel pressure.

Especially Tang Lingwumin.

This research depended mostly on her.

These past few days, she bore the heaviest workload; no one else could help much.

For several nights, Zheng Fa had seen her room light on past midnight.

She seemed to be working all night.

Most importantly, there had been no results yet.

The more that happened, the more agitated she became.

She even sometimes sat blankly while eating…

Today, he decided to host an entertainment night.

Several reclining chairs were set up in the courtyard, with small tables before them, each holding fruit grown in the retirement home—plump, juicy, freshly picked.

A bit farther away, a projector stood, facing a screen.

He asked Tang Lingwumin, lying to his left: "What movie do you want to watch?"

At this moment, he felt a pang of regret—the modern world still hadn't found materials to craft spirit talismans; otherwise, he could've shown them what true holographic projection looked like.

Tang Lingwumin seemed to sense Zheng Fa's concern for her.

She smiled at him, reclining in the chair, her feet dangling and swaying at the edge, even her plump toes radiating joy.

"Anything's fine!"

The old white-haired man beside her snorted, glanced at Tian Laoshi beside him, then turned to look at Tang Mudao, sitting alone.

His expression immediately turned smug.

"Little Tian, what do you want to watch?"

He spoke loudly.

Tian Laoshi rolled her eyes, though her eyes still held amusement; she thought a moment and said: "How about each of us suggests a requirement?"

"That's a good idea!"

The old white-haired man approved.

Zheng Fa thought and said: "Something light."

He still wanted everyone to relax.

Tang Lingwumin also thought a moment and said: "Something that doesn't strain the mind."

Clearly, she was truly exhausted these past days.

The old white-haired man chuckled: "Domestic! No foreign gibberish!"

Tian Laoshi thought a moment and said: "Then something related to cultivation—more immersive."

Everyone turned to look at Tang Mudao, who pursed his lips and said stiffly: "Something where lovers meet a bad end…"

"…."

In the end, everyone stared at the familiar figure of Master Jiu on screen, feeling they'd somehow imagined something else.

But as they watched, it turned out… not bad.

Their moods relaxed.

Zheng Fa glanced at Tang Lingwumin and saw she was utterly absorbed; he felt deeply satisfied.

The old white-haired man suddenly asked Tang Mudao: "Mudao, I heard you have some secrets to your experiments—your success rate is very high."

Tian Laoshi beside him nodded, her gaze toward Tang Mudao tinged with envy.

Zheng Fa also turned to look at Tang Mudao.

Only after beginning research on the Spirit Wood Thunder did he realize how much luck experiments—especially agricultural ones—depended on; if there were any tricks, he was willing to learn.

Tang Mudao blinked slightly, a faint look of embarrassment crossing his face.

As if he had some secret he couldn't reveal.

Seeing his expression, Zheng Fa said: "If you don't want to say, it's fine."

Tang Mudao shook his head and smiled: "This matter… how to put it? It's not really a secret, it's just… a bit embarrassing to say in front of you."

"Embarrassing?"

Tang Mudao explained: "My secret to experiments is—him!"

Tang Mudao pointed at Master Jiu on the screen.

"Huh?"

"When I first went abroad, I was a stranger in a strange land," Tang Mudao continued. "I went through a rough patch—couldn't find work, had no resources. Then I heard about a professor who loved traditional Chinese culture, so I bought the exact same outfit as in this movie, told him I could perform rituals to boost experimental success."

"Cheating?" the old white-haired man realized.

Tang Mudao chuckled: "Not really. He wasn't foolish—he just thought I was amusing, so he gave me a chance and took me on as a doctoral student."

"Later, once we became familiar, we joked about it, and this rumor spread," Tang Mudao shook his head. "Sometimes, just to liven things up, I'd wear this outfit and put on a show… purely for fun."

He summed up: "In scientific research, all success comes from persistent, gradual effort—there's no shortcut, no secret."

This Tang Mudao…

Zheng Fa glanced at Tang Lingwumin, who seemed to have understood something, and realized Tang Mudao's words were meant for her.

It seemed she had truly grasped it.

…

The next day.

Zheng Fa found Tang Lingwumin's behavior curious—she sat before the computer, hands covering her eyes, as if afraid to look at the screen.

"I searched online for research tips and picked up some methods," Tang Lingwumin said, turning her head away, still deliberately avoiding the screen: "Some people say you shouldn't look at the computer, or it'll get scared and give you wrong data."

You really figured that out?

"... nd what else?"

"Oh, some people bow to the computer... I haven't tried that yet."

"... ou don't need to do that."

Even Tang Mudao, standing beside him, was speechless: "Little Tang, we still need to be practical..."

As they spoke, a notification sound rang out.

Tang Lingwumin spun around, staring at the screen: "There's a result!"

"Huh?"

"Let me see—this is the comparative output: the special electromagnetic signal on Jingzhe Day..." Tang Lingwumin clicked the mouse a few times, then summarized: "This signal has only appeared on Jingzhe Day, with dozens of recordings across five observation stations."

Zheng Fa and Tang Mudao froze, then stepped forward together to look at the screen.

Finding a needle in a haystack is hard—but once you've pulled it out, recognizing it as a needle is easy.

"So this is the waveform of Jingzhe Thunder?"

Tang Mudao asked dazedly.

"A possible waveform—if there are no other unusual electromagnetic waves on Jingzhe Day, this is the most likely one!"

Tang Lingwumin smiled.

Another notification sounded.

"What's this?"

"Didn't we study a Spirit Wood Thunder before? I input its waveform into these records to see if any matched—and now I found one! This is the special electromagnetic wave on Dashu Day!"

Tang Lingwumin glanced at the computer and smiled again.

Zheng Fa perked up, staring at the still-working computer, a sudden thought forming in his mind—

Should I just bow to this thing?