Chapter 352: Another Awakened One

Anvil Star.

The planet, as its name suggests, is a planet famous throughout human territory for heavy industry, giant machinery manufacturing, and cutting-edge materials research.

Huge orbital shipyards are like a steel jungle, outlining the planet's silhouette.

The surface is covered with automated factories and smelting facilities stretching for thousands of kilometers, and the air seems to be filled with a unique smell of metal mixed with energy liquid.

Jie Ming came here to investigate its core industrial technology and learn.

For this reason, relying on his status as an excellent graduate of the school, he participated in a public technical seminar held at the headquarters of the "Titan Forging" Group regarding the efficiency optimization of a new generation of high-energy plasma transmission pipelines.

The venue was set in a huge tiered conference room full of hardcore industrial style, where engineers and researchers from various star sectors were arguing fiercely.

Just in the clash of technical terms, a familiar voice, with a slightly hurried but logically extremely clear tone, attracted Jie Ming's attention.

He followed the sound and saw a figure that was completely different from his memory, yet faintly overlapping at the core.

That person—is it Lei Ke?

Jie Ming could hardly believe his eyes.

The person in front of him was no longer the Tier 10 super genius who was covered in hideous mechanical constructs and exuded the aura of alchemy and metal during the graduation trial of the Nuolun Workshop.

No flashing rune eyes, no humming power joints.

Replacing them was a young engineer wearing slightly oversized standard work clothes, with a thin build and a pair of plain, unadorned glasses on the bridge of his nose.

He was standing in front of the podium, arguing until his face was red with an old engineer with gray hair about the energy vortex loss problem of a certain transmission node.

"Your model ignores the second-order topological effect of the superfluid medium in a non-uniform magnetic field!" Lei Ke spoke rapidly, his fingers drawing complex formulas and data on the virtual light screen.

"Look here, if you introduce this correction parameter and combine it with the chaotic oscillation model of the boundary layer, you can explain that extra 3.7% energy leakage!"

His words were very ordinary, but the logic chain was as tight as the meshing of precise gears, showing extraordinary technical foundation.

The person in front of him looked like a tech geek who was immersed in his own technical world, could not tolerate the slightest flaw, and was a bit stubborn.

In Jie Ming's view, this guy's personality had hardly changed at all; essentially, he was still used to treating the people around him as air.

Listening, Jie Ming's keen perception caught a hint of something wrong.

It was not from Lei Ke's appearance or personality, but from several unconventional technical ideas and simplified models he occasionally used during his argumentation process.

Those ideas, on the surface, were engineering methods common to this plane, but their internal simplified logic and a certain "intuitive" way of handling the essence of energy faintly gave Jie Ming a sense of familiarity.

After thinking for a moment, Jie Ming confirmed that it was more like a certain thinking path that wizards would use when dealing with elemental energy, rather than a deduction purely based on physical formulas.

"Could it be—" Jie Ming's eyes flashed, and he thought of a possibility.

But he didn't rush forward; after all, the intelligence mentioned three unlucky people who died on this plane, indicating that this plane was not completely safe.

After waiting for a while, the seminar entered the free exchange session.

Jie Ming approached Lei Ke, who was organizing his notes alone, without changing his expression.

"Sorry to bother you," Jie Ming revealed a friendly smile filled with a thirst for knowledge, "Your discussion just now about the application of the chaotic oscillation model to the energy boundary layer was very brilliant. However, I have a question: the 'resonance frequency compensation' algorithm you mentioned doesn't seem to be a solution in the standard library. Did you derive it yourself? Its 'affinity' assumption for the underlying energy field is very—unique."

He deliberately added an imperceptible emphasis on the word "affinity."

This was a concept commonly used in wizard elements to describe the degree of matching between energy and specific runes or spiritual imprints.

But in this plane, this word was generally not used to describe things in this regard.

Lei Ke looked up and pushed his glasses; a trace of impatience at being interrupted first flashed in his eyes.

But after hearing Jie Ming's question clearly, the impatience was quickly replaced by extreme confusion and vigilance.

His fingers curled unconsciously.

"Standard algorithms are too rigid," Lei Ke's voice was lower than before, and his speaking speed slowed down, "In actual high-energy environments, one must consider the 'bias' of the field itself."

He avoided the term "affinity" and used the word "bias."

But as the stern technical personnel image he had shown before, not directly correcting the error but silently modifying the noun was already a subtle response.

"Indeed, rigid standards cannot cope with all variables." Jie Ming followed his words, his gaze locked tightly on the eyes behind the other party's lenses, "Sometimes, I wish we could manipulate energy with our will, don't you?"

This sentence was almost an explicit hint.

Lei Ke's body stiffened imperceptibly for an instant.

He didn't answer immediately but pushed his glasses again; this action seemed to have become a habit for him to cover up his inner fluctuations.

After a few seconds of silence, he suddenly spoke, throwing out a seemingly ordinary technical question: "Suppose—there is a closed system whose internal energy follows the law of conservation, but external observation will find that its total entropy fluctuates periodically—what do you think is the most likely reason? Is it measurement error, or does the system itself possess an unknown—'breathing'?"

This question was a thermodynamic discussion on the surface.

But words like "closed system," "periodic fluctuation of entropy," and "breathing" combined together were often used in the wizard's worldview to describe the evolution of semi-planes, the operation of large barriers, or even the energy tides during the meditation of certain powerful existences!

The air between the two seemed to freeze instantly.

The chatter of other engineers around and the sound of data flowing on the light screen became blurred background noise at this moment.

They stood in the bustling crowd but seemed to be in an invisible arena.

Jie Ming felt solemn in his heart, knowing that Lei Ke was counter-probing.

He dared not be the slightest bit careless, his brain running at high speed, needing to give an answer that conformed to the physics framework of this world while being able to transmit signals that only "kindred spirits" could understand between the lines.

"The possibility of measurement error needs to be ruled out," Jie Ming organized his language cautiously, his gaze meeting Lei Ke's without flinching, "If it is the system's own 'breathing,' then it might mean that it is not completely closed, but exists in a weak—'energy exchange' with a larger 'void' on some 'law' we have not yet recognized."

He used the words "law" and "void" to replace "rules" and "universe."

If it were a normal person on this plane, hearing this passage from Jie Ming, they would only feel that he was not well-learned, but they could also understand what he meant.

But in fact, these kinds of vocabulary were all core concepts of the wizard civilization.

Lei Ke's pupils contracted slightly, and he couldn't help but look up and meet Jie Ming's eyes.

They both saw in each other's eyes the shadow of another civilization that was deeply buried but could not be completely erased.

(Taking a day off tomorrow) ===== CHAPTER 353 =====