Chapter 697: Dual Lines

Underground at the resonance station, Zhao Lao'nian stared at the metal plate before him, etched with countless dots and lines.

This is not a circuit diagram.

It is a 'conceptual pulse encoding diagram'.

Breaking down these fundamental metallurgical concepts—'high-temperature combustion,' 'mineral reduction,' 'metal plasticity,' and 'quenching strengthening'—into the most primitive attribute symbols, then converting them into combinations of pulse length and interval.

It is harder than sending a yuan energy feature.

Because the latter has concrete energy characteristics that can be simulated, whereas the former… is almost abstract.

"What could he possibly understand if we send this over?" Zhao Lao'nian scratched his glowing forehead, muttering to his deputy beside him, "Is he supposed to read heavenly script?"

The deputy, a young man, spoke carefully: "Sir Minister, the lord's meaning is…… to convey the 'idea,' not a concrete 'formula'."

"Idea…" Zhao Lao'nian sighed, "You mean using pulses to strike Morse code? Those people over there probably don't even know what electricity is."

Despite saying that, his hand did not stop.

He adjusted the angle of the resonant copper tube array, trying to add harmonics that could simulate basic sensations like 'heat,' 'flow,' and 'crystallization.'

This is not precise transmission.

This is throwing a chaotic but specifically shaped key at an unknown receiver.

Hope that they happen to have a lock that matches some of the notches.

"Debug test fire, group seven." Zhao Lao'nian ordered.

A small amount of force is stimulated, after processing becomes a complex pulse, shot at the test-sensitive paper.

The suspended pen moves, drawing a segment of undulating waveform.

Zhao Lao'nian leans in to look, his brows furrowed tightly.

"Still too 'flat'…… the sensation of 'high temperature' isn't strong enough. Need to add…… an explosive prefix pulse."

He turned around and re-modified the hole sequence on the encoding metal sheet.

At the Huai Xi camp, the atmosphere is even more tense than in the past few days.

Those sent to the northeast to gather news of the Jurchen have not yet returned.

But around the camp's perimeter, bad omens have begun to appear.

First, two half-grown earth dogs tasked with guard duty were found one morning collapsed at the camp's edge, foaming at the mouth, limbs twitching, their eyes showing an abnormal gray-blue hue.

They could not be saved and soon breathed their last.

Next, a newly cleared small vegetable plot on the west side of the camp, where wild vegetable sprouts had just emerged, all wilted and turned black overnight; approaching it, one could smell a faint stench of rot.

Most unsettling of all is the water source.

Although the main drinking water comes from excavated storage pits, the water quality of the nearby stream has further deteriorated, not only becoming turbid but also producing some dead, oddly shaped small fish along its banks.

"That blue‑green gunk again!" Xu Da returned with his men after inspection, his face ashen, "It's the same stench as in the coal pits, only more diffuse—it's everywhere."

Zhu Yue examined the dead dogs and the blackened vegetable sprouts.

Near the eye sockets of the dog corpses and at the stems of the sprouts, he used his homemade crude magnifier (a thinly ground crystal) to see extremely fine, dissipating gray‑blue residue.

It is not a direct attack.

It is environmental permeation.

It is a continuous, low‑intensity pollution discharge.

The Iron Crow Army changed its strategy.

No longer trying to lure him somewhere.

But began systematically polluting his surroundings, raising every fraction of his survival cost, consuming his already scarce resources and manpower.

"They want to trap us here and wear us down to death."

Zhu Yue said to the core personnel who had gathered around, his voice cold and solemn.

"What do we do?" Tang He clenched his fists, "We can still dig water from deep below, we can go without vegetables, but if this filth never ends……"

"We can't just defend." Zhu Yue cut him off, "We must counterattack. At the very least, we need to find a way to filter and purify these things."

He recalled the stone formation at the camp's center and the slight resistive effect brought by the marker stone tablets.

But the area is too small and the strength too weak.

"We need a stronger 'fire'."

He looked toward the coal pile.

"We need higher temperature, we need…… something that can alter matter."

He thought of smelting.

If we had metal, we could make better tools, sturdier weapons, and perhaps…… find a way to refine or isolate that corrupt energy.

But he only has the most rudimentary knowledge, never put into practice.

He lacks suitable ore, a high‑temperature furnace, bellows technique, and even a clear idea of what fuel to use to reach what temperature.

Just then.

A sudden, extremely faint, rapid and regular tingling prickle shot through the skin on the inside of his right arm, with no warning.

It is not the previous diffuse wave‑like perception.

This sensation is more focused, more 'sharp,' as if several invisible needles were lightly tapping the same spot in a specific rhythm.

He jerked upright in surprise.

He immediately held his breath, focused his mind, and directed all his attention to that faint prickle.

Length.

Interval.

Weight.

Combination.

Another set of unfamiliar pulse codes!

Unlike the rhythm pattern of the previous warning information, this pulse…… seems to carry a vague imagery of "dry heat", "impact", "aggregation"?

He didn't have time to think it over, he rushed back to the shelter, grabbed the charcoal stick and fresh bark, and began recording this entirely new, fleeting rhythm.

This time, recording it was more strenuous.

Because the pulse was weaker, finer, and the mixed "sensation" was more abstract.

He focused all his attention, relying on his astonishing memory and concentration, barely managing to jot down the general framework.

Looking at that set of completely new, meaningless symbols on the bark, Zhu Yue's heart quickened.

This was no longer a warning.

This looked like…… the beginning of a technical summary?

He tried, as before, to fit the known information to decode it.

But this time it involved a field of knowledge he lacked practical experience in, making association extremely difficult.

"High temperature…… burning…… mineral…… change?"

He could only grasp a few of the most likely keywords.

Just then.

Suddenly, noise and shouting came from outside the camp.

Zhu Yue immediately put away the bark, grabbed the wooden spear at hand, and rushed out.

All that could be seen was that, at the eastern edge of the camp, several men digging a drainage ditch were scrambling back, tumbling and crawling.

"Snakes! So many snakes! Snakes with blue eyes!"

Everyone gathered around.

All that could be seen was that, in the grass of that area, rustling, a dozen or so earth snakes of various sizes emerged.

These snakes' behavior was extremely abnormal; they did not avoid people, but instead raised their heads, hissed and flicked their tongues, their eyes glowing with an eerie gray‑blue light, slowly swimming toward the camp.

"It's that kind of filth that attracted them!" someone exclaimed in fear.

"Burn them to death!" Xu Da shouted, about to lead people with torches.

"Wait!" Zhu Yue stopped him.

He stared at those abnormally behaving snakes, slightly corroded by yin energy, then glanced at the wooden spear in his hand, and recalled the pulse signal he had just received about "high temperature" and "change".

A near‑crazy idea flashed through his mind.

"Catch them alive."

He gave the order, his voice tinged with restrained excitement.

"Be careful not to get bitten, use lassos and tongs."

"I want to use them…… to conduct an experiment."

Everyone was stunned.

But seeing that strange light in Zhu Yue's eyes, they still acted as instructed.

A strange capture unfolded at the edge of the camp.

At the same time.

Xijing resonance station.

Zhao Lao Nian looked at the confirmation waveform that had just been sent, wiping his brow.

"The seventh group's revised edition, 'Introduction to Basic Thermodynamics and Phase Changes'…… has been sent out."

"How much you can understand…… depends on your fortune."

He didn't know that.

The abstract pulse he had sent was about to, on that polluted land of Huai Xi, collide strangely with a desperate mad experiment.