Chapter 769: Technical Exchange

Inside the pulse emission chamber of the Chen Dynasty Observatory, the air was so stagnant it could be wrung out for water.

Zhang Cheng stood before the main control crystal panel, sweat beads trickling from his forehead down his sideburns.

He hadn't slept for three days.

"The seventh harmonic calibration is complete."

The young observer's voice was hoarse.

"The window still has one hundred twenty breaths left."

The crystal lens array emitted a low hum, momentum energy surging through the conduits and converging onto the central emission cone.

At the tip of the cone, a blinding golden gleam was forming.

"The transmission sequence has been loaded."

Another operator reported quickly.

"This transmission's contents: 'Advanced Momentum Wave Superposition Principle', 'Nether Energy Field Structure and Neutralization Model Deduction', and 'Seventeen Possible Diagrams of Directional Resonance of Strange-Iron Crystal Lattice'."

"Redundant coding increased by four hundred percent, error‑correction layered threefold."

Zhang Cheng stared at the energy readouts.

"Channel stability?"

"Fifty‑one percent, barely holding critical. Turbulence intensity is still rising."

"Fire."

The order was given.

The cone's tip burst with light, forming a slender yet rock‑solid golden beam that shot toward the western chaos veil.

As the beam plunged into the veil, the curves on the observation screen shook violently.

It was as if an invisible hand were frantically stirring that ocean of energy.

"Channel load is spiking!"

"Stability has dropped below forty percent!"

"Severe distortion is appearing in parts of the frequency band!"

The operators' cries grew more urgent one after another.

Zhang Cheng pressed his hand onto the console, his knuckles whitening.

He could see the real‑time feedback of the transmission sequence.

The knowledge that the Heavenly Craft Institute had spent three years developing, pooling countless people's efforts, was now being torn, twisted, and devoured by the veil's turbulence.

In the third chapter of the Advanced Momentum Wave Superposition Principle, the formula for multi‑frequency interference enhancement suddenly collapsed into gibberish mid‑transmission.

In the Nether Energy Field Structure's model diagram, the edge details began to blur and clump together.

Only the front half of the Strange‑Iron Resonance Diagram, with its core and thickest redundancy protection, was still struggling to maintain structural integrity.

"Stability at twenty‑five percent! It's about to fall below the maintenance threshold!"

"Hold it at all costs! Pour the backup core's energy into it too!"

Zhang Cheng roared.

"But the backup core is what keeps the observatory running——"

"Press it forward!"

The golden beam surged suddenly.

But it lasted only three breaths.

Then it dimmed abruptly.

On the observation screen, the curve representing the channel split in two.

"Transmission interrupted."

The operator slumped in his chair, voice hollow.

"Final stability…… seventeen percent."

Zhang Cheng closed his eyes and drew a deep breath.

"Transmission success‑rate estimate."

"…… less than thirty percent. The core content of the Strange‑Iron Resonance Diagram may have retained about sixty percent, but the diagram's crucial annotations were severely lost."

"The 'Advanced Principle' and the 'Nether Energy Model'……"

The operator didn't go on.

But everyone understood.

Those two things were probably now forever scattered fragments on the far side of the veil, impossible to reassemble.

"Record."

Zhang Cheng opened his eyes, the depths bloodshot.

"The seventy‑third directed‑technology pulse transmission was interrupted at the third moment of the chen hour."

"Transmission rating: lower C."

"Recommendation: Before the veil's turbulence intensity drops below the threshold, suspend high‑level theory transmissions and instead send basic application techniques."

He turned and walked toward the door.

His steps were a little unsteady.

"I will go apologize to the ruler."

Under the same sky, the veil lay to the west.

Thirty miles southeast of Yingtian City lies the underground chamber of the Investigation of Things Institute on Longquan Mountain.

Here there are no windows; the walls are covered with thick lead plates and strange‑iron alloy layers.

In the center of the secret chamber, a device intricately woven from crystal, copper wire, and strange metal plates was emitting a faint but continuous hum.

Below the device, a specially made sheet of mulberry bark paper soaked in medicinal liquid was being slowly extruded from the roller.

On the paper, faint gold lines, intermittent and fragmented, were appearing.

The lines twisted, appearing and disappearing, many places overlapping into a tangled mess.

Five top mathematicians from the Investigation of Things Institute gathered around the device, their eyes fixed intently on the lines being generated.

Their eye sockets were sunken, their faces full of fatigue.

"Section seven."

The eldest, Doctor Wang, his voice hoarse.

"Still the old problem: missing basic function symbols, unclear integration limits."

He pointed to a spot on the paper.

"Look here, this wavy line represented sine in the previous fragment, but in this segment it overlaps with the triangular line."

"Is it a sine wave superimposed on a triangular wave?"

Young Doctor Li leaned in.

"No, the direction of the triangular wave's peak is reversed. Look at the third fragment: the same combination, with the peak pointing downward indicates a negative phase……"

"But there's no phase marker here!"

Another person anxiously scratched his head.

"It's like giving you a secret manual of ultimate martial arts, but every page is half-burned, the crucial qi pathways are completely blank!"

The secret chamber door was pushed open.

Zhu Yuanzhang (Zhu Yue) walked in.

Everyone hurriedly rose to salute.

"No need."

Zhu Yuanzhang waved his hand and went straight to the device.

His gaze fell upon those fragmented lines.

After just a few glances, his temples began to throb.

That feeling again.

As if something deep in his mind was stirring, wanting to break out.

"Your Majesty."

Doctor Wang bowed.

"Today at the yin hour, the device received another pulse signal. Duration seventy-three breaths, intensity 1.3 times that of the last."

"But the signal distortion rate…… is also higher."

"What have we deciphered?"

Zhu Yuanzhang asked.

"Only these."

Doctor Wang pointed to the other side of the table.

There lay several sheets of processed drawings.

On them were redrawn, relatively clear schematics done with a fine brush.

"Part of the contents of the 'Strange Metal Resonance Atlas'."

"We derived three possibly effective resonance frequencies from it and have given them to the Seventh Workshop to trial-produce spearheads for a new armor-piercing spear."

"Furthermore……"

He hesitated a moment.

"In the marginal notes of the atlas, there are a few characters that repeatedly appear, with relatively light distortion."

"Which characters?"

"'Field', 'superposition', 'neutralization'."

Zhu Yuanzhang stared at those three characters.

Field.

Superposition.

Neutralization.

He suddenly recalled that in those fragmented visions in his mind, there seemed to have been similar fragments.

That might be some kind of…… principle of using multiple energy sources to construct a 'field' capable of neutralizing yin-energy erosion?

"Can it be deduced?"

"……Difficult."

Doctor Wang gave a bitter smile.

"It's like knowing only '3-4-5' but not the Pythagorean theorem. We have only a few scattered 'numbers' in hand, while the underlying 'principle' is completely lost."

Zhu Yuanzhang remained silent.

He walked to the device, watching the roll of mulberry bark paper slowly extruding, covered in garbled code.

This is technological exchange.

Separated by a violent light barrier, separated by life and death.

What was sent over were fragments.

What we received are riddles.

"Continue deciphering."

He said.

All those involved in this matter will have their salaries increased by thirty percent. Their families will be supported by the Imperial Court.

If you need any materials, report directly to Liu Ji.

I only want the results.

He turned and walked toward the door.

He stopped at the doorway.

Also, inform the Seventh Workshop.

The trial production of the new spearhead, I will personally oversee.

In three days, I want to see the first batch of finished products.

Three days later.

Longquan Mountain firing range.

Ten newly made armor-piercing spears were stuck in the wooden rack.

The spearhead differed from before; its golden pattern was finer, and its arrangement changed from straight to spiral.

Zhu Yuanzhang picked up the first one.

It felt heavy in hand, but the inner vibration was stronger.

It felt as if what he held was not a dead object, but a bound living beast yearning to roar.

Test target.

He gave the order.

Fifty paces away, three targets stood.

The first was a wooden target wrapped in three layers of iron armor.

The second was the chest plate of a slain bone demon, transported back from Bei Jing.

The third was an earthen wall covered with a thick carpet of Yuneng fungus.

Three selected veterans of the Purifying Dust Battalion stepped forward, each holding a spear.

First target, fire!

The spear tore through the air.

Pfft—

The spear tip penetrated the iron armor, pierced the wooden target, and protruded more than half a foot from the back.

Second target, fire!

The spear tip struck the bone plate.

The golden pattern burst forth with a blinding light.

The bone plate's surface instantly cracked like a spiderweb, then shattered with a boom.

Third target, fire!

The spear lodged into the fungus-covered earthen wall.

There was no violent explosion.

But the fungus within three feet of the spear shaft withered and blackened at visible speed, finally turning to ash.

And the fungus not yet affected seemed alive, shrinking back in fright.

It succeeded!

Doctor Wang was moved to tears.

The resonance frequency is correct! It has an active purifying effect on Yuneng Pollution!

Zhu Yuanzhang walked to the front of the third target.

He pulled out the spear.

The spear tip remained clean, the light of its golden pattern gradually fading.

And the purified area of the wall returned to its original color.

Although it was only a small patch.

But this meant that Yuneng Pollution was not irreversible.

Mass production.

He uttered two words.

At any cost, mass produce.

First equip the Purifying Dust Battalion and the frontline elite.

Also—

He looked at Doctor Wang.

Those three words: 'field', 'superposition', 'neutralization'.

Starting from today's effect, work backward.

What I want is not a spearhead that can purify just three feet.

But a 'field' that can protect a city, a tract of land.

Doctor Wang bowed deeply.

Your subject… will do his utmost.

Zhu Yuanzhang said nothing more.

He raised his head, looking eastward.

Gazing at the sky that was eternally chaotic yet occasionally sent a thread of vitality.

Fragments are fine, riddles are also okay.

At least this time.

They caught it.

A thousand li away.

Hetu Ala underground.

Old Salman's tentacles slowly pulled out from the monitoring node.

"Detected abnormal energy fluctuations."

His voice was ice-cold.

"Frequency characteristics……match over seventy percent with the Ming Army's new weapons."

Amuhan lowered his head.

"Do we need to adjust the war slaves' defense parameters?"

"It's too late."

Blue light flowed in Old Salman's eyes.

"But we can speed up the vanguard unit's cultivation progress."

"Also, notify Huang Taiji."

"The offensive on Jinzhou, move it forward."

"Before the Ming Dynasty fully digests that knowledge…"

His tentacles suddenly tightened.

"Pinch out their hopes in the bud."