Chapter 40: Radar Map Predicts Storm, Weekend Hiking Cancelled

The next day, Saturday morning.

Sunlight pierced through the floor-to-ceiling windows, spreading a vast expanse of gold across the floor.

Lin Xuan picked up his backpack and stuffed two bottles of mineral water inside, just in case.

The master bedroom door pushed open.

Xiao Sizi had changed into a light blue children's tracksuit, wearing soft-soled running shoes.

She wore a white Daximao backwards on her head, revealing her smooth forehead.

She trotted all the way to the entrance, holding the doorframe with both hands, and stood on tiptoes to look outside.

Xiao Sizi's small face glowed with excitement as she gestured and spoke.

"Lin Xuan, the sun is bright today."

"If we go to those shallow mountains, will there be wild pheasants and gray rabbits?"

"In the Great Tang spring hunt, Father often took me to hunt rabbits in the Imperial Garden."

Lin Xuan walked over to the shoe-changing bench, sat down, and changed his shoes.

"Even if there are, you are not allowed to shoot them; they are called wild animals and are protected by law."

"I'll take you to recognize plants, climb the mountain to sweat a bit, and exercise your heart and lung function. Let's go."

Lin Xuan habitually pulled his Mobile Phone out of his trouser pocket and pressed his thumb against the screen.

He swiped to the negative one screen and opened the weather app.

His action paused, and his eyebrows furrowed slightly.

A flat map of the city unfolded on the screen.

At the edge of the screen, a huge mass of deep red, orange-yellow, and bright green intertwined was crossing the municipal boundary, heading straight for the central urban area.

Lin Xuan stared at the jumping timeline in the upper right corner of the screen, deducing the movement trajectory of that mass.

He let go of the doorknob, took off the hiking backpack he was carrying on one shoulder, and casually threw it back onto the shoe-changing bench.

"Take off your hat," Lin Xuan said, looking down at the little girl with a face full of expectation.

Xiao Sizi froze, her hand still resting on the doorframe.

"What has happened? Are the carriage and horses not fully prepared?" she asked.

"The carriage is in the underground garage; it is the heavens that are not cooperating." Lin Xuan pointed out the window, "There will be a heavy rainstorm in half an hour, at the thunderstorm level."

"We can't climb the mountain; it is safer to stay at home."

Xiao Sizi followed his finger, looking at the sky outside the balcony.

The scorching sun hung in mid-air.

The blinding golden light made it almost impossible to keep one's eyes open.

The skyline was clean and clear, not a trace of haze in sight.

She turned her head, her small mouth pouting, her face full of displeasure.

"Lin Xuan, a gentleman does not speak in jest." Xiao Sizi withdrew her hand and placed it behind her back, "There is not even a wisp of cloud in the sky, and the sun is so fierce."

"Yet you say there will be a heavy rainstorm within half a shi?"

She raised her chin, adopting the posture of a princess to argue on the basis of reason.

"In the palace, I once heard the old master of the Imperial Astronomical Bureau say, 'Morning clouds mean one should not go out; evening clouds mean one can travel a thousand li.' Today, there was no dawn glow when we rose, and the swallows and sparrows fly high; it is an excellent sunny day."

"Do you not want to be lazy, sleep in for a second nap at home, and deliberately lie to trick me?"

Above the Sky Screen, the conversation between Lin Xuan and the little girl spread throughout Jiuzhou without reservation.

Great Tang.

Tai Shi Bureau Observatory.

The Director of the Imperial Astronomical Bureau and several elderly star officials with gray hair were gathered around an Armillary Sphere calibrating the scales.

Hearing the voice transmitted from the Sky Screen, the several old masters stopped their work one after another, stroked their beards, and shook their heads.

The Director of the Imperial Astronomical Bureau looked up at the scorching sun in the Sky Screen and let out a scoff.

"This young man understands the arts of the hundred craftsmen, yet rashly discusses the timing of the heavens."

"The Way of Heaven is hard to predict; moving clouds and spreading rain are the duties of the Dragon God."

"If the Thunder Department has not moved, how can wind and rain come?"

The Junior Director nearby deeply agreed and chimed in:

"Exactly. Predicting clouds, sun, rain, and snow is the prerogative of the Heavenly Emperor."

"Mortals observing stars and watching the qi can at most infer weather changes within the next two or three days, and there are often deviations."

The Junior Director pointed his finger toward the firmament, "In such a scene where the scorching sun hangs in the sky, he dares to assert that there will definitely be a heavy rainstorm within half a shi; it is utterly absurd."

"Even if we invited Grandmaster Zhang Heng into the Tai Shi Bureau, he would not dare to make such a false statement."

Ming Dynasty timeline.

Outside Songjiang Prefecture.

In the fields.

Hundreds of old farmers stopped waving their hoes.

They rolled up their trouser legs, stood in the paddy fields, and looked at the Sky Screen, laughing.

An old farmer knocked his tobacco pipe, "This child from the future must have studied so hard he has gone mad."

"This scorching sun bakes the ground until it is hot, and there isn't even a wisp of wind."

"Rain? If even half a drop of rain falls within half a shi, this old man will swallow this water buffalo alive."

Farming relies on the heavens.

Old farmers, relying on a lifetime of experience, read the weather from clouds and discerned wind and rain by the scent of the soil.

It was an instinct carved into their very bones.

To the ancients, the weather on the Sky Screen was absolutely a clear day that not even thunder could shake.

Lin Xuan's prediction triggered widespread doubt and mockery across all dynasties.

……

Inside a modern apartment.

Seeing Xiao Sizi's stubborn look, Lin Xuan felt no anger; instead, he laughed out loud.

He walked back to the living room, sat on the sofa, and beckoned toward the entrance.

"Come here, so you can lose with full understanding."

Xiao Sizi walked over with determined steps, her gaze still revealing defiance.

Lin Xuan held the Mobile Phone screen up before her.

"Look clearly; I don't trust morning or evening clouds. I trust the radar echo map."

Lin Xuan's finger pointed to the center of that red patch.

"With eyes that see in six directions, you can at most see the sky within a ten-li radius."

"The eye of this machine hangs in space hundreds of kilometers away, watching the movement of cloud layers over the entire earth."

Lin Xuan's thumb pressed the time progress bar at the bottom of the screen and dragged it forward.

The image accelerated.

That mass of rain clouds, interwoven with red and yellow, pressed over the horizon following the direction of the airflow.

The red central area covered the dot representing this city without a single deviation.

"Do you see?"

"This cloud is right now hovering over the neighboring city hundreds of li away, pouring down water."

"Do you see?"

"This cloud is right now hovering over the neighboring city hundreds of li away, pouring down water."

"High-altitude winds are pushing it toward us."

"Measuring wind speed, measuring cloud thickness."

"The Personal Computer plugs it into a formula and calculates exactly when, down to the hour, minute, and second, it will crash onto the Glass of this building, crystal clear."

Hearing this, Xiao Sizi, unable to go out to play, remained resentful.

Her emotions clouded her thoughts, and she spoke in anger: "Formulas again, Personal Computers again, but that iron lump must make mistakes sometimes!"

Lin Xuan paused, his tone softening slightly: "You are right. Even though our human technology is so advanced now, we cannot fully fathom nature; in fact, our understanding of the entire natural environment is less than sixty percent."

"We also frequently encounter forecasts predicting light rain that doesn't fall, or rain falling several hours late."

"But for thunderstorm levels, weather forecasts have almost never been wrong. If you don't believe me, let's just wait and see."

"Heaven has no authority; even Heaven must obey the laws of physics."

……

Taiji Palace.

Silence reigned inside and outside the main hall.

Li Shimin sat on the Dragon Throne, having heard Lin Xuan's utterly rebellious words.

"Heaven has no authority; it too must obey the laws of physics."

The Emperor of Great Tang called himself the Son of Heaven, receiving his mandate from Heaven.

The unpredictability of Heaven's will was the last shred of a veil maintaining the mystery and majesty of feudal imperial power.

If Heaven sent down drought or flood disasters, the Emperor would issue an Edict of Self-Blame to soothe the people's hearts.

But now.

That youth from the future, holding a glowing plate of Glazed Ware, pointed at the moving patches on it and casually stripped Heaven of its authority.

In the eyes of people from later generations, clouds gathering and scattering, thunder rolling and lightning flashing, were not the wrath of the Heavenly Emperor.

They were merely a set of wind speed and water vapor data that could be calculated and predicted in advance.

Li Shimin's voice was low, yet it carried the oppressive weight of a storm before it breaks.

"I shall see whether this instrument for measuring Heaven, created by mortals, can truly calculate the exact moment Heaven will pour down water!"

Great Han, Weiyang Palace.

Emperor Wu of Han, Liu Che, pushed aside his desk, drew his long sword, and leaned it before him.

Liu Che breathed heavily, his eyes wild with fervor. "If this art is true, when our Great Han marches out, we will know when the wind rises and when the snow falls."

"Set fire with the wind, use the snow to conceal our slaughter."

"Heavenly timing and earthly advantage will both be held in the hands of mortals!"

All ancients in the world, whether emperors, kings, ministers, or merchants and peddlers.

At this moment, all put aside their mocking thoughts.

A feeling of extreme tension spread through the Sky Screen, extending across Jiuzhou.