Restarting life in Siheyuan

After staying in the capital for only a few days, Zhu Xuefeng left quietly again.

I visited the naval port city of Norfolk again. Apart from the fact that there were no more tourist attractions at the naval port and the security was tighter, there seemed to be no other changes in the city.

When they came to the seaside villa again, Zhu Xuefeng's unexpected arrival surprised the two Yang sisters. Seeing that the two sisters were still in the dark, Zhu Xuefeng couldn't muster up the courage to tell them that he was the bully. He just made a few phone calls with Mr. Jin, went out for a few days again, and left quietly.

A new semester began, and Zhu Xuefeng resumed his peaceful study and research career. However, the Norfolk naval base, which he had just left, was in chaos again.

"What did you say? It's true."

"General, it is true. Our search ship found two missing destroyers near an uninhabited island in the Bermuda Islands. There are also many missing people unconscious on the island. Yes, it is the destroyer of the Eagle aircraft carrier formation."

The bald eagle never gave up the search and this time it unexpectedly got something. The general widened his eyes, it was unbelievable. In history, the missing ship reappeared nearly a month later, but except for a dying parrot, there was no one alive. This time there were so many missing people. It seems that the mysterious Bermuda Triangle is about to unveil its mystery.

On a dark night, two destroyers that had been missing for nearly a month returned silently to the naval base. More than 2,000 confused sailors, both officers and soldiers, were strictly controlled and not allowed to contact the outside world. They had to accept detailed interrogation and keep secrets in order to safeguard the interests of the United States.

The Bald Eagle's investigation department and intelligence agencies swarmed in to interrogate and polygraph all the naval soldiers who returned unexpectedly, and also to carefully check the unexpectedly returning ships to see if there were any clues.

"Sir, I swear, just before I lost consciousness, in the pitch-black sky, at the moment when lightning broke through the darkness, I saw a disc-shaped aircraft hovering above the fleet."

"UFO?" The investigators looked at each other with confusion in their eyes.

Many soldiers insisted that they had seen UFOs, and a few soldiers said that they discovered a huge whirlpool in the ocean before they fell into a coma.

"Oh, God, this is absolutely an amazing discovery." The investigators hurriedly recorded it. This was an amazing discovery. According to European legends, there are sea whirlpools in the ocean that are similar to the "Gate of Time and Space". It seems that this legend may not just be a myth.

Unfortunately, as the investigation continued, the huge search fleet that was summoned again returned empty-handed, finding nothing. It seemed that the appearance of the "gate of time and space" required certain conditions to be met.

At the same time, all the rescued people insisted that they woke up again in this sea area and had no contact with any ships or personnel before being investigated. This seems to be very consistent with the characteristics of the legendary two-way "time and space gate".

The intelligence officer, who had been busy for a long time, handed the sorted records to the director, who looked at them again.

"No updated intelligence?"

"Sadly, no. Of the 2337 people, 2298 lost consciousness without finding anything, 14 insisted that they had found a UFO, and 25 said that a huge whirlpool appeared on the sea. All of them passed the polygraph test."

The director also asked helplessly, "What about the rear admiral? What did he say?"

"General Webster said that he lost consciousness for no apparent reason and woke up on an uninhabited island."

The intelligence officer seemed to smile and added, "The general is not in a good mood. He strongly demands that the control over them be lifted. They just encountered force majeure. It was a mysterious force that caused this disaster. He was not wrong."

"Damn it, there are still more than 2000 people who have not been found. He fell into a coma without saying that there was no discovery. A huge fleet was lost because of his command. His denial cannot cover up his dereliction of duty at all."

The intelligence officer shrugged. "Maybe, Mr. Director, should we report this to the President?"

The director sat down. "General Webster will undoubtedly be sent to a military court. Such a big accident needs a suitable unlucky person to be held responsible."

"Mr. Director, we are not making any progress in our investigation. Will the President...?"

The director recalled the unpleasant experience of the last report and covered his forehead. "What can we do? Damn it, everyone has tried their best. There is nothing wrong with the two ships. All equipment and facilities are intact. The ships are not even bumped. Even the fuel and vegetables have not changed. I can't understand. After such a long time, the vegetables are still fresh. Who can tell me what happened? Did time stop here? Where are the more than 2,000 soldiers?"

"Mr. Director, you put it very vividly. These soldiers all said that they seemed to have just woken up from a nap, as if time had really stopped. For them, the past month or so seemed to have never existed at all."

The director was also helpless. "Damn it, let the president and his think tanks worry about it. This is all we can do."

After reading the reports from the FBI and the CIA, the President was also extremely worried. These soldiers who returned unexpectedly might as well not have come back. How could he ask them to keep the secret? How could he explain to the families of the more than 2,000 soldiers who failed to return? The White House was brightly lit for a long time, and countless people were unable to sleep or eat.

Time flies, and in the blink of an eye another semester is about to end. It is already July of 64.

Zhu Xuefeng bought some coffee, bread, mashed potatoes and sausages. It was night time and these were the easiest things to buy. He prepared them for his senior schoolmate Jiang Zhiming and senior brother Wang Xiangdong, who were now working day and night to complete the tunnel boring machine project.

In fact, what the three people have to do is simple to say, but it is really not easy to do. The working principle of the shield machine is very simple, not to mention there are some information and scrapped machines for reference, so it should not be too difficult.

But the machines and data were all from before World War II. Today's mechanics and electronics have made great progress. In order to maximize the use of existing mature technologies, the three of them worked hard for nearly a year. Some of their new ideas were jointly funded by the three of them to conduct experiments in the school laboratory. Even with the professor's help at any time, the three of them still put in a lot of effort.

"Come on, come on, take a break and have a midnight snack first. You can't make a revolution on an empty stomach."

In a simple workshop, two people are demonstrating and assembling parts. This is a scaled-down model component, and today they are going to verify the rationality of a certain functional design.

Wang Xiangdong wiped the sweat off his forehead. It was a hot day and the only thing spinning in the large workshop was the ceiling fan. There was also a large industrial fan not far away, but the three of them did not dare to use it because it was too powerful. When it was used, there would be no space for any drawings in the workshop and they would all have to be swept away.

"Xiao Feng, you are doing this on purpose. It's strong coffee again. Last time, after drinking your strong coffee, we worked until after three o'clock without feeling sleepy. You screwed us so much."

Although Jiang Zhiming said this, he still took it without hesitation and took a sip of the coffee, regardless of how hot it was. "Come on, you are taking advantage of me. If you didn't like drinking this, do you think Xiaofeng would buy this stuff? If he was thinking about me, he would bring back a few bottles of beer. It's so hot in this hot weather, and you still like to drink hot coffee. You are really hopeless."

Wang Xiangdong laughed and joked from afar, and Zhu Xuefeng also laughed.

"You can't say that. Brother, you like this, too. Forget about the beer. We still have to work. When you succeed, I'll treat you to a drink."

"That's right. If I don't give him this cup, he will be laughed at. Go drink his beer. I won't give him any coffee. Two cups are not too much for me."

Jiang Zhiming rolled his eyes at Wang Xiangdong in annoyance. This time, Wang Xiangdong just laughed dryly and didn't dare to talk back. Jiang Zhiming took another sip and praised him.

"Yes, this should be bought outside the school. It is much better than the one in school."

"Jiang Jie, I know you are picky about the flavor of coffee. I bought it once at school, so I don't dare to go there again. This is ground by the hotel outside the school. I think it tastes good and you should be satisfied. I have already made an agreement with them and I will go there to pick it up every night."

"It's available every day. This stuff is not cheap. It's one mark a cup on campus." (One ruble is equivalent to 2.49 East Marks, the exchange rate within the camp)
"It's OK. It's not expensive. You two have worked so hard, but you can't get anything good. Let's get some coffee to wake you up."

Wang Xiangdong also put down the work in his hand, walked over with a smile, picked up the sausage in one hand and the bread wrapped in paper in the other, took a big bite of each, and then picked up the coffee and took a sip.

"It's hard for you to bring it from such a long distance, and it's still scalding hot. I even suspect that you used their coffee powder to make it at the door and brought it in. It's even hotter than what you buy on campus."

Oh my god, I was so careless. Zhu Xuefeng thought it was too troublesome to carry the hot coffee, so he just threw it into the space and brought it over.

"Just guess. How is it? Did it go smoothly this time?"

Wang Xiangdong took another bite of the sausage, "Finally it worked. We used this thing to make a hole over there. You can see for yourself. The effect is good this time. The machine designed by Xiao Jiang is perfect. If the cement was not up to standard last time, it should have worked last time."

"Stop talking nonsense. Didn't we expose some problems last time? If you ask me, it was a blessing in disguise. Fortunately, it didn't work. Otherwise, those hidden dangers would have been covered up. When they were discovered in China, this guy would have been in big trouble."

Jiang Zhiming shook his head. He failed at that time. He went back and checked the drawings carefully. He actually found three imperfections. As he spoke, he tore off a small piece of bread. Mechanical work is not very friendly to girls. In addition, she has a slender body. She was a little hungry after working for so long. She held the sausage in one hand and the bread in the other, and chewed them slowly.

The goal of this experiment was to quickly solidify the cave walls after excavation, which had relatively high requirements for solidification. None of the three were professionals in this field, and there was little description in the materials. After all, this was not within the scope of industrial automation. The three also took some detours before finally realizing that ordinary cement could never meet the standards.

Only then did they check the information again to find a new type of cement that met the requirements. Fortunately, no one considered the proportion of cement as a very important secret, as it was in the information. However, the three of them could not find this kind of cement on the market. They could only buy the most primitive materials and tried many times before finally succeeding.

"Thank you for your hard work, Senior. I will go out after school tomorrow and try to get some more ham. I will roast it and bring it back to reward everyone."

Like Zhu Xuefeng, these two, in addition to normal studies, had to digest the information on tunnel boring machines and the working principles of scrapped machines day and night. In less than a year, the two of them had obviously lost a lot of weight. Logically speaking, they both received high subsidies, so this situation should not have happened at all. This is East Germany.

Among these Eastern European countries, the development of East Germany is quite good, and its comprehensive national strength ranks among the top ten in the world. Although its economy is not as good as that of the West separated by a wall, it is not short of materials, and various technologies are not much different from the West. In many aspects, it is even ahead of the other side, especially in biology, medicine, and pharmaceuticals.

"I'm so sorry. We agreed that this project was for everyone to invest together, but you paid for more than half of it. Now you're even paying for us to have midnight snacks every day. I doubt whether your subsidy is enough."

"You guessed it right. When I came out, I brought a lot of rubles with me. I changed them into marks before transferring in Moscow. I raised this money just to find some treasures here. If our shield machine is successful, it will definitely be a big treasure, haha."

"You're right. We have comprehensive technology here. Take the cement we're working on for example. The cement we're working on solidifies very quickly. Once we dig it up, it will start solidifying quickly. We've already determined the mix ratio. This is something we probably don't have in China yet."

"Yes, this is an unexpected treasure. Xiangdong, you have done a great job this time. It will definitely be useful in the future. If nothing else, it should be useful in various projects."

Jiang Zhiming put down the bread and let her finish most of it in a short while. You know, this bread is enough for an adult to eat for a meal. Then she started to eat the mashed potatoes and expressed her feelings while eating.

"Don't say that. This is not just my achievement. It's the achievement of our team."

"Since this is successful, the rest won't be too difficult, right? When can you two finish this part?"

Zhu Xuefeng also took a sip of coffee and asked casually.

"We are ashamed to say that our knowledge of automation and electronics is not as good as yours, who studies materials science. But it will be done soon. If nothing unexpected happens, we can finish the final draft in two weeks. If we don't finish it in two weeks, we will be out of time."

"That's great, it's almost half a month earlier than expected. Come, let's drink coffee instead of wine. Wish us success in advance!" Jiang Zhiming didn't think as much as Wang Xiangdong.

"We are a team of three with different divisions of labor. There's nothing to compare," Zhu Xuefeng said, raising his cup of coffee.

"Yes, I wish us success!" The two of them raised their glasses quickly.

"We have come together for a common goal. Come on, wish us success," Jiang Zhiming emphasized once again.

Three cups of coffee clinked together, and so did three young hearts as hot as the coffee. There was passion and fighting spirit in the eyes of the three. Zhu Xuefeng was infected by their fighting will. People of this era do have great ideals. For this ideal, no matter how hard, tiring, or difficult it is, they will move forward courageously without any conditions.

(End of this chapter)