I started with a ship full of max-level veterans, and I'm just a complete noob.

"Connect the spare oil drum and reduce the preheating time to eight minutes."

Jiang Ming recalled the system prompts to the depths of his consciousness, walked to the booster cabinet, returned the high-voltage adjustment knob to the zero position, and then re-checked the thyristor gate.

Old Sun picked up the oil drum and ran to the generator. As soon as the fuel hose was inserted into the spare port, the diesel engine emitted a cloud of black smoke and the speed returned to the rated value.

"With the fuel line connected, it can run at full load for an hour and a half. Any longer depends on how resilient it is."

Fang Xudong stood guard beside the instrument, his cotton hat lifted by the wind, and his lens covered with fine sand. He could only wipe a small transparent area in the middle with his cuff.

"The feeder attenuation is 1.6 decibels higher than in Beijing. The environmental impact has already been factored in, but the peak value at the antenna end can still meet the design value."

Lu Qinghe removed the right earpiece, leaving only his left ear to listen, and held the walkie-talkie in his right hand, ready to transmit any changes in interference back to the command post at any time.

"The other party's three transmitters are still scanning frequencies, with overlapping peaks concentrated between 5.27 and 5.34 MHz. The main oscillator reference end should still be in its original position."

Jiang Ming glanced at his watch; it was 11:59 PM.

"Generator at full power."

Old Sun pushed the throttle lever all the way down, and the roar of the diesel engine echoed across the hillside like a deep bass, causing the iron chains securing the engine to vibrate and bounce.

The voltmeter on the booster switchboard started to climb: 2,000 volts, 4,000 volts, 8,000 volts. After passing 10,000 volts, the pointer slowed down and finally reached the 12,000 volt red line.

A blue-white corona jumped out from the outer edge of the ceramic base, and was immediately absorbed by the equalization ring, without continuing to crawl downwards.

"Cathode current is normal."

"Modemer energy storage complete."

"Antenna azimuth 314.6 degrees."

As the readings came in sequence, Jiang Ming covered the closing button with his right hand while keeping his left hand on the emergency power-off lever.

"First joint ignition, three-second countdown, three, two, one, close the circuit."

When the button is pressed all the way down, a purple glow illuminates inside the thyristor, and the energy storage capacitor bank discharges simultaneously, sending a 12,000-volt square wave along the high-voltage line into Yuanlei No. 1.

The electron beam inside the eight-cavity anode begins to rotate, the cathode changes from dark red to orange-red, and the pulse modulator sends out a thousand two-microsecond square waves per second.

The invisible electromagnetic torrent passed through the feed line, entered the main feed point of the Yagi antenna, and shot towards Mine 04 along a 314.6-degree azimuth.

The pointer of the field strength meter first crossed halfway and then stopped to the right of the calibration line. Fang Xudong approached the dial to confirm the reading.

"Peak power of 1.2-3 kilowatts, pulse width of 1.99 microseconds, and repetition frequency of 998 Hz—all meet the standards!"

Lu Qinghe did not respond. He continued to press the headphones with his left hand, while slowly adjusting the monitoring gain with his right hand, his eyes remaining fixed on the oscilloscope screen.

Five seconds passed, and the bright band in the frequency sweep did not narrow.

At the eighth second, the interference peak near 5.3 MHz expanded outward by one notch, and the white noise in the speaker became even sharper.

At exactly ten seconds, the mine was still firing at full power.

"stop."

Jiang Ming pulled down the emergency power cut-off lever. The purple light from the thyristor disappeared, but the afterglow of the cathode remained in the observation window, gradually dimming after three seconds.

The diesel generator was still running at full speed, but the people on the mound remained silent. The continuous white noise in their headphones delivered the results of the first power-on to everyone.

Lu Qinghe took off her headphones and rubbed the back of her hand against her earlobe.

"It has no effect. The enemy station's frequency sweep control is still locked, and the power is three percent higher than before ignition."

"Source Thunder One's output is fine."

Fang Xudong pulled out the field strength meter recording paper, squatted down next to the vibration isolation box, and unfolded the slide rule to recalculate the free space path loss.

Frequency, distance, antenna gain, dust absorption, feeder loss—each item was reviewed again, and pencil numbers quickly filled half a sheet of paper.

When he was doing the calculation for the third time, he pressed the slide rule over the last line of formulas.

"Eight decibels difference."

Lu Qinghe walked over and bent down to look at the paper.

"Where is the difference of eight decibels?"

"Theoretical calculations treat the Gobi Desert as a uniform plane. There are two low sand dunes in front of the mine. They don't look high during the day, but when the microwave beam propagates close to the ground, they enter the first Fresnel zone."

Fang Xudong used a pencil to draw the cross-section between the antenna and the mine shaft, and added a blocking line at the location of each of the two sand dunes.

"The first stage causes diffraction loss, the second stage is superimposed by ground reflection, and the change in air density at night will continue to change the propagation path. By the time it reaches the local oscillator coupling port, only one-sixth of the burn-through threshold remains."

Jiang Ming took the paper and traced the cross-section with his eyes.

The received power calculated during the design was eleven decibels higher than the local oscillator reference signal. After deducting the extra eight decibels, only a margin of three decibels remains.

This number can only disturb the local oscillator and cannot break through the protective diode. The enemy's automatic gain loop can quickly absorb the impact.

"What if we increase the transmission power?"

After asking the question, Lu Qinghe looked at the generator, where the oil pressure gauge was already close to the upper edge of the yellow area.

Fang Xudong shook his head.

"The magnetron is already close to its rated peak value. Adding more voltage will cause the anode current to run out of control, and the feeder and antenna will not be able to withstand it. Even if we can increase it by 20%, it will only be 0.8 decibels."

"Change seats?"

"There are no higher points within two kilometers of the mound, and the disassembly, assembly, and transportation will take at least three hours, which will be too long for the encirclement troops to wait for."

Fang Xudong closed the slide rule, and his breath formed a layer of white mist on the edge of his glasses.

"The basic propagation conditions are blocked, so there's no point in continuing to build up equipment. This plan won't get past the two sand dunes tonight."

Director Wang's inquiry came through the walkie-talkie.

"Command post calling Tuqiu, how was the first firing attempt?"

Lu Qinghe gripped the microphone and glanced at Jiang Ming.

"The equipment output has reached the design value, the enemy's interference has not been suppressed, and the measured path loss is eight decibels higher than the theoretical value. We are recalculating."

The static continued for a moment, and Director Wang only replied with two words.

"pay close attention."

Two kilometers away, in the listening room of the old mine shaft No. 04, a green oscilloscope tube had just recorded a narrow pulse impact of 2.952 gigahertz.

The technician wearing headphones turned the attenuator back to its original position and waved the record sheet at the technical supervisor behind him.

"They set up a centimeter-wave transmitter on a hill in the northeast, with a peak power of around one kilowatt. The pulse went through the first layer of protection and was not affected afterwards."

The technical supervisor picked up the record sheet, scanned it once, and threw it back on the table.

"The mound is separated from us by two sand ridges. Even if they shine a flashlight on the moon, no matter how bright it is, they can't see it."

A few laughs rang out inside the room, and another operator pushed the sweep frequency output knob one notch to the right, causing the anode current of the three power amplifiers to rise simultaneously.

"Give them a little more, so they think their machines have angered us."

The parallel antenna array outside the mine adjusts its feed phase, and the coverage bandwidth continues to expand from 4.8 to 5.6 MHz towards both ends.

The receiving oscilloscope on the mound immediately changed, with the bright band extending two more bars outwards, and the field strength meter exceeding its original full-scale range.

Fang Xudong folded the record sheet, got up, and walked towards the generator.

"First, cut off the boost section, keep the monitoring power supply, and save the fuel for the communications vehicle. We'll choose a new transmission point at daybreak."

Jiang Ming remained silent.

He squatted beside the antenna support, pinching a handful of fine sand blown by the wind. The sand grains fell from the edge of his palm and instead of rolling along the slope, they were lifted half a foot by an upward airflow.

In the distance, starlight was cut into dim spots by the sand and dust, and the terrain between the mounds and mines was only a black outline of varying heights.

The first sand dune is 740 meters from the launch point, and the second is 400 meters from the mine shaft. The height of both dunes does not exceed 30 meters.

According to the straight propagation model, these two obstacles do indeed block the lower edge of the main lobe.

But the direction of movement of that handful of sand was wrong.

Above the ground at -14 degrees Celsius, the air should be colder closer to the ground, but instead, a horizontal airflow with a higher temperature appeared more than half a foot above it.

The sandstorm has just passed, and the heat radiating from the ground and the warm air in the upper atmosphere are interacting, creating an invisible temperature boundary that presses down on the Gobi Desert.

"Mr. Jiang, should we cut the booster switch?"

Fang Xudong had already placed his hand on the power disconnect switch, but after a few seconds he still did not hear a response.

He turned around and saw that Jiang Ming had his eyes closed and was still clutching that handful of cold sand in his hand.

The Record of Heavenly Enlightenment swirled deep within his consciousness, the star chart of the Jinshi Scroll spinning faster and faster, and the name of Heinrich Fleischer lit up from the dark gold veins.

The second channeling quota for today has been deducted.

Black doors rose from behind the star map, the bronze plaque on the door still bearing traces of oxalic acid corrosion from the previous conversation.

[The psychic session is limited to one hour.]

[External time flow is locked.]

Jiang Ming sent all the field strength data from the first ignition into the star map and then knocked on the door knocker.

The soft sound of chalk falling into the wooden trough came from behind the door.