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

"Assault company received. Engineers go first, second platoon follow along the west wall."

Soldiers outside the main tunnel crossed the red line, and engineers used mine detectors to check the abandoned tracks. The detonators, which could have been triggered by resonance, did not react at all.

The oscilloscope inside the armored vehicle remained spotless; shortwave interference, centimeter-wave pulses, and power ripples all disappeared, and the frequency domain blackout that had plagued the vehicle all night finally receded from the screen.

Lu Qinghe increased the gain, which amplified the background noise, but there were still no spikes left by artificial signals on the screen.

"The entire mine is silent, and the backup machines have not been restored."

Fang Xudong picked up the frequency band map and checked it item by item. All enemy equipment lost power simultaneously after the shelling of the ventilation shaft, and the time difference did not exceed the resolution range of the instrument.

If we only look at a single piece of evidence, the temperature difference could come from human activity, the 17 Hz ripple could be misjudged as equipment noise, and the old mine map could not prove that the line was still laid in the same way six years later.

Jiang Ming combined the three pieces of evidence, but found the weakest point of the underground busbar from the ground and even sent the shells along the ventilation shaft to the power distribution room.

Fang Xudong put the data ruler back into his canvas bag. The notebook, which was originally filled with questions, was still beside him, but he didn't open it.

"How are you going to explain that cross-section you just saw?"

After inspecting the Yuanlei No. 1 shockproof box, Jiang Ming confirmed that the equipment had not been damaged in the shelling.

"Heat flux indicates the location of the equipment area, ripple indicates the power supply topology, and old mine maps indicate the possible routes for cables. The rest can only be eliminated through calculation."

"You've eliminated the entire mine shaft until only one main line remains."

"Enough is enough."

Old Sun picked up his toolbox, jumped off the truck, and then turned around to take the canvas bag that Jiang Ming handed him.

The artillery fire had ceased, but dust was still billowing from the ventilation shaft on the north slope. The area near the main entrance remained intact, and the anticipated series of underground explosions never occurred.

Old Sun stood on the gravel slope and watched Jiang Ming for a while, then hugged his toolbox tightly and followed him toward the main cave entrance.

He used to admire Jiang Ming because Jiang Ming could save lives, build pipes that others couldn't, and take responsibility when equipment malfunctioned.

In this encirclement tonight, Jiang Ming put direction finding, communications, artillery, and assault troops into the same set of calculations, turning every attempt by the enemy to save themselves into the next rope.

"Jiang, from now on, if anyone says you're just a pipe fitter in the factory, I'll hit them with a wrench."

Jiang Ming stepped over the rubble that had been knocked down by the artillery fire, without looking back.

"Keep the wrench; there's still equipment inside that needs to be disassembled."

The assault company had already cut through the barbed wire at the entrance of the cave. Two sappers entered along the base of the wall, their flashlights sweeping across the firing ports and abandoned mine carts in turn.

After losing lighting and communication, the enemy guards scattered in the tunnels. A few tried to block the corner with light weapons, but were quickly overwhelmed by the assault team from the side alley.

Without electromagnetic detonation or mass explosive detonation, the first line of defense behind the main entrance only lasted for a brief exchange of fire.

The assault company commander led his men across the power distribution alley, following the drag marks on the ground to find the central chamber. The heavy iron door was bolted from the inside, and the sound of metal clanging could be heard continuously from behind the door.

"Demolition team, step back; breaching hammer, charge!"

Two soldiers raised steel hammers and smashed them repeatedly against the door lock. After the third impact, the horizontal bolt fixing bracket fell off the wall, and the iron door was lifted inward.

The flashlight beam pierced through the dust, illuminating the overturned filing cabinet, the powerless control panel, and twelve sets of detonator circuits along the wall.

Two operators crouched in a corner, their hands covering their heads, while the technical supervisor sat next to the backup power supply, still clutching the malfunctioning detonator.

"Don't move, remove your hands from the device!"

The assault company commander led his men into the central room, where they used guns to subdue three enemy agents, while another group of soldiers inspected the explosives and canvas bags.

The technical supervisor did not put down the detonator; he repeatedly turned the key, but the instrument panel still did not light up.

"The power lines could not be found from the outside. There are three layers of rock in the shaft, and the power distribution room is not marked on any publicly available drawings."

The assault company commander kicked away the cable at his feet and snatched the detonator from his hand.

"Lie down and put your hands behind your back."

The technical supervisor looked up at the door, his broken Chinese accent interrupted by his rapid breathing.

"Someone leaked the information. Only the people here know the location of the main line. You have a mole. Someone went into the basement."

"The young man outside had never been inside a mine. He looked at two spectrum diagrams and measured the temperature of the ventilation shaft, and then he drew out the circuits you had hidden underground."

The technical supervisor, who had been struggling, slowly lost his support after hearing this, and the detonator key slipped from his palm and hit the concrete ground.

"The spectrum can't be seen behind the rocks; nobody can see it."

"Whether you believe it or not, we'll talk about that during the interrogation."

The assault company commander handcuffed him and ordered the soldiers to seal the control console, data package, and detonation circuit on the wall, forbidding any equipment from being disassembled without authorization.

Reports of clearing operations continued to come from the tunnels outside the central building. The western power distribution room had been taken control, and the southeastern branch tunnel exit had been blocked by the Second Battalion. The metal cylinders and core documents that the technical supervisor was prepared to carry had all fallen into our hands.

When Jiang Ming arrived at the main tunnel entrance, the stretcher team was transferring the wounded from the second platoon of the first battalion to the outside. The injuries were mainly from the crossfire that had occurred earlier, and no one had been affected by the underground minefield.

Lu Qinghe followed behind, carrying the mobile direction finding equipment. She pointed the antenna into the cave, but still did not detect any electromagnetic activity.

"From the time the power was cut off in the ventilation shaft to the time the assault company controlled the central room, the mine did not restore backup power, and their electromagnetic detonation system completely failed."

Fang Xudong inspected the abandoned steel pipes along the tunnel wall and found that thin cables were indeed tied to several sections of the pipeline, with the joints extending all the way down to the main tunnel platform.

He crouched down to inspect the coupler, whose structure was the same as the trap in Jiang Mingtu's diagram, except that the actual installation location was a few meters off.

"They connected the detonator to the resonant node of the steel pipe. If the forward troops advance another 300 meters, the entire track will become a detonation antenna."

When Lao Sun saw the detonator at the end of the cable, he couldn't suppress his anger. He raised his foot to stomp on the connector, but then remembered the evidence requirements and put his shoe back.

"We need to keep all of these things and investigate later to find out who installed them."

A walkie-talkie communications soldier ran from the cave entrance and handed the transmitter to Jiang Ming.

"Urgent report from the command post: We have made contact with the enemy in the direction of Huangshitan. Director Wang's vehicle has spotted the target truck in the third rock trough."

Gunshots rang out first on the channel, followed by the roar of a jeep engine as the guards attacked from both ends of the rocky gully.

Meng Dechang's portable radio was turned on again, still on the frequency of 7.03 MHz, but it did not send a complete Morse code, only a continuous carrier wave and a few segments of truncated secret code.

Lu Qinghe took the microphone and instructed the three direction finding stations to keep listening and not to transmit any interference to the target frequency, so as not to disrupt the communication of the arrest team.

After a brief period of static, Director Wang's voice came through the walkie-talkie.

"The target vehicle has been brought under control, the driver was injured, and Meng Dechang fled to the north side of the rock crevice with the documents in his hand."

Another burst of gunfire came through the channel, followed by a loud report that the target had fallen to the ground and dropped his weapon.

Director Wang did not end the call. The sound of wind and footsteps grew closer and closer, finally accompanied by the crisp sound of a stone being crushed underfoot.

"The grey pigeon has been caught."