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

Jiang Ming pressed the still-vibrating pager and walked out of the conference room. The torrential rain outside the corridor window had stopped, and water droplets dripped from the eaves down the drainage trough. The damp, earthy smell of the courtyard seeped in through the window cracks.

He first went to the duty phone and dialed the Institute of Physics' dedicated line. After the line was connected, he heard Da Liu announce that the second batch of samples had been packaged and the high-frequency resonance test was waiting for him to arrive.

"First, seal the fixture according to the original test conditions. Register each of the twelve tubes one by one. No one is allowed to adjust the main circuit compensation capacitor. I'll be there right away."

Jiang Ming put down the microphone and turned around to see Ren Xinmin chasing after him from the conference room, holding the overall interface card and the newly signed autonomous reconfiguration task book.

Ren Xinmin walked up to him, tucked the folder under his arm, and reached out to firmly grasp his right hand, his palm damp with the thin layer of sweat left from working on the slide rule for so long.

"In all my years of engineering, today's counterattack in computing power is the most satisfying. The Soviets put all their resources on the table, including the technical committee, live ammunition statistics, and supply lists, but in the end, they still lost because of their own intermediate capacity."

Jiang Ming's wrist ached from being gripped so tightly, but he could tell that the most important thing in those words wasn't the pleasure, but the determination to share the responsibility for autonomous parameters from now on.

Before the demonstration meeting, Ren Xinmin acknowledged Jiang Ming's aerodynamic judgment and was willing to review it with him. However, since the overall interface is related to the entire missile, he always maintained the prudence that an engineer should have.

After the three sets of tracks on the screen were closed, the initial caution transformed into a more solid cooperation, because every step Jiang Ming provided could be recalculated, and even the coordinate transformation, which was most likely to be hidden, was proactively laid out on the table.

Jiang Ming opened his briefcase, pulled out the last two pages of the side-slip correction from the backup manuscript, and handed them to Ren Xinmin.

"Here, the gain switching conditions before and after the separation point have been added. Originally, the overall interface used a single linear segment, but during reconstruction, it needs to be split into three segments, leaving an adjustable test port in the middle."

Ren Xinmin took the manuscript, first checked the page numbers, and then clipped the task sheet to the back to prevent the damp air from causing the paper to curl at the edges.

"After you hand over the underlying equations to me, you'll still have to participate in the first integration test. If there's a sign problem with the interface, I'll go straight to the 502 error and arrest the person."

"You first lay out the overall timeline. Once the data from Jiuquan is complete, I will supplement the underlying tables according to the three wind farms. Whoever is slow will have to stay overnight in the server room."

After the two settled their division of labor, Ren Xinmin released Jiang Ming's hand, turned around and called to the overall team's calculator, requesting that the input catalog for the transverse flow correction module be rewritten that evening.

The major general's bodyguard ran up from the direction of the stairs, his military cap still wet with rain. He handed Jiang Ming a thin document stamped with an internal commendation medal and asked him to sign it on the spot.

The document did not contain any public commendation, but rather raised the special confidentiality and resource allocation level of Research Laboratory 502 by half a grade, directly merging it into the key pre-research collaboration unit of the Fifth Academy.

Jiang Ming first checked the scope of access, then stopped at the meteorological data access terms. Top-secret data from various domestic sounding stations, military meteorological stations, and target range observation stations could be accessed with priority by special authorization stamps.

Previously, in order to verify the wind field in Jiuquan, he needed to apply through the overall group level by level. Each time he requested the data, he was subject to time constraints and confidentiality procedures. Now, this authority is sufficient to allow domestically produced models to establish their own national meteorological boundary database.

"The commendation order is only implemented internally. The personnel list and scope of authority are still managed as Class A documents. The Major General is asking you to use the available data first."

The guard retrieved the signed receipt and quickly returned to the conference room, while Jiang Ming handed the commendation order to Comrade Song and put it into a separate envelope.

At the other end of the corridor, several returned experts stood by the window, discussing the reconstruction task in hushed tones. Two of them had questioned Jiang Ming's lack of experience at previous demonstration meetings, worrying that he might amplify local anomalies into overall risks.

At this moment, they saw Jiang Ming passing by and voluntarily made way for him. One of the old-school researchers was still holding a copy of the derivation draft and asked if the gain switching before and after the separation point could be transferred to other target ranges.

Jiang Ming briefly explained that the model needed to re-enter the local wind field and projectile geometry, and that the Jiuquan form could not be directly applied. He then wrote down the index number from the data room for him.

The other party took the note, leaving all the prepared arguments in the notebook, and only solemnly said that they would recalculate independently based on the intermediate amount.

Meanwhile, inside the underground interrogation point of the Fifth Hospital, Director Wang laid out the confiscated fragments of the railway timetable on the interrogation table and marked out the three abandoned line nodes in the fake maintenance worker's confession.

The arrest warrant was sitting across the table. His thick-rimmed glasses had been removed, and the fluorescent traces left on his fingertips were clearly visible under the ultraviolet light, making it difficult to sever the connection between the film canister swap and the railway transfer.

Director Wang first asked the interrogator to report the duty hours of the document over the past two months, and then stacked the records of each temporary absence from duty and the return of empty boxes onto the same date sheet.

The five absences from duty corresponded to five cancelled freight documents, two of which occurred after the foreign language documents from the Institute of Materials arrived in Beijing, and one occurred before the diffusion furnace components were transferred.

"The old locomotive depot in Xi'an, the material warehouse in the eastern suburbs, and the small freight yard in the western part of the city—these three locations are already mentioned in the statements. Which section were you responsible for?"

The clerk stared at the date sheet, still pushing the blame onto the temporary printing task, claiming that he had only ever delivered sealed film for others and had never handled railway documents.

Director Wang didn't argue with him. Instead, he pulled out a piece of paper from the hidden compartment of the thermos base and stacked it under the light along with the pencil marks on it and the sticky notes he found on the desk.

Both sheets of paper use the same shorthand symbols, and the height conversion is written in the same way. At the end, they both have a slanted hook representing the return of empty boxes.

"You can continue to say that you were only in charge of printing, but only the contact person knew the loading and unloading sequence of these five shunting operations in advance."

The interrogator placed the supplementary records that the railway bureau had just sent on the table, which included two new nighttime coupling points: one located in an abandoned coal yard and the other hidden on the side line of an old military supply depot.

The clerk was still repeatedly picking at the edge of the table, but after seeing the old military supply depot number, he suddenly stopped what he was doing and turned his gaze to the water pipe by the wall.

Following his reaction, Director Wang pulled out the record, circled the old military supply depot section separately, and then asked the interrogator to retrieve the duty roster for the past three months.

Two names on the list overlap with the guesthouse registration records of the document, and another person appears in the peripheral contact list provided by the fake maintenance worker in Xi'an.

This intersecting relationship tore through the final barrier, connecting five scattered scrap wires into a complete transfer chain. The clerk was responsible for collecting film and foreign language materials from the Beijing end.

Director Wang ordered his men to immediately divide into groups to control five key locations, while simultaneously sealing all empty boxes at the old military supply depot, the coal yard side line, and the eastern suburban material warehouse. As a result, a huge gap was created in the core intelligence network that System No. 5 had established domestically.

When the internal phone rang in the ground duty room, Jiang Ming was downstairs checking vehicle arrangements. Comrade Song answered the call and handed him the receiver.

"The meeting has ended. The Soviet parameter package has been completely abolished, and access has been upgraded to 502 privileges. What's the situation inside the classified compound?"

Director Wang briefly explained the five connection points and the written confessions, and also stated that the switch wire at the meeting, the thermos flask wire from the materials institute, and the abandoned wire from Xi'an had been combined into one case.

Upon hearing that the old military supply depot's side line was still in use, Jiang Ming immediately thought of the transportation arrangements for the diffusion furnace components and high-purity quartz substrates from the Institute of Physics.

"In the next phase, we will focus on the material supply line. Samples, quartz parts, measuring bridges and high-frequency accessories will all be given independent numbers. One blind sample will be kept at the packing site and at the station. The old maintenance channels must not be used during the journey."

Director Wang took out a pencil and wrote down the blind sample and the double number. He then instructed the railway investigation team to prioritize the verification of the equipment boxes between the Third Electronics Factory and the Institute of Physics.

"Continue closing the net here. You go to the Institute of Physics first. As long as the remaining people in System Five touch the transport box, we'll pull the wire out."

After hanging up the phone, Comrade Song put the call summary into a confidential bag, while Jiang Ming placed the allocation authority in the new commendation order and the procurement list of the Institute of Physics side by side into his briefcase.

Meanwhile, after returning to their base, the Soviet advisory team immediately sent an urgent telegram to Moscow, reporting that China had refused to freeze the parameters, abolished the third version of the model, and switched to its own framework.

After the telegram was sent, the receiving channel only transmitted regular carrier waves for a long time. The duty telegraph operator repeatedly adjusted the frequency, but never received any new instruction text.

Vasily sat outside the radio station, copying back the page numbers of the three-page matrix from the Chinese derivation into his notebook, his handkerchief still clutched in his palm, unopened even when dinner was delivered to his door.

Jiang Ming was unaware of the situation inside the Soviet camp. At this moment, he could only confirm three things: the parameter access had been taken over by the Chinese side, the high command had granted the right to access national meteorological data, and the counter-espionage network had cut off the transfer nodes outside the venue.

These resources will not automatically become usable results. The crossflow correction module is still waiting to be rebuilt, and the Aksai preamplifier is stuck on the experimental platform. Each of them requires new measured data to support it.

Old Sun had already driven the Jeep to the front of the building, the engine running at a low speed, and a canvas bag containing tools was hanging next to the door.

He saw Jiang Ming come downstairs, raised his hand and patted the steering wheel, his voice hoarse from continuously monitoring the phone.

"Get in the car quickly. Wang Shouwu is guarding the oscilloscope. He's almost crushed the teacup. If you arrive any later, Da Liu won't dare to turn the last knob."

Jiang Ming opened the car door, secured the metal briefcase to his feet, Comrade Song sat in the back seat to protect the briefcase, and Old Sun then shifted gears and drove out of the Fifth Hospital gate.

The jeep carried them toward the Institute of Physics.