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

The air in the conference room seemed to sink.

Factory Director Zhang looked at Jiang Ming through his reading glasses, folded the letter with the Northwest China postmark, and put it back into his old hardcover notebook.

He waved for the security officer to take Liu Shouxin outside to wait, and Wu Hanzhang and Deputy Secretary Zhou also left with their teacups.

After the solid wood door closed, Director Zhang took out a large Qianmen cigarette, lit a match, and blue smoke spread across the table.

"Xiao Jiang, this letter is from the Northwest."

Jiang Ming placed his hands on the table and met his gaze before speaking.

"This is a private letter that Chen Zhiyuan wrote to me."

"He moved with his unit to a communications testing base in Northwest China. In his letter, he mentioned that the testing equipment was experiencing regular clutter interference on certain frequency bands."

Factory Director Zhang paused for a moment while tapping his cigarette ash.

The contents of his previous confidential reply resurfaced in his mind.

The last underground radio station Lao Lei used before his sacrifice was called Lightning Seven, and its transmission frequency fell within the shortwave range.

He matched the frequency band numbers in Chen Zhiyuan's letter with the fragments of the Lightning-7 file, and the overlap sent a chill down his spine.

This matter is beyond the scope of what the Third Electronics Factory can handle.

"Have you submitted a formal inference report regarding this clutter interference?"

"no."

Jiang Ming answered decisively.

"I don't have any concrete evidence to prove that it was a signal transmitted secretly by someone."

"I only know a little about the basic theory of communication hardware."

"I have no right to inquire about the actual situation in Northwest China, nor can I speculate."

Factory Director Zhang stubbed out his half-smoked cigarette, his tense shoulders and back relaxing slightly.

He didn't press Jiang Ming about where his extraordinary skills came from; he only confirmed that this young man, protected by top-secret old files, hadn't yet put himself in the spotlight.

Factory Director Zhang pulled the letter out of his notebook, put it separately into a kraft paper bag stamped with the internal review seal, and sealed it tightly with thick thread.

"This matter ends here."

He pushed the notebook back.

"Your task is moving forward."

Jiang Ming stuffed the notebook back into his patched canvas satchel.

Xiao Li's cries came from the next office.

"I really didn't know it was top-secret data!"

Jiang Ming and Factory Director Zhang pushed open the door and went in.

Xiao Li sat on a long bench by the wall, the hem of his work clothes crumpled, while the security officer stood beside the table with a notebook in his hand.

When he saw Director Zhang come in, he knelt down and kowtowed.

"Director Liu has been waiting for me on my way home from get off work for several days."

"He said that as long as I could get the cathode formula parameters, he would help me become a full-time employee instead of an apprentice."

"They even promised to pay me three months' salary as a level-two worker."

"I just want to get a permanent job as soon as possible so I can settle down in the city."

"I thought it was just to help the technical department take a look at the materials. I didn't know anything about rare earth or cerium oxide."

Factory Director Zhang's brow furrowed as he looked at the apprentice who had betrayed the bottom line of national defense for a few dollars in wages.

Workshop No. 1 is at a critical juncture.

If Liu Shouxin and Xiao Li are dealt with in a high-profile manner, the morale of the entire factory will be thrown into chaos, and external attention will be drawn to Workshop No. 1.

"Put them in separate solitary confinement rooms in the security department."

Factory Director Zhang was reassigned to the security officer position.

"We publicly declared that the technical department was conducting closed-door discussions on new research topics, and that no one was allowed to visit or leak the information."

He turned around and patted Jiang Ming on the shoulder.

"Tomorrow you just need to sinter your cathode tube."

"Anyone who dares to cause trouble in Workshop Number One, I'll deal with them personally."

Jiang Ming nodded, slung his bag over his shoulder, and went downstairs.

The autumn night wind brushed against my cheek.

Liu Shouxin's threat was removed, but that was just internal personnel infighting within the factory.

What truly determines life or death is tomorrow's batch of trace rare earth anti-interference military electron tubes.

Back in his single dormitory, Jiang Ming locked the iron door, drew the blue curtains, and sat down on the hard bed without even turning on the lights.

It was just past midnight.

Today's three opportunities for spiritual communication must be focused on the final practical details.

Jiang Ming closed his eyes, his consciousness sinking into the depths of his mind.

The bronze-colored Heavenly Record unfolded, and light rose from it.

He identified the early pioneer of vacuum tube and radar physics.

[System Prompt: Countdown begins for connecting to the late pioneer of early vacuum tube and radar physics.]

"Senior, I need to use fifty grams of old material for verification tomorrow."

"At what thickness (in micrometers) should the coating be controlled to avoid the risk of secondary cracking at high temperatures?"

The pioneer's voice carried a hardness like the clash of metal.

"Your substrate is a nickel-based alloy."

"The coating size must be controlled between 15 and 18 micrometers."

"Beyond this thickness, the hydrogen-nitrogen mixture cannot penetrate the bottom layer."

"The bottom oxide expands when heated, which will crush the surface layer into fragments."

Jiang Ming memorized the numbers.

[System notification: Call ended.]

He immediately initiated a second channeling session, targeting his young fellow students who were researching materials interfaces.

"Senior, I've set two low-doping ratios: 0.5% and 1.2%."

"When the temperature is increased to 800 degrees Celsius in a stepped manner, how long should the temperature be maintained to allow the metal ions to be completely replaced?"

The younger students answered very quickly.

"800 degrees is the lifeline for this batch of materials with unknown purity."

"Keep warm for 45 minutes."

"If you miss a minute, the replacement will be incomplete; if you miss a minute, impurities will start to erode the coating surface."

[System notification: Call ended.]

Jiang Ming initiated the final psychic communication.

The goal was to be a pioneer in precision instruments that proposed a cold trap design.

"Senior, the empty furnace extraction test is complete."

"How can I prevent secondary contamination inside the cavity before the material is officially loaded?"

A cold, clear voice came from the other end of the void.

"Before the quartz sintering boat is put into the furnace, it is first baked at 250 degrees Celsius in a vacuum environment."

"Using a liquid nitrogen cold trap, we captured the last microscopic water molecules on the surface of the boat."

"If the hull is not clean, your fifty grams of material will be poisoned during the initial heating stage."

[System notification: Call ended.]

Jiang Ming opened his eyes, sweat dripping down his cheeks onto the blue bed sheet.

Fifteen to eighteen micrometers.

Keep warm at 800 degrees Celsius for 45 minutes.

The hull was baked at 250 degrees Celsius when unloaded.

Three pioneers spanning physics, materials science, and precision instruments completed the final piece of the puzzle in the humble workshop of 1955.

Jiang Ming reached for the table and, by the moonlight, wrote the numbers on the back of the memo.

Tomorrow morning, he will win this positional battle in front of Wu Hanzhang and Lao Sun.

On the third floor of the administration building, the factory director's office light was still on.

Factory Director Zhang opened the bottom drawer and put the brown paper bag containing Chen Zhiyuan's letter, along with the yellowed note that read "Protect this only child," into the metal safe.

The latch is engaged.

He tucked the key into his shirt pocket and turned to look at the red secure phone on the table that had no dial pad.

This line leads directly to the higher-level core confidentiality review department.

Factory Director Zhang gripped the black handle and shook it twice.

After the static subsided, a steady male voice answered the call.

"I am Lao Zhang from the Third Electronics Factory."

"Connect me to Deputy Director Liu of the Second Internal Bureau."

All that could be heard on the phone was breathing.

A minute later, the old comrade-in-arms who had written the internal report to Director Zhang picked up the microphone.

"Old Zhang, what happened that requires us to use this dedicated line?"

Factory Director Zhang looked out the window at the night scene.

"Check something for me right away."

"Retrieve the shortwave radio frequency data left over from Lightning-7."

"Use classified channels to investigate the equipment clutter frequency bands recently reported by a communications testing base in Northwest China."

"I need to know if these two sets of data overlap."

There was silence for about ten seconds on the other end of the phone.

His old comrade's breathing became heavier.

"Old Zhang, do you know what you're touching?"

"The frequency band of Lightning-7 is the last key in the top-secret files used to identify enemy radio stations."

Factory Director Zhang gripped the receiver tightly, the veins on the back of his hand bulging.

"I told you to investigate, so investigate."

"I suspect someone is using that frequency to send telegrams."

"If the frequencies really do overlap."

"The Northwest region is definitely being watched."

(Yesterday's update request reached 300, and today's update is 15,000 words, which has been completed.)