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

"Quit."

Jiang Ming straightened up, raised his arm to stop Da Liu from getting closer, his gaze still fixed on the sample piece that shimmered with a faint golden light.

"Get on the testing platform."

Da Liu withdrew his hand, turned around and pushed the power cart over. Lao Sun put on asbestos gloves, used long-handled iron pliers to pick up the sample, and inserted it into the center of the electron emission test slot.

Two copper wires wrapped in insulating rubber were connected to the two ends of the base. The rotary vane pump belt pulled, and the sound of breathing in the workshop was swallowed up by the roar.

Xiao Zhao stared at the McLaren vacuum gauge as the mercury column sank, the pointer pressing past the 10 to the power of negative 5 Pascals mark.

"Vacuum compliance achieved."

Jiang Ming gripped the black bakelite guillotine blade.

"Connect the high voltage."

A faint buzzing sound entered everyone's ears, and the black hand of the microammeter rose from the zero mark, climbing to the right along the dial.

Ten micro-an.

Fifty microamperes.

One hundred microamps.

Wu Hanzhang's hand holding the enamel mug trembled, and half a cup of warm tea spilled onto his liberation shoes, but he did not bow his head.

The black needle passed two hundred microamps.

Those were the low-level indicator red lines left behind in the remaining maps before the Soviets withdrew.

It is still moving.

Two hundred and twenty micro-amperes.

Two hundred and fifty microamperes.

Finally, the black needle stopped at 280 microamps.

The workshop seemed to have its throat held, and a few seconds later, Da Liu slammed his fist on the metal cabinet door.

"It's done!"

The cabinet door was dented. Old Sun took out his pipe, held it to his nose, and smelled the dried tobacco twice.

"We actually managed to find out what the Soviets were holding back."

The two young technicians gave each other a push, their eyes reddening.

For the past two weeks, from repairing broken pumps to manually building cold traps, from assembling vacuum systems to monitoring furnace temperatures, everyone has been on edge.

Jiang Ming leaned against the control panel, his eyes never leaving the watch face.

Don't be too happy yet.

Liu's smile hadn't quite faded yet.

"Engineer Jiang, the data is so far off, how could it be fake?"

"The launch efficiency exceeds that of the original Soviet low-end tubes, that's for sure."

Jiang Ming pulled out an old hardcover memo from his satchel and turned to the page filled with Russian and formulas.

"But this is just a short-term static test."

Wu Hanzhang walked to his side, his throat tight.

"To go high in the sky, to be crammed into a turbulent communication machine, a short-lived good look doesn't count."

Jiang Ming placed the notebook on the table.

"Thermal cycling, high-frequency vibration, frequency drift, and cathode lifespan."

He tapped the stopped watch hand.

"Being stable now doesn't mean you'll be stable during missions."

Wu Hanzhang put the enamel mug back on the table.

"How do you suggest we test it?"

"Running at full capacity for three consecutive hours."

Jiang Ming picked up his pen and looked at Xiao Zhao.

"Record the pressure drop data every ten minutes."

Three hours is more grueling than staying up all night.

The smell of engine oil mingled with the burnt smell of electrical appliances, the incandescent light bulbs hissed overhead, and the sunlight outside the window slowly crept over the blue brick wall.

Xiao Zhao squatted in front of the dial, his eyes sore from staying up all night. Da Liu walked around the testing platform more than a dozen times, his shoes scraping a ring of dust off the cement floor.

As the second hour approached, Xiao Zhao suddenly pointed to the micro-ammeter.

"Jiang, the pointer has fallen."

Jiang Ming strode forward.

The black needle dropped from 280 microamps to around 250 microamps, and the needle tip began to tremble slightly.

Wu Hanzhang stared at the vacuum gauge.

"Leaking air?"

"No leaks."

Jiang Ming glanced at the Maxwell vacuum gauge.

"The vacuum is still below the negative fifth power."

He pulled the switch, cutting off the high voltage.

"There's a problem with the internal coating."

After the sample cooled down, Jiang Ming used tweezers to remove it and put it back on the white porcelain plate.

"With a doping level of 1.2 percent and double the pre-firing time, the coating can form a dehydrated porous skeleton, thus solving the peeling problem."

Old Sun frowned.

"What caused the current to drop?"

"Our materials are packaged by hand."

Jiang Ming picked up the chalk and drew a honeycomb cross-section on the blackboard, then enlarged the holes in the middle.

"The original micropores of cerium oxide when damp are uneven. If it is under full load for a long time, the local emission density will be too high, the heat cannot be dissipated, and the pores will collapse."

He drew an X in the middle of the honeycomb.

"If any part of it collapses, this pipe will be useless as scrap metal in a critical moment."

Old Sun knocked the ashes out of his tobacco pouch.

"Then should I carve more layers of mesh?"

"It has nothing to do with the base."

Jiang Ming wiped away the powder and dust.

"The approach has been successful, but the material bonding is still insufficient. We need to use a higher proportion of rare earth elements to fill in the micropore defects."

He turned to the ledger in Xiao Zhao's hand.

"For the third control group, go straight to 2.0%."

Xiao Zhao opened the kraft paper ledger, traced the numbers down with his finger, and looked bitter.

"Jiang Gong, we really have no capital left in the warehouse."

He handed over the ledger.

"The first batch was scrapped, and another batch was used up today. There was also some waste from washing the utensils. Now, all of it adds up to less than 30 grams."

Wu Hanzhang rubbed his temples.

"If the next batch fails, we'll have to complete our three-month military production task in vain."

"If we don't try, we'll be left with a blank paper."

Jiang Ming closed the curtain and handed it back to Xiao Zhao.

"Dry the remaining material tonight, and pack it into 2:00 groups tomorrow morning. Master Sun, carve a few more nickel-based bases for later use."

Old Sun tucked the tobacco stick back into his waistband.

"Leave it to me."

At the same time, in the security office on the first floor of the administration building, the late autumn night wind blew in through the window cracks, and a stack of kraft paper folders was on the table.

The security officer pushed the statement paper in front of Director Zhang.

"Factory manager, everything has been verified."

Factory Director Zhang lit a bottle of Daqianmen cigarettes but didn't rush to change his testimony.

The security officer opened the shift handover record from the technical department.

"The 3.8% false parameter released by Jiang Ming was written on the first page of the hardcover notebook. When Xiao Li went to the cafeteria at noon, he separated from the group for ten minutes at the stairwell."

He unfolded a piece of letter paper with pure blue ink marks, and then placed a few White Rabbit milk candies that he had found in Xiao Li's pocket.

"The chain of information theft is closed."

Factory Director Zhang exhaled a puff of smoke and pulled out a few thin sheets of paper from under the documents.

That was Liu Shouxin writing a defense statement in the temporary solitary confinement room for an entire afternoon. The statement, which consisted of several thousand words, accused Jiang Ming of setting a trap and tried to shift the blame to the overseas returnees suppressing local workers and peasants.

Factory Director Zhang's fingertip stopped on one of the lines.

"He himself wrote down 3.8%, rapid heating, and non-gradient heat preservation."

The security officer nodded.

"He thought this was evidence that Jiang Ming had framed him, which was tantamount to admitting that he had instructed someone to read the top-secret notes."

"idiot."

Factory Director Zhang shoved the half-smoked cigarette into the ashtray.

The security officer took half a step forward.

"Are you also investigating whether he has any contact with outsiders?"

"We won't conduct a high-profile inspection inside the factory."

Factory Director Zhang got up and walked to the window, gazing at the night view outside the factory.

"He was just blinded by jealousy. He dared to tamper with national defense missions just for a deputy team leader position. If he were truly capable of intelligence gathering, he wouldn't resort to such a leaky method as an apprentice peeking at notes."

The security officer lowered his voice.

"We haven't received a reply yet regarding the Northwest China clutter verification."

"Prepare against external covert threats first."

Factory Director Zhang turned around, his gaze returning to the documents.

"But Liu Shouxin crossed the line."

He closed the folder.

"No public public parading or criticism."

The security officer looked up.

Factory Director Zhang tapped on the table.

"Workshop No. 1 is at a critical juncture. We can't attract the attention of the entire factory and even the whole city of Beijing, and we can't let the people watching us in the shadows discover the progress of the vacuum tubes."

"Transfer to internal confidentiality disciplinary procedure."

He pushed the stamped page over.

"A top-secret disciplinary meeting notice will be issued tomorrow morning. No one is allowed to miss a single word except for Deputy Secretary Zhou and the Personnel Department."

Security officers, stand at attention.

"clear."

As Director Zhang walked out of the security department gate, the cold wind lifted the hem of his Zhongshan suit.

The spark that Lao Lei risked his life to protect from enemy territory must not be destroyed by a few people causing internal strife in the rear.

The next morning, gray clouds pressed down on the horizon.

In the technical department office, Liu Shouxin sat at his desk, holding an enamel mug with a big red flower printed on it.

Yesterday, the security department released him from the solitary confinement room, and he thought that his letter of appeal had worked.

No one searched the table, and no one questioned him again.

He was convinced that as long as he insisted that Jiang Ming had induced comrades at the grassroots level to make mistakes, Deputy Secretary Zhou would always step in to protect him.

Just as the hot tea was being blown into the air, creating ripples, the wooden door was pushed open.

Two security officers entered the room without exchanging pleasantries.

A notice bearing the official seal of the Third Electronics Factory and a red confidentiality stamp was slapped on the table.

Liu Shouxin flicked his wrist, and scalding hot tea splashed onto the back of his hand.

He looked down.

There were no platitudes about undermining unity on the paper, nor were there any disciplinary statements to be issued in a factory-wide announcement.

There is only one line of Song typeface.

Suspend access to all top-secret project documents and immediately undergo organizational review.

The enamel mug bumped against the edge of the table, and half a cup of tea soaked the newspaper.

The color drained from Liu Shouxin's face, and he slumped heavily back into the hardwood chair.