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

Before the security officer could answer, Director Zhang had already strode over across the sandy cement pavement.

He waved for the guards to retreat to the gatehouse, his gaze sweeping over the double-sealed black leather suitcase in Director Wang's hand.

The two exchanged a glance in the darkness, neither saying a word of politeness.

Factory Director Zhang turned and walked into the factory area.

Director Wang, carrying the suitcase, strode after him.

In the factory director's office on the second floor of the administration building, the dark green curtains had long been drawn shut.

Factory Director Zhang locked the door from the inside, and the key made a dull "click" sound when it turned.

"Put the box in the safe first. I'll show you the report on the noise from the Northwest tomorrow."

Factory Director Zhang turned around and looked at Director Wang, who was covered in dust and grime.

"Come with me to see someone first."

Director Wang steadily pushed the suitcase into the metal safe in the corner, then turned the combination lock to completely scramble the latches.

"How's that returned student, Jiang Ming, doing here?"

Factory Director Zhang picked up a flashlight and walked out the door.

You'll see when you get there.

The two walked through half of the factory area.

The red brick wall of Workshop No. 1 looked like a huge iron ingot in the night.

The rumbling of the oil pump could be heard from afar, making one's feet go numb.

Factory Director Zhang turned off his flashlight and led Director Wang to the observation window on the side of the workshop.

The glass was covered in a layer of grayish-brown grease, but you could still see what was happening inside.

The incandescent light illuminated the control panel in a white glow.

Jiang Ming was writing data on a kraft paper notebook with his head down, his profile sharply defined by the light.

Director Wang stood outside the window, his eyes fixed on that face.

It felt like there was a wad of dry cotton stuffed in his throat.

That's Lao Lei's bone structure.

Back then, to cover the retreat of the radio station, Lao Lei hugged a satchel charge and perished together with the enemy.

When they collected the body, they didn't even leave a complete picture of it.

Now, this young face is right in front of me, with an even tougher, more stubborn edge than Old Lei.

Director Wang clenched his fists, trying to suppress the bitterness welling up inside him.

Just then, Jiang Ming turned around with the recorder in his hand.

His gaze passed over the machinery and met the figure outside the glass window.

Upon seeing the military uniform and the face clearly, Jiang Ming's fingers, which were holding the pen, froze in mid-air.

The pen tip drew a long ink mark on the paper.

It was the chief inspector at the Guangzhou Port Inspection Station.

Jiang Ming broke out in a cold sweat instantly.

He thought he had broken a taboo by adding his name by hand on the "President Cleveland" at the last minute.

The people responsible for confidentiality reviews eventually followed the trail and came knocking on our door.

He did not back down.

Jiang Ming pretended to reach for a wrench on the tool rack, using the act of turning around to avoid eye contact, and then took a deep breath to forcefully calm his heartbeat.

We must not lose our composure.

As long as he can burn out the military vacuum tubes he has, the mess left by the Soviets will be his best shield.

No one can arbitrarily touch the core technology of a project that is currently undergoing intensive research and development.

Jiang Ming walked to the testing station, looked at the pointer on the microammeter, and kept his voice steady.

"Xiao Zhao, keep an eye on the pressure drop data for group 1.3, and run for another twenty minutes."

Wu Hanzhang carried the enamel mug to the door.

He saw two people in Zhongshan suits and military uniforms standing outside through the glass, then pushed open the heavy iron door and came out.

"Old Zhang, who is this comrade?"

Wu Hanzhang looked Director Wang up and down.

Factory Director Zhang took out a cigarette case and handed him a cigarette.

"Director Wang was sent down from above to check on the confidentiality work."

Wu Hanzhang didn't accept the cigarette; instead, he pulled the teacup closer to his chest.

That posture clearly showed he was protecting his own.

He blocked the doorway.

"Checking classified information is allowed, but entering the workshop and disrupting production is not permitted."

"Our No. 1 workshop is now a top-secret trial production area registered with the Commission of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense."

Director Wang's gaze passed over Wu Hanzhang's shoulder and fell on the equipment in the workshop that had been completely altered.

The old rotary vane pump was connected to a copper pipe, which was wrapped with thick heat-insulating asbestos cloth.

At the other end of the pipeline is a double-layered cold trap that was manually constructed.

"Is that young man your deputy team leader?"

Director Wang spoke calmly, but his mind was in turmoil.

Wu Hanzhang snorted coldly.

"Director Wang, don't let Jiang's youth fool you."

"The extreme negative pressure throughout this room was all created by hand, bit by bit, with him and the workers."

"Our factory's deputy director, Liu Shouxin, was just dealt with by Xiao Jiang a couple of days ago."

Just as Director Zhang was about to stop Wu Hanzhang from speaking, Wu Hanzhang had already blurted everything out like beans spilling from a bamboo tube.

"Liu Shouxin used his promotion quota to bribe apprentices, trying to steal our top-secret formula for cathode coating."

"Xiao Jiang saw through it early on and deliberately put a fake parameter of 3.8 on the first page of the notes to bait people."

"Liu Shouxin and his apprentice were both arrested by the security department."

Wu Hanzhang patted the iron gate.

"Xiao Jiang isn't taking vigilante justice."

"He's protecting the country's lifeline after the Soviets left."

"You can conduct your review, but don't scrutinize his conduct with a magnifying glass."

After hearing these words, Director Wang's gaze fell once again on the young man who was looking down at his watch.

Before he arrived, he thought Jiang Ming was just a descendant of the old Lei family who needed to be protected at every level.

It is also a decoy that is easy for enemy agents to target.

Now he understands.

This kid, relying solely on a few tattered blueprints and scrap materials, became the pillar of this military factory.

Such people should absolutely not be dealt with using crude censorship methods.

If even a small mistake is made, the entire progress of the defense vacuum tube project will be ruined.

Director Wang stepped back half a step.

"Don't worry, Chief Engineer Wu, I won't go in. I'll just look around from outside."

It's 11 p.m.

The lights in Workshop No. 1 finally went out.

Jiang Ming dragged his aching legs back to his single dormitory and locked the iron gate.

He didn't even turn on the light, and collapsed directly onto the hard bed.

The face of that cadre from Guangzhou Port kept replaying in his mind.

The knife of censorship is already hanging over our heads.

He forced himself to calm down.

As consciousness sank into the depths of his mind, the bronze-colored Tongtian Record emitted a cold, eerie light.

Today's last three psychic summoning quotas must be used wisely.

He wants to get the cards in advance.

He connected with that early vacuum tube pioneer.

"Senior, the sample with the 0.9% doping just started collapsing due to micropore collapse after an hour and a half of testing. Is the adhesion not strong enough?"

The pioneer's voice had a metallic, friction-like quality.

"The amount of 0.9 is too small, there are not enough impurities to burn, and the porous skeleton simply cannot stand up."

"Discard this set directly; there's no need to waste time testing the entire tube."

Jiang Ming fumbled for the notebook in the dark and blindly wrote down the word "abandoned" based on muscle memory.

During his second psychic encounter, he found his fellow students in Materials Interface Physics.

"Senior, the 1.3 group ran for three hours without any collapse."

"But if we scale it up to the entire tube size, will the surface tension change?"

The younger fellow disciples gave a clear answer.

"The 1.3-point base has the most stable bonding strength."

"But when you enlarge the size, the scouring area of ​​the hydrogen-nitrogen mixture increases, and powder will run off the edges."

"The edges must be beveled and ground to create a 15-degree slope to form an airflow buffer layer."

On his last occasion, he connected with a pioneer in precision instrument and vacuum systems engineering.

"Senior, the asbestos insulation outside the cold trap held up until the very end."

"But I'm worried that if we go all out with the pumping speed tomorrow during the actual sintering of the tube, the liquid nitrogen might evaporate prematurely. Is there any way to remedy this?"

A clear, melodious female voice came from deep within the Tongtian Record.

"Wrap a layer of tin foil around the asbestos cloth to reflect the radiant heat away."

"This is the only low-cost insulation method you can find in your dilapidated workshop."

The credit limit was exhausted three times.

Jiang Ming opened his eyes, his mind filled with operational details.

He had no idea what the external censorship was all about.

All he knew was that he had to burn out the first complete military vacuum tube first thing tomorrow morning.

Meanwhile, in the factory's guesthouse a few hundred meters away.

Director Wang drew the curtains shut and turned on the desk lamp.

The double-sealed, secure leather case sat on the table.

The lead strip was brutally cut by pliers.

Director Wang took out a stack of yellowed and brittle kraft paper documents.

Those were top-secret files salvaged from the fire years ago, with scorch marks still visible on the edges.

He took a deep breath and opened the topmost, incomplete coded file.

The first line of text, written in carbon ink, has already become somewhat blurred.

"Lightning-7 sent its last message to cover the northward retreat of the spark of radio technology."