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Chapter 395 The Sixth Gate!

Zhang Yan slept for five hours.

When Nie Qingcheng woke up, she was already in the study. There were three screens in front of her, the main screen showing the waveform recording of the fifth door.

After the initial 0.7-second flash, there was another 3-second response.

This is the third time.

Duration: 4.1 seconds.

Zhang Yan walked over and glanced at the data.

"What about frequency?"

Nie Qingcheng brought up the sub-interface. "It's exactly the same as the output frequency of the Heart of Heaven when you repaired the first fracture."

Zhang Yan sat down.

The fifth gate is responding to the restoration efforts.

It's not a coincidence. There's some kind of interconnected mechanism between the seven gates.

Qin Xiao called. Zhang Yan answered.

"Brother Yan, the coordinates of the fifth gate have been confirmed. It's about two thousand meters below the Antarctic ice sheet."

"detail."

"This area is a protected zone under international conventions and has no permanent personnel. The nearest research station is 160 kilometers away. Monitoring satellites can cover the surface, but data below the ice sheet requires penetrating radar, which the military is currently working on."

Zhang Yan said, "Don't get any closer."

"That's what I meant too." Qin Xiao paused for a moment. "But there's a problem."

"explain."

"Each time the fifth gate lights up, the surface ice layer vibrates slightly. The last response lasted 4.1 seconds, and the vibration was recorded by a seismic monitoring station 200 kilometers away. It is currently classified as glacial movement, but if the frequency continues to increase, it will attract attention."

Zhang Yan thought for a moment. "Have the Great Wall Group prepare a statement in advance."

"clear."

Qin Xiao added, "There's one more thing. Guan Xing contacted me half an hour ago."

"What?"

"She asked me to tell you that the collaboration between the Seven Gates is not just good news."

Zhang Yan remained silent.

Qin Xiao's tone changed. "Her exact words were: 'Each repair action sends a calibration signal to the gate network, and this signal can also be sensed by things outside the gate. The more repairs, the more exposed.'"

Nie Qingcheng paused for a moment.

Zhang Yan said, "I understand."

He hung up the phone.

The study was quiet for a few seconds.

Nie Qingcheng spoke first. "Build a door, and it will know where you are."

"right."

"If you don't fix it, the door will rot on its own."

"right."

"It's not okay to repair it, and it's not okay not to repair it either."

Zhang Yan leaned back in his chair. "It's not that it can't be done. It has to be fixed. So be it if it gets exposed."

Nie Qingcheng looked at him.

Zhang Yan said, "If the door collapses on its own, a 47-fold intruder can come in directly, and everything will be gone. Repairing the door will expose the location, but as long as the door is repaired, it still can't get in."

"What happens after it's exposed?"

"It charges up faster and strikes more accurately."

"What are the specific impacts?"

Zhang Yan retrieved the system's estimate. "After the first repair, it retreats and accumulates energy. If it knows the exact location during the second repair, the impact intensity could increase by 30% to 50%."

Nie Qingcheng wrote down the number.

"Can you handle it?"

"The Vermilion Bird can block it after the modification."

Are you sure?

"I've calculated it."

Nie Qingcheng stopped talking, lowered her head and wrote a line on the tablet, then turned the screen to him.

"The second repair schedule has been reduced from forty days to twenty-five days."

Zhang Yan looked at that number.

He had been considering this as well. Rather than giving that thing outside the door plenty of time to build up its strength, it was better to strike before it could make its next attack.

"Based on that?"

Nie Qingcheng said, "After the Vermilion Bird was modified, its energy limit nearly tripled. The original six-hour injection time can now be shortened to two and a half hours. Including preparation and evacuation time, the total construction period has been reduced by at least one-third."

Zhang Yan went through the process in his mind.

The materials do not require additional manufacturing.

The repair solution for the second fracture is pure energy injection, without involving stardust.

The Zhuque new power furnace can fully meet the demand.

"Okay. Twenty-five days."

Nie Qingcheng closed the tablet.

The two sat in the study, each in silence for a while.

It was already bright outside the window. Someone was walking their dog in the neighborhood.

Nie Qingcheng suddenly said, "Zhang Yan."

"Um."

"There's a problem."

Zhang Yan looked at her.

Nie Qingcheng's expression was calm. But Zhang Yan recognized her. Her calmness usually meant that what she was about to say would be very serious.

"Its power is 47 times that of the Ruins."

"Um."

"When you repair the first fracture, it gathers its strength and then chooses to impact."

"right."

"But it didn't penetrate."

"The first one was fixed in time."

Nie Qingcheng nodded. "My question is—if it knows it can't break through, why does it still try?"

Zhang Yan's fingers twitched slightly.

"With 47 times the power of the Ruins, can't it even assess the effect of a single probing impact? If it determines that it can't break through, the normal reaction should be to try in a weaker area, or wait for the door to continue to deteriorate on its own."

Zhang Yan did not respond.

Nie Qingcheng looked at him.

"It's not attacking the door you fixed. It's testing your reaction speed. It's collecting your data."

The study was silent for a full five seconds.

Zhang Yan's gaze fell on the door network diagram on the screen.

She's right.

With 47 times the force, that thing could have easily smashed open the weakest door during Zhang Yan's repair process. But it didn't.

It stopped. It moved backward. It gathered its strength. Then it gave a gentle push.

This is not brute force.

This is calculation.

"What is it waiting for?" Nie Qingcheng's voice was very soft.

Zhang Yan did not answer.

Because he doesn't know the answer yet.

He only knows one thing.

That thing was more difficult to deal with than he had thought. Not because of its strength. Because of its patience.

My phone vibrated.

Qin Xiao's encrypted message.

Zhang Yan opened it.

"Brother Yan, the data for the sixth door is abnormal. The satellite scan just detected continuous low-frequency vibrations at the corresponding coordinates beneath the Siberian permafrost. It's not knocking. It's continuous."

Zhang Yan handed the phone to Nie Qingcheng.

Her expression changed after she finished reading it.

"Continuous vibration."

"Um."

"It wasn't knocked."

Zhang Yan nodded.

He pulled up the real-time data for the seven doors.

The sixth door has a shielding efficiency of 29%.

The lowest of the seven gates.

Nie Qingcheng handed the phone back to him. "It's already pushing."