bioinnovel Chapter 482 The Choice of Departure!
Chapter 482 The Choice of Departure!
The meeting was held in the villa's living room.
It wasn't a formal one; there was no projector or conference table.
Zhang Yan sat on the sofa, Nie Qingcheng to his right, Qin Xiao leaned against the windowsill swinging his legs, and Guan Xing stood in the corner holding documents.
Four people, the highest level.
"There's only one issue," Zhang Yan said, "Return to the Ruins. To go or not to go?"
Qin Xiao was the first to speak.
"I object."
He crossed his arms, his expression unusually serious.
"The route is unknown, the destination is unclear. All we know about the Ruins is a signal and a fragment. What if that place isn't the home of some friendly civilization, but another trap?"
"The entity outside the gate was repelled less than three months ago in the direction of Proxima Centauri," he continued. "We don't know where it is now, or whether it's just waiting along the shipping lane. If Zhang Yan rushes out alone and gets ambushed, Earth won't even have anyone who can repair the gate."
The stargazer shook his head on the opposite side.
"The aging of the door will not wait for anyone. Three hundred years of self-sustaining mode seems like a long time, but according to the current decay rate, the actual safe window is only about one hundred and seventy years."
She opened her notebook. "And this is the ideal scenario. If any additional pressure is applied during the Abyss Eye's monitoring and assessment process, the door's load-bearing capacity will decrease further."
"The signal frequency sent back by Guixu is completely compatible with the underlying network of the Gate." Guanxing looked at Zhang Yan. "This means that Guixu is most likely related to the builder of the Gate. It may be the key to solving all the problems."
"'Possibly'," Qin Xiao emphasized.
"'High probability' is also 'possible'."
We won't back down from stargazing, "but if we don't go, we're facing a definite dead end."
The two stared at each other for a few seconds.
It's not hostility, it's disagreement.
Zhang Yan did not rush to express his opinion.
He looked at Nie Qingcheng, who hadn't said a word.
Nie Qingcheng's fingers rested on the edge of the tablet on her knee, showing no intention of turning it over.
She was listening.
Then she looked up.
"The aging door is a time bomb." Her voice wasn't loud, but everyone in the living room turned their attention to her. "We can choose to wait for its countdown to finish, or we can dismantle it now."
"Waiting means being passive. Every day from now on will be spent on internal resources due to uncertainty. We are unsure whether the Ruins are friend or foe, when the gate will break down, and the assessment conclusion of the Eye of the Abyss."
She put down the tablet.
"Go, at least we have the key and the fragments. Guixu has sent back a signal, which is the foundation of our initial trust." Nie Qingcheng glanced at Zhang Yan. "Some answers will only ever be guesses if you don't see them with your own eyes."
Qin Xiao fell silent.
He wasn't convinced; he knew that when Nie Qingcheng said those words, she had already thought things through further than anyone else present.
"How do we manage risk?" he asked.
Nie Qingcheng didn't answer, but instead looked at Zhang Yan.
Zhang Yan stood up.
"Go, but not the whole team."
He walked to the coffee table, brought up the star map on his tablet, and tossed it onto the table.
"I'll go alone. After the Chaos is modified, it will have the minimum jump capability. I'll bring the Heart of Heaven and the Primordial Fragment. That'll be enough."
Qin Xiao opened his mouth slightly, but Zhang Yan raised his hand and pressed it down.
"The Earth cannot be left unattended. In self-sustaining mode, I do not need to continuously output power, but in case of emergencies, someone must be able to make decisions and deal with them."
He looked at Qin Xiao. "You're in charge of the outer perimeter control and coordination with the military."
Looking at the stars.
"You're in charge of door network monitoring and sky anchor maintenance. Contact the locksmith immediately if there are any abnormalities."
Finally, he looked at Nie Qingcheng.
"Qingcheng is in charge of Jinghai, overseeing the overall situation. When I'm not around, her decisions are my decisions."
The living room was quiet for a few seconds.
Qin Xiao let out a breath and scratched the back of his head.
"Fine, I can't stop you anyway."
He pointed at Zhang Yan, "But what is the return timeframe? How many days after that should we initiate the search and rescue operation?"
"Forty-five days," Zhang Yan said. "A one-way jump plus any possible door repair work, plus a buffer period, forty-five days should be enough. If we don't hear anything back after that time..."
"That won't happen," Nie Qingcheng interrupted him.
It wasn't a tone of discussion.
Zhang Yan looked at her.
Nie Qingcheng stood up and walked up to him.
They were very close, close enough that he could smell the faint scent of tea on her.
"That won't happen." She repeated, her voice soft, but each word carrying undeniable weight, "because you haven't finished what you promised me."
Zhang Yan didn't move.
She reached out and straightened his collar, the same gesture she made every time he left the house.
"I won't stop you." Nie Qingcheng took a half step back, sat back on the sofa, and picked up her tablet. "But I need time to prepare something."
"What?"
"A greeting gift." Nie Qingcheng opened a new document and typed rapidly with her fingers. "You don't just represent yourself, you represent the Earth. Whether it's the Ruins of Return or the Builders of the Gate, you can't go there empty-handed."
She glanced up at the stargazing area.
"The complete set of gate network maintenance logs from Guantiange, spanning 30,000 years, plus the summary of Tiangong City's technical archives provided by Mo Li."
"In addition, there's our independently completed record of the restoration of the Six Gates and the report on the discovery of the Primordial Fragments."
Guan Xing opened his mouth slightly, then nodded. "I'll start organizing today."
"There's more." Nie Qingcheng's gaze returned to the tablet. "The Chaos Transmission's endurance is insufficient. I've already calculated this problem. The one-way distance exceeds the limit by seventeen percent."
Zhang Yan frowned. He hadn't even had a chance to mention it before she had already finished calculating.
"How do we solve this?"
Nie Qingcheng turned the tablet over to show him.
The screen displays an energy plan, with key data highlighted in red.
"When the Chaos jumps to 83% of its range, the Vermilion Bird Power Reactor remotely charges the Chaos Power Reactor. At this point, the Chaos Power Reactor performs directional energy transfer from the sub-core relay station at L2 point to replenish the last 17% of the jump energy for the Chaos Power Reactor."
Zhang Yan quickly went through the parameters.
feasible.
After its modification, the Vermilion Bird gains the ability to provide remote energy support. It extends the transmission distance by using its sub-cores as relay stations, which is just enough to cover the area.
"What about the return trip?"
"We'll talk about it when we get to Guixu." Nie Qingcheng put away the tablet. "If the high-dimensional energy concentration there is really as high as the signal indicates, charging the chaos shouldn't be a problem."
Qin Xiao muttered to himself on the windowsill, "What if it isn't?"
"Then let's use the emergency jump protocol of the Heavenly Craftsmanship Heart," Zhang Yan replied. "A single short jump, followed by segmented jumps back. It's slow, but we'll get there."
Qin Xiao didn't say anything more. He jumped down from the windowsill, walked over, and patted Zhang Yan on the shoulder.
"When are you leaving?"
"Seven days," Zhang Yan said. "The chaos needs to undergo final calibration of the transition parameters, and the remote transmission link of the Vermilion Bird also needs to be retested."
"Alright." Qin Xiao withdrew his hand. "I will compile a list of all the outer perimeter defenses to be handed over within seven days."
He walked towards the door, stopping as he passed Nie Qingcheng.
"Sister-in-law, I'm leaving Brother Yan in your care."
Nie Qingcheng didn't look up, only humming in response.
Qin Xiao went out.
Guan Xing also tactfully left, whispering before departing, "The files will be delivered tomorrow."
There were two people left in the living room.
Nie Qingcheng continued writing on the tablet.
Zhang Yan sat back down next to her without saying a word or looking at what she was writing.
About two minutes later, Nie Qingcheng placed the tablet on her lap.
When did you decide to go?
Zhang Yan thought for a moment. "When the self-healing threads on the door stopped."
"It's two days later than I expected."
"When did you come up with that idea?"
"The night the Primordial Fragment first shone," Nie Qingcheng said, "I knew it would come to this sooner or later."
Zhang Yan turned to look at her. The light shone from the side, revealing a clean profile, and the beauty mark at the corner of her eye was almost invisible in the warm light.
"So you calculated the gap in the transition range in advance."
"I've calculated everything I can beforehand." Nie Qingcheng looked back at him. "For the parts I can't calculate, bring them back alive and tell me."
Zhang Yan reached out and took the tablet from her hand, placing it on the coffee table.
"Seven days," he said. "Don't work overtime during these seven days."
Nie Qingcheng raised an eyebrow.
"You'll cook dinner tonight, as you promised; you still owe us Friday's meal."
The corners of her mouth finally relaxed a little, a very subtle curve that only Zhang Yan could see.
"There's also Saturday's."
"OK."
"And the Japanese food I promised before."
"OK."
Nie Qingcheng leaned closer, her shoulder against his. There were no further movements; they just leaned against each other.
It was already dark outside the window.
The lights from Jinghai shone from afar, casting patches of light on the living room floor.
Zhang Yan's phone vibrated.
The message Mo Li sent was only one line long.
[Young Master, the engine data from Tiangong City has been decrypted. Among them is a technology that was left unfinished 30,000 years ago—Dimensional Compression Travel. Theoretically, its speed is three times that of conventional warp jumps. If needed, I can complete the Chaos adaptation within four days.]
Zhang Yan looked at the line of text but did not reply immediately.
Three times the speed.
The one-way trip time has been reduced from twelve days to four days.
He flipped his phone over and placed it face down on the sofa armrest so that Nie Qingcheng couldn't see the screen.
It wasn't that he was hiding anything. He just wanted to process it himself first.
If it only takes four days to get there... the return journey will have ample time, the risk window will be significantly shortened, and Nie Qingcheng will have to wait two-thirds less time.
However, dimensional compression navigation was an unfinished technology. No one actually managed to do it 30,000 years ago.
Nie Qingcheng's breathing was very soft on the sofa; she was almost asleep.
Zhang Yan didn't move. He stared at the ceiling, going over all the variables in his mind.
Four days later, he took Mo Li's modification plan and walked into the underground laboratory.