198: Chapter 198 Signal Delay Hints at Crisis! Infrastructure Maniac Makes a List

7:15 PM.

The Cockpit.

Lu Chen sat in the pilot's seat with a notebook spread out before him.

An insulated cup sat on the left side of the console, containing the gruel Lin Wan had brought up half an hour ago.

It was thicker than yesterday's soup.

Lin Wan said they had ground flour today, so it was thicker.

He took a sip.

It had a wheaty aroma.

The communicator rang.

"City Lord."

It was Zhou Yuan.

"Speak."

"Regarding the judgment on the fifth signal, I need to make a correction."

"What correction?"

"Yesterday, I estimated that the fifth signal would appear between tonight and tomorrow morning."

"Has it changed now?"

"The current judgment is that there's a chance it will be delayed until the day after tomorrow."

"Basis?"

Zhou Yuan paused for two seconds on the other end of the line.

"City Lord, the intervals between the first four signals from the Iron Hoof Legion were eight days, seven days, two days, and less than two days. On the surface, the intervals are rapidly shortening, so the fifth one should be soon. However, after re-analyzing the waveform encoding of the fourth signal, I discovered a detail."

"What detail?"

"There is a segment of repeated pulses in the fourth signal's encoding structure, which is different from the single pulses of the first three," Zhou Yuan explained. "In military communication systems, this kind of repeated pulse usually indicates a request for a response. In other words, after the scout vehicle sends a request for confirmation to advance, it doesn't automatically trigger the main force's departure. The Main Base needs to send a confirmation signal back to the scout vehicle first."

"The scout vehicle will only send the fifth signal after receiving that confirmation signal."

"Correct." Zhou Yuan's speaking speed increased. "The fifth signal doesn't have the function of a direct broadcast of the advance command from the Main Base. It's a location beacon confirmation signal sent forward by the scout vehicle after receiving internal confirmation from the Main Base. This process has one more step than I previously estimated."

"How much longer does it add?"

"After the Main Base receives the fourth signal, it has to go through the internal chain of command for approval. If it's fast, it takes half a day; if slow, two to three days. Once approval is complete, the Main Base replies to the scout vehicle using an internal frequency band. We can't intercept that internal signal. The scout vehicle sends the fifth signal after receiving it, and the fifth one is what we can intercept."

"So between the fourth and fifth signals, it's at least one day and at most four days."

"Correct. The fourth signal appeared at 8:03 AM today. Adding one day makes it tomorrow morning; adding four days makes it the morning of the sixty-third day."

"The window has widened."

"It has widened, but only for the appearance of the fifth signal. The departure time of the main force hasn't changed," Zhou Yuan added. "The main force won't wait for the scout vehicle to finish sending the beacon before setting out after receiving approval. The two things happen in parallel."

Lu Chen processed this information in his mind.

"You mean the time the fifth signal appears doesn't represent the time the main force departs."

"Correct. The fifth signal is more like a confirmation mark indicating that the communication link is clear. There's a chance the main force will have already departed before the fifth signal appears."

"Then when can we confirm that the main force has departed?"

"There are only two ways," Zhou Yuan said. "The first is for Zhao Tiezhu's Reconnaissance Platoon to head out and visually confirm if the Iron Hoof Legion's main force is advancing. The second is to wait until the Iron Hoof Legion enters Polaris's eight-kilometer radar range and see them directly on the panel."

"The first is too risky; heading out five to ten kilometers carries the risk of being intercepted by the scout vehicle."

"Correct."

"The second is too late; entering the eight-kilometer range means they're already at our doorstep."

"Correct."

The Cockpit fell silent for three seconds.

"Then what can we do?"

"Wait." Zhou Yuan slowed his speech. "Continue to wait for the fifth signal. Even if it's just a confirmation mark, the moment it appears, it can at least tell us one certain thing: the Iron Hoof Legion's communication link is complete, and there is a very high probability that the main force has already departed or is about to."

"What's the difference between that and waiting now?"

"The difference is that right now, we aren't sure if the Main Base has approved the advance. If the fifth signal appears, the certainty goes from uncertain to highly certain."

Lu Chen picked up a pen and wrote a few lines in his notebook.

Fifth signal appearance time corrected: between tomorrow morning and the morning of the sixty-third day.

Main force departure time is not fully synchronized with the fifth signal.

There is a chance the main force will have already departed before the fifth signal appears.

"Zhou Yuan."

"Present."

"Did the Dawn Legion reply today?"

"No new reply."

"Did you send any new communications today?"

"No, there were no new signal parameters to report. I'm waiting for the fifth one."

"Good."

"City Lord, there's one more thing."

"Speak."

"That sentence Forge replied with last night—'Thank you for your eyes'—I've thought about it over and over."

"What did you come up with?"

"His wording completely avoided the word 'intelligence.' He used 'eyes.' 'Eyes' implies he positions us as forward observers; he doesn't see us as equals in an information exchange."

"What's the difference?"

"A forward observer is someone who watches for him; an equal in information exchange is someone who sits at the table and negotiates terms." Zhou Yuan paused. "His use of the word 'eyes' indicates that his strategy in the Council is to package Polaris as an extended forward detection node of the Dawn Legion, and by no means an independent diplomatic partner."

"Packaging us as their own people makes it easier to convince the Council."

"Correct. Evening Bell doesn't care about diplomatic endorsements from external forces, but they do care about intelligence sources. If Forge says Polaris is our forward eyes and has been monitoring the Iron Hoof Legion's movements for us, there's a chance Evening Bell will accept maintaining this relationship."

"Maintaining a relationship and a joint strike are two different things."

"They are, but as long as the relationship isn't severed, Forge has room to continue pushing for a joint strike."

"So every time we report signal parameters, Forge's bargaining chips in the Council increase by a bit."

"Correct."

"Continue reporting."

"Understood."

The communicator hung up.

Lu Chen picked up the insulated cup and took a sip of the gruel.

It was no longer scalding.

He set the cup down and looked at the panel.

In the signal log column, four dark red records were pulsing; there was no fifth one.

A total of 108 scans today—72 plus 36—were all normal.

Lu Chen wrote a line in his notebook.

Day 60, fifth signal did not appear.

Corrected estimated window: tomorrow morning to the morning of the sixty-third day.

He put the pen down and turned to the next page.

Day 61 Task List.

He began to write.

Item 1: Continue grinding the second batch of flour.

Item 2: Second day of partitioning the Storage Area; weld the second and third frames.

Item 3: ZM08 Farrowing Room position welding; Old Liu comes down at 8:00 AM.

Item 4: Check if the composting cycle fermentation temperature has reached forty-five degrees; if so, open the valve for testing.

Item 5: Second batch of six hundred people for the Relocation Team.

The tip of the pen paused on the paper for a second.

Item 6: Signal monitoring continues every ten minutes.

Item 7: Lin Xiao reports the transport plan for relocation supplies.

He placed the pen on the console.

Seven items.

Three fewer than yesterday.

The work hadn't decreased.

It was just that some things had already entered an automated track.

The Greenhouse was growing wheat.

The Livestock Farm was raising pigs.

The Engineering Team was welding partitions.

Three Registration Terminals were registering residents.

The Synthesizer was grinding flour.

The compost was fermenting.

The strawberries were turning red.

These things no longer needed to be written into his list every day.

What he needed to write in the list were the things that changed everything.

Like the fifth signal.

Like the Iron Hoof Legion.

He leaned back in his chair, looking at the clock on the panel.

7:48 PM.

More than four hours until midnight.