Chapter 3 Heartbeats in the Pile of Old Papers

Lin Xi pointed to an extremely inconspicuous ink smudge on the blueprint and said with a frown.

"Director Wang, look at this section."

"Although this curve is straight, this little ink smudge here is a bit suspicious."

"I saw the tip of the recorder pen shaking a bit just now. Could it be that uneven ink flow covered up some fluctuations?"

This move was called "serious-faced nonsense."

The core lay in using more professional questions to cover up identity issues.

Wang Bin froze for a moment.

He subconsciously lowered his head, squinting his eyes to get closer to the ink smudge.

There was indeed an extremely subtle smudge, but on this kind of old-fashioned dot-matrix printer, it was practically a common occurrence.

"How is this suspicious?"

Wang Bin's tense shoulders relaxed a bit.

His imposing manner also faded slightly as he gave a cold snort.

"This is just how the pens they make nowadays are. We want to use good ones too, but where would the country get the foreign exchange?"

"Young man, it's good to have sharp eyes, but don't go splitting hairs and wasting time there."

Just then, the red classified telephone on the desk suddenly rang.

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Wang Bin immediately straightened up and glared fiercely at Lin Xi:

"Hurry up and deliver the food, then get the hell out of here immediately."

"If I see you wandering around the core data area again, we'll meet at the Security Department!"

After saying that, he turned and grabbed the receiver: "This is Wang Bin! Speak!"

Now is the time!

Lin Xi's heart rate instantly soared to 180.

Using his body as cover, his gaze locked onto that blueprint.

"Zoom in! Close-up!" he roared inwardly.

1 second

2 seconds

3 seconds...

[Long Five Screw - Retired Version: Data collection complete. Retreat quickly! Don't arouse suspicion!]

Got it!

Lin Xi only felt a layer of cold sweat break out on his back.

He didn't dare stay for even half a second longer, turning his head down.

He quickly exited the Interpretation Room.

As soon as he stepped out, a cold wind hit him.

The cold sweat was chilled by the wind, becoming icy and piercing.

Lin Xi found a corner out of the wind to squat down, gasping for breath.

That one minute just now was practically more exhausting than pulling three all-nighters for his graduation project in 2025.

At this time, regarding the record from just now, the livestream was filled with voices of doubt.

[That's it? Streamer, you went through all that trouble just for a straight line?]

[Isn't this too stable? This shows our 80s technology was already badass!]

[Scatter, scatter. The Streamer is just here to farm traffic. There are no hidden accident hazards at all.]

[Even a rocket from 2025 might not be able to follow such a perfect straight line, right? This is too fake.]

Lin Xi looked at the bullet chat, a bitter smile appearing at the corner of his mouth.

This was the cruelty of aerospace; sometimes under a perfect appearance, the most hideous devil is hidden.

"Everyone," Lin Xi said,

"in this world, absolute straight lines do not exist."

"If they do, it's because the measurement precision isn't high enough."

[Long Five Screw - Retired Version:]

[The little comrade is right. This is the deceptiveness of analog signals.]

[I imported the graph I just collected into spectrum analysis software and performed a Fourier Transform. Take another look, everyone.]

Then an image popped up in the bullet chat.

The livestream went silent.

How was that still a straight line?

It was an "electrocardiogram" that was frantically trembling with sawtooth-like fluctuations!

[Long Five Screw - Retired Version: Found it! Fuck! It really is it!]

This usually gentle and refined old academician actually cursed in the bullet chat.

[Long Five Screw - Retired Version:]

[Looking at this waveform frequency, it's stable at around 0.5Hz.]

[This isn't instrument jitter; this is the 'Micro-breathing Effect'!]

[The sealing ring has a micron-level crack. When pressure is high, it closes; when pressure is low, it opens. It's been oscillating repeatedly!]

[This is the heartbeat of the Grim Reaper!]

Shocking!

The bullet chat instantly exploded, densely covering the entire screen.

[Holy crap! The big shot is badass!]

[My god, he can even see that? Is this the legendary 'seeing the big picture from small details'?]

[My scalp is tingling... So back then, red star no. 2 exploded because of this?]

[Who the hell could see that! To the naked eye, it's just a straight line!]

[Is this the chasm of eras? Without future technical means, this would be completely unsolvable!]

Lin Xi looked at that sawtooth waveform, his gaze gradually turning cold.

Under the technical conditions of 1980, there were no high-precision digital sensors at all; one could only rely on this kind of old-fashioned analog signal recorder.

The ink smudging, the roughness of the paper, and the thickness of the pen tip perfectly covered up this micron-level fatal oscillation.

The scientific researchers of this era weren't not working hard, nor were they not being serious.

They were blinded by the black cloth of the era.

And now, Lin Xi had torn this black cloth away.

"The evidence is here," Lin Xi looked at the light screen and muttered to himself.

"But the problem is... how do I make them believe it?"

He only had a piece of "electronic evidence" that existed in a 2025 internet livestream.

He couldn't exactly hold up thin air and say to the experts:

"Hey, future netizens told me the engine's sealing ring is cracked."

They would either send him straight to a mental hospital or have him executed on the spot.

To stop the tragedy three days later, relying on talk alone wouldn't work.

He had to take this truth that existed in the virtual world.

And in this 1980 where resources were scarce and technology was backward, tangibly reproduce it.

Lin Xi stood up and patted the dust off his military overcoat.

Since there were no high-tech sensors, he would use crude methods.

We Chinese people are best at creating miracles when conditions are lacking!

"Senior," Lin Xi said silently in his heart,

"since you've identified the cause, can you give me a prescription?"

"Conditions here are simple. Are there any 'crude' tricks that can make this micron-level vibration reveal itself?"

[Long Five Screw - Retired Version] was silent for a moment, then sent a long bullet chat.

[Yes. Go find a Piezoelectric Ceramic Piece and stick it to the pipe wall.]

[It can convert this high-frequency mechanical vibration into a voltage signal.]

[As long as those old experts see it, they'll understand what's going on!]

Lin Xi was enlightened.

This was just a simple "Piezoelectric Effect." For an aviation school graduate student in 2025, it was easy to understand.

A Piezoelectric Ceramic Piece?

That would be easy to find.

Transistor radios and buzzers from that era all had them.

The old academician continued.

[However, it's a bit risky. You have to tamper with the Oscilloscope right under Li Jianguo's nose.]

[Also, fuel loading begins 24 hours before launch. The sealing ring must be replaced before then.]

[Otherwise... either the launch is aborted and the rocket is 80% scrapped, or... the tragedy repeats!]

[You have less than 36 hours left.]

Lin Xi clenched his fist.

"Risky?" Lin Xi looked at the distant red star no. 2 and made a decision in his heart,

"Since I've come here, I'm prepared to risk my life."

...

That night, Lin Xi was busy making preparations, running to the abandoned warehouse one moment and writing or drawing on paper the next.

After tossing and turning for three or four hours, he finally finished.

Now.

He just had to wait for an opportunity!