109: Chapter 109: This isn't called mine clearance, it's called garbage sorting.
East Sea Port, Commander-in-Chief's control tower.
When the energy shield on the screen expanded and effortlessly disarmed and retrieved those few smart mines, the entire command center first fell into a silence where a pin drop could be heard, followed immediately by an uproar, with cheers and applause erupting in unison.
"My God! It worked! It fucking worked!"
"Engineer Jiang is awesome! What kind of god-tier move is this? She disabled the mines from a distance?"
"That's so satisfying! I really want to see the expressions on those bastards from Country R right now! Their faces must be green!"
The experts and generals, who had been anxious just a moment ago, were now so excited their faces were flushed. When they looked at Jiang Ning again, it was no longer just trust; it was complete admiration.
"Engineer Jiang, how... how did you do that?" Director Zhao Lixin leaned in. Although he didn't understand the technology, the scene was simply too shocking, and he couldn't hold back his curiosity.
Jiang Ning's expression remained indifferent, as if she had just done something insignificant.
She pointed to the structural diagram of the mine being analyzed on the screen and spoke in the tone of someone evaluating another person's product: "It's nothing complicated."
"The design philosophy of this 'viper' mine is flawed."
"To maintain stealth, its detonation device was designed as a passive signal receiver. The fuse only activates when it receives a specific energy signal."
"This design might work against ordinary submarines, but..."
Jiang Ning shook her head. "It's too fragile. The entire fuse is completely exposed, with absolutely no protection."
"What I just did was have the base module's shield emit a 'silent' energy field with an opposite frequency and extremely low power. This thing acts like a cover, directly plugging the mine's 'ears' and 'eyes'."
"Since it can't receive any signals, it naturally won't explode. Then, I used the energy field to wrap it up completely, cutting off all its connections to the outside world, and it became a piece of scrap metal."
After hearing Jiang Ning's explanation, the technical experts in the command center were dumbfounded.
They understood the principle, but it was precisely because they understood it that they found the whole thing preposterous.
It sounded simple, but to precisely emit an energy field of a specific frequency that could perfectly cover the target in the deep sea, over ten thousand meters down, from hundreds of meters away, and keep it stable while moving...
How terrifyingly powerful must the computing power and energy control be for that?
This was no longer technology; it was practically magic!
"Simply put," Jiang Ning summarized, "their mines are poorly designed. They're just for show and useless."
"..."
This comment left all the Xia military industrial experts present silent.
They honestly admitted to themselves that even if they were to design it, they might not necessarily do better than Country R's "viper". Yet, such an advanced weapon that was well-known internationally was, in Engineer Jiang's eyes, nothing more than a "poorly designed" semi-finished product.
The gap was just too vast.
"Then... what about the mines we retrieved?" Director Zhao Lixin asked again.
"Dismantle them and melt them down." Jiang Ning's answer was crisp and decisive. "Take out the fuse core, study their design philosophy, and use it as a reference for our own weapon development. As for the casings and explosives, they are decent materials; we can melt them down directly and use them as supplementary construction materials for the 'base station'."
"Recycle the waste; don't let it go to waste."
Hearing the words "recycle the waste," the corners of everyone's mouths in the command center couldn't help but twitch.
Country R had gone to great lengths to deploy its most advanced mines ten thousand meters deep into the ocean, and the result... was sending a batch of "supplementary construction materials" to someone else's deep-sea project?
If this got out, the Country R Navy would probably lose face so badly it would be thrown into the Pacific Ocean to feed the fish.
...
On the high seas, Country R's "child of the ocean".
Ito Hirobumi stared fixedly at the screen, his fists clenched so tightly that the veins on the back of his hands were bulging.
"Report, Captain! The second group of 'vipers' has been disabled and retrieved!"
"Report! The third group of 'vipers' has been disabled!"
"Report! The fourth group... is also gone!"
The operator's reports came one after another, and Ito Hirobumi's face turned deathly pale inch by inch.
Twelve mines—twelve of their most proud smart mines—had been "picked up" one by one by the other side without any effort, just like duds, in less than ten minutes.
Throughout the entire process, the other side didn't even slow down.
It didn't feel like mine clearance; it felt more like they were conducting... underwater garbage sorting.
"Why?! Why on earth is this happening?!"
Ito Hirobumi grabbed the technical supervisor next to him by the collar, roaring with bloodshot eyes, "Explain it to me! Why did our 'vipers' fail?! What kind of black magic did the Xia people use?!"
"I... I don't know, Captain!" The technical supervisor was so scared he was about to cry. "According to the data, our mine fuses didn't receive any signals at all! It's like... it's like they all collectively lost power!"
"Lost power?" Ito Hirobumi was so angry he almost spat out a mouthful of blood.
He shoved the technical supervisor aside and slumped into his command chair, staring at the screen with hollow eyes.
On the screen, the Xia people's massive object, after clearing away the last piece of "garbage," had finally reached its designated position.
The massive tripod foundation, under the precise control of the submersible, was steadily placed on the seabed.
The moment the thousands-of-tons-heavy foundation touched the seabed, it stirred up a huge cloud of dust.
Immediately after, dozens of huge drills at the bottom of the foundation began to rotate, drilling deep into the hard rock layer. At the same time, the formations on the foundation module activated, and a soft blue light lit up, rapidly connecting and resonating with the surrounding ley line energy.
In just a few minutes, this massive foundation had firmly grown together with the entire seabed.
As stable as Mount Tai.
"The first step is complete."
In the East Sea Port control tower, Jiang Ning watched the all-green data indicators on the screen and announced calmly.
Her next command had already been issued.
"First Construction Brigade, prepare for hoisting. It's time for your core module to go down."
At the port construction site, Lin Yuan and the three hundred students he led had been waiting for a long time.
Upon hearing Jiang Ning's command, everyone was invigorated.
"Attention, all teams! Perform one final check on the safety cables! Calibrate the spiritual power output frequency!" Lin Yuan commanded loudly over the walkie-talkie. "In three minutes, we begin the synchronized hoisting! Remember! Our margin of error is only 0.1 millimeters! Keep your eyes peeled!"
Under the massive gantry crane, the giant spherical core module, thirty meters in diameter, which they had assembled with their own hands, was quietly suspended in mid-air.
It was constructed entirely of a silver-white alloy, its surface as smooth as a mirror, and on it, countless complex and mysterious formation patterns were engraved using the most precise craftsmanship. Under the lights, it shimmered with iridescent colors, filled with a sense of sci-fi and mysterious beauty.
This was the heart of the "base station".
It was also the first answer sheet submitted by Lin Yuan and his fellow students, after a week of sleepless, tireless effort.
"Chief Engineer Jiang is coming in person to watch our hoisting." Looking at the masterpiece before him, Lin Yuan felt full of pride. He said to his team members, and also to himself, "We cannot let her down."
"We must let her see just how much energy we 'geniuses' can unleash once we've learned what 'rules' are!"