28: Chapter 28 Academician Raises Radiation Warning? My Scrap Metal Makes Him Look Embarrassed in Public!

The detector in the young assistant's hand was emitting a continuous "beep-beep" sound that turned into a piercing buzz, and the red alarm light was flashing frantically.

Village Chief Wang Fugui was so scared that he retreated again and again.

The onlookers, the villagers, were in an uproar, whispering to one another.

"What's going on here?"

"It sounds like an air raid is about to happen!"

Academician Ma snatched the detector from his assistant's hand, staring at the energy reading on the screen that had already broken through the threshold, a flash of imperceptible greed and fanaticism crossing his eyes.

He cleared his throat, and his sanctimonious face instantly shifted into an expression of deep, sorrowful concern for the nation and its people.

"Fellow villagers, do not panic!"

His voice wasn't loud, but it carried a power that calmed people's hearts.

"I am from the National Geological Survey Bureau, my name is Ma Wenju."

He held up the official red-headed document in his hand.

"We received a report stating that someone in your village is conducting some... unsafe experiments."

"Now it seems the situation is even more serious than we imagined!"

He held up the still-frantically-beeping detector in front of everyone.

"This instrument has detected a very strong, abnormal energy reaction in the mountain behind your village!"

"Based on my experience, this is extremely likely to be... nuclear radiation!"

Nuclear radiation!

These three words exploded among the villagers like a bomb.

The crowd fell into instant chaos.

"What? Nuclear radiation? Doesn't that mean people are going to die!"

"Oh my god! What are we going to do!"

"I told you that Su family kid was unreliable, tinkering with junk all day. Now he's really gone and poked a hole in the sky!"

Village Chief Wang Fugui tremblingly stepped forward.

"A-Academician Ma, are... are you sure you haven't made a mistake?"

"A mistake?"

Academician Ma gave a cold snort, his face displaying an arrogance that brooked no doubt in his authority.

"I've spent my whole life in scientific research; would I make a mistake about this?"

He pointed in the direction of the mountain behind the village, stern and righteous.

"Now, we must immediately seal off the back mountain and have our professional team go in to identify the radiation source!"

"This is for the safety of all your lives!"

As he spoke, he prepared to lead his people toward the mountain.

"Stop."

A cold voice came from the back of the crowd.

Captain Li Jun, along with his few "telecom repairmen" subordinates, had blocked the intersection at some point without anyone noticing.

They weren't wearing military uniforms, but that iron-blooded, murderous aura was more oppressive than any uniform.

"Who are you people? How dare you obstruct official state business?"

A young man behind Academician Ma shouted sternly.

Captain Li Jun didn't even glance at him, keeping his eyes fixed on Academician Ma.

"This place is temporarily a military exercise area."

"No one is allowed to enter."

"Military exercise?"

Academician Ma acted as if he had heard some huge joke.

"Just you few wire repairmen, and you dare mention a military exercise to me?"

He pulled his phone from his pocket, seemingly preparing to call someone.

"I don't care who you work for; today, I am going into that back mountain!"

"If you dare to stop me, one phone call from me will reach your theater command headquarters!"

The two groups stood in a standoff at the entrance of the village.

The atmosphere was tense, like swords drawn and bows bent.

Just then, a lazy voice came from the crowd.

"Say, what are you all arguing about?"

Su Che strolled out from his courtyard, taking his time.

At a glance, he saw the gray-haired old man leading them, and he also saw the detector still screaming in his hand.

Academician Ma.

Su Che's gaze turned cold.

Back mountain, my ass. The detector was only ringing because of the things he was carrying on his person.

"You are Su Che?"

Academician Ma saw him too, adjusted his glasses, and looked him up and down, his eyes full of contempt and disdain.

"Young man, playing with fire comes at a price."

He held up the detector in his hand.

"See that? Because of your reckless behavior, the entire back mountain is now full of lethal radiation!"

"You are committing a crime!"

After listening, Su Che chuckled.

He walked up to Academician Ma and pointed at the detector.

"Radiation?"

"I say, Academician Ma, this piece-of-junk toy of yours, you didn't mistake my home's Wi-Fi signal for nuclear radiation, did you?"

"You!"

Academician Ma's complexion froze, choked by his words.

"Ignorant brat! You dare to be stubborn when death is imminent!"

"Alright, alright, stop the racket."

Su Che waved his hand impatiently.

"It's just some data, isn't it? You're acting like it's the real deal."

He turned around and shouted toward his courtyard.

"Su Hao! Bring out that 'lie detector' of mine!"

A few minutes later, Su Hao ran out holding an equally strangely shaped instrument, made up of various sensors and a small screen.

This was the "ecological monitor" Su Che had made that morning.

Su Che took the instrument and turned it on.

On the screen, lines of green data were clearly displayed.

[Air PM2.5: 18, Excellent.]

[Soil humidity: 45%, Normal.]

[Gamma ray intensity: 0.12 μSv/h, Normal background value.]

Su Che shoved the screen into Academician Ma's face.

"See clearly now?"

"Air, soil, background radiation, everything is normal."

"And you're telling me there's a nuclear leak?"

Looking at the data, Academician Ma's complexion changed.

"You... your thing is also one of those bootleg products you cobbled together! The data is completely untrustworthy!"

"Untrustworthy?"

Su Che laughed.

"Fine."

"I'll show you something even more unbelievable."

He pulled a small glass bottle from his pocket.

Inside the bottle were some unremarkable, grayish-white powders.

It was exactly what he had scraped off that piece of metal debris.

He poured the powder onto a clean stone slab, then pulled two wires from his pocket and connected them to a battery he had dismantled from his dad's wuling hongguang.

"Fellow villagers, watch closely."

"Today I'll perform a bit of magic for everyone."

He inserted the exposed ends of the two wires into the soil on either side of the stone slab.

He flipped the switch.

No light.

No sound.

No heat.

Just when everyone thought he was playing tricks again.

On the stone slab, those grayish-white powders, in an instant, were as if lifted by an invisible hand, silently floating up into mid-air.

At a height of one centimeter from the stone slab, they formed a thin, suspended layer of dust, motionless, eerily quiet.

At the entrance of the village, everyone widened their eyes and opened their mouths, watching this scene that defied everything they had known in their entire lives.

"Wh-what is this thing?"

"H-has a deity manifested?"

Academician Ma and his few assistants were frozen on the spot.

The "professional" detector in their hands, the moment the powder floated up, started screaming even louder, a sound so shrill it almost pierced one's eardrums.

Su Che cut the power.

The powder fell back onto the stone slab with a "plop."

"See clearly now?"

Su Che walked up to Academician Ma, pointing at the powder on the stone slab, and then pointing to the detector in his hand.

"This thing of yours is just a fancy Geiger counter; it can only detect high-energy particles and can't distinguish between radioactive isotope decay and this kind of stable field disturbance at all."

"To put it bluntly."

Su Che grinned, revealing a mouthful of white teeth.

"You're just using a stethoscope to listen to the heartbeat of a painting."

"Academician Ma, your equipment is too backward."

Academician Ma's face turned from red to white, and he hurriedly told his assistant to turn off the detector.

He looked at the young man with the mocking expression, and at the villagers around him, whose gazes had shifted from fear to suspicion.

He knew that today, he had failed.

Completely and utterly failed.

But he didn't fly into a rage, nor did he panic and flee, as one might have expected.

He just slowly put away the detector, and a strange, cold sneer slowly appeared on his death-gray face.

"Interesting."

He looked at Su Che as if he were looking at an interesting piece of prey.

"Young man, you have a bit of cleverness, but don't think that's enough to keep your little secrets."

"I know where this thing of yours came from; what's hidden in that mountain is far beyond what someone of your level can touch."

After saying this, he ignored everyone else, turned around, walked to the side, took out his phone, and dialed a number.

His voice was very low, but Su Che still vaguely heard a few words.

"...Plan B."

"...At all costs."