Huo Shaoheng was silent for a while, remembering how bizarrely He Zhichu had acted. Huo Shaoheng glanced at He Zhichu and suddenly asked, “Professor He, how did you know that Nianzhi was deeply disturbed when she saw the aurora?”
He Zhichu shook his head calmly. “I didn’t know beforehand. I watched the TV and saw that Nianzhi had attended the banquet last night, so I rushed to pick her up.” As he said that, He Zhichu raised his jaw, and his eyes flickered with slight anger. “When I arrived, I saw Reinitz coming out of the building with Nianzhi and put his coat on her.”
Huo Shaoheng clenched his fist tighter, yet his face still appeared calm and unperturbed. He Zhichu’s eyes went from Huo Shaoheng’s clenched fist to his face. He Zhichu curled his lips and continued to stab Huo Shaoheng’s heart using his words as the knife. “At that time, his arm was wrapped around Gu Nianzhi’s waist. Just like how you punched me when you first came in, I also punched Reinitz.”
That harmonious picture of Reinitz and Gu Nianzhi toasting each other merrily flashed before Huo Shaoheng’s eyes once again. He lowered his eyes impassively, then started chuckling. “Thank you for informing me, Professor He. When she wakes up, I will ask her what truly happened. Reinitz will lose his position if he did what you said.”
He Zhichu sneered. Sitting cross-legged on the sofa lazily, he said in an icy and indifferent voice, “Position? As the Director of the Federal Intelligence Agency of Germany, Reinitz, like you, Huo Shao, is suited for his position like no other.”
“Professor He knows Reinitz that well?” Huo Shaoheng took the opportunity to draw out information about Reinitz.
However, He Zhichu was not such a gullible and simple-minded person, and he saw through Huo Shaoheng’s intentions. He didn’t want to give Huo Shaoheng the information he wanted that easily. “No, I’m not well-acquainted with Reinitz.” He Zhichu shook his head. “But I know the modus operandus of people like you.”
Huo Shaoheng knew from his response that He Zhichu already had his guard up and therefore, saw no further point in asking. Huo Shaoheng lowered his head and pulled out his mobile phone. Huo Shaoheng sent a text to Song Jinning asking if she had arrived home safely.
After the two of them had gotten off the plane, Huo Shaoheng had ordered his subordinate to take Song Jinning back to her dormitory at the Institute of High Energy Physics. Only then did he come looking for Gu Nianzhi.
After a while, his phone started vibrating. How coincidental that the call came from Song Jinning. Huo Shaoheng stood up and said to He Zhichu, “I’m going out to take a call.”
He Zhichu sneered without even looking at him. “Major General Huo really seems to have his hands full.”
Huo Shaoheng ignored him, put on his Bluetooth headset, and walked out of Gu Nianzhi’s room to the balcony. Looking at his watch, he discovered that it was almost 4:30 in the morning. The sky appeared foggy, and the darkness was too suffocating, since it was the darkest period before dawn.
Huo Shaoheng took a deep breath, connected the phone call, and asked, “Ms. Song, what’s the matter?”
After Song Jinning returned to the dormitory, she had initially tried to sleep, but after several futile attempts to combat her insomnia, she simply stopped wasting time trying to fall asleep and decided to go to the laboratory. When Huo Shaoheng had sent her the text message, she had just finished performing the first round of initial analysis on the data she had downloaded from the cloud.
“Shaoheng! This time, even if it is a trap, it’ll be worth it!” Song Jinning’s cheerful voice rang through the Bluetooth headset and was so upbeat that her joyful spirit even affected those she interacted with.
Hearing her cheery voice after a day of exhausting events, Huo Shaoheng suddenly felt himself at ease. “Really? What did Ms. Song find?” he asked with a tiny smile on his face.
“Haven’t I told you that the magnetic field that appeared this time was stronger than any of the previous magnetic fields?” Song Jinning looked back at the analysis results on the monitor and was so on cloud nine that she appeared to be on the verge of dancing around the room.
“Well, you have mentioned that this magnetic field was stronger than any previous magnetic fields.”
“Yeah! One of the benefits of a strong magnetic field is that the data is more clear and coherent!” Song Jinning had already printed out the data sheet. “The magnetic fields we detected before were much weaker than this one, so they simply can’t be compared at all. This means that the data we got before, in fact, is actually imperfect and incoherent. Now we have to find the missing data.”
Huo Shaoheng put his hands in his pants pockets and quietly listened to Song Jinning go on and on about her discovery.
“…This sort of calculation is very complicated, and due to the relationship between software and hardware, we have not been able to accurately calculate the missing data. The data used in the experiments before was all blurry, not to mention some data was not even calculated, and was substituted with inferential data instead of scientific data, and this caused a lot of errors and omissions in our experimental data. I think I understand now why the experiment from 17 years ago failed!”
The hardware Song Jinning was talking about governed the functions of the supercomputers, and they couldn’t achieve the precision and speed of calculations required. The software was basically a specified algorithm, and they had not yet found the optimal algorithm for calculating the missing data in the magnetic field. However, at least for now, they could use the data measured in the field this time to overcome the shortcomings of the software and hardware. In other words, due to the strength of the magnetic field this time, the incomplete data caused by the previous weak magnetic fields was compensated for.
Huo Shaoheng thought about this, and his heart leaped into his throat. “Ms. Song, do you mean that we can restart the experiment right away?”
“General Huo, you’re getting ahead of yourself.” Song Jinning’s voice had calmed down. “Do you know how long it will take to process all the data?”
Huo Shaoheng didn’t know what to say.
“I will tell you that even with the most efficient supercomputer in your department, it will take two years to process all the data.” Song Jinning shook her head with regret. “But that is the nature of research work, after all. It takes repeated calculations and analysis over the years to yield results.”
Huo Shaoheng was a little disappointed, but this was not part of his job, so he was only slightly dismayed. “This must be a huge burden to Ms. Song. If you need to use our department’s supercomputer, you can report to the military, and we will approve it. Thank you so much for your hard work.”
He also hoped to restart the experiment as soon as possible. Only then could he be worthy of his grandfather Song Haichuan and uncle Huo Guanyuan, who gave their lives for this experiment.
And only after Song Jinning had spoken with Huo Shaoheng did she feel that she could finally calm down. After so many years of hard work, today there was finally a major breakthrough. Anyone would want to share this with others.
She wiped her face and started to integrate analysis of all the data based on the initial results. But before that, she needed to design a model to analyze the data first.
…
Huo Shaoheng wanted to talk to Song Jinning again, but found that she could no longer be reached. Ms. Song was extremely dedicated to her scientific research, so her head was probably buried in her work again. Huo Shaoheng pursed his lips and turned off his phone. He returned to the room where Gu Nianzhi was and took a nap.
By the time he woke up, it was already dawn. As soon as Huo Shaoheng opened his eyes, he discovered he was staring into Gu Nianzhi’s mirthful dark eyes.
“Huo Shao, there is dark stubble on your chin.” Gu Nianzhi held out her hand playfully and gently scratched the tips of Huo Shaoheng’s stubble.
However, He Zhichu found her unbearable to look at. With an indifferent expression on his face, he calmly stood up and stiffly walked out.
