With her thoughts focused on the Blue Hole’s waters, Gu Nianzhi’s mind envisioned a large expansive area of blue-violet electric light so vast that you couldn’t see where it ended. Under the blue sky, the electric light was like a wildly dancing golden snake.
The sky and the sea appeared to be upside down. The blue-violet electric light was the sky shining with electric light, and the blue sky was like a calm ocean.
Gu Nianzhi felt dizzy and blinked a few times, and the view before her became the same expansive sea. It still had the same high sky and pale clouds, and the seawater was still a deep blue. The blue-violet electric light that appeared in her mind just now seemed like a hallucination.
The blue-violet electro-optical light in the Blue Hole’s waters was a wild and perverse form of an electric fence.
Song Jinning informed her that the buoys in front of her were used to generate electromagnetic interference.
Was there any connection between the two?
Gu Nianzhi narrowed her eyes, turned around, and walked into Song Jinning’s cabin. She stood quietly beside her for a while, and seeing that Song Jinning’s forehead was covered in cold sweat, she knew that she was having a hard time.
Gu Nianzhi asked softly, “Ms. Song, is the electromagnetic interference more powerful this time?”
Song Jinning smiled bitterly without looking up and said blankly, “This time, Japan has really put all their effort into it. Have you seen the figures made from those buoys?”
Gu Nianzhi nodded. “Like a circle of mosquito coils but also a closed ring.”
“Yes, that shape can maximize electromagnetic interference.” Song Jinning’s face was sullen. “It’s more powerful than the electromagnetic interference I encountered on the plane.”
Gu Nianzhi’s heart leaped to her throat, and she tensed up. She coughed gently, covered her throat, then said softly, “What do you mean? It’s more difficult to counter-interfere now?” She didn’t say “impossible,” she just said “more difficult.” She didn’t want to put too much pressure on Song Jinning.
Song Jinning breathed deeply and said, “I will try my best.” She had been engaged in scientific research all her life, and treating everything seriously had already been deeply ingrained within her. Even if her only son was facing a life-and-death situation, she still hadn’t yet lost her calmness and rationality.
Gu Nianzhi glanced around, then eyeing the densely packed data on Song Jinning’s instrument, she whispered, “Ms. Song, I would like to ask you, can electromagnetic waves be freely converted to another form? If so, how efficient is the conversion process?”
Song Jinning asked, “What are you talking about?” Her attention had been engrossed in how to counter the electromagnetic interference, and for a moment she didn’t quite catch what she was being asked.
Gu Nianzhi’s mind was completely occupied by the Blue Hole’s waters with the flashing blue-violet electric light, and she asked, “We are now facing a terribly powerful magnetic field, aren’t we?”
“Yes, the electromagnetic interference being emitted is terribly strong. It may take some time for me to successfully conduct anti-interference, but…” Song Jinning closed her eyes in exhaustion. “But Shaoheng is running out of time.”
Gu Nianzhi pursed her lips, and she opened her mouth several times before she finally found the voice to ask, “How long will it…?”
“From what the military is saying, the oxygen in their scuba tanks can last them up to three more hours.” Song Jinning sat back again. “We have no time to waste, Nianzhi. Help me calculate this data.”
Gu Nianzhi put one hand on Song Jinning’s thin shoulder. “Ms. Song, in terms of the most optimistic estimate, how long do you think it’ll take us to calculate all the data?” Because the strength of the other party’s magnetic field had increased by multiple geometric progressions at once, their calculation amount had also increased in terms of geometric progression.
Song Jinning’s voice sounded a little choked. “Even if we used Shaoheng’s supercomputer, it would take us at least five hours.”
Using their current small laptop, it would take them about five times that long, about 25 hours. So even if they finished the calculations, what use would it be by then? It would be too late for them to take action.
If Huo Shaoheng had encountered misfortune in a place she couldn’t see, Gu Nianzhi could resist the temptation to rescue him. However, now he was not far from her, and she was less than half an hour away. She absolutely would not watch Huo Shaoheng die in front of her!
Gu Nianzhi shook her head. “Ms. Song, this method isn’t working. We have to think of another way.”
“Another way? It may take up to three hours just to think of it.” Song Jinning snorted. “Hurry up and calculate what is at hand. Using your program to do the calculations might take up less time.”
However, the sheer amount of calculation made it an arduous task. No matter how fast her program was, the speed depended on the computer’s hardware. The hardware was the bottleneck of technological development in this situation.
Gu Nianzhi held out her hand and placed it on Song Jinning’s keyboard. There was enthusiasm and excitement in her voice. “Ms. Song, since it’s too late anyway, we might as well use a new method!”
Song Jinning looked back at her and wanted to reprimand her for being so reckless and whimsical at such a time. However, when she saw that Gu Nianzhi’s eyes were red and full of tears, yet she herself hadn’t even realized it and looked with hope gleaming in her eyes, Song Jinning’s heart softened. She stood up, put her hands on Gu Nianzhi’s small, round shoulders, and said softly, “Nianzhi, I know you feel bad, but…”
Gu Nianzhi grabbed Song Jinning’s hand and said, “Ms. Song, I have a great idea! Really, believe me!” The Blue Hole’s flashing blue-violet electric light had been circling in Gu Nianzhi’s mind, and she finally found a chance to pour out those ideas. Gu Nianzhi asked Song Jinning, “Ms. Song, tell me, can the electric and magnetic fields be transformed into each other?”
What she had been thinking of just now was the blue-violet electro-optical light in the Blue Hole’s waters, which was an extreme form of electric fence. The current had almost no resistance and was extraordinarily powerful. Song Jinning also said that this buoy in front of them was capable of generating a strong magnetic field. In other words, this buoy was basically generating powerful electromagnetic interference. Electromagnetism—electricity and magnetism—were two kinds of energy that were practically interchangeable.
After being asked by Gu Nianzhi, Song Jinning paused for a moment, then nodded with certainty, saying, “Of course. A changing magnetic field can generate an electric field, and a changing electric field can also generate a magnetic field. The electric field and magnetic field can theoretically be transformed into each other.”
“Really?!” Gu Nianzhi’s face suddenly lit up. “You mean to say, the magnetic field and the electric field can be transformed into each other? So, can we transform this magnetic field into an electric field?!”
Song Jinning looked at Gu Nianzhi with an astonished expression on her face. Her first reaction was that this girl was mad… Yet her second reaction was that this girl was indeed a genius! There was only a thin line between lunatics and geniuses. However, this outrageous idea was indeed actually feasible.
If the strong magnetic field in front of them could be converted into an electric field, then the electromagnetic interference could be cleared, and not only would their drones come in handy again, but the opponent’s warship would be under the attack of their drones as well! And they could send more frogmen to rescue Huo Shaoheng’s group of trapped Special Operations Forces members.
Song Jinning’s hand clenched Gu Nianzhi’s shoulder, and in her mind she began to contemplate the various requirements for the transformation of a magnetic field into an electric field. According to the law of conservation of energy, under optimal conditions, the magnetic field and the electric field would be converted into each other without loss of energy.
However, there was no perfect transformation condition in reality, so this transformation would definitely generate a huge energy loss, which would most certainly offset most of the strong magnetic field’s energy, and the electric field generated by this transformation would no longer be very strong. But that was just a theoretical derivation in Song Jinning’s mind. Since the situation in this case was special, the conversion of a strong magnetic field into an electric field would not necessarily have the same amount of energy loss they imagined, and the resulting electric field might be frighteningly powerful.
“Nianzhi, you know what the consequences will be? Even if it’s only 1-in-10,000, I will tell you…” Song Jinning told Gu Nianzhi the worst possible outcome.
Gu Nianzhi didn’t care, and she nodded firmly. “I know. I’ve seen…” Then, she told Song Jinning the scene she saw in the Caribbean Blue Hole’s waters. Of course, she didn’t say that she and Huo Shaoheng were once deeply endangered there.
After listening to Gu Nianzhi, Song Jinning frowned for about ten minutes before she finally breathed a sigh of relief. “So that’s what happened. I don’t know who set up the electronic fence there, but I will definitely have to check it out later.” She touched Gu Nianzhi’s head and continued, “You have a point. This is indeed feasible. It may be faster than our recalculation of the data. However, to make the conversion possible, you need to go to the buoy and make various changes to it, and you need to compare them. There will be some complex technical work involved, and we don’t have any technicians or experts at hand. I worry that we won’t be able to do it.”
Gu Nianzhi immediately thumped her chest. “Ms. Song, I am your technician! Let me go! I can swim, and I know how your instrument operates, so I am the most suitable person!”
Song Jinning was still very hesitant. She paced around in the cabin with her hands on her back. “Nianzhi. This experiment has never been done before. This is just an idea in my head at the moment, and there’s a high possibility of failure. You have to think about it. If you go, you might not be able to come back.”
“No! It will succeed! I have seen someone succeed at doing it! I know what it should look like!” Gu Nianzhi pointed to her head. Her eyes were glittering, as if a torch were burning inside. It was astonishingly bright, and her whole being was bursting with enthusiasm and full of vitality. At that moment, her beauty was fresh and alive, and her breathtaking appearance couldn’t be described by mere words. No matter who saw her at that moment, they couldn’t help but feel deeply moved inside.
Song Jinning fully understood why her son, with such a detached and aloof temperament, had fallen for this little girl. But she also completely dispelled the idea of letting Gu Nianzhi follow in her footsteps to study high-energy physics and become a scientist who would inherit her mantle one day. Since this little girl was too enthusiastic and too impulsive, she didn’t have the rationality and calmness unique to scientific researchers.
Song Jinning paused, set aside these cranky thoughts, and began to consider the real-world problems at hand. “However, even if you go and achieve the transformation, since you have to enter the scope of those buoys, how do you plan on getting out?”
The conversion process from the magnetic field to an electric field was not difficult for Song Jinning. She often conducted such experiments, but if the strong magnetic field there really turned into an electric field, it would generate ultra-high voltage. In turn, the seawater would conduct electricity, and they would be electrocuted in minutes.
Gu Nianzhi had already thought about that, and she raised her eyebrows. “I’ll ask the military to see if they have a wetsuit made of insulator material.”
Song Jinning’s brow was completely stretched out. “Okay, you go and ask them. I’ll prepare the materials and instruments.”
Gu Nianzhi quickly nodded. “I’ll ask, but Ms. Song, you know and I know, before we succeed, we can’t let too many people know about our plan.”
“I know.” Song Jinning had suffered a lot in previous years, and thus had learned the hard way, so now she was much more cautious. “I will tell the military that I’ll be sending you to destroy the strong electromagnetic interference emitted by the enemy.”
Actually, her real purpose was to allow Gu Nianzhi to bring people over there to install special instruments to convert the magnetic field into an electric field.
…
