Chapter 32

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Chapter 32: Channel Simulator

This morning, when Luo Yu opened her eyes, she felt the bright light all around her. She quickly sat up like a fish leaping out of water to check the time: it was eleven-thirty.

Last night, when they came down from the garden upstairs, it was already past midnight. After returning, she took a shower and sat on her bed thinking for a long time, and by the time she fell asleep, it was probably close to two.

She shook her head; she didn’t feel dizzy. She actually drank quite a bit yesterday, but not as mixed as Zhu Huai, and after returning to her room last night, she only felt a little tipsy. Today, she woke up with no signs of a hangover.

She got out of bed, washed up, and changed her clothes. When she stepped out of her suite, she saw two people sitting on the soft cushions in the lounge. Facing her was Ying Zhao, who was talking to someone sitting opposite her. The person with their back to her wasn’t Zhu Huai and seemed to be taller.

Ying Zhao waved at her, and the person turned around—it was Lei Ming.

A few days ago, they had been busy fixing their communication issues, and Lei Ming would occasionally visit the hangar to check on the progress of the engineering assistant robots. After seeing that there were no problems, she went to the beach with friends for a couple of days, and it had been several days since Luo Yu and the others had seen her.

Just then, Lei Ming was telling Ying Zhao about her time at the beach. Luo Yu caught a bit of their conversation as she sat down at the other end of the cushion. Indeed, Lei Ming had gotten quite tanned, making her eyes look brighter, and when she smiled, her white teeth shone. She looked full of energy.

Seeing Luo Yu, Lei Ming smiled brightly at her, "You guys must be worn out these days! The weather has been great in early summer; it’s the perfect time to go out and relax. I remember Professor Ti Ran mentioned that the effective time for the time channel is still quite ample."

Luo Yu also smiled back and greeted her, "There’s enough time, but I worry about delays bringing uncertainties, so I want to move forward as much as possible." After saying this, she tapped the housekeeping panel on the round table to order breakfast, then turned to Lei Ming and asked, "Are you here because of something at the hangar?"

"No," Lei Ming replied. "Professor Ti Ran entrusted me with delivering a message." Lei Ming pointed to a small device on the round table, which quickly projected a video. The display was from the Shan Hai Jing communication device, showing a message received this morning through the "Star Hub" encrypted network sent by Zhu Long: "In three days, wait for my message to signal the space station; do not initiate contact before then."

Upon reading this, Luo Yu instantly felt energized, thinking that there must be new developments on Zhu Long’s end. At the very least, it should resolve the issues with the space station. She wanted to contact Hu Jiao to ask what had happened, but considering Zhu Long’s later remark, she needed to hold back for now.

At this moment, her ordered breakfast rose from the side of the round table. She began to feel a bit hungry, so she grabbed a pancake and took a big bite, chewing as she speculated about what had recently happened at the Space Administration.

After Luo Yu finished eating, Lei Ming smiled and said, "I came today not only to deliver this message but also to bring a task."

With that, Lei Ming tapped the touch panel again, and the projected image transformed into a 3D model. "Considering the complex situation in your world, and since you’ll be using a time channel you haven’t traveled through before, there are risks involved. So, she asked me to adjust some more engineering assistant robots and clear out two large hangars to create a time trajectory simulation channel for you."

Luo Yu and Ying Zhao gazed at the 3D model projection in front of them. This was much larger and more intricate than the time trajectory simulators they usually saw at the Space Administration base.

The cross-time Execution Team had been in an exploratory phase for the past two years, usually following the positioning of the cross-time sky curtain, while their return journey relied entirely on commands from the space station.

Thus, Luo Yu actually had no certainty whether a return journey could succeed. Now, with this simulation channel, she felt she was a step closer to going home.

As they observed the model, Lei Ming held a laser pointer and briefly explained its structure. She mentioned that before coming here today, she had already instructed the hangar robot to clear out the two hangars opposite where the Shan Hai Jing was parked, and since that area was nearly tidied up, she came to the cliff dwelling to find them and invited them to go over and take a look.

"I should have left you a message in advance, but I got busy today and forgot. Luckily, Ying Zhao mentioned you didn’t have any plans," Lei Ming said, glancing at Zhu Huai’s room. "Should we go over now or wait for Zhu Huai?"

Since Zhu Huai had to be involved in engineering matters, and they had sent her back while she was already asleep yesterday, given that it was almost noon, she should be awake from hunger. Thinking of this, Luo Yu clapped her thigh and stood up. "I’ll go wake her up."

When Luo Yu reached Zhu Huai’s door, she noticed the wake-up light on the door and thought it might be possible to wake her through the housekeeping system to avoid knocking on the door and potentially not being heard.

So, Luo Yu reached out and pressed the wake-up light, which immediately popped up a message: "Dining in progress, please do not disturb."

Dining? Luo Yu frowned. "Let me in."

The wake-up light rotated twice, displaying: "Please enter." The suite’s archway then gently opened.

Luo Yu walked inside, glanced around the outer hall to the dining table—no one was there—and peeked into the bathroom—still no one.

Finally, she walked to the bedroom door and saw Zhu Huai sitting on the bed, curling her feet up with her hands behind her head, eating breakfast that the overhead robotic arm had delivered to her mouth.

Luo Yu chuckled, leaning against the door with her arms crossed, tilting her head to look at her. "Did last night’s drinks knock you out?"

"I’m exploring the newly discovered functions of the system," Zhu Huai replied, raising an eyebrow at her. "The housekeeping assistant system is the perfect partner for home life. This morning, it even brushed my teeth for me."

Luo Yu turned to look at the system wake-up light displaying its function description. "It says here this is to assist bed rest; you might need a housekeeper to take you to the medical center for a check-up."

"Really?" Zhu Huai sounded a bit disappointed. "No wonder when I said I was really hungry but couldn’t get up, it first asked if I needed medical intervention. Then it used a laser to scan me, and after determining I had no illness, it offered dining assistance. I guess it found out I’m just plain lazy."

After finishing the last mouthful, the overhead robotic arm announced, "Meal completed," and automatically folded back to each side of the bed. Only then did Luo Yu approach her bedside and relay what Lei Ming had said along with the details about setting up the time channel simulator.

Hearing these important updates, Zhu Huai’s expression became serious. She hurriedly got off the bed. "Alright, let me change my clothes."

Before long, the three of them, along with Lei Ming, laughed and talked as they left the ninth cliff dwelling and walked toward the adjacent hangar.

The helipad where the Shan Hai Jing was parked wasn’t large; there were only four hangars in total. Since the Shan Hai Jing had been moved here, the aircraft that had previously been in the other hangars had also gradually moved to nearby ones to avoid disrupting the maintenance progress from the public aircraft’s operations.

As they exited the mountain gate, they saw many engineering assistant robots working around Hangar 1 and Hangar 2, which had now been connected. These two hangars were undergoing reinforcement and soundproofing on the outer layer.

The hangar robot greeted them as they arrived, first reporting the engineering progress to Lei Ming. Luo Yu and the others listened closely while the framework for the time channel simulator was expected to be completed today, with engineering materials arriving tomorrow, and the project anticipated to be finished in three days.

Originally, Luo Yu had thought that such a large-scale project would take at least ten days, and she had been a bit worried about the tight schedule. After hearing this, she immediately felt hopeful again.

The speed of the construction was astonishing, utilizing fully automated building technology. All the engineering assistant robots took turns storing energy, seamlessly switching during construction, while also having quality inspection scanning and supervision robots throughout the process.

Luo Yu watched the engineering schedule on the hangar robot’s screen; every module was detailed down to the smallest unit, coordinated by the central processor of the hangar management system, which regularly sent progress reports to the engineering head, Lei Ming.

Thanks to the automation, Lei Ming didn’t even need to be present from start to finish. She came today only to give them a tour.

"Building something with people’s lives involved is meaningless," Zhu Huai lamented. "This is what we call the pinnacle of construction!"

Zhu Huai had also been a key member of the monitoring team when the Time Bureau built the tunnel simulator, so she had a deep understanding of the engineering workload involved.

On the way here, Lei Ming had shown Zhu Huai the 3D design of the simulator, which was designed by Ti Ran in collaboration with a space engineering expert and an architect.

Luo Yu wasn’t as knowledgeable about these space navigation calculations and simulator projects as Zhu Huai and Ying Zhao, so she invited them both to assess the hangar in person to ensure all the details were in order; she felt more at ease that way.

As the hangar robot introduced the setup, it provided them all with protective covering suits and led them into the hangar, thoroughly explaining the ongoing construction and the engineering sequence of each module.

Zhu Huai listened attentively and carefully confirmed the characteristics of several materials with the hangar robot, while Ying Zhao verified the data from the design models nearby. The four of them toured the hangar for nearly two hours before exiting and heading towards Hangar 3 to check on the improvements to the Shan Hai Jing’s power compartment.

The renovation of the power compartment was even more refined than the simulator under construction across the way. Zhu Huai had this time utilized a unique super-tough lightweight alloy material from this time and space, making the environment inside the power compartment more stable, avoiding issues like the power failure caused by rolling from gravitational strain during their recent emergency landing.

Currently, all four engines had been fully assembled, the nuclear reactor upgrades were completed and accepted, and only some exterior shell work remained. It was projected to be fully completed in another day.

"It’s too bad I’m not planning to go back," Zhu Huai remarked, admiring her work. "Otherwise, with this new type of space nuclear fusion engine, I could easily win a technology award."

As Luo Yu was about to compliment her in response, she hadn’t even started speaking when the operation room’s message panel popped up with a notification: “You have a call request from Mo Chuan.”

Since Lei Ming happened to be standing next to the message panel, she reached out to answer it respectfully, greeting Mo Chuan, "Good afternoon, Teacher."

Mo Chuan also smiled and returned, "Good afternoon." Then, noticing that Luo Yu and the others were present, she inquired about the engineering status of the time channel simulator and the maintenance progress of the Shan Hai Jing.

Lei Ming succinctly reported the situation, and after listening, Mo Chuan nodded, smiling at the three of them. "It seems that everything is progressing smoothly. You’ve all worked hard lately, so I’d like to invite you to explore the northern region for a couple of days. It’s a bit dull to stay in Di Qiu all the time, especially since this is your first visit."

Luo Yu had just been thinking that since Zhu Long had asked her to contact the space station in three days, and since the time channel simulator would also take three days to complete, these few days would be perfect for some leisure. She wanted to seize this opportunity to ask Mo Chuan about the radiation-proof element preparation she had mentioned before, so she agreed, "Alright, Teacher. Where are you planning to take us?"

"To Qingqiu Mountain."