Chapter 144: The Seismograph Was Retrieved

It had a round, plump shape with a smooth surface, looking like a swollen large vat. On top were several large coils, similar to those in magnetic field detection instruments in laboratories, wrapped in special glass, resembling big ears growing on the seismograph.

Its body was equipped with three mechanical arms, making the seismograph look more like a three-legged crab with big ears. Clearly printed on the smooth surface were the logo and name of the Legion Ant Company.

They had worked as scientific researchers for so long and had seen various oddly shaped instruments. To them, this design actually looked very ordinary.

“Is this instrument from the Legion Ant Company?” one expert asked, circling the device. Apart from the large coils, he found nothing special.

They had gone to great lengths just for these six instruments, yet none of them knew what these instruments were used for.

“What is its purpose?”

The group turned to look at Wu Zhen.

“This is the Legion Ant Company’s seismograph,” Wu Zhen said.

As soon as he spoke, the room fell into an eerie silence. Everyone looked at each other, unsure how to respond. They had all thought it was just an ordinary geological survey instrument, but it turned out to be a seismograph.

“Is this related to the paper on earthquake early warning that Chen Mo from the Legion Ant Company published some time ago?” a geology expert asked.

“Yes, this is the seismograph he made based on the principles in that paper,” Wu Zhen replied.

“I’ve read his paper. The idea is innovative but too fanciful. It’s all theoretical and not very practical. The chances of failure are high,” another geology expert commented.

“Even if we know it might fail, we still need to test it. Should we avoid experiments just because we’re afraid of failure? That isn’t science,” Wu Zhen said.

His words left everyone with no rebuttal.

“In the field of earthquake early warning, we’ve researched for decades and only achieved seismic wave warnings. We might not be entirely correct. If we want longer warning times, why not draw from others’ ideas? Stones from other hills may serve to polish the jade of this one,” Wu Zhen added.

The group fell silent. Among them, Wu Zhen had the most experience, and what he said was not wrong.

“Let’s not discuss this further. Let’s first see how this instrument works,” Wu Zhen said as he inserted a USB drive into the computer.

The research vessel set sail without much attention.

People only saw the country’s surface-level stability but couldn’t see the scientists and workers striving behind the scenes.

The location for deploying the seismograph was very important. It had to be placed on an active fault with significant plate movement and at a depth of over 2,000 meters underwater.

During design, it was only built to withstand water pressure at depths of 2,000 meters or more. If the water was too deep, the seismograph couldn’t handle the immense pressure.

The research team often conducted studies in the Mariana area and was quite familiar with the terrain and geology there. Finding a suitable deployment spot was easy.

It was already autumn, and the weather was relatively stable. The sea was calm with no significant waves, so the deployment of the seismographs proceeded very smoothly.

Few people knew that the Legion Ant Company, which they had mocked, had already produced the seismographs. Even fewer knew that the deployment and installation work was nearing completion.

The West Pacific Ocean was one of the areas with the highest seismic activity on Earth, located at the boundary between the Pacific Plate and the Eurasian Plate.

Wu Zhen stared intently at the computer screen, with several experts quietly watching behind him.

They had been at sea for half a month. This research voyage included projects in marine chemistry, marine physics, marine biology, and marine geology.

While conducting other research, the deployment of the seismographs was also underway. Apart from site selection, there were no major issues, as the deployment method was very straightforward. The first five seismographs had already been deployed, and this was the last one.

“The installation was successful.”

Seeing the message on the computer, Wu Zhen finally smiled. Hearing the news, the others applauded.

Shitou Chuan Ying watched the radar display and satellite images. The target was a Huaxia research vessel.

This research vessel seemed to be dropping some kind of instrument into the ocean.

He hadn’t known the exact locations before, but this time, he had tracked them from a distance. His mission was to find out what these Huaxia people were putting into the sea and, if possible, retrieve one of the devices.

Only when the red dot on the radar moved away did Shitou Chuan Ying give the order to head to the spot where the research vessel had just been.

The sea was calm, and the wind was light, so the ship didn’t rock much. Shitou Chuan Ying walked to the ship’s side, scanned the sea surface with binoculars, and found nothing.

“Deploy the sonar. Let’s see what they just placed here,” Shitou Chuan Ying said, putting down the binoculars.

At his command, two sonar devices were dropped into the sea.

“Captain, we’ve found something,” a soldier reported, running out.

Shitou Chuan Ying immediately entered the cabin.

“There’s an object here—a metal one. It could be an underwater vehicle or some other unknown instrument,” an officer said, pointing to the sonar data.

Shitou Chuan Ying thought for a moment and said, “Prepare to retrieve it.”

Legion Ant Company.

In the laboratory, Chen Mo was fully focused on the electron microscope.

All the seismographs in the Tibet Region had been installed, and monitoring stations were set up. Some of the detected data had been transmitted back.

A few magnitude 3.0 earthquakes were detected, but these were too weak for ordinary people to feel, so they weren’t very useful. However, the data proved that the instrument worked. The seismograph would only issue an active warning when an earthquake reached magnitude 5.0 or higher, which could be destructive.

The deployment of instruments in the Pacific Ocean area was also underway, and he believed all the devices would soon be in place.

With the seismographs deployed, the next step was to monitor the data, which required less of his attention. He had now shifted his focus to new research.

Room Temperature Superconducting Material was the next key area he planned to study.

The Science and Technology Library required him to research eight technologies, and he hadn’t even completed one in the materials category. Only after finishing this material project could he move on to the next one.

During this time, all the necessary instruments and equipment had arrived. Now, his task was to synthesize the room temperature superconducting material—Silicon-Carbon. This material had a molecular structure similar to graphene, with a hexagonal honeycomb pattern.

After a long time, Chen Mo stepped back from the electron microscope and continued preparing chemical reagents. Synthesizing this material required special chemical reagents under high pressure.

In his previous experiment, the concentration of the chemical reagents was slightly too low. The experimental requirements were high. Although the synthesized material contained Silicon-Carbon, the purity was low. Multiple purifications were needed to obtain a small amount of Silicon-Carbon.

The higher the purity of this material, the better its superconductivity.

If used to make Superconducting Chips, the purity requirements for Silicon-Carbon would be nearly as strict as those for silicon crystals used in current chips. Although achieving 100% purity was almost impossible, he still needed to improve the purity as much as possible for future use.

Just as Chen Mo was carefully preparing the chemical reagents, Ink Girl’s voice suddenly spoke.

“Brother Mo, people from the Island Nation have retrieved one of the seismographs.”