CHAPTER 266: CHAPTER 264: COMMUNICATION TEST

Chen Xin was naturally unaware of what was happening to Qin Lan; at this moment, he was still on his way home.

"Mr. Chen, why are we passing through the three towns? If we went through Huanggang City, we could save quite a bit of time," Han Ping questioned while studying the map in his hand, somewhat puzzled by Chen Xin’s choice.

Even though there were no other shelters or supply points along the way as he returned the same route from Anhui Province that he had come before, which made it necessary to replenish supplies due to significant consumption, Huanggang City was an important city in Hubei Province with shelters where supplies could be replenished.

So Han Ping didn’t quite understand why Chen Xin would choose to detour through the three towns, taking a much longer route.

Chen Xin simply responded, "I made an agreement with someone when I came here, and I need to make a trip to the three towns on the way back."

Upon hearing Chen Xin’s explanation, Han Ping didn’t press further. He was merely expressing his confusion and had no intention of interfering with Chen Xin’s decision.

For Han Ping, he was just Chen Xin’s driver. Raising questions was his duty, but making decisions was up to Chen Xin. Since Chen Xin had already made his decision, Han Ping just needed to execute it.

Unless Chen Xin’s decision was utterly unreasonable, as Han Ping saw it, all he had to do was carry it out.

After handing over the driving to Han Ping, Chen Xin turned around and went to the living cabin to rest for a bit.

With the addition of Han Ping and Han Ze, the biggest benefit for Chen Xin was that he was relieved from many tasks, entrusting them to the two brothers while he only needed to give instructions.

The elder brother, Han Ping, was responsible for driving, while the younger brother, Han Ze, served as the co-driver. Initially, the brothers were a bit unfamiliar with the vehicle, but once they had adapted to its driving style, they were able to handle their tasks well and Chen Xin could safely entrust all driving responsibilities to them.

Returning to the living cabin, Chen Xin saw his father standing in front of a plant box, seemingly intending to water the vegetables inside. He walked over and asked his father, "Dad, what are you doing here? Where’s Mom?"

"Your mom is resting upstairs," Chen Xin’s father pointed upwards and then looked at the plant box in front of him, asking Chen Xin, "Does this thing for growing vegetables need daily watering?"

"Oh this? It doesn’t require daily watering. It comes with an irrigation system that drips water based on the soil moisture and crop growth, ensuring the crops have sufficient water without overwatering," Chen Xin explained.

Upon hearing Chen Xin’s response, his father showed a look of amazement, "Technology is really advanced now, we don’t even have to water manually."

"Indeed, technological development is quite rapid," Chen Xin nodded in agreement, echoing his father’s sentiment.

When discussing this topic, Chen Xin’s father suddenly opened up with a thought, asking, "Son, do you think humanity will go extinct?"

"No," Chen Xin answered without even a moment’s thought.

"But there’s no sunlight now, we can’t farm, and the weather outside is so cold. How can humans survive?" His father clearly found it hard to accept Chen Xin’s answer and was seeking a convincing reason from him.

"The dust in the sky will disperse in a few years. Although the stratospheric dust might not settle for hundreds or even thousands of years, the tropospheric dust will likely clear in a decade or so. By then, sunlight will shine upon the earth again," Chen Xin replied confidently, having inquired about this issue from Zhang Chengguang and others before.

Before landing on Blue Star, Zhang Chengguang and his team observed Blue Star for half a year with the space station equipment. Based on their observations, Blue Star was surrounded by a large amount of dust and debris from meteor impacts.

These materials, raised by meteoritic collisions, were spread across the entire atmosphere and the low-earth orbit of Blue Star, densely distributing from the lowest layer of the atmosphere, the troposphere, to the outer boundary layer. These dust and debris obscured the sky, blocking sunlight from reaching the ground.

The larger and heavier debris would fall first due to gravitational effects, burning up due to atmospheric friction.

The remaining dust would settle down successively based on its height in the atmosphere.

The dust in the lowest layer, the troposphere, would be the first to fall, and this layer’s dust was relatively denser. When this layer fell, the ground would shift from a dark environment to a dim one, and the light intensity would gradually increase.

Though the higher atmospheric dust would be difficult to settle due to the predominant lateral motion of high-altitude air, light would still restore to a tolerable level within a decade.

Chen Xin explained the situation about sunlight to his father and also added, "Sunlight isn’t the most critical limiting factor for humans. With current technology, although a lack of sunlight for ten years would greatly impact human civilization, causing many to die from food shortages and cold, it wouldn’t lead to human extinction."

Upon hearing this, his father seemed noticeably relieved. The hardships of life post-disaster were bearable, but it was the absence of hope and a future that was most difficult to endure.

Chen Xin clearly understood this and hence told his father, "The nation has begun post-disaster reconstruction. It might not be noticeable in the townships below, but big cities like the three towns are gradually recovering. Though the current living conditions may be tough, the future will definitely improve!"

"You don’t need to comfort me, I’ve endured much more hardship than your generation. It’s not your place to comfort me about this," his father said, displaying some embarrassment but maintaining his fatherly authority.

As the father-son duo continued this conversation, Han Ze suddenly rushed over from the driver’s cabin, saying to Chen Xin, "Mr. Chen, you should come take a look. We’ve received a signal from the three towns, and it seems they’re testing some equipment."

"Is the three towns testing equipment? We’re still quite a distance from there. Are we receiving their signal already?" Chen Xin asked in surprise, heading back to the driver’s cabin with Han Ze.

To Chen Xin’s inquiry, Han Ze quickly explained, "I was just adjusting the radio station, trying to see if I could receive any signals, and we picked up communications from the three towns. It wasn’t directed at us; they were likely testing something, activating a powerful signal source, and we’re just within its coverage area."

Chen Xin nodded slightly, understanding the situation before sitting in the co-driver’s seat and instructing the system, "System, replay the signal we received earlier."

"Playing signal..." The system’s electronic voice chimed, followed by the replay of a signal.

"...long-distance...communication...test, third...testing..." Although the signal wasn’t very clear, it was generally audible.

Listening to the system’s replay of the intermittent signal, Chen Xin roughly understood the situation.

As Han Ze mentioned, it appeared to be some sort of test, and their vehicle was just within the signal coverage area, receiving the signal.

Chen Xin did not find anything odd about this. There were many scientific institutions in the three towns, making communication tests quite common.

Regarding their car being encompassed by the signal coverage, that was even less surprising. Given the current environment where satellite signals were unavailable, the absence of signals would be unusual.

"They’re conducting a communication test, so we shouldn’t intervene," Chen Xin concluded after confirming the situation, telling Han Ze before standing up to leave the driver’s cabin.

However, at this moment, the console received a new signal, "Thanks to...Mr. Chen Xin’s adjustment...this set of...equipment can finally achieve long-distance...communication."

Hearing this, Chen Xin’s expression immediately became intrigued. Did this have something to do with him?

It seemed related to the equipment he had adjusted during his previous visit to the three towns. Were they now testing the equipment he had modified?

With slight conjecture, Chen Xin figured out the situation. Picking up the intercom from the console, he adjusted the settings to connect his vehicle’s signal to the other party’s communication channel, pressing the talk button to say, "I overheard someone mention my name; it seems my previous adjustment of the equipment was quite effective!"

"Mr. Chen Xin? How are you in our channel?" The other party seemed quite surprised that Chen Xin could join their communication channel but quickly responded, "Mr. Chen Xin, are you returning from Anhui Province?"

"Yes, I’m currently on my way back and should arrive at the three towns in two days," Chen Xin replied to their question, adding, "Are you testing equipment? Then I won’t disturb your work."

"No, no, Mr. Chen Xin, if possible, we hope you can assist us in testing the new equipment!" The other party evidently didn’t intend for Chen Xin to exit so simply.

Having witnessed Chen Xin’s capability to swiftly calibrate the equipment, the researchers were unwilling to let Mr. Chen Xin, a powerful ally, slip away. Moreover, with Chen Xin now outside the three towns, his involvement in testing the signal’s stability with a moving target was a critical aspect. Chen Xin’s assistance would spare them significant effort.

"Alright, how can I help?" Chen Xin was not averse to offering help, as it was merely a small task he could do along the way.