Chapter 38: Physical Positioning

Xu Jin wanted the Zhurong Mars rover, but in the end, he failed to retrieve it personally. Therefore, the moment the probe landed, he immediately took action. His objective was clear: he had to get his hands on that rover.

This, however, presented Lin Xu with two additional problems.

First, if Xu Jin could mobilize so many armed personnel—to the point where casualties reached the thousands—what was the true extent of the Planetary Reincarnation organization's development by the year 2036, and how high had his status within that organization risen?

Second, what was so special about this rover that he would pay such a staggering price just to ensure he obtained it?

The former was somewhat explainable; after all, the growth rate of a mysterious organization with certain religious attributes could be quite astonishing. To put it simply, how many years did it take for the Mustache to build the Third Reich? If handled properly and with full resources, mobilizing tens of thousands of armed men was not a fantasy.

By contrast, the second question was clearly more illogical. The key point was, why did he have to get that rover "personally"? He was a legitimate, well-bred product of the research establishment; did he not understand that this object would be of greater value in the hands of the state, backed by national resources? No matter how strong an individual's abilities were, or how large an organization might be, could they really surpass a nation?

There were only two explanations. Either he had truly corrupted, becoming a thoroughgoing egoist; or, he held a secret that could never be made public, forcing him to take extreme actions to protect it.

Setting the former aside, if there was a secret... what could it be? Honestly, was there any secret greater than the bracelet on his own wrist?

He had not yet chosen to cooperate with the authorities because he needed time to plan and probe. Once the timing was right and he had enough leverage and strength to ensure his own interests were not compromised, he certainly would not resist cooperation.

He couldn't figure it out.

Lin Xu continued to search for keywords like "Planetary Reincarnation," "Zhurong," and "Nebuk." As the Skull had said, news regarding that incident had been almost completely suppressed; only vague records could be found on public platforms. Searching for further information was basically impossible. If he wanted to unlock the secret of the Zhurong rover, he would likely have to do as Xu Jin did: try to get his hands on that probe himself.

"Where is the Zhurong Mars rover currently being kept?" Lin Xu asked again.

The results popped up quickly.

"After its recovery, the Zhurong Mars rover was briefly stored at the China Academy of Space Technology, then transferred to the Key Laboratory of Particle Astrophysics at the Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences."

"Since then, the rover has been under sealed storage."

Sealed storage. This was also a key piece of information. Zhurong was China's first rover to land on Mars. Generally speaking, a piece of equipment with such major significance, if recovered successfully, should have ended up in a museum for educational purposes. Yet, it had been placed under seal. Clearly, something truly unusual had happened to this rover.

He had to find it!

But the problem was, the Particle Astrophysics Laboratory was in the Imperial Capital. Every time he entered the world of the bracelet, he only had one hour. What could he possibly do in that time?

The trail had hit a dead end once again. Lin Xu looked at the time on the holographic projection; there were only 20 minutes left before the apocalypse. There wasn't enough time—no matter what, there wasn't enough time.

But... wait. He still had one chip.

Jiang Xingye!

She was on Mars. She was the only person he knew who was most likely to be in the know! She could contact him, and he could contact her!

Lin Xu's spirits lifted instantly.

The way Jiang Xingye had warned him was by utilizing every holographic projection device in the city, using high-impact video signals to grab his attention. If he could figure out how she did that, it might be possible to reverse-track her and establish a connection!

So, how did she do it? He didn't know, but the Skull definitely would!

Lin Xu steadied himself, turned to the Skull, and asked:

"I have a question."

"Suppose I need a way to simultaneously control all the holographic projection devices in an entire city. How would I go about doing that?"

"Huh?" The Skull was stunned. "Playing for such high stakes? Don't tell me you dragged us over here just to use this kind of extreme method to confess to some woman?"

"...Do you think I'm as love-struck as you are?" Lin Xu said, speechless. "I'm having a technical discussion with you. You just need to answer me from a technical standpoint!"

"Fine, fine..." After a brief moment of thought, the Skull replied:

"Actually, that's not too difficult. Most IoT devices currently connect via cellular wireless networks. Although this technology has gone through many generations, the basic principle isn't much different from the radio communication mode I used when I was a kid."

"If you want to achieve this, you must have a signal source that is large enough."

"Through a signal source and a high-computing-power modulator, you can continuously emit electromagnetic signals to the surroundings, invade the IoT communication channels through these signals, decode them, bypass the firewall, and interfere with the video output."

"The process is simple; to put it bluntly, it's hacking."

"The biggest difficulty lies in the fact that we can't find a signal transmitter capable of covering the entire city. The power of this thing is not something civil equipment can compare to... I doubt you could find such equipment in the entire Jinling City, right?"

"It doesn't matter if we can't find it." Lin Xu waved his hand. "Just tell me, if we can receive such a signal, can we reverse-track it and establish communication?"

"Of course not." The Skull shook his head decisively.

"A radio signal broadcast across all channels is like water in a river. It travels along the channel, and the receiving end only gets the 'water.' You don't know where this river originated, nor do you know how many tributaries it has. Without tracing the source, if you drop a small boat in from this end, there's no way it will float back to where you want it to go."

"Of course, there is a way to solve this. You could drop countless small boats to fill the entire riverbed—just like the transmitter, do a full-channel broadcast."

"But, full-channel broadcasting is not only restricted by permissions but also by power limits. So, the problem actually returns to the starting point—we don't have equipment with that kind of power."

"Then what about tracing the source?" Lin Xu asked immediately. "How difficult is that?"

"Very difficult." The Skull frowned. "The success rate of tracing is affected by many factors and is quite random..."

"Wait, hold on a second," the Skull said. "Don't tell me we’re actually going to receive a signal like that? Who is sending it? What's the situation?"

"...You don't need to worry about that." Lin Xu's expression grew somber. "I'm telling you now, in 19 minutes, we will receive such a signal. It will control all holographic screens in Jinling City—just like I described. I need you to trace the signal and find the source. Once you find the main communication channel, immediately establish contact with the transmitter and find a way to get my message out!"

"You're for real!?" The Skull was dumbfounded. "What kind of disaster is happening that you have to play it like this?!"

"The apocalypse is coming." Lin Xu looked the Skull straight in the eyes. "This time, I'm not joking. This signal is an apocalypse warning. 15 seconds after we receive it, the apocalypse will arrive, and the entire human world will be destroyed. You only have 15 seconds to trace it."

Lin Xu was deadly serious, and the Skull's mouth gradually fell open.

"Buddy, have you lost your mind? Are you serious?"

"There are 12 minutes left." Lin Xu didn't bother arguing. "Go get ready now. You'll know soon enough if I'm telling the truth!"

With that, he pulled the Skull and headed outside. They returned to the car, and the Skull contacted the technical support team in the rear, explaining the situation. Everyone in the car looked at Lin Xu as if he were a fool, but because of his status as their benefactor, they carried out his orders with professional dedication, making all the necessary preparations.

"Receiving system fully powered on, frequency hopping off, firewall off. If the thing you mentioned really happens, we will receive it immediately. But honestly..."

"Don't speak." Lin Xu interrupted the Skull. "Half a minute left."

Countdown: 30 seconds. The interior of the vehicle fell into silence.

20 seconds. The Skull shifted uneasily.

10 seconds. Lin Xu said, "10-second countdown, get ready!"

Everyone instinctively sat up straight.

The next second, Jiang Xingye's face suddenly appeared on the monitor screen!

"Run!"

"Lin Xu! Quickly—"

"Execute trace and source tracking!" Lin Xu ordered, and the technical team operated at full speed.

The countdown restarted.

"12 seconds!" Lin Xu shouted.

"Cannot access the channel!"

"8 seconds!"

"I'm trying!"

"5 seconds!"

"The channel has quantum encryption! Can't access it!"

"It's too late!" Lin Xu shouted anxiously.

"RTK pinpointed the physical address of the transmitter!"

"Zijinshan Observatory!" the Skull's voice rang out.

The next second, a white light flashed. The apocalypse had arrived.

Lin Xu's mind was in chaos. Amidst the blurring of his consciousness, he felt someone lunge at him, shouting into his ear:

"The apocalypse is fucking real!! Is what you said about my wife real too?!?"