by <unknown>
"Brother Chu, you are being too serious," Nie Siyuan said solemnly. "The expertise of the specialist on your side far exceeds that of the refiners of the Dragon Snake Space Zone. The Azure Thunder is not the work of the best experts in the federation, either. How could anything have gone wrong during your adjustment?
"Also, I watched the surveillance footage myself after the incident to observe the process of your adjustment. I read the test records before the crystal suit had a second fault. Based on your modification and the combat data it displayed, there was absolutely nothing wrong. Your adjustment was almost immaculate. Fellow Cultivator Tang here was particularly marvelous to have exploited 2% more of the extreme performance of the crystal suit!"
The staff nearby all spoke up.
"Indeed. Professor Tang is so awesome!"
"She knows the performance of the crystal suit better than its creator Wu Yaxuan!"
Chu Chongjiu frowned and said, "Then I'm confused. The crystal suit was obviously perfect after the maintenance and adjustment half a day ago, but half a day later, new faults are happening. Did that… Zhao Tongtian perform any highly dangerous maneuvers in the crystal suit? But that shouldn't be so serious. Crystal suits are designed for battles in the first place. All kinds of extreme conditions have already been taken into consideration. It shouldn't be so fragile as long as it is not hit by a heavy crystal railgun head on!"
"You are quite right, Brother Chu. Besides, Zhao Tongtian did not perform any dangerous maneuvers. He was overjoyed after getting the crystal suit modified and renewed by the two masters. In the half a day that followed, he was familiarizing himself with the performance of the crystal suit in the test field here and doing rehabilitative exercises."
Nie Siyuan selected the surveillance picture from dozens of angles and projected it on the light beam. "Please take a look. This is the picture of Zhao Tongtian's training in the Azure Thunder. It can be easily seen that, although his combat style is rather aggressive and violent, and sprinting, halting, and abrupt turning are his habitual movements, they are all within a reasonable range. Such movements will naturally cause erosion on the crystal suit. However, under normal circumstances, it would take at least three to five months for such erosion to lead to a slight change in the parameters. The crystal suit is not made of paper. How can it be worn to the sensible extent after only half a day?"
Chu Chongjiu and Professor Tang both observed carefully but failed to notice anything abnormal. They nodded and said, "Indeed. He was simply sprinting, halting, and abruptly turning before he performed the not-so-radical dodging exercise. Although he was hit by more than ten simulated cannonballs, they were not really explosive. If the blast of such a degree is already insufferable, the crystal suit cannot be called a crystal suit at all!"
"Yes. There is absolutely no reason why the crystal suit should have a fault right now," Nie Siyuan said gravely. "But it does nonetheless. According to Zhao Tongtian himself, after doing rehabilitative training for four hours, he decided to do a series of training exercises on continuous acceleration. But when he was accelerating in the second phase, he suddenly heard a 'bo' sound from deep inside the crystal suit, as if something was broken. Later, while the crystal suit did not have any obvious fault, he felt extremely uncomfortable no matter how he moved it. It felt even more scratchy than before you adjusted the crystal suit. To quote him, he felt that needles were stinging his back.
"He wasn't lying.
"After I came back, I managed the test for the crystal suit myself and realized that, although the performance parameters were not changed at all, the feeling when it was worn was indeed not right. The description of 'needles stinging the back' was very appropriate. It was almost like the 'flawlessness' hidden deep inside the crystal suit, left by Wu Yaxuan and even Xie Anan, had been entirely sabotaged!
"If it were a low-level Cultivator using a common crystal suit, they might not have taken the 'uncomfortableness' seriously, but Zhao Tongtian is in the Core Formation Stage after all, and the Azure Thunder is a sophisticated product. Therefore, it is quite uncanny that such a problem has arisen!"
Chu Chongjiu glanced at the crystal suit that had been entirely unveiled before he said solemnly, "Brother Nie, what is the source of the problem?"
With an extremely weird expression, Nie Siyuan lowered his head and said, "This is the strangest part. I have resorted to all the most advanced magical equipment in the workshop, and I've invited so many refiners to study it together, but after we discussed it for a long time, we couldn't locate the source of the problem at all!"
Chu Chongjiu and Professor Tang looked at each other, both noticing the astonishment in their eyes.
Nie Siyuan was one of the best refiners in the Dragon Snake Space Zone. There was certainly a gap between him and the top-tier experts on Firefly and the Star Glory Federation, but he should not have been so lousy as to fail to even detect the cause of a fault!
"Let me take a look!" Chu Chongjiu's face was ten times more serious than when he had been in the test field previously.
While browsing through the test records that Nie Siyuan and other refiners had left and the changed parameters on the Azure Thunder, he stuck his hands onto the chest of the crystal suit. His spiritual energy flowed deep into the crystal suit like thick tides, brushing past the uneven surface of every component as he sensed the discordance there.
The more he sensed, the more confused Chu Chongjiu became. Furrowing his brow and pursing his lips, he fell into exactly the same trance as Nie Siyuan after a long silence.
"This is very strange," Chu Chongjiu mumbled. "It's true that no faults can be found at all. The crystal suit is identical to when we adjusted it!"
Whispers were echoing around.
Even Chu Chongjiu, a master of refining from Firefly, could not find the source of the problem. This was truly rare!
Nie Siyuan, Chu Chongjiu, and all the other people all looked at Professor Tang for help.
Unlike them, Professor Tang put on an interested smile.
"This is fun!"
Flames of excitement were burning inside her eyes as she stared at the Azure Thunder. She took out a tube of fragrant ointment from her pocket and softly rubbed it on her hands, which were as smooth as jade. Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes and put her hands into the cold empty chamber of the Azure Thunder.
Her eyelashes were shivering nonstop. Her hands were glowing from inside to outside like radiating jade until every vein and nerve inside her pure hands was readily visible. Her body seemed to have become translucent!
All the refiners held their breath. Even their hearts almost stopped beating.
Professor Tang did not open her eyes again until three minutes later. What was almost running out of her beautiful eyes was not confusion, nor confidence, but the deepest horror!
"It's impossible." Professor Tang could not help but took two steps back. She shook her head hard and repeated in an even louder voice, "It's… impossible!"
"What?" Chu Chongjiu stepped forward in a hurry. "Have you found the problem?"
"There is no problem." Professor Tang stared in a trance at the Azure Thunder, which was wide open. The dark, hollow internal space of the crystal suit was almost swallowing her soul like a bottomless swirl. Her voice was shivering as she explained in disbelief, "This crystal suit does not have any fault. It has merely been adjusted again after us. Somebody has set it to the extreme mode that is absolutely unbearable for a Core Formation Stage Cultivator like Zhao Tongtian through a brilliant approach!
"In—in other words, after I squeezed out two percent of the potential in the crystal suit that even the original designer Wu Yaxuan never thought of, somebody wrung… at least another seven percent of the potential combat ability out of the crystal suit! The price is that the difficulty of usage has been drastically multiplied. With Zhao Tongtian's capabilities, it is absolutely impossible for him to use the crystal suit!"
Chapter 1586: Truly Marvelous! |
&n
bsp; Professor Tang's remark was like a stone that was tossed into a peaceful pond. The best maintainers and refiners of the Dragon Snake Space Zone all jumped to their feet.
"It's impossible. Whose adjustment could be so brilliant that absolutely no trace was left behind and nobody noticed anything wrong?"
"Also, what Professor Tang said just now is too unbelievable. Squeezing out seven percent of the potential that even the original designer Wu Yaxuan neglected? That's—that's too—"
"There can't be such adjustment techniques in the world. Zhao Tongtian is an expert in the Core Formation Stage anyway. He is at the tip of the pyramid in the thousands of fellow Cultivators. Who is a crystal suit adjusted for if it is too much for him to use?"
"The most critical thing is, except for Sha Yongming in the beginning, and then Master Chu and Professor Tang later, there wasn't a fourth person who touched the crystal suit at all!"
Nie Siyuan, the manager of the Maintenance Department, stepped forward and solemnly said, "That's right. Fellow Cultivator Tang, please take a look at the video of the test field for the past six hours. After you helped Zhao Tongtian adjust his crystal suit next to the field, he seemed to be given the ultimate treasure in the world and wouldn't take the crystal suit off at all after he put it on. He was training all the time until something happened to the crystal suit. If there was indeed a fourth person who touched the crystal suit, when did it take place?"
Shua! Shua! Shua! Shua!
Every frame of the picture on the test field was enlarged, especially the period in which Professor Tang finished the adjustment and handed the crystal suit back to Zhao Tongtian.
It could be clearly seen that, other than the overjoyed Zhao Tongtian, the dumbfounded staff, and the speechless bystanders who were almost worshipping Professor Tang, there was not a fourth person who ever approached the Azure Thunder, much less touched it!
Professor Tang zoomed in and slowed down the speed of the picture. She observed carefully second by second, only to discover no anomaly at all.
Looking at her hands in a daze, and recalling the subtle and yet concrete feedback from the inside of the Azure Thunder, she shook her head slightly.
Was it possible that her senses were wrong?
It was impossible!
Pondering for a moment, Professor Tang slowly said, "Master Chu, Manager Nie, please take a look yourselves. It's mainly about the output sensitivity of the crystal reactor."
"What!" Chu Chongjiu and Nie Siyuan were both alarmed. "Somebody modified the crystal reactor of the crystal suit?"
There were two integral, precise, and stable units in every crystal suit, namely the crystal processor, which was responsible for control, and the crystal reactor, which was responsible for the output of power.
They were equivalent to the brain and the heart of a human being.
According to the unspoken rule of the refiners and maintainers of crystal suits, the crystal processors and the crystal reactors were all built into fully enclosed 'black boxes'.
For a brand-new crystal suit, and such an advanced one at that, the crystal processor and the crystal reactor would rarely be opened for adjustment unless it was sent back to the original manufacturer for maintenance.
That was because the two units were too important and sophisticated. If the maintainer did not boast a profound understanding about the goals and methodology of the original designer and an expertise in refining as good as the original designer's, it was possible that mistakes would be made. Chances were that the two units could not be installed again after they were dismantled, or that their original performance could not be restored despite adjustment after they were installed again.
The Azure Thunder had been delivered to this place because of the malfunctions of the shoulder and the arm and because it was time for its regular maintenance. Naturally, the crystal processor and the crystal reactor were not dismantled.
Even Chu Chongjiu and Professor Tang also abided by the tradition of the refiners. They only performed modifications to the components on the surface and did not reach the level of the crystal processor and the crystal reactor.
But right now, Professor Tang was claiming that somebody had touched the crystal reactor of the crystal suit?
Chu Chongjiu and Nie Siyuan were both appalled, looking as if they had run into ghosts.
In fact, they would not have been so horrified even if they did run into a ghost, which was anything but unusual nowadays. The Nether World Sector, for example, had an entire world of ghosts. What was strange about them?
However, adjusting the crystal reactor of the Azure Thunder, such a high-level crystal suit, quietly through uncanny techniques while escaping the attention of so many observing refiners was definitely beyond the description of 'appalling'!
Chu Chongjiu and Nie Siyuan both extended their hands into the empty chamber of the Azure Thunder. One on the left and the other on the right, they stuck to the circuit of the spiritual energy output in the crystal reactor.
For Cultivators of their level, their hands were already the best test equipment. By sensing the feedback of the spiritual energy unleashed by their hands, like the bats identifying obstacles through the soundwaves they released, they could keenly perceive the surroundings.
With a gloomy face, Nie Siyuan said to his disciple, Sha Yongming, "Increase the power output of the crystal reactor of the Azure Thunder."
Hum, hum, hum, hum, hum, hum…
The Azure Thunder shivered slightly. The crystal reactor immediately utterly a weak noise.
As the power output was moved up from one phase to another, the two masters of refining, who were from different worlds but equally respected and experienced, widened their eyes at the same time. Their eyebrows and their beards seemed to be shaking off from their faces.
"It—it is true that—"
There was not the slightest hint of blood on the two masters' faces.
"You sense it, too, don't you?" Professor Tang's voice was full of astonishment. "The crystal reactor of the Azure Thunder has been adjusted by someone. The extreme output and sensitivity of the spiritual energy have both significantly increased. It is now even… so keen that it is multiple times faster than the reaction speed of a Core Formation Stage Cultivator such as Zhao Tongtian! Before he finished a thought, his crystal reactor was already responding automatically! No wonder he felt that needles were stinging his back!
"It is so for the Core Formation Stage Cultivators, but for the Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators whose reaction speed and thought generation is faster, the crystal suit might be very suitable. However, I cannot guarantee that with certainty!"
"But…" Chu Chongjiu's throat was letting out meaningless noises, and his face was as horrid as that of a zombie. "Who did it? When and how was it done?"
"I don't know. I truly don't." Professor Tang looked at the dark, empty chamber of the Azure Thunder as if it were a black hole. "Perhaps it was remote manipulation. The person's spiritual energy snuck into the inside of the Azure Thunder and adjusted the super tiny circuits in the crystal reactor after recalculating the distribution of the spiritual energy out."
"Remote manipulation?" Chu Chongjiu and Nie Siyuan looked at each other and shook their heads subconsciously. "That's impossible. Remote manipulation is a basic technique for high-level Cultivators. But it is generally used to control flying swords, bullets, and the like. The smaller the object and the shorter the distance to move, the more difficult the whole operation will be!
"There are millions of control chips and more than ten thousand super tiny components in every square inch inside the crystal reactor. Redistributing the crystal wires that can be thinner than a hair and the chips that are smaller than millet through remote manipulation? That's too unbelievable!
"Moreover, the crystal reactor is a 'black box' that is under heavy protection. To resist the intense blow and interference of spiritual energy on a battlefield, it is often carved with five to seven protection and buffer rune arra
ys on the outside, which makes the crystal reactor essentially impregnable! How could the guy have bypassed so many layers of defense and snuck into the crystal reactor through remote manipulation?
"The most critical thing is, even if such a 'super adjuster' did exist, when and how exactly did he accomplish this? After all, the crystal suit never left us or Zhao Tongtian from beginning to the end!"
Professor Tang grew more and more confused after hearing Chu Chongjiu's questions. She was looking at every bystander on the surveillance picture with trance and reverence. Shaking her head, she said, "I don't know. It is certainly impossible that the guy did it when Zhao Tongtian was in the crystal suit. After all, the shield of light membrane on the surface of the crystal suit was automatically functioning. Then, maybe, when Uncle Chu and I were performing the adjustment, he sent a… hidden force into the crystal suit that could be activated later."
"Professor Tang!" Chu Chongjiu could not help but exclaim. "Are you suggesting that, when the two of us opened the plate armor and the maintenance panel of the crystal suit, poured our spiritual energy into it, and performed the adjustment work with full attention, there was another refiner multiple times more brilliant than us, who sent a hidden force into the crystal suit without alerting anyone, both escaping our attention and infiltrating the defense rune arrays of the crystal reactor to perform certain delicate operations on the mustard-seed level. Also, through certain… unbelievable techniques, the result that the sensitivity is significantly increased was delayed and did not surface until half a day later when we had already left?"
Professor Tang was lost for words. "Well, about that…"
She also felt that what she had said was absurd. How could such a thing happen in the world?
