95: Chapter 95 Money Power
Wang Pingan looked at Mentor Murphy, who was hunched over the blueprints without even lifting his head, and couldn't help but rub his nose.
Good grief, this mentor's temper seemed even more eccentric than Instructor Hera's.
However, he couldn't be bothered to dwell on that.
For him, as long as he could successfully complete the task and get those 8,000 credits, he wouldn't mind the cold shoulder; he would even be happy to sweep the floors here.
He walked over to the massive laboratory workbench and picked up a thick stack of blueprints covered in various complex circuits and runes.
At the top of the blueprints, scrawled in messy handwriting, were the words: "Deep Space Signal Receiving Array-03, Structural Design (Third Revised Edition)."
Wang Pingan flipped through a couple of pages and felt his head spinning.
The complexity of this thing was several orders of magnitude higher than the star map fragment he had repaired last time.
He felt like he wasn't looking at blueprints, but rather a book written in an alien language.
"Forget it, this isn't my specialty."
Wang Pingan nonchalantly threw the stack of blueprints, which he considered no different from scrap paper, back onto the table.
He had the Eye of Truth; what did he need blueprints for?
Wouldn't it be much more intuitive to go directly to the site and look at the real thing?
He turned around and walked over to the tool cabinet in the corner.
The cabinet was filled with various precision tools that exuded a sci-fi vibe.
Things like "High-Energy Particle Collider," "Micro Energy Stabilizer," "Space Curvature Calibration Wrench"...
Each name sounded more impressive than the last.
Wang Pingan couldn't understand any of them, nor did he know how to use them.
After some thought, he finally took out a multi-functional energy screwdriver that looked the most comfortable to use, along with a pair of insulated gloves.
Hmm, these two should be enough.
At least it would look a bit more professional.
Clutching his "tools of the trade," Wang Pingan turned to leave the control room and head to the A-7 sector on the top floor.
Just as he was about to step out the door.
Mentor Murphy, who had been buried in the blueprints, suddenly spoke up again without lifting his head.
"Kid."
His voice was hoarse and filled with exhaustion.
"Huh? Do you have any instructions, Mentor?" Wang Pingan stopped and turned back to ask.
"There is a problem with the core of that array."
Mentor Murphy still didn't look up; he just drew a heavy circle on the blueprint with his pen.
"Under years of high-load operation, the spiritual energy conduction medium inside its energy core has developed 'lattice' decay."
"This has made its energy output extremely unstable."
"We have tried three different repair schemes before, but all of them failed."
"I advise you not to touch that core."
"You only need to follow the standard procedure and calibrate the external circuits, and you will have completed the task."
"I will still give you those 8,000 credits."
"Don't risk your life just to show off."
Mentor Murphy's words sounded like he was concerned about Wang Pingan.
But his tone was filled with an unquestionable command and a sense of powerlessness.
Clearly, he had completely given up any hope of repairing that energy core.
He said this only because of the face that Wang Pingan had repaired the 07 star map fragment, and he didn't want such a "somewhat talented" freshman to get stuck in this bottomless pit as well.
Wang Pingan understood what he meant.
But he didn't appreciate the sentiment.
Just kidding.
He didn't come here just to go through the motions and take that 8,000-credit "consolation prize."
What he wanted was to perfectly solve all the problems!
Because he knew that only in this way would he have a chance to trigger a "hidden reward" like last time!
"Thank you for the reminder, Mentor."
A bright smile appeared on Wang Pingan's face.
"However, I still want to give it a try."
After saying this, he didn't give Mentor Murphy any chance to speak, turned around, and strode out of the control room.
Leaving Mentor Murphy alone, holding his pen and stunned in place.
After a long while.
He slowly put down his pen and rubbed his sore eyes.
He looked in the direction Wang Pingan had left, a complex look flashing in his cloudy old eyes.
"Young people these days..."
"They really don't know the immensity of heaven and earth."
He shook his head and let out a helpless sigh.
Then, he turned his attention back to the pile of blueprints in front of him that he could never finish studying.
In his view, that freshman named Wang Pingan was just another greenhorn about to be taught a harsh lesson by reality.
...
Wang Pingan took the internal levitation lift and soon arrived at the top floor of the observation station.
Sector A-7.
This was a huge, hemispherical, transparent space.
Through the massive dome, one could clearly see the deep and vast starry sky outside.
And in the center of the space, a behemoth stood quietly.
That was the "Deep Space Signal Receiving Array-03."
Its main body was a massive dish with a diameter of over a hundred meters, pieced together from countless hexagonal metal plates.
The surface of the dish was covered with dense energy circuits, resembling a neural network.
And below the dish was an even larger, more complex mechanical structure filled with a steampunk style, consisting of countless gears, pipes, and energy cores.
The entire array was like an ancient beast in slumber, filled with a cold, powerful aesthetic.
As soon as Wang Pingan approached.
A chaotic and violent energy fluctuation rushed toward him.
At the same time, a powerful radiation made his skin feel like it was being pricked by needles.
"As expected, there's a problem."
Wang Pingan's gaze became serious.
He activated the Eye of Truth.
Hum—!
The world before him was instantly covered by data streams.
In his vision, the entire huge receiving array turned into a massive, three-dimensional stereoscopic model composed of countless light points and lines, enough to make one's scalp tingle.
He could clearly "see."
On the outside of the array, more than 30% of those neural network-like energy circuits had varying degrees of "poor contact" and "energy leakage."
They were like rusted water pipes; not only could they not transmit energy efficiently, but they were also constantly spraying dangerous "radioactive sewage" outward.
And the most serious problem was the energy core located at the very bottom of the array, which looked like a heart.
Under the perspective of the Eye of Truth.
Wang Pingan saw the inside of that energy core.
It was a spherical structure composed of countless diamond-shaped crystals combined in an extremely precise manner.
Under normal circumstances, these crystals should have exhibited a pure, transparent blue color.
But now, most of them had turned into a murky, dark purple with a hint of gray decay.
Their surfaces were covered with countless fine, spiderweb-like cracks.
Streams of violent, uncontrolled energy were crazily darting between these cracks.
Every collision triggered a violent energy explosion.
Putting the entire energy core on the extremely dangerous edge of total collapse at any moment.
This was what Mentor Murphy called "lattice" decay.
"Tsk tsk, look at how rotted this is."
Wang Pingan silently complained to himself.
This is hardly a repair!
This is basically bomb disposal work on a volcano that's about to erupt!
However...
He loved it!
The more complex and dangerous it was, the higher the "value" it contained!
A smile of excitement appeared on Wang Pingan's face.
He no longer hesitated.
He walked straight up and inserted the "multi-functional energy screwdriver" that looked very professional into a maintenance port on the outer shell of the array.
Then he closed his eyes.
And extended his spirit outward!