440: Chapter 440 Calm Analysis: The Root Cause of the Problem Finally Identified

The metal floor of the assembly area's central control platform still carried the morning chill. Just as the footsteps of the first batch of technical researchers echoed, Chen Wuwang was already standing before the main console, his fingers resting on the edge, tapping rhythmically.

"Everyone is here." He didn't turn his head, and his voice wasn't loud, yet it suppressed all the ambient noise.

Chen Xiaodao was the last to rush in, his pauldrons still stained with dust from the trial grounds. After standing still, he caught his breath: "Patriarch, I've arrived."

"Sit." Chen Wuwang nodded and raised his hand to summon a holographic projection. The waveform segment from the flight log was enlarged and suspended in the air, with that imperceptible fluctuation marked as a red dot.

"You've all seen the preliminary data for that segment just now. Now isn't the time to ask 'if there's a problem,' but to ask—where is the problem?"

No one spoke.

Several young technicians lowered their heads to flip through their recording tablets, while the older ones exchanged glances.

Someone whispered, "The System passed all thirty-seven self-check items, the signal links were tested, there are no external interference sources, and there are no anomalies in permissions... This thing flies more steadily than a Spirit Crane, what could possibly go wrong?"

"Then why don't you go fly it once?" Chen Xiaodao looked up and stared directly at him. "A high-speed three-and-a-half-turn spiral roll followed by a dive and direction change—would you dare let go of the control stick and let it correct itself?"

The person choked on their words, their face flushing as they remained silent.

Chen Wuwang scanned the room. "Don't guess; speak facts. Who is responsible for the signal receiving module?"

A middle-aged man wearing goggles raised his hand: "Me, Engineer Zhang, seventh group hardware link."

"When was the final debugging completed?"

"Yesterday at the end of the Shen hour. The entire receiving array underwent power-on testing, and the response delay was less than 0.1 seconds, meeting the standard."

"Which set of parameters was used?"

"Standard operating protocol, filtering threshold set at 97%, power-saving mode enabled."

Chen Wuwang's finger paused. "Why wasn't it 100%?"

Engineer Zhang was taken aback. "This... the Early Stage design was to reduce overall energy consumption and avoid spiritual energy overload, so..."

"Who approved it?"

"At the time, it was... decided at the temporary solution meeting. You were also present. It was said we should get the process running first and optimize later."

Chen Wuwang narrowed his eyes but did not refute it.

He turned and pulled up the original design blueprints, comparing them with the current running version, the two diagrams floating side-by-side.

A few seconds later, he tapped his fingertip, enlarging the filtering algorithm section of the receiver.

"Look here. The initial architecture used a five-fold dynamic compensation, but now only two remain, and the weak signal gain module has been canceled."

Engineer Zhang leaned in to look, and his expression changed. "This... this wasn't changed by us. This part is low-level firmware that synchronizes automatically..."

"Then it was tampered with," Chen Xiaodao interjected coldly. "Or, it was never fully installed in the first place."

Chen Wuwang didn't respond but turned to another group: "Simulation group, can you replicate a weak spiritual energy input under high-altitude, high-speed conditions?"

A tall, thin man immediately responded: "We can! We have a small vibration chamber that can simulate the Spiritual Qi fluctuation density three thousand zhang above the Qiming Plain."

"Set up the test bench immediately," Chen Wuwang ordered directly. "I want to see the actual performance of the receiver in a critical state."

The people immediately dispersed to take action.

Chen Xiaodao didn't leave, staring at the design diagram. "Patriarch, are you saying... the problem lies in the receiver's sensitivity?"

"It's not 'possible,' it 'is.'" Chen Wuwang rapped his knuckles against the table.

"You felt a half-beat delay and a 0.3-degree trajectory deviation, which means the System lost a small segment of data.

Yet there were no errors in the log, which means it filled it in itself—using a prediction algorithm."

"It filled it in so well that the flaw couldn't be seen."

"Exactly. It's too smart, so smart that it masked its own defects."

Over there, the test bench was already set up, with a tube connected to a signal generator simulating the thin spiritual currents of high altitudes.

Engineer Zhang personally stood guard at the receiving end, staring at the readout screen.

"Begin input."

The curve on the screen was steady at first, but suddenly a very minute fluctuation appeared.

"Did you catch it?" Chen Wuwang walked over.

"There's a reaction, but..." Engineer Zhang frowned. "The sampling rate dropped by 12%, and three data packets weren't received."

"What's the margin of error?"

"Calculating... 0.28 degrees, close to 0.3."

Chen Wuwang looked at Chen Xiaodao: "It matches your perception."

Chen Xiaodao grit his teeth. "In other words, if this were actual combat and an enemy suddenly cut in from the flank, the System would judge half a beat slow because it couldn't receive the weak signal. By the time it finished filling in the data, the pilot would have been sliced in half."

"More than that." Chen Wuwang stared at the screen. "What's even more dangerous is that it fills it in 'too smoothly.' You wouldn't even realize there was a problem until you crashed."

The scene suddenly went silent.

Those who had just thought "there's no problem with the System" now had sweat beads on their foreheads.

Chen Wuwang turned and looked around. "Now you know where the problem is. It's not that the navigation is bad, nor that the algorithm is bad. It's that we skipped a step we shouldn't have skipped just to rush the schedule."

No one argued.

He knew these people were technical experts; they weren't afraid to admit mistakes, but they were afraid of being scapegoated blindly.

"The signal receiver's sensitivity is insufficient, the filtering algorithm was simplified, and the weak signal capture capability is missing." He pointed them out one by one. "This isn't an accident; it's a design flaw. But since we've found it, it's easy to handle."

His tone shifted, becoming stern: "Next, the hardware group will redo the receiving module, add the five-fold compensation back in, and the gain module must be implemented.

The software group will simultaneously modify the filtering protocol; no more using power-saving mode to suppress the threshold. The testing group will prepare three rounds of extreme environment verification. It is not allowed to go online unless it meets the standard."

"Yes!" several people immediately responded.

"Engineer Zhang."

"Here!"

"You take the lead. Within today, I want to see a prototype of the new module."

"Guaranteed to finish!"

The people quickly split up to take action. Some ran to the lab, some squatted at consoles to modify code, and Engineer Zhang directly rolled up his sleeves and headed toward the workshop.

Chen Xiaodao stood in place, not moving, and asked in a low voice: "Patriarch, this matter... who ordered the power-saving mode to be changed?"

Chen Wuwang glanced at him. "It's not important anymore. What's important is changing it back now."

"But what if there's a next time? What part will be cut then just for the sake of speed?"

"Then let the System remember the lesson," Chen Wuwang said indifferently. "From now on, all core module changes must have dual-person verification and three-level approval. I will not allow 'temporary solutions' to become 'default settings' again."

Chen Xiaodao nodded, finally breathing a sigh of relief.

He suddenly smiled slightly. "Good thing I saw that blue line."

"Don't get cocky," Chen Wuwang glanced at him. "If you hadn't insisted on performing those high-difficulty maneuvers, the problem would have stayed hidden for a while longer."

"Wasn't that to test the limits?"

"Next time you test, report it in advance."

"Understood."

The two of them stopped talking and watched the busy figures on the platform.

Chen Wuwang's finger rested back on the console, tapping lightly.

Tap, tap, tap—three fast, two slow.

As if calculating something.

Sunlight slanted in from the high windows, falling on a pile of disassembled circuit boards, the metal reflecting the light.

The hum of a welding torch starting up came from afar, along with someone shouting: "Rewire the diversion groove, add buffer nodes over here!"

Chen Wuwang raised his head, his voice not loud but clearly carrying across the platform: "Now that we've found the cause, it's easy to handle. We will improve the signal receiver."

No one turned around, but everyone heard him.

Their footsteps quickened a little.